Choosing Life

Chapter Forty

Jane smiled softly as she watched one of the home videos her parents had brought; their cat curled up on her pregnant belly. Now that the holidays were over and they were getting dangerously close to her due date, Jane's mother and father had offered to stay with them in case Jane went into labor when Carlos was out on a call.

Both parents-to-be readily accepted the offer; Carlos even telling Fairy Godmother in private that them being there alleviated about a bajillion worries he had about how he was going to balance his practice with being there for Jane. His mother-in-law only gave him a gentle smile and told him not to worry.

Jane knew, though, that worrying was something Carlos couldn't just turn off; that it was something ingrained in him from his years on the Isle even with the therapy Ben had provided the VKs. And she also knew one of Carlos' worries was that he would somehow end up like his 'mother'.

He hadn't said it at first, but Jane could see how hard Carlos worked to make sure he'd be the opposite of however Cruella had been with him. The baby had the second biggest room in the house, even though Jane had argued that for the first few months the baby would more often than not be sleeping with them. Nothing sharp could be around the baby, even though the baby hadn't even been born yet.

Lumiere had accidentally embarrassed Carlos when he and Fairy Godmother moved in when the former candlestick had gone to make a sandwich and couldn't find the butter knives. He then threw out a joke that they must have been re-enchanted to have legs and found someplace else to live. Of course, when he'd realized what he'd done after seeing the embarrassed flush on Carlos' face, Lumiere had apologized profusely and Jane had noticed that no jokes like that had been made since.

Though that didn't mean they hadn't given a small intervention to her well meaning husband. The baby wasn't going to get hurt by a butter knife when the baby wasn't even born yet!

"Carlos, sweetheart, can...can we have a word?" Jane asked one evening as Carlos came down from the shower.

"Of course, mouse," Carlos nodded and Jane couldn't help but smile at the lack of hesitation in her husband's voice. He had certainly come a long way from the timid boy he'd been when he arrived in Auradon. Of course...so had she.

She certainly wasn't squeaking when she met people and reminding them of mice anymore!

"Dear, we noticed that you seem to be...extra protective of the baby," Fairy Godmother said from her seat on the sofa. "Not that there's anything wrong with that but...you have to think of your quality of life as well."

Carlos sighed and shook his head. "I just don't want the baby to be hurt," he said softly.

"And that is admirable," Lumiere told his son-in-law. "But there's only so much baby proofing you can do before it starts to impact you and Jane."

"Carlos?" Jane asked softly as Carlos seemed to rub at his calf from his spot next to her. "Is...is something wrong? You know you can tell me anything, right?"

"I know," Carlos said. "I just...I'm just trying to put it into words."

"Take your time," Jane told him. She knew how hard it could be to say what you were truly thinking and the last thing she wanted to do was make Carlos feel pressured.

"I...I um...I don't want to be like my...like Cruella," Carlos finally said after a few minutes, his voice soft. "Like how she was with Clay and like how she was with me."

"But...what would that have to do with getting rid of the butter knives?" Lumiere asked.

"...My bed was a nest of furs in Cruella's fur closet when I was growing up," Carlos told him. "It was...it was surrounded by bear traps, to protect the furs. I um...I got caught in one, once when I was a kid."