Unsung Heroes

In the month following our visit to Missouri, Ash and I learned the gender of the baby, and decided to do a gender reveal party at our new home. Inviting the band, crew, and various friends, Ash and I prepared for the day. Ash got really excited when the ultrasound technician told us the gender, and I remember smiling and getting teary-eyed.
I’d just come back from Target with several bags full of paper plates, utensils, and the like. I was pushing my way through the door, careful of my six-month pregnant belly. It was pretty late for a gender-reveal, but we didn’t really have time until now to do it. I’d gone to a bakery and special ordered a cake with the filling reflecting the gender by being either purple or green. Ash and I didn’t want to do pink or blue, so we told people the colors to not confuse them. It sounds a little like we’re forcing the “not traditional” thing, but I really didn’t want it to be something everyone else did. I wanted it to be different and reflect the weirdness that was the combined force of me and Ash and how weird our relationship was.
Ash was setting up a large speaker in front of the TV for music, hooking up his phone to play music when people got here. I made him make a separate playlist so that we wouldn’t listen to just his country music.
“Hey, Babe,” I said setting the bags down on the counter. “How goes it?”
He smiled up at me. “Good, did you get everything we need?”
I nodded. “Yup, the cake’s in the fridge, all the food’s here, and I just got all the utensils and shit.” I set the bags on the counter and started pulling out packages to open and set them up.”
“When do people get here?” Ash asked, coming up behind me and moving my slowly fading green hair off my neck to press a kiss to the nape.
“In about an hour or so.” I leaned back onto him slightly to take some of the weight off of my feet. I was starting to get to the point where my feet would swell and my back was aching a lot more than usual. I had to take more and more breaks
I was slowly getting to the point where sex was really unappealing. Which really sucks because while my drive may be high, when we are having sex and suddenly my thigh cramps up, or something, and it kind of takes me out of the mood. But now, one of my biggest cravings, funny enough, is Ash. And he still doesn’t know that because his ego is big enough already. And it’s usually little things, like the way he smells, or when he’s eating or drinking a beer. Just him doing mundane things is a huge turn on for me, now. He’s starting to pick up on it, but he hasn’t actually asked me about it, yet.
“You go sit down, babe. You shouldn’t be on your feet too much.” Without really asking me, Ash guided me away from the counter to the couch, gently pushing me down onto it.
Oh yeah, and there was that. Ash was overly worried about me and the risk that I’d wear myself out. Newsflash Ashley Purdy, I’M ALWAYS TIRED, NOW. So now, every now and then, if I’m doing something like cleaning the apartment or making dinner, Ash will butt in and make me “take it easy” and goosestep his way into what I was doing. If we’re sitting together and I’m getting up to get food, or something, he will stop me unless I tell him I’m going to the bathroom, and then he doesn’t try to stop me.
And now, when I go to work, I sometimes have to keep him from following me in and watching me to see what I do. Every now and then I see him pop and “browse” the men’s shirts, but I know that he’s worried about me. It’s not that I don’t appreciate it, or anything, it’s just that I don’t need him to hold my hand. Before I got pregnant, I was pretty athletic through dance and going to the gym a few times a week. Now I go on walks and I’ve been going to Lamaze with Ash.
Now that I’m going into my last trimester, my hormones are getting a lot worse, and so now, I get irritated really easily.
“Ash, I keep telling you that I’m fine. If I need to take a rest, I will!” I said in an exasperated voice, brushing past him to go back to the kitchen. “I’ll sit down when I need to, I promise, but don’t try to make me before I tire out.”
Ash watched me with wide eyes, but wisely didn’t say anything. Instead, he walked by me into the kitchen, giving me a kiss on my cheek as he passed me to get into the fridge. He started to pull food out and putting them on plates and bowls. The party we were arranging was going have close to 30 people. That was including the band, their girlfriends and wives, some people from crew and their girlfriends/boyfriends, some of Ash’s friends, and mine.
Some of the people attending were, begrudgingly, some of Ash’s exes turned friends, including Kina. I’ve met her a couple of times, and she was nice, but I couldn’t help but compare myself to her in that she oozed sex appeal… in a plastic, Barbie doll kind of way in the amount of work she’d clearly had done to her body and face. She had everything I felt that Ash would have wanted in a girlfriend, and it didn’t help that it was only a couple months ago that I first met her and my hormones were starting to get bad. I was thankfully able to hold back in front of her, but Ash picked up pretty quickly what was happening.

2 Months Earlier
“Hey baby,” Ash said loudly from his spot on the couch. “Can I ask you something?”
I paused from where I stood in the kitchen, filling up a glass of water from the filter in the fridge. “Sure, I guess. Will it make me mad?”
He hesitated and gritted his teeth. “No…” he said slowly. “As long as you hear me out and I explain it all to you.”
I pursued my lips and turned to look at him. “Go ahead.
Sighing, he sat up from the couch – pushing Tokyo off his lap slightly, making him grumbled and move to the corner where he wouldn’t be disturbed.
“You know who Kina is, right?” He said.
I froze slightly. “Yes, why?”
He scratched his arm. “Well, I was talking to her recently, and I told her about you and that we’re having a baby. She was surprised but happy for me and she really wants to meet you and get to know you. We did date for a while but after we broke up we decided to stay friends. Yes, I did sleep with her a number of times after the breakup, but since dating you, she hasn’t tried anything and she knows not to try anything. She wants to meet you and talk to you. She wants to treat us to dinner the next time she’s in LA, are you up for that?”
I pressed my lips together. Meeting Ash’s ex-girlfriend?... Ugh…
“Sure, I guess. If she’s still a part of your life, I shouldn’t exclude her.”
Two weeks later
Ash and I walked into our favorite restaurant and put our name in for three; tonight was the night I was finally meeting Kina. She was in town for an event, and had a free evening in her schedule to have dinner with us – on her.
“Ash!”
I turned to see Kina, the busty, platinum blonde Vegas socialite in a black, strapless, thigh high dress and leopard-print fake fur coat, an oversized handbag on her arm.
Ash grinned and pulled his arm from around me to give her a friendly hug around her shoulders – thanks Ash – and she pressed her cheek to his and made a kiss noise. When they pulled apart, she turned to me and smiled even wider.
“And you must be the famous Indigo I’ve heard so much about!” She came bounding over to me – man those heels were tall – and she gave me a careful, but sincere hug.
I smiled with thankfully only a slight amount of tension. “Please, call me Indy.”
She smiled. “Of course!”
At that moment, the seating hostess called our name and took us back to a table in the center of the restaurant, lit with several candles.
As I went to my chair, Ash went behind me to pull my chair out and help me into it – I was starting to get unsteady on my feet – and then went to do the same for Kina.
“Forever the gentleman, Ashley,” Kina said with a laugh.
I smiled slightly and let out a short chuckle. “Oh yeah, always.”

About halfway through the meal, Ash announced that he had to use the bathroom, and got up to leave.
Kina smiled and took a sip of her wine. Both her and Ash were drinking while I had a diet Sprite.
“So, Indy,” Kina said smiling. “Ash told me how you guys met, I gotta say you must be quite the foe in a fair fight.”
The corners of my lip pulled up slightly. “Yes, well, it’s hard not to do something when some old misogynist biker decides to make your business his.”
She snorted. “You’re telling me. I’ve had to defend myself plenty back home.”
Kina picked up her fork to cut a piece of her chicken. “So, what did Ash do when you told him about the baby? I can’t imagine what he would’ve done, considering when we were together, kids were out of the question.”
My eyes widened in surprise. “Really?”
She nodded and swallowed her food. “Oh yeah, but we were a lot younger and the idea of having kids was almost like having a chain on your ankle, keeping you from having any fun. It was just something he, nor me, were at all ready for.”
I bit my lip. “He asked me about kids right before I found out, and basically said he was open to the idea. Then when I told him, he got really excited and announced the whole restaurant we were in that he was gonna be a dad.”
Her eyes grew big. “Whoa, you must really be something special, then, if you can bring that side of him out. It’s not like he doesn’t like kids, he just never saw himself as paternal.”
I snorted. “Yeah, well, he’s getting more and more overprotective the more pregnant I become.”
She laughed. “Oh god, him trying to be all caring is funny! I remember once I got the flu, he threw a box of tissues and a bottle of Aspirin at me and told me to throw up in the toilet from across the room.”
I burst out laughing. “That sounds like him. I’ve found parental books around the condo that I never bought.”
She chuckled. “Oh wow, sounds like he’s really taking this new role seriously.”
I smiled and propped my head on my hand – while wondering what was taking Ash so long – and I took a long drink of my soda.
“Can I be honest with you, Kina?”
She raised an eyebrow, and nodded slowly.
“When Ash told me you wanted to meet me, all my insecurities came back to haunt me. I think it mostly had to do with my hormones, but when I found out Ash told you about the baby and our relationship and that you’d wanted to meet me, a small part of me was scared that seeing us together would have made Ash remember that what you have is typically what he likes, and he would have left me for you.”
Kina studied my face as I spoke, before her face broke out into a grin and she laughed good-naturedly, waving a hand dismissively.
“Oh honey, you have nothing to worry about! First of all, even if I wanted to be with him again, he’s so in love with you I’m basically a dude to him, now.”
At that moment, Ash returned. “Hey ladies, I hope you didn’t try to kill each other while I was gone.”
Kina rolled her eyes. “Oh please, Ash, it was quite the opposite. In fact, I think Indy and I are gonna be really good friends.”

I shook my head from the memory and turned back to setting up the food. The guests were going to be here really soon. I wanted the place to be presentable for when people got here.
“Ash, are you done setting up the music and stuff?” I called without turning my head to look in his direction.
“Yeah, and people are gonna get here soon.”
I turned to examine the room and see Ash’s handiwork, liking the set up with the music and the chairs he’d added, and he’d set up two separate jars painted purple and green for people to place bets. Whichever side won would get the winnings split evenly among everyone who won.
At that moment, before I could tell Ash that I liked the setup, the doorbell rang, before Angel and Maya came bursting through the door, Jinxx being almost drug behind Maya and she pulled him in inside.
Almost as soon as they tripped through the door, Andy and Juliet followed them in, after them were CC and Liz, Jake and Inna, Kina, Barb and everyone else trickled in after them.
I was bombarded with hugs, hands on my stomach, and people shoving gifts into my arms.
By the time I was able to set everything aside, I could see that the guys had gathered primarily around Ash, beers in their hands, and I could see them clapping their hands on his shoulders repeatedly in congratulatory ways.
I smiled and slipped between the women who were gushing over what was happening – Inna was filming it for me, I was preparing to make my first YouTube video soon – and made my way over to the jars. I saw CC slip a 50 into the green jar.
“You really want another nephew, huh?” I said teasingly, holding my belly up slightly so that it wasn’t as hard on my back.
He grinned. “Yeah, kind of. Some of the guys put their money on a girl. I know Andy and Jake both did.”
Laughing slightly, I picked up the purple jar.
“Hey, guys!” I called. “If anyone who still wants to hasn’t put any money in the baby pool yet, Ash and I are gonna reveal the sex” – Ash snickered behind his palm – “in an hour!”
I had to dodge Angel as she dive-bombed to the jars. Barb, her hair now soft pink and not bubble gum pink, was right behind her.
I felt an arm snake around my stomach and cup it from behind, and I turned my head to have Ash meet me halfway in a kiss.
“How you feeling, babe?” He murmured against my cheek.
“I’m okay, though I am getting hungry…” Suddenly the idea of food was so appealing that I found myself brushing Ash off of me to go to the counter. I just starting picking off of plates of various chips and veggies and the like. I was eating mindlessly more and more, but despite what people think, pregnant women don’t actually “eat for two” the most we can actually put away is a few hundred more calories. Which was perfect, because as soon as the baby was born, I was hitting the gym, going back to my martial arts classes, and finding a decent samba school and a ballet school.
Before I knew it, I’d had my stomach rubbed so much that my stomach felt a little rubbed raw from my shirt being pressed and forced against my skin, I was too full to eat anything else, and people were starting to get a little drunk.
I checked my phone, it’d been an hour since I’d made the announcement. Walked to the jars, I noticed that the side for a girl was a little bit heavier than the side for a boy. Smiling, I picked the jars up and walked past Ash to the dining room table, hitting his ass with my hip as I past.
“Hey guys!” I called. “Polls are closed, Ash and I are gonna count up the money for each jar and then reveal!”
There was a collective cheer as I sat at the table, and Ash pulled out the one next to me. I handed him the jar for a girl and he dumped out the money on the table, and started to leaf through it, muttering under his breath to keep track.
Dumping out the money for the boy jar, I separated out various singles, fives, tens, twenties, and fifties. It totaled out to nearly six hundred dollars, completely aware that nearly everyone was surrounding and watching us.
“Okay, for the boys, five hundred and ninety-eight dollars,” I announced.
“Seven hundred and thirty-two for the girls,” Ash announced.
Together, we put the money back in the two jars, and brought out the cake. It was a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting, and the frosting inside the cake was the color matching the gender. The cake was decorated with various balloons and shit that were both purple and green.
“Come on, purple!” Someone shouted from the back.
“Boys forever!” A guy – sounded like CC said – from somewhere to my right.
Ash handed me the cake knife, and smirked widely, since we both knew the gender.
I took the knife and held it up, and waited for people to start the count down.
“FIVE!... FOUR!...THREE!...TWO!...ONE!” Everyone shouted, and I cut through the cake with the knife.
………….
“ALRIGHT!” CC shouted as he collected his winnings.
When I’d pulled the knife out of the cake, it was stained with green icing.
The people who’d bet for a girl were grumbling as they watched the others get a pretty decent sized portion of the winnings, and were all shouting victoriously and slapping Ash on the back. Ash had puffed his chest out and was smiling proudly.
That’s right, Ashley and I are having a baby boy. Ash was stoked out of his mind that he was going to have a son, he was already talking about giving him motorcycle lessons – not until he’s seventeen if I have anything to say about it – and teaching him how to play sports. I told him fine as long as he’s free to explore other avenues.
I told Ash that when we named him, I wanted his name to be someone in touch of where we were both from. I wanted his first name to be Brazilian, and his middle name to be Cherokee. I wanted him to take Ash’s last name, though.
I watched the people who won cheer, it was mostly guys and Barb and Maya, count their money and boast that they were all psychic, or something. The people who bet girl were also grumbling.
Inna suddenly appeared next to me, her curly blonde hair wild around her face and her bright, ice colored eyes sparkling with excitement.
“Ashley and Indy are having son!” She said happily, pointing the camera at me, her accent extremely thick. She’d been filming a good portion of the party, and was gonna give me the tape so I could make the big YouTube video.
When I found out Jake and Ella had split, I was both saddened and not surprised by it. I knew that they cared deeply for each other, but because of their work situations and that most of the time, Ella was in England, the distant strained their relationship and they decided it was best if they saw people who could actually be around longer than a few months out of the year. I still keep in touch with Ella, but she’s pretty busy most of the time.
“How does it feel to have boy Indy?” Inna asked, turning the camera to me with her in the frame next to me.
I smiled into the camera. “Really good. I’m really happy. All that really matters to me is that he’s healthy when he’s born, but I can’t wait to meet my son!”
Kina suddenly appeared next to me and embraced me, hard, and almost started to cry on my shoulder.
I smiled and laughed and enjoyed the rest of my party. All the guys in the band wouldn’t stop talking about their future nephew, and Angel, Kina, Maya, Juliet, Liz, and Inna declared they were all gonna be Aunties and spoil him rotten, although I think Gran might beat them to the punch on that one. She and Gramps had sent over tons of gifts already, and when we found out the gender, one of the first things we did was call them and tell them.
By the time the party was over, I was exhausted, most of the food was gone, and I was overwhelmed by gifts and the fact that we’d finally announced that we were having a boy.
After the party, I was putting things away and cleaning up scattered beer bottles and cups and plates people had left around the house.
I felt Ash’s arms snake around me and cup the underside of my stomach.
“Hey there, Mama,” he purred into my neck. “Whataya say we don’t clean this up till later, and we go celebrate with our own little private party.”
I was about to retort that I wasn’t in the mood, but that was when I felt his bare skin against my shoulders and arms. He’d taken his shirt off. And before I had any time to react to anything, he’d removed himself from me, so I turned to see him casually walk buck naked into the bedroom, and he was purposefully swaying his hips so my eyes were immediately drawn to his ass.
Swallowing hard, and feeling myself grow hot, I set down the bag of beer bottles I was holding and started to slowly follow after him.
When I walked into the bedroom, he was laying on his back with his hands propped behind his back, a smug smirk on his face. He was laid out for me like a feast, ready to go. I stood at the foot of the bed, and suddenly felt awkward.
Ash and I hadn’t had sex in a long time, and it was because I was uncomfortable because I was pregnant, but I was also uncomfortable with myself physically. I had stretch marks and my thighs had grown soft and my feet were too big for my normal shoes. My chest had grown heavy because it was getting ready to lactate, and my nipples had gotten bigger and turned almost brown. Everything felt saggy and heavy.
“Indy, you okay?” Ash had sat up and was watching me carefully.
I bit my lip and reached down to pull my plain black shirt over my head. I was wearing a maternity bra that had no wires in it and was designed to support my much larger chest.
I could feel my stretch marks and it felt like they were highlighted in the dimly light room.
“I’m okay, just feeling a bit insecure,” I saw in a low voice.
He crawled over to me and sat on his knees in front of me, a suddenly serious look on his face. Without warning, he’d pulled me to his chest, and then flipped us over so that I was on my back with my knees hanging off the edge of the bed, and he was over me, his long hair falling around my face like a protective curtain.
“I have never been more attracted to you than I am right now,” he said in a quiet, firm voice. “So don’t ever think that you’re not beautiful to me. You are so sexy right now, especially pregnant with my baby.”
I found myself blushing. “Developed a fetish for pregnant women, have you?” I teased.
He blushed and ran his hand along my stomach. “No, not women. Just you.”
I felt myself taken aback by that statement, and I reached up to pull him down by the hair on the back of his head and pull him into a kiss. His hand rested against the top of my head, and I felt him gently take a handful of my hair and gently massaged my scalp.
“Ash, if we’re gonna do this, we better find some way of doing it without me getting another cramp or something,” I muttered, resting my hands gently on his chest.
He chuckled. “Don’t worry baby, I’m gonna take really good care of you.”
He leaned back and slid an arm under me to help me up. Once I was standing again, my back was to him, and I felt him slip his fingers under the thick fabric waistband of my maternity jeans and carefully tug them down my hips, my boxer underwear becoming visible. I started wearing that underwear for women that kind of look like booty shorts because the waistband wasn’t as tight. I felt those being pulled off.
I reached the clasp on my bra between my breasts, but I was spun around and pulled back onto my back on the bed before I could react, and this time I made a noise of surprise.
I felt Ash straddle my legs, and he gently drug his hand over my stomach to the clasp of my bra, and he slipped his index finger underneath the clasp.
“Allow me,” he said in a playful voice.
I felt the clasp open and my tits tumbled out of my bra. Ash’s face flushed with desire and his eyes grew dark.
“If I could make a recording of that moment, I’d spend the rest of my days rewinding and watching it over and over again.”
He was suddenly over me, my left nipped caught between his lips, and his hand grasping my right one. I cried out and racked my fingers through his hair.
“Ash!” I gasped out.
I felt the fingers of his free hand creep between my legs and play with my wetness and rub my clit firmly in small circles.
I squirmed under him, and decided I had enough of him playing me like his bass, and forced him onto his back with me over him. I felt the baby weight balloon under me, but I held myself up and stopped him before he could speak in protest by grasping his erection between my fingers. He gasped out loud as I started to jerk him gently, using my thumb to slowly and firmly massage the head.
“Indy, careful now.” He was struggling to speak.
I smiled. “Why should I?”
He brushed my hand away and pulled me into his lap, my legs wrapped around his waist.
“Or I’ll have to ravish you into the night,” he smirked.
Our crotches were pressed together, so he started to slowly rock against me, but I started to feel my inner thighs ache.
“Baby, if we continue like this, I’m gonna get a cramp.” I gritted my teeth.
I was suddenly on my back, and then on my side with Ash behind me. I tried to reach behind me to grasp at him, and I felt his hand on my hip and he pulled me backward so that I was nearly laying on my back, but I was on Ash.
“Is this better?” He murmured into my ear.
I nodded mutely, and reached up and wrapped my fingers around the base of his skull, and tangled my fingers into his hair.
His fingers curled around the underside of my knee and lifted it over his lap, and his dick made contact with my wetness.
His hand left my leg to grasp himself and slide within me, and I stifled a groan as he stretched muscles that hadn’t stretched in months. It felt good to feel him within me, again. Like everything was right. Like Mitch didn’t exist. Or my grandmother. All that mattered was me, Ash, and our son.
“Baby, are you okay?” Ash sounded alarmed. Why did he sound so freaked out?
I felt his hand against my cheek, wiping away… tears? Was I crying?
I smiled wetly. “I’m okay,” I said in a warbled voice. “I’m just so happy.”
Ash’s mouth met the back of my neck, and he hungrily pressed kisses there as he started to move within me, thrusting upward slow and hard.
I started gasping and crying out loudly, holding onto my stomach so the weight wouldn’t get thrown around.

Ash made love to me for hours, always making sure that I wasn’t cramping up. I did my best to not just lie there and make him do all the work, and do things to him to, but there was only so much I could do before something cramped.
By the time we were finally sated, the sun was starting to come up. We’d literally pounded into the sheets all night long.
Ash and I were spooning, his arms around me protectively, curled around mine which rested on my belly, surrounding and protecting our son.
Our baby, no, our future.

Notes

Hey guys!
I am so sorry i didn't mean to make this update even later than the last one!
I have been so busy with work and school that I haven't had the time to update.
But I am going to try really hard not to make the next update as late as this one!
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