Cut to the beat

Happiest Girls are the Prettiest Girls

"You spoil her and in Italian no less! I tell ya she'll be pure in a few years if I don't get my bloodline into her." Kathleen chuckled as she rocked back and forth in her chair. It was late in the warm house. Silence filled all the rooms as the habitants slept, all but one.

"If your bloodline ever decided to crawl out of the police and give a damn about us then I'll let them spoil my stracciatella." Joseph replied, sitting beside her. He tapped his cigar on an ashtray, as Kathleen chuckled. She smiled at him.

"I hope the best for her. That she'll marry someone she loves like we did. She goes to college too, always. I know we didn't want anotha one but we got one," She whispered, taking a deep breath. Joseph stood up, reaching for her hand.

"Ellen will, Kathleen she will. Our baby, our Ellen," He murmured kissing her forehead while helping her up and out of the chair. After a car hit her while walking one day, Kathleen had been in chronic pain. Joseph always helped her up, took her upstairs, did everything he could to comfort her, as did the pills she took.

"Wait- I see," Kathleen stopped in the middle of the living room, looking up at the stairs. A pair of curious green eyes unlike her own stared back at her. "Ellen, you're supposed to be in bed!" There was a gasp, and a giggle, at three years old Ellen hadn't mastered the whole stalking your parents after dark thing. Kathleen went upstairs, finding her youngest daughter at the banister, smiling. She picked her up, kissing her nose. "Let's do this again, goodnight my little star." Kathleen went into her shared bedroom, trying not to wake Maureen. It was a tight house right now, but once Michael left the two girls would have their own rooms. Gently she set Ellen in her bed, pulling the sheets up and around her small frame. Even at tender age of three Ellen was thin and tall.

"Goodnight momma," Ellen smiled, pushing blonde waves out of her face. Kathleen stroked her big cheeks, kissing her forehead.

"I love you Ellen,"

----
"You up yet?"

Patrick's voice broke Ellen out of her memory and she sat up, rubbing her eyes. It had been happening more and more, Ellen remembering her childhood with her mother. It was so short, cut so short that she hardly ever did but suddenly she was.

"Hmmm?" Ellen sat up, looking to the doorway where Patrick stood. He had spent the night at his place with his children, and dropped them off at school. His hands were in his pockets, his body stiff as he waited for her to get up.

"Ellen, today's your ultrasound. Five months come on," Patrick urged her with a smile, watching as Ellen shifted her new found weight gain up. It was rather cute Patrick admitted, seeing as how her body molded around the growth. She radiated beauty, and he couldn't dare to find a thing about her he didn't like.

"Help me get out of this damn bed. I feel like a beached whale, all the time." Ellen complained, trying to stand up. She really wasn't having too much difficulty not yet , but the angry Bostonian inside her cute Hollywood face came out. Patrick walked from the doorway to her side of the bed, reaching down to hold her hands. Gently he squeezed them as he helped lift her to her feet. Ellen kissed his cheek, smiling. She made her way to start a shower while Patrick waited for her. He was kind of sad that this entire week he had spent at his home, and Ellen stayed at hers.

"You got it?" Patrick asked, leaning against the door to make sure she hadn't slipped. Ellen was already a clumsy person, and pregnancy did make it worse.

"Got it." Ellen replied as the sound of water filled the room. Patrick frowned, biting his lip. God he missed showering with her. They still tried their best to have a sex life but modesty kept them away. It was understood that sex during a pregnancy was healthy but taboo. Patrick decided to take a peak inside, pushing open the door. He saw Ellen behind the glass door, the outline of her belly making him stop in his tracks. She was really pregnant. It made his stomach do flips, thinking of their baby. "What do you want Patrick?" Ellen noticed him as she lathered up her hair.