Take Me to Your Paradise

Chapter 5: Tender Is The Night

A/N: This chapter is rated M.

****

The tableware clicked softly, laughter and chatter drifting in the air, glasses getting raised in honour of Bo's birthday; Stefani leaned her head against her childhood friend's shoulder for a moment, feeling so grateful for all the years they had been in each other's lives. Bo meant everything to her, was a source of never-ending support and someone she could always tell all her problems to, no matter what was going on.

"Happy birthday, sweetie. I love you so much."

"Thank you. I love you too." Bo gave her a tight hug. "I'm so glad you guys could come tonight; I know it's difficult for you to leave the little one and I really can't blame you."

"Yeah." She smiled, watching around her on the beautiful patio; the restaurant was amazing, located on a hillside and the views it had offered before the evening had darkened had been breathtaking. "But as much as I hate to be away from her, I wouldn't miss out on honouring you; I owe you so much, Bo, seriously. You have done so, so much for me and..."

"No, no." Bo shook her head, pressed a kiss on the blonde's temple and brushed escaped tears from her face. "The honour is all mine, Stef. It has been absolutely amazing to share your journey and now especially this new leg of it with your baby girl."

Stefani sniffled a little, hugging her friend again; Bradley sent them a soft smile from across the table, raising his glass of soda water in salute and she smiled back, eyes on him for a long moment. They had just arrived back that morning from spending a week in New York with Lea and had left Francesca with all three of her adoring grandparents as Joe and Cynthia had flown to LA with them and were happily sharing babysitting duties with Gloria; she knew the little girl was in excellent hands, now well adjusted to alternating breastfeeding with the bottle and she had to admit it made things a lot easier, despite her many hesitations.

She reached for her own club soda, took a sip, wondering when she had last been completely alcohol-free at a party; before the pregnancy, probably never. The mere thought of consuming any had of course faded from her mind the moment the tests had turned positive but she actually truly felt like it might never make a reappearance; while Bradley had already been a massively calming influence on her restless nature over the years she had known him, the baby had settled her down even further, grounded her, brought inner peace in a way she never could have thought possible.

**********************************

May 2020

Morning sickness had grasped her into its clutches around the eighth week of pregnancy, just when she had started to entertain the slight hope that maybe she wouldn't have any; no such luck, and while Stefani had never exactly been a fan of mornings, now she definitely wasn't as an awful wave of nausea washed over her every day, almost instantly upon waking. Sometimes it was mild enough to control with just breathing deeply and eating something, sometimes it sent her rushing into the bathroom to violently throw up her guts; she was very lucky, however, as it was limited only to the mornings and didn't interfere with her Enigma performances. What did interfere slightly, though, was the bone-crushing exhaustion that had her falling asleep whenever, wherever, even at rehearsals and soundchecks but she pushed through the actual performances somehow, often so tired when she got off stage that she fell straight onto Bradley's arms and slept; if he wasn't there, then it was usually Bobby or one of the male dancers grasping her and helping her onto the couch in her dressing room where she had to have a good nap before even managing to change out of her outfit. Apart from that, everything seemed to be going well; she was under careful monitoring due to her health issues, having check-ups twice a week at this early stage to make sure her body was able to handle the pregnancy and the changing hormone levels and so far no one had noticed anything different, her performances received with the same enthusiasm as always, the love of her Little Monsters like a warm hug that enveloped her. It wasn't until her second-to-last show in May that they encountered a slight problem as she woke up in the morning to find her belly had somehow managed to pop out overnight.