Welcome to the Suburbs
She was still sulking about the move, but even she had to admit it was a gorgeous day in the suburbs. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, the air had that early-Spring warmth and smell to it, and trees were a truly lovely shade of emerald. The sky was fantastically turquoise, and the only clouds were some cheerful white Cirrus. It was sort of awful. If she had been back in the city, she would have been lounging under a tree in Central Park, reading a novel and listening to show tunes; she was a good multi-tasker.
The suburbs were so refined and somehow uncultured. The houses looked like they'd been mostly made from cookie-cutters. Each home had a wide patch green grass, an immaculate brick walkway (some were made into different designs), a sweet little mailbox at the end of the driveway, and perfect shutters. Some had white picket fences and others had flowers springing up along paths and sidewalks – how sickeningly sweet.
She was attempting to pick up a box of books from the trunk of her car, hoping to transfer it to the house before Duncan saw her. But she was slowing down, lately, and hadn't managed to waddle halfway to the front door before her husband strode from it, a scolding clear in his features.
"Chris, what did I tell you?" Duncan admonished her, "Let me carry in all the boxes; I do not want you straining yourself. I know you're antsy, but we only have two weeks left. Can't you wait until that kid's out of you, 'till you start running around again?" He swiftly removed the relatively light box from atop his wife's bulging abdomen and nudged her toward the house.
"I'm sorry – I know. I'm just so anxious being out of the city." She pondered why that was. Somewhere in her mind, she knew it seemed backward to be having what seemed like cabin-fever in a place that in reality had much more open space than where she had previously resided, " It's weirdly unsettling here – there's too much space… I don't like it. Need to keep myself busy."
"Well, keep yourself busy reading books, not carrying them. Okay, sweetheart? It's only for few more days." Duncan worried about her so much. His wife was so small, and he was a born gentleman. Even when she wasn't pregnant, he always worried about her well-being. Her current state was just another thing he wanted to look after her for. He needed to take care of her, always. She was clumsy, and if she wasn't careful and something happened to her and the sweet little baby inside her, he wouldn't be able to live with himself.
He plopped the box down in front of the bookshelf he'd moved in the previous day. He'd come early to set most of the furniture up, so the house would be comfortable when his wife arrived. Chris carefully lowered herself onto the plush new carpet, and began to sift through each book as her husband walked back out the storm door to retrieve the last box from the trunk. She ordered the books on the small shelf by author. There wasn't nearly enough room for all of them – she'd have to locate some in the bedroom when she finally could.
Duncan reentered the house and made his way, box full of clothes in hand, to the master bedroom. Chris was settling one of her favorite books on the shelf – a biography about John Lennon – when she was reminded that she'd still left a small box of vinyl's on the floor of the backseat. It couldn't wait – her Beatles collection was in there, and she couldn't perform simple daily activities without them.
Carefully, Chris picked herself up with support from the crate still mostly full of books, and slipped on her flip-flops at the front door. When she reached for the handle, Duncan called to her.
"What are you getting? Is it a box? I'll be right there, let me carry it!" Duncan heard everything.
He was making footsteps in her direction, and she quickly called back to him, "No, no – not a box, just forgot my cell in the car. I'll get it, myself," dissuading him. "I can get it myself," Chris mumbled as she let the door swing closed behind her. She padded over to her car and reached down for the box. Briefly, she felt a twang in her belly. She stood up and rubbed her back for a moment, but otherwise ignored the pain when it went away. This happened sometimes – the baby doctor said it was perfectly normal – it was just the baby kicking - and not to worry about it. Her worry-wart husband, however, did not take it so lightly… what Duncan didn't know couldn't hurt him.
She reached for the box once more, and was thus successful in her attempt. Maybe it was a tiny bit heavier than she'd remembered. After all, her girlfriend had been the one to pack most of the boxes in her car before she left – the ones her husband hadn't already readied. Oh, well. She spun back on her heal to face her new home. It was sort of charming in its own distinctly un-city-like way. She had a sinking feeling she was already getting used to it. She was just about to step back toward the entry when someone called to her from behind.
"Hey, do you need any help with that, neighbor?" came an enthusiastic male voice. Chris twisted her head to the side to see an attractive young guy, presumably around her same age, with jet black hair locked beneath a helmet of gel, and bright, friendly brown eyes, holding his arms toward the box cradled in her arms.
"Oh, I'm fine-"
"Please," the man took the package from her anyway, "We're glad to help."
"Is it a boy, or a girl?" came another voice, this on more high-pitched. Chris turned her whole body toward the sound, not having realized there was another body there, and found that it came from another man, the same age, with an impossibly pale complexion and the most gorgeous blue eyes she'd ever seen. There was a short, but not awkward silence as Chris stared at the man's beautiful, almost elfin features.
"I'm sorry?" she snapped back after a moment, realizing she'd spaced out.
"Are you having a boy or a girl?" he repeated fondly.
"Oh, we're waiting for a surprise," she responded. She'd answered the question so many times now, she'd lost count.
"Well, I'm Blaine, and this is my husband Kurt," Blaine stuck out a hand from under the box he now held.
"Chris," she offered, as she took his hand.
"I'd shake your hand, too, but I made you a pie -which I am holding," said Kurt, and Chris's eyes darted from his lovely face, to the baked good in his hands.
"Is that pecan pie?" This earned a head-nod from Kurt. "That is quite literally my favorite food in the world."
"That's why I made it," Kurt smiled knowingly at her, then laughed nervously, "Oh, that sounded weird. Your husband told me yesterday – as in, I asked," he clarified.
"Oh! That makes more sense. It's looks..." Words weren't cutting it right now, so she just nodded her head wildly, and grinned equally. She took the light pastry from him and placed it on her protruding stomach, finally extending her hand to him. "Thank you so much, it looks delicious!"
Blaine jerked his head in the direction of her homemade table, "That's awesome! Wish I could do that!" Kurt patted his arm consolingly and giggled.
"Let's bring these in the house," Chris suggested as she motioned for the couple to make way toward the building. "Where do you live, by the way?"
"Right across the street, in 38," replied Kurt. Chris thanked Blaine, and took the box of vinyls from him, only to set them down a foot away, in front of the stereo system that wasn't quite set up, yet. Duncan wasn't awesome with the electronic… stuff.
"Hey, those are awesome records, by the way. You obviously have great taste," Kurt offered, "The Beatles are one of my many things."
"I positively can't go a single day without breaking out a Beatles track!" pressed Chris excitedly; she loved meeting people who shared the same musical tastes as her – but really, who didn't like The Beatles?
"Same with him," Blaine poked Kurt's arm playfully.
"Is there someone here, honey?" Duncan wondered as he made his way down the front hall.
"It's our new neighbors from across the street…" Chris replied sweetly, "and they made me pie!"
Duncan couldn't contain his laughter as he greeted the familiar men with a salute, "Nice to see you two again- Man, that pie looks amazing," he noticed the pie, all but forgotten, still resting on Chris's protrusion. "Which one of you made this?"
"I do the baking around these parts," Blaine offered, "This one does the cooking." Duncan made a motion of bowing down to Blaine before taking the pie from his wife, and heading toward the kitchen.
"Duncan told us you moved from the city for the extra space – you don't have any other children?" Kurt inquired.
"Nope, it's just the three of us!" Chris rubbed her stomach lovingly.
"Well, I know it can be tough, moving from the city for this – we've been through it, too – but you'll love raising kids here, everyone does."
"So you have kids?"
"No, actually – not for want of trying!" Blaine rubbed Kurt's shoulder and grinned up at him, laughing delightedly.
"Oh, stop!" Kurt smacked his husband playfully, "But you aren't the only one with a baby on the way, as it so happens! Not nearly as soon as you, though, I'll say – you must be pretty far along."
"Just a couple weeks left," Chris assured him.
"Yeah, I'm just starting to show," teased Blaine, rubbing tummy with a look of consternation on his face.
Chris laughed – it may or may not have been a little hysterical – at the joke, and calmed herself enough to ask, "So do you have a surrogate, or..?"
Both men paused and looked at each other, then at her very seriously. The full weight of their gazes cut off Chris's dying giggles, and she suddenly felt nearly sick with regret. What did I say?
"What…" Kurt left his thought open ended, staring directly in the small woman's eyes.
Feeling his scrutinizing glare was something else. His eyes were like none Chris had ever seen before – they were positively entrancing. Their undivided attention made her spill her guts out, "I'm so sorry, did I-" The two men before her, utterly in love, broke into irrepressible guffaws. The two were doubling over in cheer.
"No, we're sorry," Blaine apologized profusely, but still chortling guiltily, "we were just kidding with you – but God, you looked hypnotized or something. Are you okay?" he managed to snort out.
"Don't do that, I felt like crap!" Chris admonished the pair.
"Really, so sorry – we shouldn't have done that," Chris admitted, "Sometimes it's just so easy, though." He stole a sideways glance at his husband. "To answer your question, yes, we moved here for the same reason as you – it just took us a little while to get coordinated."
"We've lived here for almost a year, now. Only just recently have things finally gotten… coordinated," Blaine explained easily.
"Well, it's really difficult, I know." Chris offered, "I have some friends back in the city who've filed for adoption years ago, and still haven't completed the process."
"Oh, it's definitely tough. Different methods are good for different people, though. All things factored in, surrogacy seemed best for us."
"I heard animal noises coming from in here," Duncan reentered the foyer everyone was still contained in. "You weren't trying to take advantage of my beautiful wife, were you?"
"I saw her first!" Kurt exclaimed, moving to put his hands over Chris's bulging middle, put abruptly stopping about an inch from the mountain that was her stomach, his expression suddenly more soft, "I'm sorry – may I?"
Chris was slightly shocked at his politeness – usually people just pressed their hands up against her, rubbing her stomach, cooing weird baby noises at it. Sometimes even complete strangers walked up to her and said nothing but, "aww," before proceeding to intrude her personal space just to touch her body without permission. "Of course," she allowed, after a moment of pregnant (pun intended) silence, "I actually love this. I mean, it's weird when random strangers do it, but I trust you… I think," she teased him.
Kurt ever so gently placed a warm hand upon the baby bump – which was really much more than a bump – and was immediately entranced. He loved this; there was life in there - a little, tiny life. He looked to Blaine, who was meeting eyes with Chris, silently asking permission to mimic his husband's action. When his permission was granted, his gaze turned to connect with Kurt's, and instead of using his hand to place directly over Chris's body, he used it to cover Kurt's own. Their faces were suddenly split in two by matching grins.
Suddenly, Blaine shifted awkwardly, "Well, if you ever need anything," he reached out to Chris and Duncan, "You know, to help you get to know the place or... anything-"
"Just give us a call – or a knock, I suppose. We'd better get going though-"
"It was so lovely meeting you." The duo linked hands like magnets suddenly brought them together. They smiled politely – rushed, but genuine – at their new friends and neighbors, and let themselves out of the storm door just behind them before their hosts could even say 'likewise.'
Duncan placed a hand atop his wife's head of curly blonde hair. "Well that was weird."
"That was adorable," Duncan arched one lovely eyebrow. "Didn't you see their blatantly obvious get-a-room-yness?" Duncan raised a second eyebrow.
Chris petted his hair fondly, as if he were an adorable, confused puppy. "Men," she stated simply, as she walked around him to pull out the record player and her favorite vinyl.
It was time to christen her new home.
