Together

Let The Countdown Begin...

The next few chapters are exciting. I can't wait to share them with you. That's all. Enjoy/comment/vote xxx
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September 26, 2026

Harper

On my day off of Anastasia, I decide that it's time to go pay Taylor a visit. She's due to give birth any day now, and I know that she's getting frustrated. Patrick tells me that Joe could use a break from it all, as well. While I can't grant Taylor a break from the baby relentlessly kicking her, I can go and keep her company. That'll give Joe a break from Taylor's complaints, and it'll change things up a bit for Tay, which may keep her mind off of things for a bit.

I take the tube from my house, which I'm nicely settled into with Patrick by now, over to Taylor's flat. She doesn't know that I'm coming, but it's a nice surprise when she opens her door. In spite of how very pregnant she is, she still looks gorgeous. Her blonde hair is pulled up into a ponytail and she's dressed in a cotton dress, which looks quite comfy. I'd guess that, by this point in pregnancy, putting on a pair of trousers is about the last thing that she wants to do.

"Harper!" she exclaims. "Come in. What brings you here today?"

"I just thought that I'd come hang around for a bit on my day off, before your world is flipped upside down, you know?"

"That's nice of you," Taylor smiles.

"Perhaps Joe can go out if he'd fancy that. The two of us could just have some girls' time."

"I'm sure that he would love that," Taylor replies. Then, she raises her voice to call for her husband. "Joe? Honey, could you come here?"

I have to give that man credit, as he appears almost instantly. "What do you need hon- Harper!"

I giggle as he is caught off guard. "Hey."

"What are you doing here? I mean, don't get me wrong, you're completely welcome, but is everything alright?"

"Oh, yeah, everything is fine," I smile. "I just came to see Taylor one last time before she's a mum, and I thought that you might want a bit of a break from keeping her company."

"Because Harper knows that you absolutely hate spending time with your wife," Taylor winks at Joe.

"Yep, that's me. I hate it," Joe laughs. "But it will be nice to get out of the house, and we could use some groceries, as well as baby supplies, actually."

"Perfect," I smile. "Grab yourself a pint perhaps, while you're out. Have a good day before you're a father."

Joe laughs. "Perhaps I will. Thank you so much, Harper. I'll just grab my things, then."

"God," Taylor groans after Joe leaves the room, "I feel like a child who needs a babysitter."

"Hey, it's not that at all," I tell her. I hope that I haven't offended her. "It's just that we all love you and don't want you to be alone during this hard time. Plus, you're already stir-crazy as is. I think that being left all alone would make it worse."

"You're probably right," Taylor admits, "but it's just been so hard these past few months. I can't lift anything even close to heavy, I can't drink, I don't even leave the house unless it's for a doctor's appointment, Joe always asks me if I've taken my vitamins..."

"I'm sorry," I frown. "I wish that I could just make the whole pregnancy thing go away for an hour, and let you have a normal life again, then come back to the unborn baby waiting for you at home..."

Taylor starts to giggle. "Oh my god, Harper, you sound ridiculous right now."

I join in her giggling. "Yeah, I do."

"Come on," Taylor says suddenly, "let's go sit down. This whole 'carrying a human child' thing is painful."

"Fine by me," I reply, following Taylor back to her living room, where the telly is still playing the movie which she didn't pause when she came to get the door.

"I've seen it many times before," she says, motioning to the screen before flicking it off. "Now, tell me, what should we do on our day together?"

"Really, whatever you want," I tell Taylor. "If you want to just watch movies, then that would be fine with me."

"I've seen a lot of movies recently," she says. "Really, I've not done much more than watch telly for the past nine months or so."

I laugh. "Then, is there something else that you'd care to do?"

"How about we play some cards?" Taylor suggests.

"Fine by me," I reply. Taylor pushes herself off of the sofa, then waddles out of the room.

"Oh, Tay," I call after her, "I can get it..."

"No, it's fine," she insists. "I'm supposed to exercise during pregnancy anyway. Walking around this flat is about as close as I get to exercising anymore."

I laugh. In a moment, she appears again with a box in her hands. "Would you fancy a few rounds of UNO?"

"Sounds lovely," I reply. "But, just so that you know, I'm good at this game. You're going down, Swift."

"We will see about that one, Alwyn," she tells me.

"Oh, it's on," I say, cracking my knuckles, which causes Taylor to laugh.

We spend quite a bit of time playing the game, and by the time that we decide to wrap it up, we have both won two rounds.

"Let's just call it a tie," Taylor smiles.

"That's fair."

We spend a bit longer just talking. Then, Taylor stops short and looks down at her stomach.

"Oh, you're awake now, are you?" she laughs, placing her hands on her tummy. "Come here, Harper."

I walk over to Taylor, and she takes my hand, then places it on her stomach.

"Feel this."

I can instantly feel her bump changing shape as the baby moves around.

"Whoa!" I giggle "That's weird."

"Isn't it? I'd not ever noticed just how much they move around before having a baby myself, to be honest- oh, you're kicking now, are you?"

I giggle, as I do feel the baby kicking on Taylor's stomach.

"What does it feel like, inside?"

"I don't even know how to explain it," Taylor tells me. "You have to experience it to know, I think. It's one of the most amazing feelings, though. When I felt her kick for the first time, I was so excited. Of course, it's lost the novelty a bit now, but it's still amazing. There's a fully developed little human in there, and in less than a week, I'm going to get to meet her, and so are you."

At that, I throw my arms around Taylor in a hug. "I can't wait."

She smiles at me. "She can't wait to meet you."

"And you're sure that there is nothing else that I can do?"

"Not that I can think of," Taylor tells me, "but will you promise me something?"

"Anything."

"Will you come visit us in the hospital after she's born?"

"Absolutely," I tell Taylor. "I was so hoping that you'd ask."