Sonny came home to find Claudia napping on the couch with a laptop open.
"You're back." She stated groggily.
"What's this?" He asked her pointing to the screen.
"It's a pregnancy calendar. I just punched in the expected due date which calculated would be around September 9th, and tada we have a week-by-week, day-by-day analysis of what's going on inside of me, and when doctor's appointments should be. And look, in the first trimester it says nausea, dizziness, and fatigue are all natural."
"I knew that already, thanks." Sonny responded sarcastically.
"I'm just saying, it's all right here."
"Do you believe everything you read on the internet?" He asked her snidely.
"No; just the stuff I already knew to be true. Apparently he weighs about .04 ounces at the moment." Claudia showed him.
"All right, since you are dead set on the fact that this is a boy what were you thinking about naming him?" Sonny asked still believing it to be female.
"Giovanni." Claudia replied confidently. "Giovanni Miguel."
Sonny smiled in response. "I'm not entirely sure how she's going to like it." He joked.
"If there was any chance in hell that it was a girl, which it's not, what would you want to name her?"
"I don't know why but I kind of like the name Makayla Graciela." He admitted.
"It's beautiful." She replied. "We're not going to be able to use it, but I appreciate you putting some thought into it."
"Oh, don't be so sure about that." He warned her.
XXXXXX
"Lucky, I don't need to be carried." Sam told him as he held her in his arms to the doorway.
"Maybe not, but until I can get over the image of watching you breath through a machine you are just going to have to get used to it." Lucky insisted as he opened the door.
"Aren't you still recovering from a few broken ribs?" She questioned him.
"I was thinking the exact same thing." Laura replied as they came through the door.
"The ribs are fine." He assured them as he let Sam down. "Hell, I'm hoping after a nice long holiday weekend at home I can see about going to work Tuesday."
"Holiday?" Sam questioned as she was fuzzy on what day they were on.
"MLK Jr." He answered.
"Right." She nodded. "I suppose the boys are excited for that."
"I just hope Cam's not sick through the whole thing."
"Me too." Laura agreed feeling horrible for the guy. She was sure he was out of the woods when he didn't catch it right after Jake had.
"Speaking of which do you think you could stay here with Sam while I go over to check on him?" Lucky requested of his mother.
"Wait, I'd like to see him." Sam spoke up.
Lucky shook his head no. "Next time I will make sure of it. He misses you and I know it, but after just getting out of the hospital due to fluid in the lungs and heart problems I don't think it's a good idea if you are hanging around a boy with the stomach flu."
"I agree with him." Laura weighed in. "And yes, I will stay here with her. Actually Lulu should be here shortly so we can do a sort of girl's night in."
"That could be fun." Sam smiled. "What do you say, a little poker?"
"Now there's the Spencer spirit." Laura pointed out. "Absolutely; I know there has to be cards around here somewhere."
"I'll get them." Lucky insisted. That wasn't what he had in mind when 'girl's night' was suggested.
"When does Carly come back?" Sam asked as she realized the last time she had some decent female bonding time was when they went out.
"I think I heard the plane comes in early tomorrow morning." Lucky replied while searching through his games for a deck. "Here we go!"
"My hero." Sam smiled and kissed him as he came over.
"Okay; I should run, but I won't be too long, I promise."
XXXXXX
Molly showed up at Caitlyn's door with her guitar in hand.
"Wow, and I didn't have to say anything?" Caitlyn mused.
"I think Krissy caught her off guard enough that the guitar lessons didn't seem so bad." Molly explained.
"They taught you how to tune it out there?"
"Yep."
"Hi Molly!" Dante stuck his head out from the kitchen. "Are you staying for dinner?"
"No; thank you." She respectfully declined. "It's our first night in the Lakehouse with Jax and he was going to grill up some steaks for us."
"That sounds nice; where are Michael, Morgan, and Britni staying tonight?" Dante asked.
"Morgan and Britni are going to Bobbie's, and then they are going to pick Carly and Jason up from the airport in the morning. I think Michael is going out with Alyssa and friends tonight and may be staying by himself at the house."
"By himself, right." Dante uttered sarcastically as he chopped tomato.
Caitlyn shook her head at the comment. "Have you been using a book?"
"This one." Molly pulled out. "And I got to here."
"Wow, you have the first six notes, very nice!"
"Yeah, but that's only if I have the letter written under it." Molly confessed. "I'm not good at sight reading."
"That's okay, it takes time, but do you want to know the secret?" Caitlyn asked her to which Molly nodded. "Do you know what a mnemonic device is?"
"Yeah, that's when you use a word or a phrase to help you remember something; like the planets my very excellent mother just served us nine pizzas. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto although Pluto isn't considered a planet anymore."
"Exactly; except with music it is every good boy does fine."
"What?" Molly questioned.
"That's your lines starting at the bottom, E, G, B, D, F; the spaces spell out FACE."
On her book Molly wrote out the phrase 'every good boy does fine.'
"And then to practice that you just look at a song and try to read through the notes. It's the early morning guitar practice when you don't want to wake anybody else up."
Molly snickered. "Yeah, Krissy doesn't wake up before noon on the weekends."
"She's a teenager." Caitlyn replied. "All right; why don't you show me what you know?"
The eight-year-old started playing the notes to Ode to Joy; slowing down and speeding up as she knew the section better.
"That's good, but if you're going to play in a band we need to work on the rhythm. These are all pretty much quarter notes so the value is one note per beat just stay with my count."
Caitlyn clapped the beat out as Molly attempted to stay with her. "Good job. Do you want to try this one?" She moved down the page.
"I don't know the notes." Molly replied.
"Sure you do." Caitlyn handed her a pencil. "Which one is that?"
"Every good boy… B!"
"Good, and that?" They went across the first line as Molly wrote the notes above the line. "Okay; now let's just try that first line."
Again Caitlyn clapped out the beat as Molly played. The girl smiled as she got to the end. "I did it."
"Yes you did. Now let's do the next line."
Dante found himself getting caught up watching the lesson having to shake himself out of it to pay attention to the food. It wasn't the music so much as it was watching his girlfriend interact with his little cousin, and the way Molly lit up to the praises as she played.
XXXXXX
"Come in." Liz invited Lucky. "He's in his room waiting for you."
"In his room? I thought you said he was feeling better."
"He was until he woke up from his afternoon nap to a 'rumbling tummy.'" Liz described using the six-year-olds words. "I put him to bed, but promised him to wake him up when you got here."
Hearing the crying in the other room Lucky figured he was awake. He raced back to see him. "What's wrong, bud?"
"Tell Jake to take it back. I don't want to be sick anymore." Cameron cried.
"Oh Cameron." Lucky sat down next to him in order to rub his back. "Nobody wants to be sick, and you certainly don't wish this on your little brother, do you?"
"I guess not." Cam replied. "I felt bad when he had it before."
"And you wished that you could have taken it away, didn't you?"
Cam nodded.
"That's because you love him. You have to know, Cam, that if your mom, daddy Zander, or I could take it away and make all better just like that." Lucky snapped his finger. "We would do it in a heart beat."
"Because you love me?"
"Precisely; unfortunately all we can do is give you medicine and pray you get all better soon."
"Is that what you were doing for Sam?" Cam asked.
"Yep; that was exactly what I was doing for Sam, and guess what? She's all better now."
"Do I get to see her?"
"Soon." He promised his boy.
"Daddy, can you sing me a song?"
"Sure, which one?" Lucky smiled.
"Five Sleepy Heads." Cam requested his favorite lullaby. Lucky couldn't recall the number of occasions he would tuck the boy into that very song and watch his eyelids fall.
"Just like magic." Liz commented from the doorway. "I hope Sam can appreciate what she has; that child of yours…"
"Everything I learned about being a father came from him." Lucky petted Cam's head. "He made so easy."
"I think Zander is finding that true as well."
"Where is he?" Lucky questioned.
"He had to go to the office for a bit, but he should be back shortly."
"Well, then I won't keep you." Lucky replied. He stood up and gave Liz a kiss on the cheek on the way out.
"Lucky, thank you for coming. For his sake." She said before he left.
"Of course."
XXXXXX
Jason stared down mesmerized by the soft grin on her face as she slept. Whatever dream she was having he knew had to be good and he didn't want to do anything to disturb that.
"Attention passengers; we may be experiencing a slight change in air pressure. If this continues to be an issue oxygen masks will be provided for you."
"Jason." She woke up groggy.
"I'm here." He replied combing through her locks.
"My ears are clogged." Carly complained of the pressure.
Jason handed her a bottle of water. "Sometimes the swallowing helps." He advised. "What were you dreaming about?"
"Our wedding." She replied.
"Are you going to hold me to the promise that you can have it as big as you want?" Jason asked her to which she looked at him questioningly. "I guess you didn't hear that."
"I don't want a big wedding." Carly admitted. "I was thinking about having it on the beach in Florida. We can invite our mom's and then the best man and maid of honor. The kids, of course."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah; I've already done the big formal affair with Jax. I want this just to be about us and the family we're creating."
"Who were you thinking for the witnesses?" Jason asked as he realized in the past it would have always been Sonny, but that ship sailed when he defended the woman responsible for getting his son shot.
"The best man is up to you." Carly replied.
"There's really only one person I can think of that fits that bill."
"Who? Spinelli?"
Jason shook his head no. "Michael."
"It's hard to think him as a young man." She admitted. "I mean, I know he's eighteen and he's had to grow up way before he was supposed to, but I think deep inside he's always going to be my little boy."
"You would have been proud of him; he held it together better than I could."
"I am proud of him; him and Morgan both."
"Who were you thinking?" Jason asked her.
"I don't know; my best friend is already going to be there." She replied as she kissed him.
"So why do we need the title of best man and maid of honor? As long as there are two people over the age of eighteen that can sign off on the marriage certificate we're fine. Between your mom, my mom, and Michael we definitely have that."
"Yeah, I suppose."
"When do you want this to happen?"
"June." She replied decisively. "It will give us plenty of time for the divorce to go through, and that's when the Harry Potter theme park is opening…"
"Well then June it is." He smiled.
XXXXXX
"Michael, are you sure this is okay?" Alyssa asked as they came back to the house after the party.
"As long as you got the okay to stay out from your parents…"
"I told them I was going to Trish'." She explained.
"Then we're fine." Michael replied after closing and locking the door behind him as well as turning on the security system. "Would you like to watch a movie?"
"Nah." She shook her head. "I thought we could… rest."
He nodded and led her up to his room and invited her under the covers.
"I had a good time tonight." She told him.
"Me too." He replied.
"I've missed you!"
"And I you."
Alyssa reached over to give him a simple kiss. As she did he cradled her neck in her palms as they passionately connected lips until she repositioned herself to her straddling his waist as his back was pinned against the mattress. She sat still for a moment in silent contemplation before beginning to remove the buttons that held her blouse together.
Michael reached above him to gently hold it together. "You don't have to do this." He assured her.
"I know." She replied before exposing the bra. He helped her slip the blouse off her shoulders before scooping her into his kiss using the nape of her neck. Her fingers wandered down his chest as she lifted his shirt over his head. He continued kissing her from her lips to her ear and down her neck as it seemed like each touch was magnified ten times in sensory perception.
