(I own only plot.)
"Trudy? What's wrong?" Victor asked his housekeeper, seeing her being sick. He'd just gone over to her cottage to beg her to return to him.
"I'm dancing with a polar bear! What do you think is wrong?" She retched, throwing up what little she had left.
"Have you got some kind of stomach bug?" Victor asked.
"No, I'm pregnant." Trudy told him.
"OK, I'll go get you some ginger beer and a doctor."
"Don't! I meant it, Victor. I'm pregnant."
He stared at her. "Was it Jasper?"
"Yeah. He's popped out to get me some chocolates. We're going to get married."
Jasper walked in. "Trudy, love? Where are you, my lovely?"
"In here!" She called, before throwing up again.
Jasper sat down next to her and hugged her, holding her curls back. "Oh, my lovely Trudy."
"Hey, sweetie."
He noticed a very uncomfortable Victor and grinned. "Hey. How long have you been here? Has she been like this for long?"
"I don't know, I got here about five minutes ago. Oh, congratulations, by the way, on the baby."
"Thanks. The hormones are causing sickness for her, though."
Trudy whimpered and threw up again, getting a sound of sympathy from Jasper, who kissed her hair. Victor said "I can see that she's not really in the right state to work anymore. I'd only come to ask her to return to Anubis and work as a housekeeper. But clearly she's not fit to work."
Jasper cuddled her. "I know."
Trudy finally stopped being sick and had a sip of mineral water. "Thanks for your offer, Victor."
Jasper kissed her cheek gently, wiping her mouth with a tissue. "It'll be OK, my beautiful bunny."
Victor looked confused. "Bunny?"
"Yeah. He calls me bunny because he said I act like one when I hear a noise."
"You do."
"That's cute." Victor told them. Only they knew his gentle, warm side.
Jasper looked at his beloved fiancee with concern and placed a hand on her stomach. "Is your stomach hurting, my love?"
"No. It's empty, but that's obvious."
"Technically, Trudy, you're not empty. You still have all your organs."
"Just."
"And there's a small person growing inside you."
Jasper lay in his bed, cuddling his fiancee. He loved her to bits and he didn't want her hurt. But she was pregnant when she'd been kidnapped, only about three days in. And when she'd told him, while they were packing up the exhibits, he'd been horrified. He'd never intended that. Trudy knew it and she'd offered to destroy the baby, but he'd grabbed her and hugged her, then told her never to even consider that. He'd proposed that night and let her decide. Trudy became a gentle and much loved housewife. A creak woke her and she shot up like a startled rabbit. "What was that?"
Jasper sat up and rubbed her ribs. "Nothing, bunny. Lie back."
She lay down and let him cuddle her. "Jasper, I'm sorry for all this. I know you never really wanted to have a family with me, or to propose to me. You don't have to do anything you aren't happy with. OK? If you don't like it, you don't have to live with your choices."
He turned to face her with ease and cupped her face in his hands, looking into her eyes. "Trudy Rehman, I love you. I would never trade you for anyone or anything. I want to have the honour of marrying you, being there for the baby, looking after you both. I want to keep you, my sweet. And I will."
Jasper lovingly kissed her. Trudy smiled at him. "Well, my love, it's you who has to put up with a very hormonal me, you know."
"It's OK. Bunny, you're cute when you're hormonal. You know that."
Trudy giggled. "In your eyes, I'm cute, end of."
"Yeah, that's true.
It did his head in when she got to her mood swings and her cravings. He had married her, loving her to shreds. She was a wreck, tears everywhere. Even after their wedding, she cried. Happy, sad, getting a box of chocolates and being unable to decide. He often wanted to just slap her, but he knew that he was partially at fault, so he refused the temptation, knowing that she was the one suffering. One night, she turned over and faced him. "Thank you."
He opened his eyes and stared at her. "What?"
"Thank you. For everything. For putting up with me. I know you've wanted to slap me quite often. I know you're furious with me. So, thank you very much for suffering so quietly with me."
He kissed her lips, his entire world straightening out with her gentle words. "I'm not suffering any worse than you are. It's a new experience for us both."
"I know. Who said that pregnancy was the best thing to happen to a couple? All it does is cause the poor man irritation and stress and the woman to be a pain in the neck, then give them an adorable bundle of joy and no sleep."
Jasper laughed and held her. "But think of the positives, here. You get to have a foot rub whenever you ask for it, you get to feel a tiny person moving about in there, you can eat loads and have an excuse to throw it all up. You get to have a child. And what's more, you and the kicker get to mother and baby bonding."
"What're the upsides for you, then?"
"I get to watch my adorable little wife go through the sweet shop and eat as many treats as she can fit into her system, I get to watch you go through your pregnancy, I get to watch you choosing names, I get a laugh watching you try to make baby clothes. Oh, yeah, I can kiss you all the time and I get to feel our baby kicking you."
Trudy giggled at the thought. Jasper kissed her lips lightly.
They were shopping and Trudy looked like she needed a sleep. Jasper smiled and asked "Want to ride in the trolley, bunny?"
She laughed. "It's OK. Baby's just weighing on my back."
He kissed her. "Hey, peanut." He whispered, feeling the baby moving under his wife's skin.
As well as attracting coos and squeals, the couple attracted some disgusted looks. "Those two are so public."
Jasper went to get some honey and a man who was a noted criminal knocked Trudy over. He went to punch her in the stomach and Jasper knocked him flying. "I'll snap your neck if you hit that poor little woman again. Bunny, are you alright?"
"Yeah. I didn't catch my stomach, so baby shouldn't be hurt. I have a backache, though."
"Oh, Trudy. Come here." He hugged her and stroked her hair. "Are you sure you're alright? I don't want you hurt."
"It's OK, sweetheart." He really hated her usual terms of endearment. Though they meant more when she used them for him, Trudy used the same endearments for everyone. She was really pleased with the cute nickname Bunny, but she realised that she couldn't think of anything. She considered calling him something like cupcake or cookie, but it sounded silly. She even considered shortening his name. She decided to give it a go. "Jazzy, can we get some fudge?"
"Call me that again, you squishy lump, you'll have to go two days without kisses or cuddles."
"OK."
She tried to come up with a cute endearment for him, but she struggled. She didn't let him hold her or kiss her for the next two days. He tried to get a cuddle from her in the car park and she dodged. She sat in the back seat, out of his reach. She slept on the sofa, hid in cupboards, avoiding him. He found her on the second day and asked "May I have the honour of giving you a cuddle?"
"You could. Or you could hit me around the head with a rolling pin."
Jasper mentally facepalmed. "No, you poor, beautiful angel. Come here, you pretty girl."
She let him hug her, knowing he actually needed her hugs. "I'm sorry. For the nickname thing. I'm not as creative as you are."
"Forget it all, bunny. You just let me cuddle you." She felt awful for it. While he ate his food, his favourite steak, chips and green beans, she ate egg fried rice with garden peas. Her portion was tiny, since she wasn't particularly hungry. She had just enough to give the baby a decent nutritional high. "Bunny, why are you so quiet and eating so little?"
"I don't feel hungry. And I'm not quiet, I'm just not loud."
"Aw. Come on. Tell me why you're so silent."
"Because I'm rude, stupid and unimaginative. What's new in your world?"
He let her eat in silence, then gave her a bag of chocolates. "Yours."
"Why?" She asked, quietly.
"Because you need something special."
Trudy opened the chocolates and gave a handful to Jasper. "You have some, too. I have sensitive teeth."
Jasper had some chocolate and hugged her. "You're so generous, bunny. I love you."
She stopped responding to the cute nickname, often disappearing into a trance. He roused her with her real name, then asked her what was wrong. "Nothing." She told him, her soft voice almost silent.
"Something. Come on, my lovely. You don't even respond when I call you bunny."
She winced. "OK. Sorry. I just go into a daze and I can't hear so well."
He sat next to her and hugged her, then gently asked "Is it something to do with being called bunny?"
"No."
"OK. Do you want me to stop calling you that?" He knew from her expression that she did. He kissed her cheek. "Alright, no more nickname."
She missed being called bunny. She got rare cuddles and kisses, she felt lonely and she was hiding her desires. She wanted her husband to kiss her and tell her she was his little bunny. One evening, a few weeks later, Jasper saw her crying. He sat next to her and hugged her. "What's the matter, bunny?"
That cheered her up. "I missed being called bunny."
"Aww, you're beautiful."
She nestled close. She felt a little less lonely. When she went into labour, Jasper looked after her, helping her get the baby out safely. He made sure she wouldn't bleed out. "I need a painkiller!" Trudy moaned.
"You don't, bunny. Baby's almost out."
"It hurts!" Trudy wailed.
"Bunny, it's OK."
Trudy delivered a beautiful baby girl. "Is the peanut OK?"
"She certainly is." He checked their daughter's weight, responsiveness, the date and time and then bathed her and put her in a nappy, then lay her in her mother's tender arms. "Here, bunny, your beautiful newborn daughter. What do you want to call her?"
"You pick. I chose what I wanted throughout the last nine months. You pick her name."
Jasper kissed her. "I want you to choose her name, bunny."
"OK. You have the final say. Ezella."
"Oh my God. Where did you get that?"
"I made it up."
"OK. Well, if you like that..."
"Do you?"
"Nope. I was expecting something like Melanie or Natalia."
"Ooh, I like Natalia."
They agreed on Natalia. Trudy wouldn't say that she didn't want more babies. She stayed comfortably at Jasper's side, his bunny.
When Trudy reached sixty nine, her doctor diagnosed her with lung cancer. It was too advanced to save her life. Jasper and their twenty one year old daughter and twenty year old son were waiting for her to return. Jasper noticed her sadness first. "Mum? What was the final verdict?" She was a juror, and she was eight months pregnant and it made her parents very proud. Trudy looked miserable.
"Mum?" Her son asked. He was doing a degree in mechanics. And she only had three weeks left. She wouldn't be alive to see her son leave college. Or see her first grandchild's birth. She wouldn't get the funeral she wanted.
She breathed "It wasn't good news, I'll give it that."
Jasper sighed. His wife was dying. "How long?" He asked.
"Three weeks." She sighed. "It's too late to treat it."
Jasper looked miserable, but the pain ran through to the core of his soul. Trudy knew how he was feeling, how her babies were feeling. Natalia kissed her mother gently and said "There's always a way, Mum."
"Not this time, Natalia. Come on, all of you. Bring it in." She hugged them.
That night, Jasper kissed his wife. "No matter what happens, you're my little bunny."
"I love you, squishy."
"I love you, bunny."
Three weeks later, Trudy was still living, while on all kinds of things. Natalia, Jason and Natalia's husband Fred were staying with the couple. Natalia went into labour and she had her parents to watch. Trudy, pride filling her, was delighted when Natalia delivered a beautiful baby boy. She let her mother hold the baby boy. Jasper smiled at his wife. Over the last three weeks, her eyesight had faded. Another type of cancer affected her left eye. She was dying, but her right eye remained untouched. She saw her gorgeous grandson and smiled. "He's gorgeous, Natalia. Congratulations, my darlings."
She dragged herself through and watched her son leave college. One morning, Jasper woke up with his wife in his arms. "Are you OK, bunny?"
She opened her eyes, though her left one didn't work any more. "Jasper, squishy, I know what we planned and I wish I could follow it through. But my lungs aren't working properly and I'm not going to last. So if you don't want to watch, I understand you leaving me here to die. I just want you to know that I love you."
He kissed her cold, blue-tinged lips and said "I'm staying with you. I swore I'd never leave you and I won't."
"Well, that being said, I love you, Jasper. I always have, I always will. And no matter what I would have ever said in a row, I am grateful for every moment we spent together, for everything we ever did, for you, for our kids, our grandson. I'll be waiting for you when you join me."
"I love you, too, Trudy. I'm grateful to you for everything you did, said and created. You helped me through tough times, you've even given everyone a positive spin on this and you've created and helped raise such a beautiful family."
Jasper kissed his wife once more and she kissed him back with love and passion. "I'll break heaven and earth to be with you again, Jasper."
He stroked her cheek. "I'll be waiting, Trudy. My beautiful bunny."
"My gorgeous squishy." She breathed. "Goodbye, my love." Her final breath.
Sent mad within just two hours after watching the woman he loved die in his arms, Jasper mixed up a poison that would kill him fairly quickly, but enough to torture him, just how his wife had suffered. He died, wrapped in his wife's cold arms, holding her as if he was warming her up and comforting her while she looked as though she was keeping him warm and comforted. In their hands, clasped together was the one sentence they'd always swore to each other. Once in Trudy's writing, once in Jasper's. I will always love you. I will always love you. Natalia, holding her newborn son, sighed to see her parents dead. "I remember them saying, when Jason and I were kids, that they'd be together forever. And from now on, they will be."
R.I.P
Jasper Choudhary
29/01/1977 to 15/10/2047
Dearly loved son, husband, father and grandfather.
and
Trudy Choudhary
18/04/1977 to 15/10/2047
Dearly loved daughter, wife, mother and grandmother.
Their lives were taken from them too soon. But in death, they will be together forever.
One thousand years later, the grave was discovered by Hanna Darton-Choudhary, the descendant of Jasper and Trudy Choudhary. Thanks to the history and the couple, the bloodline was eagerly continued. She was reported in the news as finding an amazing and romantic find. After discovering what killed the people who made her possible, she dedicated her entire life to finding a cure for cancer and poison. She died after finding the cure, aged sixty nine, on the fifteenth of October, three thousand and forty seven.
