Lovesick -- A Rocky Lynch Story

Chapter 16

Something was wrong. I could feel it from the moment I opened my eyes. The house was silent, but the sun was up and shining through cracked curtains. It couldn't have been the weekend already, but my alarm didn't go off. With a groan, I reached over to the nightstand and unplugged my phone from its charger. When I saw the date and time, I shot straight up in bed. "Rocky!" I yelled.

He came running into the room in just sweatpants and no shirt, his hair a mess falling out of his bun. "What's wrong?" he asked urgently.

"I slept in! Carter--"

His muscles relaxed and he crawled onto the bed. "The plague has claimed its third victim," he joked with a sigh. He collapsed backwards onto the pillow and rubbed his temples. "He woke me up early this morning complaining, so I just kept him home from school with the rest of them."

I had such a considerate husband. It was times like this where I really realized it. "And you turned my alarm off so I could sleep in?" I asked with a sweet smile before laying down next to him. I snuggled into his side and kissed his neck. "You didn't have to do that. Did you get any sleep at all?"

"A little. Avie was still suffering last night. Started crying for me right after you fell asleep and just wouldn't stop. She fell asleep on top of me on the couch eventually." He hugged me and ran his fingers through my messy hair. "At least Mason slept through the night. That medicine is working for him. All three of them are still asleep right now."

"I think we've got a daddy's girls on our hands, huh?" Rocky laughed in response. I rolled over and grabbed the book off of our nightstand. "Let's see what we get to do today," I said as I lazily paged through the book until I found our marked spot. I tried to show him the picture on the page, but his eyes were closed and he was breathing so steadily that I was afraid he had fallen asleep already. "Hey?" I nudged him.

"I'm up," he groaned, squinting his eyes open.

"Okay. So today it says we have to share a hobby with each other. And since most, if not all, of your hobbies require leaving the house and we can't do that with our three sick amigos, I think it's time I share something of mine with you." I tried to think of a hobby of mine. There were a handful of things that I did during my days at home, but there was one thing in particular that I had been meaning to finish. "Meet me downstairs?" I asked him.

I hopped off of the bed and didn't even bother to put on clean clothes. My pajamas would have to do for now. I pulled my hair back into a ponytail as I made my way out of the room. Carter was laying in bed watching a movie on his small TV. "Are you okay, baby?" I asked him, giving him a little kiss on his forehead. He nodded and turned his head back to his movie, so I moved onto the next kid. Mason was sound asleep in his crib. Downstairs, Avie was still sleeping on the couch. Hopefully she was all cried out.

The closet in the guest room held the supplies I needed. I pulled out multiple boxes and carried them to the kitchen table with a bit of a struggle. It took me a couple of trips in order to get all of our supplies out. Rocky caught me in the hallway carrying an armful of tools and insisted that he help me. "What is all of this for?" he asked.

"Well, I had a lot of free time since I decided to be a stay-at-home mom with the kids. Your mom actually got me into scrapbooking and I made really cute baby books for both Carter and Avie." He paged through the completed books in awe as I spoke. "I just didn't ever have time to put together Mason's."

"I forgot about this!" Rocky laughed, pointing to a picture of baby Avelyn with paint all over her body. "We were so mad that she got into that stuff, but mom snapped the picture anyway, telling us --"

"That we are going to want to remember that moment!" I finished his sentence and we both smiled fondly at the picture. "She was right. I never want to forget."

"Me neither," he agreed. He opened the box that had all of the baby pictures of Mason. "Let's get this show on the road."

We had about a half hour of uninterrupted time picking pictures and deciding the layout of the book. The memories were almost overwhelming as we looked at the images and went back in time, nearly reliving the moments. "Looking at all of these makes me want another baby," Rocky admitted.

My heart dropped into my stomach as I thought of a response. I had thought that when Jenna announced her pregnancy a few nights ago, but I had no idea that he felt the same way. And as if he were waiting for just the right moment to interrupt us, Mason's crying could be heard over the baby monitor. "To be continued," I told Rocky with a quick kiss before tending to our crying baby.

Later in the afternoon, Rydel called to tell us that Ellington was going to stop by and pick up a movie that they wanted to borrow from us. Rocky and I were sitting on the couch, our sick children draped over us as they watched TV. "Next week, we're going to be the sick ones," I whispered to him.

"Don't jinx it please," he sighed.

The door opened and Ellington made his way quietly in since we warned him about our troop of ill and sleepy babies. "Hey," he greeted us. "So, where's that movie?"

"On the shelf," Rocky said with a nod of his head.

Ell went and searched through our library until he found the DVD. "Rydel told me that you guys are working through the 'magic book'," he laughed, sitting down on the coffee table to have a quick conversation before he jetted out again. "How's that going?"

"Good," I responded. "Except we are supposed to take a weekend trip, which is probably going to be postponed now, considering..." I gestured to the limp bodies covering us with a weak smile. "The work of a parent is never over."

"Why don't Rydel and I take them? We can handle sick kids, and you guys deserve that weekend." He ruffled Mason's hair gently and rubbed Avie's back. Then he repeated the motion with Carter. Rocky was about to open his mouth to protest, but Ell stopped him. "Nope, you're not getting out of this. Don't worry about my girls. And Rydel will definitely be on board." He got up and started to make his way to the door. "Just bring them over in the morning.." And then he was gone as fast as he came.

"I guess we better pack," Rocky chuckled quietly.