My stomach rolled around like a snake was trying to escape. Axel's usually reassuring arm around my waist suddenly felt like a dead weight, pushing into me. A quiet groan escapes my lips as my dry mouth draws me to the conclusion of what my nausea is leading to. It only took twenty seconds of being awake before I was running out of the bed and landing on my knees in front of the toilet.

Throwing up for a solid two minutes, I'm relieved when I feel familiar hands dragging my hair away from my face. I groan and lean back onto my heels when my stomach begins to settle. At least I hope it is, god knows I can't stand throwing up.

"Are you okay?" Axel asks when silence descends over the bathroom, thoughts mulling over in my head.

"Yeah, must've been that Indian last night." I shrug, reaching for my toothbrush. I refuse to face Axel after throwing up without brushing my teeth - four years of a relationship or not.

"I'm not sick," Axel hums. "Maybe it's my inner strength saving me from food poisoning."

With a foamy mouth, I brush off his comment as dates begin to line up in my head. I should be bleeding right now, cramping and cursing being a woman. I should be on my period. Instead I'm blissfully blood free but slowly cracking on the inside.

I stopped taking birth control a month ago after Axel and I agreed it was time to extend our family. The knowledge of my vulnerable body has me putting a hand on my stomach in apprehension.

"C'mon, that was funny," Axel jokes, wrapping his arms around my waist as he hugs me from behind. He rests his head on my shoulder once I put my toothbrush away and I lean back into him, mild shock mingling with curiosity and excitement. "Are you okay? You look like you're thinking of a plan."

"I'm just thinking about my period." I answer bluntly, wondering if I'm going crazy. If Axel doesn't connect the dots then maybe I'm overthinking. He always figures these things out, he'll put my mind to rest.

"That's random...Wait. Are you-"

Fuck me. Never mind.

I push out of his arms and turn to face him instead. His blue eyes bore into mine as I stare back. Unspoken words dangle between us, forming a question mark over our future. He walks out of the bathroom abruptly and I follow behind him, chasing him down the stairs as fast as my weak legs can manage.

"Where are you going?" I shout down the stairs, his long legs carrying him down faster than me, not that I would ever admit to that.

"I'm getting you a test, Sky. You can't put these ideas in my mind and then just expect us to make omelettes." Axel stresses as he faces me at the bottom of the stairs.

"But that's what we always do." I shrug. Seeing Axel freak out has served as a distraction from my own questions in my mind, queries that are bringing strong emotions forward that I'm not quite ready to face yet. The question, however, remains at the forefront of my head and screams out in red.

Am I pregnant?

The thought causes mixed emotions within me - fear, excitement, apprehension - but love remains at the centre of it. I feel my heart stutter as I watch Axel get his keys before walking back over to me with purposeful strides. Taking my face into his strong hands, he places his lips onto mine in his usual passionate kisses that still make my head spin.

"I'll be back soon." He whispers before disappearing out of the door.

I do my part whilst he's gone and drink as much water as I can. He arrives back in about fifteen minutes with ten pregnancy tests and instructs me to do them all. I scoff at his urgent actions and grab three out of his hands before making my way into the bathroom.

"Will three be enough?" He shouts after me as he runs up the stairs.

I laugh in the doorframe. "Trust me, one would be enough."

"Are you sure?"

I sigh and smile at him. "Yes, Axel. It'll be fine."

He mumbles something inaudible as I make my way through to the bathroom. I do what I need to do before setting them on the countertop and putting on a timer. I take a seat next to Axel on the bed as the seconds drag by.

The next two minutes are the longest I've ever suffered through, but the look on Axel's face when he turns to me with the result will last in my memory forever.

"Two lines means you're pregnant, right?" He asks, his electric eyes connecting with mine.

"Yeah," I breathe. "What does it say?"

My questions are answered when Axel picks me up and spins me around, burying his face into my neck as I laugh. My hands shake as I take his face into my hands as he holds me up. Pure bliss runs through my bloodstream.

"I'm really pregnant?" I ask, tears threatening to spill over in my eyes.

Axel's grin could light up the whole of the city. "We've done it, beautiful."

Our grins and laugher fill the room. We stay up the whole night, discussing our future which is suddenly bursting with happiness and possibilities.

~~~~

I place the flowers down on the table and lean back to admire my work. Set for four, our table finally looks elegant for the first time since moving in as the flowers and placemats decorate it in cool blue tones.

I hear footsteps behind me and lean into the strong chest that arrives at the back of me. Axel lets out a content sigh as he wraps his arms around me. His hands land on the gentle curve of my stomach, barely visible, but still noticeable to the over-excited pair of Axel and I.

"I love you." He murmurs as he kisses my shoulder.

My chest threatens to burst with adoration. Especially as he stayed up with me all last night trying to help tame my nausea. Again. I feel better now, especially since it's later at night. "I love you, too. Are you ready for this?"

Tonight Rob and Emma are coming around for dinner where we're going to tell them about the pregnancy. I'm beyond excited to tell them. They've always supported us and our relationship. Rob specifically has called dibs on being godparent, although Axel and I are still to confirm that...

We've already told both of our parents and they were delighted. My dad brought Axel to the side to discuss fatherhood, but Axel didn't run away after so I'm taking that as a success. News has been threatening to spill over - especially since Axel's such a public figure so we've had to hide from the paparazzi for a while - so I need to tell Emma and Rob before they hear it through the media.

"I've been ready for four years." He says and I can hear the smile in his voice.

I twist in his arms and take his face in my hands. I scrunch my nose as I murmur, "That's not true but I appreciate the kindness."

Axel laughs and hugs me tighter , kissing my forehead. I sigh and rest my head against his strong shoulder. Our moment of serenity fills me with love but of course, our friends have to interrupt.

Their usual tradition of not knocking kicks in as both Emma and Rob charge into the house with calls that sound more like war cries than greetings. Laughing and pulling back from Axel, Rob walks into the kitchen as we separate.

"My favourite couple! Are all the clothes still present and accounted for?" He asks, his lanky frame tilting against the door frame as he observes us.

"Nah, we thought we would cook naked." Axel drawls, pulling me back into his arms that I had just tried to leave. I go back with no hesitations.

Rob blinks at us both, unbothered by Axel's remark. "My brother, I've never been prouder."

Axel laughs and moves to punch Rob's shoulder as I walk towards Emma who stands grinning at the boys and their antics. I swallow as she extends a bottle of wine towards me with a smile.

"I brought booze. We'll need it with the maniac's that we're apparently eating with."

"You're one-hundred percent correct." I laugh and turn to everyone to motion them to the table.

Emma and Rob sit opposite Axel and I. I go to the oven once it chimes and serve the oven backed tacos with a sigh of pleasure - relieved that they turned out okay since I'm still not the most confident cook.

Sitting down opposite them both, Axel places a hand on my thigh and gives it a reassuring squeeze when Emma opens the wine bottle. Excitement and nerves build up in my chest. The people in front of me have seen me at my worst and at my best. They've stuck with me through everything so there's no need to be nervous but the peanut that rests in my lower stomach deserves all of the love in the world so I'm just hoping Emma and Rob will accept and love this change.

"Skylar? Wine?"

I open my mouth to decline and explain why but I don't have a chance to say my prepared speech as I'm quickly interrupted.

"Skylar's pregnant." Axel bursts out urgently, his words tumbling over each other in excitement.

I turn and raise my eyebrow at him. He mouths a sorry and I smile, helpless against his blue eyes that are staring at me in adoration that I still don't believe I'm totally worthy of. How did I get so lucky?

My sickly love thoughts are disrupted by the sound of smashing glass. Turning around quickly, Rob stares, open mouthed, with his hand still in the shape of his now missing glass. Emma has a similar expression but manages to hold onto the wine bottle, placing it back down on the table with a bump.

The pair of them sit and stare at us for a solid ten seconds whilst Axel and I observe them with grins plastered across our faces. Their shock is beyond amusing and I find myself giggling and leaning back in my chair whilst I wait for them to speak.

Emma's the first to break after a solid ten seconds in frozen shock. "Are you serious?"

"Yep. I'm twelve weeks." I nod, taking Axel's hand under the table and lacing our fingers together.

"No. Fucking. Way." Rob gasps and clutches at his chest in a fake heart attack.

"Way." Axel nods, his smile filling his whole face when I glance in his direction.

With both of our confirmations swirling in the air, the room explodes with noise as Rob hollers in delight and Emma screeches out of her chair to come and hug me. She wraps her arm around my shoulders and pulls me in. I grin against her shoulder and the love for the girl that's never failed me overflows in my heart.

"I'm so happy for you." She whispers, her eyes glistening.

Mine match hers and I look up the ceiling momentarily to clear them. "Stop it, the strong hormones have already kicked in."

"How are you feeling? Is there anything I can do?"

"I'm fine, don't worry." I grin at her.

"I'm going to be an auntie." She squeals.

I laughs and pull her in for another hug before hands on my shoulders pull me back and spin me around until I'm face to face with Rob. He grins at me before crouching down and placing his hands on my lower stomach and cooing, "My godson."

"You're sure it's a boy?"

"Have I every been unsure of myself?" He looks up at me with a smirk and I grin back.

"I suppose not." I sigh and happiness overwhelms me as I stand in a room full of the most important people in my life.

~~~~

"Axel! Over here!" The desperate photographer shouts after us as we disappear into the mysterious darkness of the football event.

Held by the Green Bay Packers, Axel's team, the night serves as a fundraiser for their chosen charity of Smile Train, which helps bring necessary operations for children born with clefts. The children centered cause makes me run a hand over my protruding stomach in a wave of protectiveness.

Now six months, my stomach has shown itself to the world and simultaneously sent the paparazzi on a spiral of insanity. Tracking every move that Axel and I make, our media attention has increased tenth fold and so, the red carpet outside of this event was more manic than I could've anticipated.

As if sensing my shock, Axel stops in the corridor and pulls me to the side, running his hands up and down my arms in a soothing motion.

"Are you okay? Sorry that was so mental."

"It's not your fault. We're fine."

Axel grins at the word 'we' and kisses me softly before taking my hand in his and guiding me into the hall.

People flock to our side as soon as we enter and don't leave until I disappear into the bathroom after two hours when my bladder demands me to. I lock myself into a cubicle and let out a deep breath, gathering myself together for a couple of minutes before heading back out into the madness - somebody has to be there to protect my husband who's looking indescribably hot in his suit.

Making my way back into the crowd, my lower back and feet ache in protest of the heels and dress I forced myself into for tonight. Admittedly I feel beautiful, but that charm only lasts so long when a child is bouncing on my bladder.

My child.

A smile creeps onto my face as I stare at my stomach, my heart beating with whole-consuming love and protection. Similar feelings carry me towards Axel once my eyes land on him, his short yet messy hair standing out in the crowd.

Who am I kidding? I would find him anywhere.

I'm blaming pregnancy for my overwhelming feelings.

He lets out a relieved sigh once I reach his side and I take over the conversation, politely talking to the teams physio and his wife. The chit chat continues for another two hours before I zone out. Axel senses my absence immediately and takes my hand in his, lacing our hands together.

"You'll have to excuse us, Tom. We need to head." Axel says, sympathy pouring through his tone.

"Of course. See you on Monday." Tom nods.

Swiftly walking us out, Axel presses his lips to my forehead as he whispers, "Are you okay?"

I smile up at him, his kind actions making me want to kiss the life out of him. "Yeah. Its just our child is already making me exhausted."

"Just their natural athletic abilities coming through early on." Axel smirks.

Calling a taxi, we get out of the event four hours later and get home quickly. After easing my cravings of ice-cream and then Axel's lips, I settle into bed. Axel climbs in behind me and pulls me into his body.

We do our usual nightly routine of discussing all things baby. We've decided not to find out the sex until its born so we have to come up with two name possibilities - double the talking. As I'm beginning to doze off, Axel hums with a final idea.

"If it's a girl then she's not allowed a boyfriend until she's eighteen." He mumbles, sleep audibly pulling him under.

"Same goes for a boy then." I sigh and snuggle back into him.

Axel places a hand on my stomach and kisses the back of my neck. "Deal."

~~~~

Two days late.

The longest two days of my life.

I just want to meet my child. It doesn't help that I'm the size of the whale as well, getting out of bed now feels two times harder than it did six months ago. Axel's been amazing throughout it, just as I knew he would be, but after a prolonged time of feeling like this, I'm ready to become a mom. I need to become a mom.

Axel's got a game today, so I'm at Rob's to watch it. Sitting up against his sofa, I have both of my hands against my stomach as the presenters run through statistics. Rob sits beside me, chatting away in a welcome distraction.

"How are you feeling?" He asks, facing me.

"Like a whale."

"A pretty whale, though."

I snort at his compliment and shove his shoulder with my hand. "Thank you."

"Always here to give you honest opinions, Cupcake."

We laugh, but the sound from the TV draws our attention back to the screen to see Axel's team walking out onto the field. My heart pounds at his appearance, four years not dulling the pride or love that I feel whenever I see him succeeding in his dream.

"Why hasn't he stayed with you?" Rob asks gently.

"The sponsors want him there, I don't really know. He tried to take me with him, offered me a private room and everything but I could not survive the crowds today." I shudder, images of packed crowds making me thankful for my current comfortable surroundings.

"That's my man."

After the traditional sequence of events, the match starts with a shout of encouragement from Rob and I. He looks amazing out there. He's in control and professional and the sounds of the crowd can be heard through the screen, letting me know that they agree too.

Two minutes pass before I decide I need to stress eat my way through this match as I usually do. Making my way through to the kitchen, I'm reaching for the tub of brownies when a short stab of pain and a rush of liquid down my legs makes me stop dead.

My water just broke.

"Rob." I shout, my high-pitched voice echoing across the apartment.

"Cupcake just bring all the brownies, we both know we're going to eat them all anyway." Rob shouts back.

"Rob," I shout again. "My water just broke."

All I hear is the sound of glass smashing before Rob comes running into the kitchen.

"Shit." He breathes.

"Shit indeed. Why now?"

"Hell knows. Why in my kitchen?"

I let out a whimper of fear and look at Rob frantically. He reads my bursting emotions quickly and switches into his caring personality in an instant.

"Why not now, Cupcake? Look, now we get to meet your child! C'mon, lets get you to the hospital."

My heart thunders with nerves. Everything I've read flies out of my mind as I stare in shock at Rob. "Okay...yeah. Sure."

"Of course. You're going to be fine, Cupcake."

I swallow through my nerves as Rob guides me to his car. He drives quicker than what's legal, but with the knowledge a human is about to exit my body, I don't blame him. We arrive quickly, thankfully, and after some questions I'm put into a private room - complete with the ridiculous gown.

My contractions kick in, but they're pretty spaced apart. I grab Rob's arm after one passes and pant, "Axel can't miss this."

"He won't, don't worry." Rob answers in serious tone that I cannot deny.

Forty five minutes later, my heart calls out with relief at the sound of a voice coming closer down the corridor. Bursting in the door in a rush of messy brown hair, Axel charges into the room with his face coated in panic. He lets out a breath when he sees me looking at him with shock and rushes over to kiss me.

"Sorry I'm late." He breathes, giving my body a once-over with his eyes in concern before meeting my eyes once again.

Looking down at his uniform, I let out a laugh and look up at him through my eyelashes. "Aren't you supposed to be at a game?"

My question dies on my lips as Emma walks in, smiling in visible excitement at me. She comes over to my other side and takes my hand in hers, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"What is going on?" I ask.

Axel takes a seat beside my bed and begins explaining. "I brought Emma to the match. Rob phoned her after your water broke and she shouted from the sidelines at me. We drove here together."

I giggle and stare at him lovingly. "You ran off the pitch again didn't you?"

He laughs and kisses the back of my hand. "Yep. Don't worry, I made a deal with the backup and he was running on as I was coming off."

"God, I love you."