trueloveskid | (no subject)

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psl: neal

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It's almost time for this to be over, she can tell. Any time now, really, and she's been ready for that for days. She waddles like a penguin anytime she goes anywhere, she can barely reach her own feet to put shoes on, and even sleeping has been uncomfortable lately. She's still unsure about what comes next, but at least Neal seems to think that they'll know what they're doing.

At least she'd found a different job, as the receptionist at a salon down the street. Answering phones is something she can do, they don't care if she sits all day, and since she'd started out as a client, they already knew her when they hired her. They also said they could manage without her for awhile after the baby's born.

Which she's really hoping is what's happening now. She's had twinges all day, irregular but unrelenting, and although she hasn't mentioned them to Neal, she knows that he probably knows something's up. She's been wandering around the apartment since she got home, even when he tried to insist that she should sit, because the book and the doctor both said not to go to the hospital yet, and that being active could help the process along. Besides, she's just restless and doesn't want to sit down.

She's in the kitchen getting a drink of water when it happens. There's a release of pressure, like popping the top off a bottle of champagne (or so she imagines, having never actually had champagne), and wetness down her legs. It's a good thing she's wearing a dress.

It's time, there's no doubt about it now, and she grips the edge of the sink as another contraction, a real one now, moves over her. "Neal!"

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"Of course I will." She knows that he likes to be able to help out, and she doesn't want to have to do it all herself. She really did mean that there would be plenty of things to do.

"You can be on diaper duty."

Neal snorted a laugh. "Do you know how often kids go to the bathroom when they're babies? I don't think diaper duty is for only one person." He was just teasing her, he'd do it if she didn't want to.

He really didn't mind.

"Do you know that?" Is there something you haven't told her, Neal?

"There's plenty for you to do with me doing the feeding, and there will be times that I'm not home and you get to do it."

"I read books." He didn't know very much from first hand experiance but he didn't discount what he'd learned while reading.

"True." Neal flashed her a grin. "Anyway, how are you feeling?" She'd notice that the apartment was very clean and that Neal had tossed a chicken to roast in the oven. It'd make left overs for the next few days which was something they'd probably need.

"I read books too, but that's no substitute for the real thing." It certainly hadn't been while she was in the process of actually pushing out a baby.

"A little bit less tired." She knows that it will be a good long while before she gets a good night's sleep again, especially given that it will be a month or more before she's healed from what she just went through. "The apartment looks nice."

Neal flashed her a smile, reaching forward and tucking a lose strand of hair behind her ear.

"I needed something to do that was quiet." He wanted to play it off like it was nothing and hadn't been his intent to help her relax. "Feel up for eating? What do you want for dinner?"

"I'm starving." She hasn't had a real meal in awhile, plus she remembers reading something about her metabolism increasing while she's lactating. "Whatever's cooking right now smells really good."

Neal smiled. "Good. It's roasted chicken. If you want to finish up with Henry I can make us plates." He pushed himself from the couch, kissed Emma's forehead and then disappeared into the kitchen. Neal was too happy to care what they did or ate. He knew it would be difficult having a baby but he was a father.

He knew now that he'd do anything for his son.

"I think he's about done anyway," she says as Neal gets up and heads to the kitchen. When he comes back in with their plates of food, Henry's dozing in his baby swing and Emma's waiting on the couch.

Neal smiled at the pair of them. Placing the plate down for him and Emma before disappear into their room. He returned a few minutes later with the carrier.

"Here, so you can eat."

She tucks Henry safely into the carrier and picks up her plate. "Now we can all be fed."

Neal laughed softly. "Want me to put on some music?" He had some classical CD's and he hadn't wanted to put on the TV or something that might disrupt Henry.

"I think Henry might like that." He had seemed to respond well to music before he was born, after all. She doesn't see why it should be any different now that he's here.

Neal nodded his head and rose to connect his ipod to the speakers. He had been able to afford it but there weren't to many high tech things in their apartment.

He put on a nice instrumental that then went into some of Neal's older classic rock collections of music.

"I think he likes it." She watches Henry while she eats, and he's sleeping peacefully at the moment. "It must be hard work being a baby."

Neal laughed softly. "I'd think so." It took a lot of energy to discover a whole world around you. Neal had no doubt that Henry was having his own time of doing that.

"We'll raise him with a good taste in music." Not that Neal had that but the statement stood.

Emma might debate that statement, yes. "I just have one rule. When he starts getting curious about girls, you do not teach him your tricks to pick one up."

Even if they obviously worked.

Neal laughed. "You mean getting called a pervert in a stolen car?" He liked their meeting but it had by no means been perfect. It suited them and they've build something from nothing.

"Whatever happens. He'll have a bright future." He'd make sure of it.

"Not quite." Although she'd prefer if Henry didn't go around meeting people that way. "I mean the part where you get one DJ to play a certain song on the radio and next thing you know, we have a baby."

Don't teach him that trick.

Neal laughed a bit. "I think he'll be clever enough to figure that out on his own. He's ours after all." Raising a child might be difficult but Neal thought that they could do it.

"You worried?"

"About him figuring out how to pick up girls? No." He'll figure out his own ways of doing it, or Neal will tell him.

When he's thirty.

"I'm more worried about him picking up other tricks instead."

"I'm sure he'll find new ways to get in trouble." Who knew what people learned in school or what sorta friends he'll bring home. Neal realized that he was thinking way to far in the future.

"We should worry about things as they come." With that he ate a bit of chicken before placing his plate to the side.

"That's what I'm afraid of." They got themselves into plenty of trouble. Who knows what things will be like in fifteen years.

"We should have some idea though. So we're not blindsided."

Neal looked over at her with a raised eyebrow. "I think we should keep him from crying over worrying about girls. It'll be fine Emma."

"I'm not worried about him and girls." Especially given his father's tricks. She doubts that Neal's attempts would have worked on anyone else.