'Til Sun Beams Find You [COMPLETED]

Fifty-six (Part 1)

The middle of the third trimester:

"I feel like I'm forgetting something.."

Nico hugged the pillow tighter to her chest as she looked over Carter as he stared into his luggage.

It wasn't too full, as he'd only be gone for a week and a half to go to his uncle's wedding. Nico, luckily, had the best excuse in the world for not attending, even though Carter had asked her doctor about the possibility of her traveling for a quick little 5-hour flight.

The answer was no, as she was 32 weeks and Nico had never been more grateful to her baby boy than she was in that moment.

She did not want to attend Serena's wedding, despite how much Carter begged her to come.

Nico was busy preparing herself mentally for the birth that was only weeks away, so she didn't have time for any negative energy near her or their baby.

"Toothbrush? Toothpaste? Face wash?"

That wasn't it.

She knew what he was missing but she was waiting for him to realize.

Carter looked away from his suitcase to her. "Imma buy all that shit there," he said, but he just felt like something was missing.

"ID?"

He nodded, patting the pocket of his sweat shorts to show her where it was.

"Please put your passport somewhere safer than that," she laughed. "Phone charger?"

Carter nodded. "Yeah I got all that.."

His phone buzzed on the coffee table and he reached for it to see his friend Ty calling.

"Yeoo.. yeah, I'm ready. You downstairs? Aight, Imma come down right now..."

He was driving him and Jalen to the airport for their flight in..........

"Shit," Carter checked the time to see his plane was leaving in an hour. "You think I'm gone make it?"

He had pushed his ticket back as close to the wedding as possible, because Nico had an appointment that week, and he didn't want to miss it as he'd already be missing her birthday. It was Thursday afternoon, and tomorrow was Kenny's bachelor party and then Saturday was the wedding.

Carter was staying a little longer than he would have liked because it was Jalen's birthday the following week and he wanted to hit up Vegas as all their other friends were coming out west and would make a boys trip out of it. He extended his original four-day trip to be a ten days, even though he really wanted to be back to celebrate Nico's birthday as quickly as possible.

His dad and Diane left earlier in the week as Dale was stopping by Northern California to visit some family and introduce Diane to them.

And Lisa and her kids left a week ago, because they were making a family vacation out of the entire trip.

He was the only one left... and he knew he was cutting it close, especially as the best man, but he refused to miss another appointment, even when Nico promised to FaceTime him from the office.

He had to be there, and he was glad he went, because he had a new picture to stare at for the next few weeks.

"You'll make it if you leave now..." she told him, watching as he shut his suitcase and sat it upright.

He patted his pockets for his keys, wallet and phone and panicked when he couldn't find his phone.

"On the table," she told him, an amused smile on her face as she watched him in disarray.