Chapter 3: Different Needs
About a week later Liz yawned barely able to keep her eyes open. She lay on her stomach with her head near the foot of the bed, "I wish I could just give up on this," she said looking down at the edit proofs she was doing. It was amazing how well-learned journalists could make so many mistakes. The TV was on just as a distraction and background noise. It seemed that she always did the best when there was a bit of action in the background.
Todd sat with his back propped up against the headboard with some pillows, so that Liz's feet were closest to him. He lightly tickled them.
"Stop," Liz said pulling her feet away. Of all the things he had to do, tickling her feet was really annoying. She could really go for a back massage. But Todd kept on grabbing her feet.
Todd smiled as he looked down at her, well, the back of her to be more precise. "You work too hard," he said playfully. "And all work and no play makes Liz a dull girl." He started tickling her feat again, the when she kept squirming them away he grabbed the ends of her pajama bottoms and tried giving them a tug.
Liz dropped the story she was editing and grabbed the elastic of her pants before Todd could pull them down. But he kept on pulling. She couldn't help but let out a small laugh. "Stop," she said again, slapping his hand lightly. With her other hand she tried keeping her pants up, but she was loosing the battle.
Todd laughed back, but let go of her pants. "You know Liz, we should probably have sex tonight." he said, in a matter-of-fact but casual
tone.
"Why's that?" Liz asked turning back to the paper. As much as she loved being with Todd, and especially since they hadn't seen each other much all week, or gotten zero quality time together, she still wasn't quite in the mood, and she didn't want to get Todd sick with whatever she had.
"Well," Todd started, not sure of how much of this he wanted to share, "I just read something today, that's all."
"I didn't know you could read," Liz joked.
Todd gave her left pajama leg bottom another pull and they came down ever so slightly. But of course she tugged them up just as quickly as they had come down. "I just read some stuff....about getting pregnant....like for the guy, and one thing it said was that when a couple
is trying to get pregnant they should have sex at least once every 7 days, cause of the semen or whatever." he said proudly. "I'm not sure on the specifics. I kinda skipped over some stuff." he admitted. "But anyway, its been like over a week since we had sex," he reminded her.
"Yea that makes sense," Liz said finishing up on the article. "But how about we wait on that, I don't want to get you sick and I'm just not in the mood right now," she said.
"You haven't been in the mood all week," Todd whined. "I thought we were trying to make a baby here."
Liz got up from the bed putting the article back into her briefcase. She decided to ignore Todd's comment. She didn't want to get into it with him once again. She flopped back on the bed and turned the TV off. She grabbed her novel from her nightstand figuring she could get some reading in before she had to go to bed.
"You're going to read?" Todd asked making a face. "I offer you an earth shattering orgasm and you choose pieces of paper with words on them?"
Liz turned and looked at him, "Earth shattering?" she said incredulously, "You haven't even come close to that in the last few months."
Todd's jaw dropped. He kind of felt like he'd just been slapped. He felt his face pale and color at the same time, out of shock and embarrassment. "I can't believe you just said that to me," he said, his eyes focusing on her face. And he really couldn't. I mean, to give a man a bad performance rating in bed was like the worst possible thing you could do. And the way she had said it so easily and offhandedly...... Ok, so maybe he'd lost part of his sexual drive in bed with Liz the last couple of months. Well he hadn't lost it- per say, it's not like he was geriatric!- but it just wasn't what it had once been. It wasn't Hot. Trying to make a baby put pressure on him! So he thought Liz would understand why their lovemaking sessions weren't even low budget porn film quality lately. "Well excuse me, maybe I should just go screw myself then." he said to her as he moved away slightly.
Liz rolled her eyes. Sometimes guys amazed her. They spent so much time trying to get a women into bed that one harsh word and they got all pissy. She flipped around so that her back was facing Todd. She knew that Todd would get over it. But something in his stare which was burning a whole through the back of her head, said he wouldn't.
A roll of the eyes and a turn over!?! That's what he got! Man, she was acting so strange lately. Todd, not really thinking, grabbed her stupid book out of her hands and tossed it across the room. As she looked at him to protest Todd rolled her over onto her back and leaned over
her with part of his body.
"Todd what are you doing," Liz mock protested thinking he was kidding. But she looked into his eyes, he was serious. He took her swatting
hands and pinned them over her head.
Todd's brown eyes were piercing hers. "You can't possibly think that you can say I've been horrible and haven't satisfied you in months and expect me to just sit back and take it, at least not without a chance of proving myself."
Liz fidgeted. She didn't like his tone of voice, and his hands were gripping her wrists way too tight. She squirmed under him, "Todd I was only kidding," she said trying to fake a smile.
Todd let go of her wrists. "No you weren't. But I guess you've gotten real good at faking it lately, huh?" he taunted her, then leaned down and kissed her collar bone.
"What's that supposed to mean," Liz said wincing as his lips touched her skin. She tried rolling out from under him but he wouldn't budge.
"Lying- faking, they're all the same." he said, leaving soft kiss on both sides of her neck.
"I have not lied to you," Liz said.
"Liz you just did." he said, before he kissed her chest where her top button lay undone. "By saying that you were kidding about what you said to me before. I know you weren't kidding about it." He brought a hand up to her hair and began running his fingers through it.
Liz moved her head to the side. "Ok fine I was telling the truth, You have not pleasured me in a long time and I just don't feel like sex when there's nothing good about it."
"Maybe if you changed your horrible attitude then you'd find something good about it" Todd murmured, as he continued running a hand through her silky hair, which was currently loose around her face. He kissed her chest above her second button, as he closed his eyes. "I'm trying Elizabeth, I' really am, because it meant so much to you." he said to her vaguely.
"No it doesn't mean a lot to me, ever since we started trying to get pregnant, it's not fun anymore," she said.
"I wasn't talking about the sex part of it......I was talking about the getting pregnant part of it." Todd told her. "I'm wearing boxers all the time now, just for you." he said to her ridiculously as he continued kissing her body, it was another thing he had read in that article about trying to get pregnant, for men to do. That they should wear
loose fitting boxers. Nothing confining.
"Todd you always wear boxers," Liz said. Liz was starting to worry that Todd was caring so much about getting pregnant. As much as she wanted a baby she was not as obsessed with it as she had been.
"So" Todd sad stubbornly, as he nibbled on her shoulder. "I was just saying- you know, maybe I DON'T want to wear boxers!" he said childishly. He sighed and started nuzzling her neck. "Liz I'm just confused. Not to long ago having baby was all you thought about, making it be all I thought about too. And now suddenly, lately, it's like you don't even care anymore." He sighed again. "I'm glad things have chilled out- But- I guess what I'm saying is, have we given up altogether for the time being? Cause if so I'm canceling an appointment I made yesterday for myself to go to the clinic." Todd said, telling her something she had not known. He'd broken down and forced himself to make a call that would lead to him getting checked out. To see if he was perhaps the cause for Liz's barrenness. "It was something I had done for you- because of you- but if you've changed, and it appears you has, then there's no sense in me keeping it." Todd finished, then buried his face in her hair.
"Todd it's not that I don't care anymore its just now isn't the right time, I mean I've just been so busy with everything I almost forgot your name" she felt very grateful for Todd trying to make an effort. "If you would like to go to the clinic that would be great so when we start trying again after Christmas we will know you are okay."
Todd's skin bristled. 'So that we'll know that you are ok' and 'hasn't even been close to earth shattering'- Liz was really stomping on his male pride tonight. "If it's not the right time, it's not the right time" he said in a detached tone. "And I'm going to cancel." He racked his brain. Christmas- that was like a full month away. He hoped she meant they weren't going to try to make a baby until after Christmas; and not that they weren't going to do the baby making process together again until after Christmas.
Liz pecked Todd on the cheek, "It's your choice honey, and I'm sorry I have been such a pain this week, but give it another week and I promise things will settle down," she said trying to comfort him. She figured that once Thanksgiving was past them, and all the hoopla that went with it was gone, she'd have more time therefore making her relax a little and not be so stressed. Plus she figured that her flu had to be gone by then! She'd already had it one full week!
"Yeah.....sure they will" Todd said in a sad and skeptical tone. He lifted off the body weight of his that had been on her. "I'm gonna go watch TV in the living room." When he'd crawled in bed that night he'd had aspirations of making love with his wife. When Liz had crawled into bed she had had aspirations of getting through a chapter in her book. That left Todd with the TV.
Liz rolled over watching Todd. She loved him with all her heart. She really did feel sorry for him, if only she was feeling better.
Todd left the room but did feel Liz's eyes on him. He wanted things to get back to normal, pronto! And if that meant one more week, although he didn't have a clue as to why it would have to last specifically another week, Todd would have to grin and bare it, he supposed. He padded out to the living room, got comfy in the recliner, and turned on the last half of the baseball game.
Liz hit the light and closed her eyes to go to sleep. All of a sudden she felt exhausted, like every night about this time She wondered if it was because of all the stress, because she was getting plenty of sleep.
About a week later Liz yawned barely able to keep her eyes open. She lay on her stomach with her head near the foot of the bed, "I wish I could just give up on this," she said looking down at the edit proofs she was doing. It was amazing how well-learned journalists could make so many mistakes. The TV was on just as a distraction and background noise. It seemed that she always did the best when there was a bit of action in the background.
Todd sat with his back propped up against the headboard with some pillows, so that Liz's feet were closest to him. He lightly tickled them.
"Stop," Liz said pulling her feet away. Of all the things he had to do, tickling her feet was really annoying. She could really go for a back massage. But Todd kept on grabbing her feet.
Todd smiled as he looked down at her, well, the back of her to be more precise. "You work too hard," he said playfully. "And all work and no play makes Liz a dull girl." He started tickling her feat again, the when she kept squirming them away he grabbed the ends of her pajama bottoms and tried giving them a tug.
Liz dropped the story she was editing and grabbed the elastic of her pants before Todd could pull them down. But he kept on pulling. She couldn't help but let out a small laugh. "Stop," she said again, slapping his hand lightly. With her other hand she tried keeping her pants up, but she was loosing the battle.
Todd laughed back, but let go of her pants. "You know Liz, we should probably have sex tonight." he said, in a matter-of-fact but casual
tone.
"Why's that?" Liz asked turning back to the paper. As much as she loved being with Todd, and especially since they hadn't seen each other much all week, or gotten zero quality time together, she still wasn't quite in the mood, and she didn't want to get Todd sick with whatever she had.
"Well," Todd started, not sure of how much of this he wanted to share, "I just read something today, that's all."
"I didn't know you could read," Liz joked.
Todd gave her left pajama leg bottom another pull and they came down ever so slightly. But of course she tugged them up just as quickly as they had come down. "I just read some stuff....about getting pregnant....like for the guy, and one thing it said was that when a couple
is trying to get pregnant they should have sex at least once every 7 days, cause of the semen or whatever." he said proudly. "I'm not sure on the specifics. I kinda skipped over some stuff." he admitted. "But anyway, its been like over a week since we had sex," he reminded her.
"Yea that makes sense," Liz said finishing up on the article. "But how about we wait on that, I don't want to get you sick and I'm just not in the mood right now," she said.
"You haven't been in the mood all week," Todd whined. "I thought we were trying to make a baby here."
Liz got up from the bed putting the article back into her briefcase. She decided to ignore Todd's comment. She didn't want to get into it with him once again. She flopped back on the bed and turned the TV off. She grabbed her novel from her nightstand figuring she could get some reading in before she had to go to bed.
"You're going to read?" Todd asked making a face. "I offer you an earth shattering orgasm and you choose pieces of paper with words on them?"
Liz turned and looked at him, "Earth shattering?" she said incredulously, "You haven't even come close to that in the last few months."
Todd's jaw dropped. He kind of felt like he'd just been slapped. He felt his face pale and color at the same time, out of shock and embarrassment. "I can't believe you just said that to me," he said, his eyes focusing on her face. And he really couldn't. I mean, to give a man a bad performance rating in bed was like the worst possible thing you could do. And the way she had said it so easily and offhandedly...... Ok, so maybe he'd lost part of his sexual drive in bed with Liz the last couple of months. Well he hadn't lost it- per say, it's not like he was geriatric!- but it just wasn't what it had once been. It wasn't Hot. Trying to make a baby put pressure on him! So he thought Liz would understand why their lovemaking sessions weren't even low budget porn film quality lately. "Well excuse me, maybe I should just go screw myself then." he said to her as he moved away slightly.
Liz rolled her eyes. Sometimes guys amazed her. They spent so much time trying to get a women into bed that one harsh word and they got all pissy. She flipped around so that her back was facing Todd. She knew that Todd would get over it. But something in his stare which was burning a whole through the back of her head, said he wouldn't.
A roll of the eyes and a turn over!?! That's what he got! Man, she was acting so strange lately. Todd, not really thinking, grabbed her stupid book out of her hands and tossed it across the room. As she looked at him to protest Todd rolled her over onto her back and leaned over
her with part of his body.
"Todd what are you doing," Liz mock protested thinking he was kidding. But she looked into his eyes, he was serious. He took her swatting
hands and pinned them over her head.
Todd's brown eyes were piercing hers. "You can't possibly think that you can say I've been horrible and haven't satisfied you in months and expect me to just sit back and take it, at least not without a chance of proving myself."
Liz fidgeted. She didn't like his tone of voice, and his hands were gripping her wrists way too tight. She squirmed under him, "Todd I was only kidding," she said trying to fake a smile.
Todd let go of her wrists. "No you weren't. But I guess you've gotten real good at faking it lately, huh?" he taunted her, then leaned down and kissed her collar bone.
"What's that supposed to mean," Liz said wincing as his lips touched her skin. She tried rolling out from under him but he wouldn't budge.
"Lying- faking, they're all the same." he said, leaving soft kiss on both sides of her neck.
"I have not lied to you," Liz said.
"Liz you just did." he said, before he kissed her chest where her top button lay undone. "By saying that you were kidding about what you said to me before. I know you weren't kidding about it." He brought a hand up to her hair and began running his fingers through it.
Liz moved her head to the side. "Ok fine I was telling the truth, You have not pleasured me in a long time and I just don't feel like sex when there's nothing good about it."
"Maybe if you changed your horrible attitude then you'd find something good about it" Todd murmured, as he continued running a hand through her silky hair, which was currently loose around her face. He kissed her chest above her second button, as he closed his eyes. "I'm trying Elizabeth, I' really am, because it meant so much to you." he said to her vaguely.
"No it doesn't mean a lot to me, ever since we started trying to get pregnant, it's not fun anymore," she said.
"I wasn't talking about the sex part of it......I was talking about the getting pregnant part of it." Todd told her. "I'm wearing boxers all the time now, just for you." he said to her ridiculously as he continued kissing her body, it was another thing he had read in that article about trying to get pregnant, for men to do. That they should wear
loose fitting boxers. Nothing confining.
"Todd you always wear boxers," Liz said. Liz was starting to worry that Todd was caring so much about getting pregnant. As much as she wanted a baby she was not as obsessed with it as she had been.
"So" Todd sad stubbornly, as he nibbled on her shoulder. "I was just saying- you know, maybe I DON'T want to wear boxers!" he said childishly. He sighed and started nuzzling her neck. "Liz I'm just confused. Not to long ago having baby was all you thought about, making it be all I thought about too. And now suddenly, lately, it's like you don't even care anymore." He sighed again. "I'm glad things have chilled out- But- I guess what I'm saying is, have we given up altogether for the time being? Cause if so I'm canceling an appointment I made yesterday for myself to go to the clinic." Todd said, telling her something she had not known. He'd broken down and forced himself to make a call that would lead to him getting checked out. To see if he was perhaps the cause for Liz's barrenness. "It was something I had done for you- because of you- but if you've changed, and it appears you has, then there's no sense in me keeping it." Todd finished, then buried his face in her hair.
"Todd it's not that I don't care anymore its just now isn't the right time, I mean I've just been so busy with everything I almost forgot your name" she felt very grateful for Todd trying to make an effort. "If you would like to go to the clinic that would be great so when we start trying again after Christmas we will know you are okay."
Todd's skin bristled. 'So that we'll know that you are ok' and 'hasn't even been close to earth shattering'- Liz was really stomping on his male pride tonight. "If it's not the right time, it's not the right time" he said in a detached tone. "And I'm going to cancel." He racked his brain. Christmas- that was like a full month away. He hoped she meant they weren't going to try to make a baby until after Christmas; and not that they weren't going to do the baby making process together again until after Christmas.
Liz pecked Todd on the cheek, "It's your choice honey, and I'm sorry I have been such a pain this week, but give it another week and I promise things will settle down," she said trying to comfort him. She figured that once Thanksgiving was past them, and all the hoopla that went with it was gone, she'd have more time therefore making her relax a little and not be so stressed. Plus she figured that her flu had to be gone by then! She'd already had it one full week!
"Yeah.....sure they will" Todd said in a sad and skeptical tone. He lifted off the body weight of his that had been on her. "I'm gonna go watch TV in the living room." When he'd crawled in bed that night he'd had aspirations of making love with his wife. When Liz had crawled into bed she had had aspirations of getting through a chapter in her book. That left Todd with the TV.
Liz rolled over watching Todd. She loved him with all her heart. She really did feel sorry for him, if only she was feeling better.
Todd left the room but did feel Liz's eyes on him. He wanted things to get back to normal, pronto! And if that meant one more week, although he didn't have a clue as to why it would have to last specifically another week, Todd would have to grin and bare it, he supposed. He padded out to the living room, got comfy in the recliner, and turned on the last half of the baseball game.
Liz hit the light and closed her eyes to go to sleep. All of a sudden she felt exhausted, like every night about this time She wondered if it was because of all the stress, because she was getting plenty of sleep.