All My Love

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Elizabeth heard footsteps coming and a bag hit the ground outside the door to the apartment and scrambled to bed. She had promised Tuukka she wouldn’t wait up for him to get home but she needed to make sure he got in alright. Trying to look as believable as possible Elizabeth tried to even out her breathing and buried her face in her pillow. Tuukka wasn’t fooled and heard her breathing change when she felt the bed dip. “I missed you,” he whispered pulling her body close to his and kissing the crook of her neck. Elizabeth smiled and turned around in his arms waiting for her eyes to adjust so she could see the outline of his face. “I missed you far more,” she said putting a hand on his cheek. Elizabeth used her hand to pull his face closer to hers and kissing him. Tuukka pulled her even tighter to his body, one arm around her waist and one under her head keeping their lips together. “I love you so much,” Elizabeth said her lips less than an inch from his. “I love you too Sunshine,” Tuukka said and Elizabeth could feel his smile as he started to kiss along her jaw line. Elizabeth giggled and protested but Tuukka ignored her slowly sucking just below her ear, both of them aware of the hickey she would get. “Tuukka the boys-“ Elizabeth tried to protest only to be cut off. “Are in bed and don’t even know I’m coming home tonight,” he finished and shifted so that he was above Elizabeth his weight resting on his forearms. “What did you miss the most Sunshine?” Tuukka teased placing light kisses all along her jaw line and down her neck. “Definitely your warmth, it gets cold at night in Boston,” Elizabeth joked back causing Tuukka to stop and bring his face back to hers. “You think you’re so funny,” he mocked and Elizabeth laughed in response throwing her hands over her mouth to muffle the noise. Chuckling along with her Tuukka rolled onto his back and pulled Elizabeth into his side while she laughed so hard she choked on her laughter. “Mummy are you okay?” Michael asked appearing in the doorway with his teddy and a worried look. “Yeah buddy why? What’s wrong?” Elizabeth asked bolting up and taking on a worried look of her own. “I thought you were crying,” Michael mumbled looking down. Elizabeth smiled and Tuukka could all but feel her heart bursting with love. “No Michael I was just laughing. Daddy came home early as a surprise and made me laugh,” Elizabeth said. As soon as the words left her mouth Michael looked up and saw Tuukka for the first time, barreling for the bed and jumping up. “Daddy you did so good tonight. I was cheering so loud that Mummy told me you could probably hear me in Montreal!” Michael said standing in front of Tuukka and looking at him with starry eyes. “Thanks buddy. My favorite part of tonight though is getting to see you and Mummy early,” Tuukka said engulfing the boy in a hug. Elizabeth made her move when Michael was safely in Tuukka’s arms; she reached out and started to tickle her oldest son. “Mummy!” Michael squealed before his voice was lost in peals of laughter as Tuukka let go of him so he could escape. Their laughter only subsided when a voice started calling “Mummy” through the baby monitor. “I’ll get him while you tickle Michael,” Tuukka offered already halfway out of bed and turning on the light as he left. “Daddy!” Caleb yelled excitedly when Tuukka entered the room. From the room down the hall Tuukka could still hear Elizabeth and Michael laughing but what mattered to him at the moment was how healthy Caleb looked. Since his dehydration a couple weeks ago both Tuukka and Elizabeth had been really keen on paying attention to the health of their boys, especially in the amount of fluids they had each day. “Hey there Caleb! Want to come hang with Mummy, Michael and me?” Tuukka asked taking Caleb from his crib as he began to babble about everything that happened while he was gone. Tuukka glanced at the clock on his way down the hall and chuckled to himself, only their family would have family time at two in the morning.

 “I don’t get why I have to wear a hair net when I have no hair,” Tori mused, her voice light. Dougie laughed and put in on her head anyway then secured his own. “I’m not sure either Tor, but I do know that you’re going to be on some serious drugs soon and that you’ll be at your most entertaining,” Dougie joked bending down to kiss his girlfriend’s forehead. “And you’ll be here the whole time?” Tori asked biting her lip and looking at him worriedly. “I refuse to leave,” Dougie assured her and watched as relief flooded her body. While they waited for a doctor Dougie and Tori reviewed their post-surgery plan. Either Dougie or Elizabeth would take Tori to physical therapy as well as her last few chemotherapy appointments since she refused to let Dougie take any time off with the play offs at hand. Tori reached out and took Dougie’s hand; her gesture let Dougie know that she was more grateful for him than he thought. For Tori it meant the world that he was there for the surgery, she didn’t want just anyone to see her with no hair and one leg, she wanted someone who she knew would love her even like that. “This is the right thing. I support your choice,” Dougie said just to confirm what they both already knew. Without this amputation the cancer would spread and Tori’s life would be far more at risk than if she had both the amputation and chemotherapy. “In case you’re wondering you cannot video tape me while I’m drugged,” Tori said with such seriousness that Dougie couldn’t pretend to be serious but just laughed. “You ruin all the fun Tori! But don’t worry I’ll just convince you it’s a good idea,” Dougie said only half joking. “Fuck you,” Tori laughed flipping him off. “You should wait until after the surgery for that,” Dr. Carnie, the surgeon, said walking into the room. Rather than flush in embarrassment as she might have once Tori just laughed as Dr. Carnie smirked at her. “Well then let’s get this underway so I can get out and get my Dougie on,” Tori said raising her eyebrows suggestively at her boyfriend. “Please drug her,” Dougie jokingly begged putting a hand over his face in mock exasperation. Dr. Carnie just laughed and shook his head. “You two are easily the best couple I’ve seen in a year. Neither of you are freaking out about the leg thing plus you’re both so at ease,” he said checking over Tori’s charts. Tori and Dougie exchanged a look and shrugged. “Honestly, it’s lose my leg or lose my life. And it really helps that goon over here is for some reason infatuated by me and decided he didn’t need a girlfriend with two legs,” Tori said, in her mind telling it like it was. “It’s true, I’ve always been partial to one legged women,” Dougie admitted making the surgeon laugh as Tori smacked his arm. “Alright, it’s time to take you down,” Dr. Carnie said looking at the two seriously and seeing that they really were ready, especially Tori more so than he thought she would be.