It's always pretty busy for me, but this last month has pretty much been the busiest month of my life. But, fortunately things have just started slowing down again and I wanted to get this up at the first opportunity possible.

Did anyone see Indiana's appearance on House Husbands? I don't watch the show, but I did see a snippet of her on it. Can I just say she looks way too young to have like an 8 year old daughter as she did on that show!

Also, any Home & Away watchers on here?! I visited Palm Beach recently and caught some filming + big spoilers. About 15 cast members were there!

Enjoy x

Chapter Twenty Five – From Here On

Lewis's POV

The impending birth of Cleo and I's first child resembles a ticking time bomb a little. Ours is a ticking time bomb that we know about, but without a countdown since we have no clue as to how long is left, nor when it will go off. Mind you, in saying that, our 'ticking time bomb' is a lot more positive than being blown up into smithereens. However, our situation and the timing is still nonetheless just as unknown with just as major repercussions when d-day finally comes.

In preparation for the impending delivery, my heavily pregnant wife and I had decided earlier to set aside today for a final day date before our world will be thrown off its axis when the new addition to our family lands his or herself in our life. We have already made plans for the day which are set to take place; beginning with a quiet breakfast for two before selecting the final pieces of baby things that are still needed beyond what Bella has already given us from Allie and what Cleo had received from our friend's at the baby shower.

We begin our day at one of the coast's dining establishments, for a ridiculously nutritious breakfast to cater for Cleo's ravishing cravings.

"So. What is on the list?"

"What list?"

I roll my eyes and take a sip of my breakfast juice. "Come on Cleo. I know you've got a little list stashed away there somewhere. I guess that I can't blame you though. You have been under the influence of Emma for way too many years."

I expect and deserve the playful shove in my arm that my wife does not fail to deal out. Besides, a shove is great. Seriously, I'm grateful for any retaliation from Cleo nowadays, in contrast to the forms of retaliation that I would receive through some of her most hormonal and emotional periods of her pregnancy. Those times made for some pretty low points over the last few months. She has been known to burst into tears over the breakfast cereal being finished and one evening she didn't want to talk to me or even look at me for an entire night after I had accidentally stepped on, and assumedly killed, a snail which therefore completely upset her.

However, this morning is a different story. All breakfast cereal is out of our control and focus and there are no deceased snails, or waterworks in sight.

"Well I do have a little bit of a list... Since we got a lot of the big stuff like that cot, change table and highchair from Bella slash Allie, all that is really left for us to get is a car seat and pram, as well as a few bits just like a bedding and linen for the baby's cot. Clothes are a big no-no. We've got enough clothes to have triplets and give them new outfits every hour."

I nod, acknowledging my wife's overview of the inventory that I am sure she has compiled on what we already have to prepare for our new addition.

"Are you alright?" I ask my wife since it seems like Cleo had been about to add onto her explanation just seconds ago, as she shuffles in her seat, appearing to be evidently experiencing discomfort. Especially since we have no real time to expect our baby aside from knowing it will be sometime of over the next few weeks, I have been especially easy to trigger and alarm of late.

"I'm pretty sure that my waters just broke..."

Cleo looks nowhere near as panicked, nor does it feel like she jumps into the same rush that I do after hearing those words. I never expected her to be the calmer one in this scenario!

To be quite honest, I am thrown into such a tizz that I don't even think anything of the fact that there are absolutely no sound effects that coincide with what my wife just told me, as well as failing to question her lack of tail growth from the liquid.

"Really?! Here?! Are you serious?" I shriek hysterically in a lower tone.

My wifes face lights up as she relaxes in her seat, framing me as the fool of her light-hearted practical joke that I would have expected from Cleo's friends, but not from my wife so much.

"No, not really. It was just a twinge... Braxton Hicks or something but it was so worth it to see your face and your panic."

I huff in humiliation, making my disapproval at the wife who called wolf evident.

"Aww come on... It's not every day that you have the chance to prank people like that! Besides, there has got to be some upsides to being heavily pregnant!"

I can't blame her for making the most of her not-so pleasant situation and making light out of it while it lasts. However, if she'd let the joke go on until I'd freaked out and began to prepare for the unrealistic situation of her having and me requiring to deliver the baby right then and right there, then I would not be feeling so compassionate.

"Fine. I'll let that one pass, but if you think that you can get away with it again, then I have five words for you... the boy who cried wolf."

"Sorry..." Cleo smiles with an expression that catches her lie out since she looks pretty much anything but sorry for her actions, pressing a kiss to my cheek to grant herself the forgiveness that she is obviously oblivious to having automatically received from me. "How much longer do you bet that I have left anyway?"

I think about the question that my wife has just posed to me as I let out a sigh. Not from unhappiness or any other negative emotion that could be derived from a sigh, but just out of my realisation of the enormity of her question. The answer and my own estimate of it has to be based on so many unpredictable factors... The pregnancy hadn't been planned and it hadn't been confirmed at any point so as to how far into the pregnancy she was when we had even learned of it.

All that we know is that we've known for about 7 and a half months since we holidayed in Sydney with our friends and that pregnancies seldom last longer than the nine months gestation.

"I honestly have no idea Cleo. At a guess, I have a feeling it might come in around two weeks, a fortnight or so. What about you?"

"Who said I have any clue? I was just hoping that my brainy, genius husband would have answer for me so that I can have a time to prepare for!"

I laugh at Cleo's exclamation and her different attitude on what we are both as clueless as each other about.

Shortly after, it doesn't take long before the two of us fall into a silence that is anything but uncomfortable for the two of us. As much as some of the fun times and the good times are great, I feel like sometimes the happy silences are sorely underrated high points in a relationship. Those are the times that you forget to appreciate being able to just sit there, be in the person whom you love's company and just truly absorb life as a spectator while it feels like your own world is standing still. Times like this where you can just sit there and feel so comfortable and just content gets overlooked.

These time are the ones that I truly began to open my eyes to and appreciate when I had my medical turn with the Guillain Barre Syndrome just a few years ago. I missed times like this when I was healthy and when I could enjoy happiness and contentment with seldom appreciated drama-free moments. Even while I was recovering and in remission from the horrible disease, moments like this came to be some of my favourite when we could just sit there and enjoy our lives contently, with no huge problems right there in front of us.

"Where can you see us headed? What lies in our future?" Cleo asks me the deep and unexpected question that I am a little surprised to hear this early in the morning.

"Wow. Where did that come from? Being completely honest with you, in our future, I can see us headed to buy some baby stuff. A pram, maybe some decorations."

I am the recipient of another light playful shove from my wife, although she can't hide her amusement and goofy smile from my predictable answer to her.

"Lewis! It's a serious question! We need to talk about stuff like this. So, I'll ask again. Where can you see us headed in the future? Otherwise, we'll end up with one of us still living with my family, wanting a hundred kids and a hippie unemployed life on the dole while the other is planning to move to Luxembourg and focus on our careers!"

I laugh at my wife who could be caught out on the terms of exaggeration.

"Cause that all sounds very likely - very reflective of the type of people we both are, doesn't it?" I reply sarcastically as Cleo just nods with a big, overdone grin just to keep with the unrealistic theme of this topic.

"Seriously though" I continue speaking, beginning to answer the question that Cleo has just raised, the question that I had mocked and the question that she has then exaggerated on. "I think the next big thing for us to work towards is moving out of your family's house. It's done us well, especially while we had my medical costs and while I was recovering from the GBS and it'll be handy having extra babysitters for a while, but really, we can't live with your dad and Sam forever, Cleo."

The tone and vibe of our discussion becomes decreasingly less humourous after my 'real answer' and Cleo's nod of acknowledgment that goes with it.

"That's true, especially with a baby and a family of our own, moving out and renting a place is something that we should probably look into."

I nod in agreement with my wife as I sweep up her hand and give it a squeeze of reassurance as I deliver the reality-check side of the prospect if our plan to move out in the near future does come to fruition.

"It's going to mean tight budgets again, but at least we will be a little more prepared and hopefully a little less complacent this time around if we give moving out a shot..."

After arriving home, we are finally able to begin to set our bedroom up for our new occupant. The re-decorating of our room is a big improvement on the bags of baby clothes and two big pieces of under-furnished, naked furniture sitting in the room as it has been since we'd received it from our friend a few weeks ago.

Now, I am left to build and construct the impossible pram while Cleo happily alternates between doing the easier stuff; like folding baby clothes and browsing baby name books. All the while, honestly, knowing that I am building it, I really feel as though the safety of the pram is questionable.

"Alice? Angus? Anton?"

Cleo begins listing names in alphabetical order as she comes across them in her baby book that she has been treating as a Bible.

Finally, after what felt like decades, we finally reached the final letter, still absolutely no further than we were before when it comes to deciding a name for the person who has had the completely original working title of 'Baby McCartney' lately.

"Zane #2? Zara? Zeus? Zoe?"

"Man, baby-naming is painful. I can see why Bella didn't delve any deeper into the alphabet by sticking with the A's for naming Allie!"

Cleo laughs at my statement, even though, knowing Bella, I have no doubt in the fact that she would have thoroughly examined every single baby names book that she could get her hands on, with a fine tooth comb before naming her daughter Adelaide, who we all know better as Allie now.

"I have an idea, Lewis" Cleo exclaims with one of her bright, wide smiles that I absolutely love to bits. "To narrow the amount of names down, we should just look through names with the first letter of our name. So for boy's names we just look in the L's and girl's names, C's."

I smile, partly because I like the idea that it means less delving through baby name books where every name you hear and see begins to warp together, sounding and looking the same which means it is harder to find a clear distinction behind names you like and names you can't stand. Additionally, Cleo's proposition works perfectly for me since it would support a name that I had shortlisted and especially liked earlier in her pregnancy.

"That sounds kind of sweet, Cleo... Not to mention easier! I think that I like that idea."

"Good" she smiles, as a one word confirmation that her plan is more than likely set to be implemented. Once this is set, she reverts back to her baby name book that is still open in her hand after concluding her examination and hunt for names for our child through the alphabet. "So... C's and L's then..."

I watch as Cleo flips back to the front of the book, locating the two letters that we just had agreed on. However, at the same time, I notice how she repositions herself in her seated position multiple times in an evident and agitated state.

"I just can't get comfortable! My back is killing" Cleo growls unhappily as she continues to wiggle and wriggle and jiggle with something inside her.

I have noticed Cleo's discomfort and unsettled movements several times since we have begun our infant-related tasks in our room. Initially I didn't think anything of her discomfort. It's really not uncommon this late in the pregnancy and when I'm used to sharing a bed with a heavily pregnant woman, you come to know of all of the movement, discomfort and changes that she goes through while you're both unsuccessfully trying to sleep.

"Cleo? What sort of pain are you getting in your back?"

"Shooting pain. It's just darting all around my back. Freaking Braxton Hicks... Cause just as much trouble as the Braxton brothers" she answers, wriggling and sighing a little more, as if to add more credibility to her claims of pain and discomfort that I don't need any aiding or additional help to believe. "And junior's going a little wild. It feels like there's a rave party going on in there. In case back pain isn't great enough, let's bruise mother's stomach too."

I laugh lightly, considering the prank my wife had successfully pulled on me earlier this morning as I realise that her pain may mean that her prank is a little less fictitious than what she had thought; that karma just may be rebounding right back in her direction if my suspicions are right.

"Cleo... I'm no prenatal expert, so I can't guarantee anything or confirm it, but by the sounds of what you're describing, I'm wondering if there's a chance that that's not just Braxton Hicks... I think that what you're feeling might be the early onset of labour pains."

The look on Cleo's face quickly transitions to shell-shocked horror, before her hysterical reaction follows it.

"What?! No! I'm not ready! We're not ready! You haven't even finished building all of the baby's stuff! The baby's not even born yet and we're already going to make the worst parent's in history! We're doomed, Lewis... It can't come yet!"

I quickly take a hold of my wife's hands, looking Cleo deep in the eyes as I push a piece of hair away from her face and tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. I know that I need to chill out and calm down Cleo quickly and muster up as much of my own confidence and courage as I can to be able to relax her a little, enough to be able to determine whether the symptoms are a false alarm or whether they truly do mean all systems are go.

"I'm scared, Lewis..."

"Honestly, Cleo, so am I. I'm completely terrified. But, I know that we can do this. I know that we can do this parenting thing damn well. And tonight, or in a week, or a year, or ten years, when it starts to get hard, I hope you know that you've got me, because I know that I've got you."

I can see the effect that my reassurance has on my wife as it visibly sets in across her face and soothes her just a little, but enough to stop her freaking out any more. Fortunately. As it seems to be working, I decide to continue speaking and continue soothing her until I can get her up and moving to be able to confirm whether or not my suspicions are correct and we will have a babe in arms over the following hours or whether we will just be boomeranging right back home again tonight to finish up the tasks we are both engaged in.

"I know that change frightens you, Cleo, and I know that things are going to change from now on, but I truly believe that it's for the better... From here on, it's the start of our new life; and the change in our family with our new baby. Our little person that's going to have such a massive role in the rest of our lives now. It's too late to turn back now."

So Baby McCartney is on the way!

Next chapter: The gender of the baby/ies as well as which characters engaged in the adulterous affair are all to be revealed... Any final guesses?

351 reviews for the next chapter.