The morning after the day at the "spa," Trevor woke up to the sound of a gentle, soothing rain. Olivia was still asleep, and Trevor knew she would be for another couple of hours or so. He was glad she was sleeping so much now. Lord knew she needed it. For about the next twenty minutes, Trevor simply sat up in bed beside his wife, looking down at her lovingly, and listening to the rain.

If it had been another woman than his Olivia their, Baby probably wouldn't even be alive now. A lot of other women at Olivia's age would have chosen to have an abortion rather than go through the risks and discomforts and pain of pregnancy and childbirth. Not Olivia. To her, their child wasn't an unwanted burden or inconvenience, and wasn't an unnecessary risk to her health as Trevor had thought to be in the beginning. To her, the baby was a miracle she treasured and cared for, not simply because of how they'd been conceived so late in her life, but because of the fact that the baby was their child– hers and Trevor's. A priceless combination of Trevor and herself that she'd made it clear she cherished. This time that was supposed to belong to herself, that was supposed to be for relaxing and enjoying herself and her husband, instead was now going to be spent taking care of a child. Trevor knew perfectly well that many women in her position would not have been willing to make a sacrifice like that after a lifetime of so many sacrifices, but Olivia was. She was sacrificing this time for herself that she'd worked so hard and waited so long for, because to her, it wasn't a sacrifice, but a gift, and Trevor knew it. He knew how much she loved him and he knew that she loved their child because she loved him as much as she did.

As he continued looking down into her beautiful face, Trevor could tell that even now when she was asleep, even when she was resting, she was still hard at work. Practically every single moment of the day, Trevor could see it in her eyes how hard at work her mind was,always thinking about her work, her duties, her role, her position. And he could see it now as he looked down at her that even while she was sleeping, her body and her spirit were hard at work, nurturing, caring for, sustaining, protecting, loving, cherishing his baby. His baby. He had accepted it long ago that he would never be a father, and now, after all these years, it was miraculously happening for him –with the woman he loved the most. He was humbled and terribly grateful that out of all the men in the world God could have chosen for this, He chose him. It was an extremely remarkable gift to say the least.

It was just that as a husband, as the man who had truly loved Olivia all these years, he could only imagine the kind of strain this pregnancy was putting on her now older body, and it worried him. He found himself wishing more and more nowadays that there was some kind of way that men could carry a baby so that he could do all of this for Olivia and spare her all the fatigue and discomfort of pregnancy, and definitely the pain of childbirth. That was what really scared him the most. Olivia was still being stubborn about not wanting to get an epidural, and the thought of her going through the agony of birth at her age was in fact something Trevor found to be rather terrifying, and he hoped with all his heart that he could get her to change her mind before the baby came.

But even though he couldn't take any of her symptoms or discomfort for her now or the pain of her labor for her in the future, he'd already made his mind up from the very beginning that he was going to do everything he could to make this as easy as possible for her. Maybe he couldn't take the backaches or the swollen feet, but he could give her plenty of back rubs and feet rubs, which he had been doing quite faithfully. And maybe he couldn't even make it to where her time of rest could just be a time of pure rest and not a time in which she still had to work in some form or fashion because of the pregnancy, but at the very least, he could be with her now. He could let her know that while she was at work, growing and caring for their baby in her rest, he was here.

Trevor then very gently and carefully turned over onto his side and slowly wrapped his arm around Olivia. He wanted her to feel his presence, feel him next to her while she slept, but he definitely didn't want to wake her up. Unfortunately, he didn't succeed because in that next moment, Olivia whispered, "Good morning."

"Oh Olivia, I'm so sorry," Trevor said softly. "I didn't mean to wake you. Try to go back to sleep."

"You didn't wake me Olivia assured him, and then she took Trevor's hand and moved down to her stomach.

Olivia smiled at Trevor's typical fussing over her.

"So, Mommy, what would you like me to cook you for breakfast?"

The thought of Trevor himself cooking her breakfast brought another smile to Olivia's face. She always thought Trevor's cooking was even better. And although Trevor personally cooking meals for Olivia and bringing them to her was hardly an unusual thing, especially now, it still really touched her that he would go to the trouble.

"Mommy's not picky. Mommy's happy with anything. But the baby, I think, would like– "

"Let me guess. Banana pancakes."

"Bingo."

Trevor kissed Olivia's cheek then and told her, "I'll be back with breakfast in a little while, sweetheart. In the meantime, try and get a little more rest."

"Will do," Olivia said as Trevor got out of bed. And while he was on his way out of their bed, she said to him, "Thank you, Trevor."

"You're more than welcome," he called on his way out.

After she had sent him out on a banana mission from her hospital bed several weeks back, Trevor had made it clear to Olivia that he wanted her to let him know whenever she wanted a banana from the kitchen, even if it was in the middle of the night. Olivia had been nice about it and hadn't wanted to get him up in the wee hours of the morning just to get her a banana, but Trevor had insisted upon it. And through the pregnancy, he was frequently making her banana pancakes, banana milkshakes, and all kinds of different foods with bananas in them. It was yet another way in which Trevor was being so considerate, sensitive, and loving to Olivia now.

As Trevor stood at the stove cooking the pancakes downstairs, he was actually humming to himself a little. While he really hated it and yet again prevented his poor mother from getting a full night's rest, it made him so happy to be doing at least one little thing to be helpful to Olivia. Again, he really, really hated it that he couldn't take any of this for her right now, but it did bring him a lot of happiness to be doing whatever little things he could do for her as a husband to make her feel loved and to help her feel at least a little more comfortable.

The nice, gentle rain continued to fall as Olivia sat at the small table in the living area of their apartment with Trevor and ate her pancakes. She noticed Trevor wasn't eating anything, and he told her that he'd get something for himself from the kitchen later. Truth be told, he simply liked sitting at the table and watching Olivia eat. She ate with such personality. Such gusto!And while he'd never told her, the truth was, he'd always loved watching her eat.

After Olivia was done eating, and after she made a stop to the bathroom to use the toilet and take a shower, she changed into a new nightgown and climbed back in under the covers. Thankfully, she was able to get back to sleep relatively quickly, and as she slept, Trevor kept an ever-loving, ever-watchful eye on her. He loved to watch her sleep every bit as much as he loved to watch her eat.

A little while later, unable to resist the urge any longer, Trevor kicked off his shoes, climbed back into bed next to Olivia, turned on his side, wrapped his arm around her and held her close while she continued to rest.

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