After Happily Ever After

Snack Break : A Catfish Christmas

Fallon has both feet on the floor and into her slippers as soon as she heard Erik shut and lock the front door.

Ayo scheduled an important meeting with an investor in his office at the Center. It was so out of the blue that Erik couldn't insist that he have the meeting at his home office, as he's done since Fallon's pregnancy progressed.

If the investor wasn't such an important part of Erik's overall plan for the Center, she knows he'd have stayed home.

Erik made it a point to be as involved in Fallon's pregnancy as he could. When she started showing around five months, he baby proofed the entire house, much to the annoyance of Fallon's suddenly weak bladder.

He was a helicopter parent, and the baby wasn't even here yet. Now that she was at eight months, his smothering has only increased.

God, she hoped Ayo didn't get into too much trouble when he found out he'd left the house for nothing. But she needed a break, dammit.

In the comfort of Erik's sweater and boxer briefs, Fallon moved about the house at a quick waddle.

The first thing she did, after emptying her bladder, was lower all the shades in the house. Her husband had read somewhere that ample sunlight helped with postpartum depression.

Walking her around their neighborhood to induce labor apparently wasn't enough sunlight for the man.

Fallon relished the immediate darkness that cloaked the room. Her next step, snacks.

The closer she was to her due date, the less Erik allowed her to do around the house. He hired a housekeeper so Fallon wouldn't have to clean and cook.

While he said it was to keep her from stressing out, she knew that this was really his way of making sure she only ate the healthiest, most boring foods in existence. It was all kale and lean meat. No fatty foods, no sweets, and he'd reduced her salt so much most of her food tasted bland.

Luckily, Erik wasn't in the house now.

After checking for any cameras (he'd been in the military who knew how far he'd go to protect his pregnant wife?) Fallon went into her craft room. She retrieved the bag of junk food goodies Nicole dropped it off a few days ago. At the time, Erik stopped watching Fallon like a hawk to go plot their route to the hospital. They used that brief window to make the drop off.

Armed with her goodies, Fallon retreated to their couch and began the first of a marathon of zombie movies. 'Twas the season and all that.

It was October. Although you wouldn't know it since Erik refused to allow Fallon to decorate by herself. And the housekeeper, Janice, was nice and all, but the girl couldn't make cotton look like a spiderweb if her life depended on it. Erik didn't want Fallon to get stressed out, so he banned the holiday in the house.

Normally Fallon would argue, but she'd learned to pick her battles. Erik was taking her pregnancy about as well as a control freak could. He wanted everything to be perfect for her and their baby. He worked so hard at it; Fallon couldn't really be mad.

Cheeto puffs, peach rings, Arizona Kiwi Strawberry juice, and a twinkie all fell to the monster that was a ravenous pregnant Fallon. She watched Train to Busan, probably her favorite zombie film in recent years, and then queued up 28 Days Later. For this movie, Fallon selected a family sized bag of Hot Cheetos and a two liter of orange soda.

The movie just got to the good part when she heard keys in the door.

Erik was home early!

Ayo promised to give her at least four hours. Coupled with the hour it took him to drive into the city to get to the Center, Erik shouldn't have been back until four in the afternoon minimum.

She didn't have the time to hide the evidence of her rule breaking. There were candy wrappers and chip bags everywhere. Fallon pushed the wrappers between the couch cushions. The rest of her snacks she hid under the blanket on her lap.

"Why is it so dark in here?" Erik's voice rang out from behind her.

"Hey, sweetie, how'd your meeting go?" Fallon searched frantically for the remote. On the screen, zombies were foaming at the mouth and gurgling blood as they chased after the survivors.

"What the hell are you watching?" the sound of Erik's voice drew closer until he was standing right behind her.

When she looked up, Fallon found Erik scowling at the screen with confused eyes. At a glance, they both knew this wasn't one of the Erik's approved movies he'd chosen for her.

"I thought you were going to be in the city until late?" Fallon asked breathlessly. On the screen, a soundtrack of screams and tearing flesh punctuated the dark look Erik shot her.

Fallon tried to smile. Holding up a bag, she offered him a chip. "Cheeto for your thoughts?"