"Babe, seriously?" Andy stared at her. She knew he'd do anything for her, and he would, without question, without hesitation. But was she really asking him to go to the store at 3am for Hot Tamales? He'd prepared for the pickles and ice cream cravings, but that wasn't happening. She wanted nothing to do with pickles, and didn't care about ice cream either.
She wanted Hot Tamales. And nothing was going to make her happy until she got them. "I need them, Andy." April rubbed her palm over the curve of her belly. "The baby needs them."
Andy groaned and kicked the covers back so he could sit up and slide to his feet. He'd never deny her anything. Not even a middle of the night run to the store for candy. Even if it was like the one candy Andy didn't like. He'd just have to get himself something that he did like while he was there.
He tugged a pair of shorts on over his boxers, hopping on one foot and tumbling forward, falling face first onto the bed. He grunted and pushed himself back up to his feet. April just shook her head, but she couldn't help but grin. Andy shoved his arms into a plaid shirt and jammed his feet into his shoes.
"Babe. Stop fooling around," April chided. "I'm dying here."
Andy scrubbed his hand over his face, fingers scraping against his jawline. He fell forward onto the bed and crawled up to the pillows. "Babe, I'm so sleepy."
"Andy!" April whined and shoved Andy's shoulder with both her hands. "Come on. You said you'd go now."
Andy sat up and slapped his cheeks with both hands. "I'm awake, I'm awake."
April leaned over, a hand on Andy's thigh. She kissed his lips, her other hand moving to caress the shell of his ear. "I love you, babe." Her hands moved to shove against his chest. "Now go."
"I love you too," Andy said, and lumbered to his feet. He stumbled toward the door, crashing into the door frame in classic Andy style. April just shook her head and blew him a kiss off her fingertips. Cravings were serious business.
"I think what you're feeling, Little Man," Alex Dwyer grinned at his brother, "is lust." Andy was the youngest of the six Dwyer boys, and even though he was closing in on 30 now, his brothers all still referred to him as Little Man. It was normal, and comfortable for Andy. He almost didn't know how to respond when they called him Andy instead.
Andy shook his head. "Nah." But he kind of knew Alex was right. But it was so wrong. April was so young. She wasn't even old enough to drink yet. He didn't know when her birthday was, but it didn't matter. She was way too young. And way too cute. He could deny it all he wanted, but deep down he felt it.
He couldn't stop thinking about her. He thought about the way the sun caught her hair, or how it made her eyes sparkle when she looked over her shoulder. And that little smile, subtle and easy to miss, when he caught her looking at him whenever he went into the Parks office. Or the way she'd twirl her hair a little when she looked away, when she pretended to be writing something down or looking something up on the computer.
And then in the quiet moments at his shoe shine stand, he thought about kissing her. Her lips looked so soft, and he wondered what they'd taste and feel like. Maybe they'd taste like cotton candy lip gloss, or cherry chapstick. He had no doubt they'd feel like velvet. Would she like the tickle of his beard, when he kissed her?
And what about when he explored other places? He wanted to have her writhing beneath him, his fingers, lips, and tongue roaming over her flawlessly smooth skin, every single inch of her. He'd start with her forehead and work his way down, skimming over the important parts, all the way down to her toes then work his way back up, over calf and thigh and...
He didn't realise his eyes were closed and he was fully immersed in the fantasy until Alex snapped his fingers. "Andy. Earth to Andy."
Andy blinked. "Oh, sorry. I was..."
"Thinking about the girl, I know. So what if she's younger than you? She's twenty, right? It's not like she's twelve. Twenty's an adult, Andy. If you like her, and she likes you...there's nothing wrong with going out, seeing how it goes."
"Okay." Andy nodded. Alex was smart, and he trusted Alex's judgment. If Alex said it was okay, it was okay. So why did he still feel like some kind of creeper, while at the same time thinking about giving her hickeys right on her boobs?
A/A: A Love Like Ours (4/?) [Are You Okay?] Future Fic ~For Lunabelle
Her phone had skidded across the floor, just out of reach. She stretched as far as she could, and it seemed like the further she reached, the further out of reach the phone was. Or maybe her vision was skewed because of the tears welling in her eyes. She wasn't sure; the only thing she was sure of was that the phone was out of reach.
The phone wasn't the only issue. There was also Max. She'd been carrying him. She lifted her head, looking for the baby. At eighteen months, he likely didn't understand what was happening. He wasn't even crying. Her heart fluttered, thinking he must be hurt. What if he hit his head, and was unconscious? She couldn't even get to her phone to call help for herself, or for him.
"Max! Maxie! Where are you, baby?"
"Mama," Max chattered back at her. He was part way up the stairs, climbing up on all fours. She heard Lycan at the top of the stairs clapping and calling to his brother to keep coming.
She tried to call out to him. She tried to tell him he was her big man and she needed his help. She felt her jaw moving, but no words were coming out. Everything was going black, and she knew she was about to pass out. She'd be down already if she had been standing, but she was already down, so rather than hitting her all at once the blackness washed over her, covering her like a blanket, rendering her helpless and unable to care for her children.
The next thing she knew, someone was shaking her. She groaned, and it sounded like a wounded animal to her own ears. "Mama, mama. Mama, wake up!" Ian shoved her shoulder hard. She wanted to swat at him, and tell him to stop and leave her alone, but something was wrong. She knew something was wrong. She opened her eyes, and if she hadn't known better, she'd think Ian had sprouted a second head. "Jack! Hers eyes is opened!" Ian said.
She could hear Jack talking to someone in the distance. He sounded so far away. "Her eyes opened, Daddy. Is she gonna be okay?" There was a thud from upstairs, and one of the little ones started crying. April felt her stomach twist and she tried to push herself to sitting up. "She's trying to get up, Daddy. She don't look so good." Jack came closer, and he looked like he was getting bigger as he moved toward her. "Daddy said you don't get up, Mama," Jack told her. "He's coming home. You have to stay where you are."
It was a moot point. April knew she couldn't move if she wanted to. Even if the baby was crying upstairs."Go...go check on Maxie," April said, her voice weak. She cried out then, a sharp pain hitting her right in the gut. Her hands went to her swollen belly. She was seven months pregnant with her fifth child.
She felt rather than heard Jack and Ian communicating. A moment later, Ian took off, and his footsteps thundered up the stairs. Jack was holding the phone in front of himself and poking at the screen. "Okay, Daddy. I putted you on speaker," Jack told him.
"April. April, baby. I'm five minutes away. I'm at the light by the school. I'm coming, cookie. Just hang in there, okay?"
"Andy," April gasped. The sound of his voice had tears pouring out of her eyes. her breath became more ragged, and the pains in her belly became sharper. "The baby, Andy. Hurry!"
"I know. It's okay. Just keep talking to me, okay?" Andy was usually the one to stay home with the kids, but he'd had an appointment and April had taken the day off to stay home with Lycan and Max. "April?"
She sucked in a breath. Jack sat down beside her and lay his little hand against her cheek. "I'm here," she said to Andy, her voice weak. Her eyes closed and she silently prayed for her unborn baby.
"It's okay, mama. Daddy be home soon."
She heard Andy suck his breath in. "Jackie, I need you to do me a big favor. Hang up the phone and then dial 911. Can you do that? And tell them what you told me about your mama."
"I can do that, Daddy." Ian didn't come back downstairs, but Max stopped crying. April wasn't awarer of much else.
"Good boy. I'll be home real soon, okay? Take care of your mama." April knew ending that call was probably the hardest thing Andy had ever had to do. She knew it would be hard for her to break contact like that. But Jack was almost seven, and super smart and they had talked about what to do in an emergency, and he was doing so well already. He'd called his daddy, and now he was calling 911, and April just closed her eyes and bit back the whimpers and screams that clawed at her throat as the pains in her stomach seemed to intensify.
It could have been five minutes or five hours before the door opened and Andy rushed in. April had no concept of time as she lay at the bottom of the stairs with Jack beside her talking to the 911 operator. Andy took the phone from his son. "Hello? Yes. I'm her husband. Andy," he said. "Yes, ma'am. She's still conscious." Andy held the phone to his ear with his shoulder. "April? Babe, talk to me. What's your pain level?"
"Twelve," April rasped.
"Yes, ma'am. She's due in November. November 14," Andy looked April over. "Yes ma'am," he said. "Yes, that's the address. No. He's six. Almost seven. We've been teaching him and his brother the address and our phone numbers. Yes ma'am. He is a pretty special boy."
"Daddy! I heared the sirens!" Jack said, and a trio of little feet could be heard upstairs, the other boys probably running to the window to look for the sirens. A few moments later as the squad approached the house, Ian bounded down the stairs with Lycan and Max sliding down on their bottoms behind him.
The paramedics took the information they needed from Andy while he wrangled the kids. Jack stayed by his mother until she was loaded up on the stretcher and they were ready to take her to the rig. Andy assured her he'd meet her at the hospital after he dropped the kids off with Leslie and Ben.
The next hour was a whirlwind of motion and trying to get things sorted. Andy took the boys to Ben's office. He praised Jack, and made sure Ben knew Jack was the real hero. Jack clung to Andy's neck while Ben distracted the other three and let them all chatter at Leslie and the triplets on the phone.
"I'll call Ben as soon as I can, okay, buddy? I'm gonna go now, so I can be with your mama."
"I want to go with you, Daddy."
Andy pulled back, his big hands on Jack's small shoulders. "I know, buddy. But I need you to stay here and keep an eye on your brothers."
Jack nodded. "Okay, Daddy."
"That's my little big man." Andy gave him another hug then left him with Ben. In his car, Andy allowed himself a few minutes to let the emotions surge through him. After wiping furiously at his eyes, he pulled himself together and drove to the hospital to reunite with April.
She was set up in an observation bed by the time he was allowed to see her. The doctor briefed him on bother her and the baby. From what she could tell them, she'd fallen at least halfway down the stairs while carrying Max. Andy hadn't known that, and he'd questioned whether he should bring Max in and have him looked at. The doctor assured him the baby was probably fine, but it might not be a bad idea to have him looked at.
April and the unborn child were his priority, though. April's heart rate was low, and her pain levels were high. The baby was in distress, but the doctor was confident he would be all right. He wanted to keep April in ICU for at least a night, and he'd reassess in the morning.
A nurse took Andy to April's room. She was pale, and she looked so small in that bed. She had an IV in one arm, a blood pressure cuff on the other. They had a heart monitor on her, as well as a fetal monitor. Andy wasn't a doctor, but he'd been to enough prenatal appointments with April over the course of five pregnancies that he could read most of the output. It didn't look good, and he wasn't entirely convinced the doctor had told him the truth.
April lifted her hand to reach out to him. "Hey, babe." She smiled a sad smile. The kind of smile that broke Andy's heart. "Are you okay?"
There she was, in an ICU bed after a fall down the stairs, and she was asking him if he was okay. He blinked rapidly to fight back to tears that threatened to run like a river down his face. "Babe, I should be asking you."
"I'll be fine if you come over here and hold my hand."
He moved toward her and pushed the chair close to the bed so he could sit. And he took her hand in his, kissing her knuckles as the tears fell.
A/A: A Love Like Ours (8/?) Future Fic ~For Lunabelle
"Here you go, bubby," Andy held the bottle out to Max. The toddler took it from him and promptly threw it to the floor. Andy bent down to retrieve it and held it out to him again. Max took it and launched it at Andy's head. "Damn it, Max!" Andy groaned. Max let out a frustrated toddler scream that made everyone flinch and cover their ears.
"Daddy?" Jack's voice sounded so small, so uncertain.
Andy looked at Jack, his green eyes bright with emotion. "Don't start with me, Jack." Andy threw his cell phone at the wall. It clattered to the floor and with it, Andy's shoulders slumped.
Jack looked back at him for only a moment. Just long enough for Andy to see the dark shadow of pain and betrayal in his features. Where any other kid might have yelled 'I hate you' or something just as damning, Jack said nothing. He turned away, and ran from the room, stomping all the way up the stairs.
Ian stopped what he was doing, holding very still. Lycan grabbed the toy Jack had been playing with and giggled. Ian's focus shifted to Lycan and the two resumed playing together like they didn't have a care in the world. Max babbled nonsense and banged on the toy xylophone in front of him.
Andy dropped onto the couch and ran a trembling hand through his hair. His fingers dragged down the curve of his skull and followed through along his jawline. If he could have taken back the last minute or so, he would have done so in a heart beat. But he couldn't. And his cell phone laying on the floor seemed to mock him, reminding him that he'd thrown it in a fit of rage. He hadn't thrown it at Jack, hadn't thrown it anywhere near Jack, but that wasn't the point.
He'd thrown it because he was frustrated. Because he couldn't answer Jack's questions about when Mommy and baby Arlo would come home. He sighed and lurched forward to retrieve his phone. he knew it would serve him right if the screen was cracked and the phone was unusable. He was almost afraid to look at it.
He drew a deep breath and looked. There was a small crack at the top of the screen, but it seemed fine otherwise. He took a moment to be grateful for that, then cued up Leslie's number and called her. "Andy? Is everything all right?" Leslie answered on the second ring, her voice frantic and worried.
"No. I mean yes. But no. I yelled at Jack." He'd yelled at Max first, but it was more significant that he'd yelled at Jack. Andy couldn't have said when he'd raised his voice to any of his kids. He wasn't that kind of parent.
"Oh, Andy." Leslie sighed. "Do you want me to come over and get him? I can take him to the hospital to see April."
"I knew you'd know what to do." Leslie was the smartest person Andy knew, besides April of course. And Ron. Ron was pretty smart.
"Give me half an hour."
Andy nodded even though Leslie couldn't see him through the phone. He hung up and slid the phone into his pocket. He moved to pick up the bottle Max had thrown, but Ian realised he was going for it and picked it up to hand it to him. "Thanks, big guy."
"Mommy always holds him," Ian said. "That way he don't throw the bottle."
Andy pawed at his face. He glanced at the steps, and felt like he should go up and check on Jack. But he couldn't leave the other boys alone. April stressed that to him all the time. Ian would probably be all right, but Lycan and Arlo were too little to be left unattended. He sighed and put his hands out to Max, and the little one toddled over to him and lifted his arms for Andy to pick him up.
Max was asleep in Andy's arms by the time Leslie arrived. Sonia and one of the boys followed behind her. Andy was never sure which one was which. "I brought reinforcements," Leslie said. "Ben and Westley will bring pizza in a bit," she added. Sonia and Stephen had already moved in toward Ian and Lycan, and the moment Sinia sat down, Lycan crawled into her lap.
Leslie nodded at Andy. He set the bottle on the table and stood, carefully cradling Max against his chest. He gave Leslie a grateful nod then headed upstairs to put Max down for his afternoon nap. After putting the baby down, Andy crept out of the room and over to Jack's closed door. He knocked once. "Jackie?"
Jack didn't answer. Andy knocked again, and when his son still didn't respond, he pushed the door open. Jack was face down on his bed, fingers stuck in his ears, and didn't react to Andy coming into the room. Andy sat on the bed and put a hand out to Jack's shoulders. "Jack. I'm sorry."
Aside from a slight tremor that Andy felt through his hand on Jack's back, Jack didn't acknowledge him. Andy sighed. "I know I shouldn't have yelled at Maxie, or at you, and I'm sorry." There really wasn't an excuse for it. Andy was a stay at home dad, and he loved it. He loved being home with his kids all day. He was really just a big kid himself, but he'd had to grow up fast with April and Arlo in hospital. "I guess I got frustrated and I forgot how to handle it. Do you think you can forgive me?"
Jack shifted, turning over on his side so he was facing Andy. "I don't like when you get angry."
Andy smoothed a hand over Jack's dark hair. "I wasn't angry, Jack. I'm just worried about your mom and your little brother and sometimes that comes out like anger. But I'm not angry. I don't even know how to get angry, right? Isn't that what your mom says all the time?"
Jack pushed himself to sitting up and wrapped his little arms around Andy's neck. Andy's arms circled around Jack, holding him close. "Aunt Leslie is here, and she wants to take you to see your mom. Just you. I'm gonna stay here with your brothers."
"Just me?"
"Just you," Andy confirmed. "I thought you'd like that and I know your mama will be happy to see you."
"But what about Maxie?" Jack asked, his brow furrowed. Andy loved that Jack worried about his brothers so much. He was like another parent to them at times. Sometimes, Jack was more of a parent to them than Andy was.
Andy pressed his forehead to Jack's. "I'll bring Maxie and Ian and Lycan later."
Jack moved out of the circle of Andy's arms and slipped behind him, pressed against his back with his arms clasped around Andy's neck. "Will you carry me piggyback?"
"You better hang on tight!" Andy lurched to his feet. He moved toward the door and stumbled into it deliberately so that he bounced back and made it more fun for Jack. He was a little more cautious on the stairs, especially since April had fallen just a few days ago, but once they were downstairs, Andy zig zagged like he was out of control until he reached the couch, and carefully dropped and fell back with Jack giggling wildly.
Lycan crawled off Sonia's lap and threw himself at Andy's legs. "Do me, Daddy! Piggy me!" The little guy climbed up on the couch and hooked his arms around Andy's neck. Andy bent one arm behind himself to give Lycan a little extra support as he stood up, then gripped both his ankles before he started to run around the house with Lycan bouncing on his back.
Leslie cringed as she watched him, but she knew Andy did this kind of thing all the time. He'd done the same with Sonia, Stephen, and Westley when they were little. it had terrified her then, and it terrified her now but she trusted him to be careful. Even if it looked like he was clumsy and stumbling, she had to believe he had it under control. April would be devastated if Andy or one of the boys was hurt now, or ever really, but especially now.
"So, Jack," she said, turning her focus to the little boy. "Do you want to go and see your mama?"
Jack nodded. "Daddy said just me." He said with an air of pride.
"That's right." Leslie got to her feet and held her hand out to Jack. She almost wanted to wait till Ben and Westley arrived with the pizza, but that could be another hour or so. She just had to trust that Andy could manage, and that Sonia and Stephen could handle the damage control. That was a lot to put on a couple of teenagers, but they'd known Andy since the day they were born, and they knew how he could be.
Jack took Leslie's hand and they headed for the door just as Andy crashed into the wall at the bottom of the steps and staggered around to sit on the steps, giving Lycan an easy way off his back. The little boy was giggling with the unrestrained glee only a child could possess.
Leslie looked back at Andy. "I'll get him dinner, so you don't have to worry about that," she said. Andy raised his hand in a salute as Leslie lead Jack out the front door.
