"Oh, hey! You're home"
Jess was sitting on the coach. Already in her pajama and with a big blanket over her body. She was smiling at him and her eyes had that sparkle like they always had, when Jess was happy. Nick loved it to come home to this after a day of work. It felt so domestic. So grown-up. So right.
He walked over to her and leaned down to give her a kiss.
"How was your day?", she asked, while he walked over to the fridge to get himself a beer.
"Okay. Do you need anything?", he looked over the shoulder to her.
"No. Just you"
He chuckled and went back to her, letting himself fall down on the space next to her. "How cheesy", he teased.
She leaned her head against his shoulder. "I'm hormonal. I'm allowed to be cheesy"
"Whatcha reading?", he nodded towards the open book that was laying on Jess's lap.
"Oh, just this book...", she mumbled.
Nick frowned. "Yeah, that I can see"
He reached over to steal it from her. "No", Jess squealed, but Nick was too fast. "Prenatal Learning with Music", he read the title and looked over to her, one eyebrow raised. "Jess, we talked about that. We're not gonna play Beethoven to him, just because some weirdos think that might improve his grades"
"Just let me read it, Nick", she said and tried to get it back. But Nick lifted his arm and grinned at her. "Then come and get it". He knew, she was too small to reach it without standing up. But instead of doing that, of course Jess just launched herself on top of him, trying to pull down his arm. "Give it back", she tried to let her voice sound serious, but Nick could hear the hint of a laugh in it.
Suddenly her eyes widened. She backed off and put her hand on her belly.
Nick's grin froze instantly. "Jess? What is it? Are you okay?", he asked, his hand rubbing over her shoulder.
To his relief, a big smile appeared on her face. "He's kicking again", she whispered.
She grabbed his hand and put it on her stomach, on the same place, her hand had been a second ago. Nick held his breath, waiting for something. But there was nothing. He always did that. A week ago he had kicked for the first time and since then, every time he did it, he immediately stopped as soon as Nick tried to feel it.
Nick tapped his finger softly against Jess's belly. "Hey little fella. Come on, kick me"
"He's probably mad because you don't want him to listen to classic music", she giggled.
He scoffed. "No, he's definitely not mad at me for that. Right, buddy?"
"Come here", Jess said and grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him close. Nick smiled against her lips before he raised his hand, cupped her cheek and kissed her. He knew that she liked it, when he talked to the baby. It made her...twirly, as she would call it. Not that he only interacted with the baby because of this. But it was a nice side effect.
Out of the blue, she pushed him away. But before he could complain, she took his hand and pressed it on her stomach again. Nick's face lighted up. There was a little bump against his palm. Finally! He could feel him!
"Wow...", was all he could say. He had seen his son a bunch of times in the ultra sound pictures and of course he was aware of the fact that he was a living being. But actually feeling it. Feeling his first strong movements was a whole different level. He looked up to Jess and let out a breathy laugh. "Wow", he said again.
Jess smiled and put her hand on top of his. "Can you believe that we're already past half-time?"
He shook his head. "These last 4 month went by so quickly, it's crazy. But I can't wait for him to come out there", again he tapped against her stomach.
"Yeah...me too", she said softly.
His face got a bit more serious. "We are ready, right?"
"We still have about 17 weeks, Nick", she let her hands slide through his hair and smiled , "But yes, we are ready!"
Nick remembered the conversation he'd had with Bob a few weeks ago. The whole proposal or not proposal thing was still on his mind. But he haven't had the time or courage to talk to Jess about it yet.
"Hey, what's wrong?", she asked, obviously realizing the shift in his mood.
He gave her a quick smile. "Nothing"
"Come on, Nick. You have your thinking face. What is it?"
He sighed. "Sometimes I just wonder what would be if there were no baby"
"What?", he could hear the hurt in her voice and realized how that must have sounded.
"No. Scratch that. Scratch that", he shook his head, "I don't wanna imagine a world without the baby. That's not what I meant, sorry"
"Okay", she seemed relieved.
"It's just. Without the baby we wouldn't think about certain things...but with the baby, we might think about it. Like baby names or...um marriage", he tried to sound casually, "I mean...would you want that?"
"Are you asking me...to marry you?", she asked slowly. Clearly confused about what his point was.
His eyes widened. "No! No. I just wanted to know what you think about it", he clarified quickly, feeling a layer of sweat forming on his forehead, "You know. Normally people get married and then they have kids. Not the other way around. So I wanted to ask if you want to get married before the kid is born. Or after...or never of course...I mean...it's not that I just assume you would marry me. I just...", he stopped his stammering and grimaced, hiding his face behind his hand.
"I want to marry you, Nick", he could hear her unexpected soft voice. He looked back up at her. She gave him a warm smile. "But we have time. Let's just focus on your bar opening and the kid right now"
"Okay", he whispered relieved, wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer, "That's what I thought, too"
"Good", she snuggled closer to him and put her head on his chest, "Good thing, that wasn't a proposal though"
"Why?"
"Because I want a real one. With you on one knee. And a romantic ambience. Like in the movies", she giggled.
"A real one, huh?", he chuckled and kissed the top of her head, "I'll see what I can do"
The End
Hehe, I know it's kind of an open end and I originally wanted to write one more chapter, but I just couldn't get it done. And I like the open, but happy end. (also I really wanted to finish this story :p)