Beautiful When You Don't Try (Camren)

Chapter 104

A/N: Can we say epically long chapter? Yes. Yes, we can. It's not the longest chapter of this fic but is probably in the top three. It's well over 6,000 words. Lots of stuff to read. Some will make you laugh. Some will make you smile. Some will make you cry. Some scenes are condensed down for time's sake.

I warned you that it's left kind of open-ended. That's because I'm really interested in your reactions. It would be nice to read what you all have to say. It's not a cliff hanger really.

I'll leave you to it. Thank you for reading and enjoy.

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Lauren couldn't even hide the fact that it had been lonely around without Kim and Adrianne. They had been gone for two weeks now. Even as she wrapped up her photoshoot for the day and the last of the crew left, she felt so alone. Well, she was alone, but she had been many times before. Hell, she spent most of her young adult life alone but this was different. Maybe it was because Camila was doing some interviews before the show so the brunette wasn't around, but it was all a little depressing.

She slowly walked into her office and sat down behind her desk. The space was so big now, with Adrianne's half empty beside her. The furniture had been moved in but the walls still weren't done. Adrianne had opted to do the same thing as Lauren and put a mural on her half of the office but wanted to wait until they got back from the honeymoon and could use some of their pictures from Ireland on it. Seeing as that's where Lauren's mind was at, she booted her computer and began shuffling through photos that she wanted to use. She'd arranged them and blend them tomorrow to pass the time until the other couple got back. They were supposed to be in tonight, but wouldn't show up anywhere until tomorrow to try and recover from some of the jet lag.

"You two are a little feisty in there. You better not be having a dispute over position again." She spoke aloud to the babies. She couldn't wait to have pictures of these two to add to the wall. She didn't want the typical posed family photos. She wanted the candid one of Camila staring in awe of a baby in her arms and then one of the brunette in pure panic as she had one in each arm, unsure of which one to look at so the other didn't feel neglected or overlooked.

Lauren stretched back in her chair and looked at the clock. It was only noon. Time was passing by so slowly so she got up to walk the perimeter of the studio. It was her easiest form of exercise and she hoped it would help with the backache her new chair was giving her. She'd talk with Frankie about his choice of chair tomorrow because this was not acceptable for a pregnant woman.

She stopped at one of the side windows and looked out over the street, running her hand over her stomach. That would have been a good picture for Adrianne to capture in her sneaky ways. The raven-haired took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, moving her hand to the bottom of her stomach and then holding her breath completely. "Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no. You two need to stop that right now." She leaned against the wall and took a few slow, deep breaths, trying to convince herself that this feeling wasn't anything like it was with Michelle. But that stupid chapter from one of Camila's baby books was screaming in the back of her mind that 'while each pregnancy can feel different when it comes to labor, you will know when it is that time'.

"It's not time. It's not time. It's not time." She clenched her teeth as a tightness ripped through her lower abdomen just like it had a few minutes ago. "Fuck. It's time." Thankfully she had her cell phone in her jacket pocket because she really wasn't wanting to try and waddle back to the office. The line rang five times before it went to voicemail. "Fucking interviews... You would have an interview when I'm going into early labor. As soon as you get this call me. I'm calling Mom."

She hung up and tried to calm her rising anxiety. She pushed out all of the fears of what this could mean. The complications, under developments... it needed to leave her mind. That was another chapter in one of Camila's books. She needed to stay calm. Her panicking would only cause the labor to speed up. She even tried to calm herself even further by thinking about how much of a laugh Adrianne would get out of her freaking everyone out and this turning out to be false labor. "She'd laugh her ass off and I would never hear the end of it."