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Post by Jen on Jan 13, 2005 18:55:56 GMT -5
The next morning, Gus impatiently rode the elevator up to the fifth floor of Cedars. When the doors opened, he strolled out and almost literally ran into Dr. Sedgwick at the nurse’s station.
“Oh, good morning Gus,” she greeted.
“Good morning,” he replied cheerily.
“You look like you got a good night’s sleep.”
“I did actually,” Gus answered.
“Good. I just saw Harley, she is doing great and she can go home tomorrow.”
“That’s great. Is she awake?” Gus asked.
“Yes, awake and ready to see her babies. I’m going down to the nursery now to do my rounds, and after Nicholas and Abby are checked out, I’ll make sure someone brings them down,” she answered.
“Thank you so much,” Gus said as he started down the hall to Harley’s room.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Harley sat up in her bed flipping through the channels on the small TV fixed to the wall across the room. She had only been in the hospital not in labor for about 15 hours, but she was bored already, and she slept for at least nine of those hours. She actually slept quite well the night before, I must have been really exhausted because this has to be the most uncomfortable bed ever, she said to herself as she fluffed her pillow and played with the controls on the bed. She finally settled for watching Regis and Kelly. Just what I need- to watch a perky blonde who just had another baby and is already back to a size 0, she thought to herself. She was about to change the channel again when the door opened and Gus peeked in. Her bored frown turned into a bright smile when she saw him.
“Good morning,” he greeted as he stepped into the room with a duffel bag over his shoulder, a plastic bag in on hand and the other behind his back.
“It is now,” she replied, “Morning.”
“I brought you some clothes and some real food for breakfast.”
“Oh good, I’m starving.”
“And I brought you these,” he said as he pulled a bunch of red roses from behind his back, “and I see I’m not the first,” he continued as he saw a bouquet of flowers with balloons attached sitting on the stand next to the bed.
“Yeah, Dad, Frank and Marina,” Harley explained.
“They were here already?” Gus asked.
“No, these were delivered. So yours are better because I get you with them,” she said as she grabbed the collar of his jacket and pulled him down for a kiss.
“Mmm…good morning,” he breathed.
“You already said that,” Harley reminded him.
“Well, it’s really good,” Gus replied as he handed her the roses and she held them up to her nose.
“Thank you,” she said, “Seven? That’s an odd number.”
“One for every member of our family,” he explained.
“Awww, honey, that’s so sweet.”
“You mean corny, right?” he laughed.
“Sweet and a little corny,” she agreed. “Oh my God. We have five kids!” she exclaimed as if realizing it for the first time.
Gus laughed, “Uh, yeah. But actually, I think only four of them are still considered children.”
“Wow. Are we crazy?”
“Yes,” Gus answered simply, “Here, eat your breakfast before it gets cold.”
“Okay. What is it?”
“It is an omelet with some ham and all that healthy, crunchy stuff you like. We got some mushrooms, peppers, onions, the works in here. Plus cheese of course. And a chocolate chip muffin,” he finished as he pulled some Tupperware containers out of the plastic bag and set them on the tray and put it in front of Harley.
“Okay, either I am really hungry, or Dad really outdid himself this time. This is the best omelet I have ever had,” she said after she took a few bites.
“Well, your dad didn’t make it.”
“Who did? Marina?” she asked.
“No. I did.” Gus answered.
“You made this? Honey, it’s really good. You are doing all the cooking from now on.”
“Well, I don’t know about that,” he said as he sat down next to her bed while she ate.
When she was finished, he set the duffel bag on her bed.
“Do you want to get dressed and we’ll go for a walk? We’ll go get Nicholas and Abby,” Gus suggested.
“Yes, let’s do that,” she agreed as she got out of bed and changed into lounging pants and a tank top. She put her robe on, grabbed Gus’s hand and they walked down the hallway to the nursery.
When they approached the big window, they saw Dr. Sedgwick checking over the twins. She looked up and saw them and asked a nurse to let them in. The nurse who opened the door was one they had never seen before, so they quietly thanked her and went over to Nicholas and Abby’s bassinets.
Dr. Sedgwick introduced them to the nurse, “Rose, this is Harley and Gus Aitoro, Nicholas and Abigail’s parents.”
“Oh hello, it’s nice to meet you,” Rose said cheerily. “You know, Abigail is just the most well behaved baby in the nursery. She has barely made a peep since I got here and the nurses who left all told me the same thing. Now Nicholas on the other hand. That boy has got a good set of lungs on him. But when he gets quiet and opens his eyes and looks at you, you just can’t help but fall in love.”
She leaned in close to Harley, “My guess is he gets that from his daddy,” she said with a wink towards Gus.
“That sounds about right,” Harley laughed as she wrapped her arms around Gus’s waist.
“I thought so. Are you going to take them back to your room?” Rose asked.
“We’d like to,” Gus replied.
“No problem, let me get you a bigger bassinet they can both fit in and as soon as Doc gives the okay, you can take them.”
“Thank you,” Harley said as Rose walked away, then she turned to Dr. Sedgwick.
“So how are they doing?” she asked as she looked down at her babies who were both sleeping.
“They are both doing great,” she replied, “and they can go home with you tomorrow.”
“That’s great!” Gus replied.
“And I am a witness to Nicholas’s strong lungs. He just quieted down right before you got here. The good thing is Abigail doesn’t seem to pay much attention to his screams,” she chuckled, “she probably knows he’s just doing it for attention.”
“So they’re both okay? I mean, they were a couple weeks early, there aren’t any problems?” Harley asked again, like a worried mother.
“None at all. Both are very good sized for 38 weeks. They’re a little smaller than a single baby would have been, but they are both strong and healthy.”
“Good,” Harley replied, finally satisfied.
Dr. Sedgwick’s pager went off and she quickly checked it, “I’ve got to run,” she said as she signed the twins’ charts. “As soon as Rose brings the bassinet, they are all yours for the day. But don’t you forget to rest too. Take advantage of the staff of nurses while it’s here. I’ll check in with you later,” she finished as she went to leave the nursery.
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Post by Jen on Jan 13, 2005 18:56:24 GMT -5
“Hello!” Blake greeted as she walked into Harley’s room with Cassie behind her.
“Shh!” Harley and Gus both reprimanded her.
“We just got Nicholas to sleep,” Harley explained. “Hi!” she said.
“Sorry! Hi sweetie,” Blake exclaimed quietly as she Harley a hug and gushed over Nicholas, then went and did the same to Abby.
She took Abby from Gus and sat in the rocking chair when he got up.
“We figured you would already have gotten flowers, so we brought something better,” Cassie said, “Chocolate! And pictures. I took them this morning and got one-hour. But I didn’t get a chance to look at them yet. So give me Nicholas and you guys can look at them, and they’re yours.”
“Thanks Cassie,” Harley said as she passed her Nicholas and went to sit on her bed with Gus.
They flipped through the stack of photographs that Cassie had taken the day before when everyone was there. She had taken more pictures than either of them realized. There were pictures of Gus holding both babies, Harley holding both babies, Gus with Abby, Harley with Nicholas. There was at least one picture of each person holding Nicholas, Abby or both. There was an adorable picture of Zach standing beside Buzz in the rocking chair bending over and kissing Nicholas on the forehead and there was one picture of Gus, Harley, Susan, Zach, Jude, Nicholas and Abby all on Harley’s bed- the first picture of their whole new family.
“Aww, this is my favorite,” Harley said as she picked out a picture of her and Gus on her bed holding Nicholas and Abby, kissing.
Gus smiled and leaned over to kiss her.
“What is it?” Cassie asked and Harley passed her the stack of pictures with her favorite on top.
Cassie took them and she and Blake looked at them togther.
“Aww. You guys are so cute!” Cassie gushed.
“Sickening, isn’t it?” Blake joked.
“Oh stop,” Cassie said, “I think it’s cute. But I’m just jealous.”
“Well, you know, Cassie, it’s not like there isn’t a line of men just waiting for you to become available,” Harley said and got a ‘don’t start’ look from Cassie.
Gus cleared his throat, “I’m going to go to the station and check in. Can I take the pictures?”
“Yeah,” Harley replied as he kissed her goodye then kissed Nicholas and Abby.
“Ladies, I’d kiss you too, but I keep all my good kisses for that one,” he said pointing to Harley. “I’ll be back later.”
“Bye Gus,” Blake and Cassie said as he left.
Blake turned to Harley, “I think you have finally found THE one. He just adores you.”
“And you’re just realizing this?” Harley joked.
“Well, no. I’m just really happy for you two. And these guys are just too adorable for words!” Blake continued.
“So when are you all getting out of here?” Cassie asked.
“Tomorrow- I can’t wait to get these little ones home!” Harley replied.
“How are Zach and Jude handling all this?” Blake asked.
“Well, Zach seemed fine last night. He was just hanging all over them. Jude was crabby, but I think he was just tired. I guess we’ll see when everyone is home.”
“I can’t believe how much Nicholas looks like Gus!” Cassie observed.
“Really? I can’t tell who they look like,” Harley said.
“Well, look, he has dark hair, dark eyes…”
Blake rolled her eyes, “I don’t think you can tell yet. But you can definitely tell where their hair came from,” she said as she smoothed down both Nicholas and Abby’s dark brown hair.
“I know. Gus wanted a little girl with blond hair, but personally, I was just glad one of them was a girl,” Harley laughed.
“Well, you got your girl. You have a wonderful husband and five wonderful children. Could your life be any more perfect?” Blake wondered.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Well, if it isn’t the proud new papa!” Chief Franklin exclaimed as Gus walked into the station.
“Chief,” Gus greeted, “have a cigar. You know what, have two cigars,” he said as he picked out cigars from his box and passed them around.
“Patrick, Davis, O’Donnell, Sherry- you can have one too, I won’t tell your husband,” he winked, “and Uncle Frank, here’s some for you.”
“Hey, how’s Harley doing?” Franklin asked.
“She’s doing great,” Gus answered.
“And the little ones?” Sherry asked.
“They’re perfect,” Gus smiled, “they’re all coming home tomorrow. I have some pictures,” he said, handing them to Sherry.
Soon, all the guys in the station were gathered around Sherry, oohing and ahhing over Nicholas and Abby.
“Cute kids, Aitoro,” Franklin said as he went into his office to answer the phone.
“Thank you,” Gus replied.
As Gus turned around to get a cup of coffee, he ran right into Phillip Spaulding.
“Spaulding, how you doing? Here, have a cigar,” he said less than thrilled.
“Uh yeah, congratulations and all that,” Phillip responded coldly, “I need to speak to Chief Franklin.”
“He’s in his office,” Gus pointed and Phillip barged in.
“Wonder what that was about,” Gus wondered outloud.
“Who knows, who cares?” Frank added.
“So when are you off? Are you going to come by the hospital?” Gus asked.
“Yeah, I’m off in about an hour, I was going to stop by after that. And I think Marina is coming by after classes with Susan.” Frank answered.
“Oh good,” Gus said as Phillip left Franklin’s office in a hurry and Franklin followed him out.
“What was that all about?” Gus asked the Chief.
“He wants some security guards at the Spaulding Mansion tonight. Something about the safe, I don’t know. But you know, whatever Spaulding wants, Spaulding gets,” Franklin explained.
“Yeah…so Frank, I will see you later. I have something I need to do before I go back to the hospital,” Gus said.
“Tell Harley we said ‘hi’,” Franklin said.
“I will,” Gus replied as he left the station and headed to the Valesburg Correctional Facility.
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“Bzzzz,” the door opened and Gus sat down in a cubicle and waited for the guards to bring Eden out.
When she sat down across from him a few minutes later, he smiled as he picked up the phone to speak to her.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hey yourself. I thought you might like to know that you’re an aunt. Harley had the twins last night,” he said as he got out the pictures and held a few up to the window for her to see. “A boy and a girl. Nicholas Joseph and Abigail Grace.”
“Nicholas Joseph, that’s a good name,” she said, smiling, “They’re beautiful Nicky. I’m so happy for you.”
“Thank you,” Gus replied, “Eden, you have no idea. I had no clue I could love somebody as much as I love them already.”
Eden smiled, “How’s Harley doing?”
Gus gave her a look as if it was a strange question, “Come on, I’m serious,” she urged.
“She’s great.”
They talked for a few more minutes until the guard told them time was up.
“Do you want a picture? Can she have a picture?” he asked the guard who nodded.
He picked out a picture of him and Harley with Nicholas and Abby and handed it to the guard.
“Thanks Nicky, and thanks for coming by,” Eden said before the guard took her away.
After she left, he put the pictures away and headed back to the hospital.
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“Hey, look who I found in the parking lot,” Gus announced as he and Frank walked into Harley’s room.
“Hey Frank,” Harley said as he bent down and kissed her cheek, “were you working?”
“Yeah, I just got off.”
“Where did you go?” she asked Gus.
“I went to the station, passed out some cigars, then went to see Eden,” he explained.
“Oh. Good,” Harley said as he came over and kissed her.
“Everyone at the station says hello,” Gus told her as Cassie pager went off.
“Ugh. Olivia has an emergency. I better get back to the hotel,” she said as she got up and handed Abby to Gus.
“I hope everything’s okay,” Harley said.
“Oh, don’t worry. I’m sure an emergency for Olivia is us running out of wine or something. I’ll call you later,” she said as she said goodbye to everyone.
“Wait, I’ll walk you out,” Frank said and he followed her out of the room.
As they walked out of the hospital, Frank tried to make small talk with Cassie.
“So, do they make you want to have another baby?” he asked.
“Well, I can’t, actually even if I wanted to,” Cassie replied.
“Oh, Cassie I’m sorry. Gees. Open mouth, insert foot.”
“It’s okay Frank. It’s not like I have anyone to have a baby with anyway.”
“Well, maybe someday. I’m sure there is one guy out there who can make you happy,” Frank said shyly.
“Maybe…” Cassie said as she looked up at the gray sky. “I better go.”
“Yeah, be careful, okay, the roads are slick,” Frank warned as she got into her SUV and drove away.
Frank rolled his eyes at himself and walked back into the hospital.
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Post by Jen on Jan 13, 2005 18:57:29 GMT -5
Two weeks later, Gus and Harley had gotten into a pretty good routine when it came to taking care of Nicholas and Abby. On this particular day, Harley had just gotten Zach on the bus to go to his afternoon kindergarten class and Jude was at preschool. Gus had been called into work and he was going to pick up Jude on his way home. Harley had just sat down after cleaning up Zach’s pile of toys in the living room that he was playing with before school when Nicholas started crying. Abby was still sleeping, but it was time for both of them to eat. Harley picked Nicholas up from his bassinet and took him into the kitchen with her while she made his bottle.
“Shh,” she soothed Nicholas who was using those lungs everyone warned them he had, “Let’s let your sister sleep as long as she wants right now, okay?”
He quieted down quickly when she stuck the bottle in his mouth and they went back into the living room. As soon as Harley sat down, the doorbell rang.
She sighed and looked down at Nicholas who was happily sucking away at his formula, “Does it ever end?”
She got up and holding Nicholas’s bottle up with her chin, she opened the door and saw Cassie standing outside.
“Hey,” she said, “Come on in.”
“Hi. This weather is so weird. Two weeks ago we had a blizzard and now it’s oddly warm outside,” Cassie said as she came in and took her coat off.
“Yeah, I know. What’s up?” Harley asked.
“I just came over to visit,” Cassie replied, “Olivia is moody today, and I needed a break.”
“Well, good. I’m glad you came over.”
“Where’s Gus?”
“He’s working,” Harley answered.
“I think he wasn’t going to be working for a few weeks,” Cassie said as she sat down.
“Well, he’s kind of on-call if they need him, and Chief called this morning and asked him to come in for a few hours.”
“I see. So how are these guys doing? Or should I ask how Mommy is doing?” Cassie asked with a laugh.
“We’re all wonderful,” Harley answered.
“Are they sleeping good? Or are you up all night with one or the other?”
“Actually, we’ve got them on a nice schedule. At first we just let them go and whenever they were hungry, we fed them, but during the night, Nicholas would cry, one of us would get up and feed him while the other one was awake anyway, and then by the time we both got back to sleep, Abby would cry and we would do the same thing all over again and we got maybe two hours of sleep. So we had to stop that. When Nicholas is hungry, he wants a bottle NOW. He doesn’t like to wait, but Abby is very easy-going, she’ll eat whenever, so during the night when Nicholas gets up, we both get up and we feed them at the same time. That way we sleep when they sleep. And it’s worked out pretty well so far. Now, I don’t know how that will work when Gus or both of us go back to work, but we’ll worry about when we get there. For now, this system works for us and for them.”
“I definitely do not miss three am feedings,” Cassie said sympathetically.
“Oh, they’re a bunch of fun,” Harley said sarcastically.
“And how are the boys adjusting to having two new babies in the house?”
“Actually, better than I thought they would. Zach just always wants to help. He’s always there trying to hold the babies, feed the babies, change the babies. If you have a baby in your arms, you have Zach attached to your leg wanting to help. Which is fine. He was a huge help this morning when I was changing them and Gus was at work, because he’ll go get the diapers and stuff, so that’s fine. Jude is a little more cautious still. I don’t think he likes not being the baby anymore. And he gets really crabby when he doesn’t think he’s getting enough attention, so we try to avoid that as much as possible. It’s so cute though, if they’re in their bassinets sleeping and I go into the kitchen or something, Jude will go stand by them and sing to them, but when he sees me come back in the room he’ll stop. Like he likes the babies, and likes taking care of them, but he doesn’t want anyone to know it.”
“Is he really clingy? I remember RJ was when we got Will,” Cassie asked.
“He’s not too bad except at night. Like, Gus can’t put him to bed. I have to be the one to tuck him in. Which really gets to Gus sometimes. Because Jude has always been really attached to him. I mean, he’s never had a problem going to sleep without me there before and now it’s to the point where he will push Gus away if he tries to tuck him in,” Harley explained as she put Nicholas over her shoulder to burp him.
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“Aitoro, can I talk to you?” Chief Franklin asked as he pulled Gus out of the study in the Spaulding Mansion and into the hallway.
“I have another call I have to get to. Take care of this, will you? You know how to handle Spaulding,” he continued, and then left the mansion.
“Great…” Gus muttered to himself as he went back into the study.
“Well? What’s he going to do about this?” Phillip demanded to know.
“Look, Spaulding. I understand you’re worried or whatever, but we can’t drop everything to baby-sit this family. Now, we’re looking into these threats that Alexandra and Alan have received. And we’re taking those very seriously, but we can’t send the whole force out here to sit on their butts and watch the house 24/7. We have other cases too, homicides, rapes, you name it, we got it. You have security, so it’s going to have to be your responsibility to get more people on. Not ours. We’ll do what we can, but just because the name Spaulding comes up doesn’t mean you get all of our attention. Not when all we have to go on are some notes about watching your safe.”
Phillip stood in the study, hands on his hips, listening to Gus, but growing angrier by the second.
“You’re telling me that you can’t do anything about this?” he asked angrily, baring his teeth.
“I’m telling you that we are doing what we can. What we cannot do is have every detective, officer and guard surrounding your house waiting for someone who may never even show up while we have other things to take care of. We have the Forensics team looking at the notes, we have one officer with your security at all times, but right now we just can’t spare more than one officer per shift. All of your alarms go straight to the station and straight to the Chief, wherever he is. If something happens, we will be here before you know it.” Gus assured him.
“Fine,” Phillip said, as if he had a choice.
“Okay. I have to go, I have to pick Jude up from preschool. If you have any problems or get any more notes, call the station, they’ll take care of it,” Gus said as he turned to leave.
“Hey, Aitoro,” Phillip called out, “I know I was supposed to get Zach tomorrow and keep him for the weekend, but I don’t think I want him around here in case something happens.”
“I think that’s a good idea.”
“Would it be okay if you guys kept him this weekend? If I can get away on Saturday, I’ll take him somewhere, but it’s probably safer if he’s with you. I just, I didn’t know if you and Harley made any plans or anything.”
“It’s fine. The only plans Harley and I have for the time being are eating, sleeping and showering. If we get that all done, we’re happy,” Gus joked.
Phillip smirked, “Welcome to fatherhood.”
“Should I tell Zach you will call him or something?” Gus asked.
“Uh, yeah, I can do that.”
Gus nodded and left the room, “How generous of you,” he muttered to himself, rolling his eyes.
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Post by Jen on Jan 13, 2005 18:57:54 GMT -5
“So,” Cassie said as she burped Abby mid-bottle, “how hard would it be for you to get away for a few hours tomorrow night?”
“Why? What’s up?” Harley asked as Nicholas sucked away at the last drops of formula in his bottle.
“I was just thinking maybe we could go out somewhere. You, me, Blake and Reva. It’s just been a really long time since we’ve had a night out.”
Harley hesitated a bit and in her head imagined Gus with two babies in his arms and Zach and Jude whining at his feet, “Let me talk to Gus. But that would be nice. Actually, Phillip is supposed to take Zach for the weekend. Maybe Rick could take Jude for the night.”
“You don’t think Gus could handle the twins and Jude?” Cassie asked.
“I didn’t say that…”
“You didn’t have to,” Cassie laughed as Abby started whimpering.
The front door swung open and Gus bounded in with Jude on his back, hanging on to the collar of his coat, giggling.
“Honey! We’re home!” Gus sang out, causing Jude to giggle more.
He put Jude down and put both of their coats in the closet. Jude ran over and jumped onto the couch beside Harley.
“Hi Cassie,” Gus said as he followed Jude into the living room.
“Hi,” she replied as she stood up to try to quiet Abby who was no longer whimpering, but crying.
He went behind the couch, leaned over the back and kissed Harley’s cheek, “Hey baby,” he said, then he reached down and stroked Nicholas’s cheek with his finger.
“He’s so cute when he’s not screaming,” he joked, then looked up at Cassie who was still trying to comfort Abby. “What’s wrong with her?” he asked.
“I don’t know, she just started crying,” Cassie answered.
“She’s a little stuffy. Did she finish her bottle?” Harley asked and Cassie nodded as Gus went over to her.
He grabbed Abby’s hands from the side of her head and she gripped onto his finger with hers.
“Abby, what’s wrong sweetie?” he asked quietly as she opened her eyes and he leaned over and kissed the tip of her nose.
He quietly talked to her a little longer and she finally stopped crying. When Cassie put her back over her shoulder to burp her, Gus walked away and she immediately started crying again.
“Alright, she likes you better, you take her,” Cassie said laughing.
Gus took off his suit jacket and reached for Abby. Cassie sat back down and Gus stood, swaying back and forth, talking to Abby.
“What’s going on at work?” Harley asked him.
“Oh, Phillip wanted the entire force to watch the mansion,” Gus said, rolling his eyes.
“What? Why?” Harley asked, surprised.
“Alexandra and Alan have been getting some threatening notes. Some riddles about the safe. I don’t know. We have Forensics on it. But Phillip wants us to drop everything and have everyone on 24-hour surveillence.”
“Sounds like Phillip,” Cassie added.
“Yeah...Oh. And he asked if Zach could stay here this weekend, because it might not be safe at the mansion.”
“Is it that serious?” Harley asked.
“I don’t know, but it could be. Better not to take any chances. He said he would take Zach somewhere Saturday, if he could get away.”
“So, Zach will be here all weekend,” Harley said, looking at Cassie.
Gus saw the look Harley and Cassie exchanged and wondered what was up.
“What?” he asked as he sat down on the couch next to Harley.
“Nothing,” Harley replied, “I just thought Zach would be at Phillip’s and maybe Rick could take Jude and maybe you could watch the twins tomorrow night.”
“Well, I can do that,” he said, “where you going?”
“Out. With the girls, but…”
“But what?”
“Well, since Zach will be here…”
“What? You don’t think I can watch them all?”
“I didn’t say that,” Harley began.
“You didn’t have to,” Gus stopped her. He looked down at Abby who was looking up at him with wide eyes, “Mommy doesn’t think I can handle all four of you. Well, we’ll just show her, won’t we?” he said in a baby voice.
“Honey, I can watch the kids. Go out and have fun. We’ll be fine,” he assured her.
“Are you sure? I mean, you’ve never been alone with all four of them.”
“Well, there’s got to be a first time for everything.”
“Okay then. I guess we’re on for tomorrow night,” Harley told Cassie.
“Good. I will call Blake and Reve and then call you with a time. I better get back to the hotel. Have a good day, guys,” Cassie said as she put on her coat, then left.
“So what’s wrong with her? She’s stuffy?” he asked as Abby snuggled into his chest.
“Yeah, she’s just been a little crabby this morning,” Harley answered as she got up to put Nicholas in his bassinet. She came back and took Abby from Gus and put her in her bassinet, hoping she would fall asleep on her own, or at least amuse herself for awhile.
Harley went back and fell onto the couch next to Gus and rested her head on his shoulder. He moved and put his arm around her and leaned down to kiss her lips.
Jude, who was playing on the floor, got bored with his toys and grabbed a video off the shelf.
“Mommy, can I watch Simba?” he asked, handing her the case.
“Yes,” she replied and Gus put the tape in the VCR for Jude. He grabbed a pillow and settled on the floor in front of the tv while Gus settled back on the couch with Harley. Within a matter of minutes, everyone in the house was taking an afternoon nap.
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Later that night, Gus and Harley got Zach, Jude, Nicholas and Abby all bundled up to go to dinner at Company. They were meeting Susan and were going to have a family dinner. As they all climbed out of the huge SUV Gus had broke down and traded his classic car for, he grabbed the two baby carriers and Harley had the diaper bag and both boys. As they were walking up the sidewalk, they met a familiar face, at least familiar to Harley.
“Alan-Michael!” Harley exclaimed when she saw him and the two hugged.
“Harley! God, it is great to see you. You look great!” Alan-Michael said.
“Thank you. What are you doing here? I thought you vowed to stay out of Springfield forever.”
Alan-Michael nodded, “Board meeting. I guess Alan and Alex are having some problems. Something about moving stocks and assets. It was recommended I be in attendance for this one,” Alan-Michael explained.
“Oh, yeah, Gus is working that case,” Harley replied, “Oh, Alan-Michael, I’m sorry, this is my husband, Gus Aitoro. This is Alan-Michael Spaulding.”
Gus set one of the carriers on the bench and shook Alan-Michael’s hand, “It’s nice to meet you,” he said.
“You too. You know, Lucy told me you were getting married, but we haven’t been on speaking terms since you were pregnant.”
Harley laughed, “Yes, this is Nicholas and Abby,” Harley said as she pulled back the blankets that covered the twins.
Alan-Michael peeked into the carriers, “They’re adorable. How old are they?”
“Almost three weeks,” Gus answered.
“Wow. Congratulations to both of you.”
“Thank you,” she said as she turned to where Zach and Jude were playing in the snow. “And the blonde one is Jude and you can probably recognize Zach.”
Alan-Michael looked, then turned to Harley, “He looks just like Phillip did when he was a kid.”
“I know,” Harley replied, “Zach, come here sweetie.”
Zach threw one last snowball at Jude and ran over next to Harley.
“Zach, this is your Daddy’s brother, Alan-Michael.”
“Hi,” Zach said is a shy little voice.
“Hi there Zach,” Alan-Michael said as he crouched down to Zach’s level. “You know, I haven’t seen you since your Mom sent me a picture when you were about as little as your brother and sister here. That was a long time ago, huh?”
Zach nodded shyly as Susan, Marina and Tammy walked up the sidewalk to Company.
“Hey,” Susan said when she saw the rest of her family.
“Hey,” Harley replied, then introduced them to Alan-Michael.
When the three girls went inside Company, Alan-Michael watched them with surprise.
“That’s little Daisy?” he asked.
“Not so little anymore,” Harley replied.
“And Marina…I feel so old,” he joked as Nicholas started fussing.
“I’m going to take them inside,” Gus said, “It was nice to meet you Alan-Michael.”
“You too, Gus,” he replied as Zach ran past him into the restaurant.
“Jude, you want to go with Gus?” Harley asked and Jude put down his snowball and grabbed onto the back of Gus’s coat and followed him inside.
“They’re great kids, Harley. You look so happy.”
Harley smiled, “We really are.”
“Good, you deserve it,” Alan-Michael replied as Cassie came up the walk.
“Hey Harley,” she said when she approached them, “Can you believe I actually get to eat dinner with my daughter?” she joked.
“Yeah, they just went inside,” Harley replied, “Cassie, this is Alan-Michael Spaulding. This is Cassie Winslow.”
Alan-Michael stuck out his hand and Cassie shook it, “It’s nice to meet you Mrs. Winslow.”
“Call me Cassie, please,” she said, then excused herself to go inside.
“Cassie Winslow? She owns the Beacon with Olivia, right?”
“Yes.”
“Former Princess Winslow?”
“That would be Cassie. Her husband died a few years ago.”
Alan-Michael looked towards the restaurant, “Hmm. Well, I better let you get back to your family. It was nice seeing you.”
“You too, are you going to be in town for awhile?” Harley asked as they hugged again.
“You never know…” he replied.
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Post by Jen on Jan 13, 2005 18:58:37 GMT -5
The next evening…
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Gus, are you sure you don’t want me to call Kristen to come over?”
“Harley, would you just get ready, go out and don’t worry about us? We will be fine,” Gus assured her as he stood in the doorway of their bedroom.
Harley was getting ready for her night out with the girls and was a little nervous about leaving Gus alone with all four kids. It’s not that she didn’t think he could handle them. He was great with Zach and Jude and he had perfected the art of changing two screaming babies in under two minutes, but Harley knew what looking after all four meant. It was easy until one of the babies would start crying, then both, then Jude would start whining and then he and Zach would argue over which video to watch- a vicious cycle of crying, screaming, fighting children.
Gus went into the room and helped her put on her bracelet.
“Where are you guys going?” he asked her.
“Millenium. Cassie’s thinking about buying into it, but she wants to see what it’s like with these new owners.”
“I’ve heard it’s good. You look great by the way,” he said as his hands pulled her hips close to him and he kissed her.
“Eh,” she protested as she pulled away slightly.
“Hey,” he said as he grabbed around the waist and pulled her back to him, “You look so good I am thinking about keeping you here all to myself.
“Yeah, just me and the four kids,” Harley joked as she wrapped her arms around Gus’s neck and snuggled against his warm body.
He kissed the side of her head as he ran his hand up and down her back. She was wearing a knee length, royal blue dress and Gus thought she looked gorgeous. Of course, he also thought she looked gorgeous at three o’clock in the morning with a screaming baby in her arms and dark circles under her eyes, so he might have been a little biased. Since she had the twins, she had made it a personal goal to get back into shape as quickly as possible. Every morning after the twins were fed and the boys were still sleeping, Harley would head to the basement to the makeshift gym and run on the treadmill or go a few rounds with the punching bag. She had every intention of joining Gus back on the force and she was going to make sure it would be like she never left. He didn’t know how she did it all- she was Superwoman in his eyes. And those eyes thought she looked damn good for just giving birth to twins a few weeks earlier.
He meant what he said about wanting to keep her all to himself tonight, but he knew she needed and wanted a break and some time with her friends. They would get some alone time soon- he hoped. He couldn’t wait to have a real conversation with her again, one that didn’t revolve around the twins’ feeding schedule or Zach’s rehearsals for the school play.
They had already made plans to go to a Valentine’s Day party two weeks later, but the chances of them getting rid of all four kids for the night were highly unlikely.
Gus sighed as they heard one of the babies crying through the baby monitor Gus had set on the dresser.
“You better hurry, or you’ll be late,” he said to Harley as he kissed her, then headed downstairs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Alright, Mommy has to go,” Harley said as she came down the stairs, “Give me kisses,” she added as she leaned over the couch where Zach and Jude were watching a video.
They hugged and kissed her, then went back to quietly watching the video. Harley looked strangely at them as she went over to where Gus was sitting feeding Nicholas.
“I told them they could have chocolate sundaes if they were quiet until I got the twins fed,” he explained.
Harley leaned over him and kissed him, “You are so smart,” she said then she kissed Nicholas’s forehead, then turned to Abby who was sitting quietly in her bouncy seat.
Harley knelt in front of the seat and talked to Abby whose eyes had popped open at the sound of her mother’s voice.
“Hello sweetheart,” Harley said as she leaned forward and kissed Abby’s cheek, “We finally got rid of those sniffles, huh babygirl? You’re much happier now,” she continued and although Abby had no idea what she was saying, her dark eyes sparkled at the attention she was getting.
“Okay, I have to go,” she said as she kissed Gus one last time and headed to the door. “I’ll have my cell. Be good,” she warned the boys who were still silently watching the movie.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Hey, sorry I’m late,” Harley said as she sat down at the table Cassie and Reva had gotten. “Well, at least I beat Blake.”
“That’s not hard,” Cassie laughed. “How are you doing?”
“Good,” Harley said as she relaxed, “I’m good. I’m a little nervous, but other than that.”
“Why are you nervous?” Reva asked.
“Gus is watching all of the kids,” Cassie explained and Harley nodded.
“Oh, he’ll be fine. Have some champagne and let him worry about the kids for one night,” Reva said as she poured Harley a glass of champagne.
“You’re right. I’m just paranoid, I’m sure everything will be fine,” Harley said as she took a sip of the champagne and relaxed.
Blake showed up a few minutes later and the four of them got caught up on what was going on in their lives.
“Well, the Beacon is absolutely crazy,” Cassie said, “Olivia is planning for this Valentine’s Day benefit and she’s driving me nuts.”
“I’m kind of surprised Olivia and Alan are throwing this benefit. I mean, it’s odd for Spauldings to do anything that benefits someone other than themselves,” Blake said.
“Well, I’m sure the huge tax deduction helps,” Cassie added.
“So this is all Olivia’s thing? I mean, you’re not co-hostess or anything?” Harley asked.
“Nope. It’s all her. I don’t even think I’m going,” Cassie said.
“What do you mean you’re not going?” Blake asked.
“Well, I don’t have a date or anything, so I was just going to enjoy a quiet night with RJ and Will.”
“Oh Cassie, you should come anyways, we’re all going to be there,” Harley said.
“Yeah, with Gus and Ross and Josh. What am I supposed to be? The seventh wheel?”
“Then you should just get a date,” Blake said.
“Yeah, just ask someone,” Reva agreed.
“Like who? I’ll just walk up to a stranger on the street and ask if they want to go to a Valentine’s Day party- yeah right! Scare them away with my first sentence?”
“Well, it doesn’t have to be a stranger, Cassie,” Harley said as she took a bite of her dinner.
Blake looked at Harley, knowing what she was thinking, “She’s right. You could ask a guy that you know. You know, a friend?”
“Like who?” Cassie asked again.
“Like…Frank,” Reva answered.
Cassie looked at Harley.
“Hey, I didn’t say it,” Harley protested, “But I do agree with it.”
Cassie started to argue, but stopped and thought about it, “Well, I guess we could go as friends. I mean, all I need is someone to dance with and have fun with, right?”
“Right,” Harley said, “And you know, a second date wouldn’t be a horrible thing,” she added.
Cassie rolled her eyes, “Does he have any plans already?”
“Frank?” Harley asked, “I think it’s safe to assume he’s free for the evening.”
“Alright, the next time I see him, I’ll bring it up,” Cassie said.
“No, call him- tomorrow,” Blake told her, “If you put it off, you’ll chicken out.”
“I will not,” Cassie said defensively. “I’ll call him tomorrow.”
“Good,” Reva said, and Blake and Harley nodded, all three satisfied for the time being.
“You guys are a pain in the butt!” Cassie teased them.
“But you still love us,” Blake added.
“You’re right. I do. I don’t know what I would do without you guys. To us,” Cassie said as she held up her champagne glass, “And to a night without kids,” she added and all four drank in response.
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Post by Jen on Jan 13, 2005 18:59:08 GMT -5
Gus had finished feeding Nicholas and Abby and made Zach and Jude the chocolate sundaes he had promised them and he sat down with them as they watched a Scooby-Doo video while Nicholas and Abby slept some more.
Gus looked over at the babies who were sound asleep in their little bassinets and then at Zach who was on the floor watching the screen intently and Jude who was on the couch next to Gus more interested in a loose thread on a pillow than in the ghost that was chasing Scooby and the gang.
This is pretty easy, he said to himself as he looked at his watch, Harley will be home in a few hours and things are going good.
Within a few minutes, Zach got bored with the video too and joined Gus and Jude on the couch.
“Can we play a game?” he asked.
“Yeah, sure. Jude, do you want to play a game?” Gus asked, “How about Candy Land?”
“Yeah!” Zach exclaimed and he went over to get the game off a shelf.
Jude jumped off the couch enthusiastically and took his place at the coffee table where he normally sat when they played a game.
They played Candy Land for almost an hour, Gus trying to keep Zach from cheating, and the boys were still going strong. Gus was actually relived when Abby started crying and he had an excuse to get away from Queen Frostine and Lord Licorice.
“You guys keep playing,” he said as he got up to see to Abby.
He tried to calm her down by talking to her, but it wasn’t working. He finally broke down and picked her up and put her over his shoulder and she stopped crying for awhile. Then he switched positions and held her lying down in his arms and she started screaming again. He put her back over her shoulder and rubbed her back until she quieted down. When she was quiet for awhile and he thought she was back asleep, he returned to the couch, but kept her over his shoulder. He watched the boys play Candy Land some more, then laid Abby across his lap. The second he laid her down, she started crying.
“Zach, will you please get Abby’s binky for me?”
Zach rushed over to Abby’s bassinet and got the pacifier for Gus. He was as eager for her to stop crying as Gus was.
Gus tried to give her the pacifer, which usually did indeed pacify her, but she turned her head and spit it out and cried some more.
“Alright,” Gus said as he got up and put Abby back over his shoulder and swayed with her until she quieted down.
She would get quiet, the start crying again, be quiet for a minute or two, then cry some more. This pattern went on for over and hour and Gus was starting to go crazy- and so were Zach and Jude.
Zach stood beside Gus with his ears covered, “Gus,” he whined, “make her stop!”
“I’m trying, Zach,” he replied and thanked God that Nicholas was sleeping through all of this.
Just then Susan came home.
“Gus, what is wrong, I could hear Nicholas crying from the driveway. Oh, that’s Abby?” she asked surprised when she saw her.
“Yes and she’s been crying for the past hour.”
“Well, what’s wrong with her?”
“If I knew, she wouldn’t be crying would she?”
“Is she hungry?”
“No.”
“Need changed?”
“No. Susan, I’ve tried everything.”
“Well, maybe she doesn’t feel good. Mom said she was stuffy yesterday, maybe she’s stuffy again.”
“She doesn’t sound stuffy. Do you think she has a fever?” he asked.
Susan felt Abby’s forehead, “Well, she’s a little warm, but she’s also been crying for an hour. I’ll get the thermometer,” she said as she ran upstairs.
When she returned Gus took her temperature and saw that she did have a slight fever.
“You better call Mom,” Susan said.
Gus sighed, “I know. This whole Daddy staying home with all the kids thing isn’t working out as well as I thought it would,” he said as he picked up the phone and dialed Harley’s cell.
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Post by Jen on Jan 13, 2005 18:59:34 GMT -5
“All I’m saying is thank goodness for Justin. He is taking the kids Valentine’s Day weekend. He is a God-send,” Blake said as the waiter poured another round of water for the women.
“What about you Harley? Are you getting rid of any of the kids that weekend?” Cassie asked.
“Actually yes. Phillip is taking Lizzie, Zach and James to Disney World that weekend. And on my way over, Rick called me and told me that he and Mel wanted to take Jude too. So both boys will be in Disney World that weekend.”
“Well, that’s good. That’s two less kids to worry about for a weekend,” Cassie said.
“Well, two less kids that will be around. I’ll still worry about them, probably more than normal,” Harley replied.
“That’s true,” Reva agreed as Harley’s cell phone rang.
She dug in her purse for it and saw HOME on the caller ID.
“Hello?” she answered.
“Hey honey,” Gus greeted calmly.
“Gus? What’s up? Is that Nicholas crying?”
“No it’s Abby and she’s been crying for hours, Harley. Nothing I do will calm her down and she has a fever. I don’t know what to do,” Gus replied.
“Okay, honey, first, calm down,” Harley said. “Second, call the doctor and I’m on my way home,” she finished as she said goodbye, then hung up.
“What’s wrong?” Blake asked.
“Abby has a fever and has been crying for the past hour, I gotta go,” she explained as she dug some money out of her purse and left it on the table.
“I hope everything’s okay,” Cassie said as Harley got up.
“Thanks guys. I’ll see you later,” Harley said before she left the restaurant.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Alright Gus, give her some infant Tylenol and bring her into the Emergency Room. I’m here on rounds and I’ll tell them to page me as soon as you get here. I’m sure it’s nothing serious, but bring her in and we’ll see what we can do,” Dr. Sedgwick told Gus as Harley came home.
“Thanks, Dr. Sedgwick,” Gus said then hung up.
“What’s going on?” Harley asked as she took Abby from Gus.
“She wants us to give her some Tylenol and take her to the ER,” Gus explained as he went into the kitchen to get the medicine.
“Can you watch the kids so we can both go?” Harley asked Susan.
“Yeah, absolutely,” she answered.
“And what are you two doing up? It is past your bedtime.”
“But Mommy, she was crying!” Zach used as an excuse.
“Well, okay, but Mommy and Gus are going to take her to the doctors and Susan’s going to stay here with you, so you have to go to sleep, okay?”
“Okay, here’s the Tylenol,” Gus said as he came back into the living room.
“Come on, guys, let’s go upstairs, we’ll read your favorite book,” Susan said as she picked up Nicholas followed the boys upstairs. “Call me when you find out anything,” she added.
“We will, thanks honey,” Harley replied.
Harley laid Abby in her arms while Gus gave her the medicine. He stroked her cheek until she opened her mouth and turned toward him.
“Alright let’s go,” he said as he grabbed a blanket and his coat and they headed out the door.
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Cedars ER was busy that night but Abby got priority once Gus told the nurse at the desk who they were.
“Dr. Sedgwick will be right down. Have a seat and fill these out,” the nurse said, handing Gus a clipboard of insurance papers.
Gus filled out the papers as Harley got Abby out of her car seat and put her over her shoulder, hoping to quiet her at least a little bit. They were getting dirty looks from an old man in the corner who was trying to sleep as he waited his turn.
“Harley, Gus, come on back,” Dr. Sedgwick said as she spotted them in the waiting room.
Gus grabbed the car seat and left the clipboard with the nurse as he followed Harley and Dr. Sedgwick through a few doors and into an exam room.
“Go ahead and lay her down, Harley,” Dr. Sedgwick said, “Let’s see what’s troubling this little one.”
She took Abby’s temperature again, and she did still have a fever, checked her eyes, her mouth, her ears.
“Would she take her pacifier?” she asked.
“No, she spit it out. And she usually loves it,” Gus answered.
“That’s what I thought. Abby just has a little ear infection. That’s why she wouldn’t take it, the pressure from sucking on it hurt her ears. I’m going to get her some medicine and she should be fine in a day or two. And it should definitely make her comfortable enough to stop crying and sleep tonight.”
“That’s it? Just an ear infection?” Gus asked.
“Yep. Although I would like to keep her here until the fever breaks. It shouldn’t be too long though with the Tylenol you gave her. And as soon as we get the medicine we can give her a dose and the fever should be gone pretty quick. I’m going to get the prescription. I’ll be right back. Unil then, just try to keep her as upright as possible.”
“Thanks,” Harley replied as Dr. Sedwick left the room and she picked Abby off the table. She held her in her lap, sitting up leaning against her chest.
“Just an ear infection,” Gus repeated, breathing a sigh of relief.
“Yep,” Harley replied. “You did good.”
“The worst possible scenarios just kept running through my head,” he said as he held his finger out and Abby grabbed onto it.
“I know. It’s scary, especially when she’s so young. But it’s okay, she’s going to be fine.”
Gus sighed again and kissed Harley then pulled up a stool and sat in front of her and talked to Abby. She knew Gus’s voice and seeing him in front of her, talking to her and rubbing the fingers that gripped his calmed her down enough to stifle the cries. She shuddered as she caught her breath and watched her Daddy.
Ten minutes later, Dr. Sedwick returned with a bottle of medicine and gave Abby a dose of medicine, then took her temperature.
“Still a little fever,” she observed. “I’ll be back in a few minutes to check on her again.”
“I have to call Susan,” Harley said as she dug her cell phone out of her purse and called home. She filled Susan in and made sure the boys were asleep.
It was after midnight when Abby’s fever finally broke and they were given the okay to take her home. They bundled her up and left with her medicine. By the time they got home, she had stopped crying altogether and was actually asleep in the backseat. Harley looked back at her and finally let out her sigh of relief.
When they got in the house, they found Susan in the living room, with Nicholas fed and sleeping. Harley fed Abby as much as she would eat, at least enough to last her until the next feeding and she and Gus headed upstairs with the twins, saying goodnight to Susan.
They put the twins in their bassinets at the foot of the bed, checked in on the boys, then crawled into bed for a few hours of sleep until the next feeding or when Abby was due for medicine, whichever came first.
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Post by Jen on Jan 13, 2005 19:00:44 GMT -5
“Why do I have to wear a tux again?” Gus asked as he sat down in the chair and made funny faces at Nicholas and Abby who were sitting in their bouncy seats on the coffee table.
“Because it’s black-tie. It won’t kill you,” Harley said as she hung up the phone. She had just finished talking to Rick checking on the boys.
“Well, you know it just might. And then what would you do?” Gus replied, “How are the boys?”
“They’re good. They’re having a wonderful time and not missing us at all,” Harley answered as she sat on the arm of the chair.
“Frank better have a tux on too,” Gus warned as he pulled her onto his lap.
“Don’t worry about what Frank is wearing. You just keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn’t make a fool out of himself, okay?”
“I think Cassie can do that. I prefer to keep my eyes on you all night.”
“Mmm, that sounds good!” Harley said as she kissed him, “Cassie and Frank who?” she teased as the doorbell rang.
Harley got up to answer it and invited Sam Spencer into the house, “Susan will be right out,” she explained.
“Hi Gus,” Sam greeted.
“Hey Sam,” Gus replied as he shook Sam’s hand.
“Hey,” Susan said as she came out of her room.
“Hi, beautiful,” Sam said as he went over and kissed her.
“Uh….so you guys are going to the party?” Harley asked.
“Yeah, well, we’re going to make an appearance, then we’re going out with everyone,” Sam replied.
“Don’t forget I’m staying at Tammy’s tonight,” Susan reminded them and Harley nodded that she did remember.
“Alright, we’ll see you there,” Susan said as she and Sam left.
Harley followed them to the door and stood in the open doorway watching them drive away.
“Harley…”
“She’s all grown up,” she sighed, “Did you see them kiss?” she asked, shocked.
“Harley, she’s 18 and they’ve been together almost a year. You have to expect them to kiss. At least…”
“Don’t say that,” she interrupted him, “she is still a little girl.”
“No, she’s not Harley. Think about what you were doing when you were her age.”
“I don’t want to think about that. I want her to be thirteen again and stay thirteen.”
“You gotta let her go, baby. What are you going to do when she moves out this summer? Stand outside her and Tammy’s apartment until she goes to bed?”
“You know, you’re one to talk. You’re the one who threatened Sam the first time you met him.”
“I didn’t threaten him. I just wanted to make sure he treated her right, and he does Harley. He’s a good kid. She could do a lot worse,” Gus said as he leaned forward to wipe some dribble off of Nicholas’s chin.
As he pulled the burp cloth away, he made a face and talked to Nicholas since Abby had drifted off to sleep. One side of Nicholas’s mouth went up and some more dribble came out.
“Harley? Come here,” Gus said, “I think Nicholas just smiled.”
“It’s probably just gas, hon.”
“No, come here, I was making faces at them and he smiled. Watch,” he said as he made the same faces and Nicholas smiled again.
“Oh my gosh, he did smile!” Harley agreed. “See if Abby will smile.”
“She’s sleeping,” Gus replied.
“Well, wake her up, she’s been sleeping all day anyway.”
“Alright,” Gus said as he stroked Abby’s cheek and she opened her eyes.
Her dark eyes looked up at Gus as he talked to her and made exaggerated faces. Her response wasn’t what Gus was looking for. She just looked at him, then closed her eyes to go back to sleep.
“Abby,” he said as he picked her up out of her seat and laid her in his lap.
He talked to her some more, but she yawned in response, which caused Harley to laugh.
“She thinks you’re about as funny as I do, huh baby?” she teased as leaned over Gus’s shoulder.
At the sound of her mommy and daddy laughing, Abby let out a little smile that neither of them saw.
“Oh well, she’ll smile sooner or later,” Harley said as the doorbell rang again.
This time it was Kristen, who would be watching the twins while Gus and Harley were at the party.
“Hi Kristen, thank you so much for watching them,” Harley said as Kristen came into the living room.
“No problem,” she replied, “Mark is out of town so I wasn’t doing anything anyways. And I couldn’t wait to watch these guys!” she said as she went over to where Gus was sitting with the babies. “Oh my gosh! They are so adorable! You guys better be careful, I just might run off with them.”
“You promise?” Gus teased as he kissed Abby and put her back in her seat.
Harley rolled her eyes at Gus, then went on to give Kristen instructions, “They were both just fed and changed, so they should be good for awhile. Please try to keep them awake as much as possible,” she pleaded. “When they are hungry, feed Nicholas first, Abby is very patient and will wait. They should be fine. They’re actually really good babies. Susan might be back later, but she’ll be leaving again. We both have our cells, and you know those numbers. And if Phillip or Rick call, will you please call me?”
“Sure,” Kristen said, trying to keep up with Harley.
“And the doctor’s number is by the phone and so is the number for the Beacon,” she continued as she helped Gus tie his bowtie.
“I got it,” he protested as he swatted her hands away and finished tying it himself.
“Alright, if you need anything, call one of us. And we shouldn’t be too late,” Harley said as she kissed both babies goodbye.
“Don’t you dare hurry home,” Kristen protested. “I don’t have anywhere to go and this is your first night out alone together since the babies were born. Take your time, have fun, don’t worry about them,” she continued as she ushered them out of the house.
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Gus pulled the car up in front of the firehouse and Frank came out and jumped in the backseat.
“Hey Frank,” Harley said, “You all ready for your big date?”
“We’re just friends, Harley,” he warned.
“Oh, yeah, I know,” she replied.
“What do you have there, Frank?” Gus asked looking in the rearview mirror.
“Flowers,” he said as he stuck a bouquet of flowers between Gus and Harley’s seats.
They both looked at the mix of brightly colored daisies and some green things that looked like weeds then exchanged a look that they agreed the flowers were less than beautiful.
“Very nice, Frank,” Harley said, trying to sound sincere.
“I didn’t know what to get her, so I figured you can’t go wrong with flowers, right?”
“Right…” Gus replied as he pulled back out onto the road and drove towards the Beacon.
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Post by Jen on Jan 13, 2005 19:01:01 GMT -5
“Wow. This place looks great!” Harley said as she, Gus and Frank entered the ballroom at the Beacon. “Oh look, there’s Cassie and Blake and Ross,” she said as she pulled Gus over to them.
“Hey guys!”
“Hey!” Blake said as she saw them come over.
“Cassie,” Frank greeted, “these are for you,” he said holding out the flowers.
“Oh, thank you Frank. They’re…just perfect,” Cassie replied, smiling. “You know, they would look great in my office. I’ve been meaning to get some flowers in there. Why don’t you come with me to put them in there,” she said as she took his arm and they left the ballroom.
“Champagne?” a waiter asked as he came around with a tray of glasses.
Gus and Ross each took two glasses off the tray and handed one to their wives then the four of them took a seat at a big round table. A few minutes later, Cassie and Frank returned and Reva and Josh showed up.
After dinner was served, the group sat at their table catching up on what had been going on in their lives since the last time they were all together.
“So how are the twins?” Blake asked Harley and Gus.
“Blake, I thought we weren’t going to talk about the kids,” Ross leaned over and whispered.
“Our kids, honey. But we can talk about their kids,” she replied, “How’s Abby doing? Is she all better?”
“She’s doing great, totally back to normal,” Harley replied.
“Good,” Cassie replied. “I can’t believe how fast they’re growing!”
“Tell me about it. Nicholas smiled tonight,” Gus added and Blake, Cassie and Reva all ‘awww’ed.
“It was so amazing. One minute he was just sitting there, looking up at me and the next, he had this cute little smile on his face,” Gus gushed, then he laughed at himself. “I’m sorry,” he apologized, “my new parentness is showing,” he laughed, “Okay. No more talk about the kids.”
Blake recovered the conversation by telling them about the new book she was going to write. She didn’t have all the details worked out yet, and was still looking for a story, but she had it in her mind to write another book.
“So does anyone have any ideas?” she asked. “I thought about writing a book about a city girl who makes a deal with a prince and then falls in love with him. Then I thought about writing one about a hard-nosed, bitter cop who could only be made human by the woman of his dreams…”
“Blake,” Harley laughed, “Can’t you be more creative than using your friends’ love lives for your books?”
“Oh come on,” she replied, “you guys don’t want your love story written down for future generations to read?”
Harley rolled her eyes at that.
“Okay, I guess I’ll have to come up with some better ideas.”
Frank pushed his chair out and stood up. “I need another drink,” he said, then turned to Cassie, “Can I get you something?” he asked and she asked for more champagne.
As Frank started to walk over to the bar, Harley nudged Gus to go with him.
“Hold on, Frank, I’ll come with you,” he said as he stood up and Ross and Josh followed.
When the guys left, Blake and Harley moved over closer to Cassie and looked at her expectedly.
“What?” she asked defensively.
“So, how’s it going?” Blake asked.
“We had dinner. You guys were here,” Cassie replied.
“What did you guys expect?” Reva asked. “They’re just friends.”
“Do ‘just friends’ bring flowers?” Blake asked.
“He brought you flowers?” Reva asked Cassie.
“Yeah,” she replied, then looked to make sure the guys were still at the bar, “but they were the ugliest flowers I’ve ever seen,” she added.
“He’s been single a long time,” Harley explained with a laugh.
“But it was nice. He’s nice. He’s Frank, you know? I’m having a good time,” she assured them as the guys headed back to the table.
“Uh oh, looks like they’re having a pow-wow,” Josh said as he saw Blake, Harley and Reva pestering Cassie.
“And it looks like Cassie is the topic of discussion. Although it’s probably more you and Cassie, Frank,” Ross added.
“She’s never gonna talk to me again,” Frank replied miserably.
“Oh, yes she will. Listen, ask her to dance and sweep her off her feet,” Gus advised him quietly as Ross and Josh moved in front of them towards the table.
“That’s easy for you to say. You’ve had a date in the last decade.”
“You’ll be fine,” Gus said as they reached the table, “Follow my lead.”
Gus set a glass of water in front of Harley, then took her hand and pulled her to her feet, “Let’s go dance.”
As Gus and Harley joined other couples on the dance floor, Frank sat back down by Cassie then hesitantly took Gus’s advice.
“Would you like to dance?” he asked her.
“I would love to,” Cassie replied as she stood up and they found a spot near Gus and Harley, but not close enough for Harley.
As she danced with Gus, Harley moved them closer to where Frank and Cassie were dancing.
Gus tried to move her farther away, but at one point, Harley actually planted her feet and stubbornly insisting on staying close to them.
“That’s it,” Gus said as he wrapped his arms around her, lifted her off her feet and physically moved her away from them, “Would you leave them alone?”
“I’m sorry, and I know this is our first night out alone since the babies were born, but I just want everything to go well for them,” she explained.
“I know, honey, and you are such a good sister and friend, but whatever happens will happen. So forget about them and concentrate on me,” he said as he kissed her neck.
The female singer up on stage started the next song and Harley’s mind shifted away from Cassie and Frank to Gus and the way he held her as they moved with the music.
You can say you love me
And I'll believe that's true
Trusting you is easy
'Cause I believe in you
There is nothing I would miss
As long as we're in love like this
All I have is all I need
And it all comes down to you and me
How far away this world becomes
In the harbor of each others arms
“I miss this,” Harley said as she laid her head on Gus’s shoulder.
“What?” he asked.
“You. Being alone with you,” she answered.
“We’re in a room full of people,” Gus laughed.
“Yeah, but no kids,” she replied.
“We seriously need to start talking about getting away,” Gus said.
“I know. But I don’t know when we’ll be able to. I mean, with me starting back to work in a few weeks. It might be a few months before we can get any time off.”
“How about this,” Gus began, “We go away for our anniversary for a few days. That’s in less than three months. But before that, we have to have some time alone. Maybe your dad can take the twins some weekend when the boys are with their dads? At least for a night so we can get some sleep,” he laughed.
“Just sleep?” Harley teased.
“Eventually we would go to sleep,” he replied as he pulled her closer.
I feel like I've known you forever and ever
Baby that's how close we are
Right here with you is where my life has come together
And where love has filled my heart
You know I'd go anywhere
As long as I have you to care
All I have is all I need
And it all comes down to you and me
How far away this world becomes
In the harbor of each others arms
“That sounds like a good plan,” Harley said as she looked up at him and they kissed deeply in the middle of the crowd of people.
Ooh-and with the love you bring
I never want for anything
I found what I've been searching for in you
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Uh, Cassie?” Frank said as they danced.
“Yeah?”
“I want to apologize for anything Harley or Blake said. I think they’re taking this a little too seriously,” he added with a nervous laugh.
“They just want us to have a good time,” Cassie replied.
“Are you?”
“Yes, I am. I have to admit, I was a little hesitant about tonight. Mostly because it was my first ‘date’ since Richard died, but I am really having fun. And I’m glad it’s with you,” she answered. “You’re a pretty good dancer,” she added.
“Thank you,” Frank replied proudly. “One of my many talents,” he said as he twirled her then dipped her.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
As the party wound down, Harley asked Frank if he was ready to go.
“Yeah, I’m going to walk Cassie up to her room, then I’ll be back down,” he replied as he and Cassie headed up the stairs of the lobby.
Gus looked around the lobby and there was only one free chair, so he sat down and pulled Harley down on his lap.
Harley lifted his arm and looked at his watch, “We have about 20 minutes before I turn into a pumpkin.”
“What?” he asked confused.
Harley explained, “Until we get home and our night alone turns into another night of three am feedings.”
“Oh, yeah,” he replied as he kissed her. “I miss them though, you know?”
Harley nodded, “I know, me too. But tonight was really nice and we needed it.”
“Happy Valentine’s Day,” Gus said as he lifted her chin and kissed her.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Frank watched as Cassie unlocked and opened the door of her room.
“I had a good time, tonight Cassie,” he said.
“I did too. We’ll have to do it again,” she replied.
“You got it. The next benefit Olivia has, we’ll show off our dance moves again.”
Cassie smiled, “You know, Frank, you did everything right tonight. You brought me flowers, you pulled out my chair, walked me to my door, but you forgot one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“My good-night kiss.”
“I haven’t said good-night yet,” Frank replied, almost blushing.
“Oh.”
“Good-night Cassie,” Frank said as he leaned in a placed a soft kiss on her lips, which she returned.
“Good-night,” she replied with a smile.
Frank stayed until she slipped in the room and closed the door, then he went downstairs with a smile on his face.
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Post by Jen on Jan 13, 2005 19:02:29 GMT -5
Over the next couple of months, Harley had gone back to work and life at the Aitoro house went on as usual. Gus and Harley would go to work and leave the twins and Jude with the new nanny, Mrs. Baker, while Zach went to school, then they would come home, eat dinner, spend time with the kids then put them to bed and then they would finally get an hour or two alone before they went to bed. Gus loved being a father for the first time and Harley loved watching him be a father. Life was blissfully normal for Gus and Harley as they neared their first anniversary.
The day before their anniversary, right before they were about to leave for their mini-vacation, Gus stood in the doorway of the nursery and watched Harley as she changed both babies. They had just gotten home from work and Rick had just picked up the boys for the weekend and Gus and Harley were going to drop off the twins at Blake and Ross’s on their way out of town. Gus had made reservations at a Bed & Breakfast in Wisconsin- far enough away but close enough in case they had to rush home. They would only be gone two nights, but it was long enough to celebrate their anniversary without having to worry about crying babies.
As he watched Harley change and entertain the twins, he smiled and thought to himself how lucky he was. He couldn’t believe a year had passed since he married the woman of his dreams. He couldn’t imagine life being any better than it was at that moment. He had a job that he loved, a wife who took his breath away everytime he saw her and five kids that he loved more than life itself.
Gus walked into the room, stood behind Harley and kissed her cheek.
“Are you almost ready?” he asked.
“Yep. Grab a baby and bag and let’s go,” she replied as she swung a diaper bag over her shoulder and picked up Abby.
Gus grabbed the other bag and Nicholas and followed her downstairs.
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Post by Jen on Jan 13, 2005 19:02:45 GMT -5
It was after eight o’clock when Gus pulled the car up to the Brownstone Mansion Bed and Breakfast. He got the suitcase out of the trunk, then went and opened Harley’s door. He took her hand and they walked into the house.
As they stepped into the foyer, they were greeted by an older, gray-haired woman.
“Hello, welcome to Brownstone Mansion” she said, “You must be the Aitoro’s. I’m Sylvia.”
“Harley,” Harley replied as she shook Sylvia’s hand, and Gus did the same.
“Welcome. Let’s go into the den and get you two settled,” she said as she led them through the spacious French Country living room into the den.
“Are you on your honeymoon?” she asked as she sat behind the desk and they sat across from her.
“No, just a quiet weekend away from the kids for our anniversary,” Gus replied.
“Oh, how nice,” she replied, “How long have you been married?”
“A year,” Harley answered.
“Well, congratulations. How many kids do you have?” she asked.
“My oldest is 18, and I have a five and three year old. And we just had twins,” Harley answered.
“Five kids. Wow. God bless you,” Sylvia laughed. “And twins! How old are they?”
“Almost four months.”
“Awww, I bet they are just precious. Do you have pictures?”
“Sure,” Gus said as he took out his wallet and pulled out two pictures- one of all five kids and one of just the twins.
“That’s Susan, Zach and Jude and the twins are Nicholas and Abby,” he explained.
“They are all beautiful,” Sylvia complimented, “I bet your house is crazy,” she added with a laugh.
“It can be,” Harley laughed, “Now you know why we needed to get away.”
“Well, this is the perfect place for some alone time. You’ll be staying in Gwenyth’s Suite. It has a fireplace, whirlpool tub and a small deck that overlooks the stream in the back. It’s my favorite room,” she added as she handed Gus the key. “Follow me, I’ll show you around.”
She pointed out the dining room and living room to them, then took them upstairs and led them to their room. She opened the door and they stepped into the large room. There was a fireplace on one wall, with a loveseat to the side of it. Across from the fireplace was a king-sized bed and in the corner was a large whirlpool tub. There was also a private bathroom with a shower. She opened the French doors to the deck showed them the view.
“Breakfast is served downstairs between eight and ten. You can come down anytime then. If you need anything, just call 7* and ask me or my husband, Clayton. He’s not here right now, but I’m sure he’ll introduce himself as soon as he sees you. Would you two like a bottle of champagne?” she asked.
“Yes, that would be great,” Gus replied as Harley went out on the deck.
“Good, I will bring that right up. Make yourself at home and let me know if you need anything,” Sylvia smiled as she left the room.
Gus joined Harley out on the deck and wrapped his arms around her. The sun was just setting on the horizon and cast a pink and orange hue over the entire area.
“It’s so beautiful here,” Harley said as she pulled Gus back into the room, “And this room is gorgeous.”
“So did I do good?” Gus asked.
“You did great,” she replied as she kissed him. “It’s perfect. A big bathtub, a fireplace, and a huge bed.”
“I know!” Gus said as he turned to look at the king-sized bed, “What on earth can we do with all that extra space?” he teased as his lips went to her neck.
“Do you hear that?” he asked as he kissed her ear.
“Hear what? The babbling brook?” she laughed.
“No. Nothing. Susan’s not asking for gas money, Zach and Jude aren’t snoring between us and Nicholas and Abby are crying for Blake and Ross tonight. It’s just you and me,” he said between kisses.
“And champagne,” Harley added as they heard a knock at the door. “I’ll get it.”
She opened the door and Sylvia handed her an ice bucket with a bottle of champagne chilling in it and two glasses.
“Here you go. Enjoy,” Sylvia said. “Have a good night and let us know if you need anything.”
“Thank you so much,” Harley said and Sylvia left them alone again.
Harley set the champagne and glasses on the dresser and returned to where Gus was standing.
“So, what do you want to do?” she asked.
“Well, I plan on making love to you all night long,” Gus answered as he held Harley’s hand up to his face and kissed it, “but right now, I just want to sit in front of that fireplace with you and relax.”
“Relax? What’s that?” Harley teased, “That sounds wonderful,” she continued as she kissed Gus’s neck right under his chin.
Harley flopped onto the loveseat as Gus tried to light the fire.
“Honey, all you have to do is flip the switch,” she told him.
“I know that, but it doesn’t work,” Gus replied.
Harley got off the loveseat and went over by the fireplace, “Let me try.”
“Harley, it’s not difficult, I can flip the switch, but it doesn’t work.”
“Well, did you try to move the logs or something?” she asked as she pushed them around.
Gus flipped the switch a few more times and the fireplace started up. Harley smiled triumphantly and pulled him onto the couch with her. Harley put her legs across his lap and he slipped off her shoes after kicking off his own.
They had gone a whole half an hour lounging together on the loveseat, talking or not talking, just enjoying the peace and quiet with each other without mentioning the kids until Harley brought them up.
“Cassie wants you to look over the contract for the girls’ apartment before they sign anything,” she said.
“She doesn’t trust Frank?” he asked.
“Well, it’s not that, but she thought your lawyer-educated mind might pick up some stuff Frank misses or something.”
“Okay, I can do that. How are things going for them? I mean, Frank doesn’t really talk about it, but he seems really happy,” Gus replied.
“He is, they both are. Cassie said it’s going well, they’re just taking it slowly, but I haven’t seen either of them this happy in a long time.”
“We’re pretty good matchmakers, aren’t we?” Gus teased.
“Well, we did pretty good matching ourselves up, didn’t we?” Harley replied as she tugged on the collar of his shirt.
He followed her lead and leaned over and kissed her as she began unbuttoning his shirt. He trailed kisses down her neck and over the V of skin on her chest that her shirt didn’t cover. He slid the bottom her shirt up and brushed his lips teasingly across her stomach as he unbuttoned and unzipped her pants. He covered the soft skin above her panties with kisses. She grabbed his face with her hands and pulled him back up to her in a deep kiss. As she lifted her hips so he could slide the pants down, they were interrupted by a knock at their door.
“Are you kidding me?” Gus whispered, frustrated. “Ignore it,” he said as he went back to kissing her.
Harley pulled away from his kisses, “Just get it,” she said as she sighed and pushed him off of her.
Gus got up and unwillingly went to answer the door as Harley also stood up, buttoned her pants and ran her hand through her hair.
When Gus opened the door, a loud, gray-haired man charged into the room.
“Hi there,” he said in a southern drawl, sticking his hand out to Gus, “I’m Clayton Brownstone, but you can call me Clay. You must be Gus.”
Gus looked at him, then back at Harley, and stuck out his hand, “Yes, Gus Aitoro. This is my wife, Harley.”
“Hi,” Harley replied as she leaned over the back of the loveseat to shake Clayton’s hand.
From behind Clayton, Gus noticed Harley’s zipper was still down and he motioned to her. She slyly moved her hand down and covered it while she moved so she wasn’t facing Clayton.
“So how are you enjoying your stay?” he asked.
Harley turned back to them, “It’s just beautiful,” she replied.
“Good, good. Do you need anything?”
“Nope,” Gus answered simply.
“Great. Well, I’m sorry to burst in on you like this, but could you move your car? We’re getting a new bed delivered here early tomorrow morning, and don’t want the big truck to run over that car!” he joked.
Gus rubbed the back of his neck in frustration, “Yeah, sure,” he said as he grabbed the keys off the dresser.
“Nice to meet you Harley,” Clayton said as he started out the door.
“You too,” Harley called after him.
Gus rushed over to Harley and kissed her, “I will be right back,” he assured her as he followed Clayton out of the room.
Harley sighed as she looked around the room and got an idea.
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Post by Jen on Jan 13, 2005 19:03:48 GMT -5
Gus tapped his fingers on the steering wheel impatiently as Clayton tried to decide where he wanted him to park the car.
“Why don’t you drive it over there to the barn? Well, they’re cutting the grass tomorrow, so maybe that won’t be a good idea…I know, you can park it over by the tennis court,” Clayton finally decided.
“Where is that?” Gus asked.
“May I?” Clayton asked as he motioned if he could get in the car.
Gus nodded and Clayton jumped in.
“To get to the courts without driving through the grass, we’re gonna have to go back down the driveway and down the road a ways.”
Gus looked at his watch, turned the car around and drove down the long driveway with Clayton chattering on beside him. The entire way down the road and up another driveway to the tennis courts, Clayton felt the need to tell Gus his life history. By the time Gus locked the car, he knew the names and birthdays of all of Clayton’s kids and grandkids and heard the story of how a young Texas boy moved to Wisconsin thirty-five years ago but never lost his accent. And on the walk back to the mansion, he wanted to know Gus’s life history. Gus was polite and answered his questioned, but all he wanted to do was get back to Harley and that big bed as soon as possible.
When they finally got back to the mansion, Gus said good night to Clayton and rushed up the stairs. When he opened the door to the room, he didn’t see Harley anywhere.
“You took too long,” he heard her say.
He turned to where the voice was coming from and saw her in the bathtub, covered in bubbles.
“I know. Clayton thought it was necessary to make me drive 5 miles and tell me his life story,” he said as he walked over the bathtub, unbuttoning his shirt.
“I was going to light the candles, but couldn’t find any matches,” Harley as she poured two glasses of champagne.
Gus pulled a lighter out of his pocket and quickly lit the candles that surrounded the tub. Harley gave him a curious look.
“It’s not for cigarettes,” he assured her, “Always Be Prepared. Didn’t I tell you I was a Boy Scout?”
Harley laughed, “You were not. And if you were, you probably set some woods on fire…or some other Boy Scouts,” she teased as he dimmed the lights so that most of the light in the room was coming from the candles.
“Get in here,” she ordered and he quickly stripped off his clothes and joined her.
He sat across from her and she handed him a glass of champagne. He held the glass up like he was going to toast, but didn’t say anything.
“What?” Harley asked.
“I was just trying to think of something to say that didn’t sound corny. But I can’t think of anything,” he laughed.
“Okay. Well, how about ‘I love you’?” Harley asked.
“That sounds good,” Gus replied, “I love you.”
“I love you too,” she replied, smiling.
Gus gave her one of his huge smiles before he leaned over and kissed her. Gus drank some champagne, then set his glass on the side of the tub. He pulled her forward and turned her around so that she was sitting in front of him. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.
“I cannot believe it has been a whole year,” he said.
“That was corny,” Harley replied with a laugh, “but I know what you mean.”
“And I really can’t believe that four years ago at this time, we hated each other.”
“We’ve come a long way, haven’t we?” Harley added.
“Yep. Look at us now, happily married with five great kids. Things are finally getting back to normal.”
“Normal? When have our lives, especially together, ever been normal?” Harley asked.
“That’s true, but it’s been good right?” he replied as he rinsed some bubbles off of her arm and kissed her shoulder.
“It’s been great,” she replied as she settled back against his chest.
For a long time they were both silent, enjoying the feel of each other in the hot water.
“What are you thinking about?” Harley asked.
Gus sighed, “I was thinking it’s about that time when Nicholas would be crying for his bottle.”
Harley chuckled, “I was thinking that too. Should we call?”
“Maybe,” Gus said. “But you know, the phone’s all the way over there, and it’s really comfortable in here.”
“Yeah. They’re fine,” Harley replied.
“Of course they are.”
“This is so nice…” Harley sighed contently.
“Yes, it is,” Gus replied, “When was the last time we took a bath together?”
Harley thought for awhile, “Probably our honeymoon. We barely have time to shower now, let alone take a bath.”
“We need to start making time,” Gus replied and Harley nodded in agreement.
“Thank you,” Harley whispered a little while later.
“For what?”
“For everything. For loving me and my kids, and for giving me Nicholas and Abby. I can’t imagine my life without you in it.”
Gus pulled her closer and kissed her cheek, “You are so amazing. And you never have to think about life without me. You’re stuck with me. Forever,” he warned, smiling.
“I can’t wait,” she replied as she turned and kissed him, then went to the other end of the tub so she was sitting across from him again.
Gus felt under the water for her leg and brought up so that her foot was resting on his chest. He rubbed her foot as she laid her head back, relaxed.
“You’re all pruney,” he teased her and she let out a little laugh.
He decided to take advantage of her lowered defenses and have some fun. He blew some air over the bottom of her wet foot, which caused her toes to wiggle a bit, then he tickled it with his fingers. She only tried to pull away a bit at first, but when he kept tickling her, she got mad and fought back and tried to pull her foot away. He got a firm grip on her ankle and they wrestled hand-to-foot for a while. Finally Gus gave up, or so Harley thought, and let go of her ankle.
“Ha!” Harley said as she put her foot back under the water and laid her head back.
“Fine. I give up. You win,” Gus replied as he moved forward like he was going to kiss her.
When their lips met, Gus’s hands met Harley’s sides in a tickle and Harley shrieked and squirmed under his assault. As Harley fought him, his elbow hit one of the champagne glasses and knocked it to the floor.
At the sound of the glass breaking, they both stopped and looked over the side of the tub.
“Whoops,” Harley laughed.
“Oh well, add it to the bill,” he replied as he pulled her back into the tub and kissed her for real this time.
She shivered as they both realized that the water had turned almost cold.
“Think we’ve been in here long enough?” he asked.
“I think so. All our bubbles are gone too,” she laughed.
“Come on,” he said as he stood up, “let’s get your pruney feet out of here,” he continued as he stepped out of the tub and holding her hand, helped her out. “Watch the glass,” he warned.
He grabbed a big towel off the shelf in the bathroom and returned to where Harley was standing shivering on the mat in front of the tub. He put it behind his back and pulled her close, wrapping the towel around them both. Harley had her arms wrapped around his waist and laid her head on his shoulder, warmed by his body heat and the towel around them. When they were both somewhat dry and much warmer, Harley decided to retaliate for his attack in the tub. She moved her hand down and gave one cheek of his butt a little pinch. He dropped his arms from around her and she stepped out of his reach.
He shook his head at her and she started to run away, but he caught her and swept her up in his arms. He carried her over to the bed that was already turned down for them and laid her down then crawled under the covers with her. He pulled her close and kissed her forehead.
“I love you,” he said quietly.
“I love you too,” she replied before he made love to her for the first of many times that night.
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Post by Jen on Jan 13, 2005 19:04:17 GMT -5
Harley woke up with the morning sun shining through the French doors. She felt Gus’s steady breath on her shoulder and smiling, she snuggled up against him and ran her hand up and down his arm that held her close. Pretty soon, she fell back asleep to the sound of his breathing. When she woke up a few hours later, the rest of the bed was empty. She sat up and looked around for Gus who was nowhere to be found. She shrugged and fell back against the bed, still tired from their long night without much sleep. A few minutes later, the door to their room opened and Gus slipped in. “Hey,” Harley called out, “Where were you?” “Good morning,” Gus replied, “I got us breakfast.” “Oh good, I’m starving,” Harley said as she sat up in the bed and Gus crawled in beside her. “Happy Anniversary,” he whispered as he pulled her close and kissed her cheek. “Happy Anniversary,” she replied, then they dug into the bags of food Gus had brought up from downstairs and had their breakfast in bed. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ The rest of the day, Gus and Harley spent out of the room. They went downtown, if you could call it that, and Gus appeased Harley by going in all the little candle and trinket shops that sat along the small town road without complaining too much. The only time he seemed remotely interested was when he saw a big train set sitting in the window of one of the shops and he pulled Harley into it. “Look at this,” he said, in wonder, “We had a train set just like this when I was a kid. Every Christmas my dad would set it up under the tree, and the rest of the year it was down in the basement. Sometimes at night, I would sneak downstairs and play with it, you know, like I was the train conductor.” He chuckled, “My dad always knew I was down there and he would come down and play with me. But he would never yell at me for being down there instead of sleeping. It was one of our things that we did, like going to the ball games, you know?” Harley sighed as she reached up and stroked Gus’s cheek. Still after all these years, she saw pain and sadness in his eyes when he talked about his father. “I want that for our kids, Harley. All of them. I want them to grow up always having a train set under the Christmas tree.” Harley smiled, took his hand, and handed the cashier a credit card, saying they would take the train set in the window. That night, after dinner at a small bistro in town, Gus and Harley returned to their room at the mansion with another bottle of champagne and two new glasses. Harley slipped off her heels and opened the French doors to the deck while Gus poured them each a glass of champagne. He handed one to Harley as he stepped out onto the deck and then disappeared back into the room. When he returned, he had a wrapped box in his hand and he had turned the radio on. “Can we do gifts now?” he asked like a little kid. “Yes,” she answered as she went back into the room and got his gift. “Did you know that the traditional first anniversary gift is paper?” Gus began as he handed her the gift, “I though, what he heck am I supposed to get her, an old newspaper? So Susan actually helped me with this idea.” Halrey unwrapped the box and lifted the lid to reveal a silver photo album with a picture of her and Gus from their wedding day and their names and the date engraved on it. “You’ve been saying that you wanted to do a wedding album, but haven’t had the time. So I made time, and did it for you,” he said as she lifted it out of the box and looked through it. There were pictures of them together, a picture of Buzz giving her away to Gus, one of them cutting the cake, pictures of them with their guests, and pictures of them with the kids. There were also paper copies of their vows, the announcement from the newspaper and the bulletin from the church. “Gus, it’s perfect. You did all this by yourself?” she asked, teary-eyed. “Well, Susan helped a little bit,” he smiled. “Thank you,” she said quietly, “Your turn.” Before he could unwrap the small box, she began talking. “I went to see Eden a couple of weeks ago, and somehow we got talking about this watch that your dad got for saving this woman’s life. And she told me how you guys used to fight over who would get to pull it out of his pocket and see what time it was. So she got me in contact with a friend of your dad’s in Chicago and he had the watch. And he was more than happy to give it to me so that Joey August’s son could have it.” Gus listened in amazement, then slowly opened the box and pulled out a gold pocketwatch. On the cover was an American Eagle. He flipped it open and sure enough, on the inside was engraved: To Joseph Augustino for showing bravery and courage in the line of duty. September 19, 1972.Gus closed the watch and held in it his closed hand to his chest. “I thought…I thought this watch was gone. I can’t believe you did this. Thank you so much, baby,” he said as he hugged her tight. Harley pulled back and wiped the tears from his cheek then kissed him, “I’m so glad you like it.” Gus put the watch in his pocket and pulled Harley back into an embrace as a new, slow song came on the radio. They didn’t dance, just held each other as they listened to the music. You are the love of my life
and you are the reason I'm alive
and baby baby baby
when I think of how you saved me
I go crazy
I've never known love like this
and it fills me with a new tenderness
and I know I know I know
You're in my heart, You're in my soul
You're all I can't resist
And I need to tell you
The first time I held you I knew
You are the love of my life
I spent a lifetime waiting
always hesitating until you
I was lost so deep inside my shell
til you came and saved me from myself
now all I really know is I need you
and you are the love of my life
All the joy and tears that I cry
and baby baby baby
You don't have to say a word
I see it in your eyes“You are, you know?” Gus whispered into Harley’s ear. “What?” she asked. “The love of my life,” he replied as he kissed her softly. Harley smiled, “So are you,” she said as she met her lips with his. As we stand together
I promise forever til the day that I die
You are the love of my life
You are the love of my life
and you are the reason I'm alive~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ THE END |
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