Splitting Our Odds Into Evens

Making Room

Paris had been good to them.

They'd spent most of the honeymoon walking around the city, eating too much, and enjoying the fact that for once, neither of them had anywhere else they needed to be. By the end of their second week, Bonnie was convinced she could've stayed another month.

The only problem was sleeping.

Sometime in the middle of the night, Bonnie shifted onto her other side for what had to be the fifth time.

Her back hurt.

She pulled the blanket higher, adjusted the pillow between her legs and closed her eyes.

Nothing.

Bonnie rolled onto her back and immediately regretted it. She moved again, trying to find some position that didn't make her lower back ache.

Beside her, Kol stirred.

"Are you awake?" he asked, his voice low and heavy with sleep.

"Yeah." Bonnie shifted again. "My back is killing me. No position is comfortable."

Kol barely opened his eyes. He reached behind his head, pulled his pillow out and handed it to her.

Bonnie took it. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

"Under your knees."

He was already settling back down.

Bonnie put the pillow beneath her knees and lay on her back. It helped for about thirty seconds.

Then her back started bothering her again.

She stared at the ceiling, exhausted.

Kol was almost asleep again when Bonnie touched his arm.

"Babe."

He made a quiet sound but didn't open his eyes.

"Nothing's working."

That got him to move.

Kol rubbed his eyes and shifted closer to her. He took the pillow from beneath her knees, tossed it toward the other side of the bed and lifted his arm.

"Come here."

Bonnie turned onto her side and moved against him. Kol pulled her closer, his arm settling around her waist while Bonnie rested her head on his bicep. She adjusted once, tucked herself against his chest and stopped.

Finally.

Bonnie let out a long breath and closed her eyes.

Kol's hand rested loosely against her stomach.

Within a few minutes, his breathing evened out again.

Bonnie was asleep not long after.

***

By the time they got back to New Orleans, Bonnie started noticing how much baby stuff they'd accumulated.

There were boxes beside the couch that hadn't been there before Paris. Two car seats were still in their packaging near the wall. A bag of clothes Rebekah had bought sat on the kitchen counter because Bonnie hadn't figured out where to put them yet.

She stood in the doorway of the second bedroom, looking around.

They'd cleared most of it out for the nursery before the wedding. There was enough room for two cribs and a dresser, but not much else once those were in.

Kol came up behind her. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to figure out where everything's gonna go."

He looked into the room with her.