One Of Us

Birthday Bumps

Bjorn's birthday could not have dawned more differently than Anna's, it bought with it the brightest of sunshine and unseasonably warm temperatures. Unlike Anna Bjorn was an early bird and today was no different, he woke at his usual hour and mindful of Anna's need to sleep he was careful as he moved not wanting to wake her, he had better ways in mind to wake her today but his plans were thwarted as he rolled over to find her side of the bed empty and cold, wherever she was she'd been gone a while.
This disturbed him more than he cared to admit and he was quickly out of bed intent on finding her, the house itself was too quiet he realised and he had an insight into the anxiety that plagued her when he and the kids were not near. It did not take him long to shove his clogs on and find some jeans, heading downstairs rapidly not bothering with a shirt. His gentle discord ballooned into outright alarm when downstairs proved to be as deserted and quiet as upstairs had been. No noise, no kids, no Anna and the silence was deafening, he threw open the back door intent on the search, not taking note of anything else and as he stepped out onto the veranda he staggered under the unexpected weight of a small person launching themselves at him, closely followed by a medium sized one and then the biggest kid of all, how he withstood the onslaught he didn't know but he remained on his feet by some miracle and he grinned at Anna's outrageous giggling even though he couldn't see her yet because he was buried in children. His ears were assaulted by happy yells and laughter as they all wished him a happy birthday, he managed to partly  extricate himself and look around for his two Anna's and he saw little Anna balancing happily on Anna's hip. The kids and Anna burst into singing happy birthday and it was during this that he noticed the big table set up in the garden with breakfast on it, a pile of gifts and an absolutely enormous something covered with what looked like a bedsheet on the ground next to it, his curiosity piqued along with his need to get to Anna spurred his efforts to disentangle himself from the kids. He failed miserably in his endeavour admitting that his children took after him and were stubborn to a fault, also  they and he had suffered from having to hide his affection in public for too many years while he was with Lena so now they all delighted in smothering him in affection whenever they had the chance. He gave up gracefully and with love, enjoying every second of Linda's attention for it did not often happen and Christian was more open with love for his Papa than he'd ever been. His world was complete as far as he was concerned, due to Bjorn's constant reassurance and presence  Christian was secure, completely sure that this new world that he was too young to have known the first time around was here to stay and he had blossomed because of it. He would always believe in his parents, he was old enough to know he had witnessed a miracle and he revelled in it. In an unconscious echo of last year's BBQ Bjorn became impatient and dragged his children with him determined to get to Anna and his littlest ones, admitting that they'd grown and were heavier than last year therefore more of a struggle did not occur to Bjorn. He finally reached them and managed to reach over Christian's head to land his lips on Anna's , he smiled as Anna held his gaze and he watched her answering smile bloom in her eyes and her lips clung to his when he went to pull away "you made it then" she whispered, he frowned slightly "I woke up and you weren't there Anna, I don't like it" but he swooped in to kiss her again "I have a feeling you'll be saying that to me when we are really old, wrinkly and we have at least 4 grandchildren" she chuckled gently "Oh I can promise you that Bella, no matter how old we are I will always say it" he murmured "but before we dream of grandchildren, shall we finish baking little bump?" he asked laughingly "Promise me we'll be together for grandchildren Bjorn" there was a tone in her voice that he couldn't miss and he knew that her hormones were fucking about with her mind,  his lessons had been learnt and he would start as he meant to go on so he kissed each one of his children that were still hanging off him and was insistent that they sat up to table ready for breakfast then he took little Anna from her kissing her and making her squeal and giggle outrageously before popping her in the highchair that someone had obviously dragged outside, he hoped that it hadn't been Anna "Annabella my darling girl, I love you. I loved you then, I love you now and I will love you through every eternity. I will never leave you and I will never let you leave me again. We will be together for the children, the grandchildren and the great grandchildren and when we die we'll watch over them together from our cloud number nine so yes Bella we will see it all. You and me" he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly "I promise" he finished with a little crack in his voice "I promise too, thank you" she whispered and she stretched onto her tip toes to kiss him but as she did her shirt rode up and uncovered her bump a bit. it had grown a lot in the last few weeks and Bjorn privately wondered if she would be as big as she had been with Linda this time. Anna was touchy about the subject but Bjorn loved her pregnant body and never made any bones about it, her confidence was growing because of it but his attention was arrested by a strange sensation against his abdomen, he looked down thinking that a feather or a dandelion puff had been blown between them by the gentle breeze that swirled around them but there was nothing there. He frowned gently in confusion as he stroked the little bit of belly that was on show and resting against him "I'll never get over the miracle Anna" he shared quietly "You felt it too didn't you?" she asked quietly "I saw you" "I don't know what it was, it felt like feathers but I don't see anything now" he said "I felt the baby kick Bjorn for the first time and you felt it too, I saw you, Little Bump kicked for Papa, bump agrees we should be together" he lifted shocked eyes "I didn't feel it till much later before and not like that" she grinned "we weren't skin to skin then Bjorn, both times I came and told you then you had to wait until it happened again to feel it. You got it live this time" "Wow!" he had no words, he pulled her shirt up higher and pulled her tight against him "Come on Bump, kick for Papa. Its been so long" and suddenly Anna saw the miracle through his eyes and realised that he wouldn't have been allowed to feel Emma or Anna kick and the last time for him would have been Christian "kick for Mama, its been a long time for her as well" she laughed out loud as he inadvertently read her mind "I love you" she whispered and as she did they both felt the ripple across her belly "There you go Papa" her voice low " your first ever birthday present from bump" and Bjorn had to blink back the tears "best birthday present I've ever had Anna, thank you"