Chapter 18

Time seems to fly by so fast. It's not long before I'm eight, almost nine months into my pregnancy. Asher seems like he's kicking a lot, and I've been experiencing contractions, which I'm not particularily a fan of.

     "You look like you have a big ball under your shirt or something," Edward pointed out that night at dinner.

     "Shut up," I mumbled, stirring around my stew with my fork. Edward was already on his third helping.

     "Are you feeling okay?" he asked. "You seem a little out of it tonight."

     "Just tired," I replied, stifling a yawn. "I'm fine." The mood swings were another thing I wasn't a fan of.

     "If you say so," Edward said, getting ready to shovel more food into his mouth. "Just remember, you have to eat. So, eat up."

     I wasn't hungry. But, just to make Edward happy, I started eating. I cleaned half of my plate in the time it took for Edward to finish his fourth helping of stew.

     "Men and their stomachs," I grumbled. "their bottomless, bottomless stomachs."

     "And we're proud of it," Edward said, picking up his plate and mine. He didn't have to ask if I was done or not; he knew.

     "So," he asked me from over by the sink. "how was your day?"

     "Boring," I said. "I was cooped up in here all day."

     "So, how about tomorrow we go out and do something?" he asked. "Like, I dunno, just walk around Resembool. You're not due for another month, so excercise would be good for you at this point."

     "Fine, fine," I said, standing up with dificulty, gripping onto the table for support. "I'm going to bed."

     "Hold on," Edward said, setting down the plate he was cleaning in the sink and reaching for a dish towel. "let me help you up the stairs."

     I stood by the stairs and waited for him while he dried his hands. When he was done, he walked over to me and took one of my hands, a smile on his face. I didn't have the energy to smile back. My mind was starting to feel foggy with fatigue, another side effect to the pregnancy that I wasn't a fan of.

     "So, June 20th is the set date?" Edward asked as we started up the stairs.

     "Yep," I said. "right around the corner, isn't it?"

     "Only a few weeks away," he said, helping me up that final step. "I can't wait."

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I opened my eyes the next morning and felt strange. Strange, as in I was the only one in the house. I got out of bed, with difficulty, and quickly got changed into day clothes.

     After that, I made my way down the stairs and called Ed's name. He wasn't there.

     "Great," I muttered, taking a seat at the kitchen table. "he left me." I was about to smack my head against the table out of frustration, when I heard a car horn honk outside.

     I got up to investigate, and when I opened the door and stepped out onto the porch, Edward was sitting in the drivers seat of a car.

     "Morning!" he called, a big grin on his face. Alphonse was in the passenger seat, the same grin on his face as well.

     I walked down the stairs and stood in front of the car, looking it over. Edward got out and walked over to me.

     "Do you like it?" he asked.

     "How much?" I asked.

     "How much what?"

     "How much did this cost?"

     "Not that much," Edward said. "Relax, we still have plenty of money for when Asher's born, don't worry." Alphonse climbed out of the car and sat on the hood.

     "I like it," he said.

     "I was supposed to buy this months ago," Edward went on. "and I just got around to it. I figured we needed it to take you to a hospital. The closest one is ten minutes by car. An awful long walk."

     "I'm glad you bought it then," I said. I turned and was about to go inside, when my stomach tightened, and another contraction began. I gasped and gripped onto the railing of the porch and sat down. They had never hurt that bad before.

     "Ed-Edward--!" I shouted, squeezing my eyes shut against the pain. My hand entwined with his AutoMail, and he was right next to me, his left arm around my shoulders, telling me over and over again it was going to be alright.

     It eventually ended, and I was damn glad when it was over.

     I slowly opened my eyes, aware that my eyes were watering, and a few tears rolled down my face.

     "That was a really bad one," I whispered.

     "I know," Edward whispered back, hugging me. "I know."

     Alphonse looked in the opposite direction.

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"Are you and Ed still fighting?" I asked Alphonse when Edward went inside to get me a glass of water, even though I didn't want it.

     "No, of course not," Alphonse said, sitting next to me on the porch stair. "we were never fighting in the first place. And if you're thinking of when I punched him...well, that was months ago. The past is in the past."

     "R-Right." There was a silence that felt like hours had gone by. Edward finally came back out with the glass of water, and I sipped at it, unsure of what to say.

     "So," Edward said. "how's work, Al?"

     "Nice and boring," he said. "Surprisingly, there hasn't been much crime and murder lately in Central City. I'm not sure about the other cities, though."

     "Strange," Edward said.

     "But, good, right?" I said. "It's good that things are quiet down there."

     "Or not," Alphonse said. "I don't know, it just doesn't give me a good feeling." He shook his head and looked at me, smiling. "Isn't your baby due in just a few weeks?"

     "June 20th," I said, sipping again at my water.

     "Fun," he said. "What about the wedding? You don't even have a ring yet."

     "Al," Edward said, trying to hide his irritation. "we decided to wait until after the baby is born to get married. It costs a lot of money, you know."

     "Okay, okay," Al said, laughing. "simmer down, I was just trying to annoy you."

     Edward was starting to get annoyed. I set down my glass of water and was going to tell Edward to knock it off, he was only trying to bug you, when another contraction hit, and it seemed even worse than the first one that day.

     I gripped hard on the railing and found Alphonse's hand with the other, gripping his hand hard. If he cried out because I squeezed it too hard, I didn't hear him. I was in too much pain to recognize anything else.
     When it ended, I started crying.

     "Calm down," Edward said, walking around and kneeling in front of me, taking both of my hands. "It's only a contraction. You've felt worse pain before, haven't you?"

      I didn't answer, I was still coming back from the contraction.

     "You have, I know you have," Edward went on. "So, dealing with this shouldn't be so bad, right? You can do it, I know you can. Okay?"

     "That hurt so bad..." I said quietly, my voice quavering. "So bad..."

     "If it happens again," Alphonse spoke up, clenching and unclenching his hand which I squeezed to death. "then we can take you to the hospital, alright? It probably means that your baby's going to be here sooner than expected."

     "See?" Edward said. "They're good things. C'mon, stop crying, okay?" I wiped my eyes, and calmed down enough to tell him 'Okay, I'll be fine.'

     I didn't feel fine. I was paranoid that it was going to happen again.

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Later, in early afternoon, Edward drove Alphonse to the train station while I stayed back at home, and yet another contraction occurred.

     I almost started screaming during that one, and considering it happened when I was holding a knife to chop a carrot, it really could've been bad.

     I dropped the knife on the table and clutched the countertop, sinking to my knees as I fought against screaming. Edward wasn't there. Edward wasn't there...!

     "Edward!" I screamed when the front door opened. He stood there a moment, then ran over to me, taking my free hand in his AutoMail hand and used the other one to hug me. He stayed like that until it was over.

     "Better?" he finally asked when my breathing returned to normal.

     "Yeah," I said shakily. "I guess."

     He helped me up, and said, "I'm starting to get nervous. C'mon, I'm taking you to the hospital now."

     "Okay," I said, not really caring at this point. I wanted the damn kid OUT.

Author's Note

Poor lucy! xD

I still need to work at getting my chapters longer! Grr!

Reviews

[Anonymous]

EEEEEEeeeeeee! Get little Asher out! XD

[dachildofevil]

hahahahaha awww.
"i wanted this damn kid OUT" lol