Arranged

Arrived

I wake up with a contraction, breathing heavily and humming in pain. King, sleeping in the floor, immediately sits up and turns his attention to me as I rub my stomach. "Are you alright? Is there anything you need?"

"Water. Please?" I say, still breathing heavily. He leaves for two minutes and comes back with water and gives it to me, kneeling next to me to make sure I'm okay. As I drink the water, I check the time.

"4 A.M. I'm sorry King." I say, closing my water bottle.

"It's alright. What was that, by the way?" he asks, rubbing his eyes.

"What was what?" I say, putting my water bottle on the nightstand next to me.

"This whole thing." I freeze and then nod my head, understanding what he means.

"Contractions. My doctor said they'd probably be worse my second pregnancy since I've already been pregnant before."

"Oh. Good to know." he says, lying back down on the floor.

"King?" I say, looking down at him.

"Yeah?" he says, staying still.

"Just go and sleep in another room. I'll be fine for the night. I just feel bad making you sleep down there."

"You're not making me do anything. I just wanna make sure you're good. Vixen would kill me if you stubbed your toe around me." he says, laughing.

"King, this is a mansion. There's fifty other rooms here." I say, chuckling.

He sits up and looks over at me.

"You're sure?"

"Yes. Now go and sleep comfortably." I say, lying down. The door shuts and I go back to sleep.

When I wake again, it's twelve and I look down next to me and King's there, asleep. I roll my eyes and I stand up and slide my slippers on to go downstairs. I cook breakfast for me and King and soon, he comes down and eats, then we get dressed and we go to the car to drive to the jailhouse.

When we arrive and tell the front who we're there for, we go to sit down and we wait for Vixen, King standing behind me as we wait. I sit Aleah on the table, playing with her and I see brown, wavy, and silk-like hair dangle onto her shoulder.

Tears prick at my eyes as I watch my husband kiss his daughter's face. King grabs Aleah as I get up and walk around the table, hugging Vixen tight as I cry on his chest. "Hey beautiful. Don't cry, alright?"

"You know I can't do that." I say, laughing as I cry. The guard behind him tells Vixen he has two hours, no more, no less, but he doesn't seem to care as he hugs me, inhaling my scent and hugging me tighter.

When we pull away, he kisses me calmly, holding the back of my neck as I hold his face in my hands. We pull away and he puts his forehead on mine, smiling from ear to ear, kissing my nose. "How have you been?" he asks me, looking into my eyes and rubbing my temple with his thumb.

"Not good. Leaving you hurts more every time. I hate that I can't stay here with you." I say.

He kisses me again and sits down and I sit across from him, holding his hand. He raises it to his lips and he kisses it, leaning into my hand and rubbing his face on it.

"You've got a beard and a mustache now." I say, rubbing his chin covered in hair.

"Yeah. I was supposed to shave it last night but I fell asleep." he says, rubbing his stubble.

"Hmm, that explains it." I say, smiling. "Your hair's growing too. And fast." I say, running my hand through it.

"Dada!" I hear Leah calling out, reaching for her dad.