Hello again, and to all my reviewers, ily :)
R&R if you can be bothered...
TTFN (ta ta for now [Tigger!])
It's Leah's baby shower, and only one hour into it she's already longing for it to be over.
Already 5 months along and just about ready to burst (according to Emmett who got an earful from his moody wife), Leah is constantly emotional.
Esme and Bella join Leah for her shower, as well as her cousin Emily, Alice and Rosalie, much to her delight.
"Surprise!" Rosalie presents Leah with a white beanie. "For her."
"Aw, thanks Rose…" Leah says, fingers ghosting over the soft material.
Alice comes up to them, arms laden with boxes wrapped in yellow wrapping paper. "Alright! More presents to get through from our fellow covens."
"How many coven friend people do you have?" Leah asks, eyeing the many boxes. "And why yellow?"
"Too many questions Leah." Alice complains, setting more boxes next to the previous ones and then reappearing with more. "In answer to your first question, about 10 or 12. In answer to your second question, your baby girl is a tomboy."
"A tomboy?" Leah raises a brow.
"Yep."
"Shame." Rosalie says. "No dresses or skirts then."
"Says who?" Alice says indignantly. "She'll be wearing skirts and dresses whether she likes them or not. I might just have to 'tomboy' them up though to get her to accept them."
"And how, pray tell," Bella joins in. "Do you plan to execute that?"
"Um…with a combination of leggings and boyish shirts." Alice says.
Leah looks at the smaller vampire sceptically. "Uh huh."
"Excuse me, have we met?" Alice says, in mock offense. "I'm Alice Cullen. I design outfits like this in my sleep."
Leah laughs. "That's true."
"Enough talk!" Alice grumbles with a wave of her hand. "Let's get these pressies opened."
The wrapping comes off, revealing a mini-skateboard collection from one of the Denali girls, too many clothes – but mostly boy brands, Leah notes with half annoyance, half-relief – and skateboard shoes from Alice (who adds that the clothes are only the first wardrobe), a charm bracelet and a beautiful homemade photo album from Esme.
"Thanks girls." Leah says happily and nearly on the verge of crying. Bloody hormones. "Thanks so much."
"No problem hon." Alice says, then jumps to her feet and is gone in the blink of an eye.
She returns with a collection of fabric paint, calling, "Fun begins girls!"
Leah eyes her warily. "I thought that was the fun. What are we supposed to be doing now?"
"Oh please Leah." Alice says impatiently before her face breaks into an enthusiastic grin. "Design a baby shirt of course."
Three weeks later
"Morning sunshine!"
A sleepy Leah pushes her eager husband away. "Go away Em."
"Never." He gives her a teasing kiss. "Come on! The sun is shining, the birds are singing and-"
"Shut up Em!" She roars, then disappears under the covers.
"Really Leah?" He chides. "You are really going to waste a beautiful day like this on sleeping? You must be going mad."
"I'll second that." Her muffled reply comes from the eiderdown.
"Yeah yeah, yada yada." He tickles her playfully.
"No…" She says helplessly, fighting him in a tangle of bed sheets and pillows.
"Tickle monster! C-" He doesn't finish as Leah suddenly cries out in pain.
"Are you okay?" He asks without thinking.
Leah snaps at him in response, hand clutching her swollen belly. "Do I look like I'm fucking okay?"
"Well…" He leaves the sentence unfinished and looks at his wife anxiously, unsure of what to do.
"Carlisle." She pants out after doubling over again.
Emmett doesn't say a word as he picks her up and races to the Cullen household.
"Carlisle!" Emmett yells when he arrives in a rather unorderly fashion, kicking down the door.
He gives it no thought though as Carlisle appears from nowhere, barking orders to Alice and Rosalie in strict medical-procedure style.
"Here you go Leah." He says soothingly. "It's okay…"
Leah lets Emmett's chilled hands carry her and set her down, somewhere, sometime. She's not aware of her surroundings, instead being lulled into a sense of…
Hypnotic limbo, Leah decides as she drifts into it.
Three hours later
"Alright Leah, how are you feeling?" Carlisle's voice asks her softly.
"Like shit." She groans, opening her eyes to see Carlisle laugh quietly.
"That's too bad, because your baby's ready to come out."
"Seriously?" Leah says to no one in particular, then to the baby inside her. "You couldn't wait one more week?"
"It's now or never Leah." Carlisle says, gently hooking her feet up into the stirrups. "Now, when you feel like it, push."
Emmett offers his hand to her, which she takes immediately.
"Don't leave me Em." She pleads weakly.
"Never." He kisses her chastely.
The pain is overwhelming. It feels like fire ripping through her entire body, and it's not pleasant.
Strings of obscenities fly from her mouth on the first and second pushes, and by the third she's exhausted.
"No more." She gasps pleadingly, sweaty and out of breath.
"Just one more Leah." Carlisle says. "I can see the head. One more. You can do it."
Leah ignores the cheesy encouragement, too tired.
"Fucking hell." She mutters breathlessly, and then in one final effort delivers the last push.
Minutes later after the first lusty wail of their baby is heard, Leah is presented with a gorgeous, baby girl.
"Oh." She says dumbly, hesitantly touching the pink face. "She's…she's beautiful."
She laughs giddily. "She's beautiful."
"That she is." Carlisle smiles.
"Wow." Emmett breathes, before kissing his wife. "I love you."
"Ha." She laughs then presses her lips to the downy hair.
"What shall we call her?"
"Imagine." Leah says automatically. "Imagine a life without this."
"So…Imagine then?" Emmett says stupidly, for about the third time this morning. Leah has lost count, and anyway, she doesn't have the energy (let alone any) to reprimand him.
Instead she manages a weak, "Yep."