It's early Sunday morning on January 6th, Laura's birthday. The sun is starting to break on the horizon, and Luke is climbing back into bed after a trip to the bathroom.
He stares across the bed at Laura who is cuddled up under the blankets. It's slightly chilly this morning, but feels great to Luke. He was used to much colder winters living up in the northwest coast. Now down here in the south, the winters are much more mild.
Luke scoots in close leaning over Laura who is still sleeping, but then easily awakes as she feels the bed shift with his weight. Laura is a light sleeper. Luke smiles down at her. "Hey...Happy Birthday babe."
Laura turns her head and looks up at him. "Mm hey...already?", she sleepily replies. "What time is it?"
"It's about 5 minutes till 7."
"You sure are chipper this morning...Did you sleep okay?", she asks as she yawns.
Luke nods as he looks down at her, "Yeah I slept fine, babe. You?..."
"Yeah, me too...It's chilly in here.", Laura says with a shiver.
"Not really but I can warm you up..." Luke leans in farther down and kisses her softly. Laura reaches up and twists her fingers into his hair, kissing him back. The soft smack of their lips as they meet, Luke pulls her hip in against his body and kisses her again this time a little harder.
"Mm..." Laura hums pausing for a moment. "Are you already naked?"
Then comes another soft smack of a kiss before Luke replies back. His voice low and close as their lips are still parting. "Uh huh."
Laura smiles, "Mm...Lucky me." Luke continues to kiss her as his hand slides down the inside of her thigh pushing her legs open. Laura now knows why he felt so chipper when she opened her eyes, and saw him smiling over her. He had S-E-X on the brain. "Luke, what if the boys wake up?"
Now that Phineas is almost able to climb out of the crib, and Phoenix often sneaks into their room in the mornings, Laura can't help but worry. Luke runs kisses down her neck and shoulder. "Just relax Babe, the boys are sound asleep."
All the while he continues to kiss her trying to get her to relax and let go. Laura begins to succumb to his touch, and decides a morning in bed with Luke does sound absolutely perfect. Those days are few and far between now. It's her birthday live a little.
Laura reaches up and fists her hands into his hair as she allows Luke to shift his body more over her and between her thighs kissing her deeper. He knows the simple gesture means she has decided to stay in bed with him a little longer this morning.
A short while later, the two lay in bed. Laura knows she is gonna need to get up, and get her day going soon, but she is enjoying her moment with Luke way too much. She moans softly as she recalls what just happened only a few fleeting moments ago. "What's wrong Babe? Did I not satisfy you?"
Laura turns to look up at him perplexed by his question. "What do you mean? Of course I'm satisfied. I'm just sad that I can't spend the rest of the day here in bed with you."
Then Laura turns her head to look away. It's the complete opposite of that. Laura is so relaxed and satisfied, problem is she has to get up now. Face the day, take care of the two little ones. Not that she doesn't enjoy it, but Moms need a break every so often. Birthday's aren't always as fun once you get into your mid 30's. haha! "I miss those days."
"Babe, you just had one of those days last week. Remember? New years?...You had me all to yourself for a full 24 hours.", he reminds her.
"I know." Laura replies with a smile, but her voice is still a little sad. "It was wonderful."
"What's wrong babe, feeling some birthday blues?" Luke is five years older than Laura so he understands birthdays can be a whole mix of feelings as you get older. They are so exciting as a kid, but as an adult it's just another notch you gotta add to your belt.
Laura turns on her side and replies to his pillow talk, "Yeah I guess so. Just life seems to go by faster now. Fin is gonna be 2 next month and Phoenix will be 5 in July! My babies are growing up Luke."
Luke shrugs, "That's part of life babe. Kids grow up. We get old."
"I know...Just hate how fast it is going. I'm not ready to send Phoenix off to his first day of Kindergarten.", she admits.
"And you don't think that scares the shit out of me? Don't worry we'll get through it together.", he reminds her.
Laura turns on her back to face Luke. He understands but not fully, being a mother and watching your little ones grow can be both exciting and scary at times. Granted Luke is a father, but mothers spend so much time nurturing in the early years. "Luke?"
"Yeah babe...", he replies as she nestles into arms
"I wanna try for another baby before the boys get any older...", she quickly blurts out.
Luke lets out a huge sigh of frustration, he had a feeling this was what she was gonna say. Not that he is completely opposed to it, he just feels like it's just a tad too soon. "I dunno know babe...Doesn't feel like the right time right now."
"Why not? Fin is only about 2 years younger than Phoenix. And he's gonna be 2 next month...It's the perfect time.", she counters.
"You sure this is not just because your sister and Ben announced a week ago they plan to start a family?" Laura props herself up on her elbow so she can look him straight in the eyes. "Well it did get me thinking, but you know I want another baby. I thought you did too?"
"Yeah...but...I...", Luke pauses a little lost in thought then looks at her. "You're really fucking serious about this?" Noticing the unwavering look on her face.
"Yes, I am!..." Laura slides her hand down his chest, over his abs and down lower. "You're gonna say no to me on my birthday?", she teases with a pout.
Luke chuckles staring up at the ceiling, "I never said no babe...I said I dunno. I need a little more time to think about this."
Laura teasing again, "So you're willing to turn down lots and lots of sex,
because you don't know?"
Laura is making it hard for him to resist, but he is trying to look at it from a more responsible and financial stand point. Kids are expensive! "Fuck, Laura...I...".
Then suddenly little Fin's voice comes through the baby monitor. "BA...BA...BA...!"
Saved by the baby monitor, both Luke and Laura pop up this little discussion will have to take place at another time. Fin has been trying to climb out of his crib lately. "I better go get him...", says Laura.
"No. I'll go, you relax take a shower.", Luke tells her as he pushes the bedsheet aside.
"Are you sure?...What about breakfast?...", she asks him.
"I'll feed them...I can handle it." he looks back at her.
"Luke it's no big deal I can...", Laura insists.
But Luke interrupts her, "It got it babe!" Laura leans back against the pillows after Luke kinda snapped back at her. Seems like he just wants out of the room seeing where their conversation was going only moments ago.
She watches Luke as he grabs the small blue condom box and sets it back in the shelf of his night table.He then gets up off the bed, walks over to grab his jeans and slide them on. "Hey babe?..."
"Yeah? Laura replies continuing to watch him.
Luke turns as he zips himself up into his blue jeans forgoing wearing any underwear. "I need to stop at the shop before Jacob opens up at 11. Why don't you and the boys come with me. Then we can spend the rest of the
day together...Whatever you wanna do."
Laura nods, "Okay, I'd like that. You sure you don't want any help?..."
"I got it covered Laura. Go take a shower, relax a little."
"I'm trying...", Laura admits.
Luke looks back at her before he heads out the door and down the hall to Fin's room."I know you are..." Then Phineas squeals out Mama over the baby monitor. "Fuck I better go..."
Luke heads down the hall his voice
fading as he speaks again.
"Go relax, take a shower babe...I got this!" Laura gets up and grabs her favorite fuzzy warm robe and slips it on. Fighting the urge to make sure Luke doesn't need any help with the boys. 
She suddenly hears Luke's voice over the baby intercom. She forgot to turn it off. She pauses and listens. It feels weird eavesdropping on him, but she can't help but wonder. "Hey, good morning little man."
"Dada! Dada! Ow-t...." Phineas shouts trying to kick his leg over the railing of the crib. Luke quickly steps into the room to scoop him up before he falls over.
"I think someone has about out grown his crib...Your mom is right time sure does fly....C'mon let's get your diaper changed."
Phineas lifts his arms up reaching out, "Dada..."
Meanwhile, Laura sits at the edge of the bed while she listens to Luke talk to Finn. She should be hopping in the shower by now.
Phineas giggles and squeals with delight and Laura
figures Luke must have picked him up and
spun him around or something. The boys always
love it when dad does those kind of things."First order of business, getting that diaper changed...Whoa! that thing is
sagging it's so loaded! What the fu..eh..Okay, maybe it is time we start getting you potty trained."
Phineas babbles back. He can say quite a few words now but is still working on it. Laura is beginning to feel really guilty now
for listening in on him. As Luke changes Fin's diaper
she can hear he is handling it just fine...Luke's voice sighs through the monitor, "Your mom is right you two are growing up too fast...I don't know if I'm ready for that either."
"Dada...diaper..." Phineas banters back.
"I know bud, hang on...I'm not as fast as mom...", Luke admits.
"Mama?...", Phineas asks.
"What? Dada not doing a good job?...", Luke jokes.
Phineas shakes his head, "Na...na!..."
Laura smiles and continues to listen then suddenly
rubbing the sleep from his eyes he looks up at dad, "Mama?"a third voice comes into the room, Phoenix.
He finally woke up. Still
Luke stops and turns to look down at him. His firstborn son, the one who made him a father. Phoenix is so much like Luke personality wise, but looks more like Laura.
"Hey buddy, you finally wake up?...Kinda slept in today didn't you?...That's okay we got a busy day, gotta take Mommy out for her birthday."
Laura quickly clicks off the monitor. She doesn't want to know if Luke has any surprises in store for her. She has eavesdropped long enough. "Okay, time to go take that shower..."
Back in the nursery Luke is talking with Phoenix. "You hungry?..."
Phoenix nods, "Uh huh."
"Okay lemme finish with your brother first. Did you go potty yet?"
Phoenix shakes his head no, "I got a pull up."
Luke sighs forgetting how much work the boy's morning routine is, "Ah, sh..shoot. That's right. Does mommy usually help you?"
Phoenix nods yes this time. Finally after diapers and pull ups have been changed, teeth are brushed and hands are washed the boys head down stairs to start on some breakfast. Luke is finishing up with the last batch of pancakes when Laura
finally comes down stairs.
"Mm Mm." Laura hums. "Smells good in here. Phoenix sit up straight while you're eating Pumpkin..." Laura corrects him as she walks towards the kitchen island.
Luke turns to flip the last pancake onto the plate and finds Laura standing there at the kitchen island. All dressed up and ready to go. He smiles as he checks her out. "Hey you look beautiful...You hungry?"
"Starving...", Laura leans in to kiss him. She really does appreciate him going the extra mile so she can relax. She was worried for a bit that he might be upset she brought up wanting to have another baby.
"Good cause I made plenty..." Luke flips the last one onto the
plate as Laura watches and observes Luke's cooking skills. "So I was thinking about what we were discussing earlier this morning?"
"Uh huh..." Luke's response makes him sound like he's not sure he wants to talk about this right now, but Laura needs him to hear her out.
"I'm sorry I sprung that on you so hard. If you're not read understand. You were so patient with me when I wasn't ready the second time around. So when you're ready let's have that baby then."
Luke seems to visibly loosen up after he hears what she said. Having another baby at this point has got to be more planned out. Usually Laura is more of the planner, but this time around they seemed to have swapped how they feel on that.
"It's not that I don't, babe you know that. Just give me some time to figure
out the finances, get through tax season, then I'll let you know..."
Laura smiles satisfied with his answer, "Okay..." After that is settled and no longer feels like it's dangling there between them. The family all gathers around the table to finish the breakfast Luke has made.
"These are yummy. Maybe I should let you cook more often.", says Laura.
"Wait a minute I thought I married you for your cooking not the other way around...", Luke jokes.
Laura smirks, "Well there are some bonus points...I mean a hot, shirtless man in my kitchen...a girl could get used to that." Laura then forks another bite into her mouth as she looks over at him.
Luke smiles
at her as he chews on some of the pancakes. Then replies back.
"You know babe...Phoenix helped me some so maybe that's why these taste so good."
"Ah, that makes complete sense now!" Laura explains. "That must be why these pancakes taste so good!" Phoenix beams bright with a smile. He was excited to help dad out in the kitchen.
"Yeah Phoenix even helped me add the secret ingredient...Right?", Luke turns and looks over at Phoenix allowing him to answer.
"Uh..huh!"Phoenix quickly bobs his head up and down. "synonym!!!..."
Laura giggles, "You mean cinnamon Pumpkin?..." Phoenix nods his head as he chews on his food. Phineas grunts and raises his arms. He is done eating he wants to go play.
"Already?...you barely ate.", Luke says looking over at Phineas trying to wiggle out of the high chair.
"Luke you put way too much food on his plate. I'm sure he is plenty full by now.", says Laura.
A couple hours later the Cooper clan makes it down to Vintage Vinyl record shop. Laura gets the boys situated and entertained while Luke carries a crate of new inventory out of the back.
"So what do you need to do?...", she ask him.
"I need to sort these and a few other crates. So that way Jacob can label them and get them out on the shelves." Luke continues, "Also I wanted to stop at our coffee shop and get some pastries and coffee since Jacob agreed to work today..."
Luke usually alternates weekends with Jacob, but since this one fell on Laura's birthday. Jacob agreed to switch.
"Oh, okay...Well go on and do that, I can handle things here." "Are you sure?", Luke questions.
Laura smiles, "Now you sound like me..." She was worried this morning Luke couldn't handle the boy's morning routine, but he did just fine.
Luke sets down the records and walks over to Laura. "I'll be right back...I'll lock up behind me so no one can get in."
Laura smiles again, "Okay..."
Then Luke kisses her goodbye and heads out. When he meant "our coffee shop" he meant the one where they very first met each other on their blind date. He steps into the small, quaint little coffee shop and greets the girl at the counter.
"Hi, Natalie...Lemme get 3 regular coffees and 4 pastries."
"Okay...to go right?" Natalie confirms. While Luke is ordering the coffee and sweets. He has
no idea a familiar face is watching him from the
back of the coffee shop.
Whomever they may be, Luke has not yet noticed them prying eyes watch behind dark sunglasses. "Yes, to go..."
"Okay that will be $26.57...I'll have it all ready for you in a few minutes."
Luke nods, "Okay sounds good...Thank you Natalie."
Luke pays and then waits for his food.
Who is the mystery person and what do
they want? Find out next Friday!
To Be Continued!
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