A bit of Bonding
This being pregnant stuff was really stressing her out.
It didn't matter that soon they'd have a cute little baby to care for and coo over - no, because Mavis was tired and sore and she couldn't even go out and fly anymore because of this baby; and since she couldn't blame the baby, she blamed Johnny.
"What? Why is it my fault?" He would ask.
Mavis would narrow her eyes at him and stroke her stomach loftily. "You got me pregnant in the first place; if you had remembered to use a condom or something, I wouldn't be in this mess."
But this was said rather jokingly; of course she was looking forward to being a mother - scared out of her wits, yes, but still looking forward to it. Having not had a mother of her own, though, Mavis couldn't help but naturally worry if this would affect how good of a mother she was to this baby; what if she did something wrong, like laying the baby down the wrong way in a crib? (Apparently, that was possible: they had to be left on their backs)
"Don't worry about it," Johnny said good-naturedly whenever she brought up these concerns with him. "C'mon, Mavy: you're gonna make an awesome Mom! It'll, like, come naturally when you hold them; that's what my Mom told me anyway."
"It's not so bad for you," Mavis retorted worriedly. "You can just ask your dad or my dad."
"You could totally ask my Mom," He pointed out, giving her a grin to calm her down. "She won't mind; heh, she'll like being asked about babies and kids - she had seven of them, right?"
Mavis watched her stomach for a moment, biting her lip in contemplative thought. "Hey, Johnny?" She asked tentatively. "How come you're not...worried about it? I'm freaking out about the whole thing but you just seem...cool about it."
Johnny gave a small shrug, putting a hand on her swollen abdomen. "I am kinda freaking out," He admitted sheepishly. "Well...I'm actually totally freaking out. I just don't do it around you since it would stress you out or something...plus, I just figured that we could learn it all along the way, right?"
"Hmm...I guess so," She agreed. "It's just that...I know this'll sound stupid and weird...but I really just want to be a good Mom, you know?" She didn't say it aloud, but it was implied just a touch: since she hadn't been too enthusiastic at first, she felt it was only right for her to be the greatest parent she could be to make up for it.
"It's not stupid," The red-head disagreed, frowning to himself slightly. "I totally get that. It's gonna be scary, having to look after this kid all of the time; everything we do will, like, have an effect on them..." He gave a small sigh, resting his head near the baby bump. "You know my big brother, Matt? You know he has a kid, right? Well...I've seen him and Josh together and...and he's just so good at it. Like, he gives him rides on his back and tucks him in all the time, a-a-and...God, Josh looks at him like he's the most important person in the world, you know?" He bit his lip softly. "Mavy, what if I'm not like that?"
Mavis sent him a slightly puzzled look. "Johnny, I'm sure that you will be."
He shook his head, suddenly looking rather worried. "Mavy, what if our kid doesn't like me? And I don't mean that they like you more than me, I mean that they'll just...hate me completely."
"How could they hate you?" She asked, eyes wide at such a thought; it alarmed her, to say the least. "Johnny, they're gonna love you! I mean...look at Josh for rabies sake! He's only your nephew and he just...lights up whenever you play with him; it's 'cause you're fun and...and of course our kid will love you!"
"You think?" Johnny asked, slightly hesitant. When she nodded, he let out a breath he'd been holding. "Okay."
The two sat in silence for a moment, simply enjoying the summer night's air as the evening began to draw to a close. It wasn't too humid or hot, luckily, and so the two were quite content to just sit close together, admiring the bump that would soon be the third member of their family and enjoying each other's company.
After a few minutes, Johnny cleared his throat again. "Mavy? I know you said you don't care, but...do you think it'll be a boy or a girl?"
"I'm not sure," She admitted quietly. "I think that as long as they're healthy then I'll be happy either way."
Johnny traced the curve of her stomach with his index finger, all of his concentration fixed onto it. "Mmm-hmm. Maybe...maybe one day I'd like to have a boy and a girl," He told her quietly before giving her a small and sly grin. "If you're up to that."
Mavis gave a small laugh. "We'll see. Let's just focus on popping this one out first before we try for another one."
Johnny, pleased with this, chuckled and pressed the palm of his hand against his wife's stomach. "You hear that, kiddo? Your Mommy and Daddy are so prepared that they're already talking about getting you a brother or sister!...Not immediately though," He added at Mavis' slightly narrowed eyes.
And then it happened - it was almost as if there were butterflies fluttering against the palms of their hands, pressing up against the inside of Mavis' stomach.
"Woah" Johnny exclaimed, jolting up but still keeping his hand in place. He looked at Mavis eagerly before lowering his head once again. "Was that a kick?"
Mavis nodded, resting her hand next to her husband's head and smiling widely. "Yep. They've got a really strong kick - Auntie Wanda says that's a good sign, since it means they're healthy."
Johnny pursed his lips in awe, tongue sticking out slightly as he concentrated. "This is so weird...Oh! Wait! There's another one!" He grinned, mouth hanging slightly open.
"I think they like the sound of your voice," Mavis mused, remembering this fact from a library book she'd looked at recently. "They like mine too...watch...Hey there, little vampire bat!" She directed her words at her stomach, smiling even more. "You comfortable in there?"
A couple of strong kicks against the palms of their hands confirmed this theory.
Johnny seemed amazed by this. "Cool!...Here, let me try..." He cleared his throat and moved his mouth closer to his wife's belly. "Hi, child of mine! You feel like traveling with us anytime soon? Maybe to see your Grandpa and Grandma?"
More kicks could be felt, and Mavis let out a small 'oh' when she felt the baby shift it's position. "I think they like that idea," She giggled, rubbing her stomach with her hands affectionately.
"This is so cool," Johnny repeated, looking quite dazed by the experience. "It's like...they know who we are or something...the kicks feel stronger than my brothers' when they did it...maybe because they're a vampire baby?"
Mavis shrugged - she'd never felt a human baby kick in the womb, so of course she didn't know. "Maybe," She sighed contently.
Okay, so maybe this whole pregnancy thing wasn't as bad as she had thought it had been - especially not when it led to long-lasting memories like this.
Mavis was going to kill him.
It wasn't his fault, Johnny would argue, not really: how was he supposed to know that their daughter would find a way to crawl out of her bedroom and go somewhere (he had no idea where) that he couldn't find?
Oh, God, Mavis was going to skin him alive.
"Lucy!" He called softly, putting on a baby voice in hopes it would elicit some kind of response from her. "Come on, Lucy, I've got a special treat for you!"
It appeared that she was not as stupid as he hoped - if he didn't know any better, than he would have thought that she was an evil mastermind and that she wanted to see her father skinned alive.
"C'mon, Lu!" He tried, almost begging now. "If you don't then Mommy will hurt Daddy, and we don't want that!" Crap, what if she's not even in the house?! Johnny grimaced at that prospect and shook his head: no, that couldn't be true.
Right, so...she's not in her room, she's not in our room, she's not watching TV... Oh no.
The kitchen!
Worried that their infant daughter was in there right now and drinking something poisonous - or worse - he stumbled up the hallway and shoved the door open...and there she was.
To his relief, she was remarkably unharmed and happy; instead of the poison he'd imagined her to be drinking she was sitting on the floor and munching on a piece of candy - the cupboard where it was kept was open, and she appeared to have just reached in and grabbed it. There were no bruises, no cuts, no blood - just sticky fingers and caramel around her mouth.
"I've been looking for you all over!" He breathed, bending to pick her up. "God, Lu, you...you almost gave me a heart attack." She giggled and reached up a hand to tug at his hair - something he was used to by now - so he chuckled in response and carried her into the front room. "You know, you're more trouble than you're worth sometimes."
At six years old, Lucy looked no older than a human aged around a year or so old - and, God, she was the prettiest baby he'd ever seen: and he'd seen a lot of babies during his time. Maybe he was biased, being her father, or maybe she really just was the most beautiful baby ever - he was still in awe of her, even five years after her birth.
Humming to himself, Johnny placed Lucy down on the carpet gently before lowering himself down next to her. "Alright, Lu, how about we play a game? You want the doggy?" He picked up a stuffed dog that had been lying on the floor nearby (as most of his daughter's toys were) and shook it in front of her; Lucy let out a delighted giggle and reached out her arms for it eagerly. "Alright, alright. But first of all, let's see if you can do something for 'Daddy', okay?" She blinked, still waiting for the stuffed animal. "Can you say Daddy's name, Lu? You know; 'Da-ddy'?"
Lucy looked up at him innocently before opening her mouth and gurgling nonsense.
"Well...we're getting there," Johnny decided, passing the toy to her with a grin; she beamed and began laughing loudly to herself. "Alright, let's have a story time then - your Mommy wants you in bed before she gets home from her hunt, and Daddy really needs some sleep too."
The toy seemed to have appeased her to the point of cooperating with him, thankfully, and so the red-head had no trouble in picking her up again and rocking her on the spot in his arms. After a moment, however, she gave a small whine and began wriggling against him.
"Huh? You okay there, kiddo?" Johnny asked lightly - and then it occurred to him. "Oh yeah! You like to have a pacifier when you sleep! Duh!" She simply rested her head on his shoulder, hands curling into fists as her father begun to search the room for one. "Aha! Here we go!" Grinning, he eased a small black pacifier into her mouth, careful not to force it too much and upset her, before rubbing her back gently.
And now all that was left was story time - and then he could get some well-deserved sleep of his own.
"Okay," He muttered to himself as he carried her down the hall to her room. "So, we've already talked about Mommy and Daddy's adventures in Mexico and Hawaii...what else can we do...? Oh, I got it!" He grinned to himself and held his daughter closer to him. "Once, before I met your Mommy, I was on a hike with my little brother Jake. You know, your Uncle Jake? He sends you little dolls every Christmas?"
Lucy just blinked, sucking quietly on the pacifier in her mouth.
"Anyway, we got pretty lost in this forest and...well...we ended up in this weird little European town - at least, I think it was... We ended up staying for a little while, and when it was dinner that first night, they gave us potatoes...and, God, they were the most bland stuff ever! Like, no gravy, no sauce, nothing! Anyway, I spotted a bottle of molasses down the table...er... Molasses? They're like...this sugary sweet thing like treacle or something, you know?"
The baby red-head just regarded him with wide eyes, clearly not too bothered.
Johnny gave a small shrug. "Okay. Anyway, I grabbed it and poured it all over the potatoes; let me tell you something, Lu, it wasn't at all delicious but it was still way better than those weird bland potatoes." Come to think of it, he hadn't had human food for quite a number of years now, and remembering it made him feel rather nostalgic. "Oh man, let me tell you, Lucy: human food is either really good or really gross. Like, chocolate and stuff, they taste awesome; but other stuff like...I dunno...brussel sprouts is just...blegh!"
His daughter gave a tiny sleepy giggle, eyes fluttering as she started to fall asleep.
"Anyway, your Uncle Jake actually liked it and, to this day, he still likes molasses on his potatoes. Now, we gotta get you some sleep," He decided, shifting her in his arms so that he could lower her into her cot. Johnny tucked her under the covers, careful not to jostle her too much, and arranged her soft toys around his daughter neatly.
For a moment, Johnny just stood there, leaning on the crib, and watched his baby stir sleepily in slight awe. God, I am the luckiest idiot in the world. He gave a small smile to himself and lowered his head to kiss her forehead affectionately. "G'night, Lucy. Love you."
"Mm...Dad-da."
Johnny froze, watching as she opened her eyes and gave a bright smile at him; in that moment, there seemed to be a connection between the two where they understood each other perfectly - or, at least, Johnny understood his daughter perfectly.
"Yeah," He agreed quietly, giving a small nod. "I'm your Dada."
That was her first word - and, God, it was him. He hadn't known what it was going to be, but had assumed that it would be 'Mama' for Mavis or something similar...but the possibility of her first word being a word for him had never crossed his mind.
"Dad-da," She repeated, reaching a hand out and touching his cheek with a happy smile. The amount of love and trust in her eyes - even in someone so young - was overwhelming. "Dad-da!"
"That's right," Johnny said, giving her a loving grin. "Your Daddy's here."
Wait 'til Mavis hears about this.
Oh my God, I just wanna cuddle Johnny sometimes, he is the cutest I swear :3 Johnny and Lucy...gah! So cute!
So...I'm going to just try to explain my absence from writing for a while...
For non-English readers, I attend a sixth form college; this involves 16 hours of lessons a week, 16 hours of homework a week and an hour of complementary studies. Being an A-Level Theatre student, I go on trips nearly every week and then I have to write essays about the actors/props and setting/sound/lighting in them; on top of this my other Theatre teacher gives me homework relating to a play, and I have to give up another seven lunch times at this point in time so that I can go to "clinic" to improve my grades (I got a "U" on one of my drama papers). As well as this, I have to work on English Literature essays, two separate Film Studies projects and Psychology (for which I'm catching up). In short, I have had little-to-no time over the past few months.
Anyway, I haven't given up writing: if I don't update, then it probably means that I've got Writer's block, I'm too busy to write, or a mixture of the two. I'll try to update as often as I can, so thank you for being so patient.
Anywho, please remember to leave a review - I live on them!