(((July 26, 2016)))
Nicole's POV
"Here ya go, babe." I said as I set a plate with a sandwich in front of Parker on his desk.
"Thanks, honey." Parker said as he set down his pen from where he was going over some numbers. "You know, I think if mining that bedrock pays off, we can get back on track soon."
"I still can't believe that he wasn't even getting all the pay. Like you said, no wonder the numbers were so low." I said as I sit down in the chair in front of his desk and picked up my sandwich.
"Yeah, that's why I put Tyson on it." Parker said before taking a bite of his sandwich.
"Tyson will make sure it gets done." I nodded.
"I doubt that Kelly will make it to next season. If he even makes it through this season." Parker said before taking another bite.
I finished swallowing my food and said, "Parker, the guy didn't know."
"He should know. I mean, part of being a miner is knowing what pay looks like. I mean, hell, even you knew that it was pay."
"True." I shrugged as I continued eating with Parker.
Parker wiped his mouth off with a napkin. "And that guy can be replaced just as easily as he was hired."
"Yeah." I said before taking the last bite of my sandwich.
Parker finished chewing his food and took a swig of his water. "I figure that we need 160 ounces from Sluicifer every week to reach our goal. Not counting Big Red."
I nodded as I wiped my mouth. "I hope you can get that this week."
"Yeah, with Mitch being gone if anything breaks we're pretty much on our own to fix it." Parker said as he leaned back in his chair.
"Hopefully it's just smooth sailing until Sunday when he comes back." I smirked.
Parker chuckled. "We can always hope. Seems like something always breaks though."
"Yeah. So are you just staying in your office today?" I asked him.
"No, I'm about to go check on everything. Maybe help move some dirt. Tyson's down there by himself with everyone else at Indian River." Parker said.
"You need me to do anything here?" I asked.
"No, you just keep your pretty little pregnant butt here and be on standby in case anything happens." Parker smirked.
I chuckled. "What do you want for dinner?"
"Pizza." Parker smiled.
"Lucky for you I got everything to make your favorite kind last time we went into Dawson." I smiled.
"Awesome." Parker smiled as he stood up. "You need anything while I'm gone just radio me."
"Alright." I smiled at him as he bent down to kiss me.
"Be safe." I told him.
"I always do." Parker said before kissing me again. "Love you."
"Love you too." I said as he walked away.
***
"Oh, shit, Sam." I said as I was watching my daily episode of Supernatural.
"Nick." Parker's voice came through the radio that was sitting in front of me on the coffee table.
"Ugh." I scoffed as I paused the episode and grabbed the radio. "Yes, darling?"
"I need you to look online and see where I can find a motion sensor thing for the grizzly bars. They won't go up and that's what Mitch and me seem to think is wrong." Parker explained.
"Alright." I said.
"The closest one you can get." Parker said.
"I'm on it." I said as I walked into his office to go on his laptop.
A few minutes later, I had found the closest shop that might have one. I called them, and sure enough, they had the part. But it'd take days to get here. I called Parker on his cellphone that he used outside.
"I found the part." I told him.
"How far away is it?" He asked.
"A few days to get here." I replied.
"Damn." Parker said. "I guess we won't be getting that part until Mitch gets back."
"What are you going to do?" I asked.
"Well, it's either run the bedrock without the grizzly bars and hope that it doesn't tear up the wash plant, or we can not run at all." Parker said.
"Well, shit." I said.
"I know. That's what I'm saying." Parker sighed. "We really need to keep running. We can't stop until Sunday."
"It might cost you even more in the long run if it messes up the plant." I reminded him.
Parker grunted. "I know. But I'm just going to run without the grizzly bars and try to pick out the big rocks."
"Good luck, baby." I said.
"I'll see you at dinner." Parker said.
"Bye." I said before hanging up.
"Your daddy sure does like to chance stuff." I looked at my belly as I put my hand on it. "I hope nothing bad breaks."
I sat back down on the couch in the living room and pressed play again.
"Let's see what happens to Sam and Dean today." I kept talking to the baby. "Then we'll go cook pizza for Daddy and the other guys."
***
"So how was it without the grizzly bars?" I asked Parker when he was the first one to come in from working.
"Nothing broke. Yet." Parker replied as he sat down at the table. "Just a few backups and rocks we had to push off the conveyor before it ripped it."
"That's good, then, right?" I said as I took the pizzas out of the oven.
"Good as it can get." Parker said.
"Your pizza is done." I said as I took off my oven mitts.
Parker smiled as he came over to the stove where I was at. He wrapped his arms around me from behind and looked down at the pizzas.
"Looks great." Parker said. "My favorite kind. Chicken, jalapenos, and pineapple."
"Yeah, you're weird." I chuckled. "Pineapple is not good on pizza."
"Yes it is." Parker said. "You made it."
"Only because you eat it." I smiled.
"Exactly. So it's all good." Parker smiled before kissing my cheek and going to get a foam plate.
"It's not cool yet." I told him.
"Do I look like I care?" Parker smirked as he got a pizza cutter out of the drawer. "I'm just going to cut it for you anyway."
"Mmhm." I smirked suspiciously at him. "Cut all of them while you're at it."
"Alright." Parker chuckled as he started cutting his pizza.
Parker was on his second slice of pizza and I was on my first by the time everyone got in the kitchen to eat. We talked about how Rick was doing at Indian River, and then we got on the subject of the grizzly bars.
"I told Simon." Parker smirked. "He was filming me and I said, 'it's like having unprotected sex.'"
"Parker!" I playfully slapped his arm and laughed.
"I said, 'it's not a matter of if something will get through, it's a matter of when something gets through.'"
I chuckled as I covered my mouth with my hand. "I guess you're right. Something's bound to get through sometime. And that's why you use protection, kids."
"You look like one to be talking over there, Preggers." Rick teased.
"Yeah, well, our protection kinda lapsed." Parker chuckled.
"You don't say." Rick chuckled.
"But I wouldn't go back and change it now." Parker said.
"Me either." I agreed as I put my hand over his to hold.
"Good, cause I got money on that kid." Rick smiled.
"Oh, lord, here we go again." I chuckled.
"Oh, guys, speaking of that, we're going to take next weekend off for the gender reveal, so this weekend we're working." Parker announced. "Now, the few of you that aren't going, I don't care what you do. Go into Dawson, stay here, whatever. But the camera crew and Ed are going, so you'll be by yourselves. I hope I can trust you not to wreck the place."
"Okay, now I feel bad." I said quietly to Parker and Rick. "Everyone's going except for like, two."
"They get left out of everything else." Rick shrugged as he took a swig of his beer.
"Rick!" I couldn't help but laugh. "That's horrible."
"He's got a point. I mean, it's not like they're as close as the rest of us are." Parker said. "It's not our fault they don't jive with us that good. We're nice enough people."
"Yeah, I guess you're right." I said. "Like you said, I just hope they don't mess something up. They'll pay for it."
"There's the Nick I know." Rick chuckled.
Parker chuckled and kept holding my hand as he drank some of his beer.
***
"What are you doing, baby?" Parker asked as he walked into the bedroom, shutting the door behind him.
"Just writing some stuff down about being pregnant. The cravings, how I feel, what all has happened." I said as I finished writing a word in my notebook.
"You've been doing really well the past week, huh? No bad cramps or headaches." Parker said as he got beside me on the bed.
"Yeah, I'm really doing good. I'm happy about it." I smiled as I shut the notebook and set it on the bedside table. "You know, Nana said that if I pee, and I put some baking soda in it, if it fizzes it's a boy, and if it doesn't it's a girl."
"Oh, that's just an old wives' tale, baby." Parker said as he was looking through the guide on the television.
"I looked it up online. They said it was like 80% right." I said.
Parker looked over at me and smirked. "You wanna try it?"
"We'll know what the baby is next weekend." I smiled.
"Then why'd you even bring it up?" Parker chuckled as he turned his head back to the television.
I looked at the television for a few minutes while I drummed my fingers against my leg.
"Okay, maybe I do want to try it." I admitted, chuckling. "It's killing me not knowing."
"Me too." Parker chuckled as he turned his head towards me.
"Go get the baking soda from the cabinet and I'm going to pee." I said as I jumped off the bed and went to the bathroom.
"Wait! I need a cup!" I said as I ran out to follow Parker to the kitchen.
"You know it might not be right, though." Parker chuckled as I wrapped an arm around his waist as I got a plastic cup from the counter.
"It might be though!" I smiled as I ran back through to the bathroom.
"Don't fall!" Parker called, laughing.
"I didn't!" I yelled back from the bathroom.
A few minutes later, we were standing in the bathroom about to put the baking soda in with the pee.
"Wait, I need my phone to video this!" I chuckled as I ran into the bathroom.
"How much coffee have you had today, baby?" Parker chuckled as he looked into the bedroom from the bathroom doorway.
"None." I said truthfully as I unlocked my phone and walked back to the bathroom. "I'm just really excited!"
Parker chuckled as he put an arm around my waist.
"It said that morning pee was more accurate, but oh well." I shrugged as I dumped two tablespoons of baking soda in a separate clear plastic cup. "Okay, you wanna film or pour?"
"I'll be the filmer." Parker smirked as he took the phone from my hand. "Even though I suck at it."
"I do too." I said as I picked up the cup with the pee in it. "Okay, start filming."
"Okay, three, two, one go." Parker smiled as he held the camera.
I grinned as I poured the pee into the cup with the baking soda.
"Oh my god, it's fizzing!" I laughed. "Oh my god!"
"We got a boy!" Parker smiled from ear to ear.
I threw the empty cup in the sink and laughed excitedly as I jumped into Parker's arms to hug him. He flipped the camera around to face us as he held me up while my legs were wrapped around his waist.
"Do you really think it's a boy?" I smiled.
"We got a 80% chance now." Parker chuckled.
I laughed as I buried my face in his neck.
"I love you." I looked up at him again and smiled as I put my forehead against his.
"I love you more." Parker smiled before kissing me.
"Okay, that's enough filming." I chuckled.
Parker stopped the video and set the phone on the sink before wrapping both his arms around me.
"Now I can really kiss you." I smiled as our lips connected.
And that's how you make memories. In a bathroom at midnight trying an old wives' tale thinking that it might really work.