Melanie stretched and yawned, frowning at the kink in her neck and back. Slowly moving her hair from her face she glanced around her bedroom and smiled. Jessica slept soundly, snuggled deeply into her mother's arms snoring lightly. Thomas, on the other hand, was stretched completely across the large king sized bed, his feet planted firmly in Melanie's back. Wiggling softly out of  Jessica's grip, Melanie slowly untangled herself from her children, stretched the ache out of her back from Thomas' feet, and slowly made her way into the master bathroom.

Returning to the bedroom, Melanie began to pick up the remnants of their ice cream and cake party from the night before.  Even though it was a little after 9:00 before everyone had made it safely home, Melanie still gave in and allowed the children to splurge on the late night treat. They had finished their birthday night cap off with a movie in her bed, a special treat for the children indeed. Glancing at her bedside clock, Melanie noticed it was 9:30, and decided to go start breakfast and call David. She had planned on running a few errands on her own this Sunday morning and needed to check with him to make sure he wasn't going to demand on seeing the children at the hospital first thing. One thing Melanie had learned in the seven almost eight months of being separated from her husband was that she really didn't know him at all anymore.

After waiting for the hospital operator to patch her through to David's room, she frowned into the phone at the voice that answered.

"What?" Snapped Sara rudely as she answered the phone in David's room.

"Sara?" Melanie asked, "Is David available?" Melanie could hear David in the background grumbling about the hospital food and asking who was on the phone.

"Why do you want to talk to him?" Sara snapped and Melanie rolled her eyes.

"I just need to ask him something about the children," Melanie replied trying to keep her temper in check when dealing with this obnoxious woman.

"Sure you do," Sara replied. Before Melanie could respond she heard shuffling and then the deep morning voice of her husband. The sound that once made her knees weak now made her frown as she listened to him greet her.

"Melanie? What do you want?" David all but snapped at her.

"Good morning to you too," Melanie snippily replied before she could stop herself. "I was just calling to see if you wanted me to bring the children by to see you. Technically it is still your weekend time with them." And I don't want to give you any ammo to use against me in court, Melanie thought to herself.

"Oh," David sighed into the phone. "Yeah, er I guess so. They want to keep me here another day or so to watch for blood clots so yeah, I guess you can bring the kids by."

"Okay," Melanie agreed softly blowing out a breath she didn't realize she's been holding. She had so wanted him to say no. "They're still sleeping right now, it was a long night for them. I'll bring them by after lunch, maybe around 2:00. We need to get a few groceries and I need to get the school supplies Jessica needs for Kindergarten and Thomas needs to start preschool."

David agreed and hastily hung up the phone. Melanie frowned once again thinking how wrong her current family situation was. Instead of dwelling on the negative, she began to make her famous strawberry waffles. Before everything had hit the fan it was a Sunday morning Thompson family breakfast tradition to have the tasty waffles topped with more strawberries and whipped cream for breakfast and Melanie knew the kids needed a little normalcy in their lives, especially after the events of the previous night.

Watching her two sleepy little ones come into the kitchen, a bright smile made its way onto Melanie's face.

"Good morning guys!" She cheered enthusiastically to Jessica and Thomas. "I've made breakfast and then we are going to to do some shopping and swing by to see Daddy. Sound good?"

Both kids nodded as they happily munched on their breakfast. After clearing away the mess, Melanie shooed the children to their rooms so they could get dressed and ready for their trip to the stores for the day.

Arriving at the shopping center a little after 11:00, Melanie decided the first thing  that they needed to tackle were the new school shoes both kids needed. While Jessica was excited at the prospect of new shoes, Thomas frowned and looked like he wanted to argue with his mother. One look at her face and he decided to stay quiet, for the moment.

"No Mama!" Thomas groaned nearly 30 minutes and seven pairs of shoes later, "I don't want those shoes. I want Superman shoes!"  His protests were accompanied by the stomping of his little foot.

"Sorry bud, they just don't have Superman shoes today," Melanie replied trying to not loose her patience with her son as she put yet another pair of shoes back into their box.  She was starting to get a headache and dealing with a temper tantrum was the last thing on her mile long to do list for the day. Glancing at her watch and seeing how they'd been shoe hunting for nearly half an hour, Melanie decided to try another tactic.

"How about these cool light up shoes?  They flash red and blue and those are some cool Superman colors" Melanie suggested holding up the last pair of sneakers in her son's size. Seeing the look on her son's face, Melanie braced herself for another argument before a familiar voice broke into her train of thought.

"Wow bud, those are some cool shoes," a deep voice exclaimed coming up from behind Melanie.  Melanie jumped and turned letting out a startled yelp and met the impossibly handsome face of Dr. Chris Waters.

"Hi ya Doc", Jessica exclaimed jumping up and down. "I got some cool new shoes too!"  Jessica's little arms held out her new pink and purple princess shoes for his inspection.
Chris smiled brightly at the beautiful little girl who looked so much like her mother at that moment with her hair framing her small round face.

"Wow, I see you do!" Chris exclaimed and turned his attention back to Thomas.  "What about you bud?  Found any cool shoes yet?"

"Nope," Thomas shrugged as he glanced at the shoes in his hands. "They don't have Superman shoes here and I need Superman shoes for school!"  Thomas held his hands out in clear exasperation that his mother just didn't understand his dilemma.

"Hmmm, that is a problem for you isn't it bud?" Chris said pretending to stroke his chin. "But don't you want cool shoes that don't show everyone your Superman, you know let them think you're Clark Kent?"

Thomas' eyes widened at that thought. He hadn't considered that. Melanie couldn't help but smile as she saw the gears turning in her young sons mind as he contemplated what Dr. Waters had just told him.

"I guess so," Thomas finally mumbled. "Okay Mama, I'll get these for school."  Thomas handed his mom the box of sneakers so she could go and pay for them. Smiling at her son, she looked at Chris and found her breath catch in her throat at the look he was giving her.  Mouthing a quick 'Thank You' to him, he just nodded his eyes never leaving her's causing a blush to rise up on her cheeks. Chris blinked, he had never seen someone look more beautiful than she did at that moment when her cheeks were a bright pink and her neck flushed. He wondered if that would be how she looked after a night spent making love.

"Umm, I guess I'll take these to the register to pay for them and then we will head over to look at new clothes", Melanie mumbled as she ducked her eyes quickly away from Chris' penetrating gaze. 

"Okay. It was good seeing you again Ms. Thompson," Chris stated smiling at her and the children.

"You too, Dr. Waters," Melanie responded with a light pink tint remaining on her cheeks. "Hopefully we will see you again soon".

Chris smiled and reached out a hand to touch her face before hesitating. Glancing down he saw the children watching him curiously as they looked between the doctor and their mother.

"Yea, hope to see you soon." Chris replied before stuffing his hands into his pockets and turning to walk out into the mall.