Emma's P.O.V. February 26th
"I'm just saying, we shouldn't throw the idea out the window!" Harry exclaims as his voice raises an octave in pitch.
This entire argument is my fault. I never should have stopped Harry from using a condom on his birthday, and it's triggered a series of events that I wasn't prepared to deal with so early on.
"If it happens, it happens," Harry shrugs.
"Well obviously! But I want to take all precautions for it not to happen."
"You're on birth control, I just don't get why we need the condoms," Harry restates his argument, again.
"Harry, how do you think we got pregnant the first time? I was still taking my birth control, yet we got pregnant anyway. The point of us using condoms is to prevent pregnancy. And I don't want to be pregnant again! Not for a while at least."
"What does 'a while' mean?" he asks.
"I don't know, oh my god, Harry. How many times do I have to tell you that? At least a couple years, maybe less maybe more, I don't know."
"Years?" he emphasizes the 's'.
"Do we really have to have this conversation right now? I mean seriously, give me some sympathy. The last thing I want to think about right now is being pregnant and giving birth again."
"Fine, whatever. We'll use condoms and whenever that day comes when we're completely unprepared again, we'll do it all over. I don't care," he says dismissively and plops down on the couch.
"Don't be like that," I plead, "We'll come back to this conversation later, but the point of having the conversation at all is to prevent surprises."
Harry takes a deep breath, "I think I'm going to call Mitch and see what he's up to. I need to get out of the house, we've been cooped up inside for too long."
"Okay, but can you please not leave still angry with me?"
"I'm not angry," Harry sighs and scoots closer to me on the couch. "I'm sorry, I'm frustrated but it's honestly not that big of a deal. Like I said, we've been stuck inside doing practically nothing for so long. I need some fresh air."
"You're right. As much as I love getting to spend so much time with you and Charlie, we need our space. You should see Mitch; it's been a while."
Less than an hour later after our mini argument, Harry is gone doing whatever with Mitch and I'm looking for things to do at the house while Charlie is napping.
I could get back into work again, I'm still on that break from the wedding/pregnancy. I guess I was "working" for a bit right before Charlie was born, but I didn't get much done. I wanted to rebrand for my reopening after the birth, but I didn't get enough done, and then I had the idea of expanding my business entirely.
One of my friends from college just recently opened her own company, and honestly, it would be a great business decision for me. I'd just have to rent an office building, maybe even purchase, or build one, hire some employees, figure out how to pay them, and then I won't have to do everything by myself. Now that I think about it, that is a lot of work, and I'm sure I'm missing some things too. But I think I can do it. It's also a great project to work on from home since I'm not ready to leave Charlie yet. I can't believe that most women in the US go back to work after only two months post-birth.
While I know Charlie will still be asleep for a good half hour longer, I take this time to call my friend Rosaline for some advice.
"Emma? It's been so long, how are you!" she picks up after only a few rings. The last time we spoke was at the wedding unless you count a congratulations text on Charlie's birth.
"I've been well! Charlie's good too, she's napping right now," I tell her.
"Aw, I can't wait until I can meet her. From the few photos I've seen, she is adorable. She's the perfect mix of you and Harry."
"Thank you," I smile at the compliment, "How's your business doing?"
"It's amazing, I'm so glad I decided to do this. Are you interested in expanding?"
"I am, actually," I laugh, "I just started thinking about it, but I'm still kind of on maternity leave so I thought what better time than now to explore it?"
"Totally! I will say it's a lot of work, but it's so worth it. The first thing you'll probably want to do is figure out what sort of system you want. Some people just join with a bunch of freelance photographers and pitch into renting a building and hiring a receptionist or two, or you could start an entire company from scratch.
I chose the second option, and right now I have a receptionist, a few photographers, designers who work on collages and brochures and stuff, and I sort of do both the photographer's and designer's jobs. It's super fun because you get to have more clients, work with others in the field, and depending on how many positions you have it can totally lighten the load. All of the photographers do their own photo editing, but then they work with the designers on the final orders."
"Wow, that is a lot."
"Yeah, and that's not even including getting a building, setting everyone up on payroll, taxes, etc."
"Well, it's definitely something I'm still interested in. Did you do this all yourself?" I ask, a little overwhelmed by the idea of tackling this on my own.
"No, I forgot to mentation that part, oops. I found this company that helps small businesses get started. I just purchased a package and they helped throughout the entire process from renting a building to creating job postings and becoming an official business! I can send you a referral if you want. They were so helpful."
"Thanks, that would be great! I really appreciate it, Rosaline."
"Of course! I'm happy to help."
Rosaline and I continue talking for about thirty minutes until Charlie wakes up. It was great to catch up with her, we used to have a lot of fun times together in college.
"Hello Charlie!" My previously cheery smile is now gone because as soon as I enter the nursery, I'm met with the horrid smell coming from her diaper. We recently moved Charlie into her room full time since she's been sleeping for longer stretches of time over night.
"You smell terrible," I laugh as I carefully pick her up. Luckily, she's not crying at the moment, but I'm she will the minute I take that diaper off of her.
Aaaand, I was correct. Shrill screams fill the air as I work on cleaning up my nearly three-month-old before she can eat.
"Charlie, what are you screaming about?" I talk in a silly voice, "we're just getting you aaall clean so you can drink some yummy milk! Then Daddy will be home and we'll have some more family snuggles!" I talk her through the rest of changing her and then stand her up to kiss her chubby cheeks.
We then make it down to the kitchen where I wash both of our hands and prepare to breastfeed in the living room. After Charlie eats, we facetime my mom for a bit and before we know it, Harry is back... with Mitch and Sarah.
"Hey! Harry didn't tell me we were inviting company?" I greet Sarah and Mitch from the couch, all while eyeing Harry who doesn't seem to be phased by my jab.
"Sorry about that," Sarah says, "It's so good to see you though! And oh my god, Charlie!" She reaches for Charlie as soon as she's close enough to pick her up. We've had conflicting schedules since Charlie was born, so this is the first time she's meeting her other Auntie and Uncle.
I let Mitch and Sarah obsess over my baby for a bit while I pull Harry aside and scold him for inviting people over without telling me.
"What? We don't have plans and they hadn't met Charlie yet," he shrugs.
"I'm glad they're here, but next time give me a little warning. I could have been naked or something!"
"That'd be a sight to see," he smirks but I shake off his cheeky comment.
"Emma, are you up to taking Charlie out? Harry, Sarah and I were thinking about going out for dinner if you're comfortable with it," Mitch asks me.
"That sounds like fun! Thanks for asking. I feel like we do need to get Charlie out of the house more."
An hour later, we're at the restaurant and the waiter is taking our orders. Harry offers to be the DD and Charlie has a few bottles premade in the diaper bag as well as in the fridge at home, so I allow myself to order a drink or two tonight.
"So, what have you guys been up to?" I ask Sarah. Thus far we've really only spoke about Charlie today and I haven't gotten to catch up with her life.
"I've been recording some stuff, maybe enough to release an album," she says, sipping on her water. I've noticed that the past few times I've been with Sarah, she's never ordered an alcoholic drink...
"That must be exciting! I'd love to hear what you're working on," I smile, "Any other exciting news?" I raise my eyebrows in excitement, and I think she gets what I'm referring to when she laughs.
"We're trying, but no luck thus far," she sighs, and Mitch and Harry join the conversation.
"Honestly, we've been having some fertility issues," Mitch speaks softer than normal.
"Oh, I'm sorry. We don't have to talk about it if you don't want, but we're always here," I tell them.
"Thank you. And it's okay—we're not giving up, but we've come to terms with the fact that it might be a while until we're parents," Sarah says.
"You can always watch Charlie when you need a baby-fix," Harry tells them and tickles Charlie's belly as he talks. The way he looks at her, like she's the sun that the world revolves around, fills me with so much happiness. I really hope Mitch and Sarah can experience the same.
"Harry already wants another kid," I bring up our conversation from earlier. Not to start anything, but just to one up him in hopes that at least Sarah or Mitch will take my side.
"That's not what I said," he rolls his eyes, but I know he's not actually upset.
"You're already bring up more kids? What, three months after the woman has just gave birth!" Mitch gets on Harry.
"No, no, no. That's not what happened," Harry laughs it off.
"Whatever you say," Sarah teases him next, "Everyone knows that Emma is always right."
"You guys are terrible friends," Harry shakes his head and goes back to interacting with Charlie as I catch up more with Sarah and Mitch.
I tell them about my idea for expanding my business, and Mitch tells me about their recent trip to Hawaii. We're able to stay out pretty late because Charlie fell asleep, and she already ate while we were waiting for our own food.
By the time we get back, Mitch has sobered up to drive him and Sarah home from our house, and Harry and I are ready to shower and go to bed.
"I'm exhausted," I complain as we make our way up to our room. "That's the most social interaction we've had in a while."
"Yeah. I'm worried that we're becoming those parents," he says as he carries Charlie.
"What do you mean?"
"You know, those people who stop seeing their friends as soon as they have a kid," he explains and lays Charlie down on our bed, setting pillows around her as a cushion.
"Oh, well I don't think that will happen. Our friends won't let us, especially because Charlie so dang cute everyone wants to be with her all the time."
"She is beautiful," he looks down at her as he plays with her toes. "You can take a shower and get ready for bed if you want. I'll stay with Charlie."
"Okay, thank you," I walk up closer to him to give him a kiss.
"Take as long as you want," he smiles back.
I do take my time in the bathroom, mostly to put off turning on the shower because I can hear Harry talking to Charlie and singing songs. He acts like this around me too, but it's different when he's alone with her.
"The itsy bitsy spider crawled up the water spout,
Down came the rain and washed the spider out!
Out came the sun and dried up all the rain,
And the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again."
As Harry sings, Charlie makes cute baby noises along with him. I can't wait until she can laugh—hearing babies laugh is one of the most adorable things in the world, and I have a feeling that once she starts, she'll never stop. I can already tell that she thinks the world of Harry, just like he does of her. Even though I don't think he's as funny as other people think he is. Seriously, his jokes are terrible.
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A/N: We have a new characterrrr! I realized that while I know what Emma's back story is, I haven't written too much about it yet, so there will probably be some more flashbacks coming soon.
What do you guys think so far? Are there any specific moments you want know more about? I'm open to anything :)
Thanks for reading and interacting!
<3 <3 <3