Here I Am, There You Are (All Time Low Fanfiction | Jack Barakat)

Snapshot 6

Jack had it all planned out. I was in my second trimester and starting to show more and more each day. All of our close friends and family knew baby number two was on its way. There was just one person who did not know: Archie.

At three years old he didn't really understand what exactly was happening. He knew one of the bedrooms was being remodeled, he knew that I couldn't play as wild as we used to do, and he definitely knew I needed more rest and snacks. But he did not truly grasp the concept that I was pregnant. And Jack was determined to change that.

We were officially going to tell Archie and answer any questions he had.

Archie managed to have super short conversations with us. They often didn't make much sense, but we somehow still managed to follow along. My hopes weren't great for this, but hopefully he'd understand that he'd be a big brother soon.

"Hey, Archie," Jack started as we were sitting at the dinner table, Archie in his lap. "Mommy and Daddy want to tell you something."

Archie's head perked up as he tried to get a better look at Jack. "Tell me sumting?"

"Yeah."

He squirmed around to grab his stuffed elephant from the table. "Does– does Ellie... um... Ellie, pohtoe?"

Jack looked at me, squinting his eyes in confusion. Okay, so it wasn't always easy to understand what our three-year-old wanted to say. Especially when it came out of nowhere.

I laughed softly and shook my head. "No, elephants don't usually eat potatoes. They are tasty, though."

Archie continued to poke at the stuffed elephant some more. Jack's hands held him a bit tighter to make sure he wouldn't topple over and to get him to focus back on us.

"Mommy and daddy want to tell you something," he repeated.

Archie pushed his elephant down and paid attention to Jack again, his back shooting up straight and his hair bouncing just a little.

"You're getting a baby brother or sister," Jack said as straightforwardly as possible.

Archie looked curious. "Brober or siser? Where?"

"In mommy's tummy."

He looked even more confused as his eyes fell on my stomach. There was a small frown on his face and he seemed deep in thought. I just nodded to confirm what Jack had said and ran a hand over my bump to show it much clearer underneath the large shirt I was wearing.

"Baby in there?" Archie pointed at the bump.

"In a few weeks he'll be here for you to meet," I told him with a smile. I was so used to saying 'he', but Jack and I didn't actually know the sex.

"Why in there?"

I explained, "he's growing in there."

"How?"

Jack took over for this one. It was the one thing he had been trying to figure out ever since we found out I was pregnant again. We had decided that we wanted to be completely open with Archie about everything. Of course, we wouldn't tell him everything yet, but we thought it was important not to make up white lies. We hoped it would mean Archie would feel comfortable enough to tell us things in the future.

"Well," Jack began slowly, testing the words he had been practicing for a while, "mommy's got an egg, and daddy's got a... a seed... and when they come together, a baby starts growing."

Archie's mouth was open slightly as he tried to process the long sentence that just came out of Jack's mouth. Unfortunately, before anything else could happen, his stuffed elephant fell to the floor and distracted him. He quickly scrambled to get off of Jack's lap and picked up his favorite toy. Once it was in his small hands again, he spotted Olive in the hallway. He shouted out her name and sprinted towards her.

The poor dog was getting too old for his antics, but let him barrel into her, accepting her fate.

"Do you think he got that?" Jack asked me, his eyes shifting from our son to me.

I sighed with a shrug, my hand still resting on my bump. "No idea."

"Well, we'll have a more detailed talk in ten years."

"Oh my god," I groaned, fearing how fast time would go, "don't even start with that."