Keith stumbled out of bed the next morning. He never had an easy time waking-up, and school was not one of his favorite things. Being there without Natalie bothered him too, but he could do this for her. All he had to do was push through every class, and then take her work home for her- it would be a breeze.
"Keith!" He heard his name yelled and turned to see Rafael.
"Can I help you, Marques?"
Rafael nodded vigorously, anger in his eyes. "Where's Natalie?"
"How should I know?"
"You pretty much stole her away from he and everyone else- what did you do with her?"
"What did I do with her? You're acting like I killed her!"
"Killed who? Who died?" Brooke butted in urgently. Keith rolled his eyes.
"Keith, have you seen Natalie? She hasn't answered any of phone calls and I-"
"-Don't know what to do?" Rafael finished. "Yeah, me either." He eyed Keith.
"What's wrong with my best-friend?"
"When are you going to let her come to school again, Keith?" Rafael asked forcefully.
Brooke gasped. "You're controlling her? You won't let her come to school? You won't let her answer my calls either, will you?"
Brooke and Rafael set off on a rampage of crazy assumptions made about Keith then, and he just couldn't take anymore of listening to them. Headache mounting, he pushed pass them, stalked to the front office to grab her work, and headed for home.
"Where's that cliff when you need it?" He asked himself, slamming his truck door shut.
"Hey sport, how was your day?"
"Don't want to talk about it; splitting headache." He finished shortly.
Henry laughed. "That bad, huh?"
"Yeah. I hate that my girlfriend is so popular."
Henry sighed and took a seat at the kitchen table across from his son.
"But that's a part of who she is- she is loved by more people than just you, Keith. You should be proud that she's made that life for herself, son."
Keith nodded- the last thing he ever wanted to do was try and change Natalie, if he did then he wouldn't truly be in love with her. Shaking off his negative thoughts, he grabbed her books and decided to drop them off while he was in a better mood.
"Well, I suppose all this will keep you busy for all but maybe two hours."
Natalie laughed. "How was school?"
"Un-eventful- I got through."
Her face fell. "Oh, well did Brooke ask for me?"
Keith felt guilty. "Yeah, but I didn't know what to say, so I left her talking to Rafael.
Natalie smiled then. "That's alright. Thank-you for my work."
"No problem, Pumpkin-love. How's the offspring today?" He joked.
"Great- been kicking tons, is all."
Keith grinned. "No back pain?"
"No, just ankles."
He smiled. "Good, we're working our way down the body with aches."
She laughed. "Oh, and by the way, my Mom says you have chemo tomorrow, so if you want you can come over after for some lunch and to let them know how you're doing."
"That sounds fine. Natalie, do we have any idea what we're doing for the nursery? I've been thinking about it, and I've been hoping we could make one nursery here at your house, and one at mine. My Dad has been asking about cribs too; I think he wants to make them with me.
"Two nurseries are a great idea, and I think it would be awesome for you and your Dad to build the cribs."
Keith smiled. "What color cribs?"
"I was thinking of a light oak."
"That sounds perfect. Any color scheme or theme ideas for the actual room?"
"I was thinking a tropical, or zoo theme."
"Okay, I will take the stuffed chimps, you take the fish."
Natalie laughed. "Agreed. Maybe we can go shopping for all the things together?"
"Definitely, partner. We need to start getting all this done."
"Yeah." She seemed thoughtful. "How about we start this weekend? We need paint for the room so we can start with my house."
"Alright. The room I have in mind for the nursery at my house is already a light green, actually, so I can convert it easily to a zoo theme. Dad and I can dust and vacuum tonight."
"Great. Next week we can do your nursery."
Keith smiled and looked into her eyes. "I love you, Natalie."
The baby kicked, and she smiled at him. "I love you too, Keith."
