A/N: Hello lovelies! I flirted my way out of a parking ticket today – BOO YEAH! I totally thought that only happened in movies...I love being a girl :P
Apologies for this one taking so long...I've been distracted by life drama...but your reviews and messages never fail to make me smile...I'm sorry for being slack with my replies too, I'll try and get on top of it. I was super unsure about that last one...but I'm glad it turned out alright...I was seriously going to have Emily die...but then I drank some more wine which oddly made me come to my senses...
And thanks so much for the name suggestions! I had my faves, but the bf and I literally wrote down every single suggestion (up until Wednesday) on a post-it and spaced them out on the floor with a little dog biscuit on each one, and then let Buster loose to pick which one it should be...it was HILARIOUS...I think that's how I'm going to decide everything from now on, lol...anyways, thank you, and the answer lies herein... :P
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"Morning," Emily murmurs to her wife, her eyes still closed and a lazy smile creeping across her face.
It's early and the sun has only just risen, and the redhead is thinking that any minute now she's going to hear their little boy crying for them through the baby monitor.
She knows Naomi has been watching her sleep. The blonde does that a lot now. In the eight months since their son was born and Emily almost died Naomi has been extra attentive and thoughtful, sometimes to a fault. She's a lot more anxious with Emily now, like she's scared she'll break if she does anything too strenuous, and sometimes the redhead just wants to tell her to relax, that she's fine. But other times Emily doesn't mind so much, like when Naomi offers to do all the housework or gets up in the middle of the night to tend to their crying son when Emily is exhausted.
She's about to open her eyes when she feels Naomi's soft lips brush against her own. It's too quick, but it's enough to warm her belly. She opens her eyes finally, and it takes a second for them to focus but once they do she notices that her wife looks upset. She's trying to hide it but Emily can see through it. The tightness around her mouth and the anxious way she bites her lip. Her narrowed eyes. Emily can always see through it.
"What's wrong?"
Naomi shrugs dismissively and rubs at her eyes. "Just a bad dream."
"Do you want me to kiss it better?"
The blonde nods sullenly and Emily smiles. She likes that she can kiss Naomi and make her feel better, and that Naomi can do that to her as well. Their kisses have magical powers.
She brings a hand up and gently sweeps some blonde hair out of her wife's face, then shifts herself closer and rubs their noses together lightly, before reaching up and pressing her lips against Naomi's in a lingering kiss.
Emily knows exactly what dream her wife is talking about. Naomi doesn't talk about it with her a lot, and Emily knows it's because she doesn't want to burden her with it, but the blonde has nightmares about Emily dying. About their son dying. She used to toss and turn in her sleep and cry out for Emily in the middle of the night, wake up terrified that Emily wouldn't be there next to her. But it's gotten better as time has passed, the dreams becoming less frequent, usually only when Naomi is feeling overwhelmed or anxious about something. Emily finds it odd that she's the one who almost died yet she hasn't felt anything other than grateful since she woke up and saw her wife sitting beside the hospital bed. Since she first held their baby and felt his little heart beating.
Being practically bed ridden while her body was healing for the first month was absolute torture. Emily wanted to be out enjoying her life. Enjoying time with her wife and their son. She wanted to spend afternoons relaxing in the park as their little boy wiggled between them on the blanket. She wanted to take him around to the homes of her friends and family and show him off instead of everyone stopping by their house because Emily couldn't walk more than twenty metres at a time before she felt like her insides were splitting. She wanted to be able to get out of bed in the middle of the night to nurse her baby. She hated being so confined in everything that she did, but it was Naomi who really suffered.
The blonde had taken six months off from work, but while Emily was virtually bed ridden for the first few weeks and then only shuffling around for the next few, Naomi had to do everything. Emily could barely help out with anything, especially those first couple of weeks. Naomi was getting up at all hours with the baby, keeping the house clean, going shopping and cooking, helping Emily with almost everything she did. Katie and Gina and Jenna tried to help as mch as they could, but Naomi still had to take on a lot by herself. She was exhausted all the time and Emily felt incredibly guilty because she couldn't help, but Naomi didn't complain once.
She's strong and loving and thoughtful, and Emily plans on spending the rest of her life showing her how much she loves her.
They press their foreheads together and close their eyes, enjoying the intimacy between them.
Naomi leans forward after a minute and kisses Emily's nose. "I love you so much Em, you know that right?"
Emily does know it. She knows it because Naomi shows it in the way she touches and kisses her, gazes and smiles at her. She knows it because the blonde tells her every morning when she wakes up and every night before she falls asleep.
"Not really," she teases, hoping to lighten the mood, "I mean considering how you never tell me or anything..."
She rolls away from the blonde smirking to herself and Naomi takes the bait, pouncing on her and pinning her arms to her side.
"I don't think so Fitch."
Naomi leans down and drops sloppy kisses all over Emily's face. Her cheeks, her chin, her neck, her nose.
Emily giggles and tries to wriggle out of Naomi's grasp even though she really never wants her to stop. She loves that Naomi has stopped treating her like she's made of glass. That they can play around like they used to and just have fun together.
"That's Campbell-Fitch to you," Emily replies, affecting her stern teaching voice which she knows Naomi loves. She bucks her hips up so suddenly that the blonde is caught off guard and falls backwards, both of them dissolving into fits of laughter.
They both changed their names before their son was born. It was less confusing that way. They'd always planned to do it when they got married but had never gotten around to it. It had been quite significant for them, much more than they'd thought it would be, legally joining their families in name and making a brand new family.
Naomi sits herself up properly again on Emily's thighs and the redhead notices her pause as their laughter dies down.
She watches as Naomi reaches out and then feels the blonde lightly run her fingers along the scar across her belly.
She flinches instinctively, her mood sobering instantly. It doesn't hurt anymore, hasn't for a long time. She just doesn't like the scar. It's a lot bigger than a typical c-section scar because of the complications with her surgery, and at first it was red and angry and ugly, but it's healed and faded to a silvery line now. It's not the appearance that bothers her though, it's that the scar is a reminder of all the horrible things she went through. The pain of the recovery. Being too immobile to properly care for their son in his first few weeks. Naomi having to shoulder most of the responsibility.
But it's mostly a permanent symbol of something else.
She feels that knotted feeling in her stomach every time she thinks about it. Can remember when the doctor came into her room the morning she'd woken up from the surgery.
"Oliver just yawned," Emily whispers excitedly as she gazes down at their baby boy, "is that not the cutest thing!"
Naomi walks back from the bathroom and lifts herself back onto the bed, fitting herself into the small space beside her wife and holding her family close.
"Yup. Definitely the cutest thing," she says matter-of-factly, kissing Emily's temple. "I think that means he's already taking after me."
Emily scoffs and nudges her in the side, careful not to disrupt the baby. "You wish."
She reaches out a finger and gently plays with his hands. They're so tiny and adorable she feels like her heart might explode. She doesn't care whose DNA he has. She can feel it – he's theirs.
A knock at the door pops their lovely little bubble and Dr Parker enters, smiling warmly at them.
"Morning Emily, Naomi," she nods at each of them in turn, "glad to see you're feeling better Emily."
There's half a question in her tone and Emily nods to reassure her. "This morphine would make anyone feel fantastic." She gazes back down at her boy. "But then again, so would holding this one all morning."
"Good. I'm glad to hear it."
Dr Parker's smile falters slightly, and even in her drugged-up state Emily can sense that something is wrong. Naomi must too, because her grip around the redhead's shoulders tightens.
"Everything okay?" Naomi asks, her voice tight.
Dr Parker sighs and Emily instantly knows that everything is most definitely not okay. Her heart starts to race and she feels Naomi stiffen beside her.
"As you know there were some complications with haemorrhaging during your surgery," Dr Parker says gently.
Emily gets the feeling that she is easing them into something. Something bad. She holds Oliver closer to her chest and leans into her wife.
"They couldn't stop the bleeding in your uterus...so they...had to remove it."
She'll never be able to have another baby.
She'd heard the words and felt Naomi squeeze her hand, but Emily was numb to the news at first, the full implications of what it meant not registering with her. But as the days passed and she spent time with Oliver, it struck her that she wouldn't be able to have another baby. She hadn't decided if she even wanted to be pregnant again, but the realisation that the choice had been taken away from her was shattering.
Her wife's hands are still tracing the scar and Emily tries to grab at them but the blonde manages to pin her wrists down again.
Emily gives up and sighs. Naomi holds her in place and gazes at her with wide blue eyes full of sincerity and love, and Emily is sure that her wife knows exactly what she'd been thinking.
"We can still have another child if we want," the blonde says tentatively, as if she's anxious about Emily's reaction.
The redhead bites her lip and nods. They hadn't really talked much about it before, always saving the conversation for another time, which seemed to be now apparently.
"I mean, we can adopt," Naomi continued, her voice light and optimistic, "or have a surrogate."
Emily scrunches her nose. She never much liked the idea of surrogates for some reason. But adoption sounds good, if not time consuming and expensive. She tries not to think about how unfair it all is.
"I could even have it," her wife whispers softly.
Emily's eyebrows shoot up in shock. She looks up at her wife, who seems to be wearing a nervous smile.
"What happened to not wanting to be pregnant?"
Naomi shrugs and releases Emily's wrists, lacing their fingers together and holding their arms out between them.
"I don't know. After seeing you pregnant with Ollie...and how you are with him now..."
She trails off, and Emily's not sure if Naomi even knows how to finish her thought, so she decides to try and lighten the mood again. It's not like they'll be having another baby soon anyway and this is not the conversation to be having on a Saturday morning when they finally have some blissfully quiet time together.
"Why are we even talking about this?" she asks with a cheeky grin. "Don't we have enough to handle with the boy in there?" She jerks her head in the direction of the nursery. "Plus, there are better things we could be doing right now with our mouths."
Naomi squeaks with surprise as Emily swiftly wraps an arm around her neck, pulling her down to her and crushes their lips together, the blonde responding after taking a second to recover from the sudden movement. They push their bodies against each other and the redhead pushes her knee up between Naomi's thighs, smiling when she feels Naomi groan at the contact. Her hands get lost in blonde hair and she shivers as she feels Naomi's hands running up her sides and across her chest, then rolls them over so that she's straddling her wife's waist.
She pins Naomi's wrists above her head and blazes kisses across her jaw and down her neck, the feeling of the blonde's hips slowly moving up against her creating a fire low in her belly. She loves that Naomi can make her feel this way with the slightest of touches, and that she can do the same to her. Emily thinks all this business about a couple's sex life dying after they've had a child is bullshit, because ever since she'd gotten the all clear from the doctor Emily hasn't been able to keep her hands off her wife or her mind out of the gutter, and Naomi has been the same.
She trails her kisses lower across the blonde's chest, releasing her hands and feeling them pressing on her hips a second later, pulling her closer.
"God...Em," Naomi moans as Emily's hand moves down her body teasingly, tracing over her sensitive skin slowly and feeling it quiver beneath her fingers.
Naomi is pushing up against her harder and Emily's just about to give in and grant her wife some release when a cry erupts from the baby monitor, both of them freezing instantly.
"Shit," Naomi says hoarsely, panting as Emily hovers above her, her hand just above its destination.
The redhead thinks that maybe this is the reason why some couples stop having sex after they have children - because they keep getting interrupted.
She lowers her head and places a lingering kiss on the skin above Naomi's heart.
"Maybe he'll go back to sleep?" she suggests hopefully.
They wait in anxious silence for a minute, watching the baby monitor and listening intently, and Emily is just about to declare victory when they hear Oliver start to cry.
Naomi lays her head back onto the pillow and Emily rests her forehead on the blonde's chest with a sigh.
"I can go –" Naomi begins but Emily cuts her off with a quick kiss.
"No it's okay, I'll go. You get some rest..."
She lifts her head and kisses Naomi once more, a deep, tender kiss that steals both their breath away.
"...because I'll be coming back for more of that."
She winks and then rolls off her quickly as Naomi giggles and playfully slaps at her bum.
"There's going to be plenty more of that," the blonde promises as Emily stands and pulls an oversize t-shirt over her head and arms.
"There better be," she replies as she shuffles out of the bedroom and makes her way towards the screaming child.
She winces at the sound. She loves her son with all she has, but she can't wait until he's past the stage where crying is the only response to almost everything.
"Trust a male to ruin my sex life," she says with a smirk.
She makes her way to Oliver's crib and her heart swells when she sees her little boy. Like it always does when he's around. He's wriggling and stretching his arms out, arms that aren't as chubby as they used to be, much to Emily's disappointment. She loved his chubby arms and legs, although he still has that adorable pot belly. He's grown surprisingly big for his age, considering how small he'd been when he was born, and Emily can tell he's going to be tall. She likes the idea of that, a big tall son who's going to tower over her by the time he's fifteen, and she can imagine him playfully teasing her about being short like Naomi does.
She pulls him up into her arms gently, resting him on her shoulder and softly rubbing circles on his back. He's so small and soft and perfect and smells so adorable that her breath catches in her throat.
She paces around the room and makes soothing noises, but Oliver continues to wail like a siren. She takes a seat in the armchair by his crib and cradles him in her arms, rubbing a thumb over his chest, a trick Naomi discovered that helps soothe him.
When she gazes down at her little boy she wonders how she was ever happy without him. How she ever thought her life was complete without him in it. The past eight months have been terrifying and challenging and sometimes painful, but they've also been filled with blissful happiness. Every second has been worth it.
She doesn't even mind the crying in her ear.
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Oliver Campbell-Fitch ftw! You all thought it would be Fitch-Campbell didn't you? Campbell-Fitch sounds better me thinks...plus it's alphabetical :P I like Oliver and Ollie for short, but then I remembered that the guy who plays JJ is named Ollie, and I was going to change it but I promised myself no do-overs if I didn't like the name Buster picked...so just to be clear: this kid will look NOTHING like JJ...I just needed to put that out there, lol...
Again – all medical stuff is a guess at best, aided by Wikipedia ,which can always be relied upon for accurate information...right? :P
Not my best chapter I think...I feel like Imay have lost my mojo for this story...let me know what you think...don't be shy now!