I had to rewrite this chapter because it was somewhat inaccurate...And I had to fix one or two typos.
A few weeks later, she still felt nothing and was found negative on her test about seven weeks after their first -and only- attempt. She sighed to her husband after work, "Honey, I don't feel any different...Can we pretty please try again?"
He sighed, "Reese, just wait a little while. Things like this take time."
"Cyrus! I was found NEGATIVE on a pregnancy TEST!"
He smacked his hoof against his forehead and sighed, "Babe, even I know ya gotta wait until changes start."
She sighed, "You know what? Your right. Maybe I'm being a little impatient."
"Yea, that's my girl. Sweet, Innocent and might I add intelligent Reese."
"I mean, you said we could only try once so if it doesn't come then it doesn't and if it does then it does."
"Now I didn't say that."
She looked at him and slapped him in the face. He scrunched his face as she smacked him and screeched, "NEXT TIME, BE MORE SPECIFIC!"
"Well So-rry! I didn't think that you'd be all testy about it!" He groaned in agony from the rather painful smack.
"Testy? Who said I was being testy?"
"Could've fooled me."
He suddenly remembered something from a book he read in his spare time. One of the signs could be mood swings and Reese had been having quite a few of them later. One moment she was the cheerful lady everyone knew, the next she was tired and mopy then back to cheerful. As she raged he interrupted, "Reese, ya SURE you haven't found anything out of the ordinary going on with ya lately? Cause' I see a sign right now."
"What?"
"Well lately ya have been having a few mood swings..."
"Oh?"
She seemed a little calmer. He shrugged and continued, "Well, I don't...really know much other than that. I know you've been eating a little bit of fish which we both don't really like so..."
"Yeah, I guess I have been craving that stuff a tiny bit..." She admitted.
The blue alpaca quietly chuckled at how offtrack she was being. Usually she was the intelligent one who had her facts straight but now it seemed a bit like he was the wise guy.
"So, ya wanna take another shot on the test?"
She sighed with a small grin on her face, "Yes, I'll see if I did something wrong...But for now, get to bed. It's late and you need sleep."
"Yes Reese, I'll get to it."
As she walked to the bathroom, she couldn't help but recall another moment in time that involved him...And neither could Cyrus. It was about five years after they started dating and it involved two animals they never wanted to be involved with again and two animals they had just forgotten to ask to visit.
It was 11pm on a Saturday night and he was walking her home from dinner. She mentioned the idea once or twice of him meeting her folks but he simply shook it off until he was forced into it.
"Squirt, are ya sure this is a good idea?" He asked his fiance fearfully.
"I'm positive! They'll adore you!"
"Really? I'm not so sure about that with our families' feuding and all..." He reminded her.
"Oh you stop with that! I'm sure that this will get them to finally stop with all the nonsense and get along!" She thought positively aloud.
"If you say so..."
Sure it had only been nearly two hours since he proposed to her, but he already felt like he was going to be in the doghouse. Nobody knew about the Paca's and the Parker's feud that had been going on for generations; yet Reese thought it was nonsense because she was the only one -besides Cyrus- who knew why it happened.
It all happened over their great-great-great grandmothers arguing over which one of them would get to take the cutest guy in class to prom but neither one won. The "prize" caught onto their bickering about him and took Label with him, leaving them to vow to never have their families talk or even look at each other, let alone wed.
Finally, the couple had arrived at the Paca's residency. He was sweating bullets as she gently rang the door bell and listened the bell echoing through the silent house.
'Why is Cyrus being so nervous? I've never quite seen him lose his cool like this...' She thought to herself as she looked to him.
'This isn't going to go well...I just know it. Her father will get mad and when my folks find out who I proposed to they'll flip!' He worried as he heard the footsteps get closer.
Moments after his thought, the door opened and her father was standing in front of them. He looked like he had been in quite a few fights and was a bit taller than he was. at Cyrus and snarled, "Reese, what is this doing on our porch step?"
She swallowed and tried to smile a bit. She finally shared the news, "Daddy, this is my fiance, Cyrus."
He tried to keep cool as he choked, "H-Hello Mr. Paca..."
Before her father could sternly reply, a voice boomed, "Our lil' ReeRee got a fiance?!"
She blushed a bit and moments later her mother was standing behind him. Her mother was similar to her, except for a height difference. Reese sighed, "Mom...You know not to embarrass me!"
Her mother's smile soon faded as she looked at him. She growled, "Honey, your kidding me, right? Your seriously not marrying one of the Parkers."
"I am mother, and you said whomever makes you happy, despite others' opinions is alright with you."
Her father hissed, "You really said that?!"
"I-I didn't know she'd- I didn't mean- Urgh! Reese, sweetie...You know it won't work out."
She had enough of being control. She snapped, "Mother I will marry him and prove to you it WILL work out! You'll see! Even with difference in families, it can still work! A-And we'll have a wonderful family and live our lives how we want to!"
"Honey-"
"Don't 'honey' me! Come on Cyrus, I'm sleeping with you tonight!"
He gulped loudly and followed her away from the enraged parents. Her father screamed, "Get your butt back here young lady or I WILL find you!"
"Never!" She screamed back as she trotted down the street.
About half an hour later, they arrived at his house. It was much smaller than the Paca's but he still called it home. He knocked on the door as a voice yelled, "Coming!"
She looked down at the ground and sighed, "Cyrus I don't think your momma's going to like me..."
He tried to comfort her by saying, "I bet she'll love ya. Trust me, a pretty face like your's won't be rejected."
"You really think so?"
"But of course, my folks are-" He was interrupted by the door being flung open.
His mother stood there looking rather upset. Reese immediately noticed where he got his freckles from. She growled, "Where have you been young man?"
He swallowed again and tried to keep calm, "Ma', this is my new fiance, Reese Paca."
She smiled and nodded, "Hello Mrs. Parker."
His mother smiled a bit and sighed, "Well why didn't you say something? Bring the lil' darling in here!"
He sighed with relief, "With pleasure. Her folks didn't appreciate me and she ran off from them."
"Ah well, not everyone can appreciate such an adorable couple like my boy and a young girl like herself."
The pink alpaca blushed at the compliment and asked, "Um, excuse me. But do you mind if I ask where I might be sleeping?"
"Wherever you'd like to."
"Thank you. Cyrus, your folks seem like such lovely people...Unlike mine who are rather picky on who I mingle with." She sighed as she looked down at the counter
He grinned and chimed, "See? I told ya my folks wouldn't mind."
"How is it your so...so loose and do whatever I ask? I'm always so..."
"Tight and lookin' for an answer?"
"Yeah..."
"Well squirt, my folks taught me to respect a woman and her rights unless ya wanna be alone for the rest of your days."
"Ah, well they taught you well...By the way, why are you calling me squirt?"
"Well, er...I'll explain that later."
"I'd hate to be off topic, but shouldn't we be planning right now?"
"Planning? Like sleep arrangements or-"
"For the wedding you goofball." She laughed as she nudged him in the shoulder.
"Oh...In that case, later. For now, let's just stick with where your sleeping and what your gonna wear to bed."
"Good idea...Well, I suppose I could sleep with you."
"Mm. But what'cha gonna be wearing though?"
"I'll just borrow one of your shirts...If you don't mind."
"Naw, not at all!"
"Are you positive?"
"Yeah, in fact, borrow whatever ya need!"
"Cyrus, does she need somethin' to drink?" His mother hollered from the living room as she worked on her knitting.
Reese yelled back, "No, I'm good! Thank you though Miss..."
"Just call me Sarah darlin'."
"OK."
Cyrus looked her in the eye and asked, "You sure ya don't want somethin'?"
She shook her head and admitted, "Actually, I don't really eat much past my curfew."
"Really? I eat like a hog when I got off work...Of course, I work through dinner so I am also kinda tired at that time."
"Must you really work yourself that hard though? What about later when we have to balance our work and downtime?"
"We'll work it out then. But for now I just wanna get to bed. I got off work right before our date so I haven't gotten much time to sleep..."
"Oh, in that case I'll be with you in a moment..."
He leaped off the bar chair and dragged himself to the bedroom and upon landing on the bed fell asleep. Reese went back to bed almost an hour later.
Hours later, she remembered they never really did contact them again and thought perhaps it would be a grand time to visit them and prove their love did work and they were currently working on a new family. She looked to her now sleeping lover and smiled as she ran her hoof through his sky blue fur. She murmured to herself, "This time has to be it. We just gotta get this working."
He started to quietly snore as she kept telling herself they could do it. She looked at the phone and asked herself if she should call or wait. He noticed she wasn't asleep yet when he awoke as the clock read 5:41am. He sighed, "Babe, why aren't you asleep yet?"
"I've been thinking..."
"Oh lord, here we go...Last time ya said that you wanted kids, now what do ya want?"
"I was wondering if you wanted to show off?"
"To who?"
"My folks. Show them your success."
He rolled and groaned into the pillow as he recalled the eventful night. She sighed, "If it's too much we could always wait till-"
"No no, go ahead. Call them."
"You sure? I feel awfully bad for bringing you into all this trouble..."
"Yes, call them. Just find a way to go to sleep is all I ask."
"No, I think I'll call later. What if they wanna talk to you?"
"Tell em' I've gone to bed and talk to them later."
"What if they want to wait on you?"
"Reese! Do whatever you want, just lemme go to bed!"
"I-I'm not going to call..."
"Thank you, just please let me sleep."
"Alright, I'll go to sleep."
She lied down again to try to sleep by scooting herself a little further into the sheets. Cyrus was already long gone the moment she finished the sentence. She was arguing with herself in her head on if she should call them despite what she had just said or wait. She was tossing and turning and finally decided she officially couldn't sleep.
Finally, after about ten minutes of fidgeting and thinking, her thoughts got the best of her. She got up and quietly walked over to the phone sitting on the dresser. He noticed her absence from the bed and groaned, "Reese, what are ya doing? It's 6 in the morning for crying out loud."
She turned and sighed, "Calling my parents."
"Squirt, your folks won't be awake for quite some time, you sure you wanna risk waking them up?"
"Yes. That and my folks are early risers...Did I forget to mention I grew up on a farm?"
"Yes, you did forget."
"Oh...Which is why I was so happy the first day we slept in after the wedding is because all my life I woke up early."
"Why do you always remember things I don't?"
She shrugged and started to dial the number anyway.
'Please let them be awake...Please let them be awake...' She thought to herself as she heard the three rings. A voice asked, "Hello, who is this?"
She choked, "Mama?"
"ReeRee?"
"Yes, sorry to be such a bother so early..."
"Oh honey, your fine. So did that Cyrus guy leave you?"
"No, actually we're a happily married couple."
Her mother went silent for a moment and asked, "So how's that family going?"
"We're working on it and I think we're getting kinda close."
"Oh, that's good. So why did you call?"
"Well, I was wondering maybe you wanted to visit me for a bit?"
"Sure, when do you want us to be there?"
"One moment."
She covered the phone and asked, "Honey, when should my parents visit?"
He sighed, "In ten weeks so I have time to forget about this."
She uncovered the phone and told them, "In ten weeks."
Instead of a soft voice, a more husky voice asked, "Why ten weeks?"
"Oh daddy, it's so we can have time to prepare for your visit and balance our business!"
"Business?"
"Yes, we run our own little shop!"
"I bet he makes you do all the work." He huffed.
"No, actually we split the amount of work we do. I am in control of the money while my Cyguy refurnishes items to look better than before!"
"Well I bet he's not as good as you think."
Cyrus overheard it and growled, "Reese, hand me that phone."
"O-OK, Cyrus wants to talk to you."
She handed him the phone and he accepted it with a bit of frustration in his grip. Her father growled, "What do you want?"
"Look, just because I ain't the guy ya wanted your little girl to marry don't mean yaa have to be all rough on me."
"Yeah, it does."
"Also, I overheard what'cha think I am incapable of and lemme tell ya. I fix things up and I don't get any damned complaints!"
She covered her hooves as she heard her husband curse. Never in the time they were dating or married had she ever heard a single swear come from him so she knew he was upset.
"You better not be usin' that language with my little gi-"
"No, I don't. I don't use it on anybody but YOU SIR, YOU ARE SERIOUSLY PISSIN' ME OFF WITH YOUR COMPLAINTS 'BOUT ME AND REESE'S LOVE LIFE!"
"Well let's make a deal. If you don't get my precious diamond what she wants within the ten weeks of preparing for us, she leaves you. But if you do, we'll stop considerin' y'all enemies, ya hear?"
Reese sighed, "Cyrus..Please don't."
"Oh yeah? And what if I don't?"
"Then we'll go tellin' everybody what a big old chicken you are."
He looked to his fearful wife and saw she really didn't want him to do it. He sighed, "Hon', I gotta do this."
"But Cy...I don't care what they think 'bout you, I'd still love you even if it meant I were to be considered a chicken's wife around my hometown."
He looked down and thought about it. Minutes later, he sighed, "Ya know what? I ain't doing it. She doesn't want me doing it, and I'm listening to her. Call me what ya will, DO with me what ya will, but NOTHING, NOTHING in this WORLD will pull me away from my bonnie."
She smiled at what he just told her very stern father. Nobody ever had the courage to say that about her, they all feared her father and listened to whatever he said...Except for Cyrus who wasn't scared of anything, not even a scorpion whenever they got one in; he'd even let it crawl all over him despite the dangers of it and he never got bit.
So she snagged the phone from him for a moment and warned him, "Oh and daddy, I overheard what your saying about my sweet pea...And lemme tell you. He is the strongest, kindest, most honest, bravest, gentlepaca I've ever met and if you call him a chicken, then go ahead and call me one too! You don't have to visit if your gonna treat my Cyguy like that! Heck, if you try I can tell Booker to not let you in."
He was surprised on how well she was handling it; she would've been in tears at this point usually. Her father growled, "Reese, get outta this! This is between-"
"It's not between anybody! I can get in this and momma should be too! Oh, by the way, call him names and I will seriously get over there and WHOOP. YOUR. ASS."
The blue alpaca's eyes went wide at how loudly she said that. Now she was officially upset and should not have been disturbed.
"I'll get over there and wash your mouth out with soap fo-"
"Dad, I'm not a child anymore! I'm a mature, happily married alpaca and nothing is going to change that!"
"Reese, stop with-"
"You know what? I now regret making this call. Call me back when you've decided to not diss on anything I do and ready to come see me." She snarled as she hung up without letting her dad have the chance to snap back.
She saw Cyrus' jaw was hanging wide open. She smiled and chuckled as she closed it, "Darling, don't leave your mouth open, it'll stick if you leave it open for too long."
He stuttered, "I-I'm sorry, I just can't believe you can get that mad."
"With you? No but with anyone else I can if they just go that far."
"Think he'll call back?"
She shook her head and sighed, "Probably not."
"So, feelin' any different?"
"Not yet...It takes a bit, remember?"
"Oh, yeah..."
"So you finally growing on the idea?"
He blushed a bit and asked, "W-What?! Me?! N-No, just curious..."
"Come on, I know your starting to like the idea, no need to hide it..."
"Oh fine, ya got me. Just don't tell anyone, got it?! I don't want anyone thinking I've gone soft."
"Sure Cyrus...As long as your fine with it." She chuckled as she brushed some of his fur up and kissed his forehead.
"Aren't we open today or- Oh, right. Too early to worry about work."
"What's with you and work? It's like you stress about work the moment you wake up to the moment you go to bed...Can't you just take a breather and relax for a bit?"
He shook his head and sighed, "I'm just so used to waking up, getting to work and the whole routine..."
"Do I need to plan a vacation just to get you to loosen up a bit?"
"No, I can loosen up."
"Well then try to do it today, OK?"
"Alright."
She giggled and bent over till her nose met his. They both smiled as they rubbed their noses together. She was enjoying the moment like it was a precious gift. The more he thought about a vacation, the better the idea sounded. A week with no customers, no tools, just him and Reese...He finally admitted, "Actually Reese, I think a vacation wouldn't be so bad."
"Alright, so when should we go?"
"Whenever ya want."
She shook her head and sighed, "I think you should choose when...You've been agreeing with so many of my ideas I think you should pick for once."
"Hm...How's about tomorrow so we have time to make a sign?"
"Alright, and for how long?"
"A week."
"Alright... Actually, how's about we just keep the shop closed for today also...You know, just so we have a bit of time to make preparations?"
"Sounds good to me."
She chuckled and asked, "Hey, shouldn't we ask your parents if they wanna visit instead?"
"Sure, why not?"
"Grab the phone and dial then goofball!"
He smiled and picked it up as Reese lay down and fell asleep.