Always been you//Jolex

Chapter 16

"Hey, what are you doing up?" Alex says, walking down the stairs in his pajamas the next morning. "I thought you'd sleep in, we have the week off."
"Guess I'm just used to waking up early for work. Coffee?" I say, pouring him a mug.
He takes a big gulp and snatches a piece of toast off my plate. I pick up my phone and check my email out of habit, seeing a notification at the top.
"I got a message from Chelsea. We have a hearing date!"
"That was quick."
"Well, I'd think they would want to move fast after her being in the system her whole life."
"This is great!" He says, giving me a kiss on the cheek with toast crumbs on his face.
"Ugh. Wipe your face. You're a pain in the ass, you know that?" I say, handing him a napkin with a sarcastic smile.
"But you love me," he says wiping his face.
"But I love you." I say.
I hear a faint thump upstairs followed by footsteps, and Sadie emerges from down the stairs, rubbing her eyes.
"Hey sweetie, how'd you sleep?" Alex says.
"Good."
"Are you hungry?" I add in quickly. "We can make pancakes."
"With chocolate chips?"
"That's my girl!" I say, giving her a high five.
Alex gets the stuff from the cabinets and I turn on the TV for Sadie while she waits. Once she's comfortable on the couch with a blanket, I go back into the kitchen.
"Need some help in here?" I say, fixing the messy bun on my head.
He chuckles, but doesn't look up from reading the recipe. "Because that went so well the last time," he teases.
"I was trying to do something nice! I didn't know you had to grease the pan."
"You don't. You managed to melt the thing." We both burst into laughter and decide its best that I stay out of the kitchen, so I join Sadie on the couch.
At first I just sit next to her, leaving a little space between us. But after a moment, she scoots towards me and rests her head on my shoulder, holding her blanket. I smile and put my arm around her.
A few minutes later, the scent of pancakes starts to waft through the air.
"Mommy, can I have some juice?" Sadie says, tilting her head to look at me inquisitively.
"Uh, Yeah. Sure, give me a second to get you some," I say, trying not to make a fuss.
When I walk into the kitchen to get a glass from the cabinet, Alex looks up and asks, "What are you smiling about?"
"She called me mom."
He smiles and pours a ladle of batter into one of the few pans I haven't ruined yet, and gives me a kiss. 10 minutes later, a full plate of steaming, chocolatey pancakes are on the table which we've crowded, eating our breakfast.
We spend the day outside, and Sadie runs after a ball and swings on the playground, just like we promised she would. We watch our daughter play from the patio, hand in hand. Alex's arm is around me, and I decide it's the perfect time to tell him.
"I have something for you, let me go get it." I say. I come back outside a minute later, with a long thin box and a tiny bow on top.
I sit back down beside him, handing him the "gift."
"Did you buy me a necklace?" He jokes, holding the box in one hand and lifting the lid with the other.
He sits quietly for a moment, looking at the contents of the box. At first he looks confused, but he quickly shifts to thrilled when he realizes what he's looking at.
"Jo?" He says, biting his bottom lip in attempt to hold back his growing smile. He picks up what's inside, a pregnancy test I took this morning, and takes a closer look. I don't say anything for a moment, I just smile and squeeze his hand.
His eyes meet mine again, and he shakes his head in disbelief at me, a smile so wide and familiar that reminds me why I fell in love with him in the first place.
"About 7 weeks, I think."
He slowly moves his hand on top of my flat belly, and I put mine on top of his, giving him one last quick kiss in the cheek. We watch in amazement as our little girl rolls in the grass, shrieking and giggling as her once pink leggings turn green with grass stains.
"Daddy, mommy, look! I can get all the way across!" She says, swinging across the monkey bars.
"That's great baby! Come here!" I say, and she runs over and jumps onto my lap, Alex tickling her as she squirms around giggling.