a new adventure :: nils

Paisley stood in front of the mirror in the bedroom she and Nils shared. She tilted her head from one side to the other, staring at her body and running her hand over the bare skin of her stomach. Somewhere in there, floating around, tiny as an almond or a blueberry, was a baby.

Paisley already loved whoever it was, despite the sudden shock of pregnancy. She and Nils had always been careful with birth control after the birth of Poppy--it wasn't that they had been against the idea of having more kids, but it just never seemed like the right time. And now they were both in their forties, baby making age had come and gone. Or so they'd thought.

Her stomach held the secret well. A few long-ago earned stretchmarks snaked across her tanned skin, but it was lean as ever, a product of her constant hiking in the jungles of her home. But there was a baby in there, the doctor had confirmed after she'd gone to her office complaining of a stomach flu.

A baby.

Paisley pulled her shirt down, smiled at herself once more in the mirror, and then went to find her husband. She found him in his study, reading over something he'd written. Paisley wondered if it was a new story he was working on, or if it was something for the paper. She watched him for a few moments--she loved watching Nils work--before clearing her throat softly. He looked up at her and she offered him a wide smile.

"Hi there, handsome."

Nils was hard at work, looking over a story he'd done about the latest controversy in Stonecraft City. He frowned slightly--the story was all there, but it just wasn't flowing right. He never submitted a story until he was 100% satisfied with it, which usually took several edits. He looked up when he heard Paisley clear her throat from behind him.

He looked up and smiled. "Beautiful," he greeted back, getting up and walking over to give his wife a kiss. All these years later and he was still as in love with her as ever. "How are you feeling?" He knew Paisley had just been to the doctor for a stomach bug she'd hadn't been able to shake.

Paisley gave a half-laugh. "Oh, better than you'd think," she told him lightly. She took his hand and led him back to the chair he'd been sitting in moments before. She pressed softly on his shoulder to get him to sit, and when he presumably did, she sat in his lap.

"I thought you should be sitting down for the news," she said in amusement. "But apparently the doctor thinks we have a little house guest." She picked Nils' hand up and placed it on her belly. "Surprise!"

A bit perplexed, Nils allowed Paisley to lead him back to the chair and sit him down, before she climbed up into his lap. Normally a doctor visit followed by a 'you should be sitting down' announcement would be cause for worry, but Paisley seemed pretty carefree about whatever it was.

A little house guest? Nils had absolutely no idea what that meant, until Paisley took his hand and placed it on her belly.

"Oh," he said, when he realized what she meant. Then he realized what she meant and his eyes widened in shock. "Wait. What? A baby?"

Nils and Paisley had finished having their babies fifteen years ago, with the arrival Poppy. Or so they had thought all these years.

Paisley got an apologetic smile on her face and lifted her shoulders in an "oops" sort of way. "Apparently we are gonna hear the pitter patter of little feetses sometime early next year."

She lifted a hand to Nils' forehead, and felt it. "Now you look like the one who is sick," she said. "And here I thought the one we would have to worry about taking it badly was Poppy."

"Oh no, I'm just surprised!" Nils said very quickly. He didn't want Paisley to think he was reacting badly, or that he was unhappy about the baby. Though the shock still hadn't worn off, he managed a small smile. "If we could handle the first three, especially Senna, then I think we can handle one more."

They had had their first three children one right after the other. Senna had been a handful from the moment she could walk, and Poppy had done her best to follow in her sister's footsteps. Henri had been the easiest of the three, though Nils had frequently had to step in and prevent his sisters from tormenting him when they were little. Compared to that, one little surprise baby should be a walk in the park. Right?

Paisley smiled when Nils did. "I know, I was just messing with you," she told him. "I really do think Poppy will take some time to come around, though. A lot of her identity was in being the youngest," she added with a laugh. Senna would probably be thrilled, Henri indifferent. It'd definitely be Poppy to come around last.

"There'll be such a big gap between her and the new baby, though," Nils said. Fifteen years. Gods, he couldn't believe they were having another baby. He really did hope none of the kids would be upset about this, but if they were, there wasn't really anything that could be done about it.

"I do miss when the kids were little sometimes," he said, wrapping his hands around Paisley's. It seemed like their kids had grown up so fast. Senna was already in her second-to-last year of school, and Henri had just settled. "It'll be kind of nice having a new little one around."

Paisley smiled as she remembered her babies as actual babies. Watching them grow up remained one of the very best things about her life. She had so many happy memories of three curly haired kids toddling after one another, then sprinting.

It was a little sad, she thought; this new baby would never experience the same sibling relationship the other three had shared. Maybe he or she would be more like Henri, and would appreciate the quiet.

"Do you remember the time Henri was crying because he'd lost his blanket? And Senna went around asking everyone in the estate if they'd seen it?" They'd both been toddlers at the time, Henri was probably two, Senna three. Early in life Senna had taken on the role of "protector", and even throughout the years when she enjoyed tormenting the much more reserved Henri, she was fiercely protective of anyone or anything else that tried to throw his structured world into turmoil.

Nils wrapped his arms around Paisley and pulled her closer up against him. "Yeah," he said, smiling at the memory. "When we found it, she was so excited to give it back to him." He imagined Senna would be excited at the prospect of a new baby sibling. Just as Poppy had put a lot of her identity into being the youngest sibling, Senna had put a lot of hers into being the oldest.

"Remember the day they found Rosie?" Rosie was the family cat. The kids had found her as a kitten about nine years ago, hiding underneath a rose bush in the middle of winter. They had tried to hide her for a little while, but Poppy accidentally gave up the secret when she asked Nils and Paisley if they had any cat food anywhere in the estate, "for no reason, [she] was just wondering, they didn't have a cat of course."

Paisley let out a laugh. "One of their cutest escapades, for sure." Rosie remained an important part of the family, and she was still the first thing Poppy ran to when she came home on breaks from Redfern. The cat, of course, had always favored quiet Henri, but she was happy to snuggle with all three of her clio siblings on request.

"You know," Paisley said, snuggling into Nils, "it sure has been a crazy ride." Three kids in less than three years had been a whirlwind, and not just when they were little, either. There'd been camping trips, keeping up with book clubs for Henri, summer parties with friends, all of Senna's sports practices and then eventual games over on Martha's Vineyard. "I can't believe we are about to start it all over again." Their three children were all so different, it made Paisley wonder what path this new little life would travel down.

"So crazy," Nils agreed. He loved all his kids so much: Headstrong Senna, who had started giving Nils mini heart attacks from the time she could walk; quiet Henri, who Nils spent relaxed days with while Paisley took their daughters out for girl time; and sweet Poppy, who used to bring Nils and Paisley wildflowers that she'd found in the woods. He was starting to look forward to the clio that their new baby would become.

"It'll be fun," he said after a moment of quiet. "A new adventure."