Prompt: Paint
Rating: K+
Author's Note: In answer to the questions... yes. I have decided whether our lovely twosome are having a boy or a girl. (Even have the name picked out.) But no, I'm not gonna tell you... yet ;)
When Becker suggested they go to some DIY shops on their weekend off, he hadn't quite envisioned spending most of the weekend there. In his mind, he'd pictured maybe an hour at most studying paint charts and samples and wallpaper suitable for a baby's first bedroom, followed by lunch out somewhere and maybe a walk in the afternoon at one of their favourite parks.
Almost two hours later, they were still in the first store.
Who knew there were so many shades of yellow and pale green? And who knew there was a whole aisle dedicated to wallpaper and borders for children's nurseries, ranging from every colour imaginable?
Every time they seemed to find a colour they both liked and thought would look nice on the walls of the room they'd designated the nursery, they'd take a sample of it to the wallpaper aisle and search for a border that matched it.
And they failed. Every. Time.
Jess was adamant that they have some sort of border in the room to break up the colour on the walls and Becker agreed. What he didn't agree with was how she insisted the colours in the border had to match absolutely perfectly with the colour they'd chosen for the paint – it couldn't a shade lighter or a shade darker.
And then there were the borders themselves.
And the theme.
It started off with generic toys – teddy bears, counting blocks – after Jess fell in love with a border with a pale yellow background featuring those items.
Ten minutes later, after venturing back to the wallpaper aisle to check the border against the paint they'd settled on, they saw a jungle themed border that they both thought was adorable (though Becker was decidedly less vocal about it than Jess.)
After that, it was a space themed border and matching paint.
Then back to the toy theme, with a different border.
And then they stumbled on a dinosaur border that was actually quite cute and somehow seemed fitting given their day jobs and Jess was all for it at first until she got teary looking at matching paint samples and decided she didn't want dinosaurs in their baby's room just in case some dinosaur-related fate befell one of them.
So it was back to the toys… Then back to the jungle… Then onto another animal design, and then a teddy bear design, and then back to the jungle…
It might've been fun at first but Becker could see Jess getting more and more panicked as the day wore on. He knew she was a perfectionist at heart and knew how important it was to her that they get everything just right for their baby but when her eyes welled up again because she couldn't decide which shade of pale green would look best, he decided to take matters into his own hands.
Literally.
"Jess. Jessica." He gently took the trial sized cartons out of her hands and put them back on the shelves. "Look at me."
"I'm okay." She tried to smile but the affect was ruined by the rapid blinking that accompanied it to try and rid herself of the tears stinging her eyes. "Really. It's just hormones."
"Hormones and stress." Deciding he didn't care about their fellow shoppers casting curious – and some sympathetic – glances their way, Becker tugged her into his arms and cradled her against his chest. "This isn't good, for you or for the baby."
"It's fine. I'm fine." She lifted a hand to wipe her cheeks but made no attempt at pushing away from him. "I can do this. We just have to make a decision and stick with it, then buy everything and find time to decorate, and then we can get the furniture and everything will be fine."
He had a sudden image of a very pregnant Jess standing on a pair of step-ladders, straining to try and reach a spot on the wall and had to stiffen his spine against a shudder as the Jess in his vision began to wobble unsteadily atop of the ladders.
"Why don't you let me take care of decorating the nursery?" He suggested quietly, soothing a hand along the curve of her spine before letting it settle at the small of her back in a gesture of comfort. "If you trust me to do it on my own, of course."
"I trust you. Of course I trust you." She lifted her head to gaze at him, biting her bottom lip uncertainly. "But it's a big job, Hil, and it's not fair for you to do it all yourself…"
"I'll get help." There'd be no shortage of volunteers, he was sure, both from their teammates and amongst the soldiers he commanded. "And I want to do it. But it has to be a surprise. No peeking to see what I'm up to, not until it's all finished and ready for you to work your magic with the furnishings."
A smile began to play on her lips and she gave him a small nod to show her agreement with the plan. "Okay. If you're sure?" He kissed her in answer and she laughed a little breathlessly when he pulled back. "Does that mean we can get out of here and get something to eat? The baby's hungry."
Becker smirked, quirking an eyebrow. "The baby is hungry?"
"Yep." Taking hold of the hand he offered her, her cheerful demeanour restored, Jess helped him pick up the paint charts and wallpaper samples they'd collected. "The baby could really, really go for a roast chicken, stuffing and gravy sandwich from the pub around the corner from the house. With chips."
"And I suppose the baby would like mayonnaise with its chips?" He led her from the shop, pleased to be leaving the array of choices behind them.
"Of course. The baby has good taste," Jess added with a wink. "We could go for a walk afterwards?"
"Would the baby like to do that?" Becker asked with a teasing smirk.
Jess smiled, moved his hand over her stomach and tilted her head thoughtfully for a moment. "I think it would," she answered completely seriously. "And afterwards, the baby thinks you should buy me an ice cream with chocolate flake and rainbow sprinkles."
He chuckled at her antics and let go of her hand so he could wrap his arm around her shoulders. "You do know you're crazy, right?"
"I told you that when we met," she reminded him matter-of-factly. "And you decided to marry me anyway."
"Best decision I've ever made."
Continued in 'Kick'.
And funny story (not really.) I wrote and uploaded this a week ago. I just kinda sorta forgot to update the story. Sorry! PS. If anyone's in need of any Jecker (or Skyeward) fixes, there's a couple of prompt!fics on my tumblr if you're interested. I should post them here, too, but the formatting goes screwy when I try since I wrote them directly into the tumblr reply window and, well, I'm too impatient at the moment to figure it out.