Flicker of Life - Chapter 2
Summary:
Alise and Owen are knocked off of cloud nine the day after they get married because the reality is they're homeless and jobless with a baby on the way with no plan of what comes next. Thankfully, Alise's parents insist they stay with them while they figure out a plan for the future.
*Adult themes ahead, be warned
Authors Note:
Someone asked if Claire was in this story, she does show up in future chapters, but this story focuses on Alise and Owen. Hope you like it!
The next morning we slept in until 10am, which is late for us - but then again, we were up almost all night if you know what I mean. We had to be out of the room by 11 and Lowery texted me this morning saying he booked a flight for us all to go back home that leaves at 4pm, so we'd have just enough time to get lunch with Lucy and Lachlan before we leave.
I had just finished reading the text when my phone lit up and Aspen was calling me. My eyes widened.
"Shit, it's Aspen," I sighed.
"Is that a bad thing?" Owen grumbled next to me, his eyes still shut.
"It's not bad, it's just that I wanted to wait until we got home to tell her, but there's no way I'm going to be able to keep it from her if I talk to her."
"So, then tell her," he shrugged, clearly not seeing how big of a deal this was. Or how big of a deal I thought this was.
"It's not that easy… she's going to kill me… but I have to tell her eventually." I said, reasoning with myself and sighing.
"Good luck with that," he said, getting out of bed and walking to the bathroom. I couldn't help the smirked that crossed my lips because I got a glimpse of his naked ass. And he has a nice ass. I just wanna squeeze it. Or slap it, depends on the mood I'm in.
The phone kept vibrating in my hand and I took a breath, answering the way I normally would. "Hey Assie," I greeted her with a laugh.
"Hey Crusty," she laughed. "How are you doing?" her voice was softer and filled with concern.
"Pretty good, actually." I smiled, trying not to remember the events of yesterday as I twirled my hair around my finger.
"Really? You literally just lost everything, didn't you?" she asked, bringing me down from cloud nine. I could tell she was just thinking about it out loud, she didn't want to intentionally make me feel that way.
"Right, that," I sighed. The only thing I was able to get from the bungalow was whatever I packed into that backpack before I left for the control room and that was a change of clothes for Owen and me, a cell phone charger and a few other random things Owen put in our emergency backpack, like a compass, a flashlight, a swiss army knife, and a first aid kit.
"None of that crap doesn't matter, your life is what matters. I'm glad you're okay, Alise. I don't know what I'd do without you. You're my best friend and I love you." it wasn't very often that I'd hear Aspen get sappy and emotional like this, so I couldn't help but smile.
"Right, and since you're my best friend, that means I can tell you anything and you can't kill me for it because you love me..." I said, trailing off a little bit.
"Oh, I can still kill you for it, I'll just tell you I love you before I bludgeon you with a hammer."
"Graphic much, Ass," I laughed. She laughed too.
"Just tell me what's on your mind."
"Okay, well you know how Owen and I are engaged..."
"Yes, I know that obviously, why do you think I forgot?" she said impatiently.
I let out a breath, "Well, after our near death experience it really put stuff into perspective. We didn't want to wait to start our life together anymore-"
"-did you get married?" she cut me off.
"Maybe," I admitted, then there was silence.
"You little bitch and I wasn't even there?"
"I'm sorry Aspen, it all happened so fast. We just wanted to do it and there was a beautiful waterfall and we just did it."
"At least tell me you got pictures…"
"Of course we did!"
"Good," she said, then she went quiet. I was still unsure of what to say because I wasn't sure if she was mad or not. "Isn't the sex even better after your married? Especially on your wedding night. I remember that with Lance like it was yesterday."
"Oh my god, yes! I don't think I've ever gone as long as we did last night. I lost track of how many orgasms I had after 5," I said, right as Owen was walking back to bed. He had the biggest grin on his face and mouthed 'I'm just that good'. I laughed and threw a pillow at him.
"Good. It's what a good husband does," she laughed. "I'm happy for you, I really am, but full disclosure, I'm going to kill you when you get home."
"I wouldn't expect anything else." I smiled.
"I have a showing to do, but text me when you're coming home. And when you are home. I want to see you as soon as possible."
"So you can kill me?" I laughed.
"Exactly. I'll bring the hammer."
"Alright, love you Ass. I'll text you later."
"Love you too Crusty. Tell loverboy I said hi too."
"Will do, bye," I said before hanging up and looking over at Owen.
"You up for another round?" he flicked his brows with a smirk.
I chuckled, "Which round would this be?" I raised my brows.
"I lost count after 5," he shrugged. "'Cuz I'm just that good," he smirked.
"Oh, shut up. We have to be out of this room in 45 minutes, I'm taking a shower. If you want to have a go at it in there, then I suggest you hurry up." I said, getting out of bed and walking to the bathroom with Owen hot on my heels.
x x x
We met up with Lucy, Lachlan, and Lowery at a cafe walking distance to the airport before our flight. Barry was doing more recovery work for Jurassic World, so he couldn't make it.
"Do you know what you're gonna do now? After you get to your parent's house?" Lucy asked as she sipped on her warm tea.
"You know, we really have no idea. I mean, our lives were flipped upside down in a day and yesterday was fun, but now it's time to get back to reality. We're homeless and jobless with a baby on the way and that's really scary." I said, rubbing my stomach subconsciously as I took a sip of my decaf coffee. Which I hated, by the way. It tastes different than caffeinated coffee, but it's something I'll have to give up, for now anyway.
"Well, your parents are letting you stay with them until you figure it out, right?" she asked.
I nodded, "Thankfully, they're the best parents in the world. It just means I'm stuck with that one for god knows how long." I pointed my thumb at Lowery with a groan, who was wrapped up in his own conversation with Lachlan and Owen.
"I heard that!" he snapped, mid-sentence.
I laughed, "Well, you're a pain in my ass, so it's going to be a long… however long we're staying there for."
Lowery scowled at me, rolling his eyes as I laughed and took a bite of my bagel.
"And I hope they're still planning on letting us stay after I tell them that Owen and I are married… and that I'm pregnant."
"You still haven't told them you're pregnant?" Lucy asked, wide-eyed.
I shook my head, "Nope." I said, letting the 'p' pop. There's a lot of things I have to do when I get to Colorado. "What about you? You going to Chicago like you planned?" I asked, taking another sip of coffee.
That's what Lucy told me she was planning on doing a while ago. It was part of her five-year-plan, which she had all mapped out. I noticed Lachlan look over and look down when I said that, I never asked how it was going to work between them.
"Things are still up in the air, especially in light of everything," she said, taking a quick sip of tea as if she were avoiding talking about it. The last time I talked to her about her plan was before I found out they were dating, so maybe that plan has changed and she was skirting around it. I decided not to push it because of the side-eye I was getting from Lachlan.
"Enough talking about the future and shit. Let's talk about yesterday. Lowery was crying like a little bitch during the ceremony." Lachlan said, smirking.
"Lachlan!" Lucy said, smacking his arm.
"Hey, I was not!" Lowery defended.
"Pretty sure you were," Lachlan smirked.
"Pretty sure you were crying too, babe," Lucy mentioned, smirking at Lachlan.
"I may have shed a couple of tears, but my two best friends were getting married!" Lachlan exclaimed.
I laughed, "We were all crying like little bitches," I said and they all seemed to agree.
"Babe," Owen nudged my arm, pointing to his watch. "Time to head out." I glanced at the time on my phone, we had an hour and a half before our plane was taking off.
"We should head out now…" I said, even though I really didn't want to. I wasn't going to see Lucy or Lachlan for god knows how long and I've been used to seeing them almost every day for 9 months.
We walked outside and I was dreading saying our goodbyes, but it had to be done. I'm not going to cry though… well, I'll try not to. My eyes were swelling up already, I blame pregnancy hormones.
"Aw shit, now I'm gonna cry like a little bitch. You three amigos have a good flight." Lachlan said, pulling us all into one big hug. I laughed because I could tell Lowery and Owen weren't comfortable being smushed together like that.
"And we'll definitely keep in touch," Lucy said, grabbing onto my shoulder before pulling me into a tight hug after Lachlan finally let go of us.
"Of course we will," I smiled, hugging her tight. "You'll have to come to visit soon. Or we'll come to visit you, we'll figure something out," I said and Lucy nodded. "I'll let you know when we land," I promised, pulling away.
"Have a safe trip." Lucy smiled.
"Bye guys!" I waved. Owen and Lowery both said 'bye' and waved too before we turned around and started walking towards the airport.
"You okay?" Owen asked, putting his arm around my shoulder. He could probably sense that I was sad and he probably saw the tears forming in my eyes even though I tried looking up so they'd go away.
"Now who's crying like a little bitch," Lowery commented, he was a few strides ahead of us.
"Shut up, dick!" I said, raising my hand up to slap him, but he ran further ahead of us, but I followed him, finally hitting his back.
"I'm not sitting in between you two, you're going to drive me nuts," Owen commented.
"So, you're going to let us sit together?" I asked, my brows raised.
"Nope, I'm changing my seat," He said. I rolled my eyes and laughed.
"You're not getting away from us that easily, Owen. You're part of the family now, you'll have to get used to this." I said, smacking Lowery's arm, to which he winced and said 'ow!' followed by 'what was that for'.
"Trust me, I'm already used to it," Owen chuckled, opening the door for both of us.
x x x
The flight was 5 and a half hours and we kept ourselves busy for most of it. Lowery was playing with his new laptop he bought yesterday because the kid can't go a day without one. Owen and I watched the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie before we started reading our own books that we got from the airport kiosk. I found a book on pregnancy and I was totally going to be that person that read anything and everything about it, while Owen was reading a book he picked up called 'Lone Survivor'.
I spewed out a few facts about pregnancy, interrupting Owen's reading and he kind of just mumbled 'Is that so' without breaking his attention from the book. I knew he wasn't purposefully ignoring me, he got wrapped up in books when he was reading.
I let it go after that, letting the silence linger for a while before my mind went to what the hell we're going to be doing with our lives now since we've never actually talked about it yet. We hadn't really had time to. I glanced over at Lowery, who was passed out with his head back, mouth open and he was snoring quietly. I debated plugging up his nose to mess with him, but my thoughts were getting louder and louder.
"Babe…" I said, looking over at Owen. He hummed in response, eyes still glued to the page. "What are we going to do?" I asked, worry in my voice.
He sighed, closing the book and looking at me. "We don't have to talk about it right now."
"But when then? You keep saying that, but we have to talk about it sometime. We're homeless and jobless and we have a baby to take care of now. Not just us." I said, putting my hand on my stomach.
Owen sighed, "I know it's not just us anymore. Your mom and stepdad said we could stay a while, right?" he asked, I nodded. "Then we're not homeless. We both have plenty of money saved to keep us afloat for 4 or 5 months without draining all of our money, you can afford to take a few months off if it comes to that. I'll get a job right away, we'll make it work." he said calmly. I nodded, letting out a sigh.
"I'm just scared, Owen," I admitted.
"Don't worry, baby. We'll make it work. I promise," he said, kissing my forehead. "For us and our little baby." he rubbed my stomach and I smiled at him, believing and trusting every word he said. We have the start of a plan, we'll make it work like he said. I can stop worrying about it now - or try to at least.
x x x
We took a taxi to my mom and stepdad's house and didn't end up getting there until after midnight. We came into the house quietly, not wanting to wake up my mom and stepdad. Lowery, of course, was making a bunch of noise, knocking into shit as we walked into the house.
"Who's there?" I heard Snow's familiar voice from the living area. "Who's there?" she repeated until I flipped the light on and saw her in her cage, flapping her wings with excitement when she saw me.
"Hi girl, did you miss me?" I asked the white cockatoo as she bobbed her head as if she were nodding.
"Dickhead!" she said when Lowery walked into the room.
"I can't believe you got her to say that whenever she sees me!" Lowery exclaimed. I laughed, looking back at Snow.
"Dickhead!" she repeated.
"Yeah, hi Snow," Lowery rolled his eyes, walking past us and into the kitchen, probably to grab something to eat because he's been whining about how hungry he was the entire car ride.
"So this is the infamous Snow…" Owen said, walking over to me.
I told him we had a cockatoo, along with all of the other pets I have too, including the two German Shepherds a seven-year-old named Minnie and her son who is six months old named Dot. We also have a few goats named Ollie, Thor, and Storm (you can guess which ones I named and the one Lowery named), as well as three hens named Mocha, Sandy, and Ginger.
Owen was a little shocked when I told him all of this, but then again, I did tell him I grew up with a lot of animals. We had more at one point, but that was when Lowery and I were around to help out. That's all my mom and stepdad can handle on their own.
"You got her to call him 'dickhead'?" he asked, walking over to me. I grinned and nodded. "Was it hard?"
"Not really, I just showed her a picture of Lowery every morning for a few months and told her he was 'dickhead' and gave her a treat every time she said it. It took some perseverance, but it was totally worth it." I laughed, so did Owen. Then Snow laughed along with us, but it was a mocking laugh.
"Ah, she laughs too?"
"Yeah, she makes fun of my laugh," I said, right as she did it again. "Alright, goodnight Snow." she laughed again and I gave her a look. "Snow, it's bedtime."
"Goodnight, goodnight," she repeated.
"She's well-trained, I see," Owen said as I started walking towards the stairs.
"Yeah. She does a bedtime song-" I started to say, then I heard her whistle from her cage. "-that goes a little like that." I laughed.
"Where's your mom and stepdads room?"
"Downstairs by the kitchen. This is the bathroom," I pointed as we walked by. "That's Lowery's room," I pointed to my left. "And this is mine." I opened the door and flipped the switch on.
"Holy shit!" Owen exclaimed, I gave him a confused look and looked at him, seeing that he was looking at my lifesize cutout of Loki.
I laughed, "Oh my god, you should have seen your face!"
"I didn't know you had a cutout of him, a little warning would have been nice," he scratched the back of his head, putting his bag down.
"And risk not being able to see that face? No way," I smirked. Owen rolled his eyes. "So now you know, Loki is always watching. Even when we have sex, he'll be watching."
"No he won't be because I'll turn him around," he said, sounding a little annoyed. I just laughed and rubbed his shoulders.
"I'm kidding, babe," I kissed his cheek. "I'm gonna pee and then go to bed. I'm so tired. Plus, we have to talk to my parents tomorrow about our future plans and I have to break it to them that we're married and have a bun in the oven, so I have to be well-rested for that." I said, Owen nodded.
"That'll be fun."
"So much fun," I said sarcastically as I walked out of the room. I was nervous about talking to them tomorrow. I just hope it goes well.
x x x
The next morning, I was up by 8am and I swear I could smell the coffee brewing in the kitchen. Heightened smell is a symptom of pregnancy and would you look at that, my stomach's starting to show already just a little bit, even though it hasn't been too long. I could tell when I didn't have a shirt on and with a tight top, it's easily noticeable. Thankfully, I had some winter clothes here that I had no use for in Isla Nublar, so I put on a shirt and a cardigan.
I looked over at Owen, who was still sleeping and was snoring softly. He hasn't been sleeping much and he was tossing and turning most of the night and I knew that because he'd wake me up, so I figured I'd let him sleep and he'll come down when he's ready.
I walked into the kitchen to see my mom sitting at the island looking through a magazine, most likely Good Housekeeping or something along those lines.
"Good morning, sweetie!" she said, immediately getting up and embracing me in a tight hug. "I'm so glad you're back." she kissed my head.
I laughed, "I am too, but I wish it were different circumstances." I said, my voice falling. She nodded as she pulled away.
"I have so many questions, but I won't bombard you, especially before your morning coffee. There's some in the pot," she said, sitting back down as she took a sip of her coffee.
"That's great…" I said, clearing my throat. "I'm not really up for coffee, do you have any tea?" I asked, hoping that wouldn't sound any alarms for her.
"There are green tea packets above the fridge," she said, flipping through the magazine.
I bit my lip, that still had caffeine in it. "Do you have any decaffeinated coffee or tea by any chance?" she immediately looked up from her magazine and at me with a suspicious look. "I've been trying to cut caffeine out, Owen always tells me I drink too much and it makes me jittery." I quickly covered my tracks.
My mom raised her brows and I thought for a moment I might have given myself away, but she gave me a nod. "Carl is on me about caffeine too, but I've been drinking it for over 40 years, so his opinion means squat." she laughed. "Carl bought decaffeinated in hopes I'd drink it, it's in the pantry," she added. I nodded and walked over to grab some. "Sweetie, I really don't want to bombard you with anything, but we have a lot to talk about."
I nodded, agreeing. "Yes, we do. A lot." I said, letting out a sigh as I went to grab a mug with my left hand.
"That's a beautiful ring," she mentioned. "Can I see it?" she asked. I bit my lip and nodded, showing it to her. She grabbed my hand and examined the ring. "It's beautiful. How was the wedding?" she asked nonchalantly.
"W-what?"
"There's a wedding band on the ring, Alise. I'm surprised you didn't tell us sooner, but I had a feeling you'd get eloped. Was it a beautiful ceremony at least?" she asked. She was being oddly calm about all of this.
"It was. Lucy's going to send me pictures. I'll show them to you when she does." I smiled. She nodded, looking back down at her magazine.
"I'm glad to hear that," she smiled, looking back down at the magazine. "You know, I found a recipe for salmon and herbs with quinoa in this home cooking magazine. I was thinking of making it for dinner. How does that sound?" she asked.
Normally, I'd be up for it. Salmon is my absolute favorite, but I can't have it now since I'm pregnant. The mercury levels are too high and although I could have it twice a week, I didn't really want to risk it.
I groaned internally. "You know, I'm not really feelin' salmon tonight," I said, opening the fridge to look for some eggs. I was mustering up the courage to tell her I was pregnant, I can't skirt around it anymore. There are already too many signs that I'm giving her.
"How far along are you?" she asked simply. My eyes widened as I let the fridge close. "I'm not stupid, you know."
"I didn't say that you were, mom. I was going to tell you right before you said that actually…" I said, my mom nodded with a hum as she flipped through the magazine again. "How could you tell? Is it that obvious?"
"No coffee was a dead ringer. I just threw the salmon in there to see if my inkling was right. A mother knows when something is up with her baby. Plus, you're showing and your boobs are bigger." she said. I looked down, I didn't even realize my boobs were bigger, but now that she mentioned it, there was a bit more cleavage then I had a month ago.
"It wasn't a shotgun wedding. Like we didn't get married just because of the baby… after everything that happened on Isla Nublar… it's just, you had to of been there to understand." I knew how it looked and I don't want anyone to think we got married because of the baby, we love each other and would have done it regardless.
"You don't have to explain anything to me, you're an adult. You know what you're doing. Although I am a little hurt you didn't tell me this on the phone, I would have at least had a wedding gift waiting for you."
"Don't do that, that's exactly what we didn't want. No wedding gifts, no party, no fuss."
"That's how you've always been, even on your birthday and Christmas," she gave me a smile. "Fine, then. That just means I'll have more of a reason to spoil my grandchild, do you know what the sex is yet?"
"I don't know yet, but I'll know in a month and a half."
"Are you excited?"
"Oh, definitely. Also nervous… and a little scared to be honest." I admitted, pouring myself a cup of decaffeinated coffee when it was ready.
"I was too, all new moms are. Just wait until you see how Owen will react. He'll be even more worried, especially when you pop and start showing more. He won't let you do anything without offering his help."
"Was that how dad was?" I asked, adding a little bit of sugar in the coffee and stirring it.
"God no, your father was terrible," she let out a laugh. "Don't tell him I said that, though. You know what, actually you can tell him I said that. He was not chivalrous at all, but then again, it is your father." she rolled her eyes.
I bit my lip, looking down at my mug. "Well, I haven't really spoken to him much recently, the last time I did he said he's been busy with work. I guess it's good that things have been picking up at the shop."
"Oh, he doesn't work there anymore," she said, I raised my brows.
"Really? Then what does he do?" I asked. He's worked at the shop as a mechanic since I was a kid, so it was a little bit of a shock.
"Well, your stepfather ran into him a few weeks ago, he said he was driving cross-country on his motorcycle. In the damn winter. Can you imagine? I can't with that man. It must be nice not having any responsibilities to worry about." she scoffed, taking a sip of her coffee.
I sighed, biting my lip. My dad didn't even tell me he was making this huge decision to just quit his job? I talked to him 2 weeks ago, which meant he lied to me. Just another thing to add to the list of crap he's done to win 'worst father of the year'.
"I'm sorry, sweetie, let's talk about something else," she said, thinking. "Carl and I bought another shop in Snowmass Village. It's a wreck now, but we're going to fix it up. Carl was so excited when he heard you, Owen and Lowery were all coming to stay with us. He said Owen could help him fix it up, should he need a job. I told him that he's jumping the gun, I mean, we don't even know how long you're staying with us… but you know you're welcome to stay as long as you need. Especially since you're pregnant now and I'm going to be a grandmother." she smiled brightly.
"I'm glad that's the selling point," I laughed. "But yes, we're definitely going to take you up on that offer. We kind of have a plan, but I'll wait for Owen to get up so we can all talk about it more." I said, taking a sip of my coffee. "Also, do we have eggs?"
"You'll have to go out to the chicken coup and see if the girls have left any for us," she said. I nodded as I headed for the door. "And honey? Be careful, it's cold out there." I nodded, grabbing a jacket and bundling up before going outside to get the eggs.
That wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be… it was actually pretty painless. I'm surprised she took everything so well, but I could tell it was just her way of processing. She might get worked up about it tomorrow and we'd talk more about it then. Or maybe she was just getting more lax since I've been gone.
Now the only person to worry about is Carl and even though he's the relaxed one out of the two of them, but he can be a little protective of me, especially when it comes to men. Hopefully, he still likes Owen after we break the news to him.
