A new home (Marr)

As the morning draws on, I'm brought back into the world of the consciouness. The warm and toasty house of the place that I was raised is as pleasant as ever, but the side of the bed that Matthew was on is cold, telling me that he's been gone for quite some time. I know where he is. I know exactly what he's doing, too. He's at his new home fixing it up. Probably putting plywood down or something to strengthen the floor or adding another coat of paint to the walls of the hallway or something. With a stretch and a yawn, I push my prenant self up, feeling the muscles in my back screaming with each movement. A heavy breath and pushing my hand against my back, I push myself up and slowly make my way to the bathroom.

There's no sound in the house, so it makes me wonder if everyone has just let me oversleep, though I can't complain, unless I complain that I'm always tired now. I plait my hair on one side and go to get dressed warmly. There's such a need to go help Matthew, that I'm dressing as if it were ten below and it isn't easy. Hardly any of my clothes fit, but I make it work. One look in the mirror makes me shake my head and with a forceful kick from little Mira, I once again groan with a little bit of pain in my back.

"Okay, okay little one... calm down, today." I whisper out and grab my earmuffs and exit down the stairs and out of the door into the frigid air. "Shoot... I should have stayed in bed."

I stuff my hands in my pockets, walking along with the snow crunching under my boot. It's beautiful to say the least, but the ice has me scared of falling. Only for two good reasons: Mira and the thought that I wouldn't be able to get back up. I shake my head and grin heavily with the mental image of myself acting like a turtle unable to get up which provokes a small chuckle to echoe out.

Before I know it, I arrive to Matthew's new home and see him on the roof. He's working so diligently and the closer I get, I see how much he is into his work, so I look around the yard for something to do and notice the shingles in the back of his truck and go to get a set of them. A little bit of weight never hurt anyone and I'm going to be carrying around a baby not but a few weeks away. So, I hold the shingles in my arm as if it were a baby and step on the first step of the ladder. "Need some help up there, my love?"

I'm enjoying watching him work for only a moment before I voice out my words to him, getting his attention in the most unlikely way. He slips, causing me to gasp out and almost drop the shingles in my hand while I'm on the bottom step of the ladder. I reach upward toward him, almost in an attempt to steady him. He stops and gets his footing.

"I might need some help DOWN there if you make me fall off the roof." I cringe and shrug my shoulders upward, trying to feel bad for almost making him fall off the icy roof.

"Sorry!" I grin a little now that the scare of him falling is over with. With a gentle smile, I shake my head at him when he asks if I brought him breakfast. "I wasn't sure if you'd eaten or not, so I ate what I had at the house." I joke a little pointing toward my stomach. "Casualty of being pregnant."

I drop my head, chuckling a little and look back up at him. "Kidding. I've not eaten yet. Didn't know if you wanted to come back to the house and warm up for a while or go somewhere for something to eat. I'm hungry, too."

"Lil higher." I hold on to the ladder with one hand and push upward with the other, but it's too low for him to reach. I stretch, but with Matthew telling me he'll come down, I step off the ladder and wait for him to descend the steps. I let my hand reach up for him, touching his waist as he touches the bottom and grin into the kiss, placing my one hand on his when he touches my belly.

"Not really. Back hurts... getting worse as the days go by. I couldn't get comfortable, didn't mean to wake you? I don't like these later months. It was so much easier at the first. Well, scratch that, I don't miss the morning sickness." I lay my forehead against him and keep the shingles in my hand balanced. "Also, seeing as how when I woke up your side of the bed was cold..."

I pull out of his grasp and bend down, putting the shingles on the first step of the ladder and straighten up. "So, you need help with the shingles and stuff. What do you want me to do?"

"I guess I can." I mumble as he expresses his need to keep going and not to let me interrupt his work. I'd rather help him then leave him like that but my stomachs need for food is wanting to drive me to go get food. Somehow, I resist the urge.

"8 weeks, I think? Something close to that..." I admit. I've sort of lost track of the days gone by, but what Matthew says is right. She will end up being a spring baby and just in time for the summer months to enjoy the heat without being all snuggled up in blankets and furry things. A flurry of snow settles itself on my nose and I brush it away with my hand but not before it melts.

An offer of help is given and Matthew's face lights up. He's wanting me to be useful and to help him out and it's a good distraction. So, he takes the shingles from me and then changes his mind. "Hey! I can still work. The doctor never said anything that I couldn't help with the house. Just to take it easy or whatnot. You know me, I can't stand to be idle."

Instead, he only wants me to go get breakfast and some better gloves. The next mission he sets for me has me really lifting my eyebrow. "You want me to unload the entire truck?"

I turn to look to the truck and see the amount of things in the back. With a snarky little grin and then folding my arms up in front of me. "You got it boss. Let me go get some food then the real work begins."

"Love ya, babe."

"Love you too, my sweet." I tell him, kiss him back and slowly walk away back to the house to go get some food. Upon returning, I'm slower as I carry the bag of goodies for us to enjoy for the rest of the day. It's cold outside as more snowflakes are wanting to be delivered from the sky. It makes me put my hood up on my jacket and brave the chilling wind wanting to cut into me. Each icy breath makes it more difficult to breath as if I feel my breath be taken from me.

The closer to the house I get, I can hear the hammer hitting against the wood, nailing something in place. A small amount of food is concealed in the bag like bread and dried beef and some cheese. The two bottles of water in the bag keep hitting me against my leg as I walk since I won't remove my hands from my pockets.

"Hey Matthew. Foods here." I shout so that I don't scare him again. I hold the bag up and show him. "Dried beef and biscuits. Sound good?"

I wag my finger at Matthew and walk inside the house, going to the kitchen and sitting the bag down on the table. It's a little warm in here, with the fire going in the fireplace, so I take my coat off and wait for him to come in. "Bottle of water for you as well. Some of that white cheese you like. How much of the roof have you got done already?"

Hearing him come into the house has to be the worst. I can hear how much he's freezing outside just to complete this project of his in time for his daughter to arrive. Though, just as he has said once, it may end up being ready sometime after her birth, so I don't know if we're in that big of a hurry. It's not like we're really needing this place when we have his father's place or my own to settle in until it's finished. Though, to see Mira's room be finished and a solid roof above her head would be a great thing to have.

The news on the roof is a little unsettling, but coming to a close if what he says needs t o be done is a third done. Hopefully, he'll have finished the roof above her room so it don't ruin what he's already done so much work on.

"Yeah you can have that white cheese, you'll eat anyting Mrs. Eatingmachine."

My mouth drops.

"Eatingmachine? She takes after her father and that insatiable hunger.... blame your daughter for my eating habits." I scold him playfully and take a hunk of the cheese, biting into it and savoring the flavor as I sit on the chair and take in a deep breath. I place my hand on the top portion of my swollen belly and rub my fingertips against the bump, watching Matthew dig into the food.

"Good?" I question him and see the food start to disappear rather quickly. I shake my head when he asks if there is anything warm to drink. "Didn't have time to make it, but I brought some cocoa packets in case you wanted to warm up your bottle of water over the stove and then we can have a warm drink. Want me to?" I stand up, and instantly place my hand to my back. I go over to the cupboard and get out a pan, and relinquish my bottle of water of its contents then place it on the stove. It takes a second to light, but soon the heat is radiating outward and welcoming.

"Let me have your bottle?" I tell him, shaking my head at his michievious grin to the next kind of plans. I walk over and take it from him and add it to my own.

"And what do you want to do? Stretch out on the fresh carpet. Wear it in a little bit?" I chuckle and yet again, stretch out my back. I grimace slightly moving from side to side to get ride of the spasms. "I think we should continue to work on the roof. Like you said, we don't want Mira's room to get ruined by the melting ice and snow. Maybe we can get it finished today, ya think?" I offer and go to sit back down on the chair next to Matthew.

The cheese that I brought, that Matthew doesn't want, is a really good addition to my diet. The bread and the meat just doesn't have that kind of effect on me, not to mention I've not really had a taste for any meat during this pregnancy. It's mainly been fruits and sweet things. Hardly any kind of carbs at all, so I don't say anything when Matthew takes the last bit of the dried beef I brought and instead take a biscuit and nibble on that.

"Hey, Ky. Who pays for your living expenses now?" I stop chewing to think about it, but not like it's been off my mind.

"Jeran's been taking care of everything since, ya know. Unsure of when he'll come back, but he's assured me that I'll be covered until I'm eighteen and he's pretty adament about wanting to help me even after the baby is born, too." I wonder why Matthew is asking that, but I guess if he's wanting me to move in with him that finances and things like that are going to end up being a big thing. I'll need to step up to the plate and help as soon as I can. "I'll see about looking for a place of work right after Mira is born to help out, okay?"

That's one thing I don't want to be to Matthew; a burden. So, my mind is already starting to wonder about things that I could actually do and if there would be anyone to watch Mira while I tried to go get a job to take care of our daughter and myself and still help Matthew with this house and everything else. A ton of thoughts are putting my mind at unease with so much coming up and a fear of being a new mom. How will I make the cut? How will I be able to do it all?

Subjects have changed back to the shingles on the roof and his protective side comes out very clearly stating that he don't want me on the roof. I cringe slightly and shrug my shoulders when he really gets to me. "Another set of hands would have helped out... though, I'm not really sure how well I could really bend over to help much anyways... but yeah."

The bathtub idea sounds like a fun way to relax and to work on it with him. I also wonder if we'll get any work done on the tub anyways? He's got that really micheivious look to his face when he would rather just make love. The grin on my face lights up my face as I try to bite the smile away.

"See if you can find anything to do in here. If you could place five or six shingles into this and I pull it would save me from climbing up and down all the time." Finally! Something useful to do and something he approves of that we can do right now. I nod furiously at him and salute him in mock tone.

"Yes'sir!" I laugh.

I stand up, shoving the last peice of cheese in my mouth as well as a tiny bite of bread when he asks where his gloves are. I nod and start going through the pockets in my coat and pull out a pair of white ones and lay them on the table, followed by a black and tan pair. "Almost forgot, sorry, Matthew. Here. Super warm but flexible." I hand them over to him and then go back to my coat, and put it on. Again, as my body moves, a sharp pain in my lower back keeps me from moving for almost ten seconds as my hand goes to rub a certain spot that the pain is radiating from. After it passes, I lean down and grip the handle of the pale and grab the rope. "Lets get that roof finished!"

I'm already marching off to battle and walk outside into the snowing atmostphere and shudder as the snowflakes collect onto my face. "Matthew... we should build a snowman." I shout back to him and go to his truck to collect a bundle of the shingles and stick them in the bucket and carry it back to where Matthew is waiting at the ladder.

It's absolutely freezing outside. The gusts of wind that brings the snow inside my coat hood, laying snow inside my ear and making my cheeks rosey and red, as well as my nose. As we are working, I can't help but think about what he said about who would be watching Mira if I went out to find a job. That's a good question. There isn't hardly anyone that I trust, but the more I think about it, my mind goes directly to Gala. Honorary babysitter for one of our own littlest friend. She's been there through a lot of stuff we've went through and almost died with us all, as well. I'm pretty sure if I asked her, then she'd definately want to take on the task as a babysitter. Maybe that wouldn't be a bad idea, either, if me and Matthew ever wanted some time to ourselves.

In between our small breaks inside, each time I feel something odd and off about my stomach. Little aches and pains, but nothing too bad, but it just won't stop. It doesn't seem too offsetting until we've been working a little more throughout the day and the cramping keeps getting a little worse the more I keep moving. A bit of fear instills inside, but I'm no where near ready to see Mira just yet. So, I just have to keep going, it'll go away eventually.

Buckets of shingles are raised and empty buckets are lowered and I fill it each time. Only once do I slip on some ice and catch myself on the end of the truck and push myself to a standing position again. The adrenaline that shocks my body also has the cramps in my stomach tightening enough to make me want to stop and I lean against the truck, putting my hand to my stomach. A deep breath in and out doesn't seem to help much.

"Where are you?" Matthew's voice echoes but almost gets drowned out by the snow storm coming in. After a moment, I push off from the truck and walk to where I can see him. I look up to see him with the empty bucket beside him, ready to get another set of shingles. At this moment, I don't feel like I need to be doing any more.

"I'm here." I breath out and blinking heavily to keep the flakes from landing on my face, sheilding my eyes from the snow blowing around. "I need to go inside, Matthew... don't feel well." I let him know and slowly make my way to the front porch and then slowly inside the house just to sit on the kitchen chair and lower my head. I can hear at the door, Matthew kicking something. Before anything is said though, I just want to relieve his worry. "I"m fine.. just give me a few minutes. It'll pass..."

The warmth in the house is the only thing that feels good at this moment. I feel a tiny bit of fear running through my body, but nothing that I've not done throughtout this entire pregnancy. Is it just common to be scared? To keep having things get in the way? Matthew's right here beside me before I can even think about it and his icy hand is touching my arm. I place my other hand on his and look at him, eyebrows furrowed just a bit and I close my eyes for a moment.

"Just my stomach... cramping a bit. I'm sure it'll pass. Mira's not due yet..." I try to encourage him but I think I'm saying it for myself more. I'm the one worried that she's going to be coming early or something is going to happen as much as we've had to deal with. The doctor said that stress can make some women go into early labor but working outside wasn't stressful, was it? Could I be hurting myself by working in this weather or something?

"I almost fell out there on some ice. I caught myself, but I didn't hit anything. Just scared me, but it made this feeling worse that I've had all morning. I didn't think anything about it. It wasn't hurting until then..." I try to massage the side of my stomach, willing the uncomfortable feeling away, but it's just lingering.

With a fearful face, I look to Matthew and question him. "Do you think... I need to go to the hospital?" I question him with a sort of fear in my voice. He knows how much I hate going to the hospital, but it isn't just about me anymore.