Ruth woke, but she didn't want to. She wanted to sleep for the next year or so. Her happy bubble of paradise with Harry was bursting, and she didn't want it to. They were going home today. The euro star, and then three hours and they'd be in London. Home. She wanted to go home, but she also didn't want to leave her dream world. It'd been so nice for these last few weeks.
But she had to go home, have her baby and get back to normal in that order. Although "normal" would now have a screaming baby too. As if responding to her very thought, the child kicked her hard and she gasped.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah," she said. "That was a… hard one," she said, palm over her bump.
"He's going to be a rugby player then?"
"Not football?"
"No, our son will have class," he said.
"What boys names have you come up with?" she asked softly.
"I like Benjamin," he said slowly.
"For your brother?" she asked.
"Well, yes," he said. "But I do like the name as well."
"Benjamin's good," she said. "Ben," she said, as if trying it on for size. "Mm."
"What about your half of the bargain?" he asked. "Girls names."
"I like Aurora, but I have a feeling you won't," she said.
"Yes, that's right," he said. "I don't."
"Okay," she said. "I was thinking Lily?"
"That's great," he said. "Lily… what are we doing for the last name?"
"Pearce," she said as if it were obvious.
"Are you sure?" he asked, but she didn't answer, because the wide grin on his face made it clear that was exactly what he wanted. He kissed her deeply and she laughed happily.
"I love you," she said.
"I love you too," he said. "And we have to get up, because we have a train to catch."
She groaned, but moved all the same. When she was sitting up she felt an uncomfortable clenching around her bump. It wasn't painful, but it was powerful. After a few moments, the feeling faded but she waited anyway, waiting for something to happen. Anything. Nothing did.
"Are you looking forward to going home?" Harry asked.
Ruth gave herself a mental shake. "Yes. It feels like the end of the honeymoon though," she said.
"We're not married," he pointed out.
"No, but it's been a really good holiday."
"Yeah," he said. "It has."
They were on the train and Ruth was dozing lightly as Harry watched her, admiring the curve of her cheek. She really was a beautiful woman. Ruth moaned a little in her sleep, just a quiet noise and a frown on her forehead as her hands wrapped around her stomach. He watched, but after a moment she relaxed back into sleep. He waited and waited, but nothing happened. He was panicking over nothing he decided. Of course the baby wasn't coming now. That was just his worry talking.
About twenty minutes later, she woke and smiled at him. "Were you watching me sleep?" she asked.
"Yes," he said, completely unashamed. She smiled and then looked around the darkness in confusion.
"We're in the channel tunnel," he said.
"Oh." She sat up, rubbing her face into alertness. "Nearly home then."
"Yes." Her face suddenly creased into lines of pain and he watched with worry.
"Ruth?" She said nothing, just put her hands on the top of her bump, concentrating. "Ruth, is the baby coming?" he asked quietly.
"I don't know," she said. "It might be. It'll be hours yet anyway."
"That's not exactly comforting," he said. She looked at her watch and shrugged.
"The contractions are far apart anyway," she said. "We'll be in London in an hour."
"How are you so calm?!" he asked in astonishment.
"There's nothing I can do about it," she said. "I can't stop it, the baby will come when it's ready."
Harry suddenly had a nagging suspicion at the back of his mind. "Were you… feeling contractions when we were in Paris?"
"I think I probably was," she admitted.
"Why on earth didn't you say anything?!"
"Because I've never been in labour before," she said. "I wasn't sure they were contractions. And I wanted to go home."
"Ruth…"
"Don't," she said. "Just don't." She looked at him and saw how worried he was. "I'm going to be fine. We'll take a taxi from St Pancras and go to the hospital.
"She's early," Harry said. "Too early."
"No, it's not too early," Ruth said. "It's three weeks early. She'll be fine."
"How do you know that?!"
"I had some spare time before you showed up," she said. "I've researched every stage of pregnancy, and all the horrible complications too. It's going to be okay." She leaned over the seat and kissed him briefly. "First babies are slow anyway." Harry breathed in deeply and she realised that he was more nervous than she was. "You've done this before, why are you so frightened?"
"Actually I haven't," he said. "Jane didn't want me around with Catherine and Graham. So I was sitting in the waiting room while they were born."
Ruth looked at him for a moment having absolutely nothing to say to that, then leaned her head against his shoulder, his arm wrapping around her out of reflex. They were silent for many minutes, watching the scenery as they emerged from the tunnel until she stiffened with another contraction. Harry looked at his watch.
"Eighteen minutes since the last one," he said, worry clear in his voice.
"See? Plenty of time," she said trying to reassure him.
"Shouldn't you be the one panicking and I should be the one comforting you?" Harry asked.
"I've been looking forward to this," she said with a smile. "I can deal with a bit of pain." He kissed the top of her head, wishing that London could somehow be a lot closer very quickly.
More soon. I still haven't decided whether it's going to be a boy or a girl. Any votes?
