A Reluctant Evening (Candice)

Vincent looked at his reflection in a mirror at the resaurant. He didn't want to do this. Not at all. He knew that his attire would tick off his mother, and to be honest, he didn't care. He was only here at Candy's request. She'd wanted an evening out with him and he was going to give it to her. Even if it meant that he had to endure his mother's comments about how his job wasn't good enough, his pay was too low to support his wife in the way he'd been raised, and he needed to get rid of the way he and Candy had arrived at the restaurant. His motorcycle was now parked in the lot next to the building, right where it would be sure to be seen.

He looked at Candy, who as usual, was simply stunning. It didn't matter what this woman wore, she never failed to amaze him with her beauty. But tonight she seemed even more radiant. Maybe it was because this was the first night out that they'd been able to have in over a month. Vincent had requested the whole weekend off and had been planning on taking her out for the evening, but now that was changed to dinner with his parents.

Vincent sighed. He'd just wanted a few days alone with his wife, time that they could spend alone and possibly try for the baby that they so desperately wanted. He knew that they were going to try at least once this weekend. His wife would insist upon it. That made him smile at her reflection.

The door to the restaurant opened and he looked to see his mother and father coming inside.

"Here we go," he muttered and moved over to Candy's side, wrapping his arm around her waist. "Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked as his mother noticed them and gave a disaproving look.

"I'm guessing that she doesn't like our clothing?" Vincent whispered with a small grin.

Vincent

Candice did not feel good, and she knew that it showed. Well...to her it showed, but to her husband he thought she was beautiful. Well Candice normally considered herself pretty too, but not when she kept throwing up. However Candice knew why she was throwing up, it was the same reason she did not have her period. She was pregnant! And when she had found out she had nearly broke into tears of joy...but she hadn't found the time to tell Vincent. She had hoped to get them alone, but she knew that that wouldn't be till after this supper.

Taking her husbands hand she looked to see his parents sitting not far away. She had not dressed up, not with how she felt. Closing her eyes briefly she heard her mother-in-law sneer at the sheen of sweat that was on her forehead. She could not help her body was acting this way, and she had brought her inhaler, but had always used about half of the medication. Taking her seat she pulled her husband down to sit with her.

"Well, isn't this a nice little surprise," his mother sneered. "Both of my children, dressed like they just came off the streets."

Candice held her stomach, feeling a sensation of nausea take over. Closing her eyes briefly she took in a deep breath and put a small smile on her face.

Candy

Vincent stiffened involuntarily. It had already started. His mother had just insulted them for their clothing.

"Mum, don't do this, please." His mother turned to him, a haughty sneer on her face.

"And why not? Your father and I are paying for the meal in this lovely restaurant and you both look like bums."

Vincent sighed. He had come here this evening because Candy had wanted it so badly. He was not going to let his parents chase them out of the building like two dogs with their tails between their legs. He had not made much of an attempt to get dressed up for the evening, but he didn't usually do that when he knew that he wasn't going to really be welcome in the first place.

"Mum, this restauant doesn't have a dress code, and you didn't say that we needed to dress up, so this is what you get."

"And I suppose you brought that death cycle?" His father said, just as nastily as his mother had been speaking.

"You know what? I'm not going to take this. I'm twenty-six, not four and I don't need your approval. Candy, if you want to stay, be my guest, but I'm going home. If you're staying, then call me when you are ready and I'll come back to get you."

Candice's eyes widened and she watched as his parents stood as well and began their own yelling match. She couldn't focus and it was actually getting harder for her to breath. Taking her inhaler she pressed down on the pump and breathed deeply from it. God, that just turned her stomach. Swallowing hard she reached for Vince's hand, but her own palm shook drastically and she quickly moved it to her mouth. God, her stomach was going to burst, and she was too shaky to get up and make her way to the loo.

"You brat!" his mother roared. "I called your hovel of a home to invite you out for a lovely dinner and you and your wife dress like a couple of mongers off the street!"

Candice felt tears come to her eyes, not because of the insults Vincent's mother was throwing at them...but because her stomach was hurting so much that it just caused her an immense amount of pain. Closing her eyes she placed a hand to her belly and leaned forward a bit. Her shoulders shook slightly as her body began to shake and gagging softly she reached for Vincent's hand once more.

"What the Hell is her problem?!" she heard his father yell. "She looks like death warmed over."

Without another word Candice retched and the contents of her stomach landed on her lap and the floor with a splash. Squeezing Vincent's hand she coughed as the bile and acid burned her throat.

Vincent's blue eyes widened so far that they almost fell out of his head. This was going to damn far. His parents had made Candy so upset that she'd gotten sick! He wasn't going to stand for this, especially since he saw the look of disgust on his mother's face.

"What is wrong with that woman you married?" she said with a tone that he had been hearing all his life. It was a tone of repulsion, and he'd had the feeling that it had always been directed at him when he was growing up, but now it was flung at Candy?

He moved to his wife's side and took her into his arms. He was now more worried about her than he'd ever been in the time that he'd known her.

"Candy, baby, if you're sick, why did you want to come out tonight? We could have stayed home and watched a movie or something," he whispered. He wanted to sweep her into his arms and take her home at that second, but his father's remark reached his ears before he could move an inch.

"I'll bet she planned this all week. Just so that she could get out of having to be in the same building with us. She does things like this all the time. Those fake asthma attacks she has."

Vincent couldn't believe his ears! Here, their daughter-in-law had just been sick all over the floor and they could only say that she looked like death warmed over and that she was probably faking all her asthma attacks?! What the hell was wrong with these people?! The only thing that they ever bitched more about was the fact that their only son had no children of his own! But the evening had just started, hadn't it? But right now, Candy was his main concern.

"Baby, talk to me. What's wrong?" He heard his mother snort with irritation. "Mother, shut up! Just for once in your life, shut the hell up!" The woman stagered back in shock. He'd never said anything like that to her.

"Don't even start," Vincent growled as his father looked like he was going to make a comment. "My wife is sick and I don't want to hear another word from either of you until I find out what is wrong." He turned back to Candy.

"Baby, what is it?"

Candice looked up at Vince with tears in her eyes. She hated that his parents were acting this way, hated that they hated their son so much and her...but that did not change the fact that now she was going to have to tell her beloved why she had thrown up. Lying had never been something she could do with Vincent anyway, he always found her out.

"Vincent," she whimpered, her throat raw from the vomit. "I...I'm pregnant baby."

She didn't know whether to smile or cry. Of course she was happy, but this news was supposed to be told over a romantic dinner with a picnic basket and all the trimmings. They were supposed to hear this news by themselves and then tell their friends later. It was not supposed to be this big affair of his parents knowing when he did.

"I...I"m sorry honey," Candy cried. "I...I had wanted this to be special...and it just got ruined...I had hoped to tell you in private...but...but I just feel so sick...can... can we go home? Please?"

Her eyes overflowed with tears and she had to lean on him, just to keep herself standing straight. She could hear her in laws talking about their grandchild, but she did not want them going near her baby...she didn't want their toxic present hurting their little miracle.

Vincent stood there in shock. Candy was.......pregnant? Really and finally pregnant? A wide smile split his face, and he let out a yell that scared the patrons of the restaurant. He was going to be a father!!!! This was now the happiest day of his life, and he wanted everyone to know it! He climbed up onto his chair and blew a piercing whistle to get the attention of everyone in the room.

"I'm going to be a daddy!" He yelled and jumped off the chair, then up and down in place a few times. He received scattered applause and congratulations, but he only had eyes for his wife at that moment.

"It is true isn't it?" he asked, placing his hand gently and tenderly on her stomach. There was a baby growing in there now? He wanted to protect her from everything that could ever harm her now. And that included his parents, who were now chattering excitedly over names for their grandchild.

"I think he should be named Sterling after your father, dear," his mother was saying at the moment.

"I think he should have a more dignified name than the one that our neighbors' child chose for himself. A perfectly good name and he throws it away. It's so bad that his father died. This child will be proud of his name."

Vincent rolled his eyes and took Candy's hand in his.

"Baby, I agree, let's get out of here. Let them figure out what they want to name their invisible grandchild. We are going to choose the baby's name, and it's going to be the most wonderful name on the planet."

He led her out of the restaurant and to the motorcycle.

"Wait. I don't think you should be on the bike now. I'll take you home and come back for the bike.....But I don't want to leave you alone. Especially now." He lay his hand on her stomach again.

Candice smiled as she watched her beloved go into a fit of joy. She knew that he would be happy to know that she was pregnant, but she didn't know that he would go as far as to announce it to the whole world. But then again, she supposed that after a six year wait he had a right to show that kind of jubilation. Holding his hand as they walked out of the restaurant she leaned on him once the warm air from outside hit her lightly in the face. She was sweating a bit, but not from the air, but from being rather sick. She supposed the morning sickness took its toll on the body and she was far from being used to it.

"I just want to go home," she whimpered against him. "I'm happy, of course, I just don't feel good."

Candice wasn't good with handling illness, of any kind. She always took it hard and Vincent even harder because he wanted to pamper and baby her every chance he got. And of course Candy appreciated every single minute of it. Sometimes it got to the point where it was almost smothering, but any other time it was adorable and she loved how he coddled her and protected her.

"We can go home and think up names," she said softly. "I already have a couple in mind that I thought of."

A small smile graced her lips and she hugged her husband, resting her sweaty head on his chest and listening to his heart beat once more.

"She will be our little miracle," she breathed. "Our little one."

Vincent didn't waste another second. He put Candy on the front of the motorcycle's seat and climbed on behind her. He needed to get her home. She didn't need to be listening to his parents anymore. He drove her home silently. Well as silently as he could, given the fact that he was driving a Harley. He parked the bike in its spot and lifted her off, carrying her into the house and up to their bedroom.

"Candy, I am so thrilled about the baby, but I don't want you getting sick over what my parents are doing, so I want you to just take a nice cool bath, and then crawl into bed. I'm going to go get us something to eat, if your stomach can handle it, and lock up. I'll be back within ten minutes."

He went through the house again and made sure that the doors were all locked. Wandering into the kitchen, he got out some soup and a bottle of sparkling fruit juice. He knew that she woudn't be able to drink anything with alcohol in it now, but this did deserve some type of celebration. He found some soda crackers for the soup, in case she wanted them, and then started looking for something for dessert. He located some chocolate pudding in the back of the fridge, but decided against that as it might upset her stomach. Then he found some fruit salad. That would be better for her and it would satisfy his sweet tooth as well. He put the soup into bowls and heated it in the microwave. Putting the bowls, juice and fruit onto a tray, along with two glasses, he carried it all back to their bedroom.

He set it down on his dresser and decided to change into something a little more comfortable. If they were going to be spending the night at home, Vincent wanted to be in his pajamas. He changed into a pair of sweats and a tshirt and sat on the bed to wait for Candy.

Candice had enjoyed her bath, and the water had done its best to get rid of a lot of her stomach pain, but the moment she stepped out of the warm water it came back and she almost found herself rushing to the toilet. However it hadn't been nearly as bad as it had been at the restaurant. Drying off quickly she pulled a pair of pajamas on and went to the bed where Vincent sat. Crawling into the bed next to him she pulled his hand down so that it was laying on her stomach and
snuggled into his side.

"I don't feel good," she sighed. "But I suppose morning sickness is something I will just have to deal with."

Yawning a bit she closed her eyes and pulled the blanket up around her shoulders. She loved how attentive Vincent was to her and of course nothing had changed. He was still as sweet and tender as ever. Kissing him softly she wrapped her arms tight around him and smiled.

"We're going to have a baby, Vincent," she smiled. "Our own little one!"

Vincent smiled. It was finally happening. He was going to be a father, and Candy was going to be a mother. There was going to be a baby's cry waking them in the middle of the night, toys all around the house. There was going to be someone that would be a miniature look-a-like to Candy. He had never been so happy. He kissed the top of her head tenderly.

"Our own little one," he repeated softly. He'd been afraid that even though the doctors had told both of them that they were able to have children, that it would never happen. They had been trying for six years, and his parents obviously had not been any help. They had only insulted Candy, their home, his job, and his motorcycle. That wasn't good for any chance of them ever having a baby. But it had happened, despite all the outside obstacles.

He closed his eyes as he thought of all the things that they needed to do now. The baby would need all sorts of things, and he couldn't wait to go shopping. But first, there was the matter of getting some food into her.

He disentangled himself from her and moved over to his dresser, retrieving the tray that he'd brought up.

"I know that more than likely you don't feel like eating, but I want you to stay healthy, so I'm not asking, I'm telling you to eat this soup. If you don't want the fruit, I'll eat it, but I would like you to try at least a few bites of that as well."

Candice shook her head, she did not want to eat anything. And she knew how to keep herself healthy when it came to birthing a child...she had read up on everything and was confident that she was in perfect health to have a child, despite that she was asthmatic. So, she was sure that she could miss one meal and nothing happen to the baby.

"I am not eating, Vince," she said gently. "I am sure that missing one meal won't kill me...or the baby for that matter."

She snuggled farther down into the bed and went as far as to pull the blanket clear up so that it was covering her lips. She was not going to eat just because her beloved wanted her to. If she was hungry then she would ask him for something, but at the present moment all she felt like doing was sicking up. And there was no point in her eating if she was just going to barf it all up two seconds later.

"I'll eat later baby," she said, making her eyes big. "I promise."

Vincent had never been one to give in on an argument, but hopefully the thought of having a new baby would soften him up to the idea of losing a fight just once. However she highly doubted it...still...one could not blame a girl for trying.

Vincent shook his head. He wasn't going to give on this. If she wouldn't eat the soup or the fruit, he wanted her to at least eat a cracker or two.

"What about the crackers? They've been known to calm the stomach during pregnancy."

It was then that it hit him all at once. This was real. Candy was pregnant. And even though he'd learned about it about an hour and a half ago, it had just now finally come to hit him in the stomach. They were going to be parents! They were going to be responsible for another human life. Vincent looked at Candy's blanket covered stomach and tried to imagine what she was going to look like in a few months. He couldn't wait! He realized now that there was a person growing inside her, and he reached up to pull the blanket down from her face and upper body.

He gently pushed her shirt up and caressed the skin of her stomach, wonder in his blue eyes. This was something that he would never be able to do, but was so in awe of it. Carrying a child inside his body was an impossiblility. But Candy? She was going to be the baby's home for the next nine months. And he was sure that it would be a warm and cozy little home.

He bent down and kissed her stomach, and became so overcome with love for his wife and their new child, tears started falling from his eyes and onto her skin.

Candice felt a few drops of warm tears land on her skin and gently she placed her hand to her husband's head. She knew that he wanted to be a father more than anything in this world, and now he would finally have that chance. He would have the chance at being a daddy and Candy knew that he would be a wonderful father. He was so attentive already, so protective that those instincts would just transfer to their little Miracle.

Gently massaging his scalp she rested her head back on her pillow and closed her eyes. She could not wait to start showing, that was just going to be something she savored. She was going to savor having people notice she was pregnant, and she would be able to finally say she was going to be a mother. She had gone to so many healers and all of them had said she was capable of bearing children... she just never had been able to. And now, finally, she was pregnant and Vincent and her were going to be mummy's and daddy's.

"I cannot wait," she smiled. "These next nine months are going to be wonderful, we have to paint one of the rooms into a nursery, get a crib, a rocker, bottles, clothes...oh my God Vincent, I cannot wait to go shopping!"

Shopping? Candy wanted to go shopping?! Vincent thought about the limit that he had on his credit cards before he remembered. She wanted to shop for their baby. For that, he wouldn't care quite as much about what they spent. This was their first child, and he wanted him or her to have exactly what they needed. And she was right. They needed a lot of stuff, and he knew from hearing some of his coworkers talking about their children that no matter what they had, it still wouldn't be enough.

And then of course there would be the fact that the baby would be growing so fast that they wouldn't be able to keep it in clothes. Oh, the amount of money that they would spend in the first year would be mind boggling. But he found that he didn't care. It was all going to be for their child. And that would be enough to compensate for what he would be paying out.

"Well," he said, sitting up and laying his hand on her stomach again. "I don't see any harm in going to look for things right away, but let's not go totally crazy. We do still have to be able to eat and pay the bills, love." He smiled to show that he was not upset about her wanting to buy things for the baby already.

"But first, you are going to eat something. You weren't able to have dinner at the restaurant, and I want you to eat! I know it won't hurt you to miss one meal, but even when you are going through morning sickness, you have to have something in your stomach. I will not have you throwing up just stomach acid and bile. Doing that can tear up your stomach and esophagus, so eat! Even if it's just a few bites."

He set the tray on the bed between them and took his own bowl, nudging hers toward her with a stern expression.

Candice turned on her side away from the food and tried to ignore it, even though she knew that Vincent wouldn't. She was not hungry in the slightest and she did not want to eat a bite. Pulling the blankets up so that they were tightly around her she closed her eyes in hopes of being able to ignore that her beloved was still nudging the food toward her.

"No..." she said with a shake of her head. "I don't want to eat Vince, I'm not hungry."

She knew that nothing she said would be good enough for her husband, but if he wanted to make her eat then she would personally cause him great suffering and vomit all over his pants. She knew that he could just clean it up with magic, but it still wasn't a pleasant thing to have land in one's lap.

"Can't I just sleep?" she asked weakly. "Or...or eat in the morning?"

Vincent sighed. He knew that Candy wasn't feeling the best, but she did at least need to try to eat. If for nothing else than to keep herself nourished. Granted, the baby probably wasn't willing to accept a whole lot of food yet, but he wanted her to stay healthy, and that meant eating, even if it were only a few bites.

"I'm only asking for one or two bites, Candy. It's chicken noodle, you could just have the broth. Please? I won't make you eat all of it." He looked at her bowl. There weren't many noodles in it anyway, he'd been sure to give her mostly broth. He had all the noodles in his bowl, just the way he liked it. That was his favorite part of chicken noodle soup. He loved the noodles.

He ate his soup and put the bowl back on the tray. The fruit was looking good to him now, but he didn't want to eat it in front of her if she wasn't going to even eat the broth from the soup. He wanted her to be healthy, and right now, her stomach wasn't allowing her food? How was she to be healthy for the baby when she couldn't eat?

"Are you sure that you can't even take some of the broth?" He was getting so worried about her now. He hoped that her pregnancy wasn't always going to be this hard on her.

Candice shook her head she didn't want to risk eating anything. Why couldn't Vincent just understand that and leave it be?! He always had to push things to the point that she was so angry with him that she would give in anyway. Well not this time, this time she would remain calm and keep her cool while he tried to talk her into eating something. She really just wanted to lay around and sleep, she had no intentions of leaving home again or setting foot away from her bed.

"I don't want anything Vincent," she said, her voice more stern. "I'm fine, but my stomach is just a bit upset from the morning sickness...I am not dying and the baby is fine."

She knew they were going to argue about this, she could only hope that for once Vincent would let her win. She hated losing arguments, but it seemed that her husband always one the majority that they had...and it never failed to piss her off in the end.

Vincent sighed again. He had the feeling that he was going to lose this time. It bugged him to no end that his wife wouldn't eat, but short of holding her down and forcing the food down her throat, there was nothing he could do. He refused to do that. For one, she could possibly become more sick, and two, it might hurt the baby. He certainly didn't want either one of those to happen.

He pulled the bowl back toward himself and looked at it. It saddened him that she wouldn't eat, but if she just didn't feel like it, he was going to stop trying to talk her into it. Instead, he finished the broth, because he knew that it got gross when it had cooled and then had to be reheated. He took the tray back to the kitchen and ate the fruit and crackers there. He, personally, was hungry. When he finished eating the fruit salad and had put the dishes into the sink to be washed the next morning, he stopped and looked at his reflection in the darkened kitchen window. Within a year, there was going to be a little one that looked like him and Candy. He didn't care if it were a boy or a girl, although he'd told Candy that he really wanted a girl. Of course his father would say that he needed a son, to carry on the family name.

Vincent had found long ago that he didn't give two figs about his family name. If he never had a son, it wouldn't matter to him. He smiled at his reflection and returned to the bedroom to be with his wife.

"All right. All the food is gone now, and I won't try to make you eat again tonight, OK?"

Candy nodded and pulled him to lay down. He had to know that she loved him, even if she did act like a brat, which she did often. Kissing his cheek gently she pulled her shirt up and pressed his warm hand to her skin. She loved the feeling of his hands on her body. Gently she moved his fingers, hoping he would figure out that she wanted him to rub her tummy.

"That's our little one," she whispered. "She is going to be so beautiful love...or he...but I have a feeling that it is going to be a girl."


Her eyes felt heavy and she yawned, snuggling into her husband as she did so. She just had such a good feeling about this baby...she was going to be their little miracle...their little miracle. Closing her eyes she felt herself drift off into a deep sleep, her husband's arms the only thing around her.

Vincent slipped his arms out from around his wife as soon as he was sure that she wouldn't wake up. He'd been planning for the day that they found out that they were going to be parents since they were married. He went to the guest room and lay on the floor, pulling a loose board from under the bed. He pulled out the box that was inside and rose up into a sitting position. Inside the box was a notebook and a thick envelope. He set the envelope aside to give to Candy later. It was the one nice thing that his parents had ever done for him, and they didn't even know that they had done it. Not really.

They had set up an account for him when he was a child and put a thousand pounds into it, then completely and totally forgotten about it. He'd only learned about it himself the day before when he got a letter in the post informing him that he needed to come down to his family's bank and change the papers for his account over to his name as he was an adult now. He'd told them that he didn't have an account with them, and been told that he did indeed, and the amount was now quite staggering. He'd been planning on using the money to get something special for Candy. But now they had that in their baby. So he was going to just give Candy the money, of course telling her where he had gotten it, and hoping that she would take it.

His parents had surely not been the @#!*% they were now when they'd opened that account, and since they had forgotten about it, he knew that they didn't even realize he had the money. Since he was now about to be a father, he wanted to use this money for his and Candy's child. He wanted their baby to have everything that it would need. And the money in that envelope would ensure that he could do that.

He took the notebook, and after a moment's thought, the envelope back to his bed room. He didn't really want to wake Candy, so he thought that he would tell her about it in the morning. He climbed back into the bed and leaned against the headboard, pulling his beautiful wife closer to him as he did so. He opened the notebook and started looking through the lists that he'd made over the last six years. It was just a simple little thing, names that he liked. He'd been adding to it every time he found one that sounded pretty or like it would go well with their last name. Now he went over the list, and found a few that he believed sounded prettiest for a little girl.

Grace- He loved that name. It was at the top of the list of girl's names for him. But he couldn't think of a middle name that sounded beautiful enough to go with it. He would have to wait and ask Candy what she thought.

For a boy, he like the idea of the name Michael Liam Bauer. It made him smile when he thought of it. It was a name that he would choose, and not 'Sterling' like his mother had suggested. He really loved the idea of having a little girl though. She would be his little princess, since Candy was his queen.

He looked over at his sleeping wife and leaned over to kiss her softly. He hoped that he didn't wake her up, but she was so beautiful, that he just couldn't resist.