It turned out that Peter and Steph had fallen asleep on the couch as well. Both of them were so tired from the last week or so, especially Steph, that after reading for a while they'd just passed out. Since they'd slept on the couch, they had no alarm clock and had over slept. Peter was the first of them to wake up.He decided to try to get up without waking Steph, but given their intertwined position it was impossible.
"Sorry," Peter said when Steph sat up off of him. "Morning, Bunny."
Steph shot him a look. "Good morning."
"Did the girls sleep the whole night through?" Peter asked standing up.
"No, I had to get up a couple of times," Steph said. It hadn't bothered her that much to get up like she thought it might.
"Really? I'm sorry, I didn't hear them," Peter said.
"It's okay," Steph said. "But just for that you can eat something for breakfast at the studio."
Peter laughed from inside the bedroom where he was getting ready. "Sounds fair." Peter hurriedly got dressed and rushed out the door to the studio for that day's filming, which was already hectic enough from the delays Willow, Erika, and Micky Jr.'s births caused without him being late.
When he arrived, even Micky was already there (Kari had insisted he go on into work while she stayed at the hospital for the day). Peter shouted hellos to Davy and Micky as he went to make-up and wardrobe then dashed back out onto the set.
Then he noticed. "Where's Mike?"
Davy shrugged. "We don't know where he or Ginger are. Probably still trying to decide what car to drive..." he said with amusement. Davy was becoming less and less bitter towards everyone lately.
The director of the show was storming around about Mike being late as the other three Monkees were lining up shots and talking to some teen magazine reporters. The phone rang, and an assistant brought it to the fuming director.
The boys didn't really pay any attention to the call, but they took notice when the director said with much infliction, "What? Are they okay? Well where are they? Okay I'll tell them."
The Monkees looked at him curiously over his now even more nervous state after he hung up.
"What's up?" Micky asked.
"That was the police."
"The police?" the three chorused.
"What's wrong?" Davy asked.
"Mike and Ginger had a wreck this morning on Muholland," the director said, feeling bad now for having called Mike everything under the sun earlier that morning.
"Are they okay?" Peter asked as the three gaped tensely.
The director gave a tiny little shrug. "I don't know, the police don't know. They're both at the hospital. They said another car t-boned them on the driver's side and that's all they told me."
The three stood as if they were waiting for a gun to blast to signal the start of a race.
"Go on," the director said. "Call us and tell us what's happening!" he called as the boys were aleady disappearing out the door.
In no time flat the three were at the hospital and they barreled to the reception desk as if it were an episode of the show. The nurse on duty recognized them. Not from their fame but from the fact they'd been there so much lately.
"I was wondering when you three would be here," she said. "You can't go in to see them yet," she said with regret.
"Why not?" Davy demanded.
"There are doctors with them right now," the nurse said patiently. "Well what's going on? Are they okay? W--"
She cut Micky off. "I don't know."
"Well can't you tell us anything?" Davy asked.
"All I know about it is that neither of them were awake when they came in on stretchers, and the doctor's done x-rays on them both."
That wasn't good. The three just stood there dumbly. Peter spotted a police officer walking towards the door and stopped him, figuring he may have something to do with the accident.
"Excuse me," Peter said."
"Ohh, I know you," the officer said.
"Yeah," Peter said as Davy and Micky joined him in crowding the officer.
"I was just leaving. I escorted the ambulance here from the crash."
"Can you tell us what happened?" Micky asked him.
The officer nodded. "They were driving a Pontiac GTO." The three flinched at knowing Mike's favorite car had been wrecked. That alone would make him require the services of an ambulance and a stretcher. "Up on Muholland they were going along--speeding a little--and another car that was speeding a lot came flying out of nowhere from a side road and slammed into the driver's side. That car was being driven by a man that had just broken into someone's house and had made an attempt to kidnap their daughter after knocking the father unconcious. He didn't get the little girl luckily, but he took a lot of stuff from the house. He was knocked out when he plowed into your friends. The homeowners had called us, we got there, and all three of them were still unconcious. It was worse for your friends because they were pushed off the side and jarred different ways mulitple times."
The three Monkees were silent. "So... So how did everything look?" Davy asked.
The police looked like he was considering it. "Well not good. Not the very worst, but not the best, either. We got the burglar out fairly quickly and he woke up. The paramedics checked him out and he was okay, so we took him down the the station. Your friends were still unconcious when we brought them in here, and they had some scrapes and bumps. It didn't look too awful, but when you get tossed around like that that violently it's no good."
"Oh... Well... Thanks, officer..." Peter said.
"No problem. Good luck." With that the officer left and the three sat down to wait for someone to tell them anything. Peter hadn't called Steph and Micky hadn't gone to tell Kari, the boys deciding that the two new mothers didn't need all of that worry on them. After about an hour, a doctor finally came up to them.
"Good morning," he said.
"How are they?" the three blurted.
"Well, it doesn't look as if it's as bad as we thought it was. They were both out for quite a while. Mr. Nesmith has a couple of cracked ribs and had some glass in his arm, which we removed. Possibly a small fracture in his upper arm, but I don't think so. If there is it's too small to really worry about. Mrs. Nesmith got just generally banged up. Nothing broken and it doesn't look like she received any internal injuries, which she very well could have with the force that was exereted on them."
The three let out their breath with relief. Mike's "special" doctor walked past and spotted them.
"What are you doing here?" Micky asked, surprised to see him as the doctor had noticed the group and approched.
"I heard about the wreck and came down. I hear they'll be alright. You know what I find terribly interesting?"
"...What?" Peter asked. This doctor was so... upfront.
"That if the two of them weren't where they happened to be at that exact moment, a criminal would have gotten away, and if Mrs. Nesmith had been pregnant, there's no way the baby would have survived that. Makes you wonder... Good luck." The doctor walked off, leaving the three Monkees and the other doctor staring after him.
"Hmm," the remaining doctor said. "He's right..." The doctor shook his head. "At any rate, I'm not sure if either of them are awake because we put them on pain killers, but Mr. Nesmith was when I left him, so you can go in and see."
The three immediately stood up and followed the doctor into Mike's room. He was still awake but obviously very tired from the wreck and whatever the doctor had given him. He had some bruises down the left side of his face and his arm was scrapped up pretty good.
Mike's first response to seeing the doctor, who had entered before the others to see what state Mike was in, was, "What in the hell did you give me?"
The doctor laughed. "Just some pain medication."
"Hold off on that stuff..." Mike ordered him as his three bandmates entered. "Oh great..." he said sarcastically when he saw them.
Micky tsked. "We told you about that car, Papa. It's just too much for you."
"Have I ever told you how funny you are? If I haven't it's because you're not."
"Oo, couldn't you have given him some happy pills while he was out?" Peter joked.
"And give us a supply of them to slip him?" Davy added.
"I feel so loved... Have you guys seen Ginger?"
"No, she's still asleep," the doctor informed Mike as he fussed over him, much to Mike's annoyance.
"Look, willya please stop doing that?" Mike said to the doctor who was figeting with Mike's arm and chest. The other three were snickering. "And quit laughing!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Kari was sitting upright in her hospital bed giving Micky Jr. his lunch. She giggled as she thought of how that morning she practically had to throw Micky out to go to work. That or she would've had the nurse do it.
Micky Jr. was soon full and snuggled down closer to her, ready for an after lunch nap. Suddenly a knock on the door changed his plans.
"Look who's back!" Micky said, coming in with a grin.
"I thought I kicked you out," Kari teased. She held little Micky who began to get fussy.
"Nothing can seperate me from my wonderful wife and heir to my throne," Micky dramatized as he goggled over Micky Jr.
Kari laughed. "No really why are you here?" She looked at him curiously.
"Just to visit," Micky said, taking the baby. He held his son for like the fifitith time. "You know, you should bring him to the set sometime..."
"Micky," Kari said seriously. "I know something is up, will you please tell me?" She stuck her lower lip out and pouted.
Micky sighed. "Mike and uh, Ginger had an... accident," he said softly. He saw the look on Kari's face and continued. "Some person hit them on Muholland. They're okay, drugged up, but okay,"
Kari let her breath out. What was with it and car accidents? She shook her head. Micky Jr. was soon fast asleep in his daddy's arms and Kari called the nurse in to take him back to the nursery. Micky got up to leave, but Kari stopped him. "Hey, before you leave, I have something to give you." She grinned.
"What's that?" Micky asked, leaning on the railing of her bed. He was all grins as well.
Kari quickly gave Micky a sort of a kiss that they had on their first date and then went back to reading a magazine she'd been reading earlier. Micky just stood there. "Okay you can go now," Kari said, dismissing him. Micky, still dazed walked backwards out the door. He stood there with the door half closed still staring at Kari. "Bye bye!" She waved and continued to read. Still open-mouthed, he closed the door.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Mike was feeling very nice. Not a normal giving-to-charity nice, but niiiiice.
"Hey Davy," Mike said waving him over.
"Yeah Mike?" Davy got up from the chair he was in and walked to see what his friend needed.
Mike looked at him. "Yer fly's open." He then began to laugh maniacally. Davy gave him a weird look but looked down all the same and turned around to fixed the problem. He sat back next to Peter. " 'E's craz, man. Pure crazy," he whispered. Peter just looked at Mike and shook his head.
"HEY NURSEY!" Mike yelled out to the desk which the room was near.
"Yes Mr. Nesmith?" came the reply.
Mike chuckled, slapping his leg. "Uh, ah... we kinda need clean up on isle five!" Mike fell over laughing.
"Oh God Mike!" Peter cried and he and Davy left the room... quickly.
They heard Mike's high pitched laughter (that he only had when he was really drugged up) and the nurse pretty much ran out of the room.
"I am so glad he gets released tonight," she muttered as she walked past Peter and Davy.
"Seeing how work is canceled and Mike and Ginger are ok, I am going to go home," Peter said zipping up his jacket desisively.
"How are the twins?" Davy asked, realizing that he hadn't really heard much about them, seeing how he'd only seen them briefly at Micky Jr.'s birth.
"Good, cute, perfect." Peter sighed as they headed to the exit. "Everything a man could want to be the father of."
Davy nodded at this and he and Peter headed to their separate cars.
Meanwhile, back in the hospital, the doctors let Ginger walk down the hall to see her husband. She just stood in the doorway, mouth open, as she saw Mike sing "Follow the Fold" in his best female opera voice.
"What did you give him?" she asked the doctor. He shrugged, laughing and walked away.
"Heeeeeeeey, Gingie!!! Aren't hospitals the greatest?!?!" Mike asked as soon as he saw here standing there.
"Ok, who are you and what have you done with my husband?"
"Yoooooooooour funny! That's a good one! Oh boy are you funny! You know what else is funny? My pee pee doesn't work!"
Ginger didn't know if she should laugh or cry. This was going to be a long day.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Hey, what are you doing home?" Steph asked as soon as Peter walked into the living room.
"Work was canceled," he stated calmly as he walked over to his wife who was sitting on the floor with Willow and Erika who were lying on a pile of pillows and were sucking their hands like there'd be no tomorrow. Steph had been writing something in a notebook.
She closed the notebook and set it down. "What happened?"
"Mike and Ginger got in a car accident. A guy who had robbed a house was trying to make a quick getaway and crashed right into them."
"Oh my God, are they ok?"
"They're fine, a little banged up, but fine. Mike's more then fine, actually."
Steph looked at him. "What do you mean by that?"
Peter smiled cheekily. "D-R-U-G-S." Steph laughed as Peter sat down next to her. "So what have you three been doing this morning?" He said leaning over the girls, putting his face close to theirs.
"Not much."
"Have my parents called?"
"Nope."
"They were a lovely surprise."
"The loveliest."
"Do you want me to make us some lunch?"
"Sure."
The rest of the day went by pretty slowly for everyone and very colorfully for Mike. Kari, Micky Jr., Mike, and Ginger all got released at the same time. They decided to go over and hang out at Peter and Steph's. All propped on pillows, the three newborns (Micky Jr. in the middle) were lying there, each waking up from their afternoon naps.
"We really need to get one of those," Mike said rubbing his face. Those drugs were starting to ware off.
"Speaking of which, I'll go get you some stuff," Steph said and walked into the kitchen. She came back moments later with a little box in her hands. She handed it to Ginger. "Here, drink these whenever you feel up to it."
"Ok, cool. Thanks," Ginger said opening the box, seeing little handmade tea packets that were marked by certain colors and Chinese symbols.
"Might I suggest something else?" Steph asked causiously.
Mike stopped rubbing his face, mid rub, his hands pulling his cheeks downwards and looked at her. "What?"
"Um..." she said not looking at Mike, instead she looked at Ginger, "You know how I have always been interested with Chinese medicine?"
At this Kari and Micky stopped making goo-goo faces at the children and turned around, interested at where this was going.
Ginger nodded, interested. "Yes..." "Well, for years the Chinese have treated people, with a great amount of success might I add, by using a process called acupuncture..."
Ginger nodded understandingly as Mike just sat there, hands still on his face. "The needle thing?"
"Yes."
"Do you really think that that will work?" Ginger asked, considering the new possibility.
"Without a doubt," Steph replied.
"Are you actually serious?" Mike asked, shuddering at the thought of doctors sticking him with needles.
"Yes."
"Do you know any people who do this...thing?"
"Uh...yes...me."
"You?" Mike and Ginger both blurted.
"Well actually, I can believe that..." Ginger murmured.
"Yeah well, you or a real doctor or a wise old Chinese man, nobody's gonna use me for a pin cusion," Mike said definatly.
Steph sighed, still standing before the couple. "Why don't the two of you just walk back here and I'll let you look at my stuff. It's in the bedroom. Just take a look at it and let me explain some."
"You and Peter keep this in your bedroom?" was Mike's initial reaction. Ginger gave a laugh but quickly turned it into a cough.
"Yes," Steph answered him rolling her eyes. "C'mon, it won't hurt to look."
Steph pulled Ginger up by the wrists beside her. Ginger shrugged at Mike. He stood up like he was walking his last mile. "Somehow I have the feeling it will..."
The rest of the group was in the floor with the kids, talking about them and playing with them, not taking in much of the conversation, for which Mike was glad.
Steph, Ginger, and Mike walked into Peter and Steph's bedroom, and Steph shut the door. She ran over to her dresser, opened the top drawer, happily removed a small wooden box containing her materials, and took it over to where Mike and Ginger were standing.
"You have some strange hobbies, sweetheart," Mike muttered, looking at the box curiously and with an expression reminescent of a small boy looking at vegetables.
"It won't bite, Mike," Ginger told him.
"That's what you say."
Steph shook her head as she opened the box and removed a few of the thin needles. "Oh come on, she's right. See, I've used them before on some friends and they all say it made them feel loads better all around, energy, aches, everything. The needles are new each time, too."
Mike shook his head and recoiled as the needle magically got larger and closer. "Look, it may work. It may work fantastically. But I'm sore all over from the wreck, my head is pounding, I've got that tea, so I j--"
Steph grabbed his hand and poked a needle in it.
"Oh my God what are you doing?!"
"Just relax, Mike," Steph said in a very calm voice. Ginger was gaping at her, and Steph made a "calm down" gesture with her hand toward her.
"Relax? You're sticking pins in me without warning and you want me to re-- Don't do it again!"
Steph yanked up his sleeve and put in three more pins before he could get it all out.
"Okay Mike, I've got four of them in. How does it feel?" Steph asked him.
Mike looked at his arm and made a face reminescent of a small boy that had just been feed said vegetables. "It hurts!"
"Oh it does not..." Steph said dismissively as she stuck four more pins in his arm.
"The hell it doesn't! Let me start sticking those things in you!"
"Just don't look at it, Mike. Lay down on the bed," Steph instructed him.
"I'm not laying down on the bed."
"Lay down, Nesmith," Steph ordered.
"No."
Ginger was trying not to laugh. She probably would have been laughing her head off if she wasn't actually looking at the pins, which completely grossed her out.
"Okay, fine, be that way," Steph said simply. She starting sticking pins in Mike's neck.
"Okay okay okay okay OKAY that's enough!"
Steph didn't even slow down. Mike couldn't move to stop her for the pins. She lifted his shirt up in the front and stuck a bunch of pins in his stomach, the started to unbutton his pants.
"Don't you dare stick any of those where I think you're going to. I'm having enough trouble already without you impailing me there..."
Ginger and Steph both started cracking up.
"No it'll help," Steph said. "Trust me." She continued to stuggled to unbutton his jeans.
Mike's mouth was wide open. He had no idea what to say about what was about to happen. "You are not sticking pins *there*!"
Steph stopped. "All right, we'll stop there for today. We can do more treatments later."
"Get these outta me!" Mike said with closed eyes so he couldn't see the pins quivering from his body.
Steph, struggling harder than ever to keep a straight face, removed the pins slowly one and at time. She went much slower than needed to give Mike a chance to relax with the pins in. She finally had them all removed. "So how do you feel?"
"In need of a lot of bandages," Mike shot at her.
Ginger interrupted. "Now really Michael, does it hurt? Think about it."
Mike looked at her with a little glare then did what was suggested. Truth be told, he didn't really feel like he'd had fifty shots, he felt more like he'd been out in the sun for a while and had just drunk ice cold water.
"It's okay..."
"Tell Mrs. Steph thank you..." Ginger said to him in a tone reminescent of one someone would use when speaking to a small boy.
"Yeah, thanks... pushy woman..."
Steph opened the bedroom door. "No problem, Papa."
After everyone had chatted a little while and played with the kids some more and Micky and Kari got theirs and split for their own house and Mike and Ginger left for the apartment, Peter and Steph got into bed tiredly after putting the girls down and fell asleep reading.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Peter walked into the kitchen from the garage and threw his keys on the counter (something that drove Steph crazy) and whistled as he set his guitar down a chair in the dining room and some music on the table (yet another thing that drove his wife nuts). Today was the first day in a month that he was getting home before 7. He had finished recording at the studio early and decided to head home. He was tired and needed a little nap. Maybe he could surprise his family with dinner on the table when they all got home.
He slowly walked up the stairs leading to the second floor of his house. He walked past his daughters' rooms, but stopped when he heard something come from Erika's room. Was she home already? Maybe she could help him with dinner later.
He walked over to her room and lightly knocked on the door. He frowned as he heard hurried scrambling noices from the other side of the door. He opened the door and walked in.
"OH MY GOD!!" Peter screamed as he instantly walked right back out into the hallway slamming the door shut.
No... it couldn't be... he couldn't have seen what he just had...
He took a deep breath and walked back in the room. "What the hell is going on here??" he asked.
Erika just sat there on her bed, clutching the sheets to cover her. Micky Jr was standing in the middle of the room with the comforter wrapped around himself.
"Please tell me that this isn't what I think it is."
"Dad--"
"Please."
The three stood in silence and the reality set in.
"Oh my God." Peter sighed, rubbing his face with his hands. "You!" he barked at Micky, "get your clothes and get dressed in the bathroom. And you young lady..." he said pointing at his daughter, "Put some clothes on. You two are to come downstairs as soon as you get dressed and sit in the living room... on separate couches."
"But Dad--"
"NOW!!"
Micky Jr. nearly ran to the bathroom, almost tripping on the comforter. Peter slammed Erika's door shut and shuddered. He went down stairs to call his wife.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Steph ran into the house, her white doctor's coat and ID badge still on.
"Peter, honey, are you ok? I was so worried. The nurse came in and said you called, hysterical, and that there was an emergancy and I was so scared. I ran a red light and I think that I might have suffered a heart attack," Steph hurriedly said running over and wrapping her arms around him, kissing him on the cheek. She had obviously been very worried.
"I am sorry to have scared you like that, but I came home early today and..." Peter couldn't finish. He looked at Erika and then at Micky Jr Steph followed his gaze, taking in slow breaths, calming her buzzing mind.
"What is Micky Jr doing over here? And why am I getting a bad feeling?" she asked.
Peter just looked at Steph, holding her shoulders and giving them a squeeze.
Steph looked at Erika who wouldn't meet her gaze.
"Woah... did...what... ?" Steph asked, suddenly understanding.
Peter nodded.
"Ok, everyone in the car!" Steph ordered.
"Mom, why are you freaking out? It is not a big deal!!" Erika protested.
"No big deal??" Peter asked, taking a step towards her. Steph held him back and just said, "We'll talk about it soon. Just get in the car."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Ok, so would somebody mind telling us what is going on here?" Micky asked as he and Kari looked from their son and Erika who were on the couch to Steph and Peter who were standing next to them.
"Your son was taking advantage of my daughter!" Peter said, almost yelling.
"What?" Kari and Micky asked at the same time. "They finally did it?"
"What???!" Peter asked, about to have a stroke.
"Well, they have been going out for a long time. I was starting to wonder when they'd... you know..." Micky said winking at his son.
Peter stood there unable to speak. "I... wah... how... what are you thinking?? They are only seventeen!!"
"Yeah and you only knew Steph for a day."
"What?" Erika asked, interested in this new bit of information. "You and Dad had sex after a day??"
"What?" Steph asked. "No!"
"Yeah, well, you were close. Had we not been there..."
"Micky, shut up. We didn't... have... relations after we got married."
"Yeah, after two months."
"You and Dad got married after two months??" Erika asked shocked.
"Well, yes, but--"
"And they weren't going to tell anybody, but then they got pregnant with you and your sister."
"Dude, seriously... shut... up..." Steph warned.
"I am just stating the facts."
"What we did in the past does not apply to the situation at hand." Peter said, stepping up to his wife's defence.
"Whatever, it's not that big of deal. It wasn't like it was our first time," Erika stated grabbing Micky Jr's hand.
"WHAT?!?!?!??!?!??" Peter yelled. "Yeah, infact, we didn't know when the right time to tell you all this would be, but I am pregnant." Peter's lips moved, but no sound audible to the human ear came out. All of a sudden, You III started to howl.
"Hey, guys!" Willow said running into the room, Mike Jr right behind her.
"Willow, what are you doing here?" Steph asked, concerned that her husband was now beginning to twitch.
"Well, we had to come tell you that we're leaving. Mike Jr and I are dropping out of high school and are going to live in a trailer down in the backlands of Alabama and are going to have lots of children. Mr and Mrs. Nesmith are totally supportive of our plans."
"Hey, can Micky Jr and I drop out of school and move in with you?" Erika asked.
"Sure!"
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Peter sat upright in his bed, waking up from the worst nightmare he'd ever had and ran to the babies' room.
There they both were, in their cribs sleeping like the innocent children they were.
Peter sighed weaping with joy as Steph walked up behind him. "Is everything ok?"
He turned around never happier to have seen her in his life and pulled her to him kissing her fiercely.
Steph pulled away suprised. "Ok...do you mind telling--"
Peter interrupted her by putting his finger on her lips. "There is no way we are reading tonight."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A couple of days passed since the wreck and Micky Jr's birth, and everyone's rountines were falling back into place. Filming for the show had gotten back into full swing, sessions for new songs were going like normal, and the press was the same as ever.
Evil.
Kari and Steph took the kids to work so they could see their fathers a little more. And so Ginger could help Steph out some, seeing as how she had two little things to deal with.
Mike walked in, carrying a newspaper folded back to an article. "The only way we'll be able to live with that Veronica woman is if she dies."
"Another riviting article, huh?" Ginger walked up to Mike and asked, holding Willow on her shoulder and bouncing her a little to lull her to sleep.
Mike sort of just glared at that for a minuet, as he had been doing whenever Ginger would hold one of Steph's kids or Kari's. Truth be told, he was hating every minuet the kids were on the set. At least every minuet Ginger was spending with them. He had made an effort to not hold any of the three of them. "Yeah. This one's for Kari."
"For Kari? What does it say about me?" Kari asked as she came over, along with both Mickys.
Mike sighed. "Same thing it always says, basically. I think I've figured out what she's trying to do here. On and on she's been saying Little Mick there isn't Micky's like it was some big story. Now she's reporting it like it's an accepted fact. Now this article is saying Micky is going to adopt him, like that's a good thing and you both are happy about it. No turmoil or big revelations. By reporting this stuff like that, she makes it seem like it's all confirmed and ordinary and okay, and she's hoping everyone will start believeing it."
Kari was breathing hard, mad. "Well we can't let her keep reporting like this. Lying. I want people to know the truth."
Mike gave a wry little laugh. "Itn't that funny? We start out so dead set on people not knowing our business, now you want to tell them all of it."
"Are you saying I shouldn't?" Kari asked.
"No, do whatever you want to do. Just making an observation," Mike said. "If you do enough teen magazine spreads and so forth I think you can balance it. Maybe. She'll probably just find something else, though."
"Well it's worth a shot," Micky said. Then he turned back towards the set. "Hey Molly! Come here if you'd like some great material!"
"Oh no, see you later..." Mike said, and he and Ginger walked off to leave Kari, Micky, and their son alone with the photographer.
The three proceded to allow the nice photographer, that they had control over, take pictures of them. She snapped away at them for a couple of hours in total. She got great shots of everything from Micky and Kari kissing playfully, to hugging each other, to serious shots, to staged shots of the whole family, to casual shots of Micky and Kari playing with the baby.
"We'll see how she handles that," Micky said smugly to Kari as Molly was using the last shot on her film. "One more really nice one."
Micky wrapped his arms around Kari's waist as she held their son up in her arms and they kissed in a perfect shot. "That's a keeper!" Micky said and Kari laughed.
Shooting went quickly the rest of the day because everything was so hectic. They worked right through lunch, but got to leave a little early for a long dinner before having to be at the recording studio.
Ginger and Mike pulled out of the studio when Mike said, with a small smile, "Let's eat fast, all right?"
"Okay," Ginger said. "Why?"
"Cos I want to go to the beach for about an hour before I have to go to the studio."
Ginger still looked at him. "Sounds great. Any particular reason?" "You know I'm not really sore any more from the wreck?" he said conversationally.
"Good. I'm not either. But what's that got to d--" she stopped a gave him a mischievious look.
After they'd eaten a little, the two went out to a little area on the beach where the sun was setting.
Ginger was laying on her back on the beach towel, her head resting on Mike's right arm while his left traced the bottom of her ribs and her hip bones. She turned over on her side an he rested his arm on her waist.
Mike had been laying there thinking the whole time. He'd wanted to learn to play the guitar. He learned to play. He'd wanted to be famous. He became famous. He wanted the Monkees to play. The Monkees played. He smiled at Ginger then gently gave her push back to the way she'd been laying and kissed her.
"Mike what are you doing? You've got to take me home and get to the studio."
"I know," he said. "But I've got something I've got to do before that."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The next day, Molly's wonderful photos and article were spread over the ugly tabloids and onto the magazines. Some of oher pictures were even used for different articles, since Micky and Kari had talked with several reporters who wrote the truth.
The two were out and about with baby Micky and stopped at a local café for a quick lunch and some coffee. On the way there, Kari had picked up two of the magazines with them as the featured article, one was a teeny bopper and the other more sohpisticated. Micky was pleased that the last photo Molly had taken had landed the cover.
Kari was rocking Micky Jr. back and forth in the stroller while Micky was trying to get him to say 'Daddy!', when a girl came up to them. She looked to be about fifteen or so and had a bright yellow dress on and had very bright, but shy eyes.
"Can I help you?" Kari asked. Micky looked up from tickling little Micky.
Smiling at the two, she was clutching an issue of Tiger Beat, the new one that just came out with the article. "Hi," she spoke in a soft, yet firm voice. "I just wanted to say that I think you're a super groovy girl, and very lucky, and that I don't believe what that mean lady says about you. You just seem too nice for that stuff to be true."
Kari was sort of shocked, but in a pleasant sort of way. She smiled at the girl and Micky did too. "Well, thank you!" Kari grinned. "That's very sweet, I just don't know what to say." The girl smiled more. Then, Micky Jr. began to fuss. Kari took him out of the stroller and instantly he calmed down. The girl's eyes became wider as she looked at Micky Jr.
"Aww, he's so cute!" she gushed. Micky and Kari looked at each other, both grinning like idiots. She bent down and began to talk to little Micky, and in return he just laughed. She got back up and took a pen out of her purse. She held it out and the magazine. "I was just wondering... could both of you sign this?"
"Sure!" Micky took the pen and began to write. "What's your name, sweetie?"
Kari held in a laugh from the girl's expression from being called sweetie by Micky Dolenz. "Elisabeth," she replied.
"That's a pretty name," Kari mused. Micky nodded and Elisabeth beamed even more. Kari took her turn in signing it and handed it back to the owner. Elisabeth smiled as she glanced over the signatures. "Thank you so much!" she cried. "My friends will be so jealous. Thank you again!" With that she left the couple waving a very thankful goodbye and Micky and Kari watched her cross the street towards some other girls. Micky began to laugh when they heard faint squealing.
"See? They do like you after all," Micky smiled to his wife, nuzzling the back of her neck. Kari grinned at the thought of that. Even innocent children didn't believe Veronica, so why should others? Kari hugged her husband and her son, happily. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Mike, c'mon Stephs' ready to go!" Ginger pushed him into the bedroom.
"Ah don' wanna!" Mike whined. He held himself in the door frame.
"Please Mike, for me? Please," Ginger begged looking straight into those brown eyes. This meant too much to her and himself. He had to do it. He would never be able to face children again if he didn't go through with it.
"Okay," he sighed. "I'm ready."
"Good!" Steph got out the wooden box and closed the door.
As soon as they walked in their bedroom to Steph, Ginger sort of looked ashamed. She didn't want Mike to do this at all. He hated it and she was forcing him.
"Mike, wait," Ginger said.
"What?" Mike asked and Steph stopped taking her stuff out.
"I... I don't want to do this..."
"Okay, don't. I will," Mike said simply.
"No... I mean..."
"Look, it's alright. I don't mind..." Mike shrugged.
"Ging, just loosen up. It'll work, I promise," Steph said comfortingly.
Ginger sort of cringed. "I know it will... But... I don't know, he's already done it once, can't we wait and see if that helped? And the tea?"
Steph nodded. "You can. This is more like insurance."
"Wait a minuet," Mike said, hands on his hips. "You mean to tell me I didn't have agree to do this today?"
"Mike, hush. Don't pick on her," Ginger immediately said.
He gave her a puppy dog look, like he wanted to bark but couldn't.
"It's okay," Steph said happily. "Let's say a week from today we'll do it again."
Mike laughed as they walked Steph to the door. "You should be a doctor, you know that? You could be an actual doctor at this stuff, couldn't you?"
Steph stopped for a second and thought about it, like a lightbulb just flicked on inside her head. "Yeah... You can get a degree in this sort of thing..." she said sort of far off like.
"Uh oh, I think Steph's got an idea brewing..." Ginger said.
"Tell Peter I'm sorry," Mike said as Steph walked out the door.
"What for?"
"For opening my big mouth and sentencing him to be a practice-dummy... He'll have pins in him all the time..."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~