A/N Hey guys! As promised, here is the sequel to Winter Rose! Sorry it took me so long to get it up here, I was plotting out the story line. I think you guys are really going to like it. ^^ Anyways, I will try to get the second chapter up as soon as I can. No promises on how long it will be though, because I have serious writers block these days... But I hope you all will bear with me. Also, I know that Rose's pregnancy isn't 100% accurate to real life, and I apologize to those of you who like these things to be medically accurate. That's all for now, so, without further ado, here is the first chapter! Hope you enjoy it! ^^
~Rose's POV~
I stand in front of the mirror, looking at myself, and how I've changed in the past few months due to my pregnancy. I was about eight months along and my belly was big and round. My long hair was pulled into a low pony-tail in order to keep it out of my face. My breast had gotten a little bigger of late, due to the fact that my body was making milk for my unborn child. I face had gotten a little paler and there are eye bags under my eyes. I hadn't been sleeping very well the past few days, but it didn't really bother me. I'm glad that I don't have morning sickness anymore.
Since the fight with Pitch, my life has been a blissful blur, all things considered. Mine and Jacks relationship has only gotten stronger in the past few months, and since it was summer in most places now, he had more time to see me. In the first few months of my pregnancy, we were both a little scared. Mostly because neither one of us knew what we were doing, or how to even take care of a baby, but my father offered his help. So far he has been very helpful, answering all of our questions and helping us prepare for the baby's arrival.
I still live with my father for the time being, which I'm so thankful for because I don't really have anywhere else to go. The other guardians have been doing there best to help as well. They check in on us, and they are always there when I need something.
North liked to read stories to the baby through my belly. Bunny kept bringing me chocolate, which is good because I have been craving it like crazy lately. Sandy tried to make sure I was getting enough sleep, which is probably why I don't mind that I haven't slept in a few days. Tooth mostly tries to help me when I'm being hormonal, a least when Jack's not there. He has been trying so hard, but I think that it's because he's nervous. But, in my opinion, we have both gotten a lot better at the whole being parents thing. So far anyways.
I affectionately rub my hand over my stomach, humming softly. I feel the baby kick back, bringing a smile to my lips. I begin to softly sing to my child, as I walk out of my room and into the living room which is decorated with baby shower decorations. It was Jack's idea to have one, because, as he said, every mother should have a baby shower for her baby. Jack wanted to make sure that I had as normal a life as possible, and the thought that he cared so much made me smile.
I look around the living room, but I don't see my dad. I then walk, more like waddle, towards the kitchen. I found my dad in the kitchen, making what looks like cookies. I look over to a plate full of them, and smile. They're in the shape of baby rattles with fancy decorations on them. Sometimes I think that my dad should have been a baker instead of a cook. He looks up from decorating and smiles at me.
"Hey honey. How ya feeling?" He asks, standing up straight and popping his back with a sigh. He puts down the icing and makes his way over to me, giving me a quick hug, kissing my forehead at the same time. He then runs a hand over my belly and sweetly talks to it, making me smile and laugh.
"I feel okay. Do you need any help?" I ask, looking at the half dozen cookies laying on the cookie sheet. I now see that they were sugar cookies, and they smell amazing. Seriously, why wasn't he a baker? Since I was young I new that he loved to bake things. Most of the time, baking is when we got to really bond.
"Na, I'm almost done anyway. But if you want to help, could you make some coffee please?" He asks, going back to decorating the cookies. I nod, and start getting the coffee pot ready, before pressing the go button. We always made sure that there was coffee ready when North came over. That man loves coffee.
I turn around and watch my dad all hunched over and a concentrated look on his face. I look over to my left and see a bowl of blue icing on the counter. I smile as an idea creeps into my head. I dip two of my fingers into the icing and hide them behind my back, as I try to put an innocent look on my face.
"Hey dad, I think you missed a spot." I say, pretending to be looking at the plate of cookies next to him. He looks at the plate immediately examining the cookies closely, before looking back at me with a confused look on his face.
"Where?" He asks, and I step closer to him, my smile coming back.
"Right here." I say as I pull my fingers from behind my back and spread the icing over his face. He looks at me with a shocked expression, mouth agape and eyes wide. But after a moment, he smiles at me.
"You know what," he reaches behind me, dipping his fingers into the icing before continuing, "I did miss a spot. But I think it was here." He says slowly, as he spreads the icing over my cheek and along my nose. I start laughing, and before I know it, an icing war has started. By the time we were done, we were both laughing like crazy, and icing was everywhere. The kitchen was defiantly a wreck now, and we didn't look to much better.
I had icing in my hair and all over my face and shirt. My dad looked much the same. We were now both leaning against the counters, breathing deeply. Small giggles were still escaping my mouth, as I feel the baby kick again. I run a hand over my stomach again, as if i was telling the baby that it was okay.
"You guys look like you're having fun." I hear a familiar voice say, and I look over by the back door to see Jack coming inside. He closes the door behind him and makes his way over to us. He kisses me on the forehead, which ends up leaving icing on his lips. He just licks them and gives an approving nod.
"She started it." My dad says, nudging me playfully.
"Guilty as charged." I say, laughing. My dad smiles at me, ruffling my iced hair, before he goes back to finish the cookies. Jack smiles at me, his hand running over my stomach out of habit. The baby kicked at his hand, as if sensing that it was him.
"Are you ready for today?" Jack asks me, and I nod, before looking down at my clothes.
"Yea, but I think I'd better go shower and get changed." I say, smiling. The icing was starting to dry up and I really didn't want to wear it all day. Besides, I was still in my pajama's, and I hated wearing them all day. Jack nods, and kisses the cheek that wasn't covered in icing. I waddle my way to the bathroom, grabbing some towels on the way, and lock the door behind me.
I turn on the hot water, and jump in as quickly as I could. The warm water felt amazing, as I washed up. Hot showers always helped me relax. Soon I was done, and I got out, wrapping a towel around my self. I made my way to my room, shutting the door behind me and drying off. I then went to my dresser to pull out a pair of blue maternity jeans, and a black tank top. I quickly got dressed and made my way back to the living room.
When I get there I see that everybody was here. Tooth looks flies over to me and pulls me into a hug. I return the favor, smiling at here gently when she pulls away. She smiles back at me, before she goes back to where she was a few seconds ago. North looks at me, smiling. He sets the cup of coffee he was drinking from down on the coffee table.
"She is glowing, yes?" He says to Bunny who agrees with a nod. I smile at them, and sit down on the couch next to Jack, who wraps his arm around my shoulder. I lean into him, and everyone just talks for a while. I love it when we can all come together like this, but everyone had busy schedules, with the holidays and such.
After awhile of playing games, talking, and laughing it was decided that it was time for the baby's gifts. North said that he wanted to go first and I just nodded at him. He whistled, and, two yetis came into the living room, carrying a large object that was covered up with a sheet.
"I made this, because all babies should have a nice place to sleep." He said, pulling the sheet off to reveal a beautiful wooden crib. The bars all had fancy designed on them, and it was stained a dark chocolate brown. All in all it was an amazing crib, and it awed me. How long had it taken him to build this? I wondered to myself.
"It's wonderful! Thank you so much." I said to North, smiling at him sincerely. He smiled back and told the yetis to move it into one of the corners of the living room. Jack thanked him as well and complimented Norths handy work, which North made smile as he sat down.
Next was Sandy's turn. He smiled at us and held up his index finger before he started twirling his hands together. Gold sleeping dust started to swirl in between his hands, slowly forming a shape. At first it was hard to tell what it was, but eventually I could make out what looked like a crib mobile. As the shape finished forming, I could see it turning into plastic, so that it would fall apart if you touched it to much. I looked at it and smiled. It has gold flakes in the white stem leading up to little furry animals that are hanging from it. Sandy then winds it up, and as it starts to rotate and a lullaby plays, I see that little streams of the sleeping dust are coming down from the animals and floating towards the ground.
"So the little tyke can have good dreams, huh?" Bunny says from behind Sandy, who smiles and nods.
"It's perfect, thank you Sandy." He smiles at me and floats over and waves at my stomach, a heart made of the dream sand floating above his head. I laugh and smile at him, thanking him again. He nods and floats back towards Tooth, who excitedly announces that she wants to go next. This makes me laugh more, before motioning for her to go ahead. She flies over to us, and pulls out a small tattered teddy bear with a button nose and two black eyes on it. It is one of the cutest things I have seen.
"This is one of my toys from when I was a child. I somehow managed to find it after I became a guardian, and I think that the little one should have it." She said, handing it to me, and I look down at it before looking back up at her, my eyes brimmed with tears. The fact that she wants to give the baby something with this kind of sentimental value just made my heart flutter. I pulled her down into a hug, which she returned with a smile. After a moment, we broke apart, and I wiped the tears from my eyes.
"Thank you Tooth. I know that the baby is going to love this, because her aunt gave it to her." Tooth smiled wide at me and ran her thumb along my cheek, capturing some of the tears that got away from me. She kissed my forehead before she flew back to sit by Sandy. Bunny then stands up, and I look over at him. He taps his foot on the ground, opening a tunnel, and a small blanket seemingly floats up into his hands. He holds it out so that we can all see it, and I let out an astonished gasp. The blanket itself is crocheted, and is made up of bright spring colors. There are little decorative flowers on it, each a different color and type of flower.
"This should keep the little one warm, and maybe it'll give her some hope when she needs it." Bunny says, and I smile thankfully at him. It was perfect. Everything about today has been perfect, and I couldn't as for better friends.. No, for a better family. That's what this has become in the past few months. A family.
"It'll give us all hope that she will grow up happily. Thank you." I say to him and he smiles back at me, as he sits back down. As everyone goes back to talking about the gifts, giving each other compliments and asking questions about them, I lean my head against Jack's shoulder.
He kisses the top of my head, his hand rubbing my belly again. I begin to hum softly out of habit, and Jack begins to hum with me. I feel absolutely happy and comfortable right now, and I'm pretty sure nothing could change that. I had a good feeling about everything that was happening in my life. The baby on the way, Jack's and mine relationship, and our relationship with everyone else in our lives.
After about an hour of more talking, everyone started to say their goodbyes, as it was getting late and we all needed our sleep. And by that I mean that everyone was telling me that I needed to get some rest. This of course only made me laugh as I hugged them. I waved as I watched them leave the house, with a call to tell them to visit soon.
After everyone had left, I shut the front door, and waddled my way to the kitchen to tell my dad goodnight. He was cleaning up the kitchen, but when he noticed me, he set the bowl on the counter and hugged me. He kissed the top of my head before telling me goodnight, me returning the favor.
I then walked towards my bedroom, and I find Jack sitting on the bed waiting for me. I smile at him before I begin to get ready for bed. I change into another set of pj's and I brush my hair, before crawling into bed the best I could in my pregnant state. Jack got in next to me, and gave me a peck on the lips before he turned out the lamp on the night stand next to him. He then wrapped his arms around me as best he could, and before we knew it, we were drifting of into sleep.
A/N Well, there you have it. I hope you guys enjoyed it, and I'll see you next time. Until then, stay awesome! XD