~1 month later~
Everything was set. Venue. Date. Invitations. We ended up having to hire an event organiser because we were too stressed out and all. And obviously, with me being pregnant, I couldn’t get stressed. Besides a month of hectic planning, it’s also been a month since I found out I was pregnant which means that I have to go for a doctor’s check-up. Luke is taking some time out of his day, with the boys, to come and accompany me to the doctors.
It was supposed to be his day with the boys, just the four of them but then he wanted to go with me. I tried telling him that I could reschedule it for tomorrow so then his day with his best friends isn’t interrupted but he refused my offer and just decided to come half way through his day.
I checked the clock, it’s only 1:45 pm, and the appointment is at 2:30. He’ll be home soon. “Babe I’m back!” His voice boomed throughout the apartment. I get up from the couch and greet him by the door, giving him a kiss on the cheek and lips. “Ready?” I nod and grab my jacket and my apartment keys. Since Vicky is living alone now she’s given her keys to Luke who now can come here whenever he likes. Considering the fact that the boys are on a break.
The whole band is. Luke wanting to take a break so he can spend time with me. Michael, Ashton and Calum want to spend time with their girlfriends too. All of which are my teammates. It’s like a little family and I just can’t wait for the future. All of us gathering together without kids. It all seems so perfect.
Michael is staying with his girlfriend Hana, Luke is staying with me, Ashton is staying with Aliza and Calum is obviously staying with Vicky. But since we are all in Tampa, we do hang out every now and then. Especially with our wedding coming up, we’re all trying to stick together as much as we can.
Some nights all of us would go on a date, together. The fans seem to love it, seeing all of us together. With the fear of me driving, Luke and I decide to take a cab instead. I instruct him to go to the hospital and I feel Luke nervously hold onto my hand. “Are you nervous Luke?”
“A little. I know it’s only a month and we probably won’t see the head because it isn’t developed yet but it’s just a feeling. I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
“You better. Because I’m the pregnant one here. It’s funny how you’re the nervous one. But hey, you can always hold my hand.” Luke kisses the back of my palm and we race inside when we arrived, we did pay the cab (don’t worry!). Both of us nervously sat in the waiting room as we waited for my name to be called.
“Do the fans know about me being pregnant?” I ask Luke.
“Yeah. I mean, that one time we went to mother care and you posted the picture on Instagram. They kind of spotted the bag and we’re all ‘omg baby Hemmings’. So yeah, they know that there will be a little Hemmings running around the house.”
“Nicole Stamkos?” A nurse called out. We stood up and followed her into a small room where there was a single machine and a tray. “Hi, I’m doctor Edwards. Please lie down comfortably on the bed. Oh, you must be Luke Hemmings.” She smiled at Luke and they shook hands. I lied down on the bed and just watched the two. “My daughter is a huge fan of your band. And you Nicole. Do you think after this we can take a photo and maybe you can sign her birthday card? Her birthday is tomorrow.”
“Sure! We’ll be more than happy to do that!” He says.
“Great. Now let’s start. The gel will feel cold on your stomach but don’t worry.” Luke sits down on the seat next to the bed and he immediately takes hold of my hand. Dr. Edwards lifts my shirt up a little and pulls my skirt down a little. She turns the machine on and then takes out the little scanner; she grabs a little bottle filled with blue gel. When she presses some onto my stomach. I shivered a little at the sudden coldness of the gel. She presses the scanner onto my stomach and moves it around to spread the gel evenly.
After a couple of minutes, she removes the scanner and wipes the gel off my stomach. “How are things?” I ask. Wanting to know how it is.
“Everything is going excellent. Nothing unusual is happening and you’ve got a healthy growing foetus.” Once all the gel was wiped off, I sat up and adjusted my outfit. Luke and I walked out, where there is light, and Dr. Edwards asked a fellow colleague for a photo on her phone. I also passed her my phone, Instagram it.
Then Dr. Edwards gave us the big birthday card for her daughter. Luke signed first and then I did. It didn’t take long for everything to get paid and before I knew it we were at home. With the Wi-Fi at my place, I went straight on Instagram and posted the picture:
@nicole_is_a_penguin: Went for the first baby scan! Thank you to Dr. Edwards and Happy Birthday to your Daughter Emily. Happy Birthday Emily from Luke and i! And by the way, Luke was more nervous than me! Everything is going great and the growing baby is healthy! Can’t wait for a little Hemmings to be running around. @luke_is_a_penguin
“When do we get to find out the gender?” Luke asks from the living room. I come back from the kitchen and sit down next to him. Putting my feet up on the small coffee table.
“Around the fifth month. So a little while.” He throws his head back and groans.
“Why must pregnancy be such a lengthy process? Like, little baby please just come out already!! Daddy is impatient. Wait, let me talk to it!” I roll my eyes at Luke and lift my shirt up enough for him. He gets down on his knees in front of me and presses his lips on my stomach. “Hello little foetus. Daddy here. I just wanted to say that you are healthy! You are well! And daddy is being an impatient little person because he wants to see you. Mommy is being weird because she thinks I’m crazy but I still love her and we will raise you right. Even though we are young. But we will be the most awesome parents and everyone will be jealous.”
“Luke…don’t spoil our child too much.” I warned but couldn’t help and smile.
“Ssh, babe I’m talking to our baby. Sorry little child but your mother doesn’t really want me to spoil you but I will. Because I love you and will always love you. Talk to you soon.” He gives my stomach one last kiss and then gets up to cuddle with me on the couch. “So, we should make a bet. I bet you it’s going to be a boy.”
“It’s a 50-50 chance.” I pat Luke’s lap and get up from the couch and go up to my room to retrieve my laptop. I go back downstairs and join Luke on the couch again. I open the laptop and my twitter opens. “Should we let out an official tweet about me being pregnant?” Luke nods and watches me as I make a new tweet, the first tweet under the new twitter name:
@NicoleHemmings: Yes it is true, Luke and I are proud to announce that we will be having a little ‘Hemmings’ running around. Should have sent this before that pic!
“I like that.” Luke kisses my cheek and then gets up to make a call.
“Calling Michael? Ash? Cal? All three?”
“Yeah do you want to just chill out just you and I or with the gang?”
“The gang. Could use some gang hang.” Luke walks out and makes the call to Michael. Alerting him of the hang out that is now being held at my place. I heard him say that we could all talk about the wedding, just for fun because it is the most interesting subject there is within our group. Everyone was looking forward to it. Even Steven. At first he was hesitant about me being pregnant and now about the wedding but he chilled out and accepted us. Even telling us that the child better hang out with him at least once a week. Since he is the ‘proper’ uncle.
“Alright, everyone will be coming here. Vicky, Aliza and Hana too.” I nod and get up to go to the kitchen. Preparing everything. Knowing how hungry I am, and how much people I would have to feed, Luke offered to help me with baking the cake but I rejected his offer, knowing we would just end up making a mess in the kitchen and never making the cake in the end. It took all I had to ignore him and ignore the puppy dog eyes he was giving me or the kisses he would leave on my neck, even biting down a little. He was testing me and I knew that he was trying to get me into submission but I was strong enough to ignore him.
“Why aren’t you reacting?” He asks in distress. “You usually react when I nibble your soft spot. Why are you resisting? The only other way to get you to give in is if I did something very sexual and that involves two naked bodies and my head in between your legs but….NEVER MIND!” Luke left frustrated. I could hear him swearing to himself as he falls onto the couch. Now with him out of the way, I moved on with the food.
When everyone arrived I had already finished the food and I set it on the table. “Oh my god. I smell food.” I heard Vicky say. “NICOLE DID YOU COOK?!” Soon the girlfriends come running into view and their mouths immediately drool at the food on the table. “THANK THE LORDS YOU’RE MY BESTFRIEND!” Vicky exclaimed as they sat down and took what they wanted.
“Hey guys.” I greeted. I hugged all the boys and then we all sat down and ate. Afterwards everyone just stayed sitting. “So uh, have you guys gotten your invitation yet? Because Luke insisted we sent it to you. Even though you already know about it.”
“YUP!” Everyone replied.
“I thought I should just mention. This…”I said pointing at everyone and the table. “…is what I imagine we would be like in 10 years’ time. Gathered at someone’s place, having lunch and then all of our kids shall be hanging out and playing together. Everything seems awesome.”
“Our kids shall be best friends.” Michael says.
“They will. They better, or else we would be torn apart.”
“I’m going to do the dishes.” Luke said. I stood up with him and helped him with the washing and the drying. Every now and then Luke would smack my behind in an attempt to get me to ‘give in’. But when I ignored him he resorted to carrying me up and putting me on the counter. “You’ve made me extremely frustrated and now….you’re going to pay.”
“What if I refuse to give you what you want?” I ask playfully, tracing my fingers up and down his back. Hearing him mutter swear words under his breath.
“Then….I’m going to have to punish you.”
****
~Two weeks later~
Only two weeks left. Just two weeks until the wedding. Luke and I agreed that we’re going to have that ‘no seeing each other for 24 hours before the wedding’. It’ll be hard for the two of us but we’ve got our friends to keep us sane. Leading up to the wedding, Luke has decided to take me out more and spend more time with me, excluding his friends and mine because we want to spend our own time together until the wedding day.
Today we’re going to the zoo. Because both of us wanted to go look at the Penguins and feed them too. Basically, today is about Penguins and food. “Are you kidding me? Where did you buy that?!” Luke asked, excited, when I stepped into our room wearing a Penguin onesie.
“I got you a matching one! Put it on! This will be a quality Instagram picture!” I toss Luke his emperor penguin onesie, less than a minute later he comes back. I grab his hand and we pose in front of the large body mirror. Luke sticks his tongue out and I put up a peace sign and snap the picture.
@nicole_is_a_penguin: Queen Penguin and Emperor Penguin onesie’s <3 Couldn’t resist buying these yesterday :D @luke_is_a_penguin
“You’re adorable.” He plants a kiss on my cheek and we begin to pack our little day bag for the zoo, since we wanted to go there with our onesie’s and then get changed to proper clothing for feeding the penguins. When we arrived a worker was there to greet us and complimented the onesies. There were some fans and we took the time to take pictures and signed things for them, after all that we made our way to the Penguin exhibit.
“Do you mind taking a picture of us?” I handed my phone to the guide and Luke and I posed in front of the giant penguin at the entrance of the exhibit. He hands my phone back and I quickly Instagram it (being a little attached to Instagram today!):
@nicole_is_a_penguin: WE’RE HERE! Can’t wait to feed the penguins. @luke_is_a_penguin are YOU ready?
“Did you bring pants? We’re giving you a shirt to wear.” Our guide hands us two zoo shirts. One is pink, for me, and another one is blue, for Luke. We change out of our onesie and put on our khaki pants and the shirt. We placed the bags into lockers and followed the guide into the area. Luke and I carried the food buckets. Seeing all the Penguins running around was adorable. Especially when we brought in the food and they began to gather around us.
“Those two look like us.” I whisper to Luke as I pointed at two Penguins, a female and a male, who were close together.
“They are the penguin representation of us.” We listened carefully as we were given instructions on how to feed them. There were fans who were filming us but we didn’t care. What mattered were the Penguins. OK that sounded mean, but fans are important too.
When the feeding time was done there was this one penguin that stuck by my leg and another one that stuck by Luke. I would walk away and it would follow me. I had to get a picture and of course I had to Instagram it, editing it with the picture of Luke with his penguin:
@nicole_is_a_penguin: these two wouldn’t leave us alone! Absolutely adorable! What an amazing experience feeding the penguins! @luke_is_a_penguin
“How many pictures have you posted?”
“Not enough! Now come on, I want to put the onesie on again!” Quickly we get changed again, meet up with some fans outside before enjoying the zoo. It was an amazing day at the zoo and then once we got home, we had to decide the seating plans for the wedding.
A giant board, with the plan of the place, was placed up on an easel and we had the names of all of our guests on pieces of paper.
“Should we just focus on our own side? I think that would be easier.” Luke suggested and I agreed. The whole Tampa Bay Lightning are going to be there, same with my team. So I placed all the Tampa Players on five tables and then my friends on three tables. Knowing my family, I placed them with their own little families as much as I could. I was finished before Luke. Eventually he was finished. Looking at it satisfied we began to write down everyone’s names and the table they’re sat at. Once the rough notes were finished we typed it up into the official wedding document and then saved it. Not needing to print it now.
“Do we have anything else that we need to do?”
“Music. Our first dance. What are we going to dance too?” I asked. Luke’s eyes lit up and I see him walk over to my speaker, plugging in his phone and he selects a song. He walks back to me and puts his hand forward. “Will you care to dance with me?” I grab his hand and he pulls me in close, arms around my waist and I have my arms slinging over his shoulder.
Hard a way to get through
it’s a tragedy
pulling at me like the stars do
you’re like gravity
even if the wind blows
it makes it hard to believe
I opened my mouth in surprise as I recognize the song. My ultimate wedding song. “Did you remember this song from when I was still in Sydney?” I ask.
“Yes. I remember.”
“How?”
“Well when the girl you are madly in love with tells you her preferred wedding song, then yes you tend to remember it for the rest of your life. Even after you go through a lot, you still remember.” He gives me a kiss on my nose and we continue to slow dance to the song.
“For someone like you, you’re an exceptionally good slow dancer.” Luke raises an eyebrow, wanting to seem offended but he just ends up smiling an laughing.
“Someone like me? Did you expect me to be absolutely shit?”
“Maybe.”
“Well I expected the same for you to be honest.” We press our foreheads together and just do the usual staring into each other’s eyes. “We’re going to be married in two weeks. You’ll be Mrs. Lucas Robert Hemmings. I can’t believe it.” He said almost put of breath, as if the realisation of the fact was making him so excited. It’s the same for me.
“Well you need to believe it. Because this is the greatest thing ever.”
“It is. I couldn’t ask for anything else. In two weeks you shall be my wife.” He says and a big smile creeps up on his face.
“And you shall be my husband.”
AN: OMG OMG OMG GUYS THE NEXT CHAPTER IS THE CHAPTER WHERE IT IS THEIR WEDDING. I AM ACTUALLY EXTREMELY DUPER EXCITED FOR THAT CHAPTER BUT THEN THE BOOK IS ENDING SOON D: IT SUCKS BUT I AM HAPPY ABOUT HOW FAR THIS STORY HAS COME. THANK YOU ALL FOR THE SUPPORT. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS CHAPTER?
I actually had a question for you but i can't remember....if i remember i will tell you xx love ya