Beyond the Black Curtain

Chapter 41 - Separation Anxiety, Pregnancy Edition

"Seb, I know she's 'endgame' for you and what not, but you don't have to rush into—"

"I'm not rushing into anything, goddamit!" I mutter angrily, careful not to raise my voice so as not to wake Rae up. "I just—I don't want her to even think about me leaving her because I unintentionally knocked her up. I have to do everything I can to make her stay."

Chris put a hand over my shoulder. "She's not going anywhere, Sebastian. You're the only one she has. She has no family in the Philippines. Her career is here. Her life is right here, with you. What I'm trying to say is that it might not be the best time to get married. Just, you know, one life event at a time. She might still be freaking out about this whole pregnancy thing and letting that sink in needs time. You have to give her that."

I card my hands firmly over my head and leaned back. Chris has a point. I puff a breath and take a few more calming ones. "You're probably right. I haven't really asked her how she's feeling about it since I got here. Oh man..."

Chris chortled softly and mussed my hair. "And he's back. We only got a few days, so make the most of it while you can. She's not going anywhere. At least not without you. Oh wait, that was supposed to be your line."

"You're a dork," I say back and we both laugh. He gets up moments later to make his way to the guest room, claiming he needed some shut eye before flying out to Boston later. I go to the kitchen and try to sort out what we got for food and try to prepare a decent meal for Rae when she gets up. I harken back to what Chris said about Rae still possibly freaking out about our baby. It was a little insensitive of me to assume she'd want it as much as I did. She needs to tell me how she feels so I'd know better how to act around her and what to say. I don't want her feeling like she has no choice or say in the matter; not that I want her to...shit, I can't even say it. I knew she grew up Catholic so there must be some part in her about being against the whole A-thing. I just hope she'd be up front with me about it as much as possible.

To my surprise, Rae had slept for nearly four hours. I was back in time when her eyes fluttered open. I set the tray on the dresser drawer and sit beside her, taking her hand in mine.

"Hi," I say softly. "Did you sleep alright?"

"Mmmmmm," she murmured as she stretched her limbs out. "I think so, yeah. Did you eat already?" She asked, eyeing the tray I brought.

I shook my head. "Nope, I was hoping we could eat together so I waited until you woke up. You hungry?"

Rae nodded slowly and asked me to help her sit up. I do so first and then bring the food to her. She gaped at what she saw.

"You made this?"

With the help of YouTube and a few texts from Lisa and my mom, I was able to whip out a simple pasta carbonara recipe and bruschetta for us to feast on. I secretly prayed that the whole thing tasted as good as it smelled.

I nodded meekly and smiled shyly. "With a little help."

"Come here," she asks, so I lean forward and she cups my chin in her hand, kissing me gingerly. "You are amazing, you know that?"

"I may have been told a few times."

I breathed a deep sigh of relief that the food wasn't terrible at all judging by Rae's reaction everytime she took a bite. Truthfully, I was just thankful that she got some of her hungriness back. She did lose a lot of weight, to my shock and surprise.

I quickly brought the empty dishes and set them on the dishwasher and raced back to our room. I didn't want to spend any time without her by my sight. She had just cleaned up and was now dressed in one of her wacky DC pajamas and a Bucky Barnes shirt.