Zero looked at them and smiled some at the baby. "I think he has your eyes." he said with a small grin.
Courtney grinned as she gazed up at him before looking at the baby once more. "I suppose that he does. But we won't be sure until he's a little older. His eyes will most likely change when he's a couple months old."
"You did some research it sounds like" he said to her and stroked her hair gently and looked in at their baby boy. "It's amazing" he said and blinked. "he's trying to smile.." the baby was trying to as his tiny hands held onto his mommy's fingers. and was very seriously trying to suckle on them.
She blushed as she nodded and smiled sheepishly up at him. "Yes, I did." she said gently. Courtney giggled softly as he held onto her finger and tried to suckle on them, her eyes glittering brightly as she watched their child. "I wish that I could feed him myself." she whispered.
"I think he wants you to as well." Zero said. "Did you think of a name for him?" he asked. the baby would just settle for hugging her hand instead. seeming to enjoy the warmth of her skin
She shook her head with a soft sigh. "No, not yet. I... I actually wanted to wait for you. He is your son as well." she told him while caressing the babies cheek with her fingers.
He blushed some and hugged her from the side gently. "I'll have to think about it." he said and looked at the baby. the boy nuzzled against his mother's fingers and whined a bit, wanting to be held by her.
She nodded slightly with a small smile. "That's fine." she said softly as the baby nuzzled against her fingers. She heard him whine and felt a lump rise in her throat and tears start to fill her eyes. "I want to hold him Zero." she said, her voice filled with emotion.
"I know courtney. he wants you to hold you too" He said. "But it seems like the nurses won't allow it just yet." zero said. The baby just cuddled to her warmth and dozed off again
Courtney watched him fall asleep and stroked his cheek again before slowly pulling her hand back and out of the incubator. "I hope they allow my too soon." she said to him. "I can't stand not being able to hold him."
"Indeed..." Zero said and blinked. "Looks like they're saying we have to go... but we can come back tomorrow" He said with a sigh. "what's up with the wheelchair? can't walk anymore for a bit?"
She looked down at the wheel chair she was sitting in and laughed softly before shaking her head. "I'm still a little weak from yesterday and the nurses said that as long as I'm a patient here, I'm not allowed to walk." she said and rolled her eyes with a sigh. "So, think you can wheel me out of here?"
"Sure" he said and did just that, wheeling her out of the maternity ward to check her out. The nurses asking him questions about their relationship a few looking snotty about it, calling him "baby daddy" and nothing else. But he didn't say anything and wheeled her to reception. "I'm going to sign my fiance out now" he said to the receptionist and gave courtney a wink and a glance saying to play along to avoid issues.
Courtney heard the nurses talk to Zero and bit the inside of her cheek whenever they got snotty about things, choosing to remain silent as he wheeled her to the reception desk and she smiled a little at the nurses there. When he called her his fiance, she looked up at him with a small smile. noticing that the nurse began craning her neck to look at her hand, Courtney quickly switched an old ring that she got for her sixteenth birthday over to her left hand before the woman saw.
The nurse saw it and perked a brow and shook her head. "You kids do that so young." she said and nodded. "alright then..." she said. "can you walk miss?" she asked nicely.
"Young love." she said to him with a soft chuckle. "We know we're young but we wouldn't want it any other way." She reached up and grasped Zero's hand gently before nodding. "Yes, I believe so." she told the woman before slowly standing up. there was a twinge of pain in her stomach but nothing too bad.
he helped her up gently and let her lean on him if she needed to and signed out before helping her out of the building. "You ok?" he whispered to her noticing her wince some as they got to the car. He'd get the passenger side door for her of course. "are you hungry?"
She wrapped her arm around his waist with a small smile and she nodded slightly. "Yes, I'm fine." she said gently. "Just a slight cramp. That's all." She slowly sat down in the car and leaned back, glancing out the window until he got in. "I'm starving. The food they have here sucks."
"What do you feel like getting" he asked her with a smile as he got into the driver's side and started it up
She became silent as she thought before shrugging slightly. "How about some burger king?" she asked with a grin. "I'm hungry for some really good french fries."
He laughed. "alright" he said and pulled out of the lot slowly to look for one, the one nearby had closed down last month and they'd have to find anothe rone.
She blushed a little and giggled as he pulled out of the parking lot. "If you don't mind going about twenty minutes out of the way, I know of where one is." she said to him.
"Hey more time with you is time well-spent." he said to her and nodded. "which way?"
"Head all the way out to where the old high school is." she said to him as she smoothed out her shirt. She was wearing a pair of her maternity pants and shirt which were now really baggy on her body.
"The old high school?" He asked and headed in that direction through the stoplights and all before getting there and got into the line up for the drive through. "And I bet you want some new clothes too" he chuckled some.
She nodded as she ran her fingers through her hair, trying to get the knots out the best that she could. "Yeah, the old high school. They had built one near there a couple years ago." she said to him. "And I'm fine with what I'm wearing. I'll just snag some of your clothes when we get back to the house." she said gently.
"No need, I snagged a couple of yours while I was there earlier." he said to her and chuckled some as they waited in line to get up and soon were allowed to make their orders. "go for it courtney it's on me" he smiled at her.
"Thanks Zero." she said gently. She looked up at the menu as her stomach growled before ordering a double cheeseburger with a side salad and a shake.
He'd get a whopper meal and would pull into the parking lot to chill out and eat with a better view and smell. "I thought of a name for our little guy" he said.
She held her salad in her lap as she unwrapped her burger and took a bite. When he mentioned a name for their son, she looked up and swallowed the mouth full of food. "Yeah? What is it?" she asked gently.
"how's Rion for a given name?" he asked her and took a hard slurp of chocolate shake and made a face on how hard it was to get through a straw and produced a spoon from the bag.
The young woman gave a soft snort of amusement before shaking her head with a chuckle when she saw the face he mad. "Rion." she said softly, trying it out before she smiled over at him and nodded. "I like it." she said gently.
He perked a brow at her and shook his head and just spooned out some of the soft serve ice cream. "I'll be right back... this is stupid." he said and got out and hurried into the fast food join then came back with a large iced tea and snickered. "better. I wanted a shake but got soft serve ice cream instead oh well." he said and smiled. "I bet he'll be happy to see you tomorrow" he said.
she watched him go back into the restraunt and return with the tea, laughing as she gazed at him. "I got a shake as well. But I think I'll stick with it." she told him after he returned and she finished her burger with a smile.
He chuckled a bit and winked at her. "It looks like they gave you a better shake." he said to her and smiled some more. He'd finish up a bit more before turning the car over and on to head back. "I managed to get a house for the three of us these last few months by dipping into a trust." he said as he headed for it. "It'snothing much but it' shomely I suppose" he said.
"As long as there's enough room for us to have a bedroom and for Rion to have a nursery, I'm happy." she said softly. "We'll have to set up the nursery soon though. Neither of us were expecting him to be born for another couple of weeks." She picked up her salad and took a bite as he drove.
"I know" he said. "But I took the time to set it up while you weren't talking to me." he grinned at her and drove on out to a good neighborhood with a public park just down the street and pulled up to a taupe vinyl house with a garage and pulled into the driveway. "It's not much but it's home." he said and got out and got the door for her as well and promptly helped her out in case she was feeling bad still. Once inside it was set up in a basic style but felt lived in and comfortable. It had a foyer with a screened in front porch with 3 bedroom 2 bath house with all the amenities. He'd already set things up for his spartan tastes and gave her the grand tour showing her the garage room down a a couple stairs that connected to a bathroom with a shower stall and through another door into a small concrete floored area and past another door into another bedroom, this one empty. And then showed her the master bedroom where he'd set up a queen sized bed, TV, all that and pushed a curtain off to the side that lead into a smaller room converted from a walk in closet with the nursery. "how's all this?" he asked when they got back to the living room and sat the bar that divided the kitchen and living room
She slowly got out of the car with his help and walked up to the front door with him at her side. While it wasn't anywhere near as big as her parents house, it was comfortable feeling and cozy. As he showed her around, she smiled gently and took everything in. once they got back to the living room, she sat down next to him at the bar, smiling up at him. "I love it. It's not rediculously grand like my parents place but it's cozy."
"Well sometimes grand is just...too much." he said. "So just what did your mom tell you?" Zero asked her as he ate a couple fries. "I imagine it wasnt' too nice but I figure I shoudl at least hear it" he said. "I mean I think I'll need to know what she said to you and bust her ass for it later" he said. "not directly mind you, but by making you deliriously happy to the point she's jealous of you." he sniggered. "and prove money isn't everything"
She looked down at the last of her food as she munched on it. All she had left were a couple of fries and her shake. She had finished her salad in the car. "Well, she pretty much yelled at me about being a fuck up and an embarassment to her because I had to go into labor early and arrive at the hospital that she works at. Saying that she didn't want anyone to know that her daughter had a bastard of a child before I was even nineteen years of age." she said before shaking her head with a sigh. "Things like that. I can't remember what else that she said, but I know that it couldn't of been much worse then that."
"Yeah well I hate to say it but your..our son has a much nicer mom than his mom did. if that makes sense' he winked at her. "Maybe we should bar her from seeing the tot after we leave the hospital with him?" he suggested. "She didn't care for me and doesn't know where I live now and well.." he blushed. "I was going to ask you if you'd marry me when our son was born... but that plan got screwed up" he said. "I don't even havea ring fo ryou unless you want onion ring." he chuckled
She listened to him speak and she nodded, liking the idea of keeping her mother from seeing their son. "I like that idea. After what she's done, I don't want her to have any part in our sons life. I'd rather him not have any grandmothers, then have one grandmother that is a total bitch and wanted him dead." She looked down at her hand where her sweetsixteen ring was resting and switched it back onto her right hand. "I'll take an onion ring for now." she said with a laugh. "You can get me a ring later."
he laughed a bit and handed her an onion ring he had jokingly.
She laughed again and took the onion ring and placed it on her finger for a moment. "It's beautiful." she said with a snicker before taking a bite out of it. "And tastey." Leaning forward a little, she softly kissed him with a smile.
"you're right thought... if my own dad didn't ever look for me, even after my mom died then... " he said, sounding sad as if he wsa realizing just how alone he really was in the world. he had no family connection other than the huge trust fund his grandparents, rion's great grandparents, had created for him and the inheritence converted into cash and added to it. "My...whole family up to this point is dead or doesn't know I exist..." he said after she kissed him and smiled again. "I love you courtney, even if I was forced to cheat and hurt you. You're the only girl I've ever loved..." he blushed.
Courtney reached up and ran her fingers over his cheek while gazing up at him. "But that's where you're wrong Zero. Not all of your family is dead. You have me and Rion now. And maybe when we're a little older another child." she said softly before blushing as well when he told her that he loved her and she smiled gently. "I loved you and as upset I am over what you were forced to do, I still do and always will."
He pulled her close and kissed her rather passionately and pulled her onto his lap and embraced her quite protectively.
She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him back just as passionately, letting him move her from her seat to his lap where she leaned against him and curled up against his chest with a sigh.
A couple days later, Zero and Courtney would be visiting thier son again. The baby seemed to have grown a bit more and looked stronger and ...was whining quitel oudly until he somehow sensed or saw his parents coming in and cooed, reaching toward Courtney from the little bassinet they'd moved the tyke too.
Courtney was nearly bouncing with excitement when they visited Rion. when she saw him in the nicu, she rushed forward and smiled down at the baby, smiling and waving a little before reaching in and gently grasping his hand.
Rion smiled at her and actively held onto her hand and nuzzled to it and cooed at her, waving his tiny hands at her. The nurse watching smiled. "he's been deemed fit to go home... it's surprising but he's been growing steadily and is almost the size he should be." she said fondly.
Courtney looked up at the nurse and grinned when she told her that Rion could go home. "Really?" she said softly before looking over at Zero with a smile. "Do we have the babyseat in the car?" she asked him while gently grasping Rions hand.
Zero smirked. "Do you honestly think I'd come here without one? it's in the trunk." He said to her. The nurse would ask her to back off some and would move Rion to a proper nursery where they could finally pick up their baby. Rion was tiny but very healthy and seemed overjoyed by being out of that container and and squirmed a bit giggling.
She blushed as she moved back from the baby and watched her move Rion to the nursery and she followed the woman. After reaching the nursery, she reached out and gently took Rion from the nurse with a smile, cradling him to her chest and kissing him on the forehead.
He giggled and hugged her with his tiny hands and cooed at her, smiling at her and squealed, flailing some. Zero laughed and came up beside her making the baby draw back some and clutch to Courtney for a moment. He didn't imprint on zero because he wasn't there when he was born.
She softly spoke to him as she played with his hand. "Hi." she whispered to him as she kissed his hand. When Zero stepped up beside her and she saw the babe shy away. "Shh. It's okay. Rion, this is your daddy." she said softly.
Rion looked up at her then cuddled to her affectionately before Zero looked. "hmm here, let me hold him a bit. that'll reassure him that I'm his daddy" he said.
Courtney nodded and gently passed Rion over to Zero with a small smile, carefully positioning the baby in his arms before stepping back a little.
Zero accepted the baby from her and held him carefully and let him get a good look at him and had to deal with having tiny hands on his face as if the baby were trying to identify him. But then in a few moments the baby giggled and hugged him when he recognized him as his daddy.
Courtney sat on a blanket in the park, her long auburn hair pulled back into a pony tail and the long reddish-brown locks of her bangs fluttering around her face in the breeze as she watched Rion move around, laughing softly. He was still a little unsteady but he was getting the hang of walking. over the past year and a half, Courtney had lost most of her chubbiness from being pregnant and she had actually gotten a little skinnier and more fit from running around after her son.
Zero was sitting next to her keeping an eye on Rion as the little boy was trying to scoot around but would topple over into the grass and laughed and got up tot ry it again. And ended up chasing after a butterfly but was staying within his parent's sight. The small family was well liked and had made a couple friends with the neighbors that lived around them. "haha most kids cry when they fall down but he laughs and gets back up. how remarkable."
She nodded with a soft laugh while watching their son, her eyes glimmering brightly in the son. "It means he's a strong boy." she says with a grin. "He takes after his father." She looked over at him and grinned, reaching over to gently hold his hand.
"But I think that he'll probably get a few more things from you." He said and squeezed her hand gently, the wedding rings gleaming in the sunshine. The park was pretty open without much brush so they could keep an easy eye on him, it wasn't a play park but more like "central park" really. Sure there was a play area for kids but it was fairly large and open ground. Rion would soon seem to tire and sat down in the grass and laughed as the butterfly landed on his nose and made him sneeze.
"Oh Zero. I'm so happy you chose this area for us to live." she said before looking down at her wedding ring that glimmered in the light of the sun, the small gold band resting next to her simple engagement ring. Looking up again, she looked at her son and frowned. "Zero, who's that woman?" she asked, shielding her eyes as she tried to make out the features of the woman that was kneeling next to their son, talking to him.
Rion would get up and began to cry and ran as fast as his little legs couuld carry him back over, reaching out for her calling "mommy!" in a scared tone of voice. Zero would immediately get up and look over in that directioni as Rion got to Courtney and hugged onto her tightly. Zero was dressed in a dark blue sleeveless tanktop and black jeans with brown boots, carrying a .45 cal pistol in a thigh holster, clipped and on safety having gotten a concealed weapons permit 6 months ago after a rash of reported break-ins nearby.
Courtney gasped softly as he got up and ran towards her crying and she was instantly on her feet. taking several steps forward, she swept Rion up into her arms and hugged him tight while whispering soothing words to him. Taking several steps back, she moved slightly behind Zero as the woman approached them and once she was close enough, they would be able to recognize her as Courtneys mother and she glared at the older woman.