first american title | tenya iida

thirty-one

~*~

iida's pov

"Happy birthday dear Tenya, happy birthday to you," Lydia sings out, carrying out my birthday cake from the kitchen. As she sets in down on the table, I blow out the candles. She snaps a party hat on my head. "Happy thirty-third baby," she mumbles, kissing my cheek. 

I smile. "Thank you," I reply. "Presents?" I ask. 

"Yeah, just don't open the orange one until I'm ready it's special," she says as she slices two pieces of cake for us. 

I set aside the orange one for later and instead pull out a different present. After tearing the tissue out, I realize its an aluminum bag of something. Lydia sets a bowl next to me. "Flip it over," she says. When I do, I read it and realize its tea. Not just any but the imported kind from Japan. The kind of tea my mother used to make for me when I still lived in Japan. 

"Lydia," I begin. "Oh my god I can't wait to drink this I love this tea."

Her voice is soft as she giggles. "I knew you would love it. Now open this one." She hands me a thin box. 

Inside is a picture frame of me and her on our wedding day. "You can put it up in the office or something, or just have it for keepsakes."

"Aww Lydia, youre so gorgeous," I say, pointing to her in the picture.

There's a few other gifts, socks and cookbooks and such. Mundane things that I enjoy. Finally, the only present left is the orange bag. Lydia hands it to me, sitting happily. I take the tissue paper out and inside is a medium-sized box. I give Lydia a look, to which she replies. "Open it up." So I do. "Read the note first," she says.

I pick the note, reading over what it says. "Dear Tenya, roses are reds, violets are blue, don't be surprised that we both love you," I mumble. "Who's we?"

"Open the smaller box."

I take the top off and see inside. It's a pregnancy test, a positive one at that. I take it out of the box and observe it. "Is- is this..?" I begin.

The smile on her face is so wide. "I'm pregnant," she says. 

I involuntarily feel myself begin to cry as I throw my arms around her shoulders. "Lydia, are you joking?" I ask through tears.

She chuckles and shakes her head. "No, I promise! We're gonna have a baby!"

I can't help but keep crying. "Oh my god," I say. "We're gonna have a baby!"

"You're happy?"

I laugh. "Of course I am! We're gonna have a baby! Oh my god, what are we gonna name them? And how far along are you? A baby. Oh my god, a baby!" Despite my words, there's something melancholy about her smile. "Lydia, what's wrong?" I ask.

She shrugs. "Nothing, I'm fine."

I pull her into my lap. "Star, what's wrong? C'mon talk to me, it's okay."

She sighs. "Were having a baby is all. I just feel like we're rushing into things a bit."

As I play with her hair, I shake my head. "You know I would never make you have this baby if you didn't want to. But, if you're worried about rushing into things I don't think we are. We know each other, we trust each other, were married. We can do this. We'll get a house and we'll bring this child into the most loving environment we possibly can."

"You promise we can get a house? I think that's what I'm mostly worried about."

"I promise."

Over the next month, we search for homes. All of them have flaws, either too far from my work or too expensive or not big enough. I rubbed my eyes, late-night searching for something, anything. Lydia peacefully slept on my bed while I sat on the floor browsing through homes on three different websites. Still, nothing good was listed. I was so determined to find something perfect for us, somewhere Lydia would want to raise her child in. 

Recently my work had begun to branch out to Folsom. It was about a three-hour drive from where we lived, and I had debated taking up the offer to move and work there. I opened a new tab and looked through homes in Folsom near where I would work. Things weren't bad there. Cheaper and nicer, more secluded. Lydia and I had never talked about moving out of San Fransisco. We rather liked it here. 

I briefly wondered if it would beneficial for us to move here. I suppose the pros and cons left it at a fairly neutral choice. We'd have to talk about it. I rubbed my eyes as I yawned and decided to close my computer for the night and go back to bed. Lydia wrapped her arms around my torso as I crawled into bed. "Still searching?" she asked. 

I groaned. "Unfourtantley."

She left a small kiss on my neck. "We'll talk about it in the morning. Bad for the baby to not get a full eight hours," She grumbles as she begins to fall asleep next to me. Her touch is enough to comfort for me to go to bed as well. 

The next morning I make tea for Lydia and myself. She can't have coffee anymore because too much can be bad for the baby; however, she can have tea. I make her toast and a fried egg while she sleeps so that she can wake up to a good meal when she wakes up. This past month has been rough on her with the mood swings and morning sickness. Speaking of morning sickness she'll probably end up waking up by feeling awful, so I prepare the medication her doctor prescribed her for morning sickness as well. 

I was right. She tumbles out of the bedroom and into the bathroom. I hunch down next to her and hold her hair up while rubbing circles on the small of her back. "I have breakfast ready for you," I tell her. She groans before throwing up once more. "And tea, as well as medicine." 

Lydia nods, wiping her mouth with toilet paper and flushing the contents away. "Thank you for making me breakfast," she says. 

I smile. "Anything for my Moon and little star."

As we walk to the kitchen, Lydia asks. "So am I Moon now?"

I nod. "I'm the sun, you're the moon and soon enough our little star will be here," I explain, pushing Lydia's breakfast towards her. 

She bites into it and smiles. "Shouldn't it be our little earth?" 

"I suppose. Isn't it cuter that she's our star?"

"I think you're cute," she says. I kiss her cheek and sit down next to her. "So," I begin. "My work offered me a job in Folsom, and the homes there are cheaper and nicer than here. So that's an option."

I see the look on her face go through a couple of different emotions before settling on a neutral expression. "I'll move to Folsom but only if we can find a house that's rural. With like, farmland that's far away from everything else."

"Why's that?"

"I won't settle for suburbia. City life or far away rural country for me."

I chuckle. "You're an odd woman. In the best way possible of course," I tell her. She rolls her eyes and giggles, finishing her tea. 

"I love you. And so does the little one."

"I love both of you."

~*~