Chapter 50

Bumps in the Road

"Skinny Love"- Bon Iver

Kyle (POV)

I had been working on restoring Amanda's wooden bassinette that her father had hand- crafted for her when she was a baby. When I went to pick up Brice from Carol's house on Monday evening she had shown me the bassinette and asked if I would be interested in fixing it up. She felt that Amanda would greatly appreciate the sentimental value the bassinette held.

After work I headed over to Stephen and Nicole's house to work on the bassinette. Their garage was the only place I could be sure Amanda wouldn't stumble upon what I was working on. Stephen had said I was welcome to any on the tools in the garage. The original white coat of paint had begun to chip and the pinewood had a few nicks that would need to be smoothed out.

As I worked I thought of all the information I had acquired from the hard-drive Grace had given me. It had almost been a month since she died and I still had yet to tell anyone about the information. It took me a while to convince myself to look at the documents on the hard drive. I finally brought myself to look it over early last week. According to the information, I was dying.

"How's it coming?" It was Stephen who spoke after making his way to the garage.

"Good," I smiled as I brushed off the bits of dust from my blue plaid shirt. "I'm almost done sanding off the paint."

"Well it looks great. Amanda's dad made this?" he said as he ran his finger along the floral design that had been carved into the wood. "I knew that he was creative but this must have taken him some time."

"Carol said he started working on it the day they found out they were having a girl," I provided as I filled the nicks in the wood.

"Are you nervous about having a girl?" he asked.

I turned away from my project and leaned against the workbench.

"Should I be?" I questioned with a slight smile.

"She'll definitely drive you crazy, however you'll be wrapped around her finger from the minute you hold her in your arms," he warned with a chuckle in his tone.

"What do you mean?" I couldn't help but laugh.

"When Lori was born I was…Well, I was afraid that I'd screw up as a dad. I didn't want to let her down; I didn't want to let Nicole down. But once I held her and she calmed down and I looked into her bright green eyes, I knew everything would work out," he explained, taking a seat on a stack of old milk crates.

"I feel like with Brice it's been easy, he's my buddy," I shrugged. "To be honest though I don't really know how to handle a little girl."

"It's really a learning process," he said, "you'll be fine."

I wondered for how long of that learning process would I be around for. Would I be able to see my kids grow up? Would I be able to see my little girl's first steps, hear her first words? Would I live long enough to see Brice play on a peewee basketball league? Teach them how to drive, see them graduate from high school and college? See them get married? Walk my little girl down the aisle?

"You alright Kyle?" he asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

I clenched my jaw slightly, having a mental battle with myself on whether or not I should tell him what was on my mind.

"Kyle?" he could see the concern in my face.

"When I went and saw Grace before she died, she gave me some information that was kept on the experiments," I explained.

"Well what did you find out?" He stood up and immediately seemed more concerned.

I explained to him about the nosebleeds that I had been experiencing these last few months. I also told him about the two successful children that died a few days after being extracted from the pod. I let him know about the system failure that Adam had begun to show signs of when I was staying with him.

"You and Jessi have to be working on a plan," he panicked a little. "You're going to be fine Kyle, you Jess and Nate will find a way to fix this, you'll be fine."

"Jessi and Nathan don't know, no one does. Well besides you," I mumbled, fixing my eyes on old oil stain on the garage floor.

"You haven't told anyone?" he asked as he folded his arms across his chest.

I shook my head.

"Kyle, why haven't you told anyone? You shouldn't have to go through this by yourself," he said, placing his hand on my shoulder.

"How am I supposed to tell my family that I'm dying? How am I supposed to tell my wife that I might not be around to raise our kids with her?" My voice faltered slightly.

He just pulled me into a hug. I felt like I was 16 again and I was upset about not knowing about my past. Stephen has always been the father figure in my life. He's my dad. Being a father myself I could only imagine what he was thinking. One of his kids was sick.

"You're going to be okay, Kyle," he said, pulling away and resting his hand on my shoulder. "But you have to tell everyone."

"I just need some time…" I mumbled as I nodded. "Please don't tell Mom."

He sighed not liking the idea of keeping something from Nicole. He agreed though understanding I should be the one to tell her.

"So how can I help you finish this?" he asked.

I smile, I was thankful he changed the subject. "The edges could use a little more sanding," I said.

"Just hand me some paper." He smiled, however I saw the glint of pity in his eyes. That's exactly what I didn't want but I shrugged it off.

We were able to finish fixing up the bassinette and layer on two coats of fresh white paint. I made sure it was completely dry before I placed the new bed cushion that Carol had sewn. She had picked a dark blue fabric that she felt would look great with the white paint of the bassinette.

"It looks great you guys!" Nicole praised as she snuck up behind us with Brice.

"Hey honey, you guys just get back?" Stephen asked. They broke off in their own little conversation.

"What do you think buddy?" I asked as I plucked him up to have a better look. "Think your little sister will like sleeping in this?"

"It's kinda small," he commented.

"Well it's not her permanent bed. She'll have a crib in her own room, this is just for the first couple of weeks when she'll sleep in our room," I explained.

"It really does look great Kyle," Nicole commented again. "How has the nursery been coming along?"

"I finished painting it last weekend," I said as I set Brice down on the workbench.

"It's sandy tan, and Dad painted on giraffes and monkeys and a lion!" Brice was really excited.

"So are you ready to be a big brother, Bri?" Stephen asked as he ruffled Brice's hair.

"Uh huh," he grinned.

"Did you tell Nana and Grandpa what you want to name her?" I chuckled.

"Gertrude," he answered.

"Gertrude, really? For a baby?"

Nicole and I shared a knowing glance. I shook my head once and she had a look of relief and I smiled.

"And what have you and Amanda come up with?" Stephen asked.

"We have a few ideas but we're still deciding." I shrugged. "We should get going though buddy, it's getting late and you have to take a bath before bed."

Nicole said her goodbyes and escaped back into the house. Stephen walked with us to the Jeep and got Brice in his car seat while I loaded the bassinette into the back.

"Kyle," he stopped me before I opened the front door. "Remember what we talked about."

I nodded and climbed into the car. The whole car ride home Brice talked about his day at school and going to the grocery store with Nicole. When we pulled up to the house I had Brice go inside first and distract Amanda while I got the bassinette out of the car.

"Amanda!" I called out as I walked through the front door.

"In the kitchen!" she called back.

I found my way into the kitchen and set the bassinette on the counter top and waited for her to turn away from the salad she was fixing.

"So how were your-" she stopped mid sentence. "Is that?"

"Your mom asked me to clean it up, but yeah, it's the same bassinette your dad made for you," I explained slipping my hands into my jean pockets.

"Kyle, oh my god!" She brought her hand to her mouth and tears pooled in her eyes.

"No, no don't cry." I quickly moved over to her and engulfed her in a hug.

"These are happy tears." She mumbled. "Its beautiful, really, I love it."

She dipped out of my arms and over to the bassinette. I watched as she ran her fingers over the carvings. Her were eyes still slightly glossy.

"I had completely forgotten about this," she whispered.

"Hey Bri, why don't you go get Nathan and get washed up for dinner?" I suggested and he scurried off.

"So you really like it?" I asked as I slipped my arms back around her.

"Yes, I do. Thank you so much Kyle." She craned her neck and gave me a kiss. "By the way the all the furniture for the nursery was delivered today."

"It did? How does it look?" I asked as I grabbed the dinner plates and began setting the table.

"Well that's the thing…it's not put together yet," she nibbled her lower lip, helping me set the table.

"I know what I'm doing with my weekend off," I smiled.

"You know I love you," she laughed.

The boys joined us for dinner and we all caught up on the events of each other's day. Once everyone was finished Nathan and I cleaned up the table and began washing the dishes. Amanda took Brice upstairs and gave him a bath and got him ready for bed. As Nathan dried off the dishes I noticed that he was moving a little stiff.

"You and Foss increase your training regiment?" I asked as I scrubbed one of the dishes.

"Yeah, with the weather being so nice he and I have been training a lot out on the trials near Victor Falls."

"Just remember to take it easy a little, give your body a chance to heal," I warned him, handing him the last plate.

He nodded and dried off the plate before he grabbed his cup from dinner and filled it with milk, than he grabbed two chocolate chip cookies off of the plate from the counter.

"I'm just going to work on the bike," he explained as he ducked into the hall that led to the garage.

"Have fun!" I called after him. He and Foss had come across an old motorcycle that someone tried to dump at the warehouse. Foss and I agreed that if he took the time to repair the bike than Foss would teach him how to ride.

I stood at the counter and rested my hands on the edge. My eyes focused on the bassinette still sitting on the counter top. I let myself imagine waking up at four in the morning to check on our little girl that would be here in a few months. I tried my best to picture what she would look like, Amanda's blond hair with a slight curl to it. I thought of a few years down the road when she and Brice were a little bit older. I knew that Brice would be a protective older brother. No one would be able to hurt her.

I heard Amanda's footsteps patter down the stairs and soon she appeared before me in the kitchen.

"Hey beautiful," I smirked. "How about we go for a walk?"

"That sounds nice." She smiled, however I knew she was skeptical.

I poked my head into the garage and let Nathan know we were going for a walk and asked him to keep an eye on Brice.

It was fairly warm out still; there was a nice breeze. We strolled hand in hand down to the shoreline in a comfortable silence. We sat down on the rocks that since we had move in had become our little spot. She sat between my legs and I wrapped my arms around her and rested my hands on her stomach.

"Have you thought of anymore names?" I whispered and she leaned her head back on my chest.

"I did," I could hear the smile in her voice. "What do you think about Kasey?"

"Kasey?" I repeated, "I don't know about that."

"Okay, how about Brook?" She suggested.

I crinkled my nose.

"Alright well what about you? What have you come up with?" she laughed.

"Madelyn?" I proposed

"I don't think so…" she said gently.

I was quiet for a moment thinking about various names. I wanted to pick a name that was had class however wasn't too old fashion. I ran through all the names I had came across over the years.

"What about Sophia?" I finally said.

"Sophia?" she questioned. "Why Sophia?"

"I'm not sure, I just like it for a little girl," I shrugged.

"Little baby Sophia," she tested the name out. "I like it."

"Did we just agree on a name?" I asked with a chuckle.

"I think we did," she said and kissed my cheek. "Now we just have to come up with a middle name."

"It's taken us this long to agree on a first name," I groaned.

She just giggled and laced her fingers with mine resting them on her stomach. The closer and closer it got to her due date the more real it felt. We were really going to have another kid, a little girl. Now she has a name and it just adds to the feeling. The conversation I had with Stephen earlier this afternoon replayed in my mind and it wasn't fair of me to continue to hide this from Amanda.

"Amanda, there's something that we need to talk about." I started, lamely. "I haven't wanted to tell you because I don't want to stress you or the baby out-"

"Kyle what is it?" she said, cutting off my rambling.

"Before Grace died she gave me a hard drive, and on there was a lot of information on the experiments." I paused and continued to tell her everything that I had told Stephen earlier this afternoon.

"You're…dying?" Her voice was just above a whisper. "You can't be,"

"I'm sorry…" I mumbled.

She was quiet possessing everything I had told her. I know if the roles were reversed I would be devastated. She's my wife, the love of my life, and mother of my kids. She's everything to me.

"What about the formula?" She asked. "It helped Nicole."

"When I tell Foss, Christopher and Jessi, it's one of the things we're going to look into. I've already started looking into options." I explained trying to reassure her the best I could.

"How is your body failing you, though?" she asked, trying to straighten it out in her head.

"My mind is expanding and so are my abilities however the rest of my body is having a hard time keeping up with everything," I elaborated. "Everything will work out though, I'm going to be fine."

"I can't lose you Kyle," she finally spoke.

"You won't, I'm not going anywhere," I assured her, tightening my arms around her. "I'm not going anywhere."

AN: Hey everyone! Hope you all enjoyed this new chapter. I know it was kind of short compared to my other chapters. Let me know what you think! Thanks for reading!