The Fallen Short Stories

Avalon's Physical (Avalon's POV)

I chew on my thumbnail as I type the combination in the lock.  The house is quiet, so my first instinct is to be silent in case Carri is asleep. I shuck my coat and hang it up on the coatrack behind the door. "Mickey is that you?" Ezra calls from somewhere inside the house. "Yes Love, where are you?" "Kitchen." I make my way through the living room, stopping along the way to toss a few toys into a basket and tuck them back away on the bottom level of the bookshelf Ezra has slowly begun to clear off. Coming into the kitchen I find Ezra, his back to the doorway, seated in a dining chair in front of Carri, who is kicking her feet sitting happily in her highchair. "Look Carrington Ima is back!" he coos.

She is absolutely covered in whatever it is that he is feeding her. She squeals when she sees me, and a pang hits my heart. "Look at you!" I gush, "What has Daddy given you!" I glance down and see that he is slicing rounds of banana off with his favorite paring knife and his thumb. "I think someone likes banana," he says. "I think so," I say looking at her paint her plate with the browning mash. 

I lean over and press a kiss to his neck, moving towards the baby. I run my hand over her downy curls and press my lips to her forehead. She smells like banana, and I laugh as she tries to feed me. "Thank you, my Love, I am famished." I take the fruit in my mouth before backing up and plopping into Ezra's lap. He kisses between my shoulder blades; I turn slightly to look at him. He slices me a hunk of banana and I take it, not before kissing his fingers making him blush. We've been together for five years, countless love-making sessions and I can still make him blush with the slightest, most innocent of touches. I rub his thigh underneath me. A little less innocently now. "What did the doctor say?" he asks, " How did it go?" "Um..." I stand up needing to look away from him. I use Carri as an excuse, and I take her over to the sink to clean up. "Alright." 

"Mick? Love what's the matter? Is something wrong?" I shake my head, still facing forward to the sink and running water over our daughter's chubby hands. I feel his hands on me. I force a laugh, "Everything is fine Ezra." "You promise me?" "You have my word." "Okay." "You know how I feel about the doctor's anyway." He pulls me in by my waist and kisses my cheek. "I know."

 I wash Carri's face and play over my words. How to tell him? I shut off the water and pass him the baby, he lets her wipe her face on his sweater until her skin is pink, then he stops her and rubs his nose to hers. I laugh a bit watching them interact, before pulling myself out of my head.

I reach for her, holding her close, hiding my face in her tiny neck as he works at washing the dishes. By the time he is finished Carri has gotten fussy, so I take her into her nursery to rock. "I have something to tell you," I say, her brown eyes hooded as she begins drifting off. "You are going to be a big sister." She looks up at me, her lips twitching into a miniature smile. I wish telling Ezra was just that easy.

After she is soundly asleep, I lay her in the crib and join Ezra in the living room. His arms are around me before I know it and I am leaning into him. "Read to me," I say. "I always read to you, how about for once you read to me." I roll my eyes and take the book from him. "It is a fact universally acknowledged that any man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife," I begin. I am lost in the story, still reading aloud when I feel his lips on my neck. I try and keep serious, but that only works until his skin is on mine and I lose all ability to function. His hands ghost up my sides, lifting my shirt. "This," I stammer, "has nothing to do with Pride and..." My words are cut off his lips. "I'm not really interested in Jane Austen right now, Love." "What are you interested in?" "Getting you into bed, before the baby wakes up." 

Later, when I'm only wearing my underwear and Ezra's t-shirt, I listen through the baby monitor as he fetches her from her crib. When they come back, Carri is making grabby hands for me. He sets her on the bed, letting her crawl the rest of the way towards me. I laugh as she plonks her head right down on my chest. Ezra settles down beside of us under the covers. Carri takes notice and crawls away from me, deciding that his glasses were more fun to play with than my hair. I just watch them, and suddenly all of the fear was gone and all that I could think about was a little dark-haired baby sitting beside her sister, terrorizing her father. 

"They didn't clear me for service today." "What? Why not? What's the matter?" He looks at me wide-eyed, and I flash him a smile. "I'm pregnant." He stiffens, and I look directly into his eyes.    "Pregnant?" he asks stunned. I nod. "What? How? I..." he searches for words that never come, but instead of tears or anger Ezra cracks a grin and then he laughs. Actually laughs. I let out a nervous giggle taking to bouncing Carri up and down in my arms. "Oh my god, Avalon. Oh my god." "I know."  His eyes are glassy with tears now. "How... how many weeks?" "It's very early, it's just happened my numbers were really low." "How are you feeling?" "I'm scared out of my mind," I reply. He gives me a small smile, running his hand over my flat stomach. It comes to rest just under my navel, his thumb moving back and forth in a comforting motion. "We're having a baby?" he says the words so softly they are nearly a whisper. "We're having a baby," I confirm looking at him. His smile gets so big that I can see his teeth. I lean against him for support, the baby curling back up on my chest. Ezra pulls away and leans over my abdomen, pulling up his shirt to expose my belly. "Hi Peanut." "Ezra," I laugh. "They can't even hear yet, can they?" "Well, no... but I didn't get to do this with Carri." He kisses my belly, and Carri follows suit, leaving a wet trail along my side. I laugh at them, but it doesn't stop me from saying, "Your daddy and big sister are very excited to meet you." I look up at Ezra before adding, "And so am I."