Round Two

"How come I don't have a baby sister?" Jade asked nonchalantly as she was getting tucked in by Sydney.

"Um…" Sydney looked over her shoulder at Joe. They exchange quizzical looks. "Why would you ask that, sweetheart?"

"Missy was talking about her baby sister. She says it's like a fun toy."

"Having a baby sister is a lot more than that, Jade." Joe walked over to her bed. "It's a big responsibility. Not to mention, a lot of work for mommy and me."

Sydney nodded. "Besides, you just had a birthday. You have plenty of toys now anyway. You don't need a baby sister."

"But I want one. I'd be good with her. I promise!" Jade pleaded and put on her best doe-eyed look. "Please?"

"Maybe in a few years, Jade." Sydney bent down to kiss her forehead. "Goodnight."

Jade snuggled down into her sheets. "Nighty night."

Sydney and Joe turned off her bedroom light and walked towards their own bedroom down the hall.

"Where did that come from?" Sydney turned to Joe. "She wants a sister now?"

Joe grinned and kissed her on the lips. "We could you know."

"Could what? Have another kid? Joe, no. We can't just have another kid like that."

"Why not?"

Sydney sat down on their bed. "Because I'm incredibly busy at the moment. Tech week starts tomorrow and opening night is in two weeks. Plus, Anna wants me to help her pick stuff out for the wedding. I do not have time to deal with another child. I love Jade, but she's enough for now."

Joe laughed and sat down next to her. "Well, technically you wouldn't have to deal with another kid for nine months."

"You're right. I'd have to deal with pregnancy symptoms. Not exactly something I want to go through with at the moment." She laid back and stretched out on the bed. "If you really want have another kid, we can try in a few years."

"Years? Jade will already be four years older than her brother."

"Brother?" Sydney lifted her head. "Is this about you wanting another kid, or you wanting a son?" She cocked an eyebrow at him.

"A little bit of both. I love Jade, but another guy in the house would be nice." He laid down next to her on the bed and ran a hand through her soft hair. "Come on. Let's have another kid. It'll be so much easier. I'm out of college and I actually have a job now."

"But we no longer have an unlimited supply of money."

"We have enough money to have another baby."

Sydney rolled her eyes. "Not now, okay? We can talk about this in a month and maybe we can try to have a kid then."

"In a month you'll be busy doing seven shows a week plus pick-up rehearsals. And the month after that, and the month after that. You're never not busy with a show. When it's off season all you do is choreograph shows for the next season. If being busy is your only excuse, we'll never have another child."

Sydney sighed. "I know. I just have a lot on my plate being a choreographer and a swing for Chicago. It's not that I wouldn't mind having another kid, it was just so hard with Jade and managing all the things I have to do. I'm not sure I can do that again."

"But I'm out of school now. I can help out a lot more than I could with Jade. It wouldn't be all on you this time." Joe did his best impersonation of Jade's doe-eyes. "Please?"

Sydney laughed. "Sorry, Joe. Not now. We can talk about it again after the show kicks off and I'm less busy during the day."

"Fine." Joe kissed her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

Sydney giggled and pulled away. "Did you hear me? I said in a month."

"Doesn't mean we still can't have some fun." Joe winked at her and rolled her over for another kiss.

"Oh, look, Jade! Daddy's home! He's going to play with you now and make the shiny disappear." Sydney hurriedly ran over to Joe, who had just walked through the door, and pulled him over to Jade.

"But mommy, I wanna see more spin-spins!"

"Mommy is going to be sick-sick if she does any more spin-spins." Sydney collapsed onto the couch.

"Hey Jade, what's that behind your ear?" Joe distracted her by doing his classic quarter trick.

Jade rubbed her ears and giggled. She happily clapped her hands and asked for more. Joe picked her up and sat down next to Sydney on the couch.

"I'm never choreographing a pirouette into a dance ever again," Sydney moaned.

Joe chuckled as he played with the quarter for Jade. "But you're so good at the spin-spins."

"Spin-spins!" Jade agreed and giggled some more.

"Just hearing it makes me sick."

Joe laughed some more. "You'll be fine and you know it."

"No, I really think I'm going to be sick." Sydney sat up and held a hand over her mouth.

"Are you-" Before Joe could even finish his question, Sydney had bolted off to the bathroom.

Jade pouted. "Where is mommy?"

"She'll be okay. Why don't you be good and play with toys for a minute while daddy goes to check on her, okay?"

Jade still appeared upset. "Okay."

Joe carefully set her down within eyesight of the bathroom door. He quickly went to check on Sydney.

"Are you feeling okay?"

Sydney was sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall across from the toilet. "Does it look like I'm okay?" She hung her head between her knees. "I think I'm going to go lie down."

Joe helped her up and walked her over to their bedroom. "Anything I can do? Do you want me to make a doctor's appointment?"

"Actually-"

"Mommy?" Jade stood in their doorway nervously tugging on her brown hair. She cautiously walked over to Sydney and crawled onto her lap. "I'm sorry. Spin-spins are bad for mommy."

Sydney smiled and brushed Jade's hair away from her face. "It's not your fault, sweetie. Mommy is sick for a different reason."

"She is?" Joe tilted his head in confusion.

Sydney nodded towards the bathroom attached to their room. "Go see for yourself."

As Joe was walking towards the bathroom he heard Sydney tell Jade it was time for a nap. Jade protested like usual, but went with Sydney anyway.

Joe walked into the bathroom to see what Sydney was referring to. At first glance, he saw nothing. He looked closer and noticed something sitting on the counter next to the sink.

Oh.

"Congratulations," a voice that was dripping with sarcasm spoke. Joe turned over his shoulder to see Sydney standing behind him leaning against the door-frame. "You get your wish. Looks like we're having another baby."

Joe held back his smile. He knew he shouldn't be this elated, especially since Sydney was probably distressed about it, but he couldn't help but feel a little joy bounce around inside his chest.

He looked back at the pregnancy test laying on the counter. It had a bright pink plus sign, which could only mean one thing: Sydney was pregnant again.

"So Jade, remember how you said you wanted a baby sister?"

Sydney and Joe sat on either side of Jade on her bed. They'd been debating on how long to wait to tell her about the baby and how exactly to do it.

"I don't want one." Jade continued to flip through the pages of a large picture book sitting in front of her.

Joe and Sydney exchanged concerned glances. "Why don't you want anymore? You were so determined to have one before."

"Missy says her sister took her parents. Now they don't play anymore." Jade stared up at her parents. "I'm not sharing you with a stupid sister."

"Well, sweetie, mommy and daddy may have already put an order in with the stork for a new baby."

"And we can't cancel it."

"But I don't want one anymore." Jade's eyes widened. "Can't we give it to somebody else?"

"Not exactly."

"But, but, you won't love me if there's another baby." Tears welled up in Jade's soft green eyes.

"No, no, sweetheart." Sydney picked Jade up and held her close. "We will always love you. Another baby won't change that."

"But I'm your baby."

They smiled down at her. "You will always be our special little girl, but every little girl has to grow up sometime. You'll be able to teach your little sibling everything you know, and they'll look up to you. You have to protect and help them though. That's part of the responsibility of being a big sister."

Jade sniffled. "You won't stop loving me?"

"Never. We'll just have a new baby to love just as much, and you'll love your brother or sister too."

"Brother?" Jade stuck her tongue out. "No boys. Boys are weird."

Joe frowned. "What about me?"

Jade giggled at him. "You're the weirdest one."

"Boys aren't all that bad. You might really enjoy having a brother," Joe tried to reason with her.

Jade shook her head. "No boys. And only one baby. I'm not sharing you any more than that."

Sydney kissed Jade on her forehead. "We'll see what the stork brings us."

A/N - So this is the last chapter before Sour Revenge, which takes place a couple months after this. Hopefully, the first chapter for that will be up this week. This story will continue to be updated alongside Sour Revenge with request stories and random stuff. The other chapters in here after this probably won't be chronological. For instance, a few might take place when the trio is in high school or something like that.

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