Hanging on a Moment Part II
Chapter 4
"Does this mean she is done being mad at us?" Megan questioned Spencer as they walked down the side walk towards the Marin home.
"God, I hope so! It's been two weeks." Spencer shrugged.
"She has to know we were only concerned, not that we thought her kid was some crazy little ankle biter!"
"Your kid is a crazy little ankle biter and we still love him!" Spencer smiled over at Megan.
"Thus is true." She nodded laughing.
"No. He's just a good time, like his mom." Spencer replied as she softly knocked on the door.
"Hey." Hanna greeted the pair as they stepped into the large foyer.
The three girls gathered around the kitchen island, Spencer digging in the candy dish for a red piece of taffy.
"So…" Megan trailed off.
"Guess what I started?" Spencer butted in to release the awkward tension lifting up her shirt, showing the little welts on the top of her bum.
"Oh Spence. That looks so painful." Hanna soothed. "Need an ice pack?"
"No, but I will take some booze if you have any of that lying around." The smart one whined holding out her bottom lip.
"Your ass looks like it feel in a bee hive." Megan replied as Spencer shimmied up her pants.
"Thanks Megan."
"But really, how is it going this time?" Megan asked as she perused through the River's fridge handing Spencer a bottle of peach Smirnoff.
"Only five more fun filled weeks of needle pricks twice a day before they knock me unconscious to do a wonderfully comfortable egg retrieval." Spencer snarked taking a large drink from the glass bottle.
"I'm sorry you have to go through this Spence." Hanna sighed heavily looking into Spencer's eyes.
Spencer shrugged looking back at her. "It is what it is."
"No. I'm really, really sorry." Hanna replied looking down at the tile on the floor.
"Han you don't have to be sorry."
"Not just about all the fertility crap you've had to go through, but also for the last time we hung out. You too Megan." Hanna muttered quietly.
Spencer and Megan looked at each other not quite sure of what they should say or do.
"You guys were right. We took Piper to a specialist."
"Is she ok?" Megan questioned as her forehead creased with a worry line.
"She has a lot of allergies. The specialist thinks that she's had them for awhile now and they've caused some erosion in the lining of her stomach, esophagus, and intestines. We are going to have to switch a lot of our diet and she has to take medicine to help heal the damage." Hanna exhaled as her eyes started watering.
"How could I not tell? I am her mother! She has been in pain probably since she was born."
"Han, sometimes it just happens. Don't beat yourself up. One time, I thought Emmett was just being a little shit and he kept telling me he didn't feel good. I took his temp and he didn't have a fever or anything and I thought he was faking so he could stay home. I got a call a half an hour after I dropped him off at school that he had diarrhea on the story time circle." Megan announced prying the lid of her bottle. "Sometimes shit just happens."
"Literally." Spencer perked up her eyebrows adding to Megan's story.
"I got a call from Charlotte and Paisley's teacher the other day. Apparently, my child is the only one in Kindergarten who can't tie her shoe laces yet. Mrs. Shannley told me she gets so frustrated and upset that Paisley ties them for her. Toby and I were so wrapped up in this fertility crap we forgot to teach our only kid how to tie her shoes!" Spencer shook her head as her words comforted Hanna.
"Paisers is such a good kid!"
"Thanks you two. I shouldn't have gotten so defensive; you just never think that anything is going to be wrong with your children. I felt like something was off, but I kept shoving it aside hoping, praying I was wrong." Hanna added taking a seat at on an empty barstool.
"Will she have to have the dietary constrictions and take medicine for the rest of her life?" Megan asked as solemnly as she possibly could.
"They don't know yet. We have to come back in a few weeks to see if it's helping or not. The specialist said some kids grow out of allergies, some don't. He is just really concerned about the acid erosion causing long term effects. It's been about a week since we've started the adjustments and Caleb swears he can already see an improvement." Hanna smiled weakly.
"That's great!" Spencer smiled finishing her fruity alcoholic beverage.
"Fingers crossed she is a lot better before we have to fly out for Emily's Wedding!" Hanna gestured holding up her intertwined digits.
"Three more weeks! But who is counting?!" Spencer chuckled opening her second bottle.
"I am sooooo ready for a vacation!" Hanna squealed excitedly. "I would feel so much better leaving the girls knowing that Piper wasn't in pain."
"Thank you again Megan for offering to watch Charlotte." Spencer grabbed Megan's tiny wrist giving it a gentle squeeze.
"No problem! Char is an angel and Emmett is so excited to have one of his buddies stay for a week." Megan smiled setting down her bottle. "I'm excited to have a girl over to do girly things with."
"Well she is all about the glitz and glam so she will love that. I honestly have no idea where she gets that from?" Spencer sighed. "She's loves to wear tutus and crowns but she also can hit a tee ball across the yard already. I kind of let her pick and choose whatever she likes. My parents put waaaaay too much pressure on my sister and I and I refuse to do that to her."
"I can definitely tell she is yours. I see the way she tries to color inside the lines perfectly and how determined she is to do well." Hanna smirked over to Spencer. "She also has a huge heart, just like you."
"Thanks Han. We love your little ladies quite a bit too."
"Parker is stubborn as all hell, just like Caleb."
"Ahhhhhem." Spencer cleared her throat.
"And me, I suppose." Hanna giggled. "We are just so lucky that the older two play so well together and are little best friends! I was really concerned about having two girls so close in age. I thought they were going to be at each other's throats all the time."
"You mean like me and Melissa?"
Hanna snapped her fingers and pointed to Spencer. "Exactly!"
"I think Parker has Caleb's personality and Paisley has more of yours. That is probably why they get along so well." Megan pointed out.
"When We moved here, Caleb and I had designed it so they could have their own rooms and still had an extra room for another baby and the last room for a guest space. Both girls begged us to share a room."
"Emmett has asked for a sibling a few times."
"What do you tell him?" Spencer chimed in.
"That when he is more responsible that he can get a dog." Megan snorted as she let out a laugh.
Spencer's eyes widened. "I always tell Charlotte she has Demetrius for now."
"That poor cat has survived a lot of tail pulls from all the kids." Megan grimaced thinking of how rough the kids had been with him.
"Paisley keeps asking for a pet. I told her she has a sister and there was no way I was cleaning up after another living thing. I barely can keep up here!"
"Have you thought about a cleaning lady?" Spencer teased.
"Yes. Many times but after we get back from Hawaii, Leo is going to come back for a bit and help me hire a partner."
"Three more weeks, three more weeks!" Hanna cheered pumping her fists.
"Do you think Aria is going to bring her baby with?"
"Uh, she didn't say in the email? I would assume, he would stay with her mom." Spencer stuttered not sure of the details yet.
"How old is he again?" Megan asked trying to remember when her friends mentioned that she had him.
"I think he is like a few weeks old now, right? Tallen was born right after Parker's dance recital." Hanna noted pulling out some cookies from the jar next to the candy.
"God, that would be a miserable flight with a baby that small." Megan shuttered thinking of being contained that long with a restless infant.
"She sent us a ton of pictures and he is sooooo cute!" Spencer sighed putting an emphasis on the 'so' part.
"Someone has baby fever." Hanna giggled.
"These hormones make me crazy, I swear to God." Spencer laughed cradling the temples of her forehead with her hands.
"Well, I'm super happy you will both be getting some relaxing done here soon. You both definitely need to get leid. And calm down a little bit." Megan smiled.
"Shit!" she shrieked looking down at her watch. "Spence, we've got to go! I promised my aunt that I'd pick Emmett up like twenty minutes ago; she's getting old and can't handle his sass for very long anymore! You are my ride!"
Spencer stumbled around the kitchen retrieving her keys from the counter by the fridge.
"I will be taking those, thank you." Megan snickered swiping the keys out of her tipsy friend's hands.
"Thanks for coming over lovies!" Hanna hugged her friends as they left out the door.
*******HOAMPII*********
"Mama, Mama, Mama! Daddy let us get our face's painted at the carnival!" Paisley exclaimed as her big blue eyes sparkled.
"Look Mama, I'm a tiger! Grrrrrr." The sweet six year old scrunched up her face making her best impression of the ferocious beast.
"I see that! You scared me a little." Hanna giggled reaching out her arms for Piper.
"I'm a butterfly!" Parker giggled pretending to fly around the living room as Caleb unloaded all the girls' belongings in his arms.
"That's a lot of glitter there Park!" Hanna smiled tucking her stray lock of hair behind her growing eight year olds ear.
"Me! Me!" Piper pouted pointing to her own face.
"Piper, Daddy said you couldn't because the paint might make you owie." Paisley gently soothed her little sister making her way over to the pile of stuff Caleb set down.
"Here Piper, you can have my monkey." The six year old grinned offering her the toy she had one so she wouldn't be sad that she couldn't be included.
Hanna looked up choked up a little at her middle child's adorable gesture.
"I didn't know if it was ok or not?" Caleb shrugged picking up Paisley and throwing her up into the air. "You're a pretty cool big sis Paisers!"
Paisley giggled as he set her back down.
"Dad can we eat some of 'C.a.n.d.y' that we got?" Parker spelled out so Piper wouldn't know.
"You can have a few pieces, eat it up at the island though please." Caleb replied as his two oldest ran off into the next room.
"Did Mama's girl have fun with Daddy?" Hanna questioned her little blonde haired beauty as her chestnut colored eye's lit up and she clapped her hands.
"She did pretty well." Caleb noted. "It will be hard for awhile not knowing what she can and can't have. Especially when things don't have labels on them. Dairy, gluten and eggs are pretty much in everything."
"Shoot! I totally spaced on that. We will have to get her special snacks for stuff like that." Hanna mentioned helping her youngest build a tower with the wooden blocks on the ottoman.
"Yeah, we should probably pick some out for your mom's house. Hawaii is coming up!" Caleb grinned as he rubbed his hands together.
"I still need to shop for another swimsuit." Hanna added as the little tower fell over.
"Ouuuuuht oh." Piper perked her eyebrows up as the blocks tumbled to the floor.
"I thought you just got a new one?"
"I did, but we are going to be there for a week! I thought I could use more than one."
"Oh, girls!"
"Ouuuuuht oh!" Piper repeated herself. "Ought Oh is right Pipes!"
"I might even pick up two more."
"That's ridiculous. You know you won't be wearing anything half the time we are there anyways." Mr. River's winked over at his wife.
"Well, you might have to take it easy, you will have had your surgery two weeks before." She smirked handing a block to Piper.
"All the reason more to my dear." He replied coyly perking up his eyebrows and sticking out his tongue.
"Daddy is naughty!" Hanna muttered to Piper as she held up her finger to her father.
"No, Dada!"
Hanna and Caleb both burst into laughter as Parker and Paisley entered from the kitchen.
"What's so funny?" Parker smiled confused.
"Did you guy's know that Mommy snorts when you tickle her?" Caleb piped up as he and his daughters moved closer to Hanna.
"No Caleb, no tickling!"
"Tickle Monster!" he yelled as his three daughters screeched with laughter tickling their mom.
Authors Note: Hey Pretty Little Readers. More Haleb with babies adorableness for you all! Four more days! Love to all!-BroStow