I know that you all may not like this very much, but this is how I would like for the story to go. Anyway, life isn't always perfect.
(And you're probably thinking by now that someone dies. Lol)
Enjoy...
Elaine and Scipio were very determined to be the best parents they could be. Scipio always made sure that Elaine had whatever she craved, let her lay in bed all day if she wanted to, and was bringing her water and medicine when she had particulary horrible morning sickness. Elaine had started doing daily yoga, and always made sure she did everything carefully as to not harm the baby. She started eating healthier, taking walks, and got a good night's sleep whenever she could.
The baby was fine, Dr. Cooke said. And at twelve weeks pregnant, most of Elaine's fear about a miscarriage was over. Elaine's stomach now had a tiny bump. Elaine could spend entire afternoons sitting in front of the mirror looking at it, smiling to herself. Dr. Cooke said that she should steadly be getting bigger, and it wouldn't be long before Elaine's pregnancy was quite obvious.
Life was good for everyone. Prosper was trying, with difficulty, to get Bo into school (it wasn't the easiest thing since he wasn't Bo's legal guardian). Mosca went out on the weekends to go fishing, and would be starting the search for his father soon. Hornet had discovered a huge nearby library, and spent most of her time there. Riccio was still stealing (Elaine had discovered this by finding a purse full of money by his bed one day and by asking him questions about it later), but for the most part, he'd toned down a bit on it. Madalyn visited Elaine almost daily and the two would go to the movies, shop, or just hang out and be silly. Madalyn had met Hornet and, though she did not see much of her, the two were just on the brink of friendship.
Something disrupted the peaceful monotony of the house, though. It happened very rarely, and when it did, it wasn't that bad. Even so, Elaine often found herself looking over at Scipio's sleeping form during the night and questioning herself. She was terribly insecure, and always had been. So, after a while, she started to wonder if there was something wrong with her.
Scipio and Elaine had enough money and support for the baby. Of course they did, but that didn't stop Elaine from chewing on her fingernails and worrying about seemingly everything. She was terrified, even though Scipio reassured her again and again and again, that something would go wrong. It wasn't even about the whole giving birth part. What if? What if, even now, that Scipio left her? (Even though she knew this was ridiculous.) What if something suddenly happened and they were forced to live on the streets, or suddenly ran out of all of their money? What if something bad happened to the others? What if? What if? What if?
Scipio, himself, was scared, but he wouldn't admit it. Whether it was the stubborn part of himself or the fact that he had to be strong for Elaine, he wasn't quite sure. He knew what she was going through: or at least some of it, anyway, as he didn't know how a girl's mind worked or what was going on in there.
They were small little arguments, if you could call them that. It was always about something that didn't even matter. Somehow, though, they kept coming back to Elaine's worries. Usually what happened was just a small disagreement, and then they'd forgive each other and everything would be fine. But, even with these tiny things, something was changing...even if they couldn't see it yet.
They were still very much in love. But suddenly there were more awkward silences, more time spent worrying over the tiniest things, more sitting alone on the patio and looking out at the rain, constantly bothered by something they couldn't name. They both noticed it. But neither one dared say anything about it.
"Hey Scip! Where in the world are you?"
There was the sound of footsteps in the hallway, and Scipio suddenly opened the bedroom door. "Right here. I was just helping Mosca with something." He sat on the bed next to her and turned to her.
"Oh, okay. I just woke up and wondered what time it was."
"It is..." Scipio paused to look at his watch. "11:26."
"Really? Already? Man, I usually don't sleep this late..."
"Well, you are pregnant," he told her.
"Yeah, I know I am. But still...all of a sudden I'm sleeping later and later and it kind of feels weird when you wake up and it's already the afternoon."
"I know what you mean. Do you want any breakfast? Well, actually, we're about to order pizza for lunch, so..."
"I'll just wait for the pizza." Elaine, yawning, went over to a nearby chair and started to comb her hair out. Halfway through, though, she suddenly turned pale and brought a hand up to her mouth. Dropping the comb, she ran into the bathroom.
"Are you alright?" Scipio asked as soon as he heard the sink running.
"Yeah, fine," came the muffled reply. Elaine exited the bathroom and, just as she was done combing her hair, heard the doorbell ring from downstairs. She faintly heard sound coming from down there and knew it was the boys all trying to answer the door at once. "It's probably just Madalyn," she thought aloud. Elaine quickly got dressed and Scipio and herself went down the stairs.
"Hi, Maddi!" she called out as soon as she reached the foot of the stairs and saw Madalyn standing there talking to Riccio. Well, it was more like Riccio was talking to her; Madalyn seemed to be a bit uncomfortable, for some reason. She smiled in relief when she saw Elaine.
"Hey, hun! How have you been doing?" She hugged Elaine and looked down at her stomach. "You're getting bigger every day!"
"I know! I'm going to transform into a blimp before you know it!" responded a laughing Elaine. She lead Madalyn into their backyard and they both sat on the hammock Mosca and Elaine had put up a few days ago. They swung together in the breeze and talked about all sorts of things: the baby, Remy, London, Venice, anything and everything they could think of. Elaine liked it there, free to talk about whatever she wanted.
"So, how are you doing?" said Madalyn finally, after they had exhausted every topic.
"You just saw me yesterday, I don't think I changed overnight."
"Yeah, I know, but I was just wondering."
"Fine." Not. Elaine thought back to the argument Scipio and she had had two nights ago. It was rather pointless, as they all were, involving Scipio's father. "How are you?"
"I'm okay. A little bit bored sometimes, but okay."
"Yeah. I know how that can be." Elaine put a hand on her stomach and looked at the horizon. She was suddenly annoyed at Madalyn: why did she care if she was okay so much? If anything was wrong, she'd tell her; why was she so involved in her business, anyway?
"Elaine..." said Madalyn carefully after a moment; she knew that pregnancy could make Elaine quite grumpy at times. "Is everything okay...between you and Scipio?"
"Yes, everything's fine!" snapped Elaine. "Why do you care so much?"
Madalyn looked slightly hurt. "Well, you are my friend and all, and I just wanted to make sure you're doing okay. Is that a crime all of a sudden?"
"No, it's not, it's just...it's just..." Elaine scooted slightly away from Madalyn and put her face in her hands. "Madalyn?" she said.
"Yes?"
"Can you just go?"
"Go?"
"Yes. Leave. Go."
Madalyn, feeling worse than ever, said, "Elaine, are you--?"
"Go!"
Madalyn got off of the hammock and headed towards the back door. She stopped to take one last look at Elaine, wondering what was going on. This was beyond any pregnancy grumpiness. Madalyn finally turned, opened the door, and made her way through the house. After exiting through the front door, she started up her car and pulled out of the driveway, a heavy feeling in her heart.
Prosper had forgotten that Elaine was outside, and, from the windows, you couldn't see the hammock, so he was surprised when he went out there to search for his shoes that he had left on the back patio the previous day and saw her sitting in it, hands up to her face. She seemed to be trembling.
"Elaine?" he said, approaching her cautiously. Elaine didn't answer, and it took him a moment to realise she was crying. He joined her on the hammock and put an arm around her. "What's wrong?"
It took a few minutes to calm her down enough for her to say, "I just...I hate this!" She pulled her hands away from her face and wiped a few tears away from her cheeks. "At any little thing, I just...I just feel so moody all the time and stuff and down and...I just don't like this at all."
Prosper was quite sympathetic. It was obvious that she was quite upset about something, though, since he didn't know about the arguments she and Scipio had, he didn't know what it was. Maybe it was just pregnancy.
"I'm sorry," he said. "Is there anything I can do?"
"N-no!" Elaine tried to stifle her sobs, to no avail. "It's just that I feel fat and emotional all the time, and I know I get on everyone's nerves, but you're all too nice to say it, and I'm just being a selfish brat...and...and..." her sentence remained unfinished, finally dissolving into hiccups.
"Well..." Prosper wished Hornet were here, suddenly, as she was much better at this emotional stuff than he was. "Well, we don't think you're annoying. You're just pregnant. And you're not fat at all."
"It's not even that." She sighed, letting her hands drop to her sides. "It's just that...I don't know. I can't explain it. I just feel like I've failed everyone, and...I don't know."
There was silence. Prosper didn't know what to say. "Well...um, the pizza's here." He stood up. "Should I bring you some?"
"No. I'll come in in a minute. Thanks, though."
Prosper gave her a hug before he went back to the house. "Elaine? If you ever need anything, I'm right here."
"Yeah. Sure." And she smiled at him, the biggest lie of all.
On the outside, she may have looked happy, but on the inside, she wasn't even close to that.
Later that night, Elaine laid in bed, yawning. She always seemed to be so tired lately. She knew it was just the pregnancy, but even so, this was just crazy!
Scipio, who'd been brushing his teeth, closed the bathroom door behind him and turned off the light in the bedroom. Elaine felt him slide into the bed next to him and wrap his arms around her. His hand was on her stomach and she felt content and at peace with the world.
"Good-night," he said sleepily.
"Mmm. Good-night. I love you."
"Love you too," he said, and fell asleep.
She suddenly wondered if that was really true.