It Wasn't Meant To Turn Out Like This

When Val, Gena, Leana, and Lacey arrived at the house Brian and Mayza shared, neither of them appeared to be inside the house. They filed out into the backyard to find Brian standing underneath the huge tree in the back left corner of his backyard. He appeared to be looking up at something in the tree. The four ladies advanced towards him, wondering where Mayza was. They planned to help Mayza begin planning the wedding, even though it was a long way down the road, and the baby shower.

As they neared Brian, he looked over his shoulder at them. He appeared exasperated. They followed his gaze as he looked back up into the tree and were shocked to see Mayza sitting up on one of the high limbs. Even from the distance, they could see that she was crying.

“Baby, I—” Brian tried, but he was cut off by a sob from Mayza.

“You called me fat!” Mayza cried, her musical voice floating down to them from out of the tree.

Brian sighed. “I didn’t call you fat! I said you were getting a baby bump. It’s cute!”

“Do you know how far along I am?” Mayza snapped.

“Three weeks...” Brian answered.

“No! I’m two weeks and four days along!” Mayza growled. “There’s a fucking difference! And I’m already starting to get FAT!”

“Mayza, fat to you is like 83 pounds! If you don’t come down now, I’m leaving and you won’t get a goodbye or anything from me when I do!” Brian replied.

Mayza made no moves to come down out of the tree. Brian turned around and started walking briskly towards the house, passing by the ladies as he did so. They watched the situation unfold, caught between amusement and anxiety. The four ladies looked back around at Mayza to see her slip off of the branch. Her wings snapped open about halfway down out of the tree, shimmering in the sunlight, and they slowed her momentum enough that she landed gently on the grass.

Mayza walked towards them, her crying done but the remnants of tears still on her cheeks. Brian turned around and opened his arms. As Mayza passed by them, each woman saw the pronounced baby bump protruding out from underneath Mayza’s shirt. Mayza walked into Brian’s open arms, wiping her tears on his t-shirt.

“I hate you,” Mayza muttered into the cloth of his shirt.

“I love you too, Mayza. Have a good time. Don’t kill anyone. Don’t blow up the house. Please keep the neighborhood intact,” Brian replied. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head before pulling away from her and heading back into the house to leave.

Mayza watched Brian disappear inside the house. She felt like calling out a quick apology, but by the time she worked the words onto her lips, Brian was gone and the apology would be an unheard waste. He wouldn’t take it to heart; she’d been like this for the past few days. Her ruffled feathers settled, and she took a deep breath before turning to face the ladies grouped behind her.

They stared curiously at her, silently demanding an explanation for what they just witnessed.

“Dr. Wright, our obstetrician, said I would probably have all the same side effects of pregnancy, only in the extreme,” Mayza explained calmly. “So far, I’ve only had unpredictable and often extreme mood swings and the occasional morning sickness. So if I get very angry or sad or extremely jubilant rapidly, just don’t get in my way and everything should be okay.”

All the ladies nodded and Mayza led the way back into the house.

!!!!!

Barely five minutes after Mayza said goodbye to the ladies at the front door, Brian stepped into the house. He sank down onto the couch beside Mayza, his hand resting gently on her knee.

“I’m sorry about earlier,” Mayza said quietly, resting her hand over Brian’s. He flipped his hand over, lacing their fingers together.

“Don’t be,” Brian answered, reaching over with his free hand to rest his hand on her stomach. “It’ll be worth it in the end. So, how did it go?” Brian quickly changed the subject, deciding it best not to linger.

“Well, I got very pissed off at Leana at one point because she didn’t think the time I chose for the baby shower was a good time,” Mayza began. “I was about three seconds away from using some intense fairy magic on her. Three separate times I broke down into tears at the slightest provocation. And on two separate occasions, I became spontaneously very lively and hyper and very creepily so.”

Brian laughed as he released Mayza’s hand and wrapped his arm across her shoulders. “Better them than me.”

He grabbed the remote from the coffee table and switched the TV on as Mayza cuddled into his side, resting her head on his chest.