Taniya_K Posted December 9, 2008 Report Posted December 9, 2008 Sorry I've never commented before I have been on reading all your fics but I was on an account that I didnt really like and havent said anything. That's alright. I always love having new readers At least I know that my fic's still intriguing to people! Right, so if you all liked the fluff from the last chapter, then you're going to love this one too. It's filled with [i hope wrongturntaken doesn't mind me using her phrase] racyfluff Chatper 30: “Wow…” was all that Belle could say when she took in the room of the suite in the hotel that Aden had managed to book for them. She had looked around the whole place, which was almost the size of an apartment, taking almost everything in, including the sight of the city lights from the balcony windows in both the bedroom and the main room. “Aden…” “Do you like it?” He asked her from where he stood, leaning languishly against the door frame that separated the two rooms. “I love it.” Belle corrected him, still taking it all in. They had arrived only 15 minutes ago, entering the hotel via a private entrance. She guessed that Aden had assumed, quite rightly, that she wouldn’t like having to walk in public in her wedding dress. As much as she loved it, it would have been too much for her, too big for her. Fortunately, Aden being Aden, had thought of that even when she hadn’t. “But it must have cost you-” “Don’t worry about that.” He swiftly cut her off as she shot him an exasperated look while heading over to him. “It’s all worth it if you’re happy.” “I would have been happy anywhere tonight. Here, or back home. Even in some rundown, cheap, roadside motel.” Belle said earnestly, wrapping her arms around his waist when she reached him, feeling his arms come around her immediately. “You are a hard girl to please, you know that, sweetheart?” “I just can’t be bought, that’s all.” She mumbled with a smile before pulling back a bit. “But I’m not complaining about this place. I really do love it. And I am ‘pleased’.” “Hmm… good. Because I put a lot of thought into this.” Aden joked, dipping down to meet her lips with his briefly. “You better appreciate it. I could very well have chosen a rundown, cheap, roadside motel.” “Oh, I do appreciate it.” Belle assured him, putting on a serious face. “I truly appreciate it all.” “Yeah? How much, ‘truly’?” “Well,” She begun, unwinding her arms from his waist and letting them skim up his arms and then down his torso to rest midway. “Let’s just say, actions would say much more than words right now.” “What kind of actions?” Aden played ignorant, licking his lips as he smiled. “I’m sure you can figure that out.” Belle push him backwards into the bedroom gently, waiting until they were both over the threshold before turning and pulling the double doors shut and locking them. She then turned all of her attention back onto Aden, sauntering up to him with a seductive smile and a glint of lust in her eyes that he couldn’t resist. “I think I may need a couple more clues.” He said in a low voice seconds before she brought him into a passionate kiss, her hands finding their way up to his shoulders, where they gripped at the collar of his shirt, while his held her close by the waist as the other hand went up to her hair. “That enough for you?” She gasped as they broke apart, her hands sliding under his suit jacket before letting him help her take it off him. He threw it onto the side where there was a couch, neither one of them sure whether it made it that far or landed on the floor. They didn’t care as Belle moved on to unbuttoning his shirt. “No where near as enough for me.” Aden spoke with a suggestive tone, letting his lips work over hers, caressing them tenderly as her fingers finally undid the last button of his black shirt. Instead of pushing it off, Belle ran her hands over his chest, her slightly cool hands raising goosebumps all over his body. “Stop it.” He hissed against her lips as she giggled, bringing them back down to his waist. “Sorry.” She sounded anything but sorry, but he let it go. There was no space in his head to think about anything else as he raised his hands to lay on her shoulders momentarily before helping her take off the lacy top that she had on. It was a tight fit, and to make sure it didn’t rip, Aden pulled away from her. He saw her smile slyly as she pulled her arms out of it, the charms of her bracelet tinkling, before she dropped the item on the floor without a second thought. Aden took in her form, his hands gliding over her bare shoulders and arms. When he reached her hands, he held them in his, still letting his eyes roam her body unashamedly. Although the lacy top had been classy, and added a more modest look to the dress alone, Aden couldn’t tear his eyes away from the beauty in front of him. Personally, he was glad that she had worn the top; there was no way that he wanted anyone else to see her like this. “If you like this,” Belle broke him out of his thoughts while pulling her hands out of his and placing them onto his chest once again, this time over the fabric and curling her hands into it to bring him closer to her. “Then you’ll love what I’ve got on underneath.” Not sure that he would have been able to form any, he didn’t even bother to reply with words. Kissing her soundly, Aden let his hands wander over her collar and down her back, fingers aching to find whatever it was that kept her dress up and get rid of it. Her words had intrigued him beyond matter and when he finally found the small piece of metal that he was looking for at the very top of her dress, hidden by the material sewn to cover it, Aden tugged slowly. They pulled out of the kiss, Belle wrapping her arms around his neck, pressing kisses along his jaw and further down while Aden managed to keep a hold of himself and smoothly unzipped her dress. It took everything that he had to remind himself that she most probably wouldn’t appreciate him ripping her wedding dress, even if it didn’t seem like it right then. Once he had managed to get the zip to where it ended at her hips, Aden held it in place with a hand to her back. Meeting her lips once again, he felt her grin as she removed one hand from around him, twisting it to her side to take a hold of his arm and pulling it away from her body. She shuffled slightly, the dress shifting a bit before she reached behind her and undid a couple of hidden clasps. This time, the dress fell straight off her body and onto the floor, revealing the white satin slip that Belle had on underneath. She smirking almost victoriously when she gauged Aden’s reaction. Knowing that the slip was pretty thin, and in the light became almost transparent to see the lingerie she had on beneath that, Belle had been expecting this similar reaction. A bubble of anxiety and giggles that she tried to hide rose inside of her as she realised that this was the second time that one day she had made him speechless. It was usually hard enough to get him dumbstruck once, let alone twice. Watching as his eyes continued to take her in, Belle replaced her hands onto his chest, finally sliding them under his shirt to get rid off it. She figured that Aden worked on autopilot, helping her along only because it was what she was doing. Stepping over the pool of her dress, Belle pushed him gently backwards, slipping her shoes off with the first two steps she took. His eyes finally came back up to hers just moments before his hands took her face in between them and pulled her into a deep, passionate kiss that made her freeze in everything she was doing. Only the need for air broke them apart this time, and when Aden smiled his boyish smile at her, Belle felt herself smile back. Her brain started to communicate with her body once again, pushing him backwards until they reached the bed, which she forced him down onto with another shove before leaning down to bring him into another kiss. Aden let his hands wander up her bare legs teasingly and then to her covered waist, pulling her as close to him as was possible. Not enough for either of them, Belle climbed up onto the bed, straddling his lap as their lips remained locked. Kissing hungrily, she managed to push Aden backwards further until he was leaning back on his elbows, so she was still able to lean over him. Right then, she loved being in control, knowing that it was driving him crazy. Suddenly, he pulled away, his hands tightening on her hips to make her stop. “Don’t you think you should pick up your dress first?” He questioned, breathing heavily as she shot him an incredulous look. “You’re thinking about my dress right now? Really?” She rested her forehead against his, eyes fluttering close while she just concentrated on him. “I’m just saying; wouldn’t want to get it ruined.” Aden’s voice was husky and quiet that made her simply shake her head and press her lips to his immediately. “It won’t.” She assured him in between the short kisses. “It’s not like I’m ever going to wear it again.” “Belle-” “Aden, seriously.” Belle sighed heavily. “Shut up.” --- Laying perfectly still, she gave all her attention to Aden’s hand, drawing lazy circles around on her stomach. Every now and again, he would run his thumb over her side, making her squirm at the tickling sensation. “What you thinking about?” He questioned her in a whisper, spotting the smile on Belle’s face as she laid with her head on his chest, curled right up into him. “Just how great this feels.” “Hmm…” Aden rubbed his cheek against her hair before pressing a kiss to the top of her head and murmuring into her hair. “Tell me about it. I can’t believe we’re here.” “’Here’ as in here here, or ‘here’ as in married?” Belle asked him, tilting her head up to look at him as he glanced down. “’Here’ as in married.” He confirmed before skimming his thumb over her side again, making her jump. “And we can’t forget the little one.” “No, we can’t.” She laughed, covering his hand with hers through the sheets. “Although if it stays little for much longer, we might just forget it does exist.” “I thought most women hated becoming fat?” Aden said in a puzzled tone. “You should know by now that I’m-” “-not like most women.” He said over her with a roll of the eyes. “Yes, I do know that. But you’ve been complaining about how you don’t fancy going shopping for new clothes.” “Yeah, well, I wouldn’t need new clothes for something little.” Belle sighed, turning her head back to look across the room at where the curtains were drawn over the balcony doors. “I would at least like to look pregnant before next week.” “Next we-?” Realisation hit him almost as soon as he spoke. “Ah, the scan.” “Yes, the scan.” She mumbled. “And the fact that everyone knows now, there’s no need to worry about it.” “So don’t worry about it.” Aden reassured her, his other arm squeezing her shoulder gently. “I’m sure that by next week, you’ll have something to show for yourself. And even if you don’t, we’ll get another ultrasound picture, right?” “Right.” Belle tried to sound optimistic, but she knew that it wasn’t conveyed as well as she hoped. “Stop thinking about it so much. It’ll happen when it does.” “I know, I know.” She quickly said before closing her eyes for a couple of seconds and taking a deep breath, calming herself down and holding onto everything that was good right then. It wasn’t that hard to form a list of everything that was good. It was all in front of her eyes, especially as she stretched her left arm along her new husband’s torso, lifting her hand slightly to see the diamonds on her rings shimmer in the light. “You know what this reminds me of?” “What’s that?” Aden prodded, his eyes following her hand as she slowly wriggled her ring finger. “Being in New York. After you proposed, when we went back to the hotel…” She didn’t need to carry on; the laugh deep in his throat letting her know that he could recall it perfectly, just like she could. “It’s been almost two years.” “A year and 8 months.” He corrected her and she giggled at his accuracy. Somehow, she could predict that if she were to ask, he could most probably tell her to the exact day how long it had been. “We waited for a while, didn’t we?” “Doesn’t matter.” Aden informed her non-chalantly. “We’re here now. That’s all that counts.” “Hmm…” Belle merely replied, eyes still fixated on her rings. She remembered the butterflies that used to flutter in her stomach that night when they had gotten engaged every time she looked at her ring. Not even that night, but most probably ever since then. Right up until now. Now, it was when looking at both her engagement and wedding rings that her stomach did flips. Slowly, Belle shifted, rolling onto her back a bit and onto Aden’s arm while he watched her in confusion. Using her other hand, she pulled off her rings before snuggling back up to him, making herself comfortable before looking at the inside of both of them. They were both engraved in a fancy script that was, surprisingly, legible. Her engagement ring had the date, place and their initials engraved into it. Aden had told her at the hotel that he got it done first so that he wouldn’t back out of the proposal, something that she had found really sweet. After they had gotten back, the time had been engraved into it. The band was pretty long, Belle justified, considering how much stuff was written into it. Her wedding ring, however, only had the date, time and Aden’s initials. Trailing a finger around it, she ran the ring from side to side on Aden’s abdomen, watching the light cast little shadows and rainbows on his skin. She laughed silently as her childish behaviour although she didn’t stop. “Can I see yours?” Belle asked Aden distractedly, still playing around with her ring. “My what?” “Your ring. I want to see what it says on the inside.” She clarified, dropping her ring next to her engagement ring, both flat on his body. Without waiting for him to move his arm, Belle carefully dipped her hand under the covers where his hand still rested protectively over their child. She was able to twist the ring off within several tries before bringing it out into the light. “You were there when we agreed on the engravings…” Aden pointed out, not missing her roll her eyes. “Never mind.” “I know, but I still want to see it.” Belle told him, tilting it back and forth until it hit the light in the right place so that it shone with a small shadow covering any glints. Like hers, it had the date and time too, and with her initials. A lazy smile formed on her lips as her tummy flipped once again, realising that these were her new initials. For some reason, seeing it written down, even though it wasn’t in full, the letters ‘B.T.J.’ in reference to her name still made more of an impact rather than thinking or hearing it. “Something wrong with it?” He broke her out of her own world when he saw the smile on her lips die down a bit. “No, I’m still taking it all in, that’s all.” She sighed contently, rubbing her thumb around the inside of the ring and trying to slip it onto her largest digit, only for it to be a bit loose. “Why is my initial got 3 letters instead of 2?” “Because your name has three.” Aden said slowly. “Yeah, but with yours it’s just your first and last name. Why is ’T’ on your ring too?” “Belle, I don’t have a middle name.” “I know, but-” She tried to explain again, getting a bit frustrated at the fact that he wasn’t getting what she was saying. Chuckling, Aden cut her off. “I like your middle name. It’s been a part of you for 20 years; I wasn’t going to ignore it.” He told her matter-of-factly. “Well, I didn’t have a middle name until today either.” She grumbled, referring to his previous statement. “And now you do. See how lucky you are? Not only did you get a new last name, you got a middle name while you were at it!” Aden teased while she swatted him on the chest, inadvertently catching he rings. Fortunately, she hadn’t had enough strength to make it anywhere close to being painful, so it didn’t leave a mark anywhere. “If you want, you can have my middle name too.” Belle said sweetly as she faltered under the covers to find the right finger for Aden’s ring, finally getting it on the correct one when he lifted his ring finger up. She knew that if she pushed the covers down just a bit, she could have saved them all that hassle, but she was feeling to comfortable to even think about moving. “That’s alright.” Aden laughed as he took the rings that she handed him into his right hand and placed them easily onto her finger. “I don’t mind.” She insisted, watching him lift her hand to his lips and pressing a kiss to where he had just slipped on her rings. “How about I think about it?” “Liar. You won’t think about it.” Belle huffed, ripping her hand out of him and mock anger and wrapping her arms around his waist tightly. “I will, I will.” Aden chuckled at her playful yet contradictive actions. “I take my offer back. You can’t have ‘Taylor’.” She informed him roughly as he twirled her hair, sliding out the grips that were still in them slowly. “Well, then I want my name back.” He tried to sound serious, but he was sure that the smile on his face was evident in his words. “No, tough.” Belle said tersely before sighing and turning her face into Aden’s neck as she shuffled a bit, causing the hair pin that he was currently working on to snag her hair. “Ow! What are you doing?” She moaned into his clavicle, not bothering to move. “Trying to undo your hair before you fall asleep and get them poked into your skull.” Aden said lightly. “How many are there, exactly?” “About 10. Nothing more than 20.” “I’ve gotten…” He counted the grips that laid on the pillow next to him, totally neglected apart from that small collection. “7.” Belle giggled as he continued with her hair. She could feel her hair become looser, the front of her head become less tense. It was amazing how she wasn’t able to realise how painful it had been until it was all gone and the release of it felt much better. Especially as Aden ran his hand through her hair, smoothing it all out into a calm collection of waves that cascaded over his upper arm. “There, now you can go to sleep without the worry of it hurting you.” He whispered as her eyes began to close for longer moments. “Thank you.” Belle managed to get out, kissing the only place she could reach without moving while bringing her left hand to rest on his other shoulder as she finally gave in to sleep. “You’re welcome.” Aden replied quietly, pulling the sheets right up to her shoulders to make sure that she was fully covered. He then picked up all 14 of the grips from the pillow and stretched out as far as he could, just managing to reach the bedside table and letting them loose on it, before switching off the light. The moonlight shone dimly through the curtains, falling across the bottom of the bed where their legs couldn’t even reach. Wrapping an arm around her waist once again while the other held onto the arm that was lain across his chest, Aden finally closed his eyes, taking in everything that he could about her. He could still smell her vanilla scented shampoo and her musky perfume that she always wore. He could hear her breathing even out as she tilted her head slightly to face outwards in her sleep. Aden matched his breathing to her calm, rhythmic one, knowing that it was the most simplest and, in his case, predictable way to fall asleep, which was proven within minutes. --- Belle wasn’t so sure what it was that had woken her up the next morning at 9am. After falling asleep at 1 in the morning, she expected to have a great lie-in. Sighing, she blinked once again, this time keeping her eyes open for more than a millisecond to take in her surroundings. She could feel Aden pressed up behind her, a leg entwined with hers while one of his arms remained, as always, around her waist, hand laying on her stomach. She didn’t know how it always worked out like that; no matter how much they moved or didn’t move during the night, Aden’s hand always found it’s way to rest upon her stomach. His other hand laid in front of her, her own hand clasping it. Letting her eyes focus on the stuff beyond the two of them, Belle spotted her wedding dress, still sitting on the floor, with her shoes just beyond it. Aden’s jacket was half hanging off the couch while her lacy top was just peeping under the black shirt. Nearer to the bed was Aden’s belt and his trousers, her silky slip right next to it. Sighing, Belle couldn’t be bothered to account for the rest; memories from the precious day and night came back to her in an instant, waking her up fully. Suddenly, the sound of a door opening caught her attention, and Belle finally realised what it was that had woken her up. She heard the person identify themselves as the hotel concierge and she figured that, seeing as it was early morning, that it had been arranged for breakfast to be delivered. Remembering that she had locked the bedroom doors the last night, Belle waited until she heard the main door for the suite to shut again before prying herself out of Aden’s grip as smoothly as she could. After years of practice, she still hadn’t managed the art of it, although she was getting better. She picked up the slip from the floor and put it on over her underwear, giving Aden one last glance to make sure that he was truly asleep before standing up from where she sat at the edge of the bed. Walking over where her dress laid, Belle picked up everything else on the way, placing it all neatly onto one of the chairs. Lifting her dress off the floor, she took it over to the couch and laid it down flat on it. Aden had been right last night; it was her wedding dress and even if she wasn’t going to wear it again, she wanted to keep it in pristine condition for as long as she could. Pulling Aden’s jacket up onto the sofa, she saw that she was holding it upside down when a couple of shiny, small objects fell out of one of the pockets. Frowning, it was only when she held them in her hands that she saw they were cufflinks. Belle had no idea where he had got them from, or that he was wearing any. They weren’t something that Aden considered ‘normal’ attire, she knew that, and considering that he didn’t even wear a tie to the wedding, she doubt he got the cufflinks himself. Replacing them back into the pocket while turning the jacket the right way, Belle looked around the room, glad that it didn’t look too bad anymore. She walked over to the bedroom doors and unlocked them slowly so not to wake Aden up and opened it just enough for her to slip out. The main room was darker than the bedroom, and Belle figured that it was because these curtains were done properly. She drew them back while making her way over to the food, lighting up the whole place in the morning light. The trolley filled with various dishes, most of them covered, greeted her. Belle realised just how hungry she was when she approached it, uncovering one to see a rack of toast. Going through the rest, she saw that it was a traditional breakfast, with a steaming kettle, preferably for tea or coffee, although she spotted sachets of hot chocolate too. She stood, contemplating whether it was worth pushing it into the bedroom before realising that she would most probably get strife from Aden for ‘exerting herself’ while pregnant. Sighing, she plucked up the small bowl of freshly cut fruit and headed back to the bedroom. Her eyes struggled to adjust for a moment, shutting the doors behind her as she took small steps over to where she saw a small slit of sunlight shining through. Using that as a guide, Belle found her way over to the glass doors and opened those curtains too. Turning around she saw that Aden was already awake, turned onto her back as he rubbed his eyes tiredly. “Good morning.” Belle chirped, sitting down on the bed next to him. “Sleep well?” “Hmm…” was the only reply that she got. Rolling her eyes, she took a bite out of the strawberry that was chopped into half. “What’s that?” “Breakfast.” She told him simply, digging out an orange segment and placing it to his lips. “Open.“ Belle instructed sweetly, as he did what she said. “Where’d you get that?” Aden spoke around the orange as he pushed himself up in the bed, leaning against the pillows. “Room service brought breakkie.” She informed him while eating a grape. “These are nice. See how I’m eating healthily?” “I see that, babe.” He laughed while sliding out of bed on the other side. “What else is there?” “Everything.” “Alright.” Aden laughed at her absolute answer. “C’mon, let’s go eat.” “I am eating.” Belle held the fruit bowl up high as he gave her an exasperated look and rounded the bed and held out a hand for her. “Properly. We need to leave here by 1 at the latest.” He told her as her eyes shone suddenly, taking his hand and standing up. Aden took a moment to let his eyes roam her body once again before she pushed him to start walking to the main part of the suite. “And we’ve still got to sort all those clothes out and make sure you have everything you need.” “I have everything.” She assured him. “What time’s the flight?” “3ish.” He replied vaguely, poking through the dishes as she shot him a look. “I’m not going to tell you the exact time so that you can go and Google it the second I leave you alone. It’ll be a secret until the last possible moment.” “Aden…” Belle moaned, slumping into one of the sofa chairs while curling her legs up under her and crossing her arms tightly. “You’re just being mean now.” “Look, it’s only 6 hours now.” Aden pointed out, perching on the arm of the chair with a piece of toast in his hand. “And up until then, we can have a lot of fun, alright?” “What kind of fun?” She asked him slowly, picking up on his suggestive tone. “Eat up and you’ll find out.” --- You'll find out where they're heading when Belle does - in the next chapter! Hope you enjoyed it! xoxo
Taniya_K Posted December 10, 2008 Report Posted December 10, 2008 Of course i don't mind you using the term 'racy fluff' but i liked that you used my name cos it's kind of like your promoting my fic, lol. so thanks! (Although you don't have to do that everytime... (HINT: I want more of it hence the 'next'! lol) Haha, in case anyone here hasn't read it, the fic's called 'Just In Time...' . It's really good stuff, with great Adelle fluff too No racy fluff in this one, but there's fluff. In fact, it's only fluff. Hope you likey! Chapter 31: “What’s happening with the dress and your suit?” Belle asked in a distracted voice as Aden finished a call with Roman about something that she had no idea about. “They’re going to be sent to our place.” He informed her. “It’ll get there safe and in one piece, I promise.” “Alright.” She nodded while sitting on the bed in the hotel, hands under her legs. “Belle, you ok, sweetheart?” Aden crouched down in front of her, hands on her knees, noticing the faraway look on her face. “Is there something wrong? Are you feeling ok?” “Yeah, I’m ok.” Belle replied with a small smile, shaking her head a bit as she cleared it from her thoughts. “I was just thinking.” “About…?” “Nothing important.” “Are you sure? You looked pretty… worried.” Aden searched for the right word, finally settling on that. “It’s nothing, honestly. I’m thinking too much.” She tried to reassure him but the look on his face told her that she wasn’t succeeding. Taking in a deep breath, she averted her eyes from him before letting it out. “I just-” She faltered a bit. “I haven’t been on a plane for about 2 years now.” “I thought…” Trailing off, Aden realised how stupid that sentence would have sounded, thinking that she was over her fear of flying just because they had gone on many planes within a 6 week period well over a year ago. He knew better than most, from his past experience and his education, that some phobias and fears could be repressed or seemingly gotten over for a time being before coming to a head once again. “It’ll be ok. Remember last time?” “Yeah, I know. I told you; it’s nothing important.” Belle dismissed, removing her hands from under her and placing them on top of Aden’s. “It’s not like we’re going that far anyway, is it?” “Nice try.” Aden laughed, standing up. “But seriously, you ok with this?” “Yes, Aden. I’ll be fine.” She stood up too, walking right up to him and gripping the black T-shirt that he had pulled on that morning. “I’ll have you right there; what could go wrong?” Belle murmured against his lips before bringing him into a kiss which deepened immediately. “Aden…” She warned him, breaking away. “Yeah, we should go.” He glanced at his watch, seeing that it was a quarter to 1 already. Their stuff was already down in the car that was taking them to the airport, and Roman had confirmed that their flight was on time so everything was going good so far. “Are you ready?” “Yup, I think so.” Belle turned and looked in the floor length mirror once more, running her hands over the red and black top that she had brought a little while ago, making sure that it went over her waist nicely. “When are you going to stop wearing my belts?” Aden asked in an almost irritated voice, although the ghost of a smile that played on his lips proved otherwise. “There’s nothing else I can do.” “How about you go shopping and some new jeans? At least one pair. For when these jeans won’t fit.” He advised her as she picked up her bag from the table, making sure she had her phone, jewellery and other stuff with her. She had replaced the star charm back onto her bracelet that morning, even as the chain continued to hang around her neck. Aden had insisted that she kept it until they returned back home so that it wouldn’t get misplaced. “Are you saying that I’ve put on weight?” Belle questioned with a dark look over her shoulder. “Hey, you’re the one who was talking about wanting to be fat last night.” Aden reminded her with a chuckle as she took one final look around the room. “I’m sure we’ve got everything, Belle.” “I didn’t say I wanted to be fat.” She carried on with their conversation, taking in what he had said about the room and walking past him and into the main part of the suite to make sure there was nothing else there. “Besides, that doesn’t give you any right for saying I need bigger clothes. Just because we’re married now, don’t mean I can’t break it off. Annulment’s are very comment nowadays, you know?” “On what grounds, exactly, do you intend on getting an annulment?” Aden enquired, ushering her out of the door when he saw that she was finally happy with having everything. “You were very willing to get married in the first place, there were no objections from anyone else, neither one of us are married to someone else, at least I hope not. And we‘ve kind of consummated our marriage. Several times, if my memory serves-” “How about on the grounds that you don’t know when to stop talking?” Belle cut him off, annoyed with the fact he was talking about it in, pretty much, public. “I don’t think that qualifies.” He said smartly, wrapping his arm tighter around her waist as they waited for the elevator, knowing that even as she acted to be mad at him, she wouldn’t shake him off right then. “Or that you keep pissing off pregnant women?” “’Women’? Where’s the plural come from?” Aden asked her, with a smirk as they stepped into the elevator that had just arrived, pressing the button for the ground floor. “There’s only one pregnant woman I’m interested in annoying.” “And let me guess; I should feel privileged?” Belle’s tone was dry, yet humorous. “Totally.” He laughed, guiding her through the hotel lobby and out towards the car was parked. “Now stop complaining and get used to being so lucky of having me interested in only you.” “How so?” She asked him, turning to look at him as he brought her to a stop by their ride to the airport. “Because I only treat the one person I’m interested in like a queen. And that, my love, is you.” --- “C’mon, give me one tiny hint!” Belle begged him as they sat in the departures lounge of the airport. Her eyes scanned the TV screens that were hanging from the ceiling near to them, trying to figure out which one was their flight. “Fine.” Aden sighed, tightening the arm her had wrapped around her shoulder as she leant further into him, looking up at him expectantly. “It’s nowhere we’ve been before.” “Thanks, Aden.” She replied sarcastically after a moment, having seen that out of all the fights that left at ‘3ish’, there was only one that could now be eliminated. “That shortened my list.” “My pleasure, gorgeous.” “Please, Aden?” Belle resorted to drastic measures, pouting and looking upset, knowing that he couldn’t resist. “Belle, don’t.” He groaned, averting his eyes away for a moment before looking back at her. “You’re playing dirty, you know that?” “I’ve got to.” She reasoned. “Otherwise, I’m going to burst from curiosity. And you know how great journalists and curiosity go together…” “Fine, a small clue.” Aden gave in, making her smile brightly, turning her head to look at the ever changing TV screens to work out where he was taking her. “What do you want to know? Apart from where?” “When.” “3 o’clock.” He told her with a sigh. “Give or take 15 minutes.” “Aden,” Belle said through gritted teeth. “You just made the list bigger!” She gave him a slap to the chest when he chuckled at her reaction. He hadn’t known what she had assumed to be ‘3ish’, but it was clearly a timescale shorter than his. “Not my fault. I gave you the clue you asked for.” “But there are 18 flights leaving in that time!” She retorted. “One more clue.” “No!” Aden laughed, pulling her back from where she had sat up straighter to yell at him. Her voice hadn’t risen that much, but he had noticed that it had caught the attention of a few passer-bys. “Belle, relax. You’ll find out soon enough, alright?” “But I want to know now.” She knew that she sounded childish, especially as she pouted for real this time. Hearing Aden chuckle once again, she sighed, letting him kiss the pout off her lips. “Better?” Aden saw her smile a bit before scowling at his tactics, resting her head on his shoulder grumpily. “Maybe.” --- They walked around the shops in the airport, mainly due to Aden’s request, before they had ended up at a café that over looked the runaway. Belle had made glances out of the window, still a bit unnerved by the prospect of flying. “Alright, let’s go.” Aden smiled, noticing that she had finished her juice. “Go where?” She asked, confused, as he stood up and took a hold of her hand when she joined him. “To board the plane. Where else?” He shook his head good-naturedly as Belle gaped at him. “What? Now?” “Yup.” Aden saw her look at the time on her watch before turning to the list of departures, trying to work out which one was their flight. Luckily, he had already thought of that, and had left it late enough so that they had plenty of time to still board, but so that Belle couldn’t pinpoint a single flight. “Belle, start walking.” “But-” She tried to work out the flight that she thought Aden was making her take, all the while taking the steps that he was forcing her by pushing her forwards with a hand on her lower back. “Belle, watch where you’re going, babe.” He covered the arm that she had already wrapped protectively around her waist, pulling her to a stop against him. “You’re not going to figure it out.” “Which gate?” “Just do as I say, and you’ll find out in minutes.” Aden informed that. He could see her debate with herself, wondering whether working it out herself and outsmarting him would bring her greater joy, or would finding out sooner be better. Finally, Belle sighed, a clear sign that she was going to let him guide her. “Good, now come on.” With his arm wrapped around her waist as he held the hand that rested on her hip while that arm covered her front, playing with her rings with his thumb, Belle could stop the excitement and joy from bubbling inside of her. It was almost to the height of what she had been feeling the previous day. Almost, but not quite. She wasn’t sure if anything could make her reach that state of euphoria ever again, and she honestly didn’t want to know if ever wanted to. It was a feeling that was associated with her wedding day, and she wanted to keep it like that. “This one?” Belle questioned for the 8th time. She had grown board of walking down the long corridors of the airport and began reading the destination names and then the gate numbers, before sticking to just repeating those two words over and over again. “If it was, we wouldn’t have walked straight past it.” Aden told her lightly, knowing that her antics were also a way to try and break him. “This one?” “No.” “This one?” “Nope.” “How many are there? My feet hurt, Aden.” Belle groaned, shuffling her feet a bit for emphasis as he rolled her eyes. “Only a few more. And then you’ll have hours on the plane to rest, ok? Not to mention, the rest of the week, too.” Aden assured her. She immediately smiled at the idea of lazing around for the next week, even if she didn’t know where they were going. Of course, she had the vague clues that it was one of the places that she had read, and that it was somewhere warm and romantic with the sea and sand, but that didn’t narrow it down much. “Can we hurry up then?” “I thought your feet hurt?” He teased as she gave him an unimpressed look. “Almost there.” Aden could feel his pulse begin to race as he started to doubt whether Belle would like the destination that he had chosen. The only other person he had told was Roman, and he had thought it to be a brilliant idea. He now wondered whether it would have been wise to ask Mattie about it. After all, she had helped out when he had planned their trip previously. Shaking his head mentally when he saw that the next gate was their, he took in a deep breath. “This one’s ours.” Aden saw Belle slow down at his words. She glanced out of the window to their left that came just before their gate, able to see the plane that was parked near to he building. Reading the name of it, she was unable to figure out where it went or where it originated from. Sighing, she continued to walk, only to freeze when she spotted the name of the country that was their destination on a small screen next to the gate doors opposite them. “’Maldives‘?” Belle gasped, blinking a couple of times before turning to look at him. “Are you serious?” “Yup.” Aden grinned, knowing that her shock was a good sign. Or so he hoped. “White sands and the clear blue ocean. Virtually uninhibited except for a few people at some places. Sounds good, huh?” “Yeah…” She replied, a bit distracted. “Wow, the Maldives.” “Belle, you gonna tell me whether you like it or not?” He asked her, slightly agitated with the lack of a response. “Of course I like it!” Belle exclaimed, stepping closer to him and wrapping her arms around his neck. “I love it. It’s perfect.” “You sure?” Aden questioned, his arms holding her tightly around her waist before her pulled away and pressed her lips against his soundly and briefly. “I’m sure. I’m more than sure.” She told him, practically jumping on the spot. “It’s perfect. You’re perfect.” --- “So, why the Maldives?” Belle inquired. They were halfway on the flight there, and after thinking it all through and talking about other stuff, mainly about how she was feeling, Belle finally asked him the one thing that played on her mind. “Why not? It has everything a perfect honeymoon getaway has.” Aden informed her, looking down at where she leant her head against his shoulder while peering out of the window next to him with slight hesitation. Her legs were curled up with her knees bent and resting almost in his lap, kicking her shoes off as soon as she was allowed. Her arms were wrapped tightly, although they had loosened from earlier, around his arm, which laid across her legs, pulling her to him. “The beach, quietness, the sun, the sea…” “Kind of sounds like home.” She giggled as he laughed with her. “Yeah, but home isn’t as exotic or isolated at this, now is it?” “No, I guess not.” She sighed, watching the blueness pass under them slowly. “But there are a lot of places like that. Fiji’s got some beautiful islands, and it’s closer to home. Then there’s Hawaii, which is further, but it’s still all that you described.” “Ok, but none of them sounded as nice as the Maldives did.” Aden reasoned. “Trust me, when we get there, you’ll see. Plus, it’s in Asia, and I know how you’ve-” “-always wanted to go to Asia.” Belle finished off, almost in a tone of awe, lifting her head off his shoulder to look at him. “Aden, you shouldn’t have chosen this place just because of me.” “But it is because of you. Or, rather, for you. For us.” He corrected himself. “Like you said, there were many places to choose from, so this only made the choice easier.” “Are you sure? I don’t like the idea of everything being planned around me and my wants or needs.” She told him, biting on her bottom lip, wondering whether to believe him or not. “Belle, stop worrying and relax, would you?” Aden said strictly, yet amusingly. “You’re thinking way too much for a holiday. I didn’t plan around you, I planned with you in mind, alright? So stop stressing. You can’t do anything to change it now, anyway.” “True.” Belle gave in, deciding that it wouldn’t do any good arguing with him. “Alright, you’re right. This is a holiday, so we should just relax.” “Good.” He nodded, smiling as she rested her head back onto his shoulder. Dropping a kiss onto it, Aden rested his cheek on top of it, keeping her close to him. “And I’m always right.” “Let’s not get too carried away.” --- “You really do go all out, don’t you?” Belle exclaimed in awe. Everything she had experienced since getting off the plane had been in awe. The ride to their hotel, seeing the exquisite scenery of the Maldives with palm trees lining the roads and clear blue skies. As they got nearer and nearer to where she had known they were going to stay, everything became more scarce. It was all natural things now; the sand, the sea and the people. When they had finally reached the resort where they were going to be staying for the next week, Belle couldn’t believe her eyes. It wasn’t like anywhere else she had been, nor like anything else she had seen. “Only for you.” Aden replied, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind and resting his chin on her shoulder. “Do you like it?” “Hmm…” She pretended to think about it for a moment, running her hands along his forearms and further up. “It’s alright.” “I hope that’s a joke.” He growled in her ear, nipping it gently, making her laugh out loud and squirm in his arms. “I love it.” Belle reassured him, breathing deeply as she struggled to get a control of her laughter. She let her eyes roam all over the villa that she was standing in the middle of. It was practically the same size at the suite that they had been staying at in the city back at home, except this was theirs, and just theirs, for the foreseeable future. It was situated almost in the ocean, only a few feet of white sand keeping the distance. “So,” Aden broke the silence they had fallen into, swaying her gently as he pressed kisses to her neck. “Do you want to go exploring, or laze around for the rest of the evening?” “What time is it?” She asked, not having adjusted her watch or the clock on her phone. “Just past 8.” Their flight had been pretty long, but with the 6 hour time difference, it made the day longer. However, being jet lagged didn’t help, nor did the lack of sleep they had gotten the night before. “How about we get settled in tonight? And some food.” Belle replied, turning around slowly in his arms and linking her own arms around his neck. “Something cold. Like ice-cream.” “How did I know that was coming?” Aden laughed, tightening his arms around her waist to pulled her flush against him. “Because you love me.” --- Pushing away the bowl from in front of her, Belle collapsed back against the sofa behind her. They were sitting on the floor, using the decent sized coffee table as a dining one. There were dishes strewn everywhere among it and on the floor too, all thanks to Aden. He had taken care of dinner while she went for a shower, coming out to see that his method of getting dinner was calling the resort’s restaurant for a whole selection of food. “I can’t eat anymore.” She groaned, closing her eyes while rubbing her stomach to emphasis her words. She was glad that she had changed into her PJs seeing as if she were still in her jeans, she was sure they wouldn’t be fitting her any longer. “You’ve hardly eaten anything.” Aden countered, reaching over for the plate that was filled with some basic pasta. “Eat this.” “No…” Belle moaned, tilting her head to look at him, opening her eyes. “I’m full.” “All you’ve eaten is ice-cream!” “With cake. Yummy, chocolate cake.” She added with a small smile before straightening it out. “Can’t eat anymore.” “What happened to eating properly?” Aden questioned, eating out of the plate that he had positioned in front of her. “Ice-cream and cake isn’t a proper meal.” “It’s like 3 in the morning at home. I’m not in the mood for a proper meal.” “What are you in the mood for then?” He asked her straight out. At her silence, Aden looked at her to see a sly grin spread across her lips. Shaking his head, he chuckled. “I meant, food-wise.” “Nothing. Seriously, I’ve eaten a lot today.” Belle told him, a yawn breaking out at the end. “Alright.” Aden finally gave in with a sigh, realising how tired she was. Although they had both slept on the plane, her more than him, it still had made up for the sleep they had lost. “Look, why don’t you go to bed, yeah? I’ll clear up here and be there in a sec.” “No, I’ll help.” She pushed herself away from the couch and rearranged herself so that she was sitting on her knees. “Belle, don’t worry about it. You’re knackered. I can handle it.” He assured her, grabbing a hold onto her arm as she reached across the table. “You’re supposed to be relaxing, alright?” “Yeah, and so are you. It’s not just my honeymoon here, you know?” Belle argued, using her other arm to carry on with what it was that she was going to do. “Yes, but you’re pregnant. You shouldn’t do things that you don’t need to do. And you need to sleep.” Aden told her softly, yet strictly. “So, give me this,” He took the plate out of her hand and placed it on the tray next to him, “and go to bed.” “Or I could help you out and then you’ll be done in half the time and we can go to bed together.” She suggested, turning in his direction as he gave her an unimpressed look. “Aden, you’ve done enough today. Just let me help. It’s not like I’m going to stress myself out by moving a couple of plates here and there.” When Aden didn’t reply, but instead let go of her arm, Belle knew that she had won. Smiling to herself, she let her hair create a curtain between his eyes and her face so that he couldn’t see it while tidying up everything that she could reach, handing it over to him as he replaced it back where it had came from. Like she had predicted, it had taken less time, getting it all cleared up within 10 minutes. “There. You see? Didn’t I tell you it wouldn’t take long?” Belle gloated, as Aden placed the tray next to him onto the table to join the other one that was already there. “Yeah, yeah.” He rolled his eyes with a soft smile before standing up and offering her his hand. “You were right. C’mon, off to bed now.” “You know, Aden,” She began seriously as she stood, grasping onto his hand as he guided her over to the bedroom. “I never got to thank you for all this.” “You don’t have to thank me, babe. It’s my pleasure.” Shrugging it off, he flicked on the lights. They weren’t as bright as the ones in the main part of the villa, but they were bright enough for them. He went to walk over to where their luggage lay, only to be stopped by Belle holding tightly onto his hand. “Aden, seriously. Thank you.” She spoke with a hushed voice, pulling him closer to her. “Last night, all this… You really didn’t have to go to all this effort. I would have been happy anywhere. I know you said that you didn’t want to use that money for anything-” “Hey, don’t.” Aden cut her off, rubbing her back soothingly as his arms found their way around her waist. “I wanted to. I wanted to go to all this effort, and I wanted to use that money. Technically, it was the money that I’ve earned too, so it’s not that bad.” “Ok, but I just,” Belle faltered, trailing a finger around the patter on his top while looking for the right words so not to sound accusing or make Aden feel bad. “I don’t want you to think that- Just because you have that money, I don‘t expect all this from you.” “I know that, Belle. You’re a girl that can’t be bought.” He repeated her words from last night with a smirk, knowing that his response was on the right track when she giggled a bit and gave him a playful punch. “But I wanted to give you this. We only get this one week, this one time in our lives to get away and do nothing. To have fun in our own way. I think we deserve to do it in style.” “Yeah, I guess…” Belle sighed, resting her forehead against his jaw momentarily as she mulled over his words. “I’m going to spoil you at every chance I get, Belle.” Aden informed her matter-of-factly. “You better get use to it.” “What’s different between now and before?” She asked him sceptically, pulling away from him and walking around him to sit on the bed. “Because I’m sure I’ve told you many times that I don’t want you wasting money on me.” “Hmm, sure, sure.” He chuckled. “You know you love it really. It’s always ‘Aden, you shouldn’t have’ or ‘Aden, I can’t’, yet in the end, you take it anyway.” “Aden!” Although his words hit her a bit, Belle laughed at his attempt to mimic her. “You make me sound like some kind of golddigger! I only take it because you convince me to with all those sad looks and stories about how bad you‘d feel if I didn‘t. ” “Right, of course.” His amusement could be heard from the adjoining bathroom where he had disappeared into. “Fine. The next time you try to give me something, I’ll refuse it, straight out.” She exclaimed, grabbing a pillow from the head of the bed and pulling it onto her lap, holding it tightly. “But what am I going to with this then?” Aden sighed heavily as he walked out of the bathroom with just his boxers on, throwing his clothes to one side before heading over to her, a black pouch in his hands. “What is it?” Her interest had piqued when she saw it. It was a bigger drawstring bag than the ones he used when he bought her charm for her bracelet, so he knew it wasn’t for that. “Open it.” Aden instructed, dropping it on her lap as he sat down next to her. “That is, if you’re not going to refuse it, straight out.” At his words, Belle scowled and threw the pouch into his own lap. “Keep it.” She hissed, turning around on the bed to pull back the covers, intending to get to sleep. “Belle!” He laughed, holding onto her ankle and pulling it onto his lap as she squealed in protest. “Aden! What the Hell?” There was amusement written all over her face. It didn’t matter where they were, what they were talking about, or when it was; their banter and teasing came to them naturally, as did their playfulness. “Just hold on a second.” Aden murmured, trying to hold onto her foot with one hand while open the pouch with the other. Using his teeth, he pried open the knot before managing to tip out the contents. Belle was unable to see whatever it was in his hand, only that it was something small and shiny as it glinted in the light. Shuffling closer, she bent her knee so that she was able to peer over it to see what Aden was doing. It was only when she smooth down her bottoms and felt coolness on her skin that she realised what it was. “They say that silver’s a good way to ward off evil spirits.” Aden explained, speaking before she got a chance to even ask. His eyes remained trained on her ankle, fingers running up and down her calf. “And that if a husband gives his wife a gift on the first night of their marriage, and she is to always keep it with her, she would be protected.” “It’s the second night, though.” Belle pointed out, speaking in a hushed voice. “I know, I forgot last night.“ He confessed. “But it is the first night after a full day of being married.” “Who‘s ‘they‘?” She whispered, stopping his hand from stroking her leg with her own before fingering the simply plain anklet that he had hooked around her foot. “I don’t remember…” Aden laughed, looking up at her. “But I remember reading it somewhere, or someone saying it to someone. Or something…” “Great memory you have there, Aden.” Belle teased as he leant forwards and pressed a kiss to her knee. She ran a hand through his hair as he rested his forehead against her leg. “Thank you, though. It’s beautiful.” “Anything for my darling wife.” --- What do you think about the destination? Like or not like? My longest chapter in this fic, Hope you enjoyed it! xoxo
Taniya_K Posted December 12, 2008 Report Posted December 12, 2008 btw, hope you know i meant i wanted more of the racy fluff not of the promoting... Lol, yup I knew that, but I thought I'd stick that in there, because if it weren't for you, we wouldn't have that term. And your fic is as awesome as I said Right, well, unfortunately, no more racy fluff, but there is fluff! Again, it's JUST fluff! Enjoy! Chapter 32: The sand was warm beneath his feet. Seeing as the sun had set about an hour earlier, there had been time for it to cool. They had experienced just how much heat that the white sandy beaches were able to absorb in the middle of the day. Shoes or sandals were a must for that. The water, however, always remained cool, night or day. They had experienced that as well. With only that night remaining of their honeymoon, Aden actually struggled to remember why he had suggested that they only take the week to get away, and then the next week to settle back at home. Surely they could have settled in even after the two weeks and when he had to go back to university. Another week in their own little haven sounded so good to him right then. So much more better than having to share time and the women who was cuddled up to him with her arm wrapped tightly around his waist with the rest of the world. Silently, they came to a stop as Belle shrugged off his arm from her shoulders and unwound her arm from around him. Dropping her shoes that she held, she sat down at the bottom of one of the dunes about 10 feet away from a collection of palm trees. Aden copied her actions, sitting down behind her and pulling her to rest against his chest. She went willingly, shuffling back until there was nowhere left to go. “Can you believe we have to go home tomorrow?” Belle sighed, turning her head slightly to look up at her husband as he stared out to the sea. “I know. I wish we could stay longer.” He exhaled deeply, rubbing his hand in circles over her stomach slowly. “Forever, even.” “I dunno.” She laughed deep in her throat, turning back to look forwards, letting her head lean back against his shoulder. “It might get boring after so long.” “I doubt it.” Aden scoffed, his hand finding it’s way under her top now to caress her smooth skin. It had seemed as if Belle’s complaining about not looking pregnant had caused her body or their baby some offence as she was now beginning to show. Although it was only a tiny bit, it was visibly growing everyday, and Aden could feel it under his hand. But with the clothes that she wore, and the jeans that were still held up by his belt, it wasn’t noticeable for anyone who didn’t know about their baby’s existence. “I think it would be great. Just the three of us.” “Hmm… Somehow, having no-one else around to help us with the baby might get too much.” Belle pointed out, the smile clear in her words. “At least we have this week at home.” “That we do.” “And the scan.” Her words portrayed her building excitement easily. Pressing a kiss to her temple, Aden smiled at the thought of it. “We can get started on the nursery too.” “Don’t you think it’s too soon?” He asked sceptically. “I’ll be, like, 14 weeks by then. I think we should start setting it up.” Belle informed him. “At least buy the stuff. We don’t have to fix it up for a while.” “Alright, that does sound fun.” Aden agreed, trying to imagine the room they had selected for the nursery being done up. “What colour, though? We don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl. Well, you won’t listen to what I say…” “White. Or cream.” She said with a small nod. “And we’re not going to paint the room in pink and purple only to have boy in about 6 months.” “Or it could be a girl.” He countered with a smile. “Same chances as it being a boy, Aden.” Belle rolled her eyes. They had had this argument plenty of times before, never reaching to a conclusion but rather just leaving it alone. Having agreed to not find out the sex of the baby until it was born, Belle knew that there was going to be plenty more arguments like these during the rest of her pregnancy. “Besides, the room’s already white, so we can add the final touches to it after the baby’s born.” “Sure, whatever you want.” Aden chuckled softly. “So what do you want to do on our final night here?” “Hmm…” She tried to think of one particular thing that would make her night complete, and add the perfect final touch to their week away. Over the whole week, they had done practically everything that they could do. Everything from lazing around the villa, or rather the bedroom, all day on the Tuesday, to heading into the capital, Male, on the Thursday. They had spent hours on the beach, strolling and messing around, and then some more in the sea. They had spent the whole week together, night and day, but she still couldn’t get enough. “Could we just stay in tonight?” “Yeah, of course.” He mumbled into her hair. “Anything you want to do?” “I’m sure we could think of something.” Belle replied suggestively, feeling him smile against the top of her head. “Nah, we can simply relax and talk.” “Relaxing and talking it is then.” Aden repeated, leaning down to drop a kiss to her jaw. She turned her head a second later, making it easier for him to reach her lips. Kissing passionately yet tenderly for a moment, Belle pulled away before it got too far. “Do you want to head inside?” “In a bit.” She settled herself against him once again, holding onto his arms as they remained around her waist. “This is too good to move from at the moment.” “Ok.” He whispered, trailing small kisses along her shoulder and up her neck. As he went higher, Belle tilted her head slightly in the other direction, loving the feeling of his gestures. Aden pressed a loving kiss to the underside of her jaw before burying his face in the crook of her neck, taking her all in as she sat there in his arms. “I love you.” Belle could feel the words forming as his lips moving against the sensitive skin on her neck, sending tingling sensations all over her body. She struggled to keep the groan of pleasure in, only able to bite it back when she reminded herself as to where they were. Although the beach was deserted, at least as far as she could see, she didn’t want to risk it. Not there, especially knowing exactly what her response would be. “I love you, too.” She settled for instead, noticing that her voice had become a bit husky. Lifting up a hand and placing it on the side of his jaw, she stroked his cheek with her thumb. “So, so much.” --- Tossing once more, Belle sighed in frustration. She didn’t know what it was that night but she couldn’t seem to fall asleep again. Rolling over onto her other side, Belle reached out for her phone, reading the time. 4.33am. They had gotten back to the villa at 11pm and gone to bed at 1. She knew that she had fallen right asleep. That had lasted for a bit over 2 hours. Now, an hour and a half later, she wished she could fall asleep like that again. Belle sat up in the bed and arranged the covers over them so that they were straight and perfect, doing her best to not wake Aden up in the process. Once that was done, she settled back down onto the bed, pulling his arm around her waist as he pulled her closer to her in his sleep. Regulating her breathing to steady calm ones to coerce herself to sleep, Belle realised that she was now a bit warm. Pushing down the sheets to her waist, she waited for the cool air to hit her. It didn’t take long for it to happen and when it did, it felt nice. Until it got too cool and goose bumps began to raise on her arms. Sighing, Belle pulled the sheets back up once again. The warmth it created underneath became too much for her soon enough and a small growl of annoyance escaped her. This hadn’t happened to her all week, and the weather barely changed in the Maldives. Turning onto her back, she kicked her feet free from the covers, hoping that it would help to circulate some cold air under the covers. Unfortunately, physics had never been her strong subject, and she had no idea how hot air/cold air diffused. Pulling the covers off of her entirely, Belle rolled over once again and snuggled right up to Aden, hoping that his body heat would be enough stop the cold air from getting to her. It was comfortable enough, that was for sure, but now her back was getting cold whereas she front was burning. “What’s wrong?” Aden asked her sleepily, not even opening his eyes as he held her close to him. “Nothing. Go back to sleep.” She grumbled, not bothering to move to look up at him. “You’ve been tossing and turning for an hour.” He stated, words still slurring to indicate just how asleep he still was. “I know.” Belle exhaled deeply before pulling out of his arms and rolling onto her back. “What time do we leave tomorrow?” “3ish.” Aden replied. He didn’t have to open his eyes to know she was giving him an unimpressed look. “Flight’s at 2 on the dot, so we should leave here at about 11. Why?” “Trying to figure whether it’s worth trying to fall back asleep or if I should just get up.” “Sleep.” He answered her immediately. “You need to sleep, gorgeous.” “I can’t, though!” She huffed, pulling the covers over her once again as the cold air got to her. “It’s either too hot or too cold. Stupid. How the Hell can you sleep?” “It’s fine for me. Like every other night.” Aden had started to fall asleep again, pulling her back to him, slowly rubbing her stomach. “Just relax and it’ll come to you.” Doing as he said, Belle tried to relax. She focused on his breathing, hoping that it would lull her to sleep like it had done so many times before. When that failed, she tried to focus on her own breathing rather than the fact that her legs ached and her arms were getting cold. Deciding that none of it was going to work, Belle pushed Aden’s arms off her body and jumped out of bed. “What happened to sleeping?” Aden moaned as he rotated on his back, trying to wake up. “I will. I just need to get changed.” Belle had figured that if changing the covers on her body wasn’t going to work, then maybe changing the clothes would. Pulling off her tank top, she plucked up Aden’s shirt from the previous day that was laying on the side and put it on before taking off her bottoms. She had began folding them, wanting to make sure that everything was neat so that they didn’t forget anything in the morning when she froze suddenly. Holding her breath, her heart beat faster as Belle waited. Slowly letting out her breath, she placed the clothes back where Aden’s shirt had came from. She kept her breathing slow, trying to get her pulse back to normal when she felt it again. “Aden!” She gasped, twirling around to look at him. “What?” He asked groggily, pushing himself up on his elbows so that he could see her. “The baby moved.” That instantly woke him up, eyes widening as Belle made her way back to the bed. “What? Where?” Aden exclaimed as she knelt next to him, a hand resting on her abdomen. “Where do you think?” Belle’s tone was sarcastic, but the huge smile on her face betrayed her annoyance at his obvious question. “God, it feels so…” “So…?” He prompted, placing his own hand onto her stomach, frowning when nothing happened. “I can’t feel anything.” “Well, of course you can’t.” She giggled. Her tiredness and irritation of being able to fall asleep was now long forgotten and transformed into excitement and joy. “Only I can. It’s not any drastic motions yet.” “How does it feel?” Despite her words, Aden kept his hand glued to her slightly protruding stomach. He had, once again, found his way under the shirt to rest his hand on her bare skin, getting rid of any unnecessary barriers. “I dunno how to explain it. It’s like…” Belle tried to concentrate, but the baby had stopped just when she pressed a hand on top of Aden’s almost so that the pressure would make the sensation stronger. “Like really strong butterflies swimming around in there. Like- like-” She let go of Aden’s hand smoothing her hand up his bare arm before feeling it once more. Closing her eyes, Belle did her best to take it all in, trying to compare it to almost anything else that she could. But no matter how hard she tried, there wasn’t anything that matched it. “It’s like our baby moving around. That’s all I can say.” Opening her eyes, a feeling of guilt swept through her. Even as Aden stared at where his hand still remind lightly on her stomach, awe still lining his face, Belle knew that he was dying to know everything about their baby that he could. He understood that there were some things that wouldn’t be able to be shared, she knew that he did, but it didn’t stop her from feeling bad at times like these. She couldn’t even find the right words to describe it for him. “Belle?” Aden broke her out of her thoughts. “What’s wrong?” It was only when he retracted his hand from her stomach to sit up properly against the headboard and placed a hand on her cheek, wiping away the wetness, that she realised that she hadn’t been able to hold back these tears. Shaking her head, she gave him a genuine smile while pulling down his hand, replacing it back onto her stomach. The fluttering had stopped but Belle still sat as quietly as she could, not moving unless it was absolutely needed. After remaining like for about 5 minute, she concluded that either the baby had gotten settled and found a comfortable position, or that she was too focused on it. “It’s stopped.” She muttered while lifting her head up slightly to look at Aden’s curious face. “Probably sleeping.” He laughed at her words, and she felt bubble of laughter erupt from her. Shifting, Belle sat up so that she was balancing on her knees. As always, Aden’s hands kept her safe, making sure she didn’t topple over, not that she would considering she had been able to crawl on her knees alone since she was about 3. She leant in to kiss him first, waiting until he reciprocated before placing her hands on his shoulders and lifting a leg over both of his so that she could sit in his lap. Bringing her hands up to his neck, Belle refused to let him back away, even as he laughed at her attempts and managed to pull away easily. “Belle, it’s 5 in the morning. How about we go to sleep right now?” Groaning, she slid her arms around his shoulders, pulling him into an embraced as she pressed herself up to him as tightly as she could. Resting her head on his shoulder, she sighed, feeling Aden’s hand rubbed continuous circles over her lower back. “Belle?” Aden looked down to see that her eyes had fluttered close. He was sure that she was still awake, but he didn’t dare move or speak, hoping that she would fall back into sleep again. Keeping her close to him, he pulled up the sheets so that he could cover her as well as he could in their sitting positions. He could feel her arms going lax, a sign to tell him that Belle was now asleep. Knowing that he should lay her down again, Aden waited a moment, just cherishing the feel of her body against his. The baby bump of hers, however tiny, was still so different to what he was used to her body being like and it felt great against his abdomen. Finally, Aden began to feel bad and realised that it she would appreciate waking up with nothing aching from him making her sleep in the position that she was currently in. Gently, Aden slid a hand under her leg and smoothly lifted it over his body so that he could lay her flat onto her back. With her arms still around his shoulders, although loose, Belle went with him, gracefully and painlessly. He held his breath as he took a hold of her hands and placed them down onto the bed, praying that he wouldn’t wake her up. Leaning over her for a moment, Aden released his breath as she turned over in his direction in her sleep, an arm reaching out for him. Smiling, he shuffled back down, pulling the covers over the two of them before lifting her head up slightly so that he could slide an arm underneath, resting her head on his shoulder. Sighing, he looked over at the time. They had to leave for the airport in 6 hours, but, he figured, if he got up in 4 and let Belle get an extra hour, they would be fine. Feeling her even breathing on his neck, Aden began to match his to hers, once again sending him back to sleep before he could even think about the fact that their final night on their honeymoon turned out to be more special than they ever could have imagined. --- “Belle?” Aden called out as he stepped out of the bedroom and into the main part of the villa, only to see it empty. “Belle…?” “Out here.” Her voice came back to him. Silently, he walked over to the side door of the villa that exited onto the veranda that went all the way around the place. Belle was standing right at the corner on his right, overlooking the clear blue ocean as the 11am sun hit it, making it shine like diamonds. “Hey.” Aden murmured into her ear as he wound his arms around her shoulders, coming to standing behind her. “We’ve got to get going, sweetheart.” “I know. I was just looking for the last time.” Belle replied lightly, lifting her head up and leaning back against him. It was only then that he saw her camera in her hands and was able to figure out why she was out there. “Got your last pictures?” “Yup.” She answered happily. “Filled up the whole card, so they’re going to have to be the last ones.” Aden laughed at her response, kissing the back of her head sweetly before letting her go. “We can always come back one day.” He suggested, leaning against the balcony fence next to her, looking out to the ocean with her. “Yeah, maybe.” Belle agreed. “I guess we’ll have to see just how much free time we’ll get in a few years down the line.” “True, true.” Aden turned around to face her, seeing the ghost of a smile playing on her lips. “How’s the little one today? Any more movements?” “Just a few. It’s really weird. I dunno if it’s been like this for a while or not.” She confessed, continuing at his confused look. “I mean, this feeling, it’s like now that I know that the baby’s moving, I know what to look out for. But before last night, I didn’t, so I dunno if the baby’s been moving for a while now, or if it just started last night.” “I think,” Aden began after thinking over her words for a moment. “That if it had been moving for a while, theyou would have known. It’s probably why you couldn’t sleep last night.” “The baby.” The grin on her face showed that his words had put her mind to rest, although her words didn’t make any sense to him. “What?” “The baby. You said ‘it’. ‘It’ is so impersonal.” Belle explained as if it was common sense. “We should call the baby, ‘the baby’. Or just Baby. I don’t care, just not ‘it’. I don’t like it.” Her nose scrunched up at the end and Aden could help but smile. Instead of replying with words, he leant forwards and pressed a small kiss to the tip of her nose before moving down to her lips, where the kiss was more deeper and pronounced. They finally broke when Belle pulled away. “Shouldn’t we be going?” “Hmm…” He merely said, allowing her to wrap her arms around his waist and pull him into an embrace. “We should actually go if we want to make it on time. Have you got everything?” “Yeah.” Belle replied, not moving from her position with her head tucked under his chin. “Camera’s staying with me.” “Alright, then.” Aden sighed, skimming his hands up her back and over her shoulders as she backed off slowly. “C’mon, let’s go home.” --- Their flight had left on time and, thankfully, arrived as it was predicted. Although it had been long and they both managed to get quite a bit of sleep in between the talking, teasing and just being together in the very final moments of their honeymoon, it was just reaching 1 in the morning in Summer Bay as the car pulled to a stop outside their new place. “Home at last.” Belle said quietly as she peered out of the window. Startled, Aden looked down to where she was cuddled up to him, her feet curled up on the seat next to her while her hands held onto his shirt. “I thought you had fallen asleep again.” “Just resting my eyes.” She claimed as she sat up straight, working out the cricks in her body. As she slipped on her shoes, Belle could feel his eyes on her even as the driver had already opened the trunk of the car to take out their stuff. “Shouldn’t we get going?” Rolling his eyes at her patronising tone, Aden opened the door and stepped out. The cool air of the mid-spring night hit him instantly and he craved for the ever warm weather from the country that they had just flown from. Belle got out of the car on the other side, walking around the back and over to him. “You got the key, babe?” “Key?” Belle asked him, her eyebrows drawing together. “I thought you had it!” A look of shock and worry passed Aden’s face before a smile cracked out onto her face. “I’m kidding! Like I would let you look after it.” “Belle, it’s been such a long day…” He groaned through the smile that grew on his face at her teasing one. “Don’t mess with me.” “Alright, alright. Sorry.” She laughed, going to pick up her bag, only to be stopped. Turning to face Aden, she knew what was coming next. “I’m not even going to bother.” “Good, you’re learning.” Aden called after her as she walked off, shaking her head and going to open the door. Belle simply rolled her eyes while she dug out the keys that she had cleverly thought to keep with her on the journey back. A small yawn escaped her as she finally managed to locate it, pulling it out without even caring about what else it may be clinging to in her bag. Luckily, nothing spilled out as she reached forwards towards the lock, inserting the key into the lock after a couple of tries. She smiled as the butterflies in her abdomen started up again, and this time it was not only from the baby moving. Pushing the door open, Belle stepped in without another glance backwards to see where Aden had gotten to. She took a couple of steps in, using the moonlight as her guide before looking up and into the room properly, pausing at the sight. There, scattered over the shelves and the coffee table, were many tiny lights. At first, Belle thought them to be candles before realisation hit her and she was able to make the connection back to the wedding; they were the same fake tea candle lights that were used to make the aisle on the beach. “Whoa…” Aden murmured in shock as he came up behind her, locking the door as he left their stuff by the side. Belle spun around to look at him, confusion on her face at his exclamation. “Not me.” “It’s gorgeous, though, isn’t it?” She asked him as she spotted a piece of paper on the coffee table. It was being framed by a small cluster of lights that Belle guessed was placed there to grab their attention. Even in the darkened room, she managed to make her way over to it without bumping into anything in the still-unfamiliar house. The little tea lights gave enough of a guide for her. “What’s it say?” Aden brought her back to reality as she stood there reading the piece of paper with a grin on her face. She felt him approach her, his hand snaking it’s way around her waist and to her stomach as he stood behind her. Silently, Belle held it up a little bit higher so that he was able to read it in the glowing lights. Thought we’d give your return a little sparkle. Hope you enjoyed the time away and can’t wait to see you both. Mattie and Nicole. P.S. The boys would like a mention too, although all they did was watch the TV and wanted to burn down the house. P.S.S. We Nic stocked up the kitchen too so you don’t have to worry about it. “Somehow, Nicole stocking the kitchen does worry me.” Belle muttered as she folded the slip of paper back up against and placed it down onto the table. “I trust her.” Aden replied, dropping a kiss onto her neck. “It’s a nice thing to do though.” “Yeah, that it is. It’s sweet, and romantic.” She smiled, turning in his arms to link hers around his neck. “A great thing to come back to.” Belle giggled as Aden pressed his lips to hers almost immediately, their kiss growing with every passing second. “How about we go up… to our room?” “What about all this? Shouldn’t we turn them off first?” He gestured to the many lights with an arm even as she pulled him in the direction of the stairs by grabbing a hold of the other. “The batteries will die out soon.” Belle informed him, still walking backwards as she stepped up upon the first stair. “And it’s not like they’re a hazard or anything. We can deal with them in the morning. Now, come on, it‘s late and I want to go to bed.” “Bed, huh?” Aden chuckled while she pulled him closer by his shirt, leaning over him as she remained on the higher ground. Kissing him once again, Belle moved closer to him so that their bodies were touching in everyway that was possible. She could feel his arms find their way around her waist once more as hers rested on his shoulders. Slowly, without daring to break any contact, Aden let his hands slip down a bit. Lifting her carefully, which still didn’t take much effort, he registered, he felt Belle wrap her legs around his waist without a moment’s hesitation. Smiling as she did, Aden didn’t need any more encouragement other than her roaming kisses along his jaw and down his neck to follow through on her wishes and take her up to their room to spend their first night in their new house in a very pleasurable fashion. --- Hope you all likey. xoxo
Taniya_K Posted December 15, 2008 Report Posted December 15, 2008 I'm not so sure about this chapter - I just got it done and have only read it through once. I hope you like it anyway! Chapter 33: Aden stumbled a bit as he walked down the stairs. Despite the fact that he had been up for about 30 minutes already, and that he had had a shower to wake him up, it was still before 10 o’clock on a Wednesday morning that he had off. It was also the morning after they had gone to bed at about 2 the previous night after he had given in to Belle’s insistent pleadings of watching some crappy movie with her because she wasn’t sleepy. Surely enough, she had fallen asleep halfway through, and when Aden had tried to move without nudging her as she laid on top of him so that he could put her to bed, she had woken only to claim that she still wanted to watch the DVD. He had grudgingly allowed her, staying up with her until it finished although he hadn’t paid it the slightest bit of attention. There was something else, or rather two something’s, that he was more interested in and they had both been wrapped up in his arms, just as he preferred it to be. It was for that very reason as to why he was up so early on a day that he didn’t need to be. For the first time in the few days that they had been living there in their new place, Aden had woken up to find the rest of the bed empty. He had listened carefully to see if Belle had been in the adjoining bathroom but when it was all quiet, Aden had been forced to get up. Venturing as far as the end of the bed, he heard some puttering around downstairs and was able to figure that she was down there. He had finally decided to wake himself up more first rather than to join her, especially if she was still as worried as she had been the previous day. Now, he slowly walked into the kitchen, the smell of herbal tea hitting him strongly. For some reason, Belle had taken a liking to it ever since having it a week ago at the resort on their honeymoon. Personally, Aden was glad that there was something else that she would drink in the morning other than hot chocolate or orange juice, even if it did taste horribly strong. Coming up behind her, Aden slipped his arms around her waist, trailing kisses along her shoulder and up her neck as she giggled softly while continuing with fixing her breakfast of toast and a fruit salad. It was a weird mix, but he wasn’t going to complain at the fact that she was now eating more, and more healthily. “Good morning, Aden.” Belle said, the smile clear in her voice. “Morning.” He mumbled into the crook of her neck before backing off slightly. “Why are you up so early?” “It’s not that early.” She replied as Aden headed over to take a seat at the table, throwing her a sceptical look over his shoulder. “Considering that we went to bed at 2, I’d say it is.” He groaned to added extra emphasis while just rolled her eyes at him. She brought over her plate of toast and the fruit bowl before going back for her cup of tea. By the time that she had turned around, Aden had already eaten half of one of the toast slices. “Oi!” Belle snapped as she walked back over. “Do you mind? That’s for us.” She claimed, skimming her free hand over her stomach. Aden grinned at both her words and her actions but carried on eating the piece in his hand. He waited until Belle had set the mug down onto the table before grabbing a hold of her wrist and pulling her to him. “How is the baby today, then?” He asked her sweetly as her arm came around his back to rest on the back of the chair as she settled on his lap, his arm, like always, around her waist to make sure that she wouldn‘t fall. “Yeah, good.” She told him, reaching out with a fork to eat some of her breakfast. “Better than yesterday.” “Moving again?” Aden placed his hand atop of her abdomen as he finished off the toast, brushing it clean on his jeans before doing so, knowing the grief she’d give him about dirtying her top if he didn’t. “Yup.” Belle nodded with her answer as she continued to eat, avoiding any eye contact with him for the time being. “Then what’s wrong?” He nudged her by bouncing his leg, causing her to look at him. Her features had softened and a smile lit up her face. “Nothing.” She reassured him. “I’m just waiting for those words to come out of your mouth.” “What words?” Aden question, faking innocence. Belle didn’t even bother to reply and carried on eating as he leant in closer to speak directly into her ear. “Told you, didn’t I?” “Hmm…” She merely said. All day yesterday, she had been almost lost in her own world, focusing on their baby and waiting for any kind of sign of movement. Although it had only been about 4 days, Belle was already getting used to feeling the baby move around every now and again. So when she failed to feel anything the day before, anxiousness had immediately settled in. Aden had tried to assure her that it didn’t mean anything and the more she paid attention to it, the less likely it was that she was going to feel it. In the end, she had warned him not to use any of his ‘psychology crap’ on her, informing him that she was beyond anxious and becoming more worried. He had been able to calm her down by reminding her that their next scan was today, and that if there was something wrong, then they would pick up on it. It had worked, settling her down slightly so that she was no longer biting off his head if he broke her out of her state when she was concentrating on the baby. “What do you want to do today then? I mean, before the scan this arvo?” “Want to head down to the beach for a bit?” Belle suggested. Since they had arrived home, the only times that they had gone out was on the first day back and then a few times after to go visit their families. As predicted, the news of the pregnancy had spread, and as happy as she was about it, the was only so much Belle could take about baby talk. Aden, however, found it cute and laughed along, teasingly carrying on the conversation just to spite her. Therefore, they had spent more time at home than out, mainly getting the place set up with the final touches to make it more like their home. Although they had planned to get started on the nursery, the only time they had talked about it or done something was when they were in the room, arguing about what was going to go where and how it should be like. “Sure, whatever you want, babe.” Aden readily agreed, smiling as she mirrored it. His smile slowly died down, turning into a grimace when she forked up more fruit, this time holding it out to him. “No thanks.” “C’mon, it’s good for you.” She pointed out, eating it herself. “Not after eating that.” He nodded towards the plate that had two more slices of toast remaining on it. “What did you put on that, by the way? It kind of changed taste half way through.” “Marmalade.” Belle laughed at his words. “Orange and raspberry.” “Why?” “Because I wanted to. They taste good together.” Aden frowned at her words. Although the taste of it was ok because of the way she had spread it, it was the thought of having the two different types together that made him a bit nauseous. “That’s just wrong.” He shuddered, looking around for something else to eat or drink to help get rid of the taste that he had now conjured up. All that he could see was Belle’s tea which would not have helped at all, and the fruit. Neither one looked that appealing. “It’s not wrong.” Belle defended herself, pouting as her actions became a bit more sharp. “It’s not my fault your child has a weird sense of taste.” “Sorry, different, not wrong.” Aden corrected himself, not wanting to get on the bad side of the pregnant woman if he could avoid it, especially not today with the scan and all. “And it’s our child. If there’s a problem with taste, then that’s most probably your fault.” “Excuse me?” Belle turned to look at him straight in the eye as he leant back to stare at her right back. “You heard me. I mean, who eats chocolate cake with chocolate sauce and chocolate ice-cream? Or mixes coffee with hot chocolate when she can’t make up her mind?” Aden asked her sarcastically. “Yeah, well, who puts ketchup in pasta? Or doesn’t like chocolate anything?!” She retorted, smirking as he scowled at her mockingly. “That’s only because you’ve made me eat so much of it that just the thought of it makes me sick.” He explained, pulling a face as she bit onto her bottom lip, trying to hold back her smile. “Sorry.” Belle apologized, pressing her a kiss to his cheek. “It’s not like you need chocolate in your life, anyway.” “Oh yeah.” Aden rolled his eyes. “This coming from the girl who can eat it until she drops. And probably even then if she managed to find a way.” “Shut up.” She growled, turning back to her breakfast. “You all say that I need to put on weight. So that’s my way of doing so.” “Yeah, Belle, put on some weight. Not kill yourself from hyperglycaemia.” Belle frowned at the humorous tone to his words, remembering the last word from high school biology a few years back. “Shut up.” She repeated grumpily. “Think you’re so clever with your big words and stupid degree.” “… which has nothing to do with biology, but I’ll take it as a compliment anyway.” Aden grinned at her as she shook her head minutely. “You do that.” Belle informed him. “Cos it’ll be the only near compliment you get out of me for a while.” --- “Why are you always late for the scans, Aden?” Belle hissed at him as they finally got the prenatal ward in the hospital. “Me?” He asked incredulously. “We’re both late this time around.” “Yeah, because of you!” “Um, I’m sorry, but who was it that wanted to go for a walk on the beach? Or wouldn’t move when I told you about 30 minutes ago that we should be leaving? Or made us walk all the way here, even?” Aden reminded her while she scowled at him over her shoulder as they reached the nurse’s station. “Well, if you didn’t drive like a maniac, then maybe I would’ve let you drive us here.” Belle told him before turning back to the nurse at behind the counter who was asking if they could help them. “Hi, yeah, I have- had an appointment for 1:30 with Dr. Reed.” “Ok, hold on a tick.” The nurse replied politely with a soft smile, noticing Aden’s small roll of the eyes. “Name?” “Belle Taylor.” “-Jefferies.” Aden added pointedly. “Either will do.” Belle told her, glancing at Aden out of the corner of her eye. She could see him smiling almost flirtatiously at the nurse, who blushed slightly before getting up and mumbling something about letting the doctor know. It wasn’t the same smile that he gave her, but it still annoyed her. Turning to face him, she crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at him. “What?” “I’m standing right here, you know?” “Yeah, so?” He questioned, a small smirk forming on his lips as he watched her just glare at him. He always loved provoking the feisty side of her, especially when she was jealous. Before he could get another word out, Belle had turned around, walking in the general direction of where the pretty nurse had headed. Aden followed, staying behind her to make sure that she couldn’t find another reason to be mad at him. It only took seconds before the nurse returned, telling them that they could go in. Aden smiled at her once more, thanking her for the help in a more gracious voice than Belle’s forced one. “Why don’t you just ask her out if you’re so thankful?” She snapped at him in low voice as they walked down the hall to where the room was. “I was only being nice…” Aden laughed, catching up with her slowly. “Oh, yeah?” Belle retorted, not stopping or looking at him. “Who’s definition of ‘nice’ are you thinking of? Nicole’s?” “Funny.” He tried to be sarcastic, but there was no way that he was able to hold back the laughter at her words. “Aw, c’mon, Belle. You know that I’m only messing with you, right? I only have eyes for you, beautiful.” “Sure, sure.” She mumbled, her steps gradually becoming slower as she gave up on trying to be angry at him and they reached the door they were looking for. “Whatever you say.” Grinning, Aden wrapped his arm around her waist, drawing her closer to him and pressing a kiss to her temple. He could see her smile momentarily, letting him know that she was no longer mad at him even if she tried to act like it. She knocked on the door gently, waiting for a response before entering. She felt Aden’s hand slip down from her waist down to her own hand, clasping it tightly and intertwining their fingers. Instead of even pretending to still be angry at him, Belle allowed him to do so, tightening the hold quickly as they entered the room where the doctor awaited for them. Although Dr. Reed was a really calm and pleasant doctor, there was still something unnerving about the whole thing to Belle. It was most probably because she had never welcomed people touching her, less so now that it wasn’t just her. The time seemed to pass by a bit slower than usual as the doctor went through the normal routine of asking general questions. Was she keeping stress-free? Was she eating healthily and taken the prenatal vitamins? Has there been any recent changes? The answer to the last one was pretty long. Not only had her body changed along with her marital status, there was also the fact that Belle felt like she had so much more energy, hence the reason why she had been able to convince Aden to walk all the way to the hospital. It had only been a 30 minute walk, but she would have been complaining if she had done that about a month ago. And then there were the changes to her appetite, moods and the fact that she could feel the baby moving. “Everything seems to be going good then.” Dr Reed informed her as she made a note of everything that she said, while Aden sat, quietly for a first, and just listened. “So there’re no changes for the bad, then?” “Nope.” Belle replied with a ghost of a smile. She knew that admitting to the fact that she was getting fatter by the day was something that should have been a bad thing, but it wasn’t for her. Although, ‘getting fatter by the day’ wasn’t the right phrase for her, as they had discovered. For some reason, it had seemed that their baby had decided to stop growing ever since coming back home again. “Everything’s good for the time being.” Dr. Reed had grinned happily at her response before carrying on with the physical side of their appointment. This didn’t take too long, which Belle was more than grateful for, and she was soon instructed to lie down on the bed so that the doctor could carry out the scan. Like last time, the feeling of anxiousness overcame her when she rolled up her top to expose her stomach, and she desperately sought Aden’s hand for his comfort. It was odd, the sense of safety and protectiveness that she could get just by touching him, or clinging onto his hand in her case. He sat next to her this time around, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze and kissed the back of it as he leant with his elbows on the bed, covering her hand with his other one soon enough. “Ok, this is going to be cold.” The doctor warned her and only moments later she winced, sucking her tummy in on instinct at the sensation. Of course, it didn’t do anything to change the fact that it was cold or that the other two were laughing at her. “Right, so let’s take a look then.” At her words, both of their eyes focused on the screen that was turned in their direction this time. It took a bit of time, each second merging with another to draw it out for longer than the minute that it actually took before the blurry picture appeared on the screen. Belle felt Aden’s hands lose a bit of pressure on hers at the sight, but that was only at the back of her mind. As the wand continued to move slightly over her abdomen, finally finding the perfect place to see the entire length of the baby, she felt her heart start to beat faster. Which was weird to her, considering that her breath was caught in her throat as she kept on staring at the screen. “Everything’s looking good.” Dr. Reed claimed, a smile on her face as she saw the two parents-to-be’s reactions. “According to this, I’d say that the baby’s about 14, maybe 15 weeks along.” She went on to describe more about the baby’s form, every bit of it fascinating them to no end. Even though they had both read the books that Aden had brought them, nothing compared to actually being told the facts about their baby. “It looks so big to be in there.” Aden commented in awe before he was forced to look at Belle as she tightened her hand in his. “I mean it in a good way.” “Well, I can assure you that it’s all normal.” The doctor reclaimed their attention as she spoke. “And this,” She reached over to press a button and turn a dial on the machine before a rhythmic sound filled the otherwise quiet room, “is your baby’s heartbeat.” “That’s- that’s fast.” Belle managed to get out in a midst of her shock and wonder. “That’s perfectly normal. The foetal heartbeat usually is.” They both nodded, showing non-verbally that they were still listening to her although there was something else that overruled in their minds. The sound was a small thudding, just like a normal heartbeat, and as fast as it was, it was brilliantly soothing. “Baby has a heartbeat.” Belle mumbled, almost to herself, turning her head to look at Aden, who was still watching the picture on the screen. She kept her eyes locked on him, letting the sound wash over her as it quieted slowly as the doctor switched it off. The regular beating still resided in her head, and she was pretty sure it wouldn’t be leaving anytime soon. It reminded her of the many nights when she was lulled to sleep by Aden’s heart beating under her ear. It gave her that same kind of serenity and closeness to the both of them just by hearing something so little and common. Feeling eyes on him, Aden tore his eyes away from the image to where Belle was staring at him with a soft look on her face, eyes glassy from what he thought to be due to the overwhelming sound of their baby’s heartbeat. He knew that this reconfirmation that their baby was doing well and was perfectly healthy was the other reason for the tears. To know that everything was going well and they were doing things right so far was something that they were both wanting to hear. Despite all the preparations that they had done, the fear of becoming parents was still there, as was the fear of messing up. So hearing their baby’s heartbeat, along with the feelings of it moving, was pretty good sign for the two of them that they were doing good so far. “The baby has a heartbeat.” Aden whispered to her as she giggled. “That’s what I just said.” “Sorry, didn’t hear you.” He laughed, lowering his arms to lay on the bed, letting go of her hand with one of his and using that to brush aside her fringe. “Sounds good, doesn’t it?” “Yeah…” Belle smiled, sitting up and turning to look back at the screen. Dr. Reed had given them a bit of space after clearing everything up, standing on the other side of the room and making some more notes and busying herself with whatever was necessary. “Yeah, it does.” “Didn’t I tell you that everything was ok?” His tone was almost smug as Belle looked back at him, pursing her lips to try and stop herself from mocking him at a moment like that. “Yes, you did.” She sighed, smoothing out her top to seem non-chalant. “You were right.” “Thank you.” Aden said earnestly before a smirk broke out on his face. “Maybe now you’ll listen to me when I say that you over think things.” “Hmm… maybe.” Belle smiled guiltily, glancing back over at the screen with the frozen image of the baby. When she thought about it now, her reactions the day before did seem pretty stupid even if she did put it down to overprotective side. Somehow, she felt that her supposed mother instincts were letting her down, although Aden put that down to her being so stubborn and not needing those ‘instincts’ to know stuff about her baby. “And when I say that you need to relax at times…” “Maybe.” She repeated with a slight shrug and smile. “And when I say that it’s going to be a girl.” Aden’s tone was hopeful and it portrayed the smile on his face. Belle simply shook her head and laughed before turning back to the screen. “You wish.” --- I'll try to get the next update up ASAP, but I dunno when that might be. It shouldn't be more than a few days! xoxo
Taniya_K Posted December 17, 2008 Report Posted December 17, 2008 Sorry for the wait. I hope it was worth it. This chapter is more nonsense fluff. Enjoy! Chapter 34: The next day, the two of them decided to finally go shopping for stuff to fill up and decorate the nursery. There wasn’t a reason why they had put it off all week, but the reason for why they had decided to go now was merely because of the scan. Just looking at the ultrasound picture, now proudly stuck into the scrapbook, and remembering the sound of the heartbeat made it all that more exciting. Belle had been eager to get started on the nursery ever since adding the new image to the book, wanting there to be more for her to do that related to the baby. So after convincing Aden, which didn’t take more than a few words, she had practically listed everything that she could think of that they would need, hoping to get most of it out of the way as soon as possible. Now, Belle shifted once again in her seat, pulling on the seatbelt as she curled up her legs onto the seat. She had kicked her shoes off as soon as they had gotten into the car, but the inability to get comfortable only came now. Twisting to the side, she undid her belt for a moment, ignoring the look that Aden shot her as she reached behind the driver’s seat to grab his jacket. “Hey, hey, hey! Belt, on!” He snapped at her. “Hold on a second.” Belle mumbled as she struggled to pull his jacket out from under her bag that laid on top of it on the back seat. “What are you doing, anyway?” Aden asked her, his free hand automatically coming to rest on her leg as she knelt on the seat slightly. “Belle, you’re going to hurt yourself!” “I won’t.” She sighed exasperatedly as she finally managed to grab what she sought for, sitting back down as she had been before and redoing her belt. “What?” “You’re being reckless.” He informed her, exchanging glances between her and the road. “I am not!” Belle exclaimed, pausing in her folding of his jacket to look up at him. “I was perfectly fine. I can look after myself and not put myself or the baby in danger, thank you very much. If there’s anything here that’s somewhat near to reckless, it’s your driving.” “My driving is fine.” Aden defended himself. “Although having you sit like that, without a belt, is enough to make me crash.” “Maybe you should keep your eyes on the road instead then.” She huffed, placing the jacket behind her to use it as a cushion and help elevate her back from the seat. “And buy a pillow for the car!” “Is that what you’re using my jacket for?” He questioned, looked over at her to see her stop squirming in her seat. “Do you know how much that jacket is worth? And you’re using it as a pillow…” Aden chuckled at the end, remembering that it was actually Belle who had bought him the jacket in the first place. “Trust me, it’s not worth the pain of having to sit in this car for another 30 minutes without a cushion.” Belle groaned, stretching her legs out and resting her feet flat against the glove compartment. “What pain?” His words were hurried as he gave her a quick look as if he could determine the problem just by a simple glance. “The one in my back. It’s this stupid car! I have no problems in my car even while I’m driving it.” She claimed as she kicked the dashboard in front of her with a gentle force. “Leave the car alone, Belle.” Aden said in a warning tone. “And it’s not ‘stupid’.” “Ooh, defensive.” She taunted, smiling as she eyed his unimpressed expression. “It’s just a car, Aden. Relax. It’s not like it can hear me or that I can hurt it’s feelings or anything.” “Doesn’t mean you can be so rude about it.” He told her with an edge to his words. “Or destroy it by kicking at it.” “One kick is not ‘destroying’.” Belle laughed. “It will be when you add more.” “What? You mean like this?” She pattered one foot against where it rested a few times, waiting until she got a reaction from him. It didn’t take long, a hand coming to rest on her knee, forcing her to stop with a slight pressure. “Stop it.” He said through gritted teeth, sliding his hand down to reach where her anklet was still hooked. It was only then that she stopped, grinning at him as she turned to look at him. “You know, Aden.“ Belle began seriously. “Sometimes I don’t know who you love more; me or this car.” At his silence, she narrowed her eyes at him, glaring at the side of his head as he did what she had said and kept his eyes on the road. “Don’t answer too quick, there, Aden. Take your time. I mean, it is a difficult choice. Your wife, or this junk of metal.” “It’s not junk.” Aden replied instantly, earning a slap around the head from her. “Ow! What the Hell? I’m driving here!” “When I question your love for me, you stay silent, yet I say one bad thing about this car and you jump to it’s defence immediately.” She pointed out with a harsh tone. “And I could do you a fair lot more harm if I wanted to.” “Belle, seriously, I’m just kidding.” He looked over at her to see that his light tone hadn’t done anything to snap her out of her mood. Although he had read that, starting with the second trimester of the pregnancy, mood swings were supposed to vanish, Aden wondered if that was a lie in her case. Because he was pretty sure that Belle still jumped from one mood to another, or one emotion to another, quicker than he could blink. “What’s happened to your sense of humour? The baby repressing it or something?” “No, there’s just nothing humorous about this.” Belle said, the words sharp as she crossed her arms. As Aden looked over at her, a bit scared that he had actually pissed her off, he was relieved to see a glimpse of a smile on her face as she tried to keep it off. “Oh, no, of course not.” He said as earnestly as he could, watching the road as he casually glided his hand over her leg and left it to lay on her thigh. “Nothing funny about the truth.” “And the truth is…?” She prompted him. “… the car comes first.” “I don’t even know why I bother.” --- “So, if we can’t get anything blue, and we can’t get anything pink, what can we get?” Aden asked her sardonically as they browsed the section of the store filled with various blankets and baby pillows and the lot. “Wait, let me guess! White or cream?” “Yes.” Belle simply replied, not bothering to argue with him on the same point over and over again. “Even though all the white and cream and yellow stuff are no way as cute as the pink stuff?” “Aden, if you like the pink stuff so much, then we can go and buy some pink stuff…” She paused as she turned to face him, a hopeful yet confused look on his face. “For you.” “Yeah, Belle. Because that’s what I meant.” He said dryly. “Then stop whining. I told you; we’re not going to get anything that’s gender specific until we know whether it’s a boy or a girl.” Belle reminded him, carrying on with the browsing as Aden sulked behind her. “And by ‘knowing’, I mean actually, 100% knowing. Not what you think or what I think, or what anyone thinks.” “But that means waiting another 5 and a half months.” “Yes, it does.” She agreed. “Which is why, for the next 5 and a half months, we’re not going to buy a thing that is either pink or blue.” “5 and a half months is a long time, Belle.” Aden pointed out as she led then to where the furniture that was needed for the nursery was. “I’m not sure if we have the patience for that.” “Speak for yourself!” Belle scoffed, running her hands over a baby’s crib. “What do you think about this?” “Yeah, it’s alright.” “Just ‘alright’?” She asked, looking over at him where he leaned on the shopping cart that was stocked with some basics that they had picked up. He was playing around with a small teddy of a white bunny that they had chosen just because it was too adorable to not have. “Aden!” “What?” He looked up at her to see the amused look on her face as she rolled her eyes at him. “I prefer the crib behind you.” Belle spun around to see which one it was that he was talking about. Frowning at the pale cream one that was now in front of her, she turned back to Aden, a questioning look on her face. His response was a simple shake of the head with a soft smile before telling her to turn to her left slightly. Doing what he said, Belle’s eyes fell upon the one that he had been talking about. She had to admit, it was better than the one that she was looking at. This one was mainly white with some maple wood effects added to it to give it a more traditional yet contemporary look. The shape of it was pretty, with arches at each end that were smooth to the touch as she trailed her fingers around it and along the sides where the adjustable barriers were. “What do you think?” Aden questioned her. Belle glanced up at him before shrugging casually. “It’s alright…” “It’s better than ‘alright’.” He told her, walking over to the other side and staring right at her. “You know you love it.” “Is that so?” Belle laughed, resisting the urge to round the crib and saunter up to him teasingly, remembering that they were in a very public place. “Yup. So why don‘t you just admit it?” Aden gave her his smile as she simply nodded, keeping her eyes on the object in front of her. “It’s white. And so is the rest of the room.” She pointed out with a matter-of-fact tone. “So?” “So…” Belle added, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to make the connection himself. “It would mean that everything’s white. And when we buy everything else for the nursery, it’ll all have to be white to match, so the room will end up looking more like a room on the psychiatric ward than a nursery.” “That’s not true!” He tried to sound serious, but the image that her words conjured up was quite funny. “We can match it to this.” Aden tapped the wooden bits of the crib to show what he meant. “Yeah, I guess so.” Her tone was distracted as she looked around the rest of the place where they stood. It was an open area where the cribs, cabinets, tables and much more were displayed. “Actually, that sounds like a good idea.” “I’m full of good ideas.” Aden replied smugly as she chuckled wryly. “Get it now or look around more?” “Up to you.” She told him before continuing smarmily. “Seeing as you are paying for it.” “Fine by me. I say now, then.” “Great. Try not to fall in love with it while your at it, yeah?” Belle mocked, walking past him and towards where there were some more stuff that they could do with. “Funny. That was funny.” --- “Leave it, Belle. I can grab it.” “It doesn’t weigh much.” Belle huffed, slamming the back door shut with as much force as she could muster, which wasn’t that much at all. “Which is why I can get it.” He replied, opening up the boot to remove the couple of bags from there. The furniture stuff that they had bought, which was only the crib, would be delivered some other time. It was almost a disappointment to Belle that the nursery would have to wait to have it’s first proper item in it, but with everything else that they had bought, at least the room would have some claim to it. At the moment, it was empty and had nothing to even hint that it would soon become their child’s room. Ignoring his words, Belle dug out the keys to the house as she walked up towards the door. She had just reached the front porch when she heard the car boot slam shut, following by the two beeps signalling that the car had been locked. “Careful there, Aden. Wouldn’t want to hurt your precious car now, would you?” She said sarcastically as she entered the house, dumping the bag on the side while on her way to the kitchen. Her body had been craving for something sweet, sour and juicy for the whole ride back. “Ok, can we stop with the car stuff already? It’s getting really old.” He claimed, copying her actions and placing the bags next to where she had and following her into the kitchen. “It was just a joke.” “’Just a joke‘?” Belle repeated in fake surprise as she took out an apple, an orange and a box of strawberries from the fridge. “I don’t think your car would be happy to hear that. I would be very upset to hear someone saying that me being first in their life was a lie…” “That’s not-” Aden broke off when he saw the smirk on her face as he stood opposite her, changing his last words as he carried on. “That’s not funny.” “What? So you can mess with me, but I can’t mess with you?” She enquired, batting away his hand as he took a piece of the apple that she was chopping up into a fruit salad. “Nope. No-one messes with me, babe.” He insisted as he plucked the strawberry straight out of her hand. “Aden! If you want to eat something, go make it yourself! Or at least wait until I’ve made this before you start eating it.” Belle reprimanded him as he sighed heavily, leaning against the counter next to her. He watched her form intently, everything from her hands chopping up the fruit and placing them into a bowl, down past her barely visible baby bump to where one of her feet tapped unconsciously to an unknown beat. “And stop watching me. It’s freaky.” “I can’t help it; you’re good on the eyes, gorgeous.” Aden said, giving her a wink that she was able to catch out of the corner of her eyes. Seeing her laugh silently at his words, he reached out for the orange segment that she was trying to peel. Waiting until she sliced it open, he quickly snatched it, popping it into his mouth before she even noticed what he had done. She growled in annoyance, but he guessed she decided to stay quiet, knowing that her words just egged him on. He watched as she got another piece, still silent, and cut it up. He waited until she had finished with it this time to take it. Aden, however, hadn’t been expecting her to react to him so quickly, pushing his hand away with, unfortunately, her hand that held the knife. “Ow!” “What?” Belle stopped with the fruit for the moment to look over at him, gasping when she saw the red line on his palm. “I didn’t-” “You cut me.” Aden stated, looking at his hand where blood had started to seep out of the wound. “Well, if you hadn’t kept on taking my food, I wouldn’t have had to keep pushing your hand away.” She defended herself, trying to take his hand with hers so that she could see the wound herself. “Whoa, you keep away!” He exclaimed, jumping away from her before she could touch him. “Crazy, knife-welding woman.” “Aden!” She growled at him, grabbing him by the arm and pushing him towards the sink. “Run it under the water.” “Wait-” He had barely managed to get another word out when Belle had stuck his hand under the freezing cold water that streamed out of the tap. Hissing at the stinging that it caused, he quickly retracted it as soon as she let go of him. “I think it’ll be fine without that.” “Stop being such a baby.” Belle rolled her eyes, taking a hold of his hand once again. “It doesn’t look like it’ll need any stitches, so it’s not too bad.” “Oh, yeah, it’s not like I need the use of my right hand anyway.” Aden shrugged casually, wincing as he flexed his fingers, the cut going horizontally along his palm protesting at this actions. “I’m sorry.” She apologized, still holding onto his wrist and watching the blood squeeze out of the cut slower than it had been. “It was an accident. I didn’t mean to catch you with the knife.” “It’s ok.” He assured her, letting her guide him over to the table before getting a towel and dampening it in the cold water. “I hope you’re not planning on freezing my hand again.” “Stay still.” Belle warned him as she returned to take a seat next to him, dabbing away the blood to cleanse it out. “Hold this here for a moment. I’ll go get something to wrap it up.” Before Aden had the chance to argue or to tell her to stay put, she had disappeared out of the kitchen and he could hear her climbing up the stairs. Exhaling, he slumped back against the chair, feeling bad for making Belle feel guilty about the cut. Like always, he had reacted in his normal way of teasing her when he should have just pretended that it was nothing so not to make it seem worse than it was. “Here.” Belle placed the selection of a bandage, cotton wool and some antiseptic on the table. “Let me see.” “Belle, I can do it myself.” He told her gently, leaning forwards as she continued with what she was doing. “It’s ok. You can’t do it with just one hand.” She informed him distractedly, spreading the cream over the cut as Aden tried his best to not react to it. “Sorry.” “Don’t worry about it.” He sighed, sitting back in the chair once again. “Belle, please don’t feel guilty about this. It was an accident, and I should knew better than to take food from a pregnant woman.” Hearing her let out a little laugh made his heart soar, knowing that not only was he the reason of the sweet sound, but because he was making her feel better now. “I’m still sorry.” Belle mumbled, wrapping his hand up with the bandage. “You know, legally, this can be classed as domestic violence.” “True. That’s true.” Aden said in a thoughtful tone. “Although, I’m sure there’s a way you can convince me not to report you…” “Is that so?” She asked him while finishing off with his hand. “Can’t think of anything myself. But I‘m sure it‘ll come to me somehow.” “Hmm… me too.” He replied earnestly. “Weren’t you hungry?” “Um… not anymore. Blood doesn’t settle well with the baby.” Belle laughed, rubbing her stomach lightly. “Never mind. How’s that feel?” “Yeah, ok.” He curled up his hand once again as she watched him, noticing the look on his face as one of discomfort. “But I dunno how long I’m going to be able to feel for. I think you’re cutting off the circulation.” “Sorry!” She hurriedly undid it, hoping that it wouldn’t cause anymore pain or damage to his hand. “God, I can’t do anything right today, can I?” “Belle-” Aden began softly to contradict her words. “Never mind, Aden.” Belle cut him off, redoing the bandage. “I think it’ll take a bit off time before I stop being such a terrible wife. Anyway, how does that feel now?” “Yeah, better.” He made a fist once again, glad when it didn’t cause anymore pain of anything of the like. “And just for the record, Belle, you’re not a terrible wife. We’re as bad as each other.” She gave him a look of disbelief that he smirked at. “I mean, I did say I loved my car more than you. Not exactly one of the best things so say.” “You know what? You’re right.” Belle nodded, standing up as she spoke with a more happier tone. “We are as bad as each other.” She told him as she returned, dropping a brief kiss to his lips, a smile now gracing her features softly. “No problem.” He replied with a confused look before deciding to let it go, remembering her mood swings were still in effect. “So, now that I’m injured and all… You going to be my personal nurse?” “Don’t even think about it, Aden.” She warned him as she cleared up the counter where she had been chopping up the fruit. “Don‘t even think about it.” “It was worth the try.” --- Once again, I hope you liked it! xoxo
Taniya_K Posted December 19, 2008 Report Posted December 19, 2008 You're really dying for the angst, aren't you? It'll come soon enough... I truly love angst but only when it's written extremely well and still manages to keep the characters completely in character throughout the scene. There are only a few writers on this site who can pull that off and you're one of them. I think back to the Drew/Belle fight in Untroubled and the Aden/Belle angst from there too and it makes me even more excited for it. Thank you! That's really does mean a lot to me! I just hope I can do it justice this time around too. Angst is good! Dont shoot me *runs* Of course angst is good...it means you appreciate the fluff that much more *Joins Zetti in her dash for cover* Lol, I'm not gonna hurt ya, but I do see a mob of Adellites coming in your direction! But I agree, angst is good and it does make the fluff better! Sorry for the wait once again. This is probably going to be the last semi-meaningless fluffy chapter for a while I hope you enjoy it. Thanks to Naomi for her help on this chappie! Chapter 35: Belle laughed to herself as she skipped down the stairs, the playful arguing that she was leaving behind for the moment still sounding loud and clear. She was in a really good mood that particular day, although there was no one reason for it. Everything was just going good. Stopping at the bottom step, she smiled as she saw Aden’s car pull up through the window. Opening the door, she smiled at his look of surprise that was obvious even under his shades. It was funny how those sunglasses were now almost always associated with him, especially as he drove. She no longer teased him about them or found it odd; they were now a part of him. And Belle had admit, although she had mocked them at first, he did look quite sexy in them. “Hey.” She greeted him, leaning against the doorframe. “Hey yourself. What’re you doing home?” Aden asked her in reply, following her into the house. “Finished the shoot early and there was nothing else that I could do in the office that I couldn’t do at home so they let me go early.” Belle explained. Aden had the feeling that the main reason why they had let her go early was because she was now nearing being 4 months pregnant, but he kept that to herself. He knew that that wouldn’t go down well with her. “I see.” He merely replied, taking off his shades and placing them on the side before frowning at the thumping sounds coming from upstairs. “Uh…” “Ric and Geoff are putting together the dresser.” She told him over her shoulder as she entered the kitchen. He nodded before going with her. “How much have they done?” Aden questioned. “Not much.” Belle giggled. The nursery was still bare as it had been, apart from a few items such as teddies, cute cushions and other essential stuff. The furniture was still in boxes, waiting to be put together. That included the dresser, which the boys were trying to do now, and the crib, which Belle knew that Aden wanted to do himself. She had agreed, knowing how much it meant to him to do something for the baby by himself. “It’s really funny. I’m making Mattie and I some popcorn because it’s that entertaining.” “Really?” He laughed as a couple more loud noises came through from the ceiling. “Somehow, I don’t doubt it. What are the chances of them breaking the house at this rate?” “Very high.” She said seriously as she set the microwave before walking up to Aden who sat on one of the stools. Winding her arms around his neck, she smiled when he did, his hands coming to rub her still tiny bump before wrapping around her waist, pulling her to stand in between his legs and closer to him. “Hi…” Belle whispered seductively, playing with the hair on the nape of his neck. “Hi.” Aden’s voice was at the same volume, speaking a split second before she took his lips with hers, bringing them into a heated and lustful kiss. Breaking apart only in need of air, Belle continued to nip at his bottom lip, placing small kisses afterwards to sooth the pain before he captured hers in a more passionate and loving one. “Hmm…” Belle moaned when they pulled apart this time, a smile still on her face as his left hand came up and brushed her hair away from her face. “It’s been a month.” “I know that, babe.” Aden grinned. “Do we do one month anniversaries?” “No, but I just thought I’d mention it.” She laughed, bringing down his hand from her cheek and pressing a kiss to his knuckles just above where she had places that wedding ring a month to the day ago. “In case you had forgotten, you know?” “Give me a few more years and I might forget.” He informed her and she nodded and agreed in mock seriousness. “So, a month. That’s a good sign, right?” “I’d say so.” “I can‘t believe how quickly the time had gone.” Aden pressed another kiss to her lips, feeling her mouth curve into a smile against his. Unfortunately, before they had the chance to get any further with it, the microwave pinged to tell them at the food was done. “Time goes quickly when you’re having fun.” Belle told him lightly as she pulled out a bowl and emptied the popcorn into it. “Soon enough, it’ll be half a year, and the baby will be here.” “That is if the next 5 months are fun.” He pointed out. “Which they should be if you don’t turn into those typical pregnant women you see who complain non-stop towards the end of the 9 months.” “When, exactly, have you seen me act like a typical pregnant woman?” She asked him incredulously as he stood up and came up behind her. “True, true.” Aden admitted, his hands working their way around her waist, thumbs gently massaging the small of her back. “Ah, don’t Aden.” Belle warned him, turning around in his arms and pushing his hands away. “Don’t start something we can’t finish.” “Who says we can’t?” He asked with a suggestive smirk. “The three people who are upstairs.” She reminded him as he groaned good-naturedly, allowing her to take a hold of his hand and drag him into the front room and then up the stairs with little restraint. Although she had only been gone for around 5 minutes, the room that she had left the others in seemed to have gotten a lot more messier than was possible. She had given the boys a line that they weren’t allowed to cross or dump anything over to create a mess outside of their area so that the rest of the nursery wouldn’t get ruined. Thankfully, Belle still had the ability to make them do what she wanted and they had stuck to the side she had designated for them. “How’s it going?” Belle enquired, looking over at where Mattie was sitting on the window seat. “Well, considering that they had managed to now have less done than they had an hour ago, I’d say really badly.” She replied, taking the bowl that the other girl handed to her. “You’ve been at this for an hour?” Aden laughed as he followed Belle, letting her sit down first before leaning against the wall and looking at the progress, or the lack of, that the other two boys had done. “Over an hour.” Mattie corrected. “An hour and 17 minutes to be precise.” “And you’ve gotten what? Practically nothing done?” “That’s not true!” Geoff defended their work, although he didn’t provide anything else to back up his statement. “Yeah, Aden, that’s not entirely true.” Belle agreed, although her tone was more of a patronising one than a sincere one. “They got it out of the box and worked out how not to do it.” “Funny, Belle. Real funny.” Ric said sarcastically as the other three laughed freely while the two of them scowled and got back to the job at hand. “You know, mate. Seeing as this is your kid’s room, maybe you could lend a hand too?” “Nah, I’m good over here.” Aden insisted, nudging Belle up to take a seat next to her. She complied grudgingly, using him as a cushion as she leaned back against him to make herself comfy. The 5 of them remained as they were for while, casual teasing and chatting going on non-stop while Mattie read through the books that were lying in a pile by her feet now. “Where’s the scrapbook gotten to?” She asked the two of them, smiling when she saw her friends cuddled up in a cute way on the other end of the seat. “On the shelf.” Belle pointed to the several shelves that were on the opposite wall. “Thought it would be safer in here. Big mistake.” “They’re not destroying anything. Yet.” Aden added as the two of them glared at them, not impressed with their comments. “You could show a bit of gratitude.” Ric commented as the girls giggled at Aden’s words. “They’re not even appreciative.” “Our mistake for volunteering.” Geoff told him as he dug out the paper containing the instructions that laid on the floor, covered in several layers of wood. “Do these even make sense to you?” “Mate, the way to do this is without the instructions. They just confuse you more.” Ric grumbled, picking up another pack of screws. “Where did these come from?” “You were right.” Aden mumbled into Belle’s hair so that only she could hear. “This is entertaining.” “Ric, why don’t you try and stick to the instructions, please?” Belle said with laughter ringing her words as Mattie got up and crossed over to the other side of the room to get the scrapbook that she was dying to see. “Maybe if you read the English side, it would make more sense.” She told them in a sarcastic voice while peering over Geoff’s shoulder at the piece of paper, making the parents-to-be laugh at her words. “It is the English side!” Geoff informed her. “And it’s why this is not going so good.” “Aden, maybe you should go help them out.” Belle elbowed him gently in the ribs a his arm around her waist tightened. “But where’s the fun in that?” He grumbled before sighing as her pointed look. “Fine.” Belle smiled as he snatched the instructions off of Geoff, hoping to make more sense of them than the other two had. He still moaned about the cut on his hand from time to time, usually only to get out of doing things, so she was surprised that he hadn‘t used that this time around. It had healed by the time he had to go back to uni, thankfully, and she knew that it no longer caused any pain to him. There was hardly even a mark left, so she just took it in her stride, using his moaning against him at times when she felt like being mean. “Got it!” Mattie sighed in relief as she sunk back down onto the window seat, claiming Belle’s attention as she spotted the scrapbook in her lap. “Let’s take a look at this, then.” “It hasn’t really got anything in it. Just the scans and a couple of other papers.” She shrugged non-chalantly at her, knowing that the papers and such wouldn’t hold as much meaning to anyone else apart from her and Aden. “Scans are interesting.” Mattie nodded while opening the cover carefully. She flipped the pages with the same amount of delicacy, pausing at the first image that was stuck in before hurriedly going to the next that she had not yet seen. “Aw, look! She doesn’t look like a bean anymore!” Although everyone else laughed at her words, Belle scowled, pulling the bowl that was now half empty onto her lap as she stretched out her legs and gave her a swift shove to the leg from where she could reach. “As good as that is to hear,” Belle began with an edge to her voice that made her best mate look at her. “Why did you say ‘she’?” “Oh! Didn’t we agree that it was a girl?” Mattie questioned in pure confusion, noting Belle‘s facial expression as a definite ‘no‘. “Maybe I just imagined it or something…” “Hmm… maybe.” She said, unconvinced. “Isn’t this like two weeks old? Doesn’t that mean that the baby’s probably bigger than this right now?” “Probably. Can’t really tell much.” Belle answered, picking out the small popcorn kernels and eating them. “I haven’t changed much in the past two weeks, thought. So that might be a clue.” “Maybe.” Mattie agreed, shutting the book and placing it on top of the pile of book that grew on the ground before facing Belle. “Or maybe the baby is growing, and you’ll just find out one day when you’ve grown, like, double the size overnight.” “Don’t say things like that, Mattie.” Aden warned even as they continued with their job. “She’ll get violent on you.” “Aden! I will not!” Belle sulked. “It was one time and he deserved it.” “Hey, I’m not complaining!” He held up his hands in mock surrender while looking up at her. “Ok, what are we missing out on here?” Geoff asked the question that the three of them were thinking. “Nothing.” She snapped, turning to look out of the window, hoping that they would all leave well enough alone. They all remained quiet for the moment before Ric spoke up. “Does this have anything to do with you not speaking to Drew?” “Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. I meant to ask what was happening with that.” Mattie added, setting her eyes onto her, knowing that no-one could avoid someone else’s gaze on them for long. “Nothing’s happening with that.” She mumbled. “Haven’t seen him since, anyway.” “Why-?” “Because he was being mean about the baby.” Belle cut Mattie off before she got to finish off the sentence. She could see the other three getting back to work out of the corner of her eyes, hearing their arguing and frustration although Aden mainly laughed at the mess they had made so far. “Why? What did he say?” Mattie asked hastily. “Is it something that I can hurt him over?” “Why would you want to hurt Drew for?” “Because it would be fun.” She merely said in a matter-of-fact tone. “Not to mention that no-one talks bad about my niece or nephew.” “Oh, right. Totally.” Belle rolled her eyes at her with a small smile that came at her last words. “No, he just said that the baby looked a bit… lopsided. And unbaby-like” “He what?” Mattie spluttered, sitting up straight. “Why would he say that?” “He was joking. Or at least, trying to joke.” “I’m guessing that didn’t go down well?” The was a snigger from where the boys worked that informed them that not only were they listening to their conversation, but that they knew the answer to Mattie’s question. “You wouldn’t have to ask if you had seen the bruise on his cheekbone.” Aden supplied, chuckling. “What did you do?” Mattie gasped at her. When she stayed silent and looked back out of the window, she turned to Aden who had now given up on trying to help the other two and retreated back towards them. “She asked for his phone. He, stupidly, gave it to her and then she threw it at him.” He grinned. “It was brilliantly funny. And the way he stayed about 10 feet away from her all day.” “Poor Drew.” “Um… excuse me? A minute ago you were eager for an excuse to hit him.” Belle reminded her as Aden slid in to sit behind her, an arm coming around her waist on instinct. “Yeah, well, I still do. But that must’ve hurt.” Mattie reasoned. “Oh, well, I guess he’s learnt his lesson then.” “I hope so.” Belle muttered before turning her attention to where Ric and Geoff were arguing about something or another to do with a certain piece of wood. “Why aren’t you helping?” “Because they’re beyond the need of my help.” Aden simply replied, sighing. “I think we should just get someone else to do it.” “No, I don’t want some strangers fixing things up for the nursery.” She informed him strictly. “You boys are useless, you know that? If you had looked at the instructions in the first place, you would have been done by now!” “Alright, alright. Relax there, Belle. We’ll get it done, just like we promised, right Geoff?” “Yeah, sure.” Geoff’s tone wasn’t as confident as Ric’s but that could have been due to that fact that he was holding up a very large piece of the furniture that had yet to be screwed together. “Belle and I could have done a better job than you guys.” Mattie scoffed. “Is that a fact? Do you want to show us?” Ric asked them rhetorically, not expecting them to take him on. “I’ll show you.” Mattie said pointedly, whipping the piece of paper out of Geoff’s hand and handing it over to the pregnant woman. “Belle can instruct us and Aden will-” “Supervise. I’ll supervise.” He inputted, nodding insistently as he leant against the window, pulling Belle back to rest against him. “Fine, whatever.” Mattie dismissed easily while toeing certain objects, suddenly realising what she had gotten herself into. “Ok, Belle, what’s the first thing that’s supposed to be done?” “Place piece number 2 on top of piece number 1 on the left hand side and screw on with two screws. And then do the same with piece number 3, but on the other side.” Belle paraphrased for her. “What’s piece 1, 2 and 3?” “I dunno.” Belle turned the paper over in her hands, hoping to get a better understanding some how. “Aren’t they labelled?” “Oh, this really is fun!” Aden claimed, bringing the bowl of popcorn nearer to him. “It’s that bit over there.” Belle ignored him, pointing at a pile of pieces next to Geoff. “It’s one of those.” “Yeah, Belle, real helpful.” Geoff said in an uncharacteristically sarcastic voice. “Which one exactly?” “The one that looks like this.” She held up the instructions towards them as Mattie sighed and took it back off of her to look at it more closely. “Right, well I guess I’ve been demoted to supervising too.” “It’s not a demotion, babe.” Aden informed her, rubbing gentle circles on her stomach. “Promotion.” “Aden, we’re not doing anything! How is that a better job?” She asked him incredulously, looking up at him. “Think about it this way; would you rather be doing that?” He nodded towards where Geoff, Ric and Mattie where struggling to find the right pieces to go in the right order. “True.” Belle had to agree. The thought of doing that right then when she was much too comfortable sitting there in her husband’s arms was dreary. “I guess this is a better job then.” --- Running her hand along the plane of his bare lower back and up his spine, Belle could hear him laugh quietly as she pressed kisses along his shoulder. It was past 11 in the evening and the others had left over an hour ago after finally getting the drawers fixed up, thanks to Mattie’s diligence and Belle promising them, mainly Ric, that she would give him as much food as he wanted if they got it done. Now, standing in their bedroom, Belle continued to tease Aden, smoothing her hands around his waist and up his abdomen before retracting them back again. She pushed herself up onto her tiptoes so that she could peer over his shoulder, seeing him take off his watch and placing it onto the table in front of him before gliding a hand over his muscular arm and down to take his. Tugging gently, Belle pulled him in the direction of the bed, all the while keeping her eyes on him as he finally turned to look at her. She was barefoot, treading lightly as she walked backwards, and dressed in only one of his shirts that came just past the top of her thighs. The smile on her face was one of both bashfulness and slyness. Aden went with her easily, only stopping when she did, although he took a couple of steps more towards her so that taking her lips with his was a simpler feat. Her smile widened at his actions, knowing that he was getting her very obvious hints as the tip of his tongue scorched a trail along her bottom lip. Moaning deep in her throat, Belle dragged him closer towards the bed, her hands falling down to where the belt around his hips still held up his jeans. She undid it easily, pulling it out of the loops and dropping it onto the floor, all the while not parting from him once. Despite the fact that she was now at 16 weeks, Aden was still able to lift her and lay her down on the bed as effortlessly as he had the first time over 2 years previously. Breaking away from her momentarily to smooth a hand down over her abdomen, working his hand up under the shirt to let his fingers caress her skin. The sound of Belle’s soft giggling made him avert his eyes back up to hers, wondering what it was that made her laugh. “The baby likes your touch.” She informed him. “Yeah?” “Baby won’t stop moving, so I’d say yes.” Aden grinned at her words, skimming his fingers over the small bump once again, wishing that he could feel the responses that she could. “Should start kicking soon, right?” “Anytime. The movements are getting more and more stronger, I think.” Belle assured him. “Hopefully, it’ll turn into a kick soon enough.” “Good. That’s good.” He nodded before smiling at her and lowering himself to claim her lips with him once again. The kiss remained slow and loving even as one of his hands came up to tangle itself into her hair while the other was kept firmly on her stomach. Her hands came up to his shoulders before she moved one to the back of his neck, playing with the hair at the nape of it like she usually did. Feeling his hand slide around her waist and up her back, Belle pulled away, remembering something that she had been thinking about. “Are you sure?” She asked, replacing both her hands onto his shoulders and pushing him away with a bit of pressure. Aden looked down at her in a mix of shock and confusion. “What?” “It’s just that…” Belle faltered, suddenly feeling a bit stupid for bringing up the subject when it was clearly not at the front of his mind. Nevertheless, she carried on. “Ever since I’ve gotten pregnant, we’ve kind of been having sex all the time. And I don’t mean this in a bad way or anything, because I like it; I really like it, but what I said still counts. Just because we’re married now or that my hormones are still going crazy, it doesn’t change anything, ok? I don‘t want you to feel like you have to always give in to me and end up regretting it-” “Belle, when have I ever regretted it?” Aden questioned her with a ghost of a smile, letting her know that he didn’t mind her bringing the touchy subject up. “I mean, ok, so maybe I haven’t stopped us in the past few months, but that’s because it’s alright. I’m alright. I want to.” “Are you sure?” She repeated although his words rang true to her. Even throughout the past couple of years in their relationship, she knew that if there was a time that he felt uncomfortable that he would stop them. Although those times came rarely, they still did, and that was what had put her off and made her question him. “I’m sure.” Aden said confidently, rubbing his nose against hers affectionately before kissing her lustfully once again. Almost gasping for air, he rested his forehead down against hers as they breathed together. “Thank you, though. For being understanding-” “Don’t. I know.” Belle told him, running her fingers through his hair, brushing her thumbs over his temples lightly as his eyes fluttered close. Leaning in, she spoke directly into his ear to amplify the desire in her words. “Anyway, I think actions speak louder than words, don’t you?” --- Hope you all liked it.
Taniya_K Posted December 21, 2008 Report Posted December 21, 2008 No rush at all! I'm just glad I got this done! I was getting scared that it wouldn't come out right at all and I would spend hours fussing over it and redoing it over and over, but for some reason I didn't need to and I think it gets the job done! Chapter 36: “Hey!” Martha greeted her as she entered Noah’s on the early Saturday afternoon. “How are you doing?” “Hey, yeah, I’m good.” Belle replied, coming to a stop before her at the counter. “I’ve got a massive boost of energy for some reason today, so I’ve practically walked all the way to the caravan park to see Mattie and back again.” “Well, I hope you’re not thinking about hitting the gym.” She laughed, eyeing her baby bump pointedly. Although Belle was now at 4 and a half months, her stomach hadn’t grown much in the past few weeks. Sure, it was slightly more protruding than before seeing as the baby was growing, but not so much that she couldn’t still wear most of her old clothes. She was thankful for that, considering shopping for maternity clothes was not fun at all. Nothing seemed to be made for her petit size; she hadn’t really changed in any way except for her growing abdomen. It wasn’t usual, she knew, but she had read that it wasn’t unusual either, so she didn’t worry about it. “Yeah, right.” Belle rolled her eyes. “I don’t even want think about that conversation with Aden. Although a good argument would be a great way to waste energy.” “But is it worth it?” Martha pointed out as Belle pretended to think about it before laughing and shaking her head lightly. “So, everything going good then? Married life suiting you?” “Seeing as we haven’t killed each other yet, or drove each other away, I’d say yes.” “That’s always a good thing.” She said in a serious voice but with a smile while serving a couple of other customers. “Yeah, things are going pretty great.” Belle nodded at her words. “No major disasters as of yet and nothings gone wrong.” “Hmm… and pregnancy seems to be agreeing with you, too. All the glowing and the smiling, it’s good to see some people constantly happy. Even though it can get bit sickening to see all the time.” Martha teased, coming back to where she stood. “Sorry, we‘ll try and be a bit more depressing for you.” Belle mocked, amusement lining her words. “Anyway, you have work to get on with, and I’m sure these customers don’t appreciate me taking up your time.” “Alright, that’s true. Is there anything I can get for you while I’m here?” Martha asked her. Ordering an orange juice, Belle took it with her as she sat at one of the tables behind the bar. Pulling out the newspaper that she had swiped from work the previous day, she got about to finally reading it. She had arranged to meet up with Aden after he finished up at the gym as he was taking her to a day out in the city just for the fun of it. Now that they had a place of their own, most of their free time that they wanted to spend together was done at home. And it was for that reason that Aden had suggested that they go out. Glancing at the time on her watch, Belle realised that she had only been there for 10 minutes, with another 5 or so before Aden would be done. She sighed while sipping her drink slowly, fiddling with the straw subconsciously as she pushed the cup away. Flipping the paper over, she smile wryly as she saw a couple of her shots on the page in front of her before carrying on. She already knew what that said, seeing as she was the one who had done it. Feeling eyes upon her, Belle froze in her skimming of the page. They weren’t Aden’s eyes; she knew the feeling of being watched by him. These were different, and somewhat strange. Before she got the chance to look up and see who it was, or whether she was going to crazy, a figure approached the table from behind and slid into the seat opposite her. “Is this seat taken?” The figure asked her, but Belle didn’t reply in either words or actions, keeping her eyes on the paper in front of her. Her left hand dropped beneath the table, resting protectively on her stomach. “A girl like you shouldn’t sit by her own.” “I’m not.” She merely said resting her chin on her hand, hoping that the guy would get the hint to leave her alone. “Well, I don’t see anyone around…” “I’m waiting for someone.” Belle informed him with an edge to her words. “And believe me when I say he won’t be happy if you’re still here when he arrives.” “What kind of ‘he’? Friend, brother, dad, boyfriend?” The person opposite her listed and with a sigh, she finally glanced up at him through her eyelashes. Even by the slightly blurry and vague view of him, Belle couldn’t help but to be intrigued. And it wasn’t just because he was trying to hit on her or because he was remotely good looking. “Husband.” She stated while looking back at the paper, praying that it was enough to make him leave. “Oh. I see.” His tone had become somewhat disappointed and Belle could help but smirk a little. That was until he didn’t move. “You know, I’ve gone after girls with a ring before.” “And you’re still alive?” She asked him incredulously, giving up with trying to make him leave and looking straight at him. “I’ve got a way with them.” He winked at her and she bit back a smile. There was something so familiar about him but she couldn’t put her finger on it. “What do you say?” “No thanks.” Belle told him. “I’m sure you’re a nice guy and all- Well, maybe not seeing as you chase married women, but you’re going to have to find someone else.” “You’re fiery… I like that.” He chuckled as she pursed her lips in both irritation and frustration. However, those feelings weren’t just towards the stranger, but also to herself. There was something about this guy that stuck out to her. There was something there that was getting her curiosity going. “What?” He asked as she watched him with fixated eyes. “You know that when you turn down a guy you’re not allowed to check him out, right?” “Get over yourself!” Belle scoffed. “You just seem really familiar. Are you from around here?” “Haven’t been here for years.” He shrugged. “Wait, how long did you say you’ve been married for?” “I didn’t say.” She said coldly as he raised an eyebrow in a questioning motion. “6 weeks.” “Ok, that’s good. Haven’t ‘chased’ a married girl for at least a few months.” There was pride underlying his words and Belle gave him a disgusted look before glimpsing at the time on her watch. “You’re gross, you know that?” She asked him rhetorically while folding up the paper and replacing it back into her bag, ready to go. She didn’t want Aden to walk in on this, although it wasn’t only for the reason why she had stated before. There was something else that just told her to get away before he arrived. “Leaving already? We haven’t talked properly. I don’t even know your name!” “Some things are best left a mystery.” Belle murmured while getting up and slinging her bag over her shoulder. She kept an arm wrapped around her waist, hoping not to make it obvious that she was pregnant. It wasn’t that she liked to advertise, hence the reason why she continued to wear her normal clothes that managed to hide the bump except to those who knew it was there. “Oh, c’mon. Stop being such a tease!” He grinned at her cheekily, but she made an effort to avoid his face. “Here.” Before she knew it, he had slipped a tissue from that had came with her drink out from her hand, writing a number on it that she guessed was his and then replacing it by tucking it under her watch, probably knowing she wouldn’t take it any other way. “In case you change your mind.” “Don’t hold your breath.” She said in a low voice, pulling the tissue out from where it was to throw it back onto the table. Just as she was about to, she caught a reflection coming from the main part of the Surf Club, showing her Aden talking to Roman by the pool table. “We’ll see about that.” He told her as she turned to leave abruptly, tissue still in her hand. “See you around.” “If you’re lucky.” Belle called after her, before disappearing out of his line of sight. Taking a quick look at the tissue in her hand, she saw that the number was simply signed with an ‘X’, which she assumed to be a kiss rather than an initial. Quickly tucking it into her bag, she headed in Aden’s direction, trying to push everything about the stranger out of her head as she approached them. “Hey, Belle.” Roman greeted her with a smile when she reached them. “How’re you doing?” “I’m good. Aden’s promised me a day out full of fun, so that’s going to be interesting.” They laughed as Aden rolled his eyes, his arm snaking it’s way around her waist slowly. “Well, you’re looking great. Pregnancy’s agreeing with you fairly well.” He commented. “Thank you. Funny you should say that, though. Martha said the same thing earlier.” Belle informed the two of them, although she spoke mostly to Roman. “You see, if two people say the exact same thing then it has to be true.” “Ok, we should leave before anyone else decides to add to it. Otherwise your head might get too big to fit out of the door.” Aden interjected into their conversation, earning a swat to the chest from Belle, even as they all laughed. “You’re so mean.” Belle huffed before turning back to Roman. “He thinks now we’re married, he doesn’t have to pay me compliments anymore. Can’t remember the last nice thing he ever said to me…” “Liar.” Aden murmured before pressing a kiss into her hair as Roman watched, chuckling. He had no doubt that Belle was in fact lying, knowing exactly what the boy he thought to be a son was like when it came to her. And not being nice or stop giving her compliments didn’t fit into that. Deciding that it was best to leave the two of them to, most probably, fight it out themselves, Roman said his goodbyes and headed into the gym like he had been planning to before he ran into Aden, still smiling after their little conversation. It was good to see him so happy, and Roman felt a bit of pride at that. Still by the pool table, Belle was tugging at Aden’s arm, trying to drag him in the direction of the exit rather than the bar. “I thought we were going to head straight into the city, or whatever?” He questioned her, letting her guide him outside. “We will. But I just want to go for a walk on the beach first.” She informed him with a nod, dropping his arm to allow it to wrap around her waist once again. “Why?” “Because I have a lot of pent up energy that will not go well with sitting in there for the next 30 minutes and then having to endure an hour’s car ride to the city.” She admitted. “Plus, some exercise will do you good.” “Um, excuse me? I just came from the gym. What do you think I do there? Yoga?” Aden remarked, taking the juice out of her hand and sipping it without asking her. She made no comment on it, which struck him as odd, but didn’t get a chance to enquiry it further. “I dunno. You’re all clean and in different clothes than you were before. Maybe you were ‘exercising’ of a different kind.” Belle said pointedly as they reached the beach, looking out into the distance to seem detached. “Oh, yeah, Belle. Going to the gym is my cover for having an affair with… Who exactly?” “That’s what I’m asking you.” Her tone was very serious, and if he didn’t know her so well, there would be no blame for mistakenly thinking that she was actually accusing him. “Now that you mention it; that yoga instructor is quite hot. Really supple too…” Aden grinned as she playfully pushed him away. “What?! You asked!” “I didn’t need those images, thank you very much!” Belle retorted although a ghost of a smile broke out soon after. “I’m never gonna be able to go into the gym ever again.” “Ah, don’t worry about it, babe. It’s not like you need to go to the gym anyway.” He wrapped his arm around her waist once again, fingers skimming the side of her bump. “So the compliments come pouring out now, huh?” She teased, winding her own arm around his and pulling him as close as possible to her. “Nope, that’s the only one you’re getting.” He claimed as she scoffed. “You don’t need me to give you compliments. You know how beautiful and perfect I think you are.” “Hmm…” Belle grinned as he pressed his lips against her temple, taking in everything about him that she could. “Thank you.” “My pleasure.” Aden’s voice was low and slightly husky, making her look up at him. Pausing for the moment, she reached up and gave him a brief kiss, one that he responded to immediately, before wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him into an embrace. “I love you.” She whispered while pulling back. “I know.” He replied smartly, smirking as she bit her bottom lip, nodding at him knowingly. As he went to wrap his arm around her shoulders, Belle caught sight of a figure just beyond the dunes, standing by the log barriers. Taking another look over her shoulder when Aden forced her to keep on walking, a frown marred her features when she was able to recognise the figure as the guy from the bar. Even more suspicious was the fact that he was watching them, not even looking away from her eyes like people normally did when they were caught staring. “Belle?” “Yeah?” She instantly looked back at him, rearranging her frown into a subtle smile when she saw the worried look on his face. He looked over his shoulder to find what she was looking at, but thankfully, the guy stood to Aden’s other side behind him and therefore out of his peripheral view. “Something wrong?” He questioned while looking back at her. She shook her head before smiling cheekily at him. “Actually, there is something.” Belle said sweetly and he laughed, knowing that tone anywhere. “And what’s that, my love?” Aden replied in the same tone. “We’re getting hungry here. Thinking about feeding us anytime soon?” “Nope, was hoping to let you starve.” He teased, getting another slap to the chest for his efforts. “Alright, c’mon. Let’s go get something to eat before we head into the city. Don’t want you complaining the whole way there, either.” “’Complain’?” Belle asked, outraged. “I do not complain!” “Sure, sure.” Aden dismissed with a small nod. “You keep telling yourself that.” --- “I didn’t like that.” Belle whined as they returned back home at 9 in the evening. “It was your idea.” He reminded her, locking the door behind them and heading towards the kitchen. “Next time chose a more interesting movie.” “The film was interesting!” She defended her choice. “You weren’t!” “What? You mean not allowing you to practically undress me at the back of the cinema?” Aden asked her cynically. “That’s not being not interesting, that’s abiding by the law!” “Firstly, I was not trying to undress you or anything of the like. You are so over exaggerating.” Belle scoffed as she climbed onto one of the kitchen stools as he poured himself a glass of water. “And secondly, since when have you been one to abide by the law?” “Ok, so maybe not undress, per se, but still. I mean, it’s sexy and all, but seriously? I know you had a lot of energy, but you’re the one who wanted to go see a movie! And going by the law usually goes without saying.” “Fine. Next time I’ll find some other way to release my pent up energy.” Belle pouted as he smiled suggestively, walking up to her. Placing his hands on the armrests of the stool on either side of her body and leaning in close to her. “You know, I’ve got a great idea on how to release it right now…” He told her, forehead touching hers as one of her hands came to rest on the side of his neck. “Is that so?” She asked him with a smirk. “Too bad, cos I think it’s all gone now.” “What’s all gone? Your energy?” His tone was filled with disbelief as she smile sheepishly at him. “You’re a tease, you know that?” “What?” She asked innocently, just seconds before he kissed her. Reciprocating immediately, Belle couldn’t help but feel anxiousness bubble up from inside of her. She wasn’t sure why, but his words dug something up although nothing was ever clear to her when she was kissed Aden. Her mind ceased to think at times, let alone to make sense of things. Breaking away from him when she needed breath, something else that she often forgot about, Belle let out a little giggle as he continued to nip at her bottom lip, tugging it gently between his teeth before bringing her into another kiss. This time when they parted, she made sure that she was far enough away from him so that he couldn’t sway her again. “Aden…” She said warningly while he simply smiled at her, indicating that he knew what she was getting at. “Alright, move. I want to go get changed.” “Why? You look fine as you are.” He almost pouted, reluctantly moving backwards to let her slide off the stool and straight into his arms. “Because I want to wear something a bit more comfy to lounge around in.” Belle informed him while winding her arms around his waist. “And it’ll give you enough time to order us some food.” “It will?” “Yup. I’m thinking pizza. I’m really in the mood for some pizza. What do you think?” She spoke in light tone, carrying on before he got to say anything in response. “Good, pizza it is then.” Pressing a quick kiss to his lips, Belle removed her arms from around him and headed out of the kitchen. “Sure, anything you want, gorgeous.” She heard him call after her, making her laughing silently as she reached the stairs. Turning again at the last minute, she picked up her bag from the sofa where she had dumped it only minutes before and then continued with her trek up to their room. When she reached it, Belle shut the door and locked it behind her. She knew that it was suspicious, considering the fact that with only the two of them in the house, they didn’t feel the need to lock the bedroom door. Perching at the end of the bed, she unzipped her bag and dug around inside of it looking for the tissue that she had been handed earlier in the day. Aden’s words had almost mimicked what the stranger had said to her earlier. Finally finding it, she dropped her bag to her floor, staring at the number on it. It was almost begging her to do something about it. Her curiosity told her that it was a sign; the fact that she hadn’t gotten the chance to throw it away all day. The guy had been on her mind almost throughout the day, although she never made it obvious, and it was never when she was fooling around with Aden. But rather it was when she had the time to think. She still had that sense of knowing about him, and even though she had built up a small theory, there was no way to prove it right without meeting with him. Sighing, Belle decided to bite the bullet and do it. Fishing out her phone from her bag once again, she typed out a text message, asking him to meet her the next day if he was still interested before signing it with an anonymous set of ellipses. She entered the number with shaking hands, hesitating as her thumb hovered above the ‘send’ button, she took in a deep breath and pressed it. Once it was successfully gone, Belle deleted the text message from the ‘sent items’ box on her phone just in case someone saw, most likely to be Aden. A reply came through as soon as she was done, telling her what she had expected; he'll be there. She deleted that message too, immediately. Guilt immediately flooded her as she realised that she was keeping a huge secret from him, and that she could be putting both herself and the baby in danger. Replacing the phone and the tissue back into her bag, she vowed that after meeting with him tomorrow, she would tell one person. Although at the back of her mind a voice told her that it should be Aden, Belle kept that voice at the back and deciding that she would go see Mattie once again and fill her in on everything. She knew that the first thing out of her best mate’s mouth would be to tell Aden, but she also knew that she wouldn’t tell anyone else as long as she wasn’t in any danger. Getting up, Belle headed towards the wardrobe and pulled out the hoodie that was now hers before throwing it onto the bed to change into it. She tried to push it all out of her mind, reassuring herself that nothing felt dangerous about tomorrow. Sure, she was going to go meet some guy that she didn’t really know by herself, but there was something about him that didn’t scream out ‘axe-murderer’ to her. Belle had learnt to trust her instinct quite a lot recently, and she hope that it didn’t let her down this one time, otherwise it wouldn’t just be her paying for the mistake. --- Like I said, the angsty stuff is starting up now. But I didn't totally forget about the fluff. I hope you liked. xoxo
Taniya_K Posted December 23, 2008 Report Posted December 23, 2008 Um... not a lot to say except thank you all so much for the comments! Oh, and I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas! Chapter 37: Taking in a deep breath, Belle almost prayed for her phone to buzz. Any kind of excuse would be fine with her. Maybe he was no longer interested, or maybe he decided to go back to wherever it was he came from. Or maybe he decided to move on. After all, Summer Bay and the surrounding nearby areas wasn‘t really much for tourists, especially young men like him. Even though that would mean she would get no confirmation on her theory, it would also mean that she no longer had to keep up this charade and lie to Aden. Sighing as she glanced at the time on the bedside table, Belle took one final look in the mirror. She had gone to no extra effort than before except with her clothes. Choosing the clothes that she would normally wear to work, it gave her both a cover and hid her pregnancy from any prying eyes. She smoothed her hand over her small bump, rubbing it gently as she felt the fluttering sensation once again as if it was telling her to reconsider. “I’m sorry, Baby.” Belle whispered so that only she herself could hear, not that there was anyone else around anyway. “I promise I’ll keep you safe.” The movements stopped as she spoke and she got the feeling that either her baby was trusting her, or it was just as scared as she was. Looking at her phone one last time, a frown formed when she saw there were no new texts or missed calls. Realising that it was now or never, Belle picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulder before leaving the bedroom and walking slowly along the passageway and then down the stairs. Coming to the landing at the bottom, she saw Aden sitting on the floor with his laptop open on the coffee table in front of him and a couple of books and a folder strewn around him. There was a pen in his mouth that he quickly removed when he looked up at her, confusion colouring his face immediately. “You going out?” “Yeah… Uh, work called. They need me to do some emergency stuff.” Belle had decided to keep it short and simple, knowing that lying was not one of her strong points, especially to Aden. “Now?” He questioned and she nodded. “Alright. Do you want me to come with you?” “No, I’ll be fine on my own, Aden.” She smiled while walking over to him, perching on the edge of the sofa that he was leaning back against. “You’ve got work to do anyway.” “You sure?” He looked up at her and she feared that he was going to make her out for a moment. “Yes, I’m sure. I’m perfectly capable of driving to Yabbie Creek and back by myself. I do it everyday.” Belle decided to go down the defensive route, hoping that the irritated edge to her words would make him back off without any questions asked. “And if I could, I’d drive you everyday.” “Aden…” She rolled her eyes even as she grinned, leaning over to give him a tender kiss. “I’ll be back in a couple of hours.” “Ok, be careful.” Aden instructed her as she scoffed. “’Be careful’?” Belle asked cynically. “Aden, I’m 20. I think I know the dangers of the road.” “That’s not what I meant. Just be careful in general.” He laughed at her response. “Never mind.” “Right, I’ll see you later then.” She dropped another kiss onto his lips before snatching her keys from where they laid by the door and leaving, all the while her heart beating so hard that she was shocked Aden hadn’t heard it. Walking towards her car, she waited until she was inside before letting out her breath. She could have sworn that he would call her back at any minute and call her bluff, probably because she had either lied really badly or because she had forgotten something essential to her job. Fortunately, he hadn’t and she had gotten away with lying to her husband to go meet up with some strange man who she had just met the previous day, and was interested in, most likely, bedding her. Now that Belle thought about it, it wasn’t really that fortunate at all. --- Pulling up in the car park at her office, Belle turned off the engine and pulled out the key, letting it dangle from her fingers for a moment. She still had the chance to back out. She had made out that she wasn’t interested in him at all the previous day; no doubt he wouldn’t think it was typical of her to back out at the last minute. He had called her a ‘tease’ after all. “Stop it!” Belle hissed to herself, hating the fact that she was thinking about all of this now. She was the one who had set it up and was risking quite a lot for this, so the least she could do was go through with it. Curiosity was her drive, and she was never one to back down from something just because others found it risky. Inhaling, she found new confidence from her thoughts. Grabbing her bag, she climbed out of the car and locked it by pressing the little button on the remote attached to the keys before placing them into her bag. Taking out her phone, she checked to make sure there was nothing new before setting off in the direction of a nearby café-slash-restaurant that she often went to while working, mostly for informal interviews. Crossing the road, it only took her 3 minutes to get there, glad that it was pretty close to both her car and to work, just in case she needed to return for some reason. She had chosen this particular place because it was a public place, yet the two of them could have their privacy, and because it was far from the Bay so no-one could recognise them. And even if someone did, her excuse of working would come in handy. Looking at her watch, Belle was glad to see that she was 5 minutes earlier than she had said to meet. She had hoped to get there first so to make it more business-like rather than date-like. Finding an empty table by the far wall, she headed straight to it. It was almost the perfect spot to make sure that nothing dodgy, not that she thought it would, could go on. Ordering herself a lemonade from the waitress who approached her, Belle slumped back into the strangely comfy chair. It was often hard for her to find somewhere comfortable to sit anymore. More often than not, she needed a cushion, or while at home, Aden. Mentally shaking her head, she forced herself to get rid off all thoughts of Aden for the time being, knowing that thinking of him would make her feel even more bad for being there. Taking out her phone, she saw that it was now 1:01pm. He was late. Sighing in frustration, she typed out a text to Mattie, telling her that she would pop around in an hour or so and that she had something she needed to talk to her about. When her reply came, asking if everything was ok, Belle was able to catch the reflection of the guy in the mirror opposite her, showing her the window behind her. Telling her best friend everything was good, she tucked the phone into her jeans pocket before waiting patiently for him to approach her. “Told you you’d change your mind.” He greeted her with while sliding into the chair opposite her. Belle merely pursed her lips, eyeing him carefully to see whether she had made the right choice. As he ordered a coffee from the waitress, Belle couldn’t help but to take him in. He had been wearing black jeans with sneakers, she had caught from the reflection and a light grey shirt under his leather jacket. His hair was short and spiked and he had a glinting diamond in his right ear, something that she hadn’t noticed before. “That’s not why I asked you to meet me here.” She informed him with a slightly disgusted tone, although she tried to hide it. “Speaking of, why here? I thought you were from Summer Bay?” “I never said I was from the Bay.” Belle replied with an air of hostility. “You asked me if I was from the Bay. I just assumed that you meant you lived there.” He confessed with shrugged of the shoulders as a waitress brought over both of their drinks. “So you live in Yabbie Creek then?” “That’s none of your business, to be honest.” “Hey, I’ll happily tell you that I’m staying in the city for the moment.” He told her. “Well, on the outskirts. You know, better hotels there. More private.” He arched an eyebrow as he spoke the last word, adding a wide smile to make it sound more pleasant than she could ever find it. “Good for you.” Belle said with a nod of her head, taking a sip of her drink. She noticed that her hands had become clammy as she grabbed the ice cold glass with one hand, the other resting like always on her stomach. It was another reason why she had came first; the table was a great way to hide the pregnancy. “Alright, you know, playing hard to get is one thing, but inviting me here to meet with you and then going all ice-queen on me… It’s not right, sweetheart. Either you have an interest, or you don’t.” His smile had disappeared half way through, only dying down to a subtle one before growing back again. “And I definitely think you do, considering that you’re here, with me, with no other half in sight. I’ve got to say, I thought you would put up more of a fight. That fiery side of you-” “Ok, you can stop talking now.” She cut him off, growing more and more annoyed at both him and herself as he spoke. “There is a reason why I asked you to meet me, and yes, I do have an interest in you-” “Knew you would.” “- but it’s not why you think.” Belle finished off, not phased by his interruption. “So why is it then?” He leant in closer to her over the table, dropping is voice to low, deep one that did nothing but to push her forwards in her theory. “Yesterday, when I asked if you were from around here, it was because I could swear I had met you before. There was something about you that rang so familiar to me. When you said that you hadn’t been in the area for years, I began to wonder why I thought that.” Belle explained to him, hoping that she didn’t sound like some kind of stalker or a freak. “Maybe I’m the man of your dreams?” He said smoothly, leaning back a bit as she gave him a sarcastic look. “You wish.” “Well, then, what’s your reasoning?” Without hesitation at his prompt, Belle unzipped her bag that laid next to her and pulled out a paper wallet that was made for storing pictures. She held it in her lap for a moment, wondering whether this was a clever way around it, or a foolish one. Taking a deep breath, she pulled the photograph out of the wallet and placed it onto the table. Turning it around so that it faced him, she pushed it over silently. She watched as his eyebrows furrowed in confusion while looking at her. Tapping at the photo with one finger, he glanced down at it. The realization on his face was immediate before shock sunk in. His mouth opened to say something, but closed as soon as, not able to get anything out. Belle retracted her hand, allowing him to pick up the photo and flip it around to see whether it was a fake, but seeing the writing on the back, she could see the moment that he knew that it was the real deal. “Where did you get this from?” All sense of playfulness and flirtation was now gone, and perplexity and defence filled his words and body. “Yesterday, when you were watching me on the beach, that man I was with was Aden.” Belle told him instead, seeing his head shoot right up to her, dropping the photo back onto the table. “My husband.” “My brother?” He questioned her in surprise, eyes wide as she nodded. “Aden’s married?” Instead of replying, Belle held up her left hand, showing him both of her rings while her bracelet tinkled and slid down into her sleeve. He reached out, grabbing her wrist and pulling her hand closer to him as Belle struggled a bit, mainly from the suddenness of the movement. “Hey!” She exclaimed, pulling her hand back again and dropping it under the table. “They’re not my mother’s rings. How do you expect me to believe you?” He almost snapped at her. Belle gave him a dark look before sighing, understanding what he might have been thinking. She knew that she could show him the star charm on her bracelet, but she figured that she should save that until later just in case. “How do you think I got that picture, Justin? And how do you think I know exactly who you are after only meeting you once for about 5 minutes?” She asked him. The was a look of acceptance that passed his face quickly before his jaw tightened and gave a short nod. “So what do you want?” He enquired, pushing back the photo in her direction. She took it carefully, letting her eyes skim over the images of the three boys with their mother, all sitting on a sofa on the eldest’s birthday, as it stated on the back. “I want to know why you’re here.” Belle answered simply, replacing the photo back into the wallet and then into her bag. “Summer Bay’s my home. Am I not allowed to visit?” The smirk that he added at the end of it was so close to the one that she was use to seeing almost everyday. “Why are you here?” “Excuse me?” “Why are you here? With me? Why did you want to meet up with me? Surely if you say who you are then you know all about me.” Justin informed her with smugness as he slumped back against his chair, swirling his coffee around in the cup without a second glance at her. “So what made you want to see me?” “I wanted to know for sure who you were.” Belle admitted. “I had a theory and I followed it up.” “So you weren’t sure?” “Not entirely.” She said with a bit of difficulty. “What convinced you then? Or rather, what made you think I was who I am? As you can see, Aden and I don’t really share many physical traits.” He took a sip of the drink and looked up at her as she contemplated on how to answer. “You both have this certain… way with words, I guess.” Belle confessed, remembering the first reason as to why she had made the connection. “Ah, so my little brother’s a smooth talker, huh? I was wondering how he got a babe like you.” Justin chuckled while shaking his head slightly, turning back into the guy that she had met yesterday, although she was glad that the flirtation was now gone. “Like I said, you both have a certain way with words.” Her tone was more dry now. “What else? You can‘t tell me that‘s all that piqued your curiosity. And now, I‘m curious.” “You both smirk. A lot.” She carried on in response to the form of his mouth, watching as it disappeared at her words. “Kind of got the same style of clothes, but that’s common. It’s more the way you act rather than anything else. There is one thing though; I thought all you boys had the same eyes?” “We do.” Now it was his tone that was dry as she stared at his brown eyes, wondering what he meant. Before she got the chance to ask, Justin placed the cup onto the table in front of him and with the forefinger of one hand, he touched his eye, making Belle grimace. Carefully, and with practice, she could tell, he shifted the brown to the side, indicating that it was just a contact lens, revealing the bright blueness of his eyes. He let it go easily and it slid back into place. “Right.” Silent fell uncomfortably between them as Belle continued to inconspicuously try and figure the man in front of her out. “Can I ask you something?” He broke her out of her thoughts and Belle simply nodded, weary of his sincere words. “Why are you here? Honestly. Apart from finding out who I was. I mean, what now?” “I wanted to make that you were who I thought you were, and then I wanted to find out why you’re here.” Belle said, picking her words carefully as confusion filled Justin’s face. “I told you, I’m just visiting home.” He shrugged non-chalantly once again and Belle frowned. “Does that include visiting Aden?” “Perhaps.” Justin leant forwards once again, shuffling on his seat so he could rest his forearms onto the table and watch her carefully. “Tell me-“ He paused as a corner of his mouth kicked up to form a smirk. “You know, I don’t ever know your name, and we’re practically family.” “Belle.” She told him tonelessly. “Beautiful name for a beautiful girl. Jefferies?” He prodded, and as irritated as she was with is interfering into her life, she corrected him. “Taylor.” She stuck to her professional name, hoping that it would leave the whole ‘being part of the family’ stuff alone and make him get on with his intentions of being in the Bay. Unfortunately, she should have guessed it wouldn’t have been that easy. “Yeah, I don’t blame you. I wouldn’t want to be a Jefferies either if I could have the choice.” His words were laced with resent and a bit of revulsion that made her shake her head slowly. “Taylor Jefferies, actually.” She corrected herself, not wanting him to think that she felt the same way or that she wished that there was a different background to Aden. “Not that it‘s any of your business.” “Hey, I was just making a comment. And it’s my family, so you know, it kind of is my business.” “Right, because family means so much to you, yeah?” Belle shot back, anger tingeing her words. “That’s why you’ve been away for the past 8 years? Leaving your little brother to deal with your drunk of a father alone?” “Ok, firstly; I didn’t leave Aden alone. Sean was here too. And secondly, I was a burden on the family. My leaving should have helped. Not that it’s any of your business.” Justin added at the end, words clipped as she scowled at him. “It’s every bit of my business if you think you’re going to come waltzing back into Aden’s life like nothing’s changed. Because it has, and I’m not going to let you mess it up.” She warned him carefully. “Is that why you’re here? To tell me to keep away from Aden? Is that why you’ve come alone, and why we’re meeting in some café in Yabbie Creek?” He asked her, one question after another without letting her answer until he had finished. “Yes. If all you’re going to do is turn up without any warning and turn things upside down, then yes. I want you to keep away.” “Let me tell you something, Belle.” The added emphasis on her name made her frown as he spoke with a deadly serious tone. “I have been in New South Wales for about 2 weeks now, and I’ve spent the last 10 days in the city. Each day I tell myself that tomorrow, I’ll go to Summer Bay and check the place out. Seeing as Aden’s the only one in my family still there, I hoped that the disguise,” He pointed to his eyes and his hair, which she realised was brown rather than blonde like his sibling, “would mean that he wouldn’t recognise me the first time I saw him. But each day, I put it off because I kept on wondering whether it was worth going back or not. If Aden had a better life, that was good. But if it wasn’t, would it be better to just stay away? So don’t tell me to keep away from him when all I want to do is make sure he’s ok.” “Excuse me for trying to look out for him. But after being away for so long, don’t you think I had the right to worry?” Belle questioned, her tone just as earnest as his. “Like you said, I know all about you and if that’s the person you still are today, then it’s best if you just leave. There are plenty people in Summer Bay who would gladly throw you out of town if you did the smallest thing to hurt Aden.” “I’ve changed, don’t worry about that, sweetheart. And, evidently, you think so too, otherwise there would be no way that you would have arranged to meet me by yourself.” “Don’t call me that.” Belle said harshly. “You might not seem like a psychopath, but that doesn’t mean that your intentions are good.” “They are. Haven’t been in trouble with the law for a few years now.” He told her matter-of-factly. “Look, the last time I saw Aden, he was a good kid. A bit of a bully, but he’s one of us so we didn’t expect anything more or less. He‘s obviously turned out good, so what‘s the problem, exactly?” “The problem is that the last time you saw Aden, he was 13. And you were his big brother. Considering the fact that your father was a pathetic drunk and Sean was hardly ever around, you were the one who he looked up to. That was until you up and left without another word. Then you just became someone else who told him that there was no-one who he could rely on in this world. Now, he’s made something of himself. Something that he has fought so hard to get and if you turning up is going to ruin it, then maybe it’s better to let sleeping dogs lie, if you get what I mean.” Belle informed him as she now leant forwards in her seat, making him back away. She didn’t go into details as she watched the emotions play out on his face as her words sunk in. She had no idea whether Justin knew about Aden’s past or not. From the looks of it, she assumed he didn’t, which brought her to the question as to why he didn’t know. “How long have you known Aden for?” He questioned her in a wry tone. “Why?” “You know a lot about him and our family. I’m just wondering what gives you the right to come here and tell me what to do about my family.” “Justin, I’d hate to be the one to break it to you, but he’s not your family anymore. When you walked out on him, you lost all the right to call him family and act like you gave a damn. You might share the same blood and you may have the same last name, but that’s it. Aden’s my family now. Mine, and several other people’s.” Belle explained to him in a cold tone. “And that’s what gives me the right to come here and tell you what to do.” “What do you want me to do, then? Leave so you can pretend that none of this ever happened?” Justin asked her in an almost patronising tone. She was amazed with how many different sides to this man she had seen within the last half hour, yet none of them made her fear him. Pity him, maybe. Understand him, slightly. Hate him, undoubtedly. But not fear him at all. “This isn’t about me. After today, we’re never going to see each other again unless it’s because you come to the Bay to see Aden.” She told him pointedly. “Tell me, Belle. What would your husband say if he knew you were meeting me here, in secret?” At her silence, he licked his lips and smiled slightly. “Are you going to tell him?” “If the occasion calls for it, then yes.” “What kind of occasion, exactly?” He prompted. “If you decide to revisit the Bay and if he asks. I won’t lie to him more than I need to.” “What if I disappear and the two of you never hear or see of me ever again?” “Then what’s the point of digging up the past and the pain when there’s nothing, or rather no-one to help bury it?” Belle replied, looking at him darkly as he downed the last of his coffee and stood up. “One Hell of a marriage you got there, Belle. But let me give you a word from the wise. Secrets have a way of coming out, one way or another.” He whispered as he leant in closer to her ear. “You might want to reconsider on your thoughts. Because I know Aden too, and I know that he has never liked the dark. Literally and figuratively.” Belle watched with a held breath as he walked away, not once turning to offer her an explanation or to ask her something else. Sighing, she turned back to her drink, fiddling with the straw like always, thinking it all though. What Justin had said was true, but she wasn’t going to change her mind. Aden didn’t need to know and he surely didn’t need the added trauma that she was certain it was cause by knowing that his brother was nearby. Giving up on trying to justify it all to herself, knowing that even in her own mind they were more excuses than reasons, she pulled out her phone and glanced at the time. 1.42pm. A 40 minute talk with one guy and she might have just ruined her marriage. --- Most of you got it right. I dunno if that's a good thing because my descriptions and hints were successful, or a bad thing because I made it too obvious! Anyway, I hope you liked. xoxo
Taniya_K Posted December 26, 2008 Report Posted December 26, 2008 This was meant to be the beginning of the next chapter, but I've decided to do the whole chapter in two parts merely because I don't know if I'll get it finished tonight and I want to give you guys something, and because it's getting a bit too long. Anyways, enjoy Chapter 38: Part A “You need to tell him.” “I can’t, Mattie.” Belle shook her head determinedly. “I can’t tell him. Not if there’s no point.” “But there is a point! His brother is back in town. Don’t you think he would want to know?” She asked her. Belle looked down at the pillow on her lap, tracing the flowery pattern with a finger before sighing. “I don’t know. I mean, ok, yeah sure, why wouldn’t he? It’s his brother. But it’s been so long, Mattie, and after everything that’s happened… I can’t do it to him.” “Belle, is this about Aden, or is it about you?” Mattie questioned her softly, sitting up on her bed crossed legged to look more commanding. “It’s about Aden.” She assured her. “I feel bad enough as it is, Mattie. I’m scared to go home in case he works it out. I’m scared that someone might have told him, even though I know that that’s close to impossible because no-one else knows Justin! I hate keeping things from him, especially something that he does have a right to know. But I don’t want him to get hurt. I couldn’t stand that.” “Don’t you think it’ll hurt him more when he finds out that you’ve been keeping it from him?” “He doesn’t have to know. If Justin leaves, then everyone’s none the wiser. By telling him, I’m going to bring up so many buried things that will hurt him. I’m trying to protect him.” Belle informed her, sounding as if she was trying to convince herself as well as Mattie. “Ok, but what about you? You said you’re scared that he’ll figure it out. You know stress isn’t good for the baby.” At the mention of the baby, Belle tilted her head back against the headboard, staring at the ceiling for a moment as she rubbed circles gently on her stomach. “If it means that I can spare him the pain, then I can handle it.” She nodded, looking down. “It’ll get easier when I’m at home. I’ll see that I’m overreacting and it’ll be ok.” “Belle-” Mattie tried to reason, but she cut her off. “It was a one time thing. We’re both fine and… and…” Belle faltered, trying to think of something else to say. “It’s done now and I can’t change a thing.” “Next time, you tell me first, ok? It’s bad enough that you’re meeting strangers out of town, but did you have to go alone? What if he didn’t turn out to be who you thought he was?” Mattie reprimanded her and Belle laughed wryly. “It was somewhere safe. I knew the area, Mattie. I knew that it was going to be ok.” She told her, although Belle wondered whether she was only able to say that because of hindsight. “Hmph!” Mattie huffed making Belle laugh genuinely. “Ok, seriously though, what are you going to do?” “Nothing. I’m going to pretend as if nothing’s happened. Hopefully, it’ll last that way.” “What if you can’t keep it up? Remember the last time, when you went to see Larry? Or before that when you saw him drinking? Didn’t I tell you the same thing then? You would think that you would learn from your mistakes!” “Matilda…” Belle groaned. “You’re making me feel so bad!” “I’m not trying to make you feel guilty. I want to make you see my point of view, which will most probably be Aden’s too. At the moment, the fact that you went to see some guy by yourself without telling anyone is what worries me. I know you wouldn’t do it if it were someone else, but I’m your best friend, and I’m worried. Think about what Aden would feel!” Mattie argued. “Which is why I’m not going to tell him!” Belle countered before sighing in frustration. “This is going nowhere. Everything’s ok now and that‘s all that matters.” “Except for the fact that you’re going to home and lie to your husband about where you’ve been and you’re not going to do it very convincingly.” She took a breath as her best friend looked way, ashamed. “Belle, please rethink this. Isn’t it better if you confess now rather than having it come out later on?” “It doesn’t necessarily have to come out. Anyway, everyone deserves to have a secret.” “Ok, maybe that’s true, but this isn’t just your secret; it actually involves Aden. You know what keeping secrets can to do a relationship, Belle.” Mattie tried again, noticing that she had avoided her eye contact until her last words. “Have you told Ric about Perth?” Her tone wasn’t one of accusation, but rather interest. “No, I haven’t. But that’s not a big of a matter as this.” Mattie told her with clipped words. “You have a month and a half to decide whether you’re going to move to the other side of the country or not. I think it’s a big deal. I think it’s bigger than my secret.” “Yeah… no, that’s not going to work.” She informed her, crossing her arms as Belle pouted, looking a bit disappointed that her attempts of changing the subject had failed. “Look, I can’t make you do anything, but you came here for a reason, and you must have known what I would say.” “I came to you because you’re my best mate and I knew I could trust you with this. I just needed to talk to someone about it, make sure that I’m making sense with my reasoning’s.” Belle explained as she pulled her legs up tight to her body so that she could feel her bump against her thighs. “And…?” “They make sense. I don’t like them and if it were someone else, I guess I would say the same thing as you.” She admitted. “But it’s not someone else; it’s me. And if there’s a chance that this whole thing can blow over as if nothing has happened, then I’m not going to stir up unnecessary pain for Aden. That’s all.” “I hope you know what you’re doing, Belle. Because this moment right here has ‘I told you so’ written all over it.” Mattie said light heartedly with a hint of seriousness as Belle smirked. “Let’s hope it doesn’t get to that.” --- When Belle finally returned home at a few minutes to 4, she was surprised to see no-one there. Although she called out for Aden several times, she could just tell that the house was deserted besides her. Frowning, she wondered where he had gotten to before heading straight upstairs to their room. She called out once again, just in case, but there was no response as she had expected. Closing the bedroom door behind her, Belle threw her bag onto the bed and hastily fished out the photo that she had borrowed the previous night. She stared at it for a moment, thinking over her decision to not tell Aden before shaking her head and telling herself that she had made her mind up now and that changing it would cause a whole of more stress. Of course, telling the truth would be less stressful than lying. Sighing, she opened the bottom drawer of the massive chest, kneeling in front of it as she carefully pulled off the lid to the box where the photo belonged. She didn’t hover, but rather did everything as quick as she could to get it out of the way. Even looking at the picture of 3 innocent boys with their loving mother, and most probably a loving father behind the camera, made guilt ripple through her entire being. “Belle?” The call of her name made her shut the drawer and stand in one smooth motion. Considering that the door was closed, she figured that Aden was probably upstairs rather than down seeing as his voice seemed loud. She hurriedly turned around, heading straight to the wardrobe and pulling open the doors to grab some more comfortable clothes out. By the time she had managed to pick out a long flowing top, the handle to the bedroom door turned without any other notice. “You could knock, you know?” Belle teased, hoping that her voice portrayed the calmness that she had forced upon herself. “Why? It’s my room too.” His light words helped her to relax, peering at him from around the cupboard door. “It’s called being polite.” “I thought you might be sleeping, seeing as you didn’t respond to me.” Aden informed her, perching on the edge of the bed while watching her with a cheeky smile, making her roll her eyes and turn back to her clothes. “What have you been up to, anyway?” “What do you mean? I told you; I was at work.” Belle replied with as much non-chalance as she could. “You said a couple of hours. And if my count is right, it’s been 3 and a half.” “I went to see Mattie. Didn’t you get my text?” She asked him, still not wanting to face him even though she had nothing to do except for moving clothes here and there. “Yeah, of course I did. I thought by ‘a couple of hours’ included the meeting with Mattie.” Aden laughed softly and she shook her head although he couldn’t really see it. “Nope, spent a couple of hours in Yabbie Creek alone. Besides,” Belle finally shut the doors, realising that she couldn’t hide from him all day, or the rest of time. “you didn’t seem too worried. Where did you get to?” “Nicole.” Aden practically moaned, leaning back on his elbows and staring up at the ceiling. “She was having some late-teen crisis.” “Such as…?” She prompted, glad to talk about his day rather than hers. “I dunno. She wouldn’t say.” He shrugged while looking down at her. “You know what Nic’s like. Some things she can work out by herself but she just needs someone to acknowledge the fact that she has a crisis.” “Right…” Belle didn’t know what else to say. Throwing the top onto the bed next to him, she picked up her bag and placed it on the side to get it out of the way. “You feeling ok?” Aden suddenly questioned, making her swirl around to look at him. “Yeah, of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” She added a light laugh to her words to try and convincing. “No reason. I just expected some witty remark there. Seems kind of out of sync when you don’t take the chance to make a quip about Nicole.” He eyed her suspiciously as she took of her jacket. “Something wrong?” “Nope. I think I’m just a bit tired. A shower might wake me up a bit.” Belle dismissed as she began to undo her jeans. “Some sleep would do you good. You shouldn’t be working on weekends or any overtime, Belle.” Aden said strictly as she paused in her actions and smiled warmly at him. “It’s fine. You know how rare it is that they need me.” She placed her hands on his shoulders before leaning down and kissing him soundly, breaking away soon after his hands pushed up her top over her stomach. “I need a shower, Aden.” “You need company?” He asked her sweetly as she backed off a bit, removing his hands from her body manually as she thought over his offer. “Depends. Have you gotten your work done?” “What’s that got to do with anything?” A look of confusion passed Aden and she smirked at his words. “Because only good boys get to play.” He smiled evilly at her, pulling her closer to him by the waist. “Then it’s a good thing it’s done.” --- Part B will either be up later on tonight [like at about midnight or later] or tomorrow now. Let me know what you think xoxo
Taniya_K Posted December 27, 2008 Report Posted December 27, 2008 Thank you all for the lovely comments guys. I love them all. Here's the second part, as promised. Sorry I couldn't get it up last night, but I do hope it's worth the wait. Chapter 38: Part B The next week passed with a surprising amount of easiness. It scared Belle just how natural it began to feel to keep up her charade around Aden. The guilt inside of her never subsided, but she was able to push it away. The only times that she worried that she could be made was whenever he went out. She feared that Justin might have came back and might have told him, however, nothing of the like had happened. Although Aden had questioned her mercilessly at the beginning of the week why she was acting a bit distant, her excuses that she was just tired, or concentrating on the baby was enough to make him back off. Of course, that just built up more guilt based on the fact that she was now using their child to get herself out of trouble. Belle pushed the dread to the back of her mind when she realised that Aden wasn’t back yet. He had gone to the gym earlier in the afternoon, which was about 2 hours ago. She knew that she was over thinking things, and the most likely scenario was that he ran into someone else that he knows, but it still worried her. Shaking her head, Belle got rid of all the negative feelings and put on a smile as she stepped into the kitchen where two others were working. Like they had been when she had left them about 30 minutes previously, Geoff and Nicole were still arguing over the ingredients needed for the chocolate cake they were attempting to bake. “Belle will know.” Nicole said pointedly. She had her arms crossed over her chest while staring at Geoff, who was leaning lazily against the counter looking as if he regretted opening his mouth in the first place. “Is there a difference between cooking chocolate and normal chocolate?” “Um… I assume so, considering that they actually call it something different.” She replied, unsure. She had never thought about it before and, to be honest, she didn’t really care. “There, you see?” The blonde snapped at her boyfriend. “Now what do we do with all that?” “All of what?” “The normal chocolate that we brought.” Geoff sighed, pointing at the several bars sitting on the counter behind her. Turning around, she smiled and picked them up, taking them with her as she slid onto one of the stools. “I can take care of these.” Belle insisted with a look of a little child’s as she slit open the foil of one of the bars with a finger nail. Breaking off a piece easily, she began eating it without another word. “Nic, chocolate is chocolate. Didn’t you get that list from Leah?” Geoff tried to reason. Getting roped into baking a cake was bad enough but having to elongate the time he was spending on it was painful. “Yeah, so?” “Well, don’t you think that if there was a difference between the two types, she would know? Just because the recipe says it, doesn’t mean that it’s necessary.” He pointed out. At Nicole’s silence and the release of her crossed arms, Geoff and Belle were both able to figure out that she had agreed. “Fine. But you better take the chocolate off the Eater Bunny over there before she eats it all.” Belle’s perplexed look at Nicole’s nickname for her made it easier for Geoff to swipe the chocolate bars without having to argue with her for it. However, that didn’t mean that she was happy with it. “Hey! I was eating that!” “Sorry, Belle. But we need it for the cake.” Geoff apologized politely while looking a bit amused. “At least give me the one I was eating back. Or a bit of it. You don’t want to deprive your niece or nephew of food, do you?” Belle asked in a sweet tone, accompanying it with a little sweet smile as he rolled his eyes and gave her 2 pieces. “Yeah, because that’s going to be enough.” “Fine.” He huffed, breaking off a whole line for her and passing it over before handing all of the chocolate to Nicole who had gotten around to melting the other bars into a pot. Belle sat and watched as Nicole instructed Geoff with what to do, who did exactly what she said. Although the cake was meant for his sister’s birthday the next day, he had very reluctantly agreed to the chore of baking a cake as opposed to buying one like he had wanted to keep his girlfriend happy. Belle had laughed at his exasperated look when she found out, letting them use their place to make it so that Annie wouldn’t get suspicious or find out. Although it was a funny scene to watch the two teenager try and bake, it was rather sweet and brought back the memory to the beginning of the year when she had wanted to make a cake for Aden’s 21st. Unfortunately for her, her baking skills were just as bad as her mother’s and she had ended up with something that was done on the outside, but not so much on the inside as she had found out when taking it out of the tin to decorate it. The end result was something very messy and disgusting looking that ended up in the bin. It had put her in a bad mood all day, although she had been glad that no-one had been there to witness it or tease her about it. That was until Aden had came around later that evening and wasn’t fooled by her attempts of trying to seem fine. She had ended up confessing to him and he had very unsympathetically laughed at her. She had pretended to be mad at him, but there was no fooling him with that either, especially when he told her that it was the thought of it that counted and he was very touched that she had attempted it. That, of course, had instantly made her feel a bit better and smile, which he had told her was the only thing he wanted from her for his birthday. Of course, Aden did get more than that, but his sweet words had stuck in Belle’s mind. The sudden shutting of the front door with more force than necessary brought her out of her thoughts. Like always, dread filled her body as she heard Aden’s footsteps approaching the kitchen, louder than they should be considering how loud the other two were bickering. Belle didn’t say anything or move except to keep on munching on her chocolate, waiting until that moment when he appeared in the doorway. Seeing the smile and the confused look on his face relaxed her, reciprocating the smile as he made his way over where she sat. “What’s going on?” “They’re baking a cake.” She informed him as he nodded slowly, eyeing them carefully before turning back to the girl who he now had an arm around. “Why, exactly?” “Annie’s birthday tomorrow.” Belle said in a tone that showed that it should have been obvious. “I see…” Aden murmured, watching them once again while they continued to argue over the ingredients. Realising that neither one was acknowledging his presence much, he turned back to Belle, reaching out a his free hand to the several now individual pieces of chocolate on the counter in front of her. “Don’t!” She warned, slapping his hand away. “Remember what happened the last time you tried to take food away from me?” “Speaking of,” Nicole interrupted them. “Which knife was that? We don’t want to get any of Aden’s blood into the cake.” “I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of the concept, Nicole, but people do tend to clean things that get dirty. It’s called washing up.” Belle replied sarcastically as the blonde just looked at her. “Yeah, well, I’ve seen your and Aden’s sense of washing up. Somehow, I don’t think anything would come out clean after that.” The two of them smirked as she referred back to when they had created a mess in Roman’s kitchen. Geoff was the only one out of the loop, but he didn’t make any comment on it, instead whipping the cake mixture into a batter with all his might. “If you’re so worried about hygiene, then maybe out place isn’t a great idea to be cooking at.” Aden said directly to his best friend, a suggestive tone lining his words that, when teamed with his smirk, didn’t leave much room for debate on what he was trying to get at. “Aden!” Belle reprimanded, squatting him on the arm as Nicole dropped the wooden spoon into the pan that she was stirring the melted chocolate with a look of disgust. “Gross, gross, gross!” She exclaimed in a screech, making Geoff stop and finally come back to the world of the living. “He was kidding!” Belle tried to tell her but Nicole continued to grimace. “Aden, tell her you were kidding!” “Yeah, yeah.” He mumbled, defeated. “I was just teasing. The kitchen should be just fine.” “I’m never visiting this house ever again!” Nicole cried as Aden grinned at Belle with a naughty glint in his eyes although she didn’t look that pleased at all. “Not what I meant.” --- “10 minutes before I call in sick for you.” Aden told her as she refused to move. It was the following morning and she was too comfy to get out of bed. “15.” Her voice was muffled by the duvet that she had wrapped herself in like a cocoon. “15 and we’ll both be late. 10.” He informed her as he stepped out of the en suite bathroom completely clothed bar a top. Belle peeked out from under the covers, watching as he pulled out a black shirt from the drawer, although her eyes were more focused on something else. The smile that had crept onto her face at the sight turned into a stifled laugh as she felt the baby move. The laughter ultimately rang out as the sensation wouldn’t stop before a sudden movement made her gasp. “What?” Aden asked her as she abruptly pushed herself up on the bed, putting on the t-shirt in his hands and walking up to the bed. “The baby kicked.” Belle said, taking his hand immediately when he sat on the edge of the bed, still taking in what she said. “Do you feel it?” “No…” Aden frowned, shuffling a bit and pulling the covers a bit more down so that he could see where his hand was placed on the side of the lower part of her bump. “Are you sure?” “Yes, I’m sure!” She snapped, getting agitated with the fact that the baby had now decided to stop fussing around inside of her. “Don’t worry about it.” He merely replied, stroking the skin under his hand with his thumb as he leant in and pressed a kiss to her lips, trying his best not to get his hopes up. He knew exactly how guilty she felt at the times when she could feel something to do with the baby and he couldn’t. “I’m sure she’ll kick again soon.” “Or he.” Belle murmured, not missing a beat at his presumptions. Sighing, she couldn’t help but to wonder whether it really was a kick or not. Almost as if her thoughts of doubt had caused offence to the baby, there was a fluttering that grew once again. The second kick was slightly less forceful, and as she took a hold of Aden’s hand once again, moving it to where the movement had been, a stronger one occurred and she could tell by the look on his face that he had certainly felt that one. “Told you.” “I know.” He said in a barely audible voice as he concentrated on the feeling. “Why‘s it stopped?” “I think it takes a while before it’s a more frequent thing.” Belle explained as he nodded slowly, still not removing his hand from her abdomen just in case. “Aden?” “Yeah?” He looked up at her with watery eyes and a soft smile that she knew would most probably grow throughout the day. “Nothing. Never mind.” She shook her head, forgetting whatever it was that she wanted to say as she willed her own tears to stay back. “So, um… am I going to have to take your hand with me to work today or are you going to let go?” “Well, if you’d remove your hand from atop of it, then maybe I could.” Aden replied smartly and she did what he said. However, he kept his hand on her, not wanting to remove it until the very last moment. “It feels so…” “I know.” Belle knew that he would never find a word for it. It had been just like that when the baby had first moved that night on the last day of their honeymoon. “Ok, you’re really going to have to get a move on if you don’t want to be late.” “I think I’d rather be right here, sweetheart.” He rubbed gently circles into her skin almost to coerce the baby to kick once again. “Uni can wait for a bit.” “Yes, but work can’t.” She tapped him lightly on the leg and he sighed deeply. “C’mon, do you want to tell everyone just why you were so late?” “What? Cos I felt my baby kick for the first time?” Aden asked her with a big grin whilst leaning in closer to her. “I’d tell the whole world if I could.” His sincere words made her heart constrict and it wasn’t only because of his sweetness. Aden took her lips with his and she instinctively kissed him back momentarily, even as her mind tried to work over the guilt and shame that had erupted from the other meaning she had caught in his words. Tears had started to make single tracks as he backed off, finally removing his hand from her stomach to wipe them away and look at her worriedly. “It’s nothing.” She quickly dismissed, laughing a bit forcefully as she used her wrists to get rid of the tears easily. “Ok, if you say so.” Aden smiled at her, taking one of her hands as the dropped down and pressing a kiss to the back of it. “You want to go to work now? Or should I actually call in-?” “No, no.” Belle hastily replied. “I’m fine and going.” “Alright.” Aden nodded once and a ghost of a smile appeared on his lips as he rubbed a hand over her bump once again, eyes alternating between there and her. “I love you.” “Love you, too.” She murmured, subtly pushing his hand off of her and making him scoot back so that she could get out of bed. When she finally stood up, pulling her top back down over her stomach, she pressed a kiss to his cheek and rested a hand on the side of his neck. “What?” He queried with a raised eyebrow. “You should get going.” Belle said, changing her mind from her original plan as she caught the time from the corner of her eyes. “You’re going to be late. And I’m up now, so no problems here.” “Alright.” Aden said heavily, getting up and standing right in front of her. “Sure you’re ok?” “Yup. Now go!” She gave him a light shove on the shoulder as he smiled and gave her a brief kiss before turning to grab his phone. “And don’t forget it’s Annie’s birthday today.” “Right… So?” “So, we’re going over for dinner, remember?” Belle rolled her eyes as he agreed, pretending to know although they both knew he lied. “Just don‘t be late.” “I won’t. Promise.” Aden assured her as he left reached the doorway before pausing suddenly and turning back. “Well, not promise, because you know how that always ends up. But I’ll be there.” “Ok, ok.” Belle managed laughed. “I’ll take your word for it.” He nodded and finally left, allowing her to give up on her confident stance and sink back down onto the bed. She held her hands out in front of her, seeing them shake as she had predicted. They hadn’t even shook on the day of their wedding, but right then she was more nervous than back then. Inhaling deeply, Belle closed her eyes and calmed herself down. Her head was all over the place, riddled with thoughts from here and there, and then some. It was chaos and she needed order. She needed to get it all to make some kind of sense. She had to talk to someone. Someone who knew what was going on and someone who would listen to her when she told them to just listen. There was only one person like that at the moment. Realising that if she didn‘t get a move on, she‘d be late for work, Belle made up her mind to go and see Mattie after work. She finished before Aden would be home that day, so there was just enough time to go see her. Sneaking around wasn‘t something she liked, especially when it wasn‘t anything suspicious, but seeing as she had a lot to hide at the moment, Belle just added this to the list. Lying was lying, whether it was about one major things, or a thousand minor ones. And after pleading with him to not be late, the last thing she needed was to be a hypocrite on top of a liar and a sneak. Covering her face with her hands, Belle wished she could just go back to being a photojournalist and a wife. --- “The baby kicked this morning.” Belle said after a moment. She sat at the table on the back porch of the caravan park house with Mattie, who sat next to her, not saying a word to hurry her. “Really? Wow. How did it feel?” She gushed, eyes widening in joy. “It felt great. Kind of weird, but it was great nonetheless.” She replied, a smile forming on her face even as she stared at the plants opposite her, not seeing them once. “You should have seen Aden. He wouldn’t have let go if he didn’t have to.” “I can just imagine it.” Belle merely nodded in reply, leaning on her forearms that rested on the table. After a few minutes, Mattie placed a hand on her arm, claiming her attention as her eyes shifted down to it. “What’s wrong, Belle?” “He wants to tell everyone. I don’t blame him; I do too. But then I realised that by ‘everyone’, to me it’s my mates, my family here and my biological family too. For Aden it’s just the first two. Because, you know, apart from Roman and Nicole, he doesn’t really have another family.” She told her, but Mattie was more confused than ever about her words. “What are you saying, Belle?” “I’ve got to tell him.” She admitted. “I can’t do it any longer. I can’t lie to him, and I can’t take this from him. I mean, I’ve been thinking that bringing Justin into the whole equation might mess it all up, that it would ruin everything that Aden’s got now, but what if it’s the other way around? What if Aden actually wants to see Justin after all these years? To have his brother back because that’s what’s he’s been missing for years. The last factor in the equation.” “So you’re going to tell him?” Mattie asked her, hoping to get more of an explanation from her best friend. Belle turned her head in her direction slightly and nodded. “I have to. He has every right to know. It’s his family, Mattie. How can I deny him that? His parents are both dead, and Sean’s going to be in jail for a long time yet. But Justin’s here. He’s here, right now. It’s more than anyone else.” “That’s not true. He had Simon, remember?” She frowned as she spoke, or much rather spat, his name. “And what a great guy he was.” Belle commented dryly. “No, what I mean is that Justin was someone who was there for him every day of his life. Well, until he ran off.” “Just out of curiosity; why did he run off, exactly?” “He says it’s because he was a burden upon them.” She informed her before pursing hr lips to make any further comments, although Mattie’s prompt didn’t help. “You don’t believe him.” It was more of a statement than a question because it was clear from her tone that was what she thought. “He was 18, Mattie. He could very easily have gotten a place of his own somewhere in the nearby area instead of running away and leaving them behind.” Belle almost snapped, forgetting for the moment that she was trying to see the argument from another side then. “I doubt he had the money to do anything of the kind. Hence why he ran away instead of planning it out.” She pointed out and Belle reluctantly nodded. “Maybe.” “So you’re going to tell him?” Mattie repeated and Belle nodded once again. “8 years is a long time, Belle.” “I know. But it’s family. I didn’t know Amanda for 16 years, but we’ve managed to bury that hatchet, and everything else that went wrong after it. I guess it’ll be kind of the same, if Aden does want him back into his life.” She explained. “Except for the fact that you never knew Amanda before, but Aden knew Justin for 13 years.” “13 years is a lot more than 8.” Belle countered softly, trying to convince herself that maybe, just maybe, Aden wouldn’t take the reappearance of Justin badly. “That’s true. But will Aden see it that way?” “I thought you wanted me to tell Aden, Mattie?” She retorted, frowning as the other girl held up her hands in surrender. “I do. I’m just giving you the other view of it. Regardless of what I’m saying, you’re doing the right thing telling him.” Mattie told her, placing a hand back on top of her arm and squeezing it lightly. “Then why do I feel so sick at the thought of it?” She questioned rhetorically. “I dunno if bringing the whole thing up is a good idea. What if Justin’s left the state already? What if telling Aden will leave him looking over his shoulder and waiting for him to appear, only to be disappointed?” “You’re assuming that he would want to see him. Or that he cares. You’ve got remember that about Aden. Loyalty means a lot to him; you told me so yourself. Justin walking out broke that between them. Maybe telling him won’t effect him at all.” Mattie tried as Belle sat up a bit straighter. “You think that he might not even care that his brother’s back?” She asked incredulously. At her shrug, Belle shook her head slightly. “This is Aden’s we’re talking about, ok? Aden, who would love nothing more than to get away to some remote island and away from any kind of drama, such as his brother coming back. Aden, who doesn’t like to think about the past much, so Justin being back might do that. Aden, who has the tendency to act first, usually with violence, and then think when it comes to certain things, like a certain someone reappearing in his life.” “Yes, that Aden. Although I think you’re forgetting that he’s a bit more…” Mattie searched for the right word, hoping not to sound to mean about him. “Like a human being with a conscience now. He won’t act rashly.” “I hope not. I so scared of telling him. He’s not going to take it lightly.” “Maybe he’ll understand. You’re practically an angel to him; can’t do anything wrong in his eyes.” Belle’s scoff made her pause. “Your intentions were for his benefit, and your reasoning’s did make sense. Just weren’t the right thing to do.” “That’s if he’ll hear me out.” She sighed, running her hands though her hair and pushing it away from her face. “I guess patience is the key here. Wait for him to react to the news before expecting him to actually listen to me.” “Do you want me to be there, Belle? I can be in the other room or something.” Mattie offered but Belle smiled gratefully at her and shook her head. “No, you shouldn’t get involved in this. I’ve made the mess and now I’ll clear it up.” Taking another deep breath, Belle finally felt like she had managed to sort out the thoughts in her head. She had order now because she now knew what she had to do. “Are you sure? Like you said, he does have the tendency to act first and think later.” “Mattie, trust me, it’ll be fine. He’s too scared of harming the baby in anyway. Physically or through putting stress onto me.” She told her, realising that it might just be the reason why Aden would take the news lightly as opposed to yelling at her. “Like you said, I’ve done this twice before. I should have learnt my lesson.“ “Ok, but would you rather he take his anger out on something, or someone, else? I know Aden wouldn‘t hurt you, but if he‘s too scared to even release his anger about it to you, then there‘s going to be some way that he‘s going to do it. I don‘t think he‘s the silent type, now is he?” Mattie tried to point out, hoping that it might get Belle to rethink the idea of doing this alone. “No, but he won’t. He won’t.“ Belle repeated as if to convince herself. “If he’s mad at me, he’ll stay mad at me. As much as I hate it, I deserve it. Anyway, what’s the worst that could happen?” --- I really need to write a whole chapter of angst. For some reason, I cannot stay away from the fluff! Oh well, I hope you all enjoyed it. xoxo
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.