solidgoldelijah

[solidgoldelijah]

Clare watched as Eli held their daughter in his arms for the first time. The look of adoration in his eyes was probably one of the most beautiful things she’d ever seen. She’d never really seen this side of Eli before. Sure she’s seen his loving, caring and sweet side. Like on days she was sick and he’d try to comfort her and even on their wedding day. But this was totally different. The way he told everyone in the room to look at their daughter just made her heart melt. He was so proud and so in love from the very first moment he’d laid eyes on her, Clare knew that for a fact. And as she watched him, listening to the nurse’s instructions about when they could go home, it was all Clare could do not to fall asleep right there. She was so exhausted from the past few hours of giving birth to the little girl that all she really wanted was to sleep. Or take a shower. She felt a bit uncomfortable after the whole process, having the hair that fell to her face stick to her skin from the sweat. But she knew that didn’t even matter at this point. All that mattered was that there was a little girl right here, right now that belonged to her and Eli. Thoughts of going home began to fill her mind and seemed to calm her down a bit. There was no real need to stay here too long. Other than normal check ups and such that had to be done with the baby before leaving. But everything was okay. Everything was normal. The delivery though extremely painful was without complication and their baby was absolute perfection. At least, in Clare’s mind the child was. And she was sure that was the same in Eli’s mind as well. But still she couldn’t help but just want to be home, lying in hers and Eli’s bed, Arielle in her little crib, fast asleep. It sounded so peaceful and beautiful. They were a family. Not that they weren’t before, but now that Arielle was introduced to the world, there was a new meaning to it. Her and Eli had their own family. Their own daughter. Someone they could look after and take care of. This was their lives now. Parents. And with how scary as that was, it was also something that was beginning to bring tears to Clare’s eyes. This was all she ever wanted. And she couldn’t believe it had all happened so quickly.

Clare nodded as Eli asked if she wanted to hold Arielle again. Of course she wanted to hold her again. And again and again and again. She couldn’t get enough of her. Mind you it had only been about a half hour since she’d been born. But even still Clare knew that the little baby girl was going to become her everything if she wasn’t quite that already. She knew Eli was her everything as well. She wouldn’t be able to function properly without him. And now she knew that would be the same with Arielle. She was going to need the both of them to live. The amount of love and gratitude she felt in that moment was overwhelming. The next few moments were spent waving to video cameras, taking pictures and introducing the little girl to her new family. Cece and Helen were in total adoration of her and Clare knew in a second that she was going to be so overly spoiled. Seeing her father with her daughter was a sight in and of itself. Let alone seeing Bullfrog hold her. He always had this rough edge about him. But holding that little girl in his arms, he was the most gentle person on the planet. Clare thanked God in that moment that Arielle was going to have such a loving family. Even though her parents were absolutely against everything that had been going on at first, their love for Clare and for the new bundle of joy overtook any of those forceful and distracting emotions and laid them to rest. Which was quite a relief to Clare and she knew it was to Eli. Especially since the first time Eli had met Clare’s parents, all hell was unleashed. It wasn’t a moment she particularly wanted to remember. After a bit of introducing the little girl to her new grandparents and watching them all interact for the first time, the Goldsworthy and Edwards parents left the room, bidding their children and granddaughter goodbye for the day in order to give them some time alone. All the tests had been finished and they’d been okay'd to leave, but Clare had asked if it was alright to say a few more moments just to catch a breath or so before taking Arielle home to their dorm for the first time. With Eli still sitting next to her, Clare leaned her back against his chest, her head in the crook of his neck. It was still difficult for her not to fall asleep right then but she knew that she’d be able to once she got home. Gently, Clare ran her finger over the tiny lips of the little girl and sighed in content and exhaustion. “She has your lips,” she murmured, her eyes still on the girl. “I can’t believe she’s finally here. Our little baby girl.” They’d spent so many hours talking about how these moments were going to play out that now it was here, it was surreal. “I love you, Eli. I love you so much.” Leaning up, Clare placed a soft, loving kiss upon her husband’s lips and leaned into his body once more. She knew they’d have to be going soon, but for that moment, she was content. 

Eli kept his view completely on Clare, taking in the view of him and his new daughter. Both of them were so beautiful, and he wondered if he could ever decide who was more beautiful out of the two. Of course he would always see Clare as his number one beauty, but his brand new delight, Arielle Marie Goldsworthy was a sight for sore eyes. He watched as Clare's expression expressed utter delight, and even with hair sticking to the side of her face due to excess of sweat she was as gorgeous as could be. The baby's eyes were wide and as she had been placed back into her mothers arms, the crying and tears had stopped all at once and she stared out at the world with wide eyes. "She's got your eyes. Your beautiful blue eyes." Eli whispered, he wondered if Clare would even be able to hear her as his voice was so quiet and so delicate. He often spoke to Clare in this way in private, a soothing tone that he knew would send chills running down his precious lovers spine. But he intended for it to not be lustful, as it may come off as in some places, but more of a... sweet, silent sort of speaking. Almost as if he was speaking in his head but the words came out loud instead. CeCe, Bullfrog, Mr. Edwards, and Clare's mother all approached to take a few pictures, fawn over the little one, and say their last goodbyes. And while he loved the presence of his family around their new grandchild, he couldn't help but find himself mentally begging them to leave so he could have his alone time with Clare. So when they finally left, Eli let out a sigh of relief. Alone at last. The doctors had left the room, and though there was the mild sound of a few beeping noises, and the muffled sound of a bustling hospital crowd outside the closed door, it was almost completely silenced between them. Probably so that they could hear their daughters little breaths being taken in and released. Eli took a moment to reach forward for the little baby girls hand and take a look at her hospital bracelet. May 24th, 9:02 PM. Six pounds, eleven ounces. Arielle Marie Edwards Goldsworthy. He closed his eyes, and took a deep breath, feeling the baby's tiny hand wrap around his finger. 

"She's got me." Eli laughed a little, trying not to mentally swoon over how adorable the baby was. For he was slightly fearful to come off as a little girl wanting to watch the babies in a church congregation. "She's got really small hands." he mentioned. Eli looked down at Clare again, feeling her leaning into him, and he would have slid his arm around her body if the baby hadn't taken hold over Eli's pointer finger. "I love you too," he whispered, but suddenly let his topic sway back to the baby without even realizing it. "She's so delicate, and innocent. Maybe even more innocent as you were when we first met." Purity reigned from the little thing, every inch of her being showered with pure glory. And oh, how beautiful she was. And oh, how Eli couldn't stop himself from staring. He had yet to even think about the difficulties that raising a baby would come with. How there would be crying, and having to feed her often. How the two of them would probably have barely any time for themselves because they'd be too focused on the baby. He hadn't even let those thoughts flow into his system because he was too busy admiring their creation. Their creation. "Do you want to take her home now?" he asked softly, making sure that his voice was a gentle tone to keep the baby's little ears from being disturbed. "We could dress her up in those cute pajamas we purchased a while back. The yellow ones with teddy bears on them. And then we could tuck her into her crib and watch her sleep. And then we could go to sleep." He suggested, not really sure why he was rambling about their soon-to-be future so much. It was moments away and he couldn't help himself from day dreaming about it. 

Labor Pains

[solidgoldelijah]

[solidgoldelijah]

As Eli lead Clare to the parking garage, the only thing she could think about was to keep breathing. The pains were getting increasingly worse and closer together, her body was shaking and her heart was going a million miles an hour. Even if she had done all of the classes and they “knew what they were doing”, she had no idea what she was doing at all. There was just something about being in the moment that made you forget everything. She had once heard someone compare it to an exam. You prepare and prepare and prepare but once you get there, your mind goes blank and you panic. Only this was much, much more extreme. No words came to her mind as her and Eli drove off to the hospital. There was nothing for her to really say. And the pain from the contractions made it difficult for her to do anything except try to hold back crying. This was the most terrifying moment in Clare’s mind. Because she knew that it’d be painful and uncomfortable and gross and terrifying. Being pregnant was weird enough for her. But this exact moment was the one she was dreading the most out of anything she’d ever dreaded in her life. So she tried to focus on what was going to come after all of this. Of course right now there’d be pain and discomfort and panic and chaos, but after this…she’d have a beautiful little baby in her arms. And in Clare’s mind, she just kept trying to repeat that image over and over in her mind. She wasn’t quite sure in that moment if Eli’s words were comforting to her or not. Everything was just racing through her mind and it was all so surreal. There wasn’t anything quite like that experience. But she did know one thing, that the pain was getting worse. Much worse. And when an unusually strong contraction came along, Clare couldn’t keep the almost scream like noise come from her lips as she reached over and grabbed Eli’s arm out of instinct.

It was hard for Clare to remember or even comprehend the next moments. It all felt like she was in a daze. An extremely painful daze. She could remember bits and pieces of moments of walking into the hospital. She knew that Eli was panicking and that someone had put her onto a stretcher bed of some sort. She remembered a room. There were nurses and doctors all around her. The sound of her heartbeat on a machine. She didn’t know when or who called but she knew her parents were there. And Eli’s parents. At the other side of the room. And right beside her? Well right beside her was Eli. There wasn’t a moment she could pick out at all that Eli wasn’t there. She knew that she probably squeezed his hand too hard. Maybe she yelled at him she wasn’t quite aware of what her actions really were. Clare wasn’t aware of the time. She just knew that it was long. The hours seemed to all melt together. Not like she was watching a clock during this process anyway. When they left the apartment it was still a bit light outside. But now there was no sun in sight. The only light was coming from the lights in the hospital room. And after hours and hours of pain and crying and feeling at any moment she was going to pass out, there was silence. Not complete silence. She could still hear her heart on the machine and she could hear quiet conversations coming from the other side of the room. Clare could pick out each of the voices. Her mother and father. Cece and Bullfrog. Eli. Some others of nurses. But it wasn’t long until she heard the sound of her hospital room door open. There were footsteps and the voices on the other side of the room were silenced. Clare turned her head towards where the door was and saw a nurse walking towards her, a big grin on her face. But when Clare saw what the nurse was holding in her arms, her heart just about stopped. Carefully she pushed herself into a sitting position on her bed and she could hear the sound of her family on the other side of the room come closer towards her. Without a word, the nurse leaned down towards Clare and the girl reached her arms out, taking what the nurse had given her. And as she looked down to the bundle in her arms, her breath was taken immediately. Two blue eyes pierced her own and all Clare could do was stare at the tiny baby now resting in her grasp. “Congratulations,” she heard the nurse say. “You have a little baby girl.” The girl let out a shaky breath, moving the blankets down from the baby’s chin just a bit and ran the back of her finger down her face ever so gently. “Hey there,” she whispered sweetly, feeling her voice cracking out of exhaustion and emotion. Carefully she turned her head to look at her family, all with admiring beams on their faces at the sight of the baby girl. Clare shifted a bit, leaning towards Eli and held the child out to him. “Meet your daughter,” she told him, smiling. “Arielle.” 

The passing hours felt like the longest, drawn out periods of time Eli had ever been through. As they had rushed Clare into the birthing room, Eli was required to quickly fill out some paperwork at the front desk, while he also frantically called both his and Clare's parents to rush to the hospital immediately. It was a big daze, most of all, trying to keep a composure during the whole ordeal. Because if he fell apart, the whole operation probably would as well. Well, most likely not, but in his mind that was the way it seemed to be that way. He paced around, mostly, his mind fearful of what could happen to his girl, though he knew he knew nothing bad would come to someone like Clare Edwards. Nothing bad could happen to her during pregnancy. Sure, he had heard terrible stories but Clare and Eli had been given nothing but good news all the way through Clare's pregnancy. Once he was finally able to go into the delivery room, he found himself shaking with nerves at this point. There were eight or nine or ten people in the room with him and Clare, and when he finally made it beside the table to grasp her hand, it seemed as if all hell was being broken loose. She was crying, and he was crying, and when CeCe and Bullfrog came in, his mother was crying - he couldn't get a good look to see if Clare's mother was in tears like the three of them were, but he was sure that if he had gotten a good look at her that she must have been. The little rascal inside of Clare put up quite a fight for some time, but when they were finally able to get it out, all eyes were locked on the glowing baby in the doctors hands. Really the only thing Eli could find himself focusing on was Clare beside him, a death grip on his hand and when the doctor uttered the words Would you like to cut the cord? Well of course he'd like to cut the cord. It was just a moment of a crying baby, and a second away from the warm sweaty hand of his love. He was only able to steal a few glances of his new daughter - he had heard the doctor say - as he did the action, but he knew that it wouldn't be too long before he'd be able to steal glances at her forever. He'd be able to look at his brand new daughter for the rest of his life, probably so much that eventually she'd get tired of it. So missing two or three glances at the beginning didn't seem so bad.

"Meet your daughter, Arielle." Clare proclaimed, handing his baby girl into his arms as he stared at the little bundle of crying joy that he was now holding. There were too blue eyes, a small nose, stubbly black hair and a big screeching mouth, and despite the screeching, Eli could barely contain himself. The baby was beautiful. He sat down beside Clare on the small hospital bed, one leg hanging off the side, and the other curved slightly. It seemed as if this had all happened so fast, when in reality hours had passed by them without much warning. "Look at her." Eli commented, staring down at the baby girl with almost too much enthusiasm in his expression. Her crying had ceased, and all she did was stare back up at him with those gigantic blue eyes. "Look at Arielle Marie Goldsworthy. Look at her." Eli couldn't stop telling everyone to look at his brand new daughter, who was glowing in front of him. Clare Edwards (well, now Goldsworthy) an angel in his mind had just given birth to one of the most precious beings he had ever laid eyes on. She just smiled, radiating utter perfection in such an imperfect world. He choked back tears, hoping that he really wouldn't have to cry twice in one night. "You're mine, little one. Just like your mommy, all mine." Eli whispered to her. He kept his voice calm and cool, soft but loving and every little sound the baby in his arms made, caused his heart to skip a beat. "When can we take her home?" Eli asked, looking up at the doctor a few feet away from them. "Well, you have paperwork to sign out -" "I already filled out all the paperwork." Eli clarified hastily, and the doctor smiled in return. "Well, then I guess we just have to do a few more checks, and then you're free to go home as you'd please." Eli sighed in content, thinking about how lovely it would be just to take their baby back to their dorm and fawn over her until she'd fall asleep, and then the two of them could kiss each other all night long and fall asleep knowing that the baby would be sitting across the room in it's crib. Eli glanced over at Clare, wondering for a moment if she was excited as he was about everything. "Do you want to hold her again?"

Labor Pains

[solidgoldelijah]

hey you and clare can have sex again

Hey, thanks for the memo.

[solidgoldelijah]

AWWWW CONGRATS ON BEING A DADDY!

Thank you.

[solidgoldelijah]

Looking up from her textbook and notepad, Clare watched as Eli completely collapsed on their bed at the other side of the room. The sight of him lying there was always so pleasing to her. And she sure couldn’t believe that only five months ago they had gotten married and were parents to be. It was all so incredible to her. The relationship between the two had escalated quickly, for sure, but if she were to go back, Clare didn’t think there’d be anything that she would change between them. One thing that she did wish though was to catch a bit of a break. It wasn’t easy going to college full time while being right at nine months pregnant. Her professors told her to take a break but Clare wouldn’t have it. She wanted to finish the year strong. Or at least as close that she could get to finishing before the baby came. But once the baby was born, that was going to be her main focus. She’d take a break for university until she was able to at least take some online classes probably a year or so later. Until then Clare had been learning to take in everything that she could to try and get some peace from it. Being anxious and nervous about being a mother was a complete understatement. And it was probably the exact same for Eli. In fact she knew that they were both terrified. But she knew that they had to focus on the things that would be good about the experience. Like being a family. They were young. Really young. But they’d be together. And neither one of them were ever thinking about leaving the other. It just wasn’t ever going to be an option. They loved each other too much. That’s what kept Clare strong through the majority of the experience. The fact that Eli loved her. At the beginning everything had been rocky with her parents and all but eventually they came around and even offered to help out financially which Clare was much grateful for. Upon Eli’s request, Clare made her way over to the bed, carefully lying down next to him and snuggled into his embrace. There were many thins she hated about being pregnant. Her large stomach being the majority of her problem. But with Eli constantly telling her how much she loved it, it was difficult to stay upset for too long. Clare let out a laugh at Eli’s words, shaking her head. She’d always loved hearing him speak and he should have known that by now. He didn’t used to speak much, he was right. But Clare brought that out in him. And his voice became one of her favourite sounds.

“But I like listening to your voice,” she jokingly whined. “I’ve always loved listening to your voice, you know that. Or at least you should.” Turning her head, Clare placed a gentle kiss on Eli’s cheek before letting out a sigh and closing her eyes. She was exhausted. Exhausted from classes and studying and everything. All she wanted right then was to just sleep forever. Of course that wasn’t possible but the more rest she could get the better. Especially with the baby on the way. She knew that she wouldn’t be getting much sleep after the birth since there were certain feeding patterns that had to be kept. The baby would have to be fed every four hours. That four hours starting from the beginning of the feed. So it would be and incredibly tiring process. She needed the rest and the strength. Clare placed her hands over Eli’s, lacing their fingers over her stomach. Moments like these were always her favourite. Neither of them had to be doing anything in particular. Just lying in each other’s arms. Or more like her lying in his arms. Clare opened her eyes for a moment and looked about the room. The space had decreased because of all the new furniture and baby supplies they had stored in there. But in all honesty it wasn’t really a big concern for her. Getting all of the things ready for their makeshift nursery was exciting for her and even just looking at everything got her excited. The girl flinched a bit in Eli’s arms, feeling pain in her abdomen. The pain had been going on for about a half hour now but she never really mentioned it to Eli, thinking that she was just sore and tired from a long day of classes. But now the pain was getting a bit worse and lasting longer as they went along. As another surge of pain passed through her abdomen and lower back, Clare took in a breath and gripped Eli’s hands a bit tighter. This wasn’t…no it couldn’t be. Clare’s mind raced a bit. Her due date wasn’t for a few more weeks. This was nothing…right? As another pain came, Clare groaned a bit and began to sit up, out of Eli’s grasp. Her heart began to race at the thought that this might actually be it…this could be it right? “E-Eli,” she breathed, placing a hand on her stomach. “It hurts. T-there’s pain.” She breathed out and closed her eyes as the pains began to become more and more intense and wondered if Eli would believe her. She had this little thing going in the past few weeks where she would maybe pretend just a bit that she might be going into labour just to see if Eli would know what to do and they’d be ready. And she was beginning to regret that especially after seeing the look on his face. This is why you don’t play the boy who cried wolf game, she thought to herself as another pain came along. “Eli, it’s getting worse and I swear to God I’m not joking this time!” Her breaths began to become shorter and quicker, her heart beating faster as the moments passed and the pain became worse. She was going into labour. 

The way Clare muttered only her admiration for his voice, and then turned her head back to rest on his chest was a precious moment for some reason. He wanted to hold it close to him and just remember little things like that. Of course he knew that she loved his voice, and loved listening to him speak. Eli sifted his fingers through Clare's curls as he took a million mental screen-caps of the moment at hand. But then something changed, slowly, but surely in their actions. Clare flinched, and Eli didn't think much of it. Perhaps the baby was just kicking like it did usually, and it would cause Clare to have to move an inch or two. But when she sat up, Eli pinned his eyebrows together in confusion. Something couldn't have actually been wrong, could it? No, it couldn't have been. She was just teasing again like she always was. For the past few weeks Clare had been moaning and groaning and pretending like the baby was coming to freak Eli out a bit. The first two times were funny, but after that he just became completely fed up and now it was actually hard for him to believe her. "Oh, knock it off. I'm not in the mood today. Just lie back down with me and -" "Eli, it’s getting worse and I swear to God I’m not joking this time!” And that's when he actually started to panic. He sat up hastily and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, watching as she clutched her stomach in agony. Well shit, this was the real deal. And though the two of them had taken many pregnancy classes, and had read up on all the books, in the heat of the moment, he forgot absolutely everything. "Oh God, oh God, okay. We need to get you to the hospital." Eli commented, hurling himself off of the bed as he spoke things that were far too obvious. He ran towards the closet, pulling out the bag of supplies they had gotten together about a month before for preparation for this moment in time. Though he had taken it out at least four times in the past three weeks from Clare's little 'pranks,' if they could be called pranks. 

"Okay, come on, come on." Eli smiled, trying to keep calm as he took Clare's hands and helped her up from their bed. Clare could have gotten up on her own, of course, but considering she was practically crying out in pain he couldn't just leave her to do things on her own. Eli rushed to the door, Clare's hand in his as he left their dorm unlocked as he quickly tried to drag her down the hallway. "The hospital isn't too far off, we'll be there in a few minutes, I promise. Just breathe, beautiful, just breathe." Eli tried to reassure as he pulled her along. He was sure her heart was probably beating a mile a minute and it was really a matter of time before her water would break and it would all be going downhill from there. Once they reached the parking garage, and Eli had helped her into the hearse, he took a moment to mentally prepare himself for what was going on. He re-winded his brain to remember the classes, spoke over that everything was going to be okay, and looked over at Clare for reassurance - though it wasn't exactly helpful because when he looked at her she looked like she was nearly dying in his sight. He scrambled into the hearse, and started up his old car. His hands were shaking, admittedly, and his nerves were - also admittedly - getting the best of him. He was almost fearful of his driving for a moment, but he knew there would be no one else to do the job. "We'll be fine. Everything will be fine." he murmured to himself as he pulled out of the driveway. "Uhh, talk your way through this, okay? Tell me how you're feeling so I can... help or something. Just talk if you can, baby." Eli told her as he navigated off of campus property and towards St. Marina Hospital. "I'm right here, don't forget it." He longed so much to take his hand off of the wheel and hold hers to remind her he was beside her, but mentally he knew he wasn't capable of it. It would just be bad judgement on his part. "I'm right here beside you."

Labor Pains

[solidgoldelijah]

So happy your back, hopefully to stay for awhile now! :)

Why thank you, I suspect we will be!

[solidgoldelijah]

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN

Sorry, everyone. Clare and I have been far too busy with baby preparations for such activities on the inter-web  But do not fear, we're back and better than ever, I can assure you!

[solidgoldelijah]

[solidgoldelijah]

Labor Pains

Everything seemed to be fine leading up to that one moment. The day had been a sweet May afternoon - May twenty fourth, to be exact - and the two of them had been cramming for exams ever since they had gotten back from their classes. With the final school year coming to a close, and the baby being on the way soon, both of them were in need of a major break. And thankfully, summer was on the horizon, and you could nearly taste it on the tip of your tongue. Eli groaned, shutting his philosophy text book and throwing it down on the ground of their dorm that had gotten significantly smaller ever since adding all the baby supplies to their dorm. With a crib, changing table, and several other things like high chairs and baby toys, there was barely enough room to breathe. But they worked around it, slept together at night, and everything was incredibly perfect every time. The had both - unhappily - decided to keep the gender of the baby a secret until the precious things birth, and kept their fingers crossed for a girl the entire duration of her pregnancy. "I'm done with studying. I'll leave it all up to chance that I pass the stupid exams." Eli muttered as he threw himself down against the mattress in the back of the room. A sigh spilled from his lips as he stretched out his body. "Now quit studying and come over here and lie down with me, beautiful." Eli said, his tone almost orderly yet teasing at the same time. Clare always got his teases, and he knew that this would be the same, even if her and her precious pregnant hormones might have been going off at this time. Admittedly, there were times over the past seven or so months that Eli wanted to pull his hair out at Clare's shinangins, but he just loved her too much, and would cater to her every whim. Even when she asked for the most ridiculous things, like pickles and peanut butter (which seemed just a bit too ridiculous and cliche to say the least) he'd still get it for her. Because to see the smile on her face could last him the week, the month, the entire year even. Eli watched as she hobbled up from the desk chair and walked across the room towards him. Though he knew in her own mind the way she looked with such a round glowing tummy, she probably found herself revolting in the eyes of Eli, but on the contrary, just looking at her hobbling around trying to get towards him. The smiles she'd bestow upon him, and the way her hands fit around her stomach, he could admire her in every way.

And when she finally lied down beside him on the bed, he took the liberty of smothering her face with feather like kisses in every possible spot available, and then some. The places covered by her curls and even places by her ears. "You're just so cute, Clare. You and your cute little belly." Eli grinned as he pulled her up into his arms. He slid his arms around her waist, and placed his hands on her big precious stomach. He was in love with moments like these. The times where they could lie in their bed, stare up at the ceiling and just... dream. Surely they dreamed at nighttime, but this was a different feeling, better than nighttime dreams. And they couldn't quite be considered day-dreaming because they'd dream out loud to each other. Speaking out the future and the way they'd imagine things, just like today, how Eli could find himself rambling about not-so-futures. "It's too bad we're stuck with future teaching jobs and therapy, we could be rich young people, living in a mansion. Little Arielle having a big bedroom with gigantic bed, and an entire separate room for her toys. And then when we're old, we could have a big old house, just you and me. Grand-kids an' all, tip toeing up and down the stairs while you and I sit in rocking chairs, hair growing grey and falling out. It could be swell, you know." He paused for a moment, laughing a soft deep chuckle, and then a hmmm falling from his lips directly afterwards. "Perhaps I think too much about tomorrow, too much about the future. But it's nearly impossible for me to stop myself from thinking about the future with you. I think about it daily, the baby on the way, this dorm, university slowly coming to a close for me. The future's in our grasp, Clare." Eli hummed a second time and closed his eyes to take in a breath. "Did you ever notice how much I've begun talking since I met you?" he asked, "I used to be that stuttering mess, and I couldn't go out in public and I couldn't talk at all and now you can barely get me to shut up." It was true, to say the least, how his past life he couldn't even go into a mall setting without having a proper anxiety attack, and now when alone with Clare it was hard to get him to even stop talking. "Let me shut up for you, I want to hear you talk." 

[solidgoldelijah]

[solidgoldelijah]

As Eli kissed her, Clare felt her head spinning. She wasn’t sure if the fact that her face that had been completely freezing and was now heating up from the contact or if it was just from the kiss in general. Either way, the way his lips moved against hers was intoxicating. As his hand moved to her hair, a moan left her lips and she held onto his shoulders. Nothing could ruin this moment. Not even the fact that they were in public. Typically, Clare hated intense PDA. Especially the kind that her and Eli were creating. But in that moment she could really care less. She’d just been so overwhelmed with happiness and love that Eli was doing all of these things for her that she couldn’t help herself. And what had started as maybe a few innocent kisses turned into an intense make out session in the middle of an ice skating rink. If she wasn’t busy kissing Eli she’d probably laugh at it. And just as Clare was beginning to think that she’d need to pull away for some air, Eli slipped, his head hitting hers as he did so and she grabbed onto his forearms as he held the wall. Her initial reaction to the incident was a sharp gasp, her heartbeat beginning to race thinking they were both going to fall. But as he steadied himself and began to ask if she was alright and apologizing, she found herself holding back laughter. Even as Eli’s mood changed in that moment and he began to tell her he loved her, she just couldn’t help it. And what was once a romantic mood was killed instantly. Clare began laughing, still in shock of what had just happened, her grip on Eli’s arms loosening as she moved her hands to his chest. She knew that she probably shouldn’t be laughing almost uncontrollably in that moment. Eli had just freaked out by almost falling, and then turned the mood into that of romance. And here she was laughing at the fact that they almost fell completely onto the ice.

“I-I’m so sorry,” she tried to speak, her laughter still taking over her system. “I’m in love with you too and I’m fine and you’re right. We should save the kissing for our hotel room. But…I’m sorry that was hilarious.” Her laughter continued for a few moments as she tried to compose herself. Clare took in a deep breath, controlling the laughter and shook her head, looking into Eli’s eyes. “Okay, okay, okay,” she breathed. “I love you, too. And I think I’m done skating. That little bump to the head made me a bit dizzy.” The girl smiled, another small laugh escaping her lips as she began to make her way from Eli’s presence over to the rink exit. Once finally off of the ice, Clare sat on a nearby bench and took off her skates, replacing them with her shoes. Standing up normally felt a bit weird after skating around like they had and it took her a moment to clear her head. When Eli’s head bumped against hers, she instantly felt dizzy, getting just a bit of a headache. But she didn’t dare tell him that it hurt. If she said that he’d feel awful and that was the last thing that she wanted. But telling him she was a little dizzy like he had seemed to be okay. She got dizzy quickly, over little things lately. That was probably due to the pregnancy. The main times she was dizzy were the mornings. She didn’t get sick all the time, but the times she did, the dizziness would take over for sure. Once her and Eli were all situated and their skates were returned, she grabbed his hand and took a step closer. “Do you want to go grab something to eat now?” she asked, her hand resting on her stomach for a moment. “I’m pretty hungry.” She gave her husband a toothy grin as if that alone would work to sway him into go getting food with her. Then again all she had to do was ask and he’d say okay. He’d do anything for her, she knew that. But still, giving him her brightest smile assured him that she was happy. That she was happy with him. It was a fact that she knew that he’d question every once and a while so she took any opportunity she could to show him otherwise. 

Once Clare had begun laughing, he soon realized how contagious it was. He had heard her laugh before (of course he had,) but never this much before. It was like she was being taken over by laughter, and it was adorable. She just wouldn't stop, and he was laughing right along with her - because it was one hundred percent contagious. And though she was laughing at his mistake, it was more of laughing with him and he didn't think anything of it but to laugh along with her. "Stop it." Eli teased, rolling his eyes and trying to silence his laughter. It seemed to take minutes to stop Clare from laughing, but that was quite all right. Because not only was Clare's laughter adorable, it was beautiful. It was like an angel, honestly. If only Eli hadn't compared Clare to an angel about a thousand times, he would do it again now. "Quit laughing at me, beautiful." Eli teased, slipping his hand around her waist and nodding. "Yeah, I'm done skating too. But this was fun." Eli slowly skated to the exit, guiding her the entire time. She was so easy to guide, too. It was like leading a puppy dog somewhere. As they sat down on the bench and removed their ice skates, and replaced them with their shoes - Eli sighed in contentment. Things were going perfectly today - and even more perfectly their entire trip. Eli really couldn't ask for anything more amazing.

"Sure thing!" Eli exclaimed, standing up with his ice skates in his hands and walking over to the man and returning both his and Clare's skates to the man. So far the day had been a fantastic, eventful day full of their own personal hi-jinks It was something he had always longed for the two of them to do. To just get out and have fun. Most of the time they spent their days cooped up inside usually watching movies or making love to each other, but today was different (though they had made love earlier before they left). Today was about them having fun and being adventurous with each other throughout New York City. "You want to go get hot dogs, or we could go find a cute old time Diner. Or I could take you to the most fanciest place in New York. Anything you want, because you know I love to spoil you." Eli smiled, pressing his forehead up against hers for a moment and kissing her lips. Eli took her mitten-clad hands in his own and pulled her close to him, his arms wrapping around her waist and him grinning into her kiss. "You're wonderful, Miss Clare." Eli said softly as he pulled away, remembering once in the past how he had called her that when they were getting intimate. "Let me spoil you with a wonderful meal to fill you up and keep you full for the rest of the day, okay?" And with that, Eli pulled completely away from her and put his arm around her shoulder. "Let's go find out carriage."

New York, New York

[solidgoldelijah]

[solidgoldelijah]

Clare smiled as Eli spoke. She knew that he wouldn’t let her fall. Her asking him to promise her was more of a reassurance to her that she wouldn’t. What Eli had said was completely right and she knew it. He promised he’d always be right there beside her. He’d promised that from day one and she knew that didn’t change even when they were doing something as silly as ice skating. And as they started to move around the rink, with Eli holding onto the wall, Clare kept the grip on his hand almost like a desperate little kid afraid to let go. The last time she’d skated, she didn’t remember being this scared. But the last time she wasn’t pregnant, either. She was probably just being paranoid, though. One little fall onto her backside wouldn’t do any harm, right? She wasn’t sure and she didn’t want to take any chances. As they made their way around, Clare would take glances over at Eli, watching how he protectively held her close to him. He was truly amazing, putting up with her irrational fear in a situation like this. And once they had made it around once and Eli asked if they could let go, Clare nodded, releasing her hand from his and kind of tilted her arms out to steady her. She began to move her legs back and forth, only moving her feet a little as she went. It didn’t surprise her that she could do it, she was just happy that she actually was. Turning slowly, she skated her way back to Eli from the few feet that she’d drifted and balanced herself by putting her hands on his forearms.

“Do you think we can make it around the rink without either one of us falling?” she asked, slight laughter in her voice. She was genuinely curious, though. She knew that it’d be hard for her to completely go around without at least almost falling flat on her face and she didn’t know how good of a skater Eli was at all. She felt like he’d be good at something like this but she wasn’t entirely sure. Carefully, she leaned in to place a gentle kiss on his lips before turning again and began to make her way around the rink for a second time – wall free. And the more she skated the more she began to get the hang of it. She’d find herself to be a bit wobbly at some moments but was able to speed up just a tiny bit. And she knew that Eli was right next to her side so if she had to steady herself, she’d have him. But she also knew that if she were to fall and she did grab him, she’d probably take him down with her. Which wasn’t all entirely bad. In fact it could be quite humorous. But still she didn’t want to take the chance. Instead of continuing to worry on the matter, Clare reached her hand out to grasp Eli’s. It wasn’t much for support as it was she just wanted to be in contact with him. And holding her husband’s hand as they skated just seemed like a dream come true for her in that moment. In fact, this whole honeymoon was a dream come true. Eli had done everything she’d ever wanted to do and he did it all for her. She didn’t understand how she could get so lucky as to have Eli by her side but she knew she’d never stop getting the feeling of butterflies in her stomach whenever she looked over and he was there. Eventually, and quicker than the time before, they’d made their way around the rink for a second time, ending the little trip with Clare laughing. She wasn’t sure what over. Maybe because she was just enjoying herself so much that she couldn’t contain it. Backing up so that her back hit the rink wall, Clare pulled Eli over to her and pressed her lips up against his once more. “Thank you,” she breathed against him. “For making this…one of the best weeks of my entire life. Actually…it is the best week of my entire life. I couldn’t have asked for a better husband than you. You’re…perfect. This is all perfect.” She moved her hand behind his neck, kissing him again. And for the time being, she ignored the fact that there were people around. All she could focus on was the joy that Eli brought to her. And to show him her gratitude, there wasn’t anything that she could do but kiss him right there.

Once Clare had let go of him, and started skating a bit - Eli kept a close watch on her. There was a chance that she might hurt herself, and Eli wasn't going to take that chance. So all he could do was skate nearby her and watch her every move. He only closed his eyes for a few seconds though, to just take in the surroundings and realize that him and Clare were ice skating in New York City, married, and expecting. It was all kind of like a dream, intertwined with a nightmare that would end up wonderful at the end. Their entire relationship was kind of like that, and he loved it. He loved the fact that he could be loved and return the love graciously. They were love. They had every characteristic to describe love. He had never felt this way before, even in his relationship with Julia he had never felt so loved. Maybe it wasn't just them that was love, it was Clare. Clare was love - Clare was all that Eli ever needed, and all he would ever need. Suddenly, her hand slipped into his, causing him to become alert. "Huh?" He laughed, coming out of what seemed like an almost daydream, just looking back on beautiful moments and remembering all the amazing times they had had together in the past. Everything was always beautiful, but there was just something special about this moment now. It was a cute, romantic moment when the two of them could skate around the rink hand in hand. It was almost like a moment out of the movies. They were one to the that cheesy couple at wherever just being... just being cliché. 

And as Clare pulled him towards her, he situated his skates on the outside of hers for a brief second before she practically lovingly threw herself at him. Eli put his hands on the wall of the rink and kissed her passionately, their tongues crashing against each others and their breaths becoming intertwined. "Of course..." Eli mumbled in return, about to say more - but was completely silenced by Clare's mouth... which wasn't exactly a bad thing. For a moment he wondered how he was doing this, kissing her in broad daylight, at a park surrounded by people ice skating. Was she changing into someone that didn't even care anymore? Oh well. He kissed her harder, his hands moving from the wall and pulling her closer to him. His hands found their way to her hair. Eli hummed into her kiss, finding the entire moment completely blissful. Could anything ruin the moment they were feeling? Well, he didn't think so until his ice skate moved slightly - and he felt himself slipping unintentionally. His lips tore from hers, and his hands left her hair to grip the wall - his head accidentally bumping into hers. "Fuck!" Eli laughed, steadying himself as he held a death grip into the wall and felt his legs shaking from the sudden incident. The only thing on his mind was that if Clare had gone down when he almost had. She would have hurt himself, and he would have been the one to blame - then again, he always figured he was the one to blame. "That was a close one." Eli said, his voice shaking almost as much as his legs were. When he finally steadied himself completely, he looked into her eyes and literally laughed out loud. "Sorry about your head, pretty girl." Eli apologized, raising one hand slowly and touching the spot on her head where he had bumped his own. "You all right?" he smiled, kissing her cheek. "Maybe we should skate instead of kiss. We'll have a million hours to kiss back at our hotel... and at our dorm, and forever." Eli promised, his hand sliding down from the spot on her head to resting on her cheek. "Clare?" Eli said softly, deciding to not wait for a response, and he sighed. "I'm so in love with you."

New York, New York

[solidgoldelijah]

Clare’s eyes roamed over the skating rink. Without a doubt this was a place she’d wanted to go to for a while now. She’d seen it on TV, heard about it in stories. And she’d ever talked about it with her sister before. How she wanted to come here to go ice skating one day. And now she was finally getting the chance. And she was going to with Eli. That fact seemed to excite her even more than them actually ice skating. As they walked to the counter, Clare asked for a size six and followed Eli over to the bench to start lacing up the shoes. She glanced over at the boy and shrugged at his question. “I’ve been a few times. Only when I was really little though so it’s been a while. And I’m not very good at it.” Clare laughed a bit looking back on the times she’d skated in the past. Her legs had been wobbly and she mainly clung onto the walls of the rink as if they were her lifeline. Skating wasn’t her forte at all. “Eli I loved the family reunion,” she noted, lacing up her last skate. She then leaned over to Eli, pressing her hand on his inner thigh and brought her lips only centimeters from his. “But I think the bedroom tour was my favourite part.” Without kissing him, Clare pulled away and tried her best to stand up on the skates in front of him. As Eli stood next to her, she reached out instantly to grab his arm for stability. And that’s when the thought occurred to her – what if she fell? Of course this would be inevitable on any other occasion and she wouldn’t mind too much. She’d fallen on skates before and got right back up. But now…now she was pregnant. And that added worry into the equation. Yeah she was only about two months along, but Clare being Clare, was probably overly concerned about what could happen.

She looked up into Eli’s eyes and took a breath. The playful nature that had once taken over her system had been pushed aside by complete seriousness in the moment. “Eli…don’t let me go,” she breathed, her grip on his arms a bit tighter. “I- I can’t fall. If I fall…I can’t let something happen to the baby so don’t let me fall. Just promise me you’ve got me okay?” Clare looked to the ice rink before back to Eli. The excitement that she had just had seemed to be washed over with concern. She really did want to skate. Especially here in New York like this with Eli. And deep down she was excited. But the realization of what could happen if she fell the wrong way began to freak her out a bit. Clare wondered if she was just being paranoid or if this was a legitimate concern. Eli would either take her semi seriously or just tell her it was no big deal, she wasn’t quite sure. So as they made their way to the rink, Clare held Eli’s hand with somewhat of a death grip which only became tighter when they stepped onto the ice. Clare felt herself become a bit wobbly and turned herself in front of Eli to hold onto his arms. She looked down at their feet and then back up to Eli and gave him a soft yet almost scared smile. Why was she suddenly freaking out about this? This was their honeymoon, she should be enjoying it. And yet the only thing coming into her mind was how she was scared that she’d hurt the baby if she made one wrong move. “Just…guide me somehow and…don’t let me fall and I think I’ll be okay,” she murmured, mainly for comforting herself but also as kind of an instruction for Eli. As long as she stayed on her feet, she’d be fine.

Eli stood to his feet, wobbling a bit and starting to get used to the weird feeling of wearing ice skates on the padded ground set up in front of the rink. It took him a few seconds to get used to it - but it didn't last long, and he instantly found his way, walking across the ground and holding Clare by the arm, until her grip tightened and he turned to look at her. Was something wrong? Had he done something to upset her? "Let you go I'd..." he began, but she cut him off with a stuttery slur about how she was afraid might accidentally hurt the baby. Oh. Well that was understandable. She wasn't that far along but it was something to be thinking about. There were always those stories about women that would fall down the stairs and lose their babies. This wasn't exactly falling down the stairs but it would be hurting herself - which wouldn't be fatal, but it could definitely do something to injure the baby while it grew inside of her. Eli wasn't really thinking about that, though. He was thinking about the fact that she'd even doubt that he wouldn't hold her steady and keep her safe hurt him a bit. As they made it to the small plastic man-made gate to the front of the rink, Eli stared down at the ground at them standing in front of the ice. "Clare," Eli said, looking back up towards her and shaking his head. "You know I would never let you get hurt. If you slip and fall - I'll catch you. And if I can't catch you, I'll fall and be your safety mat. Don't doubt me, Clare - I love you." Eli promised her, his hand that wasn't holding onto Clare's arm pressing on the gate and pushing it open. It creaked open a bit, and Eli put one foot onto the ice, both of them staring off. 

Everything was an icy mess, and he could feel that his feet were going to instantly slip out from under him unless he hadn't grabbed onto the side wall for support, and slowly guided Clare along. "Just hold onto me, and everything will be fine. Don't you trust me?" Eli flashed her a grin, as he began to slowly skate - holding onto the side the entire time. Even though neither of them were really speaking, Eli could feel her nervousness emanating from beside him. Eli stopped his slow skating and looked over at her as she followed beside him. "Don't be afraid to get hurt, Clare. You will be absolutely fine. I'll be right beside you, taking care of you. It's just like our relationship. I will always be right beside you, taking care of everything. If you trust me when it comes to that - you can trust me when it comes to this." Eli promised, pressing a soft kiss to her cheek and turning around straight in front of him to see the ice rink. It was fairly large - it could probably fit about fifty plus people in it, and was definitely something that Eli could work with. It would probably take about five minutes to circle the entire thing once, maybe three minutes if you were going at a fast pace. But Eli and Clare were moving slowly. Incredibly slowly. So the two of them moving across the rink took quite some time. Once they had made it one full circle around, with Eli holding onto the side the entire time, he let out a sigh and grinned over at Clare. "How are you doing, do you think we could let go of the side now?"

New York, New York

[solidgoldelijah]

what would you do if clare lost the baby?

I don't want to think about that.