Chapter 24, Longing for Children
Another year had passed, and a lot had happened within that time with their local friends. As far as Chuckie and Nicole were concerned, they had gotten married back in 2035, as Zack was one of the best men in the wedding, and Kimi was one of the bride's maids, and come Christmas of 2036, they were blessed with a baby girl named Melenda Kira Finster, who was named after both, her living and deceased grandmother on her father's side. Her name however was spelled differently, because the hospital made a mistake on her birth certificate, and because her parents never got around to getting this fixed, as a result of being too busy with work, the new spelling stuck.
But while the Finsters were growing as a family, the Pickles would soon be getting a little bit larger too. Over the course of this past year, Tommy had happily married Silvia Weller, both of them finished college, and they were happily working at their chosen career paths. Silvia was a radio announcer for the local radio station, WUPE Radio, while Tommy was a staff writer at the Berkshire Eagle, the local newspaper. But at that year's Christmas party, they would have an even bigger surprise to share with the gang, and they were pleased to learn that Peter, Violet, and their now two-year-old daughter, princess Rosemary, would be throwing the party at their castle. Come Christmas eve of 2036, everybody gathered at Peter's castle for a party of food, music, and good time with friends. And to everyone's pleasant surprise, Zack and Kimi made it to the party this year. They were pleased to show up, as they hadn't had a chance to meet their new niece yet, but since they arrived after Chuckie and Nicole, they had their chance.
"Merry Christmas." Said Kimi, as she walked into Peter's living room and took a seat on the couch next to her sister-in-law.
"Merry Christmas Kimi." Nicole replied with a smile.
Kimi looked down at the little bundle of joy in Nicole's arms. The nearly two-months-old baby girl had a few strands of brown hair on her head, resembling a look similar to what she imagined her mother to have looked like at that age, and she was sucking on a blue pacifier and covered in a soft pink blanket.
"Awe, is that Melenda?" Kimi asked.
"It sure is, would you like to hold your niece?" Nicole asked.
"I'd love to!" Kimi replied excitedly.
"Melenda, sweetie, this is your aunt Kimi." Said Nicole, as she handed the baby over to her aunt, who gently cradled her in her arms.
Melenda opened her eyes and smiled up at her aunt.
"Hi Melenda." Said Kimi in a soft, soothing tone, as she gently rocked her niece in her arms.
At that moment, Zack and Chuckie walked over carrying plates of cookies and cups of punch, as they took a seat on the opposite end of the couch.
"So, Zack, are we ready for the gift exchange yet?" Kimi asked.
"We can't exchange gifts yet Kimi, Tommy and Silvia aren't here yet." Chuckie remarked.
"Yeah, and I hear they have a big surprise for us." Added Zack.
Kimi couldn't help but wonder what it could be. Everybody had been so busy, that this was the first time anybody had seen Tommy and Silvia since their wedding. Before anybody else could say another word, the two-year-old princess, who now had a head full of dark brown hair, pulled back into two braids, done up with gray ribbons, to match the gray Confederate uniform that she wore identical to that of her parents, bounded in the room, eager to sneak some cookies for herself. When Zack and Chuckie weren't looking, she snuck over to Chuckie's plate, and snuck away a reindeer shaped sugar cookie for herself, but as soon as she snuck it off, she accidentally bumped into the cup of punch, he had balanced on his knee, knocking it over, causing the contents of the cup to land on Melenda, who was happily resting in her aunt's lap, until she was covered in punch, causing her to start crying.
"Oh dear!" Kimi exclaimed, as she looked down and saw the mess.
Everybody looked over at Rosemary, who was in the middle of the floor, happily eating a cookie, as unknown by anybody, she meant to knock that cup on to Melenda, as she felt ignored and neglected, with everybody paying attention to the new baby. However, she then looked up at the other adults, who didn't look pleased. At the sound of Melenda's crying, Violet and Peter rushed into the room.
"What happened here?" Violet asked.
"Your daughter knocked my punch on to my daughter." Chuckie replied, frustrated.
Violet turned to her daughter, knelt down to her position, and looked her straight in the eye.
"Rosemary, you need to be more careful, all right?" Scolded Violet.
"Sorry." Rosemary managed to say, as she was only able to say a few words to the adults at this time.
"Don't apologize to me, apologize to our good friends. You do want Santa Clause to bring you presents this Christmas, don't you?" Violet asked.
Rosemary nodded with an innocent smile, but as soon as her mother wasn't looking, Rosemary snuck over to the Christmas tree, and plucked off a candy cane.
While Rosemary was happily enjoying her candy cane, and Violet helped Nicole get her baby cleaned up, Tommy and Silvia had arrived at the party. Peter let them in and escorted them into the living room, where all of the action was happening. They lay the present they brought for Rosemary under the tree, and stood before their friends on the couch, with a huge announcement. However, before anybody could speak, another knock was heard at the door. Violet went to answer it this time, to find two people she hadn't seen since her and Peter's wedding, Susie Carmichael, and Sean Butler.
"Oh my goodness! Susie and Sean! What a pleasant surprise!" Exclaimed Violet.
"We were suppose to go to England for Christmas, but our flight was canceled, so we decided to come to the party." Said Susie.
"Please, come in, come in." Said Violet, as she led Susie and Sean into the living room.
This would soon, result in two special surprises. Upon their arrival, Tommy and Silvia decided to take a seat and catch up with everybody, as nobody had seen Susie or Sean in years. While catching up, they found out that Susie was now a chorus director at a local high school called Pleasant Valley, and Sean Butler was the band director there. Then, came the first surprise of the evening, not just for everyone in the room, but to Susie too. After everyone had their share of snacks, Sean got off the couch, and knelt on the floor in front of Susie, pulling a small jewelry box out of his pocket. He looked into Susie's eyes, and asked that all important question.
"Susie? Honey? Will you marry me?" Sean asked.
Susie thought about it for a minute, while coming up with her answer. They had been together for a couple of years, and had recently gotten an apartment together, and it was something she had always dreamed of. While she took her time thinking, little did she know she'd have an audience cheering her on.
"Say yes! Say yes!" Zack chanted.
Everybody else in the room joined in chanting, "Say yes."
The chanting went on repeatedly, until Susie put her hand up to silence everyone, and give her response.
"Yes, yes Sean, I wanna marry you." Said Susie, as Sean revealed a beautiful engagement ring with a pink stone on it, and placed it on to Susie's finger.
As the two of them shared a kiss, everybody clapped and cheered for the soon to be married couple, and this was as good as any of a time, for Tommy and Silvia to make their big announcement.
"Everybody, my wife and I have an announcement." Said Tommy, as he stood before his friends in the living room, over near the Christmas tree.
Silvia joined him, though it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what the big announcement was, as her belly looked slightly larger than it was the last time anybody saw her.
"Everyone, Tommy and I are going to have a baby." Announced Silvia.
"How long have you been pregnant?" Kimi asked.
"Three months." Silvia replied.
"What's the due date?" Zack asked.
"July 27, 2037." Silvia replied.
"Do you guys know if it's going to be a boy or a girl yet?" Zack asked.
Kimi then whispered something into his ear, correcting him, as she had some advice she had learned from nursing school to pass along.
"Uh, Zack, sweetie, they won't be able to tell the gendar for another couple of months." Kimi whispered.
"Oh." Zack said disappointingly.
"Well we don't knhow yet, but if it's going to be a girl, we want to name her Trixi Amilia Pickles, after my deceased biological grandmother on my father's side, and one of Silvia's great aunts." Said Tommy.
"And if it's a boy, we're naming him Darin Milton Pickles, a name that I always personally liked where Darin is concerned, and Milton, the name of Tommy's first baby brother." Said Silvia.
Nicole, Zack and Kimi stared at the couple in confusion.
"Uh, maybe I'd better explain this one, since I was actually the one to come up with the name Milton. Back when we were really little, Angelica told all of us that babies came from stork eggs, and that storks were big ugly birds with feathers. This happened before Dil was born, so naturally, it was before either one of us had real siblings, or knew Zack, Nicole, and Sean, though we did know Susie at this time, and I believe we saw her later that day. Peter was busy helping our daddies cook some big dinner, but he found out soon enough as well. Anyway, we found ourselves an egg in Tommy's backyard, and raised it as our own, and I suggested we name him Milton. Though once the baby hatched, we discovered it was a baby stork, not a baby person, so we let him go, and waited till the day when Tommy got his real little brother, who you all know is Dil, our weird friend who's still down in Sara Sota, Florida, probably ringing up customers' last few gifts for the holidays at Radioshack." Explained Chuckie.
"Wow, now that makes perfect sense! Congratulations Tommy and Silvia." Said Zack, as he leaped off the couch, and gave his best guy friend and wife a huge hug.
However, while all of the celebrating was going on, Kimi looked away, as tears came to her eyes. She felt so left out, with Peter and Violet being parents for two years now, Chuckie and Nicole as parents, and soon, Tommy and Silvia would have a baby of their own, she felt, left out, and at that moment, she'd do anything to have a child. And while Susie and Sean didn't have a baby yet, they were only engaged at this point, thus, they didn't count where Kimi was concerned.
As the party continued on, gifts were exchanged, pictures were taken, and the usual activity that one would expect at a Christmas party commenced, Zack couldn't help but notice his wife was very quiet, and started to grow very concerned. After the party was over, once they were in their car driving home, Zack spoke up.
"Is everything ok Kimi? You seemed a bit, distracted post receiving the news of Tommy and Silvia's new baby." Zack asked out of concern.
At that moment, Kimi broke down into uncontrollable sobs.
"Oh Zachary, it's just, not fair! We've been married for nearly four years now, and we still don't have a little baby of our own." Kimi wined.
"Now Kimi, don't cry, God will bring us our own little bundle of joy in time." Said Zack reassuringly, as he stopped at a red light, and gently tapped Kimi on the shoulder.
"But what if he doesn't? What if it's just, us, forever? I'd love for little Melenda to have a cousin to play with." Said Kimi.
"Tell you what. If by our fifth wedding anniversary, you still haven't been able to get pregnant, we'll look into adopting a child." Said Zack.
"You mean it Zachary?" Kimi asked.
"Of course. I mean, deep down, does it really matter how we obtain our offspring? If we can't create one ourselves, why not give a child a home who doesn't have parents. After all, Christmas doesn't just come once a year, it comes everyday when you think about it." Said Zack.
Kimi pondered this thought, as they sat there quietly, driving the rest of the way home. Once they got home and headed inside to turn in for the night, Kimi, still a bit confused by what Zack had said to her earlier, turned to him.
"Zachary, what do you mean, Christmas is here, every day?" Kimi asked.
"Well, haven't you figured out that Christmas isn't just about Christmas trees, holly and presents? It's about giving to others less fortunate than us. It's about being together as a family. It's about, well, it's a feeling. And when you reach out to others and help them, you're spreading the spirit of Christmas, no matter what day it is." Explained Zack.
Kimi looked at her husband and smiled, realizing, he was right.
"You're right Zachary, I don't know what I was thinking. That's an excellent idea, but let's keep trying for the next year to produce on our own, please?" Kimi begged.
"Tell you what, it's only eleven-thirty at night, and we're home, alone, let's start right now." Said Zack, as he stripped down to nothing, while Kimi did the same.
Soon, they were in bed, on top of each other, about to get started.
"Merry Christmas Zachary." Kimi whispered.
"Merry Christmas, my little dumpling." Whispered Zack, as he started to gently kiss her neck, sending chills down Kimi's spine.
And this, ends chapter 24. So, will this lovely couple finally get what they've been wanting? Find out, in the last and final chapter of this story, which should be posted shortly.
Author's Note: References to my story, The Reunion of Tommy and Silvia, and to the season 3 Rugrats episode, The Stork, were made in this chapter. And ordinarily, I should wait until tomorrow to release the final chapter of this story, but since I won't be able to release it tomorrow, because I'll be without a way to do so, being iPhone bound at my folks place for the holidays, I'm going to release it, a day early, so be looking for the climax of this story, very soon.