2.5: Love You to the Moon and Back

Six Months Later....
    "I can't believe you came." I whispered. I was still in shock. I'd been in a coma for five months and awake for one. I was  stabilized and could be released soon; the doctors had ordered I stay another few days, just to make sure that everything was fine.
     "Tiffani...when I heard what happened, my world stopped. Every rational thought I'd ever thought went out the window. I-I love you. I had to be there to support you. To see you."
      "Still," I frailly smiled. "Six months. What about you job?"
      "I have a surprise I know you don't like them, but I hope you like this one."
      "Francois....I love surprises now. I-the crash-and....I have something to tell you. On my way home, I was coming from the doctor's. I -I thought I was pregnant."
       "What? Where you?" He looked shocked.
       "No...I had cysts. I was planning to visit you and tell you everything when the crash happened. I fainted from low blood pressure, the cysts caused me to, not to sound gross, but I couldn't keep much down, so I didn't eat a lot, and then I hit my head on the steering wheel and went into the coma....they removed the cysts; I'm fine know, but it made me realize everything. I though I'd be ready for children. I had a whole life plan, but you can't plan life. Somethings just happen and you roll with the punches.....I don't mean to sound like a teenager who uses the words to skip class and not do homework, I just. You said you have to live in the moment. And you do. You can think ahead and do what you hope will have the outcome of the future you want, but you can't plan everything. I have you, and I love you, and-" I began tearing up.
       "Tiffani." He smiled. "It's poetic."
       "Really? You don't hate me?'
       "Why would I hate you?" He looked concerned.
       "Because, I wasn't eating and if I really was pregnant I could have ruined the baby's health and life and-"
        "Don't worry. You could have been, but you aren't."
        "Francois...what's the surprise?"
        "I moved to America. It was easier, I could see you everyday and my job wasn't exactly picking up...I had my dual citizenship, so it wasn't to complex. Your parents let me stay in the guest bedroom and I'm saving for a home of my own. I work at the hospital."
        "Francois!" I gasped. He moved to America. For me. And there was a pretty good chance I'd never rise from my coma.
        "One more thing," he smiled. "People call me Franc."

        "Franc? Like Frank? Why? Your name is so gorgeous."
        "I was a doctor, the other guys though Francois sounded like a model." He laughed. "Americans aren't use to the French names."
        "That they aren't." I agreed. "Francois, Franc, can I still call you Francois?"
        "Of course."
        "What-what do you thin-k-k of children? If I really was pregnant? Your reaction. Or just having children. In the future...."
        "My first reaction would probably be along the lines of 'Hell, what  do I do? How can this be happening?' the second would be 'I'll love and support you no matter what.'." He looked at me and took my hand. "And I will. I'll be there for you, no matter what. When would I want children? I'm not sure...when would you?"
        "I'm not sure....I mean maybe after marriage.  But, if somebody's in a loving, committed relationship with one another and they are planning on staying with each other for the rest of their lives....I wouldn't say no to having children. If two people love each other and are going to stay with each other, it doesn't matter if there's a ring or not. I don't need a ring to decide to have children."
       "So you don't want to get married?" He teased.
       "I do...I just don't want marriage to be this thing we get just so we can start a family. And children. Not right now....I mean....you're twenty-four and I'm twenty-one....I'd rather wait. I don't have an age."
        "You don't need one."
        "Francois." I tried standing.
        "Tiffani. you need to rest."
        "You can help." I kissed him and he smiled.  I laid back down and he sat on the edge of my bed. I held his hand and tried pulling him down.
       "Do you really want to? At the hospital?"
       "Six months." I sighed. "Without it. I get a little slack, don't I?" I began kissing him.
       "Remember what we just said?"
       "Risk it?" 
       "Tiffani."
        "Fine." I sighed, kissing him.
        "You need your rest."
        "It'll relax me if we-"
        "Tiffani." He gave me his playfully. "Once you're out of the hospital. Then,"
        "Your all mine." I winked, pulling him closer.
        "Tiff! Great news." My Mother came into my room.
        "Oh! Um, bonjour Mrs. Laurel." He jumped up, away from the hospital bed.
        "Franc, call me Alyce. Tiff, they're releasing you tomorrow." She didn't seem to notice our make out session.
        "Great. Great. Tomorrow, huh?" I smiled seductively, or at least I hope it came off that way, at Francois.
        "Tiff, would you like a party?"
        "Party? Why?" I asked confused.
        "You just, or will, get out of the hospital after six months. It calls for a celebration."
        "Mom," I laughed. "The bottle of wine Francois sneaked in and the flowers and balloons and jewelry and everything Harry and Evelyn and Alex and Cassie and Jamie and you all got me is plenty. Plenty."
         "Okay." She sighed. "Evelyn and Alex are bringing the twins by later. And maybe we can visit Cassie and Jamie later. They've been on their toes, with the triplet and everything."
         You miss a lot in six months. Cassie, who had been two months into her pregnancy popped out three perfectly healthy babies about three weeks ago, two girls named Tabitha and Consuelo and a boy named Caleb. Evelyn hadn't been as lucky. The boys, Evan and Sam, where two and a half months early and ended up having to stay in the hospital for weeks. They'd been stabilized two weeks ago and Evelyn was excited to bring them on their first official outing. So far, I'd only seen pictures of all five beauties.
          "Are they still planning on moving out?" I asked. Evelyn had insisted that with  seven of us packed into the home, it was just to cramped. Everyone, except Alex, who always agreed with his wife no matter what, protested. From what I understood, if I hadn't gone into a coma, she and Alex would have been moved out all ready.
       "Yes." She sighed. My babies....all grown up.
      "Hey, you have grandbabies now, to spoil."
      "Makes me feel so old. I'm only forty-eight....then again, what do I expect. I had a baby when I was nineteen." She laughed, a slight unusual bitterness in her tone. "Tiff...this may be personal, but please. Don't rush family. Enjoy your life while you're young."
     "Mom, I'm twenty-two."
      "Try being fort-eight. You'll think you're all grown up now, but trust me. You have a good eight years."
         "Well," Francois looked uncomfortable in the middle of the mother-daughter conversation. "I have to get to work. Kinda convenient, if you think about it. I'm mean the wreck isn't-"
         "I know." I smiled at him. He leaned down and kissed my cheek.
         "Love you." He whispered in my ear.
         "I love you, too." I whispered back. He stood up and walked out of the room.
         "Franc's a nice man."
         "Thanks?"
         "Can I not compliment him without a question arousing?"
         "Hey guys!" A chipper voice said. "We brought Sam and Evan, come on honey, over here." She pulled Alex over to the spot she wanted him.
         "Hey, Evelyn. Are you alright?"
         "She loves parenting. Loves it." Alex sighed.
         "And you don't?" I teased him.
         "I do, it's just we decided that we'd do these weekly shifts of who gets up when and does what. Evelyn's extremelly good at getting out of anything involving early mornings or late nights."
          Sex.  She mouthed, out of Alex's view. Can get a guy to jump through hoops. "Annnnnnd, I get this great little energy thing, the doctor gave me these vitamins and they're super!"
         "Great. Glad you like it."
         "Yeah! I really want another baby. Maybe after the twins grow up a little. What about it, boo?"
         "We'll talk." He whispered. "Well, nice talk. We really should be going."
         "Bye, Tiff." They walked out just as quickly as they'd come in.
         "Well, that was...interesting....to say the least."
         "First time parents. They'll be a little crazy."
         "You're telling me." I muttered. Then, I let out a huge yawn.
         "Are you getting sleepy, honey?"
         "I'm," yawn, "fine."
         "Goodnight." She exited the room.

Francois's Point of View.....

    "What's it mean if a girl says she doesn't want or need a ring to start a family? Is she using reverse psychology? Am I suppose to propose? Or does that mean she wants space. She isn't going to break up with me? Is she? No, no, she can't. I love her. I-"
     "Um, Franc." One of the nurses said.
     "Hm? What?"
     "You might want to focus on the patient."
     "Oh, right." I blushed. "Sorry." I went back to looking down the man's throat. "You've done the test" I asked.
      "Yes." The nurse replied. "You might want to take some personal time before you talk a patient to death." S
      "And if she-"
      "Here." She handed me the results back, then exited the room. I reviewed them, then came to a conclusion.
       "You have strep. This," I scribbled a prescription onto a notepad, then tore it out. "Will help."
       "Thanks." We went over the basic end of appointment formalities, then I turned to the empty room. "How do you stump a Harvard medical school student?" I asked the room. "Have him have a conversation with his girlfriend."


Tomorrow....Tiff's Point of View....
  
    "Jamie and Cassie sent their annual New Year's card." I said to my Mother, who was cooking
dinner. It was January seventh and she'd just turned fifty-two.
     "Oh, let me see!" She happily exclaimed. "Oh, look at the children! They're growing so big!"

     "The triplets turned three not long ago."
     "We really should visit them."
     "They invited us to their  late New Year's party, remember?"
     "Oh yes. I remember now." A look of confusion, then remembrance flickered across her face. Mom had been forgetful lately. Harry was fifty-seven and helped her remember things, but I still disliked the fact that my parents where aging so quickly. Harry wasn't my real father, but he felt more like it them Johnny did. I hadn't seen him in years. I don't even know if he's alive anymore. And I don't even care.
      "We probably should get going-It's already eight-thirty. We're late."
      "I'll get Harry.It's lonely...Evelyn and Alex and Evan and Sam gone. Tiff, are you moving?"
      "No, Mum. You signed the house over to me, remember?"
      "Oh, yes! I signed the house over to my daughter."
      "Are you ready?" Harry asked.
      "Yes." Mom smiled.
      "Tiffani," Francois said. "I have something to show you."
      "Can you do it later? I have to go with-"
      "Tiff, just stay." My Mother smiled, dazed.
      "Um, okay." then the couple walked to the garage, gone. "What is it?" I smiled, curiously.
      "I'll show you." He took my hand and led me upstairs.
      "Ow!"  My shirt had caught on the railing.
      "Need to change?" 
      "No...I was just going to take it off. Unless, you'd prefer I not." It was unnecessary for me to, but I was eager to have a little fun. This just helped push everything in that direction.
       "I don't mind." He winked, as we walked into the study.
      When Mom gave me the house, Francois and I had decided to do a little redecorating, mostly by getting rid of Alex's old room and redecorating it into a research area for Francois and a writer's nook for me. Mom and Harry had moved into the apartment like area above the garage that was separate from the rest of the house, allowing me to move into a larger space with Francois. Currently, my old bedroom was empty.
     "Tiff," He had positioned the telescope in a certian direction, "Look through here."
     "Okay." I bent down.
     "Do you see the bright beam of light?"
     "Uh huh."
     "That's Jupiter. Now, if you turn the scope slightly this way," He directed me. "You see a moon."
     "Wow..." I whispered. It must be huge to be able to be seen from Earth.
     "Now, if you had a higher powered telescope, you could see another moon that's a third the size of that moon." He showed me a photograph that I assumed was the moon that I couldn't see. "This," He pointed to the p
icture, "is Tiffoid 003-X."
      "You named a moon after me!" I gasped. "How?"
      "The Holmberg-Weider Astronomical Society found a new moon. I'd been doing a little astrological work on the side to help with my logic as a doctor and heard that they where needing a name. I had a friend who's an astrophysicist at the science facility, pulled a few strings, and named the moon. Tiffani, I love you to the moon and back. I wanted something to show it."
       "I love it. I love you. Thank you." Some people might assume it was nerdy, but it didn't seem that way. It wasn't a star, it was an actual moon. A moon named after me. Me. "You know, you don't need a moon to show me that you love me. I believe it no matter what.." I kissed him on the cheek and he picked me up and pressed me against the wall.
       I loved this man. He was sweet, spontaneous, romantic, and everything I dreamed of. I loved the future. Together. As long as I had him, we had each other, everything would be okay. Everything.