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Post by Jen on Jan 13, 2005 21:04:19 GMT -5
The day of the game…
“Honey," Gus said as he sat on the bed beside Harley and kissed her shoulder, causing her to stir. "Zach's ready, so we're going to go."
"Okay, Zach's ready?" she mumbled.
"That's what I said," he smiled. "He's downstairs probably zonked out on the couch waiting for me. You feeling okay?" he asked as he put his hand to her forehead.
"Yeah, just tired," she replied.
"Okay. I'll call you when we get there," she said as he leaned down and kissed her.
"Be careful," she warned. "I love you."
"I love you too," he replied then went downstairs.
Zach fell asleep before they even got to the highway, so Gus turned the radio down so it wouldn't wake Zach but would keep him entertained. The three hour car drive felt even longer than usual without anyone to talk to, so he was glad when Zach woke up with about a half-hour to go.
"Hey sleepyhead," he teased, looking through the rearview mirror.
"Hi," Zach replied sleepily. "Where's Mommy?"
"She's at home. We're going to the Cubs game with my friend, remember?"
"Oh yeah. Is your friend nice?" Zach asked.
"Yeah, he is."
"Okay," Zach said, satisfied then went on to lead a long conversation about the SpongeBob episode he watched that morning.
When they got to the stadium, Gus parked in a parking garage and helped Zach out of his car seat.
"Should we take your jacket with us?" he asked and Zach shook his head. "Hmm, we probably should so Mommy doesn't yell at me," Gus added and he held his hand out.
Zach put his hand in Gus's and they walked over to the stadium. They were a little early to meet Mike, so they found a bench to sit on while Gus called Harley.
"Hello?" she answered after a few rings.
"It's me," Gus replied. "We're here."
"Hey you. How was the drive? How was Zach?" she asked.
"Slept most of the way. How are you? You finally up?"
"Yeah, I got up about an hour ago. It was nice to sleep in and have the bed all to myself," she teased.
"Yeah right. You miss me and you know it."
"Yeah, I do," she admitted.
"I wanna talk to Mommy!" Zach begged as he stood on the bench beside Gus.
"Sit down," Gus instructed and handed him the phone.
When Zach was done recounting his rather uneventful morning for Harley, he handed the phone back to Gus.
"He's hyper," she observed.
"Yeah, well he got a lot of sleep. So what are your plans for the day?" he asked.
"I'm going to do some spring cleaning. Can you believe we still have boxes that aren't unpacked?"
"Yeah, I can believe it," he laughed.
"Well, they're all in the guest room, so I'm going to clean that out and make the bed for Mike. Should I make dinner for you guys?"
"No, we'll probably just stop somewhere on the way home. So we'll be home around seven," he said.
"Alright. Hey, you didn't want that ugly plaid hat anymore did you?" she asked out of the blue.
"That's my lucky hat! Don't you dare touch that hat, Harley!" he warned. "Oh, there's Mike," he said as he saw Mike walking towards the bench and stood up. "I'll see you tonight. I love you."
"Gus Aitoro, long time no see," Mike greeted as he stuck out his hand.
"Hey, good to see you too," Gus said as he shook Mike's hand and they ended up in a pat-on-the-back hug.
"How you doing?" Mike asked him.
"I'm doing great," Gus answered as he reached out and grabbed the back of Zach's shirt to keep him from wandering off. "Mike, this is my step-son, Zach. Zach, this is my friend Mike," he introduced them and Mike squatted to get to Zach's level.
"Hey Zach. It's nice to meet you," he said.
"Hello," Zach replied quietly then grabbed Gus's hand and looked up at him.
"You guys ready to go in?" Gus asked.
"Oh, wait, I gotta have a cigarette first," Mike said as he pulled a pack out of his pocket. "Cabbie wouldn't let me smoke. You want one?"
"No thanks, I quit."
"Oh yeah, when?"
"Year and a half ago?" Gus answered uncertainly.
"Man, that wife of yours must be something."
"She is, but I had a lot of reasons for quitting," Gus added. "Zach, get over here. You have to stay with me, buddy," he said and Zach came over and sat on the bench with him.
Not long after they got into the stadium and found their seats, the game started and vendors brought around popcorn and beer. Mike got a beer, but Gus declined.
"Daddy," Zach began after the Cubs pitcher struck out his first batter.
"What Zach?" Gus asked and Zach knelt on his seat so he could whisper in Gus's ear.
"I have to go potty," Zach answered.
"Alright, let's go," Gus said as he stood up and picked up Zach. "We'll be right back," he told Mike then rushed up the stairs to the concourse.
They got finished with the bathroom, got a drink and were back in their seats by the time the Cubs were up to bat. The rest of the inning was pretty uneventful, so Gus and Mike took the time to catch up.
"So Daddy, huh?" Mike asked carefully.
"Yeah," Gus smiled.
"Is his dad not around?"
"He's around. Just not as much as me. It's a long story," Gus replied and Mike nodded.
"Married with children…still hard for me to believe," he said.
"Well, I'm a different man than I was when we worked together," Gus explained.
"Yeah, no kidding. You quit smoking, you're out of the Feds, you're no longer using women for casual..." Mike said, but stopped before finishing the sentence and cleared his throat. "So, tell me about this wonderful wife of yours."
"Harley," Gus smiled.
"Yeah, Harley, tell me about her. How did you meet? What's the deal with the reception-only invitation?"
"Well, she's a cop that I worked with when I was on the Santos case for the FBI. That's how we met and we've worked together ever since. About year after I moved here and after like six months of me chasing her, we had our first date. I moved in with her a few months later, proposed on New Year's Eve. Planned a wedding for September, ended up getting married in Jamaica in May, friends insisted we have the reception in September," Gus answered. "And I think that about sums it up," he laughed.
"Yeah. But tell me about her. How did she get through to you? Because I know a lot of women who insisted your heart was immune to everything but work."
Gus nodded, "It was...until Harley. It's a really long story, but she saved my life. I mean, she didn't jump in front of a bullet or anything, but she saved me from myself. She's amazing. She's strong and smart and funny. And she's beautiful," he gushed. "But she's not stuck-up model beautiful. She's wake up in the morning, roll over and take my breath away beautiful."
Mike smiled at his old friend's happiness.
"See, you asked for it. Now I won't be able to stop smiling or talking about her," Gus laughed. "But she's great. You're going to love her. She's the kind of woman can drink you under the table and beat you in arm wrestling while she's organizing a PTA fundraiser."
"That's great Gus. You seem very happy, so I'm happy for you. So are you guys planning on having kids of your own?" he asked.
"Umm," Gus hesitated, "We've actually been trying for almost a year, but for whatever reason, it's just not happening. But hopefully someday," he finished and Mike noticed his mood completely changed, so he let the subject go after a quick apology.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Oh man, don’t tell me you sold that awesome car of yours!” Mike said as he saw the lights blink on Harley’s car.
“No, I still have that awesome car. This is Harley’s car, it’s just easier with the car seat,” he explained as he helped Zach into the back seat.
“Daddy, I’m hungry,” Zach said as Gus and Mike got in the front seat.
“You are? I’m kind of hungry myself. What do you want to eat?” Gus asked him.
“Pizza!” Zach answered excitedly.
“You always want pizza,” Gus rolled his eyes, “Pizza okay with you?” he asked Mike.
“Sounds like a good meal to me,” he answered.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Harley stood in the doorway of the bathroom off of her and Gus’s room armed with a bucket of water and a scrub brush. She had put off this chore all day, it was time to suck it up and scrub away the soap scum.
“I should clean out the vanity first,” she said aloud to herself, more than willing to put off the dirty work.
She sat down on the floor and opened the cabinet, finding more half-empty bottle of shampoo than they would ever need and took a few minutes to combine them. She found a basket of bath items that one of the officers from the station got them for their wedding and pulled it out to throw out unneeded items. As she yanked it out of the cabinet, something else fell to the floor. She reached over without looking and picked it up. When she finally looked at it, she saw that it was a pregnancy test she had obviously missed when she threw the rest out. She went to throw it in the garbage can, but she stopped before losing her grip on it. She pulled it back to her and thought about what day it was. She looked down at the test, then to the trash can, then back to the test, which she set on the counter.
“It’s not doing any harm there,” she shrugged and went back to her cleaning.
As she cleaned the rest of the bathroom, her eyes kept going back to the pregnancy test on the counter.
After she pulled off her gloves and dropped them in the trashcan, she picked the pregnancy test up again.
“What the hell? I guess I’m a glutton for punishment. It’s here, I might as well take it,” she finally decided.
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Post by Jen on Jan 13, 2005 21:05:39 GMT -5
Harley sat on the bed, biting her nails. She wanted so badly to call Gus right now, but they had waited so long for this, she couldn’t imagine telling him over the phone. And he would probably have driven off the road if she would have. She looked at her watch, the game was over three hours ago. She knew they were going to get dinner in Chicago, so it would be about another hour before they got home. She had spent the whole day cleaning, so she was in dire need of a shower. She ran downstairs to make sure there wasn’t any clutter lying around from her cleaning then went back upstairs to pass some time in the shower.
By the time she had showered and changed, she heard a car door shut outside and ran downstairs as Gus, Zach and Mike came in the front door.
“Hey guys,” she greeted as she stepped off the stairs.
“Hey baby,” Gus replied, “This is Mike, Mike, this is my wife, Harley,” he introduced them.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Harley said as she shook Mike’s hand.
“You too, I’ve heard so much about you,” he replied.
“How was the game?” Harley asked.
“It was good,” Mike answered.
“Well, the Cubs must have won, or this guy would be a grouch,” she laughed as she touched Gus’s cheek.
“Momma,” Zach whined as he lifted his head off of Gus’s shoulder and reached for Harley.
“Come on, let’s sit down, you’re getting too heavy,” she said as she took him from Gus then went to sit on the couch and Gus and Mike followed her.
“Harley, I want to thank you for letting me stay here tonight,” Mike sat as he sat in the easy chair.
“Oh no problem. It’s not like we don’t have the room,” she replied with a smile then turned to Gus, “Was he like this all day?” she asked.
“No, he was really good, but he slept most of the way home, so I woke him up when I got him out of the car,” Gus answered. “How was your day? You feel okay? You were still sleeping when we left this morning,” he asked as he sat next to her on the couch and kissed her.
Harley held the kiss longer than usual then answered him, “It was good. I’m okay, just tired and didn’t feel that great,” she answered honestly.
Gus reached over and felt her forehead with the back of his hand, “I hope you’re not getting the flu or something.”
“I don’t think so,” she replied. “When he wakes up, I want to talk to you about something,” she added quietly.
“Okay,” he nodded, “I’m going to get a drink, Mike, can I get you anything? Beer?”
“Yeah that would be great,” Mike answered.
“Honey, you want one?” he asked Harley as he got up.
“No,” she answered and he left the room.
“Oh Harley, I’m disappointed,” Mike said. “Gus promised you would drink me under the table.”
Harley laughed, “Well, normally I would, but I already had a case of beer today,” she teased and Mike laughed.
“Are you sleepy?” she asked Zach and he nodded.
“Ready for bed?” she continued and he miraculously perked up.
“No, I’m not sleepy,” he assured her.
“Uh huh,” she laughed. “Did you catch any foul balls today?”
“No,” he shook his head as he settled back into her chest.
“Why not?”
“Cause none came to us!” he answered like it was a stupid question.
“Oh of course,” she replied as she hit her forehead with her hand.
“Lookie what Daddy bought me,” Zach said as he showed off his stuffed bear that was wearing a Cubs shirt and holding a baseball and bat.
“That’s cool, what’s his name?” Harley asked.
“Cubby,” he answered.
“That’s a good name,” she nodded. “Did you guys eat dinner?” she asked and Mike nodded along with Zach. “Is your belly nice and full? Let me see that belly,” she teased as she pulled up Zach’s shirt and blew on his stomach, sending him into fits of laughter as Gus came back into the living room with a beer for himself and one for Mike.
After he handed Mike the bottle, he stood behind Harley and squeezed her shoulder.
“You know Mike, you picked a great day to stay with us, because every Sunday, Gus and my dad make brunch for everyone after church and it is the best meal of the week. I hope you don’t have to catch your plan before that,” Harley said.
“Well, my plane leaves at 2:30, so maybe I can do that,” he replied.
“Good,” Harley smiled.
“Can I play my video game tonight?” Zach asked.
“Sure. Why don’t you play for a little bit right now while I talk to Daddy,” Harley suggested as she urged him off her lap and Gus helped him get his Playstation set up.
“I hope you don’t mind if I steal my husband away for a few minutes,” Harley said to Mike as she stood up from the couch.
“Not at all,” he waved, “Hey Zach, can two people play that game?” he asked and when Zach nodded, he crawled down on the floor with him. “I think we’ll be okay without you,” he winked up at Harley who took Gus by the hand and led him to the kitchen.
When they got behind the swinging door, Gus pushed Harley up against the wall in a deep kiss.
“I missed you today,” he breathed when they broke the kiss.
“Oh, I missed you too. Especially today,” Harley sighed.
“What’s up?” he asked.
“Well, I was upstairs cleaning our bathroom and I found a pregnancy test. For some reason I decided to take it, I don’t know why…” she began.
“Oh baby,” Gus said sadly as he wrapped his arms around her.
“No, Gus, you don’t understand. I took the test and it was positive,” she told him.
“What?” he asked, not sure he heard her right.
“It was positive!”
“Are you sure?” he asked, still in shock. “I’m sure the test was positive, I’m not sure I’m pregnant, but that’s what this test says.”
“I can’t…oh my God, I can’t believe this!” Gus said excitedly, a huge smile on his face, as he hugged her tightly, lifting her off the ground.
“I know, it took a few minutes for it to sink into me too,” she replied. “I mean after all the negatives, this was kind of hard to believe.”
“We’re going to have baby,” he told her and she nodded.
“I hope so,” she agreed. “I just don’t want to get my hopes up too high until I see Dr. Sedwick and get a better test.”
“Of course,” he nodded. “How long have you known about this? Why didn’t you call me?” he asked.
“Just a few hours ago,” she answered, “I was going to call, but I wanted to see the look on your face when I told you. And I’m so glad I waited,” she smiled.
“I love you so much,” Gus said as he ran his hand down her cheek.
“I love you too,” Harley replied and their lips met in another long kiss.
Harley sighed when the broke the kiss and rested her head on Gus’s chest.
"What? What's wrong? You don't seem overexcited about this," Gus said as he kissed Harley's cheek and released her from a hug.
"No, I am...I really am. I guess I'm just trying not to get my hopes up too much. I mean, this is just a home pregnancy test, and I can't even get to Dr. Sedwick's office until Monday to know for sure," she explained.
"Okay, forget what the test says. What do you say? You've been pregnant before, do you feel pregnant now?" he asked.
"I don't know...I mean, sometimes you can make yourself feel things, you know? And I made myself feel pregnant so many times in the past year, I don't know the difference anymore," she answered sadly and he pulled her close to him.
"Okay," he sighed, "Let me see if I feel pregnant, I mean if I feel like you're pregnant," he laughed and knelt down in front of her.
He pushed up the bottom of her shirt and put his ear to her stomach.
"I think I can hear the ocean," he teased and she hit his shoulder, laughing.
He kissed her soft flesh and looked up at her, "You're definitely pregnant," he said.
"Why is that?" she asked.
"Because I'm the dad and I said so," he answered quietly and wrapped his arms around her as he laid his head against her stomach again.
Harley wiped a tear from her cheek and ran her fingers through his hair. They both wanted this baby so badly that it was hard not to get excited over the positive result. She just hoped they both wouldn't end up heartbroken again when they saw Dr. Sedwick.
"We are being very rude hosts," she said after a few minutes and Gus stood up.
"I'm sure Zach is keeping him entertained," he said. "Hey, no matter what...I love you," he added as he hugged her tightly.
"I love you too," she replied, "like crazy."
"The craziest," he corrected and she nodded against his shoulder.
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Post by Jen on Jan 13, 2005 21:06:08 GMT -5
"Mind if I crash the party?" Harley asked as she came downstairs after putting Zach to bed.
"Crash away," Mike replied.
"Actually, Zach needs a Daddy-kiss before he can go to sleep, so..."
"I'll be back," Gus said as he went upstairs to say goodnight to Zach again.
"Is a Daddy-kiss something special?" Mike asked Harley.
"It's a cross between a tickle, a hug, a kiss and raspberries on Zach's neck," she explained. "He goes crazy over it. And Gus is the one who does it, so it became known as a Daddy-kiss."
"Zach's a great kid. And Gus is great with him. They obviously adore each other," Mike said.
"They do. Zach's father is...a very busy man, and sometimes it seems like he forgets he even has a son. But Gus has always picked up the slack and then some. He's a wonderful father to Zach," she gushed.
"Gus said you were surprised when you got the wedding announcement," she said, changing the subject.
"I was," he nodded. "Gus...well, he never came across as the marrying type. He was also too wrapped up in his work to give attention to anything else for very long."
"Well, you knew him long before I did."
"Yeah, but I think you're the one who knows the real Gus. I don't know how you managed to get him to open his heart to you, but you did. And believe me, there were a lot of girls who tried before. I don't know, maybe he was just waiting for you the whole time and didn't know it," Mike suggested.
"Gus and I saved each other at a time when we both needed it the most," Harley replied.
"That's what he said."
"What did I say?" Gus asked as he came back into the living room.
"That I was the love of your life," Harley teased.
"Oh yeah, I probably did," he replied, leaning over the back of the couch to kiss her.
"Is he asleep?" she asked.
"Completely out. He did want to make sure that Uncle Mike was staying for brunch," Gus informed them. "So now you have to," he teased.
Mike shrugged, "Can't pass up a free meal."
Gus looked at Harley, "Oh, you didn't tell him about the cover charge?" he teased. "I'm kidding. Seriously though, stay for brunch, but you don't have to come to church with us. From what I remember you used to spend your Sunday mornings hanging over the toilet trying to forget Saturday night."
"Well, you're not the only one who's changed, buddy. With the work I do, you have to believe in something, might as well be God."
"So Harley, do you have any sisters you could hook me up with?" Mike asked, changing the subject.
"Actually, she's married. Sorry," Harley laughed.
"Cousins? Friends? Legal-aged babysitters?"
"Oh you sound desperate," Gus cringed.
"Well, not all of us have found the love of our lives yet," Mike teased and Gus threw a pillow at him.
"I don't know that we even have any single friends, do we?" Gus asked Harley.
"No." she said after thinking. "Michelle's the only one that's not married, but she's dating Bill. Everyone else is married."
“Guess you’ll have to find the love of your life in DC,” Gus teased.
“I guess so,” Mike sighed.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Monday morning before they went to work, Gus and Harley sat in Dr. Sedwick’s office waiting for the results of Harley’s pregnancy test.
When Dr. Sedwick came back to her office, Gus put one arm around Harley and grabbed her hand with his other hand.
“Well,” Dr. Sedwick began as she sat at her desk across from them, “I don’t know why you two look so worried. You’re finally getting your baby. The test was positive.”
“It was?” Harley lit up.
“Definitely positive,” she repeated and Gus hugged Harley and kissed her.
She gave them a few moments while she wrote out some prescriptions for Harley. When she was done, she turned to her computer.
“I assume you’d like to know the due date,” she said and Harley and Gus both nodded.
“November 30th ,” she said, “And conception was around March 6th. Sound familiar?” she winked.
It did. They both remembered that March 6th was the day that Gus surprised her with flowers at work and the bath at home.
“Sounds about right,” Harley nodded.
“So why now? I mean, why all of a sudden is she pregnant?” Gus asked.
“I wish I could tell you,” she answered. “There’s no medical reason why it took so long, it just did. My advice is don’t worry about why, just be happy that it’s happening. And take care of yourself and your baby. Get these filled and make an appointment out front,” she added as she stood up. “And hey, congratulations,” she smiled before leaving the room for another appointment.
After she shut the door, Harley let out a breath and laid her head on Gus’s shoulder. He kissed her forehead and she looked up at him and smiled.
“We’re going to have a baby,” she said.
“I know,” he smiled back and kissed her softly on the lips.
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Post by Jen on Jan 13, 2005 21:07:13 GMT -5
May…
“Hey, so I was thinking next week when we go to Susan’s graduation, can you bring your truck?” Harley asked Frank as she came back over to the table and sat between Gus and Zach. “That will just be so much easier than trying to shove all of Susan’s stuff into two cars.”
“Yeah sure, Dad and I can just ride in the truck,” Frank answered. “How long is it going to take us to get there?”
“I think about fifteen hours,” Gus replied, “so we were thinking we would do it in two days. Zach would be miserable if we did it all in one day.”
“So would I,” Harley added as she took the plate of pancakes from Gus and dished one out for Zach.
“Aren’t my pancakes good enough for you?” Buzz asked when she didn’t take any for herself. “You always loved my pancakes.”
“I do, I’m just not really hungry,” she said, passing the plate.
“Whatever,” Buzz replied and went back to his food.
“Excuse me,” Harley said and got up from the table before disappearing down the hallway.
“She okay?” Frank asked.
“She hasn’t been feeling well today,” Gus answered. “I’ll go check on her.”
Since they were the only ones in the restaurant, Gus didn’t hesitate to walk into the ladies room and found Harley leaning over the sink.
“Need me to hold your hair back?” he asked as he came up beside her and rubbed her back and she laughed.
“I’m okay. But this morning sickness at all hours of the day is killing me,” she replied as she stood up and faced Gus. “I was never this sick with Susan or Zach.”
"Well, leave it to me to give you the baby that makes you sick," he teased and she laughed again.
"You always were a pain in my a…" she began but he stopped her with a kiss.
"What were you saying?" he asked with a smile.
"Nevermind," she replied and pulled him down for another kiss. "Your baby might make me sick, but you always make me feel better."
"Good. You coming back out?" he asked.
She nodded and took his hand, leading him back to the dining room.
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Post by Jen on Jan 13, 2005 21:07:47 GMT -5
The next week…
"Are you feeling okay?" Gus asked Harley as they pulled away from Company with Frank and Buzz behind them in Frank's truck.
"I'm fine," she answered. "I actually feel pretty good this morning."
"Well, it's only six am. You usually don't get sick this early," he said. "Just let me know if you need me to stop."
"Oh I will," she nodded as they stopped at a red light and she grabbed his hand and pulled him over to her. "You know, I didn't get a very long good morning kiss today."
"That's because you were running around like a madwoman," Gus replied as he moved his face closer to Harley's.
"Well, I'm sitting still now, so where's my kiss?"
Gus took a quick look to make sure the light was still red then covered Harley's lips with his in a deep kiss.
"BEEEEEEEEEEEEEP," Frank honked his horn and they both jumped.
Harley looked back at him through the window and glared when she saw Zach stirring in his car seat and Gus checked to see that the light was still red.
"Mommy, what was that noise?" Zach asked sleepily.
"That was Uncle Frank honking his horn. Go back to sleep, sweetie," she said as she rubbed his leg until he laid his head back and closed his eyes.
The light finally turned green so Gus hit the gas and they were on their way.
The drive was over fifteen hours, which they decided to split into two days. They would stop somewhere in Pennsylvania for the night, then continue on to Susan's school. Harley insisted that they stop at least every two hours at a rest stop or somewhere that Zach could get out and run around for a little bit so he wouldn't get too cranky.
At the second rest stop, Harley's morning sickness got the better of her. As she and Gus sat on a picnic table while Zach chased Buzz and Frank around the grass area, she laid against his shoulder.
"We may have to tell them this weekend. I don't know if I can hide the morning sickness," she said.
"Whatever you want, honey. But you can always pass it off as my erratic driving," Gus teased.
"That's true," Harley laughed. "Speaking of which, I'll drive for awhile."
"Baby, you don't want to drive while you're sick."
"Yes, I do. Trust me, my stomach will be much less queasy if I'm driving," she insisted.
"Alright. You feel okay to go now?" he asked and she nodded. "Got your ginger ale and your crackers?"
"I got 'em. Let's go. The sooner we're out of here, the sooner we're at a hotel and I can lay down."
"Why didn't we fly again?" Gus asked as they walked over to Frank, Buzz and Zach.
"Because we couldn't afford to fly all three of us this month and then fly to Tahiti next month," Harley reminded him.
"Oh right. The honeymoon better be worth this journey," Gus teased as he kissed the side of her head.
"It's you and me on a beach all by ourselves. I'll make it worth your while," she promised as she ran her hand down his back and stuck it in his back pocket.
"I'm sure you will if you don't spend the whole week puking," he replied.
"Well, the morning sickness should be gone by then. I'll be in my second trimester," she said.
"For both of our sakes, I really hope it is," he added as they called Zach over and got him in the back seat.
Between stopping every few hours and stopping for lunch, it was after five o'clock when they drove through the small town they would stay at for the night. Their two choices of hotels were a Holiday Inn and a locally-owned motel that looked like there were more cockroaches than tenants. Without even a thought, they pulled into the Holiday Inn parking lot and went into the lobby. Buzz, Harley and Zach found a couch to sit on while Gus and Frank went to get rooms.
"What do you mean you only have one room?" Gus asked the front desk clerk after telling her they wanted two rooms for the night.
"All of our other rooms are booked sir," she replied. "We have this room and we have some Presidential suites available, but that's it."
"How much are the suites?" Frank asked.
"Three seventy-five," she answered and Gus and Frank looked at each other.
"Honey, they only have one room," Gus said as he turned around to tell Harley.
"As long as it has two beds and we can get a roll-away for Zach, I don't care," she waved him off, too exhausted to put up a fuss.
"Alright, we'll take the one room then," Gus sighed, not really looking forward to spending the entire night with his father and brother-in-law in the bed next to him and Harley.
"I'll have the bellboy bring up the extra bed as soon as possible," the woman said. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience, and if you need anything else, please don't hesitate to call."
"Thank you," Gus said as he signed the credit card slip and handed it to her.
They took their bags up to their room and decided to find a place to eat dinner. While they were walking back through the lobby, Zach spotted the pool outside and insisted they go swimming when they got back.
"Zach, it's too cold outside to go swimming," Harley argued.
"Maybe it's heated," Gus suggested. "I'll ask."
He asked the woman at the front desk, and to Zach's delight, he found out the pool was heated and Harley finally agreed that they would go swimming later that evening for a little bit.
"I think this bathroom is bigger than the room," Gus said as he and Harley got on their bathing suits later. "I can't believe we're sharing a room with your dad and brother. You know tomorrow is our anniversary?”
"I know sweetie, but it's only one night," Harley replied as she tied the string of her bikini around her neck.
"I mean, am I even allowed to kiss you in bed in front of them?"
"Honey, remember the first time we made love and you came downstairs in a sheet when Frank was there? That was much worse than this," she replied. "And yes, you can kiss me, you kiss me in front of them all the time," she rolled her eyes. "Can you tell?" she asked as she looked in the mirror and ran her hand over her stomach.
"No, you can't," he answered as he kissed her shoulder. "Let's go, Zach's probably out there driving them crazy, wanting to go downstairs."
"You guys coming down?" Harley asked when they walked out of the bathroom.
"I think I'm going to go in the hot tub," Frank answered and Buzz nodded.
"I'll probably come down too," he added.
"Alright, we're gonna go. Come on Zach," Harley said and he jumped off the bed and raced to the door.
Zach entertained them in the pool by doing somersaults and jumping off the side for over an hour until they made him get out since it was getting colder outside and he needed to get a bath before bed. By the time he was done with his bath, he was fighting to keep his eyelids open and Gus carried him out of the bathroom. He laid him in the bed that he would share with Buzz since Frank said he would take the rollaway and pulled the covers up.
"I still want a story," he reminded them and he pulled Harley down next to him. He liked snuggling with Harley better at bedtime so Gus was free to do the motions to the outrageous stories he concocted.
Even Gus's lively story couldn't keep Zach awake tonight and he was out before the first voice change. Harley kissed his forehead and slid out from beside him. She and Gus joined Frank and Buzz at the small table on the other side of the room and Frank pulled out a deck of cards.
"Will these wake him?" he asked.
"Nah, he's a pretty heavy sleeper," Harley answered and Frank dealt out the cards.
"You don't snore, do you Aitoro?" Buzz asked.
"I've been told only when I'm sleeping on the floor," he answered.
"Oh yeah? You get kicked out of bed a lot?" Frank teased.
"Not too much, and usually when I do, she gets too lonely without me so I get rescued pretty quickly," he smirked at Harley.
"You are so full of it," she laughed as they finished up a hand of poker. "Well, I have no luck tonight, so I'm going to get ready for bed," she said as she pushed her cards to Frank and gave Gus a quick kiss before leaving the table.
While she was in the bathroom getting ready, Gus, Frank and Buzz played a few more hands then decided to turn in for the night too. They had another long day of driving ahead of them and there wasn't much else to do anyway.
Gus had changed into his pajama pants after they got back from swimming so he climbed into bed with Harley not long after she came out of the bathroom.
"I don't need to shave for tomorrow, do I?" he asked her.
"No, but you do for Friday night," she answered as she rubbed his stubbly cheek and Frank and Buzz both climbed into their respective beds.
"Someone get a wake-up call?" Buzz asked.
"Yeah, for six," Harley answered. "The lady at the front desk said we only have about another six to seven hours to go, so we should get to our hotel at about the same time as today, if not earlier."
"Works for me," Buzz replied, "Good night."
Everyone murmured their goodnights and Harley switched off the remaining light. She rolled over and Gus propped himself up on his elbow beside her.
"Can I take my shirt off?" he whispered.
"Yes," she laughed and he sat up and pulled his shirt off then laid back down beside her.
"Good night," he said and he gave her a quick kiss on the lips then bent down and kissed her stomach like he had every night since they found out she was pregnant.
"Good night. I love you," she replied and he kissed her again.
She turned it into a long kiss and pulled him closer to her. He fought not to let out a moan when she slipped her tongue into his mouth and he couldn't help but reciprocate. Somewhere during their long kiss Frank sighed.
"You two aren't planning on doing anything but sleeping tonight, I hope," he said.
"Frank!" the other three exclaimed quietly.
"Just go to sleep," Harley added and went back to kissing her husband.
"I love you too," he whispered when they finally broke the kiss and she settled into his arms for the night.
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Post by Jen on Jan 13, 2005 21:08:18 GMT -5
Their phone rang way too loudly at six am on the dot and Harley reached over to answer it and promptly hung up. Sometime during the night, Zach had managed to crawl in between her and Gus and he was the only one who didn't jump when the phone rang. Buzz and Frank both groaned and rolled back over and Harley forced herself to sit up. She leaned over Zach and whispered in Gus's ear.
"Give me a few minutes, then come join me in the shower," she said and Gus raised his eyebrows in response with a slight nod as she got out of bed and went to her bag.
Five minutes after he heard the shower start and when he knew Buzz and Frank had fallen back asleep and Zach was still dead to the world, Gus grabbed some clothes out of their bag and rushed into the bathroom.
"Harley Aitoro, I think you have less than pure motives for getting me in here," he said as he climbed into the shower with her.
"You're right. I just figured we should take advantage of having a few minutes to ourselves before my morning sickness kicks in and my mood passes," she said as she rubbed his chest and pulled him into a deep kiss. “Happy Anniversary.”
“Happy Anniversary,” he replied and kissed her again.
When she reached down and stroked him, he let out a moan and pulled her hand away so he could lift her up in his arms. He grabbed her hips and lowered her onto him so he could enter her completely. With his first thrust, she threw her head back and with his second, she crashed her lips onto his to keep from crying out in pleasure. She pulled her head back so she could look into his eyes and as she ran her fingers through his hair, she saw the desire burning in his dark eyes that she knew was only for her. They continued their rhythm until he felt her tighten around him and with one last thrust he reached his breaking point and his lips found hers again.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
They were on the road within two hours and Zach was keeping them awake by telling really bad jokes whose punchlines he usually messed up or was laughing too hard to say them right.
Harley turned in her seat and smiled back at her son. As long as he wasn't cranky or crying, she didn't care how he passed the time.
She was still glowing from her and Gus's rendezvous in the showing that morning and she pulled his hand off the steering wheel and laced her fingers through his. He smiled over at her and brought their hands up to his face and he placed a soft kiss on the top of hers.
Eight hours later, they had reached their final destination and were checking in to their two hotel rooms when Harley called Susan to tell her they were at the hotel. Susan told Harley she would meet them at their hotel in an hour so she could go to dinner with them but Harley put up a fuss that it was Susan's last weekend at school and she should go out with her friends.
"Mom, everyone's family came in today so no one is on campus. And I want to see you guys," she insisted and Harley agreed.
Susan took them to her favorite restaurant and while they were waiting to order, she filled them in on all the Senior Week activities the school had for them. She rambled on at two hundred miles a minute and Harley and Gus exchanged smiles.
"Gus, I was so hoping you would bring your car. How cool would that be to drive across the country in a convertible?" she said after the waitress took their orders.
"Cool if you like riding with your knees to your chest. That backseat is not very big," Harley replied.
"Really? And how would you know?" Susan teased and Frank choked on his water.
"So did you write your speech?” Harley asked, ignoring her question.
"Ignoring is not an answer," Susan laughed and Harley shot her a look that told her she better change the subject fast.
"Yeah, it’s done. So are we leaving Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning?" Susan asked.
"Whichever you want," Gus answered. "We can leave Sunday if you want to spend Saturday here."
"Well, I'm pretty much all packed and a lot of people are leaving on Saturday and since we have to drive for two days, let's leave Saturday," Susan decided.
"Saturday it is then," Gus declared.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"I cannot believe my oldest child is graduating today and my youngest isn't even born yet!" Harley said quietly to Gus the next evening as they sat down in the auditorium where the graduation ceremony was being held.
"And how did she get so smart? She certainly didn't get it from me and her dad." Harley shook her head.
"You're smart," Gus argued.
"Maybe street smart."
"You're smart," Gus insisted as he kissed her cheek. "And your daughter is smart and your son is smart, and this baby is going to be really smart because it's gonna get my brains too," he winked.
"I didn't even know she was valedictorian until two weeks ago! Every time I asked how she was doing in school, she said she was doing good and made the honor roll. She didn't just do good, she did the best!" Harley beamed.
Harley fought back tears through Susan's whole speech, but she lost it at the end when she thanked her family.
"I have been blessed with four wonderful parents who have pushed me, supported me, but most of all loved me my entire life. I want to especially thank my mom and step-dad who showed me that there are some dreams you should never give up on. For some, that dream is graduating high school or college or law school. For others it's becoming a doctor and saving people's lives everyday or being a dancer on a stage in front of hundred of people. Or something as simple, but amazing as finding a true love you've waited your whole life for. My parents have shown me that I could do all these things and more if I set my mind to it, and so can everyone here.”
“Sweetheart, we are so proud of you!” Harley gushed after the ceremony when they found Susan.
“Thanks Mom,” she replied. “I’m so glad you all could be here.”
“We wouldn’t be anywhere else,” Gus assured her as she waved goodbye to her friends and went out to dinner with her family to celebrate.
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Post by Jen on Jan 13, 2005 21:09:54 GMT -5
A week after they returned from Susan's graduation, Harley had a girls' night out with Blake, Cassie and Reva planned, but Gus had other ideas when he walked into the kitchen and saw her standing at the sink all dressed up.
"You look so sexy," Gus breathed as he came up behind Harley and started pulling down the zipper on her skirt.
Harley stopped him with her hands, "Gus, I have to leave in a few minutes."
"You can be late," he replied as he kissed her neck and finished unzipping her.
"But the kids..." she protested.
"Susan took Zach to the park," he interrupted. "We are all alone and I want you," he said then shook his head. "No, I need you."
Harley turned in his arms and kicked off her heels as he pushed her skirt over her hips. She saw that he had already removed his shirt and his pants were unbuckled and just waiting to be taken off and she happily obliged.
"Wait, let me at least put these somewhere they won't get wrinkled," she said as she picked up her skirt and laid it over the back of a chair, then pulled off her top and put it on top of her skirt, leaving her in only a tiny black lace thong.
She freed Gus from the tight fabric of his briefs and he pulled her close to him and they laid down on a blanket Gus had spread out.
"You come prepared," she noted quietly before he covered her mouth in a deep kiss and tried his best to get her thong off quickly without tearing it off of her.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Wow," Harley breathed as she rolled off of Gus and laid beside him. "Lately I've been the one who's anytime anyplace, but you..." she said as she kissed his neck.
"I can't help it, you do crazy things to me," he replied. "I think your hormones are rubbing off on me."
"Mmmm, I love being pregnant," she said as she snuggled up against him.
"Me too," he smiled as he kissed her forehead and ran his fingers over her bare skin.
"You really have to go?" he asked.
"I really do. Besides, the kids will be back soon, so it's probably best if we're not in the same room. Otherwise, there's no telling what I'd do to you," she teased, kissing his chest as her hand traveled down his stomach.
"I'll make sure Zach is in bed early and that Susan knows to stay away from closed doors," he smiled slyly.
Harley laughed and climbed on top of him, kissing his neck and chest. "We better get dressed," she said.
"You are killing me," he groaned.
"Just think, a few hours apart will make it even better when I get home," she said with a kiss then stood up and started putting her clothes back on.
"Guess I'll just leave my hair down," she laughed as she ran her fingers through it. Before their little escapade on the floor, it was up in a twist, but as usual Gus had pulled it down so he could get his hands in it.
"You look beautiful," he said from the floor as she zipped up her skirt.
"I'm not even fully clothed," she replied.
"Exactly."
Harley laughed and threw his pants at him, "Get dressed," she said then put her top back on.
After she was finally dressed and she fixed her make-up, Gus walked her to the door, their lips stuck together in a deep kiss.
"Hurry back," he said as he opened the door.
"I promise," she nodded as she kissed him again and turned to leave, almost running into Susan and Zach who had just returned.
"Hey, I thought you were supposed to be there by now," Susan said when she saw Harley.
"I was, I'm running a little late," she answered, "but I'm leaving now. Good night, good night," she said as she kissed Susan and Zach then went back to Gus. "I'll see you later," she smiled and kissed him again.
"I love you," he said as she finally stepped outside.
"I love you too," she called back before he closed the door then turned back to Susan and Zach.
"I'm going to stay over at Tammy's tonight," Susan said.
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah, try to hide your excitement," she laughed.
"Hey, we love having you here," he replied as he kissed the top of her head and joined Zach on the couch.
"I know, but I also know it's a big adjustment for all of us. I know you're used to having the house to yourselves, or if Zach's here, having him in bed early. So if you guys want to be alone, just tell me, I'm an adult, I can take a hint. I can go out or I can go in my room and try not to think about what's going on upstairs," she teased.
"You're a very mature eighteen year old, you know that?" Gus asked and she nodded.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"I'm sorry I'm late! Hi!" Harley said as she went around the table and hugged everyone. "I could not get out of the house," she added as she sat down in her seat.
"Zach wouldn't let you go?" Cassie asked. "Here, we poured you some wine already."
"Oh thanks," Harley said and took a small sip before she got bombarded with questions about why she wasn't drinking. "Please, Zach didn't even notice I was leaving," she laughed. "No, Gus wouldn't let me go. Lately we've been umm…very active."
"In the bedroom?" Blake prodded.
"All over the place," Harley replied, laughing. "And let me tell you, it's very difficult with Susan home so we have to take advantage of an empty house on the rare occasions it happens!"
"Okay, remind me to never eat on your kitchen table again," Blake replied.
"Blake!" Cassie hit her arm, "But this is a change, huh? I mean, just a few months ago our conversation was about the two of you not having sex, and now."
"So the stress-free way to baby-making is working for you, huh?" Reva asked. "I mean, at least you're not all stressed out anymore."
"How are you guys doing with the whole baby thing?" Cassie asked.
"We're great," Harley answered. "Really, we're really, really good," she smiled although she felt horrible about not being able to share her big news with her friends. "But can we change the subject?" she laughed.
"Sorry sweetie," Blake replied. "How about we change it to all these fabulous graduation parties we'll be going to in the next month? Tammy, Marina, Susan, Lizzie, Shayne."
"Well I'm excited. I'm the only one who doesn't have a kid graduating. I feel so young," Blake teased.
"You're having Marina and Susan's parties together, right?" Cassie asked, ignoring Blake's comment.
"Yes, it's going to be a Happy Graduation Marina and Susan slash Welcome Home Susan party. But we're not having it until after we get back from Tahiti. It will be the Saturday before the Fourth."
"Have I told you before how jealous I am that you're going to be laying on a beach in paradise with your gorgeous husband while I'm here wracking my brain for something to write about?" Blake asked.
"I'm jealous too!" Reva added. "But you guys deserve a honeymoon. It's only been a year!"
"I know, I know. I can't believe it's been a whole year already," Harley replied. "I mean, even with our problems, it has been the best year. I can't imagine my life without Gus."
"Here's to being happy, healthy and madly in love," Blake said as she held up her wineglass in a toast.
"You know for once, I think that includes all of us," Cassie replied.
"Well, then here's to all of us," Harley added and they all clinked glasses.
"Do you not like the wine?" Cassie asked when she noticed Harley put her glass down without taking a drink.
"Oh no, it's fine, I'm just not in a wine mood tonight," she answered.
"Oh, wanna do tequila?" Cassie asked excitedly.
"No, no...I'm just going to stick with water," Harley said. "All this sex has made me completely dehydrated," she teased and Blake threw a roll at her.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Gus? Honey, what are you doing in here so late?" Harley asked as she walked into the den and saw Gus sitting at the computer.
"Hey, I was just doing some work," he replied, not even looking up.
"Wow, have we been married so long that you don't even bother to look at me when I walk in a room anymore?" she teased as she came up behind his and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Mmm, I'm sorry baby," he said as he leaned back in his chair and enjoyed her embrace. "How was your night?" he asked.
"It was good," she answered as she kissed his neck, "Is Zach in bed?"
"Out cold since nine," he replied.
"Good."
"So you had fun with the girls? How did you explain not drinking with them?" Gus asked.
"Well, being the designated driver helped, but I actually did have a few sips of wine," she answered as she slid onto the desk and sat across from him.
"You look gorgeous tonight," he complimented as he pushed his chair closer to her and ran his hands up her legs and under her skirt. "You really are glowing."
"You're sweet. I love you," she replied as she leaned over and kissed him, softly at first, but it soon turned into a deep kiss as Gus pushed himself closer to her.
"Were you planning on staying up all night?" she asked when they broke the kiss, "You taste like coffee."
"Well, I was hoping to be up for a little bit after you got home, but not to do work."
"What were you planning on doing then?" she asked.
"This," he answered as he pushed up her shirt and started kissing her stomach.
“Gus,” Harley giggled.
“We haven’t done it in here yet, have we?” he asked as he sat up and pulled her shirt over her head.
“No, not yet,” she breathed before he covered her lips again with his.
“Well, then I think it’s about time we did,” he replied as he pushed the file he was working on off of the desk and urged Harley down before climbing on top of her.
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Post by Jen on Jan 13, 2005 21:10:59 GMT -5
"Let's go to bed," Gus whispered as he leaned over and kissed Harley's neck while they were sitting on the couch watching television.
"Honey, I don't really feel like making love tonight," she replied running her fingers through his hair.
"Again?" he asked as he sat up.
"I'm sorry, I'm just not in the mood."
"Okay," he sighed. "Is this just a phase or are you saving it all up for next week?" he asked.
"I don't know…"
"Oh baby, please don't tell me that next week when we're going to be alone in paradise, when we could lay around naked, making love all day and all night, you're not going to be in the mood," Gus pleaded.
"Honey, I don't know. But don't worry, I won't make you go the whole honeymoon without," she said as she kissed his cheek and took the remote from him.
"The whole thing? I wasn't planning on going more than a few hours without sex...your hormones suck, you know that?"
Harley laughed, "Two weeks ago, you loved my hormones."
"Well, that was when they couldn't keep their hands off of me," he replied.
"My poor baby," she teased. "We could go to bed and cuddle," she offered.
"I don't really feel like cuddling," he mocked.
"You know you can be a real jerk sometimes," she said as she pushed him away.
"Excuse me, I'm not the one who just told you that I didn't feel like making love," he argued.
"Yeah, well you're also not the one whose hormones are going crazy," she shot back.
"And I'm definitely not the one having mood swings," he said and she glared at him.
"I'm going to bed. When you grow up, you can join me," she replied before going upstairs.
"Ouch," Susan said when she came back into the living room.
"How much of that did you hear?" Gus asked.
"Enough to know you're in trouble," Susan laughed. "So what are you being immature about?"
"Uh, what we were going to watch on TV," he replied, holding up the remote that Harley had thrown at him.
"Yeah right," she laughed and Gus sighed before rushing up the stairs.
Just as he got to their bedroom, the door opened as Harley was about to step out of the room.
"Hey," he said.
"I'm sorry," they both said in unison.
"What are you sorry about?" he asked, "I was the jerk."
"Yeah, you were, but I wasn't being very understanding. I know I've been the queen of mixed signals lately, and I know that must be frustrating for you, especially since for the last month, I've been ready and willing like all the time," she explained as they went into the room and shut the door.
"Well, yeah, but still, I should be more sensitive. I promised myself I would be one of those husbands who could handle mood swings and that I wouldn't get angry or short or frustrated, at least not that I would let you see," Gus said.
"Honey, it's okay. I don't want you to put on a show for me, I'm certainly not going to for you," she laughed.
"Okay, and I promise, from now on I will be supportive. If you want to make love, I'm here, and if you don't…well, that's what cold showers are for. And I know that in the end, this baby will be worth all those cold showers and so much more."
Harley smiled, "You think we don't have sex now, wait till this baby comes," she laughed and his eyes got big. "Oh honey…"
"It's okay. We'll deal with that when it happens," he replied. "But for now, is that offer to cuddle still open?"
"Always," she nodded as she took a step forward and wrapped her arms around his waist.
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Post by Jen on Jan 13, 2005 21:11:39 GMT -5
"Honey, where's Susan?" Gus asked as he stood in the doorway of the kitchen the next evening.
"Same place she's been every night since she's been home- out," Harley sighed.
"Again? When does that girl sleep?" Gus asked.
"She sleeps all day," she answered.
"Maybe it's time for her to get a summer job," he suggested. "Get her on a normal schedule."
Harley sighed again, "I know…I just hate to be one of those parents."
"What parents?"
"You know, 'you live under my roof, you live under my rules'. Because I just got her here, and I don't want her to move out, I want her to live with us."
"I know, but she can't spend her whole summer like this. She can't afford it, we can't afford it. Getting a job will give her spending money and something to do," Gus said.
"You're right, I know," Harley nodded. "But she's going to need a car."
"Well that part I was thinking about," Gus interrupted. "I was planning on selling my car soon anyway, so I can get something a little more baby-friendly. But I was wondering if you think Susan would like to have my car. Plus, it's completely paid off, so we wouldn't have three car payments."
"I think she would like that. She loves your car," Harley replied. "I think we should tell her before we leave, that way she can start looking for a job next week. Maybe getting the car will give her incentive."
"I agree," Gus nodded.
"I think we should also tell her that I'm pregnant," she added. "I'm surprised she hasn't already figured it out, and I just feel bad about not telling her."
"No, you're right. I think we should tell her. We definitely don't want her to hear it from someone else, and Zach too. I think we should tell them first."
"Let's just do it now, I'll call and get her to come home," Harley said as she picked up the phone and dialed Susan's cell phone number. After some complaining, she agreed to be home in an hour.
While they waited for her, they gave Zach a bath and got him ready for bed. He thought he was in for a treat when they let him go back downstairs and play before they made him go to bed, so he was happy to amuse himself with his legos in the corner. Susan got home a little less than an hour later and sat down with them in the living room.
"What's up?" she asked.
"Zach, come over here and sit with me," Gus said and pulled Zach into his lap.
"What's going on?" Susan asked cautiously, noting Harley and Gus's serious expressions. "Is this a good talk or a bad talk?"
"Well, that depends on how you look at it I guess," Harley answered. "Actually, we have a couple of things to talk about, but we're going to start with the good news. At least we hope it's good news," she began nervously.
"Honey," Gus urged her to just say it.
"Okay," she nodded, "The good news is that I am pregnant," she finally said.
"You are?" Susan asked, her face lighting up. "Mom, that's so great!" she added excitedly and hugged Harley.
"You're happy?" Harley asked.
"Yes, of course I'm happy. This is great- how could you think that would be bad news?"
"We weren't sure how you would feel about it," Harley explained. "But I'm so glad that you are happy about this. You have no idea how much that means to us."
"Well, I think it's wonderful. I can't wait to have another little brother or sister!"
"What do you think Zach?" Gus asked when he noticed how quiet Zach had gotten.
"I don't get it," he answered.
"Sweetie, you know how Aunt Amanda has a baby growing inside of her?" Harley asked and Zach nodded. "Well, I have a baby growing inside of me too. And you are going to have a little brother or sister soon."
"Oh," Zach said slowly then slid off of Gus's lap and went back to his toys.
"Zach, you're excited about this, right?" Gus asked and Zach shrugged.
Susan ignored her brother, "So when are you due?" she asked Harley.
"November 30th," Harley answered.
"Wow. So you're really pregnant, you can't even tell," Susan replied.
"I'm not showing yet, but yeah, almost four months," Harley nodded.
"Was this uh...planned?" she asked.
"Yeah, it was very much planned," Gus laughed and Susan looked at him strangely.
"We've been trying since the wedding," Harley explained.
"Oh, wow. And it took this long?" she asked and Gus nodded. "But everything's okay right? With the baby?"
"Everything is wonderful," Harley smiled.
"Good. What other news do you have?" Susan asked.
"Oh, well, since we're going to be having a baby, and another car seat, I'm going to get a new car. And we were wondering if you would like to have my old one. I know it's not a new fancy sports car or anything, but it is a classic and it's the best car in the world," Gus said.
"Are you kidding? I love that car!" Susan exclaimed.
"So that's a yes?" Harley asked.
"Definitely a yes!" she replied and hugged them both. "And this is great because there's something I wanted to talk to you guys about. I'm going to get a job. I was thinking I could waitress or something. That way I can buy gas and help with the insurance."
"You want to get a job?" Harley asked.
"Yeah, well I was going to so I could save up for a car, but now since I don't need to do that, I can just help with paying for this one," she replied and Harley smiled.
"I think that's a great idea," Harley said.
"Mom," Zach said quietly. "Can I go to bed now?" he asked.
"What?" Gus asked surprised. Zach never asked to go to bed.
"Can I go to bed now?" he repeated.
"Sure sweetie. You want us to read you a story?" Harley asked and he shook his head.
"No," he answered and walked over to Susan, "Will you tuck me in?" he asked her and Harley and Gus looked at each other while Susan looked at both of them.
"Sure Zach," Susan said as she picked him up and took him upstairs.
"I get the feeling he's not as excited about this as the rest of us." Harley sighed and leaned back against the couch.
"He didn't want us to read him a story? He always wants us to read to him," Gus said a few minutes later, shocked and a little hurt.
"Oh honey," Harley said, rubbing his arm. "It's nothing personal, just his way of dealing with this. He'll be fine."
"He's just never blown me off like that before."
"I know," she nodded. "But trust me that he will be fine. If he is anything like his sister, he will get over this on his own. How about that, huh? She was planning on getting a job anyway."
"Yeah, well she's a good kid."
"Who, me?" Susan asked as she came back downstairs.
"Yes, you," Gus laughed.
"How is Zach?" Harley asked.
"Umm, Zach is quiet. And ignoring the whole situation. I tried to get him to talk and he just wanted to play," she replied. "And you were worried about me taking the news."
"I'm going up there," Gus said and started up the stairs.
"That just about killed him," Harley told Susan.
"Hey Zach, you still awake?" Gus asked as he pushed open Zach's door and sat on his bed.
"Yeah," Zach answered and rolled over to face Gus.
"You sure you don't want to hear a story?" he asked.
"I'm sure," he nodded.
"Okay," Gus replied. "So what do you think about this new baby stuff?" he asked.
Zach shrugged, "Daddy, I just want to go to sleep."
"Oh. Okay," Gus replied and leaned down to kiss him goodnight.
Harley's heart broke as she stood in Zach's doorway and watched him and Gus. She wasn't surprised that Zach was less than thrilled with the news, but Gus certainly was, and he didn't know how to handle it, especially getting the cold shoulder from Zach. She walked in behind Gus as he tucked Zach in and sat on his lap on the bed.
"You must be so sleepy since you're asking us to go to bed," Harley said.
"Yeah," Zach replied quietly.
"So from now on, you'll always go to bed when we tell you to, right?" she asked.
"No," Zach giggled.
"Yes, you better," she laughed and kissed his cheek. "I love you."
"I love you too, Mommy," he replied.
"Good night Zach," she added as she stood up and pulled a reluctant Gus with her out the door.
"I can't handle this," he said when they got out to the hallway.
"Honey, he will be fine. I promise," she assured him. "This is a big adjustment for a little kid, and Zach isn't just getting one baby to take away everyone's attention, he's getting two within a couple of months of each other."
"This is just so unlike him. I almost wish he was refusing to go to bed. At least that would be semi-normal," he said and Harley laughed.
"Please don't worry about this so much. Give him a few days," she said and he nodded as they went back downstairs.
Later that night, after they crawled into bed, they heard a knock on their door and Zach peeked his head in.
"Can I sleep with you?" he asked quietly and Harley motioned him onto the bed.
He crawled in between them and pulled Gus’s arm over him and Harley.
“Comfy?” Gus asked and Zach nodded before drifting off to sleep again.
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Post by Jen on Jan 13, 2005 21:12:06 GMT -5
“So now that this drug ring is destroyed, 5th Street is pretty much crime free," Harley told Franklin as she, Gus, and a handful of other officers stood in his office early one morning. "And with that Youth Center opening soon, I think that will be so great for the neighborhood. It will give the kids something to do other than drugs and vandalism."
"You think that's true? You really think these kids that have had to fight the street for years will wake up one morning and think they'd rather shoot hoops than shoot up?" Franklin asked, skeptical.
"I think these kids are looking for a purpose, and this youth center could really be the first step towards that. They need somewhere to go, and with the free clinic at the center, they can get tested, they can get birth control, they can get help and that's what they need," Harley continued.
"You sound like Mother Goose or maybe Mother Teresa," Franklin scoffed.
"Well, I am a mother. Maybe that gives me a little different prospective from the rest of you. These kids are not hardened criminals. They're teenagers who have nothing to do but steal from old ladies down the street. Give them something to do, and they'll do it."
"Like 'Build it and they will come'?" one of the officers said.
"Right. Like Field of Dreams," she nodded.
"You've seen Field of Dreams?" the same officer asked.
"Davis, if it has baseball in it, Gus has made me watch it," Harley replied, breaking the tension that seemed to be building in the room. "All I'm saying is I think after this center is up and running, we can pull back from 5th Street a little," she continued as Franklin picked up his jelly donut and took a bite, jelly running out the side and she felt her stomach do a somersault.
"You think that's really a good idea? Now that we've finally got these kids a little bit scared, we should disappear?"
"I don't think we should disappear," she answered, "I just think..." she began but the nausea made her stop. "Excuse me," she said as she touched Gus's arm and rushed out of the room.
"Is she okay?" Franklin asked Gus, who was watching her through the door.
"Yeah, she'll be fine. The flu's going around, you know?" he nodded, "Anyway, what she was going to say was that we can pull back from the neighborhood without disappearing. Give them a little space and see what they do with it. They might surprise us. And if they don't, we'll be there to take care of it," Gus finished what Harley meant to say before she had to leave.
"I guess we could do that. I'm just not so sure the kids will prove us wrong. It takes a long time to rehabilitate kids like that, more than giving them a basketball court and free condoms," Franklin said.
"Well sure, but we're devoting a lot of manpower to that neighborhood while crime has risen in some other ones. Everyone knows we're focused on 5th Street," Gus replied.
"Excuse me," John interrupted as he knocked on the open door. "Anyone seen Frank this morning?" he asked.
"No, he's not in yet?" Gus asked and John shook his head.
"I tried to ask Harley, but she seemed like she was in a rush. She okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, she'll be fine. Did you try calling him?" Gus asked.
"Home and cell phone. No answer at either one. His cell phone's not even on."
"Well, maybe he's on his way and forgot to turn it on or he stopped by Company. He'll be here soon, I'm sure. He's not usually late."
"Alright, well if you hear from him, let me know," John said, then turned to Franklin, "Sorry for the interruption."
"That's okay, we're done here. Starting tomorrow, we'll decrease surveillance on 5th Street. Those two," Franklin said pointing to Gus, "will be gone, so we'll just have some unmarked cars checking out the neighborhood. Let them think we're gone and see how things work out."
"Thanks Chief," Gus said before leaving his office to check on Harley.
"Hey, you okay?" he asked quietly when he saw her sitting at her desk with her head in her hands and he sat on her desk.
"This is horrible. I can’t believe I’m still this sick," she answered.
"I'm sorry," he said as he stroked her hair. "Do you want me to get you some ginger ale?"
"Coffee, please?"
"One hot cup of decaf coming up," he said as he stood up and she grabbed his arm.
"No. Caffeine, please?" she pleaded.
"No. Decaf," he repeated and she scowled at him.
"Fine. Get me the ginger ale."
"I'll be right back," she said as he kissed her forehead and she laid her head on her desk.
"Hey Harley, you feeling okay?" Franklin asked as he came up to her desk and she lifted her head.
"Yeah, sorry, I just…the flu, you know?"
"Anything I can get you?" he asked and she shook her head.
"Gus is getting me some ginger ale."
"Okay. If you're really feeling bad, you should go home and get some rest. The last thing you want is to be sick for your trip," he said.
"Tell me about it," she smiled.
"Well, I wanted to let you know that we're going to back off 5th Street a little."
"Good. I really do think things are getting better there. I wouldn't suggest it otherwise," she assured him.
"I know," he nodded as Gus returned.
"Ginger Ale and did you know our vending machine has Saltine crackers in it?" Gus asked as he set a package of crackers down in front of her and opened her can. "I guess it's one of those things you don't notice until you're looking for them," he shrugged.
"I guess," she replied, forcing a smile as Franklin's pager went off.
"Ack, the big boss," he said when he looked at the number. "I'll see you guys later. Go home if you want, Harley."
"Thanks Chief, I'll be okay," she replied and he went back to his office.
"Hey, have you talked to Frank today?" Gus asked, "John was looking for him."
"No, I haven't, but I think he was supposed to help Dad this morning paint the dining room at Company," she answered. "Or was that tomorrow? I don't know. So what do we have to wrap up today before we leave?" she asked.
"Hit-and-run times two, one bank robbery, two B & E's," he answered as he rifled through the files on his desk.
"The breaking and enterings aren't on 5th Street are they?" she cringed.
"Ninth," he shook his head. "Boring, boring, boring. I'd kill for a homicide."
"No pun intended," she smiled.
"Pun intended," he corrected. "Give me something to think about, give me a perp who has a reason for doing what he's doing, not just because he's afraid of getting slapped with vehicular manslaughter or he needs some cash for drugs. We've had what, one homicide in the past six months?"
"Well, I will be perfectly happy if we don't get a second one for at least two weeks. I do not want a murder keeping us from our vacation. We need it," she replied.
"That's true," he agreed. "I'm gonna go take a look at the security video from the bank again. You need anything else?"
"I'll come with you," she said and they headed to the interrogation room.
An hour later when they returned to their desks, they still hadn't heard from Frank and we're getting anywhere with any of their cases, but Harley's morning sickness had subsided.
"I'll call Forensics and see if they got anything new from either of the hit-and-runs," she said as she picked up her phone.
Gus picked his up too, but dialed Frank's cell phone. The voice mail picked up almost immediately, which meant his phone wasn't even on. Gus left a message anyway.
"Hey Frankie, it's your favorite brother-in-law. I was just calling to see where you were at. John's been looking for you and Harley and I are starting to get worried. Give us a call," he said as he heard his call waiting beeping in his ear.
When he was done leaving the message, he switched to the other line. "Aitoro."
"Gus, it's Frank-"
"Hey, I just tried to call you. Where are you?" Gus asked.
"I'm at the hospital. Amanda's in labor. We've been here for like six hours," Frank's excited voice came back.
"Are you serious?"
"Yeah, the doctor said we should have a baby in an hour or two," he replied.
"Frank, that's great. Listen, we're on our way. Is Marina there?" Gus asked as Harley looked at him and he motioned that there was a baby on the way.
"No, she's working at the beach today and she spent the night at Tammy's last night. I can't get in touch with her. That's something else I wanted to ask you. Could you guys stop at the beach and get her? I know she wouldn't want to miss this, she's as excited as we are."
"No problem Frank, we'll get her. Hey, you doing okay?" he asked.
"Besides going out of my mind? Yeah, Gus, I'm doing great," Frank answered and Gus could almost see him beaming through the phone.
"Alright, we'll see you in a bit," Gus said as he hung up and grabbed his jacket. After his gestures, Harley rushed to put their files away and by the time he hung up, she was back at her desk ready to go.
"We gotta pick up Marina at the beach," he said as they headed to Franklin's office.
"Hey Chief, John, good you're here too. I just talked to Frank. Amanda's in labor and they've been at the hospital all morning. We're going to head over there now," Gus told them.
"She's having the baby already?" John asked. "Isn't she a few weeks early?"
"Yeah. If you need us, call the hospital," Harley said.
"Sure. Give us a call when you have a niece or nephew, okay?" Franklin asked and they both assured him they would before they left for the hospital.
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Post by Jen on Jan 13, 2005 21:12:59 GMT -5
After they picked up Marina and Susan at the beach, they met Buzz in the waiting room at the hospital.
"Hey, Grandpa, have you seen Dad?" Marina asked him.
"No, not yet. The nurse said Amanda's having some pretty bad contractions, so he's in there with her, but she would tell them we were here," Buzz answered.
"What about Amanda's parents? Did Frank call them?" Harley asked.
"Yeah, they were catching the next flight and should be here in a few hours."
They were in the waiting room for another half hour before Frank finally came out and the questions came flying at him.
"How is she? Is she okay? How's the baby? How much longer?"
"She's fine, she's fine. She and the baby are both doing great. Dr. Sedwick said another hour or so," Frank answered all the questions at once with a huge smile on his face.
"Are you okay?" Harley asked him.
"Yeah, I'm great. I'm nervous, you know, it's been a long time since I've done this," he replied.
"Well, you're great at it," Marina assured him with a kiss on the cheek. "Can I go see her?" she asked and he nodded.
Frank went back inside with Amanda and Marina after another few minutes and left the rest of them in the waiting room.
Harley sat down next to Gus and he put his arm around her.
"I am so happy for Frank- did you see how excited he was?" she laughed.
"I know. I can understand why," he replied with a smile that Harley returned.
"It's made me feel really guilty about how I felt when they first told us she was pregnant," she added, her smile gone.
"Honey, things were rough then. And if Frank knew, he would understand. But there's no harm done and you're happy for him now. That's all that matters," Gus assured her.
"Harley Aitoro?" the nurse at the desk called out and Harley stood up. "You have a phone call."
"Hello?" Harley said as she picked up the phone.
"Harley, it's Phillip. I called the station and they told me you were at the hospital, is everything okay?"
"Yeah, Amanda's having the baby," she answered, "What's up? Is Zach okay?"
"Yeah, he's fine. Well, actually, he is acting a little weird today. Really clingy and quiet."
"Yeah, he’s been like that the past few days," Harley sighed.
"I'm sure he'll just get worse when you're gone, but he'll be fine. He might just be coming down with something," Phillip replied.
"Well, I'll get you whatever numbers I can for where we'll be staying, but I'll call and check on him. Sorry," Harley apologized.
"Oh, it's not your fault," he replied.
But it was. Ever since she and Gus had told Zach and Susan that she was pregnant, Zach had been in a bad mood.
"Harley?" Phillip said, bringing Harley out of her daze.
"What? I'm sorry," she replied. "What did you ask?"
"I asked if you wanted me to keep Zach longer today since you'll probably be at the hospital for awhile," Phillip repeated.
"Oh. Actually, could you bring him by? I want him to see his little cousin."
"Sure. Do you want him sooner? Or regular time?"
"Can you bring him in about an hour?" she asked.
"Yeah, I can do that. And you'll bring him over Thursday night?"
"Yeah, our plane leaves pretty early Friday."
"Okay, I'll see you in a bit."
"Thanks Phillip," she said then hung up the phone.
"Hello Harley," Dr. Sedwick greeted as she came up to the nurse's station.
"Hi Dr. Sedwick," she replied.
"So you're going to be an aunt again soon."
"Yeah, I can't wait. I know Frank and Amanda are really excited."
"Frank's very cute about the whole thing. I guess it has been awhile since he went through all the baby stuff. He's like a new father," Dr. Sedwick said and Harley looked over at Gus and Buzz who were both reading through parenting and baby magazines, although for different reasons. Buzz was bored, Gus was an eager learner.
"He is," she nodded.
"How are you doing? How's your morning sickness?"
"Oh, it's bad," Harley laughed, "Especially for the fourth month. And actually, we haven't told anyone yet, so…"
"You haven't? Harley, you're already in your second trimester. You're not going to be able to hide it much longer. I'm surprised you're not showing more already."
"I know. We just wanted to wait and see what was going on with Frank and Amanda and…I don't know what we're waiting for."
"Well, if you are worried about a miscarriage, the chances of that are very slim after the first trimester."
"I know. It's not that anymore. We're going to tell everyone soon, like you said, I won't be able to hide it much longer," Harley replied. She had already noticed her face getting rounder and her chest had been growing since before she even knew she was pregnant.
"Well you need to do it when you're both ready, I suppose. When are you leaving for your trip again?"
"Friday."
"Oh lovely. Morning flight?"
"Yeah," Harley cringed. Her morning sickness was bad enough without adding turbulence to the mix.
"Just make sure you have one of those bags in the seat in front of you. And don't drink the water down there," Dr. Sedwick warned.
"Oh, I wasn't planning on it," Harley laughed.
"How's Gus doing? New daddy syndrome too?"
"He's great. He's very excited about everything. Well, you've seen him at my appointments, but he's like that with everything. He's taking good care of us," Harley smiled.
"Good. I better go check on your sister-in-law. We have an appointment when you come back, right?"
"Yeah, the 25th," Harley answered.
”Alright, well have a safe trip and enjoy yourselves. Enjoy the quiet," she winked before going into Amanda's room and Harley went back and sat between Gus and Buzz.
"Phillip's going to bring Zach over in a little bit," she told Gus. "He said he was a little clingy."
"Still?" he asked and she nodded. "He'll be fine," he added as he kissed her cheek.
"Yeah. Whatcha reading?" she asked as she wrapped her arms around his neck and peered over his shoulder at the magazine.
The page was turned to an article titled: "Boy or Girl? 38 Fun Ways to Guess.”
"Interesting," she remarked.
"I'm going to get some coffee, anyone else want some?" Buzz asked as he stood up.
"Yes!" Harley jumped at the offer.
"I'll go with you," Susan offered and Gus pulled her down close to him.
"Get your mother decaf," he instructed quietly and she nodded while Harley glared at him. "I'll take one too Buzz. Thanks," he added.
"Caffeine is not good for either of you," he explained after Buzz and Susan left and got only a sigh in response. "So what do you think? Think it's a boy or a girl?" he asked.
"I don't know," she replied looking at the article. "So far, I seem to fit the criteria for both."
"Maybe we're having twins," he suggested excitedly.
"I doubt it sweetie," she laughed. "Do you want to know?" she asked.
"I don't know. In a way I do, but I want to be surprised too," he answered. "What about you?"
"I think I want it to be a surprise."
"Okay. Surprise it is then. Unless you change your mind before we get a chance, because I can go either way," he replied.
"Okay," she nodded as Frank and Marina came back into the waiting room.
"We're going to the delivery room now," Frank announced. "Where'd everyone go?"
"Coffee run," Gus answered.
"Oh. Okay, well I gotta go. I'll come out whenever we have a baby!" Frank exclaimed then rushed down the hallway.
"He is crazy," Marina laughed. "Was he this excited with me?"
"Oh yeah, definitely. You were his first- he was worse," Harley answered as Buzz and Susan came back and passed around coffee to everyone.
A half hour later, Phillip brought Zach up to the waiting room and he immediately crawled into Harley's lap.
"Is someone sick, Mommy?" he asked.
"No, sweetie. Aunt Amanda's having her baby, isn't that exciting?" Harley asked.
"I don't like babies," he said indignantly as jumped off her lap and ran over to an empty corner of the room into a chair.
"I'll go," Gus said and followed Zach.
"Thanks for bringing him Phillip," Harley said.
"Sure," he replied, "I'll see you Thursday."
"Hey, hey buddy, what's wrong?" Gus asked as he knelt in front of Zach.
Zach crossed his arms, "I don't like babies. I don't want a baby."
"I know…but babies are really fun. They're little and cute and you can play with them," Gus offered.
"No you can't. They're too little."
"Yeah, at first they are. But when they get older, you can teach them all kinds of cool stuff. And you know who's going to be able to do that? You."
"You know, everyone's really excited about this baby and they're going to pay a lot of attention to it, but that's because it's so little and it can't really do anything for itself, so everyone has to take care of it. And since you're such a big boy, you can do some things for yourself, so it might seem like no one pays attention to you, but that's not true, okay? We all love you. And when these babies come, we're not going to love them any more than we love you. Cause this family has a lot of love to give and there's enough for everyone, okay?"
"Do I have to change diapers?" Zach asked.
Gus laughed, "Not if you don't want to."
"I still don't like it much," Zach added.
"You know you have the best job in the world actually," Gus began, "Because you're going to be the big cousin and big brother, so they're going to really look up to you. And you are going to have so much fun with them. I promise."
"And you're still gonna love me?"
"More and more every day," Gus smiled.
"Okay," Zach finally gave in and climbed off the chair into Gus's arms for a big hug.
"I love you Zach," Gus said as he kissed his cheek.
"I love you too," Zach replied, finally smiling, then hugged Gus again.
“Ready to go back to your mom?” Gus asked and Zach nodded, but didn’t let go of him.
“Come on,” Gus laughed and picked up Zach as the waiting room door burst open.
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Post by Jen on Jan 13, 2005 21:13:34 GMT -5
“It’s a boy!” Frank exclaimed as he ran out into the waiting room and everyone jumped to their feet. “He is perfect! I can’t wait for you guys to see him!” he continued.
“We will,” Harley said as she hugged her brother, “How is Amanda?”
“She’s great. I want to go back in there, but I’ll be back in a little bit and you guys can see the baby. I hope her parents get here soon, I know she wants to see them,” Frank replied.
“When they get here, we’ll let you know,” Buzz assured him. “Go back in there with your wife.”
“I’ll see you guys in a little bit,” Frank nodded and disappeared again.
After Frank left, Harley grabbed Gus by his shirt and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. Gus kissed her forehead as he shifted Zach in his arms.
“Is it November yet?” he asked quietly and she reached up and kissed him.
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"Alright, Aunt Harley's turn," Harley said as she stood up from the bench she was sharing with Gus and took the baby from Buzz's arms later when they were in Amanda’s hospital room.
Zach stole her seat while she was up, so Gus offered his lap and she sat on it while she admired her new nephew.
"He is adorable," she gushed. "Isn't he perfect?" she asked Gus.
"He's perfect," Gus agreed as he peeled back the blanket and looked at his little feet.
"So what's his name?" Harley asked. "It's not Frank, is it?"
"No, it's not Frank. His name is Matthew," Frank announced. "Matthew Samuel Cooper."
"Matthew," Harley repeated, looking down at him. "I love it."
"Look how cozy they look over there," Amanda said pointing to Gus and Harley holding the baby. "You guys should think about having one too," she added and Harley looked down at Gus while Buzz and Susan looked at both of them.
With a nod from Gus, Harley spoke up, "Well actually, we are," she began. "I'm pregnant."
"You are?" Frank asked.
"Since when?" came from Buzz.
"Since March," she smiled. "I'm due at the end of November."
"Oh my god, sis that's so great!" Frank exclaimed and he came over and hugged her and shook Gus's hand.
"Finally, huh?" Buzz remarked as he kissed Harley's cheek and she laughed.
"Yeah, finally," Gus replied and they got strange looks from everyone else in the room. "We've been trying for a long time," he explained. "And it finally happened."
“So Zach, what do you think about have a little brother or sister, are you excited?” Marina asked.
“Zach’s a little apprehensive about the whole thing,” Gus explained.
“Why, Z-man?” she asked.
“I don’t know what that means,” he shrugged.
“It means you’re not really sure if you want to have a little brother or sister,” Marina explained.
“Oh. I don’t care as long as I don’t have to change any stinky diapers,” he replied.
“We’ll only make you do that if you’re bad,” Buzz teased and Zach snuggled up against Gus’s arm.
“What did you say to him?” Harley asked quietly.
“I’ll tell you later, but I guess it worked,” he replied.
“You’re such a good daddy,” she smiled and kissed him then stood up and handed Matthew to Gus.
“No…no, that’s okay,” he declined.
“Yes. You should practice,” she insisted and he took the baby in his arms and Harley sat down next to him with Zach in her lap.
“He’s so…”
“Small?” Harley said.
“Beautiful?” Frank beamed.
“Breakable,” Gus laughed. “And beautiful too,” he added.
After a few minutes, Zach’s curiosity got the better of him and he knelt on Harley’s lap and peered over the bundle that his Gus was holding just as Matthew opened his eyes.
“Hey, he opened his eyes,” he said.
“That’s because he wants to see his favorite cousin,” Gus said and Zach beamed at him and reached over and stroked Matthew’s hand.
When Matthew yawned, Zach turned to Harley, “He yawned. That’s rude,” he said.
“Well, it’s okay if he does it. He’s sleepy, he’s had a long day,” she explained.
“We all have,” Amanda replied.
“Yes, you have. So we’re going to go and let you get your rest,” Harley said and Gus stood up and gave the baby to Frank.
“I didn’t say that so you guys would go. Stay,” Amanda said.
“No, we’re going to go get something to eat. I’m starving,” Harley replied. “Do you want us to bring you back something?” she asked Frank and Amanda’s parents.
“No thank you, we ate on the plane,” Amanda’s mother answered.
“I’ll be okay,” Frank said.
“Honey, why don’t you go with them and eat something. The nurse is going to come down and get the baby soon and I’m just going to sleep. Go,” Amanda insisted.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
“I’m positive. We’ll be fine.”
“Okay, but I’ll have my phone on if you need anything,” he said then kissed Matthew and Amanda goodbye. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” she smiled and he followed his family out of the room.
“Let’s go to Company so I can hang up my banner and be a proud grandfather,” Buzz said as they walked down the hall.
“Sounds good to me,” Frank replied as he put his arms around Buzz’s shoulder.
Buzz was more than prepared for this day. He had banners for a girl and banners for a boy. He had pink and blue balloons on preorder, and he called the store the minute Frank came and told them it was a boy so the blue balloons were already all around the restaurant. He also had plenty of cigars, which he insisted the waitresses give out with every meal.
After he hung up his ‘It’s a Boy!’ banner above the bar, and put a sign out front, he was folding up the ‘It’s a Girl!’ banner and looked at Gus and Harley who were sitting at the bar talking.
“Maybe I’ll get to use this for you two in a few months,” he said and they both smiled at him.
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“You know we’re equal now,” Marina began as the waitress brought out their food. “The grandkids I mean. There are two girls and two boys. And if this pattern continues, you two should be having a girl.”
“I don’t really think this kind of thing follows a pattern,” Gus laughed, “But we would love to have a girl.”
“Or a boy,” Harley added.
“Right,” Gus nodded. “We are just ready for this baby to come. I am not a patient man, and this waiting is killing me!”
“November, right?” Frank asked and Harley nodded. “You have another five months to go. Start getting patient.”
“You’re four months and not showing yet?” Buzz asked. “Are you feeding her enough?” he asked Gus.
“Yes, he is, but my morning sickness has been really bad and I’m still sick a lot, so that doesn’t help. Dr. Sedwick said we are both perfectly healthy,” Harley replied and Buzz seemed satisfied, but passed Harley another roll and she sighed, looking at Gus for sympathy but he gave her none.
“So, two new Coopers within a few months of each other. Look out world, we’re multiplying,” Susan teased.
“As long as neither of you add to the number yet, I think we’ll be fine,” Gus warned.
“No worries there,” Susan replied and Marina nodded.
“Good,” Frank added then turned to Gus. “So, besides being impatient, how are you handling this expectant father thing?” he asked.
“Honey, how am I handling it?” Gus asked Harley who smiled at him.
“Wonderfully,” she answered and leaned over for a kiss.
“I’m just so excited, you know? I want to keep Harley happy and healthy and I want to watch this baby grow inside of her until it’s finally time for her to come out and then I’m just going to spoil her rotten!”
“I bet you will,” Frank laughed and smiled at his sister and brother-in-law’s happiness, as well as his own.
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Post by Jen on Jan 13, 2005 21:14:30 GMT -5
“Mommy, why can’t I go with you and Daddy?” Zach asked from the backseat as Gus and Harley drove him to Phillip’s.
“Because this trip is just for us, sweetie,” Harley replied, looking back at her son. “Next time, all of us will go on vacation, how does that sound?”
“Okay,” Zach nodded. “And the baby too?” he asked.
“And the baby too,” Harley replied with a smile as Gus pulled into the driveway of their old house. “Remember sweetie, the baby is our little secret, okay? So don’t tell Daddy or Beth or Lizzie that Mommy’s going to have a baby.”
“Why?”
“Because it is,” Harley replied. “Can you keep our secret this week?”
“Yes, Mommy,” Zach said proudly and Harley cast Gus a doubtful glance before they all got of the car.
“Hey guys, come on in,” Lizzie said when she opened the door.
“Hey Lizzie, where’s your dad?” Harley asked as Zach dragged her into the living room.
“Downstairs, I think. I’ll go get him, have a seat,” Lizzie answered and disappeared down the hallway.
“I don’t know about you baby, but it’s still weird for me to think of Phillip living in this house,” Gus said quietly as he leaned over towards Harley after they sat on the couch.
“Oh, it’s weird,” she agreed. “I mean, I know he lived here with me before you did, but my memories of this place are with you. And I can’t help but think of those when I come here.”
Gus nodded, “But we have a lot of good memories in our new house.”
“Yes we do,” she smiled, “and a lot more to come,” she added as Phillip and Lizzie came back to the living room.
“Hi Daddy,” Zach greeted and Phillip kissed the top of his head.
“Hey,” Phillip greeted Gus and Harley.
“Hi, we just wanted to make sure you had all of our information, just in case,” Harley said.
“Oh right,” Phillip replied as he sat down and Harley handed him a piece of paper.
“This has our flight information, the name of the resort and a phone number. We’ll call tomorrow night and get a more direct number if we can.”
“Okay, don’t worry about Zach, he will be fine. Just enjoy yourselves,” Phillip replied.
“Thank you, Zach come here,” she called out and he came over and stood in front of Gus and Harley. “We’re going to go, you have a good week with Daddy, okay? Be good, please,” she said as she pulled him into her lap and hugged him tightly. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” he replied as he wrapped one arm around Gus’s neck and pulled him close, hugging them both at once. “I love you Buddy,” Gus said, “Be good and we’ll see you in a week, okay?”
“Okay Daddy,” Zach replied. “And I’ll keep our secret,” he whispered.
Gus kissed the side of his head and looked at Harley.
“What secret?” Phillip asked.
“It’s nothing,” Harley assured him, but Phillip looked doubtful. “Phillip, please don’t try to get it out of him,” she said quietly.
“Whatever, Zach you ready for bed?” he asked.
“Can you tuck me in?” he asked Harley and Gus.
“Sure,” Gus replied and they followed Zach upstairs and read him a story and tucked him in.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"I cannot believe how good I feel this morning," Harley said as she and Gus found their seats on the plane the next morning.
"Wait until we take off," Gus replied.
Harley was fine until they had to switch planes and fly the rest of the way in a small eight-seater. By the time they had reached their traveling altitude, her morning sickness had kicked in full blast. The co-pilot looked back at them as Gus stroked Harley's hair while she had her face in a paper bag.
"Morning sickness," he explained and the co-pilot looked at his watch, noting that it was mid-afternoon.
"I feel horrible," Harley complained when they finally got off the small plane and arrived in Tahiti.
"I know, sweetie, let's get to the hotel and you can sleep for awhile," Gus said as he hailed a taxi for them.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
After they got to their hotel and were shown their bungalow, Harley collapsed on the bed without even looking around.
"I'm just going to lay here for a few minutes and let my stomach settle down, then I promise we'll go do something," she said and soon she was fast asleep.
Gus hung up some of their clothes in the closet and unpacked some things, then went out to the deck. He sat on one of the lounge chairs and looked out over the crystal clear water. Pretty nice place to finally have their honeymoon, he thought then looked over at the empty chair next to him and frowned. He did not expect to have to spend it alone though, so he figured laying in bed with Harley while she was sick was better than sitting on their deck by himself.
He went back inside and crawled next to Harley, pulling her into his arms and he stroked her hair until he fell asleep with her.
Harley woke up an hour later and looked up at Gus who was still sound asleep. She kissed his cheek and rolled onto her back, staying close to his side. She laid there for a while, enjoying the sound of the ocean in the background and the breeze blowing through the open windows. She had just closed her eyes and was about to give back in to sleep when she felt something in her stomach. She knew from past experience that it was the baby's first movements that she could feel and she nudged Gus to wake up, hoping he would be able to feel it too. When he stirred, she grabbed his hand and put it on her abdomen.
"You gotta feel this," she said and he rubbed his eyes with his other hand.
"Feel what?" he asked.
"He was moving," Harley answered, "Can you feel it?"
Gus shook his head, "I don't feel anything," he replied disappointedly.
"I was hoping you would be able to," she said, "But I guess he's not moving too much and he's still really tiny. Maybe in a few weeks."
"Maybe." Gus said and kissed her stomach. "Feel better?"
"Yeah, I do. Sorry I fell asleep."
"It's okay, it was kind of nice to take a nap with you," he replied.
"Yeah, but you're not supposed to take naps on your honeymoon," she argued.
"Oh, then what are you supposed to do?" he asked.
"Something more fun than sleeping," she replied slyly as she ran her hand up his chest under his shirt. "Like...eating, cause I'm starving!"
"You are a tease," he laughed. "You feel well enough to eat?" he asked.
"Yes, I really feel fine, honey. Let's change and go to dinner and then later tonight, we'll find out what's more fun than eating," she teased.
"Like skinny dipping?" he asked hopefully.
"Well, I was thinking making love, but if you just want to go skinny dipping."
"We could do both, you know," he replied.
"You are brilliant," she smiled as she rolled on top of him and kissed him deeply.
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Post by Jen on Jan 13, 2005 21:14:53 GMT -5
After Harley changed into a sundress and Gus changed into a pair of khakis and a loose button-down shirt, they walked up to the resort for dinner. They were seated at a table with two other couples and the six of them struck up a conversation easily.
One couple were in their twenties and had just gotten married two days earlier, so they were on their honeymoon. The other couple were about the same age as Gus and Harley and were new parents on vacation.
"Our little girl is six months old, we miss her so much, but this trip was an anniversary gift from my parents, so we couldn't turn it down. We got the free trip and they get to spoil the baby for a week. They thought it was a fair exchange and we're keeping our mouths shut," the woman, who introduced herself as Tina, laughed.
"Do you two have any children?" she asked Harley and Gus.
They looked at each other and tried not to laugh. They hated when people asked that. It was so hard to explain with Susan's age and Zach being Phillip's.
"Yes, I have a daughter and son, and we are expecting our first in November," Harley smiled.
"Oh congratulations!" Tina replied.
"How long have you been married?" the other woman, Kristi asked.
"Thirteen months today," Gus answered.
"Wow, so you're still newlyweds too," Tina's husband Jack replied.
"We like to think so," Harley said, "Actually, this is our honeymoon, just delayed a year."
"Oh how nice," Tina said. "How old are your kids?" she asked.
"Susan is eighteen, she just graduated last month, and Zach is four," Harley answered.
"Oh I love the name Zach! If we had a boy, his name was going to be Zachary, but we got our little Michaela instead," Tina gushed. "Do you have pictures? I bet they're beautiful kids."
"Um, I didn't bring my…honey, do you have a picture?" Harley asked Gus and he fished his wallet out of his pocket and handed a picture of the four of them to Tina, who cooed over it then passed it to Kristi.
"Your daughter looks just like you. She's beautiful," Tina gushed.
"And he is adorable! Look at those dimples!" Kristi added.
"Thank you," Harley replied.
"Those dimples are the reason he gets away with murder most of the time," Gus said. "How can you resist that face? Just like his mom," he added as he kissed Harley softly on the lips.
Tina pulled out a picture of her baby and passed it around. Gus was the last to look at it, and he ran his finger over the picture of the girl in pink ruffles.
"She's beautiful," he smiled and handed the picture back to Tina.
"How about you guys? Are you planning on having kids?" Harley asked Kristi and her husband.
"Yeah, but not for a few years. We're just not ready yet, we want to have some time with just the two of us first. Is that why you all waited?" Kristi asked.
"No, we wanted a baby right after we got married, it just took this long for it to happen for us," Harley explained.
"It is for us. We wanted a house and to be stable in our jobs first, we were finally ready and now we have our baby," Tina answered.
"We are probably boring these two with all this kids talk," Tina's husband said.
"No, it's fine," Kristi assured them, "But actually, we do need to get going. We made arrangements for a moonlight cruise, and it sets off right after sunset. It was so nice meeting you all. Enjoy the rest of your vacations."
"You too, and congratulations," Harley told them before they headed out of the dining room arm in arm.
"To be young again…" Tina said.
"No thank you," Harley replied. "I was a mess when I was her age. I love being 34. I love my life now. I definitely would not go back."
"Me neither," Gus agreed. "Although I'd like to be as in shape as I was when I was 25."
"Stop eating junk food and you would be," Harley elbowed him in the side.
"Hey, I'm eating for two now!" he excused.
"No, sweetie, that's me," she said.
"Well then I'm eating for three," he corrected as he put his arm around her and kissed her cheek. "Ready to go?" he asked and she nodded.
They said goodbye to Tina and her husband and walked outside.
"Let's take the scenic route back," Gus said as he took Harley's hand and they walked down to the beach.
They walked barefoot on the white sand with the sun setting in the background. Gus grabbed two towels from the booth and laid them out on the sand and they sat down on them. Gus put his arm around her and pulled her close.
"I want a girl," he said as he kissed her temple.
"You do?"
"Yeah, I want a little blonde girl that we can dress in pink and ruffles and I want to be wrapped right around her pinky so I can spoil her rotten. But she's never going on a date," he said and Harley laughed.
"I always thought you would want a boy," she said.
"I already have a boy," he replied and she smiled.
"I don't care either way," she said. "And I know you say you want a girl now, but when this baby's born, if it's a boy, you won't even notice, you'll be so in love."
"I can't wait to have this baby. The waiting is torture- we've waited long enough," he replied.
"I know," Harley nodded. "But it will go by faster than you think, especially once I start showing. You'll see how quickly my waistline grows," she laughed.
"I can't wait until you get a little belly. Or a big one," he said. "You are so gorgeous pregnant."
"You are so gorgeous when I'm pregnant," she said. "You are, you just smile all the time and I love your smile. And I am going to love watching you go through all of this for the first time."
"I think we should start picking names," he suggested.
"Honey, if we pick out names now, what are we going to do for the next five months?"
"Finally decorate the nursery. Go shopping and buy this kid all the toys it could ever want- and the best diapers and the best bottles and the coolest clothes," he replied.
"I hope you're planning on robbing a bank sometimes soon then," she laughed.
"We'll rob it together," he said as he stood up and pulled her up with him. "Let's go skinny dipping under the stars," he added and they continued down the beach towards their bungalow.
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Post by Jen on Jan 13, 2005 21:16:02 GMT -5
"Gus, I don't think I can do this. There are people around us," Harley said as she stopped at the door of the patio and closed her robe tightly.
"Harley- do you see anyone out of their bungalows? No, there's no one around but me. Throw caution- and your robe- to the wind," he said as he dropped his robe and stood in front of her naked.
"You know, sometimes you just have really good ideas," she replied as she looked him up and down then lost her robe too.
They slid into the clear, warm water and Gus pulled Harley into his arms.
"See, now isn't this nice?" he asked as he ran his hands up and down her bare back.
"Extremely nice," she whispered into his ear, then sucked on his neck.
"There's only one thing wrong," he said and she pulled away from his neck and looked at him.
"What?"
"Your hair is too dry," he said before he pulled her under the water and she struggled out of his arms.
"I am going to kill you!" she laughed when they came up for air.
“Oh yeah? What are you going to do, drown me?” he teased.
“No,” she said as she pushed herself away from him. “But I think you will be sleeping on the couch tonight.”
Gus groaned, “On the first night of our honeymoon, you’re going to banish me to the couch?”
“Well, that would be a worse punishment than drowning wouldn’t it?” she teased.
“I’m so sorry, baby,” he pouted as he swam closer to her.
“You should have thought of that earlier,” she said, coldly, backing away again.
“Harley…come on baby…”
She shook her head and disappeared under the water.
“Harley?” he called out but she didn’t come up.
He turned around and called her name again. He was about to go under the water when she jumped onto his back and pushed him under.
“You…” he sputtered when they came back up. “You are despicable.”
“Oh, you can give, but not get, huh?”
“Baby, I will take anything you want to give me,” he replied, his eyes smoldering with desire.
“Hmmm, really?” she asked before she covered his lips with hers in a deep kiss.
She wrapped her legs around his waist and he pushed her backwards until she was pressed up against the ladder that led back up to their deck..
“Ready to go inside?” she asked, between kisses.
“Oh yeah,” he mumbled into her neck.
“I meant to the bed.”
“That too,” he nodded and backed away so she could climb up the ladder.
“How about we hit the shower first?” she suggested as she took his hand and led him to the outdoor shower and pulled him inside, closing the wooden door behind them.
“Oh I like this,” Gus said as he turned on the hot water and turned Harley around in front of him so her back was to him.
“We don’t have any soap out here,” she said as she leaned back against him. “We won’t get very clean.”
“I’ll go get some,” he replied into her ear. “Don’t move,” he instructed with a quick kiss on her neck and he left the stall.
“Gus, get a towel!” she laughed when she saw him rush into the bungalow naked.
“Did you enjoy the view?” he teased when he returned moments later with a bottle of body wash.
“Yeah, the ocean is beautiful,” she answered.
Gus poked his finger into her side and wrapped her tightly in his arms, “That’s not the view I was talking about.”
“Oh,” she giggled. “I always enjoy that view,” she added as she turned in his arms and covered his lips with hers.
“Hey, let’s uh, hurry up in here so we can get to bed,” she said as she squirted some body wash in her hands then wrapped them in Gus’s, sharing the lather.
Two minutes later, they had finished washing each other off and were more than ready to move inside to the bed.
Gus grabbed a big towel off the rack outside the shower and wrapped it around the two of them as they stumbled into the bungalow, their lips never parting. Gus tossed the towel away and lifted Harley into his arms. She wrapped her legs around his waist and kissed him deeply.
“I love you so much, Gus,” she whispered as he laid her down on the ivory sheets that covered their bed.
“I love you too,” he replied with a soft kiss before they got lost in their love and desire for each other.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Wow. We actually get this whole bed to ourselves tonight," Harley said as she snuggled up against Gus.
"Uh huh. And the best part is, we can sleep naked," he replied as he slid his hand under the sheet and over Harley's bare stomach. "We don't have to hurry up and get dressed before some little boy crawls in between us."
"You know, by the time he grows out of that, we'll have another one doing it. We did not plan this well!" she joked.
"Well until then, we live for honeymoons and nights without kids," he said, kissing her.
"How many honeymoons do you plan on taking?" she laughed.
"How many times do you want to marry me?" he replied.
"Once is more than enough," she joked and he rolled them over so he was on top of her and pinned her hands to the bed.
"Are you saying that you wouldn't marry me again?" he asked, laughing.
"I would marry you all over again every single day if I could," she replied.
"Would we get a wedding night every time?" he asked.
"What you're getting now isn't enough for you?"
"I can never get enough of you," he replied, "But you're the best addiction there is."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
"Will you put oil on my back?" Harley asked as she handed Gus her bottle of tanning oil the next afternoon.
"Yeah, why don't you lay down," he suggested and she laid face down on the towel.
Gus straddled her legs and grabbed the strings across her back, "Can I untie?" he asked and she nodded. He untied both the strings across her back and around her neck and oiled up his hands.
What started out as a quick application of oil turned into a long back massage. Gus ran his hands up and down Harley's back, pushing and rubbing all the right places and Harley moaned in response.
"You're still reading that book I see," she said.
"My massage book? Well, I did skim through it again for the trip," he replied as he leaned down and kissed her neck.
"This is fabulous. Why didn't we do this last year when I could at least have enjoyed the great drinks with the little umbrellas in them?" Harley asked as she turned her head to the side.
Gus laughed, "I don't know baby," he said as she stroked her sides. "But, you know what I think?"
"What?"
"I think that when you roll over again, you should leave your top off," he replied as he brushed his fingers against the sides of her breasts.
"Nice try," she laughed. "But that's going to have to wait until we're alone. Unless of course you start drooling over the other topless women on this beach, then I'll have to use all of my assets to get back your attention."
"What other women?" he asked as he laid on top of her and kissed her neck.
"Good answer," she replied with a smile as she felt his lips on her flesh.
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