Chapter 19 - You Are Amazing
"How are you finding everything in here?" she asked and got in sight at the door. "Yeah fine - Thanks for letting me stay here" he said and threw his akubra on the bed and quickly tighten up the pieces of clothes he had managed to get all over the place, during the couple of hours he had been there. "Did Nick take off already?" Claire asked, still standing in the doorway. "Yeah, he did" Alex answered and gave her a smile, which she returned. "You know" he said and walked closer to her. "He told me what you said to Harry. Thank you"
Claire snorted and looked to the floor and then back at him with a shy smile on her face. She had no idea what happened back there but she just exploded, and she couldn't stop herself. "Well, he deserved it" Claire said and walked further into the room. "The hell he did" Alex replied making her laugh. She walked by him and stopped at the window to look at the view from the room - She was rarely in there but it was pretty much the same she could see from her room. She looked at the night sky and smiled for herself - She always loved this time of day, especially out here. The stars always shined brighter than anywhere else she had been.
"What are you smiling at?" Claire suddenly asked, noticing Alex was staring at her with a huge smile. "I just realised that you can see something now" he said, enchanted by her. It wasn't much but the little bump was slowly growing bigger. And when she stood with her side to him like that in a fitted top - it was pretty clear and you couldn't miss it. "What?" She asked confused but then realised where he was looking. "Oh, yeah" she said with a smile on her lips and looked down herself. She hadn't really thought it was this clear before he mentioned it.
"It already looks much bigger than last week" he said and walked closer to her. "Can I?" he asked happily, wanting to feel her stomach. Claire nodded without saying anything and just after she felt his hand on her stomach. Even though it was outside her top, she could still feel the warmth travel through the layer. His touch made her body at ease, like all tension instantly left her and she was taken back. Back to what they had, remembering just how wonderful it really was, even though it hadn't been easy and it ended up in one big mess. Alex kept his hand on her stomach, captured by what he was feeling - He still couldn't believe he was going to be a dad. "It's amazing" he finally said and looked back up at her and met her eyes. Claire hadn't taken her eyes off him the entire time, and when their eyes met the same old spark got lit - and it felt like it was burning stronger now than ever, despite the last couple of months. "You are amazing" he said with a low voice, feeling himself getting pulled towards her. Before he could think straight, he leaned in slow - giving her enough time to stop him, if that's what she wanted but she didn't. He moved his hand from her stomach to her waist, carefully tightened the grip around her and pulled her closer before he sealed the embrace with a long soft kiss.
He was just as surprised as Claire was when their kiss ended. She hadn't stopped him, even though he gave her time to do so and she didn't stop the kiss either - in fact, she kissed back. Claire was surprised by the fact her body didn't feel the need to pull away, and her mind didn't yell at her to stop what she was doing. At once it was like she wasn't afraid anymore - All the fear she had carried around all this time had disappeared. The only thing she felt when they kissed was a warm feeling, leaving trails of longing and hope as it traveled through her body.
"You kissed me back" Alex said surprised, not knowing how to react to the whole situation. "Yeah … I'm sorry" Claire answered, feeling like she should apologise. She wasn't sure about this and last time things didn't end well. "I better go" she said and made her way to the door. She looked back at him one more time before leaving the room.
"Claire" Alex suddenly said and followed her out into the hallway. She couldn't go, he didn't wanted her to. "Yeah?" she answered and turned around. Their eyes met again and in that moment they both knew they couldn't fight it any longer, she couldn't fight it - even if she wanted to she had to admit defeat. With a couple of quick steps he made his way over to her, pulled her close and locked lips with her once again. Their kiss was strong, deep and electrifying and yet as soft as anything they had ever experienced before.
"Don't reject me again" Alex said short breathed in between their kisses. His words stirred something inside of her. Hearing him say it made her realise how foolish she had been and lucky that he hadn't moved on, and just given up on her. As an answer she intensified their kiss, knowing she wouldn't miss another chance of happiness with the one person that ever really meant anything to her.
He tightened his grip around her and gently lifted her up, making sure not to break their kiss. She locked her legs around him and folded her hands around his neck, letting herself getting captured by the moment. Without much thought he walked the few steps to her bedroom. He fumbled with the handle before he finally got it open, too busy making sure nothing would ruin that sweet moment. He felt a longing and passion deeper than he had ever felt before - He wasn't sure what had changed, he still loved her the same but perhaps it was the fact that he now knew, what they had managed to create together.
He hadn't done much sleeping that night. Half the night he had used holding her tight and the other half he had been staring at her and done nothing but smile. He felt so incredibly happy and in love - A feeling he had never experienced before.
A slight movement from under the covers made him put his weight on his arm, just enough to check if she still had her eyes closed. "I can feel you looking at me" Claire said with a sleepy voice making Alex smile. She turned around and gave him a big grin as she met his eyes. "Good morning" he said with a low voice and leaned down on her to give her a gentle kiss. She let out a mmh sound as he pulled away, partly to respond to the kiss and partly to let him know his good morning had been heard. "How did you sleep?" He asked and placed his arm on her waist, making sure he didn't break their glance.
"Good, considering I didn't get much sleep - but It was really wonderful" she answered and felt a bit shy, thinking about the night they had shared. They had slept together a lot of times by now but this time it was different - It was almost as it was the first time all over again. "Yeah?" Alex said flirtatiously and pulled her closer. He planted a gentle kiss on her mouth and pulled away again. Claire nodded and made herself comfortable on the pillow.
"You don't think that we, eh" Alex stopped. He actually felt a little uncomfortable asking about this but he felt like it was a legit question, he knew nothing about how a pregnancy worked. "I don't think that we what?" Claire asked and tried not to laugh at his uncomfortableness. "You know. Like .. hurt the baby"
"By having sex?" Claire asked and couldn't help her smile getting bigger. "Well, yeah" she couldn't hold her laugh in any longer - It was such a sweet thought in some way. "No, don't worry - Everything is fine" Claire said and stroke his cheek. "What do I know?" Alex asked as Claire couldn't stop laughing at him - but it didn't take long before he draw out a little laugh himself. Maybe it was a stupid question.
As the laughing wore off Claire sat up in the bed and tucked the blanket around herself even tighter. She looked at the clock on the bedside table - It was time to get up and start thinking of breakfast. She frowned for herself and hoped this morning would be different from the others. It wasn't like she had any major morning sickness but somehow it always came sneaking up on her, whenever she tried to eat breakfast the last week or so. She had tried different things for breakfast, hoping that she could at least get something down but so far there had been no luck.
"Breakfast is on in 10 minutes" Claire said and looked over her shoulder. "So, should I just wait here until the rest are gone?" He asked sarcastically. Claire shook her head and smiled - she deserved that one. "I think" she said and kissed him on his cheek. "You should get dressed and walk downstairs with me"
"Yeah?" He asked almost as he was surprised. She nodded. She was more than ready to take this step - she had wasted too much time on being stupid. "How do we tell them?" Alex asked and moved closer to her, kissing her bare shoulder. His stubbles tickled on her skin and she couldn't help but move under his touch. "I reckon they'll see for themselves" she said and let out a small laugh from the tickling.
"I like the sound of that!" Alex said with a big smile and with a swift move he got her on her back. He rested his upper body in his arms as he studied her face, her smile, every little detail. She send him a gentle smile and a look to match, thinking off how much she loved him and how much she was looking forward to the future. Even though things didn't go as planned, she just knew everything had happened so this exact moment could exist. "Alex" she suddenly said with a soft, yet firm voice. He answered with a mmh and moved her hair away from her shoulder.
"I love you" she said and kept looking him in the eyes. She didn't need to think it through, she did love him - more than anything and now seemed like the perfect opportunity to tell him, let him know that it was for real this time around. She was done running, hiding - she was ready to embrace whatever the cards threw their way.
Her words made his smile even bigger and a set of butterflies set off in his stomach and found its way to his heart. It started to beat faster and a warm feeling slowly spread through his body. "I love you too. So very much" he said and leaned down on her to seal their love with a long deep kiss.
"Good morning" Claire said cheerful as her and Alex entered the kitchen. She made her way to the kettle with Alex behind her. "Coffee?" she asked and gave him a smile as she plugged in the kettle. "Bring it" he answered in the same cheerful voice as Claire. The others looked at each other and then at them. They were oddly happy this morning.
"Here, let me" Alex said and reached for a couple of cups in the cabinet. "Thank you" Claire said, still with the same cheerful voice. Alex smiled at her and without thinking about it he placed his hand on the small of her back. It made her look at him with a smile before she turned her focus to the kettle in front of her again.
"What is that?!" Tess asked as soon as she saw Alex's hand on her back. It made the rest of the girls look at Alex and Claire as well.
Claire took one more look at Alex before she turned around to face the others with a smile on her face. "Alex and I … talked last night" she said and then stopped. They really didn't talk all that much but there was nothing that needed to be said. The action spoke louder than words in this case. "Wait a minute" Tess said before Claire could continue to speak. "Does this mean that the two of you, finally got your act together?" she asked hopeful.
Claire looked to the ground with a shy smile on her lips and then back up at Alex. He smiled back at her, reading her eyes that let him know the hiding was officially over, for good. No more sneaking around, this was it. "Well, she finally realised she couldn't live without me" Alex joked, making Claire shake her head. "Oh yeah, like that was what happened" Claire snorted and let out a laugh. "Mmmh, yeah" Alex replied with a teasing smile.
"I can't believe this. This is so great!" Tess exclaimed as Alex pulled Claire closer and gave her a kiss. "Yeah, it is great" he said with a low voice as their kiss stopped. He only had eyes for Claire and forgot everyone around them as they were drifting off into their own little bubble of being in love and happy.
