Chapter 34

"We're going to keep her overnight for observation. She doesn't know yet, and I have a feeling she's not going to be very happy about it," April said.

"She won't," Parker said.

"You two may as well go home. She'll stay here until she's ready to go upstairs. Not much for you two to do here."

"Except listen to her complain," Kelly mused, eyes twinkling.

Parker nodded. "We'll wait till she comes back so we can say goodbye."

"Okay," April agreed before departing.

"She's not gonna be happy," Kelly reminded Parker.

"Oh yeah."

Kelly stifled a yawn. "We may as well take off. We don't know how long she's going to be in MRI."

"You're right," Parker agreed. She walked over to Kelly and whispered in his ear.

He smiled. "I like the sound of that."

They slipped out of the room and started for the door. Kelly noticed Taylor sitting at the nurse's station.

"Hey, Taylor, night shift, huh?" Kelly greeted Mrs. Joe Cruz.

"Hey, Kelly. And yes, next two weeks. Hey, Parker."

"Hi, Taylor. Thanks for allowing Philip to come over."

"Not a problem, "she said. "You'd do it for us if Pearl didn't have dibs."

Parker smiled. She had heard stories about her coworker in UCAN's office's mother who insisted on babysitting the Cruz twins at every turn. "Not a problem. We'll stop by your place and pick him up."

Taylor shook her head. "Let him sleep over. One more isn't any trouble."

"You sure?" Parker asked.

Taylor waved her hand. "Go home, both of you."

"Thanks, Taylor," Kelly called as he took Parker's hand and headed out the door.

"That was nice of Taylor," Parker said as she waited for Kelly to unlock the door.

"I think she didn't want us waking Joe up," Kelly said as he unlocked her door and walked around the car and slid into the driver's seat.

"Or the kids."

"Them too."

Kelly unlocked the apartment door and stepped inside. Parker followed, tossing her purse on the floor. She kicked off her shoes. "You want a beer?" he asked.

"No, thanks. I'm just going to go to bed."

"I'll be in shortly."

She nodded and headed into the bedroom. She changed into her sleep shirt. Kelly walked in a few seconds later. He took off his jeans and tee shirt.

"Any chance of me trying to get you pregnant with twins?" he asked.

Parker giggled. "It doesn't work that way."

"Just thought I'd ask. We don't have to worry about waking anyone up."

"Let me think about it," she said as she lifted the covers and slipped beneath them. Kelly joined her.

"What's taking so long?"

Parker slid on top of him. "Patience, Lieutenant."

Kelly brought her lips down to his. "I don't have any," he reminded in between kisses.

"You'd better learn."

An obnoxious buzzing noise woke Parker from her dream. She rolled over to find Kelly still asleep and snoring loudly. It wasn't his snoring that had awakened her. She rolled back on her side and closed her eyes. The buzzing stopped, but only for a few seconds. Her eyes flew open as it started again. She looked around for the source of the buzzing, only to realize it was Kelly's cell phone ringing away on top of his dresser. She reached out and shook his shoulder.

"Kelly."

He made a moaning noise and swatted an arm in her direction.

"Kelly," she said a little bit louder, but moving back so she was out of his arm's range. She shook his shoulder again.

Kelly felt the shaking and heard Parker's voice, but he didn't want to deal with her right now. He wanted to catch another hour of sleep.

"Kelly Michael Severide!" she practically yelled.

"What?" he grumped. "What the hell do you want?"

Parker got out of bed and walked over to his dresser. She picked up his phone and brought it over to him. She tossed it on the bed beside him. "Your phone was ringing," she said as she walked out of the bedroom and into the bathroom.

She started the shower and slipped inside. She got it that Kelly, like her, wasn't a morning person, but when he woke up grumpy, she didn't want to be anywhere around him. She reached for her body wash and poufy thing and poured some of the lemon scented wash on to it and contemplated how soon was early enough to go pick up Philip. She didn't want to go too early because she didn't want to wake up Joe, but she didn't want to go too late either, and risk waking up Taylor.

Kelly opened the bathroom door and slipped inside. He contemplated joining Parker in the shower, but figured he'd better apologize first. He did his thing and took off for the kitchen.

Inside the kitchen, he brewed two cups of coffee, grateful that Parker had a Keurig. Coffee finished, he poked around in the fridge for something for breakfast. He sometimes hated off days because Gabby's cooking wasn't in evidence. She was a good cook. Parker was too, but not chef level. Mary Alice specialized in comfort food, but since she was staying overnight at the hospital, there wasn't going to be any pancakes or French Toast this morning.

Parker joined him in the kitchen twenty minutes later. She reached for the coffee and took a sip.

"Your Grandmother called. She wants us to pick her up," he said as he slid a plate of bacon and eggs in front of her.

"Is she discharged?"

"Not yet, but that didn't stop her from calling."

Parker smiled. Mary Alice wasn't going to stay one minute longer than necessary. "I'll call the hospital after I pick up Philip and see what is going on."

"I already did. The nurse said that they're going to keep her for 23 hours, so she won't be discharged until later tonight."

Parker added pepper and salsa to her eggs. "That's gonna piss her off."

"She doesn't know yet. And I pity the person that tells her."

"Sometimes she is too feisty for her own good."

"Stubborn too. Just like her Granddaughter."

He kissed her cheek and then sat down next to her at the table. "So, I thought we'd pick up Philip and take him to the zoo. What do you think?"

"I think that is an excellent idea."