it starts and ends with the jordan's

Chapter 23

[Josephine's POV]

Hero has been the best boyfriend and soon to be father. He reacted in such a way that I could never begun to imagine.

Every single morning when Hero wakes up he goes down to the cafe in the lobby and buys me my favourite bagel and a green smoothie. The green smoothies are absolutely disgusting but he says "What we feed the baby is what fuels its growth." I know he's right but if it means making nausea worse I definitely won't be thrilled about it. Once he wakes me he talks to the baby for awhile so it can recognize his voice. He said he read that on google. 

My eyes start to flutter waking me from my deep, peaceful sleep. Hero walks in through the hotel room door in his usual attire; joggers and a hoodie with one of his LA baseball caps. God I love that hat on him, especially when his hairs grown out. Of course like every morning he's carrying the bagel and smoothie but for some reason the thought of the food makes bile rise in my throat. No that's vomit.

"I brought break-"

I cut him off by running to the washroom and throwing up everywhere. God I thought morning sickness was just a petty excuse to not eat certain foods but I was so very wrong. It feels like your stomach has disintegrated into your throat and out your mouth.

Hero rushes into the washroom with a look of worry. He hasn't seen me with morning sickness yet and by the look of his face I assume he knows absolutely nothing about pregnancy.

"Jo let's go to the doctors we can't risk you or the baby getting sick, come on I'll call in the car." I raise my hand up to silence him.

Once I stopped repeatedly getting sick and I've brushed my teeth, I turn and face him. His cheeks are pale and he looks like he may be sick too. I feel bad for scaring him so much.

"Jo what the hell is wrong your scaring the shit out of me. Is it something with our baby?"

I giggle. He is so clueless about this stuff and I love how worried he gets about not just my health but now our child. He really does care.

"Yes hero I'm okay, and so is your jellybean." He lets out a loud sigh.

I love how he calls our baby 'jellybean' it's such an adorable nickname. He gets embarrassed when I mock and tease him but deep down the name fills my heart with such pride that this is the father of my baby.

"Are you mocking me still?"

"No, not at all. Truthfully I adore the nickname you gave our baby." I smile at him as he sits next to me on the bathroom floor.

"Really?" He starts to play with my hair. It really does relieve most of the pounding in my head.

"Yes." He leans over and kisses my cheek.

"So you going to tell me what the hell is wrong with you and our jellybean?"

"Nothing is wrong necessarily. Do you not know anything about being pregnant?"

"No clue, only person I've ever known to be pregnant that... kept it, was my mom with my sister and I was only 1. Plus what do you mean nothing necessarily?" He says emphasizing the word necessarily.

"Well it's just morning sickness so if you're looking at the big picture it's completely normal but it's not fine because I hate getting sick which triggers my anxiety." It's true. I've been capable of distracting myself from the symptoms of my anxiety disorder, mainly because Hero just feels like home to me. He feels like a safe, warm blanket that shelters me from the fears lingering out in the world but this sickness isn't something Hero can fix. 

"Well you clearly know more about this pregnancy stuff than I do so if there is anything I can do, and I mean anything, tell me and I'll do it. You promise?" He knows I'll feel like a burden and his reassurance means everything to me.

"I promise." I reach over and lightly run the tip of my nose against his jaw. He turns his head and gives me a quick kiss before carrying me back into the bedroom. 

Just as I finish my bagel I look over and see Hero's thumbs messing around with his jaw. This is a habit he only does when he's nervous. I thought I had settle his nerves about the morning sickness. 

"Hero?" His head shoots up like he forgot I was there. 

"Mhmm.."

"What are you so worked up about?"

"I'm not worked-" I silently cut him off by starring at his hands. He brings them down from his jaw and stares at them with me.

"Fine maybe I am worked up but it's not a problem we need to-"

"Hero come here and talk to me." I gently pat the empty spot on the bed.

He moves from the couch to the bed and leans his head on my shoulder.

"So tell me what's on your mind." I grab his hand and caress his knuckles with my thumb.

He deeply sighs before he starts his confession. "I was just thinking about how everyone is going to take this. I mean yes we maybe only have a week left of filming but after we have the promo tours and signings. How do we hide your pregnancy?" Shit I never realized the reality of this situation. I knew it was to good to be true.

I stay silent. The gears in my brain spinning rapidly trying to think of all the bad that can occur. What if rumours gets out and we ruin Anna's movie?

"Hey Jo look at me..." He grabs my chin and makes me look at those deep piercing eyes. "...Don't overthink everything okay?"

"How did you-" God I'm not used to him cutting me off but I'm glad he did.

"I know you Josephine. Your anxiety tricks you and brings you down. I promised myself that night in the car that I would make you as happy as you make me and if that means dealing with everything from the outside world on behalf of the both of us, that's exactly what I'll do." God damn it, how does he make me fall harder for him with each sentence, each kiss, each breath. 

"I love you, so much."

"I love you more."

"Well I guess we have to talk to Anna."

"I'll ask her to meet for lunch?"

"Ya sounds good."  I start to pick at the skin around my nails, it's an anxiety tick I developed when I was 4. I have never been confident in my hands because of that.

Hero shoots Anna a brief "me and Jo would like to have a chat, lunch today at 2?" and she quickly agreed.

I get in the shower and dress myself in a pair of red flare jeans and a 90's graphic baby-t. I pair it with my Jordans that sparked conversation between me and Hero when we first met. These shoes are very nostalgic for me and him.

Hero walks back into my hotel room to pick me up and I notice he is wearing his Jordans as well.  I smile down at his shoes and he takes my hand in his. It's like the were molded for each other. We walk out of the hotel and into the car. We head to meet Anna and my stomach is twisted in nots that feel like they are cutting off all blood flow to my body. 

We pull into the restaurant and walk in. I almost grab his hand. It's weird to remember fans watch our every move and on top of that Anna doesn't know about us yet. We've hid it pretty well. 

I stop in my tracks when I see Anna on her phone at the table. Hero notices and places his hand on the palm of my lower back to ease my nerves. Normally this would work better than any meds doctors would prescribe me but I'm to worked up over how this conversation will end. 

Will she hate us, me?

Will we be fired?

Will I get my flaws thrown in my face by the one person I look up to?

We reach the table and Anna's eyes are widened in curiosity of why we asked her here. In about five minutes that curiosity will be wiped out and replaced by an emotion that will fill my heart with joy or rip it out of my chest and stomp on it. The fate of my mental well-being is lying in Anna's hands and she doesn't even know.