Author's Note: Dark Yugi: I hope you love this chapter and the new ones in "Dream"!
"Miracles happen everyday, change your perception of what a miracle is and you'll see them all around you." -Jon Bon Jovi
Time had seemingly become a divider in the Pegasus household. As slowly as it was creeping by for Cecelia, that's how fast is was passing by for Pegasus. It was passing so quickly in fact that he was beginning to feel like he was in a pressure cooker. The pressure to finish the nursery got more intense by the day, and his busy work schedule wasn't exactly making things any easier. The good part, however, was that now he knew the gender of the baby and could design the nursery accordingly. And he had planned one spectacular display, that was for sure. He couldn't wait to see the look on his wife's face when it was finished!
Cecelia, for her part, felt the exact opposite of her husband. She wanted to do more, but was on strict orders from her doctors to stay in bed rest. The only thing she could really do was shop for clothes and furniture online. Not that that wasn't fun (she enjoyed shopping as much as the next woman) but it didn't take the place of being up and around. The days seemingly passed by in an endless string of sameness and she felt like she was going to go crazy from the boredom, when out of the blue, something seemingly normal blew her out of the water.
It was on a sunny Wednesday afternoon. Cecelia had been reading in the study while her husband made business phone calls and sending emails all day long. It seemed to be a particularly busy day for him. She had been in the middle of reading when she felt the strangest sensation in her stomach. At first she thought that maybe it was just gas or her stomach acting up again, so she went back to reading her book, but when it happened again, she stopped and felt irrationally annoyed. How was she supposed to concentrate on her baby if this kept up?
Wait... The baby... That was it!
The book she'd been holding careened to the floor with a thump as Cecelia sat in her seat in shock. Her mouth hung open and she wasn't moving. Pegasus heard the book hit the floor and looked up while on a conference call with his board of directors. The look on her face raised a red flag right off the bat, and he quickly murmured to them that he would call them back. Before they could get even a word out the phone was back in it's cradle and Pegasus was sprinting across the large room to get to his wife, kneeling in front of her.
"Cecelia? Darling, are you alright? Say something." He pleaded, worried sick. His words seemed to break through to her and she looked down at him, smiling. She took his hand and placed it on her stomach. He waited, expecting her to say something, but she didn't, and it made him even more nervous. "Cecelia, I don't understand. What's-" and he stopped right in the middle of his sentence when he felt it.
A tiny kick from inside his wife's stomach.
He sucked in a breath so quickly that it sounded more like a gasp. He stared at her stomach in complete awe, trying to will it to happen again. For a few minutes nothing happened, but then he felt it again, and looked up at his wife. The biggest smile broke out on his face and for a moment she thought it was going to tear his face apart because he was smiling so hard. It broke her out of her own semi-conscious daze and she smiled with tears in her eyes.
"She's moving," she whispered, placing her hand over her husband's. "Our baby girl is moving."
Pegasus leaned over and kissed his wife with all the tenderness and love that he could muster. He thought about how he'd loved her before when it had been just the two of them. He had been so certain that he could never love her anymore than he already did. This moment proved to him that he was wrong. The love that burst open in his heart like the finale of a fireworks show was massive and intense in its purity. She had always been beautiful, but now she was radiant. He supposed that's what they meant when they talked about pregnant women glowing. Boy were they right.
This was his own personal miracle. He couldn't believe that it had just happened, and to him no less! He was shocked at the idea that someone so small could have such a huge impact on him. But it had happened.
He spent a few minutes celebrating with his wife before he reluctantly went back to work. But now he was pushing himself to finish faster. Feeling that little kick had kicked him into overdrive, and he planned to finish that nursery tonight, even if it took him all night long to complete. He got lucky, and a few of his scheduled appointments got cancelled, so he was actually able to leave at a decent time tonight. He went up to his art studio, grabbed his smock, an Arsenal of paint brushes and rollers, and of course the paints that he knew he would need to make the image in his head a reality. He had Croquet and Chemo help him carry everything, and then set out to do his work. Every detail had to be attended to, every brushstroke had to be exact. He owed it to his family and to himself to make this the best work he had ever done, and that was exactly what he intended to do. The hours flew by, but he was too engrossed in his work to notice. When he finally finished the last wall he glanced at his watch. It was two in the morning. Only then did he realize the true extent of his exhaustion. Yawning, he decided to get some sleep, and went to bed feeling a great sense of accomplishment.
His work was finally done.