Everything was ready. When Tommy had brought the twins home the night before, he had put them right to bed, and then he had proceeded downstairs to clean up the house. He had spent the last few years living by himself, with two little children. You could say he lived like a bachelor, but one who liked to play with children's toys, and then leave them everywhere. Occasionally, well usually when one of his female friends, like Trini or Aisha, came over the house would look clean as soon as they go there. But other than that, the house was basically a mess. A neat mess, really. The only thing that made it messy was that there were just a whole lot of toys, everywhere. However, now that Kim was coming home, Tommy wanted to make it look as if the house was actually livable, by her standards anyway. After cleaning up downstairs, Tommy went to clean up his bedroom. He would tackle the twin's rooms the next morning.
Tommy was up early the next morning. Usually, he got up around five and did his workout. By the time he was done around six-thirty, the twin's would be awake, and it was time for breakfast. This morning, after breakfast, Tommy called the high school to tell them he wouldn't be coming in that day. Then he had to call the daycare, so they wouldn't be expecting the twin's. After that, it was time to clean the entire army of toy's that just seemed to appear out of nowhere on Ann and David's floors. While they were doing that, Tommy picked up the toys that had come down to the kitchen for breakfast. Then, in no time at all, it was finally time to go get Kim from the hospital.
In all of his excitement about Kim waking up, Tommy had never noticed that, the night before, Jason had never come over. It had totally slipped his mind then, and he only remembered it now because the twin's had brought it up.
"Daddy, did Uncle Jase come visit us last night?"
"No, honey he didn't. He must have forgotten about it. Uncle Jase is a very busy man, with lots of things to do."
"Uncle Jase never forgets us." Pouted David.
"I'm sorry guys. Tell you what, when we bring mommy home, we'll call Uncle Jase and tell him to come over, all right?"
"OK daddy!"
By this time, they had arrived at the hospital; it was time to get Kim.
"Ann, David, right now, we're are going to go upstairs to see mommy, ok? And guess what, when we go home, we are going to bring mommy with us."
"We are going to bring mommy home with us? Why? I thought she lived at the hospital." Said Ann.
"No Ann, mommy was just at the hospital for a very long time, now, she is going to stay with us, forever."
"Yay!" Cried David, "Mommy gets to stay with us forever!"
"Now I want you two to be very good when we go inside. No running, no shouting, and no getting too excited when we see mommy. We are going to show mommy how good we can be."
"Ok, daddy." The twin's each held the other's hand all the way up to their mother's room. They were trying very hard to show their parents how well they could behave.
They eventually got up to Kim's room, to finally bring Kimberly Hart home with them. When they got to her room, they found Kimberly sitting in a wheelchair by the window, waiting for her family.
"Hi mommy."
"Hi David, Hi Ann. Hey Tommy."
"Hey Beautiful." Kim smiled.
"So, you ready to go home?"
"You bet I am. The doctor says I need to use this wheelchair until I can walk on my own. Eventually, he will just give me a cane, and after that I hope to be able to walk on my own."
"That's the spirit." The doctor said from the doorway.
"Mr. Oliver, could I just talk to you for a minute." He continued, motioning for Tommy to come into the hallway to talk. Tommy followed him out of the door.
"I have already told all of this to Ms. Hart, but she agreed with me that it would be a good idea to tell you also. She will have to come in for physical therapy at least three times a week, until we can get her out of that wheelchair. Then just about once a week after that, as long as she is walking at home. Also, it would be a good idea to have her start walking around a bit today. Like up the stairs in your house, when she is going to bed, and when she is entering the house, and things like that. Other than that, she should be fine. She shouldn't need to take any medication or anything like that. Also, we both feel that you could probably leave the twins with her during the day, seeing as you have to work."
"Thank you doctor. Thank you very much. Is there anything else we need to do right now, or can we go home?"
"Ms. Hart has already filled out her release forms, so all you need to do is sign right here, and take her home."
Tommy signed the forms quickly, then went back into Kim's old room, while the doctor brought the forms to the receptionist at the desk.
"Daddy, is it time to bring mommy home now?" Asked David anxiously.
"Yes, it is time to bring mommy home David." And with that final word, they all left that hospital room, hopefully for the last time.
On the ride home, Kimberly sat silently, staring out of the window, soaking everything in. Two days ago or what seemed like that to her body, she had never even heard of Reefside, and she had been living there for over two years. What's more, she had spent almost the last three years lying in a hospital bed doing nothing. And she was the mother of Tommy's two children! They had been planning on getting married, but now, things were different. They had kids, overnight it seemed, and that changed everything. Tommy had said that they visited her everyday, but what kind of mother did her kids think she was? She hadn't even known they existed until the day before. She had, in a way, been absent from their lives, at a time when a child needs their mother the most. Plus, it was one thing to learn how to be a mother when you have a baby, but to wake up one day and find that you have two and a half year old twins is very different.
"Here we are."
Kim had been staring out of the window without really noticing where they were going. Now, she realized that they had pulled into the driveway of a house that had seemed to appear out of nowhere. Looking at it now though, Kim thought that it was a very nice looking house and very private too. It was surrounded by trees, and although she hadn't really been paying attention, Kim thought that the nearest house really couldn't be that close by.
Tommy had gotten out of the car, and let the twins out first, now he was coming around the side of the car to help Kim out. As he opened the door, Kim could have sworn she saw the bushes nearest the house where the twin's were playing. But it's probably just some animal, Kim thought to herself. After all, they were practically in a forest.
"Welcome home Beautiful." Tommy said, giving her his hand to help her out of the car. Kim got out onto her unsteady legs.
"Do you want me to get the wheelchair? Or do you think you can walk to the house?"
"I can walk. Besides, I don't like that thing, it is so annoying."
"Well, you'll be out of that thing in no time."
"I better be." Kim said smiling. "So, you going to invite me in, or are we just going to stay out here?"
"Well, come on, if you're so anxious to go in." Tommy said to Kim. It's great to hear her voice again, he thought to himself.
As they walked in, Kim whistled softly.
"Wow Tommy, I never pictured you as the interior designer type. But I love how you've decorated the place." Tommy could hear the sarcasm in her voice as she said that, and he knew why. The walls were all painted white, at least the ones that weren't covered in shelves. The shelves were mostly full of Tommy's books, but the bottom few had Ann and David's toys on them, some of them anyway. There were some artifacts that he had found on his digs, but they were high up, out of reach of little hands. Other than that, the house was pretty bare, except of course for the furniture. It was a very empty house; there were very few pictures to be seen, if any. All of Tommy's old pictures of his old friends from high school he kept put away in a drawer in his room.
"You know, I think I woke up just in time." Kim continued. "This house needs me, badly. I think it is on its death bed, poor house."
"Well, I bet you just can't wait until Ann and David realize their goal in life is to become artists, and they start coloring on the walls."
"Oh, I can. Well, are you going to give me the grand tour, or will I have to figure everything out by myself? Wait, I know what I could do. Ann, David, will you come here for a minute."
"Sure mommy." Came the reply, as the twin's came running over to their mother.
"Hey guys, what do you say you show me the whole house. I want to see everything."
"Ok mommy. Do you want to see my room first?" Asked Ann.
"What about my room? Don't you want to see my room?" David said.
"Of course I do. I want to see everything. How about we go upstairs, and we'll start with Ann's room, then we'll go to David's room. After that, you can show me whatever else you want to."
"Follow me, mommy." Commanded Ann. "I am gonna show you my room, then Davie can show you his room."
"Ok honey."
So, with Tommy help, Kimberly followed her children up the stair to see their rooms. When they went into Ann's room, Kim was amazed to see that it wasn't white like the rest of the house, it was pink.
"Pink. Do you like the color pink Ann?"
"Yes I do. It is my most favorite color in the whole world." Ann said, proud of her pink room.
And most of her room was pink. The walls were pink, there was a pink carpet on the floor, and the sheets on her bed were pink. Then, there were the toys. And there were a lot of toys. They were all piled neatly onto the shelves, and the stuffed animals and dolls were all on the bed. For a two-year old, it was a very clean room.
"Pink is my favorite color too. I love pink."
"Wow." Ann said amazed, the only women who ever saw her room, were the ones who loved the color yellow (guess who?). "It is the best isn't it?"
"Yes, it is."
"Know what else mommy?"
"What?"
"Daddy made me clean my room today. And Davie too."
"He did? Why would he do that?"
"Because he is very silly. He thinks that we should make the house clean."
"I know, he is very silly, why would he think the house should be clean?"
Ann giggled as her mom said that. She knew that her mom was just being silly. She liked having her mom come home with her. It was fun having a mommy.
Tommy was happy to see that Ann and Kimberly were getting along. But he could also see that David was getting impatient to how his room to Kim.
"Hey Ann, how about we let David show his room to mommy now?"
"I guess we could." Ann said. "Do you think we could come back to my room later, mommy?"
"Of course we can. So, David, where is your room?"
"It's right across from Annie's. Can we go there now?"
"You bet we can."
So they went across the hall to David's blue room, where Kim exclaimed over all of David's toys, and how nice his room looked. You could tell from the look on David's face that he was really excited that his mom liked his room.
"So, where are you going to show me next?" Kim asked after they had finished looking at David's room.
"We gotta show you Daddy's room next. You gotta see Daddy's room next." Ann said.
"Ok." Kimberly said to Ann. "So, Tommy, how on Earth did you manage to make the kid's rooms look so much better than the rest of the house?"
"I had help. A lot of help."
When Kim looked at him questioningly, he continued.
"After I bought the house, Trini and Aisha told me, well more like ordered me to stay out of the twin's rooms. They decorated and painted the two rooms themselves. If they had, had more time, they probably would have painted the whole house. But since they only had a few days off, they decided that, while I could live in a totally white house, my children should not be made to suffer for my lack of style."
"They actually said that?" Kim said laughing.
"Yes, and in more words than that."
"Mommy, Daddy! Are you paying attention to our tour?"
"Sorry, honey. Daddy was just telling me something."
"Right now, we are in Daddy's room. We hardly go in here, 'cause daddy's room is very boring. But sometimes we have to come in here, 'cause daddy forgets to set his alarm and we have to wake him up."
"Hey, that only happened once." Tommy said defensively, when Kim started laughing.
"Right, well you are Mr. Punctuality."
"You bet I am."
"He's not." David said. "He's late all of the time."
"Some things never change." Kim said, still laughing.
"Mommy, can we go back to my room now? I want to show you all of my dolls." Ann said. "Then we have to go to Davie's room so he can show you all of his toys too."
"Ok, whatever you want to do."
"Yay!"
"Hey Guys, how about Ann does that with mommy, while me and David go do something else."
"OK daddy."
So, Tommy and David went downstairs after bringing Kim to Ann's room, where she sat on the rocking chair while Ann brought her all of her dolls. Meanwhile, Tommy and David went downstairs, because David wanted to call Jason. So Tommy dialed Jason's number, and gave the phone to David.
"Hello?"
"Uncle Jase!"
"Hey David buddy, what's up?"
"Me and Annie want you to come over tonight."
"Tonight. I think I can come over tonight. How about you give the phone to our daddy, so I can ask him what time, ok?"
"Ok." David agreed, already handing his father the phone.
"Hey Jason."
"Hi Tommy. So what time is dinner?"
"About six."
"Cool. So am I allowed to bring Kat, or is she not invited?" Jason asked, jokingly.
"Well, I guess you could bring her. I don't know how much David'll like that. Do you want to ask him?"
"Sure."
"Hey David, Uncle Jase wants to ask you something." Tommy said handing the phone back to his son.
"Hey Dave, so am I allowed to bring a date tonight?"
"Kitty?"
"Yep."
"Not another girl." David said dramatically. "But daddy is making faces at me right now, telling me to tell you that you can."
"Thanks buddy. Tell your daddy I say bye."
"OK, bye-bye Uncle Jase."
"Bye David."
"Uncle Jase says bye." David said, handing the phone back to his father. "And he says that Aunt Kitty is coming over too."
"OK. How about we go get mommy and Ann now?"
"Do we have to?"
"Yes, but later we'll do something together, just me, you and Uncle Jase."
"Really? No girls?" David asked suspiciously.
"No girls." Tommy promised.
A/N-Even though we all know girls will one day rule the world (see above). So, how do you think Jason and Kat are gonna react to Kim?