Complicated Love

Horror

"Brad!" I smack him on his head "Brad!  Wake up!"

"What?!" He shoots up looking worried "Are you okay?"

"Something's burning.  It's coming from downstairs."

He sniffs around to see if he smells it too, and doesn't seem too phased by it.

"This is serious!" I can tell it isn't a big fire, but something is definitely burning "You need to go look!"

"I made popcorn earlier.  I thought the smell would be gone by now." He gets out of bed, shutting the door "See, problem solved.  Go back to sleep."

"How much earlier did you make popcorn?"

"Why does it matter?  You were already asleep."

I get out of bed, swinging the door open and walking towards the steps.

"Because it shouldn't still smell like this unless you just recently made it!  What if it's something else?"

He follows me downstairs since he doesn't have a chance at sleeping, and pushes me out of the kitchen.

"You probably shouldn't go in there."

"Why, Brad?  What the hell did you do?"

"I'm just thinking about your safety."

As he says this, I'm looking over him into the kitchen where I can see the smoke blowing around.  He quickly jumps in front of me so I still can't see.

"Jesus Christ, Brad!  What did you do?"

"I forgot to open a window." He finally says, turning to walk in "I was more worried about eating the popcorn."

"Well that's not too bad..."

I follow him in once he has the windows and door open, looking around to see the damage.

"Okay, so what did you do to the microwave?"

The door is open, the light is off, and there's no time or anything on the screen.

"We may have had an actual kitchen fire..." he confesses "I didn't realize I already pushed the popcorn button a few times, and well I got distracted."

"How long was the popcorn in there?"

"About 10 minutes when I started seeing sparks.  12 by the time the flames shot up and I put them out."

"Oh my God.  I can't let you do anything!"

I go over to the fridge to get a water, and notice that it isn't cold or functioning.

"You broke the fridge too?!?"

"What?  No I didn't."

He opens it himself, sticking his head in to feel if it's cold.

"Shit.  The microwave cord must've fried the whole outlet." He pulls the whole fridge out to look behind it and sure enough he's right.  The outlet and cord are fried.

"Great!  Now we have to take care of this too!  You know, you make my life really easy!"

"Jen," he sighs, knowing he's in trouble now "Just calm down.  I'll go get us a new fridge and microwave in the morning.  I don't want you worrying about these things.  That's why I didn't tell you before."

"Don't mess this up.  Make sure you get the right measurements for the fridge and a microwave that actually works.  And get an electrician out here so that we know the outlet is okay.  We don't need a real fire with a newborn."

"Got it.  Measure and stick my finger in the outlet to see if it shocks me."

"I'm going to kill you!" I walk out of the room in anger "Seriously, you're the worst!"

"I love you, Jen!" He tries to follow me back up, but must not be paying attention because I hear the fridge door bounce, and right away know that he walked into it.  I laugh at the unplanned karma, and crawl back into bed to sleep.

However, my plans are quickly ruined.  The baby must know I'm exhausted, because he's decided to jump around on my bladder and now I have to pee.

"Why aren't you in bed yet?" I walk past Brad, who is standing in our bathroom staring at his hand, to pee "What did you do?"

"I was moving everything into a cooler and twisted my wrist trying not to drop the eggs.  I think it's fine." He turns to show me the slightly swollen wrist "You really have to pee again?"

"5th time since I laid down earlier.  I think he's aiming for a record tonight." I get up and pull him under the light where I can actually see "It doesn't look too bad.  See how it is in the morning."

"He's very excited to get freed and hang out with me." Brad pulls me closer as we walk back to bed, resting his hand on my huge belly "He knows he's missing out right now."

"Yeah, I'm sure that's it.  If he's this active you can hang out with him all you want."

"I just hope he doesn't wait too much longer.  I'm ready to be done with all of this."

Brad lays in bed next to me, pulling me so my head is laying on his chest as he carefully strokes my belly to keep the baby moving.

"I can't wait to meet him, but I also kinda want some more time.  Just to adjust and all that."

"Yeah," I lay my hand with his "I do too.  I think we're ready, but I also think it's going to be a much bigger change than what we're expecting."

"But we're going to be fine.  You're going to be the best mother ever, and I'm going to be an okay dad, and it'll all work out."

"An okay dad?  I think you might be a little bit better than okay... maybe good."

"So I'll be a good dad." He says, leaning down to kiss me "But you're still going to be the best mother ever.  You're so amazing with kids, and you don't do dumb things like blow up the microwave and ruin the fridge."

"It's called growing up, maybe you should try it."

"Nah, I'm more fun this way.  Baby needs a fun parent to take away from all the crazy rules you'll come up with."

"Brad," I whisper after a while "I think my water just broke."