Forever Young

Being home was like a dream. Waking up to the sound of Ember snoring, the comfort of being in my own bed, even the very scent of the sheets was enough to make me high on life. I'd been having so many conflicting feels about tour-life and home-life that this was a moment that I needed. A moment to stare at my wife, who had definitely grown in size, and run my calloused fingers over the smooth curves of her body. The fact that she flinched when I touched her cheek even made me smile. So beautiful, so perfect...

And in such an awkward position.

How on earth could she possibly be comfortable? The upper half of her body was cozily curled against her pillow, but the lower half was awkwardly positioned toward the edge of the bed. But she was peaceful, and that's all that mattered.

Well, that, and the way she was lying certainly showed off those mommy boobs. Nothing beats mommy boobs. Nothing.

Smiling to myself, I let out a soft sigh and climbed out of bed. The feeling of my own floor beneath my feet brought a bolt of happiness to my heart. This was the best part of going away - How good it feels to come back to my life.

I stumbled into the bathroom and stared into the mirror as I prepared my toothbrush, which reminded me that I needed to call my mother to arrange a dinner, or something. With a chuckled, I shoved the toothbrush into my mouth and began scrubbing away the germs, all the while thinking to myself, I'll have to teach my daughter how to do this one day.

Eventually, my mouth was clean, my body was washed and my hair was styled. It was then I realized that I had to sneak back into our room to get dressed. I tried to be quiet as I made my way to the dresser, but the moment I got my boxers on, I noticed that the room was quiet. There was no snoring, not even heavy breathing. I glanced to the bed, only to find it empty. Sure, it was silly, but a pang of fear burst through my chest. Ember was not allowed to sneak away from me while I was home. She was so big, I feared she may drop the baby at any given second. Some might argue that child-birth doesn't work that way, but damnit, anything is possible.

Quickly pulling my clothes on, I made my way through the house. Bailey met me at the bottom of the stairs, her large body nearly knocking me over in an attempt to give me kisses. I wanted to push her off and tell her to go on somewhere, but her happy attitude brought a smile to my face.

"Why're you so happy this morning?" I snickered, rubbing her fur with ease, "Shouldn't you be begging to go pee?"

She responded with a kiss to my neck.

"She should be, but seeing as you forgot, I took her out a few minutes ago."

"Ember," I sighed, pushing Bailey away, "you can't just disappear like that. I was worried!"

"You didn't look worried."

"Yeah, well, Bailes started being all cute and-"
"You forgot that you were worried about me, didn't you?"

"Maybe. But that's not important. I was trying to be nice and let you sleep."

"Oh, hush. I sleep all the time when you're not home. I wanted to be up with you. Plus, I had to piss like a mofo."

Rolling my eyes, I made my way over to my wife and wrapped my arms around her waist. She smiled at me as I pressed my lips to her forehead. It was then that I smelled something.. Burning?

"Em. Are you making breakfast?"

"Yeah. Got to feed my babies."

"Hey Em?"

"Hm?"

"Did you forget that you were making breakfast?"

"What?" Ember pulled away from me, her brows furrowing in confusion. "Of course not! I don't have mommy brain that-" she paused, sniffing curiously, "shit. Oh shit, my pancakes!"

I chuckled, watching her attempt to waddle to the kitchen. Those were definitely pancakes that I had no intention on eating. Unless she cried. Then I'd eat them. She cries too much these days.

"Jack, I'm so sorry!" She called from the kitchen, obvious hurt in her voice. "I ruined the fucking pancakes and I'm so fucking hungry that I-"
"We're going to have to put a filter on that mouth before the baby gets here."

"Jack!"

"All right. Go take a shower and we'll spend the day out. I kind of have something I wanna do for Mel, anyways."


______________________




"What are we doing here?"
I smiled at my wife as her eyes flickered around the lobby. It wasn't a flashy place. Honestly, it could have passed for a lawyer's office. The walls were a pale blue, the chairs were an ugly yellow and the floor was a simple black. There was a small, round, glass table by the waiting area, but no magazines to be found. Not even a piece of art hung on the walls.

"You'll see," I murmured, pressing my lips to the crook of her neck. "I told you, it's for Mel."

Before Ember could say another word, a woman appeared in the doorway with a smile on her face. Since we were the only people waiting, she simply extended her pointer finger to us, then pulled it back, telling us to follow her. Ember's hand wrapped around my own, and she quickly waddled to keep up.

"Mr and Mrs. Barakat," the woman smiled, opening a door us, "this will be your room. A photographer will be with you shortly. We thank you for letting us be a part of your memories."

I smiled at Ember, watching her nose crinkle up and she stepped into the room. It was nothing special. Tiled, and white, with a white tarp hanging on a wall. It had a funny smell, but it wasn't disgusting.

"Did you bring me here to murder me, Jack?"

"Not even close, baby."

"What is this place?"

"This," I joined her in the room, smiling brightly, "was a tip from a friend. See, the point is, we're about to take maternity pictures for Mel. But I didn't want just any pictures. I wanted something was more like.. us. You know, fun, laid back, full of energy. So, what we're about to do is... Covereachotherinpaintandlooksupercuteforpictures."

"We're what?"

Notes

I'm so sorry it took me so long you guys. Like I said in my own update, I'm going through a really hard time but I'm doing my best. It's going to take me a while to get back into the swing of this so please, please be patient with me. I love you guys.