Not up to Me, Not up to You

“We’re going to need a removal van to ship this lot back to the house.” Kelly sighed looking around Leana’s living room at the piles of baby stuff that had been unwrapped over the previous three hours.

“Most of it should fit into Johnny’s SUV.” Lacey said thoughtfully looking around at all the stuff.

“Yeah, you can put some stuff in my car as well.” Gena said.

“Thanks girls.” Kelly smiled.

“Shall we start loading everything up?” Gena said standing up and grabbing her keys from her purse.

“You can sit down now!” Leana yelled pointing a finger at Kelly who had stood up to help.

“Lea I’m fine, I can carry something little.” Kelly protested but Leana shook her head.

“You’re not carrying anything out to that car so sit your ass down. Hayley, keep an eye on your daughter.” Leana said sternly, turning to Kelly’s mom who smiled back at her.

“But” Kelly began to protest again as Leana turned to pick up some stuff to carry to the car.

“But nothing. The girls are right. You’re almost 8 months pregnant, you shouldn’t be doing anything strenuous.” Kelly’s mom ordered moving so that she was sat next to her daughter. Kelly sighed heavily and began to subconsciously rub her stomach.

“Is he kicking?” her mom asked quietly as the other girls began to carry stuff to the car. Kelly looked up to her mom and shook her head.

“I’ll try and get him moving for you.” she replied with a smile as she gently yet firmly squeezed her stomach.

“Are things going ok with Matt and Brian?” her mom asked. Kelly looked up at her again with a weak smile.

“They’re never going to be best friends.” She stated.

“He’d take you back you know.” Her mom said causing Kelly to sigh and roll her eyes.

“Mom, we’ve been through this, I thought you understood.” She sighed adjusting herself on the sofa.

“I know.” She sighed.

“Mom, I love Brian, Matt and I won’t be getting back together.” Kelly said quietly as Aly walked back in for another box.

“I know, and I like Brian, you know that, but you were with Matt so long. It would be so nice if you could be with the father of your child.” She sighed.

“Mom, in an ideal world, I would be, actually, Brian would be the father, but we don’t live in an ideal world.” Kelly sighed just as she felt her baby move.

“Give me your hand.” She said quietly holding out her hand. Gently she placed her mom’s hand on her stomach and watched as her face lit up as he began to kick and punch her.

“Oh my god. It only seams like yesterday that you were doing that to me.” she said quietly as tears appeared in her eyes.

“Your father would love to be here now; he always talked about having a grandson some day.” Hayley said as tears began to silently fall down her face.

“I know mom. I wish he was here too.” Kelly replied as the girls made their way back into the living room.

Hayley removed her hand from Kelly’s stomach and smiled.

“I better make a move. Thanks for inviting me Leana.” She said getting up from the sofa.

“Hey, you’re the grandma, what kind of baby shower would it have been if you weren’t here.” She replied stepping forward to hug Hayley.

“Mmph, I would get up to hug you too but I seem to be stuck on this stupid sofa again.” Kelly said trying to adjust herself to get up. The girls tried to stifle their giggles as Gena got up to offer her hands to pull her up.

“Thanks Gee, I’m really going to have to stop sitting on sofas,” she said before hugging her mom.

“Thanks for coming mom, and thanks for the stroller.” She said hugging her mom.

“I’ll pop over in the week, I’ve got some more clothes for him.” She replied picking up her purse. “See you girls soon.” She said giving the girls a small wave and a smile.

“Bye Hayley.” Gena and Leana said at the same time as she walked over to the front door.

“Lace, leave it, the guys can come out and carry it all upstairs.” Kelly said getting out of Johnny’s packed SUV and walking up the driveway.

As she put the key in the lock she could hear the sound of male laughter coming from inside the house. She opened the door and stepped inside, followed closely by the other four girls.

“Hey, you’re back! Was it a good baby shower?” Brian cheered from his seat on the sofa. Each of the guys had a half empty bottles of beer in their hands. Kelly glanced at each of them. By the looks on their faces they weren’t on their first bottles.

“That room better be finished, and those bottles better not have been opened while you were still working.” Kelly warned, pointing her finger at each of the five guys as she walked over to Brian.

“Babe, I promised didn’t I?” Brian replied with a sweet smile.

“Good, now there’s an SUV full of baby stuff that needs taking up.” Kelly said leaning across to kiss him.

“Can I show you the room first?” he asked with a proud smile. Kelly nodded and Brian immediately stood up, placing his beer on the coffee table and grabbing hold of her hand.
He led her up the stairs and stopped outside the nursery door.

“Close your eyes.” He whispered taking hold of her other hand. Kelly smiled at him and closed her eyes. He let go of her hand for a moment as she heard him open the door before taking hold of her hand again and leading her gently through the doorway. She painfully fought the urge to open her eyes as he led her further towards the middle of the room.
She felt him let her hands go and sensed him move to her side.

“Ok baby, you can open them now.”

Kelly’s mouth dropped open when she took a look at the room.

“Babe it’s beautiful.” She said quietly glancing around the room, taking in all the details.

“It just perfect.” She added smiling broadly as she turned back to face him. He was smiling back at her, watching the expression on her face.

“Thank you.” she said stepping closer to him and stretching up to meet his lips with hers.

“I can’t take all the praise, the other guys helped.” Brian said as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed his lips again.

“I know, but it was still you who repainted in last week ready for today. And I noticed that you and Matt haven’t killed each other so thank you for that too.” she said placing her lips against his once again.

“I guess you can say we’ve come to a kind of agreement to get on with each other the best we can.” Brian said.

“Really?” Kelly questioned and Brian nodded before placing a sweet, lingering kiss on her lips.

“Come on, let’s get all those gifts in here.” Brian said taking hold of her hand and leading her back down the stairs to the living room.

“Did they do a good job?” Leana asked as Kelly sat down on the sofa.

“Lea it’s beautiful, you girls should go up and have a look before all the shower gifts get put in there.” She replied smiling.

“Here you go baby, you five can go fetch the stuff when we go check out the room.” Lacey said passing Johnny the keys.

Everybody got up and left Kelly sat on the sofa on her own. She immediately regretted sitting there as she tried to make herself comfortable.

“Oh for fuck’s sake.” She grumbled to herself.

“Do you have to sit on my bladder just as I get comfortable?” she asked her stomach before looking up at the sound of someone laughing.

“Funny am I?” she asked glaring at Johnny and Zack who were stood at the bottom of the stairs watching her struggling to get up.

“Sorry Kel, but if you could see yourself you’d laugh too.” Zack said trying to hold back more laughter as she walked towards them.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m sure I’m fucking hilarious.” She mumbled as she began to walk up the stairs.

“Honey, it’s beautiful.” Gena said as Kelly rejoined them in the living room while the guys finished off carrying all the gifts up to the babies bedroom.

“They really did a good job didn’t they?” Kelly said with a smile as she sat on one of the chairs from the dining room table.

“Babe, come and sit here.” Leana said getting up to offer her seat on the sofa. Kelly shook her head.

“No, I’m going to avoid the sofa for a while, I can never get back up.” She said as Brian came to her side and kissed the top of her head.

“Everything done?” she asked as the other guys joined them once again.

“Yeah, that kid has got more stuff than me and he ain’t even born yet.” Brian replied.

“There’s more stuff to come as well. Mom said she’s got some clothes for him that she’s going to bring over in the week.” Kelly explained.

“Mom, Suzy and Brent have got him some stuff too.” Brian replied rubbing her shoulders.

“Yeah, and my mom’s got him some stuff, but I’ll keep that at my place for when he stay’s over.” Matt added as Kelly closed her eyes as she relaxed into Brian’s massage.

“Guys I think it’s time to go.” Jimmy said quietly. Everyone nodded their agreement and began to gather their stuff.

“Thanks for today guys.” Kelly said opening her eyes.

“No worries, it was our pleasure.” Lacey said walking over to kiss her cheek and give her a quick hug.

Everyone said their good-byes one by one before leaving Brian and Kelly in their own company. Brain led Kelly to the sofa where she laid her head in his lap. His one hand rubbed her stomach while his other hand curled her hair around his fingers as they talked about their day.