"Well, between you and me, we started trying six months ago," Chaz said.
"Oooh…I'm sorry to hear that. Six months is a pretty long time, is everything okay?"
"Better! She's two months!" He managed to keep his voice just low enough so only those right beside him could hear—in this case, just Benny.
"Oh, dude, you're going to be a dad! Congrats! What's it like?"
"Okay, okay, so picture this," he started. "You've been talking about a baby for a whole year but you're a little worried about finances—is your income enough to take care of your wife and a baby? Then you get a promotion. You're making more now. Your break the good news to your wife and she's so happy for you. Now you can start trying for a baby. You have your hopes up for the first time. No luck. Second, third, now you're getting impatient. Fourth time, by now you've tracked her cycle down to a science. One day she calls you into the bathroom." Leni's terrified scream technically called him in…that counted, right? "She's holding a test and you're kind of hopeful but it's been months and you've learned to keep your cool about it. You walk around her and it's positive, she's thrilled, you're thrilled. Finally it happened."
Benny smiled and looked in the kitchen. The bare minimum of Leni could be seen but as she turned to the side, seeming to send Lucy for some other ingredient to add to her pudding, now that someone was actually looking for a baby bump, there it was. A slightly swollen abdomen, right before she turned back around, hiding it again.
"I see it!" Benny exclaimed in a hushed voice. "That is awesome, you two must be so excited about this!"
"We are!"
"Aaah, I can't wait to see that on Luan! Does it ever feel weird seeing this bump on your wife's stomach?"
"No way. Well, sort of. When you first start noticing it, it's so unreal, like how is there a baby in there? How were you lucky enough to pull that off? And then you start to worry about everything. Like when Leni got that big order, she didn't even have time to sleep and when she ate half the time morning sickness got rid of that. And when I tried to get her to stop working on those dresses she would snap."
"Wait…Leni snapped? Leni. Your Leni. She snapped?"
"Oh yeah. Those mood swings are nothing to joke about… I always thought they were exaggerated, they're not."
"That sounds fun."
"You just have to remind yourself it's not their fault. And I mean, in fairness she was under a lot of stress. Then they get sick and there's just nothing you can do. Totally helpless."
Benny chuckled. "I'll be asking for tips when it happens with Luan."
"You're in for a bumpy ride, my friend. Ups and downs and all arounds."
In expert timing, Luan ran up to her husband and shoved forks and napkins in his hands.
"I need you to help set the table," she said before running back into the kitchen. "HOW'S THE CASSEROLE COMING, LUNA?"
"Duty calls," Benny said, walking over towards the table to set the napkins and forks in their places.
Meanwhile Chaz stood idly, unsure of what to do. He could've helped Benny but he was uncomfortable about leaving his wife alone. Any other time he would've been at ease knowing she was surrounded by so many people—if something happened she could get immediate attention. But the way they were all pushing around each other to reach varying foods or utensils, what if someone bumped Leni so hard she hit her stomach against the edge of the counter? What if someone was bumped and spilled a scalding hot soup or something right when she turned around and it went all over her? What if the knife she'd been using to chop bananas with was knocked in her direction and stabbed her?!
Of course somebody—Rita, specifically—blocked his view right after that last thought. The woman took no notice of him, just as busy as the rest of them. But he did see the fridge door open and since Leni was right beside the fridge, what if that door slammed against her? What if, right now, she was tasting her pudding again but was choking but nobody could hear her because of all the noise? What if Lynn Jr. was right in the midst of all this and was preparing to tackle Leni? What if something wet was on the floor and she was about to slip? So many things could happen at any time, maybe it would've been best to wrap her stomach, sides, and back in pillows.
He supposed that at some point his wife had finished the pudding—she always made her desserts a delicacy—because she squeezed her way through the mass of people with two handfuls of knives, preparing to follow Benny in setting the table for everyone.
He jumped in to stop her.
"Um, honey, why don't I take the knives off your hands for a bit?"
She looked at her hands in confusion.
"They're not on my hands," she said, giving him a quick kiss before heading over towards the table.
He watched nervously as she set them down one by one, circling the whole table before rejoining her family still scrambling around in the kitchen. The fact that all the silverware had been put out meant dinner would be coming out soon. It all wafted through the house and smelled delicious…he hoped it would be out as soon as possible so Leni could sit down and not be in any dangerous positions.
He also noticed that Bobby was gone and Lincoln was watching TV on the couch, clearly disinterested in mingling. Then again, when some of his sisters moved out he finally had some peace. Now that they were all back in, the house was reverting back to its former chaos. He had probably had enough socializing—no doubt his sisters had been pestering him prior to helping with dinner in the kitchen. He needed a little down time.
"Dinner's ready!" Lynn Sr.'s voice rang throughout the house.
Lincoln perked up at this announcement and was the first to run to the table, where food was already being set out in a linear fashion. This was done more quickly than any other year, as this year there were twelve people—that was all that could fit in the kitchen—carrying out different dishes. Two of them were in charge of placing plates, one per chair. Leni, unfortunately, was not one of them and carried a hot casserole with potholders beneath it. Why couldn't she have opted for a cold one instead…? Or the plates…?
There was much less noise while people settled into their chairs. Lori's absence was almost overlooked, but not by Leni. She saved a special seat right beside her just for her older sister, fending off anyone who wanted to sit there. It was actually a little amusing, and he saw Benny smile and shake his head from the corner of his eye, knowing that pregnancy held power despite that pregnancy not being Luan's.
Everyone left two seats beside Leni empty—one for Lori, who was to sit right beside her, and one for Bobby. Chaz had already taken the only other seat beside his wife, as was to be expected between all the married couples.
Lynn Sr. yelled once again that dinner was ready, this time turned towards the stairs.
Moments later, Lori and her husband entered the dining room. Lori seemed to know without being told that the empty seat beside Leni was meant for her, but despite not having seen any of her family members in a year, she didn't seem very happy to be with them…not even poor Leni, who thankfully seemed oblivious to her sister's feelings.
He began to wonder if, perhaps, Lori had forced herself to come, or if Bobby had convinced her to. But why? Everyone in this family had been so close, possibly the most tightly knit family in history, until Lori had cut herself off from it, not even bothering to tell anyone why or giving them a fair warning that she would no longer be talking to them. That was the thing that took everyone by surprise, not necessarily her blocking everyone out.
"Hi, Lori!" his wife squealed, jumping halfway out of her chair to crush her sister in a hug. "I'm so excited to see you again! What's new? How are you doing? Am I an aunt yet? OH RIGHT! I have special cards! They're for everyone! You have one too!"
Her sister seemed surprised at the sudden outburst but she really shouldn't have been. This was Leni, one of if not the most compassionate and good-hearted people on the planet. All year she had wanted nothing more than to see Lori. This kind of reaction should've been expected. Everyone else certainly expected it—not a single one of them seemed fazed in the slightest.
"Oh, hi, Leni," Lori coughed out and she regained her breath. "It's great to see you again."
His wife didn't register a word that was said as she pulled out a large stack of envelopes from her purse—the "Con-GRAD-ulations!" cards inside with a copy of the bean-shaped baby picture hidden within the card.
She carefully read the name on the front of the envelope before handing it to the designated person saying, "You get one!" with each envelope dispensed.
The plan had taken a little bit of a different turn, with Lori's arrival on scene being the catalyst for Leni's change of game—before dinner, when everyone was hungry and waiting, not after dinner, when everyone was full and happy. But at least she didn't ruin the surprise, that was impressive. Or maybe, in a more realistic circumstance, she had simply been too distracted to ruin it…
The envelopes that were addressed to people too far for her to reach were passed down by a line of people to end up in the hands of their intended destination. He prayed she would wait just a little longer to blurt out what was still supposed to be a surprise. It didn't have to be anything more than a minute, really, since they were supposed to open their cards first. He mentally laughed at their inevitable confusion upon seeing a college graduation card. But, hey, congratulations on not graduating.
After all the envelopes had been passed out and each person had received theirs, instead of doing what she was supposed to have done, which was tell them to open their envelopes, she turned to Lori with the biggest grin she that would fit on her face.
"Where's the baby?" she asked. "I want to be an aunt so much!"
Bobby looked nervous and no one else had opened their cards yet.
"Wait…Lori had a baby?" Lincoln said.
Lori sighed heavily and looked at Leni with sad eyes, which couldn't be good at all. Part of him wanted to shut his wife up somehow, but even if it was a temporary fix, it would probably only make things worse in the long run. She would never give up asking where her niece or nephew was.
Lori put a hand on Leni's shoulder and said, "Leni, you're not an aunt. You never will be with me. I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I wanted to but you've always been so excited about the idea and I just…I didn't have the heart…"
His wife's face went blank for a while, like she was trying her best to process what had just been told to her. Everyone else at the table was quiet as well. Even he refused to speak. Honestly, what could anyone say? Everybody knew how much Leni dreamed of being an aunt and they all knew she was very much expecting that with Lori.
"Leni, I am so sorry, it's just, it's been two years now and there are always complications—"
"Oh!" Leni interrupted. Her smile returned and she appeared as if a light bulb had gone off in her head. "All you have to do is take a test! If you pass, you'll get a baby!"
Lisa sighed from somewhere on the other side of the table. "Actually there's a lot more to it than that…"
Lori shook her head. "I've taken the test, many times, and I'm not passing. Do you understand that?"
"Well then you're not doing it right," Leni replied. "First, you have to stop eating the Tic-Tacs, or it won't work, second—"
Temporary fix or not, Chaz slapped a hand over his wife's mouth while Lori's face was slowly turning red.
"Um, honey, we don't talk about things like this in front of other people, remember?" he slowly reminded her.
She grunted an "okay" under his hand and he hesitantly withdrew it, just in case she started on this again. He noticed a few other people at the table snickering, clearly not surprised by this behavior. In fact, Luna, Lisa, Lana, Lynn Jr., Lynn Sr., Luan, Lily, and Lincoln had already started eating.
"I can help you study—"
Lori beat him to it and grabbed her shoulders with a look of desperation.
"I'll take the test as many times as it takes, okay?" she said. "And, uh, I-I'll make sure to…study…for all of them…"
The snickering from several more family members grew louder.
"Great!" Leni happily agreed. "You go get your baby, and in the meantime you can visit mine any time you want!"
Any lingering laughter or stifled laughter went away. They were so close—so close—to making this a successful surprise. But at least she was the one who ruined it, she couldn't chew him out for that.
"Wait…" Lori mumbled as she snatched up her card.
Each of them suddenly seemed to know what the cards could be for and started ripping them open. He was positive they all thought this was a big joke when their face told him they had no idea what to think of these college graduation cards. Even Lori was probably thinking it was some kind of prank—but when had Leni ever been able to pull off any real prank?
Lori was the first to flip open the card, unable to focus on any of the writing—which essentially just congratulated her on becoming an aunt—once she saw the ultrasound image tucked inside. Although Lori had a pretty unreadable expression as she examined the image, he heard gasps of joy, surprise, and excitement as the others opened their cards to find their copies as well.
"Wait…" Lori mumbled again.
Lori ducked her head below the table, moving the tablecloth aside, and drew a long, drawn-out gasp when she saw the baby bump.
Leni didn't seem to be picking up on all the positive vibes being emitted from everyone and grew concerned with the silence.
"I know it looks like a bean right now but don't worry, I'm watering it," she assured them.
More silence as they all stared at the images.
"Is…is this a bad thing?" Leni nervously asked, her smile gone.
He wanted to tell her it was a good thing, but she wasn't concerned with what he thought right now. He would probably just be ignored anyway, proving to all that he was not her primary focus.
Lori gently poked her abdomen, almost like she wanted to see if it was real—if he could think of one reason it wouldn't be.
"Oh…my…" Lori pulled her head up and giddily screeched. "LENI! OH MY GOSH, YOU'RE REALLY HAVING A BABY!"
He looked over to see Luan's reaction just in time for multiple squeals, borderline screaming, to accumulate around the table—Luan included.
"So it's a good thing?" Leni asked for clarity.
"It's a great thing!" an unidentifiable female voice shouted from the other end of the table.
Soon other girls followed and it started to sound like the kitchen when everyone was still preparing food, sans directions. Although he did hear advice on prenatal care tossed around somewhere. Most were barrages of questions his poor wife hardly understood. He was the one answering, multiple times since nobody in the Loud family was capable of calming down and taking turns, that she was "two months along" because Leni was confused between what "how far along" really meant—she believed that the phrase meant physical distance as opposed to a timeline. Only half of them seemed to understand what Leni was talking about when she referred to the baby as a bean, and quickly became confused at the laughter it caused.
But despite the confusion, the noise, and everyone nearby asking to touch her stomach, she was her happy self again. All the worries she had about negative reactions to the family expanding were gone and she gratefully accepted the compliments thrown her way. At one point he did hear Lily say something about getting fatter but it was drowned out so much Leni didn't even hear it.
She didn't need to hear that… The books all said mood swings were normal and would only last for a few weeks. THEY LIED. Either that or his wife in particular was one of a rare few outliers. Even without whacky hormones she never had many instances when her mood was unclear or neutral. Now, with those raging hormones, her mood swings had only longer intervals of calm-ish in between them, and were still prominent when they happened. She also still had fatigue which the books—those lying snakes—claimed were also normal. He could see them having to go home earlier than usual because of a full stomach and exhaustion.
A/N
Yeah so here's the rest of last chapter. Trying to update on weekends to make it regular.
Okay so, leave a quick review to tell me how I did and how I can improve! I can get the Louds down but I'm struggling with Bobby's character so if anyone has advice on how to keep him in-character, please let me know. :)