Heyya!
So I found a place up by my school! :D Phew! Now all pretty much I have to look forward to is school starting Dx haha
Thank you for your understanding and putting up with my unloading on you all!
Happy Reading! :)
*Set a few days after "Night terrors"
Summary: Fears and anxieties and frustrations had not been resolved... which left a case of being stuck on the floor responsible for it all coming to a head.
Number of years married: 1
~:~ Double the Frustration ~:~
Seven months full and she should have known this had been a bad idea. Her butt was numb and her legs were falling asleep. She thought she could wait it out until Gaston returned from working in their yard but that wasn't to be.
For minutes, she tried this way and that but it was all no use. She was stuck on the floor.
Why was she on the floor? She couldn't exactly remember anymore. But as the way every mistake started, it seemed like a good idea at the time... until she realized she couldn't get up.
She gave a disgruntled grunt and a shout. "Gaston!"
... he didn't show. She even gave him one minute! One minute! He had the ears of a hunter! What was his excuse going to be when he finally did show up years and years later?
Their child gave an indignant kick as if her shout had woken them from a well-deserved sleep.
She rolled to her side and tried to get up. It didn't work. "Gaston!" She tried again this time with more umph.
This time two minutes! Nothing.
Another attempt and no use. "Gaston!"
At best he was probably ignoring her - they had been sour with one another since that night. She gave a groan and lied on her side in defeat.. Waiting for him didn't seem to be such a bad option anymore. At least the blood was coming back to her bottom.
Pregnant. Fat. Tired. Aggravating to her husband - no wonder he didn't wish to help her. That's all she was to him. After their bitter arguments and hostile nights, she was surprised he still tolerated her. And she him.
Unfortunately, she couldn't stew about it as long as she would have liked for her eyelids grew heavy and she fell asleep... as she was wont to do these days.
The front door clicking shut woke her. She squinted at him as he glanced around for her. "Belle?" he called.
She frowned. She hoped to the heavens he wasn't humoring her. Seriously! She was in plain sight! There was no hiding her enormous size! He could easily see her!
"Gaston," she sighed utterly bored with her unresolved situation.
He turned then registered her lying on the floor. And from the look of it she seemed to be in pain. He rushed to her, cursing himself that he had chosen that day to venture from the house. He knelt and gripped her elbows bringing her to a sitting position. "Are you alright? Baby alright? What's happend?"
"Nothing," she brushed off stiffly. "Just help me up."
But he didn't budge. "Why are you on the floor?"
"Just help me up." She frowned clearly agitated by being left on the floor far longer than she should have. Her fingers curled into his forearms as her answer didn't seem to be enough to convince him.
"Are you sure it isn't the baby?"
"It's going to be you if you don't help me up this minute!" she snapped.
"Alright, alright," he soothed. He pulled her up in one bout of energy, no extra help from her necessary.
She wanted to scream at him for being so strong, for making this all seem so easy! She pushed in frustration his chest.
He didn't take her action as frustration. "What's wrong? Is it the baby? Are you in pain? Belle-"
She scoffed and pushed him aside. "I'm fine. I'm fine."
"Are you sure?" He kept pressing her.
His sudden concern irked her. Why was he so concerned this minute? Was it because it potentially involved his unborn son? She tried with all her might not to think about it. But for pity's sake he couldn't be bothered to come in when she had called.
She had been hurting and exhausted and frustrated and filled with all other negative emotions since he snapped at her a week ago for something that was no secret. Her utter denial that arrogant narcissistic selfish Gaston could ever change and be ever so slightly considered caring and kind. That perhaps she wasn't in a dream.
Or that her own fabricated night terror she drew up of Gaston using her, of him going away into the tavern and not caring of his family... That she and their child were simply a prize. A trophy! A blasted reward for finally getting everything he every bloody wanted! was a complete lie and far from the truth she refused to see.
She finally reached her breaking point.
She roared in both self-absorbed anger and frustration with him.
His hands gripped her wrists and she fought against him. He was saying something... but she couldn't make it out. She kept struggling with his grip and her own hormones and emotions.
"Belle, stop," he tried louder. "Breathe, my love, breathe. Everything's alright."
Since that night, he had been consumed by guilt and regret at the hurt he had caused her. But he had refused to have his anger bottled up any longer.
He had tried to apologize the following evening. He had needed time to think and not lose his temper again. Sage had been very firm with him at not causing her too much stress. He had walked the outskirts of Villeneuve for hours and hours.
He returned home shortly before supper, and he had pulled her aside. He apologized for his selfish actions. That he had no right to snap at her. That he was utterly sorry he caused her pain. And when they had retired to bed, he had told her in the darkness that he loved her. She had given him the same answer she always gave - nothing.
But sorry didn't always make things better. They had been distant and cold and bitter with each other ever since.
And he knew all of this - whatever had happened - had been the last straw.
Her shouts and huffs and puffs turned to cries and sobs. He released her wrists and she thumped his chest. Then she thrust an accusing finger at him. "I called you! I called you for help and all you did was ignore me! I don't get it, Gaston. You hear perfectly well! Why all of a sudden you didn't hear? I could have been dying here!"
He frowned and watched angry tears slip down her cheeks. He had never seen her so exhausted and emotional and conflicted. He would listen and hear her words and her threats and every awful word she threw at him.
The only sure thing he knew was Sage would kill him if she ever found out about this fight.
"- then you come in here looking to be a hero and now I'm- I'm fat and tired all the time and no doubt you find me replussive. I wouldn't blame you-"
He cut off her words. "Never will you be repulsive to me."
"Don't lie to me," she retorted. Her voice was thick with leftover anger. "Don't pretend-"
"Pretend? When have I ever pretended?" he growled. Then he took a breath and tried to keep his temper. "We're never going to get along if we don't try-"
"Then try!"
He let out a harsh sigh. "You must be tired."
"Don't change the subject," she snapped.
"But you are tired, aren't you?" he asked. He had noticed the tightness to the corner of her eyes as she fought to keep them open. "Come."
But she refused. "We're not going to get anything done if I go my way and you yours. It's a been a week and I-"
"Then humor me, Belle," he said without emotion. He took up her hand and nodded toward the bedroom. "Just pretend your tired. We'll talk about this later. When you're not close to collapsing." Because then Sage will really bite my head off.
She glared at him as he led her to the bed, as he shucked his shirt off, and as he lied beside her. She tensed when she realized she had never really been this close to him - when they weren't intimate. She refused to relax.
He sensed her feelings. "Go to sleep."
"Why-"
"Just pretend I make you happy."
She looked at him but his eyes remained shut. She studied his face. He looked troubled still. She turned on her side and felt helpless as he reacted and pulled her back flush against his chest.
She focused on the weight of his arm around her and his warmth seeping into her back. She tried to forget their ongoing fight. She tried to ignore the anxiety that grabbed at her chest. She tried to feel loved. She tried to understand his feelings for her. She tried to pretend he made her happy.
Her eyelids grew heavy and soon exhaustion took her.
When she opened her eyes next, her back was cold and he was gone.
This chapter makes sense to me and then it doesn't... but that's just me. How was it for you all? :)
But they did eventually talk it out... want that to be a chapter?
