Cather and Levi

Moving

Cath's POV

It's a few days later, and Reagan has gone home. Today we have to bring Ruby to a doctors appointment, just for a check up. She's been pretty good for us during the night, but Levi and I are still exhausted. It's a lot more work taking care of a baby than you'd expect. Levi's been great with her. He's so happy to have a daughter, and I'm even happier to have given him that gift.

On the way to the doctors, Levi starts talking about moving.

"I think we should do it now while Ruby's young. I mean we'll probably have more kids and we won't have enough room on the ranch"

"But Levi you grew up here don't you want to stay?" I ask in reply.

"You know I do Cather, but we have to think ahead. What are we going to do in 10 years when our house will be a fraction of the size we need?" He says.

"How many kids do you think we're having?" I ask, joking.

"I don't know, but even if we just have one more, we won't even have a spare bedroom anymore" he replies.

"True, but maybe we should wait a little bit and save some money" I say. He nods and we continue the drive to the doctors in silence.

***

Ruby's check-up went great, and we're spending the rest of the night at home. Levi put Ruby to bed, took a shower, and joined me in our bed. I think he's a little mad that I didn't completely agree with his idea to move.

"Levi please don't be mad at me" I say.

"If you really want to move we can. I just thought the ranch meant a lot to you"

"It does. But my family means more" he replies, kissing me softly. I guess it wouldn't be that bad to move, but I'll have to think about it for a while.

"Well, we don't have to decide right now, so let's not stress out about it" I say. Slowly, he nods, and we both drift to sleep.

***

In the middle of the night I'm woken to the fire alarm going off. I'm kind of still asleep, but once I smell the smoke, my whole body jerks awake.

"Levi!" I scream, not being able to see if he's awake or not.

"Cath! I'll get Ruby, you find out where the fires coming from!" He shouts back. I almost forgot about Ruby. I need to get my daughter out of this burning house. I turn on the lamp on the nightstand beside my bed, and immediately see the smoke coming under our bedroom door. I press my hand against it, and pull it away at the burning touch.

"It's outside our door! We can't go out this way" I tell Levi. He looks at me, and then to the window. I know what he's thinking, so it's a good thing our bedroom is on the main floor. He hands Ruby to me, and grabs his cell phone. The window is locked, and it seems to be jammed shut.

"Shit" Levi mumbles. He then takes the lamp base and smashes the window with it. The glass shatters, and he hops out. I hand Ruby to him, and rush out, myself. Levi calls 911, and tells me the firefighters are on there way. As we stand on the road, watching our house burn, I break down into tears. What if Ruby inhaled too much smoke? That minute, she starts wailing too.

"Shh, I know baby" I tell her, Levi just holds us, until the ambulance and firemen arrive. Ruby is taken away almost immediately, and the fire is put out. It affected most of the house pretty severely, but at least everyone is safe.

After many tests are run on Ruby, and some on me and Levi at the hospital, his parents come pick us up. We go to their house, and I have a feeling we are going to be here a few weeks. The cause of the fire was a problem with the fireplace, so we weren't to blame. We will get money, but not nearly enough to help us build our way back up again.

"How come we have such bad luck?" I ask Levi. He just shrugs.

"I wouldn't say Ruby was bad luck" he says. I smile, and I think it's the first time I have tonight. Ruby is already sleeping, and we whisper so we won't wake her.

"I guess we're moving after all" I tell Levi.

"Well actually..." He starts in response.

"I realized how much I love it on the ranch, and I think this is a really good opportunity for us to start over. We can build a new, bigger house" I'd never thought about this, but it actually sounds like a good idea.

"I think we should get an apartment first, and save up some money. Then we can build the new house" I reply. He nods in agreement, and pulls me closer to him.

"Let's just focus on what's going on right now. We have enough on our plates as it is"

3 weeks later

Levi's POV

We've finally found a cheap apartment to rent for the time being, and just moved in today. The wedding is still happening, but we have to cut down our budget quite a bit to save. I've been having to do most of the moving, because the doctor doesn't want Cath lifting anything too heavy just yet.

She just went out to get groceries, so of course, as soon as she leaves, Ruby wakes up from her nap. I hear her start wailing from the living room, and go to her room.

At the old house, the fire had destroyed her room, so it's a good thing she'd been sleeping with us that night. Her name in rubies on the wall was never found, but I'm planning on replacing it once other things, like the wedding are taken care of.

I quickly change her diaper, which calms her instantly. Then, I bring her to the kitchen and get her a bottle. She's not tired anymore, so I put her in her chair in the living room, and start putting small things together. About a half an hour later, Cath gets home, and we have dinner.

"You know what we haven't done in a while?" She asks me.

"What?" I ask in response.

"Read. I think we should read some Simon Snow tonight, after Ruby goes to bed" she says.

"I'd love to" I reply.

***

After Ruby goes to bed, Cath and I get a book from one of the boxes, and go into our bedroom. I sit down on the bed first, and Cath climbs onto my lap. She picked the first book in the series to reread, and she begins.

Just like in college, I put my arms around her, and just hold her. I close my eyes and listen to the words roll off her tongue. I missed this. I missed the old us, when we had time to do this every night.

As the hours pass, she reads more and more. I play with her hair and continue to listen. Again, just like it used to do in college, I can hear her voice getting slow and scratchy as she gets tired.

"Hey sweetheart I think we've read enough tonight" I say, when she finishes another chapter. I kiss her cheek, and she nods, folding over the corner of the page, and sets the book down on the nightstand.

"That felt good" she says to me.

"Just like the old times" I reply. Just then, we hear Ruby stirring over the baby monitor. We try to ignore her for awhile, hoping she'll fall back asleep, but our absence just causes her to cry.

Cath gets up to go settle her, and corrects me, smiling.

"Almost like the old times"