Louder Than Love || Chris Cornell

Baby Bump

Seattle Washington,  May 29 1993

Standing in our bedroom looking at myself in the full length mirror, I adjust my Motley Crue band shirt that I had cut to style when I first got it years ago,  but it's now not fitting the way I remembered. I turn and look at myself from the side and though it may not be noticeable to most people, I can see that little baby bump starting to show.

"Damn it... none of my shirts fit anymore..." I say disappointedly as I adjust my ripped black leggings and then try to adjust the shirt.
"Awe..." Chris says as he walks over to me and looks at me through the reflection of the mirror.
"There's no way I'm wearing any of those maternity clothes..." I say as I look at my shirt, trying to make it fit better.
"Really? Come on I know how much you love floral patterns with big bows on the back of your shirts," Chris smirks.
"Very funny," I giggle as I look at him through the reflection. He moves closer and places a kiss on my temple while his hand moves to my stomach.
"You're beautiful no matter what you wear... or not wear..." Chris says raising his eyebrow at me with that mischievous smirk. I smirk back at him as he leans down to me, placing his lips on mine.

Soundgarden was playing a small show at The Moore Theatre tonight and before the show, we were meeting up with the guys at The Central for some drinks, along with Eddie, Stone, Jeff,  Mike and also Jerry and Layne, which I haven't seen in such a long time. Chris wanted to get together with them before to announce that we're having a baby and obviously to celebrate the occasion. I'm just about 16 weeks along and past the first trimester, so we figured it was time to tell everyone. It's so cute to see how Chris is so excited about having a baby.

"Ok I give up... I'm going to have to shop for some more shirts or something... ugh... all my favorite shirts don't fit," I whine feeling defeated.
"Hey... it's ok... think of it as you get to shop for some new band shirts...yay! " Chris tries to sound excited, making me feel better but, I'm feeling self conscious.
"Yea... well..." I say and move over to the dresser, putting on my silver studded wrist cuff then throwing my curls up in a messy ponytail, letting a few stray curls escape to frame my face. I turn back to face him as he looks at me with those blue eyes, his dark curls resting just at his shoulders, wearing only his black baggy below the knee shorts and his usual Doc Martens.

"Do I look ok?" I ask furrowing my brow, feeling self conscious.
"Baby you look beautiful," Chris smiles at me. I move back over to the full length mirror and give myself one more look as Chris walks up behind me. He leans down, placing a kiss on my shoulder, then looks in the mirror with me resting his chin on my shoulder wrapping his arms around me placing his hands on my stomach again.

"You always look beautiful to me..." Chris says looking at me through the reflection and I couldn't help but giggle. Then just to break the moment, I hate it when he gets too sappy sometimes, I stick out my tongue and  throw up the devil horns which makes him laugh hysterically.

•••

We arrive at The Central a short while later and the place was empty except for Matt and Kim who were sitting at one of the larger tables towards the back, waiting for everyone else to show up.

"Hey guys," Kim smiles as we walk over to the table.
"Hey.... where is everyone...?" Chris asks as he pulls out the chair for me and lets me sit down first and then sits down beside me.
"Ben said he was going to be a bit late... and the rest of the guys should be here soon," Matt says as he takes a sip of his beer. Chris rests his arm around the back of my chair as I move a little closer to him.

"Well... I need another beer... you want anything Chris...?" Kim asks as he stands up.
"Uh yea... Jack and Diet I guess," Chris says.

"Andi...?" Kim looks at me. Damn... I didn't think about that, if I say no, he might figure it out before we tell everyone.
"Uh.... no... I'm ok for now," I say a little nervously. Kim raises his eyebrow at me for a moment. Kim has never known me to say no to a drink.

"In a little bit," I add. Kim shrugs and walks up to the bar for another.
"Hey... what's up!" Jeff calls as he , Eddie, Stone and Mike all walk in and up to our table.
"Hey!" Matt and Chris say at the same time as they all stand up, shake hands greeting each other and what not. After a few moments of greeting and saying hello, they all grab their seats, with Eddie sitting down beside me.

"Andi...!" Jeff calls and slides a shot of Jack Daniels across the table and it lands right in front of me.

Fuck.

I seriously wish we would've told everyone before we got here now. Suddenly Chris swoops in and grabs the shot, downing it quickly, giving me a wink as he does so.

"Oh, Fuck... I guess I was too slow," I say playing along.
"Sorry babe..." Chris smirks and places a kiss on my temple and I see Eddie give me a weird look. I just shake my head at Eddie telling him to forget about it and Eddie shrugs, taking a sip of his red wine.
"Hey! You can't start that shit without us!" Jerry yells as Layne follows behind him. Everyone else greets them hello just the same as before, Kim finally coming back to the table and sitting down taking a sip of his beer. After a few moments of everyone catching up, Jerry and Layne find their seats and Jeff slides another shot in front of me.

What the hell? Since when does Jeff want to get me drunk?

"Since Chris stole your last shot," Jeff smiles. I smile back awkwardly and laugh a little nervously. I look at the shot glass with the delicious Jack Daniels sitting in front of me and oh, how I wish I could drink that.
"What's wrong Andi? You never turn down whiskey... especially J.D," Kim pipes up.
"Yea... well..." I say quickly looking down at myself, placing my hand over my stomach and I look up at Chris as Chris looks at me with the cutest smirk on his face.

"Looks like I'm going to be turning down drinks for a while," I smirk at Chris.
"What? Why?" Kim asks setting his beer down in front of him as everyone else around the table suddenly becomes quiet
"We're uh.... having a baby," Chris says as he turns and looks at Kim, taking a sip of his Jack and Diet Coke.

"What?! No fucking way!" Jeff exclaims.
"Yea way," I laugh.
"Holy shit! that's fucking amazing!" Layne yells from the corner.
"What...? What'd I miss?" Ben says as he walks up to our table.
"Fuckin'... Chris and Andi are having a baby," Kim says.
"What...? No way!" Ben smiles.
"Yep... it's true..." Chris smirks and takes another sip of his drink.
"Fuck man... that's awesome!" Ben smiles as he grabs his seat beside Matt.

After everyone expresses their congratulations to us, Jeff orders another round of drinks for everyone to celebrate as Chris gets up from his seat and heads towards the bar.
"So... you know what you're having yet... or... when you're due?" Kim asks me as he takes a sip of his beer.

"I'm due October 30th ... something like that... and I uh, have an appointment next week... so we should be able to find out the sex then..."

"Fuck... a baby... a freaking baby... I'm so fucking happy for you two... I know you guys were having a tough time there, so it's so fucking awesome..." Kim smiles and takes another sip.
"Yea... wait... what...?" I say a little confused.
"What?" Kim says.
"What do you mean.... 'having a tough time?'" I ask.
"Oh... uh... just... when you were trying... you know," Kim says not realizing that I had no idea that Chris told anyone. Chris then comes back to the table and sets a glass of water down for me and I take a sip.
"Uh huh," I say looking at Chris as he flips his curls out of his face.
"What?" Chris says, taking a sip of his drink and looks at me.
"You told Kim about... when I was having trouble... getting pregnant?" I ask. Chris slowly sets his drink down on the table and looks at me a little confused.

"Well no... not that you were having trouble...I didn't say that... I just talked to him about... that we were trying and.... nothing was working..."

"It's alright... it's not like he revealed anything... or anything," Kim re-assures me.
"It's not that... I just didn't know he... I mean... you... told anyone," I say looking back at Chris.
"Hey... the important thing is, is that you're gonna have a baby! Which is scary that's there's gonna be a little mini Chris running around," Kim smirks.
"Yea... your baby's probably gonna come out screaming just like Chris and then you'll have two of them to deal with," Jeff laughs.
"Fuck off," Chris smirks while everyone laughs.