Disclaimer: I do not own the power rangers or any of the weapons and/or original characters from that series. This is the third story in the "Saving the World, Again" series, so any characters from those stories that are mine, might be brought in. I do own the character Ally Jameson as I know she will appear in this story a good bit and I just wanted to let you know that she is my character from the beginning. I also own the characters of Janice Mitchell, Principal McEntire, and Mallory Wiggins.
Thanks to those that read the last chapter and I hope that you really enjoyed it.
Now, on with the Story!
Seeing the Nursery
Tommy's POV
When I got off work this afternoon, I first went to the dojo for a two hour class with my advanced students and then I headed home, knowing that I had a lot of work to do there. I also knew that I had better do the work if I was going to be able to talk to my wife this afternoon. I promised Kim that I would start working on the nursery this week and now it's Friday and I haven't worked on it at all. I am sure she is not too happy about that, especially after how she acted this morning when I told her I would work on it this afternoon. I hadn't meant for this week to pass by and me not get any work done on it, but it did, although I am thankful that I had some back up coming in to help me.
You see Kim's teacher friends decided they wanted to give her a baby shower and since her friends from the ranger world hadn't been able to figure out when they could do it, they just invited them up as well and they gladly accepted the invitation.
When they did that, it gave me some people that could help out with painting the nursery and moving the crib in, without too much of a hassle being caused by it. We did get a little bassinet to keep in our room until the baby is old enough to be in the crib and that needs to be assembled as well. The thing was, I had no clue how long the shower would last and all of us were hoping to get the room done and have supper ready for the women by the time they got home, as they are sure to be tired and possibly hungry.
"Tommy, how have you been holding up lately?" Jason asked, as he entered the nursery with a can of paint in each hand.
He had went ahead and dug it out of the command center closet, as Tommy had instructed him that it was down there somewhere. It had taken him about twenty minutes to find it, but it seemed that most things that were not necessary for the command center's function had been pushed to the back of the small closet, which meant he had had to clear most of it out to get the paint and then he had to put it back in the closet.
He knew it was not in the order that it had been left in, but he hoped that Alpha would be able to find everything just the same, as he did not want to hear about it from Tommy later. He didn't understand why it was down there, but he didn't really have the strength to deal with Tommy's explanation for his logic right now.
"I'm doing fine, I didn't really expect to be the one that you'd be asking that question though. She wakes me up some nights because she can't find a comfortable position to sleep in, but usually she'll settle down a few minutes after that and go to sleep propped on top of me. But that really doesn't bother me that much, as long as she is able to sleep. I really don't care what position she puts me in to sleep, as long as she doesn't ask me to sleep on the floor. I don't know if I would be able to do that. I can't sleep when she's not there anymore," Tommy said, as he looked around the room that they had emptied in order for it to become the baby's nursery.
The room was only two rooms down the hallway from their bedroom and they both knew they would be able to hear the baby cry from that distance and they would also be able to hear if Mesogogg tried to do something sneaky, which was to be expected. He had just been too quiet for their liking, but they would be able to take it. He was one of the weirdest creatures that they had ever encountered and his logic did not follow most villains. Many would have gone on without any forces once they found out that one of the rangers would not be able to fight, but he was not one of those villains.
"So, what exactly do you need us to do?" Rocky asked, as he saw the box that contained the crib lying on the floor and the box containing the bassinet doing the same only a few feet away. He hoped that they would not be asked to put those together, but that was the feeling he was getting about the whole situation.
"Well, if you don't mind putting those together while Jason and me paint, then we'll be able to get most of it done before Kim and everyone else gets here," Tommy said, as he dipped the roller in the paint and prepared to put it on the wall.
"Okay," Billy said, as he dragged the crib out into the hall and Rocky dragged the bassinet into the hall. They were sure that between the four of them they could manage to put the things together, even if they did have to read the directions in order to do so. They didn't want the thing to collapse while the baby was in it, so they were actually going to try to follow the directions tonight, unless that just got too confusing, then they would let Billy take over the whole process. "So, who else is thinking about getting engaged sometime soon?"
"I am," Adam said, as a Tommy and Jason paused in their painting long enough to give each other a bewildered glance before they returned to the job at hand. They weren't exactly shocked that Adam was thinking about it, it was just that he had never been one to talk about things like that to them. It was always Rocky or Zack, as Adam and Billy generally kept those types of thoughts to themselves, although they had become more vocal about it lately. It seemed that they wanted some advice, although they didn't have much advice that they could give them. Each one of the women that they loved were different and none of them knew what would be best for them. "It's just hard to know when would be best to ask her about it, I've already got a ring, but I just don't know. She's been pretty upset about the fact that it seems that she won't be going out there with us when Mesogogg shows back up. I don't want her to think that I am asking her to marry me because I feel sorry for her, because that's the furthest from the truth. I've never pitied her in anything that has happened to her, even with her rather shitty luck in most of her relationships when I first met her, no offense Tommy. She's a tough girl and I'm just happy that I know her."
"Look, from experience, let me tell you that she'll probably just be happy that you can get the words out of your mouth without becoming a blubbering idiot," Jason said, as Tommy laughed at that. He was fairly sure that Jason had gotten his speech down perfectly before he asked Trini and then it all flew out the window, just like it did with him. "What's so funny? You think I was a blubbering idiot or something?"
"Nothing, it's just that I sure as hell know that I had my speech planned up until I started to ask her and then my mind went blank. I was just lucky that I got the words out before she thought that I needed to be taken to the hospital. Adam, you can't worry about something like, you just have to say whatever you feel, even if it makes you feel like you're an idiot," Tommy said, as Adam looked into the room at the two of them and wondered if the paint fumes where already getting to their brains.
The two of them rarely opened up like that to anyone and if they did it was their wives, but things had changed over the last few months. They had to depend on each other so much more now and that led all of them to saying more than they usually did about everything that was goingon.
"Adam, don't feel so bad, I think most of us sitting out here are in the same boat that you are in. The two of them managed to get their act together sooner and most of us are just struggling to figure out if we are really this serious about who we are falling for," Zack said, as he looked at the pieces of the crib that were laid out in front of him and could only pray that Billy understood exactly how to do this, as he had no clue about it. The directions made no sense to him at all. "Man, I know that Aisha means the world to me, but it's hard to think about the lifetime commitment and everything, especially knowing what is just around the corner. I don't want to get either of our hopes up and something happen to one of us when Mesogogg comes around. She wants to take a break for a little while, but I don't know how well I can handle that."
"She wants to do what?" Tommy asked, as this was a new development for him to hear about and he was sure that most of the others knew about it.
"Take a break. She is frustrated with me right now and I really don't have much of a choice but to let her. I love her, but with everything that is going on I'm afraid that the stress will get to us if we stay together right now," Zack said as Tommy merely looked at his paint roller, hoping it would answer his questions before he began painting again. It didn't help him at all and Jason seemed to be searching the ceiling for his answers.
"I'm worried about that too," Billy said, taking the directions out of Zack's hands and beginning to assemble the crib with little effort on his part. Rocky and Adam were looking at their directions as if they were in some foreign language and they slowly began putting together the bassinet, knowing that they would let Billy look over it before they placed it in Kim and Tommy's bedroom. They doubted that they would be able to get half of it together correctly, but Billy would take care of any of their careless mistakes, without making them feel like absolute idiots for not being able to understand the directions. "I just don't want something to happen and for Hayley to not know how I feel about her."
"They know how you feel about them," Jason said, reloading his roller and going to tackle the second wall. He had often doubted that Trini knew, but deep down they had both known how they felt about each other. They just had not been able to admit it to each other. "I didn't think that Trini did, but after awhile it becomes the things that you do and not what you say that are important to them."
"Well, I'm glad that you have it figured out, because I know that I don't. Not now any ways," Tommy said, looking at the partially painted room, with a little bit of satisfaction. If they were able to keep up this pace, they would have it finished by the time she got home and she would not have to do a thing, except tell him where she wanted the furniture. That was what he had been hoping for the whole time, as she had been more exhausted as the days went by and he just wanted her to be able to rest easily without worrying about things that still had to be done for the baby. They had enough on their plate right now and he didn't know how much more stress either of them could take. "There's some days that it is enough to give her a kiss and a hug, but there are some days that she needs the words that go along with those actions and God help you if you don't pick up on it in time."
"Kim is also eight months pregnant Tommy and having mood swings from hell," Rocky said, as he remembered the mood Kim had been in when she came by the dojo earlier that week. He had never seen her like that before and he was sure that he did not want to see her like that again. She had just gone off on him for some small thing and then broken down, but Tommy had handled it much better than he would have if he was her husband. He just took her home and he probably consoled her the rest of the night, because of how she felt about going off on him. "Man, I don't know what got into her Monday, but I don't think I can take another one of those moods. I don't know how you do it, Tommy."
"I love her, that's how I do it. She had a bad day at work though, Rocky. The principal came down on her because she was not out to pick up her kids in time from P.E., but the baby is sitting on top of her bladder now, so you can imagine what that is doing to her as well. After that happened, she had a parent call saying that her child had been beat up in class and that she had done nothing about it, although Kim promises that kid is just clumsy and I believe her. By the time that she got to the dojo, she was a walking time bomb and she's sorry that you were the one to set her off. She would have rather it been me, it wouldn't have hurt me as bad. I've had to deal with it a lot lately," Tommy said, as they all seemed rather surprised that Tommy had put up with Kim being treated like that without getting really pissed off about it. He usually didn't like it when people used harsh tones with her, but he seemed to have more coming after that. "And I didn't help things that much. When she told me about it later, I got mad and she became upset, so you can guess what I did the rest of the night."
"You know, I'm kinda glad that I just work at the dojo. There's not a lot of drama thare," Rocky said, as the others looked over at him with envy shining in their eyes. They all had to deal with adults on a daily basis and it was by no means the most enjoyable thing in the world. "Have the doctors told you anything new?"
"One thing, but they only told me this time and then I was given the responsibility to tell Kim, which was not fair to me at all. They're afraid that the baby might be a little bit too big for her to deliver on her own, but we're both hoping that they're wrong about that," Tommy said, as Billy and Zack carried in the crib and then placed the mattress in it. They had almost finished painting the walls, but Tommy didn't want to leave this completely to them and go fix the food, knowing that Kim had, had a certain idea in her mind. He would not be able to do all of it by himself, but he was going to get as much done as he could.
"Is that where you want the crib?" Billy asked, as he and Zack were willing to move it again if it was not where Tommy wanted it to be placed.
"It'll work for now. Kim will probably just be happy that the room is painted and that the crib is put together. I can move it once the paint dries to where she wants it. How is the other one coming along?" Tommy asked, as Adam glared at him through a crack in between the door and its hinges.
"You don't ask, we don't tell," Rocky said, as they had just managed to get the bottom of it together. Now that Billy was done with the other one, they could only hope that he would be willing to help them as well.
"It can't be that bad," Tommy said, as he placed the roller in the tray and then headed towards the kitchen to rinse them out before Kim got home.
"Yeah it can be," Billy said, as he looked at their work and then quickly scooted them out of the way. He managed to get the bassinet put together in under thirty minutes and by the time that he was done with that, they could smell supper cooking downstairs.
"No pizza?" Rocky asked, as he looked in the oven and saw that there was chicken in it, which was not exactly what he had been hoping for after all of the work that he had done this afternoon.
"No, Kim got sick off of it a few times and now she just won't eat it at all," Tommy said, as they looked at him with a question in their eyes, as they were quite sure that she didn't fix pizza that often. She had eaten it in high school, but it had never been her favorite thing in the world to eat, they all knew that. "I brought home pizza a couple of nights after we first found out and it just didn't set well with her and her sensitive stomach."
"Oh," Rocky said and then he went to get a glass out of the cabinet and fix himself a drink. "I guess I wouldn't want to eat it either if that happened to me."
"Hey guys," Trini said walking in laden down with baby things and she quickly had Jason walk over and take them out of her arms. He was sure that she was exhausted from being around a bunch of women talking about baby stuff.
"Where's Kim?" Tommy asked, wiping his hands off and taking the things out of Ally's arms, as she was the next one to come through the door.
"She had to get some stuff from her room before she came out here and she told us to go on. We're pretty sure that she would be fine, since there were some teachers up there cleaning up," Trini said, as she followed them up the stairs and into the nursery. She let out a soft gasp at the work that the guys had been able to accomplish this afternoon and then looked back at Jason, who smiled at her reaction. "She is going to be so happy when she sees this."
"I'm glad you think so," Tommy said looking around as he placed the presents on the floor and he couldn't help but notice some things that seemed out of place to have come from a baby shower. "What's with the duct tape and ice pack?"
"We'll let Kim tell you that one. She'll probably be able to make it sound as funny as it really was," Trini said, as they heard the door open and shut downstairs and then they heard Kim say something.
"I'm glad that she's home. Come on back downstairs, we'll eat supper and then I can bring her up here to see this. She's not going to want to walk up and down the stairs more than she has to," Tommy said, as he turned off the light and closed the door behind him. When he walked downstairs, Kim was placing a pink teddy bear on the floor in the living room, as she sat down on one of the couches, content to not move anywhere for a long time.
"You want us to fix you some food?" Rocky asked, as he sat down next to Kim and she looked up at him, trying to not let on that anything out of the ordinary had happened, although she didn't really focus her mind on him being out of place. It just seemed like he was supposed to be there for a few seconds at least.
"When did you get here? I just thought that the girls were here," Kim said, as she noticed Jason walking down the stairs with Tommy and Trini.
He was smiling as he saw how much bigger she had gotten over the past few weeks and he knew that they were all grateful that she really was fine, although she did seem a bit tired, but Tommy had warned him about that when he asked him to come. It just seemed that she was a little bit drained from having the baby keep her awake a little bit more than she would like, at least that was what theywrote it off as.
"I invited them to come too, I hope you don't mind," Tommy said, leaning down to give her a kiss on the lips and then standing up to look down at her and saw something that clouded her eyes, although he had no idea of what it could be. She hadn't had anything going on today that was even bordering on possibly upsetting her. "Did you have a good day?"
"Yeah, it was alright, except," Kim said cutting herself off, as all of her friends had stopped what they were doing and listened for whatever she had to say. Rocky had even managed to stop preparing her a plate at the tone that he caught in her voice.
"Except what?" Tommy asked, as she sighed and looked up at him, knowing that she didn't want to have to talk about it right now.
"Richard showed up," Kim said, as Tommy clenched and unclenched his fist, but before he was able to say anything, she blurted out the next part. She did not want him to get mad, because she didn't have the energy to talk him down out of his madness tonight. She barely had the energy to sit down and talk to him right now. "But he didn't do anything Tommy. He came to warn me about the fact that Mesogogg is going to be coming back soon and that he might be after the baby. It was just weird, he didn't try to do anything and he left right after he said that. It was like he was trying to do something good, instead of something bad. Something has changed with him Tommy, something is going on that he doesn't like. I could tell it. I used to know him, remember?"
"You're alright, though, right? Nothing's wrong with you?" Tommy asked as she nodded her head yes and he then looked up to see that Jason was looking furious, which was not a big surprise.
He, however, would hold in his emotions just like Tommy was or the two of them would have to deal with more than the punching bag downstairs. Kim carefully pushed herself to the edge of the couch, thinking that she was going to have to get up to fix herself a plate of food, but Rocky then passed one to her.
"I thought you were joking about that," Kim said, as she gladly took the plate and leaned back onto the cushion of the sofa. She didn't like to admit that the being on her feet affected her, but it did and she knew that her friends had probably heard all of it from Tommy, although she didn't like that he made her seem like she was a cripple in some ways.
"Come on, I wouldn't joke with a pregnant woman when I was talking about her food. I'm not that stupid," Rocky said with a smile as Tommy went to go get his own plate and then sit down next to Kim on the couch.
"Rocky, I'm sorry about Monday. I didn't mean it and Tommy got me out of there before I could apologize for what I said," Kim said, giving him a smile and hoping that he understood. She had really just had a bad day.
"Hey, it's alright. You have the right to have a little bit shorter fuse than normal," Rocky said and he then went to go get his own plate, as their other friends filled the living room, knowing that Kim was not going to get off the couch until she went to go to bed upstairs.
"So, they tell me that you are the one to ask about the duct tape and the ice pack that are sitting upstairs," Tommy said sitting down next to Kim and carefully scooting as close to her as he could without her feeling cramped for her own space. She often felt that way now and he was not in any mood for her to push him away tonight. He needed to talk to her tonight about a few things.
"Oh," Kim said with a smile, as she was sure that the girls would get a good laugh out of it, but the boys were not very likely to like it. It was something that they had found comedic, but most of the guys would think that Tommy would definitely need most of it, as they knew how their friend was when she was in pain under normal conditions and this was not going to be normal conditions. "Well, my teacher friends thought it would be nice to give me some things that you would need to survive all of this. They gave me the ice, for you to use when I bruise up your hand. The duct tape to keep you quiet when you won't shut up and the pink teddy bear for when I won't let you touch me."
"You're kidding me, right?" Tommy asked, as Kim shook her head no and he laughed about it for a few seconds. He knew that it might be true that he would have to use those things, but he hated having it brought out in front of people that did not really know him that well. "So they forgot to give you a six pack of beer for me?"
"Tommy," Kim said rather harshly as they guys laughed at his suggestion, as they knew that he needed one of those after everything that had been going on. He was likely to be a nervous wreck by the day she delivered, but he would only tell them that.
"Hey, we hate to have to leave so soon, but I've got to teach a class tomorrow. I offered to sub for one of the teachers at the Youth Center and it's just my luck that he teaches a six a.m. class on Saturday," Jason said, as he finished eating his food and looked to see that the clock read eight. He knew that he had better get going or he would not be able to roll out of bed in the morning and he did not want to disappoint the class. He had been looking forward to this almost as much as they had.
"That's fine, Jase," Kim said, trying to stand up, but he walked over and bent down to give her a hug.
"Take care of yourself, Pinkie," Jason whispered in her ear as she smiled up at him. He always reminded her of that sort of stuff and she had thought it was funny for years, but it was not that funny anymore. She knew just how much she had to do that. "I have someone here that will tell me if you don't do that."
"I'll try to Jason. I'll really try," Kim said with a smile and then Trini gave her a hug before she followed Jason outside.
"So, how much work do you lack on getting the Dino rangers power boosters that they are going to need?" Aisha asked, looking towards Hayley and Billy.
"They have them, but we're not sure how to activate them without it overwhelming them and the only people that we would be willing to test it on are not in any condition to have it tested on them," Hayley said, glancing over at Kim and Tommy, knowing the after affects that it could have on either one of them, although Kim was just out of the question right now. Tommy, however, was a consideration if it came down to it, but they didn't want him to do that, as it would put him in jeopardy of being very tired himself.
"So, in other words, we're not going to test them until I have the baby, unless we absolutely have to do that," Kim said, leaning her head on Tommy's shoulder and closing her eyes.
She had not realized how tired she was until she had finished eating, but now that she had figured it out, she was just as happy to go to sleep like that. She didn't care what her friends thought; she had learned to listen to her body over the last few months or she would regret it later on.
"Yeah, I guess that is the best way to say it," Billy said, as he brought up another improvement they were trying to make before the battles started again. "As for our Zords, I've been able to bring up the weapons that they contain and from what I can see, we have enough fire power to take care of most things that could cross our path. I'm just worried that they won't activate because they haven't been used in so long. If they don't, I can not imagine what might happen to us."
"Don't worry about the Zords. Our rangers can take care of the problem if it becomes that size, because I doubt that we will be able to get away from the groundwork long enough to put together our Megazord. They're going to try to keep us busy, you know that," Tommy said. He knew that Mesogogg was definitely going to try to keep them preoccupied on the ground, which was probably not a wise thing for whatever they were going up against. It would have been better for them to lure the older rangers skyward, but he would learn that all too late.
"What are the two of you going to do?" Rocky asked, as Tommy looked down at Kim to see that she had fallen asleep against his shoulder. They had talked about it enough for him to know the answer to that question, but he really did not want to upset her by talking about it again, although her being asleep made it easier for him.
"Well, we decided that if no one else is receptive to the powers we used to defeat Nicarni-Aso, that we'll give up our dino powers and take those. We should be able to find two more people that are receptive to the gems," Tommy said, as they all thought about it for a few seconds.
"But there is no guarantee that it will be someone who has been out of the game for awhile is there?" Kat asked, as Tommy looked over at her and tried to figure out the nicest way to say what needed to be said. He couldn't lie to her and guarantee that she would be able to be a ranger again, but he couldn't tell her that there was no way that she would get the post.
"No, there's not, but we'll try Kat. I just can't guarantee anything. The two of us don't even know if our old powers will take us back after having the dino powers and if we have to have residual powers drained, then I'm not sure if the two of us will take them back anyway. That hurt too much," Tommy said, as Zack nodded that he understood how he was feeling. The two of them could not endure having powers drained out of them again and they did not blame them at all for that one. It left them drained and weary and that was something that none of them wanted to risk at the moment. They needed to be alert at all times.
"You shouldn't have to worry about that Tommy," Billy said, as he had been able to deduce that from his research that Kim and Tommy's newest power would not have the same residing effects that all of their old powers had, had within them. "I think that the two of you should be fine this time, but I hate to break this up, but I gotta get back to Angel Grove. I have to meet with some engineers tomorrow, they're trying to decide if they are going to allow me into that company."
"Why didn't you mention that earlier?" Hayley asked, as Billy cringed at the tone that Hayley had in her voice. He had been trying to keep it a secret until everything was set in stone, but he had managed to tell her when she was not in the best mood to hear about it.
"Because nothing is for sure about it and I didn't want you to get your hopes up about something when it might not work out," Billy said, as Tommy and the others tried to fade away into the back ground, as they did not want to see the two of them fight. They were sure that it would not be pleasant.
"Why would I get my hopes up? It's just a new job, Billy. I thought that we agreed we were going to tell each other about things like that," Hayley said, as Billy silently put his hand over his face and then looked over at her.
"Because they have a branch in Reefside and that's the one that I'm trying to get on with. They might hire me, but they could decide that they want me to stay in Angel Grove, that's why I didn't tell you anything about it," Billy said, as a few of the rangers left the room all together, which left only Kim and Tommy, because of the fact that she was comfortably asleep.
"Oh," Hayley said quietly as she looked around to see that most of their friends had left, for the exception of Kim and Tommy, as they had expected the two of them to get into a yelling match with each other. "We scared that others off, didn't we?"
"Yeah and I would have left it wasn't for her being asleep," Tommy said, as Kim looked up at him and then looked around before she saw that the only people left were Billy and Hayley.
"Where'd everybody go?" Kim asked, as Aisha peeked around the corner of the wall that separated that kitchen from the living room.
"They were afraid that we would get into a yelling match," Hayley said, as Kim looked over at her utterly confused as to why that might happen and Tommy smiled down at her before she yawned. Tommy knew it was probably best to go ahead and get her upstairs, so she could get some sleep and hopefully be comfortable tonight.
"Why would that happen?" Kim asked, as Billy tried not to laugh at the question, but he failed to keep her from noticing it. "What's so funny?"
"Nothing Kim," Billy said, as he stood up so he could go ahead and head back towards Angel Grove. He couldn't stay here much longer or he would be in the same condition as Jason seemed to be fearing to be in the next day. "Look, I'll be back up here on Wednesday to work on that power booster some more. What time should I get here?"
"You can come as early as you want. I don't have to work anymore, Billy," Kim said, as Tommy looked over at her and then shook his head above her range of sight. He knew that if he was not at home then she was likely to be down there helping Billy work, when what she needed to do was lay back and rest.
"So, I need to be here about four?" Billy asked, as Tommy nodded his head yes and Kim glared up at him before looking over at Billy who was smiling. "Hey, it's not that you can't help, Kim. We just don't want you to push yourself and you don't know your limits, missy."
"Billy," Kim said warningly, as he reached down to give her a hug and he carefully let her go before he said anything else to her.
"Look, I'm just saying what I know about you," Billy said, as she smiled and then he looked back at Hayley, who he knew did not want him to leave so soon. All of the time that they spent together was when they were working on things with the rangers and he couldn't deal with that much longer and neither could she. They wanted to be able to see each other everyday and it didn't matter to them that that was nearly impossible right now. Billy had been trying to find a job in Reefside for the past few months and if he could manage to do that, then he would finally be able to move on with his life. "You want me to drive you back to your place?"
"Sure," Hayley said with a smile as they turned to leave and all of the others decided that this was as good of time as any to leave, as they all had things that they had to do the next day.
"So are we going to stay here all night or are we going to go upstairs sometime?" Tommy asked, giving Kim a smile, before he stood up to take their plates into the kitchen. He had the feeling that she would rather stay put, because it was comfortable, but he knew that she would never be able to sleep down there all night.
"We'll go upstairs in a little bit, if you're able to haul me off of this couch," Kim said, as he held in a laugh at that one.
Her sense of humor had seemed to have gotten better in most respects, but there were some days that it was not wise for him to laugh about everything that she said. He had been yelled at for it on a few occasions and he didn't want to try his luck tonight.
"I think I can do that," Tommy said, extending a hand for her to grab and carefully pulling her up off of the couch and wrapped his arms around her in a hug, which she quickly sunk into. "There's something I want you to see."
"What have you done?" Kim asked, scared that he had taken it upon himself to do something crazy and something that she would not like to see at all. She was under enough stress knowing that Mesogogg was still out there and could come back at any time, she did not need any added stress from him.
"It's not anything bad, sweetie. Trust me that you'll like it," Tommy said, as he helped her up the stairs and he wondered if it was really smart for the two of them to be staying in their bedroom, which did happen to be upstairs instead of one of the guest rooms downstairs. It took her so long to walk up the stairs at the end of the day and if she went into labor during the night, there was no guarantee that she would be able to make it down them quickly or at all depending on how bad the contractions were.
"Why do there have to be so many stairs in this house?" Kim grumbled, as he stopped her in front of what was going to become the nursery. She could only pray that he had really done some work, if not she was going to beat him to a pulp with the little bit of energy that she had left from her day at school. "You better not be playing with me, Tommy."
"I'm not, I actually worked on it some this afternoon," Tommy said covering her eyes and opening the door before he turned on the lights and let her see it. He hoped that she would like what he had done so far, if not he wasn't sure if he would be able to take it. Her opinion mattered so much about this and he could only hope that he had done a good job. "Did I do alright?"
"You finished the painting and got the crib put together and it actually looks like you knew what you were doing," Kim said walking further into the room and touching the crib with one of her hands. She knew that in a few weeks there might be a baby lying in that crib and it overwhelmed her that she felt so happy about all of it. It had been such a long week and to come home to see the nursery was finished was a wonderful surprise from Tommy. It was actually one of the best surprises that he could have given her after dealing with a bunch of young children all day long. "It's beautiful, Tommy. Thank you so much."
"You're not saying that just because I finally worked on it, are you?" Tommy asked, walking up behind her and putting both of his arms around her and feeling her lean back against him without an ounce of her own weight being supported by herself.
He knew that tiredness had crept into her body, but she was fighting against it, as he was not sleepy, from what she could tell. She wanted to stay up with him, although he had learned it was best for the two of them if he got into bed with her and just laid there, even if he couldn't fall asleep for a couple of hours. She needed the rest and he did not want to have to deal with her when she was grumpy. It was worse than anything else he could imagine having to deal with from her while she was pregnant. He hated when she was in a bad mood and they both knew that.
"No, you did good, although I am sure that I will be asking you to move some stuff later," Kim said with a smile and then she yawned. She still had to make sure that he put the rocking chair in the nursery, but other than that, it seemed like most of it was alright by her standards.
"It looks like someone needs to get to bed," Tommy said, turning her around in his arms and carefully looking down at his exhausted wife. She couldn't hide that she was tired from him, although she had been able to pull that off with their friends. They didn't see her everyday the way that he did and they couldn't pick up on the signs as well as he could either. "I guess baby has already gone to sleep."
"Don't be so sure about that one, Tommy," Kim said as she felt the baby kick at one of her organs and she winced from the pain that it caused before he started walking her towards their bedroom, enjoying watching her waddle in front of him.
He loved the way that she had changed as the baby got bigger, as her body did not seem meant to accommodate a baby at all, but she was more beautiful to him than ever before. He didn't know what made him feel like this, but he knew that there was nothing that made him happier than seeing her with that belly and a smile on her face.
"Still kicking you?" Tommy asked as she reached into the top dresser draw to grab a nightgown to slip on before she got into bed.
"Of course, the baby never stops. It seems to want to fight as much as I do," Kim said, as she went into the bathroom, so she could change without feeling any prying eyes. She was not as comfortable changing in front of him, as stretch marks now littered her stomach, although she got the feeling he didn't really care. He wanted her to be close to him, no matter what and the way her body changed didn't bother him. She was his wife and that was all that mattered in his eyes.
"Hey, why do you always come in here to change now?" Tommy asked, with a sudden spurt of curiosity, as he walked up behind her and watched as she slipped on the nightgown that he had gotten her for Christmas.
She had outgrown most of her old ones and he could tell she felt crappy when she wore his old boxers and T-shirts to bed, not that he cared about her wearing them. It didn't really matter to him what she wore at all. It was just important to him that she be as comfortable as she could be while she was pregnant and if that meant he had to give up half of his wardrobe, then he was fine with it.
"I just feel more comfortable this way," Kim said, as she turned around to go back into their bedroom and try to settle down in bed before Tommy came in, in an attempt to get to sleep quickly. That idea never seemed to work, but it usually kept her out of dealing with emotional situations like this one. She couldn't deal with them as well as she had been able to a few months ago and she was sure that Tommy picked up on it.
"So you're not comfortable when I'm with you anymore? You don't want me to see you?" Tommy asked, trying to disguise the hurt in his voice, but he did not do a very good job at it, as he reached out and placed a hand on her belly trying to get her to look him in the eyes. He loved her and he hated to know that he might be making her uncomfortable in any way.
"It's not you. It's just that my body has changed so much and I don't feel comfortable letting anyone see me look so different," Kim said, grabbing his hand and giving it a gentle squeeze as he pulled her into a hug. He had gotten the feeling that those thoughts had been swirling around in her head much more often lately and he was willing to do anything to get them to stop for good.
"You're the same person to me, Beautiful. It doesn't matter that the baby has changed your body, you're still there, and this is one of the best things that you have ever done. Don't think badly of yourself, I'll love you no matter how much your body changes," Tommy said, hearing her sniffle against his chest, before he gently picked her up and took her to their bed, so she could get some much-needed rest.
AN: Thank you for reading and I hope that you have enjoyed this chapter. Please review, so I can know what you're thinking about this story! Until next time, happy reading!