Milestones: Commitment

"So, I've been thinking," Michelle said over dinner a few weeks later, "that we should start clearing out the second bedroom upstairs so that it's ready when the baby comes."

"What, now? Babe, we've still got six months to go before the kid is here. We don't have to do anything right now," Brian said, looking at her cautiously. The last thing he needed after a day of work was to set Michelle off due to her moods she'd gotten lately. At least she'd started adjusting to and accepting the idea of having a baby.

"Oh, so you want to wait until after we come back from the hospital with the baby to start working on it? That's completely fine," Michelle said, halfway between sarcasm and annoyance.

"That's not what I meant, Chelle," Brian muttered, looking down at his plate. Michelle let out a sigh and leaned back, groaning.

"I know, Brian. But in two weeks I'm going back to college, so I'm going to be busy commuting to classes and with assignments and won't be able to do much of anything besides eat or piss the entire day. I really want to help with setting the room up, and in a few months, I'm not going to be able to lift anything and I'm going to miss out, and you're going to have to do it all by yourself," she explained, and Brian slowly nodded, chewing his food.

"Alright, I understand. If you want we can start clearing the room out and getting a few things this weekend as a start," he said, glad to see Michelle finally smile at him. Lately he'd say or do just about anything to keep her from yelling or crying.

"Thank you, baby."

"I'm just wondering where all the boxes and shit already in the room are going to g," Brian mumbled. Every room in the house already had what was needed, and no extra room for anything else.

"Well, we can put stuff down in that little entrance at the bottom of the stairs. There's room there." Getting up from the dinner table with her empty plate, Michelle walked around Brian's chair, bending down to kiss his cheek as she passed.

Finishing up as well, Brian followed Michelle into the living room, putting his arm around her as he sat beside her on the couch. "So, how many classes are you taking this semester?" he asked.

"Five."

"...Are you serious? That many?" he asked incredulously.

"Last semester I took six. I'm still a full-time student, Bri. I have to take more than twelve credit hours."

"...Why not just go part-time?" Brian asked, feeling hesitant once again.

"Uhm...because? Are you stupid?" Michelle practically growled.

"Whoa, no need for insults, babe. I didn't think the horrible mood swings would have come so quickly..." Brian sighed, wanting her to just go back to normal as soon as possible.

"Well then don't as dumb questions, Brian. If I only go part-time, it will take forever to finish my degree. I'm already setting back a semester as it is, and I'd really rather not waste anymore time."

"So having my kid now is wasting your time?" Brian asked, knowing he was asking for her to go off on him.

"That's not what I said, Brian, you're twisting my words around," Michelle snapped.

"Oh God," he groaned, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. "Stop being so bitchy and sensitive."

"Then stop being a word-twisting asshole," Michelle shot back. "At least I have a reason to be acting like a bitch."

"So now you're going to use that as an excuse? Great..." Brian mumbled.

"See? I knew having a baby this soon would be bad for us, Brian. Our relationship isn't strong enough yet. But then again, if you hadn't gone and fucked things up, we wouldn't have been apart for a year and a half and we'd be solid by now," Michelle muttered, her voice dipping dangerously low.

"...You had to bring that up, didn't you? I apologized for that months ago, and you've been fine with it since then, so don't start digging up the past, alright? Just... Get over it already."

Scoffing as she looked up at him, leaning away from his touch, Michelle had mixed feelings toward Brian, just like she had when he started to try and get a hold of her after so long. "And what if I don't get over it, Brian? Then what?" she snapped, feeling hurt as she stood and stormed up the stairs, slamming the door to the bedroom shut and throwing herself down on the bed.

Down in the living room, Brian put his face in his hands, sighing deeply. He knew he had just pushed Michelle too far. Her feelings were fragile lately due to her hormones, but he was already sick of walking around on eggshells to make sure he didn't say something wrong. Groaning, Brian stood and headed to the stairs, knowing he had to apologize. Quietly opening the door, he saw Michelle curled up on the bed, her quiet sobs practically echoing off the walls. Seeing that she was holding his pillow to her body, Brian smiled.

"Baby," he said gently, getting up on the bed beside her.

"Go away...," she mumbled, sniffling, and he could see the glassy look in her eyes, tears staining the pillow beneath her head.

"Nuh-uh.... Baby, I'm sorry," he whispered as he lay on his side, facing her. "I know that you can't always control the mood swings, and I shouldn't have drawn out the argument downstairs as far as I did."

Sniffling again, Michelle dared to look into his eyes, seeing his soft gaze. She sighed as Brian wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her to him.

"...You're not really still upset about what happened with us, are you? I mean, I thought we were past that, water under the bridge."

"No, I'm not. I don't even know why I said that..." Michelle said, and Brian slowly grinned.

"Good. Are you gonna come back downstairs or are you just gonna stay here?"

"I'm gonna stay here."

"Okay. I love you, baby," Brian whispered, placing a kiss on Michelle's forehead.

"I love you, too," she replied, letting her lips curl up into a grin. Brian pulled away from her and got off the bed, walking backwards toward the door.

"I'm gonna start emptying out the spare room, alright?" Seeing Michelle nod, he smiled and turned away.

"Brian?" she asked, and he turned to face her again. "I want tacos."

"Tacos? Right now? But...we just ate," Brian said, brow furrowed as he tried to fight a smile.

"Mhm...and peanut butter.... I'm hungry."

"...Separately I hope?" he asked, cringing at the thought of peanut butter-topped tacos. Seeing Michelle crack a smile as she nodded, he chuckled. "Okay good, because that would have been gross. I'll head down to Taco Bell and be back in a couple minutes then," he said, blowing a kiss to Michelle, who smiled at how cheesy he was.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Walking back to her car in the commuter lot after her final class of the evening got out, Michelle heard her name being called out. Stopping, she looked to her sides, not seeing anyone she knew that would be calling for her.

"Michelle!" she heard again, and she turned once she realized how familiar the voice was. Smiling, she saw Brianna heading briskly toward her, smile matching her own. Once they had reached each other, the two friends hugged lightly, holding the embrace for a moment before pulling away, still all smiles.

"Jeez, I haven't heard from you all summer, and then I find out we're not rooming together after I specifically requested it," Brianna said, and the two began to walk slowly in the direction Michelle had been going previously. "So how have you been?"

"Good, I guess. Really busy lately, that's for sure."

"Yeah, tell me about it - these junior level classes bite. So where are you roomed anyway? Please tell me you didn't get one of those really good on-campus apartments so I don't have to be jealous of you," Brianna said, lightly giggling.

"I'm not living on campus. I'm commuting from HB. Brian and I have an apartment back home," Michelle explained.

"Awh, you and Brian got back together?! That's great!" Brianna gushed.

"Yeah...we've been fighting a bit lately though, because someone is pregnant and has horrible mood swings," Michelle said, knowing her best friend would catch what she said.

"I'm going to take a wild guess that Brian is not pregnant, because it'd be too weird and impossible if he was. Congratulations, sweetie!" Brianna said with a smile, pulling Michelle into a sideways embrace as they headed toward Michelle's car.

"Yeah...I'm still a bit iffy about what having a baby will do to our relationship though. It was completely unexpected," Michelle mumbled.

"I'm sure things will turn out just fine. If you and Brian can salvage a relationship that was dead for over a year, you can probably do anything. But I have to get back.... I've got another class in ten," Brianna said, engulfing Michelle in a hug one last time as they reached her car.

"Okay. Maybe sometime you can come down to my place. It's been too long, and even then it was only a few months," Michelle said, and Brianna nodded before saying goodbye and heading back to class.

Once Michelle had driven all the way back to Huntington Beach, it was well past dinner time and Brian was sat out on the porch steps as he smoked a cigarette. Stepping out of the car, Michelle didn't go any closer.

"...What?" Brian asked, blowing out the smoke from his last drag.

"I haven't had a cigarette in almost two months, and if I come over there I know I'm going to steal that from you," Michelle said, keeping her distance. She had done very well not smoking or drinking, and the alcohol she could live without. Cigarettes, on the other hand, were a harder demon to fight.

Nodding as he understood, Brian took one last drag and crushed the half-finished cigarette under his foot and stood up as Michelle walked over to him, pulling her into a hug as he exhaled above her head.

"I'm hungry," he said, before pulling away and kissing her quickly.

"Why didn't you make anything?" Michelle asked, and Brian rolled his eyes.

"Pfft...I don't cook," he said. "Especially not after working twice as hard today, cuz we're starting the recording process for the next album now. And we already know I can't quit my job, because if we do, we're broke," Brian rebutted.

"Alright, alright. I'll go make your dinner," Michelle said with a sigh, smiling as she kissed him once more before dragging him inside.