“And if I can’t?”
“You can call me whenever you want, no matter what time it is.”
“And if I really can’t cope?”
“Then I will get on the first flight home.”
***
“Do you know what I’m really worried of?”
Alex stops and turns to face Neal.
“What?”
“I’m scared that something will happen and he won’t be here.” Neal looks down at where his hand is resting on top of his stomach.
“Do you know what?” Alex takes hold of Neal’s other hand. “I’m scared about that too.”
Neal looks up at Alex and frowns slightly.
“What if…”
“Desmond said that we’d be fine. He said that it’s my job to look after you and it’s your job to look after them and that he knows we can do that. We should listen to him sometimes, shouldn’t we?”
Neal smiles briefly.
“I know that he wants to go and I know he’ll be back soon and I really want someone to be there for Franc and Giselle on their birthday. It’s just…”
“Bad timing? Yes.” Alex nods. “But it’s important to him and he can’t always be here. He’ll be back soon and I think we’ll be okay together. We just have to do our jobs and make sure everyone is safe and then Desmond will be back just in time for…”
“For them.” Neal gently rubs his stomach.
“He promised me that he’d be back in time and when has he ever broken a promise to either one of us?”
Neal shakes his head- never.
“Then that’s one thing we don’t have to worry about.” Alex smiles softly. “Now, let’s get home.”
“Yes.” Neal smiles brightly. “Please.”
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
When Alex wakes up, he can immediately sense that something is off. He’s terrified for a second, but he manages to calm himself down. He opens his eyes and discovers what had him so on edge- Neal is sat up on the opposite side of the bed, with his laptop open in front of him. He stifles a yawn and rubs his eyes. He looks at the clock and then blinks a few times to check whether he’s really seeing what he thinks he’s seeing or whether he’s still asleep and dreaming all of this- the numbers stay the same. He turns over so that he’s looking at Neal.
“What are you doing, Neal?”
Neal shoots the briefest of glances at Alex before returning his gaze to his laptop screen.
“Desmond promised to call today.”
“It’s six o’clock in the morning, Neal.”
“He promised.”
“He’s not going to call at this time.”
“And why not?”
“Because, I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this, it’s six o’clock in the fucking morning.” Alex throws his arms over his face and groans softly.
Neal jabs Alex in the ribs.
“Watch your language in front of the babies.” Neal glares at Alex for a second. “And Desmond will call- he promised.”
“He probably thinks you’re still sleeping.”
“He won’t.”
“He should,” Alex mutters. “It’s six…”
“I know!” Neal huffs. “If sleep is so precious to you then I’ll go downstairs and not disturb you anymore.”
“Neal.” Alex puts a hand on Neal’s arm. “Of course I want you to stay. I just thought you’d like more rest now. You always say the babies make you so tired and I don’t want you to suffer it.”
Neal eyes Alex suspiciously for a minute before looking back at his laptop.
“I just miss Desmond, okay?”
“Then why don’t you call him? You’re already awake.”
“Because he promised that he would call and he’s going to call, okay?”
“Okay.” Alex holds his hands up. He just about manages to stifle another yawn. “Seeing as you’re awake then, would you like some breakfast?”
“Thank you.”
***
“Oh, my god- he’s calling.”
Alex has to bite his lip to stop himself from laughing- the way Neal is flapping about in excitement is the same way Max is when he gets to stay up past bedtime and the way Andrea and Bella are when anyone mentions the babies.
Neal presses a few buttons on his laptop (which hasn’t been out of his sight all day) and grins when he sees Desmond.
“Hi. Oh.” Neal gasps and puts a hand over his mouth when he realizes that Giselle is there too, sitting in Desmond’s lap. “Giselle. Hi princess.” He waves at the screen.
Giselle waves back at the screen.
“Neal.” Giselle claps her hands.
Neal smiles brightly- he still loves hearing Giselle say his name (she still hasn’t managed to master the word ‘uncle’ though, but that doesn’t matter); he loves his niece more than almost anyone else in the world.
“She’s just about to go down for the night, but I thought you might want to say ‘hi’ first.”
“Thank you.” Neal smiles at Desmond for a second before looking down at Giselle. “You must be worn out, princess. It’s a big day for you, isn’t it? It’s your birthday. Have you had a good time?”
Giselle nods furiously.
“And did you like the presents we sent you? And all your other new toys too?”
“She hasn’t stopped playing all day and she can’t wait to try on her new dresses, can you Giselle?”
Giselle looks up at Desmond and grins.
“I’m so glad you’re having such a good time. You’re getting so big. How old are you today?”
Giselle thinks carefully for a moment before holding two fingers up in front of the screen.
“That’s right.” Neal grins. “You’re two today. And it’s Daddy’s birthday too and he’s two plus thirty whole years. You know what that means? It means Daddy’s getting old.”
“Hey.”
Neal laughs softly- he’d only said that because he’d just seen Franc hanging around in the background.
Franc walks over and sits down next to Desmond. He looks at the screen and narrows his gaze slightly.
“Just because you’re an entire ocean away and nearly nine months pregnant doesn’t mean you get to be nasty.”
“I’m your baby brother Franc- I always get to tease you.”
Franc shakes his head and then lifts Giselle into his lap. He leans in towards Giselle slightly.
“Do you think we should leave, princess? Go away from mean Uncle Neal?”
“No!” Neal shakes his head. “Stay, please. I’ve missed you. Both of you.”
“What about me?”
Neal looks at Desmond and smiles softly.
“Of course I miss you, but it’s different. I get to see you again tomorrow. When are you back, by the way?”
“About three o’clock.”
“Okay. Well, I get to see you tomorrow afternoon, but I haven’t seen Franc or Giselle in so long. I won’t get to see them for so long.”
“It’s just a few weeks.” Franc smiles softly. “We’re coming over to visit when you have the babies, remember?”
“I was so used to seeing you every day and…” Neal takes a deep breath to try and calm himself down- he really doesn’t want to cry right now; this is supposed to be a happy time.
Alex walks over (he’d stayed back because he thought Neal might like a bit of time to talk alone with Desmond) and sits in the seat next to Neal. He reaches out and takes hold of Neal’s hand.
Neal smiles softly- that definitely helps.
“Hey.”
“Hi.” Alex looks at the screen, at Desmond, and smiles.
“You’re doing your job, then?”
“I missed you too.”
Desmond smiles lightly and nods.
Alex smiles at Desmond for another second before looking at Giselle. He leans towards Neal.
“You were right- she is getting big.”
“I think she’ll be taller than me next time we see her.” Neal smiles and waves at G
iselle again. “Have you been a good girl for Mommy and Daddy?”
Desmond covers his mouth with his hand and turns away to hide his laughter.
“What?” Neal frowns heavily. “What did she do?”
“Apparently, no matter how many people told her that her very nice birthday cake wasn’t for breakfast, she still managed to eat three fistfuls of the icing before we caught her.”
“That sounds familiar,” Alex mutters.
Neal glares at Alex for a second before turning back towards the screen.
“It’s her birthday, Franc.”
“That’s why she didn’t get into too much trouble. It’s also why she seems to be having a sugar crash now.” Franc leans in and presses a kiss to the top of Giselle’s head. “I think it’s time you went to bed, princess. Say bye-bye to Uncle Neal and Uncle Alex.”
Giselle waves at the screen and then turns around. She huddles against Franc and yawns.
“Bye-bye, princess.” Neal sighs lightly.
“We’ll call you again tomorrow, if you’d like.”
Franc smiles at Neal again before standing up and carrying Giselle out of the room.
Neal watches Franc leave and pouts slightly.
“Desmond?”
“Yeah?”
“Can you come home earlier please?”
“I’ll do my best.”
***
Desmond gets home at just after midday the next afternoon. The door hasn’t even banged shut behind him before Neal is there, wrapping his arms around him.
“Hi.”
Neal’s reply is muffled because he has his head buried in Desmond’s neck.
Desmond smiles softly. He gently runs Neal’s back and his smile grows when he feels the babies kicking.
Neal pulls back slightly and looks at Desmond.
“I missed you.”
“I know. I missed you too.”
“Wanna know how much I really missed you?”
Desmond doesn’t have the chance to reply before Neal grabs his hand and starts pulling him upstairs.
“Hey,” Alex calls out from the living room doorway (he’d been talking with Neal in the kitchen when Desmond had returned and he’d turned to get a drink and then Neal had disappeared). “What about me?”
“Fine.” Neal stops halfway up the stairs and turns back to look at Alex. He grins. “You can come too.”
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
“They’re being really calm today.”
Desmond turns to look at Neal. He opens his mouth to reply, but he doesn’t get the chance.
“Oh, my god.” Alex rushes across the room and jumps into the seat next to Neal on the couch. He puts his hand on top of Neal’s stomach. “Are they okay? Is something wrong? Oh, my god.”
“They’re fine.” Neal smiles softly and puts his hand on top of Alex’s hand. “See? Do you feel her kicking? She wants you to know that everything is okay and you don’t need to worry.”
“How do you know that’s our little girl?”
“They’ve lived inside of me for nine months, Alex; I think I can tell them apart.” Neal leans towards Alex slightly. “I feel them moving a little, but they’re mostly being calm.”
“But…”
“Hey, it’s okay.” Desmond walks over and sits next to Alex. He wraps an arm around Alex’s shoulder. “It doesn’t mean anything’s wrong. They’re just being calm, like Neal said. It happens sometimes. Lukas never stopped moving, but it seemed like Max was sleeping nearly all the time for a week before he was born.”
“How would you know? You weren’t there.”
“Alex.”
Alex sighs lightly and looks back at Desmond.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to… I’m just worried.”
“You don’t have to be.” Neal rests his head on Alex’s shoulder. “I would feel if something was wrong and I don’t, I promise.”
Alex nods and leans against Neal’s head.
“I trust you, I do, but I can’t stop worrying.”
“Will you get to stop worrying when you finally get to meet them tomorrow?”
“Are you kidding?” Desmond shakes his head. “That’s when you start worrying more.”
Neal pulls back and glares at Desmond.
“You’re not helping.”
“But it’s true.” Desmond shrugs lightly. “When you get to meet them, you will start worrying more, but it’s also when everything starts to make sense; if you’re worried, you’ll be able to just look at them and know everything is okay, you’ll want to spend all your time with them, you’ll never stop thinking about them. When they get here, it’s really real.”
Neal stares at Desmond for a moment before looking at Alex.
“See? It’s going to be okay.”
“But they’re not moving.” Alex slowly reaches out and puts a hand on top of Neal’s stomach.
“They’re just… making things easy for us today. They don’t want us to have to worry about two over excited little babies today. They don’t want to tire me out too much.”
“And maybe they just want to save their strength- it’s a big day for them tomorrow, too.”
“Yes.” Neal smiles and nods. “It’s all change tomorrow and I think everyone needs to rest a lot tonight.”
“Oh.” Alex sits forward and turns back to look at Neal. “Do you want to go to bed then?”
“Uh… It’s only six o’clock. We haven’t even had dinner yet.” Neal frowns slightly and looks at Desmond. “Am I still allowed to eat? I can’t remember what time the doctor said I should stop.”
“You got a bit of time yet. Is there anything that you want?”
“Ice-cream and cookies.” Neal grins.
“And before that?”
“Oh, I don’t mind.” Neal shrugs. “Let Alex choose.”
“Alex?”
“Oh. Uh… I… uh… What… What do we even have?”
“Come on.” Desmond stands up and holds a hand out towards Alex. “I’m sure we can find something.”
***
Desmond is surprised by how easily he falls asleep that night- he thinks he should be pacing up and down the entire night, with a thousand thoughts running through his mind, but he falls asleep the second his head hits the pillow. He isn’t surprised when he wakes up in the middle of the night and he’s alone in bed- Neal and Alex were never going to sleep for long, if they even slept at all. He turns on his side and smiles softly when he sees Neal and Alex sat together in the window seat. He starts frowning, though, when he hears their conversation.
“Will you tell me what’s wrong?”
Neal leans his head against the window and turns to look at Alex. He opens and closes his mouth a couple of times before replying.
“I’m… I’m just worried.”
“You are?” Alex’s eyes widen slightly. “You seem so… not worried.”
Neal shrugs lightly.
“I have to be.”
“Is it… I know I’ve spent the last nine months freaking out, but…”
Neal reaches out to take hold of Alex’s hand.
“It’s not for you. It’s for Desmond.” Neal smiles softly. “One of us needs to be calm. It was never going to be you and it can’t be me so it has to be Desmond. If he knows how scared I really am, he’ll worry too much. I can’t have him worrying because I need him to be able to look after me and you.”
“If you’re so scared, Neal, I can stop freaking out so much. I can take care of you if you need me to.”
Neal squeezes Alex’s hand tightly.
“I know you Alex- you would never stop worrying for long. It’s one of the things I love most about you, but I need more than that right now.”
“You need Desmond?”
“I need both of you, but for different reasons. You don’t do calm and that’s okay because Desmond will.” Neal smiles softly.
“I don’t think you need to worry so much.” Alex reaches out and puts a hand on top of Neal’s stomach
. “They’ll be okay. You said that you would feel it if they weren’t.”
“I would.” Neal nods and puts a hand on top of his stomach, right next to Alex’s hand. “They’re going to be okay, I know this. I’m not worried about them.”
Alex frowns slightly.
“Then what are you worried about?”
“I’m worried about me.” Neal smiles sadly. “I’m worried that I won’t get to meet them. I love them so much already and I want so badly to be able to hold them, but no one can promise me that that will happen.”
“Neal, I…”
“No. I don’t know if I’ll come out of this. I’m so scared I won’t ever even get to meet them. I’m so scared I won’t get to see them grow up.”
“Don’t…”
“Stop doing that. You have to listen to me.” Neal sits forward and clutches Alex’s hand tightly. “Promise me that they’ll be okay. If I’m going to… I can’t leave them if I don’t know they’ll be taken care of.”
“Oh, Neal; of course we’ll take care of them and we’ll love them and so will you.”
“Promise me they’ll be okay and promise me that when I’m gone…”
“Neal, don’t say that, not now, not to me. You can’t…” Alex takes a deep breath. “It’s supposed to be you and me and Desmond and Lukas and Andrea and Bella and Max and Ollison and,” he puts his hand on top of Neal’s stomach, “Matthew and Elizabeth forever. It doesn’t work if you’re not there so don’t talk like that.”
“But…”
“No. You are going to be fine and they are going to be fine and we are going to be a family. You will see them in the morning and you can tell them yourself how much you love them.”
“I need you to promise me that if anything ever happens…”
“You’re not leaving us so don’t you dare talk like that. You’re going to get through this and then you’ll come home with the babies and we’ll be a family.”
“But if…”
“No.” Alex points at Neal. “No ‘ifs’. No ‘buts’. Everything is going to be fine.”
Neal opens his mouth to argue some more, but Alex interrupts him.
“Don’t even think about it.” Alex gives Neal a serious look. He points back across the room. “Now, get back to bed.” He stares at Neal until Neal gets up and starts walking back over to the bed. He takes a minute just to breathe and calm himself down before he gets up and follows Neal back to bed. He climbs into bed and lies on his side so he’s looking at Neal.
The Unexpected: An Mpreg Romance Page 11
