You smell like love

Chapter 08

Carlos looked for every possible reason and every possible excuse to make him stay home. He spent a whole weekend on the internet looking for all the problems that tiredness and stress from work could cause him. He read medical journals and reviews of all kinds, and took his blood pressure and temperature three times the night before he went back to work, but nothing made TK change his mind.

"Babe, we're about to have twins, we're going to need a bigger house and if we want to buy the one we looked at, we're going to have to tighten our belts, especially if I don't go back to work. I still have a couple of months left before...maybe almost three."

"Do you plan to work until the last day?" Carlos made him sit on the couch, placed two cushions behind his back and lifted his legs. "It's time to eat something, what do you want me to fix you?"

"Carlos, stop."

"No, really. Come on, I want to fix you something to eat, now that you're going back to work I don't know what you're going to eat at the firehouse."

"Carlos, my father and Paul are cooking. I assure you they are not going to let me eat anything unhealthy or anything that might hurt the babies. Besides, I'm going to be surrounded by the team all day with Tommy and Nancy worried about me."

Carlos took a sharp breath and dropped his shoulders as he burst out laughing.

"I'm being a drama queen, aren't I?"

TK walked over to him, he still wasn't used to his bulging belly, it looked like he had woken up one day and it had grown. He protested at not being able to move with the same agility as two days before, with twins growing inside him. But he was going to be a father, that made up for anything.

He gave Carlos a kiss and looked at him. "How about we both cook something together? Starting tomorrow we're going to see less of each other."

"Don't remind me, please. I'm going to try to change my shifts so I can combine them with yours. I think I could stop by every day for lunch with you and I can pick you up when you're done."

"You're doing it again," TK said with a laugh. "You're getting overwhelmed over nothing. I'm going to be fine, I'm going to have a dozen eyes on me all day. I assure you I'll be more watched over in the firehouse than I am here at home."

Carlos nodded. He stood up and offered his hand to TK to follow him. He wrapped his hands around his waist and rested them on his belly, hoping he could feel the babies. TK had told him a few times already that he had felt them kicking, but he hadn't had that opportunity yet.

He wanted it so badly, but it didn't happen this time either.

After cooking together, eating dinner and watching some TV, they went to bed. TK needed rest to get back to work with strength. After so many weeks of sick leave, he had almost forgotten how shifts were, but as soon as he walked into the firehouse he smiled and felt at home.

He wasn't wrong when he said he was going to have a few pairs of eyes on him during the whole shift, Owen had managed to, slyly, have a member of the team close to him at all times and the truth was that a part of him appreciated it, mostly for Carlos' sake and for his boyfriend to be more at ease at work.

Carlos: How's your day? You're not getting too tired, are you?

TK: I'm fine, Tommy has me doing desk work all the time. She even let me sit at his desk. Do you think I'd look good as a captain?

Carlos: Don't tell me you're thinking of stealing Tommy's job. Do you want to die?

TK: No! I would never think of something like that, but, I don't know, in a few years, when the kids are older, maybe I could take the captain's exam.