They walked through the airport; Mark and Elizabeth had planned to meet them at the baggage claim at 4pm, but it was only 3:45 so they knew they had a little bit of time. Carol took that time to suggest they all take a 'potty' break, since neither of the girls had been on the plane and it was a good long drive from the airport to their destination. Carol took the girls with her and left Doug with the carry-on's, as usual he was waiting for the three women in his life. He sat against the wall with a goofy grin on his face remembering back to the days when waiting for three women meant something much different. It used to mean a night getting hammered at a bar, then an eventful night at his place, or sometimes at her place… then his place.
"Daddy," Doug was snapped out of his memories by Tess who had her hands on her hips and had an annoyed expression on her face. She pushed down on his knees and he obediently straightened his legs and allowed her to sit down on his lap. "Can we go and see Uncle Mark and Auntie Elizabeth now?"
"We have to wait for your mommy and your sister, you know that." Doug said, running his finger down her button nose and giving her raspberries on the cheek. As she broke out in uncontrollable giggles, Doug wondered what was taking Carol and Kate so long. He also knew that he couldn't leave Tess alone in the airport, "Tess, why don't you go and see what's taking Mommy and Kate so long?"
"Fine." She said and headed back into the ladies room. Doug took that opportunity to head to the men's room, finding a way to carry the four backpacks over his neck and shoulders. When he returned he saw Tess walking back out, arms folded and a sour expression on her face. "Can't we just go now?"
"Well are mommy and Kate ready?" he prodded.
"No. So can't we just go and then they'll catch up, please?" Tess begged, not wanting to stand around longer. Doug could tell instantly that there was something Tess wasn't telling him, and if he didn't ask in the right way he was in for a crying scene.
"Did mommy ask you to go meet Uncle Mark and Auntie Elizabeth with me?" Doug asked, looking her in the eyes. He knew that if he got her looking into his eyes she'd tell the truth, it was something that had come in very handy over the years.
"No, she said we have to wait until she gets Kate cleaned up." Tess admitted.
"Did Kate have an accident?" Doug asked, hoping the answer would be no. He didn't know if he had the strength to deal with another fight between the two and that would certainly cause it.
"No, she threw up all over the place. It was really gross." Tess admitted with a disgusted face. "You should have seen it, you would have laughed too."
"You laughed?" Doug asked, shaking his head and heading towards the door. He then asked Tess, "Were there any other people in there besides Mommy and Kate when you left?"
"I don't know, I don't think so." Tess said as she saw Doug placing his hand on the door handle. "Daddy! You can't go in there! That's the ladies room! You'll get sent to the principal's office if you go in there and you're a boy!"
Doug opened the door, standing outside and averting his eyes, "Carol? Everything okay in there?"
"Doug?" Carol called back before appearing at the door momentarily, "Could you just take Tess to meet Mark and Elizabeth, it's 4 o'clock."
"Everything okay?" he asked as he heard the sounds of Kate crying. "Do you need anything?"
"Actually, if you could hand me our carry-on bags that would be great." Carol admitted. Handing her the carry-on bags, Doug looked hesitant, so she reassured him, "We'll catch up, don't worry."
"Doug! Hey, Doug, over here!" a friendly and familiar voice called. Doug was slightly relieved to see Mark and Elizabeth and very surprised to see the two with luggage in front of them. "We got your bags."
"How did you know it was our stuff?" Doug asked, checking each bag, noting that it was in fact their luggage.
"Well when there's nobody at the baggage claim and 6 bags left with the same silver ribbon on each… not to mention that two of them had names on the front." Elizabeth admitted, pointing at Kate and Tess' brightly colored luggage, before turning her attention to Tess. "Look how big you've gotten! Oh, you look just like your mommy, don't you?"
"I'm even bigger then Kate got. I am a whole inch taller!" Tess said excitedly. Meanwhile, Elizabeth thanked herself for getting Tess to indicate which twin she was, or she might have called her by her twins name instead. "I'm even wearing the shorts you got us Auntie Elizabeth!"
"You are, and don't you look pretty?" Elizabeth said, as Tess showed off the entire ensemble. She talked to Tess as Mark looked around for Carol and Kate.
"Where's Carol?" he asked Doug, pulling him away from Tess to talk to him, incase it was a subject that Tess shouldn't hear about.
"Oh, she'll be here shortly. Kate got a little sick, but better on the ground then in the air… or in your car." Doug said as Carol approached with Kate in her arms. Kate no longer had the blanket from the plane, but had her thumb back in her mouth as her head rested on Carol's shoulder. Carol had her own carry-on over her shoulder while the smaller carry-on was dangling on her arm.
"Doug, could you?" Carol asked as she tried to hand him Kate's carry-on bag from her arm, gently shifting Kate to get the bag off.
"Hi Kate," Elizabeth said softly, after hearing a much more descriptive story about what had happened from Tess, including color and texture descriptions. Mark was now getting the whole rundown of the days events from the stolen shorts to the more recent events. Elizabeth looked at the pale, pink cheeked and somewhat moist child, asking, "Does she have a fever?"
"Just a mild one, I think it's from the little problem we had on the flight," Carol whispered as she rubbed Kate's back.
"Poor thing," Elizabeth said as she grabbed the handle on one of the 6 bags, "It's not fun to feel ill in a strange place, is it?"
Mark watched in amusement as Tess grabbed her suitcase and began wheeling towards the doors of the airports, pausing to say, "Can we go already?"
Doug grabbed 2 of the bags, realizing that Kate was probably not going to walk to the car on her own and that meant Carol barely had one free hand and couldn't take any of the bigger pieces of luggage with her. "Tess, wait for me please."
"Doug, I can take Kate's suitcase." Mark said as he watched his friend try to juggle a tiny carry-on backpack and three suitcases. "Elizabeth and I have got this; you'd better go grab Tess before she hails a cab and is somewhere downtown."
Doug grinned and chased after Tess, who was almost out the door. Grabbing her in a big bear hug, he held onto her luggage and he carried her back to the group, surprised and pleased to find all the luggage had been piled onto a luggage cart. "Now that's what I call service, Mark."
"Well, you know me, I'm all about organization." Mark said jokingly. They headed out for the van and were surprised to see booster seats sitting all set up. "Uh, are they going to be okay with this? It's Illinois state law."
"Yah, we have them back in Seattle, too." Doug said, helping Tess into her seat. "So, where are we headed?"
"Well, we were going to go to County, but maybe we should head home first?" Elizabeth answered as she backed the van up and headed for the freeway.
"No, we can go to County. It's not a problem, Elizabeth." Carol reassured as she sat between Kate and Tess. "Trust me; this is not a big deal."