#141: Derek Faces Lana; Lou's Odd Suggestion

Dude's parents returned to Greece the next day, and Alice reverted to her usual immodest wardrobe.

"Thanks for everything you put up with in the last few days," Dude told her.

"No problem," Alice laughed.  "Your mom's a bit much, but your dad's pretty cool."

Alice and Dude had decided not to have a honeymoon after their wedding (actually, after their TWO weddings within the space of one week), preferring instead to save their money to enlarge the Glass Box House to add a bedroom for their son.

So, they just concentrated on improving the skills they needed for their jobs.

_______________

At Kelly and Derek's house, Peter and Bill had finished installing a second-floor bathroom for Declan,

so that he didn't have to keep using Kelly's "girly" bathroom.

Derek came home from his latest round of astronaut training.

"Hello," he said cautiously to Kelly, as he poured himself a cup of coffee.

Kelly was practicing making Cereal Marshmallow Squares, in order to improve her new Baking skill.

"Hello," she answered simply, and it was clear to Derek that she didn't intend to say anything more than that.

"Is there anything you need me to do?" Derek asked, sitting down at the kitchen island.

"Yes."  Kelly turned to face him.  "I need you FINALLY to clear the air with Lana."

There was nothing that Derek wanted LESS to do than to have any contact with his furious (and now heavily armed) ex-girlfriend.  But if doing so was the price of getting back into his wife's good graces....
________________

Lana was in the middle of a very busy day of work as a Senior Detective--a day full of perps, dirtbags, thugs, and other assorted lowlifes.

In other words, she was NOT in an ideal mood to receive a call from Derek--to hear from him for the first time since he had unknowingly but carelessly impregnated her with Declan years earlier.

"Unbelievable!" she muttered to her computer.  But she had nonetheless agreed to meet Derek at the Rattlesnake Bar that evening after work.

_______________

"Got your drink of choice right here, Detective," Cameron said to Lana.  "Is this a quick stop on your way home, or are you hanging out with us for the evening?"

"I'm actually meeting my ex," Lana said.

"Eeeesh!" the bartender remarked.  (Like all the Rattlesnake bartenders, Cameron knew about Lana's personal history--Lana was still so angry at Derek after all these years that she made no secret of their illegitimate son, and tried to make sure that everyone in town knew what a shirker Derek was.)

Derek soon arrived.  "Thanks for agreeing to see me, Lana."

"I would have agreed to see you YEARS ago if you had actually returned any of the calls or emails or texts I sent you back then!" she said testily.  "Trying to tell you I was pregnant with your kid!!!"

"I KNOW I did the wrong thing, Lana," Derek admitted.  "I've been told that by every woman of my acquaintance, and by most of the men, too."

"Get to the point, Derek," she demanded.  "Is there a problem with Declan?"

"No, he's doing great," Derek assured her.  "He's okay in school, and he's got a couple of friends.  And he's welcome to stay with Kelly and me as long as you want."

This, frankly, was not what Lana had expected to hear.  Moreover, she had WANTED to hear that Declan had been behaving badly, and that he was constantly in detention, picking fights with other kids, and that he had been making Derek--and especially his pretty new "Stepford Wife"--miserable.

_______________

Lou had had the day off from her medical career,

so Peter had stayed home to paint (instead of going to Alice and Dude's house, which was his usual routine) while Lou did medical research online.

They had a good time, enjoying their usual banter and teasing,

and Lou seemed to Peter to be in an unusually good mood--especially given that Alice's wedding had been the preceding day.

"Hey, you want to go out for dinner tonight?" she asked him.

"Sure!" Peter answered.  He was very surprised (and pleased) at Lou's suggestion.

_______________

Peter and Lou went to the Solar Flare Lounge in Oasis Springs,

and Peter thought that--as was usually the case when Lou dressed up for an evening out--she looked spectacular.

He suspected she had something on her mind, but he was at a loss to figure out what it was.

"So, I've been thinking," she began.

She continued.  "I'm doing well in my medical career, and I finally have my Doctor of Medicine diploma--though I'll have to put in a bit more time as a Registered Nurse."

"You DO seem a lot happier lately," Peter agreed, "since you started in medicine.  I think the field suits you."

"So," she continued, "I was thinking it might be time to get the other part of my life--the personal part of my life--in order, too."

"And"--she took a deep breath--"I think I'm at the point in my life that I want a baby."

Peter was confused--he thought Lou was "putting the cart before the horse."  He wondered if this was a clue that Lou wanted him to propose marriage to her.

He was half worried that LOU was about to propose marriage to HIM, in which case he would end up feeling like a total jackass for having missed some sort of obvious sign from her.

"So, here's my idea," she said.  "You and I go down to the fertility clinic, and you donate a sperm sample, and we look for a surrogate mother."

Peter was speechless.

"What do you think?" she asked.