Chapter 13

Surprise

Emmy's P.O.V

I had Alex on a blanket; he squirmed and wiggled happily as he cooed at me. I couldn't believe he was already two months old; time flew a lot faster now that I was a mom. I got out my picture phone hoping to get a picture of his cute smile. He would give me a bit of a smirk, very similar to his father's, and then make some other face before I could get a picture.

"Come on Alex, give mama a smile." I pleaded with my 2 month old son in a cheerful voice. Alex moved around, looking at everything he possibly could. His arms waved a bit as he kicked happily. I plastered a huge smile on my face hoping he would mimic my action. He gave me a bit of a sly smile as he let out a happy little sound. I laughed a bit, holding my phone up hoping to get his smile.

Alex suddenly got very excited, moving his arms and kicking as fast as he possibly could. I had no idea what made him so happy, but I took advantage of the sudden burst of energetic cheerfulness and took a few pictures. After his little happy spree, I looked through the pictures. Most of them were fuzzy but I got one super cute clear one.

Jonathan's P.O.V

I was on my way from school to work when I heard the chime of my phone. I took my phone out of my pocket to see it was a text from Emmy.

It was captioned "Hi Dad" and when I opened it there was a picture of Alex smiling. I smiled a bit before closing the picture and continuing my walk to work.

The smell of burnt turkey filled the air as I walked through the door with our already cooked replacement turkey dinner. Emmy was making a big deal of Alex's first Thanksgiving. Making a big deal out of it isn't a bad thing, but seriously the food didn't have to be perfect, there were only going to be three of us actually eating, and it's not like Alex was going to remember the day. Ugh, Emmy was driving me nuts!

For our normal every day routine she was usually level headed, but tonight she was super stressed and I couldn't figure out why. Her cooking was normally fine; she hadn't burnt anything, I was aware of, since I've known her. So what the hell was going on tonight that was making her so spacy?

"Here's the turkey; anything else?" I asked as Emmy some kind of dish out the oven.

"Thanks so much. I'm so sorry about the last one. I'm such a spaz tonight." Emmy stuttered nervously.

"What's going on?" I asked her calmly hoping to get inside her mind a bit. This just wasn't normal for her.

"I thought it was just going to be us and Karl for Thanksgiving dinner. Well, he called and told me he was bringing a friend tonight. Normally I'm fine with that sort of thing but he waited til the last minute to tell me. So now I feel completely unprepared and I'm kind of pissed that he told me and didn't ask me." Emmy confessed to me.

"Why didn't you just tell your brother to have Thanksgiving with his friend and leave us alone?" I questioned.

"Because his friend is a girl he wants me to meet."

"Great, that type of meeting. Why did he insist on today? Why not sometime next week when it's not a holiday?"

"I'm not sure. He just wanted her to come. Besides now we know why he hasn't been hanging out here as much. You have to admit that's been nice." Emmy stated. That was true, without that oaf here I was able to study in peace…well as much peace as you get with a baby.

Emmy finished getting things ready for our Thanksgiving dinner when we heard a knock on the door.

"Well they're here." Emmy commented as she walked towards the door.

"Hi." Emmy cheerfully welcomed our guests. I didn't understand her, I mean why she doesn't just tell her brother how she really feels and kick them out. They weren't worth the extra stress.

"Emmy I'd like you to meet Barb." Karl introduced his blue eyed blonde date to his sister. Emmy shook Barb's hand, introduced me and informed everyone that dinner was ready. Alex was asleep in his room so I gently picked him up and brought him into the dining room. I set him down in his swing before joining the group. I much preferred it when it was just Emmy, Alex and I.

I mostly ignored the conversation going on as Emmy asked Barb questions trying to get to know her. After I finished my food, I put the plate in the sink, picked up Alex, his swing and walked back into my office. I wasn't interested in the nonsense going on. I had other things that needed my attention more than Karl's love life.

I had been studying a while when Emmy came in with a slice of pumpkin pie. She put it on the desk next to my laptop, gently wrapped her arms around my neck and giving the side of my head a kiss.

"Didn't enjoy the company?' she questioned.

"Not really. I have other things to do that deserve my time and attention more." I replied. She nodded.

"I don't blame you. Karl sure is smitten though and I'm not going to lie, I think Barb is pregnant." Emmy theorized.

"Emmy I'm not interested in gossiping. I need to get back to this." I told her. I didn't mind talking to her, but if this was what she was going to talk about, I simply wasn't interested. Emmy nodded.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to bug you. I'll come back for your plate in a bit." Emmy apologized as she started to walk away. I went to say something when we heard more gun shots go off. I pulled Emmy to the ground and quickly got in front of Alex. The gun shots lasted a few minutes before they died down.

"We have to be out of here by next weekend, Emmy. This is just too dangerous." I told her as I stood up and helped her to her feet. I wasn't going to lose my son or wife to the gangs and drug dealers that had decided to make our once safe apartment a danger zone.

"Where would we go?" she asked.

"We'll find a place, even if we have to downsize. We just have to get away from here before one of us gets killed."

"I agree."

"Hey are you guys ok?" Karl said coming into the room. Emmy looked from me to her brother. She nodded.

"How about you and Barb?" she asked.

"We're fine."

…..

Emmy's P.O.V

I was getting dishes rinsed off and putting them in the dishwasher when Karl approached me.

"Where's Barb?" I asked him as he leaned against the cabinet.

"In the bathroom." He replied. I nodded. There was just something that told me Barb was pregnant and that was just another piece to the puzzle.

"Do you like Barb?" he asked.

"She seems nice." I guessed, not really knowing that much about her.

"Do you think mom and dad will like her?"

"Probably; why? Are you taking Barb out to Iowa?"

"Not exactly. We found out about a week ago that Barb is pregnant. The baby is mine. We want to get married next month just after Christmas. I want to invite the family out here." Karl confessed to me. I was surprised yet not surprised.

"When is she due?"

"End of Julyish."

I felt like he was living my life since last year I was the one that was pregnant. He seemed happy though and I honestly wasn't one to talk. I mean, last year I slept with a guy I barely knew, got pregnant and married.

"What was it like for you and Jonathan last year?" He asked me, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"Well he got me pregnant and we got married…that was pretty much it."

"You didn't love him?"

"I barely knew him. We worked together on a project for school. I thought we were going to have a one night stand. A few weeks later I found out I was pregnant, a few days later we got married down at the courthouse."

"You married a guy you barely knew?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Emmy!"

"What?"

"You married a guy you barely knew? He could have been a sadist or a murderer for all you knew." Karl stated clearly not happy at my choice.

"Well, I don't think Jonathan is too big of a sadist and no I didn't know him that well. I went into the marriage knowing we didn't love each other. However, things have changed and I do care about him a lot." I told my brother.

"Do you love him now?"

"Yes, I do love him."

…..

After another hour Karl and Barb left, they seemed like a cute couple but I really didn't know enough about Barb to have an opinion on her. They were happy and it would be kind of fun for Alex to I finally finished loading all the dishes into the dishwasher when Jonathan brought the plate he pie had rested upon in.

"How's studying going?" I asked.

"It's going, there's still a lot to do." He answered, putting the plate in the sink.

"I was right, Barb is pregnant. They want to get married next month." I informed him.

"I still don't care." He bluntly responded. I nodded; already knowing that, this is where having a friend who was a girl would come in handy. I could gossip and I would have someone other than my husband or brother to talk too.

"They're going to invite my parents and the family out here for the wedding. I'm really not looking forward to having my parents out here." I went on even though he wasn't interested in what I had to say.

"Don't worry about them Emmy. If you want to avoid the drama, skip out on the wedding." He suggested.

"I may have to. Their wedding should be a joyous event; I don't want my dad making a scene because I'm there."

"Don't worry about it, Emmy. It's still a month away and I'm sure your brother will understand if you're not there." He pointed out. I knew he was right; I honestly just didn't want to see them. Things weren't going to get better and I didn't see any point of turning a wedding into a drama fest.

I looked over Jonathan's shoulder to our sleeping baby boy in Jonathan's office. I smiled a bit as a thought hit me.

"I just realized something." I thought out loud.

"What's that?" Jonathan inquired.

"A year ago, not to the day, but last Thanksgiving, around this time we were creating Alex." I realized. Jonathan had a look of surprise for a minute as he thought about what I had said. He nodded and looked back to the sleeping little figure. He turned back to me after a few seconds. He put a hand to my cheek and gave me a soft kiss.

"Do you regret it?" I questioned him after the kiss ended.

"No, I don't regret him…and I don't regret you." Jonathan said to my surprise. He gave me another kiss before returning to his studies.

The next day, I was nursing Alex when Jonathan came into the nursery after returning home from work.

"We better get our things packed. I found an apartment closer to my school, we're moving in a couple of days." Jonathan informed me as he leaned against the wall.

"Wow you weren't kidding when you said we were going to be out of here in the next week." I stated surprised as this news.

"You shouldn't be surprised; I told you what I was doing." He said.

A few days later we were moved into our new three bedroom apartment. It was small, but still nice and clean. The neighborhood seemed nice; there were a lot of families that lived there so I hoped I could become friends with some of the other mothers. It would be nice to have a friend and if I could find someone with a child close to Alex's age maybe we could do play dates for the kids or something like that when they got older.

Boxes filled the apartment top to bottom. Jonathan pretty much set up his new office almost identical to the one he had in our last apartment, he left the rest of the apartment for me to unpack and set up.

I had Alex strapped to me in my moby wrap as I went around the apartment unpacking and putting things in their place. Alex was squirming around happily as he cooed at everything he saw. He was such a happy baby, I loved it!

Once everything was set up and where I wanted them. I decided it was time to get our Christmas tree up. It was a miniature tree, so I just had it on a small table in the front room. Alex was "helping" me put a decoration on the tree when the door opened and closed.

Jonathan was coming home for lunch now since we lived so much closer to campus. It was nice to see him a little bit more. Though he never said it, I think he liked being home with Alex a bit more. I turned to look at Jonathan as he set his book bag down on the couch.

"Hey! How were your classes this morning?" I asked as he walked over to us.

"Finals are next week, so its busier than usual." He commented. He looked so tired. I don't think he had slept in the past week.

"Just this week and next, then I can relax a bit." He reminded himself.

"You know I really don't mind the idea of getting a job." I suggested.

"We've already been through this; I don't like the idea of a stranger raising my son. With you I know he's safe and being taken care of. Besides at this point childcare will cost more than the money you'd make. For now, let's just focus on getting the semester over with. Maybe when he's older we can talk about you getting a job."

"What if I go out and get one anyway?"

"Then it better be a job that you can Alex to or make sure your brother can watch him, because I'm not leaving him with some random baby sitter. Remember this is Gotham." He reminded me. Damn I hated how he used that against me, but it was true. Gotham was a dangerous place and you couldn't really trust anyone. I hated the feeling of defeat Jonathan always gave me when this subject came up.

"I'm sorry. I just want to help." I told as I walked out of the room to make his lunch. After a few minutes in the kitchen, Jonathan came in.

"Look, I know you want to help. Right now you are helping me by taking care of Alex. I promise when Alex is in school. I will support you in whatever you want to do but for now I want you here with Alex. I trust you with Alex, I know you won't hurt him and I know that you take good care of him. Understand I don't want to enable you…I want what's best for our son. I think you being at home with our son is what's best…for now at least." Jonathan tried to explain.

"I know you want what's best for him. I do too. You're right, Gotham is a dangerous place. We can't trust anyone with him." I quietly said. After I finished making Jonathan's lunch I went back to decorating the Christmas tree.

"You're a good mother, you know." Jonathan said coming back into the room.

"What do you mean?" I inquired.

"Alex is a happy baby, Emmy. You're the reason." Jonathan explained.

"I don't know…he has a pretty good father." I stated. Jonathan gave me one of his smirks before giving me a soft kiss.

….

I couldn't wait for Jonathan to get home from work. Today was our 1st wedding anniversary! I couldn't believe how my feelings for him had changed in the last year. We had made it longer than I thought we had, though looking back at how things were and seeing how things were now, I didn't regret anything.

Alex was happily playing in his little bouncer seat as I started to make dinner. I went to pull out the roast I had bought when I heard a knock on the door. Thinking it was just one of our neighbors I walked over to the door and opened it.

"Mom?" I exclaimed, looking at the woman in front of me; next to her was Grandma Marge.

"What are you two doing here?"

…..

Author's Note: Here's chapter 13. I hope you all enjoyed it. Thanks again to all those who are following/favoring my story. I will try to update again soon. Please feel free to leave a review if you have a moment. Constructive criticism is always welcome. Thanks!-Lin