It was slightly over twenty-four hours after Nick Valentine's spur-of-the-moment proposal to Nora when he took a long draw of his cigarette and pondered the amused warning he'd been given by an elderly and somewhat batty physician earlier that morning;
"You're going to feel like the most useless son-of-a-bitch on the face of the planet… this is perfectly normal… just stay calm and do everything your lady says, no matter how irrational you think it is"
He'd been puzzled, and Nora had been slightly offended, but as he leaned against the front of his car and listened to the pained retching noises coming from his fiance Nick finally understood, at least partially, what her life-long family doctor had been referring to.
Turns out that road-trips and morning sickness were a match made in the fiery pits of Hell.
"This is how I die" came the tired groan. "I'm going to puke up my own intestines and drop dead in a ditch along the I-90… didn't see that one coming"
He was torn between chuckling at her over-dramatic assessment and abandoning his post in favor of rubbing her back, but neither of these things felt acceptable in that moment. She'd flat-out told him not to crowd her while she was vomiting, as for the laughing… well, he wasn't suicidal.
Drained… that's what Nick was. The hours following their engagement had been some of the most hectic in his life…
It was one hour after he'd slipped the ring onto Nora's finger when she'd suddenly gasped and started working herself into a panicked tizzy. After calming her down Nick had been very gingerly treated to the tale of her enraged departure from the District Attorney's Office… and how she'd committed assault in front of several witnesses on her way to the door.
The hour after that was spent darting around the precinct Christmas party, cashing in favors owed to him by a few of his co-workers. By the time he'd finished Nick was guaranteed that if any calls came through demanding Nora's arrest they'd be marked as low priority until he returned from Chicago… the only stipulation being that they leave the very next day.
The hours after that were spent making last-minute preparations for their trip. Nick gassed-up his car and telephoned his mother to let her know of their altered plans … Nora sweet-talked her regular doctor into seeing her first thing in the morning … and the rest of the evening was filled with packing and locking-up their respective apartments. The couple collapsed into each others arms and fell asleep across Nick's bed almost instantly when they'd completed all that they could that night.
Nick crushed the final dregs of his cigarette under his heel and pulled his coat a little tighter around his shoulders against the December chill as he recalled the early morning doctor's appointment he'd attended with Nora upon waking.
He'd always suspected that the process of creating new life was a messy business, but the detective had been woefully unprepared for some of the lesser-known facts associated with pregnancy. Frankly, he'd been horrified.
Particularly over the one about her internal organs changing position… he was tempted to bang his head against the next available wall until that little tid-bit dislodged itself from his brain… Nick had assumed that women's stomachs ballooned outwards in order to avoid gruesome scenarios like that.
Other than run through a laundry list of all the painful, irritating and disgusting things the soon-to-be-parents could expect over the next few months, the seasoned physician had poked and prodded Nora's bare belly. Assuring them that she was right on track for ten weeks along, before gifting them with a fist-full of brochures containing a lot of dry medical jargon and some anatomy book sketches of what their unborn baby would look like week-to-week.
"Okay, I think I'm done… for now" the last two words out of Nora's crumpled form were a parody of a radio-play narrator setting up a cliffhanger, causing Nick to grin lovingly … even in the throes of intense nausea she was still a wise-ass.
As he helped his sweetheart back into the passenger's seat of the car he spied a road-sign detailing what amenities weary travelers could expect to find in the next town over … giving the detective an idea.
Half an hour later Nick Valentine proudly presented Nora with the items he'd purchased from the first gas station they'd come across; several bottles of water, a box of plain saltine crackers… and a bucket, which she proceeded to hug to her chest like a teddy bear, burying her face in it's depths gratefully.
"This is the best thing you've ever given me" her words echoed slightly in the metal vessel. "I love you, you know that, right?"
"I know, doll. I love you too" he replied, running a reassuring hand over her shoulder. "Though I wish I'd known earlier not to drop three months salary on that ring of yours, if this is the reaction I get for buying you a five dollar bucket"
The rest of their road-trip was relatively trouble-free from then on, broken up by only three further pit-stops before arriving in Chicago; The first to empty and wash-out the bucket, the second to grab a late lunch when Nora's vomiting finally petered out … and the third to empty and wash the bucket again when it cruelly resurfaced.
Nora buried her face into the familiar scent permeating the unfamiliar blankets she found herself wrapped in, sleepily chasing the last remnants of the dream she'd been enjoying. As the image of a dark-haired toddler finally gave her the slip Nora registered two things;
Firstly, that she could smell something sweet and delicious… and secondly, that she was absolutely ravenous.
The idea of food wasn't tempting enough to prompt an egress from her warm cocoon, but the realization that she was alone in said cocoon did lead to a tentative opening of her eyes.
"Nick?" she ventured, taking in her surroundings… a tendril of worry creeping up her spine when she couldn't recall how she'd gotten there… not that the room was particularly ominous.
The narrow bed Nora lay in was pressed against the wall to save space, most of which was taken up by rickety looking bookshelves, containing an unorganized mish-mash of paper-backs, hard-backs, comics and a few trinkets that could belong to either a young boy or a male teenager. A series of faded posters decorated the wall above an aged dresser, depicting the Silver Shroud, the Unstoppables and even one of Grognak the Barbarian. There was a school pennant too… and the name displayed across it (St. John Francis High) finally solved the mystery as to where she was; Nick Valentine's childhood bedroom.
Nora still couldn't remember arriving though, she must have fallen asleep in the car… had Nick carried her in here?
She was then awoken completely by the high-pitched creak of the bedroom door opening, revealing a frail woman in her mid-sixties carrying a tray, who smiled at her and spoke in a slightly-faded Italian accent;
"You woke up on your own then? Excellent, poor Nico was starting to fret. I had to send him downstairs to fix my over-locker to stop him hovering… shouldn't be much longer before he realizes it's not broken" she chuckled to herself as she deposited her burden on the end table next to Nora's shoulder.
She wasn't sure what an over-locker was, but she had an inkling as to the identity of this woman… if the jet-black hair streaked liberally with silver and the dark-blue eyes were any indicator;
"You're Nick's mom. Rosaria, right?" God, she hoped that was right… she didn't want to fuck up their first meeting by getting her name wrong.
The skinny matriarch waved a dismissive hand as she seated herself at the end of the bed.
"Just Rosa will do, I don't think anyone's ever called me by my full name" Nora was treated to an indulgent smile before she continued. "You're still looking a little peaky, so you can go back to sleep if you'd like. But only if you polish off that tray first"
The younger woman then inspected what Rosa had brought her; a large bowl of oatmeal topped with blueberries and what smelled like maple syrup, along with a cup of fragrant tea. She wasted no time in pulling the platter across her lap and taking a large bite of the sweet and creamy concoction, making a face indicative of pure bliss as a fat berry exploded on her tongue.
Rosa chuckled softly at her obvious enjoyment;
"I craved sweet foods all the time when I was pregnant with Nico"
Nora had to consciously slam her throat shut in order to avoid choking on her breakfast, making a very undignified noise in the process. Nick told her?! They'd agreed to wait until they could tell her together, damn it! Rosa seemed to read her mind however and shook her head in response.
"He didn't tell me. I just noticed that he'd finally given you the ring" Both women glanced down at the band decorating Nora's left hand. "The last time I spoke with him about it over the telephone he talked about proposing to you when you both arrived here… if you're wearing it now then I figure he must have found a good reason to jump the gun"
Nora could see quite plainly in that moment where Nick had gotten his intelligence from.
Her fiance made his appearance in the doorway a few moments later, looking put-out after being sent on his fool's errand, but perking up once he laid eyes on her.
"You're awake… and eating too" Nick then addressed his mother. "What're you both gabbing about?"
"I was talking to my future daughter-in-law about the beautiful grandchild you've decided to give me" He froze up at her triumphant statement. "You've never been able to hide anything from me, Nicholas Ottavio Valentine. Don't think you can start now just because I'm getting older"
Nora simply sniggered around the spoon in her mouth at the rare and utterly adorable look of defeat gracing the visage of her future husband.
It was their second day visiting Chicago when Nick Valentine pinched the bridge of his nose and thought to himself for the hundredth time about what a spectacularly terrible idea this had been.
He'd been worried that Nora and his mother wouldn't get along, when in fact he should've been concerned about the opposite happening… they were getting along a little too well for his liking.
The two women in his life were currently huddled side-by-side on the sofa and pouring over an old photo album that Nora had discovered gathering dust on a bookshelf. Once she realized it was full of black-and-white baby pictures she'd roped his mother into a running commentary of every embarrassing moment throughout Nick's upbringing… breaking up each story with morsels of maternal wisdom;
"Once you have a few of your own you'll find that all babies fall into one of two categories" Rosa explained. "Babies that can't stop crying, and babies that can't stop vomiting… as you can see, Nico was the second kind"
He peered over the shoulder of his giggling wife-to-be and, sure enough, there was a photograph of himself as an infant… spit-up dribbling generously down his chin as he simultaneously tried to shove a chubby fist into his mouth.
"I thought parents were supposed to worry when their kids can't stop puking" Nick grumbled, wondering if his mom had at least brought him to a doctor after thoroughly documenting each revolting spectacle. Rosa simply barked out a laugh.
"You weren't a sickly child, Nico, you were a curious one. The minute you learned to crawl was the same minute you started shoving anything and everything into your mouth… loose change, dust, insects, cat food, cat hair… the cat herself. It was when you didn't throw it back up again that I worried"
Nick paled, blushed and fought down a sudden overwhelming urge to brush his teeth all at the same time as the telephone rang downstairs from his mother's work-space. She gave Nora an affectionate pat on the knee before rising to answer it. His sweetheart closed the album and gave him a grin that was absolutely wicked.
"Looks like the inquisitive streak that makes you such a great detective showed up early in life… not to mention the penchant for putting things in your mouth that others would find distasteful"
A very inappropriate flash of desire shot through his belly at her tone… she certainly wasn't referring to his nicotine addiction. Speaking of which…
"I'm just, uh, going…" he trailed off, slightly flustered, as he gestured down the hall. It had been snowing since early that morning, so Nick dug-out an ashtray and started cracking the window in his bedroom whenever he needed a cigarette, it was better than getting frostbite. After finally getting the difficult pane open and lighting up he heard his door open, close and then the soft click of it's lock.
Nick stubbed out the cigarette and returned it to it's packet; he'd promised himself that he wouldn't smoke around Nora while she was pregnant.
"So… I heard from your mom earlier that in high school you were on the wrestling team?" she arched a teasing brow at him and spoke in a sultry tone that normally had him begging for her touch… instead he automatically went on the defense;
"Extracurricular sports were compulsory at my school, and I was late on sign-up day" he scowled at the awkward memories that automatically surfaced. "All the good teams were full, so I was stuck grappling and pinning down a group of other boys for a whole year. At least the skills came in handy when I had to start wrestling perps into jail cells"
"I'll bet that's not the only way they could come in handy" she was fiddling with the top button of her cardigan. "Perhaps you could teach me a few moves?"
Damn, she wasn't letting up, was she?
"Nora, we're in my mother's house" he warned.
"In your locked bedroom" she retorted, taking a step towards him. "Where I'm sure you brought your fair share of girls as a teenager"
"Yeah, to study… with the door open, you crazy dame" though truthfully Nick was flattered whenever she assumed he'd been born suave.
"Well now that's just tragic" she breathed sensually, placing a hand on his thundering chest. "Sounds like we'll need to correct that"
Oh God, the seam of his pants was pressing painfully against his sensitive cock now… and she was so damned close… and beautiful… and smelled amazing… and she had a fair point; Nick had never used this room for anything more than solo endeavors as a youth, as much as his teenage self might have wished otherwise… it was tragic now that he thought about it.
He rolled his eyes skyward in surrender before muttering to the world in general; "Fuck it"
Nick Valentine then grabbed Nora by her upper arms, twisting her towards the bed before executing a gentler version of a single leg take-down that had her gasping in delighted surprise as she hit the mattress. He dragged her towards the edge, kneeled on the floor between her parted legs and reached under her skirt to relieve her of her woolen stockings and underwear…
If he couldn't smoke around his pregnant fiance then he was just going to have to find something else to keep his mouth busy, he thought to himself evilly as he kissed a path along a silky thigh.
On their third day in the windy city Nora looked around Rosa's work-space and couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed.
From the way Nick had clammed-up and avoided talking about the home business he'd helped his mother establish she'd assumed that it was probably illegal.
A pawn shop that fenced stolen goods… an unlicensed speak-easy… a brothel… any of those would have been exciting. The truth was anything but.
Rosa Valentine was a seamstress… she made school uniforms, dresses, curtains, re-upholstered old furniture and did repairs and alterations… it was all rather anti-climactic to the young lawyer.
After getting the full story from Rosa it seemed that Nick's reluctance to talk about the subject stemmed solely from a desire to preserve his male ego… before he'd enrolled in the police academy the Valentine's enterprise offered an extra service; decorative embroidery, of which the great detective was apparently a prodigy.
It certainly explained those talented fingers of his.
Nora shifted minutely as she dispelled the dirty thought, earning a sharp pinch from Rosa who had a tape measure pressed against the length of her leg.
"Hold still, or we'll never be done here" she mumbled, pins hanging from one side of her mouth. The younger woman went rigid in response.
Rosa had stubbornly insisted that since it was traditionally the bride's family that paid for the wedding then she'd instead contribute to the affair by making Nora's dress. She'd refused at first… the décor of the house suggested that their respective senses of style would likely clash. But after laying eyes on the old woman's portfolio and current projects she'd enthusiastically conceded defeat on the matter.
It seemed premature to be standing statue-still on top of an upturned crate though, and she voiced her concerns when she was eventually allowed to talk again;
"Rosa, we haven't even thought about a date yet… and regardless of when we have the ceremony, by the time it rolls around all these measurements you're taking will be wrong"
Nora referred, of course, to the fact that over the next six months or so she was going to blow up to the size of a small blimp. There was always the option of waiting until after their child was born, but an oddly old-fashioned part of her brain found the idea unappealing. Plus it wouldn't solve the dress dilemma… if all those jokes about unshiftable baby-weight were true.
"Don't doubt my genius" the seamstress called from a nearby storage closet. "I just need to jot down the basics, like height, arm-length and shoulder-width, and I can make an extra large dress that gets properly fitted in the days before you walk down the aisle"
Rosa returned with several heavy looking rolls of varying white fabric under each arm, leaving Nora wondering how on earth she mustered up the strength to lift them with that stick-figure frame of hers. The old woman gave her a devilish smirk.
"Besides… you're certainly not the first couple I've dealt with who shared DNA one too many times before sharing a last name"
Nora snorted at her future mother-in-law, conceding defeat for the second time that day.
Rosa was showing Nora a selection of delicate laces spread across a large table when Nick Valentine made the mistake of joining them in the work-space.
He got halfway across the room before his mother grabbed a nearby yardstick… he tried to dart out again, but on top of superhuman strength Rosa Valentine also seemed to be blessed with the speed and reflexes of a mountain lion. The frail old woman reached her son in seconds flat, grabbed him by his collar and proceeded to belt him repeatedly across the backside with the length of wood, yelling at him as she dragged him to the door and continued to mete out her harsh punishment;
"Do you want your marriage to fail, you stupid man?! It's bad luck to see the bride's dress before the wedding! Even children know that! Don't you dare ruin this with your aimless wandering!"
The bride in question could only stare, gob-smacked and frozen in place, as they rounded the corner into the hall, their argument and the sound of wood smacking against her fiance echoing back into the room as surely as if they were right in front of her;
"Ow! Jesus Christ, Ma! That's an old wives tale!-"
Smack!
"And that's only if she's wearing it!-"
Smack!
"And it isn't even a dress yet!"
"And you're the expert on these matters how?!" Smack!
"I'm engaged! That's further than you ever got!"
That was definitely not the correct answer, if the volume of the next smack and the proceeding clatter of wood on hallway tiles was any indicator… did Rosa just break that yardstick across her own child?
When the elder Valentine finally freed Nora from the task of picking out fabrics, threads and lace half an hour later she sought out the Valentine she was marrying. He was sprawled across his childhood bed, reading a battered paperback and nursing a cup of coffee, with a casual indifference belying the fact that he'd just had his ass handed to him by a senior citizen. She knocked softly on the door-frame to get his attention before teasing him mercilessly;
"You know, when you find yourself stuck in a hole, the first thing you're supposed to do is stop digging… didn't your mother ever teach you that?" He returned her mischievous smile before answering;
"I guess not… because I'm thirty-three years old and she's still trying to beat the sass out of me"
After Nora managed to stifle her laughter she curled up against Nick on the bed, who turned to the front of his book and started to read aloud from the beginning in that wonderfully unique voice of his.
Their fourth day in Chicago fell on Christmas Eve, finally marking the end of their hold-out against the icy cold of the outside world… Rosa had made it painfully clear to the couple that nothing short of the rapture itself would prevent them from attending an absurdly late-night mass at the local church near Nick Valentine's old high school.
The shivering detective highly doubted that her insistence had anything to do with concern for their immortal souls, however… as his mother dragged a weary Nora between groups of parishioners, introducing her to everyone and proudly showing off her future daughter-in-law.
By the time they were pressed against each other in an attempt to share body heat on an ancient wooden pew, his sweetheart was resting her eyes and pillowed against his shoulder, mumbling tiredly against his scarf;
"What kind of god demands a sermon at eleven o' clock at night? Not a loving one, that's for sure"
"I think the fault lies with the virgin mom" he explained. "If she'd clamped-down and crossed her legs for a bit longer then Jesus would've been born during daylight hours" He received a playful punch to the elbow.
"I hope you don't honestly think that labor works like that" Nora grumbled. "And where's the evidence that our lord and savior was a night-time delivery?"
He looked down at her with amused incredulity… she really hadn't paid attention at all during her own years trapped in the Catholic education system.
"It's in the scripture; the three wise-guys were led to the newly-born demigod by the light of a shining star… and since folks back then hadn't cottoned-on to the idea that our own yellow sun is also a star, that leaves only one logical conclusion…"
"That we have to sit here and freeze our tits off in the dead of night, all because Jesus couldn't find the common courtesy to be born at a more reasonable hour?"
Nick snorted at the deadpan tone he'd grown to love so much and put an arm around her shoulders, trying to rub some warmth into the sleeve of her coat… the extra bit of comfort quickly pushed her over the edge into a peaceful sleep, and he basked in the sound of her rhythmic breathing at his side. He was tempted to doze off himself, but if he let himself sleep too deeply he was bound to start snoring, and his mother, seated to his right, was unlikely to forgive such blasphemy from him… Nora was apparently an exception.
Instead he found himself strangely enchanted by a pre-sermon re-enactment of Christ's birth, performed by the local Sunday school children, in costumes constructed from old bed-sheets against painted cardboard backdrops. Nick wondered at the logic behind letting such tiny kids stay up so late, on such a freezing cold night to boot… but as he took in their bumbling enthusiasm for the task they'd been assigned he could begin to understand.
When Nora awoke it was to the realization that she was being carried through the front door of Rosa Valentine's house again… her face still nuzzled against Nick's scarf. Her embarrassment hitting her with the force of a freight train;
"Oh, God damn it" she moaned into the warm wool. "I swear… I was only trying to rest my eyes"
"A likely excuse" he chuckled, nudging the door closed behind him with his foot. She gave him a wry but loving smile as he set her down on the hall rug.
"You're going to be aces at this fatherhood thing" she observed… her words seemed to cause a light-bulb to go off in the head of her fiance and he palmed her shoulder before guiding her into the living room.
Nick ducked in front of the Christmas tree they'd decorated as a family a few days earlier, retrieving a palm-sized parcel she hadn't noticed while depositing her own contributions under it's branches. He handed it to her while staring intently at his own feet.
"It's after midnight, so I figure it'll be alright if you open it now" he mumbled sheepishly with his hands in his pockets. "It's just something I whipped up… for the kid"
Something he made? Nora's curiosity quadrupled as she tore at the festive wrapping… trying to recall when he could've found the time with all the chores his mother had him doing over the course of their visit.
The young woman had to fight back a small wave of tears that took her by surprise upon unfolding the soft white fabric…
It was a baby's romper… onesie… whatever they were called, she'd know for sure once she had a drawer full of them and an infant to dress. The ensemble was plain white, but the stitching around the neck, arms and legs was bright red… matching the icon embroidered on the breast of the garment perfectly… a tiny heart outline with an arrow piercing it's middle.
A valentine… for their own little Valentine.
"Hey now, I know my skills have gone a bit rusty but I didn't think it was that bad" The tears had escaped her eyelids, causing a modicum of concern to grace the visage of her dashing detective.
Nora reassured Nick with a blinding smile, a crushing hug and a consuming kiss… it was absolutely perfect… and she idly wondered if their baby could feel the warmth of the embrace from it's place nestled between them.
Author's Note: Whew... another long chapter. But I shoved around five days worth of Nick & Nora into it so it was hardly going to be fun-sized, am I right? I'm also starting to suspect that our dear LeWeeaboo is right about me overworking myself, this chapter seemed to take forever because every time I booted up my computer all I wanted to do was fall asleep :( Please forgive me if the next chapter takes a while too.
As an embroiderer myself I can say without a shadow of a doubt that it's the girliest past-time you can possibly imagine, so please don't think any less of Nick for being cagey about it. Seriously... a group session of embroidery/cross-stitch inevitably always turns into a fancy tea party, complete with scones and frilly doilies.
Next Chapter Preview: It's the beginning of a new year and Operation Winter's End finally begins for Nick. Meanwhile Frank and Nora join forces in order to sue the District Attorney's Office, but Frank has an ulterior motive for getting involved besides helping his daughter.
Keep sending me those reviews! They (and coffee) are what keep me going :D