I'll Stay Me

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Luke's POV

Hank soon falls asleep, so I slowly lift his head up and put a pillow under it. I then get up and head out to the barn, where Chris is. I open the barn doors and see Chris getting hay out of the loft, so I go over and help.
"Chris, Hank and I have started planning our wedding!" I tell him excited.
"That's amazing! Do you have a date yet? " He asks.
"We've decide on Christmas of next year." I tell him.
        "I figured y'all would do it a lot sooner than that." He says, looking at me with a questioning look.
        "We want to make sure Hank is healed up and that my hormones are straight and I figure out what I want to be." I tell him.
        "Makes sense." He says.
       "Yeah. He's scheduling his back surgery for next month." I say. He nods.
        "Good. He needs it." He replies as we finish with the hay.
         "Can we talk about the fact that you gave Hank drugs and your opinion on it?" I ask.
"The only reason I gave it to him was because I wanted him to be feeling good when he ask you to marry him. I hate drugs I really do, but I wanted him to have a good night." He says.
"Okay. But do I have to worry about you sneaking him more?" I ask him, upset.
"It was this one time, besides I have no way of getting any type of drug anymore." He says.
"Okay, good. Also can you help us move at the end of the month?" I ask him.
"Of course. Just tell me when and where. Do you need help painting too?" He asks leaning against a post.
        "Actually I think we can do the painting, but thank you for the offer." I tell him.
         "Chris, Luke, dinner!" We hear Mama y'all from the house. We both head toward the house and into the kitchen.
          "Is Hank still asleep?" I ask Mama as I wash my hands.
         "Yes. I put a blanket over him a few minutes ago." She informs me.
         "Thanks." I tell her. "I think I'll just let him sleep while he can."
         "Is he getting any further with recovering?" Mama asks, sitting down at the table with Chris, Dad, and I.
         "He actually ate some real food today." I tell her, smiling.
          "Awe, that's great." She smiles. "Are you feeling any different since coming off your hormones and hormone blockers?"
"Yeah. I just feel better, I'm happier and are enjoying things more than before." I tell her.
"Have you figured out your gender thing yet?" Dad asks.
"Well, right now I'm trying to be more feminine. Hank and I want more children and there's a better chance of that happening and a healthy full-term pregnancy if my hormones are normal." I tell him.
"Well, I'll love you as long as your happy. I know I've been an ass about this whole thing, but you just gotta see it from my perspective." He says, sounding supportive for once.
"Where is Kelly at?" I ask, she's always home for dinner.
"She went out to dinner with Ben." Mama tells me.
"I'm glad she finally found someone that actually treats her right." I say, smiling.
         "You and me both." Dad says. For the rest of dinner everyone just makes small talk until everyone is finished eating. I take my plate to the sink then walk into the living room. I sit down and lay Hank's head back in my lap and watch as everyone else comes in the living room to watch TV as a family. Dad and Mom sit on the love seat and Chris moves Hank's legs into his lap so he can sit on the other side of the couch.
      "He must be tired." Dad states, looking over toward Hank and I.
      "It's easier for him to sleep than to deal with the pain he's feeling." I tell him, playing with Hank's hair as I talk. He nods and goes back to watching TV.
      Before too long I hear the babies begin to cry, so I run upstairs and pick them up. I change them then carry them back downstairs with me. I cover the babies and my chest with a blanket as I feed them. My breasts have gotten bigger with the babies feeding more and my hormones leveling out. They aren't very noticeable since I've been wearing sweatshirts a lot, so it's easier for me to feed the babies. Once The babies are done I burp them and take them back upstairs and lay them back down in their cribs. I turn the fairy lights on that I got them before leaving my room. I head to the bathroom and decided to take a pregnancy test. I haven't felt well the past few hours and I can't tell if it's my hormones or another human growing inside me again. I really don't think that I am pregnant, but I'm just making sure. I would love to be pregnant right now but with getting ready to move and Hank's surgery in a month, I don't know if it's the right time for me to be pregnant. But if God has blessed us with another angel then I'll be ecstatic about it.
     I take the test and sit it on the counter and wait. After a few minutes I look at it and feel immediate disappointment. I toss the test in the trash and wash my hands then go back to the living room. I sit down in front of the couch and play with Hank's hand as he sleeps. I lay my head down beside him and smile as his eyes flutter open.
      "Good morning." I smile.
       "Hi." He replies as he rubs his face and looks around. I hand him his sunglasses and help him sit up.
        "You wanna go upstairs?" I ask.
      "I think I'm gonna walk outside for a couple minutes." He tells me as he slowly gets up. I nod and watch as he walks out the door. I walk over to the window and see him sitting on the ground with his head in his hands. I don't know if I should go see what's going on or just leave him be. I decide to just let him be and go make some breakfast for us. No one is awake yet, so I make us some eggs and toast. When I'm done I set the table, before running upstairs to check on the baby's. I look in their cribs and see that they're sound asleep. I leave my room and go back downstairs. I go to walk out the door to get Hank for breakfast when he opens the door and almost hits me in the face.
    "Breakfast is ready." I tell him, closing the door behind him.
    "Thanks for making breakfast I'm starving." He says, giving me a hug.
    "What do you wanna do today?" I ask as I walk towards the dining room.
"Doesn't matter to me, baby. Whatever you wanna do." He says. I kiss his head as I sit down beside him.
"You alright, honey?" I ask, watching him begin to take a bite of his eggs. He finishes chewing then looks at me.
"I'm fine." He says, looking down. I lift his chin up to where he's looking at me and look deeply into his eyes.
"What's wrong?" I ask.
"I'm okay." He lies. I kiss his cheek then begin eating my breakfast. I finish eating pretty quickly then get up and wash my plate. I walk back to the table and watch Hank slowly eat. He eats all of the eggs but barely touches the toast.
"Still too hard to eat?" I ask, rubbing his back.
"Yeah. Thank you for making it though." He tells me.
"Why don't we start packing up some stuff and just relax and maybe go out for a family dinner, just me you and the kids." I suggest.
       "That sounds perfect." He says smiling.
       "I'm gonna go check on the babies, and I think I'll give them a bath. " I say, starting to head up stairs.
"Okay, I'll be up in a few to start getting some things together. Don't forget to call the realtor today." Hank says, grabbing his plate and heading over to the sink. I head up to my room and see that Shelton is awake in his crib.
"Well, good morning." I say picking him up and lay the nursing pillow on my bed before picking up Shelton and laying him on it. Then I pick Harper up and slowly wake her up.
"Harper. Baby girl, do you wanna take a bath?" I say in a soft voice. She slowly opens her eyes and smiles when she sees me. I feed the babies then lay them on my bed while I go fill up the bath. I put just enough water for them to bathe then run and get them. I undress them and gently sit them in the tub, in their bath cradles.
"Need any help, baby?" Hank asks as he walks in and kneels down beside me.
"Sure, sweetheart. Can you wash Shelton off?" I tell him. He smiles and nods his head. I watch as he gently washes Shelton, playing with him as he does. I bathe Harper then pick her up and dry her off. I wrap her up in the towel then go lay her on my bed.
      "Luke, babe come here." I hear Hank say from the bathroom. I run to him to see what's going on.
     "Can you get Shelton? I don't want to hurt him trying to get up." He says, handing Shelton to me.
      "Hold on and I'll come help you honey." I tell him. I lay Shelton beside Harper and then go and help Hank up.
"Lets get the babies ready." I say, walking back into my room. I go into my closet and pick out an outfit for both the babies. I come back out and see that Hank has already put diapers on the babies and is holding them.
"How do you like these?" I ask him laying out the outfits on the bed.
"I think they are gonna look amazing on the babies." He says. I grab Shelton from Hank and begin putting on his pants and then his shirt. I then take him and head downstairs. Once I'm downstairs I take him and put him in the pack 'n play, before running back up stairs to grab Harper from Hank so she can also be in the pack 'n play with Shelton. I make sure they are both okay then go back upstairs to see Hank putting some of our pictures and stuff into a box. I walk over and sit beside him on the floor.
      "You look upset, baby." I tell him as I see his face.
       "Can you hand me that picture over there?" He asks, completely ignoring me. I hand it to him and watch as he puts it in the box with the rest of them then gets up.
     "Don't even try." I tell him sternly as he tries to pick up the box with all the pictures in it. He holds his hands up in the air and moves away from it. I slide it over to the wall and grab an empty box and begin putting the few books we have in it.
"You gonna yell at me if I pick up a book?" He asks, smiling.
"Don't hurt yourself." I tell him. The books fill up about half the box, so I decide to go through my nightstand drawers while Hank starts to fill a box up with clothes.
        "When are we gonna pack up your house?" I ask him.
"I called Dick and Betty and asked them to fly down to start getting it packed. But there gonna be staying there for a couple weeks so they can also go do stuff in Nashville." He says, taping a box closed.
"That's sweet of them. I guess we will have to do something for them, once we move up there."I tell him, smiling.
"I'm gonna go call Stephanie and make sure everything is staying on schedule." He says before walking out the room.

Hank's POV

I walk out of Luke's room and downstairs to check on the babies. I make sure they're doing okay before I go out on the front porch. I grab my phone and dial Stephanie's number.
      "Hello?" She asks after just a couple rings.
      "Hey steph, this is Randall Williams." I greet her.
       "Hank! Hi, how are you and your family?" She asks.
"We're alright. I was just calling to make sure everything is on schedule for the house?" I question.
"Actually, some things moved a lot faster than we thought and the house will be ready for you to move in by the end of the week." She says excitedly.
"Oh wow, that's great. Thank you." I reply.
"No problem. I hope moving goes well." She says.
       "Thank you. See you soon." I smile and hang up. I go back and inside and see Kelly playing with babies.
"So my baby brother is really gonna be moving out?" Kelly says, smiling.
"Yeah, I less than two weeks." I tell her.
"You better take good care of him."She says, sternly.
"Don't you worry, Luke and the babies are gonna be well taken care of." I tell her, smiling.
"I'll be up in a little bit to help y'all pack." She says.
"Okay, I'll let Luke know." I tell her before heading back upstairs. I see that Luke has finished going through his nightstand and has moved over to the other one.
"Kelly said she would be up here in a little bit to help us pack." I tell Luke.
"She doesn't have to, we have a week or so to finish." Luke says looking up at me.
"About that..." I say, trying to seem upset.
"What's wrong? Everything is still on time right?" He asks, starting to freak out.
"Everything isn't on time. The house should be ready for us to move into by the end of the week." I tell him excitedly.
"Oh my gosh! That's amazing." Luke says getting up and hugging me.
"I'm so ready for this new chapter in our lives." I tell him, holding onto him tightly.
"Me too baby." He says as he kisses my cheek.
         "Hey guys." Kelly says as she walks in the room. I release Luke from our hug and place my hand on his lower back.
"Hey, Thank you so much for offering to help." Luke smiles.
"No problem. You know what I just realized?" Kelly says.
"What?" Luke and I ask in sync.
"You two have the same scar on your upper lip." She says. Luke looks over at me and softly rubs his thumb over the scar above my lip.
"I never even noticed that." He laughs.
         "It's like we were meant to be." I tell him, and he blushes a little.
            "Do you wanna help Hank put all the clothes in boxes?" Luke asks Kelly. 
          "If that's what y'all need me to do." She says. We all started to pack up boxes with stuff.
        "Have you guys started to plan your wedding yet?" Kelly asks.
           "Yes, it's going to be perfect." Luke squeals.
          "That's great! Are you gonna tell me about?" She asks excitedly.
        "Well we decide to have it on Christmas next year. But that's all I'm saying." Luke says, smiling. I just smile at Luke getting excited. 
         "Have y'all thought about anymore kids?" She asks, taping a box shut.
"Yes. But we don't plan on having anymore for at least six months, because of moving and my surgery." I tell her.
        "Just do me a favor... never stop thinking about your relationship with each other. Yes, your kids should always come first but they grow up and move on. Y'all were made for each other. Never give up no matter how hard it gets." She says, looking between the two of us. I look over at Luke and smile.
"I'm never giving up on us." I tell him. He walks over and kisses my cheek then begins rubbing my back.
"Luke, are you gonna be able to take care of him and the babies alone after the surgery?"
"I might have to hire someone to watch the kids but I guess it all depends on how the surgery goes and how medicated they have him afterwards." He replies.
"I can always come up there and help you. I can't see you trusting someone you barely know with him or the babies." She tells him.
       " Aww, thank you. We'll I keep that in mind." Luke says.
          "Have y'all went shopping for furniture yet?" She asks.
       "We wouldn't be needing too. We're gonna move the furniture from Hank's house to our house. But they'll still be about half left at his house." Luke says.
       "Good morning, guys." LeClaire says.
     "Good morning." We all say in sync.
        "Luke you might wanna come me see this. But we gotta be quite." She tells Luke.
      "Okay." Luke says before getting off the floor and following his Mama.

Luke's POV

I follow Mama down the hall to the stairs, and she points over to where the babies are.
"Aww." I whisper, beginning to smile. Dad is playing with the babies. I never thought he would ever come around and accept everything in my life, but he's slowly doing so. I look back and smile at Hank as I feel him place his hand on my shoulder.
    After a few minutes of watching them we all go back into my room.
"Now if he can just get used to Hank and be nicer to him you'll be doing good." Mom smiles.
"I never expected to get this far with him." I say, honestly.