Odds in Our Favor: A Joshifer Fanfic

Chapter 39

*Jen*

I wake up one morning to the smell of fresh paint. The unusual scent is subtle at first, but as I climb out of bed and walk into the hall, the smell becomes more evident. I hop back into the bedroom to brush my hair and put on something decent, and I'm back into the hallway in a few minutes. I'm surprised to discover that it is nearly 10:30 by the time I'm back in the hallway, not so much that I woke up at this time, but the fact that I wasn't the first one up. There have been mornings where I wake up and watch the sun seep into our room snuggled against Josh as he slowly wakes up after me. However it appears that this morning was not the case.

"Hey baby." Josh says when he sees me, giving me a peck on the lips. He then leans down and kisses my shirt and whispers "Hey baby down there too." I giggle. After a moment I ask "What's all this?" as I look into one of the spare bedrooms in our house. Oh yeah, forgot to mention that our honeymoon is over. We did all the exciting things you possibly could in a week, and it was exhausting, but I loved every moment of it. Ending it with the news of an additional family member coming soon was the icing on the cake.

"Just thought I'd prepare, you know, for when the little one gets here." He responds casually. I roll my eyes. "Josh, I'm only a month in. We have plenty of time. Why do you need to rush around all of a sudden?" When I say this, I notice the sparkle in his eyes diminish a little, and he looks down at the carpet. I almost feel as if I should say something to take back my words, but then he looks up again, the shininess coming back and a shy grin appearing on his face. "I know, hun. I'm just really excited!" I smile at his giddiness. I don't think I can even comprehend how excited I am yet. The reality of another life joining this earth and having it call us its parents is going to become true soon. I don't think that reality has really hit me yet, the reality of being responsible not just for a singular life, but the lives of future generations as well. Sometimes my head hurts just thinking about it.

"I like the color you picked out, hun." I comment. Josh smiles and looks at the finished wall, coated in a layer of light blue. He looks back at me and says "I was trying to go with a gender neutral color, since we don't know the gender yet. But umm... I guess blue isn't really a gender neutral color." He chuckles. I shake my head. "Not necessarily. There are girls out there who like a nice light blue. At least you didn't pick like Navy color. Otherwise I would have got the impression that you thought it was going to be a boy after only a month." He smiles. "Well, babe, what do you think it's going to be?" I sigh and look up at the ceiling, putting on a clever thinking face. "Hmm... I think it's going to be a girl." He nods and faces the painted wall for a moment before replying, "Nah, babe, I think it's going to be a boy." I raise an eyebrow and smirk at him. "Oh really?" He nods confidently. "Well then I suppose we can agree to disagree. We'll see if you're right when she gets here." He scoffs teasingly. "Or he!" I decide to mimic his words from before. "Nah, babe." He rolls his eyes before planting a kiss on my lips and rolling up his sleeves again.

He pops a piece of gum in his mouth and starts chewing it loudly, glancing at me occasionally, and probably hoping for a reaction. It's my turn to roll my eyes. "You're funny." I tell him flatly, but with a smirk plastered to my face. His face morphs into a cheeky grin, his eyes squeezed shut and the piece of gum only partially visible from behind his teeth. I laugh and watch as he walks over and plops his paint roller into the paint tray and rolls it around, spreading a fresh coat of paint all over it. He reaches down and grabs the extra paint roller and offers it to me. "Do you want to help paint our future child's room?" He asks sweetly. "How could I resist the opportunity?" I respond, grinning as I whisper the other half of my sentence. "...to cover your face in blue paint." He raises his eyebrows at me and I laugh again. "Kidding, my darling! Only kidding!" He scoffs. "Yeah, you better be. I am fresh out of the shower." I give him a look in disbelief. "Why the hell would you take a shower BEFORE painting a room? You're just gonna need another one later." He winks at me. "That's why I was gonna see if you were awake and willing to paint with me, so a more... steamy shower can come later." My mouth drops open. "JOSHUA RYAN!" His laughter fills the room once more for a countless time this morning, and I cross my arms over my chest and shake my head. "What, did you think I was kidding?" He adds, winking a second time. "Just give me the damn paint roller." I command. "You're lucky you're so damn gorgeous."

I start to bend down to roll the paint roller in blue paint when Josh stops me. "Allow me." I give him a look as he swipes the paint roller from my hand and leans down to fill it with color. "Josh, I can lean down, you know. I'm not completely helpless." He shushes me, pressing his finger to my lips. "I. Don't. Want. To. Hear. It. Jennifer. I'm trying to make sure you're not, like, jostling the baby too much." I sigh. I know Josh is trying to do the right thing, and he's a wonderful husband, but I'm not a baby. That's the life inside my stomach's job now. I am perfectly capable of picking things up if they fall on the floor, for now at least. I just want him to be able to let me have the mobility while I can before it starts to get closer to the nine month mark.

"Josh, please my darling, let me have my mobility while it lasts. I can pick things up and put them down." I turn on my tough guy voice and shout with my arms flexed, "Pick things up. Put them down." He sighs, dropping his head and putting a hand to his forehead. He takes a moment before looking back up at me, pointing a finger, putting on a New York accent and asking, "Are YOU, taking to ME?" I giggle. He repeats this, inching slightly closer to me. "Are you..." He leans down and puts his face right in front of my miniature baby bump and continues. "...talking to ME?" His face is now inches from my face as he whispers "Are you...talking to ME, Jennifer?" A few loud chomps of his gum that follow cause me to giggle, and I imitate a New York accent as well. "Why yes, I am talking to YOU, Josh. I am, I am."

Suddenly I'm poked in the face by one of his fingers, and I soon discover that that finger had blue paint smeared all over it. I feel my nose where the finger landed, and when I look down at my hand, sure enough the same light blue paint is now on my own finger. "Why, you little..." He grins and drops the two paint rollers in the tray, running out of the room into the hall. I stick my hand in the paint tray and the front of my hand is completely covered in the color of the wall. Chasing after him, I laugh maniacally as I spot him inching towards the bathroom. He ducks into the bathroom and I follow him, reaching for the handle and shutting the door behind me as I run in there after him so that he can't escape. I walk up to him as he starts inching away from me before I extend my arm to its full length and his face gets a light blue handprint over half of it. He shuts his eyes and his lips draw together into a line, and I let out a loud cackle. "You're lucky I love you." He mutters. I grin at him when he opens his eyes again, and he puckers his lips at me. I look down at his lower lip and notice it's covered in paint. "Joshy!" "No, kiss me! You made a vow!" He whines. I giggle as his puckered lips chase me around the bathroom. "Let's just get the paint off of us first."

I grab a washcloth from the cabinet and run it under the sink for a few seconds. I decide to be generous and do Josh's face first, since he has the most paint on him. I gently run the towel across his face and watch the paint disperse across his cheek. When the paint is gone, I kiss him on the same cheek before running the washcloth under the sink again to refresh it for my own "face paint removal".

"I love you." He whispers. I put down the cloth and smile at him, cupping his face in my hand. "I love you too."

Later on, as we paint the new bedroom for our future child, I break the silence by asking Josh a question that has been running through my mind ever since we face painted each other.

"Josh. Do you think we'll still have as much fun as we do now once the baby gets here?"

Josh stops rolling his paint roller on the wall and looks over at me. "Yeah. I just think it will be a different kind of fun. Like... Maybe no drinking parties with the Hunger Games cast, but maybe we'll go to Disney World." I grin at him. "Yeah, you're right." I glance down at my shirt and smile, anticipating the new kind of fun we'll be having together. As three. Or four. Or five. Six? Okay, now that's too much. Way too much.

As I get back to painting the wall with Josh, I think of all these possibilities.

I like the number four.

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Hi everybody! I'm sorry that I kept you all waiting for the next chapter, but I will try to make Chapter 40 a long one where they explore all the stages of Jen's pregnancy. JOSHIFER BABIES! Thank you for your patience and may the odds be ever in your favor.

-Jackie