Chapter 20

A Chapter by Keevan

The first day I was in the hospital, Edward had prepared for the baby. My house only had two bedrooms, mine and his. For the first few months, the crib and everything would be in my room. But, when he got older, we'd have to give him either mine or Edward's room. Probably Edward's, because my bedroom was the master bedroom of the house.

With Asher in my arms and Edward by my side, we walked inside of my house.

"This is home," I said quietly to Asher, who was asleep. "This is home."

Once inside, Edward and I went upstairs to my room, where the crib was, and I set Asher gently inside, covering him with a blue and white striped blanket.

Edward and I stood looking down on him, and then Edward said, "Well, what do we do now?" He yawned and put an arm around my shoulders.

"How about you go take a nap or something, you're still tired," I said. "I'll hang in here with the baby, in case he starts crying or something."

"Actually, there's something I have to go do in Central," Edward said, heading towards the bedroom door. "Do you think you can stay by yourself with him for a little while?"

"I'm sure I can manage," I said, sitting down on the edge of my bed and yawning. I couldn't sleep, not with the risk of Asher crying and me unable to hear it.

"I'll try to be back as soon as possible," Edward promised. "Try to hold out until then."

I nodded, yawning again, and laid down on my back as Edward left the room, his footsteps traling the short distance down the hall to the stairs, and soon they faded away completely as he left the house.

I fell alseep without meaning to.

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I jumped when I woke up, quickly getting up and checking the cib, but Asher was still sleeping as peacefully as before. I sighed and sat back down on my bed, trying to calm my hammering heart.

The sun was setting, so I figured I slept for a good hour or so. I felt better than I had since before I checked into the hospital, and that was a positive sign.

The reason I woke up was because of another one of those dreams that you can't remember when you wake up. Those always seemed to happen to me, for some reason. I didn't like it. I was starting to get a bad feeling about it.

I was snapped out of my thoughts by the distant sound of the front door opening downstairs, and Asher making noises in his crib. He started crying, so I immediately got up and walked over to his crib, picking him up and rocking him, cooing, saying that he didn't have to cry. It didn't work as fast as it did the first time, but he eventually stopped crying and setteled in my arms, drifting right on back to sleep.

"A natural mother, just like Granny said," I heard Edward say softly from the doorway. I smirked and kissed Asher's forehead, setting him back down carefully in the crib.

"Did you have fun?" I asked quietly, walking over to the door. Edward pulled me into the hallway and closed the bedroom door.

"Loads of it," he replied. "and, there's something I want to give you." He dug around in his pocket for something and said, "Close your eyes and hold out your hands."

I did, and felt a fuzzy box fall into my hand. I opened my eyes and stared into Edward's, the first thing out of my mouth being, "You really didn't have to."

"Yes, I did," he said, opening the lid of the box and taking out the ring inside. "It's not a formal engagement if there's no ring."

"How much did this cost?" I asked as Edward slid the ring onto the ring finger of my left hand, the small diomand in it sparkling slightly.

"It...was actually the cheapest ring I could find," Edward admitted. "but it's still a ring, nonetheless."

I sighed, and resisted the urge to yawn. He wasn't going to tell me the price, so I decided to drop it completely. So be it.

Edward was going to say something when Asher started crying again. I quickly opened the door and calmly made my way to the crib, scooping him up in my arms again, trying to calm him down.

He wouldn't this time.

"Edward, I don't know what he wants," I said, starting to panic. I passed Asher onto him, and Edward immediately sniffed and said, "I think it's time for the first diaper change."

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After changing Asher's diaper several times, feeding him, and giving him a quick bath in the sink, he was asleep again in my arms.

"You look right, holding a baby," Edward said as I layed Asher back in his crib for the night.

"Same goes to you," I said, remembering how Edward looked when I woke up in the hospital after Asher's birth. Edward grinned and took my hand, staring at the crib.

"Goodnight, Ed," I said, squeezing his hand a bit.

"Before you say goodnight," Edward said, though I obviously said it. "can I sleep with you tonight?"

"Pervert," I muttered, taking my hand back. "You want another one already?"

"N-No!" he shouted in a whisper. "Lucy, in case Asher wakes up sometime tonight. You're exaughsted, I can just tell."

It's true. I was very tired. I glanced at the crib, wondering if I would be able to wake up if Asher started crying.

"Fine," I mumbled, crossing my arms. "but remember to stay on your side of the bed, Elric."

"Will do," Edward said, hugging me and kissing my cheek. I yawned and rested my head against his shoulder, feeling his AutoMail, cold, through his shirt. It felt like I was about to fall asleep, when surprise-surprise, the baby started crying once more. My natural instinct was to back out of Edward's embrace and go to Asher, but Edward directed me toward the bed, told me to lay down, and he went to Asher instead.

I didn't argue. I went on my side of the bed, and as soon as my head hit the pillow, I fell asleep, the sounds of Edward whispering to Asher drowning out in the background.

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~2 Months Later~

It was in the newspaper.

There was a mailman going around and walking into people's homes, robbing them and threatening to kill children. Since I was the mother of a now two-month-old son, it freaked me out. The guy was in East City and making his way to Resembool.

"Edward, I don't like it," I said as I changed Asher's diaper, his green eyes staring up at me. He wouldn't stop giggling.

"I don't like it, either," Edward agreed, trying to keep the smile from his face caused by Asher's giggling. I pinned his new diaper and buttoned up his onesie as I said, "It scares me, Edward. We really don't have much money anymore, so if he steals that we're in trouble. And I don't like the idea of him threatening to kill Asher."

"Like I just said, I don't like it, either," Edward said, stifling a yawn. "but I promise you, I'm not letting that guy rob us or threaten our son." I picked up Asher and nodded, his happy giggles still filling the room. I couldn't help but smile at him. He got to be a big boy in just a number of months.

Edward and I had our wedding the month before, and Asher wouldn't stop crying unless I held him. Edward thought it was annoying at first, but I thought it was cute.

"I'm going to go start lunch," I said, handing him off to Edward. We turned Edward's room into the nursery, and now we shared a bed. I still found it weird, always facing the wall and pretending that there wasn't someone laying next to me. It always reminded me of waking up that morning almost a year ago to find some strange nineteen year old boy sharing a bed with me.

"Wait for me," Edward said, following me. "Asher's toys and stuff are down there. I want to play with him." Edward fit the father role very well. It made me happy to see it.

Once down in the kitchen/living room--there wasn't a wall separating the two rooms, just a change in flooring--I asked Edward what he wanted to eat. He said anything I wanted to make was fine.

He sat Asher down on the floor and started playing Peek-A-Boo with him while I shrugged and pulled out bread to make a sandwich. While doing that, I filled a bottle with a kind of formula Asher liked. I was able to multi-task again once I lost all of the baby weight.

That was when there was a knock at the door, and a man shouted, "Delivery!"

I froze. So did Edward.

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