Derena, Dinner at Copiche

[Drake Wade Adams]

Drake had planned to go to dinner, win or loose tonight - so it was perfect when he won. However, it was more than a victory dinner. He wanted to sit down and talk to Serena, have a bit of a heart to heart with her. He also wanted to be able to take the family for a treat, as they hadn't been out lately. Carver and James weren't used to fine dining, and the little girls had gotten fancy Christmas dresses for the Holidays, so he figured it would be a good experience.

After winning the race, he had came home and gotten everyone cleaned and dressed up with the help of his wife. He had even gotten himself into a nice shirt and suit, complete with a tie. Evangeline and Sarah had matching dresses in pink and purple, and James had a vest and nice pants to wear over a white shirt. Carver had wanted to dress up, and looked wonderful. She wore the nice blue dress Serena had picked out for her, another Christmas gift.

All the way to the restaurant, the car was quiet. Carver read a book in the back, which made Drake smile - to see her little frame covered by a humongous book she devoured. James took a nap and the twins just gurgled happily. Through the drive, Drake had his hand on Serena's, like the once did when they were teens in high school.

When they got inside, they got a table and were seated almost immediately. In Manhattan, a race car driver might not be extremely famous, but the host seemed to know who he was. They got a large round table near the back of the restaurant, in a quiet corner. Drake glanced at the menu, then up at Serena. "What do you feel like eating? Anything, tonight, order whatever you want."

* Copiche (pronounced: Co-pea-chay) is a fancy Italian restaurant whose name I made up because now she can order whatever she wants. You know, instead of being constricted to the Olive Garden menu or wherever. *

Carver: image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/62532/62532,1281978109,1/stock-photo-nice-girl-in-blue-dress-isolated-over-white-background-59144173.jpg

Evangeline:
www.polyvore.com/cgi/img-thing?.out=jpg&size=l&tid=6329737

Sarah:
d111vui60acwyt.cloudfront.net/product_photos/867569/DNU_20002-FRONT_20B_large.jpg

James:
t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSOHsfDwq2oqn11pPUBKEihOQ1fqqsGRZ1iqRJEG6mIuyXoPj72f_77Owzz

Drake:
samanthahighfill.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/johnny-blue-glasses.jpg

[Serena Adams]

Serena was always so proud of Drake whenever he had races and this time, she had cheered him on and bit her nails and hoped for the best like the lucky lady that she was. She didn't get to go and see him race as much as she would like to because of the children and her own schedule so it was that much sweeter when she did get to and the fact that she got to see him win? She was practically in heaven hence why she had been whispering slight sexual innuendos into his ear for the past couple of minutes. Things were going better than they had ever gone for them right now - Carver was excelling in school, James was walking and talking a little bit (granted just a few words) and the twins were crawling.. It was like she and Drake could finally relax a little bit.

Losing Jack had made her question everything including whether or not she was going to be able to love James as she had Jack and now she couldn't imagine a world where he wasn't her little man. She could remember the old days of just her, Drake and Carver and she could honestly say that she didn't long for it. She didn't think back and say that any of their unplanned blessings were ill timed like she was thinking when the girls had first been born and they cried.. non-stop.. for two months. "This is a really nice place, babe." She smiled over at him before looking down to her menu and trying to think of what she could get that she could realistically share with Carver, James and the girls as per usual since she always let them try her food. She felt like it helped expand their food horizons better than just handing them something new and gross would.

She ordered herself shrimp fettuccine Alfredo and a glass of their best red wine which was something that she obviously wouldn't be sharing. She wasn't driving home! Why not have a little wine every now and then? Plus it would put her in a much more relaxed mood for tonight when she and Drake got to make love again. It wasn't that they never had sex because they did but it'd been reduced to quickies in the morning before the children got up and sometimes at night if they weren't both too tired to even think about sex.

"Sar and Evvie, what are you two doin'?" She cooed happily as she reached into her purse and pulled out a small plastic zip lock bag with teething cookies in it. Both of the girls were getting teeth in and she knew how painful that had to be so she brought them something to teeth on all the time in her purse. "Here babies." She knew that was probably a tad tacky considering how formal that this place was but two babies with cookies are a hell of a lot quieter than two babies screaming in pain.

[Drake Wade Adams]

Drake smiled when she whispered into his ear, and then sat to watch as she ordered dinner. For himself, he got a plate of assorted crustacean (mainly lobster and crab) which wasn't something he normally got. But with $500,000 in the bank from his last win, he thought he would splurge a little. They were actually doing fine, what with his mechanic business and her bakery paying the bills. Every bit of extra they got from racing was well worth it, and he enjoyed spending it on treats.

Carver ordered for herself as best as she could. It was interesting to see her communicate with hearing people, or people who didn't understand that she was deaf. She tapped the waiter on the arm when he arrived at the table, pointed at her menu, and requested the macaroni and cheese (which was fancier because it had sun-dried tomatoes and bits of hamburger mixed in). She didn't really speak aloud, just said her "Please," and signed it, which made the kindly waiter smile - he must have assumed she was deaf.

For James and the girls, there were appetizers and Drake ordered a plate of vegetables for James to munch on. He knew he'd be feeding his son from his plate, as would Serena, so the veggies were a good start. When the waiter walked away, Drake smiled at Serena and reached out to hold her hand, their fingers entwined on the top of the table. "Baby," he said, and grinned - he loved using that term with her. "I've got some news."

[Serena Adams]

"You look so handsome tonight, darling." Serena mused affectionately as she pecked him on the cheek just before he told her that he had some news. News? She straightened in her seat and took a sip of the wine that had been brought to her before preparing herself for the possibility that this could be something that she wasn't going to like. What if he was hurt? She thought that he was fine but you never know what someone else could be going through if the don't tell you. She was at least confident that she wasn't going to hear anything along the lines of 'I'm leaving you' because their marriage had honestly never been better. She felt like they were really in sync these days like it was them against the world and that was something that she had always wanted - a fairy tale marriage to the perfect man with the most amazing children in a glorious house by the beach.

Whatever this was, they could take it.

She wasn't going to give up on their relationship just because of a small bump in the road and for all she knew, it was going to be happy news. "Oh?" She wanted another sip of wine but she was going to wait until he said the news just in case she needed it more then. She went from looking him in his gorgeous eyes to looking over to James to ensure that he wasn't doing anything silly like dropping carrots on the ground.

Her focus went back to her husband after she got him back settled like he needed to be. "Before you say anything..." She leaned in and gave him a tender kiss - it wasn't anything overly passionate or sexual just a sweet kiss between a husband and a wife. "I love you... Okay now go." She just needed that.. just in case.

[Drake Wade Adams]

Drake smiled when she kissed him. She seemed so suddenly anxious from the sip of wine she took that he was worried she would be upset with the news. Well, who wouldn't? But if he knew his wife, he knew she would at least be understanding. He himself was nervous for her reaction. What if she left him? Told him to go be with his "other family?" If she took the kids and left... or worse, kicked him out of the house... it would be a severe blow to him. He knew that their marriage was strong, however. They were in this for better or for worse.

"Serena..." Drake didn't know how to say this. He pulled out his phone and brought up a picture of Olivia on his phone, and then held it out to her. It was striking how much of his child she looked in the picture, smiling up at the camera with dolls and a playhouse behind her, on the floor of Rosie's apartment. "This is hard to say. I don't even know how to explain it. But I won't keep it a secret from you. Serena, this is my daughter," he sighed, and swiped his finger across the phone screen. A new picture came up, of Rosie holding Olivia. It was a great capture of the moment - Rosie was laughing, her eyes smiling, mouth open with silent chuckling. Olivia was laughing too, and you could see the resemblance between mother and daughter.

"She's three years old..." Drake continued, thinking of when he and Serena hadn't been together. "When Rosie moved out of her Fox dorm, and went back to live with her parents - she was pregnant. She didn't tell me... I just found out." He switched to another picture on his phone, one of him and Olivia at the park. She had put glasses on and he was reading a magazine. "I actually just met her... a few days ago." He paused, then glanced at Carver, who was watching them intently. "I wanted to tell you. I think we need to do something about it... figure out how this will work out. She's three, Carver is five... I don't want to have separate families."

[Serena Adams]

Of all the things that ran through her mind, having another baby wasn't on the list. It was never even a worry in the back of her mind that he would have had another child despite the fact that they both knew that he had sex a lot back in the day. Serena knew one thing and that was that she wasn't angry.. Just shocked and she felt a little betrayed. Not by him, of course, but by life in general. How come things never stayed calm? It was like they had a couple of months of peace and then a new shock and the picture of Rosie and Olivia... it wasn't suppose to make her heart hurt but it did.

She reached for her glass of wine and finished it off in one gulp which she knew that you weren't suppose to do but she needed it to stay calm which was why she reached for the bottle that had been left on the table and poured herself a fresh glass of wine which she sipped as she tried to think of something to say. What words even worked for this situation? She knew that it had to be strange for him and concerning that she hadn't reacted at all to the news aside from downing a glass and a half of wine. She finally put the glass down with a small sigh and looked him in the eyes.

"I love you and... we'll figure something out." She was smiling but it was obvious that she was fighting back tears. "Um.. she can have my craft room for her bedroom because it's so close to Carver's and she should be near the others so she feels like she belongs and putting her all the way downstairs alone isn't good for a three year old anyway.." She was rambling and she knew it but she couldn't stop because if she stopped then she worried that she was going to start crying in the middle of the restaurant. She wanted him to see how supportive that she was and that meant faking it until she was really happy. How selfish would it be if she started crying? Did she even have a right to be upset about this?

A tear found it's way from her eyes and down her check and she was suddenly thankful that Carver couldn't see her because she didn't want to answer those questions. She shut her eyes to try and hide the fact that she was crying but it just made it worse so she tried desperately to fix the situation. "I'm sorry.. I really am happy for you... I just.. I need time to figure things out."

[Drake Wade Adams]

When a tear traveled her cheek, Drake leaned forward and kissed her, to clear the salty path it was making. He sat back and looked at her second glass of wine with a slightly grim expression. She was obviously being affected by this as much as she said she wasn't, which worried him. He gripped her hand tightly and smiled at her to show that he thought things were at least going to be okay, even if they weren't now. "Thank you... I know you're going to need time. But the craftroom... it's your's. I don't want you to give it up until I talk to Rosie. Olivia's not going to be living with us full time, you know, just maybe a few days a month. Perhaps she can share a room with Carvs."

[Serena Adams]

Serena smiled weakly as he did the good supportive husband thing. She wasn't surprised that he was behaving like this at all since he was a very good man and this was just what a decent person would do when their wife was clearly upset by the news. "It know that it doesn't seem like I'm happy because I'm crying and drinking and happy people don't do those things but I am... I just need time, I guess." She needed to adjust to the fact that he had another child who needed him, "I want to meet her sometime though... I mean she's like technically my stepdaughter." She was about to say more when the waiter came by with the hot plates of food that he put in front of everyone. She got an extra little plate and put some of her pasta on it for James to eat some of her pasta. Evvie and Sarah were enjoying sweet potato puffs but she was going to be sharing with them, too when they were done with that.

She was a little disappointed that they weren't going to be able to make love like she had been planning on. She'd been wanting slow, gentle and passionate for awhile now but it felt like tonight just wasn't the night for it. How could she get in the mood after this announcement? "I... Um... can we not tell Carver just yet? I want to tell her in the right way at the right time but now just isn't the right time, okay? I need time to adjust first then tell her and then wait and do an introduction between everyone.. Maybe we could go somewhere? Like Disneyland?"