The Unexpected

Chapter 8

May 16th, 7 pm (Later that day)

Yuri's POV 1st Person

I sit nervously in the restaurant with Otabek, waiting for his family to arrive. After Allie caught me earlier they all demanded to be told what was going on and Otabek and I decided to tell them at dinner. That dinner is now. We got here first because his family is all coming from different places, Allie from a friends' house studying and his parents from a few errands. I twist my hands under the table, letting my thoughts run wild, What if they're mad? What if they won't talk to us anymore? What if- Otabek takes my hand and squeezes it gently,

"It'll be okay," He tells me, giving me a small kiss. "They'll be happy," 

I nod, "I know that," I say, trying to make it true, "But what if they're not?"

"Don't think about that," He says "They will be, I know it, and even if they're not we will be and that's all that matters,"

"Right," I agree and calm down slightly, There's no reason for them to be mad, I'm just being silly. At that exact moment, the bell on the door jingles as it swings open and the topic of our conversation walks in.

"How are you?" Otabek's mom inquires as she sits down, looking at me with a warm motherly gaze.

"I'm alright now, thank you," I reply and turn to find Allie staring at me. The knowing look she wears says it all, and I give her a small smile with an infinitesimal nod. 

She gasps and throws herself upon Otabek and me, "That's wonderful!" She cries and gives us each a hug, holding me slightly longer than her brother and smiling as she feels what she's looking for. We laugh but her parents look completely confused, although her mother's eyes widen slightly as it slowly dawns on her.

"Are you...?" She stops when I nod, unable to keep the bright smile from my face, "Oh honey," She cups my face in her hand, "Congratulations,"

"Thank you," I smile at her and mean it.

After Otabek's father is filled in on what's going on by his wife, a broad proud smile lights his face and he claps his son on the back. Allie and I laugh as he turns red, finding it adorable how embarrassed he is. The rest of the evening passes quickly, comfortable happy conversation about guess what? When it's over Otabek's parents insist on getting the bill, silencing our numerous objections by reminding us that soon enough we'll be needing that money and mentioning exactly how expensive children are. This earns them a vengeful glare from Allie accompanied by "I'm almost out of the house leave me alone!" We all laugh but one thing sticks in my mind from their previous comment.

Later that night I sit with my husband in bed, ready to turn out the lights but something stops me. "So..." I trail off, "Children. As in multiple." I glance at him, "Thoughts on that?" Otabek looks at me and we wear the same expression, I have no fucking clue, 

"Do you?" He asks me, "I really don't know yet," I nod my head vigorously, thankful he hasn't said he wants 17 although him saying that would be incredibly unrealistic. 

"I'm good with this one for now," I tell him, willing my voice not to be as awkward as I feel. It's silly really, we're married, why is this so embarrassing? "And reassess after?" I put in, leaving the option open just in case either of us wants it to be and doesn't know it yet.

"Sounds good," He says and I'm relieved he sounds as though he's in as much pain as I am. 

I switch off the light, "Goodnight," I say in the darkness, and it's less uncomfortable somehow. 

"Goodnight," He replies and kisses me quickly before rolling over. My cheeks flame as he does so, Oh get a grip!

***

May 17th 8:30 am

Yuri's POV 1st Person

"Fuck off," I mumble as I roll over, trying to go back to sleep and banish the discomfort from my stomach. However, that is not to be, as half an hour later I am emerging from the bathroom once again. When I get downstairs Otabek's waiting for me, a broad grin on his face. "What are you planning?" I ask him warily, nothing good ever comes from him being so excited at 9 in the morning. 

"You'll see," He says mischievously and takes me by the hand, pulling me towards the door. I allow myself to be dragged out of the house and into our rented car outside but still find myself incredibly suspicious. 

"Where are we going?" I ask him, one eyebrow raised as we stop at a light, he just smiles and keeps his eyes on the road. This should be interesting, the last time he got like this he proposed, and I can assume we're not doing that again. 

We begin to drive up into the mountains and I give up paying attention to my surroundings and start looking through my phone. Of course, I immediately go to Instagram and scroll through my feed. Waiting for me are countless posts from the Yuri's Angels and other people that I follow, mainly skaters. I feel a pang of sadness as a video from Phichit loads with the caption, 

Finally landed my quad Lutz! Can't wait for the competition this year, Grand Prix here I come! 

I watch the accompanying video and find that he has, in fact, landed the Lutz. He skates toward whoever's filming the video and beams at the camera, so obviously excited it makes me ache to get back on the ice, just so I can do it better than him. It's more than that though, I miss it more than I can even understand, my life feels so incomplete without it. It's not that I'm unhappy exactly, I do enjoy myself, but I just feel bored, like I don't know how to function without my one constant that is skating. I guess I have a different constant now; Otabek, and soon the baby. That still feels weird to say, the baby, it's surreal, like bad CGI in a movie that's so blatantly fake it distracts from the plot. The only difference is this isn't CGI and it's most definitely not fake. 

I'm so wrapped up in my thoughts I don't notice when the car stops, "Yuri," Otabek gives me a gentle nudge and I look up, disoriented. "Come on," We get out of the car and I'm surprised to find we're parked on a small mountain road, a path to what looks like a clearing ahead of us. We set off up the path, hand in hand, and it's kind of rocky so it takes me a second to navigate clear without falling into a bush. Eventually, we reach the clearing and sit on a large boulder placed strategically in front of the cliff. 

I take in the view and can't comprehend what I'm looking at. In front of us is a lake, a crystal clear lake surrounded by green pine trees and white mountains. The effect is breathtaking. "It's so blue," I say, my eyes fixed on the sight before me, "It's beautiful," I tear myself away from the scene and wrap my arms around my husband, "Thank you," I breathe, finally understanding why he was so excited this morning. 

"Do you like it?" He asks me and I gape, 

"Of fucking course dumbass," I tell him and redirect my gaze to the postcard image before me, "How could anyone not? This is perfect," 

"It is" He agrees, "I used to come here all the time when my home rink was in Almaty. I've really missed it,"

"I can see why," I say, still awestruck by what he's shown me. "I've been here for two minutes and can't imagine leaving," We sit on the rock for a while, staring at the wonderful image. After some time passes, what seems like practically nothing but ends up being an hour, I take out my phone. I open the camera and start trying to find a way to do it justice, but none of the photos seem to be able to capture the magic. Finally, I find a good camera angle and snap a picture, it turns out nowhere near as beautiful as the real thing but comes closest of all the ones I've taken. 

"Can I see?" Otabek asks me, leaning over to look at the small screen, and smiles, "I know what that is," He says, and I stare back at him quizzically before what he's saying hits me.

"You're right," I say and smile back at him, "I know exactly what that is,"