I am standing in my apartment watching the chaos that surrounds me and wondering how on earth I ended up in this situation. Actually I know exactly how it happened. It began two hours ago with a phone call. Kate was at the hospital in labor, two weeks early. Since she was early, her mother, who had been planning on coming to town and watching the boys, had not yet arrived. To make matters worse the labor was progressing slowly and it was expected to take several more hours. Maureen had been ordered to take things easy and Linda was out of town so I was their last resort. I had willingly agreed despite the terror I felt at the very thought of it. I had gone to the hospital to pick up the boys and taken them back to my place. Well I had wanted to get in a little practice time. However three active boys was not exactly what I had in mind. I've decided I'm definitely having a girl.
"Aunt Lex, I'm hungry." Ryan tells me as he holds out his arms to be picked up. He's only just three and doesn't understand everything that's happening.
"Great, lets go get some lunch," I say rejoicing at the idea of getting them away from my many breakables.
"Can we have ice cream?" This is Mark, the middle one. Seven years old and full of mischief.
"After lunch." I tell him as I gather up various coats and open the front door. There is a race to the elevator and Christopher being older and bigger reaches it first and presses the button.
"Aunt Lex," Mark begins to whine.
"You can push the one inside the elevator," I tell him and he immediately smiles.
"It's so cool that you have an elevator right in your building," he tells me as we all walk in and he happily presses the button.
Entering Kelly's I quickly find an empty table and we all sit down. Several minutes later I am a little surprised to see Sonny walk in with Michael. I knew he had been granted visitation after he and Carly split up again, after all I'm the one who had the papers drawn up but still I hadn't expected them to show up here.
"Hi Alexis," Michael greets me. We've gotten to know each other better since he's been spending weekends at Sonny's.
"Hi Michael." Sonny is staring at me as though he's never seen me before; then again he hasn't, not like this. I'm wearing jeans and a baggy sweater sitting at a table feeding french-fries to a three year old who is sitting on my lap. I begin introducing the boys to Michael because it is easier than looking at Sonny. I also explain about Kate being in the hospital. Sonny looks likes he's about to crack up at the thought of me being left in charge of three children. Michael meanwhile is fascinated by some action figure Mark is playing with and sits down beside him in the chair that had been Ryan's.
"Um Michael maybe we should..." Sonny begins.
"No, I interrupt him, please join us." Okay I now have definitive proof that this pregnancy is taking away my ability to think. Before I can take it back Sonny grabs a chair from another table and puts it between Michael's and mine.
Before long the boys were all finished eating, Michael included. Sonny and I barely said a word to each other thanks to the constant stream of conversation provided by the boys.
"So where are you off to now?" Sonny asks in the general direction of the boys.
"The video arcade," Mark shouts as Christopher says the movies and Ryan votes for the park.
"Cool," Michael says, "can we do that too?" He asks Sonny.
"Wait a minute I didn't say..." Wait a minute, it's either that or back to the penthouse, a small-enclosed place covered in breakables... "What should we do first?" Sonny's smiling a little to brightly and I have this uneasy feeling he knows exactly what I'm thinking.
"The park!"
"The movies!"
"Video arcade!"
"I want to come too!"
"I want ice cream!"
An argument ensues which comes to an end only when I let out an ear-piercing whistle I once used to break up a Q family fight.
All five boys (sorry but if you could see him right now you'd know why I classified Sonny as one of the boys) turned their heads to look at me.
"Here's what's going to happen." I begin in my best lawyer voice. "First we will go to the park, stopping for ice cream on the way. Next we will go to the video arcade then we will stop at the video store on the way back to the penthouse and rent a movie of Mark's choice. Michael you may come with us as long as it's okay with Sonny. Any objections?" I ask pausing though no one says a word. "Sonny close your mouth you're not a fish, Christopher finish your milk, everyone put on your coats and wait for me at the door while I pay the bill." Standing up and taking Ryan with me to the counter while the others hurried to follow my orders I begin to think I might be okay at this mother thing after all.
Several hours later we arrive back at the penthouse. Sonny is carrying Ryan who is on the verge of falling asleep but insisting that he wants to watch the movie.
"Okay everyone get comfortable, I'll go make some popcorn."
"I'll help," Christopher says following me into the kitchen. He's a sensitive boy and I have a feeling he's more worried about his mother than he's let on.
"Can you grab the popcorn?" I ask pointing towards the cupboard. He gets it out while I get out some glasses and juice.
"Aunt Lex," he begins as we wait for the popcorn to pop, "Do you think everything's okay at the hospital?"
"I'm sure it is, sweetie but we can call your dad if you want."
"No that's okay, he's probably busy, I'll wait."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, but maybe we can call later if we haven't heard anything?"
"Of course," I tell him taking the popcorn out of the microwave and putting it in a couple bowls. When we get back into the living room Michael and Mark are on the floor surrounded by pillows and blankets apparently camped out for the evening. I gave them one bowl to share and took the other to the sofa where Sonny was sitting. As soon as I sat down Ryan climbed into my lap and Christopher sat down between my and Sonny stating that he would be happy to hold the bowl. Sonny has the remote and as soon as we're all seated he presses play.
Seven a.m. and I'm showered and dressed for the day. I haven't been alert this early since I was married to Jax, well almost. Kate's husband called already this morning to say the baby had been born and she was doing fine. Of course Kate having a girl throws my whole cycle theory out the window. I guess this means I could have a girl despite Maureen's triplets.
I can hear noise coming from the kitchen and figure I've avoided him as long as I can. Sonny came over about half an hour ago and began to cook breakfast. Michael had spent the night at her place but Sonny had gone back to his penthouse after helping me get all the boys to bed. Walking into the kitchen I find him adding more pancakes to an already huge pile.
"Sonny they're little boys not teenagers, there is no way they will eat all that."
"It's not just for them, we have to eat to and I seem to remember you as a woman who enjoys breakfast."
"And you are a man who relishes in embarrassing me." I reply trying to ignore the dimples.
"Hey, that reminds me," he says heading to my fridge and pulling out a bowl of fresh strawberries.
"Where did those come from?" I stammer certain that I am turning the same colour as the fruit.
"I brought them over this morning," he smiles.
"Oh." Great Alexis, so much for the witty banter portion of the morning. "I mean good. I mean because the boys will like them I'm sure and fruit is important, for children, I mean. Not that it's not important to adults, actually I'm not sure how many serving of fruit adults are supposed to have..." I'm rambling but I can't seem to stop. The more I talk the closer Sonny gets until he is standing directly in front of me.
"Alexis."
"Yes?"
"Breathe."
It is ironic that as I open my mouth to do just that Sonny places a kiss on my lips which makes breathing nearly impossible. Before I can stop him (I honestly was planning to, honest) Sonny begins to deepen the kiss. I let out a soft moan as my hands reach up to his hair. I can hear a giggling noise but it takes me several seconds to realise exactly what it is. Great, I've just corrupted the minds of four young children.
Step Six- Rest and Relaxation
The Plan
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