You guys, I seariously love each and everyone of you more than y'all will ever know! You guys rock and y'all are so awesome! You guys will never know how much I love everyone who reviewed, favorited or subscribed to this story! THANK YOU THANK YOU ALL SO FREAKING MUCH!
One thing that I feel like I should mention, I know it may seem that this is really dragging on. But this is a pregnancy story. I don't know about you guys, but whenever I read a prego story, and the author jumps ahead to so many months, that drivrs me crazy! I want to know what happened in those months between point A to point B. Now, I'm not saying that this story is gonna drag on forever until Dave is about to pop, but we're at two months and we've got seven more to go. This story ain't ending anytime soon.
Now with that said, I will tell you this, this is the chapter before the real shit starts hitting fan. So, we may be moving slowly, but we are definitely moving surely.
Chapter 10: Maybe...Just Maybe
Dirk sat in the passenger seat of his own car while Jane drove them to the Egberts to update them on Dave's appointment. He would have driven them himself, but due to a little disagreement with him and his dear baby brother and the resulting meeting between his fist and the elder Strider's face; he was left nursing his bruised eye in the passenger seat.
Jane peered out the corner of her eye to catch a glance at the man seated next to her, holding an icepack up to his face, and couldn't help the giggles escaping her lips.
"Oh Dirk, when will you learn?" Jane said, slightly shaking her head.
"I won't," Dirk said, leaning his head forward, removing the icepack temporarily from his blackened eye socket.
He lifted up his shades and looked into the hold down mirror of the visor. Dave really done a number on him. Thank God for his shades. Almost his entire right eye was now dark blue. He should have known this would be the consequence of his loose lips. This wasn't the first 'badge of honor (stupidity)' that his tongue had earned him, and he'd bet anything it wouldn't be his last. But Dirk cringed at what his brother's reaction would have been had he told him what he was really thinking.
Dirk closed the visor and peered through the rear view mirror to their pouting passenger in the backseat.
"Ahhh come on Little Man, you still mad at Big Bro?"
"I'm not talking to you anymore asshole," Dave said with his arms crossed against his chest.
Like Jane at him, Dirk couldn't help the light chuckle escaping his lips, "You know love you Little Man."
Under his breath, Dave mumbled, "Love you too jerk."
"I thought you said you weren't talking to me anymore."
Nothing escapes the vulcan hearing of Dirk Strider.
To which Dave responded by lightly kicking the back of his brother's seat.
"Cut it out you two," Jane said as she pulled in the Egbert's driveway.
Jane's words apparently had fallen upon deaf ears as the two Strider siblings got out of the car and continued to pick at one another all the way to the Egbert's door.
"Just think Little Man," Dirk continued on as Dave rang the doorbell, "In a few months, you'll start having to wear bras."
"Oh haha real funny," Dave retorted raising his fist, "Now, do you want your other eye to match or do you want it alittle darker this time."
"OW!" both brothers cried out as Jane pinched them, trying to get them to behave, as the door to the home flung open.
"Hey you guys!" John happily said as he opened the door, letting the three in.
"Hey John," the three responded as they entered into the house.
"John? Who is at the door?" the four in the living room heard Mr. Egbert call from the kitchen.
"It's Dave, Bro, and Jane, Dad. Dave just got back from his appointment," John replied.
"Oh really?" Mr. Egbert said walking into the living room, "David, how did your appointment go?"
"It went good," Dave said reaching into his pocket to retrieve the scroll of sonogram photos, "I thought y'all might wanna see these."
The father and son stared down at the photos wide eyed before John let out an inhuman screech.
"AAAAWWWWWWEEEEEE!" John squealed as he grabbed the photos right out of Dave's hand and held them up to his face.
"Rose! Jade! You gotta come here!" John cried to the top of his lungs.
"Oh God, they're here?" Dave said, knowing what was to come as he heard the two girls stampede into the living room.
"What?! What is it John?!" both girls said as they ran into the room, expecting a complete calamity to be awaiting them.
"Look! Dave has pictures of the baby from the ultrasound!" John said holding the pictures up.
Like John, Jade let out a thrilled squeal and quickly rushed over to the bunch to get a look at the photos.
And Dave almost smiled when Jade embraced him in a not-so huge hug.
But however, he did return the favor and returned the hug.
"I got to hand it to you Strider, you've got a strong and healthy baby from the looks of it," Rose said looking at the pictures.
Dave couldn't help but smirk alittle, "Thanks, Lalonde. That really means alot to me."
The three adults in the room couldn't help the smile that found itself on their faces.
"It truly is amazing, how we all start out like this," Mr. Egbert said looking down at the picture he held in his hand, "How something so small, can grow to become something so wonderful."
"Yeah," Dirk happily sighed, "It really makes ya wonder, doesn't it?"
After all the kids had run up to John's room to do their own thing, the adults had a seat in the dining room.
"How was David's appointment?" Mr. Egbert asked.
"It was good," Dirk spoke up, "the doctor said that he was doing everything right and that both he and the baby was healthy."
"That's good, that's really good," Mr. Egbert said, taking a sip of his coffee.
Ever since they all found out that Dave was pregnant, he's been trying to cut back on smoking; limiting it only to his parlor room, so while Dave was over there, he wouldn't breath in any smoke that would harm both him and the baby. So for the time being, he replaced his addiction to nicotine for caffeine.
"Jane, how has everything been going with you? Are you keeping them both in line?" Mr. Egbert asked Jane.
Jane shook her head as she out her head in her hand, "I've been doing good, thank you for asking. But I'd like to ring a couple of necks sometimes, but other than that, I'd doing fairly well."
"Oh my," Mr. Egbert chuckled, "What have those two been doing this time?"
"Just picking at each other. This morning, Dirk learned the hard way why he should listen to that little voice in the back of his head that tells when to keep his mouth shut," Jane tried to refrain from giggling as she recalled that little incident.
"I didn't learn shit," Dirk bluntly stated, "I'd still do it."
"What did you do?" Mr. Egbert couldn't help but ask.
"In the doctor's office, Dave asked the doctor why his tits where feeling weird, and the doctor told him that it was because his milks sacks were growing. And that since they were growing, his tits were gonna get bigger. And after the visit was over, I kinda slipped into 'Dirk-Mode'."
"He told Dave that 'since his boobs were getting bigger that he could now play with his own titties'," Jane finished for him.
Mr. Egbert almost choked on some of his coffee. He couldn't, yeah he could believe that Dirk would say that to his brother. It's no wonder where Dave gets his smart mouth from.
"And this was the result from it," Jane said lifting up Dirk's sunglasses to reveal his little present for bad behavior.
"Hey!" Dirk said, quickly swatting his shades back down.
But the damage was done, Mr. Egbert got a good look at the healthy shiner that adorned his face. And Mr. Egbert couldn't stop the chuckles from escaping, no matter how collective he tried to make himself out to be.
Now that they got all that out of the way, it was time that they had a serious talk.
"So has it been decided? Is David going to give the baby up for adoption?" Mr. Egbert asked.
Dirk took a loud sigh, he really didn't know how to give an honest answer to that question right now. He didn't even feel like he should be answering it. This was Dave's baby, and ultimately HIS decision. If Dave really wanted to give the baby up, Dirk didn't feel like he had the right to stop him. But deep down, Dirk wasn't so sure that even Dave knew what he wanted to do.
The only answer Dirk would give to Mr. Egbert's question was, "I really, honestly, don't know Dad."
After he asked the question, Mr. Egbert realized that wasn't exactly the best question to be asking Dirk. So he tried another approach.
"Let me ask you both this; what do you think would be the best thing for this baby?"
Before Dirk could open his mouth, Jane immediately jumped in and answered the question head on.
"I think the best thing for the baby would be that it would be raised by it's real family, where we know it will be raised with all the love and support that it needs and deserves."
Both men looked at the fired up woman with surprised. Jane seemed to be more into this that either of them had thought.
Jane had something she needed to tell Dirk, something that she needed to get off of her chest.
"Dirk, I have something to tell you," Jane spoke calmly, "One of the reasons why I was so eager to help you guys, is because I didn't, and don't want Dave to give up the baby. I know how selfish that sounds of me, and I am so sorry. I thought that maybe I could convince Dave to keep the baby somehow. To tell him, show him that he doesn't have to give it up. To show him that there is a family right here that is more than willing to help him raise it. We could do it Dirk! Me, you and him could all raise this baby. Cynthia wouldn't want her first grandchild going to some stranger! She would want us to raise it, as a family!"
Jane knew what she just admitted may very well land her in hot water with Dirk, but she felt like he needed to hear it.
Honestly, Dirk wasn't half surprised by what he just heard come out of Jane. The other half of him was surprised that she would actually think about and try to pull that off, without him catching on first.
"You honestly thought I wouldn't catch that baby catalog on the table as a hint and a half?" Dirk couldn't help but smirk, "You want to sneak something by me Janey, you have to do better than that."
"You, you knew along?" Jane smirked, relieved.
"Janey just because I'm blond doesn't mean I'm dumb."
"Why didn't you say something?"
"A-because I wanted to hear it from you," Dirk said," and B-because I was hoping that you could convince him to keep the baby," Dirk finally admitted.
"I know how you feel Janey. I wish Dave would reconsider giving up the baby. And I know full well that Mama would want us to raise it. And you're right, Janey, we could raise the baby as a family. But I just couldn't have asked something like that from you."
"Oh Dirk," Jane embraced Dirk in warm hug, "You know I would be more than happy to help raise the baby. I helped raise Dave when he was a baby as if he were my very own, why shouldn't I help him raise his?"
For the first 18 months of David Jacob Strider's young life, Jane took the roll of his mother. It started the night he was brought into this world after the car crash had claimed him mother's life. She was there with Dirk in the waiting room after Dirk got the call that Cynthia had been in a wreck, they all were. They wrapped their arms around him in support after Dirk gave the nurse permission to do what they can to save his baby brother. And they were there for Dirk when he got to hold his baby brother for the first time.
When Jane first saw little baby Dave, he was so tiny. He could fit the palms of his brother's hands. He was alive but barely, and if he didn't get the milk that he needed, he too would die. Jane knew baby formula wasn't what Dave needed. He needed nutrient filled, mother's milk. She took hormones, massaged her breasts, done everything she could to make her body lactate, so she could provide the milk that Dave so desperately needed.
And one day the following week after Dave's delivery, Dirk walked into the nursery of the hospital to find Jane holding baby Dave in her arms, breastfeeding him as she rocked him in the nursery's rocking chair.
That was one of the sweetest memories that the two share together, that moment when Jane looked up and saw Dirk standing in the doorway with tears rolling down his face with an ear to ear smile.
Even though the two went their seperate ways long ago, who says they can't cross paths again and continue down the same road?
"Dirk, Jane, I want to let you both know; that if Dave doesn decide to keep this baby, I will be more than willing to help anyway that I can. If you all need me to watch the baby sometime, I will be more than happy to do so. Just let me know," Mr. Egbert said sincerely.
Both Dirk and Jane smiled, "Thank you so much, we greatly appreciate any help that we can get."
Dirk felt good that he and Jane were now on the same level. There was just one person who exactly wasn't. Dave.
Sure, they were just fine with the idea of keeping and raising and baby; but what if Dave wasn't? What if he really didn't want to keep the baby? There's no way Dirk could force Dave to keep the baby if he felt like he should give it up. Dirk just couldn't do that, wouldn't do that to his baby bro.
If they wanted to keep this baby, they both would have to get through to Dave.
"Oh my gosh!" Jade continued to squeal like a little Japanese school girl, "I totally hanging this on my wall, or maybe put it in a picture frame by my bed. What do you think Dave?" Jade asked a less than enthralled Dave.
"I don't care, do what ever you want with it," Dave said, pretending to not really giving a single shit what Jade does with the one of the pictures from the ultrasound.
"Ah come on Dave, aren't you in the least bit excited?" Rose asked.
As bad as he hated to admit to himself, somewhere deep inside of him, he secretly like Jade. Getting all excited and anticipated over the little bungle of joy, brewing inside of him.
"I'll be excited in 8 months whenever all this is over and done and I can go back to my life," Dave lied.
"Ah come one Dave, don't be like that," Jade tried to cheer him up, "Just think in 7 more months, you're going to be a daddy!"
"Please, for the love of God," Dave threw his head back, "Do not say that. EVER, again."
"Alright fine," Jade said, "Since you're growing boobs, how would you like us to call you mommy instead?"
The room erupted in laughter.
Oh God, after they all went up to John's room, Dave literally did not hear the end of that.
"Dave when I suggested that you should put on a pair of fake boobs and dress up like a girl so no one will suspect you, who knew the only thing you needed to do was skip the first step," Rose said.
" .Lalonde!" Dave said, " .HELL!"
"And don't you dare say it!"
"Lady's first," Rose quietly whispered.
To which Dave responded to Rose's statement by throwing one of John's pillows at her face.
To which Rose responded by promptly dodging the pillow and then threatened him by saying, "I'm not afraid to beat you."
"Bring it."
"Rose! He's pregnant," Jade came to Dave's defense.
"His face ain't pregnant."
"All right, break it up you two," John said stepping in between the two blondes, "Do you two need to go in the corner?"
"Bite me John," both Rose and Dave said at the same time.
After the two calmed down for a bit; the four, well three, decided to shift the discussion, elsewhere than from Dave's growing knockers.
"What do you guys think it will look like?"
"I think Dean would be a cute name if it's a boy, that or Duke."
"What do you hope it is Dave?"
"Whoa whoa whoa," Dave said, holding his hands up in defense, "Stop with all the questions. I don't want to hear them right now."
"Ah Dave," Jade said cuddling up to him, wrapping an arm around his belly, "Don't be a party pooper, let us have our fun."
"What fun? By torturing me?"
"Your mommy or daddy is being a spoil sport, kick him," Jade told Dave's unborn baby as she rubbed his belly.
Dave couldn't help but smirk as he run a hand through Jade's long black hair.
After a moment, Jade leaned her head down on Dave's belly and once again asked, "What do you hope it is Dave. I hope it's a little girl."
Dave sighed, "I don't care what it is, just so long as it's healthy and full term," Dave honestly said.
"Dave?" Jade asked.
"Yeah?"
"If, if it is a girl, and since it's due on your mama's birthday, you could name it after her," Jade quietly said.
"Jade, give it up," Dave said sitting up, "I'm going to let it's 'parents' name it, no matter if it is a boy or a girl. I'm giving it up and that's final!"
Not Jade, nor anyone else spoke another word or few minutes.
Until Jade finally looked up and looked Dave in the eye and told him, "Your brother didn't give you up."