A/N: In the messages I received for the last chapter, two things amused me. Half of you want more bitch!Lauren and half of you don't. What amuses me even more (mainly because I love psychology and how people see the same thing differently) is that half of you think Lauren overreacted and the other half think Camila was highly insensitive. I don't think I've ever had so many opposing views before. It's kind of cool.
Now that they are settling into the pregnancy and know the baby's gender, we will get to see more of those cute little moments because it's seeming very real to them now. It's going to be getting back to that feeling there was at the beginning of the story when Lauren and Camila fell in love with each other. Now it's just with the baby as well as retouching on their feelings for each other.
Thank you and enjoy.
~/~/~/~
It was about midnight and Adrianne was laying in bed, staring at the ceiling, and waiting. She knew it was coming but couldn't bring it up herself. It had to be Kim. "Can I ask you something?"
Adrianne smiled, knowing she knew this was coming but dropped it as soon as her fiancée turned around to face her. "Sure."
Kim sat up in bed and looked down at her lover, her brow dropped. "Why do you always have to get in the middle of things? They are a married couple and you were doing so good at staying out of their business until now."
"Okay," Adrianne stated, sitting up and pulling her legs to sit Indian style. "Well, first off, them being a married couple doesn't make them immune to problems where support is sometimes needed from friends. If Camila hit Lauren, would you want me to just stand there and wait until she asked me to help?"
"There is no way Camila would do something that serious to Lauren."
"True. Bad example, but an example nonetheless. There are times when someone is needed to step in. Either when something serious happens or when something serious needs to be prevented from happening. And secondly," She added quickly, cutting Kim's rebuttal off and earning a little bit of a glare. "I didn't get involved. I was doing exactly what you have been wanting me to do all along. I stayed out of the way, waiting until I saw that I was needed. I didn't actually interfere. I got a little too upset. I admit that. But I didn't put myself between them like I would have in the past."
"Only because I interrupted you first."
"That's an assumption. My feet were firmly planted on the ground and I had no intention of moving towards them unless I needed to. They were, like, twenty feet away as well." Adrianne stated and Kim rolled her eyes, looking away. "Why does it bother you that I care so much? I thought that was one thing you said you loved about me the most, that I had a big heart and wanted to be there for everyone."
"It's not that you care, it's how you go about expressing it sometimes."
The older woman just shook her head. "I can't win. I've been trying to back off. I didn't get involved. I didn't even say anything. And then when given the decision to make, I followed you to the office and left them alone. But still, I did something wrong?"
"You threatened to kick Camila's ass and you had no idea what she had ever done to upset Lauren!" Kim exclaimed turning her body to face Adrianne in her frustration.
"I did not threaten her. I said I was waiting to see if I needed to. Waiting is the keyword. What is wrong with that? I already admitted that I allowed it to get me too upset, but I didn't act on those emotions. Is that what pissed you off? That it upset me that bad? I'm sorry. I'll try not to care that much anymore."
"Adrianne, don't be a drama queen."
"I'm being serious." She said in a calmer tone, not wanting this to escalate into a full-blown fight. There was more to Kim's irritation. Adrianne was sure of it, but she didn't want to press. It was more than likely something stressing her out about the studio or the wedding plans and they would breeze over with time. Right now she just wanted to fix this problem first. "Is that what pissed you off? Tell me. Tell me so I can fix it."
Kim took in a deep breath and let it out slowly through her nose as she looked around. She didn't even know what had her so upset anymore. It had been Adrianne's insistence on putting herself in everyone else's business but she had a point. She didn't actually put herself in it this time. She was concerned, but never stepped in or said anything. She was just observing.
Adrianne waited for nearly a minute of silence before she spoke again. "Can I tell you what I think?" Kim shrugged, unable to look her in the eye until she figured out why she was upset and justify her attitude. "I think that what upset you, was thinking that I had once again overstepped my boundaries when I told you I was trying to figure out if I needed to get involved. You automatically thought that because I was debating it, that I actually was going to. You don't trust me not to and you believe you should be able to by now. You don't think that I've shown enough progress over the last two years."
"I don't know about all of that," Kim stated softly. "I might agree with the fact that I assumed you were going to act like you use to and step in where you didn't belong. But all the signs were there. There was a fight. You had clearly taken Lauren's side already without all the facts. You were already caught up in the heat of the moment to the point that you snapped at me. What was I suppose to think?"
"You're supposed to trust me," Adrianne stated plainly before leaning forward and taking one of Kim's hands in hers. "I understand that I haven't been the most consistent with fixing that particular personality flaw, but I am still working on it. And to be honest, I would say that I've made a lot of progress."
"You have made progress." Kim agreed, nodding her head as she looked at their intertwined fingers.
"Not a lot?" Adrianne asked playfully.
"You've made progress. That's as far as I'm going with it right now."
"I'll take it."
"I recommend that you do."
Adrianne smiled lightly and bounced their conjoined hands. "I'm trying, Kim. I have always known this was an issue of mine. Every ex I have has pointed it out to me but I've never tried to fix it until you. I love you and I never want to give you a reason to leave me. I really am trying. I'm sorry that I'm not moving fast enough."
Kim whined slightly and looked away.
"That wasn't meant to upset you. I didn't mean for it to sound like you're pushing me or I'm not living up to your expectations." Adrianne informed her, dropping her hand and pulling the smaller woman forward to sit in her lap, her legs hooking behind the woman's back. Adrianne kissed her cheek lightly and Kim leaned forward, resting her temple on Adrianne's forehead. "I love you and I want to make you happy. I just need you to be patient with me. Because I am trying."
"I know you are, and I appreciate it. I think..." She paused and pulled back, wanting to meet Adrianne's eyes as she wrapped her fingers around the back of her fiance's neck. "I think that maybe you would do better if I was to start supporting your efforts instead of only pointing out when you should back off."
Adrianne smiled and kissed her gently. "I would like that."
"I guess it would be nice if I was to congratulate you occasionally instead of pointing out all the times that you've done something wrong. Maybe that's a personality flaw I need to work on."
"You help me with mine, and I'll help you with yours. How about it?" Kim leaned forward and pecked her lips. "I'll take that as a yes."
~/~/~/~
It had been a long night. Along a stressful night for Camila. There had been an outbreak of 'inside information' that had been leaked to the press over the last week that she was having an affair with one of her fellow actresses. Of course, the newspapers and tabloids had latched on but the simple fact that they were printed gave Camila reason to worry. Lauren's extreme mood swings like the one she had today when Camila didn't think one of her bantering comments through, were rare, but they were still present. All that needed to happen was for Lauren to be in that mood and read a paper to possibly go off on a tangent. Camila didn't think she would actually believe it, but Lauren had already proven that when it comes to elevated hormone levels, logic isn't a requirement sometimes.
I mean, Lauren knew about the stories because Camila had told her so she wouldn't find out from someone else. But it was one thing for it to be just said amongst the cast and crew. It was a completely different thing for it to be printed in nationally distributed papers. Nevertheless, Camila was home now. Home to relax. Home to crawl into bed with her beautiful wife and unborn son. Home to forget about the stresses of work. That calmness, however, was fleeting. As Camila rode the elevator up to their floor she heard a distant alarm beeping that only grew louder as she grew closer to her destination. Once the elevator arrived at their floor, the brunette swore the doors had never taken that long to open before.
She jumped out of the elevator and froze. She blinked her eyes a few times before she realized it wasn't her vision playing tricks on her but that the apartment was filled with a light layer of smoke and the alarm was beeping incisively. "Lauren?" Camila panicked, running towards the kitchen where she heard her wife sobbing. "Lauren? Lauren!"
The raven-haired as sitting on the floor in the corner that the joined counters made, a burnt and unrecognizable concoction on the floor in front of her. The brunette dropped to her knees and brushed the dark strands of hair out of her face, some plastered to her skin by the tears falling from her eyes. "I c-c-can't reach it." She cried, pointing to the smoke alarm on the wall above the counters.
Camila wasted no time jumping up on the countertop and pulling the battery from the smoke detector and then kneeling back down on the ground in front of her wife. "Are you okay?" Lauren shook her head. "What happened? What's wrong?"
"I-I was trying to make it all up to you. I've been horrible. I was a bitch to you today." Lauren confessed, pulling Camila closer by the jacket collar with one hand as she continued to cry. "I haven't been romantic or your Casanova. I haven't sent you flowers. I haven't bought you jewelry. I haven't taken you out on a date night. I.. I... I wanted to make you dinner. To say I'm sorry." Camila had to bite back her laughter as Lauren broke down into sobs again, pointing to the burnt meal on the floor. "I burned it and the alarm went off when I pulled it out of the oven. I-I-I tried to shut it off b-but I couldn't reach so I stood on the little stool and stretched but my hand hit the pan and..."
Camila's brow dropped as she looked at her wife's other hand that she was holding against her chest. "Jesus, Lauren." The brunette jumped up and grabbed a rag, wetting it in the sink before placing it against the burned skin on the side of Lauren's hand. "We need to get you to the hospital."
"No. It's not that bad. It just hurts."
"I don't care."
Lauren just shook her head. "I've burned it worse on the iron before. But when the pain registered, I jerked my hand and the pan went flying and the food fell on the floor." She sniffed again, looking at it. "Not like it is edible anyway. I just wanted to be romantic for you. You deserved a nice meal after work and after you took care of me. And I ruined it."
She started to cry again and Camila cupped her face, kissing her cheek and forehead and any other skin she could get to. "I'm just glad you are okay. You didn't have to cook me anything, Baby. It's late anyway. I just wanted to come home and crawl into bed with you."
"And I went and ruined that too!"
"No." Camila looked up at the ceiling, asking God for strength. "No, you didn't ruin that. Once we get this cleaned up and you took care of, that's exactly what we're going to do."
"I just wanted to be romantic."
"This was romantic," Camila assured her. "Just the thought of it. I know how you feel about cooking. The gesture was so wonderful."
"But now you're having to take care of me because I can't even cook." Tears started down her face again, but Camila was right there to wipe them away. "I'm a bad wife."
"You're a bad wi-" The brunette laughed at the comment. "Baby, you're the best wife. I don't know what you're talking about. This was one night. One attempt that didn't go as planned." The raven-haired shook her head. "What?"
"There was also that time that I brought Ariana to your play and you didn't like it. There was also that time I tried to take you on that carriage ride through the city and I didn't know you hated them because of the horse or something. There was the time I-"
"Lauren, that's enough. Look at me." She held Lauren's face and looked her right in the eyes. "You are an amazing woman to be married to and I know every day when I wake up next to you, that I am the luckiest person in the world. That's not going to change because of a burnt meal."
"Or a smoke-filled apartment?"
Camila shook her head. "Or a smoke-filled apartment. Now stay here, I'm going to go open the windows to air it out. Okay?"
"Okay."
The brunette ran her hands over her face as she made her way to the windows and opened them. When she reached the third one she broke down. She didn't even realize that she needed to cry until her knees started buckling and the tears just started to fall, leaving her with no control. She placed her hand over her mouth to quiet her sobs so Lauren couldn't hear and slowly rocked with each wave of fear that left her body. She couldn't ever remember being this afraid before in her life. Not even when Shawn had the raven-haired trapped in his arms as they struggled in her office over a year ago.
In just a few seconds between the time she realized the alarm was coming from their apartment to the moment she saw Lauren, so many thoughts had raced through her mind. Was there a fire? Was Lauren hurt? Why was the alarm still going off? Did she slip in the shower and hit her head? Did she fall down the stairs? All of those horrible thoughts suddenly raced to her and her heart nearly imploded in fear. She couldn't lose Lauren. She couldn't lose Lauren and she couldn't lose the baby. They were everything. The very thought of it was making her sick to her stomach as she leaned against the windowsill for support.
"Camila?"
The brunette wiped away the tears and cleared her throat, trying to compose herself. "I'm coming." All she could do was be thankful that her contract with the show was coming to an end and she would be home every night again.
~/~/~/~
"How was your night?" Lauren asked, sitting on the side of the bed, nursing her hand as Camila finished up her shower. "I mean before you came home to a nearly burned down apartment."
"Long. It was very long." Camila had decided while in the shower that she needed to come clean with all of the details surrounding the rumors of her affair. She let out a long breath and left the bathroom, stopping when she saw Lauren on the bed, smiling lightly at her. She wasn't in a hormonal mood. The drama from earlier in the day must have drained her. "You look beautiful."
The small smile grew larger as Lauren dropped her eyes to her hands in her lap and blushed. "Thank you. Come to bed?"
"Of course." The brunette answered with a smile and crawled onto her side of the bed. Lauren slipped under the covers and snuggled up to Camila, resting her head on her shoulder and rested her arm on her waist. Camila kissed her forehead and let out another long breath.
"What's wrong?" The question was barely a whisper.
"I found out who has been spreading the rumors that I'm having an affair with Alisha."
"Yeah?" Lauren asked, keeping her gentle tone. Camila's moment of depression wouldn't benefit from her getting upset or jealous right now. "That's good. Now you can call them out and dismiss them."
The brunette let out a huff of laughter. "I could it wasn't Alisha who was spreading them." Lauren dropped her brow but kept quiet, not wanting to feed the anger that her wife was suddenly speaking with, but she was suddenly very jealous. "She's already gone to the papers with the story so now it literally comes down to my word against hers and I'm the one with everything to lose. Therefore, I'm the one with everything to protect by lying. According to the papers anyway. And then on top of that, I had to perform with her on stage tonight after I found out. She just kept smirking at me."
"You should have bitten her during your kissing scene." Lauren joked, pulling her wife closer in a subtle show of possession.
Camila paused for a second. "...I did."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. But I think she liked it."
"Oh."
"Exactly. Nothing's worse than when the person likes what you do to show that you are angry with them."
"That's just frustrating. But you're one of the stars. Can't you just get her moved to a part of one of the women you get to physically push away instead of a kiss? I'd love for her to be the one that you shove to the ground."
Camila began to relax, realizing Lauren wasn't getting angry and lightly ran her fingertip along the back of her wife's arm."I'm going to talk with Scott tomorrow to see how he suggests this be handled. If I have her moved, it just may feed the rumors even more. But regardless of what I do, she's still going to say whatever she wants to say and there's no way I can prove that it's a lie."
"I don't care. Let her talk." Lauren answered back with a light kiss on Camila's neck. "I trust you to be faithful."
"I hope that trust sticks around during your mood swings though."
"Even if I say things in the heat of the moment, I still know you would never do that to me. To us."
The brunette smiled at the reminder of their child. There was so much more in this life that needed her attention than some bitch trying to get her name and face in the papers. "So... do you have a name in mind?"
"No." It was a simple answer in a light, whimsical tone that left Camila with a smile on her face.
"Do you want to stick with traditional or something a bit more unique?"
"I don't know. Maybe we should come up with some contenders for each and then decide."
"I like that idea. So, how about... What's a traditional name? Michael?"
Lauren groaned. "No."
"Okay... Stephen?"
"No."
"Daniel?"
"Danny could be a nickname..."
Camila nodded her head. "It could."
"Then that's a possibility for the traditional category."
"I'll make a mental note. Roger?"
"Oh no."
"Okay. No Roger. John?"
"To blah."
The brunette arched an eyebrow. "Alright, John is too blah. Theodore?"
"Gag me."
"I thought you said I wasn't allowed to do that."
"You're not." Lauren agreed, shifting a little in Camila's arms. "But that name does so, no."
"Robert?"
"No."
"Justin?"
"No."
"Jason?"
"...no."
"Joshua?"
"Maybe."
"Alright. We have another maybe." The brunette pumped her fist in victory. "Make a mental note of that one as well."
"Dork."
"You want to name our kid Dork?" Camila teased.
"Yeah. Totally. We'll just name him after you."