I'm still her…see. Ok, so I had a request in the reviews for a fluffy chapter (plus I do like writing fluff chapters) so here it is. Please Read, Review, and Enjoy! X
AMERICA'S POV
Maxon and I had managed to set ourselves into a good little routine with Shalom (which he sometimes even followed!) which seemed to mostly include getting no sleep and the small amount of time we had together always seemed to be interrupted by Shalom crying. In fact, all of our time together was also spent with Shalom. Not that either of us were complaining! We loved him; he was our baby. But, most the time we spent with him seemed to be when he was sleeping or crying. As soon as Dr Ashlar had deemed me fit enough mentally, I was back at work with a cot placed in the corner of my room for him to sleep in whilst I worked. On the one hand, this was a good thing as I couldn't bear to be away from him for more than a few minutes, but it annoyed many of my visitors as I required hushed voices at all times inside the office and so no disputes could take place.
As a general rule, this left me to deal with the simpler things, for example menus and event planning and Maxon had to deal with the advisors, although sometimes their shouts still disturbed Shalom- but I tried not to mention it, Maxon definitely had more than enough to worry about without adding in the noise level.
I tried my best to do my part, but I could barely bare to be away from Shalom for the time it took me to go to the bathroom, the chances of me being able to last a full meeting – which often took hours – without lactating or pining for Shalom, was almost zero. Anyway, Dr Ashlar had warned me to not to involve myself in anything too stressful for the time being.
Still, I did my part by forcing Maxon to recount every detail of every meeting at meal times and when we went to bed. We came to conclusions about issues together and I liked to think that he appreciated the support I was giving him, even if I couldn't do it in person at the meetings.
Today, I collapsed into my chair in my study after putting Shalom down in his cot and opened my diary. Today was clear (which was strange as every day for the past week had been full from about nine in the morning until the early evening) except for one thing. It just said gardens, and was underlined about five times. I recognised the handwriting almost instantly and smiled. He'd cleared the day to spend more time with Shal and I.
I picked up Shalom and held him close to my body as I walked down the stairs towards the garden door on the ground floor where a beautiful black and silver pram was waiting, ready made with blue blankets and a teddy bear. I carefully placed him inside it and covered him with the little blanket before pushing it out of the door which two guards had opened. Without thinking about it, I knew where I was going and headed towards mine and Maxon's bench. I sat down, waiting for him, slowly rocking the pram with one hand and anxiously looking at the door for Maxon.
"Hello." I turned at the sound of the voice and smiled up at my husband. He leant down and kissed me firmly before straightening up and offering me his arm. I took it with both of my arms and Maxon slowly pushed the pram with his free one.
"This reminds me of the Selection." I laughed.
"I think we must have been part of different selections, see I never had a baby and a beautiful wife in mine." He chuckled, sending me a confused glance.
"No, walking around the gardens on your arm. I feel like we did it more then than we have done since."
"We've done other things." He whispered in my ear, making me blush and giggle slightly. "Or do you not remember how we got the baby?"
"Maxon, stop." I laughed. But he didn't, he began kissing my neck and he removed his hand from the pram to fully embrace me and kiss me properly. My hands ended up around his ears as I pulled him closer into me, I needed him, I felt like I'd missed him, missed this side of our relationship that we hadn't had time for recently.
A cry from the pram stopped us and we broke apart, both looking at Shalom who was wailing.
"That's his hunger cry." I sighed. "He feeds about once an hour." I lifted the baby up and lifted the top of my shirt to allow him to feed. We'd found that a shirt and skirt was about one hundred times easier for feeding at the moment. In a strange way, I longed for the dresses I used to despise.
"That's amazing." Maxon said, sounding bewildered. "I know you're everything I need, but it seems like you're everything he needs too." He smiled, but still looked a little sad.
"Not true, he needs you just as much as he needs me." I said quickly. "He is quietest when you change him. And I know that he loves his late night cuddles with his daddy because he shuts up straight away." I smiled.
Maxon embraced the two of us as Shalom finished his feed, I carefully placed him back in the pram, and we resumed our walk, this time walking hand in hand. I used my free hand to touch all the flowers and bushes that grew hear, the prickle of the thorns on the roses felt good beneath my calloused fingers.
"You know what I just realised?" I started, tearing myself away from the plants to look at my husband. "This is Shalom's first walk in the gardens. I hope he loves it out here as much as I do."
"As much as we do, my dear, I met you out here, and I will love them forever for giving you to me." He kissed me on the cheek and I blushed again. "I like to think that in nineteen years, Shalom will meet the love of HIS life out here too."
"No, no, no." I shook my head. "You aren't marrying my baby off that quickly, maybe in ninety years?" I laughed.
"Shalom Clarkson Schreave is your mother ever going to let you grow up." He asked, leaning into the pram and retrieving the baby whom he held close to his body. I shook my head.
We wandered around the gardens for another hour or so before heading inside for lunch. We decided to sit upstairs on the balcony of our room to eat so that we could enjoy the glorious sunshine whilst Shalom slept in his cot inside. After lunch, Maxon asked Marlee to watch the baby and he pulled me down the stairs (begrudgingly but after many promises that he would be sleeping and probably wouldn't even notice that we were gone).
He pulled me into a parlour on the first floor and sat me down on a sofa, which he then sat on as well.
"We need to talk." He said softly, taking one of my hands.
"What about?" I gave him a smile but could tell that something serious was happening, although I was fairly confident that it had nothing to do with our relationship.
"Children." I breathed a sigh of relief. It could have been so much worse. "I know you want more, and so do I but what about when they all grow up? Traditionally girls have been married off too other countries but neither of us want that."
"Surely they can grow up and move out or stay in the palace – whatever they want." I dismissed it.
"And for a job? We'll be training Shalom but what about the others, what will they do with their lives?"
"Follow their dreams." I answered immediately. "We're getting rid of the castes; they can do whatever they want to do. One could be a teacher, another a musician, a King, or whatever else their dreams are filled with at night." I leaned into him and he wrapped his arm around me.
"So when do we get to start on the next little dreamer?" Maxon whispered into my ear. I laughed.
"Not until Shalom is a little older." I warned, but something told me that having a baby wasn't Maxon's only ambition for the rest of the night…
Yay! Ok, that was a really fluffy chapter, will try and do something a little different next time. I'm starting to get back into this fic! BTW, any potterheads please check out my other fic Lily Evans and The Marauders! Until next time, please review. – Chescaannie x