Prompt 74: Dark
Rating: k
It's was pitch black when he opened his eyes. Someone was tugging his arm and for the life of him he couldn't figure out who it was.
"Laurie, are you awake?"
Well he bloody was now.
"Mmph," he mumbled, rolling over onto his back, completely unready for whatever this mystery person wanted from him.
"It's kicking!" the voice whispered and realisation snapped instantly for Laurie. He was in bed. Jo was next to him. Jo was pregnant.
"Good God!" he cried, sitting up and scrambling closer to where he assumed Jo was lying. If she was hurt or the baby was in trouble, he would never forgive himself. And after all this time –
"Oh for heavens sake," Jo grumbled, interrupting his panicked thoughts and reaching out to catch his wrist. There she was! She didn't sound like she was in pain, but then Jo had always been good at hiding –
"Teddy, it's ok, I just wanted you to feel it." She had gotten pretty good at reading his thoughts and moods too. "It's the oddest sensation," she spoke and Laurie could hear the barely contained rapture in her voice. Jo tugged his hand across the undeterminable gap between them until his fingers were touching the fabric of her nightgown that stretched across her stomach. He was so proud of his little wife, even if she did wake him up in the dead of night.
Laurie flattened his palm against Jo's belly and waited silently, hearing only the steady breath of his wife in time with his own. He wondered as his fingers moved slowly across the textured cloth of her gown if their baby would breathe in unison too, keeping the same time as he had with Jo for so long.
A little vibration thumped lightly under his palm and Laurie's hand froze. A smile stretched across his face and he was struck speechless by the little beat that appeared. "Jo…" he breathed in amazement, unsure what to say in such a moment.
Jo shuffled around a bit after a while and finally her belly moved from under his hand so that Laurie supposed she was lying down again. Laurie was very still; confused by his wife's seemingly indifference to what he felt was surely a little miracle. Their baby was moving!
"Aren't you happy, Jo?" he asked into the darkness beside him.
"Are you blind? Teddy, I'm grinning like a Cheshire cat!" Jo scoffed and Laurie could hear the smile in her tone.
"Well how was I supposed to know? It's as black as night – it is the night!" he defended himself unimaginatively before lying down as well to curl around his partner. To be fair, it was still very early and he'd been awake for only ten minutes.
"You need to eat more carrots."
