The Answer's In The Smile

Arielle's POV:
That summer, Alex and I lived in a dream. We lounged around all day and at night Alex would write while I read magazines or books all over a glass of red wine. It was heaven while it lasted.

Once the pre-production was over, Alex and the boys spent their days in the studio tracking their respective instruments. There were nights when Alex would be stuck at the studio until after midnight trying to perfect a various riff or nights when he's skip out early and surprise me with take-out and flowers. It was clear to anyone who saw us that our relationship was growing stronger and stronger each day.

I'll admit, I would get nervous when he would leave for the studio especially considering his track record and the tendency that waitresses from various upscale downtown hotels had a habit of loitering around their studio. I mean, I knew that at least Jack, if not Zack had taken advantage of the situation at least once or twice. But I think worrying in this manner is normal for all girlfriends with boyfriends in bands.

The summer flew by and before I knew it, Alex announced he was done working in the studio with a gigantic smile on his face.

"Babe," he said running into his apartment, "we fucking nailed it."

He had a copy in his hands and proceeded to put it in the stereo to show me. He was very secretive about his writing, still, so I had no idea what to expect.

"I wrote a lot of these with you in mind: past and present experiences," he said warning me.

I have to say, he really stepped it up this time.

"This is awesome," I said hugging him tightly. "What's it called?"

"We're debating between Nothing Personal or Weightless," he said wrinkling his nose.

"I like the first one better," I said.

"Me too," he agreed.

The next month and a half was the calm before the storm. We'd moved back home, where he owned his own house. I could tell that the boys would blow up with a record like that, and boy, was I right.

"Babe," Alex said somberly after receiving a phone call from Matt.

"What?" I said looking up from a book.

"We're going on tour," he said bracing himself as if I was going to blow up at him.

"That's exciting!" I said. "When?"

"Three weeks," he said nodding.

"What's wrong?" I asked noticing he wasn't as excited as I thought he'd be.

"I don't want to leave you," he said with tears forming in his eyes. He walked over to where I was laying on the couch and laid on top me resting his head on my chest. He sniffed. He looked like a little kid from my angle and it killed me a little inside knowing he felt this way.

"Sweetie, everything will be alright," I insisted. "It will go by so quickly that it will feel like you had just seen me when it's over," I said kissing the top of his head.

"Hold on," he said getting up and running outside. Confused, I watched him have an animated talk on his phone. "Ari! We have to go shopping!" he said running back into the house and upstairs to the bedroom.

"Why?" I said following him.

"Because you're fucking come with," he shouted.

"Alex, are you sure? Because I know you like spending time with the guys and-"

"You know, they're my best friends and all, but it's a giant cock-fest," he explained. "I'll go crazy without you."

"Crazy or horny?" I said putting my hand on my hip knowing perfectly well that on all the previous tours he hadn't been dating anyone and could literally be with any girl any night he wanted.

"Both," he said rolling his eyes.

"Alex,' I sighed.

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "I can't help it."

"If that's the only reason I'm going to be there, I don't want to go," I said flatly.

"You know it's not the only reason," he said starting to get angry. "Do you not want to be with me?"

"Alex, stop," I huffed. "I'll come."

"You mean it?" he said skeptically.

"Yes," I said smirking.

"I fucking love you, Ari!" he said picking me up and twirling me around the room. "You won't regret it, I swear."

It was later that week that I noticed I hadn't had my period in over two months. This wasn't unusual for me though because I was thin and always had issues with it before. I had talked to my mother about it and she told me that the same thing had happened to her sister when she was my age and it turned out to be a warning sign that she was infertile. Brushing all of this information aside, I ignored it. I'd be throwing up and gaining weight if I were pregnant, I rationalized. There's no way. I was on birth control.

"Ari, do you want a glass of wine?" Alex said getting up from his chair. We were sitting by the fire in his backyard one night just before we left for tour.

"No," I said making a disgusted look in his direction.

"But you love this kind of Merlot," he said wrinkling his forehead.

"I don't know why, but all sorts of alcohol sound gross to me lately," I said. He stood there for a minute, shrugged and walked into the house to get himself one.

"Uh, Ari?" he asked carefully.

"Yeah?" I said.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but do you think you could possibly be pregnant?" Alex said with a stern look on his face.

"What?" I laughed. "No."

"Not that I keep track or anything, but you haven't kicked me out of your pants in well over two months and-"

"I'm not pregnant," I said. I won't lie, I was worried that he would even say something like that.

"And you are naturally averting alcohol," he said seriously.

"Fine," I caved, "I will go to CVS right now and get a pregnancy test just to prove you wrong."

"Ok," he said crossing his arms.

"I think you'd know if I was seeing as I'd be fatter, on the verge of hysteria, gorging myself with food, and throwing up all over the place," I said standing.

"Not everyone is like that," Alex said grabbing the keys off the counter as we passed through his house. "My mom didn't know she was pregnant until she started showing and that was when it was four months past!"

"Calm down," I said. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves."

The ride there was painfully silent. Alex kept the car running as I entered the store and bought the test. I was greeted with silence when I got back into the car. As soon as we got home, Alex began pacing.

"Will you just do it already?" he said grabbing the plastic bag I'd put on the counter and handing it to me.

"Alex, chill out," I said rolling my eyes.

"Please, Ari. I don't do well with suspense," he said looking really worried and practically sick to his stomach.

"Fine," I said snatching it out of his hands and walking into the bathroom.

This was gross. I peed on the stick and returned to where Alex was still pacing.

"So?" he said practically running me over and grabbing it out of my hand.

"We have to wait for five minutes," I said snatching it back.

"Ok," he said compulsively checking the clock on the microwave every thirty seconds.

"You need to calm the hell down," I said getting annoyed.

"I can't," he said sighing. "I hate waiting. And this is sort of fucking important, Ari."

"You are such an asshole," I said walking into the bathroom and locking the door behind me.

"Ari, come out," Alex said knocking on the door. "I'm just... I'm sorry."

I did say anything because I was too busy stifling my sobs in my hands. I was practically heaving I was crying so hard.

"Arielle?" he said noticing that I wasn't making noise. He banged on the door with his fists. "ARI!"

It had been five minutes and I looked down to see my fate. Two light blue lines were staring back at me. I was nearly hyperventilating when Alex literally broke down the door.

"Ari, just breathe," he said coming over to me in attempt to calm me down.

"I... can't..." I said between breaths. Alex held me until I calmed down.

"Has it been five minutes?" he asked. All I did was nod. "Where is the test, Ari? Did you look at it? What does it say?" I just pointed at it laying on the floor next to me. "What does two lines mean?" he asked picking it up from the ground.

"It means I'm pregnant," I whispered. He dropped the plastic test.

I couldn't bear to look in Alex's direction to see his reaction, but I picked up my head and did. Alex was shaking as he cried with his head in his hands slumped over next to me on the ground. I had ruined his life.

"I'm sorry," I said getting up to leave him alone. I was stopped by a hand grabbing me back down.

"Are you kidding?" he said turning to look at me. Tears were freely streaming down his face and he could barely speak. His brown eyes were soft and "This is the happiest moment of my life."

"What?"

"Ari, we're going to have a baby," he said crying even harder. He reached out and pulled me close to him kissing the top of my head repeatedly. "I'm going to be a dad," he said with a smile that could melt even the coldest heart.

We sort of just sat there in disbelief for about fifteen minutes before he jumped up with his game-face on.

"Stay here. I'll be back," he said bolting out the door.

I didn't even have time to yell at him to stay with me. I looked out the window to see him hauling ass to his car and speeding away. I was confused, but not worried. Something told me that the father of my unborn baby wouldn't flee town after crying out of happiness. I sat down on the couch and turned on the TV. I was flipping through channels for the millionth time when Alex burst through the door completely out of breath.

"Where did you run off to, you weirdo?" I said giving him a weird look.

"Uh, I'll tell you later," he said throwing his keys on the counter. "Come with me," he said as he walked outside.

"What's going on?" I said becoming quite skeptical of the situation.

"Just come here," he said leading me to the deck. I looked out and the sun was setting. It was a perfect evening in the suburbs.

"Alex, this is nice and all, but-"

"Shut up," he said covering my mouth with his hand. I bit it in return.

"Fine," I said crossing my arms.

"Ari, I want you to know that I'm not doing this because of what we just discovered," he explained.

"Do what?" I interrupted. Alex glared at me.

"I love you so much and I knew that I would be doing this in the near future when you came here this summer," Alex said. His eyes were so sincere, I was getting nervous. "You mean the world to me. But there's something you need to know. You are the only girl I ever loved and, pending your answer, I want to be with you until the day I die," he said getting down on one knee. "Ari, will you spend the rest of your life with me?"

I literally just stood there like a limp ragdoll staring at the rock he hand in his hand. I had dreamed about this moment since I was a little girl.

"Yes," I whispered.

"Yeah?" he said with wide, excited eyes.

"Yes," I said beginning to cry as he slid the ring on my finger. It was his grandmother's ring.

Luckily for us, the tour was delayed a few months because of venue issues. And we got married on Halloween, just as Alex had always wanted.

In the middle of the tour, I gave birth to our baby, a girl named Danielle. My water broke while Alex was on stage. I begged Matt and Danny not to tell him and that I would wait to go to the hospital until after the show, but they did and he practically fainted on stage. Jack carried him off telling the audience something about him being dehydrated. Alex was very private about being married and about me. I don't think any of his fans knew that I was pregnant let alone his girlfriend again. Luckily for him, Travis from We The Kings filled in for Alex that night while I went through a grueling fourteen hour labor. The boys were all waiting in the lounge and all proceeded to cry a little when Alex brought her out to meet them. He was the proudest daddy I'd ever seen.

I returned home after Danielle was born because a tour bus was no place for a baby. Despite the pleas of Alex, I forced him to finish up the tour which only had three weeks left.

"Look, Dani, Daddy's home," I said holding her up to face the window. Alex pulled up in his sedan and ran to the front door. Tears in his eyes, he reached out and cradled his daughter. He took off his snowy shoes and hat and walked into the TV room.

"I love you, wifey," he said kissing me as Danielle slept in his arms.

"And I love you," I replied.

Sitting on the couch with Alex's arm around me while he held our baby, I thought about everything we'd gone through. The pain and the heartbreak were all worth it. My life had begun to piece itself together. And, let me tell you, I couldn't be happier.