His Shadow

11

He took a heavy sigh and looked me right in the eyes. "They told you."

I nodded. 

Silence filled the room, pressing against us, but not enough to get us to talk again. I cursed at myself. This wasn't what I was trying to do! We needed to talk!

Alexander slowly walked out of the room. 

"Blin! Blin, blin, blin!" I cursed under my breath.

I ran out of the office trying to catch up to him. Thankfully, the office wasn't busy and there were only a few people that would listen to our argument.

"Alexander, you can't just walk off like that! You have to explain because that's why all of this happened. The entire situation happened just because of that, oh, for God's sake can you please just stop you horrible horrible person!" 

He didn't turn around or even slow down. He kept walking and so with an annoyed sigh I ran after him. "Please, Alexander, can you please stop I'm goin- AH!"

A jolt of pain shot from my abdomen to the rest of my body. I grabbed my belly and stared down at it. It didn't hurt as bad as I was expecting this to hurt, but enough to at least grab my attention and thankfully, Alexander's. 

He immediately stopped and ran to me. He grabbed my hand and I clasped it like I was hanging on to my last thread of life. He gently picked me up and placed me on the couch. A few of the employees came rushing to me and he ordered one of them to grab me a glass of water and another one to grab some blankets.

"Shh stop, I'm fine. I'm a nurse, remember? This isn't labor or anything just some stupid Braxton Hicks."I pat Alexander's back, trying to reassure him that everything would be alright and he's not losing his son yet.

He rested his head on my forehead and I embraced him. "Hey, hey," I said, caressing his face and trying to position it so he'd look into my eyes.

He finally did and I smiled at him. "They mean the baby is getting ready to come out in a few short weeks. He's practicing on getting out and finally meeting us."

Alexander smiled but I noticed that he was still very upset... no doubt that had something to do with just arguing and then thinking that maybe something was wrong with the baby. I smiled at him and brought his face to my chest, letting my fingers run through his hair, whispering that everything is alright.

"Maria, let me take you guys home. I can't stand to see you here." He said, lifting his eyes and those long, black and gorgeous eyelashes at me. 

How could I not say yes? 

When we got home, he didn't let me out of his sight at all. He made sure to hold me all the way up the stairs and helped me get into bed. He even brought me some peppermint tea. 

"You're going to be okay?" He asked. 

I smiled and nodded at him. 

"Okay, I'm going to head out. If you need anything... just, well, call me."

He began to lean down and then awkwardly stopped and continued. There seemed to be a battle in his head about whether or not to give me a kiss. Finally, after many stops and go's he finally placed a soft kiss on my forehead and then one on my belly.

I smiled. I met his eyes as he was walking out the door. There was something... in them. It was a glimpse of an emotion that I couldn't quite recognize...ha wait!

"Alexander! Don't go, lay here with me." I patted the bed next to me. 

His eyes lit up, not like a Christmas tree, but more like a candle as it's being blown away. I smiled as he carefully made his way across the room and softly lay down on the bed. It tilted in his direction a little until he moved closer to the middle, balancing the weight out. I smiled as I looked at him lying there in his business outfit, the muscles of his arms and abdomen lightly expressed on his shirt.