Chapter 42


"I noticed you told Dr. Newman to send a copy of your sonogram and report to Kevin. Does that mean you've made up your mind?" Victor sat on the sofa next to her.

"I don't know. I'm not sure I can handle it. That sounds selfish, doesn't it."

"I know you still have feelings for him. It won't be easy, raising children with him."

"Children. I still can't get over that." Her eyes filled with tears again. When Dr. Newman had told her she was carrying twins, she spent the next ten minutes alternating between laughing and crying. Every time she thought about it, her reaction started all over again. "I bet Kevin got a kick out of it. You know, he mentioned it, when he was making a case for me to give them his name. He said if I had twins that everyone would suspect him, anyway." Sighing, she wiped her eyes and put her head back. "He's right, you know."

Someone knocked on the door and Victor opened it to reveal Luke.

"Hi, got your message on the machine, but I was close by, so I thought I'd take a chance." Kissing her forehead, he sat next to her. "What's up?"

Taking his hand, Lucy stared at him. "I've been thinking about your offer."

"It still stands." Luke's eyes went from her to Victor.

"Lucy has told me what's going on. And your offer. There aren't many men who would willingly jump into a situation such as this." Victor smiled.

"I'd do just about anything for Luce."

She leaned against him. "I know. And I appreciate it, Luke, I really do."

"But…"

"But, I found out something that could pretty much make everyone point fingers no matter what I say." She smiled and began to cry again. "I'm going to have twins."

Laughing, Luke put his arms around her. "Keep acting like that and I won't know whether to say congrats or I'm sorry."

"I know. I can't stop. Every time I think about it, I get like this."

"You're entitled. I guess this helped make up your mind?"

Finally getting herself under control, she looked at him. "Come on, Luke. I have twins, and no one would believe Kevin wasn't the father no matter how much we both said you were."

"Besides, from what you've told me, he wants to do the whole ‘daddy' thing. That would probably be better for the kids. If he sticks with it." Luke shot a look at Victor.

"I don't agree with what Kevin has done to Lucy in the past. But I do know that if he were to be named the babies' father, he would do his best to take care of them." Victor met Luke's eyes. "Not that I blame you for having doubts. I know as well as you do what he's done to her."

"Okay, he gets to play the proud Daddy, what about you, Luce? What do you want?"

She just looked at him.

"That's what I'm talking about. You want the whole thing, don't you? The family thing."

Standing, she walked toward the kitchen. "It doesn't matter what I want. These children deserve a better father than I offered them biologically. He would be a good father, Luke. Even if he doesn't want me, he'll take care of the babies."

After she was gone, Luke looked at Victor. "I know that look in her eye. She wants the whole fairytale."

"I know."

"She's going to get hurt again, and I'm not going to be happy with either of your sons."

"Believe me, Luke, I'm very unhappy with one, and not to thrilled with the other at the moment myself where she's concerned."

"Victor!" Lucy's voice called from the kitchen.

"Yes?"

"When did the pharmacy say my ‘scrip would be ready?"

Victor headed for the kitchen. "In a few minutes. Are you sick again?"

Luke followed, and they found her leaning on the counter. "I'm going to be, and these crackers aren't helping."

Touching her head, Victor looked at Luke. "I'll run to the drugstore, if you can handle her here."

Nodding, he reached for Lucy. "In this condition, I think I can handle her. She can't bite." She smacked him. "Ow."

"Don't bet on it."

After Victor left, Luke took her arm. "Okay, now what?"

"The sofa." He started to help her, but she laughed. "Luke, I can walk. I just feel sick."

About half way through the kitchen, she ran to the bathroom.

He'd been waiting for her to come out for a couple minutes when someone knocked at the door.

Mary looked at him when he opened it. "Hello, Luke, I haven't seen you in ages. I think the last time was at the Recovery Room."

"Mary Sca- Collins. Sorry."

"Can't get used to that myself, sometimes. How is she? I didn't want to wait to see Victor to hear how her appointment went."

"At the moment…" Luke pointed to the bathroom door.

"She sick?"

Nodding, he followed Mary into the living room. "Victor went to pick up something the doctor gave her for it."

"Well, how long has she been in there?" Immediately, she began to question Luke.

"A few minutes. I'm not exactly timing her."

Mary went to the door and knocked softly. "Lucy? It's Mary. You okay, honey?"

"I can't stop throwing up." Lucy sounded like she was crying.

Glaring at Luke, she opened the door and went inside.

Luke was a split second from yelling his goodbye through the door when Mary reappeared, holding Lucy's arm to steady her. Lucy was white as a sheet, and soaked from sweat.

"You're not gonna pass out on us here, are ya, Luce?" His was teasing, but both women could tell he was worried.

Shaking her head, Lucy reached for his arm. "You don't look like you could handle it."

Slowly, they helped her to the sofa, where she laid back, but not down. "Dr. Newman promised this would stop soon. I can't do this for the next 5 months."

Mary disappeared for a minute, and returned with her arms full. "You can, and you will, if that's what you have to do for the baby. Now, relax. That's the most important thing." Wiping Lucy's face with a damp cloth, she handed her a glass of water and a couple crackers. "These should help until Victor gets back."

Lucy recognized the ‘mothering' tone in Mary's voice, and the look on her face made Luke laugh. Leaning on the back of the sofa, his face near Lucy's, he looked at Mary. "You'll have to excuse her. She's better at taking care of the wounded than being the wounded."

"Shut up! If I ever get up off this sofa again, you'll be the wounded."

"I think I'm safe, babe." He looked at Mary. "Is she going to be okay?"

"Yes, she'll be fine." Mary smiled. "She needs to take her meds and get some food in her."

"And you'll make sure she does, right?" Luke was thoroughly enjoying this. He was about to make another smart remark when Lucy's hand came out of nowhere and almost collided with his nose. "Sorry! Just teasing." He kissed her hand. "It's about time someone takes care of you. I have to go. I've got nine million things to do and a few hours to do them in. I'll drop by the end of the week and see how you're doing."

Her voice stopped him as he reached for the door. When he turned back, she was staring at him. "Thank you. For coming, for offering,…" She was about to start crying again.

"It's okay. You need something, call. Now I'm going to leave before the waterworks start again." Smiling, he left.

"Victor tells me you have a very good friend in him."

"He's the best." Lucy sounded as tired as she looked.

Wiping her face again, Mary looked at her. "I came by to find out how your appointment went."

As tired as she was, Lucy grinned and told Mary, in great detail, about the appointment. As soon as she said the word ‘twins', Mary stopped her. "Twins! Oh, I bet you're thrilled."

"Thrilled, scared, happy, paranoid, the list goes on."

"And the lucky father…."

"I'm going to talk to Kevin soon. I just hope he hasn't changed his mind."

"No. He was over a couple nights ago, asking Victor to talk to you about it." She handed Lucy the water. "You look like you could use some."

After drinking some of the water, she leaned back and closed her eyes. "I wish Victor would hurry up. I don't want to get sick again. My stomach hurts, my throat hurts, my back hurts… I'm getting whiny." She also broke out in another sweat.

"Well, we'll just have to send Victor back out to the store to pick up some cheese. You already have crackers for the whine." Mary smiled. "You need to lay back. Not down, but enough to put your feet up. You need to relax."

The cool cloth felt good on her face. She realized she was actually getting used to this ‘mothering' thing. It definitely had it's nice points.

Chapter 43

Serena knocked on Lucy's door and jumped through it when Lucy opened it.

Leaning over, Lucy held Serena and looked at Scott. "I've missed you so much, pumpkin."

"Daddy said I could spend the night with you if you said it was okay."

Tears came to Lucy's eyes and she held Serena tighter. "Of course it is. Come on, lets go see the rest of the house. Scott, do you want to come in?"

"Lucy, are you getting fat?" Serena put her hands on the babies and looked up at Lucy.

"No, guess what! I'm going to have a baby!"

Scott finally looked down at her, and decided to mess with her. "Damn, woman, you sure you're only having one?"

Laughing, Lucy shook her head. "Actually, I'm sure I'm not having one. Twins."

"Wow! You're going to have two babies? Will I get to play with them this time?"

It was an innocent question, and Serena had no way of understanding the effect it had on Lucy. But Scott did, and he pulled Serena inside. "Let's check out the rest of this place. I bet if you go ahead, you can guess which room is yours!"

After Serena ran up the stairs, Scott turned to Lucy, who'd turned white and was shaking. "Calm down. This isn't like last time."

"Or the time before that, or the time before that, right? You don't think that goes through my mind every single day?"

"What else did Dr. Newman say?"

"She said everything's fine right now. I'm seeing her every two weeks because of..." She couldn't finish.

"Stop. Look, if you're not up to Serena tonight, I'll-"

"Don't you even think of taking her home. I've been dying to see her. I miss her so much." She took his hand for a moment. "And I know this is hard for you." Not wanting to make it worse, she let go of him and went to the sofa. "I do find I'm more tired this time."

"Twins?"

"That, or my age. But Dr. Newman said it's normal."

Serena came back downstairs. "I know which room is mine! It doesn't have any furniture in it, yet. When can we go get some?"

Patting the sofa for her to sit, Lucy hugged her. "I don't know, honey. How about you just sleep with me tonight?"

"Okay! Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

Serena stared at her for a moment. "Daddy won't tell me. Why did you move out?"

Lucy's eyes met Scott's and she took a deep breath. "It's not easy to explain. I love you, and I love your daddy very much. But it's not.... it's not like... to get married, you know? It's more like.... well, your daddy is the best friend I've ever had."

"Grown up stuff, right?"

"Yes. You know, you're growing up more and more every day."

"Is Daddy going to be you babies daddy, too."

Neither adult could help it. They both laughed. "No, he's not." Lucy waited for the next question, wondering if she was ready to start living the lie.

"So who is?"

Lucy looked at Scott when she answered. "Kevin."

The confusion on Scott's face made Lucy continue. "You know, Kevin had a twin brother, right?"

"Yes. But he died."

"Well, twins run in families. So, it makes sense that I would have twins with Kevin." Her eyes searched Scott's face for understanding. "Serena, would you go in the kitchen and get me a glass of water, please?"

As soon as Serena left the room, Scott sat next to her. "I take it he feels responsible."

"Yes. He also wants to protect them." She put her hands on the babies. "You know what would happen if.." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Ryan ever found out."

"So you raise children of the brother you hate with the one you love while he lives with someone else? Good God, Lucy, how in the hell did you get yourself into this?"

Serena came back, and Lucy looked at Scott. "I didn't plan everything in advance, I'll tell you that." Main Fanfic Page       Chapters 45-47