Page 46 of Cold as (N)ice

“I’m here,” he said moving carefully back. “I’m not looking, Irene.”

“I know, just if… if something…”

“Shhh, I’ve got you,” he interrupted, hearing the emotion in her voice as he looked at the woman gazing up at him in such a trusting yet worried manner – and needed to distract her while the doctor looked at things first. “Hey, I was thinking. We should do a date night. Do you want to go out with me, Mrs. Coeur?”

“What?” she whispered tearfully, looking at him in disbelief only to see her flinch slightly. “Sorry. It's cold.”

“Yeah,” he smiled at her, nodding. “We should start dating. Let’s think of something we can do as a family, with Stephen, and then end each evening with just the two of us so that we can connect.”

“I’d love that.”

I love you,he thought wildly and bit his tongue as he nodded simply, not looking away from Irene’s eyes. “Doctor Pierce, we’re both a little worried that something might be going on, and with the move - we delayed this first visit to get settled… can we look at the screen? Is anything wrong?”

Irene’s bright blue eyes were about to overflow with tears as she stared at him silently. He could see the gratitude and relief inher gaze – asking carefully the words she couldn’t bring herself to say.

“I’ve got your back, Troll doll,” he breathed tenderly and leaned forward to kiss her forehead. “We’ll do this together.”

“Well,” the doctor began and he saw Irene tense, her lips quivering with a sob about to break forth as he held his breath, waiting for the doctor’s next words tensely. “It looks like you are almost at four months – and we’ve got a healthy little baby moving around. Everything looks perfect.”

Irene’s eyes widened, and Barrett felt his heart melt into his sneakers as he gazed at her, his own eyes watering. “You hear that?” he breathed reverently, staring at the emotions reflected at him in her gaze. “We’ve got a healthy… um,” and turned to look at the screen – and laughed. “We’ve got a healthy little…well,blob.”

“It’s a beautiful blob,” Irene chuckled emotionally, releasing his hand and as he turned back to glance at her, she had already wrapped her arm around his waist, tugging him closer and hugging him tightly. It was the weirdest hug he’d ever experienced, and he wouldn’t trade it for the world. “Our blob, Barrett.”

“I freakin’ love our blob,” he grinned, staring at the screen completely smitten with the child growing within the woman who’d captured his heart and soul.

An hour later, carrying a diaper bag full of stuff and a book to read about parenting and pregnancy, they stopped at a pastry shop to get coffee and something to eat. He was going to have to take her home quickly and get to the rink so hedidn’t get in trouble, but he was still riding an emotional high after the visit.

“Did you mean it?” Irene asked suddenly in the silence of the car.

“Mean what?”

“Nothing…”

“Irene…” he grumbled, glancing at her briefly. “I’m trying to drive, and all I want to do is pull over and hug you tightly right now because I’m so stupidly thrilled about the baby. Do not make me guess what is going through your head – just spit it out because my brain isn’t ‘braining’right now. I wanna beat on my chest, salute all the other dads in the world, and grunt ‘manly stuff’ like a caveman. Seeing your knees in the air, knowing there’s a baby in your belly… well, it does things to me.”

And heard silence as he exited, causing him to glance at her once more in alarm – and did a double take.

“That’s hot…” she breathed, staring at him and her eyes?

*tilt!*

“Oh here we go…” he mindlessly yelped and pulled over the van in a rush, stomping on the brakes. His pointer finger was mashing the hazard lights in a frantic motion as he ripped at his seatbelt, trying to get it off. “Screw this and screw being nice… selfish works just fine!”

“Get this off me…” Irene was hissing, yanking at her belt at the same time, pulling at it as he planted a foot on the small space between the two captain’s chairs of the vans, reached over, and nearly ripped the handle off the passenger seat, laying it down. He was behind her seat within seconds, tucking his hands under her arms, and physically dragged her over the back of the reclined seat onto the bench in the back. Everything moved so fast, so smoothly, he was kneeling above her, moving to kiss her – and paused.

“Tell me this is…”

“Would you shut up?”

“Shutting!” he blurted out and then kissed her passionately. Their mouths locked as her arms wrapped around him so tightly, pulling him to her, and oh, he was here for it! He wasn’t joking either – the doctor’s visit was a mixture of surprises to his system, visceral signals to his ‘I’m a man’ part of his brain, while making his heart melt knowing he was going to raise a family with this incredible woman.

“Oh man, Irene…” he breathed against her lips, losing himself in the taste and sensation of what it was like to kiss her.

“Why haven’t we kissed like this before?” she murmured back, arching toward him, whispering those words against his lips like a siren singing to him.

“I’m an idiot…”

“Stubborn…”

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