Reality of Darkness

Chapter 33

Elle POV. 8 months..

I stir awake to the sound of Zak's voice and the feel of his fingertips across my stomach.

Cracking an eye open, I find his head led on my thigh, his eyes marvelling at my stomach as if it was gold.

"Again?" I ask.

"Mummy's awake." He whispers as if I can't hear him.  Reaching down, I pull his ear, causing him to yelp and lift his head.

"Hey, hey, hey. No violence. I'm having talks with our baby. They will hear the abuse." He frowns.

"You talk to my stomach more than me lately, have you realised?"

He looks at me before his eyes flick back to my tummy. "But I can't help it. I wanna be inside and— wait. That sounded weird. I don't want to be inside you. Well I do want to be inside you, but not like that."

I laugh "You want to be close. Well soon enough you will be. In fact, your hands will be full of baby soon."

"I can't wait." He glows, spanning his large hands out and placing them on my stomach.

Every morning, I wake to the same routine, Zak talking away to the bump, informing them of what is going on in the world, what is happening at the museum and telling his own stories of previous investigations, including Aaron's clumsy antics.

Whilst deep in his talks, his finger would draw a pattern, poke and wait for some response, before he'd carry on pleased with himself.

It was cute. Adorably cute and when I found out the reason he was doing this every morning, it made me want to kiss him to death. Apparently he wanted to form a bond, so that baby would know who he is, and that when they are born, he won't feel like an outsider. As if that could ever happen..

"What do you have planned today?" I question, rubbing sleep from my eyes.

"Swapping stories with my little friend, I have to go to the museum at some point, apparently." He frowns.

"You haven't been in all week. I don't need to be supervised. What's the worst I can do?"

He sits up with narrowed eyes "I went to the museum for an hour.. 60 minutes. And I check the camera to find you, stood on the counter cleaning cupboards."

"I'm nesting." I argue.

"You almost gave me a fucking heart attack. I never left the office so fast in my life." He says placing a hand on my stomach. "What if you fell?"

"But I didn't."

"But what if you did?"

"I'm not going through this again." I sigh sitting up.

As soon as I do, I'm having the pillows plumped and cautious looks. It's as if I'm a bomb.. Waiting to implode and shoot a baby into the crib on the other side of the room... Zak's side of the room.

He's attentive, for sure. He's the man that got out of bed to get me pickles and ice cream at 3am, the man who rubbed my feet every time I put them up because of the swelling and moisturised my stomach every dang night after a shower. The man who open my doors, went to every scan and had began ordering baby items and squirrelling them away, as if I didn't realise.