Chapter 31- Fitting in with the Fortress
A/N: I wrote this whole thing today. It's a little short, but I hope you like it! Plus, I feel accomplished being back on track!
"Hey babe. How are you tonight?" Barney asks, finally getting home after a long day of work. He is curious to see what Robin's day has been like, because she mentioned something this morning about wanting to shop for the baby today.
"I think I found the perfect furniture," she grins happily, the laptop still on her thighs in front of her ever expanding bump. "Look," she says, as she motions him over.
He kicks off his shoes, shrugs off his jacket and hangs it up before climbing into the bed with her. He greets her with a quick kiss on the lips and a kiss on the bump before turning his attention to the computer.
One look and he can't help but let his mouth drop open in shock, because she is absolutely right. It is perfect. It is feminine, yet, clean and feels like it belongs in the fortress. He has been wanting a way not to have to paint the room, and this crib will help tie it all together.
Maybe, he thinks, he shouldn't care about the color of the walls of their apartment so much, but he just can't bring himself to ruin the walls of the Fortress with the color pink. Especially not after what Quinn did. Pink walls just somehow remind him of that horrible point in his life where Robin wasn't his, and he was just trying to get by with the next closest thing he could.
"I love this photo of it," Robin tells him. "It's a crib that turns into a toddler bed and then a full size bed. But it's the right touch of girly and still fits in with the Fortress," Robin tries to convince him. "Plus, it looks gorgeous with these pink comforters and pillows."
The crib is a simple, white piece of furniture with grey accents. Three sides of the crib feature plain horizontal white top rails, and thin white cylinders running vertically as slats, perfectly matching the already clean lines of the apartment and room. But it is the fourth side, or the showy side that makes it the perfect crib. The fourth side is solid, painted wood, with almost the texture of marble. The top is about a foot higher than the rest of the crib, but there are arches cut out on both sides to match the top of the rails. The painted wood is trimmed with a delicate white woodwork, outlining the accent. This showy side is what forms the headboard when it is converted to a bed. There is also a small piece of the same type of painted wood on the opposite side of the crib, just to accent, which makes the footboard of the eventual bed.
"Let's order it right now!" Barney declares.
"But Barney! We haven't-" she starts to exclaim before correcting herself calmly, "well, YOU haven't even cleaned out the room yet. How can we order it? We don't have a place to put it."
"Well, it says right here it takes six weeks to get here, and I love it. So what is the point in not getting it now? Plus, you don't know how early you might be," he challenges her.
"Okay. Okay. We just bought a crib then," she smiles at him happily.
The idea of buying a crib makes the whole thing real to him. Soon his suits will be replaced by a little girl.
"How about the other furniture? Changing table, dresser, rocking chair. There are things that match," Robin adds, changing tabs and windows on the computer and before turning it to him.
"Let me see," he says, grabbing the computer.
She shows him the crib's matching dresser, a white three drawer piece. It is about waist high, with colored drawer panels painted to match the grey on the crib, and six delicate ring drawer pulls down either side of the drawers.
"I thought that we could get two of them for the room, and get the converter for the changing table for one of them. That way, we have more storage room. Not to mention, we have the space," Robin suggests.
"That sounds good, but what do you mean by a converter?" Barney asks.
"It's a piece that you add onto the top to hold the changing pad," Robin says.
"Oh. I like it. And the chair?" he asks.
"I picked this one."
It is a weathered-grey, upholstered chair, but it looks nothing like the normal plush chairs sold for nurseries. It fits the classic look of the fortress, yet still looks comfortable. It is a squared off piece of furniture in its upholstery, with every edge at a soft right angle. The high back is slightly angled. The narrow armrests angle back to meet the back at a right angle. On top of it, the chair is a glider, perfect for rocking the baby back to sleep.
"Wow," he whispers, surprised by her finds today. Somehow he expected the furniture to be much harder to find. He even expected her to fight him on the whole painting issue. "You're right. It is perfect. It's all perfect."
"We just bought something for the baby," Robin murmurs, smiling like an idiot.
"Yes, yes we did."
10/16/14
This week, week 22, baby girl is the size of a papaya. She is almost 12 inches, and might even weigh over a pound. Apparently, she is sleeping in regular cycles, although it doesn't quite feel like that yet.
This week, my husband and I decided on baby furniture. It seems soon, but we didn't expect to find the perfect items on the first day of looking. I found one set I fell in love with on Monday, and he loved it when he got home, insisting that we buy it right away. The crib we found is just perfect to fit our apartment, and yet feminine enough to be girly for her growing up. Plus, it will convert into a toddler bed and a full size bed when she needs it. We also bought two dressers, one of which we will use as a changing table, and a glider and ottoman set. Even the glider is something that we can use in the rest of the apartment.
Thankfully, it won't be a problem to order it this early, since the items are custom order, it will take at least six weeks to even be delivered. Plus, being on bed rest, I am likely to deliver early, so the earlier we get this process done, the better.
That leaves just six weeks for my husband to clean out the room. I wish him all the luck in the world. And hopefully, we can choose a name just as fast.
Also, does anyone have a good cure for stretch marks?