Christian

"Christian, honey?" my mother puts her hand on my shoulder causing me to stiffen.

I am sitting here at my desk with my head in my hands trying to calm down after looking at the books for the week. Business has continued to decrease, and it's taking a toll on all of us. I know my father is pissed about the new corporate business down the street. Dad almost got into a fistfight with the new owner a few days ago due to that smug bastard who came over to gloat about the increase in his business. That dickhead was lucky I wasn't here, because I would have beaten that mother fucker's ass.

"Yeah?" I sit up and sigh.

"Your next appointment is here. She said her name is Leila Williams?" she murmurs as she runs her hand down my back.

"That's right, it's Saturday," I nod and get up from my seat.

Mom stands in front of me and grips my chin. "It's going to work out Christian. Stop stressing so much," she murmurs.

"I can't mom. I'm worried about the sales decrease," I try to get out of her grip, but she doesn't let me move.

"I'm not talking about work. I'm talking about you and Ana," she quirks an eyebrow.

"Mom, don't," I grumble while I lean my head back and move past her.

She stares at me with concern, but I ignore her and leave my office that I share with Elliot.

I grit my teeth in irritation when I walk out of the office towards the garage, but then crack a smile when I spot her looking out of place in her converse sneakers and blue overalls that show off her bump.

Leila Williams stands by her black Kia Forte looking around the garage in curiosity while both her hands cradling her stomach.

"Leila," I nod at her.

"Hey! Thanks for looking at my car," she smiles and takes off her sunglasses.

"No problem. Can you tell me what it's doing?" I open her driver's side door so that I can pop open the hood.

"The air conditioning is making noises. It still blows cold air; it's just every time I turn it on, it makes a funky noise," she explains in frustration while I look under her hood.

I nod and chuckle at her choice of words. I tell her that she can go and sit in the reception area while I work on her car. She nods gratefully and walks off where my mother is helping another customer.

I whistle to Eddie, another mechanic, to come and help. While I wait for him to walk over, I get tools ready and lay them out on the floor. I turn my head towards the direction of the office and see Leila and my mother laughing and conversating. I shake my head in amusement when my mother animatedly talks with her while waving her hands in the direction of the garage.

Leila giggles and rubs her stomach while she looks in my direction. She waves, and I wave back. Mom smiles at me before saying something to Leila casing her to nod her head happily. Mom places her hand on her stomach and beams up at her. I can see mom's expression of wonder and awe that clearly shows on her face when she gently pats her belly.

I swallow thickly and turn away. I know my mother was excited that Ana and I were trying to get pregnant. I still remember how excited she was to learn that she might be a grandmother someday soon. When it didn't happen, I could see the compassion in her eyes when I told her we were having trouble conceiving. I know mom had difficulty having another baby after Elliot was born, so I knew she would understand the pain and disappointment I feel as well as my wife.

I shake my head and try to push the thought of having a baby out of my mind. I need to get my shit together. I sigh and nod at Eddie as he looks under the hood.

It takes us about an hour to fix her air conditioning, and when I am finished, I wipe my oily hands on a towel and walk over to the front office, leaving Eddie to finish up. I shake my head when I see Elliot making the moves on Leila. She giggles at something he says causing him to chuckle and take out a cigarette. My eyes widen and hurriedly walked over to where they are both standing.

"Elliot don't light that. She is pregnant you idiot," I snap.

"Oh, my bad. Sorry, habit," his eyes widen as he stares down at her stomach.

"No, it's okay. No worries," she shrugs.

"Your car is ready," I say continuing to wipe my hands on the towel.

"Great," she beams and heads over to the counter where my mother is finishing up her paperwork.

"So pregnant huh?" he nods over at Leila who is now paying after looking down at the invoice.

"Yeah, why?" I frown.

"Nothing. Just didn't think about that. If I did, I wouldn't have tried to hit on her," he shrugs and places the cigarette in his mouth.

I roll my eyes and sigh. "The father is not in the picture."

"Huh. Do you know why?" he crosses his arms over his chest.

"Ana said something about the father didn't want anything to do with her or the baby," I explain.

"What a dick," he huffs and lights his cigarette.

I nod and pat him on the shoulder before walking towards them. "Thank you for your business. Congratulation on your baby." my mother smiles at Leila.

"Thank you. You have a good weekend," Leila smiles and turns her head towards me when I stand beside her.

"I can't thank you enough for helping me out," she bites her lip as she puts her wallet away.

"No problem. I'll take you to your car," I walk towards the garage, and she follows behind me after getting her receipt.

I give her the keys, and she smiles politely at me before getting into her car and turning on the engine. I stand there with my hands in my jean pockets while she rolls her window down and smiles over at me.

"Tell Ana hi for me. Thanks again," she waves before backing out of the garage and driving away.

I stand there and watch her car drive down the street and out of sight. I run my hand through my hair and walk back towards the back office.

Ana is cooking dinner when I return home later in the evening. I take off my boots and dirty shirt. I place them both by the door and head towards the kitchen.

Ana is chopping vegetables and humming to a song that is playing on the little tv that we keep on the kitchen counter. I lean against the doorway and observe her carefully chopping some onions and green peppers. I smile when I see her wearing her long pink off the shoulder sweater, a lacy camisole and short white shorts. Her hair is up in a tight bun on top of her head, and her face is free of makeup.

Ana has always been a great cook, and if she wasn't a teacher, she could definitely be a successful chef like Carrick is who lives next door.

I walk towards her causing her to stop chopping and look up. She smiles when she sees me.

"Hey, you."

"Hello, beautiful," I smile and hop on the counter to give her a kiss.

"How was your day?" I hop back down and walk towards the refrigerator and pull out a beer.

"It was good. Did you fix Leila's car?" she asks before continuing to shop the onions.

"Yeah, it was her air conditioning. Do you want a beer?" I turn my head towards her.

"Yes, please," she smiles over at me before going back to chopping.

I take two bud lights out of the fridge and hand one to her. She puts the knife down and opens her beer before taking the chopped veggies and throwing them into a heated pan. I twist the cap off and chug it down and savor the flavor as it slides down my throat.

Ana leaves the vegetables to cook and walks towards me. She smiles before wrapping her arms around my neck. I put my beer down on the counter and put my hands on her hips. I lean forward and give her a chaste kiss without closing my eyes. She stands on her tippy toes and kisses my nose and cheeks.

We just stand there and stare into each other's eyes in silence for a few minutes. She hums in contentment before resting her forehead against mine. I love these little moments with my wife, just swaying in each other's arms in comfortable silence.

"I love you," she murmurs.

"I love you too. I need to take a shower. I would say join me, but your cooking," I sigh and let her go.

She pouts and kisses me once more before heading back to the stove. "Dinner will be ready in thirty minutes," she looks over her shoulder before taking out the other ingredients.

"Okay baby," I say before heading to our bathroom to take a quick shower.

AN: Happy Sunday!

Just to reiterate because many of you were curious; Christian will NOT cheat on Ana with Leila. She will be a good character and a good friend to Ana in this story. Also, a reviewer asked what is Leila's purpose in this story?

Having Christian cheat on his wife with her or have her go all psycho because she wants him for herself is not the reason.

In the past, I've had my own pregnancy struggles, and during that time, I had friends and family who were pregnant and celebrating the birth of their children. I want this story to be realistic in a way to show that even though Ana and Christian are struggling to have a baby, there are going to be others around them who are going to have the one thing they want more than anything. Leila is Ana's good friend, there will be drama with her character, but not with Ana or Christian. That will be coming in later chapters.

Also, I don't want to drag out their pregnancy struggles, but then again, I want to try to be realistic, so in regard to Ana finally getting pregnant? It's going to be an emotional rollercoaster that unfortunately many couples go through when trying to conceive like C&A will have. I will tell you that they will have an HEA.

Thank you for the reviews of the last chapter. Please keep them coming.

Thank you for reading. See you all on Wednesday.