Thunderbird - B. Bridgerton

20

Sofia Bridgerton is still not used to the sight of her husband, Benedict, and the man who broke her heart once, Selim, sitting next to each other and chatting. Yet, the two men have actually grown quite close over the past days. Benedict insisted on letting the farmer's boy stay in one if their guest rooms, just to avoid that he might meet Karan and although both Anthony and Colin offered him a place to stay in their houses as well, Selim chose to accept Benedict's offer.

„I made you coffee", she interrupts the two men after staying in the room unnoticed for over a minute with a tray in heir hands.
Benedict stands up immediately. „You shouldn't be carrying this", he lectures his wife while taking the tray out of her hands.
„I'm fine Benny. My belly is getting bigger everyday now, I can't deny it, but I'm still able to walk unproblematically."
„We have a deal, Mrs. Bridgerton, don't forget that", he reminds his wife jokingly, „until this little bundle of joy is born, you're going to be extra careful. After you gift me my kid, I won't care for what you do to yourself anymore"
Selim laughs, but stops immediately as he sees that Sofia is visibly hurt. „You... you won't care for me anymore?" Tears are already starting to run down her cheeks.

Benedict, who had just placed the coffee cups on the table in between Selim and him, turns around instantly, slightly panicking as he hears Sofia's voice. „I was jocking! My love, I swear I was jocking!"
But Sofia already left the room.
Benedict is torn between following her and giving her some space to cool down, when Selim remarks: „Wait a few minutes. My sister was exactly the same when she was expecting. They're way more sensible than normally. Following her now will just cause a fight."
Benedict sits down hesitatingly, still looking over to the door. „You might be right", he finally says, „I should better wait a little bit until I talk to her."

But during dinner time Sofia's disappointment is still not over. She even refused to eat with Benedict and Selim. Because of that, the second eldest Bridgerton is now standing in front of the door to their bedroom, a tray with food and some fresh flowers in his hands, unsure whether or not he should be entering the room.

He finally finds the courage to enter the room. Sofia is lying in the bed, still wearing her daily gown, but she seems to be asleep. When Benedict slowly approaches her, he does realize that she's breathing too unstable to be exactly asleep, so he assumes that she only fakes sleep to avoid talking to him. She probably hopes that he's going to leave the food on her desk and return to the living room to chat with the farmer's boy - a new found hobby he had been enjoying over the past weeks.

So Benedict does indeed leave the tray on her desk, trying to not break any perfume bottles as he does so, but instead of leaving the room, he approaches to the bed and sits down on his side of it. Sofia's breathing gets even more irregular, but she keeps her eyes closed.
Benedict tries really hard to not chuckle.

He raises his hands to push a strand of hair out of her face. Sofia has clearly blushed. Oh, if she only knew how much he adores her blushed cheeks!
He can't resist and begins painting circles on her cheek with his fingers. „I waited so long to finally call you mine", he whispers, suddenly touched. Maybe these pregnancies are making fathers emotional, too? „I fought so many times for you... I could never not care for you. You are my love, my life, my soulmate, my wife, my world... you are the mother of my child. You are everything I ever wanted."

Sofia blushes even more, but she remains completely still otherwise. Benedict waits for some more time, but then decides to leave her alone, so that she can eat. He stands up and just as he reaches the knob of the door, a voice from behind asks: „I care for you, too."
Happily he turns around. „I know", Benedict says with a smile, „I know that you care for me. And I know that you will care for our baby equally."
He proceeds to the dest once again, to lift the tray and bring it to the bed, so that she doesn't have to stand up. In the meantime, Sofia lifts herself up into a sitting position, which is not as easy as it used to be anymore.

„Don't ever dare to let our baby starve inside of you, just because you're mad at me, Mrs. Bridgerton."
She chuckles, as he takes a piece of the bread and directly brings it to her lips, waiting for her to open them. Benedict watches his wife eating the dinner (a tomato soup, fresh garlic bread, grilled chicken breast and some rice as a side dish) with a glitter in his eyes. He loved her so much, and knowing that all of this might be gone in just two days - that's when the duel is going to take place - is breaking his heart. He slowly raises his hand to touch and feel the baby in her stomach. Benedict can't stop the tears from building up in his eyes. The thought of the possibility that he might never meet his daughter or son, is too much for him to take.
Benedict suddenly starts to imagine what Sofia's life is going to look like, if anything happens to him:

———— Daydream ————

„Honey, we don't run the stairs down, you might fall down and hurt yourself", Selim warns the little girl, who's about five years old. He has a strict face, but he never learned to use a strict voice, so the little girl just giggles as she jumps directly into his arms. „But I am so excited to see you, dad! I missed you so much, while you were working."
Selim places little kisses on Benedict's daughter's head. „I missed you deeply, too, my little Angel." The girl is absolutely stunning, even at her age: she has long, thick and curly auburn hair - the hair of a Bridgerton - but the pale skin and the big, green eyes definetly belong to her mother. Her lips are naturally curled and already full and as dark colored as her mother's.
„Can we go to the park, dad?", she asks Selim with big, puppy eyes.
He laughs a little bit at the sight of her face. „You know that your mum won't let you go out without eating dinner first."
„But I am not hungry!", she pouts.
„Yes you are", Sofia remarks. She just entered the room. Her belly is quite round- she's obviously expecting another baby. She approaches the farmer's boy and kisses him deeply. „She has already skipped lunch", Sofia informs her (new) husband.
„You did not? Well theeeen" Selim announces, while making sure to hold his daughter tighter, „we are immediately going into the kitchen, to eat!"
He begins running to the kitchen, the little girl's giggles filling the house.

———— Back to reality ————

„Is everything alright?" The worried voice of his wife is waking him from his thoughts and worries and bringing him back to the moment.
„Yes.. yes I am fine. I just... I can't wait to meet this one."
„Me too", Sofia agrees, putting her hand above of Benedict's that's still lying on her belly.
„Ben?", she suddenly asks.
„Yes?"
„Although everything is so tensed right now because of Karan.. and the situation with Selim... I am still really happy, because I have you. And I have this little wonder inside of me. Thank you for taking care of us and making us happy."

„You are everything for me. I would never let anyone harm you, or harm the family we built up. Don't worry about Karan, I will find a way to make him go back to Turkey and never bother us again. I promise."
Sofia looks him into the eyes for a long time. Then, after what feels like an eternity, she says something that she never told her husband before: „I love you, Benedict."

This is, when Benedict's tears begin to fall down his cheeks. Suddenly it doesn't matter anymore what will happen during the duel in two days. Suddenly he doesn't care for anything anymore. He gently cups both of her cheeks and kisses her, once, twice, a million times. Benedict would die for this woman and he would die a happy man, knowing that she loves him -maybe not as passionately as she loved the farmer's boy, maybe not as unconditionally as she will love their baby, but she does love him. And that is all he needs.