Sorry for the delay! My thoughts are kind of all over the place at the moment, so I'm not sure how this chapter came together. I hope you enjoy it anyway. Thank you again for your amazing support for the story.
~ Chapter 35 ~
"I can't believe you're going to be a dad.", Joan gushed. "I was beginning to think you'd never make me an aunt."
Fitz grinned and her jab, but he knew it was the truth. He had started to doubt himself too, not knowing whether he'd ever find the right woman to have a child with. After a failed marriage it seemed so unlikely that he would find love and become a dad in his forties, but now that he had Olivia, everything was so different. There'd been a moment, right after they had found out about the baby, when Fitz had been kind of upset that he had not proposed to Olivia before she'd gotten pregnant. Now, however, he realized that the imperfect, untraditional way they were doing things made them all the more special. It was very much them- and exactly how it needed to be.
"You look so happy.", she continued. "You both do."
"We are.", Fitz confirmed, his gaze lingering on Olivia from a distance.
She was sitting on the couch with her legs stretched out and elevated, the two little girls snuggled up against her sides. Paul was sitting on the loveseat nearby, but he had busied himself with his laptop instead of watching the Disney movie the kids had picked for them to watch. Olivia looked comfortable and relaxed with her arms wrapped around Sophia and Hannah, who were both completely mesmerized by the princess story that was playing out on the screen.
"Everything's going well with the pregnancy?"
"It is.", he smiled. "We didn't even think she was pregnant at first, but now we're thirteen weeks in and everything looks great."
"A new house and a new baby.", Joan laughed quietly. "You two are not messing around."
"It's a little crazy, isn't it?"
"Just a little.", she winked. "You're going to be amazing parents together."
Fitz kissed his sister's cheek before they both went back into the living room, rejoining the rest of the family. The movie was nearly over and he thought that was a good thing, because Olivia looked equally as close to sleep as the little girls – all three of them fighting to stay awake long enough to see the happy ending on screen. When the movie ended, Paul and Joan took the girls to bed, and Fitz did the same with Olivia. To him, she was adorable when tired, and lately she'd been getting tired much quicker.
"We're going to the zoo tomorrow.", Olivia mumbled sleepily when they were tucked into bed together.
Joan had set up the guest room for them as soon as they had arrived – not without reminding Olivia of the shower incident that had occurred during their previous visit. She knew that she would never live that down, especially now that Joan was convinced this is where Olivia had gotten pregnant.
"We are?", Fitz asked, surprised.
"Yup. The girls wanted to go, so Paul and I decided that's what we should do tomorrow. You were sneaking a glass of wine in the kitchen with your traitor of a sister, so you didn't get a vote.", she teased.
"I did not sneak anything.", Fitz laughed, but she could see the blush rising on his cheeks.
"You did. Because you know I miss my occasional glass of wine, you snuck one in without me seeing. But I knew. I'm good like that."
"You were watching the damn movie!"
"Uh-huh. Doesn't mean I don't know what's happening behind me."
Fitz rolled his eyes playfully at her: "Go to sleep. Baby needs to rest."
She kissed him with a grin, fully enjoying that fact that he was feeling bad about drinking wine when she couldn't. It didn't matter to her that he'd done it, but that didn't change the fact that Olivia was endlessly pleased with herself for catching on to his shenanigans. Fitz grumbling against her neck how sneaky she could be was the last thing Olivia remembered before falling asleep.
"It's an elephant!", Hannah screamed loudly the next morning, minutes after the family had entered the zoo.
She zoomed along the path, running towards the huge area that held the impressive animals. Paul was right on her heels, used to his daughter's tendencies to run off when something caught her attention.
"It's an elephant.", Sophia added wistfully, looking up at Olivia who was holding the child's hand.
"It is.", Olivia confirmed. "Look at how big it is."
"Huge.", the little girl replied, eyes wide as they came closer to the first animal of the day. "You gotta be careful, okay?"
"I promise.", Olivia smiled.
Immediately after learning about the pregnancy, Olivia had noticed just how protective Sophia had become. She was constantly making sure that Olivia was being careful, and it was by far the most adorable thing. Much like her uncle, the girl had checked – and re-checked – that Olivia ate breakfast, although her idea of a nutritious breakfast didn't quite match Fitz's. In an attempt to take care of her unborn cousin, Sophia had tried to feed Olivia large amounts of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, toast, and an apple for good measure. Olivia had indulged her until she couldn't stand the sugary sweetness of the cereal anymore, relying on Fitz to distract the little girl with something new to focus on.
"Phia, you better hold on to Liv. She runs off sometimes.", Fitz teased.
Olivia's playful glare did go unnoticed by any of the adults, and they laughed as the little girl huffed.
"Hannah does that too.", Sophia replied. "You have to stay here."
"You have to.", Fitz chimed in, ruffling his niece's hair.
They fell into an easy routine of following Hannah around the zoo as she pointed out animals, reciting facts about them and asking questions insistently. The group had lunch at one of the zoo's themed restaurants, eating animal shaped chicken nuggets and an assortment of tropical fruits. Thankfully, the girls were content with hanging out at the restaurant for a while to give both Olivia and Fitz a chance to rest for a little bit. Long walks still made Fitz tired, and he knew his legs would most likely be sore by the next morning. An hour and two ridiculously large ice cream cones later, Sophia and Hannah were ready for more exploration. They were both running on a sugar high, with an imminent crash to be expected as soon as they'd get in the car for the drive home later.
"Livia look!", Hannah gasped suddenly, pointing to a chimpanzee that was sitting calmly on the ground of its large enclosure.
The animal was holding its baby, grasping on to the wiggly little thing as it tried to escape.
"It has a baby!"
"It sure does. It's so cute, isn't it?"
"So cute!", the girl gasped, practically bouncing up and down. "It's like you and the baby in your belly."
"Kind of.", Olivia laughed, watching the chimpanzee pull on its baby's leg to bring it back into her lap.
"Is your baby gonna move around that much?", Hannah asked with a raised eyebrow. "That thing is really wiggly."
"Kind of like you, little monkey.", Fitz spoke up, poking the girl into her belly softly. "Actually, I might leave you behind to live with them."
"No you won't, Uncle Fitz!", she laughed. "I'm no chimp!"
"You had me fooled.", Fitz teased. "It's hard to tell the difference when you bounce around all day."
"Mom!", Hannah whined. "Uncle Fitz called me a monkey!"
Joan looked between her older brother and her daughter indulgently, rolling her eyes when Fitz stuck his tongue out at the girl. It earned him a giggle from Sophia and another exaggerated gasp from Hannah.
"Well, if the shoe fits."
"What shoe?", she asked, scrunching up her little button nose. "Monkeys don't wear shoes."
"It's a saying that grown-ups use, sweetheart.", Paul added.
"That's just silly.", Hannah decided with a roll of her eyes. "Grown-ups make no sense sometimes."
It was a fact that neither of the adults could deny, so they moved on to the next set of animals. Hannah stuck with Fitz now, teasing him constantly. She enjoyed his attention, especially the silly kind, as the pair walked ahead of the rest of the family.
"He's going to be a really great dad, you know that?", Joan asked Olivia after watching the two for a moment.
"I know. He'll be amazing.", Olivia agreed, tears pooling in her eyes almost immediately.
"I didn't mean to make you cry.", Fitz's sister laughed, pulling Olivia into a one-armed hug. "Hormones?"
"It's awful!", Olivia lamented. "Sometimes I just start crying without reason, and I can't stop myself. The other day Fitz put his hand on my belly and I literally sobbed for a good five minutes. I think he was terrified."
"When I was pregnant with Hannah, I cried almost every day for the first five months or so. In the beginning Paul used to get so nervous, always thinking something was wrong, but after a while he'd just hand me a tissue and move right along.", Joan grinned, remembering her first pregnancy. "He always says that's why Hannah is such a ridiculously exuberant child. She's trying to make up for all of my crying when she was still inside of me."
"What about your second pregnancy?", Olivia asked, happy to exchange stories with Fitz's sister who was much more experienced when it came to carrying a child.
"It was exactly like Sophia – completely calm, sometimes to the point where I almost forgot I was pregnant. I didn't get morning sickness or weird cravings, and the whole thing just kind of moved along quietly and peacefully. It was probably Phia's way of making sure I wouldn't go insane, because God knows Hannah was a mess at age two. I needed all of my energy just to keep up with her."
"So nothing's changed then?", Olivia grinned, watching Hannah skip in front of them while Sophia walked quietly next to her, hand still firmly holding on to her much bigger one.
"Not much.", she admitted. "They're a great mix, so I got lucky. We are kind of ready for a little boy in the family though."
"I'll see what I can do about that.", Olivia winked, just in time to see Fitz turn his head to smile at her lovingly.