I’ve decided I have to tell Nick about the baby later. I would tell him now but he left real early to meet Aaron. Aaron is in town for like ten hours so they’re meeting up and hanging out together until he has to move on. I know Nick will be back around 4 so I’m going to take him out somewhere quiet and tell him. I’m already nervous about his reaction. If he’s upset, well I’ll survive. At least I’ll always have a part of him with me.
I take a warm shower and then step out to towel myself off with a white towel. When I’m done, I throw it across the room and start to get dressed. I pull a shirt out of a drawer and walk over to where I dropped the towel to look in the mirror. It has a red stain on it and I bend down to pick it up. The red stain isn't that big and I wonder what it is before looking down at myself. I touch my body gently and there’s a little blood on my hand. I just stare at it. Is this normal or am I losing my baby? I don’t feel any pain. I think I’m ok. I mean, a miscarriage would hurt right? I touch myself again and the blood is fainter. It looks like it’s stopping. I pull on my pants and head out of the room. I think I’ll go see Jade and tell her, see what she thinks I should do.
I knock on her door and Brian answers.
“Hey Ali,” he greets. “You ok? Come on in.”
“I’m good,” I smile and follow him inside. Jade is sat on the balcony in her towelling robe and I walk outside to join her. “Hey girl.”
“Hey you,” she smiles up at me. “Pull up a seat,” she offers and I go to take one but Brian gets there first. He pulls it right up to the table and gestures for me to sit down.
“Thanks,” I tell him.
“No worries,” he grins. “We gotta take care of you from now on.”
“I’m pregnant not ill,” I roll my eyes and Jade laughs.
“Nick will be SO cute when he finds out,” she tells me. “He’ll be wrappin’ ya up in foam and stuff.”
“I hope not. That would drive me crazy!” I exclaim as Brian sits by Jade. “Did you guys have fun at Astrodome?”
“Hell yeah!” Jade giggles. “It was a lot of fun. I even got Brian on all the rollercoasters.”
“Uh huh, by questioning my genetic make-up,” Brian says.
“Huh?” I ask.
“Man or mouse,” he says and I laugh.
“Ah, I see,” I say slowly as Jade giggles. I can’t tell them about the blood. I’m sure it was just a natural thing to happen and besides it’s stopped now. They are so relaxed and happy right now. It’s good to see. If I tell them, they will get all worried and take me to hospital and all that. And Brian HATES hospitals so bad. No, I’m ok. “So, did ya do the Mayan Mind Bender?”
“Oh DID we?!” Jade exclaims.
“We did,” Brian says, looking a little green.
“Babes, I’m back,” Nick calls as he shuts the room door behind him.
He has had a great day with his young brother. They had played Tekken practically non-stop and Nick had even managed to whup Aaron three times – an achievement he fully intends to have inscribed on his headstone when he dies. He chuckles at the thought of Aaron’s face every time he had to see that headstone – Here lies Nickolas Gene Carter – a great guy, husband, father and friend. P.S: he kicked his brother Aaron’s butt at Tekken THREE times once. He finds Ali lying under the bed covers and walks over to sit by her.
“Hey, you awake?”
“Uh huh,” she nods. “Kinda hard to sleep through your entrance.”
“Sorry,” he grins and kisses her nose softly. “Sorry I’m so late. Aaron got a later flight so we had pizza together and then I saw him off.”
“What time is it?”
“Uh, just gone midnight.”
“Man, I’m tired,” she sighs and closes her eyes.
“Me too,” he murmurs and stands up. He gets undressed quickly and climbs into bed next to her. He wraps his arms around her so that they’re spooning and kisses her neck. “Ali?”
“Yeah?” she asks sleepily.
“I beat Aaron at Tekken today.”
“That’s good.”
“THREE times.”
“Uh huh…”
“THREE Tekken kills over Aaron.”