The Truth Hurts Worse

“Goddammit, Patrick, wake up!”

Patrick jolted awake, a cold sweat on his face. The first person he saw was Pete. All Patrick wanted to do was punch him, so he did.

Pete managed to dodge his friend’s sudden punch, only to get nailed in the shoulder. “Hey! What the hell?”

Patrick glared at him and looked around. It took him a moment to figure out his surroundings. He wasn’t in his home yet. He was on a plane with his band mates and other passengers, many of whom were giving him odd looks. He rubbed his face and looked around.

“We landed?”

“Yea, and that’s why I was trying to wake you up.” Pete grumbled, moving into the aisle. “But you decided to go all Mike Tyson on me! You kept saying ‘fuck you’ and everything. Must have been some sort of nightmare.”

Patrick took his glasses off and rubbed his face, nodding. “Yea, sure… nightmare.” He mumbled, getting to his feet. He grabbed his backpack and coat, heading off the plane with the rest of the passengers. Well, he hoped it really was a nightmare and that this wasn’t one of those ‘dreams within a dream’ sort of thing.

The boys made their way to baggage claim, talking with a few of their crew members and security. Patrick noticed it was the middle of the night, so he left a text on Luci’s phone, saying they landed safely. To his surprise, she texted back, saying they’ll see him soon. He shrugged as he grabbed his first bag, not thinking much of it.

Once everyone had their luggage, they made their way to the loading zone. They saw the airport shuttle that would take them home; except Patrick, though.

He was shocked to see Luci standing beside his car, holding Katy who looked half asleep. Patrick smiled and hurried over to the car, dropping his bags as he wrapped his arms around the both of them gently. Luci gave him a kiss and managed to pass Katy off to him, who immediately wrapped her arms around her daddy, burying her face in his neck as she tried to fall asleep.

“I didn’t know you guys were coming!” He whispered, kissing Luci again. He held Katy in one arm while he tossed his bags into the trunk. After shutting it, he gave Katy a hug before buckling her into the booster seat in the back of the car.

“Hey, Lu! Wanna give me a ride home?” Pete asked, grinning. Luci smirked and flipped him off.

“Oh, fuck no, Pete. I get to spend the first night alone with my man, okay?” Luci replied, giving him a quick hug. “I’ll see you tomorrow or something.” She let out a laugh and hurried back to the car, getting into the driver’s seat. Patrick waved to his friends and got in as well, glad to finally be going home.

//

Patrick had put Katy to bed, though she refused to go back to sleep until he sang to her. He was happy to do it, holding her in his lap as he sang softly to her. It didn’t take long before she was out like a light, clutching her panda as she slept. After he got her tucked in, he went out to his bedroom. He saw that Luci was already in bed, looking over a few pregnancy magazines.

He changed into his pajamas before getting into the bed next to her, curling up against her side and resting his head gently on her stomach. She didn’t look up for a moment, but slid her fingers through his hair gently.

“You alright there, babe?” She asked, setting her magazines aside. Patrick closed his eyes and nodded, rubbing her stomach gently. She tucked some strands of his hair behind his ear and she smiled. “Alright…”

“Just glad to be home, you know?” He said with a sigh, still rubbing her stomach gently. She nodded a bit, watching him.

“Pete sent me a text, you know…” She said, biting her lip when she saw Patrick cringe. “Something about a nightmare on the plane… but he told me they happened periodically through the tour.”

“It’s nothing, really.”

“Patrick…”

“No, really… it was just stress. Being away from you and Katy, you know? I’ll be fine now.” He hoped he sounded sincere, but the look on her face told him she knew he was lying. Patrick just sighed and closed his eyes, pressing his face against the side of her stomach.

“So, what’s with this sudden stomach fetish?” Luci asked wryly, smirking a bit at her boyfriend. Patrick grinned, planting a kiss on her nightgown covered tummy. “I’m just now about 15 weeks along, babe. There’s no party going on in there yet.”

“Yea, I know…” He said, sitting up and wrapping his arms around her gently. “I’m just excited… it’s going to be amazing, watching this baby grow up.” He sighed and kissed her cheek. “Any ideas for names yet?”

“Well, since we don’t even know what it is yet, the answer is no.” She replied, giving him a kiss. “But Grandma Rose did stop by this week to dump off this load of baby magazines and books.”

“You don’t have all that from when Katy was born?” He asked, reaching for one of the magazines. Luci shook her head as she passed him a few magazines to look at.

“Nope.” She said. “I didn’t really have a lot when I was pregnant with Katy. I occasionally glanced at a few magazines, but I was still so scared I didn’t know what to do, so I just listened to whatever my grandparents told me to do.”

Patrick nodded, flipping through one of the magazines. “Huh.” Was his reply as he picked up the next magazine, flipping through it. “Are we gonna hafta have a baby shower?”

“Well, yes, we will.” Luci told him, cuddling up against him. “But we should wait until I’m farther along. We can find out the gender and go from there.” Patrick nodded a bit, looking over at her.

“You don’t want to be surprised?” He asked softly, setting the magazine down. She looked back at him, brushing his bangs out of his eyes.

“Hey, I’m up for anything. If you wanna be surprised, then let’s be surprised. It’ll make it more fun, you know?” She replied, smiling.