The Life We Made

Chapter 33

Over the course of the two days Ty was back in Washington, nothing changed. Nothing except the fact that I was growing more agitated by the minute, and it'd only been two days. I just wanted to get out and roam the city because we were having wonderful weather for this time of year. But other than the short strolls through Olivia's neighborhood, we stayed at the house.

When the team got back Thursday night, even though it was actually almost 2 am, Ty came to Olivia and Sean's. They'd extended the offer of staying at their house to him as well, because all knew he wouldn't go home by himself, and he needed sleep as there was a game he needed to be ready for. If we'd have gone home, it would've been another hour, at least, before he got to bed.

Nothing changed over the course of the next week, either, other than I was continually becoming more uncomfortable and restless. Ty was with me every waking minute he didn't have to be at the field. Though the team was in town for 10 days, they had a game every evening.

Dr. Keith had been happy that I'd be reaching the 38 week mark (it was Friday, and that mark was tomorrow). She told me everything still looked great and that my uncomfortable state was 100% normal for this time in the pregnancy and that it was here to stay until I delivered. I'd groaned when she said that and she just chuckled sympathetically.

Ty had continued to surprise me by his selfless ways, even when I was grumpy and wanted nothing to do with him. He still continued to serve me in ways I didn't think I needed. But I had kept what Olivia had told me in the front of my mind; he was helping in the only way he could. He couldn't take my uncomfortable state and grouchiness away from me, though I knew he would if he could.

He'd refilled my drinks before my glass was empty and was always bringing me food. When he'd have to leave, he'd come home with flowers or one of my favorite magazines and ice cream. He'd even contacted the WAGs, with the help of Olivia, and had someone come keep me company while he had to be at the field so that I didn't have to be alone. The heart of this man was golden. And it belonged to me. That still blew my mind on days where I'd gotten so frustrated with him that I'd have gotten mad at me and walked away. But he didn't let it faze him at all.

Much to both of our displeasure, Ty had to leave Sunday after their game against the Phillies, where they'd lost, to fly to Miami for their last match up this season; the Marlins hadn't had a very good season and missed the playoff berth. That was good for us, though.

There were 7 days left of regular season and all of them Ty would be out of town. After Miami, the team was traveling to San Francisco to take on the Giants, who would be playing in the Wildcard game to kick off postseason.

This time, I stayed at home by myself with Nala, but not without a lot of protesting from Ty. I told him I wanted to be in my house. He tried to reason that someone could come stay with me, and even tried to get Victoria to come. She'd been up for it, but I thanked her and told her I'd be fine, but that she was more than welcome to come hang out when she wasn't busy.

Ty had huffed off for a while after that and sulked, but came around because we had so little time left together, just us. It was entirely likely that I'd be having the baby the next time I saw him.

As the days went on, I had lots of visitors to keep me company, many of the WAGs stopped by for an hour or two at a time. Olivia and Penelope spent most of their time with me, playing games and watching tv.

Victoria stopped by when she wasn't in classes or working. Since she'd been back in the city for classes, I'd hardly gotten to spend any time with her because she'd been so busy with classes and homework and working that she had very little time to do anything other than eat and sleep.

She'd brought me lunch from Shake Shack and caught me up on wedding details I'd missed over the last few weeks. We talked about the shower in a couple of weeks in Myrtle Beach. She was so scared about it because Logan had been calling and crying, saying that Carson's aunt, who was the one throwing it, kept changing things and it was no longer anything like Logan had wanted. It sounded to me like it was going to be a huge thing, almost as big as the wedding itself, because her aunt didn't want to leave anyone uninvited, even though the showers were for the people closest to the bride.

I was suddenly kind of glad I wasn't going to be able to attend because I couldn't take a newborn to a shower that was going to be that crowded, especially with the cooler weather moving in and people getting sick from the change in weather. But I also wanted to be there because I'm sure it would be like watching a train wreck.

Before I knew it, Ty was back home after the last regular season game, and I was no closer to having this baby than when he'd left. 

While he was only home for a couple of days while the wildcard games were played and the winners advancing to the Division Series were determined, we made the most of it and tried to get Channing moving and ready to come into the world.

"We should take a walk to Central Park," Ty said as I looked away from the computer.

"I'm NOT going to make it that far, Ty," I grumble. I felt miserable; my whole body was huge, my ankles were swollen and I was tired. I was at the point that I absolutely could not wait to have this baby.

"Walking helps induce labor; it gets your heart rate up," he said like he knew all about it. And he probably did. He'd told me he'd been looking up ways to kick start labor since he'd left the last time.

"But to Central Park? Ty, that's almost 2 miles away. If we walk there, I won't make it back..." He pouted and I couldn't resist smiling. "We'll walk, but when I say I need to turn around, we turn around. Got it?" I said.

He mock saluted me and said, "Got it."

I went and changed out of my baggy t-shirt, my go-to outfit nowadays, and put on leggings and a sweatshirt. It was a cool fall evening here in New York.

Ty came into the room and saw me struggling to put on my tennis shoes, so he knelt down and tied them for me without saying a word.

"Thank you," I said when he was finished. He just kissed me in response.

He held his hand out to me and helped me up out of the chair in the corner of the room. 

"Hey Nala, come on!" Ty called out. "Let's go for a walk!" Nala jumped off of the couch where she'd been napping and ran over to Ty, skidding to a stop in front of him. He put her harness on and attached her leash then we were out the door, locking it behind us.

Once we walked out of the building and onto the sidewalk, Ty grabbed my hand and laced our fingers together. We walked in silence for a while and I had to admit, walking actually made me feel a bit better. I'd managed to make it to Central Park without much trouble, despite my shortness of breath.

We didn't let Nala off of her leash, but she explored her surroundings as we grabbed a soft pretzel from one of the vendor carts and sat on a bench, enjoying the nice fall evening.

"You know, we're doing all of this stuff to try to get Channing into this world before you have to leave, which is in two days, but you know it isn't going to matter. She's going to be ready when you're gone. You know that, right?" I said to Ty.

"That's just how it works, isn't it?" he sighed from his seat beside me.

"With our luck, yes," I joked, wrapping my arm around his and resting my head on his shoulder.