A/N Sorry for the time gap, but I had to move things along. REVIEW! How many chapters you want, what kind of stories you want, etc.
Eli's POV
*Sixteen months later*
Randal was no longer allowed to see Jade until he admitted to his drinking problem. After almost dropping her, we weren't taking any chances. Clare had been mortified when her dad started to see a therapist about his drinking. Jade had just passed the 19 month mark, and Clare was acting strange, she yelled at me for no reason, and was eating a ton of food. I talked to Adam about it and whenever he suggested that she was pregnant, I brushed the idea aside. Me and Clare hadn't done anything in a while. Jade was getting bigger now, and was walking pretty well. It was fun to watch her try to navigate her hands and feet. Nevaeh came over for play-dates all the time, and Adam and Fiona were still trying to find a baby to adopt.
I was feeding Jade some baby food whenever Clare came down the steps. I had let her sleep in today, hoping it would help her mood. I had also made her breakfast, and the pancakes waited for her approval. "Wow." She said, looking at everything. The dishes were done, Jade was already dressed, and fed, and her food was already made. "Eli, thank you!" Clare said, twisting her cinnamon curls out of her face. I smiled. My Clare was back. She leaned over and kissed my forehead as I fed Jade another spoonful of what was supposed to be mashed strained carrots. I held the spoon and Jade leaned forward, opening her mouth. She bit down onto the spoon and held it there. She pulled back, the spoon still stuck firmly in-between her strawberry colored lips. "Give me the spoon back." I said, trying to be stern. Jade's eyes glittered with satisfaction.
When I finally did get the spoon back, Clare was done eating. I looked at Jade, who was being quiet today. She was trying to make words sound presentable, and it was really cute. I had already eaten, so I asked her what we were going to do for today. She just shrugged, and getting up and going back to the pan I had made the pancakes in. She pulled a carton of eggs out of the fridge, and mixing bowl. What was she doing? She pulled out four eggs and cracked them into the bowl. "Do you want some?" she asked me. I shook my head, staring at her. She couldn't eat all of that could she? "Okay, more for me." Clare said, putting in two more eggs. Holy Hell. She put the carton of eggs back in the fridge, threw out the shells, and began to stir the eggs with a spoon. She turned the fire on, and poured in the eggs. "Um… Clare, honey, you just ate three pancakes." I informed her. Jade, fascinated by what I was looking at it, turned her head to stare at her mother.
"I know." Clare said, "I'm just hungry, that's all." As she was saying this, she was pulling out sausage out of the fridge. How could she eat all of this? I looked up at her stunning blue eyes, and noticed the dark purplish crescents under them. She had been sleeping a lot lately, too. As she poured the cooked eggs onto her plate, the almost-burnt sausage beside it, I noticed her wrists. Swollen. Oh my God. She started shoving eggs into her mouth, as if she hadn't eaten in weeks. "Clare?" I said, once she'd finished. "What?" she asked, looking up at me. Her eyes glittered, and it amazed me every time I saw them. "Do you think that you should get a pregnancy test?" I asked. She stared at me like I was out of my mind. "Baby, I love you, but sometimes you drive me insane." She scooped Jade out of her high chair and kissed her. "Mammy!" Jade said, giggling. She was growing up so fast. "I don't feel…"she stopped then, putting one hand gently over her stomach. "Eli." She said suddenly, holding Jade out to me. I took her, holding her on my shoulder. "Clare? Are you alright?" I asked as Jade nuzzled her head into my neck.
She didn't answer me, but ran up the steps and into the bathroom. I raced up after her and she was sitting there, throwing up. Heaves racked her body as she threw up into the toilet. "Oh God, Clare." I said, racing over to her. I set Jade down on the tile floor and pulled Clare's curls out of her face. "Eli." She choked out between heaves. "I'm here, baby, I'm here." I said. After about ten minutes, she was finished. She rested her head on the toilet seat and flushed the toilet. I filled up a glass of water and she sloshed it around n her mouth. She cleaned her mouth out several times, and then brushed her teeth twice, polishing it off with a large dose of Listerine. She spit the Listerine out and turned to face me as I held a now-sleeping Jade. Wordlessly, she took Jade out of my hands and put h r down in her crib in her room.
Was Clare pregnant? She had said a few months ago that she waited more time between Jade and our next child. Was this enough time? Our last few months with Jade had been bliss, and would another baby just complicate things? Or would it make it better? Clare walked back in and wrapped her arms around my neck, putting her head on my chest. Wrapped my arms around her and whispered in a hoarse voice, "Still don't want to get a pregnancy test?" She shook her head and I leaned down to press my lips to her forehead. "If I'm pregnant, Jade would be almost two and a half whenever the baby is born. I think that's enough time, don't you?" She murmured, leaning her head up to kiss my face. I kissed her lips and sighed. "Yeah, I guess that's enough time." It would be great to have another baby around, especially now that Jade was getting so big. Clare leaned up and kissed me. "We have to go get a test. Eli, I'm so excited!" Clare sqeauled, practically jumping up and down. I stopped her. "In case there is a baby in there, we should be careful." I said. She nodded, and her eyes filled with tears. "Eli, this is great! This is perfect timing! Whenever the baby gets here, Jade will be able to understand that. Jade will have a little brother or sister to play with!" I smiled at her excitement. I loved her so much, I couldn't wait to have more kids.
*Back at home, with used tests*
Clare stared at the tests in awe, and was mimicking her. Oh my God. Clare had tears streaming down her face and I kissed them away. "It's okay, Clare. We'll all be okay." She nodded and I held her to me, still in shock. We had been so happy, so excited, now we were in shock. The doorbell rang downstairs and stood up. It was Adam and Fiona to bring Nevaeh over for a play-date. "C'mon, let's go." I told Clare. She nodded, and pressed her lips against mine. I scooped Jade out of her bed for nap time and dressed her in shorts and a little t shirt. "Dada! Lock!" she said, mispronouncing look. She pointed at her ceiling fan eagerly, something that had mesmerized her since she could talk. "Fan!" she crowed in delight. "Yeah, baby that's a fan." I said. "By the way, congratulations." I told her. She stared at me curiously with those big green eyes, surprised by the new word. I kissed her forehead and she giggled, wiping it away with the back of her hand. "Dada icky!" she said, giggling.
I took her downstairs to see Clare and Fiona talking excitedly, and Adam helping Nevaeh walk. "Hey machismo." I said, grinning. I kissed Jade's forehead again, producing another fit of giggles. I continued, and told him the big news while rubbing Jade's back. "Guess who's going to be a baby daddy again?"