first_in_time | I Will Always Love You, Baby

I Will Always Love You, Baby

After she was dressed and ready for the day, Barbara Chesterton watched her reflection as she washed up the breakfast things. Alfie was late to help her but for once she didn't mind since it gave her time to think. They had celebrated Ian's running for council the night before and she felt awful to be the bearer of bad news, particularly she'd had chances before.

Once she had finished, she found Ian in the back garden with some of the boys, constructing another hammock.

"May I talk to you for a moment?" she asked once he looked free enough. Some of the boys made noises to suggest that Ian was in trouble.

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"It's fairly obvious that we don't. John has as much attention as the teenagers. We teach all day and come home to help with homework when and if we need it. We each run special activities outside of studies to develop further relationships and rapport with them. I don't see how anyone could accuse us of favouritism," Barbara told him matter-of-factly.

"Children aren't always that logical," he pointed out. "I was often convinced that my mother liked my sister better than me or my brother." It was probably because Alice tended to react to her brothers fighting by being as good as possible, but Ian hadn't appreciated that as a child.

"Fortunately they don't control our supplies, and none of them have argued that we don't spend enough time or attention on them just yet." Barbara squeezed Ian a little tighter to her for a brief moment. "If they do try to argue that we're showing favourites, we can always list the things we do for them. For most of the children it'll put things into perspective."

He smiled at her. "I'm glad I have you. Bringing up children is hard, but it would be even harder without you."

"I"m glad you think so," Barbara smiled up at him. She felt so much more relaxed and even a little excited about the prospect of having a second child, and it was all because of Ian. As they walked slowly, she took a brief moment to capture his lips briefly to simply demonstrate her appreciation.

"You make a lot of things easier, too. And some things more difficult."

"I don't make anything more difficult," he protested, grinning, and tickled her where his hand lay on her waist.

Barbara giggled and squirmed but Ian's hold on her was good, and he wouldn't release her.

"Alright!" she managed, breathless, "alright, you're my darling husband and I love you so much that things only improve when you're around."

"Good." He grinned and stopped tickling her and leaned over to kiss her cheek. "And everything will be alright," he promised.

"I'll trust you. Just his once," she added with a grin.

Ian always seemed to be able to make Barbara feel better no matter the situation. She had walked out of the doctor's office feeling as though that light at the end of the tunnel had been put out for the moment, and now she was contemplating pulling him into a gap between two houses to kiss him properly without the general public watching.

He smiled, feeling better about the whole thing as well. They had nine months to prepare for the new baby and then they'd be ready. He hoped. "Let's wait to tell people we're having another baby until we're used to the idea."

"The children will suspect something if we start changing time tables and things on them but I think we could give it a month or so," Barbara told Ian with a smile. "It will be our secret."

"We can tell them at the same time as we change the time tables, then they'll know why." It would take a little while to decide what would work best anyway.

"That would be logical," she said. "What did I do to deserve such a logical, practical husband?"

"By being a kind, patient wife." He smiled at her.

Barbara became a little bashful and smiled down at the ground for a moment.

"I heard that those were the qualities you were looking for in a wife, so I worked hard at them until I was convincing enough in pulling them off."

He shook his head. "No, you always had those."

Again, Barbara looked bashful. She hugged Ian's arm to her, burying her face in his sleeve for a moment.

"Come here," she said and pulled him toward the river, picking up the pace to a log jog. The willow tree they'd shared their third anniversary under drooped by the side of the water. A light breeze tickled it's branches, making them sway gently. Barbara stopped, breathless, and leaned back against the trunk, her hands picking up Ian's.

"You need to kiss me," she told him

"That's what got us into this mess," he pointed out, but kissed her anyway, putting his love for her into the kiss.

Barbara gently held his head in her hands while he kissed her.

"Actually I believe we got into this mess because we kissed while naked," she told him quietly. "But if we think about it, it started because we found wine and were celebrating."

"And I kissed you." He put his arms round her. "On the bright side we can do as much kissing while naked as we want for the next nine months." Or to be more accurate, as much as Barbara wanted and as long as the children let them.

"We should get as much in as we can before the final trimester," she said with a sigh, "if this baby is going to be anything like John I'll be the size of a planet, hot and constantly uncomfortable. Kissing naked will be the last thing I'll want to do."

"It's a different time of year, so you might not be as hot." Although he was resigned to the idea of not kissing naked towards the end of her pregnancy.

"I might not be but we'll see how I go. I can normally stand the heat inside the dome." Barbara pulled him in for another sweet kiss.

He smiled at her afterwards. "We should get back. We don't want to leave the boys looking after Johnny for too long."

"We'll come home and find him wrapped up in dough and ready for the oven," Barbara chuckled.

She hugged Ian again and as she did so, gently pushed him away from the tree so that she could take a step forward without treading on his toes.

I Will Always Love You, Baby

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