Topic: Guess What, Doc?

AJ Ryan · Date: 2012-01-16 10:53 EST

"Come here, you little monsters!"

What a cry to be greeted with on your way home from work. It was a regular greeting for Stas, though, since Orla and Seamus seemed to think it was hilarious to run their mother all over the house before bedtime. Both stark naked, they ran past the front door giggling, with AJ a few feet behind them, out of breath and trying very hard not to laugh at their antics.

"Daddy's home!" No matter how many times he'd said that now, it still didn't get old. Stas loved being a father. He took pause at the front door as two little giggling streakers ran past and was followed a few seconds later by his lovely, if not frazzled, wife.

Reaching out, he grabbed her and pulled her out of the chase. "Hey," he grinned, kissing her lovingly before putting AJ back down. "The more you chase, the more they run. Trick is to catch them when they're standing still." Reaching up, he moved a lock of her blond hair behind her ear.

"Trouble with that is, they never stand still for me," she laughed in response, looping her arms about her husband's neck just as lovingly as she brushed a kiss to his lips in answer to his hello. "Hey yourself. " Her nose rubbed teasingly against his for a moment, before she suddenly released him, whirling to whip out an arm and grab the cackling Seamus as he scurried past. "Gotcha!"

And just like that, he nabbed up Orla, his little princess. She giggled and squealed, kicking and wriggling in his arms. "Down daddy!" He rewarded her with a raspberry to her belly, causing her to giggle that much more. Stas cradled her in his arms, like she were still an infant.

"Come on, you two, it's bed time. No stories if you don't get into your jammies like your mother told you to do over an hour ago." He gave her a gentle swat to her behind, then put Orla to her feet. "Now go on." Orla pouted a bit, then rushed off towards their shared bedroom. Bedtime stories were special and not to be missed.

AJ was less gentle with Seamus, but the little boy was so rough and tumble, she could have dropped him on his head and he still wouldn't have minded. "You're both little horrors," she informed their children, hoisting Seamus under one arm as he grinned at his father.

Setting the little boy down on his feet, she ruffled his head of blonde curls and sent him off with his sister. "Jammies and teeth, or no stories," she reinforced the threat with as much authority as she could muster, which, judging by the twins" expressions, wasn't much. But Daddy was home now, so they were going to behave. Seamus took his sister's hand, toddling off with a loud, "Jimjams teef!"

Stas put his bag beside the door and closed it behind him. Then, with a chuckle to the two little people in the house, he wrapped his arms around Amelia and held her gently. "Hello, Mrs. Ryan," he murmured and then gave her a proper kiss hello. "Did you have a good day?? Gazing into her eyes, he already knew the answer to that question. They didn't call it the terrible twos for nothing.

AJ Ryan · Date: 2012-01-16 10:57 EST

"Har, har, very funny, Doctor Ryan," was his wife's sarcastic reply, but her smile was genuinely pleased as he wrapped her up in his arms. "My day just got a whole lot better." She returned his proper kiss with one of her own, suddenly brimming over with excitement that wasn't particularly easy to place. "I have a surprise for you, though," she added, hazel eyes sparkling with amusement. "But you don't get it until the kids are in bed and you've eaten."

"Oooh, a surprise!" He held her for a moment longer before there was a crash and much more giggling than necessary from the children's bathroom. "Okay, I've got ten on Seamus throwing the glass into the bathtub. Again." He shook his head, kissed her cheek, then loped those long legs across the living room towards the bathroom. "There better not be bleeding this time!"

"No cheating this time," AJ laughed at Stas" bet. "You're in charge of bedtime tonight, I'm gonna make you something to eat." She patted his backside as he loped away, turning to slip into the kitchen.

Out of sight, she let herself lean heavily on the counter for a moment, rubbing at the annoying ache in her neck. So far, she'd kept these aches from Stas, but she doubted it was going to last long. Taking a Tylenol should do the trick, though, and within minutes she was busily grilling salmon to feed her husband, along with a mound of green salad.

Gladly Stas took the responsibility of getting the twins into bed. Once into the bathroom he'd discovered he'd been partially right. The two sets of eyes, so innocent and trusting, that met his when he got into the bathroom were just too much. It seemed that they were exploring their world more and the puddle of water on the floor was a result of a "let's see how far we can tip the water glass before it falls" game.

Stas took two paper towels from the roll and handed them over. The twins knew what was expected of them and quickly sopped up the water and tossed the towels into the trash. After washing their hands, it was a quick trip to the jammie station, then into their beds. Stas tucked each in and then dimmed the lights. He sat on a chair between their beds and by the time that The Red Hen was clucking that the sky was falling in, the two terrors were fast asleep.

Moments later, Stas appeared in the kitchen, his stomach growling. The scent of the salmon was causing the reaction and he plopped down onto a chair. "That smells wonderful, Amelia. I can't wait to eat it."

"Well, two years in the house looking after those two, I should be able to cook something decent by now, right?" AJ chuckled to herself as she served up the little meal.

When they'd married, she had been incapable of even boiling water without burning it; now, she could at least provide a decent meal for her husband and children, although Stas was still the master chef in the house. She set the plate in front of Stas, cutlery beside it, and quickly poured him a glass of sweetened milk to drink with it.

"I'll just say goodnight to the little monsters, and I'll be straight back," she promised, kissing his hair before slipping out of the kitchen. A few minutes later, she returned, grinning warmly, and slid herself into a chair beside her husband, watching him eat. "So " how was your day, Doctor Ryan?"

AJ Ryan · Date: 2012-01-16 10:58 EST

As soon as the plate was placed before him, he tore into the meal. This was a typical evening at the Ryan house. Dinner was fantastic, the kids were adorable and everything seemed to be going along swimmingly.

"M'day?" He lifted his head, chewing and talking at the same time. "Actually pretty quiet. The summer months are too hot to usually breed in for most species. Only three deliveries today." He swallowed and then grinned. "The usual drama at the hospital ensued. It's no wonder that they make soap operas with hospital settings."

"Oh, only three deliveries," she repeated in a tone that dripped with laughter. "You poor thing, you must have been so bored." She stuck her tongue out at her husband, laying her legs over his knees beneath the table. "Did you remember to eat the protein bar today?" It was an ongoing struggle now; neither of them thought the other had enough meat on their bones, so both tried to get the other to eat more heartily.

"Well, there were the usual paps and mammos and stuff that you don't really want to hear about." He chuckled and lay his hand upon her thigh the moment it crossed his legs. "And no, I'm not eating that protein bar. It tastes like corrugated cardboard." He made a face, one that AJ would be very familiar with; that their son did exactly the same thing when forced to eat broccoli. "So, can I have my surprise now?" He was all smiles then, excited as if it were Christmas morning.

She giggled softly. "You do realise if you keep ignoring them, I'm going to start cutting them up and disguising them as other things in your lunches, right?" she asked sweetly, leaning forward onto her folded arms as he touched her thigh. Her face was high with color; it wasn't often she managed to keep anything like this a secret from her nosey, know-it-all of a husband. "You mean you don't want to guess?"

He let the threat go, knowing that his wife was going to keep on with her vigilant attempts to make him eat more healthy. Instead, he turned to the last part, the more fun part. "Well, you're too happy for it to be my parent's or yours coming to visit," he chuckled. "And I don't see a box in your hands and there wasn't a new car in the driveway ..." He canted his head and reached to squeeze her hand. "Just tell me."

AJ's grin widened at Stas" guesses, her fingers curling into his in delight at the realisation that he really hadn't noticed all the clues. It was fun to know something he didn't, especially when it was supposed to be his area of expertise. "You really can't guess?" she asked playfully, tracing her fingertips down his jaw and throat to play at the undone button of his shirt. "Not even the slightest little hint?"

"Don't make me go all Doctor on your a$$," he chuckled and leaned back to really get a good look at her. Had he been working too many hours and spent so much time away that he couldn't notice anything that she may be alluding to' "Just tell me!"

Giggling, AJ rose to her feet, taking his empty plate to rinse and load into the dishwasher. Of course she was going to stretch the moment out as long as she could; it was too much fun not to. But she did have mercy on him finally, returning to slide herself onto his lap. Her arms looped lovingly around his neck as she leaned in to kiss him, slow and warm and full of excitement. Drawing back, her voice lowered to a whisper as she dropped the bomb. "I'm pregnant.?

AJ Ryan · Date: 2012-01-16 11:00 EST

Stas drummed his fingers on the table, and shifted in his chair as she was putting the dish into the washer. It seemed like an eternity and how well did the plate need to be cleaned before it was put into a machine to be cleaned anyway' Finally she sat back down and his arms curled around her. He kissed her, slowly and warmly, the heat in his crotch rising with the kiss. And then the bombshell. Stas stopped moving entirely and merely stared at the back door over her shoulder. "What?"

AJ's brows rose as she watched her husband's gaze go distant, unable to keep the smile from her lips. This was certainly different to last time, when she had been informed by him that her so-called stomach "flu was, in fact, pregnancy. "I'm pregnant," she repeated herself softly. "I've got the lab report around here somewhere if you want the proof."

Stas was gobsmacked. How in the hell did he miss that one" "Pregnant' We're ....we're going to have another baby?" And then it hit him. He smiled and hugged her tightly. "We're having another baby!"

Laughing, AJ wrapped him up in her arms, pressing a kiss to his neck. "Yes, we're having another baby," she agreed with him. "And you know that new consultant midwife you got at the clinic, Libby' The one who works the clinic in that poor part of town" She agreed to be the midwife when she gave me the news today. So you don't need to get all Mr Doctor Man on Mylene again." She grinned teasingly.

"Libby?" Stas frowned, thinking about how Libby had been acting a bit strangely around him the last few days. Knowing smiles and all of that. "Well it doesn't matter who the midwife is, I can't help who or what I am." He smiled again and kissed her a few more times in rapid succession.

Giggling, AJ was more than happy to kiss and be kissed, pleased that he hadn't fixated on not realising that his wife was pregnant. "So ?" she managed between kisses, "....you're happy " then?"

"Of course I'm happy!" Stas laughed out loud and hugged her tightly again. "Let's not tell anybody, just yet. I mean, your mom and mine. I want there to be some kind of peace in this house for a bit longer."

At this, his wife burst out laughing. "Of course we're not telling anyone yet!" she laughed, hugging him tightly as she swayed on his lap. "Let's get out of the first trimester without problems first, huh?" But she grinned, certain that would be easily done, leaning close to kiss him deeply once again. There were few things that could make AJ Ryan this happy; one of them just happened to be giving her husband the huge family he'd been talking about for the last three years.

"By the time you're puking your brains out every morning, I suspect my mother in law is going to appear at the door." He chuckled and rocked her back and forth. "I don't mind, really. Taking care of Seamus and Orla is hard enough without being pregnant."

"Useless help is better than no help at all," AJ quoted his mother with a wide grin, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck as she hugged Stas delightedly. But even in the midst of her happiness, there was that niggling feeling that not everything was peachy. The headaches weren't going away as swiftly as she'd hoped. But there'd be time to worry over that later. Tonight was all about celebrating a new addition to their little family.