75 Godiva St | Evening

[defenderofdesmoines]

Were you wondering if Annie had maybe gone off and quietly given birth somewhere away from the prying eyes and notepads of squirrels, and it just hadn't been reported yet?

That would have been so convenient for her.

Annie was, instead, lounging in front of the television in the living room, having relocated mostly so she could see the door and wave to any trick-or-treaters, while also viciously making her way through every Almond Joy in the giant bag of candy they had to hand out to the few children who lived on this island.

She felt she was allowed.

"Did those kids have actual McDonald's boo buckets?" she asked Diego after a group passed through and was given their candy, having tried to spy from her vantage point on the couch but unsure if her nostalgia-seeking eyes were deceiving her. "That's both cute and also, like -- they're really missing out by not using pillowcases."

That was, like, basic Halloween wisdom.

Diego	Diego, who was once again in his lazy cat costume with just the ears, set down the candy bowl to join Annie on the couch. "What the hell is a boo bucket?" Yeah, Mr. Didn't-Celebrate-Holidays had no clue what that was.
Annie	"Those little Halloween buckets kids have sometimes, with Frankenstein's face on them or whatever," Annie explained, tearing into another Almond Joy. "You get 'em with Happy Meals. And they're super cute until you compare them to the volume of a pillowcase." Annie Hargreeves: sudden math expert. (Though, not a literature expert, as everyone knew that was, actually, Frankenstein's monster's face on those buckets.)
Diego	"I don't think kids should get a pillowcase full of candy." The ones he had already passed out candy to seemed hyper enough.
Annie	"But if you get a pillowcase, then it's enough candy to last until Christmas candy kicks in," Annie pointed out, clearly harkening back to days before her father left because Donna January would never. "Plus it's always offset by the stuff that the kids don't want and the parents end up taking." She wiggled an Almond Joy at him demonstrably. Show her a young kid who liked both almonds and coconut, and Annie would show you a very rare child with a refined palate.
Diego	"For the record, I am not handing any of those out to the kids," he said. "I don't want our house being TP'd."
Annie	"Better hang onto these too, then," Annie agreed, dutifully picking out the Charleston Chews, too. The sacrifices she made, everyone. "That would be really inconvenient." Especially since Diego would have to clean it up himself -- unless Annie's aim could be trusted to blast scattered TP down?
Diego	"And yet, still better than our house being egged," Diego said. "We could use the TP to clean up baby spit or something."
Annie	"Are we really to the point where we're talking about reusing toilet paper with, like, tree bark and snails and maybe shaving cream all --" Annie stopped short, a tight pain in her abdomen catching her attention momentarily. Almost like a cramp, honestly? But like -- obviously, that was not what was going on here. And Annie was so used to feeling the twins moving around that she knew it wasn't that. "Ow," she supplied, glancing to Diego and back down at her stomach with a frown. "That was kind of weird." But honestly, these days her body was also such a traitor that it could have also very well have been dinner talking back a little, too. No need to worry, probably.
Diego	"One of the kids messing with you?" Diego asked. "I can give them a talking to if you want."
Annie	"I do love when you do that," Annie noted, shifting around a little to relieve the pressure. "Might be one of them. It doesn't feel like kicking, though." The pain had faded into a throb in her back and legs, and -- you know what might help? Bedrest was bedrest, yeah, but she was allowed to walk around a little, so Annie was pushing to stand up off the couch. Maybe if the doorbell rang again she could get it this time, give her legs a little stretch, all that jazz.
Diego	Diego frowned, immediately getting up to help Annie out. "Do you need me to do something? Like a heating pad? Or ice?"
Annie	"Heating pad might be nice in a minute. Maybe," Annie agreed, wrinkling her nose as another little twinge struck. "I'm just gonna try standing, see if that helps." It was sort of funny, wasn't it? She'd waited and waited and waited for exactly this moment, and now she was just -- like, trying to find any answer besides what her body already knew it was. She was just about to suggest that these cramps and twinges might, in fact, be the beginnings of contractions, when her body decided to just go ahead and remove all doubt and Annie was struck with the embarrassing feeling that she might have just wet her pants? Except...not? "Oh, shit." At least the couch had been spared, though!
Diego	"Holy shit!" It took a second to process what the hell that was and, yes, be momentarily thankful for the couch. Then it hit him. "Oh shit."
Annie	"Yeah, I think I'm in labor?" Thanks, Annie! Thanks for clarifying for everyone! But now, it was like all of their careful, calm planning for the last nine months had abandoned her, in favor of a sudden onslaught of nerves. (The pain that she now knew was definitely contractions didn't help her focus, but it also wasn't that bad. Yet.) "Shit. Shit, okay, we need to go to the hospital."
Diego	"Yep, yep it's happening." Diego got up, turned left to get the to-go bag, changed his mind and grabbed the candy bowl to set outside for the kids, and then set it back down to look at Annie. "Should I get you new pants?"
Annie	Annie watched this with a sort of giddy half-smile, one hand already on her belly just so she'd be braced when the next contraction hit, and shook her head. "I can handle my pants," she decided, even if it was going to take as long as him putting out candy and grabbing the bag and anything else that needed doing before they split. Her mind was frustratingly blank thanks to adrenaline, but it was sort of comforting to realize that at some point, her professional training was actually going to probably take over. "Get the bag, take care of the candy so they don't actually TP the house -- " See? Superhero foresight on autopilot, right there! "-- and we can go. We got this." They had this, even if she didn't sound particularly confident on that count. (She had this. She wasn't scared. No big deal, just having some babies. Just a normal Tuesday.)
Diego	"We got this," Diego repeated with a nod. "We've totally got this." He grabbed the candy bowl again, but leaned in to give Annie a kiss before he went out to the porch. "We've got this."
Annie	The kiss helped. In a lot of ways, this was as frightening as every apocalypse had been before now. Modern medicine was amazing, sure, sure, but -- no matter how much they'd both prepared for this, Annie was kind of scared. And everything would be different in a few hours. (Hopefully. Maybe she'd be doing this for several days! Don't think about that.) "I love you," Annie told him as she turned to head to the bedroom for fresh pants, and that helped too.
Diego	"Love you too, babe," Diego said, giving her a giddy smile before he went out to put the candy on the porch. Lucky you, children, take all of the Reese's you want. And please don't TP their house.

[preplayed with knife_bender, NFI as they are kind of busy and on their way out, but definitely for broadcast!]