ASHES ↠ b. barnes [II]

twenty eight

       SILENCE. THAT WAS WHAT SURROUNDED the room the moment the words left Allura's mouth. It was excruciating for the strawberry blonde, watching his eyes widen and his body tense as if HYDRA had just found them in their apartment and succeeded to kidnap them once more. She could hear his intake of breath, and she felt herself follow his action.

       Their eyes were locked, and she knew that he was trying to analyze the look inside of hers. Her gaze was tender, almost as if she had analyzed every possibility to the scenario; which she had, and was waiting for his input on the ordeal at hand.

        But the harsh, disgusted and hateful blue eyes that she expected would stare back at her, were everything but.

        He wasn't a child. He understood what they had done just a few months ago before new year. He had his memories back, and he wasn't careless when it came to education.

        So, instead, his stormy eyes softened, and an emotion that Allura could only describe as surprise and excitement rushed to his eyes. Sure, there was a bit of understandable fear, since they weren't an ordinary couple having a beautiful life in an apartment in Romania with a normal past coating their identities.

        But even that wasn't enough to stop the happy tears that covered his eyes, and the look of disbelief in them as he approached the love of his life, wanting to hear the words leave her lips again.

        "W-What?"

       Allura almost chuckled, feeling her body relax as she succeeded in analyzing his thoughts. Her green eyes watered as well, the emerald seeming even more profound as she stood up carefully and showed him the mark on her arm.

        "This is what tells Jupiterians that they're expecting. It's a brown rose when it's a boy, and a pink one when it's a girl. While a jupiterian's belly doesn't grow like a human's one, the mark does. It's almost complete, only missing two petals, which proves to me that a Jupiterian pregnancy is faster on Earth." She said softly, leaving him to delicately trail the mark on her forearm. "I'm pregnant." She told him, placing her hand in his cheek as he leaned into it, his blue eyes closing as he allowed some tears to fall from his eyes.

        He then wrapped his arms around Allura, leaving his backpack to fall to the floor as he held her tightly to him— always holding him as if she were made of glass and the most delicate thing he would ever embrace. Their height different became clear as he leaned his chin on her head, then placing his face in the crook of her neck as his body racked with excited sobs.

        The strawberry blonde closed her eyes and tears fell down from her face. She knew that they would have to call Pearl and ask her about what could be done to ensure her little girl's survival, but in that moment, all that mattered was that her and James were granted with a new opportunity. It had its risks, naturally. But they were together, and as long as they were, everything seemed bearable.

        "I love you so much, Allura." She heard his voice in her ear, making shivers trail up her spine. She smiled softly, leaning back so that she could peck him lovingly on the lips.

        "We love you more." She chuckled, James smiling but then faltering.

         "We have to ask Pearl. We have to run everything through. W-Where is she gonna stay? What are we gonna need? How will your pregnancy work? Will it work as a human one or a Jupiterian one?" Allura laughed at him, allowing her hand to be grabbed as the two rushed out of the apartment and headed to Pearl's house. "Probably a Jupiterian one, right? Because women here don't get that mark on their arm. Or perhaps it will disappear and it will become like a human one-" As he rambled, Allura couldn't help but watch him, a stunned look in her eyes.