"Babe?"

Micky listened to Lauren’s light breathing. He wished she hadn’t fallen asleep so quickly, as he hated to wake her up.

Earlier in the day, their entire group had talked about what was coming up for them, including all of the guys searching out jobs--Micky grinned to himself as he already had that figured out, plus more--and even though it’d only been a little over a month since they’d been married, Lauren was already pregnant (due to a rather overzealous honeymoon brought on by way too much anxiety from the trip to Manchester) with twins.

Micky sighed and glanced around the darkened bedroom. His eyes lingered on the French doors, leading out to the balcony. He hated that he was imagining those look-a-like gangsters barging in... His cheeks flushed at the recent memory. If those goons had waited another five minutes, they’d’ve had a freakin’ porno to watch... He shook his head, then continued glancing around the room.

Mike was right. Once the twins were born, they wouldn’t be able to stay in the apartment. As much as they loved it, there just simply wasn’t enough room. Besides, it only had the one bedroom. When they’d gone to Manchester, he’d had an idea and only needed a set of plans and a real architect to make it happen. Micky was now apprenticing with an architect--he grinned--and the plans were being mailed over from Manchester. Boy, is Lauren in for a big surprise! As long as the others can keep their traps shut...

"Mick?"

Micky turned his attention back to Lauren and found her looking up at him, sleepily. "Sorry, babe, did I wake you?"

Lauren gave him a small grin. "Your fingers were tracing figure-eights on my stomach. It tickled."

Micky froze, realizing his fingers were still moving all on their own. His eyebrows arched and he grinned, but didn’t offer an explanation.

Lauren’s eyes searched his. "What’re you thinking about?"

Micky sighed. May as well be truthful... "Alot of stuff."

"That tells me alot." She smirked and rolled onto her back.

"I have been thinking about alot," he said, seriously. His fingers stopped their tracing, instead he laid his hand flat on her stomach.

Lauren’s smirk faultered, then fell completely. "What is it?"

Micky winced inwardly. "Just... what we’ve been through the past week, what’s coming up..."

She gave him a small smile. "You had me worried for a second, there, Mick."

"Sorry." He offered his own small smile.

"What are we going to do once I have the twins? We don’t have nearly enough room here..." Lauren began.

Micky grinned. "Just leave that to me, babe. Trust me."

She thought about it a moment, deciding to let it go. "What else?"

His grin fell. "George," he replied, with some malice. "Talk about being desperate."

Lauren nodded. "He was completely flipped. He was truly the craziest of the four of them. He knew he had little chance of having a real family life while being a gangster and thought he could steal it for himself. Just create a family out of someone else’s." She closed her eyes and continued, "I hated looking at him. I kept thinking about you and that I might never see you again." She opened her eyes. "My brain kept screaming out how wrong it was to hear that attitude in your voice with your face." Her eyes met his again. "And what they did to you." She lifted a hand and traced what remained of the bruising on his face. "It scared me."

Micky raised a hand and held hers to his face. "It scared me, too. It was bad enough when they got you the first time after Davy and I had told you what we saw." Lauren frowned. "No, babe, you had the right to know. And you didn’t know what would happen. I was so worried about what could’ve happened to you... Then the second time when we found you at the mansion." He looked away, letting go of her hand. "How he was trying to be suave and... touching you..." His eyes closed. "Even being right under the bed, I still had the same thoughts I’d had the first time." He opened his eyes and met hers. "After what happened in Manchester, I was so afraid of what could’ve happened to you, pregnant or not..." He trailed off, his eyes turning downward.

"We’ve been through hell and back. Several times. And we’ve survived, despite physical and mental punishment." Micky’s eyes met hers again and Lauren continued, "Bruises will heal, ribs will mend, but it’s the mental part that needs the most work." He tried to turn away, but she raised her hand again and kept his head from turning. "I know how much it takes to get you to talk like this, but this is how you heal mentally." She let out a small sigh. "And I know you’re still hurting from the... Manchester thing... too. We should’ve talked about this more then..."

"...But we had the wedding, then the honeymoon, and I really was trying to forget what that... woman... tried to do to me. I didn’t want to talk about it more than we had." Micky sighed. "Then with Peter’s trip to Avon On Calling and this bit of torture... forgetting was the best thing to do, or so I thought."

"And now you have to deal with both," Lauren said, softly. "Mick, don’t do that to yourself, please. You’ll heal physically, but it’s mentally that I’m worried about."

Micky frowned. He hadn’t thought of it like that. It was making him feel better to talk about both even just at that moment. "I think... I am healing mentally. This has really helped. I-I’m sorry about not doing this sooner, I just--that’s the way I am." He sighed.

"I know. I never said that I was that good with talking about things like this, either. But if you don’t talk, it’s a sure bet that you’ll be facing a mental breakdown sooner or later. And the only damage that I can deal with caused by you is done by that chemistry set of yours." Lauren grinned and gave him a wink.

Micky returned the grin as his fingers resumed their tracing. "So... you’re really having twins? This isn’t just some big ruse to get a rise out of everyone?" He winked.

Lauren smiled. "Yes, I am really having twins." She paused. "I’m a little scared, though."

Micky frowned. "How come?"

Her eyebrows arched. "Two babies in here..." She pointed at her stomach. "Mick, I’m barely five feet tall and just... small. I won’t be able to walk without a forklift to pick me up for probably the last two months before I give birth... and then there’s actually having both. It might have been easier if I could’ve had one first, then have twins, atleast then I’d have an idea of what’s gonna happen--"

"Babe," he interrupted, then smiled, "you worry too much. Don’t you think the doc would’ve said something if you had anything to really worry about?"

"I guess so... unless he just doesn’t think I can handle it..."

Micky rolled his eyes. "Lauren, listen to me, you’re doing the same thing to yourself that you just said that I was doing to myself! You had these worries and didn’t say anything until now. Granted, you haven’t really had the time to talk about it... but were you going to say anything if I hadn’t brought it up?"

Lauren’s eyes turned downward and watching his fingers move. "Probably not."

"Can we make a little deal, then?"

Her eyes met his again. "About...?"

"If something bothers me, I’ll talk to you..." Micky began.

And Lauren finished, "And if something bothers me, I’ll talk to you."

"Do we have a deal?"

She smiled. "Yes, we have a deal."

Micky grinned, his fingers still tracing. "Consider any names yet?" He gave her a hopeful look.

Lauren returned the grin. "I’m still considering." She winked.

"I get it." He paused and watched as his fingers moved subconsciously. "Babe, I know you and Em have more plans for our little group coming up, but... you will take it easy, right?"

She reached up for his face again and his eyes met hers again. "I promise you and I promise myself and the whole group that I will be careful."

"Thank you." Micky smiled, then leaned down to kiss her. After a few moments, he pulled away, wincing.

"Speaking of being careful..."

"I just moved the wrong way," he said, removing his hand from her stomach and using it to wrap around his still-taped ribs. He winced again.

Lauren frowned. "Are you sure nothing’s broken? Or atleast cracked?"

"The doc that checked me out said they were only bruised..." Micky sucked in a breath. "But that was before the couple cheap shots I took..."

"Mick, I think you ought to have them checked out again, just to be on the safe side."

He nodded, taking in smaller breaths. "Yeah. I’ll see if I can get in to see someone tomorrow... and I know, I did it again."

"I think we’ve finally gotten it through our thick skulls to get these things out into the open."

Micky nodded again, laying back. He looked up at the ceiling, still holding his arm around his ribs. "Think we’ve had a break through."

Lauren propped herself up on an elbow. "It’s about time." She smiled, then leaned down to kiss him. He wrapped his free arm around her, holding her to him gently, careful of both his ribs and her stomach.

When they separated, Micky had a sheepish look on his face. "Uh, babe, there is one other thing I didn’t mention, well, to anyone about when I got beaten up."

Her eyebrows arched. "What is it?"

His cheeks flushed. "I, uh... got kicked in a pretty sensitive place..."

"I’ll kill him...!"

Micky blushed harder as Lauren’s expression softened. "Babe...!" he all but whined.

She smiled. "I’ll be gentle."

"You promise?"

"Of course I promise!"

Micky paused a moment, a grin creeping across his face. "Would you kiss it and make it feel better?"

Lauren returned the grin and winked. "If you’re good."

~~~End~~~