Alvernogrl – Thank you so much!
Babyroswell – Thank you! About Lethal Whispers, I'm planning on updating it, but I know that it's not looking very good since I haven't been updating in like forever. But I won't leave a story unfinished, so I will finish it – eventually.
LastStar – Welcome to this fic and thank you for the feedback!
Chapter 52
"…the dreams, that you dare to dream, really do come true…"
Her soft singing voice was carried up the stairs by the silence of the house, billowed down the hallway, tentatively crept around the corner of the doorway, sifted across the wooden floor of the bedroom and flowed around him as he put another pile of shirts into the cardboard box on the floor. They were moving into their new house in a week and Max was in the process of packing whatever he wouldn't need in the next couple of days. His head turned in the direction of the sound and the smile started on the inside, in the core of his soul, before brushing against his lips, turning his gaze into one of longing.
How was it that even with her this close, it wasn't close enough? The clothes rapidly forgotten, he started to walk in the direction of the sound, her voice pulling him, enchanting him, like the song of the Sirens. His feet barely made a sound as he carefully walked down the stairs, not wanting her to know that he was there. One of his favorite occupations was to watch her without her knowing that she was being watched. He loved to see what she did when she felt free to do whatever she wanted. Sometimes he could crave the fleeting smile that would pass over her lips when a memory or a thought passed through her head, unaware of that she had an observer. He loved how she would bite the end of the pencil as she, in deep thought, was planning a plot line for a story she was writing. He loved how she would bite her nails when she was watching a horror movie, and his steps slowed down to a halt when his eyes took in the present scene in front of him.
His ears became aware of the soft instrumental music accompanied by Eva Cassidy's gentle voice, softly mingling with Liz's voice. She was dancing, in the middle of the living room, her body slowly swaying from side to side, her hands caressing her stomach, and her eyes trained on where her baby was resting, safely tucked away under her beating heart.
"Someday I'll wish upon a star, and wake up, where the clouds are far behind me. Where troubles melt like lemon drops, away above the chimney tops, that's where you'll find me…"
She was singing to the baby, an unexplainable glow on her face. He had never heard her sing before and he knew in that moment, feeling a deep sense of calmness settle over him, that he should force her to sing more often. Her voice was light, easily following the keys of the professional singer.
"Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue, and the dreams...that you dare to dream, really do come true. If happy little bluebirds fly above the rainbow, why, oh, why can't I?"
She didn't notice him walk up to her. His sudden interruption to her communication with the baby gave her a slight startle as his arms crept around her waist, hugging her back to his chest.
"Sorry," he whispered against her ear and her eyes drifted close as the warmth of his breath drifted over the skin of her neck. "What are you doing?" Even though he knew the answer to the question, he wanted to hear her answer it. He wanted to hear her words describe the magic he had just witnessed, the pureness that was still enclosing her, gradually including him.
"Nothing," she answered softly, feeling very self-conscious all of the sudden. She had never sung in front of anyone before and especially not to an unborn baby. Did he think she was ridiculous?
He pressed his lips softly against the side of her neck, something he did a lot but which always ignited the same strong reaction in her. A need. A need for him.
"You have a beautiful voice," he murmured.
She felt herself blush and was grateful that he couldn't see her face, even though she suspected he knew exactly how she was reacting. Somehow, he could read her every expression by now. Sometimes she was convinced that he knew her better than she did.
"I love this song," she answered, trying to divert the attention away from her. Her own reference to the song made her realize that she was still dancing, and so was he, together slowly swaying to the music, their bodies close together.
"How's she doing?"
Liz smiled, looking down at her hands that were still caressing her stomach and her smile widened as she watched his fingers lace with hers. Max had taken her belief of the baby to be a girl for a fact since she had mentioned it at their future house and he had referred to the baby as 'her' ever since. Liz was still somewhat tentative, afraid to get too attached to the baby. Just in case something were to happen.
"Wide awake and alert," Liz answered.
"She's being rough on you?" His lips traveled up the slope of her neck, placing a small kiss on her earlobe.
Liz held back a giggle. Max knew that her ears were ticklish and she was sure he was doing it intentionally, so she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he was right.
"Nothing I can't handle," Liz answered, the smile on her lips flattering her voice.
Max moved their entwined hands under her shirt, the desire to touch her skin becoming too great for him to resist.
"I miss you." Her soft confession arrested the movement of his lips against the slope of her shoulder. The realization of what he was doing, how he must be teasing her, hit him. They made the decision, together, to not be intimate since it could be a risk factor to the baby. But he couldn't help it. Whenever her smile enveloped him, he became blinded with want, with the need for her. He was addicted to her. To her smell, the warmth and softness of her skin, the soft moans floating over those red inviting lips. There were still things they could do, but they had intentionally stayed away from that as well since once they had started something the craving to reach that final state of completion was too much for them to defy.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly, guiltily, and started to pull his hands away. But she stopped him, tightening her fingers around his.
"Please, Max. Stay. Can we just stay like this?"
He hesitated, not trusting his self-control when he was around her. But being around her always won over not being around her, so he lowered his forehead to her shoulder, pulling her closer to him. He had just come up with another reason to why he couldn't wait for the baby to be born.
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"Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy…"
Isabel stepped out of the kitchen, a grin on her face as the voice of her excited daughter came closer to the house, increasing acutely in volume as the front door opened.
Wiping her hands on a towel, she said loudly, "In the kitchen, sweetie."
She could hear the voice that had been gradually diminishing in volume grow stronger again as Michelle turned and ran back towards the kitchen. Alex appeared in the doorway before his daughter, looking at Isabel with a look of… Isabel frowned. Apprehension?
Before she could decipher her husband's look any further, their three-year-old rushed into the room and Isabel blinked.
"Mommy, mommy! Look! I'm a cat!"
Isabel blinked again, looking at her daughter who didn't look at all like she did when she left the house this morning. The tip of her little nose was colored black, lines transforming into whiskers were drawn on her cheeks, red had been painted in the centre of her lips, distorting her very human mouth into something feline. To top it off, her face was divided up into different sized triangles, changing from white to light brown to darker brown.
"Yes, yes," Isabel stammered, "I can see that."
Isabel looked up at Alex, needing an explanation, a response, anything. What she got was apprehension, guilt and…amusement?
Answering his wife's silent question, Alex scratched his eyebrow and said, "There was this face painter in the supermarket."
"Uh-huh," Isabel answered, not sure yet how she should respond and looking from Alex's and her daughter's expectant faces she was aware of that they were awaiting an answer as well. Alex knew very well Isabel's opinion about putting money into unnecessary things and not being able to say 'no' to a three-year-old, but when it came to his daughter Alex was weak. How could anyone refuse that cutie? Those long dark eye-lashes and large puppy eyes?
Shaking her head in resignation, Isabel transferred her gaze from Alex to Michelle, wanting to sit down on her heels so that she could look Michelle properly in the eyes, but her current condition prevented her from doing just that. Which reminded her of what was on the agenda today.
"You are without a doubt the prettiest cat I've ever seen!" Isabel exclaimed and while Michelle started jumping up and down clapping her small hands together in excitement, Isabel noticed Alex relax out of the corner of her eye. Smiling, Isabel did her best to calm the bubbly Michelle down and glancing in Alex's direction, she took Michelle's hand.
"Come here sweetie. Mommy has something to tell you."
Michelle's eyes went wide with anticipation. "What is it? Is it a seeec…secret?"
Isabel smiled at Michelle's efforts to correctly pronounce the last word, and tugged on her hand to move them out of the kitchen to the living room couch.
"Let's sit on the couch, okay?"
"K," Michelle giggled, jumping up on the couch, bouncing up and down until the stern look from her mother informed her that not even on special occasion like this seemed to be was it alright to jump on the couch.
Isabel sat down slowly, the more months that passed making her increasingly aware of the child growing inside of her.
Alex took a seat on the other side of Michelle, looking at his wife expectantly. Sometimes it would be nice to know what kind of revelations his wife would offer beforehand.
"Shelley, you know that Uncle Max and Liz are going to have a baby soon," Isabel started and a light went on in Alex's head. She was going to tell Michelle about the pregnancy?
Isabel caught Alex's soft smile and pulled Michelle closer to her, for some reason feeling as if this moment was monumental. Michelle responded by curling up next to her mom, catching a hold of a few blonde strands of Isabel's hair, something she usually did when she was getting tired and wanted to cuddle.
"Uh-huh," Michelle nodded, looking up at her mommy expectantly.
"Well, uhm… actually, you will not only have one playmate soon, but two."
Michelle frowned, looking utterly confused and her father chuckled next to her. Isabel was trying to be cryptic with a three-year-old, Alex thought.
"Huh?"
Isabel ignored Alex's chuckle and stroke an errant strand of hair away from her daughter's face. "Not too long after Uncle Max and Liz's baby has been born, you will get a little brother or sister."
"Uncle Max's baby is my bwother?"
This caused Alex to chuckle even more, causing Isabel too look at him threateningly.
Isabel pulled on the hem of her shirt, pulling it upwards to reveal the small bulge of her stomach. "Here, sweetie. In here is your brother or sister."
Michelle stared at her mother's stomach, her mouth hanging open and her eyes big as saucers. Experimentally, she poked the stomach, wanting to see if the brother or sister her mother was referring to would come out or maybe even give a response poke.
"The baby will be in mommy's stomach for a while, then the baby will come out and you will be a big sister."
Michelle looked up at her mother, her mouth still hanging open, blinked a couple of times and said, "Sweet!"
The word she had picked up from one of the neighbor's kids was followed by her jumping off the couch. "I's gonna pway now." With that she was gone.
Alex took one look at Isabel's crestfallen expression and burst out laughing. At her obvious offense with his reaction, he scooted closer to her and pulled her into a hug.
"She's four, Is. She has the attention span of a fly." Still laughing, he added. "Don't take it personally."
She pushed out of his arms, looking at him maliciously. "It's not funny!"
"Yes, it is," Alex exclaimed.
Stubbornly, she crossed her arms in front of her. "I thought she would be excited, she was so excited about Max and Liz's baby."
"You're so cute when you're frustrated, you know that?"
Isabel sighed loudly, exasperated.
Alex put his arms around his wife, using force to pull her towards him again. "Come here."
Against her own principles, she found herself relaxing in his arms and found his fingers moving through her hair and his fingertips massaging her scalp extremely soothing.
"Michelle is going to love the baby, I'm sure of it," Alex whispered into her hair, pressing a kiss on her forehead.
"I know, I know. I'm being silly."
"That's why I love you."
"Alex!"
Alex chuckled. "Hey, you said it, not me."
"Fine," Isabel murmured, wanting to show her irritation with him by pulling away, but his embrace was too warm. Too secure.
"I love you, Isabel," Alex said quietly, his words spreading warmth all over her body. How did he always know the right thing to say?
She smiled, feeling for the first time in months like things were finally looking up.
TBC...
