31 Day Writing Challenge #2: Day 23 - Lemon Wedges

Dex hastily looked at his watch. Forty minutes. He'd been gone for forty minutes. This was not good. The hormonal storm had already been in full swing when he'd left, by now it would likely be a hurricane. 'Just don't let her be crying.', he begged internally. The yelling her could handle, along with the screaming and the death stares. But the crying, the crying made him ache. He'd always hated it though, seeing her cry, even before all this. Over the years, he'd thrown a few punches into the faces of any guy who made her cry - one for which was her brother's. But, now, with everything that had happened the past year, he was even more protective of her, and it got to him even worse than ever when he couldn't fix everything for her. Like tonight, he was hoping he could get what she wanted in no time at all.

It had taken him three corner shops and a supermarket, but he had them. Hopefully, it was still what she wanted, Dex wasn't sure he could make it through another scavenger hunt tonight (or was it this morning?), either way, he prayed she'd be satisfied long enough for him to sleep.

When he finally reached home and walked through the door, Dex was about to call out when he realised something: the house was silent and dark. The TV was off, as were all the lights, there was no music playing. More surprisingly, there was no sound of a pacing pregnant woman. There was not a single sound, except his breath and the rain.

Rain? But it hadn't been raining outside.

It took Dex's exhausted brain a few moments to click: Elsie was playing her rain sounds. Maybe it had soothed her enough for her to get some rest. He hoped so, she needed it, the baby had been using nights to throw ragers in her womb for the past week. As hard as the past few months had been for him, he knew they'd been worse on Elsie. Making as little noise as possible, Dex went to the kitchen and began preparing his offering to her hormones.

Once it was ready, he made his way upstairs. The bedroom door was open and Dex stopped for a moment and leaned against the door frame, admiring the sight of a peacefully sleeping Elsie and his gaze was drawn to her hand that was draped protectively across her round stomach. His best friend, and his baby, both at rest. Dex couldn't help but smile at the sight. Dex had never imagined himself becoming a dad, it just wasn't something he'd thought that he wanted. Then Elsie got pregnant. From the moment he had found out, Dex had been one-hundred percent committed to raising the baby. Whether fatherhood was something he wanted at the time or not, it didn't matter. It wasn't about him anymore, it was about the baby. The baby and Elsie. He had to do right by both of them.

Grace was bound to be pissed. He hadn't heard from her but was sure she knew by now that he was possibly days away from officially being a dad. She'd spent a year trying to 'accidentally' get pregnant, lying through her teeth about being on the pill, with no success, and then he spends one night with Elsie and it happened. And, as unconventional as the circumstance and their set-up was, Dex was so happy with how it had worked out.

Dex placed the plate of lemon wedges on the bedside table at Elsie's side of the bed. It used to be his bed, now it was their's. It had just seemed to make sense for them to sleep in the same room, between the Braxton Hicks and the cravings at all hours of the night, they both slept better knowing Dex was there if and when he was needed. Smiling, he gently placed and hand on the bare skin of her rounded  belly that the pajama top wasn't covering, stroking gently with his thumb. Softly, he kissed next to his hand and looked up and Elsie. Everyone had always said that they should be together - or that they secretly already were - but both he and Elsie had adamantly insisted they were wrong. But, lately, Dex had been thinking that maybe everyone had been right all along.

As gently as he had kissed her belly, he kissed Elsie's forehead and walked around to the empty side of the bed. Curling up under the duvet, facing Elsie, Dex finally drifted off.

A few hours later, the sunlight streamed through the window and woke Elsie. Lazily, she stretched and slowly opened her eyes. She was greeted by the sight of a cling-filmed plate of sliced lemons. With a little difficulty, Elsie sat up and looked behind her at Dex's sleeping form. He really was a great guy and he had been taking such amazing care of her throughout the entire pregnancy - and their friendship, to be honest. It had been his idea for her to move in so that he could be there for everything, and, when the baby arrived, he or she could live with both parents. The arrangement had worked out so well, so far.

Although, it was one thing that they were living together, but if anyone found out they  were sharing a bed, Dex and Elsie would completely lose their ability to deny any sort of romantic relationship. Not that anything romantic had ever happened...well, except the night that they made a baby. But that was just a one time thing. Her eyes started to linger on his lips, remembering how the tasted, and she thought, yet again, how much she wished it would happen again, maybe on a regular basis. There had  been too many nights where all she wanted was to be wrapped up in his arms. Falling for him had never been part of the plan. Although, there were worse things than having feelings for the father of your child. Ideally, this would happen before conception, Elsie was aware of that, and she didn't want to mess with what was working so well, but still, she could hope.

Not wanting to wake Dex, he deserved to get as much sleep as possible, Elsie awkwardly pushed herself up off of the bed, picked up the plate, and padded off down the hall into the newly-painted nursery, sucking on a lemon wedge as she went.

Dex found her a short while later, still in the nursery, carefully folding the smallest clothes he had ever seen, placing them neatly into the chest of drawers, humming softly to herself. She seemed so serene. Dex longed to walk up behind her, wrap his arms around her and kiss the side of her head. But he didn't.

"Nesting, again?" he teased.

Elsie turned and smiled warmly at him, Dex could have sworn that his heart skipped a beat.

"I'm just putting away the gifts from the baby shower...so yes." Elsie returned to baby-grow organisation."Could you do me a favour? I tried to set up the mobile, for the crib, but it was fiddly and stressed me out. Could you maybe build it and put it up? It's tangled up in the crib." Without looking away from the dresser, Elsie gestured at the location.

"Yeah, of course." But Dex didn't move immediately, just stood there, unable to take his eyes off her. Three little words on the tip of his tongue, but instead he uttered. "As you wish."

"You'd better be careful, quoting that movie, you could get a girl all worked up." Elsie turned slightly to look at him, her gaze catching his, a slight blush began to appear on her cheeks. Feeling flustered, Elsie quickly turned around, and in the same haste, Dex set to work on the mobile.

They worked in silence for a few minutes, both wondering if the other felt the same way they did.

"When you think of the future, you know, you, me and the baby, do you see other people there?" Trying to seem nonchalant, Elsie didn't look up or pause from her task as she spoke, and waited for a reply.

"What do you mean?" Dex wondered if she was talking about what he thought she was. Had Elsie met someone?

"I mean, we aren't, you know, together. So, I guess, it's assumed, eventually, one or both of us will...meet someone. I was just asking if you picture those people when you thought of the future." Elsie had tried desperately to keep her nerves under control. She wasn't sure it was working.

Dex thought about playing it cool, hiding the truth, but he couldn't bring himself to, not anymore.

"No, I don't. I don't see anyone else, just the three of us...well maybe, sometimes four." Dex admitted, watching for a reaction.

"Four?" Elsie looked at him, trying to figure it out, "Who is the fourth?"

"A second kid, one day, maybe." Dex shrugged, suddenly so nervous. He thought he saw Elsie's shoulders sag a little, but he couldn't be sure.

"Well, you'd need another baby-mamma for that, so you must see another woman there in some way."

Dex looked at Elsie, his face softened, he stared right into her eyes and smiled, filled with more hope than he'd ever felt before.

"No, Els, I just see you. You, me and any babies we make. That's what I see. Rings on our fingers; tucking our kids up in bed; snuggling up next to each other in our bed. That's what I see. It's what I want. I'm sorry that it took me knocking you up for me to see that everyone has been right for so long, I'm completely in love with you." They stood there, never breaking eye contact, surrounded by a pause as pregnant as Elsie.

"Dexter, I can't exactly run into your arms, so would you come over her and kiss me, please?" Elsie giggled as Dexter all but ran to her.

"I love you." he said, as he brushed her hair back and brought his lips to her's.

"I love you too," Elsie sighed against his lips.

Suddenly, she broke this kiss, a huge grin spread across her face.

"Bubba's kicking. A lot. Here..." She took Dex's hand and placed it on the bump. "Can you feel it?"

"Think someone's happy mummy and daddy finally got their shit together?"

"Dexter!" Elsie laughted, "Language."

The both leaned forward, one hand each on the baby bump, until their lips met, as their unborn child kicked away, wrapped in their idyllic first moment as a family.