Water...running. In the kitchen. Kel's ears had been trained throughout his career to pick up on the faintest of sounds--from a slight heart murmur to a whimper of pain. So there was no mistaking this sound. With a sigh, he pulled himself off the living room couch and into the kitchen. "Dix?"
Dixie turned and smiled at him, rinsing off another plate before she put it into the dishwasher. "Hi."
Kel pouted playfully. "The babies are asleep."
Dixie had to smile at the obviousness of the comment. "I know."
"I was hoping to have a few minutes alone..." Kel grinned, and came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist. "Six months since they were born...I've missed you..." He began to kiss her neck.
Reluctantly, Dixie squirmed out of his grasp. "I know...but I'd wanted to get these dishes done before Johnny and Roy get here...and they certainly aren't going to wash themselves."
Kel pulled her back towards him. "That's why we have a dishwasher."
"You have to rinse them first," Dixie explained patiently, rinsing off another plate.
"What sense does that make?" Kel asked, frowning slightly. "Washing them before you wash them?"
"Technology isn't perfect." Dixie shrugged, and went back to work, tugging the T-shirt she was wearing back into place.
Kel's frustration was rising by the second. "All right." He looked speculative for a moment. "Johnny and Roy are not going to care if our dishes aren't done..."
"I'll care," Dixie insisted. "We knew we were going to have more work after the twins were born..."
"I know," Kel whined, "but..."
Dixie's eyes lit up with amusement. "Kel, are you jealous of the dishes?"
"Of course not." Kel seemed put off that she'd even suggest such a thing. Envious, yes. Jealous, no.
She laughed, shaking her head softly. "Oh, Kel..." On impulse, she blew a handful of soap bubbles at him.
"Hey!" he protested, batting the bubbles aside. "What was that all about?"
"Nothing."
Well, there was simply no way he could let her get away with that. He reached around her, managing to splash some water in her face. She shrieked in surprise and whirled around, splashing Kel in the process. (Purely accidental, of course.)
Laughing, Kel went to get a dish towel from the drawer so they could both dry off.
He had second thoughts.
Dixie, thinking the game was over, shrugged, and turned back to her dishes--then jumped a mile when Kel snapped the towel at her from behind. "Oh! Oh...oh, Kel...you want to play like that, huh? You're on." She snatched the towel from his grasp and began to soak it in the water.
Knowing instantly where this was going, Kel grabbed the cup nearest to the sink and filled it with water. With a flip of the wrist, he was able to soak the front of her T-shirt. It clung to her body--and while he was distracted by the view, Dixie saw her opportunity to retaliate. She'd forgotten about the towel, instead grabbing the sprayer next to the sink.
One thing kept leading to another, as these things were apt to do. Within minutes, both were dripping wet...and having the time of their lives. Trying to one-up the game a little, Kel grabbed the dish soap and held it menacingly towards his wife. "You don't think I'd do it, do you?"
"No, I know you would!" Dixie protested, backing away. With all the water on the linoleum floor, her feet went right out from under her. While stepping forward to help, Kel slipped too--but didn't take long to take advantage of the situation. He crawled over to Dixie, pinning her down with one hand while he bent down to kiss her. She reached up, wrapping her arms around his neck as she returned the kiss. As Kel pulled his hand away from her shoulder, though, Dixie immediately used the opportunity to wrestle him to the floor. Now she was the hunter, and he the hunted. Not that Kel particularly minded.
They wrestled around on the floor like this for a few minutes, ignoring the water as it overflowed out of the sink and down onto them.
Then the doorbell rang.
Dixie pulled back, her eyes widening. "Johnny and Roy! I'd forgotten they were coming!"
"Well, I'd say that's understandable given the circumstances..." Kel stood up, turning the water off, and helping his wife up. He grabbed a couple of dish towels for them both. They dried themselves off as much as possible on the way to the front door, staring at it for a moment.
Do you want to open it or should I? seemed to be the unspoken question. Finally, with a sigh, Kel pulled the door open. "Hi, guys."
The two paramedics exchanged a surprised glance. Neither of them had ever seen Dixie McCall or Kelly Brackett looking so...rumpled. (Or wet.)
"What happened?" Roy asked.
Kel tried to come up with a suitable explanation. Somehow Oh, we were just fooling around... didn't seem appropriate. "The sink...the faucet...was kind of acting up...overflowing and all..." When all else fails, improvise.
Roy, being married, had some insight into what actually might have transpired, and couldn't hide a tiny smile. Johnny, for his part, was trying to do something--anything--to divert his attention from the fact that Dixie's white T-shirt was soaking wet...and clinging to her body...
"I, um..." he stammered, "I'll...take a look at it...if you want..."
"Uh, yeah, thanks..." Kel was distracted by it too, but made no bother to hide the fact. Of course, he reasoned with himself that he was merely appreciating one of nature's finest works of art...
Roy's smile got a little bigger. It was still fun to see these two acting so...well, human. It was true that they'd almost always been good friends, but until the twins had come into the picture, the friendship had really been limited to the confines of the hospital, or occasionally Station 51. Those were the only places they'd ever really seen each other. Then, last year, everything had changed. Kel and Dixie had become a family when Jake and Sophie had unexpectedly come into their lives. And the friendship between them, Johnny, and Roy had taken on a new dimension.
Johnny came back into the room afew minutes later, frowning in confusion. "Hey, Doc...there's nothin' wrong with the faucet...it works fine now..."
Roy wasn't sure which amused him more--his partner's naivete or the Bracketts staring at each other as they searched for a cover.
"Well, Kel..." Dixie began a moment later, her voice a bit huskier than usual, "whatever it was you did must've...fixed it..."
Roy had to try very hard not to laugh as he observed the effect the tone of her voice had on the doctor. He was now convinced more than ever of his original theory.
As Dixie slipped off to change into something drier (much to Kel's disappointment and Johnny's relief), Kel caught Roy's eye. He figured that Roy pretty much knew what was going on. "Roy...about..."
Roy held up his hands innocently. "Oh, don't worry, my lips are sealed."
"Yeah, me too," Johnny contributed, "if that's the way you really want it. It's nothin' to be embarrassed about though...the faucet broke..."
The crying of two six month olds from down the hall gave them an easy way out of the conversation. Kel smiled as he headed down the hall, thinking that it was nice the babies had at least waited until now, rather than interrupting their parents' "playtime" in the kitchen.
Of course, if they had, it might have been all right to let them fuss for a few minutes. It'd strengthen their lungs...
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