The Hook-up

Chapter 136

The Tuesday following the wedding Lauren and Bruno sat in uncomfortable chairs next to his brother and his family on their way back to Los Angeles. "Laur?" Bruno asked looking over to her discomfort.

"Yeah?" she asked looking up from her phone.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine. I'll make it. It's only six hours." She told him.

"Just six hours?" Cindia asked with Liam on her lap. "I don't know how you've been able to make it so far. You look like you're about to drop those babies right here." She said sympathetically.

"I mean, I'm not comfortable, but I've been worse." She told Cindia stretching out her feet.

"I would take your place, Elle." Bruno said with a sad face.

"I'll gladly trade." She smiled watching him reach his hand over to her as they called out that the plane for Los Angeles was boarding. "But at least we get to board early and the seats are comfy."

"I made that happen." Bruno laughed standing up to help Lauren stand up.

"Bruno?" she asked as they neared the front of the long line. "Are we going to the new house?" she asked.

"Yes, wife. We're going to the new house." He answered her as he called her wife like he had for the last few days. "Are you excited?"

"I cannot wait to see it. I look at the pictures when you're not around..." she said stopping at the front of the line.

"Congratulations." The flight attendant said to the two of them.

"On what?" Lauren joked. "The babies or the ring?" she joked.

"Both." The young flight attendant smiled at her after scanning their tickets and eyeing their carry-on bags. "Have a good flight."

**

Five hours later Bruno felt Lauren's head fall heavily on his shoulder. "Laureennn...." He whispered in her ear. "Wake up, mama. We're going to be home soon. You need to get up for a little...."

"Noooo. It's fine. It's only an hour." She moaned without opening her eyes.

"Laur, get up. You gotta." Cindia told her. "Trust me."

"I'm never flying agaiinnnn..." she complained running her fingers through her hair waking up from her sleep.

"You're going to be in New York by the time they're two months old." He smiled at her standing up with her.

"I do have to pee." She sighed walking back to the other side of the plane.

"She's going on bed rest the second the doctor sees her." Bruno said to his brother who nodded his head at his statement.

"But she's healthy. Aside from the fainting she's fine. Ask E, I was so tired with the baby. I wanted to just sleep all day. She's so much more perky." Cindia told them.

"I know. She never shuts off." Bruno told them with a smile catching her wobbling body nearing them.

"Thank you for waking me up." She told them sitting down with a bit of a struggle. "When do we get to LA?" Lauren stopped to ask the flight attendant cleaning up the drinks they had ordered.

"About thirty five minutes, Mrs. Hernandez." The male flight attendant answered.

"What's your name?" Lauren asked him as he cleaned things up.

"Ezra Green." He answered.

"Thank you for putting up with us, Ezra." She told him with a smile. "I know we were a handful this flight." She said motioning to her new family.

"You were not a problem, ma'am." He answered walking further down the aisle to complete his job.

"Ezra?" she asked Bruno. "What do you think? Everlee and Ezra? It sounds so twinsy...."

"If that's what you want, babe." Bruno said with the same lack of enthusiasm that he had when they last had the conversation. She smacked him upset at the response.

"Stop!" she snapped. "Show some interest! Come on. I know you helped your sisters name the boys...."

"I just said I liked what they had picked." He said to her. "We could name them Abcde and Sherlock and I would like it."

"Sherlock?" she asked.

"Lauren....my point is no matter what we name them they're going to be that name. When we look back when they're twelve of thirteen you're going to say 'Man, if we had named her Taylor....that's not her. She's an Abcde...."

"Hmm..." she said thoughtfully.

"It's not that I don't care, baby...it's that no matter what it is, it will be perfect." He said reaching for her hand.

"It makes sense." She answered. "It really does. I never looked at it that way."

"Like had Eric named Liam Abraham or something like they had wanted before finding Liam....he would have been that..but look at our boy...he's a Liam." He smiled at his nephew.

"Okay." She said finally understanding his thought pattern. "Owww..." she said to herself as they started to make their way to Los Angeles.

"Your ears?" he asked.

"Yeah. They just popped." She told him.

"Hang on...we're almost home..." he said to her sweetly still holding her hand.

About 45 minutes later the couple put their things in Bruno's car to drive to the house Lauren had never seen. "I don't even know where this house is. Is it in the hills? Am I going to hate my ears after? What's the gate code? Are the paparazzi going to find us?" she asked reminded of the several flashes that went off as they went to get their bags.

"No. It's super private. Like it's so perfect, Laur. You're going to love it." He said turning toward a secluded hilly part of the city.

"I knew it! You wanted to be here..." she smiled looking at the houses, not in awe, but just with interest.

"Look..." he said pointing to a house with eccentric details but with a classic modern touch to it. He paused pulling the car up to the gate punching in some numbers. "0912 is the code." He said quickly pulling the car up as close to the sprawling front door.

"If I get out of the car am I going to break anything?" she asked with a yawn.

"I cleaned up so you won't trip or anything..." he said opening the door. "Stay there..." he said quickly running to the other side of the car to get her.

"Thank you..." she said trying to get up by herself, unsuccessfully.

"Come on..." he said sweetly to her reaching for two keys. "This one is yours..." he handed her the extra key watching her hold it in her hands.

"For some reason this is way more exciting than moving in with you the last time...." She laughed as he turned the knob.

"Oh...my....god......" she gasped reacting to the open door welcomed by sparking floors, sleek furniture and an extravagant chandelier in the middle of the expansive entry way.