Disclaimer: I do not own Wizards of Waverly Place or Camp Rock.
WARNING: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows spoiler! If you have not read the final book (you're deprived, first of all), and only watch the movies, something will be ruined for you. And if you just watch the movies but don't read the books… SHAME ON YOU! –shakes head-
"Why are you crossing your legs like that?" Alex asked, pointing at Mitchie's legs.
Mitchie shifted on the exam table, making the paper crinkle. "Because I have to pee."
Alex raised an eyebrow. "Then go."
"I can't. Not until after the ultra sound."
"Well you should have gone before."
"My bladder has to be full for the ultrasound to work properly!" Mitchie said quickly, losing a little bit of her patience. "Can we talk about something else, please?" All that talking about her having to go to the bathroom made her have to even worse.
"Like what?" Alex asked, spinning around on the doctor's exam stool. The tips of her Converse sneakers dragged along the ground, slowing her. She gave herself another push and spun again, her eyes meeting with Mitchie's with each rotation.
Mitchie smiled as she watched Alex. She'd been annoyed with her for a split second, only because she was irritable because of the full bladder and still on edge from that dreaded subway ride. But now, seeing Alex being all adorable like that, her annoyance faded.
"Like how cute you look right now."
Alex stopped spinning and cracked a grin. "Oh really? You think I look cute right now?"
"Well, you're always cute, but right now you're extra cute." Mitchie gave the other girl a wink.
And Alex really was. Her hair was styled in two pigtails, each hanging over her shoulders. She was wearing a green, light hoodie with its sleeves rolled up, paired with her usual skinny jeans and black Converse. Mitchie envied her. She was in that ugly exam gown again and after the appointment, she was just going to get dressed in her maternity wear again. But, that didn't stop her from loving the way Alex looked.
"You're not so bad yourself, Torres," Alex said with a smirk as she kicked off the ground and began spinning again.
"Always the charmer, Alex," Mitchie joked as her eyes followed her girlfriend. "You must be getting dizzy because you're making me sick just watching you."
"You're pregnant. Clean air makes you woozy," Alex quipped before sticking her tongue out at Mitchie on her next rotation.
"Hey!" she protested, frowning a little. "I haven't thrown up in like, a month!"
"Whatever." Alex shrugged, coming to a stop. She was growing bored with the spinning chair.
She stood and attempted to cross the room to the chairs that didn't spin, but on her first step she stumbled. The ground beneath her was moving and swaying and the room still looked as if it was going around in a circle.
Alex planted her feet firmly on the ground, grabbing her head and blinking rapidly.
"Dizzy?" Mitchie questioned with a knowing smile as she watched Alex try to get her bearings.
"It feels like it's never gonna stop!" She ran a hand down her face. "It just keeps going round and round!"
"I'd help you over to the chair, but if I get up, the back of my gown is going to open," Mitchie said. "And no one wants to see that."
Alex took her hand from her face and smirked. "Actually, I do want to see that." She held out her hand. "Help me, Mitchie," she said in a baby voice with a pout on her face.
Mitchie rolled her eyes. "Just go sit down."
Alex dropped her hand to her side and kept pouting, but stomped over to the chairs where their coats lay nonetheless. No sooner had she moved one of the coats on top of the other and placed her butt in the chair closest to Mitchie did the door open and Dr. Leslie Chase walked in.
"Hello, Mitchie," the woman said as she closed the door behind her. "Good to see you again."
"You too, Dr. Chase."
"Doctor?" Alex asked, quirking an eyebrow. "I didn't think ultra sound technicians were doctors."
"Most aren't," Dr. Chase said, giving an understanding smile. She got this a lot. "But I was a medical doctor for a year or so before I realized I simply couldn't stand the sight of that much blood. So, I got the training and education required to do this instead. But I'm still technically a doctor, so I keep my title."
"So…All that money spent on med school kind of got wasted?" Alex looked at Dr. Chase blankly, waiting for an answer.
The edges of Dr. Chase's lips twitched as her smile faltered ever so slightly. "Kind of."
Alex caught the look Dr. Chase was giving her, saw the distaste in her eyes. Obviously she hated when people pointed this out and was still kicking herself about it. Obviously she still hated being reminded of the fact that she was still in debt from an education she wasn't even using. But that wasn't Alex's fault. She was just a curious girl.
"Where's your mom, Mitchie?" Dr. Chase asked as Alex ducked her head, avoiding the glare.
"She had to work," the girl answered.
"So she sent you with a little friend I see." Dr. Chase darted another glance at Alex before she bent down to ready the equipment, strands of her blond hair falling into her eyes.
"Something like that." Mitchie smirked to herself, knowing Alex was a little more than a friend. But this lady didn't need to know that. "This is Alex."
Dr. Chase stopped fooling around with the equipment long enough to look up at the girl Mitchie had just introduced. The dark haired girl gave an innocent smile and Dr. Chase just gave her a blank stare back.
"Pleasure," she said plainly.
Alex couldn't help but feel like she was Ron Weasley and she had just gotten brushed off by Hermione Granger on the train on the way to Hogwarts. Only she didn't think she and Dr. Chase would fall in love in the end…
"If you'll lie back and lift your gown, Mitchie, we can begin," Dr. Chase said, holding up the transducer probe.
Mitchie shivered, remembering the shock sent to her nerves when that cold good had been squirted on her stomach. It was much bigger now, and had nasty stretch marks in odd places. She completely forgot that Alex would have to see it for this appointment. She didn't want that. She didn't want Alex to see her when she was that disgusting. But there was no getting around it. It had to be done and it was too late to change her mind about Alex joining her because they were already there! And she knew there was no way she could get Alex to wait out in the hallway.
She sighed. It was no use. Closing her eyes so she wouldn't see Alex's reaction, she lay back on the exam table and lifted her gown above her stomach. Then she rested her hands on the table, palms down and kept her eyes closed.
Alex stared in amazement. Mitchie's stomach looked so much bigger when it wasn't under the cover of her overly large shirts or her big coat. And there were squiggly pinkish-purple lines along the sides. Alex hadn't known what she'd been expecting, but it wasn't that. She guessed she was expected a smooth, rounded stomach like they showed on TV and in movies. They seemed to glamorize pregnancy by not showing the stretch marks.
When Alex's looked to Mitchie's face, she saw the other girl's eyes shut tight, could see the nerves. Hesitantly, Alex reached out and wrapped her slightly shaky fingers around Mitchie's. Brown eyes flashed open and looked down at the interlocked fingers, then up to Alex's face. Alex offered the best smile she could muster, but Mitchie took what she could get. She instantly calmed.
Then Dr. Chase squirted the jelly onto Mitchie's stomach. The chilly gel making contact with her flesh caused Mitchie to hiss and subconsciously give Alex's fingers a delicate squeeze. The doctor wasted no time pressing the transducer probe into the goo, and started spreading it over the teen mother's stomach.
Mitchie forgot all of her anxiety about the way she looked in front of Alex as she remembered what happened last time she got an ultrasound. Her eyes fixed on the monitor above her head, waiting. She wanted that second look. Sure, she had the pictures in her room from the first appointment, but those were still. She wanted to see her baby move, wanted to see life.
Alex also had her eyes on the screen, trying to make a shape out of the black and gray mass. A muffled, steady heartbeat now came from the speakers. It was going much slower than Alex's fast-paced heart.
And then Alex saw it.
First it was the head, then the body, and then… The hand. A little, tiny hand. It went from being by the side of the body to suspended in front of its face, miniature fingers spread out…Almost like it was waving. And then, it popped its little thumb into its mouth.
"See that? It's sucking its thumb," Dr. Chase said, pointing at the monitor.
Alex stared, slack jawed and amazed. It wasn't even born yet and it was already sucking its thumb? What else could it do?
As if answering her question, the baby began to turn over. Alex looked from the screen to Mitchie's stomach, which was shifting under the probe thing the doctor was gliding across her girlfriend's enlarged midsection. Alex nearly jumped when she realized this. For the first time it was registering in her head that there was a person right under the layer of skin that was Mitchie's stomach. And she'd just seen it move inside of her girlfriend.
Mitchie, just like the last time, could not take her eyes from the screen. There he or she was. And this time, so much more active. She had to stop herself from reaching out and touching the screen. It almost didn't seem real. This was hers, and it was beautiful…Her beautiful little accident.
"You still don't want to know the sex, correct?" Dr. Chase asked.
Mitchie had been set on not knowing when she woke up that morning. Alex had tried to talk her into finding out, but she'd put her foot down. Now, though, she wasn't so certain. She looked to her girlfriend, wanting to ask her what she should do (although she already knew what the answer would be, but she just wanted to hear it). But Alex wasn't looking at her. She'd half expected Alex to jump in and ask the doctor what the baby was some time earlier, but she never did. Now Mitchie saw why. Alex was too busy staring down at Mitchie's stomach, her face white and a blank expression on her face.
Mitchie frowned. "No, no thanks," she said, not looking away from Alex.
Dr. Chase nodded. "Well, everything looks normal. I'll print up a copy of these pictures, and you can be on your way."
She began to turn off the machine and spoke more about where Mitchie could pick up the pictures, but the seventeen year-old had stopped listening. She was too busy watching Alex, who looked more scared than Mitchie had ever seen anyone look in her entire life.
The ride back was spent in silence. The walk to Mitchie's apartment from the subway stop was spent in silence. And the ride in the elevator to the third floor was spent in…Silence.
By the time Mitchie unlocked the door and walked inside, she was growing tired of Alex's shocked state. She knew that Alex hadn't been expecting what she'd seen, but how much more time would it take for her to adjust?
"Want something to eat?" Mitchie asked, taking off her coat.
Alex shook her head, making no move to take off her own coat.
"Drink?" Mitchie bit her lip and waited for an answer. All she got was another shake of the head. She rolled her eyes and went to her room, placing her coat back in her closet. When she returned to the living room, Alex was seated on the couch, staring off into space.
Mitchie went and sat beside her, body turned towards Alex, eyes on her girlfriend's face. But the other girl just kept staring at the TV, which was off.
"Alex!" Mitchie snapped.
Alex jumped at the sudden outburst and the sound of her name. She looked to her left to see that Mitchie was now seated beside her. When had Mitchie sat down? Better yet, when had she sit down? Hell, when had they even gotten on the subway to come back? Everything after seeing Mitchie's stomach shift until then was all sort of a blur.
"Yeah?" she asked, blinking rapidly.
"What are you doing?" Mitchie looked at her worriedly.
"Nothing," Alex said quickly. "Just…Thinking."
Mitchie raised an eyebrow. "About?"
"Just stuff…" Alex put on a smile Mitchie knew was fake. "Nothing to worry about."
Mitchie stared at her girlfriend for a few moments before sighing through her nose. "Then why am I worried?"
Alex wanted to tell her that it was just because she was silly that she was worrying. But she couldn't do that. She couldn't come up with anything cute or clever to say. Usually she avoided situations with her wit or charm, but she just couldn't find it in her this time. It's like those traits were switched off at the moment. Why couldn't she make a joke or shake off this odd feeling of panic? Then it hit her.
She couldn't joke to relieve the tension she felt because there was no way to do so. Reality was crashing around her, fast. Mitchie was pregnant. Mitchie was having a baby. Mitchie was going to be a mother.
These were all things she knew before she'd even ever laid eyes on her current girlfriend or come into contact with her, but they never really seemed to be real until that very moment. The weight of the situation fell onto her shoulders almost instantly. Mitchie's pregnancy had always been right in front of her face, but she never saw it. It had always been hanging over their heads like a dark cloud, but they'd been shielded by the umbrella of avoidance. But now the situation was becoming inevitable. It was becoming too real.
Up until that moment, the baby had just been an idea. It was like a character in a story, someone who gets talked about but never exists. Alex could see an illustration of a character and the character could still not be real to her, just like by seeing a blurry picture of the baby could still not make it seem real. But the moment she saw it move on screen, saw it suck its existent thumb, saw the life just inches from her nervous, shaking hands, that child became real to her. There was a person inside Mitchie, someone Alex would, by association and extension, be responsible for. Mitchie, for the past seven months, had been preparing herself for parenthood. Alex…Had not.
"You're having a baby," Alex said quietly.
"Very observant of you, Alex," Mitchie said bluntly. "How long have you known this?"
"Always, it's just…" Alex stopped, licking her dry lips. She shook her head and stood from the couch, too much nervous energy in her legs to remain sitting. "Like, you're really having a baby!"
"I know… What's your point?" Mitchie stared at her girlfriend, wondering where she was going with this.
"You're having a baby!" Alex threw her hands out in front of her, gesturing towards Mitchie's stomach.
Mitchie raised an eyebrow. "Are you broken?" she asked, referring to Alex only being able to repeat the same obvious statement over and over.
"No." Alex shook her head quickly.
"Then what's wrong with you?" Mitchie stood, with some difficulty because of her stomach, then placed a hand on the bulge under her shirt. "You've known this for months. Why is it all of a sudden hitting you now?"
"Because I finally saw it," Alex said. "And for the first time, I'm realizing that there's an actual person inside of you." She looked from Mitchie's face to her bulging belly. "And I'm a little freaked out now that it's finally hit me."
Mitchie's heart clenched, fear taking over her. In nature, when animals became in danger, they acted out the Fight or Flight response. Fight would be to stay and face the challenge before them. Flight would be to run away from the possible danger. Flight was safer, easier. But fight took courage. Alex's world was in danger, Mitchie now realized. Her girlfriend had always been used to looking out for herself, and only herself. Alex was a selfish little brat before she'd met Mitchie, and since their meeting, had started morphing into the amazing person she was now. But there were still traces of the old Alex fighting to break through at moments, like right now. The old Alex would choose flight, every time. But what the new, mature Alex would fight. Which one was present now? Mitchie had the sick feeling she didn't want to find out.
"So, what, you thought I was smuggling a watermelon under my shirt this whole time?" Mitchie asked viciously, tears threatening to pour from her eyes. How much could she possibly cry before she was all out of tears?
"No…" Alex stared, eyes wide.
"Then why are you being like this now?" Mitchie sniffled, trying to breathe through her nose that became stuffy almost as soon as her eyes welled with tears. "Do you all of a sudden not think you can handle this anymore?"
Alex shuffled her feet nervously. "I don't know…Maybe."
"Maybe!" Mitchie's knees felt weak. This was a fight, for sure, but it wasn't the kind of fight she'd been hoping for. "You knew what you were getting into from the beginning! You knew I was having a baby! You wouldn't listen to my fears or concerns about the future. You just said we'd figure it out as we went along! Well, we're here, Alex! What do you want to do now?"
Alex said nothing, just put her hands in her pockets and stared at the floor.
Mitchie sighed and ran a hand down her face. "Don't say this isn't what you asked for, because it is. You fought for this relationship a lot harder than I did. I had my doubts, and you were the one who was sure." She looked at Alex through blurry, blood-shot eyes. "But it was all fun and games, wasn't it? Yeah, it's fine to be in a relationship as long as I'm still pregnant, but as soon as reality sets in and you realize you might actually have to be responsible for something, you start having your doubts." She shook her head. "You know, your parents tried to warn me, but I stood my ground. I believed in you, in us. But now, I'm not so sure."
"I'm just trying to adjust, Mitchie," Alex said, her heart in her stomach. This was not how she'd expected today to go at all.
"Bull shit!" Mitchie yelled forcefully. "You've had time to adjust! Months of it! In fact, you shouldn't have to adjust at all since you knew. You knew from the beginning, but you still pushed for this. And then you made me fall for you."
"Mitchie, it's not like that." Alex took a step forward, but Mitchie took a step away.
"I told you on that roof, before we were even in a relationship, that being with me was like becoming a parent," she said angrily, unshed tears still fresh in her eyes. "I never once expected that from you, though. I simply warned you. And I never would have asked that of you. You simply had to be my girlfriend, not a mother or a father or whatever. You simply had to love me."
"And I do!" Alex could feel her chest caving in. It felt like this was going to be a goodbye. "I just never realized the seriousness of the situation until today."
Mitchie pursed her lips and finally allowed the tears to fall. Without a word, she walked over to the door and opened it. She crossed her arms over her chest and looked at Alex. This was the moment of truth. Fight or flight.
"If you feel you need to figure things out, leave. Because you're about to make me go into early labor with all this stress."
Mitchie's heart nearly broke at the torn look she saw on Alex's face. Nearly. What did break it was when Alex crossed the room, not even darting a glance in Mitchie's direction, and walked out the door, pulling it closed behind her.
Mitchie's mouth opened in a silent scream as pain rippled through her chest. She slapped her hand over her gaping mouth and leaned against the wall, slowly sliding to the floor. She knew she probably wouldn't be able to get up by herself, but at that moment, she didn't care. She could do nothing but cry over the path she had albeit forced Alex to choose:
Flight.
Out on the sidewalk, Alex looked up at the apartment window, wishing Mitchie would come to it. She wanted nothing more than for Mitchie to just walk over and look out, to see her there. She wanted her to open it and yell out to her that she was sorry, to come back up.
But Alex knew that wouldn't happen.
Mitchie was right. She was the one that pushed for the relationship, but what were they supposed to do? Ignore the feelings? That would have made both of them miserable. Then again, they'd be no different than right now. But Mitchie was also right about Alex. She hadn't been thinking about the future. She'd been living in the moment, and now it was proved that maybe that wasn't the best thing to do.
She'd certainly made a mess of the entire situation. And now, she was going to have to fix it. But the question was, did she want to fix it?
This was her out. If she didn't want to be with Mitchie anymore, this would be the time to leave. To walk away and not look back.
Most guys given this opportunity would take that deal. But Alex wasn't most guys. Hell, she wasn't even a guy at all. And she sure as hell wasn't a coward. She used to be. But then she started changing. The thing she did best when she was in trouble or things got too hard was run. She'd run that day when she lit her school on fire. But this time, she wasn't running. She was facing this head on.
The old Alex Russo was gone. It may have taken Mitchie kicking her out to realize that, but she did.
She actually had something worth keeping. Yes, she knew it would be hard, but it was worth it in her opinion.
What do you want to do now? Mitchie had asked her. At the time, she didn't have an answer. She didn't know what she wanted at all. But now, looking up at that empty window and thinking about Mitchie and how much it hurt to walk away, she knew. Knowing the love of her life was most likely up there crying her eyes out, she knew. Knowing there was a life on the way that she didn't want to miss out on, she knew.
The decision was made, and there was no turning back. Alex Russo wasn't running. But there was something she had to do first.
So, though it killed her, she turned away from the window and walked away from the building…Away from Mitchie.
But only for a little while.
Caitlyn walked fast and with purpose down the sidewalk. She was skipping out of dance practice, but that didn't matter. Right now she had more important things to do.
As soon as she got out of school, she checked her phone. She had a sobbing voicemail from Mitchie and called her back immediately.
Now she was on her way to Mitchie's apartment to clean up the mess Alex had made. And she was furious about it. She'd trusted Alex not to hurt Mitchie. But she'd gone ahead and done it. The next time Caitlyn saw Alex, heads would roll. And one of those would be Alex's.
As she was contemplating who she hated more at that moment, Shane or Alex, something caught her eye that made her stop.
A girl with raven hair and tan skin walked out of a bookstore on the corner. She had multiple bags in her hands. Her coat looked very familiar and the girl was wearing skinny jeans paired with Converse. At first Caitlyn wasn't sure if it was who she thought it was, because who she thought it was didn't strike her as the bookstore type…But who else could it be?
"Russo!" Caitlyn yelled, balling her fists and walking quickly towards the person.
Alex looked up, hearing a familiar voice call her last name. She smiled when she saw it was a friendly person, even if she didn't look too friendly at the moment.
"Caitlyn?" was all Alex had time to say before a hand made contact with her face.
The smack sound hung in the air as the stinging in Alex's cheek rose. Alex covered her cheek with her hand and rubbed it gently. The impact had made her head turn. But now, she looked back at Caitlyn, glaring slightly.
"Never took you for bitch slapper, Geller," Alex said in an even tone. "Sucker punch seems more your style."
"Well, considering who I was delivering it to, a bitch slap seemed appropriate."
Alex ran her fingertips over the stinging skin and bit the inside of her mouth. "I assume you've talked to Mitchie." Caitlyn merely nodded; Alex exhaled through her nose. "Then I deserved that."
"Actually, you deserve for me to kick your ass," Caitlyn said, taking a dangerous step towards Alex. "But I'd get kicked off the dance team if I got caught fighting. So I can't." She took a step back. "But if not, your ass would be mine!"
"I know, Caitlyn," Alex said calmly.
"I hope you're satisfied," Caitlyn said. "She's devastated."
"I know she is," Alex said, looking down. "I feel awful about it."
"You look it," Caitlyn said sarcastically.
"I really do." Alex looked up again. "But I think I can fix things… I want to fix things. She was right, Caitlyn. I was a complete idiot to think we could just go with it. But I know that now. And I think I know just what needs to be done to make everything better… Right now, and hopefully for the future."
"Who says she wants you to fix things?" Caitlyn exclaimed. "You already fucked them up."
"And I figured out how to un-fuck them up!"
"How?" Caitlyn raised a skeptical eyebrow. Alex just gave her a determined look in return. "Alex…If you want to fix things so badly, why have you been God only knows where for the last two hours, instead of apologizing to her? Why am I skipping practice to comfort her instead of you being there? And what the fuck compelled you, of all people, to go into a bookstore?"
"I know, it seems ridiculous. But look, just go to practice. I'm going straight there now to fix it. Trust me," Alex said, holding up one of her plastic shopping bags in front of her. "It's all part of the plan."
"It's about time!" Mitchie said as she heard banging on her door. Her eyes and nose were red and puffy from all the crying she'd been doing. Eventually she'd been able to call Caitlyn, but then she moved to her bed (after some difficulty getting off the floor) and had not moved from it since. She was fairly certain there was a permanent makeup stain on her pillow, but she couldn't care less about that at the moment.
Right now, Caitlyn was at her door, and she needed her best friend. So, she swung the door open, ready to great her.
"You have no idea how much I need y−" and then Mitchie stopped, realizing it wasn't Caitlyn standing before her. It was Alex.
The two girls stared at each other for a little while, neither saying anything. Tension was in the air. Mitchie's hand still gripped the door, her knuckles turning white from holding it so tightly.
"If you're going to slam the door in my face, just know I'm going to zap myself in," Alex warmed gently. "Because this is important…"
"I wasn't going to slam the door in your face," Mitchie said quietly. And that was the truth. She had no intention of kicking Alex out again.
"Can I come in?" Alex asked sheepishly, expecting to have a big, fat No yelled in her face. But it never came. Instead, Mitchie stepped aside and let Alex walk inside, shutting the door behind her. Alex set her shopping bags on the ground. Mitchie took notice, but said nothing about them.
"I'm sorry," Mitchie said after a few moments of awkward silence.
Alex looked at her as if she'd grown a second head. "Why are you sorry? I'm the one who was being stupid!"
"No, you were being a normal seventeen year-old girl," Mitchie said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Normal seventeen year-old girls don't have to deal with this crap. And I forget that you don't think about or realize the seriousness of the situation as much as I do. You don't have a constant reminder under your shirt." Mitchie stopped, trying to swallow, but her throat was incredibly dry. "Those ultrasounds… They're intense. And they can cause shock. My mom tried to warn us, but neither of us listened." She sniffled, then used her shirt sleeve to wipe her nose. She knew it was gross, but at that moment she didn't care. "I said I wasn't expecting you to take on the responsibility of a parent, but the truth is… I wanted you to. But you're not ready for that, and I just have to accept it."
"Stop," Alex said gently but forcefully. "Just stop it, okay? Quit thinking you're wrong to want that. It's normal for someone in your position to want that. And you're right, I'm not ready… In a lot of ways. But I'm going to learn."
Alex bent down and picked up a shopping bag. One after another, she dumped the contents on the floor. Out fell books with babies on the cover, bottles, tiny garments of clothing, and other various items. Mitchie looked from the mess on the floor to Alex, stunned.
"What is all of this stuff, Alex?"
"I know we had reservations for dinner tonight," Alex said, making Mitchie remember that this crazy day was still Valentine's Day. "But I think we should cancel. Instead, I want to stay in with you tonight. I want to go through this stuff, find out what some of this crap does, read these books, and maybe watch this video I got." Alex bent down and picked up a DVD case from the pile, holding it up for Mitchie to see. "I want you to teach me all you've learned so far in preparation for being a parent, and then I want us to learn more…Together." She caught Mitchie's gaze and held it. "Because I don't want to miss out on a single thing. You're a part of me, Mitchie. And I can't imagine life without you. And that means a life with your child as well. It's not a burden; it's not something I look at as a negative. I want to do this. I want to be there for you and him or her whenever either of you need me. And I don't just want to be 'Mommy's girlfriend' or 'Auntie Alex.' I want to be Mommy Al or Mama or even Daddy if that's what my name to child ends up being. But the point is, I don't want be an accessory. I don't want to be someone who is there for a while, then gone. I want to be a permanent figure in this kid's life." She dropped the DVD and took a deep breath, preparing herself for the next sentence. "I'm here for the long haul, Mitchie, whether you like it or not. I love you, and I love your baby. It took you kicking my ass out of here to really make me understand that, but I do now. And you're not going to be getting rid of me easily now that I've decided to stay. And I'm stubborn. There's no going back for me. This is it. You're it for me." She stepped over the pile of junk at her feet and said very quietly, "I'm not going anywhere."
Mitchie's heart went into overtime and the baby practically started doing somersaults in her stomach. She reached up and cupped Alex's cheeks in her hands. Alex placed her hands atop Mitchie's, rubbing the backs of her hands with her thumbs. Brown eyes locked together, neither daring to look away. Mitchie ran a thumb over Alex's pouty lips, the lips she adored so much.
"You promise never to leave me again?" Mitchie asked vulnerably, just to get clarification.
"I never left in the first place," Alex said softly before giving the pad of Mitchie's thumb a gentle kiss. "But no, never."
The corners of Mitchie's mouth twitched slightly as she smiled through the tears. "I love you."
"I love you, Mitchie," Alex whispered. "Always."
Mitchie moved her thumb from Alex's mouth to replace it with her lips, giving the other girl a sweet, loving kiss. Alex returned it, relief flooding her entire body. She'd been afraid she'd never kiss these lips again. Now she was confident she'd never have to stop (figuratively).
When they pulled out of the short kiss, they embraced each other, Alex's arms snaking around Mitchie's waist as well as they could and Mitchie's going around Alex's neck. Mitchie buried her face in the slightly older girl's shoulder, instantly feeling tired now that she was no longer heartbroken and anxious. A tiny smile made its way to her face as she realized Alex hadn't fled after all. Instead, she picked the response for which Mitchie had been hoping:
Fight.
This is how my brain works: "Oh, I didn't get a lot of reviews last chapter. So that means they don't care about this story as much as they used to. Well I guess that means they won't be upset if I don't update for a little while."
And there you go. One of the reasons it took me longer than usual to update. It actually really upset me that I got significantly less reviews for last chapter than usual. And especially with the last scene that I wrote! I even enabled anonymous reviews before I posted that chapter, and I still got less. Not cool, babes.
I review the stories I read (most of them, anyway). I do this out of RESPECT for the writer. We writers work off feedback. It's actually crucial to the story and my attitude towards it. If I think no one cares, I won't care as much.
Another reason for the delay, I was busy. Lots of exams. And then there was the depression, which if you follow me on Twitter, you know all about. But let's not talk about it here…
Actually, it makes me sad when I don't get the amount of reviews I'm used to. Like "Oh, they didn't like that :(" and then I go be all upset. So… Come on. Make me smile! Anonymous reviews are enabled, so there's no excuse! Go ahead…
REVIEW!