It was only a matter of steps from the kitchen to the bedroom, yet it felt as if a hundred different thoughts had flown through his mind.
Lori was pregnant. They were having a baby. Finally!
More than the excitement and fear of becoming a father, John felt like a complete ass for the way he'd treated Lori earlier in the evening. She'd had life-altering news – news that they'd hoped to hear for years, and what had he done?
He'd brushed off her concern for him as if nothing had happened. A woman had shot him for God's sake!
But why hadn't Lori told him the moment he'd walked through the door, didn't she think he'd want to know that, after years of heartache and disappointment, their dreams of starting a family were finally coming true?
He felt almost possessive as he entered the bedroom, watching his wife lying on her side, one hand cradling her stomach and the bump that had yet to show on her body. It was his nature, as it was his father's, to protect the people he loved and John knew that, without a shadow of a doubt, he would guard Lori and their unborn child with his life.
She looked so sweet lying there that he almost didn't want to wake her, yet he knew he had to. Even if it was the middle of the night, there were plans to be made. Nine months would fly by far quicker than either of them could comprehend and so it made sense to make plans immediately.
Reaching out a hand to shake her gently awake, John stopped, hearing a patrol car scream down the street and around the next block. It occurred to him then that they'd have to find a new place to live, somewhere that was quieter, somewhere that was more suited to bringing up a child. It was a bittersweet thought, they'd started making their life here, hell, he'd grown up in this very neighbourhood. It would be tough to leave, but their unborn child was the only thing that mattered now.
Taking a deep breath, John shock her shoulder gently, smiling at the peaceful look on her face. When his gentle shaking yielded no discernable results, he tried a different tack….
"Mmmmmm."
He couldn't keep the satisfied grin from his face as Lori turned sleepily toward him. God, she was so sexy when she was half-asleep!
His fingers danced over that sensitive area of hers and this time her eyes opened. Lori gave him a half-amused, half-annoyed look as he lay next to her, propped up on one elbow. Grabbing his left wrist, she turned it slightly to glance at his watch.
"It's three in the morning, don't tell me you're horny."
His reaction to her comment was unexpected. He looked at her seriously, saying nothing.
"Johnny, is everything ok?"
He remained silent, continuing to look at her. It was enough to make her sit up in bed in concern.
"Why didn't you tell me?" John's voice was so quiet it was almost a whisper.
Her mind still foggy from sleep, Lori couldn't quite comprehend the question.
"What are you talking about?"
She felt a stab a guilt flash through her chest at the brief look of hurt on her husband's face. This was meant to be a joyful time for them, they were meant to be happy!
"I went into the kitchen…I saw it, Lori."
"I wanted to tell you – "
"Then why didn't you?"
She began feeling genuinely annoyed. It wasn't as if he'd been in the most agreeable of moods when he'd come home this evening.
"I was going to, but you were too tired, remember?"
He could tell by her clipped tone that Lori was pissed with him.
"You should have said something – "
Letting out a frustrated breath, Lori crossed her arms over her chest, looking at him out of the corner of her eye. "What did you want me to do, have a neon sign above my head saying 'I'm pregnant'?"
John couldn't help it, the imagery that Lori's words had created was enough to make him chuckle.
"Don't laugh at me," she huffed, a smirk pulling at her own lips.
John placed a hand under the sheet, resting it on her still-flat stomach. "Has anyone told you how sexy you are when you're angry?"
"Has anyone told you how irritating you are?" Her words were meant to be harsh, but John's wandering fingers and mouth were distracting her from the matter at hand: being mad at him.
There was no point in trying to fight it as he carefully leant over her, his lips searching for hers yet Lori had the feeling that he was holding back on giving into their shared desire for one another. Taking the initiative, she pulled him forcefully on top of her.
"I'm only a couple of weeks gone, you're not going to hurt me."
"But what if – "
"Just shut up and kiss me."
It was all the encouragement John needed as he kissed her passionately, his hands roaming up and down her naked body, both of them giving in to the passion and joy that things were finally coming right.
The liquor burned Andy's throat as he downed the contents of the glass in one, signalling for the bartender to pour him another – his fifth in the last hour.
"Don't you think you've had enough?" the bartender asked, his hand hovering over the bottle of scotch that Andy had almost single-handedly emptied.
Andy scowled at the young man, yet his unfocused gaze took some of the intended sting out of it. "I've had enough when I say I've had enough…" his eyes seemed to roam from left to right until another thought popped into his addled mind, "…..and I haven't had enough. Now pour."
The bartender shrugged his shoulders, shaking his head as he poured his customer another drink. Tuesdays always had been their slowest day, there were only a handful of other patrons in the room and several of those had their attention firmly placed on the exotic dancer at the far end, writhing up and down on a chair as the men leered and threw dollar bills at her.
Andy paid the scantily-clad woman and the other patrons no attention, turning the glass of scotch round and round as he ruminated on the day's events.
He'd woken up this morning feeling like a dog had slept in his mouth, his pants half off and his shoes still on. It had to have been a heavy night, yet Andy could remember little past leaving his favourite bar at closing time.
Maybe that was the reason why he found himself in such a dive now. The bartenders at his local drinking hole had begun showing concern over the volume of scotch he was getting through each night. He wasn't even sure why they cared, surely a guy wanting to drink them dry was a good thing, wasn't it?
He didn't need the disappointed looks and lectures that they were giving him – it reminded him too much of his ex-wife and the way that she would vacillate between shouting at him and trying to shame him into giving up drinking.
The Strutting Peacock seemed as good a place as any to drink himself into oblivion and the less people there were, the better. He hated crowded bars. Being an alcoholic was a one-man sport and that was just fine with him.
It suddenly hit him how close he'd been to losing John today; it was a thought that sobered him instantly.
How could he have got it so wrong this morning?
Tired, irritable and already craving a drink, he'd all but goaded Dorothy Brooks into firing that gun. If it hadn't been for John's quick thinking, he knew that the situation could have ended up being so much worse.
But John had ended up getting shot because of him. It was only fortune or fate that John had walked away with nothing more than a flesh wound. The image of John's blood-soaked shirtsleeve caused a shiver to run down Andy's spine and was enough to make him reach for the glass tumbler in front of him and tip its contents forcefully into his mouth.
Swallowing the biter liquid with a wince, Andy knew that he'd never forgive himself if anything happened to his partner. Sure, John could be irritating at times but he loved the man like a son and John had always been good to him – covering for him when he turned up late, finishing his paperwork so that he could leave early. Not only that, the kid was a damn fine cop - his instincts on the job were second to none.
Everyone knew the story of John's father and how he'd been killed in the line of duty; it stuck painfully in Andy's throat to think that he was the reason that history had almost repeated itself. He was becoming a liability to his partner, he couldn't see much longevity in their working relationship if things carried on the way they were.
Something had to give. John would never ask for another partner – the man was far too loyal for that. Maybe the best thing he could do for John was to take the choice away from him and ask for a transfer himself. Sure, John wouldn't understand why but at least the kid would be safe from having a fuck-up of a partner like he did at the moment.
He'd miss working with John. Maybe one more drink for old time's sake would be the ideal way to salute the good times they'd shared as partners. Signalling the bartender for another, Andy silently toasted to his partner's continued good health.
Putting the finishing touches on dinner, Lori looked at the clock on the kitchen wall, wondering where John had got to. He should have been home more than an hour ago and it irritated her that his being late hadn't even warranted a phone call to her.
It was their anniversary for God's sake, the least he could have done was call her and tell her he'd been kept late!
Stirring the sauce with more force than was strictly necessary, her attention was caught by the phone ringing in the next room. Turning the heat on the hob down, Lori wiped her hands on a towel and made her way to the other room to answer it.
"John, you better have a damn good reason why you're not home right now," she answered without even asking who might be on the other end.
"Mrs Kelly?"
She froze. The caller sounded clinical and detached. She knew then that something was wrong. Terribly wrong.
Words seemed to fail her, but finally she managed a response. "That's me."
"I'm calling from Lennox Hill Hospital, we need you to come down straight away."
She knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that something had happened to John – he was the only person that she was next of kin for.
"What happened? Is he ok – "
"Mrs Kelly, the doctor will be able to tell you more when you get here, but it's important that you come as quickly as you can."
The cab ride passed in a blur. She remembered little of her journey. Standing outside the hospital, for the first time in her life, Lori genuinely felt the painful pangs of fear crawl through her.
With little idea of how she'd got there, Lori found herself standing outside the ER department, a number of police officers turning around to look at her as the double doors swung shut behind her. Her eyes scanned the room for a familiar face in the crowd, eventually landing on John's partner, sitting on one of the plastic chairs with his head in his hands. The closer she got, the more blood she saw on his clothes. She knew then that it was bad.
Andy seemed to sense her presence. Lifting his head, he looked at her in desperation.
"Laura."
Her legs began to shake as she looked at his pale face, his hands still covered in what she knew was her husband's blood. Somewhere in the distance she heard a police radio and the words 'officer down' through the handset. She knew they were talking about John.
Her John – her husband, the father of her unborn child.
Everyone stopped as a doctor made his way into the waiting area, the way his shoulders were slumped was all Lori needed to know that John was dead.
Her legs crumpled beneath her as she fell to the floor, "No!"
He'd been too jazzed to go back to sleep after discovering that Lori was finally pregnant. Even their impromptu little celebration had done little to quell his excitement at the prospect of becoming a father for the first time.
He'd been content to watch her sleep for the last few hours, his eyes flicking every so often to the picture of the two of them when they'd first met. The photo had been taken with an old disposable camera on one of their earliest dates, both of them grinning like stupid fools in love.
Several years later and the same could still be said for them – just two stupid fools in love. Except this time, they were making a family. Soon it would be three faces instead of just two in those photos and John knew without a doubt that their new home would be filled with pictures of their little bundle of joy.
Sure, this week hadn't had the most auspicious of starts but it was looking like it would end very well indeed…
Lori's fidgeting caught his attention. He turned to look at her, smirking at the thought of her dreaming of their most recent romantic liaison. The smile vanished when he saw the tears rolling down her cheeks.
He'd been about to wake her up when she shot up in bed forcefully, screaming.
Authors' Note: This is a continuing story from the writing team of WriterJasmine and Teeheehee1234. It's meant to be a fun attempt at writing a story together based on words that readers provide to us on a weekly basis. For more information about this, please read our profile and please feel free to participate. The 'bolded' words throughout the story are words that some of our reader friends sent our way this week. The words utilized are: possessive; bittersweet; life-altering; longevity; camera; officer down; block; exotic dancer; neon; auspicious.