Lightning in a Bottle

“Babe, what can I do? Tell me how I can help,” Niall pleaded as he crawled onto the bed and spooned behind me.

Truth be told, I wish he could do something to help me. I was 4 months pregnant and miserable. For one, I was way bigger than I expected to be at four months. I mean, I know everyone’s body is different, especially while pregnant, but from what I’ve found on Google, I looked closer to 6 months than a measly 4. Plus I always felt queasy. I sighed as I pulled my knees up a little more around my protruding stomach. “There’s nothing you can do Ni. Your baby is having way too much fun making me feel like crap.

“My baby,” he didn’t chuckle, but I could hear it in his voice he wanted too. He muzzled my neck and his hand came over my side to rest on my baby bump. “Do you want any sprite or something?”

I shook my head into the pillow, “No. I just wanna lay here for a little bit and not move at all.”

He kissed the corner of my jaw that he could reach. “Can I lay with you?”

I moved my hand down to his over my stomach and slotted my fingers through his, “Yes.”

“I know you feel like shit right now, but it won’t last forever,” he promised. “Everything online says morning sickness only lasts until week 20 at the latest, so only another month.” I groaned in response. “I know babe, but I’m here okay?”

I sighed. I know he was trying to help but all he had were words. I know he was with me physically but really, I was the one pregnant and it was my body that was going through these changes and it was me that threw up all the time. “When I go to my check up tomorrow I’m gonna see if there’s anything more I can do,” I grumbled pathetically. “Because I’m starving but the thought of food makes me want to hurl. Plus I’m massive.”

“You’re not massive babe, you’re pregnant.”

“Thanks, I had no idea,” I shot. “I mean, I’m bigger than the average 4 month pregnant woman. Remember when El was pregnant? She had a tiny bump at this point.”

“Everyone’s bodies are different though, love.”

“I know, but I’m just,” I sighed, “Annoyed with everything.”

“Just think of the outcome. Once all this is over we’ll have our own little cubby baby in the world.”

I smiled slightly at the image that filtered across my closed eyes. As miserable as I was, I couldn’t wait to have this baby. “What do you think it is?” We’ve had this conversation countless times, but neither one of us got tired of talking about it. We’ve been able to find out the sex of the baby for a month now, but I missed last month’s appointment to go to the states with Niall and the rest of One Direction. Niall was nervous about me missing, but I’d been in constant contact with my doctor and she assured me all would be fine, as long as I didn’t feel like anything was wrong. I felt I knew my body well enough to trust my instincts, but I wasn’t planning on missing anymore appointments. Plus, I liked seeing the little one on the ultrasound machine to see how he or she was growing.

His thumb slowly rubbed against my stomach, “I don’t know, I’ll be happy either way. Do you think we should find out tomorrow, or keep it a surprise?”

“I don’t know. Part of me wants to know really bad, but the other wants to keep it a surprise.”

“I’m not gonna lie to you babe, the suspense is killing me.”

I hummed in agreement, “Well let’s see how we feel when we get there tomorrow.”

“We should try and nail down some names.”

I huffed, “It’s too hard! The responsibility of naming someone is almost harder than raising someone I think.” We’ve been debating back and forth over names since I found out I was pregnant. We’ve narrowed down a few but haven’t picked anything set in stone. We liked to bicker over Irish or Italian names, and neither of us wanted to back down. “Plus, we can’t agree on anything.”

“That’s not true, you said you liked ‘Cieran’ for a boy!”

“Okay, so I did agree I liked that Irish name but you still refuse to admit you like any Italian names.”

“Well if you gave any that were worth liking, I would.”

I smacked his hand, “Don’t be an ass.”

“What if for a boy, we named them Cieran, and then gave them an Italian middle name.”

I hummed thinking it over, “Maybe. We still have time to think though.”

He burrowed if face into my neck more, “We could have the middle name be Nicholas,” he whispered. “After your dad.”

I pulled his arm tighter around me as I cuddled against him, “I’d like that.”

“Soooooo, Cieran Nicholas Horan?”

“I don’t know. We’ll see.”

He huffed lightly, “Well we only have a few months to decide.”

“I know.”

“What if it’s a girl?”

I slowly rolled over to face him, threading my leg through his. “You already know the name I want if it’s a girl.”

He gave me a stern look like every time I bring it up, “We’re not naming our daughter after a groupie.”

“Excuse you, they aren’t groupies! They’re BandAids! They’re there for the music!”

He rolled his eyes, “Same difference, I’ve seen Almost Famous you know.”

I glared at him, “Then don’t think of it like that. Think of it as we’d be naming our daughter after a Beatles song.” He didn’t look any more convinced. “It’s a really cute name Niall, admit it.”

He sighed, “You really want to name our daughter Penny Lane Horan?”

I shook my head, “No, I want her first name to be PennyLane. Like ‘Leigh-Ann’ but without the hyphen.”

“PennyLane?”

“We can call her Penny for short,” I said. “You can choose her middle name!”

He rubbed the side of his face, “I can’t believe you’re convincing me to name out child after a groupie.”

“BandAid!”

“If we have a daughter, and I let you name her PennyLane, then I want complete control at what we name our second.”

I raised an eyebrow, “We’re having a second?”

“I’d like to have more than two, but I’d settle for just two,” he shrugged innocently.

I stared him down for a long quiet moment. “Fine,” I huffed. “If you let me name our daughter PennyLane, then you can name our second, whenever we have another.”

A massive shit eating grin crossed his face, “No take backs!” he announced. “I liked the name PennyLane anyway.”

I smacked his chest, “You cheated! You can’t do that!”

“You never said I couldn’t!”

“You’re such a twat Niall!”

He laughed at my reaction, “Yeah, and you’ve known this since the moment you met me.”

I glared at him, “We’re still not settled on a boy’s name. And no, you don’t get free reign.”

He shrugged, “That’s fine, but I get it on kid number two!”

“I hate you,” I said as I buried my face in his chest.

“You’re actions say something completely different baby,” he chuckled as his arms pulled me against him. Well, as much against him as my stomach would allow.

“Whatever. I love you, but you’re an ass.”

“I love you too,” I could hear the smile in his voice.

“Now I’m taking a nap.”

“And using me as a pillow?”

I nodded, “Yeah, because you’re a jerk.”

His hand threaded into my hair and started massaging my scalp, “Okay love.”

*****

Yeah, she was mad. At what, I wasn’t exactly sure but from how quiet she was on the drive home, I knew she was fuming.

Plus, she tried to slam the door in my face on the way into the house. “Babe,” I whined as I blocked the door from closing on me. “What’s wrong with you?” She just scoffed as she dropped her purse by the door and charged up the stairs as fast as she could while pregnant. I stood in the entry way as I watched her disappear upstairs and sighed heavily. I thought she’d be ecstatic after the doctor’s appointment, but clearly I was wrong. I don’t understand pregnant women and their mood swings, and I probably never will.

After standing there a moment contemplating my next move, I finally jogged up the stairs to find her. “Ayden,” I called to her as I slowly walked into our room. She was pacing across the room staring at the floor. “Baby, relax, whatever you’re stressed about isn’t good for the-”

“Oh shut up, Niall!”

“What? What I do- whoa!” I managed to duck right in time before a magazine hit me right in the face. It smacked loudly against the wall behind me before crumbling to the floor. “Oi, what was that for?”

“You know what it was for!”

“No I don’t! What’s wrong, I thought you’d be happy!”

“Happy?” she shirked. “You’re fucking super sperm put two babies in me, and you thought I’d be happy?!”

I couldn’t help wanting to laugh at her insanity. She was losing it, and I knew if I actually laughed she’d rip my balls off so I bit my lip really hard to hold it in. “Well, technically, twins all happen with the egg so it’s not really my fault-” I had to duck out of the way of the book she hurled from the nightstand at me. “Ayden!” I whined, “Stop throwing things at me! I’m sorry okay!”

I guess I should have seen her reaction coming. When the ultrasound surprised everyone with two heartbeats, we were all stunned, Ayden especially. I don’t think she had uttered a word since we found out. The doctor said the reason we didn’t find out sooner was because one of the babies may have been hiding behind another and had a fainter heartbeat in the beginning. “Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Horan! You’re having twins!” the ultrasound technician announced.

“Jesus!” was my first reaction.

“What?” Ayden had whispered. “Twins? Two?”

“Two,” the technician confirmed. She continued to roll the wand around on Ayden’s stomach as her eyes, and ours, were glued to the screen. “I can’t get a good view of them to see what sex they are though. The baby in the front is blocking the view of the bottom half of the other and its hands are down in the way. Usually that may mean it’s a boy,” she smirked at us, “Boys in the womb like to play with themselves sometimes. But I can’t say anything for certain.”

“Well babe, that explains why you’re bigger than the average 4 month,” I cheered. I was ecstatic. Ayden was still in stunned silence staring at the screen.

I was confused before but now, as I stared at her angry face, I knew why. “You’re not happy?” I tried to ignore the stab in my chest.

Her shoulders slumped at my words, “No, I mean- yeah I’m happy but… Two babies Niall? Two?! I’m not ready for two! One baby was going to be stressful enough, but two?! I- I-” She started to hyperventilate and I rushed to her side.

“Baby, baby calm down.” I grabbed her shoulders and guided to down to sit on the bed. “You need to breathe slowly. Okay? Relax.”

She sat down but smacked my hands away from her, “I can’t relax! We’re having twins! We need another crib! We need more baby stuff, we need-”

“Ayden,” I cut her off. “Slow down!” I kneeled in front of her because I needed her to look at me, but didn’t want to touch her in case she shoved me off again. “You’re only 4 months along, we have plenty of time to get everything ready. We can do this, but I need you to calm down.”

Her bottom lip wobbled in the way it did before she started crying, and it broke my heart. “How are we gonna do this Niall?”

I shrugged because I didn’t know how, but I knew we’d be fine. “We’ll figure it out, baby. It’ll be more work, yeah, but we can do it.”

“Oh god, I’m gonna have to push two babies out of my vagina!” I winced before I could stop myself. “I saw that,” she glared.

“Sorry I didn’t mean to make a face. But think of it as, you’ll get two babies for the price of one! Yeah you’ve have to push both out, but you’re only pregnant once, not twice!”

She glared down at me, “You’re so optimistic, aren’t you.”

I let my hands push up her thighs, “You know it. Now, will you please try to relax, so you can be excited about this with me?”

She slumped forward and wrapped her arms around my neck. She pouted as she dropped her forehead to mine, “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I am excited, I’m just overwhelmed.”

As she pulled me close I wrapped my arms around her waist to hold her to me. I angled my face to press a short kiss to her lips, and she let me. “We’re gonna be fine. We may not have planned for this, but this is amazing. I rubbed one of my hands on the side of her baby bump. “There are two miracles in there Ayd. It’s gonna be crazy and probably stressful at times, I know that. And I’m a little scared too, I was scared before! But I’m more than excited and I’m ready to be a dad, and I’m ready to see you be a mother and this is going to be great!” I encouraged.

She pulled me even closer and buried her face in my neck, “I’m sorry I’m being mental.”

“It’s okay, it’s what I love about you.”

She kissed my neck softly. Little things like that that she did still made my stomach clench. “I love you. So much, I don’t know what I’d do without you.” Her lips were running against my skin as she spoke softly. “I am excited though. I promise. I just need a minute to get used to this surprise.”

“I love you too.” I rubbed my hands up her sides and her back slowly, trying to be a comfort. “I understand. I’m here for you, we’ll adapt and it’ll be great!”

She hummed contently into my neck as I continued to rub my hands all over her. After a long quiet moment, she finally spoke. “You know how my emotions are all over the place because my hormones are insane right now?”

I chuckled softly, “Yes, I’m aware of that.”

She huffed, “Well I’m actually really horny right now.”

I couldn’t help the big laugh that escaped me, “That’s romantic baby.”

She pushed away from me and gave me an adorable pout, “Well I’m not nauseous or tired and you smell really good.” She sighed, “I know this isn’t the great lead up we usually have but can we get naked?”

I smirked, “You want me to make you feel good babe?”

“God yes,” she groaned. “Please.”

I laughed, “I really don’t need that much convincing.”

“Thank god for that!”

I smirked, “Lay back, and I’ll make my girl feel good.”

Her eyes dilated the way they always did when she got really turned on. “You gonna eat me out Horan?” she smirked.

“So crude,” I snorted a laugh as I hooked my fingers around the waistband of her leggings. “Now lay down babe.”

“Don’t you wanna get off?” I heard the smile in her voice as she laid back.

I kissed her hip bones as I pulled her leggings off. “I’ll just put it on your tab.”

“You got a blowjob tab now? Noted.”

“You know, for someone who’s horny, you’re sure taking the mood in another direction.”

“Sorry, sorry. Okay,” she cleared her throat, “Service me Popstar.”

God I loved her.