"ARTIEEE DUUUUUUDE! I'M THIRSTYYYYYY!"
Arthur jumped as he heard Alfred call for him from the bed room. Every. D*nm. Time. He was just so antsy… The Brit rolled his eyes in annoyance. This was the third or fourth time in the past two hours Alfred was thirsty. He grabbed another bottle of water from the fridge and made his way back to the master bedroom. Once in, he handed Alfred the water bottle.
"More water?" Alfred complained.
"Well yes. You won't allow me to go shopping, and even if you did I wouldn't leave you here alone so close to… your due date."
"It's still like a week or two away, give or take a few days."
"While that's all true, you need to remember that you're not just some regular pregnant woman. Even though you were equipped with some of the organs for carrying a baby doesn't particularly mean you were made for doing that because you weren't. It's still pretty unnatural for something like this to occur. So it's fair to say that he'll probably come early. Dr. Dude even said he predicted an early birth himself. That's why you're on bed rest now. Therefore I need to stay close to you in case something happens. If you go into labour I want to be here."
Alfred let out a sigh as Arthur wrapped up his rambling speech on why he needed to be close for the hundredth time. "Alright. I got it. But still…" Alfred uncapped the bottle and drank some of the water.
"Now. Are you good? Do you have everything you need before I return to my book?"
"Yeah. For right now. But I can't guarantee I won't call ya back in here in the next few minutes, dude."
Arthur frowned.
"Hey, it's not like I want to be on bed rest," Alfred said, shrugging in his defense.
"Oh please, Alfred. You know you love it. Getting to just lie around and tell me what to do." Arthur smirked. "Let me know if anything happens," Arthur was beginning to leave. He had grown a bit anxious in the past few days. A bit? No. He was VERY anxious and quite frankly didn't understand how Alfred was not. Dr. Dude had informed him that Alfred was already past the date he'd privately guessed that he would go into labour. He even went as far as to say that he'd be completely shocked if Alfred even reached remotely near the due date.
Was Alfred not worried about this at all? At any time they could be on their way to a hospital where Alfred would have a baby! A BABY! A young living human being! And there was always the chance the baby would perish during the birth, or even Alfred. Even though the American was a nation, and his lifespan was much longer and he could endure much more, there was always the chance that some freak accident would happen and end his existence for some time.
He didn't like to think about it, but since their last visit with Dr. Dude he'd warned them that it would be a risk to Alfred's health. Er… rather he warned Arthur. Alfred had known that from the beginning but had kept it to himself to keep Arthur from "totally freaking out". Knowing that Alfred could even temporarily loose his life if something went wrong scared him. What would he do if that happened? If the child lived and Alfred didn't, there was, of course, the issue of raising the baby on his own. And he wanted his baby to have a second parent, especially in those early years. And on top of that the heartbreak he'd feel… Would he even be able to properly care for the baby? Even if Alfred would eventually come back… It was hard to think about loosing him for any period of time.
And what about the baby? If he died, the two of them would surely be grieving intensely. Wait… why was he thinking these terribly morbid things? Every time Arthur had a moment from tending to Alfred's needs, he seemed to find himself even more anxious by these sorts of thoughts. He needed to stop/
The Brit sat down in an arm chair and picked up one of the books Alfred had gotten for him. He had just started reading it earlier… Maybe he could try and relax a little bit and take his mind off it.
…
Nope wasn't happening. Arthur stood as he heard Alfred yell out again.
"ARTIE DUUUUDE! I'M COLD!" He swore. Every time Alfred called for him he had a mini heart attack and got all nervous and panicky. He'd done so hundreds of times since Alfred had been put on bed rest but any single one of those times could be the young American having contractions or something. And that was even more stressful than with a regular pregnancy because the baby was trapped with no way out. He wasn't getting out the way he got in. That's why it was so crucial they rushed there as soon as the contractions started.
With a sigh and a shake of his head, the older blond stood. He pulled the American flag blanket of Alfred's off the back of the couch.
"Coming!" He dragged himself back to the bedroom. Making his way to the thermostat first he turned on the heat and upped the temperature. He wasn't exactly sure it would do anything helpful though, as it was getting pretty cold lately. About time too. They'd had a fairly warm winter so far.
Arthur walked in the room for only the millionth time and over to the bed, throwing the blanket over him. Turning to leave, he was yanked backwards by Alfred onto the bed.
"Dude, why do you keep going back in the other room if you know you're gonna wind up right back in here?"
"Because most of what you ask me for is already in the other room."
"You wouldn't need to go back and forth as much if you stayed with me. Then I wouldn't be so lonely."
"Is that why you keep calling me back in here?"
"Maaaaybe." Alfred shrugged, now holding Arthur back with his strong arms. The green-eyed Brit chuckled.
"Alright then, let me grab my book and I'll come join you." And that's what he did. He retrieved his book and then settled down next to Alfred, propping himself up on some pillows. For the first time in a while he felt a little more relaxed. Alfred was snuggled up to his side, watching the super hero movie he'd ordered. What was it called? Superbman? Or something? Or maybe… Superman! That was it.
Before the movie's end though, despite Alfred's complete absorption with the plot and being in the middle of one of those epic fight scenes, he fell asleep, lying against Arthur's shoulder. So he wouldn't miss any of what was probably one of his favorite parts, knowing him, he put the movie on pause. Arthur brushed a piece of hair out of Alfred's face and then dove back into his own adventure, a wonderful Sherlock Holmes based modern mystery.
"All right Alfred, I've devised a list. A very short list but a list nonetheless, of names I like."
"Finally dude! Took you long enough!" The blue-eyed American squirmed into a sitting position.
"Well I was thinking… For a first name I was thinking Benjamin, or Ben for short. I liked the name Aiden too. Or James. Or Thomas. I also really like Charlie. What do you think? Do any of those names appeal to you?"
"Well I'm not really feelin' Ben… I mean I know that's the name of Big Ben but for the reason that you refer to your-"
Arthur sighed. "Alright then. You need not finish that statement. I see what you mean. So not Ben. What about the others then? Is there one you like in particular?"
"I like Charlie," Alfred shrugged.
"Is it your favorite out of those? Because this is going to be our baby's name."
"Yeah. I like Charlie the best. I like Aiden too. Maybe we can use that for a middle name."
"A middle name? Yes we could. I thought up two more middle names we could use as well. I like Oliver or Alexander."
"Hmmm… Well they're all three good." He shrugged. "Charlie Aiden Jones… Charlie Oliver Jones… or Charlie Alexander Jones…"
"Well we don't have to decide exactly now. If you want we could wait until we saw him for the first time. Maybe that will be a deciding factor in which one we choose…"
"Maybe so."
Arthur sat on the couch. Alfred was holding up pretty well. He was still getting kicked a good bit so nothing seemed to be wrong. He still had an enormous appetite. Maybe he was being to paranoid about this. It was a while after Dr. Dude thought Alfred would give birth at this point and he was nearing the due date. Just one week and a few or two left. If he managed to keep him in that much longer, he'd be late, and they'd have to go in anyway to make him give birth. Arthur heard a knock and then stood up to get the door. Who could it be?
Upon opening the door he saw Matthew.
"Hello Matthew, what brings you here?"
"I was coming to see how Alfred was doing. You guys haven't uh- called or anything and I think it's pretty near his due date isn't it?"
"Yes it is. He hasn't actually been showing any signs of going into labour anytime soon. Must be the bed rest or something. Care to come in?"
"Oh hey Mattie!" Alfred said from behind Arthur, going a wave with one hand, his other hand on his stomach.
Arthur jumped and turned around, shooting Alfred a glare. "You are supposed to be in bed!"
"Yeah I know but nothing much is going on in there. Plus I wanted to make sure Francis wasn't here again."
"Oh I am~" Francis said, walking up behind Matthew, arms crossed.
Alfred glared at the frenchman, resisting the urge to just sock him as hard as he could in the face.
"Francis! I told you you couldn't come to see them with me!"
"Did you expect me to stay in ze car? I am curious as well. I'm not 'ere to get you drunk, Angelterre, don't worry."
"Ah, I'm so sorry. He needed a ride home and caught me while I was on my way over here." Matthew frowned at Francis who was leaning against the door.
"Well Matthew you can come in but Francis, you are no longer welcome in this house. You've caused too much trouble."
"You're both still mad at moi? Wasn't making my gorgeous 'ome ugly good enough revenge for you?"
"No it wasn't. What you did was not cool!" Alfred muttered, stepping forward, only to be stopped by Arthur's arm. It was sort of unlike him to show that much anger- so much so that he was trying to get in a position to forcefully remove Francis. He was still pretty ticked and the intense emotional roller coasters he'd been on since he was pregnant didn't help.
"Here… um Francis, you should go back to the car. Look. I'll leave too. I'm sorry to have bothered you." Matthew tried tugging Francis away.
"That's ok Matt. You're fine it's just that-"
"Alfred. Go back to bed now before you do something stupid." Arthur watched him for a moment as he took a step back and began hobbling back to their room.
"Maybe call us or come by another time," Arthur said as Matthew was putting more effort to drag Francis away. He waved to the Canadian who gave a nod, shutting the door.
"SHIIII-OWWW!" Arthur spun around hearing Alfred.
"Alfred?! Are you alright?!" He asked, hurrying to the bedroom where Alfred was leaned up against the wall, holding his stomach. "Alfred! Tell me! Is the baby coming?!"
"I-I… don't know… It felt like that thing… false labor or something'…" He muttered after a minute.
"Alfred! It's probably not false this time! You're probably going into actual labor!"
"Really? How do you know?"
"I know because… because you're very close to your due date now and your doctor said he'd come early! Just… we don't have any time to debate this! We're getting in the car right now!"
[[I didn't wanna put the birth in this chapter... sorry. Erm... As for the names. It's between Charlie Oliver Jones, Charlie Alexander Jones, and Charlie Aiden Jones. I think all of them sound nice, though the first is admittedly my fave. Just tell me what you guys want. Majority rules.
S~
altoghvad- Thank you for your reviewing ^.^ I've noticed you come back and review every so often. Thanks a bunch for your support~
TheHeroLove- You too~ Same as above ^.^ I thank you for your support as well.
WHA MAN- I didn't wind up using that suggestion as a final choice, but I threw it in there as a suggestion! Thanks a ton for your feedback! I appreciated it! Thank you as well~
Guest- Say what you want, anon, but I have my reasons for making it happen the way it did. I don't appreciate your unhelpful, bitter review as you don't need to waste your time reading or writing a review if you don't like it, but I do appreciate that you took time to read my story. It wasn't a pleasant surprise waking up to, I can tell you that... But I try to please you guys. I'm sorry if you were disappointed.
And thank you to all the other people who have reviewed in the past. If you want me to, let me know, and I'll try to squeeze another three chapters or so out of the story rather than the original one.]]