The Girl

FIFTY-TWO: HERO/HEROINE

"It's too late baby there's no turning around, I got my hands in my pockets and my head in a cloud. This is how I do when I think about you..."

SONG: HERO/HEROINE
ARTIST: BOYS LIKE GIRLS

Brianna had found it harder to engage with the world since she got out of the hospital, and as a result, so did I. I refused interviews, called sick to gigs, forgot about rehearsals, skipped out on meetings with our label, and eventually fell out of the band completely--at least that's what it felt like.

Mornings had become more of a blessing than a nuisance because that meant I could crawl closer to my wife and hear the soft hum of her sleeping. The warmth coming from her palms as she absentmindedly placed them against the skin of my chest. Some mornings, I would press my ear to the surface of her stomach and listen to the movement of our little girl inside of her before she would wake and press the pads of her feet or surface of her hands against where my head lay. Mornings were a blessing.

It was when Brianna opened her eyes that worry covered her face and I had to remind her that everything was perfectly fine. She was healthy, the baby was healthy, and the medicine was working. She wrapped worry in a box and carried it with her everywhere.

"I called my mom today and told her the new date," Brianna spoke softly and sipped her tea, pushing away the concha she had served herself. "March?"

I looked up from my computer and raised an eyebrow at her. "You sure? We're going to have the baby and--"

"It was a suggestion, unless you want to wait an entire year after she's born," Brianna exhaled and begrudgingly pushed herself to her feet. I smiled and pushed away from the computer desk, rolling over to her with the chair and stopping right in front of her, slotting her between my legs.

I placed my hands on the back of her thighs and looked up at her.

"I think March is fine, B," I assured her and exhaled softly. "I did some things while you were at your mum's."

Brianna raised an eyebrow at me as I pushed away from her to stand. I took her hand and brought it to my lips. She held her tea cup tightly in her other hand.

"Is it something I'm going to have to clean up?" She asked as I led her down the hallway. I shook my head and then took one of the hand towels that was lying on the floor. "No."

"You don't even know--"

"You're going to blindfold me! I'm not letting you do that," Brianna told me, an annoyed look on her face. "Babe, seriously."

I pouted at her and held the towel in my hands for a few seconds before dropping it on top of the washing machine.

"Fine," I huffed and then tugged her forward. "I did something to our storage room."

Brianna placed a confused look on her face as I opened the door to the room we just threw things inside of. She stopped at the doorway, tears trailing down her cheeks as she took a look around the room.

"She's going to love kangaroos," I told her and picked up one of the many kangaroos I had sent Michael to buy. "It's obvious, she has me for a dad and I'm disgustingly Australian."

Brianna smiled and walked toward me, hands placed on her stomach as I moved about the room.

"And I know you like pink, but frankly, I fucking hate the color," I told her honestly as I moved to the center of the room. "I got everything white, except the crib. And I bought most of it at Target, except for the crib--that one I ordered from Carter's, but this is what I've been doing for the past three days."