NejiTen month day 11

August 11/2021

Prompts: Work at home / Youth

Alternate Universe

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Day 11. Work at home

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She turned the cold-water faucet a little to finish her shower with a change of temperature to help her stay fully awake, because she definitely needed it. She wrapped herself in the towel and advanced to the sink to brush her teeth at once, smiling at her own reflection and that she liked looking like that, although at the same time she felt she was unrecognizable.

Without losing her joy she left the bathroom to go to the bedroom, the theory said that she should dry herself well before proceeding to get dressed, but the theory didn't take into account her current size and that's why since about two months ago she had started to pass on this one. She went to the closet and after putting on her underwear she chose a dress, trying not to frown at the fact that it didn't fit her well.

Resigned she searched through the available options, a part of herself considered that it wasn't worth it to go shopping for more clothes at that point of her pregnancy, but the other part said that she was just an inch away that none of the current garments would fit her. With shoes it was already a losing battle, she couldn't bend down to tie them or to accommodate them, she couldn't even put on her socks, so she had already opted for sandals, period.

"Good morning," her husband greeted her as soon as she entered the kitchen, extending a cup of tea which she received. "How did you sleep?"

"She fell asleep almost at three o'clock, me a little after that," she yawned, reaffirming in passing that the shower to wake up hadn't helped much, "there is already another dress that doesn't fit me."

"Our daughter keeps growing," she always loved to hear him talk in plural form

"Our daughter is going to leave me without clothes and I'm going to be naked," she made a fake pout and he raised an eyebrow.

"I wouldn't bother with that," he drew a sideways smile and stretched up to kiss her softly, "unless you have a work video-call."

"Which is quite usual."

"You should ask for your maternity discharge now, that would solve the problem," she shook her head at once

"I'm still a few weeks away," she yawned again, "I'll do it when I'm a week away."

"If you do it from now on you could sleep more, or at least try to do it in the same hours as Hikari," a slight movement was felt under her belly and she smiled

"She's awake, and she's listening to you," without waiting Neji put a hand on her belly, thus increasing the movements.

The two remained in complete silence, enjoying their daughter who was a little less than a month away from being born and who enjoyed sleeping while she worked, and being awake most of the night. Which kept her sleepy because although she loved to feel her, it kept her awake that she wouldn't stay quiet.

"It's time to go," her husband said regretfully after looking at the clock on the wall, "I love you," he said against her lips before kissing her and then leaned down to place his lips on her belly. "I love both of you."

"And we love you, too," she replied, receiving another kiss.

Once alone she saw the stove, Neji cooked breakfast for her every morning, although they rarely got to eat it together. She only served a little as she didn't have much appetite and her daughter seemed to be telling her that instead of the healthy oatmeal pancakes they had available, they better look for the piece of cake left over from the night before.

Her husband had had his birthday the day before and they had a romantic dinner at the apartment, he hadn't wanted to make it a big celebration and he didn't like her to go out much unless it was strictly necessary. So he had hired a chef who had prepared a delicious meal for them, including the cake she was thinking of.

She cut a small slice of the cake because she felt she couldn't concentrate on anything else unless she ate it and before eating the first piece she bit her lip slightly. It wasn't recommended to consume so much sugar at that time of the morning... but let's see what doctor would dare to argue with the wishes of her unborn daughter, so she devoured what she had served and after filling a huge glass with milk she headed to the study, it was time to start her working day.

She opened her agenda and turned on the computer, leaving the glass on the stand, and while the device started she went to the bathroom, the first stop to the bathroom of the hundred that she had to make during the course of the day. When she returned, she sat down and lightly stroked her belly, noticing that the movements had slowed down and rolled her eyes, the day had just begun and her daughter was already dozing off.

While she reviewed the emails with the answers to the corrections she had sent the day before and the pending ones for that day, she thought about the words of her doctor at the last checkup about it being normal that the baby in her belly no longer slept at the same time as her, but she didn't expect that their schedules would cross so much.

She sighed caressing her belly, she had read a lot about it anyway and some of her coworkers had told her that she would say goodbye to sleep almost completely when Hikari was born, so that moment was the warm-up to know what it was like to be sleepy most of the day. Although at least when baby was born what she would say goodbye to for at least six months would be her job.

Her husband was a wealthy man. In fact since they found out she was pregnant, and some mornings she woke up with a lot of discomfort which prevented her from going to work, he told her that if she wanted to quit her job and he would take care of all the expenses both for the house and for her and the baby on the way. But she was proud, plus she loved her job and the prospect of being in the apartment all day doing nothing made her die of boredom.

Until that morning when she was five months old, that day she had left normally for work and while she was driving another driver had run a red light, crashing into her car with force. Fortunately the impact was from the empty passenger side, but the event sent her to the hospital. She and the baby were fine, on her part just a little sore.

Obviously Neji had again advocated for her to resign, it was dangerous for such an event to happen again. The worst part was that he was right, during the days she was on medical leave she could feel a certain fear growing just thinking about driving back to work every morning and something happening to the little one in her belly. Because she wasn't afraid for herself, she was afraid for her daughter on the way. But still the idea of sitting around all day doing nothing didn't appeal to her.

Her boss was the one who came up with the answer: work at home. She was one of the company's senior designers and they definitely didn't want to lose her, plus with the right equipment she could work from anywhere and video-calls had been invented for a reason when she had to present her designs to clients. Her husband partially agreed, he would rather she quit, but as long as she didn't have to leave it worked for him.

So, her work computer with the necessary software had been brought in, including a webcam, the graphic display, the two huge monitors and even the special chair she had been given for her pregnancy. Organizing everything in the study room of the apartment so that the day after finishing her medical discharge she could start her working day just as she did in the office.

Since then she had been working at home, at the beginning she had found it a little difficult to balance between not being distracted by daily chores or knowing when to stop because the day was over, being at home didn't mean that the schedule would disappear or that she would have to work harder.

Although lately what caused her complications wasn't being able to extend the nap time that she had to take, because she would sleep all afternoon and work at night when her daughter was awake, but then her biological clock would go to hell, and she wouldn't share with Neji, something she didn't like either.

The Hyūga was a wonderful husband and a dedicated dad-to-be, so taking care of their relationship above all else was her priority, along with having a healthy pregnancy so that their daughter would be born without any complications. She got up to go who-knows-what-time to the bathroom, she had already finished her glass of milk, when she was on her way back to the study to her mind came the image of the cake that was still left in the refrigerator. So she bit her lip when she saw the watch on her wrist, it was time for her morning snack, but this used to be a fruit.

With slow steps, as she couldn't move very fast given her size, she went to the kitchen and from the fruit bowl she took a peach. She was about to bite into it when she felt something unpleasant, wrinkling her nose at once.

"It's a ripe peach, your father chose it personally," she said out loud, but the feeling didn't go away, only the thought of attacking the piece of cake took force, "the fruit now and the dessert after lunch – What do you say?" there was no answer, it only increased her craving, "if I give you the cake now... will you let me sleep tonight?"

She felt a kick and drew a smile at once, she was going to take that as a yes.

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See you tomorrow on day 12!

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All corrections and comments are always well received, they help me improve a lot.

Hope you like it.

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Att: Sally K