Bella's POV
The trip to Crete had been wonderful. Due to her performing with Prince and the band at this point in her life, Bella had been in many places globally, more than many people would ever see, despite her young age. However, Crete had been more beautiful than most of the beach-focused countries she had been to. It was in many ways more rugged-looking with its rocky caves into which you could swim, but there was something almost primordial about its beauty. It seemed like it was a place on the earth that had not changed much since Creation, and Bella loved it! They had spent many lazy days swimming or boating into some of the caves. They picnicked on the beach, eating some of the local delicacies that both of them found to be delicious. They had made love slowly and sensuously at least twice a day and cuddled a lot while there. They laid in a hammock and talked about their present and dreamed of the future. They were on this trip with their bodyguards, Ross and Ray, while the others and their closest friends were at home. Elaine was almost 5 months pregnant. Carlos took no chances and did not want her to fly that far with her that far along. Elaine was heartbroken about his decision as she felt fine, but she went along to maintain the peace in their relationship. On their last morning in Crete, while they were enjoying a swing in the hammock right after breakfast, Bella started to feel nauseous and found herself hanging over the side of it upchucking for all she was worth. Prince had jumped up and run around to her side of the hammock when she finally stopped. "Are you alright?" he asked? Laying back, she said, "I think so"...her stomach seemed to have settled down a bit once she had emptied it. "What can I get you," Prince asked? Maybe some dry crackers and some sparkling water, she had answered. Prince sprinted inside to one of the casual restaurants in their lovely hotel and brought her what she had asked for. They were flying home that night, and he encouraged Bella to return to the room and gather her strength. By lunchtime, she felt fine, and they thought no more of it. They landed in Chicago at 10:00 PM Chicago time and arriving home, showered, and went to bed. The next morning Bella awoke to a phone call from Elaine. As they were talking, Bella started to feel a little nauseous again. She told Elaine about what had happened the day before and said, "I hope I haven't got some bug." Elaine started to laugh and said, "Bella, do you have a pregnancy test"? Bella sat straight up and said, "well, yes." Just then, she started to feel like she was going to upchuck. Dropping the phone, she ran to the bathroom and did! By the time she was done, Prince was standing at the bathroom door smiling. "Bella, I think you are pregnant." "That is what Elaine thinks too. Oh, I forgot," she said and moved to pick up the phone. she sat on the side of the bed. "Elaine, are you still there"? "Yup," Elaine said. "I think Prince is right. Take the test. I'll be right over"! Bella got up, and Prince grabbed her as she was headed to the bathroom...and kissed her on the cheek. Come on, girl, he said. He led her into their master bathroom, opened one of the drawers, and pulled out a pregnancy test. "Mama, take this, okay"? Bella nodded her head, yes. Prince kept standing there. "Prince, may I have a little privacy, please"? she asked, smiling. "Oh, okay," he said and reluctantly stepped back into the bedroom and closed the door. He stood right outside of it, though, and heard her tear the paper sleeve off of the test and then heard her tinkle. Then he didn't hear anything for several minutes and, for some reason, got very nervous. "Bella, Mama, are you okay," he asked? "Yes, Baby. I'll be out in a minute", Bella responded. It seemed like forever, but finally, Bella emerged with a big smile on her face and said, "well, Prince, I'm pregnant"! "I'm gonna be a daddy," Prince said in the form of a question? Bella nodded her head, yes. He picked her up and swung her in a circle. Then, realizing what he was doing, he carried her to the edge of the bed and gently set her down. "I'm sorry, Bella, are you okay"? "Did I hurt you"? "Are you dizzy"? "Prince, I'm fine, baby. I will not break, I promise". "Do you want to lay down," he asked? "No, Prince, I want to eat breakfast." They heard the doorbell ring, and Bella grabbed a robe and ran to the front door, with Prince right behind her telling her to stop running. Bella couldn't wait to tell Elaine she was going to be a Godmother! Prince went into the kitchen to see Ross standing there. "Ross, I'm gonna be a daddy," Prince said, almost shouting. "What should we make for Bella for breakfast"? " Whatever she wants," Ross said, laughing. "Congratulations, daddy"! "You go relax; I'll cook," Ross said. Prince sprinted to the study with a huge smile on his face. He had phone calls to make Prince thought as he dialed his dad's number. His dad picked up on the second ring. "Hey son. You're home". "Yeah, dad, and guess what"; Prince said for the first time of the 15 times he would say that in rapid sequence as he spread the news. He called Carlos, everyone from the band to Bella's parents and the grandparents. He called Father O'Rourke, Reverand Williams, Christian, and his attorney. He called Greg Landers and his Spiritual mentor Alejandro ...Carlos' dad. Last but not least, he called Andy, who in a way had made all of this possible by letting him play at the Stork so many years ago. It was there he had first laid eyes on his Bella and saw his future right in front of him. As he had many times, he tearfully thanked Andy for everything. He was so happy he thought he would burst! He walked into the sitting room where Bella was talking to Elaine, walked over to his gorgeous wife, pulled her up into his arms, and kissed her. "Thank you, Bella," he said softly and then went back into the kitchen to supervise her breakfast preparation. They were building a baby, he thought...so he needed to be certain the nutrition was right in each of her meals. Bella would later tell him he was going to drive everybody crazy for the next 9 months. But he didn't even care. He was going to be sure Bella had everything she needed to have a healthy baby.
Prince's POV
The months flew by, and it seemed to Prince far faster than time ever had. He drove Bella nuts. He didn't want her to do anything...not even carry the folded laundry in a basket to their room. When she was 5 months pregnant, Elaine and Carlos's had their baby. It was a boy who was a perfect combination of the two of them. His birthday was on November 9, 2119. They named him Carlos Alejandro Garcia Jr. He would be known as "Ale" (pronounced Ali) all of his life.
Ale
Bella and Prince were his Godparents, and he was christened in their church, St. Benedict the African, which like Bella and Elaine's home church in Detroit, celebrated the Mass in Gospel form. As the Pastor of the beautiful facility, Father David Jones performed the baptism during the 10:00 Mass on a cold December morning. They gave him the saint name of Benedict. Ale was just shy of a month old, and Bella was 5 months along. Prince was very proud to be a Godfather to his best friend's firstborn son, and Bella felt the same about her role as Godmother. Bella was at Elaine's place every day for 3 months after Ale's birth, helping to bathe him and changing him or holding and comforting him while Elaine healed or when she needed to nap. Prince put his foot down then as Bella was 8 months along, and he did not want her lifting anything, not even the baby. By then, Elaine was doing very well. She was still carrying a lot of her baby weight, which she was not happy about, but she had healed and was in excellent health. Ale was growing and was both a beautiful and sweet baby. Elaine now was at Bella's house daily to help her with chores and give her the comfort of company. Like Elaine, Bella did not have to go through her last 3 months of pregnancy during summer's heat and humidity. Being outside was really uncomfortable in that weather when very pregnant unless it was at the beach on Lake Michigan and Prince did not like the crowds that gathered when people saw him with his pregnant wife, and neither he nor Carlos would let them go without them. Having avoided that was one of the many things the girls praised the Creator for.
As Bella had predicted, Prince and his hovering over every detail of her pregnancy drove everyone crazy, including their parents. The only time they had any peace was when he went to the studio, which was less and less after Bella hit the 5-month mark. When his mother came over as she did often to handle things like pre-washing the baby's clothes and linens, Prince would do things like check the soap she bought to launder the things in, looking up what was in it on the internet, and determining if there was anything better to use. His mother looked at him like he was crazy but kept her thoughts to herself. She did, however, start praying for Bella. She would have her hands full with her crazy son after the baby was born. Prince knew he was annoying everyone, but he really could have cared less. He was protecting his son, and that was that!
It was about this time that Prince hired a full-time maid. She did not live with them but would come each day, do the chores, and then go home after dinner was served at night, and the kitchen was cleaned. However, she did stay overnight for the first 6 months after each of their babies was born. He also offered Ross the opportunity to become his full-time chef or put him into his own restaurant. Ross and Prince had become like brothers, and after speaking with his wife, Ross chose to remain a bodyguard and chef, which paid considerably more as Prince considered him doing two jobs. While he appreciated Prince's generous offer to fund him in his own restaurant, he preferred cooking for private families and their functions rather than dealing with the headaches of running a business. Ross would remain in those two positions until he approached retirement age, always with Prince and Bella. Carlos implemented the same strategy with their second child, including hiring a part-time chef.
In her last month, Prince finally drove Bella over the edge. He had read somewhere about how much weight a first-time mother should gain if she were underweight or overweight. Bella was neither and weighed in at perfect 125 pounds pre-pregnancy, which was right in the middle of the desired BMI for her age and height. Her doctor was pleased with her weight gain of 30 pounds. However, Prince decided she needed to get closer to the high end of her age and height weight gain of 44 pounds. He tried to force her to eat things she did not want, like lots of sweets, which she wasn't interested in if it was not ice cream, preferably strawberry ice cream. She enjoyed snacking on things like Spanish Olives stuffed with pimento and sweet pickles. She also craved canned Damson Plums. Along with feeling bloated, occasional bad gas, not being able to see her toes, and therefore needing Prince's help to shower and bathe for safety, avoiding looking at herself and all of the weight she had gained, and having to pee every 5 minutes, she also had to endure Prince's constant badgering to eat more and to eat things she didn't want! One day he put a bowl of 3 scoops of Tutti Frutti ice cream in front of her with 3 sugar cookies, and she couldn't take it anymore. She politely said no thank you, and he told her she needed to eat it anyway. She looked at him and started to cry, and when he put a spoonful of the ice cream up to her lips, she threw the bowl across the table where it hit the lovely tile floor in their kitchen and broke. She waddled into their bedroom and closed and locked the door, and cried herself to sleep. Prince tried to join her in bed that night, but she would not unlock the door, nor would she answer him. It scared him. He asked Ross to help him take the door off of the hinges, to which Ross replied, "I'd wait a minute on doing that, man." Ross called Elaine, who called Bella. She picked up on the first ring, and Elaine asked her if she was alright. Bella explained that she was fine...she just wanted to kill Prince, that was all. She told Elaine what he had been doing, and Elaine immediately understood. She walked over to Prince's through the breezeway and told him that if he ever wanted Bella to speak to him again, he needed to leave her alone for the evening. She told him in such a manner that even with his hard head, he heard her and decided to follow her wisdom and slept on one of the pull-out couches in the family room. The next morning when he tried the door at 7:30 AM, he found it unlocked. She had unlocked it on one of her many trips to use the bathroom during the night. When he entered and saw that she was awake, he apologized to her. She said nothing and began to rub his dick until he was good and hard and getting up on all fours, resting her belly gently on the bed, put his member into her mouth, and sucked him on a journey to paradise.
Prince had learned early in the pregnancy that he really loved pregnant sex. At 6 months, as her belly grew, he had to start going back door again, and he loved that too, both in the vagina and otherwise. At 8 months, they had to return to Bella, relieving him primarily through oral sex, but as he had always said, his woman knew how to give head, and she had kept him satisfied! He did, however, long for the day he could re-enter her vaginally...but he would wait, and Bella would always appreciate that he never complained as so many husbands of woman she knew did.
On Tuesday, April 12, 2119, Prince and Bella had gotten up early, had a light breakfast, and gone to their childbirth class at Holy Cross Hospital. Prince had become an excellent coach for his Bella. He was focused, good at helping her be the same, and was also gentle in how he spoke to her when they needed to change direction. Bella felt confident that he would help her to have the best birth experience possible. Originally, Prince had wanted to have a home birth, really wanting to preserve as much of their privacy as possible, but Bella preferred natural childbirth in a hospital. Natural was best for the baby; if he was healthy...no drugs would be introduced into his system. Natural could be tedious for the mother, though, and if she could not take it...she could be offered some form of anesthesia if necessary. They had chosen Holy Cross Hospital because they allowed using a birthing stool, which often sped up labor due to gravity assisting with the birth process. Neither Elaine nor Bella knew to what degree they're having been active in ballet classes until their 6th month would help their deliveries. Bella would only be in labor for 6 hours with a sizable baby. Elaine had labored for 7 hours, and their babies weighed in the same at 8 pounds. Prince had given Bella oral sex the night before, and she had an amazing orgasm. They cuddled and then slept. Bella woke up with some discomfort during the night, went to the bathroom, and returned to bed. The discomfort went away for a bit, and she immediately fell back to sleep. The discomfort returned, and she propped herself up on two pillows with Prince's help and once again returned to sleep. Bella's water broke and gushed out from inside her. By the time she had figured out what happened, Prince had woken up thinking that she had finally not made it to the bathroom in time. She explained that was not the case and that her water had broken. Prince had jumped out of bed and started running around like a maniac. He pulled on some pants, a pullover winter-weight sweater, and slipped into his houseshoes with no socks. He helped Bella up, and she went into the bathroom and cleansed herself a bit, pulled her hair back in a loose braid, and put on the drawstring pants she had bought for the occasion and an oversize sweatshirt. She also put on some socks with Prince's help and slipped into her backless tennis shoes. Prince helped her on with a winter jacket, grabbed his own coat and her hospital bag, and headed to the car. Ross had heard them stirring at about 9:00 PM when they had gone to bed at about 8:00. He checked on them and discovered what was up and woke Ray. They returned to two bodyguards with Prince and Bella each night until after the baby was born. He then went and warmed up the SUV, and the four of them left for the hospital. Although they were unseen, Michael the Archangel and the Archangel Raphel, who would be Amiir's second guardian Angel, flew behind their car. While Sandalphon was not an official guardian for this new little one, he brought up the rear! He would not miss the birth of any of Prince's children for anything. They arrived at Holy Cross at 10:00 PM, and once Bella was in her room, and after the doctor and nurse team had taken her measurements and talked with her, it was thought she had been in labor since about 9:00 PM. She had measured 5 CMs. Michael and Raphael took their places on either side of Bella, and Sandalphon made himself useful double-checking the doors and windows for any of the enemy's imps. Ray and Ross sat in the waiting area, and Ray was relieved that he smelled no Sulpher. He wouldn't either, as Sandalphon had performed the blessing prayer seal on every window on the birthing floor in the hospital and on all of the doors too! The enemy was sealed out. Hard labor began at about 11:30 PM, and they moved her to the birthing chair. By 1:00 AM, Bella was at 8 centimeters. By 2:00 AM, she was almost completely dilated. She was expertly coached by Prince through her final round of hard pushes and then told not to push at 2:45 AM as the baby had crowned. Bella and Prince had elected not to be told the baby's gender because they already knew. At 3:05 AM, Amiir slipped into the world and was caught in his father's strong hands. His eyes were open, and they were the most beautiful shade of hazel Prince had ever seen. By the time he was 10 months old, they would become more amber in color and be identical to his dad's.
Amiir
Amiir started to cry...he had not been smacked on the bottom as Bella, and his dad had. They allowed him to be in the cool air until he began to cry, which was often enough of a shock for babies to do so, science had learned. His daddy cut his son's cord during that time, and then they wrapped him up in a soft white blanket and laid him on Bella's chest. Bella hardly noticed when her afterbirth was delivered, as she was too busy looking at her beautiful boy. He was big, and long measuring 21 inches. He would grow to be 5'10" as an adult and pass his dad's 5'7.5" during his 13th summer. As the nurses did their second APGAR measurements, The first had been done when he was 1 minute old; he was declared perfect! He was functioning extremely well outside of the womb. One of the nurses took him from Bella and washed him with a gentle cleanser. The water was warm, and he liked that. They then gave him back to Bella, and he laid on his stomach on her chest for a while, then Bella offered him to Prince. Prince took his son in his arms and his eyes flooded with tears as he held him looking into his wide-open eyes. He remembered the birth and death that had happened so long ago. He had prayed then for his son's return, and now he silently rejoiced because, at long last, his son had returned to his temporary home and lay safely in his father's arms. He made a vow to the Lord at that moment. Whatever it took to keep his wife and his son safe, he would do even if it meant giving up his own life. Bella looked on as her husband held their boy. She heard his vow and smiled...she knew he meant it. She also heard him when he asked Michael and Sandalphon if they were there. She smiled again as not two, but three angels appeared only to the two of them...well, three of them if you counted Amiir. Amiir appeared to grin when he saw them. Prince said hi to the three telepathically and then asked if all was okay as there were three of them. Sandalphon said, 'I will not guard your son as Raphael is his second guardian.' 'Oh, okay,' Prince said silently. Michael added, 'Raphael is the guardian of Doctors, and then Prince remembered, his son would become a very famous man, loved and revered throughout the world just as he was for his work. Thank you, Raphael, for guarding my son. Raphael smiled at the proud father and said, 'You are welcome, Prince. I always will'!
Bella was rolled to her room, as was Amiir in his little hospital bassinette. When they arrived, Prince bent down and kissed Bella softly on the lips. "Thank you for my son Bella," he said. Bella would breastfeed Amiir when he was about 2 hours old. He had an excellent sucking reflex and would always be a good eater. Prince slept on the pull-out couch in the room for about 3 hours but went home to shower and nap at about 6 AM. He returned at about 9:00 AM and would spend the rest of the day with his little family. He enjoyed watching his son nursing even though he was only taking in colostrum. True breastmilk would begin to flow in about 3-4 days. Bella and Amiir were released two days later and returned home on Saturday. Their maid Minnie had changed their sheets and deeply cleansed their bed and their room, and when Bella arrived home, Minnie had doted on the little one for a while, while Prince helped Bella get into a nursing gown and let her change her sanitary pad in private. He hovered near the bathroom door, though, to be on the safe side. What a wonderful day this was. He had left home as a husband and returned as a husband and father. Once Bella was in bed, he handed the fretting Amiir to his mother, who began to nurse him. As she did, Prince picked up his Acoustic guitar from a corner in the room and began to play 4 the Tears in Your Eyes. Amiir had been nursing with his eyes closed. As he heard the soft strum of the guitar, he opened his eyes, and as he heard his dad began to sing, Bella could have sworn that he smiled although he was far too young to do so. But he had smiled, and as he looked up at his mother, he saw out of the corner of his eye Michael on one side of the bed's headboard and sensed Raphael on the other. Sandalphon was standing behind Prince, smiling widely. ' Hi guys,' he said to the Angels telepathically. 'Hi, Amiir,' they said in unison. Then Michael said,' go to sleep, Amiir.' We will be right here; you are safely home with your parents. Amiir closed his eyes and fell asleep to the beautiful voice of his father singing and his mother quietly singing harmony as well. He was home, and he was happy to be back in their arms ...and they, Prince and Bella, were finally whole, once again.
The End