"What the fuck are you doing?" Huck asked, rushing back in the room, eyes wide, wild, hands raised, his palms facing out.
"I, ah, what? I'm going to get some hot chocolate," I explained.
"Remy!" he yelled, loud enough that I shrank away from the sound, my shoulders rising up toward my ears. "Hot chocolate. Now. Not too hot, though," he added as Remy agreed and rushed off, almost seeming as frantic and weird as Huck was. "Sit down. You can't be walking around right now," he insisted, grabbing my arm, leading me back to the couch, pressing me down.
"I can't walk around?" I asked, shaking my head. "Why not?"
"It's not safe," he said, rolling his eyes as he reached for his phone, shooting off a rapid text.
"Huck, I'm going to need you to—" I started, getting to my feet.
"Jesus Christ. Sit down," he demanded, hands going to my shoulders.
"Hey," I said, getting a little worried, not sure if maybe I should have been calling Teddy or his sister, maybe even the president of the mother chapter, Reign. "You're kind of going full-on crazy-eyed right now," I told him, taking my cue from Teddy all those months ago, choosing to be blunt with Huck who definitely responded better to it. I mean, I had some lush gardens going. Even if I had killed a lot of the plants in my learning phase. "Why do you keep making me sit down?" I asked, grabbing his hand as he pushed me to sit again, forcing him down with me.
"Because it's not safe for you to be fucking walking around now."
"I'm not following. Why can't I walk around now?"
"Because you're pregnant."
"Yeah, you know, I'm pretty sure I've seen pregnant women walking around before. In fact, I think they encourage it," I said.
"Yeah, but not you. You can't do anything alone anymore. Someone has to be with you full-time. I am going to ask Gus to recommend someone she used to work with at the old folks home to come and help you out."
"Huck, I'm not old. And I don't need help."
"What about the seizures? You can't be having seizures now," he told me. "You could fall, hurt yourself and the baby. That can't happen. Someone needs to be watching you and with you all the time. So if you need anything, even just someone to hand you the remote you dropped, you just call. We are going to get some intercoms installed or something. I have to talk to Booker. McCoy, get a call out to Booker," he demanded as McCoy came in the room, holding a notepad and pen, jotting something down rapidly.
"Okay. What the heck is going on right now?" I asked, looking at McCoy because he was always the most level-headed of the group.
"We're going to need to block out all kinds of light too," McCoy said, talking to Huck, the two of them fluent in crazy. "Dim the TVs, cover up any flashing lights on the electronics. Maybe get some blackout curtains for all the windows."
"Why not get me a sensory deprivation tank to sit in for the next nine months?" I suggested, watching as interest lit their eyes. "Oh, my God. I'm joking. Joking. You guys need to dial it back about ten notches. I agree that we need to be careful about my seizures, but we don't need to get too crazy about it all.
"Crazy?" Huck repeated as McCoy wisely slid out of the room. "You think it's crazy to want to make sure you and the baby stay safe?" he asked, voice a bit raw. "That's our baby in there," he added, waving toward my still-flat tummy.
"I know," I agreed. "And we are going to protect it."
"That's what I'm trying to do," he insisted. "I have about a dozen people to call to get things changed around here, to make it as safe as possible. I want a fortress for you and our baby."
I had always thought that possessive, alpha boyfriend Huck was hot.
But possessive, alpha, protective prospective daddy Huck was just dreamy.
"I get that," I told him, reaching out to place my hand over his hand. "And I appreciate that more than you know. But, Huck... everything doesn't need to happen today. I really kind of need you to sit with me and tell me if you're okay with this or not," I told him, feeling more vulnerable than I should have.
"Okay with it?" he repeated, brows pinching together. "Babe, for fuck's sake, of course I'm okay with it. I'm fucking thrilled about it. I never knew how much I wanted a kid with you until you told me you were giving me one. I just..."
"Panicked," I supplied, smiling a bit at the lost look on his face.
"Yeah, something like that," he agreed. "You're going to have to let me be over-protective, babe. I don't know what the fuck else to do here."