baby is and what it’s doing this week.”
“What it’s doing? It’s a fetus, Kai. It’s not like it has a roaring social life in my uterus.”
“How it’s growing,” I clarified. “And turning from a little alien blob into a baby.”
“Go on, then. I’ll humor you.”
“You don’t have an app on your phone that tells you that?”
“No. I know I’m pregnant. My boobs, stomach, and bladder tell me at least twenty-five times a day. Why do I need an app?”
I grinned and sat up, still looking down at her. “You’re basically eight weeks, so…” I thought back to the information I’d read yesterday. “It’s just over a centimeter in size and the facial features are forming. The little alien tail is almost gone, and its legs are getting longer.”
“So it’s starting to look like a real baby?”
“I guess so. I mean, you can’t see it yet really, but yeah. Sounds like it.”
“Wow. No wonder I’m so tired all the time.”
That did make sense when it was laid out like that. “Are you tired now?”
“I’m never not tired. I get a random burst of energy where I feel like Sonic the Hedgehog, then I’m a zombie for the rest of the day.” She sat up, leaning on her hands. “And I think I’m hungry again.”
“Something else that makes sense.” I stood up and grabbed her hands, pulling her up after me. She made an “oof” noise as she got to her feet and stumbled right into me, almost knocking the wind out of me, too.
“Sorry,” she muttered, tugging on her dress so it fell correctly down to her knees.
“If you’re that sorry, can you get off my foot?”
She darted back with a snort. “Sorry. Again. Damn it.”
“It’s fine.” I smirked and took her hand to help her down the rest of the trail. Not that she was fragile or anything, but it was getting dark in earnest now and the trail was uneven in places. She was tired, too, and I wanted to make sure she made it down and back to the truck safely.
Thankfully, we did. Neither of us said a word as I got the truck door for her and helped her climb in.
I didn’t know what to say to her. I knew this was hard for her, and I’d meant every word I’d said when she’d voiced her worries earlier. There was no way that any of my time spent with Ivy would be wasted, even if a relationship did go nowhere. I wasn’t going to start dating now, not when she needed me.
Of course, that could have easily been my own feelings talking for me, but I didn’t think so.
I was going to be there every day she needed me, for as long as she needed me.
The idea of anyone else being there for her gutted me. Literally made me want to tear out my own eyeballs and eat them.
I couldn’t bear the thought of it.
Shit, if I was honest, I was falling for her.
I had been for a while, just wrapped it up under nonsense and bullshit because it was hard to admit that I was falling in love with someone who didn’t even know.
I rolled my shoulders as I turned toward our building. I wanted to tell her that everything would be okay, but I’d said that a thousand times already. I knew her fears were real and rational, and I accepted them.
I just wished that I wasn’t a part of any of them, even if it was her doubting her own feelings and not mine.
The funny thing was that I didn’t doubt her feelings. I really, truly fucking believed they were real. I believed she felt the things she did, whatever they were, because they were real and honest and true, and I wasn’t going to change my mind on that.
I wish I knew how to make her believe it.
I pulled into the parking lot and then my space. We sat for a moment after I killed the engine. Ivy stared straight ahead, and just when I thought she was going to break the seemingly never-ending silence, she popped the door open and jumped out of the truck.
With a sigh, I did the same and followed her into the building. The elevator was working after a few days’ maintenance, and she’d already called it by the time I joined her.
The silver doors whirred open, revealing the empty interior, and I put my hand on the doors to let her step in first. I followed her