The Hook-up

Chapter 177

By the middle of the week they had somehow settled into a comfortable schedule where Lauren would get up early, get ready for work, take care of the babies with Bruno and hand them over to him to take care of for the day while she was at work. The first day was hard, she was worried that he might break them. But, when she came home he was sitting on the floor with the two of them sitting in bouncy chairs with teething rings in their mouths. The next day was just about the same, but he was holding Everlee feeding her. His ability to care for their children made her feel warm and fuzzy. On Wednesday Lauren came home carrying bags and things to do at home not hearing the three of them. "Bruno?" she asked suddenly hearing a loud scream in the back followed my other, both distinct of both children. She dropped her things running to the back of the house, still in her heels. "What's wrong?" she asked running to pick up Everlee from the floor where she was laying.

"I thought I had it...." he replied with a nervous look on his face. "They're being really fussy. Like worse than yesterday." he told her.

"Bruno..." Lauren rubbed her finger along her daughter's gums making her stop crying almost instantly. "They're teething...it's okay." she reassured him with a smile. "They were doing it last week. The girls at the daycare told me. Just rub your fingers like I am..." she tried to tell him over their son's screaming. "It's okay...." she moved her hand over his gums trying to find where he was hurting landing on the right side of his mouth. Bruno placed his finger over hers letting her take it off to take care of Everlee.

"But now what? I kind of need my finger...." Bruno said still worried.

"He's kind of the owner of your finger for a while..." Lauren told him readjusting Everlee who was starting to fall asleep in her arms biting onto her finger. Lauren sat down in the rocking chair waiting for Bruno to become more comfortable. "You're doing a good job, Brunz. It's okay..." she said watching him move around the room holding onto Ezra who was nowhere near as tired as his sister.

"I didn't know what it was....it was like this the whole time. Giving them something to chew on made it better." he admitted. "I didn't know."

"Bruno...I didn't either. Why do you feel bad?" she asked. "Nothing bad happened. It's just babies. We're learning."

"I know." he said still confused by his growing children. "It's just that it's so different. I don't know." he responded.

"We're doing okay, baby. They're going to make it." she smiled still trying to give him a boost of confidence.

**

Later in the evening Lauren sat on the couch with Pandora on the TV finishing the work that she had brought home while Bruno was in the kitchen cleaning up the dinner they had made. It was so peaceful, something that she was hoping for since they found out she was pregnant. The peace that came and went so easily. It was something she hoped would last but would most likely be fleeting and something she would have to bury out of her memories in days, weeks, months from now. "Babbyyy...." Bruno whined sitting down next to her as she looked at pictures laying on the floor.

"Which do you like better? This one or this one?" she pointed.

"Well...I like the top one. But, you know I like red..." he answered.

"That's it, then. The red one." she smiled moving it over to a pile.

"Lauren..." she felt him move over a little to touch her.

"No. I'm too tired and I know they're going to wake up..." she said in a snappy voice. "Shit..I'm sorry...I'm just trying to finish this..."

"It's okay, baby..." he answered. "That's not what I was going to say. I was going to tell you to go to bed...." he told her. "You've been up since 5 and it's almost midnight..."

"I'm fine." she yawned moving things around again. This seems so familiar. Like it was when we first got together. Like when I was doing homework. She smiled remembering those moments when she would fall asleep on the floor in the middle of the night with her laptop blinking. She would wake up in the morning in her bed with a blanket on her laying so perfectly on her. Her phone was plugged in and charging, Her alarm was set to The Tootsie Roll and Bruno was laying next to her, sound asleep.

"What's wrong?" he wondered seeing her move as she remembered those things.

"Nothing. I just remembered something. I'm going to go check on them...." she jumped up from the floor feeling him pull her back down.

"Just stay with me." he pleaded. "We're not going to have this for a long time. Just fall asleep, baby..." he said kissing her head closing his eyes from the tiredness he was feeling from being with the babies for the last three days.

"You're right..." she answered with a smile in her voice forgetting about all the problems they had. "I love you, so much, Bruno...." she said moving his hands around her holding onto him tightly.

"I love you, too, Lauren." he said kissing her head closing his eyes drifting to sleep with his wife in his arms.