The next day, everyone seemed a little bit more relieved and relaxed. The tension dissipated. I told Mike what had happened and he was angry, but thankfully I managed to calm him down a lot before he did something irrational.
Peter took the opportunity to go and talk to Micky, who had been effectively avoiding him for a while. And continued to avoid him. It was awhile before Peter managed to corner him and talk to him, but finally he caught Micky as he was coming in from the beach.
"Micky, I have to talk to you," he said.
"Um, now Pete? I'm busy," Micky said quickly, racking his brain to find something that he might be busy with. He turned toward the stairs.
"Micky, I already know," Peter said.
Micky stopped in his tracks. He turned around. Playing innocent, he asked, "Know what, Peter?"
"What you did with Nicole," Peter said. Deciding to scare Micky, he narrowed his eyes so that Micky would think he was angry.
"Oh," Micky said. He took a step backwards. "Um, about that, Pete, I can explain," he began.
"Oh, really?" Peter asked, toying with him.
"Well, yeah, I can, you know, it was the, um, you know, the side effect from the, uh, cure," Micky stammered, taking another step backwards.
"Oh?" Peter asked, narrowing his eyes.
"Listen, Pete, I'm really sorry, I didn't know what I was doing, I regret it, I was letting my hormones act," Micky said, taking a few more steps backwards. Peter opened his eyes and then his mouth and was about to say something. Micky took yet another step backwards, tripped over the couch and ended up laying flat on his back on the couch.
Peter couldn't repress the giggle.
Micky stood up, brushing himself off and trying to regain his now lost dignity. Peter fought to control his laughter.
"Micky, it's okay, I'm not mad," Peter said, and then burst into giggles again. Micky's eyes widened and he took yet another step back.
"No, seriously, I'm not," he said, calming down. "I did the same thing."
Micky looked at him in disbelief. Peter fought back any more giggles that were coming and told Micky of his escapade with Fiona.
"You're really not gonna beat me up or nothin'?" Micky asked.
"Nah," Peter said. "If I beat you up, I'd have to let you beat me up, too."
Finally relieved, Micky sighed.
Meanwhile, Nicole went and had a similar (though less amusing) conversation with Fiona. After assuring her that no one was angry, they began to (gasp) bond.
"How much time have you got left?" Fiona asked, nodding at her increasingly large stomach.
"Lets see, um, I'm four months now, so I've got five left," Nicole replied.
"Nervous?" Fiona asked.
"Nervous is not a strong enough word to describe it," she replied.
"I was too, the first time," Fiona replied.
"First time? You mean you had another?" Nicole asked, surprised.
"Yes, I had a boy when I was about your age," Fiona replied. "I had to give it up, though, he was adopted."
"Oh, how sad," Nicole said. "Do you know what happened to him?"
"Vaguely. I know he was put with a very nice family and cared for. And I know that he turned out nice. "
"Do you know where he is now?" she asked.
"Well, not for sure, but I have a vague idea," Fiona replied.
"Do you know his name? Have you ever tried to contact him?"
"I'm not sure of the name they gave him. I was going to name him Thomas, after my father, but I doubt they kept it," she said.
"Thomas? That's a nice name," Nicole remarked, musing...
(A while later)
Peter and Nicole were asleep. Peter remembered later that he was having a nice dream about chocolate cake. But he was jolted out of it quickly when he felt a sharp bump on his shoulder.
"Peter!"
He rolled over and buried his face in the pillow. "Just five more minutes, please," he moaned. "More chocolate cake..."
"Peter!"
"But Mommy, I don't wanna go to school," Peter moaned, rolling over again.
"PETER!"
"Do I have to?" Peter moaned. "I'd rather eat chocolate cake."
Nicole looked at him oddly. 'Chocolate cake?' she wondered. "PETER! It's time!"
"What time?" he moaned.
"For the baby!" she yelled.
Peter rolled over. "The baby?" he asked. "It's here?"
"Yes!" she cried, exasperated. Peter jumped out of bed and got his clothes on. Then he grabbed some of her clothes and stuffed them in her arms.
"Get dressed," he commanded. "Hurry up. I'll go start the car." He ran out the door quickly.
A sharp ring of the phone jolted us all out of sleep at two that morning.
"Micky, could you get that?" Mike moaned.
"Davy, could you get that?" Micky moaned. I rolled over.
"Nah, it's only Peter," I said. "He'll want to talk to Mike."
"Peter?" Mike moaned. He rolled over and picked up the phone. "Peter? "
There was a pause as Peter answered. "Don't ask...it was Davy...where are you?"
There was another pause. "The hospital? Why? " he paused again. "Oh, my," he said. "We'll be right there." He hung up the phone.
"Don't tell me," I said. "The baby's here..." Mike shot a confused look at me.
"Nothing supernatural," I added, to answer his question. "Why else would he be at the hospital?" I dragged myself out of bed and started to get dressed so we could go to the hospital.
Peter and Nicole were at the hospital, and were in a room waiting. The baby hadn't started to come yet, and the contractions were far apart. Peter sat by her side, with a concerned look on his face. He held his hand out so that she could hold it if she needed to, but she took his hand and placed it on her stomach. He looked at her, confused.
Then, his face became oddly contorted. He moaned softly and twisted his face up. She looked at him, amused. He fought against the pain, and shut his eyes. When he opened them again, he was in less pain.
Nicole grinned at him, amused. "How's it feel, Peter?" she asked. He rolled his eyes. "It's your pain," he said. "You tell me. I didn't take it all." He grinned back at her mischeviously. She laughed.
"I know, but it's not a pain most men get to feel," she said.
He rolled his eyes again. They both winced in pain as the next contraction came. "And I can see why," he joked, grinning.
Mike came into the room. "It's here?" he asked.
"Not yet, but it's on the way," Nicole said. Mike noticed that Peter was making weird faces. He glanced over at him, concerned.
"Peter, are you all right?" he asked.
Peter made another weird face and smiled. "Yeah, we're okay," he said, nodding. Mike looked confused.
"He's feeling my pain," Nicole explained. Mike's eyes opened wide.
"Oh," he said. "I see. How's it feel, Pete?"
"Weird," Peter replied. Mike and Nicole laughed. "Where are the others?" he asked when they'd stopped laughing.
"In the hallway," Mike said. "They couldn't come in, but they say hi and wish you luck," he explained. He turned to Nicole. "You gonna be alright?" he asked. She nodded. "How about you, Pete?" he joked. Peter shot Mike a Look. He grinned. Then Mike left.
We sat in that stupid waiting room for two hours. Micky slept, Mike paced, and I was used as a pillow. Every time the door opened Mike stopped pacing and I looked up anxiously. It opened five times. The first time was a nurse. The second time was a doctor. The third time was a man who seemed to be neither. The fourth was another man carrying a box. And the fifth was Peter. As soon as the door opened, Mike stopped pacing and I jabbed Micky in the ear.
"Well?" Mike asked.
"It's a boy," Peter said, grinning. "He's nine pounds, three ounces, and his name is Thomas Halsten."
Shortly afterwards, they brought the baby home. Peter was absolutely thrilled with him. You might think it was surprising, since it wasn't his baby, but that's Peter for you. After he'd been home for a week, Peter approached me with the baby.
"Davy, do you think you could take care of him tomorrow? For the whole day?" he asked. "Sure," I said. It wasn't the first time they'd asked me to babysit. I didn't mind, and I was actually bonding with the kid. "Where are you going?"
"Well," he said, looking around to make sure no one else was listening. "I've got this surprise for Nicole. Don't tell her." He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a little box. He opened it. Inside was a diamond ring.
"Oh, Petah, you're going to," I said, loudly. Then I lowered my voice a little. "...propose?" I asked.
He nodded, smiling, and told me of his plans for the day. He was going to take her out for breakfast, then for a walk in the park, maybe do a little shopping or something, then go out for lunch, then go see a movie or a play, then go look at the beach, then go out for dinner, and finally, to top it off, go to the beach and look at the sunset. That was when he'd pop the question. He was pretty sure she'd love it. I nodded.
"She'll love it, Pete," I said.
Peter took her out to all of those places and then took her to a spot ontop of a cliff where you could see the beach and the sunset very well. She was tired and on the verge of complaining. He just smiled at her. At the top of the cliff was a bench. They stopped next to it, and he pointed out to the ocean. She looked out, and gasped.
"Oh, wow, Peter, it's beautiful," she said, mesmerized. He looked back, smiling.
"Not as beautiful as you," he said, softly. She sat down on the bench and looked out.
"Aw, Peter," she sighed. She turned to look at him but saw that he was no longer standing behind her. Now he was kneeling on the ground in front of her.
"Peter?" she asked. He didn't answer, just reached into his pocket and pulled out the small box. He held it out to her.
Her eyes grew wide. "Peter?" she asked. He opened the box. She saw the ring. "Oh, Peter, it's gorgeous," she breathed.
"Will you," he began. She nodded. He smiled. She reached out and took his hand and brought him off of the ground, leading him to sit next to her.
"Oh, Peter, of course I will. How could you ever doubt?" she asked, wrapping her arms around him.
Later that evening, Mike asked me if I'd seen Peter. I looked up from what I was doing, which was giving the baby a bottle, and answered. "Nah, 'e's not 'ere, 'e went out for the day," I said.
"Out for the day? With Nicole?" Mike asked.
"Yep," I said, as I pulled the bottle away from Thomas.
"Where'd they go?" he asked.
"Can't tell you," I replied, swinging the baby over my shoulder and patting his back.
"Why not?" Mike asked.
"'E told me to keep it a secret," I answered truthfully. Thomas burped, and I took him off my shoulder. I carried him over to the crib (which Peter and Nicole had bought recently) and laid him down in there along with Fiona's child.
"Why?" Mike persisted.
"You'll see when they get back," I said, watching with amusement the frustrated look on Mike's face.
Peter and Nicole didn't come back that night because they got lost and there was a storm. When they returned the next day, Micky, Mike, and Fiona were glad to see them.
"Well, what's the big surprise?" Mike asked, impatient.
Peter looked at me. "You told them?" he asked.
"No," I said, handing Thomas to Nicole, who was overjoyed. "I told them that I couldn't tell them where you went and they were worried, so I told them that they'd see when you got back."
"He didn't tell me anythin'," Mike said. "Where were you?"
Nicole handed me back the baby and went over to Mike. She held out her left hand. "That's where we were, Mr. curious," she said.
Mike's eyes grew wide. We watched him, cautiously, unsure of how he would take this news. But we needn't have worried. He smiled, and hugged Nicole.
"That's great," he said. "Congratulations." Then he hugged Peter. Peter smiled.
"You're okay with this?" he asked, somewhat surprised. Mike nodded.
"Of course I'm okay with it," he said. "Congratulations, buddy." He patted Peter on the back. "So when's the day?"
"Two weeks," Nicole said, taking back the baby. "On the way home, we got lost and found this gorgeous little church and set the date."
"Two weeks?" Micky asked. "A wedding? Oh, boy."
"Yep," Peter said, grinning ear to ear.
Two weeks later we all were there. Nicole had been right, the church they found was gorgeous. I was stuck holding Thomas the whole time, but I didn't mind. He slept the whole time, and he was basically a good kid. Micky was thrilled because he got to hold Fiona's baby. I think he paid more attention to her than the wedding. Mike was the best man and Fiona was the bridesmaid, since there was no one else available, really. Afterwards, there was a reception at the pad, and Mike presented them with their wedding gift, from all of us.
"Peter, I've gotta give you something," he said.
"Oh?" Peter asked. Mike led him to the front of the room and got everyone's attention. Micky and I stood behind him.
"See, we all wanted to get you a wedding gift," Mike began. "But we couldn't think of what to get you."
"Well, you didn't have to," Peter began, but Mike held up a hand to stop him.
"Then, I heard that you all were going to Disneyland for your honeymoon, and you were going to take our car," he said, gesturing to Micky and I. The crowd laughed, and Peter grinned, looking towards the floor.
"Now, we couldn't let you do that," Mike began again, when our audience had calmed down. "So, we took it in to our own hands to solve this problem. The gift please." He turned to Micky. Micky fiddled in his pockets and finally pulled out a small, neatly wrapped box. He handed it to Mike, who handed it to Peter.
Peter took the gift and opened it. He pulled out the gift, car keys. His eyes grew wide. "Oh, you didn't have to," he began, gasping.
Mike grinned. "It was either that or risk our car's life," he quipped, grinning, and the crowd laughed again.
(the end)
END
