One Day at a Time - (Season One)

Chapter Four: Shopping

Lukas, of course, was who brought her out of her funk. He placed his tiny hand onto her own and smiled in an adorable concerned manner, "Marty, are you ok?"

Martina smiled back at her brother, love practically oozing off her as she took in his worried expression and adorable crooked grin, "Yeah, I'm okay squirt."

The boy nodded, "That's good. What about Nicky? I heard you say on the phone that he got hurt."

"Nicky's fine. He was in a little car accident but he's already up and about." Martina withheld a sigh, "His mom just called to let me know."

"Oh." Lukas nodded, "That makes sense. 'Cause he's your best friend like Rudy is my best friend."

Fucking hormones dictated that her eyes glossed over once more with unshed tears, "Yup."

Lukas' big brown eyes locked onto hers, "Are you gonna tell Nicky about the babies? I already told Rudy that I'm gonna be a big brother. He's jealous, 'cause he's the littlest in his family and they call him the baby. Rudy wants to be a big brother too."

Right, that was another issue. After throwing Nick out on his ass three months ago she hadn't caught even a glimpse of him. Nick had ghosted her out as he did to his own family when he went on benders. It wasn't that Martina entirely blamed him, she had been firm and even downright mean when she found him.

("I-I can't Nicky... Why- Why would you, here, after we ju-st..." a broken sob escaped from her throat, she ignored the pained whine and platitudes escaping from Nick's mouth, "I told you. I told you never to bring this shit here. Get out of my house. Nick, get out!).

But she never thought that Nick would actually decide that he'd rather continue shooting up in needle alley than stay with her. Because even during his worst moments, Nick had always decided to stay with Martina.

She needed to tell him about the baby. Well, babies. Martina hadn't been a virgin when she and Nick slept together, her first boyfriend from high school had already seen to that, but he'd been the only one she'd been with in over a year and a half. Nick was going to be a dad. Martina thought that he should at least know about the existence of his children, even if he decided that he didn't want to have anything to do with her anymore.

"Marty? I asked if you is gonna tell Nicky about the babies?"

Martina blinked as she corrected absentmindedly, "It's 'you are,' not 'you is' Lukas."

Lukas rolled his eyes, "Well? Are you gonna tell him? I haven't seen Nicky in a while. Are you guys still fighting?"

God, her baby brother hit it right on the nail, "I-I'm gonna tell Nick about the babies."

Her baby brother scrutinized her for a brief moment before deciding to let it go, "Okay. Marty, I finished my homework. Can I go play now?"

Martina quickly went over his math sheet before nodding, "Yeah, go play squirt. We're gonna go to the mall a little early today. I want to buy some baby stuff before we got to the movie theater, okay?"

Lukas nodded before darting to his room, "Kay!"

She snorted when she heard him trip over one of his toys and shoot back an "I'm okay!" before getting up once more. Her brother was just too cute.

Her shift at the theater would start at five today, which meant that if they left the house in half an hour they would have about two hours to go shopping. Babies R' Us was having a sale on baby items, and Martina also had a couple of coupons for Target that was about to expire. It was moments like this when she thanked the heavens that the movie theater she works at was a feature inside of a mall. Her brother was only a little put off when she eventually told him it was time to go, but that was mostly because she made him put on a cable knit sweater since it was still pretty chilly outside. Lukas perked up when she told him that they were taking the car and that he was allowed to bring his Iron Man action figure with him for the trip.

The drive to the mall was fast, it seemed like not many people were parked in the lower level where the Target was today which only filled her with relief as she parked in the spot closest to the entrance. Lukas got excited all over again when they were actually in the store. Martina was going to buy the car seats today since they were on sale and she had coupons. Still, her wallet did cry when she forked over the hundred-twenty bucks for the pair and the additional stroller feature that came with it.

Lukas was convinced that they needed to buy some soft baby blankets for his brothers and a set of pacifiers as well. Martina only sighed good-naturedly and added it to the cart. After they dropped off their purchases in the red Honda CR-V, they took the elevator to the floor with the Babies R' Us.

Here, Martina might have splurged a little bit. A bunch of baby clothes was on sale since new designs were about to be introduced with the changing season. Lukas also wasn't really helping her curb her splurging either. Her brother was getting fully into the spirit of being a big brother and kept bringing her adorable outfits that he wanted the babies to wear. Martina bought a bunch of gender-neutral onesies, jammies, rompers, scratch mittens, socks... and of course, some Avengers themed articles of clothing at her brother's behest.

Martina took the initiative to buy a breast pump that was on sale, some Tomi-Tippe bottles that were compatible with it, and a kangaroo that would hold twins since they were also on sale. She ended up buying some more maternity clothes as well and matching shirts for her to wear with Lukas. Honestly, she had a hard time telling her brother 'no.'

It was only after Martina and Lukas were once more loading all of their new goodies into the trunk of her car when she received a call from her manager at the theater letting her know not to come in. Apparently one of the patrons must have been on some sort of drugs since he'd started attacking people. The L.A.P.D. was already on the scene taking care of everything but her manager had decided that they would simply just close early for the day.

Lukas was only a little bit disappointed that they wouldn't be going to the movie theater today, but at the promise of cookies n' cream ice cream waiting for them at home... well her brother cheered up quickly.