Note from the author

Hi everyone,

you probably already guessed it, because of the lack of posting, but this story is on hiatus right now.

I have too much stuff to do in real life and it got me so stressed that I'm battling a rather bad cold for more than 10 days already. My doc wondered what was going on and I told him about my work in the law firm, prep-classes for me second state exam, writing five hour training tests once a week, my obligatory study group with a rather intolerant judge, who gives tons of homework and ... of course hitting the books every free minute, because there is this little voice in the back of my mind that's telling me that I need to pass my exam in march with the highest grade possible, because I do not have 500 Euro to pay for a second (and last) try.

So, my doc told me I need to reduce the stress....unfortunately that includes stopping my writing (even though my lead characters don't like it and constantly 'talk' to me). It's not that I don't have any chapters, but I need to write several 'fill'-chapters to develop my story and that takes much more time than only writing one chapter after another.

All I can tell you is that there will be more chapters to come and we still have a long way to go and fight some battles until we reach the end.

Maybe I will be able to post a new chapter from time to time, but it will no longer happen in such a continuous way like in the past months.

New posts will be announced via twitter and on the T's board.


~ Kris ~

Chapter 107

They had been laying together on the bed for hours and talked. At least it felt like that. Jon held her gently and Kim was finally able to relax a bit, when there was a hard knock at the door.

“Would you go?” Kim asked with a little sigh.

“Sure, hon.” Jon kissed her cheek softly and got up to open the door.

“YOU!”

“Fran…hi…how was….” Jon greeted her, but was interrupted by a rather hard hit against his chest.

“What the…?” Jon took several steps back into the room.

“YOU…YOU…” Fran’s face showed nothing but anger when she followed him into the room.

“Darling…wait…” you could hear Richie’s voice coming from the hallway when Fran tried to hit Jon another time. This time he was able to cover his chest with his arms.

“Fran stop it.” Richie lead against the doorframe and tried to catch his breath.

“Dammit, Fran…stop it…” Jon cursed when she stepped forward and hit him again. She was furious there was no doubt and he was pretty sure the hormones were adding to her anger.

“She is so damn fast…” Richie mumbled and tried to pull his wife away from Jon, but as soon as he touched her arm, he earned a very hard push and stumbled backwards.

“YOU…YOU….HOW COULD YOU?” she just wouldn’t stop.

Kim took a deep breath and stepped between Jon and Fran. She knew her best friend would never hit her.

“Fran stop it.” She told her calmly.

“What are you doing? He’s an asshole.”

“He was. Yes. But we talked…”

“So Blondie apologized and everything is fine….no way!” she tried to get to Jon again. He ducked and tried to stay behind Kimberly.

“FRAN, IT’S ENOUGH!” Kim’s voice was hard.

“This is none of your business anymore. I wouldn’t interfere when you and Richie have a bad fight either. So stop it.” Fran swallowed and looked at her with narrowed eyes. The men held their breath.

“Ok.” Fran agreed, but shot Jon one last angry look. It was clear he would have to work hard to get her trust back.

“Good…so, how was your sightseeing tour …” Kim was looking for a way to get out of this uncomfortable situation.

“Nice….I….Ouch…” Fran suddenly whispered and covered her belly with her hands.

“Darling, what’s wrong?” his worry was clear in Richie’s voice.

“I don’t…owwww!” she gasped for air.

“Rich, help me to get her on the bed. Jon, get my bag.” Kim started to take control.

Jon watched them helping Fran to lay down. Her face showed pain and concern. He knew if this whole situation caused any damage to Fran or the baby, he could just walk up to the top of the building and jump down. Rich would kill him anyway.

“Jon, my bag!” Kim’s voice let him snap out of his thoughts and he hurried over to her suitcase and grabbed a small black bag.

“You brought your stuff?” Rich asked surprised.

“Just the bare necessities.” Kim told him and rubbed the stethoscope between her hands to warm it up before putting it on Fran’s naked belly. She hoped she would get some sounds from the baby. If not they would have to rush Fran to the hospital.

“Kim?” her best friends voice asked nervously after several minutes.

“End of fourth months, right?” Kim asked. Fran only nodded.

“The heartbeat is faster than normal at the beginning of the second trimester. And I would say the baby is kicking and moving rather strong.” Kim informed them.

Fran nodded at her words and winced when another kick happened.

“He or she is upset that mommy is upset.” Kim said softly. Again Fran nodded and tears started to fill her eyes.

“Oh, darling….” Richie pulled her into his arms.

“Fran, you have to calm down.” Kim grabbed her hand and squeezed it softly. She only nodded, but you could tell it wasn’t very easy for her.

“Rich, let’s get her upstairs to your room.”

“Yeah,…come on darling.” He kissed her softly and helped her to her feet.

“Get my bags and bring them to our room, Jon.” Kim told him while walking into the hallway with Fran and Richie. He just nodded.

A couple minutes later they arrived in Fran’s and Richie’s suite. As soon as they had opened the door a smiling Ava run towards them.

“Hi Kim.” She greeted her shortly, before turning her attention to Fran and her father.

“What’s wrong?” she asked worried. Fran was crying and her dad had never looked more concerned in his life.

“Fran got upset and now the baby is very upset too. We need to help her to calm down.” Kim explained gently.

“Oh…what can I do?” The girl asked and watched how her dad helped Fran to get into bed.

“Could you get me a glass of water?” Kim asked.

“Sure.” Ava rushed back to the living room.

“Is it getting better, Fran?” She wanted to know and checked on the heartbeat again.

“I don’t know.” Fran whispered. Kim looked at her. She was all tensed up. All her thoughts were about the baby right now. There was no way she would relax and calm down this way.

“Here’s the water.” Ava handed her the glass.

“Thanks.” Kim looked through her bag and put something into the water. It immediately turned red.

“Drink this.” She handed Fran the glass.

“What is it?” Richie looked at the liquid suspicious.

“Don’t worry. I would never drug your wife.” Kim said smiling.

“Drink it Fran.”

Fran nipped carefully and swallowed. A huge smile spread across her face and she had to giggle.

Ava and Rich looked at her confused. Kim chuckled.

“What is that?” Rich grabbed the glass and took a sip as well. He stared at Kim.

“Fizzy lemonade?” He couldn’t believe it.

“Yep, raspberry flavor. Makes her giggle and laugh every time.”

“That’s all? You ain’t gonna do anything else?” he got a little mad.

“Nope.”

“I call an ambulance.” He grabbed his mobile, but Fran stopped him.

“Here…feel.” She put his hand on her belly.

“No more kicking.” He shook his head and couldn’t believe it.

“How is that possible?”

“Do you want the complicated medical explanation or the short understandable one?” Kim asked grinning and handed a happy Ava a little bag of sherbet as well.

“Give him the short one.” Fran said and took another sip.

“It simply took her mind of the problem and triggered happy childhood memories. It always did.” He looked at Kim in disbelieve.

“So you did that before?”

“Yep, during the pregnancy with Jason. And he turned out just fine.”