A/N: Like I did with the link to the house in the last chapter, here's the link to the car Ash buys later in the chapter.
http://www.blackmustangclub.com/content/showthread.php?33962-1996-Mustang-Cobra-(Mystic)
~Cyn


Early the next morning, Ash was up and kneeling over the toilet as he lost the remnants of last night’s dinner because of his morning sickness. He groaned softly as he managed to get himself back up to his feet so he could get cleaned up for his and Sammi’s little house-hunting excursion later that morning. He hoped he hadn’t woken the wild child up by getting sick, even though he couldn’t help it, so that she wasn’t a royal bitch later from lack of sleep.

Knowing there was no way in Hell he was getting back to sleep any time soon, he decided to go ahead and get ready for the day. For once, he decided against wearing mostly black, as it was supposed to be pretty warm today, and he was likely to overheat quicker than normal, anyway. That decision made, he went with white ripped jeans, which weren’t skinnies for once, and a white wife beater.

Once his clothes were on, he headed back to his bathroom to ring his eyes in black eyeliner, which was his norm, and tame the wild mess he called his hair. It looked more like a rat’s nest right now, but that was nothing that a hairbrush and straightener couldn’t handle. With a sigh, he applied the eyeliner, which was his only makeup, and started taming his hair. He was glad that he wasn’t on the road touring anymore, which would mean having to do this in cramped quarters he had to share with four other guys. It was still bittersweet since he missed the guys, especially Andy.

By the time he was ready for the day, he could hear Sammi stirring on the other side of the wall in the guest room, which meant that she was up. With a smile on his face once again, Ash headed to the kitchen for a cup of coffee, knowing it was one of only two he could have. Too much caffeine could hurt the baby, and Rebecca’d told him to lay off the caffeine till it was born. Now that he thought about it, laying off the caffeine for the sake of the baby, combined with all the stress he was under and an increase in blood volume, was probably what caused those migraines, including the one that’d landed him in the hospital. He shrugged the thought off though, knowing there was nothing he could do about it.

“Morning, Ash.”

Turning, he saw a sleepy-eyed Sammi standing behind him, looking surprisingly good for not being fully awake yet. “Morning, Sam. Coffee?”

“Yeah, thanks,” she answered, taking a seat at the table. “Should you even be drinking that?”

“My OB/GYN, Rebecca, said two cups a day is fine,” Ash answered, setting a spoon, full mug, sugar, and creamer in front of her. “If she says it’s fine when she’s been an OB/GYN for nearly a decade, I’m not gonna call her a liar.”

“I’m not either. I was just making sure it wouldn’t hurt the baby,” Sammi told him.

“Speaking of, I was thinking we need to come up with a lie to tell the Realtor later,” he said, joining her.

“What do you mean?” she asked curiously.

“Well, it’s not every day you have a pregnant man come up wanting to buy a house,” he chuckled. “We’ll have to run this by Jinxx, of course, but I was thinking we’d say you were my fiancé and that you were the one pregnant. Unfortunately, I was the one who wound up suffering from the morning sickness, instead of you, which Rebecca said can happen sometimes.”

“We’ll definitely have to run that one by Jinxx,” the wild child agreed. “He’d kill us if we did such a thing without at least letting him know first.”

Nodding, he sat at the table nursing his coffee as he waited patiently for her to run to the guest room to get her phone. If they weren’t already, the guys should be on their way to the airport to fly back Stateside from Donington, England until the start of Warped in just over a week and a-half. Hopefully she’d be able to get in touch with him before they were on a plane because he really needed to hide his pregnancy somehow, but he didn’t want to use his idea without his friend knowing.

“You alone, baby?” she was asking as she walked back into the kitchen.

“Yeah, I’m alone. Why?” Jinxx countered, sounding suspicious.

“Ash and I are planning to go take a look at a house we found online last night. He wants something bigger than his apartment for when the baby gets here,” Sammi began.

“Well, that’s great. But why’d you need to call me?” he asked curiously.

“Because I wanna hide my pregnancy while we’re meeting with the Realtor,” Ash spoke up, letting him know he was on speaker.

“That’s understandable. Any ideas on how to do it?” the multi-instrumentalist asked.

“Yeah, actually. My OB/GYN, Rebecca, said that sometimes when a couple are close enough, the man will experience morning sickness in the woman’s place,” he began. “Since Sammi’s coming with me, I was thinking about telling the Realtor that she’s my fiancé and that she’s pregnant, but I’m the one suffering the morning sickness on her behalf.”

“Now I see why she called me,” he chuckled. “Seeing as how no one but you, me, Sammi, and a handful of medical professionals know, go ahead and use that excuse.”

“You sure, man? I don’t want you pissed at me later,” Ash said uncertainly.

“Hey, you called to run the plan by me before you even used it. I have no reason to be pissed at you later,” Jinxx told him. “But listen, I’ve gotta go. The guys are a little too close for my liking to be having a conversation like this.”

“All right, Jinxx. See ya later,” the bassist responded.

“See ya when ya get home, baby,” Sammi agreed, blowing him a kiss through the phone.

“That both of you will,” he answered, chuckling.

“Oh, and another thing before you hang up,” Ash said suddenly.

“Yeah, Ash?”

“Whatever you do, don’t tell Andy what we’re doing. I don’t want him knowing where I’m moving to till we’re on good terms again.”

“That’s a reasonable enough request, and one I can manage.”

“See ya ’round, man.”

“See ya, Ash. Love ya, babe.”

“Bye, sweetheart.” With that, Sammi ended the call to her fiancé. “Okay, so now we know Jinxx doesn’t care if we tell the Realtor we’re engaged and that I’m pregnant, and he’s not gonna tell Andy jack-shit about what we’re up to. Pretty good start to the day, I’d say.”

“Yeah, I have to agree,” Ash chuckled, taking another sip of his coffee. “Go ahead and call the Realtor about the house while I run to the bathroom real quick, then we can head out.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” she agreed.

* * *

A few hours later, Ash and Sammi were finishing up the tour around the house they’d seen on the net the night before. All in all, it was a beautiful home and very much worth what it was listed at, which he could afford, surprisingly. The owners were moving to Italy for the man’s job, which had transferred him to one of their international branches, and had to leave everything behind.

That meant that the house was fully furnished upon purchase, though obviously he could choose what he wanted to keep and what he wanted to get rid of, if anything. After a bit of negotiation, he actually got the sellers to come down fifty grand, meaning that he’d get to buy the house at $739,000 instead of the original $789,000. They didn’t really care that they were getting fifty grand less for it than what they originally wanted since they needed to get it sold as soon as they could, and considering that it was worth a good twenty grand more than they listed it at, it was certainly a steal for the bassist.

Now all he had to do was get the paperwork finished, and since he’d been able to buy it outright, he had no mortgage to worry about in the long run. Sammi had a grin on her face the entire time, feeling extremely happy for him and accomplished. Even though there was still a bit of paperwork for him to sign for the Realtor, she couldn’t be happier unless Jinxx got home and dragged her into a church or something to make their marriage official at last.

“So, how’s it feel to be a homeowner?” she asked as they left, grinning.

“It feels awesome, Sam,” Ash answered, returning the grin. “Thanks for being here today. And for playing your part as the loving fiancé so well.”

“It’s no problem, Ash,” Sammi chuckled. “Well, other than having to kiss you to keep up appearances.”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” he said sheepishly. “I don’t think I wanted to kiss you anymore than you wanted to kiss me.”

“Fair enough. What say we go get some food before we head back to your apartment to start going through your stuff?” the wild child asked.

“Sounds like a plan to me. I’m starving since I felt too nauseous to eat earlier,” the bassist agreed.

Chuckling, she laced her fingers with his until they were out of the Realtor’s sight so they could appear to be the loving could she thought they were, then climbed into his car. He’d always liked the sportier things in life, but with a little one on the way, he was thinking about trading it in for something a little more family-friendly. He wasn’t going to give up the class of a good sports car entirely, but instead of having a Lambo like he did now, he figured a Mustang could work.

Sammi agreed that he should probably get something a little more family-friendly, though she didn’t quite agree with a Mustang. However, the wild child knew she wasn’t going to talk him out of it if that’s what he really wanted and he honestly thought it would be safe with the baby in the back seat, so she didn’t try. Besides, if he even remotely thought it unsafe, she knew he wouldn’t get it.

After lunch, they headed to the nearest Ford dealership, which was out in Santa Monica, so he could take a look around and see if they had anything he wanted. Just like she’d done at the house he’d bought in front of the Realtor, she played the part of loving, pregnant fiancé while they were talking to the salesman, who was surprised to find out he was downgrading from a Lambo to a Mustang. The salesman actually shook their hands, congratulated them, and praised them for their smart thinking when Ash told him that they had a baby on the way and couldn’t keep such a car.

It was hard for neither of them to laugh since they were able to keep the bassist’s pregnancy so well-hidden the entire day, but they managed. The salesman led them around the parking lot to look at several of the cars they had at the moment, but only one caught his eye that Sammi agreed with. It was a 1996 Ford Mustang SVT Mystic Cobra that appeared to start out black at the hood and slowly faded to a deep purple by the time the trunk was reached. Like all nineties Mustangs, it was a two-door thing of precision beauty with a four-point-six liter V-eight under the hood, three hundred and five horsepower, and five on the floor to play with. Despite being pregnant and a bit more sluggish than usual, Ash was like a kid in a candy store when he saw it.

“He sure does seem excited, doesn’t he?” the salesman, whose name was Rick, asked.

“Well, he’s a bit of a vehicle enthusiast,” Sammi answered, nodding. “Cars and motorcycles are right up there with rock ‘n’ roll for him.”

“How’d he ever land a girl like you?” the guy chuckled.

“Because, although I’m into music and photography, I’m a bit of a car enthusiast myself,” she explained. “That’s part of the reason he didn’t mind bringing me with him for this.”

“Hmm… Meet your standards, sir?” he asked, turning his attention back to the bassist.

“Surpasses them, actually. What about you, baby?” Ash turned his attention to his supposed fiancé.

“As long as it’s not gonna get any of us killed, I think it’s perfect,” she agreed, resting a hand over her belly as if she were the one pregnant.

“How ’bout we take it for a test drive so you guys can decide for sure?” Rick suggested, an eager gleam in his eye.

“Sounds great. C’mon, Sam!” the bassist agreed.

“Just don’t drive like a maniac,” Sammi demanded. Damn, she should’ve been an actress, as good as she was at acting.

“I won’t. We don’t want anything happening to this little one,” Ash said lovingly, gently patting her belly the way he’d have patted his own in private.

“Here’s the keys,” the salesman said, having run back into the building for them.

“Thanks, man,” he said, shoving the right one in the ignition. “Ready, baby?”

“As I’ll ever be,” she answered, nodding as Rick hopped in the back seat before she got settled.

With a shit-eating grin on his face, the bassist stomped the clutch and brake, then turned the key. The car roared to life and settled into a sweet purr that got his blood pumping slightly faster, and he was definitely excited. Gingerly, he moved the gear-shifter to first, slowly letting out the clutch as he hit the gas after disengaging the E-brake. Just as he’d promised, if only for the baby’s sake, he drove like he had some sense as they took the car on a short test drive.

By the time they got back to the dealership, Ash had decided that he liked and wanted it, so it was time to head inside to take care of yet more paperwork. The money he would’ve gotten for his Lambo went on the Mustang he’d fallen in love with, so like the house earlier, he was able to buy it outright. He didn’t get quite as much cash put into his hand because of that, but he was happy.

He turned over the keys to the Lambo and accepted the ones for the Mustang, then he and Sammi headed out to get his old license plate while Rick put a thirty-day tag on his new baby. Their next stop was the DMV to get the car registered under his name, along with a new plate and tags so it would be street legal. It was a lot to get accomplished in just a single day, but that meant that there was less to take care of later on, leaving him with more time to prepare for his baby. He grinned at the thought, knowing getting the house redecorated and setting up the nursery would take time, and that was after moving in to begin with, but it was all more than worth it in the end.

After buying the car and house, and running a few more errands, they finally made it to the house she shared with Jinxx. Since he didn’t want Andy seeing his new car and being able to follow him too easily, they’d agreed to keep it locked up in their garage until he was moved into his new house, and Jinxx whistled when he saw it. He thought it was a bit unsafe for the baby, but at least it was better than the Lambo, so he didn’t say much about it. The couple soon took him home, agreeing to spend their time in the guest room to help him out since he still needed someone with him, and their busy day was drawn to a close at last.

Notes