Ponyboy
The day after Natalie was born I should have known that Audrey would have had the baby blues. Natalie was beautiful, she looked so much like Tessa, where Julian was then spitting image of Steve.
Presley and Soda had cancelled lessons for the next day and Soda offered to take himself up on his offer and they had the kids for the day. At the last second I was able to get one of the nicer suites at the Ambassador Hotel for the day and the night. Audrey loved that hotel, that was even where I proposed to her.
I packed us a small bag, we didn't need much besides maybe a change of clothes, I planned to spend most of the time naked to make up for the time we lost. We kissed the girls head at nine, Soda had given us a knowing grin before we left and I drove there.
"Ponyboy, I don't know how I feel about leaving them for a night…" She said worriedly. This would be the first time ever that the girls wouldn't be with us at night but I knew they were plenty safe with Soda and Presley there.
"They're going to be fine baby, they'll probably have a blast with the twins, watching movie and playing games." I said, taking her hand, following the directions on the GPS to the hotel. She grinned when she saw where we had pulled up to and I let her get out before going to park. I walked back with the bag and took her hand, going inside.
When I got to the front desk I got my wallet out, "Reservations for Curtis, please."
"Okay, can I see government issued identification and can I have the license plate of your car?"
I handed them my drivers license and Audrey reached into her purse to get out her insurance card with the license plate number. I heard a small gasp and I looked up to see a red head that looked vaguely familiar.
I looked at her name tag and read 'Sherri' and I smiled,
"Cherry, how's it going? This is my wife Audrey. Audrey, this is an old friend from high school."
Audrey smiled, "It's nice to meet you Cherry." Cherry's eyes didn't leave Audrey's left hand for almost five seconds before she smiled at us,
"Yes, you as well. It was good to see you again Ponyboy. Enjoy your stay." She said, handing us a card. I grinned and slipped it into my back pocket before taking Audrey's hand, going to our room. She smiled and once we got into the elevator I felt her lips on mine,
"I love you," I whispered and she grinned,
"I love you too." She said, before I led her to the room. I unlocked it and she walked in, grinning when she recognized it,
"Oh Ponyboy… You shouldn't have." I smiled and dug through the bag before pulling out a small box, handing it to her.
"I love you Audrey, and I'm so sorry these last few months have been especially hard on us. I love you so much, you mean the world to me-hell you are my world. I promise I'll stop working so much and be home with you and the girls more." I said, handing her the box. She smiled softly and opened it, inside were a pair of diamond earrings and a ring that had fours stones- one for all of our birth months. She sniffled and wiped her eyes,
"It's beautiful Ponyboy, thank you so much." She said, slipping the ring on the ring finger of her right hand and she put her earrings in, getting up to kiss me.
She moved so she was sitting in my lap, leaning down to kiss me. Audrey was the first girl I've ever been with that can go for several rounds (and by several I mean four or five times). She giggled and moved over so she was laying her head on my chest.
"Let's order some take out, I'm starving."
"You're starving?" I asked grinning playfully and she slapped my leg. I reached over for the menu off of the night stand and started looking,
"What did you want babe?"
"What's in the area to order?" She questioned, I could tell her eyes were closed.
"Chinese is right down the road, how does that sound?"
"Sounds great to me babe. Get a lot, I'm starving and we can put the extra in the refrigerator and have it for dinner." I nodded and called, ordering the take out before turning on the television.
We started watching a dramatic television show when I felt her start to move and look up at me,
"Pony? Can… Can we talk about having another baby please?"
I sighed, "Audrey what's there to talk about? I hardly have enough time to spend with you and the girls never mind another baby."
"I work from home, you said you were going to cut your hours back and you promised me yesterday you'd stop working weekends… Our house has the room, I want another baby."
"Audrey no. I don't want another kid. You know that I didn't want any kids to begin with."
"And now you have two, that you love and cherish as much as I do."
"Yes but that's not the point Audrey. The point is I didn't want kids and Maddie was an accident and so was Harri."
"The point is you thought of the absolute worst but you have two daughters and you're their entire world. We have the room and the money for another child and we can do it."
"I know we can! We could also own a house in Hawaii and a helicopter but we don't!"
"What the hell? Why don't you want another baby?" She asked, crossing her arms.
"Why do you? Huh? We agreed two before we got married and once we made our marriage official you started begging for another baby!"
"What are you trying to say? That I trapped you into having a family?"
"Maybe." I said stubbornly. She grit her teeth and went to the washroom joined to the room before slamming the door and locking it. I sighed and laid back, putting my arms behind my head. She came out twenty minutes later and sat beside me.
"I'm sorry that I tried to pressure you into having another baby. I realize that… it was rude and it wasn't fair of me. There are a lot of factors to think about."
I watched my wife, and I could tell that she looked absolutely exhausted.
"Audrey… I'm going to start working less. I promise. I know my promises about working less have always fallen through but I think… I was thinking about using the guest house as a practice. I think… Once we get home and I keep my promise about cutting my hours we can talk about another baby okay?"
She nodded but knew that something else was wrong, "Are… Are you scared of having another baby?"
"Audrey I'm scared of being a terrible dad. I don't know what to talk to Maddie about, I don't know anything that she's interested in and I hardly know Harri. If we have a third baby I'll have to juggle everything… As the girls grow up it'll only get worse. They'll grow to hate me and… A-and because they hate me you'll resent me and you guys will all walk out on me and I-I can't lose you guys."
"Ponyboy… You've worked hard enough these last few years that you don't have to any more. The girls don't have to go to a private school, okay? I want us to raise another baby… I want another mini us running around. I'll give up my career for the first little while, I'll let my patients know I'm taking time off to focus on our family."
I nodded and hugged her tightly, "I'm sorry I pushed you away, but I'm so scared of being a terrible dad. When I wanted to become a doctor I wasn't planning on getting married or having a family but you changed all of that."
"I love you okay? You're not a terrible dad. You'll never be a terrible dad. A terrible dad is someone that skips their daughters recital on purpose, but you didn't miss Maddie's. You showed up, with flowers and chocolate and a teddy and that's all she wanted was to make you proud."
"I was late…" I said softly and she kissed me,
"That didn't matter. She didn't care that you came in during the middle of her performance. You went to the stage when she stopped because she was so nervous and you told her to look at you and only you, and she did and she completed her routine. Ponyboy what you see as mistakes we don't. Okay, so you're late every once in a while, but when it counts you still make it and you're still there. We love you Ponyboy."
"I… Okay… I'll… I'll stop working so much… And… The girls don't need to go to a private school so… Let's have another baby."
She grinned and took both of my hands in hers, "Are you sure Ponyboy?"
I nodded and kissed her, "I'm sure baby. Let's do it, please."
She smiled and kissed me, wrapping her arms around my neck.
By the time Chinese showed up we had already been through two more rounds. We stopped to eat and I kissed her softly. I knew that I didn't constantly have to reassure her that I loved her so I gently caressed her thigh. She grinned and kissed me softly, before getting more. God I love this woman.
"Do you think it'll be a boy or a girl?" She asked me, and I smiled,
"I hope a boy… If it's a boy he should be Liam. After your Dad." Audrey grinned widely,
"That's what I was going to say. What about a girl?"
"How about Ashley?"
"Ew no, I hated an Ashley in highschool."
"What about Hannah?"
She smiled and nodded, "I love it." I grinned and kissed her, moving so we were resting against the head board and watching the movie. The two of us haven't done anything like this since Maddie was born. Once she was born any type of bonding and naked cuddling went right out the window- we didn't want her seeing something she shouldn't have.
Once we were finished eating she moved so she was resting against me. I yawned and she grinned tiredly,
"How about we nap and pick this up in a little while?" I nodded in agreement and we got under the covers before falling asleep.
I woke up first, the television glowing in the dark room. I rubbed my eyes and looked at the clock. It was now close to nine at night and I carefully stretched, I didn't want to wake Audrey up. I grabbed my phone off of the nightstand and checked my notifications and my emails, there were lots from Doctor Cross, just keeping me updated on my patients and some from concerned parents or doctors from the hospital to let me know the progress of other patients. I changed apps and sent Soda and Presley a text to see how the girls were doing and almost immediately I got a picture of the girls sitting with the twins and watching Finding Nemo. I grinned and replied to the group message with the two of them and I got a message separately from Soda: How's everything going?
Good, been busy all day… We're having another baby. I answered and I saw the '…' bubble pop up before I felt my phone vibrate again,
She finally talked you into it?
Yes and no. She helped me realize there's nothing to worry about.
Lol kiddo, it's like we told Dallas. There's no more 'no'.
Yeah yeah. Have the girls been good?
They've been fantastic. They're all sleepy now so we're going to put them to bed. The twins will share a bed and we'll put Maddie and Harri in one of the twins beds'.
Okay man thanks. Good night.
I put my phone down and started rubbing Audrey's back softly. She was still deep in her sleep and I turned the television down so I wouldn't wake her and I started replying to the emails that needed to be answered before warming myself some more Chinese while she slept peacefully.