A Love So Absolutely Clear {Crowen} ✔️

03: unchanging, unswerving

novella woke up ten times that night. cristina and owen did too. they let her sleep in their bedroom, too afraid something would go wrong any minute. they were her parents, after all.

"crap. owen, she's burning up. can you get her an ice pack or something?" cristina said, feeling her daughter's forehead. he quickly ran over to get an ice pack downstairs while she kept her company.

"i'm dizzy." novella whispered with sleepy eyes.

"i know, nov it's okay." she caressed her hair softly as her hands brushed through her curls. "it's just a fever. within the next few days you'll be all better."

suddenly owen came back into their room with an ice pack and a towel in hand. he handed it over to cristina and she put it on her daughter's forehead.

"do you need medicine, kiddo?" owen asked, his hand on the ice pack which was on novella's forehead. she shook her head no and her eyes began to close.

in the dark, owen and cristina looked at each other, concerned, then slowly hopped back into bed.

an occurrence like this happened at least nine more times. the last time, cristina woke up on her own, running over to the bathroom with a hand on her mouth. owen, a light sleeper, squirmed in his spot and woke to find his wife out of bed, and the bathroom light on.

following, he slowly rubbed his eyes to find cristina hunched over the toilet seat, vomiting the undigested parts of her food out and into the bowl. retching noises filled the room, as he filled one of their bathroom cups with water and then kneeled down beside her, holding her hair away from her face.

once she was finally finished, he took the cup and held it for her to take. she grabbed it from him, took a sip, swished the water around her mouth, then spit it out into the toilet bowl.

"are you okay?" he asked, still sitting down on the floor.

she responded, "yeah. it's just morning sickness, i guess." cristina sighed, watching his blue eyes sparkle like they always do. they had been together for seven years now, not including the previous relationships they've had before. it had been a while since they really felt intimate with each other, as their marriage mostly focused on their daughter. but in times like these, it almost felt as if time took them back to when things were new and fresh.

"i know that, but are you okay?" he asked again, their gaze never breaking away from each other. she slowly moved her head up and down, with her upper teeth biting her bottom lip.

"yeah, just waking up ten times in one night is definitely taking a toll on me or something." she spoke, getting up from her spot. she dumped the rest of the water in the sink and rinsed the cup with water.

owen stood up. "yeah, well she's never really been sick before. and she never cried a lot during the night as a newborn. i guess it's kind of different." he followed her out of their bathroom and crept their way to their bedroom.

"you wanna go to work tomorrow still? or no?" he whispered, climbing into bed.

"duh." she whispered back, also climbing into bed. novella was sound asleep finally, at four in the morning.

"i thought so. just making sure. i'll stay home with her. someone needs to, anyway." he went under bed covers, carefully watching novella with the ice pack wrapped inside a towel still on her forehead. out of the corner of his eye, he saw cristina, alternating her eyes from him then to their daughter.

"goodnight." he whispered to her.

"good morning." she responded, even quieter.

then they went back to bed.