Nine: Chapter Two

Month Two

"Elena, sweetie, how're you feeling?" Nate asked, sitting down at the edge of the bed, gently rubbing her back in small circles.

"Tired. I hate morning sickness." She was curled up under all of the blankets they had. She looked up at him with big brown eyes. "Lay with me?"
"Of course." He slid under the blankets beside her, wrapping around her, a hand resting on her stomach. To someone merely looking at her, there was no indication she was pregnant. But Nate could feel the difference. He knew how she usually was and now, a life growing inside her, there was a sort of firmness there and a barely noticable bump.

"Nate?" she asked, capturing his attention.

"Hm?"

She hesitated. She had something nagging at her, forcing doubt into her mind. Nate was someone who wasn't easily tied down. She thanked god that he stayed with her, rarely leaving for more than a few weeks at a time. Sometimes, she would go with him, but, more often than not, she'd stay home. She'd stay home and worry over his well being. But she was okay with him going on these short trips. He would get restless when he stayed home too long. A child, though, would change how often he could leave. A child would force him to stay home. He had to have known this.

She wondered if he even wanted this baby.

"What is it, Elena?" he asked softly when she didn't reply.

"... Nevermind."


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When Elena woke an hour later, alone. She found a note on the bedstand that read "Sully called and needed my help. I'll be home by five. Love you. -ND"
Glancing at the clock, she saw it was twelve. "God, Nate..." She sighed, not looking foreward to five hours alone. She decided to call Chloe and invite her over. It was a lot better than being home alone. She sat up and grabbed the phone off the nightstand. Standing, she found her morning sickness had worn off, at least for now. As she walked to the living room, she dialed Chloe's number. She answered relatively quick.

"Hello? Hi, Chloe, it's Elena." She sat down on the couch and kept talking. "I'm fine. Think you can come over? Nate left and I'm bored... Great, see you when you get here. Bye." She hung up.
Her doubts from earlier resurfaced in her mind. Did Nate want this child? Did he want to be held back by marriage and a baby? She placed her head in her hands and sighed.

"Knock knock," a feminine voice called as the front door opened.

"Hey, Chloe," Elena spoke, looking up.

"How are you and the baby?" the british woman asked.

"Fine, as far as I know. You?"

"Feeling conflicted."

"Oh?"

Chloe collapsed on the armchair next to the couch. "Yeah. I don't know if I want to bring a certain subject up with Charlie."

Elena looked over at the dark haired woman. "Well, what subject? Is it like... Something big?"

"Huge," Chloe answered.

"Like what?"

"It's something you are very well aquianted with at the moment."

The reportered thought for a moment and came to a realization. "No? Are you-...?"

"Pssh, I wish. But I want to ask Charlie if we can, well, you know. Have one," Chloe explained, blowing a piece of hair out of her face.

"You want a baby?" Elena asked, surprised. "I never really expected you to want a child."

"I thought that if I'd ever were to have one, now would be the best time. You and I can help each other out. Say, one of us wants to have a night with our man. The other one of us can babysit. We could raise them together, and... And..."

"You're trying to rationalize why you want a baby," Elena smirked. "You don't have to, you know. At most, you can save those reasons for Cutter."

"Well, I do want a baby. And I really hope he wants one too," Chloe huffed.

"I know what you mean," the blonde agreed.

The darker haired woman gave her a confused look. "What?"

"I'm nervous that Nate might not want this baby..." Elena placed a hand on her stomach and looked down.

"You're insane. Elena, you are insane. Do you realize how happy he's been?" Chloe looked at her friend in disbelief. "He's on cloud nine when he thinks about you carrying his child."

"Chloe..."

"No. No. Don't try to say anything against that." The woman shook her head to accentuate her statement. "Where'd he tell you he was going?" she asked.

"To help Sully with something. Why?"

"Well, he lied."

Elena sat up. "Wait, what?"

"Yes. He lied. He's making something for you and that baby right now. Why? Because he wants that child. He wants you, that child, and himself to be happy." Chloe stated the phrase with conviction, making it hard for the most pessimistic of people to be able to doubt her.

Elena sighed. "Well, that makes me feel better, but I just wish he'd say it."

"He will. I know it."

"What's he making?"

"I'm not allowed to say. Besides it won't be done for another month or two." Chloe gave the blonde a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, Sunshine, everything will be fine. If only I could ask Cutter about having a child."

"Do it tonight!" Elena said.

"I don't know. I'm nervous about it."

"Chloe Frazer? Nervous? Must be the apocolypse," the pregnant woman joked, sarcasm in her tone. "I'm serious though. Get up the nerve and ask him. I'm sure he'd be fine with it."

Chloe sat back in her seat. "Still... We've only been dating, what, two years?"

"So? Nate and I got married after we had only known each other a little more than two years. I mean, you've known Cutter for a lot longer than that. Right?" Elena shifted, moving so she was laying on the couch now.

"Well, yeah, but-"

"It'll be fine, Chloe. At most, he'll be surprised." She shrugged.

Chloe sighed. "I'll ask him tonight."


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Hours later, near six o'clock, Chloe was home. "Charlie? Where'd you put the mail?" she called, sifting through the papers on the table.

"The counter next to the fridge," the large man replied from the next room over.

She glanced at the place he had told her and sighed. "It's not there!"

"Did you try the on the table?"

She rolled her eyes and abandoned the search. Standing, she headed for the room in which her boyfriend resided. He looked up at her from where he sat on the couch. "Find it?"

"No, I did not." She collapsed in the spot besides him. "How do you manage to lose so much?"

He shrugged. "Not really sure. But I found you."

She snorted. "Ha ha ha. Very clever." It was his turn to roll his eyes. "Oh, you're watching Bones?" She asked, gesturing towards the television. He nodded. "What season?"

"One of the later ones. You know, where Brennon's pregnant and Vincent's dead," Cutter answered.

"Ah, don't remind me. I hated when he died."

Chloe leaned against the man besides her, watching a scene where a dark haired woman was trying to piece together a child's toy. It seemed to be a frustrating process due to horrible instructions. It flashed to the woman's child, a smiling baby boy just a little over five months old.

Chloe leaned her head on Cutter's shoulder. Now or never. "I want one of those." She pointed at the television.

"What, the toy?"

She gave a very flat look. "No. A baby!"

His eyes widened and he spluttered out, "A, a baby?"

She shifted, straddling his lap and crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Yes, a baby. A living, breathing child. Of ours." He gulped. "Think, Charlie. Think about it for a second. Elena is pregnant right now. If I got pregnant now, she and I could raise our kids together."

"Bu, but, a baby?"

"I think you'd be a great dad."

He locked eyes with her, niether faltering in their gaze. He looked away and sighed. "You want a kid with me?"

"Mhmm. And we have enough money to take care of a kid. What do you say?" She let her arms fall, her hands finding grip on his shirt. "Do you want to have a baby with me?" She looked at him earnestly, waiting for his answer.

He pressed his lips to her neck, kissing softly before speaking. "Let's start now."