This is the second chapter, and there will be hopefully a few more after this, but the times will be muddled up so it will go something like: 6 months, 2 months, 4 months, 9 months etc. Enjoy This is six months along from when Karen first told him she was pregnant
Lying down comfortably on the soft material green sofa in the left hand corner of her spacious living room, Karen lifted up her hand from her side and, propping her head up on two pillows so she could see beyond the bump, she removed the jar of pickles from on top of her large, billowing stomach and hastened to unscrew the lid so she could "dig in". She had somehow managed to fall asleep some hours previous with a jar of pickles balancing on her six month baby bump. It wasn't all surprising, being pregnant wasn't exactly a walk in the park, and now that she was slightly older than when she had had Jess and Harry, everything was just a little bit more complicated.
Getting to sleep was harder, getting up and cleaning and cooking (although her diet mostly consists now of pickles, ice cream and ketchup – sometimes all together) was harder than anticipated. But at least she didn't have to do it alone. When she had been pregnant with her two kids before, sure, Charlie had been there and all, but he hadn't been so overly protective and enthusiastic that she couldn't breathe, whereas Rob was there at every call, every false alarm, every sad scene in a movie, every little hiccup that upset her extremely fragile temperament. He was here to hold her hand, brush back her hair from her face when she had a bad case of morning sickness, kiss her forehead, temple, cheek, fingers and belly whenever she was feeling low.
He talked to her stomach every evening when they were lying in bed, telling his unborn baby of all the adventures that he had been on, telling them about their brothers and sister and how their mummy and daddy had come to be together. She always laughed at this, telling him if her child had a penchant for being both charming yet totally unruly, she was blaming him entirely. She hoped they had picked up some of Rob's charisma though, and his caring and insanely gentle nature.
Karen was wearing her bright scarlet red jumper, and a pair of Rob's old trackie bottoms. It wasn't the most fetching choice of apparel, but she had a habit of wearing his clothes. Her feet were still slightly chilly, but she was wearing thick furry socks, and her toenails were visible through the many holes. Her hair was tied back in a very loose ponytail, and many clips were pinned in to keep her fringe out of the way of her eyes. Her make up was on, but was very simple and weak and she looked pretty washed out.
But at the current moment, Karen was having a slight difficulty with undoing the God-damned lid on the jar of pickles. Some berk had packed this so tightly; how the hell is anyone supposed to open this damn thing? she thought angrily, twisting the rim will all of her might, attempting to wrench the barrier from her food away entirely. Sitting up now, quickly putting one hand on her stomach to support, she tugged on the lid, putting her nails underneath the rim to try and pull it up. However, when no success came of this method, Karen stormed into the kitchen, grabbed a knife and plunged it through the jar's lid, trying any desperate method to open it. If she hadn't been so hungry, and craving pickles with an insane fevour, then she would've given up by now. She pulled the kitchen knife back out and accidentally slid it across her index finger, causing a miniscule cut to appear. Swearing angrily, she chucked the knife into the sink, picked up the pickles in the glass jar and threw it at one of the walls, causing the glass to shatter and the pickles to come tumbling out of it like she wanted. But she was too tired to do anything now, or try to care, so Karen slowly sunk carefully back into her position on the sofa, closed her eyes, overreactive tears forming and slipping down her face in annoyance, and quietly nodded off to sleep, her baby gently kicking against her hand resting protectively on her stomach.
X – X – X
'Alright everyone, I'm off!' Rob yelled cheerily, picking up his dark grey blazer from the back of his chair and grabbing a sheaf of papers in one hand, stuffing them clumsily into his briefcase. Rob, who was now officially a teacher, had replaced Tom's job in the English department whilst Tom went on to become acting headmaster until the end of the school year when the LA would pick a brand new headteacher. Many of the staff and pupils didn't really like or approve of this idea; Karen had lost her job first (which most people were still absolutely fuming about), and everyone was getting used to Tom, who was surprisingly great at this whole headmaster thing, and they didn't want some "crappy old jerk" coming and taking over.
Janeece ran from her desk and gave Rob a hug as usual, before saying, 'Give Karen my love.' Rob's eyes twinkled mischeviously before he bent down and whispered in her ear, 'Don't worry, I will.' Janeece pulled a childish face, but Rob chuckled slightly before continuing, now loud enough for everyone to hear, with, 'Is it okay if I bring Karen in tomorrow? She really wants to see you guys again, and how the school's getting on. Ooh and she had something to tell you all,' he added mysteriously, tapping his nose secretively. He and Karen had decided pretty early on that they weren't going to tell anyone about the pregnancy until her third trimester when all her morning sickness had abated and she was feeling a lot calmer – most of the time. All the staff nodded and smiled and Rob went to leave before someone tugged on his arm and said,
'What's she got to tell us?' It was Janeece, obviously, being nosy as per usual. But Rob was rather patient with her and just tapped his nose once more, again in secrecy, and muttered, 'You'll find out tomorrow,' before walking from the staff room to the main exit of the school.
He knew that Karen was bored, being stuck at home all day, and he had a sneaky suspicion that she was a little bit jealous of the fact that he got to come here everyday. Smiling sadly, he pulled his car door open, stuffed his random items in and steadily drove home, the calming and soothing tones of Katherine Jenkins seeping from the stereo. This music was good for Karen's stress levels, and he quite enjoyed it, singing along to all the words. When he finally reached his destination, Rob pulled out his files, locked the car automatically (which he quite liked – it was cool) and went to the front door of his and Karen's home. They lived together now; it was just easier and more suitable. He was about to ring the doorbell, but then a sudden thought struck him. Checking his watch, Rob saw the time to be around half five, and Karen always had a nap around five, so she might already be asleep. And he wasn;t going to wake her, not after last time (a very life-threatening experience in which Karen had thrown a bouncy ball, a rubber and an alarm clock at him for waking her up).
He, as silently as possible, unlocked the front door, laid down his stuff in the cupboard under the stairs, and kicked his shoes off in there too whilst he was at it. He was going to go and check their bedroom for her, but he caught sight of her sleeping form in the living room and hushed the door, as an inanimate object, as it creaked open due to his weak push. He walked over to her, planted a small kiss in her forehead and whispered, 'Hey beautiful,' in her ear, but then he turned and saw the pickles. He quickly picked up the large shards of glass, lurking dangerously near where Karen would usually put her feet when she woke up, and tutted at her sleeping body; she was totally oblivious to the fact that her boyfriend was home. He mopped up the juice and carefully dumped the pickles in a bin before going to sit in the living room.
Karen was half awake when he walked in, her eyes blinking and flickering, her voice groggy when she spoke, 'Hey Rob,' she muttered, yawning widely behind her hand. He went and sat on the small bit of sofa left next to her head and stroked her hair, 'Karen, why on earth were there pickles on and around the wall?'
Weirdly, she started to cry again, almost uncontrollably and he held onto her when she muttered out, choking on her words, 'I couldn't get the lid off…and it was really annoying and I got really…angry.' He understood that her emotions were all over the place, and she was glad that he knew; any other man would've called her a crazy cow, but he knew that she was feeling a little scrambled at the moment. He was definetly going to be here for her, for every second that he was needed. He let Karen lay her head on top of his knees and he callously brushed her hair with his finger tips, smiling all the while, gently pressing his lips to hers every now and then. When she had completely calmed down, her eyes glaring not so furiously in red anymore, he put a reassuring hand on her belly and loudly chimed, 'How's my little sweetheart been doing today?' Karen yawned again from exhaustion, but quietly muttered in response, 'I've been alright.' Rob stared down at her awkwardly, but she frantically added, 'Kidding, the baby's been fine,' she said, feeling the need to explain her joke.
He laughed drily and whispered, 'You're not "sweetheart" Karen, you're "beautiful" in every sense of the word.' She sat up next to him and wrapped both arms around his waist. He put an arm around her shoulders, but kept the other hand on her belly, 'You ready to go back in tomorrow and tell everyone?' She nodded her head nervously, and yawned for the third time. 'Sleepy, eh?' he asked concernedly, and she nodded again.
Although she was six months pregnant, and weighing quite a bit more than usual, Rob, with a broad grin spread across his face, quickly pulled Karen into his arms like she was made of nothing heavier than feathers and carried her extraordinarily gently and cautiously up the stairs. He tucked her into their bed, wrapping warm covers around her. He kissed her on the forehead, and brushed a few stray bits of her hair from her face. 'I'll bring you some food later beautiful,' he murmured in her ear, but she was already fast asleep; dreaming, wishing, praying, hoping and thinking about him, and also the expression on everyone's face when they saw her tomorrow. You could not deny that it was going to be horridly entertaining.
He paused at the doorway, leaning a casual arm on the frame. He turned around to glance over her gorgeous sleeping form, the heavy quilt moulding around her ever increasing pregnant baby bump. He smiled in content; everything is so perfect right now that he can hardly believe it. He's living with the woman he loves, he's starting a family (albeit a bit later than he would've expected) with her, and now he gets to be with her and cherish her every single day.
Karen's hair was splayed across the four pillows on their bed, and her arms and hands were bent out across the mattress. Her chest heaved up and down with each of her steady and deep breaths, and her feet twitched ever so slightly when they were hanging out of the sheets. He gently brushed a finger against the small black velvet box in his jeans pocket (he is a teacher – but the jeans stay) and smiled ever more widely. He was going to ask her soon, and he really prayed to God that she would accept. From when they first met, and from the time of their first kiss, Rob knew that he would marry Karen one day, no matter how long it took for him to "woo" her. He knew that he was in love with her, and he wanted to proclaim his love for everyone to see. But it would have to wait for a few days, or even weeks, for the proposal; maybe revealing to all the students and staff at Waterloo Road that Karen was pregnant was going to be enough for one day. None of us know, he pondered reflectively, when or how or why or where we're going to fall in love, but we all do at some point. And for Rob and Karen, it had just come a little bit later on in life than originally presumed. Rob flicked the light off, although it was still bright outside, and walked down the stairs, a smile on his lips and love, for her and his unborn child, embedded deep in his heart.
X – X – X
The staff room was busy and bustling, full to the brim with caffeine coated teachers woken from their slumbers by both their beckon to work, and the fact that Karen would be here any minute. After Rob's intensely thought-provoking hint yesterday, everyone was buzzing and gossiping about what it was that they had to say. Janeece ran around, desperately trying to make as many people look cheery (which was hard work with this motley crew) and encouraging. They were all rather pleased that Karen was coming back, but it was a Thursday morning and everyone was absolutely exhausted. Thursday's were rubbish, still two more days left in this hell hole until the weekend. Janeece ran down the corridor to quickly look out the window and all the murmurs were harshly interrupted when she returned to the room and yelled,
'Oh my God! They're here! Everyone get ready!' A silence descended on the room and every hastened to sit down and look natural and happy. Several minutes passed, but no one moved; everyone was too excited. The door gently creaked open and everyone's breaths hitched and stopped as the two walked in, Karen looking all too like she was…
'Mrs Fisher, are you pregnant?' Janeece questioned loudly, interrupting everyone's trains of thoughts. The look of sheer admonishment was plain upon everyone's faces and each member of staff had their gaze fixed on Karen. Karen looked extremely nervous for several moments and she twisted her fingers around each other before Rob quickly took one of them within her own and squeezed it enouragingly. He smiled briefly at her and Karen beamed wobbily before turning back to Janeece and replying wittily with, 'I would presume so Janeece. Anyway, have you all missed me?'
Tom, who was currently sat in his office, twiddling his thumbs over some extremely large amount of paperwork, heard the chatter dying outside and curiously rose from his chair from behind his desk and popped his head around the door. Upon seeing Karen, he beamed rosily and then caught sight of her bump. It was quite pronounced seeing as she was wearing a dark blue slimmed t-shirt, and she looked quite tired, but still as radiant as ever. 'Alright Karen?' he asked casually, and Karen nodded confidentally, smiling all the while.
Everyone suddenly started talking again, the whole collaboration of staff beginning to crowd around Karen and her bump, everyone asking questions and hugging her and introducing themselves if they were new. Rob gently let go of Karen's hand, cast a reassuring smile in her direction and headed over to Tom.
'Nice mate,' Tom said, half sarcastically. Rob smirked, 'She's never been happier really. We've had the odd morning sickness and breakdown, but apart from that it's all okay.' Tom nodded along, like the Churchill dogs in the back of cars and replied with, 'How many months along is she?'
'Just gone twenty five weeks, so over six months,' Rob explained carefully, pausing to tot up the time properly, 'And we're living together, so it's all brilliant at the moment.'
Karen was standing awkwardly in the midst of around twenty members of staff; some old, recognizable faces like Grantly and Eleanor, and some new ones whom she had not yet learnt the names of. People were shaking her hand and hugging her left, right and centre, and after a few minutes, she just had to sit down to breathe properly. She glanced meaningfully towards Rob, and he quickly departed from Tom's side, rushed over to her and gently cleared everyone out of the way so she could sit down. Karen slumped into the chair, leaning comfortably against it, her hands resting on her stomach. Most of the staff backed off, now satisfied that they knew what was going on, and went back to their marking and work, but Janeece timidly approached, a cup of tea in her hands, 'Here you go Mrs Fisher,' she said brightly, handing Karen the tea and plonking herself down on the chair next to her. Oh God, Karen thought, she had a headache enough as it was right now…
'You know, when I was preggers, the last three months were awful. I had morning sickness like every other day, and I got such bad cramps sometimes that I thought I was going into labour a few times…' Janeece said enthusiastically, waving her hands around in explanation. Karen groaned, blocking out Janeece's continuing derogatory stories of her own pregnancy until someone waltzed up behind her and whispered in her ear, 'Having fun Karen?'
She swivelled her shoulders around to find Rob kneeling next to her, and she quickly kissed him before she muttered inaudiably, 'Yeah. I'm having fun with Janeece's story telling.' He rolled his eyes at her and kissed her again, 'Hey beautiful, let's go home, eh?'