Hello everybody! First of all I have to apologize for the delay in updating this chapter. My plans were to update once a week, but that is getting very hard since English is not my original language and I depend on my imagination and criativity, and the availability of my beta. So, I'm sorry for the delay and I hope you guys don't get angry at me.
Today, I would love to emphasize the fact that I'm brazilian and I would like to draw your attention to the events that are happening in my country. The brazilians -finally- decided to wake up. We are tired of being harmed by a government that doesn't care about its people. We are tired of seeing our money being diverted to the pockets of corrupt politicians while our education and health are falling apart. Finally, Brazil, a Giant, awake. #TheGiantAwake #OGiganteAcordou. Thanks to you who, from your homes and countries, are supporting us.
To Ailec-12; hahah I'm sure Archie and Henry were odd haha but I needed a drawing to this story and anyone could drawing it to me, so I decided to do it. Hey, I read your opinion about who Claire is but you're not going to find out soon. sorry! Thank you for your amazing reviews!
To anapcmesquita; Hey, of course you were part of the last chapter, but there is much more coming just wait. I'm sad. You told me you would stop reading if it no contain a lot of a interation between Regina and Archie, but this is really necessary, please, don't leave me as you did to ouat! please! Lov u!
To Marina Masterson; Tamara bitch was the best! I always read your reviews laughing a lot... you are a little bitch you know? I can't contain myself and I always end up telling you what is going to happen. this is not fun! BTW, love u!
To itspb1; I hate her too! haha Hey, you said you would love to see more of Regina and Emma, you'll win it! Just wait a little... ;) see you and please, don't forget to leave your review as you and not as guest. haha See you my favorite guest!
To emanu cristina; Hum... Greg é igual a problemas, você sabe disso! Sim, você vai saber quem ela é, mas não agora, não durante um bom tempo. E sim, e verdade, odiar é uma coisa, mas desafiar e zombar é outro nível! haha Espero que goste do capítulo.
To Annie; Thank you!
Please, enjoy this chapter.
CHAPTER 24 – I ALREADY LOVE YOU
A week passed and Regina had avoided Archie for almost all week, but now she had nowhere to escape. She had an appointment with Dr. Whale and there's no chance that Archie wouldn't participate in this, he was at all of Regina's appointments.
Regina was particularly irritated with Claire, this woman was becoming more and more present in her life and she didn't like it. She remembered the day that Henry got excited telling her that he had walked with Pongo through the city because Archie was with a patient. So far so good, the problem was when Henry cited the name of such a patient. Miss Bennet. She remembered, too, the other two times she faced the woman at Archie's office and how the woman acted differently when she was in front of him. Fake! Regina was thinking.
Emma was another who annoyed Regina last week. Emma had already had the pleasure to meet Miss Bennet or Claire, as she called her, but she also didn't like that woman. She was annoying and arrogant, but Emma had to admit, she was really beautiful. Regina was also one of those women, but she was 'bareably annoying'. The problem was that Henry had told Emma about walking with Pongo and also about the woman who was in Archie's office one of the mornings that she spends with Regina. She commented about the woman but she got an angry response from Regina. It became obvious that Regina did not like her and when she asked why, Regina didn't respond. Now, Emma had a way to easily irritate Regina and she was loving it.
Archie went to City Hall to meet with Regina so that the two could go together. The car ride was silent. Every question that Archie asked, Regina answered simply with a 'yes' or 'no'. Archie was doing his best to make Regina react differently, but she only gave him a different answer when he talked about their babies. Even that wasn't enough to bring back the smile she had had on her face when she was with him in recent months.
After a few silent minutes of waiting, Dr. Whale appeared and called both into his office. Regina entered before the two. Dr. Whale greeted her with a huge smile on his face and a "Good afternoon, Regina", but she barely cracked a smile. Soon after, Archie entered.
"What's up with her?" Dr. Whale whispered to Archie.
"She is angry with me, I guess." he whispered back, grimaced and shrugged, before they entered to find Regina already sitting up on the bed.
After a few unsuccessful attempts to have a conversation with Regina, Dr. Whale began to show the babies on the screen getting all of her attention. Once the image began to appear on the screen, Archie approached, putting his face right next to the screen and said excitedly "Hi girls, do you miss me?" and gave a kiss on the screen. Obviously, he got an eye roll from Regina and a big smile from Dr. Whale.
"How can they? You talk with them every single day" she said irritably, still not taking her eyes off the screen. The two men rolled their eyes and smiled.
Archie rubbed his sleeve on the screen in an attempt to clean it and pulled back slightly. There were times when he was so focused on the image of his girls that Dr. Whale had to push him to see the screen.
Dr. Whale and Regina had the same opinion about Archie. He changed completely while he was in the ultrasound room seeing his children. In all queries, he was extremely excited, but it was funny how he suddenly could change his mood, from a very excited guy to a crying guy, in just a few seconds. It seemed that he was the one being flooded by hormones.
After cleaning Regina's belly, the doctor asked the two to sit down and started to talk about the examination results, as they always did.
"Congratulations, Regina, you are completing the fifth month of pregnancy." Dr. Whale said excitedly. "As you told me, the extra weight is already bothering your back and because of this you'll need to wear flat shoes. Avoid sitting or lying down for long periods of time."
"You say that because you aren't tired all the time." She replied.
"Ok, I'll talk about them then. Your babies have alternating sleep periods and alertness, which may or may not coincide with those of her sister. As long as they still have plenty of space to move, they'll kick and turn somersaults" he said smiling "you may start to see your belly moving."
Archie was so excited about the possibility to feel them moving a lot more than before. He could barely wait to record every movement of their girls. This would be his new hobby, poor Regina.
"Regina, we haven't talked about the kind of birth you want to do. As the results of your tests are going very well, if you want to do the natural deliv-"
"Are you crazy? I'm not going to have two babies coming out of my vagina!" She replied quickly, her eyes widening as she spoke.
"But we haven't even talked about it yet, Regi-" Archie began, but was interrupted.
"We don't have anything to talk about, there will be no normal delivery" She spoke without giving the possibility for further discussion.
Observing the interaction between the couple, Dr. Whale interrupted and started talking about the benefits of each delivery. In Regina's case, he said that a cesarian would only be necessary if something went wrong during the labor or depending on the position of the babies, but it was also something that could be modified.
Archie had done his homework. He knew almost everything about the different types of delivery for twins. He had researched it on the internet and was convinced that the healthiest birth was the natural delivery. Convincing Regina would be another story.
"You may think about the possibilities, Regina, and then you let me know-" Dr. Whale said.
"I've already thought about it. It is a settled matter, Dr. Whale. There will be no natural delivery" she said seriously.
"But Regina, it is the best mode of delivery for them and-" Archie began to talk in an attempt to convince Regina, but couldn't even finish the sentence.
"Well, I don't think that it's you who are carrying these two babies and much less you who are going to have to push them through your vagina!" She said quietly, without ever losing the class but sounding defiant and authoritative. "These babies will not be born by natural delivery. End of story" It's over. Archie knew he had missed that point and nothing in this world would convince Regina otherwise. Nothing. "Have a good afternoon, Dr. Whale" She said getting up from the chair and walking towards the door.
"Good afternoon, Regina" the doctor said and looked at Archie, who took the ultrasound pictures and ran behind the woman.
Archie reached the woman when she was almost leaving the hospital.
"Regina! Regina! Calm down, we need to talk." The man said running up to her and grabbed one of her arms, pulling her so she could look at him.
"Let me go, Archie. We have nothing to talk about!" She said pulling away from Archie's hand.
He couldn't understand why she was angry with him. He did nothing wrong and she spent last week running away from him and he had to admit that he was missing her.
"Regina" he called more calmly this time, stopping in front of the woman. "I swear, I don't know why you're acting this way with me. If you are angry because I did something, please tell me, I promise I'll try not to do it again, but this..." he threw his hands up in defeat "this isn't right... I... I've missed you the entire last week" he admitted.
Regina was looking at him, her eyes filled with unshed tears. She was angry with him, she wanted to scream at him, but she didn't know why. She could turn around and go home, lock herself up in there and just be angry. She didn't want to be alone and angry anymore. Maybe she should give herself a chance, a chance to maybe, perhaps be happy and not be angry.
She had missed him last week too. Even avoiding him, she hated to spend the day thinking about him or looking at the phone to see if it had any new message or missed call from him. Sighing a bit and still trying to stop the tears from falling, she stepped forward and hugged him.
He was still waiting for her to yell at him, but since Regina got pregnant, hugging him seemed the only way she had to let the anger fade and he could not complain, he loved having her in his arms. He wrapped his arms around her, making soothing circles on her back as she cried with her face buried in the crook of his neck.
Neither of them realized they were in the middle of the street and if they did, they wouldn't care. After a while, when Archie realized that Regina was calmer he whispered in her ear.
"Now we can talk?"
She pulled away from him, not wanting to lose the comforting touch, looked into his eyes and nodded quietly.
"Ok then! You want to go home?" he asked.
"I have to pick up Perdita, she's with Ruby" Regina said, her voice still chocked because of the crying.
"And I have to pick up Pongo. We will get them and then go to your house and we'll talk ok?" He said quietly. Regina knew that Archie wasn't asking a question, but he had a way of speaking so gentle with her, looking at her that she couldn't even get angry. She just nodded.
They took the two dogs. Archie bought some things that he knew Regina liked to eat and then he went to her house.
Once inside and after eating some things, Archie realized that Regina was digressing. He knew she was a strong woman, but he came to realize that she often tended to digress when she didn't feel comfortable in a situation. He wouldn't let it happen this time.
They were still in the kitchen, he was finishing up the dishes while she was hiding in a tub of ice cream. He smiled at the scene.
"That night... that you were in my apartment, the night that Henry appeared there... I said... I said I love you" he began, stammering a little, but he decided "and then, you disappeared, you spent the entire week running from me, Regina. I don't want to pressure you, but I just..." he was getting frustrated. He loved this woman and this woman loved him, it's not that hard. "Dammit, Regina. I know that I love you and even though you say no, I know you love me too. I know that I can't offer you the life that a Queen deserves, I know I'm not a King and I'm not even part of royalty, but I love you more than anything and this is consuming me."
Regina was speechless. She was holding a scoop of ice cream in her hand, but it was already starting to melt. He loves me. He loves me. He said he loves me. I already knew that, but HE LOVES ME! Her mind was racing wildly. She wanted to run and throw herself into his arms and say that she loved him too, but she had no such strength. Not now. Her body wasn't obeying her mind much less her heart.
After Archie's outburst, he saw that she was stunned silent. He couldn't read her emotions. He didn't know what she was thinking or if she at least was thinking about something. Actually, he didn't know if she had heard what he had said, but he couldn't miss this opportunity to talk about how he felt about her. He was taken by a courageous moment that even he didin't know he had. He just wanted to talk about all he was feeling, saying that he loved her, he wanted her, he wanted to be with her and the girls all the time.
He approached her, being followed by her eyes and kept talking.
"I want to be with you, Regina. I love you, I love you so much and not only because of our girls, but you taught me to love you in these past few months. You let me in and realize how beautiful you are. How you are entertaining, intelligent and affectionate when you love someone. I just want to be with you and I'm afraid, in fact, I'm terrified, because I never felt like this before, by anyone. I just know that you're the best thing that happened in my life. You'll give me a gift..." he sighed, his eyes began to shine when the tears began to fall, he was staring into Regina's eyes, close to her, speaking every word with every beat of his heart. "Two gifts" he laughed "the best gifts I could ever have and I don't deserve this. I love when you're in my arms, I love how your skin is so soft, I love when I kiss you. I want it every day, I want you every day. I want to be able to wake up and see you next to me, because I love you, Regina. I want to walk hand in hand with you, I want to take you to dinner, just the two of us, and I want you to want it too."
Regina had never heard anyone talk about such things, not with such intensity and sincerity. Damn bug. She rose from her chair and hugged him, her eyes and cheeks wet with tears.
"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry, Archie. I don't deserve you. I'm evil, I don't deserve you."
"How can you say that? I'm the only one who doesn't deserve you, Regina." he interrupted.
"No, Archie. You are wonderful, you're amorous and affectionate and educated, you are kind and I'm the opposite."
"No, you're not" he insisted. "I'm just asking for a chance. Give me a chance and I'll make you love me, you will see that you can love me."
"I already love you" she whispered.
Archie's heart nearly exploded with the sound of these words. He must have misunderstood. She just said she loves me, she ALREADY loves me. He looked at her a little confused, does he understood right? Doubt was away as soon as she smiled at him. A huge smile and a little embarrassed, but the most beautiful smile he knew.
He pulled her into a gentle kiss. They didn't need any more words. They had come to a conclusion that only the two of them could understand. They could take a chance. A chance to love, a chance to be happy and to become a family.
They wanted to take advantage from each other's arms, the kisses from each other, the time lost. They didn't want to split now, and they didn't. Archie didn't go home that night.
So, what you thought?
Leave me reviews. Please, follow this story and favorite if you think it is worth.
The next chapter... Oh God! I don't want to talk much about it, but it will be split into several pieces and events. I Like to think that the next chapter is the beginning of a major turnaround and the end... WHOA! I already told you too much... see you!
If you liked this chapter and want more, I want to say that I wrote an oneshot based on this chapter. This oneshot is rated M and is called "How it is to be Loved". You can go and find it in my profile. Don't forget to let me know what you think! Kisses ;D
Bárbara, xoxo