Living on Love

Over the course of the next few weeks, Andy found it hard to adjust to doing practically everything around the house and for Legacy, on top of everything he already had to do for the band. He now understood why his sweetheart had been so pissed at him the day that Jinxx’d nearly ripped him a new one, if only verbally. Thankfully, either he and Sammi or Jake and Ella were more than willing to take the baby girl and give them both a break from her, especially now that they knew about the bassist’s second pregnancy.

At the moment, the young frontman sat in the office trying to track a couple bass riffs Ash’d come up with before his morning sickness got so bad that he didn’t really want to get out of bed. Legacy was in her crib for her late-morning nap, and his sweetheart was in their room trying to get some sleep. He hadn’t been sleeping very well ever since the morning sickness started acting up, saying that he felt his worst from dawn till noon and again from dusk till midnight. The rest of that time, he either suffered from insomnia, or tried to do things around the house, so there were few times he got any decent sleep.

When he heard a soft snuffling sound through the baby monitor on the desk in front of him, Andy set his sweetheart’s bass back on its stand and laid the pick he’d been using on said desk. He knew that, if she wasn’t already, their daughter would be awake from her nap soon. Knowing how she was, she was likely to need a diaper change and to be fed, and he knew that he had to go take care of her first and foremost.

He wasn’t expecting to see Ash already sitting in the rocker, their daughter cradled to his chest as he nursed her, when he got to the nursery. He stood there against the doorjamb, his arms crossed, as he watched the heart-warming scene before him and remembered what Rebecca’d said at his nine-week check-up. So long as it didn’t dry up, the breast milk would be great for Legacy for as long as possible, but he’d have to give up nursing her around four months into his pregnancy. Too much harsh suckling on his nipples starting around that time could send him into pre-term labor, and at four months’ gestation, no baby would survive being born. They just wouldn’t be developed enough for life outside the womb.

“Were you already passing the nursery, sweetheart?” he asked softly, trying not to startle either of them.

“Yeah. I woke up starving, but heard her whimpering on my way to the kitchen,” Ash answered, glancing up at him.

“You realize you could’ve gone and gotten your food, right?” he chuckled, shaking his head.

“I figure, even if it’s not the best thing for me right now, filling my stomach can wait since I can feed myself,” the bassist shot back playfully. “She can’t, after all.”

“Shall I go get started on your lunch for ya, then?” Andy asked. Ever since realizing just how little he was doing for him, and especially finding out he’d impregnated him again, he was eager to do any and everything under the sun possible to help him.

“Sure. I’ve been having a craving for shrimp alfredo all morning, and no one makes it better than you besides your mom,” he answered, grinning.

“You’re just trying to be impossible right now, aren’t you?” the frontman chuckled.

“I can’t help it that my cravings are insane,” his sweetheart said, shrugging the shoulder of the arm he wasn’t using to hold their daughter.

Shaking his head, Andy turned and headed for the kitchen, knowing that they likely didn’t have any shrimp, and if they did, it’d have to be thawed before he could use it. He heaved a sigh of relief as he found a bag of what he sought in the freezer, then settled it in a sinkful of lukewarm water to thaw while he got started on the rest of the meal. The fettuccine shouldn’t take too long to cook to al dente perfection, nor the sauce he made from scratch when making this particular meal.

By the time he heard his sweetheart come into the kitchen behind him, the pasta was done and sitting in a strainer in the sink, and he was busy sautéing the shrimp while trying not to burn the sauce. He heard him chuckle behind him as he watched, and he couldn’t help the smirk that crossed his lips. Ash had a point in saying that no one made this better than him besides his mother, and it was true.

It wasn’t long afterward that he had the food ready and put a plate of it down in front of his sweetheart, alongside a glass of ginger ale. He’d taken note over the past week or so how he hadn’t seemed to need quite as much of anything with ginger in it, but considering that he was now eleven weeks pregnant, he supposed the morning sickness was finally slacking off a bit. He’d wondered about his feeling drained all the time, though, and he’d told him that it was normal, that even women tended to feel more tired and quicker than normal when they were pregnant. Considering that Rebecca, who had two kids of her own, was the one to tell him that, he supposed there was no reason why he shouldn’t trust him.

Ash grinned as he thanked him before starting to eat as he joined him, knowing that he shouldn’t eat too much too fast unless he wanted to lose it shortly thereafter. Andy couldn’t help the smile that graced his lips at the thought that, unlike during this stage of pregnancy with Legacy, he was here by his side and getting to experience the good, the bad, the ugly, and everything in between with him. That thought brought to mind the one thing that he’d been hiding in a locked drawer of his desk that only he had the key to, and how much planning he still had ahead of him.

“Done, sweetheart?” he asked a short while later when he’d cleaned about half his plate.

“Yeah. I feel like if I eat anymore, I’m gonna get sick,” the bassist answered, turning his nose up at the remainder of his craving.

“Well, at least you tried,” Andy agreed. “Besides, I may’ve dished up a little more than you could handle because I’m so used to your non-pregnant eating habits.”

“Eh, it’s all right, my love,” Ash told him. “I’m used to ’em, too, so I can’t blame ya.”

“Well, go kick back on the couch for a bit while I get everything cleaned up and stored,” he suggested. “I don’t wanna spend my night before a show pulling your head out of the toilet.”

“Speaking of shows, Sammi’s coming to ‘kidnap’ Legacy tomorrow, right?” the bassist asked.

“Actually, she texted me right before I found you in the nursery and said she was gonna ‘kidnap’ her tonight,” the frontman answered. “She won’t be here to get her till closer to five, though, from what she told me, so we’ve still got time to get her ready.”

“All right. Pregnancy makes me forgetful sometimes.” His sweetheart shrugged.

“Didn’t Rebecca say that most women complain of feeling like they suffer from memory loss while they’re pregnant?” he asked curiously.

“I think so. It probably has something to do with the hormones.”

Shrugging his agreement, Andy started cleaning up their mess from lunch while his sweetheart went to stretch out on the couch to let his food settle. He sighed softly enough that he didn’t hear him in the adjoining den, wondering if the workload was just going to be worse with two little ones running around this time next year, or if it’d be no worse than it was now.

Now knowing how those first six months of their daughter’s life had felt for poor Ash, he couldn’t blame him for the fights he’d started back then, be it intentional or accidental. The only reason he didn’t start fights with him over being lazy right now besides his pregnancy was because he supposed this was payback and only fair for how unfairly he’d treated him during that time. Still, it was a bit annoying to have to clean up messes, do laundry, take care of the baby, his sweetheart, and himself, as well as writing songs for the band on top of tracking them whenever he had a free moment.

And if he had his way, he’d only make their lives that much more hectic within a few weeks’ time, so long as he actually had the balls to do it. Unbeknownst to anyone around him, most of all his loving, selfless boyfriend, he’d been considering popping the question to him to the point of buying him an engagement ring. Now he just had to decide if and when to take such a drastic leap of faith, and hope and pray that he wouldn’t say no for all the shit he’d put him through those first six months after Legacy was born.

Notes