GEN IV: Chapter 13

Just days after moving into the new home Logan was getting big enough to crawl around his own spaces and for the first time ever - he held his own bottle. Rachel was so happy for him that she called Brian, who was out on a case, to share the happy news.

While she was on the phone Logan noticed that she wasn't paying attention to him.

So the little guy thought it would be fun to hide in his toy box - mommy would never find him.

She didn't either, not right away. When she hung up the phone she saw that he was gone and started a search. In this new house where not everything is unpacked she knew that he would have many hiding places.

Logan got bored after about eight minutes of waiting for his mother to find him, so he crawled out of that toy box and looked for something else to do. He found some yummy little dolls in their own house sitting in Jennifer's room just waiting to be eaten.

Rachel started to panic after about ten minutes, but she finally heard some small giggles coming from her daughters room. She peeked in and saw Logan playing so she let him alone.

Rachel went to the restroom and just as she was about to leave she passed a mirror and noticed a line on her face. After a short squeal of shock she leaned closer to the mirror and checked her face - nothing. It was just a smudge on the reflective surface. Recently celebrating her middle age birthday had put a panic in her that she was getting older, but there was no proof of that as of yet.

Brian came home from the case he was out investigating and got Logan and took him down to give him lunch. He snuggled his little boy after he was wiped up and put him in the floor to play. As he watched Brian thought of Rachel's words spoken a week ago - '...you must be nuts. Are you going through a midlife crisis or something?'. The truth was that she was right. After celebrating his middle age birthday, Brian felt like he needed change all around. New clothes, new house, new car - what next?

"OH! The car! It should be here soon." He said aloud to nobody. Coming out of his own thought bubble Brian noticed that his little man was tired. Brian changed into his pajamas (it always helped put Logan to sleep if he thought others were going to bed too) and read Logan a night time story. Pretty soon the baby was fast asleep.

Brian heard a small honk. At the same time, he heard Rachel asking for him to join her in the hot tub. Brian rushed to change into his swimming trunks and shouted "sure!" toward the stairs.

Outside Rachel was greeted by the delivery man. She was more than shocked to see the package.

Brian came rushing out of the house. He was trying to get there before Rachel but he saw that he was too late.

"Okay before you say anything, I can't return it. It was flown here from Italy!" He said as fast as he could after a moment he saw Rachel was staring at him in quite an alarming way. "Honey? Really honey can you quit looking at me like that?"

"How... Much... Was... It?" Rachel managed to say.

"Uh. Just 30... okay 40," Brian paused and looked at his wife, "okay - §60,000." He flinched waiting for the blow.

"Are you serious!? You just totally blew through our babies' school funding?! You have GOT to be kidding me!"

"No no honey, not at all. There... Okay maybe I dipped in a little, but just a small §10,000. That's easily replaceable, easily. The rest I had saved up. Truly baby it's not a big deal." Brian said he was nearly bouncing up and down on the spot in excitement about the car.

Rachel sighed. She heard her own thoughts echoing in her head 'Why? why do I even try to argue with him? I couldn't ever refuse anything that brings him happiness. Look at him, he's like a teenage girl after her first kiss.' she sighed again.

"Obviously it's futile to try and disagree with you. But just so you know, you'll be the one working it off. I know with what you get paid per case it won't be long, but I also want you to understand that you are not to be gone all day either. Not so much overtime that you miss out on family things. On top of that, you BETTER be done with this mid-life crisis crap!"

Brian smiled. "Thank you baby! Thank you!" He embraced Rachel quickly. As much as he longed to drive his new toy he put his priorities in order and said, "How about that dip?"

The two of them got into the hot tub and cuddled with each other. Brian thanked her again for allowing him to keep the car. He kissed her lips. Even with that little kiss things started to smolder between the two of them. Pretty soon they were under the water and bubbles enjoying the moment.

A short while later Jennifer came home from school and asked her father to play a game of tag before doing her homework.

The two of them played various games for a few hours while Rachel sat inside reading and listening for Logan. When he did wake, she stayed in his room and played with him for a while.

The next morning, after breakfast, Brian decided to do some sculpting. He had idea in his head that he just had to make. Not like anyone in the family needed it but he wanted to make a wine rack.

While he was down there Rachel joined him for a workout. This was another thing about getting older, Rachel wanted to loose weight. Whether she admitted it or not, she was also going through a mid-life crisis. Hers was not as exuberant as Brian's was, it was more like gaining internal balance and self respect.

Working on and off all day Brian finally finished his project. He dusted himself off for the last time and went to tend Logan.

Brian found Logan in Jennifer's room, he was trying to wake his sister who had tucked herself in for the night.

Brian scooped him up and gently chastised Logan, "Little man, you should know better. It's not nice to wake people when they are asleep."

Logan giggled and pulled at his father's hair. "Bed? Night night?" He was slowly learning to speak and knew key words like 'eat', 'dada', 'mamma' and 'play'. He got his point across when he needed to.

"Sure buddy, are you tired?" Brian asked.

Logan nodded his head, "Night night!"

The next day, while Rachel was having breakfast she left Logan in the den to play with a toy rabbit given to him by his Aunt. As she sat and ate her pancakes she heard random noises coming through the archway. First there was always a 'boo' and then many giggles from Logan. Out of curiosity she stood up from the table and peeked.

What she saw melted her heart.

Her two babies were playing together. Jennifer was voluntarily keeping her brother company - and enjoying herself. Rachel thought she couldn't be much happier, but when Jennifer stood and pulled Logan to his fee to hug him, she really thought she'd cry. Rachel was very happy that Jennifer had finally warmed up to Logan.