Growing Together

Chapter 23

The loud sound of an alarm had startled him awake, disoriented him even, but his real confusion was coming from the movement on the bed beside him. "Hmm?" He had groaned out sleepily as he tried to pry his eyes open though he failed. Instead, he had let his eyes fall back close, sleep was weighing on him far more than his need to wake up fully. That is until he felt a shy hand coming to stroke his belly. "What time is it?" He asked groggily from sleep as he adjusted his hands under his cheek.

"It's 6 am," Pete letting his eyes raise up to look at Kao, "Did I wake you up?" He asked worried he had. All he had wanted was to feel the baby. He didn't think he would have that need as much as June did. Plus it was all new to him. He had never shared his bed with Kao like this—not while pregnant at least—so he had been afraid he had hurt the baby in some way overnight.

It took Kao a minute to answer, but when he had it had Pete relaxing at that simple 'No.' He had shifted a little closer to the center of the bed before he was stretching his hand out to grab onto Pete's hand. "Your hands are warm," Kao said pressing them against his belly, which had Pete's smile softening.

"Are you cold? Should I turn off the aircon?" He asked letting his hands run over his belly with a bit more confidence. He had pulled his hands away long enough to pull the covers further up on Kao's body.

"No, that's okay," Kao had said moving a bit to sit up on the bed, that's when he noticed Pete's clothes. "Are you going somewhere?" He asked curiously considering he had not mentioned anything last night.

He had almost forgotten he had been in the middle of getting dressed for school. He had his half of the project to hand into Sandee today and if he dared skip he knew the woman would just come after him. "Yeah, I have to meet San and Thada for a project. I'll be back as soon as I can," He promised before he was looking at his watch. He had finished collecting his belongings before he had returned to Kao to kiss his head.

And it just so happened to be when Mrs. Karn had come in to check on them. He couldn't help but feel his cheeks light up at being caught. "Um...I gotta go," Pete said with a sheepish grin as he greeted Kao's mom on the way out.

"He's a sweet boy," Mrs. Karn had said with a smile as she went to her child's side. "How about some breakfast?" She said sitting down beside him. "Pete told me about the doctor's order. So, what should we have today?" She asked in that sweet voice of her as she assured her son she could make whatever he craved.

"If you let me pick, I might trouble you, mom," Kao said with a small giggle.

*~*~*

Once he had gotten to school he was a bit impatient for the class to begin. His leg was bouncing up and down as he looked at the clock.

"What's the matter, Pete? Nervous about telling San you didn't do your half?" June teased as he wrapped his arms around Pete's shoulders.

"Shut up! The assignment wasn't even hard," Pete had said pushing his friend away before he was turning to face him properly to greet him properly. "What about you? Did you get your half done?" He asked before he was turning when he had heard Sandee's annoyed voice.

"Absolutely not! He came over last asking Thada and me for help," Sandee said glaring at June daring him to even try lying about it. It wasn't that she was upset about helping him with it, but last night had been a rather troubling time for them both. For one, it was their date night and Sandee had wanted to just watch a movie with her boyfriend and talk about the baby. They might have been careless about getting pregnant but now that they had decided to keep her, they both had wanted to prove to her sisters that they could fully take responsibility. Thada had picked up a part-time job and Sandee too was working. They had finally had a day to themselves and June had to come over and ruin their entire evening with more unnecessary work. He had even stayed well past midnight with Thada.

June had sheepishly smiled at her before he was saying, "I'm sorry San, I had no idea! I swear!" He begged, moving away from Pete in case she decided to reach for him.

"Nothing we can do about it now," Thada said placing Sandee's bag on the desk before helping her sit down and claiming the seat beside her.

Pete had only shaken his head at their friend before he was looking through his own bag for his half of the report. The last thing he wanted was her anger directed at him. "I brought the report," He said placing the packet on her desk. "You can look through it, and I'll type it up once I get back home." He said trying to ease that angry look on her face.

"That's fine, I'll look it over during break," She said before she was finally remembering the thing she had actually been curious about. "You were met Kao yesterday, right? How did it go?" She asked turning to look at him with a much calmer demeanor.

"Oh! That's right! You went to see Kao. How is our little marshmallow?" June had cooed making Pete furrow his brows at him.

"I think it went okay," Pete said trying to figure out how to better word everything. "He was a little nervous," He admitted, though he didn't want to say that the reason for it had been him. Kao was almost due and here he was trying to jump into this at this late stage of his pregnancy. Kao had already done all the hard work, he'd been through a lot and been just fine without him. "Sandee, what if I'm no good at it?" Pete said looking at her with all the worries in the world of being a father and a partner.

"Don't you dare say that," Sandee said gently reaching for his hand. "I don't think anyone expects you to be perfect at this, just be there. That's all I'd want if I were Kao." She said honestly. She knew Pete, but she also knew Kao enough to know that he was simple like that. 

"You love them don't you?" Thada had asked. He wasn't saying love was all it took, but it was the most important part to make every effort count regardless if he screwed up along the way. Kao, was the type to forgive everything if Pete tried earnestly.

"I do," Pete said with a small smile. He loved Kao and In, though it had taken him the longest to even admit it to them. "I do love them, but I can't help but worry. The baby is almost here and we are still trying to work things out between us." He had promised Kao to be there for them, and that was something he didn't plan to go back on. He just felt a bit hopeless by Kao's words. 

Kao didn't fully trust that he was being serious.