Forever Young

"Alexander, I swear I will break your arm."


"Why am I the only one who gets called by their full name? Like, why doesn't anyone ever call Rian, Robert? It's bullshit, man."


"Don't bring me into this," Rian covered his beer and let his back relax against the booth, "I'm not the one trying to pour hot sauce in preggo's water!"


A snicker escaped my lips as Alex slid the sauce across the table, put his arms over his chest and mocked Rian.


Since Ember wanted to spend time with everyone before we had to leave again, we'd agreed to meet up and grab some pizza and beer, then head back to our apartment to kick each other's asses at every video game we owned. Ember seemed to feel a little left out, since we all had a full glass full of draft beer, so Alex was trying to mess with her to get a smile on her face. She didn't approve.


On the plus side, the beer and slightly good humor was enough to make Matt lay off of us about packing and getting our shit together. It was pretty obvious to everyone that I didn't want to leave Ember, so they were doing their best to make this week feel like a month. But the closer the day came to starting tour again, the more a dark cloud seemed to follow me around. Even the idea of her finding out the sex of the baby without me made my insides twist. I didn't want to miss out on that and it only made me realize how much more I'd be missing out on in the future.


I refused to be on tour when she went into labor, or when the baby smiled for the first time, or crawled, or walked. It broke my heart that leaving her was what made me understand how hard it was going to be to be a dad and guitarist in a band. Of course, I would never tell Ember about how I was feeling. The last thing she needed was my stress on top of her own.


"The smell of fried food is starting to give me a headache," Ember frowned, and I think a part of her felt bad for cutting our time short. I could tell she was starting to feel like the black sheep of the group. It's not that she'd changed, but for the next nine months it was her job to keep the baby safe, then for the next eighteen years and beyond, we'd spend our lives worrying about said baby. "Would anyone be offended if Jack and I went on to the apartment?"


"No, go on," Zack smiled, answering for the rest of the group. "We'll bring some pizza back."


Ember offered a sad smile while I stood up to escort her home. The guys lazily waved off us, probably thinking that all we really wanted was a some time alone before they smothered our living room floor.


"It's going to be weird not hanging out with you guys twenty-four-seven."


"Well then, it's a good thing we all have cell phones."


"Ha-ha," Ember sighed, a small smile playing on her lips. "I'm serious. This will be the last time we're all together for a while."


"I wish you'd come with us. You still have some time before you have weekly appointments and it's not like we're expecting the baby 'any day now.'"


"It's really stressful on me, though. Plus the heat is a killer. I think it's best I take some time to rest."


"That's fine," I hid my frown, trying my best to support her decision. It was hard, I admit. "But we're going to go on vacation, ya know. Before you swell up like a beach ball and while we have time to kick back before the baby gets here."


We turned the corner, which would give us about a two minute walk back to our apartment.


"Are you still gonna love me when I'm fat?" Ember joked, staring down at her tiny belly.


"Of course, baby. I'll have something to hang on to during sex."


"Perv."


"You asked for it."


We both laughed a little, our hands somehow finding a way to each other. With our fingers looped, I began swinging our arms like children. It was a perfect moment on a perfect day, but something had been bothering me and I couldn't keep my mouth shut anymore.



"I don't want you to find out the gender without me."


"What?" She stopped walking and turned me to, her eyes locked onto mine. "You want me to wait until after tour to find out? I don't know if they'll even allow me to have an ultrasound then.."


"Well I definitely don't want to miss the last ultrasound.. You could get them to tape it? Or just give you a picture that gives the gender, but we could not look at it until I get home. Or," I paused, shifting my weight. My last option was my favorite. "I could fly home long enough to go to your appointment. We have a few days off, I'm sure they could shift the date so I can make it."


"I dunno, Jack," she tried to hide her smile. We both knew it was a long-shot, but it'd be worth it. "I'll see what I can do."


"Thank you," I breathed, pulling her into my chest. "I love you."


"I love you more, assface."


A chuckle fell from my lips as we started walking toward the apartment again.

Notes

I've been going through a lot of personal crap and I apologize that this is so late.
Everyone tell Fran how amazing she is for updating so quickly. <3.