ItM - Simon - 52

Shining Down on Life

Time has a way of slowing down at the important moments, like it’s giving you the opportunity to pay attention because you might never feel the same way again.

During the early days and weeks with Erin it felt like time slowed down, but then it sped up without warning and all I could do was follow the current, trying not to drown.

Rory’s early years went by in a blur. There were days when I’d see her in the kitchen, an unsteady spoon of oatmeal in her hand as she tried to eat ‘like all the big peoples,’ and I would swear that I was holding her swaddled in a blanket the day before, trying to bottle-feed her.

I figured one day it would happen to Erin and I, ignoring all that vampires and werewolves not being able to have children crap. I just didn’t want it all to pass by like someone had hit the fast-forward button of my life.

I wanted to waste as much time as possible on Erin and any possible kids we might have.

~*~*~*~

In the morning I watched Erin sleep next to me, one arm curled up under the pillow while the other was draped across her waist.

Ever since we found out we were going to have a baby, she’d started sleeping more. I figured it was because her body was adjusting to being pregnant. Erin said I was coddling her.

It scared the crap out of me when the doctor told us the test was positive. I’d always had that ‘we’re never going to be able to have a baby together’ thought running through my head next to the ‘one day we’ll have a baby’ thought.

Now we were having a baby, and when I let myself think about it my brain would go into overdrive, sending me straight into a panic.

What would the baby be? The doctor said she’d never heard of a vampire/werewolf couple who’d actually gotten pregnant, at least not one from the last 50 years. It was possible that it happened hundreds of years ago, but there wasn’t any documented proof. I didn’t care, I knew that whatever it was we’d love him, or her, as much as we could, but I still wondered.

Where would the baby sleep once it arrived? There was barely enough room in the house for all of us after Mick’s human had moved some of his stuff in. Sure, he was living out in this small guest house we had built next to the house, but that didn’t stop him from dumping his guitar, amp, and music in the living room.

And Rory was getting bigger and more mobile. She loved running around the house, dragging her blanket along, giggling like she was doing the funniest thing imaginable. She was going to need more space, like a room just for playing in.

There was nothing over the garage, and the attic was pretty big, so it would be possible for us to expand into those spaces, but I didn’t want us to be breathing in dust for 3 months while someone renovated.

Sighing, I ran my hand down her side and let it rest on her belly on the small bump that had appeared over the last few months. That was our baby, possibly sleeping, possibly moving around, and I wanted to know what he, or she, was thinking about.

“You won’t feel it moving around yet.”

Looking up, I saw Erin watching me, her chocolate brown eyes heavy with sleep. “I know, but that doesn’t mean I can’t wonder what’s going on in there, or what he’s thinking about.”

Her hand moved to cover mine, her fingers sliding over my wrist. “You’re going to be a good dad, Simon.”

“I hope so.” I pulled the blankets up over the both of us and moved to my back, looking up at the ceiling. “I don’t want what happened to either of us when we were younger happen to our kid. I want to be the one to raise it, with you, of course.”

“I’m sure that won’t happen again, Simon. We’re not our parents, we’re not in the public’s eye. We live out in the semi-middle of nowhere.” She propped herself up on her elbow, looking down at me for a moment before lying back down. “Who’s out to get us?”

“I suppose so.” There was a tapping at the door and I rolled onto my side to bury my face in Erin’s neck, wrapping my arms around her. “Just ignore it. Maybe she’ll go away.”

She chuckled, shaking her head as her arms came up around my neck. “Don’t kid yourself. You know she’ll get the doorknob to work soon enough, and then she’ll be in here, jumping on both the bed and us.” Erin turned to look at me, and quickly kissed me. “But it’s hard to be angry with her.”

She was right, but ever since Rory learned how to open doors, which led to her learning how to jump on the bed, my early morning time with Erin disappeared. Rory seemed to wake up once the sun rose, and she would then escape her room, go to either ours or Mick’s room and wake one of us up.

“And I’m sure Mick tells her to come wake us up when Rory rushes into her room.”

Erin chuckled again. “You tell her to go wake up Michaela when you want some more sleep.”

“It’s not sleep I’m interested in, it’s more time alone with you.” I kissed her lips, soft and slow, and I would’ve kissed her for a lot longer if the door hadn’t been opened by an impatient and squealing toddler. “Later?”

“Later.”

Rory jumped up onto the bed and squirmed her way between us, settling in with a sigh, the ear of her stuffed dog Ruffles in her hand. “Ant Er-win, you got a baby in your tummy, but how’s it get there?”

Erin looked at me with wide-eyes as I tried hard not to laugh. “Well, it’s magic, Aurora. The same magic that put you in your mommy’s tummy.”

“But mommy said the tork puts babies in tummies.” A frown gathered between Rory’s eyes, and I could see her pull her thinking face on. “Mommy said the tork flies in the sky and flies around the mommy and then there’s a baby in her tummy.”

“It’s stork, sweetheart, and it’s a magic stork. It comes along and uses magic to put the babies in the mommies’ tummies.” Erin pressed her lips to Rory’s hair, snuggling with her for a quick second. “Okay?”

“Okies.” She nodded and turned towards me, finished with her morning chat with Erin. “Mornin’, Unca Woofy.”

“Morning, Rory.” I watched her as she started walking Ruffles along my arm. “What’s the plan for today? Learning how to fly a plane upside down?”

She giggled, her eyes lighting up like they did every day. “No. Mommy said you makin’ wafflies for breakfast.”

“Oh, really?” This was news to me, but I wasn’t surprised. Mick was still gun-shy about cooking something besides toast and soup from a can and peanut butter sandwiches. “When did she say this?”

“Afore I came to wake you up. Her and Unca Gabe were almost kissing, and then Mommy had a happy face on and picked me up to hug me, and then she said to get you so you could make wafflies for breakfast and she said Ant Lou can help me pick garden berries to decorate breakfast.”

Her run-on sentences could be so amusing at times. I looked past her to find Erin trying hard not to laugh at Rory’s little tale, and reached for my little puppy, cuddling her close. “Okay, Rory, let’s go down and have waffles. You go get your mom and meet me down there.”

“Yay.” She hugged me, pressed her little mouth to my cheek, and scrambled off the bed, running out of the room.

I turned back to Erin and pulled her close, nibbling on the line of her jaw. “You going to come down and have waffles with us? I could put whipped cream on them instead of syrup.”

“You know I won’t be able to keep it down. It’s a nice offer, but I think I’m going to get some more sleep. Maybe you could come back and lie around in bed with me.”

“Maybe I could.” I kissed her lips this time, lingering until I could hear Rory shouting at me from down in the kitchen. Pulling away, I sighed and slid out from under the covers. “I only hope our kid won’t have lungs like hers.”

Dragging a shirt over my head, I left our room and Erin’s chuckle, going downstairs to make waffles for a squirming toddler and a sleepy 19 year old. In the end, I was spattered with batter, Mick had flour in her hair, and Rory’s mouth was bright red from the strawberries her and Louisa picked from the garden. But everyone was fed, even if the kitchen was a mess.

After breakfast I was roped into watching cartoons with Rory, who laughed at everything, but after an hour Mick gathered her up so she could get dressed.

I followed them upstairs, went to our room to shower, and climbed back into bed next to Erin. She rolled straight into my arms, the soft skin of her cheek sliding against my chest. “You smell like syrup.”

“Rory went a little overboard. She blew into the flour, coating Mick, knocked over the batter cup and sprayed me, and then got syrup and whipped cream all over the table.” Sighing, I kissed the top of her head. “You should’ve been there.”

“Maybe next time.”

“So.” I let my hand slide down the smooth skin of her back. “Where were we?”

She chuckled against my chest, and moved up until her lips brushed against my neck. “I thought we were right here. It sure does look like the same room.”

“Very funny.”

“Thank you.” Her fangs grazed the side of my neck and I shivered, and then she bit down, taking the blood I offered to her.

As she drank I slid my arms around her, one of my hands moving up into her hair to hold her close. “You’re welcome.”