first_in_time | Unplanned And Terrified

The day had been much the same as all the others but still Barbara felt nervous. She met Ian briefly at the end of the day and told him she would be late home but did not reveal what she was doing. Barbara had noticed that she was late (in other, more personal matters), and needed to speak with someone more qualified. She had her suspicions, of course but they were only going to stay suspicions until some sort of result manifested itself.

The result....made her nervous.

She slowly walked home, wondering just how she was going to tell Ian that she was pregnant. At the front door, she paused, hand hovering over door knob. It would be fine. They would be fine. Barbara just had to convince herself of that fact. Quietly she opened the door and stepped into the house. Already she could hear a few of the teenagers relaxing in their lounge eating dinner.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

first_in_time

"Even if you have to go and stand in line at the doctors afterwards?" Barbara replied, a cheeky smile upon her lips.

From:

splendid_roman

"Even then." He smiled, sipped his drink, then put it back down. He reached out to take one of her hands. "I know this has been one of those evenings when we just couldn't seem to get any time alone, but our lives would be much more boring if we weren't living with all these teenagers."

From:

first_in_time

"They would be very boring indeed," she replied and snuck in a kiss to the corner of his mouth. "At least we have each other when the nights get difficult."

From:

splendid_roman

He squeezed her hand. "I'm very glad I have you."

He might have kissed her, if it hadn't been for the sound of dragging furniture from upstairs. He looked up, as if he would be able to see what was happening through the ceiling. "Do we want to know what's going on?"

From:

first_in_time

"We probably should but I'll leave it to you," she told him and patted his knee, taking his glass in the process and finishing it off. "I'll meet you in our quarters."

From:

splendid_roman

"I hadn't finished that," he protested, but went upstairs.

Up there he found the girls dragging a mattress across the hall and some of the boys watching. "What are you doing?" he asked them."

They stopped when they heard him speak. "We're all sleeping in the same room tonight," Sally replied.

"Just the girls," Kate said.

Ian considered that and looked at Ruth, who seemed to be happier and decided to let it go. "Fine. But don't talk until late. You have to be up early for school tomorrow."

From:

first_in_time

"Yes, Mr. Chesterton," the girls chorused.

"Can the boys all share a room?" asked Phillip.

"No!" Alfie, Harrison and Rolfe shouted.

"It's bad enough I have to share with Alfie! I wouldn't want to share with you and spots there, too," Rolfe scowled.

From:

splendid_roman

"No, the boys can't all share a room. And it's far too late to be moving now. You can either help the girls move the mattress or go to bed."

The boys chose bed, although Alfie and Rolfe were arguing about which of them was the most annoying person to share a room with.

Ian had thought that manners they'd been trying to instil in them would mean at least one would offer to help with the mattress, but he supposed they didn't want to get into trouble. He thought he'd better not help himself and be seen to be more unfair. So he left them to it and went back down to Barbara, so they might at least get some time alone this evening.

From:

first_in_time

Barbara was running a bath by the time Ian came back. She had lit a couple of candles and added scented soaps to the water so that it smelt like flowers.

"Are all the lights out?" she called as she heard Ian come in.

From:

splendid_roman

"Nearly," he called back and went over to the bathroom to see what she was doing, then stood in the doorway. "The girls are all sleeping together. It seemed to be cheering Ruth up, so I let them."

From:

first_in_time

"Tomorrow is Friday which is usually slow. It should be fine," Barbara smiled a little at him. "Did you want to have a bath with me? You might want to make sure that everything is locked first."

She pushed her skirt down and started unbuttoning her shirt; her very clear invitation to him.

From:

splendid_roman

"You sure you don't want a relaxing bath on your own?" That's what he'd thought the candles were for.

Despite his question he still went and locked up, to make sure they weren't going to be disturbed.

From:

first_in_time

"It's our anniversary. Why would I want a bath on my own?"

Barbara stripped and sat in the water, pushing mounds of bubbles upwards. Their quarters had come with a fairly large tub, Barbara had worked out that she could lie flat and not touch the other end and just about straighten her arms out horizontally. There was plenty of room for the both of them.

She watched Ian return and said: "if you're nice, I might wash your back."

From:

splendid_roman

He'd wondered that himself, but she might have felt that she needed to relax in the bath on her own and he wouldn't have complained about that. Not when she'd been in tears earlier.

"That's always the dirtiest part and most in need of washing," he said with a grin as he stripped off.

From:

first_in_time

"Oh, most certainly," she agreed and leaned against the side of the tub to unashamedly watch him undress.

From:

splendid_roman

He smiled as he saw her watching him. "Enjoying the view? Should I give you a twirl?" He did spin round, then dropped to his knees by the bath and kissed her.

From:

first_in_time

"I always enjoy the view," she told him and leaned back once he'd kissed her. "You are my husband. It's allowed."

From:

splendid_roman

"I know," he said, smiling. As much as he was tempted to kiss her again, the bathroom floor was not that comfortable, so he did stand up and got in at the other end, brushing his foot against her leg as he sat down.

"I was thinking," he began, as he picked up one of her feet and starting rubbing it. "We'll need to get a room built for the baby to sleep in."

From:

first_in_time

"We should start that soon if we want to have it decorated and ready," she told him and used her other leg to rub his outer thigh. "We could have an extension built just off our bedroom. There isn't a lot out there; all of the hammocks and things are further away."

From:

splendid_roman

"That's a good idea. And when it's old enough it can go and live upstairs with the rest of the teenagers." He grinned at her.

From:

first_in_time

Barbara laughed. "I wonder if they'll appreciate that but what about if we have multiple children? They'll be kicked out a lot sooner than when they hit puberty."

From:

splendid_roman

"We'll build a room big enough to fit two children and then if we have any more we'll build more rooms." He moved to the other foot and raised an eyebrow. "How many were you thinking of having?"

From:

first_in_time

"I wasn't planning on having any but now we're having an accident. So either we don't touch each other once the baby is born - which I know I can't do - or we could prepare for future mistakes."

Barbara realised how that probably sounded and immediately looked ashamed.

"I didn't meant thatim a negative sense. I'm happy that we're having a child but, well, we haven't exactly had proper sex since our last anniversary and we thought we were being careful. So either you've got super sperm or were not being careful enough."

From:

splendid_roman

His hands stilled on her foot as he looked down at it for a moment. He wanted to say that they could be more careful, but he knew that they'd tried their hardest and couldn't be any more careful than they had been.

"I wish it wasn't so hard." He sighed and looked back up at her. "I wish we could be like any other married couple and not have to worry about being careful or having accidents."

From:

first_in_time

Barbara pulled her foot out of his hold so that she could crawl up the tub and into his arms.

"It seems daunting, and it is, but if we can make one child work, who is to say that we can't make others work? And this could be a fluke. All I'm saying is that we should be prepared."