Baby 88 and 89 - Part 3 of 3

"Calista, relax, she's just a potential buyer.  The open house closed a few minutes ago but I let her stay late and finish looking at the house."  Adam reassures me.  I feel foolish for thinking that the woman could have been his girlfriend or significant other.

I manage to throw out a laugh, "I knew that."

Adam throws a glance at me, "Oh really?  Cause the blush on your face tells me that you didn't."

"You're joking right?  Now, what was that problem that you 'invited' me here for, smart boy?"

The woman leaves hurriedly after seeing my reaction to her presence.  I want to say something but she waves it away saying that it's, "No problem."  Disappointed, I purse my lips.  Why couldn't I just keep my emotions to myself.  I'm not normally this... what's the word...?  Obnoxious?  Rude?  

Noting my somewhat hormonal mood, Adam removes his hand and brings me into the room.

"And this is my issue," he says grandly, gesturing to the big space on the wall in front of us.  Eyeing it for a short time, I know exactly how to solve the problem.

"Ready for a shopping trip, Cohen?"

Uneasily he says, "Um, I guess?"

Getting into my car, I drive us to the pet store.  I wave to the store clerk and pull Adam over to the cages upon cages of small rodents and reptiles.

"Do I even want to know why we're here?"  He asks.

 "I think you're smart enough to figure it out," I say and he casts his eyes down.  I continue, "I've noticed how interested you seem in animals and it definitely shows with all of those horse related ornaments and supplies around your house.  You really should add some more life to the house, instead of having some old wood engravings of horses that don't do much."

He finally meets my eye and grins sheepishly.  "I suppose you're right.  Hmmm, how about a snake?  I've always loved snakes."

"Um, I was thinking of something more inviting.  How about this little guy?  He's cute and fluffy."

Adam laughs deeply and says, "You're probably right.  What was I thinking?  Putting a snake in a room full of prospective house buyers."

We play with the little rodent until it poops in Adam's hands.  After that, we quickly put it back into the cage and Adam goes and washes his hands about forty times.  

While he's in the bathroom, I pick out a turtle.  It's not as loud as a wombat and it's much friendlier looking than a snake.  We decided to put the little guy on hold while we go out and shop for a nice landscape painting for above the cage.

Finally, we arrive home and Adam and I set everything up.  It's mostly him setting everything up and me telling him what to do.  Sometimes being pregnant (even just a little bit) has its perks.  We find some old bookshelves in the basement that match the bookshelves in the living room, so Adam brings those up and I organize the books on them.  He hangs the painting while I get the cage ready, and I find a nice plant from outside which Adam transplants into a nice pot.

Putting food in the turtle's food dish is the last thing we do before stepping back and admiring out hard work.  The turtle seems rather pleased with his living arrangement.

We did well and even Kadie seems to agree.  Adam and I stand there silently applauding ourselves.

I shuffle my feet and start to speak as Adam does.  "You first," he says.

"I think I should go, it's getting late.  You?"

Disappointment washes over his face and the only thing giving it away are his eyes.  He looks down, and I've noticed that he does this when he's uncomfortable or sad.  "I was just going to ask you to stay for dinner.  But you really should leave.  Your kids could be worried.  I was such an idiot for taking you away from them for so long."

"No, Adam, it's totally fine.  I had a great day," I smile.

He shrugs and smiles back.  Then he puts a friendly arm around my shoulder and walks me to the door.

"I can't thank you enough for what you've done.  Your decorating skills are far more superior than mine," he starts off saying.

"Thank you, Adam.  Those are some of the nicest things I've heard in a long time.  I really did mean it when I said I had a great day."

He grabs my hand slowly.  "Calista, has anyone ever told you that you're a fantastic woman?  Any man should be grateful to have you in his life."  He hesitates and has second thoughts about grabbing my other hand.

Finally, he just ends with a kiss on my hand.  His lips are much softer than they appear and unlike Luke, Adam's upper lip is free of stubble, something I haven't really experienced since I was with Simon.

We part and I walk to the car replaying what had just happened.  Was he about to take my other hand?  Could we have kissed?  Shaking the thoughts out of my head, I start the engine and drive away, careful to watch for Kadie as I pull out into the street.

It's been a few months since my last visit with Adam and the kids are growing up well.  I don't want to bore you with the usual comings and goings at our house but let's me just say that the teenage girls are excelling at their sculpting skills and the toddlers are learning and exploring so many different things.

I'm due today so I plop the kids in front of the television and let the older kids do whatever they want (except sell drugs and have sex for money) while I go and paint in the art room with nice soothing music on.  Brite comes in at around four o'clock and knowing my cats' extremely good labor predictions, I know that the baby is on its way.

I give birth to twins, Kyla Lais and Evangeline Adelaide.

I set them into their cribs and continue my painting as if I didn't just give birth ten minutes ago (it's a well known ability of us challenge moms).  Instantly, I see a bright green glow come from outside.  Curious, I walk outside (but not before telling the kids to get ready for bed because it's nearly five in the morning).

"Adam?!" I manage to force out.  How is it possible that he could have gotten in my backyard.  "Di- did you see that green light?"

"Actually," he says, rubbing his neck and looking down, "I was the cause of it."

Confused I don't say anything.

"There's this technique in Sim Fu called Zenporting, an extension of meditation that rumor says only true masters know, and I never knew it existed until I ended up here."

"And you happened to be meditating at five in the morning?"

"Yeah I'm an early riser.  Hey, I can ask you the same question, why were you doing what you were doing this early in the morning?"

"Well, if you didn't notice, I just gave birth to twins, a laborious effort."

"Oh sweet, can I see them?"

"First tell me something, what brought you here?  How does Zenporting work exactly?"

"No one really knows but once I study it a bit more, I think I'll crack the code.  I'm not sure why I ended up here.  Perhaps it takes one to his or her favorite place."

"I would have thought that to be where you practice martial arts."

"Eh, it's just a hunch.  I'm not sure if that's actually true or not...," Adam says, coming closer.  Then he adds, "Hey, while I'm here, I wanted to ask you something...."

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FAMILY UPDATE

Harrison eventually married the model, Erica Beighley.  Since Erica couldn't have kids due to some childhood issues, they planned to go around and travel the world before thinking about settling down and possibly adopting.

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NOTE

Thank you Megs for the awesome names!  

To anyone, feel free to suggest names.  I can never have too many good names especially with all of Calista's grandchildren and such.  

Thanks for reading!