FicWad

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” Mikey grabbed a can of Diet Coke and headed toward the deck. Alicia was following closely behind.
“Well, I do.” she said angrily. “You are being ridiculous about this.”
Mikey opened the can and took a drink before answering. He loved his wife with all his heart but sometimes she drove him crazy. This topic was one he thought they’d settled. Obviously he’d been wrong. “Look, we agreed after Ryan was born that we weren’t going to have any more kids.”
“Mikey, I want to have a little girl.” Alicia said softly. She took a seat and waited until he sat down before continuing. “And actually you decided that. I just went along with you cause I knew it’s what you wanted to hear. But Mikey, my pregnancy wasn’t all that difficult.”
“Yeah, it was.” He reminded her. “You were on bed rest the last three months.”
Alicia sighed, “But it all turned out okay. I talked to my doctor and he said that if I’m careful that I should be able to have another baby.” Alicia moved closer to him on the bench. “Mikey I really want us to have another baby.”
Mikey took her hand in his. “I just don’t want anything bad to happen. I love you and Ryan. What if you got pregnant and something went wrong? I couldn’t live without you.”
She smiled sadly, “Yeah, you could. You’d go on for our son. But nothing is going to go wrong. We’ll have a little girl and then our family will be complete.”
“Remember how you were convinced Ryan was going to be a girl?” Mikey teased as he reached out to touch her face.
Alicia laughed, “You’re always reminding me of that. Besides, I still think my dream was right. I was just seeing our second child in the dream.”
He took another sip of his soda and knew he’d lost the battle. “But I’m going to be gone on tour a long time.” He reminded her.
“Hey, I’ve got a great support group. You know Monica, Christa and Jamia will help me.” She reached out and touched his face, “Please.”
Mikey knew in his heart he could never deny her anything. She wanted another baby so badly. Truth was he’d like another child too. It was just the thought of losing her that scared him.
“Too bad Bob and Kara will be here soon.” He said softly.
Alicia blinked, “Why?”
Mikey leaned over and whispered, “Well, Ryan is at Mom and Dad’s and we have the house to ourselves. If they weren’t coming we could get started on the baby.”
“Mikey.” Alicia hugged him tightly. “I love you.” She kissed him deeply then said. “Hey, they won’t be here for about 20 minutes.”
He laughed, “Uh, I think you’re forgetting you’re on the pill. Even if you stop today you can’t get pregnant yet.”
Alicia grinned, “True but we could practice.” She stood and grabbed his hand. Mikey followed her into the house loving her with ever fiber of his being.

Frank picked up Joe while Jamia grabbed Maddy.
“Okay, that’s enough.” Jamia said to the children. “No fighting.”
“Mine.” Joe said struggling to get out of his fathers arms.
“Mine.” Maddy glared at her brother.
Jamia picked up the toy that had caused the argument. She looked at both of her children. “Now it’s mine. You two need to learn to get along and share.” Lately the twins had developed a real problem with the sharing concept.
Frank sat Joe down and looked at Jamia. “We need to get going. I talked to Gee a few minutes ago and he’s all hot and bothered to make sure everyone gets there about the same time.”
Jamia laughed, “So he can start dinner?” She guessed.
Frank nodded, “Oh yeah. You know how Grillmaster Way is.”
They told Joe and Maddy to pick up their toys then went into the kitchen. Both listened to make sure no more fighting broke out. As Jamia got the salad she’d prepared out of the fridge she told Frank she was concerned about Monica.
“Why?” Frank asked. He was surprised because Gee hadn’t mentioned anything was wrong at home.
“I talked to her yesterday and she sounded really down. Christa said the same thing when I talked to her. Something just isn’t right. I’m afraid she’s not feeling good. When I saw her last week she looked so tired.”
“Well she has a five year old and an almost two-year old. I’m pretty sure she is tired. And that’s not even taking into consideration she has a teenager.”
Jamia dug in the fridge for salad dressing. “Yeah, Kelly has been causing her some problems. Monica was pretty upset when she found out that Kelly and Luke we’re planning on getting married as soon as they get out of school.”
“But that’s still another year.” Frank pointed out.
“Not really.” Jamia answered. “They’re both graduating early. I know Monica wanted Kelly to finish her last year of high school but Kelly told her she and Luke already have everything all planned out. They are both going to the Art Institute together.”
“How are they gonna afford to get married?” Frank hadn’t heard about any of this before now.
“That’s part of the problem. Luke has a good job working as an intern for DC. If he didn’t then they probably couldn’t afford it.”
“The job Gee helped him get.” Frank was starting to understand.
Jamia sat down at the kitchen table as did Frank. “Yep.”
“So is Monica upset with Gee?”
“She won’t come out and say it but I think she is in a way. I mean I know she was really happy that Luke got the job. But I don’t think either she or Gerard realized that it would mean Luke and Kelly would get married so soon.”
“Well it worked out for Kara.” Frank said.
“True and Kelly reminds her mother of that all the time.” She sighed, “I just think Monica is feeling sad another of her children is getting ready to leave the nest.”
Frank laughed, “But she’s still got two more at home.”
“Doesn’t make it any easier.” Jamia said. “Oh well. We better get going. I’m going to put this in the car.” She picked up the salad and dressings. “You get the terror twins.”
“No problemo.” Frank said standing. “You’re wish is my command.”
Jamia laughed, “Sure it is. Then I command you to stay at home and not go on tour.”
Frank’s smile slipped, “Really? Are you upset I’ll be leaving again?”
Jamia was sorry she’d opened her mouth. “Not really. You gotta know I hate it when you’re gone but I know you have to leave.”
He moved closer to her. “I don’t have to. I could stay and run Skeleton Crew full time.”
Jamia reached out and touched his cheek gently. “Frank I love you. But you and I both know how unhappy you’d be if you weren’t in the group. You love being on stage and playing. I don’t want you to be unhappy. Beside the kids and I are gonna be with you at quite a few shows.”
Frank nodded, “I know but I’m serious. If it would make you happy, I’ll quit.”
“It wouldn’t make me happy.” Jamia said. She moved into his arms. “This is our life, Frank. I wouldn’t change any of it for the world.”
Frank kissed her. They didn’t break apart until they heard the twins arguing again.

“Can anything else go wrong? Bob, why don’t we just run around and go back home?” Kara turned to her husband, clearly distraught. They were standing at the car rental counter. The all-too-perky agent had just informed the couple that their reserved car was no longer available as they had not picked it up in time. Since their flight had arrived 3 hours late, that had been unavoidable. This, on top of a lost suitcase, lack of sleep and bad airport food; had pushed Kara to her limit.
Bob pulled her to his chest. He did his best to sooth her, kissing the top of her head as she quietly cried. “Shhhh, we’ll be at your mom’s in no time. Then you’ll feel better.”
Kara shook her head. “No. I wanna go home, Bob. We’re missing everything. There’s so much we need to do. I think the fates are telling us to just turn around. Look at everything that’s gone wrong.
“Shhh. You’re just tired. Come on. Let’s go sit down.” He herded her over to a nearby row of chairs.
“Bob, there’s so much to do on the house (sniffle) and I don’t trust your sister.” The couple had just finished building an addition on their house and Bob’s sister was anxious to help decorate; this despite the fact that Kara was going to design school and their tastes were polar opposites.
“And you wanted to get the equipment set up.” One of the new rooms was a studio. Bob was looking forward to finally starting the long-awaited Bob Bryar Project.
Kara continued, “And I really should have signed up for summer classes….and we’re really behind getting the new shows ready.” Kara was hostess of a local public access show. That’s right. Kara who had once burned down Bob’s kitchen was now busy showing newlyweds and others how to do basic cooking. Her qualifications? A semester of cooking classes – on-line. As Kara enthusiastically forged ahead imparting her wisdom, Bob stoically fixed her many errors and put out the occasional small fire. The combo had become a YouTube sensation.
“Bob, I’m so tired.” Kara said snuggling back against his chest.
“I know you are, Honey. As soon as we get the car thing straightened out, we’ll go straight to your Mom’s and you can lay down for awhile.” He pulled her close, again kissing the top of her head just before Kara bolted up.
“I’ll be back in a minute.” She turned and headed toward the bathroom. Bob watched her, unaware that he was being called.
“Sir….Sir….Sir” Bob turned toward the agent. “We’ve found a car for you.” Finally. Now things were looking up. He stood and walked back to the counter.
“We’ve got a lovely Dodge Stratus for you. I think you’ll like it. We had it brought over from the Marston office for you.”
As the agent droned on, Bob just shook his head. Hopefully things would go better at Monica’s.