Your tender touch
Chapter 1
Kate woke up feeling a warm arm around her and a soft kiss on her shoulder. A smile spread on her face as she stroke the arm wrapping her. As she slowly opened her eyes and looked up at the ceiling, she couldn't help but smile ever wider as she realised where she was.
Caroline moved closer and hugged her tighter and kissed her on the shoulder again and the baseline of the neck. Kate giggled and did a half-hearted attempt to escape her lover's kisses, but stopped resisting as she got pulled even closer to the other woman, who kissed her on the neck and behind her ear, which caused Kate to make a noise that made Caroline stop the kissing and half-sat in the bed, leaning on her left arm and looked down at Kate.
- What was that?
- What was what?
- That!
-What? Kate suddenly felt a blush spreading across her cheeks.
- That noise.
- What about it?
- What kind of noise was that? Caroline's big blue eyes where wide opened and looked at her.
- I don't know, it just kind of...slipped out.
Caroline said nothing for a moment, before she laughed and laid down on the pillow again and kept on laughing. Kate felt her heart jump as she heard that lovely, clear laugh of Caroline. Kate was about to say something back to Caroline, but before she couldn't think of something smart to say back, Caroline sat up in bed, pulled the cover down and started stroking Kate's belly.
- Oh, you have one wierd mommy, I have to warn you.
Kate coulnd't help but smile and felt her chest getting warm as she heard Caroline talk to their future child and daughter. She loved when she did that,
When she thought back to weeks, and months before this day, when she and Caroline had broken up, and didn't even speak to each other. She had tried to keep Caroline out of her life, but couldn't stop but feeling as if she had a huge hole inside of her. Of course she had been happy that she had finally managed to get pregnant, but she didn't want to spend it alone, she had wanted to share the happiness with Caroline, and she had looked forward to start a family with wonderful, beautiful and smart Caroline. She had cried herself to sleep every night, missing Caroline so much that her heart ached and she thought she'd break down into pieces from missing her.
And then in all this, Lawrence had called her to spend the night at her place as he couldn't get a hold or either John or Caroline. A part of her started hoping again that this might be the oppurtunity for Kate and Caroline to get back together again. But, as Caroline had come over to her place after that and asked Kate to give her a second chance, she had said no. She didn't want to get hurt again and risk going through all this heartache again. If she did, she'd know she probably wouldn't get through it alright. So, for herself and the baby, she had decided to put some distance between herself and the blonde woman. She had cried for hours after turning this beautiful woman down, as she had realised what it meant. If Celia hadn't invited her to stay for the dinner, after her and Alan's wedding, she would probably never had the courage or chance of convincing herself that she and Caroline belonged together.
Caroline had stopped talking to the belly and was looking right at Kate with a warm smile on her face.
Kate took a deep breath and felt something warm running down her face. Tears. Caroline's smile disappeared and turned into a worried look.
- What is it Sweetheart? Did I do something? Is it a contraction? Does it hurt anywhere? Do you want me to call someone? Should I call the doctor?
With a lump in her throat, Kate couldn't answer, instead she grabbed her hand and shook her head and tried to smile through the tears.
This was one downside of the pregnancy, she had to admit, she had become so emotional and had a hard time to controll her emotions, which at times, like this, was pretty frustrating. After a few moments, she felt under controll again and gave Caroline another smile to make her stop worrying.
- I'm alright. I just...just thought of how happy I am to have you in my life again.
Caroline's worry turned into affection and she smiled and leaned down and kissed Kate's lips over and over again.
- So am I, so am I, shw whispered between the kisses.
Kate wrapped her arms around the neck of her lover and pulled her closer and deeper into a kiss, never wanting to let go of her again.
Today was Saturday and Caroline felt relieved that she didn't have any papers to read through or documents that needed to be signed. Nope, today she was totally free, and she let out a happy sigh as she took another sip of her coffee at the table, looked out the window and let the thoughts wonder off.
Footsteps in the staircase brought her back to reality again, and she got up from the chair to meet Kate around the corner with another goodmorning-kiss. Kate had taken a shower, and her dark hair was still wet, and even though she'd wrapped a towel around her hair, making her look like she wore a turban, tiny drops ran down the temple and down the dark skin of her neck and down to the collar of the white bathrobe.
- Good morning beautiful, Caroline said and kissed her on the lips and then on the neck to catch one of the drops running down her soft neck.
Kate smiled and said good morning back
- I've made you some tea, since you don't want any more coffee, and the toast should be ready any minute.
They both sat down and ate their breakfast as they talked about this and that, which usually ended with them talking about school or work. Then, suddenly, Kate said something that caught Caroline off guard completely.
- I though we'd stop by the baby-shop today, since neither of us has anything planned, Kate said and looked at Caroline over the edge of her teacup.
Caroline choked on the piece of toast and mouth full of coffee she had just taken. But tried her best not to sound as paniced or surprised as she was. She had noticed how sensitive Kate had become of the past weeks, and though she did remember being very emotional herself when pregnant all those years ago, she didn't want to upset her for every little tiny thing, just because Caroline mostly spoke what was on her mind.
When she had stopped coughing, she looked at Kate, who looked back at her with her dark, beautiful eyes, and almost looked worried. And Caroline knew she'd better say something or Kate would feel hurt.
- I...I...alright, sure, we'll go there. Before lunch?
Kate's face lit up and she smiled happily as she nodded and drank the last of her tea, stood up and left the table saying she should dry her hair before catching a cold.
As the younger woman disappeard upstairs again. Caroline buried her face in her hands and took a few deep breaths not to panic. Alright, they were going to buy baby-things, which they needed since Caroline had got rid of all her things many years ago, and Kate didn't have anything either. She and her former husband hadn't bought anything, since they didn't want to make it more painful as Kate got the miscarriage. So of course they needed to buy everything from scratch, and the due-date kept coming closer, Caroline knew this.
Alright, so they were gonna go there, together, as a couple, as a lesbian AND pregnant couple. She poured another cup of coffee and drank it in almost one sweep.
She felt the familiar feeling of being in an unfamiliar situation, and the small panic-bell in the back of her head started ringing. She had no idea what to do! Sure, they more much more open about their relationship, which they had been every since her mother and Alan got married and they had kissed at the dance floor in front of everyone there, and in that very moment, Caroline hadn't cared who saw them, or what they said or thought about her.
She had finally gotten Kate back into her life, and she would never ever let her go again. She hadn't realised how much Kate really meant to her, or how much she wanted her, until she lost her and then got her back, when she though she'd spend the rest of her life alone, just because she was afraid of what people might say about them.
Caroline determined put the cup down and rose from the table. She was NOT going to make the same mistake again and risk losing Kate, just because of her own fears.
- Fears are meant to be overcome, she told herself as she went upstairs to change into more suitable clothes for the day.
She waited for Kate to finish drying her hair before approaching her about the plans for today.
- So, have you made some sort of list of what y...I mean we, need?
Again, Kate's face lit up, and she went over to her nightstand and grabbed a paper from the drawer.
- Yes, I have. We don't need to get everything right now, I don't think we have neither space nor money for it, so I've marked the most important things with a red mark, here, so I though we could start with those things.
Caroline took the list and raised an eyebrow as she say how very detailed the list was, and she looked at Kate, who was looking back at her, waiting for her to say something.
- It looks good. Thank God you're organised..., in a good way, of course! She added and leaned forward to kiss Kate.
- And...you're alright with this..? Kate carefully asked as they broke the kiss.
- Yes! Caroline gave Kate another kiss, as if to reassure her. Besides, she added, I want to have a saying about the things we buy to our daughter, or you'll come home with all pink, fluffy and sparkly things you can find.
Kate laughed and turned around to the wardrobe to get changed. She threw the bathrobe on the bed and started looking through her clothes. Caroline's heart-pace quickened as always as she saw all the bare skin of Kate as she stood naked in the room. The dark skin looked so perfect. She couldn't resist walking up to the younger woman, who had her back towards her, and ran a finger up her smooth and warm back. Kate shivered and giggled.
- Your hand is cold.
Caroline didn't answer or stop, she let her hand caress the shoulder of the darker woman and planted kisses on the back. She felt Kate stopping to look through the clothes and stood still, leaning her head back towards Caroline, as she kissed her way up towards the neck.
The hair was still warm from the blowdrying, and she lift the hair up and kissed the hairline, hearing soft moans coming from Kate as she kept on kissing behind the ears, kissing the earlobe and down on the side of the neck. Her hands caressed Kate's body, one hand stroking the round belly, and the other one caressing the neck, and then down to one of her breasts. At this point, Kate was moaning and trying to turn around, but Caroline held her as she tried to, and so she bent one of her arms back to grab Caroline's hair and pulled her head and mouth closer to her body, and the other arm grabbed Caroline's arm caressing her belly, and pulled it down under the belly, in between her legs.
Now it was Caroline's turn to let out a soft moan as she felt the heat from Kate's womanhood against her hand. She kept on caressing Kate, as well as kissing her, more hungry for every kiss as she felt Kate starting to reach her climax. Before she did, Caroline turned her around and pushed her down on the bed, gently and straddled her, leaning over her and kissed her. She was careful not to put to much weight on the baby and to not cause pain for Kate.
- Are you alright? She whispered as she broke the kiss and looked at the pregnant belly and then back at Kate, who was nodding.
- Don't worry, it's alright. She said and pulled Caroline down again in a deep kiss.
Caroline felt a bolt of excitement as always, as she felt Kate's body and belly against her own. Kate groaned as the kissed and Caroline could feel how the other woman started to reach climax, as the kisses deepened, Kate dug her nails into her back.
Kate climaxed and Caroline kissed her neck as she did, feeling the body twitching beneath her and Kate breathing heavily as she landed and the her body started to relax again. Caroline put her ear on the younger woman's chest and closed her eyes as she listened to the quick heartbeats as well as Kate's heavily breaths. She felt both of Kate's arms stroking her back, a few fingers caressing and playing with a strand of her blonde hair, as she slowed her breathing down.
Caroline smiled and kissed the neck of her lover one more time, before she laid beside Kate and caressed her face. She had never been good at talking about feelings and emotions. But Caroline didn't know if there was any word in English to describe how she felt for Kate right now, and every day she woke up next to her? And although it's said that actions speaks louder than words, she wanted to tell her just how much she loved her, because she deserved to hear it, every day for the rest of her life just how special she was, and how much Caroline loved her. But, she didn't know any words good enough to explain that, but the closest thing she knew was:
- I love you so much Kate. My beautiful Kate, she whispered and kissed Kate's lips.
Kate made a surprised noise and broke the kiss and Caroline looked at her worried.
- What...?
- Here...feel this.
Kate grabbed her hand and put it on her belly, and Caroline felt the movement of the baby, their baby, she was kicking and turning around inside of Kate. She laughed and laid her cheek against the soft belly to feel the movements better, and Kate put her hand on Caroline's head and stroke her hair gently.
- You woke up the baby, Kate said quiet, smiling.
Caroline smiled, kissed the belly and answered.
- If I recall it, I wasn't the one shouting.