Chapter 20 - Womanly pass out
"Are you alright?" Alex asked worried. He woke that morning by Claire rushing out of bed, running towards the bathroom. "No" she answered poorly with her arm resting across the toilet. She hadn't been affected much by morning sickness the first 4 months of the pregnancy, only at breakfast but she could just skip that meal and everything was fine but now it hit her with full force. She was almost 5 months pregnant and the last two weeks she'd been feeling so sick that she was starting to think it would last throughout the rest of the pregnancy. Alex smiled comforting to her back and walked into the bathroom. He found one of the washcloths under the sink and soaked it in cold water. "Let me see" he said caring and got on his knees next to her. He carefully dabbed the cloth around her face, hoping the coldness could put a damper on her feeling sick.
"Are you feeling a little better?" he asked and moved her hair away from her face. "No. But it's really sweet still" Claire said with the same poor voice and gave him a thankful smile. He smiled back at her, wishing he could take some of her uncomfortableness - He hated seeing her like this and it was after all partly his fault. "I wish there was something I could … do" he said just as another round of sickness hit her. He sighed, feeling so helpless. He couldn't really do anything but tell her it would get better.
"Alex?" Claire asked and then tried to keep herself from throwing up again. "Can you take the morning training? I'm not sure I'm up to it" She continued as she established the coast was clear to talk for the moment. "Of course, don't worry about it aigh?"
The last month had passed by quickly and the little bump, you could barely see had now grown into something much bigger. It wasn't massively huge yet but there was no denying she was pregnant - Claire was even starting to feel small kicks here and there, still too small for any of the others to really feel them but Alex was looking forward to when that day came. "You need me to do anything else?" he asked and smiled as stroke her hair. "Well, you could help me up" Claire said and slowly moved away from the toilet. Alex quickly got on his feet and took her hand supporting her on her way up from the floor. Claire turned around and took the few steps to the sink - feeling the need to get the awful taste out of her mouth. But just as she reached for the toothbrush everything started spinning and then everything went black. She could still hear Alex's worried voice calling her name in the distance but even that disappeared and the last she remembered was him calling for Tess.
"Everything seems fine" Jim said as he took off the monitor he had used to check her blood pressure. "I reckon you've been driving yourself a bit too hard for way too long" he continued and put the monitor back in it's bag. "But I'm fine right?" Claire asked, making sure nothing major was wrong with her. Jim sighed, having known Claire since she was a little girl he was well aware of her stubbornness and lacking skill of slowing down.
"For now yeah. But it's not just you anymore" He said and looked at her bump. "You need to slow down and take a couple of days off"
Claire laughed at him sarcastically. Like that was ever going to happen. "I can't. The Gungellan Show is only 4 days away. We have a horse in each race" Claire said, trying her best to make him understand. He sighed and looked back at Alex. "Talk some sense into her, will ya?" he said with a half smile and got up from the bed. Alex shook his head and returned the smile - They all knew talking some sense into Claire would take a great deal of effort.
"Thank you for coming Jim" Meg said thankfully and made room to show him out. "Any time. Call me if there is any changes and Claire .." he said and turned around. "I'm serious. You need to look after yourself, okay?" he continued and left the room with a nod on his head. Claire rolled her eyes and sighed. Pregnant or not, they needed their horses to place in top 3 if they wanted to show people what they could do.
"That's it" Tess said and walked to Claire's side, starting to tuck the blanket properly around her. "From now on I'm gonna be more in charge and you need to take some time off and not worry about a single thing." Claire's eyes got big. Not worry? How would that be an option if Tess was running the place. "No, don't say anything Claire" Tess said as she saw how Claire was about to speak. "You stay right here and I'm gonna find you something to eat" she continued and walked out of the room. Alex started to laugh seeing Claire's displeased look on her face. She really did hate this, didn't she?
"It's not funny Alex" Claire said and crossed her arms and gave him a huffy look. He shook his head with a smile and placed himself on the edge of the bed. "She don't know what she is doing" she said and flung her arm the way Tess had disappeared.
"Hey, It'll be fine. She knows more than you think" he said and grabbed her hand. "And she is right. So is Jim. You have been working yourself too hard and that has to stop"
"But Alex" Claire said but he interrupted her. "No. No but. I'll finish up the training and get the horses ready for Gungellan. Don't worry. You need to think about you and the little fella in here" he said and stroke the bump gently.
"Uuugh, okay" Claire said and gave up, thinking about the life she was caring. He was right - maybe she had been pushing herself too hard. He smiled at her, making it impossible to stay annoyed with him. "You feeling okay?" he asked and kept his stare. Claire nodded and reassured him with a smile.
"Good. It was quite a faint back there" he said feeling worried. She had scared him to bits out in the bathroom and he had panicked the hell out of himself when she suddenly start to fall to the floor. He kept thinking how lucky it was that he had been there to prevent her from falling head first into the tiles.
"I didn't faint" Claire said almost mortified.
"You did" Alex said with a small laugh. Claire shook her head. She passed out, there was a difference. "I passed out"
"Fainted" he continued knowing she took a hit to her pride at the moment.
"Passed out"
"Fainted"
"A very womanly pass out then" he finally said and closed the distance between them and planted a gentle kiss on her lips. He was over that discussion, if she liked it or not - she fainted and there wasn't anything wrong with that. That just showed she wasn't as invulnerable as she thought herself.
"I better get out there. Try and relax, will you?" he said and gave her a frowny look before he got on his feet. "It's not like I have something better to here anyway" Claire said huffy and rolled her eyes. He laughed at her as he made his way to the door. "Alex" she said making him turn. "Remember that Casino uses the blue socks and not the white and that he is responding more to the leg work and .."
"Claire, I got it - Stop worrying" he said and cut her off before he walked out of the door. "Just make sure to use your legs more and please check up on Tess" Claire called to his back, feeling so helplessly lying around in bed when there was stuff that needed to be done.
After a couple of hours in bed and not being able to find any comfort cause her mind kept thinking about all the work out there, and what her and Alex still needed to get done she surrendered to the need of getting out there and check up on things.
She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and with a little bit of struggle she got up. She kept sitting on the bed for a moment, gathering a bit more strength before she got on her feet. Being pregnant wasn't all that easy, especially not when her first trimester was without any troubles - she barely even knew she was pregnant. Second trimester was already starting to feel like a hazard and she was only half way into it, dreading how the last part of her pregnancy would take form. But as much as she was dreading it she was also looking forward to it, mostly to be holding their baby in her arms - and when time comes, it would all have been worth it.
She smiled as she looked down at her stomach and gently ran her hand over it before she got up. She grabbed one of the shirts she knew she could still fit and a pair of old trackers. She hadn't been able to fit into her normal jeans for a good month and was starting to think, that the clothes shopping Tess had proposed would be a necessity sooner than later.
"Oi, what are you doing up?" Alex asked from the back of Casino as she came in sight around the stables. "Checking that you are doing a good enough job" Claire said corky and placed herself against the fence next to Tess.
"I thought you would be out playing the big boss" Claire said with a smile and gave her sister a teasing look. "Oh yeah, I am - Just taking a break" Tess said quickly. If she had to be honest she hadn't really done much around the place. She had been eager to get people to work, but all three of the girls had already done most of the things before she could even say anything - It was like they were 10 steps ahead of her.
"I never take any breaks" Claire said and frowned at her before she moved her focus to Alex. "Yeah, and look where that have gotten you" Tess said with a smart remark, making Claire turn her focus to her sister again. Claire shook her head with a small smile, knowing she couldn't get a come back on that one. When did Tess start to be this corky?
"Alex, the legs" Claire said and studied Alex riding carefully. "Yeah yeah, I'm on it" he said and stirred Casino around the barrel one more time.
"I was thinking" Claire said without taking her eyes off Alex. "You know how you talked about new clothes?"
"Yeah?" Tess said eagerly and a big grin started to appear on her face. Was she going shopping with Claire - The Claire who couldn't care less about clothes and makeup?
"Well … I'm starting to think I need some new clothes" Claire said and looked at her sister and then down herself. "Maybe just a bit" Tess said and started to laugh. "But I won't go into a million stores. In and out, okay?" Claire stated knowing how Tess was like with clothes. "In and out, I hear you" Tess answered and put her arm around Claire and hugged from the side. "We are going shopping for the first time!" she said happy.
"Clothes picking. We are going to pick out clothes, that I can wear and work in" Claire corrected her. This wasn't going to turn into something big and massive. In and out, just as she expressed.
"Alex, you gotta watch his steps - He is pulling you way too much!" Claire stated as Alex came riding past them. He sighed for himself. He was starting to get annoyed with her corrections. He was a good trainer, maybe not as good as her - he'd be the first to admit that but he wasn't bad, he did know what he was doing.
He dismounted Casino and made sure his harness wasn't in the way for him to step on as he walked around freely. "Claire" Alex said and jumped the fence. "I love you, I really do but right now you are driving me crazy" he continued as he got on the other side. He put his arm around her and pulled her away from the fence and started to walk away from the horse ring. "Please move that sweet bum of yours back inside and let me work my magic out here, aigh?" he said and gave her a sweet smile. "But" Claire said and wanted to turn around again. She hadn't seen all she needed to see.
"No but" Alex said and kept her from going back to the ring. "It's so boring inside, you have no idea!" Claire said and put on the best huffy face she could. Alex started to laugh a little and then he tightened his grip around her before he stopped walking. "I think Meg put a plate of apricot chicken in the fridge last night" he said, knowing Claire was craving it day in and day out. It was all she wanted to eat and almost could eat without feeling sick. "Hmm" escaped Claire as she was going over what he just said. The apricot chicken was pulling in her heavily. "That's what I thought" Alex said and smiled, as he send her off with a gentle push and a clap in her bum.
"It really bugs her, doesn't it?" Tess asked as he came back to the ring. "Yeah, it does" Alex said, feeling for her. He knew it wasn't her lying around all day and not doing anything but it was only for a few days - She could get back out there as long as she took it slow.
"Hey, when are you moving in?" Tess asked cheerful as he started to climb the fence. He looked at her from the other side and frowned at her question. "I'm already in, aren't I?" he asked confused. He had been living at Drovers for the last 8 weeks, ever since the day Claire told him they had a guest room - He never really got to use the guest room but that was a different story. "Yeah but I mean officially. You are still living in your bags"
"I guess we really haven't talked about that" Alex said and chewed on her question again. "You should" was all Tess said before she left him with a smile on her face. He kept still for a moment, watching her walk away while he thought it over. Maybe a talk about it wouldn't hurt - just to get it out there. He did see himself as living on Drovers but as Tess pointed out, he was still living in his bags. Yeah, he would need to talk with Claire about that, he thought and went back to the training of Casino.
