NOCTURNE
by Sailor Doc
Note: I've always heard that imitation is the sincerest
form of flattery. If that is indeed true, then please take
this as I mean it; a sincere compliment to you, Crawlspace, as well as a 'thank
you' for the way your work as fired my imagination as well.
Warmest regards!
Bets: AKA Sailor Doc
Slowly
closing the book resting in her lap, Ami removed her glasses and rubbed her
eyes wearily. In the dim light of the lamp on her bedside table she glanced
down at her partner and smiled sadly. For the last month and a half she had
been as a woman possessed, driven by the need to get so far ahead in all her
studies that she could afford to spend the first two or three weeks after
Miki's birth giving her undivided attention to him and his mother. Gazing down
at Makoto's hand resting gently on her stomach, she started to wonder if maybe
she hadn't over-done it just a bit.
As
soon as school was over, she would walk Makoto home, then leave immediately for
the library, where she would do research until time for cram school to start. By the time that was over and she got home, Makoto,
who was due most any time now, would more than likely already be in bed,
asleep. Thinking back over the last two weeks, she realized with a shock that
it was difficult to remember spending any real quality time with her moody and
emotional lover. Understandably, love-making had pretty much come to a screeching
halt for the time being, but it seemed the only times they were alone together
were in the mornings before school, and when they were asleep. Ami had taken to
studying in bed, despite the bad lighting, just so she could at least be near
Makoto.
Tonight, as she
had prepared for bed, she had noticed that Makoto seemed restless, tossing and
turning a bit as if she couldn't get comfortable, her face clearly unhappy.
Easing gently into their bed, Ami had whispered quiet reassurances, and as she
had settled into her accustomed place, pillow at her back, Makoto's had had
landed on her stomach. With a smile on her face, Makoto had curled up on her
side next to Ami, and finally drifted off to dreamland, her fingers gently
caressing Ami's tummy.
Reaching up, Ami
placed her hand protectively over Mako's, which was
still resting, if quietly, against her and felt the slightly unusual warmth of
it. Most of the time, Makoto complained of being too hot, and her physical
appearance would support her words. Tonight was no exception. Her face, now in
repose, was slightly red, and she had kicked off most of the covers, with just
a small bit of her belly showing from under the edge of her sleep shirt. As her
eye's focused on that spot in the dim light, she
realized that she wasn't the only one still up.
"Hey,
little guy," she said gently as she watched the tiny thumps against her
partner’s belly. "Did my light wake you up?"
As if in answer,
the tiny thumps returned with vigor, causing a delighted smile to cross her
features.
'I wonder if
Makoto's right and he really does recognize my voice,'
she mused as Mako released her hand and shifted onto her back, covering the
previously exposed area, but revealing another, slightly larger one.
Just as Ami
started to miss seeing the tiny bumps from her playful son, she saw them again.
this time from under the newly exposed area.
'Hm-m-m,' her tired, yet still agile mind thought. 'I wonder
if he can see the light, and that's what's got him going?'
Turning off the
lamp, Ami reached into the bedside drawer and removed a small penlight, then
scooted down in the bed next to Makoto's belly. With a quick glance upward, Ami
confirmed that her lover was still asleep and seemed comfortable. Taking a deep
breath, Ami raised the penlight and flashed it over the exposed skin on Mako's tummy. As she watched intently in the dim light from
the window, a gentle tap hit exactly where she had shown the light! With a grin
of delight, Ami unconsciously held her breath and tried again. Once again, a
tiny tap hit the area she had flashed! Deciding to challenge her new discovery,
Ami carefully exposed more of Makoto's stomach, and flashed a different area.
Sure enough, a small 'thump' appeared at the same stop she had lighted!
Enchanted, Ami continued her game, trying different areas, always with the same
result. One flash here, Another here. Two more over there.
'Whoa! Okay, he
had to have used his foot for that one,' Ami concluded after one particularly
difficult test.
Losing all track
of time, she added flashes, as many as three, and always the thumps hit right
where she had shown her light. After several minutes of this delightful game
she began to get the feeling she was being watched. Looking up, she found her
eyes captured by the knowing, gentle gaze of her partner.
"Are you
two having fun yet?" Makoto asked sleepily. Smiling, she
reaching forward to run her fingers softly through Ami's hair.
"I'm sorry
love," Ami said, her guilty conscious kicking itself into high gear.
"Did I wake you up?" she asked, though the answer was pretty obvious.
"I really didn't mean to."
"It's
okay," Makoto said as she watched the way Ami's blue locks sifted through
her fingers. Ami's eyes closed in pleasure as she let herself get lost in the
wonderfully relaxing aura she felt surrounding her as Makoto continued to
caress her hair. "Just what did you call yourself doing anyway,"
Makoto asked as she let her fingers drift over Ami's right cheek.
After taking a
moment to think about it, Ami opened her eyes and smiling at her lover, answered
rather simply:
"I was
playing with my son."
Unbidden, tear
sprang to Makoto's eyes as she felt the depth of the love within her almost as
if it were a physical presence lodged within the center of her chest, as surely
as her heart was.
Swallowing the
lump in her throat, she whispered, "He's missed you, you know."
"Yeah, I've
missed him, too," Ami said, stroking the rounded tummy of her love,
"but not quite as much as I've been missing you. Are you okay?" she
asked, gently leaning her cheek against Makoto's swollen side.
"I'm
fine," Makoto said, regaining her composure. "Really," she
reassured her lover. "I'm just, I don't know... tired of being tired all
the time, I guess. Tired of feeling bloated and fat and clumsy, and..."
"Sh-h-h-h.
Enough of that," Ami said as she hastily scooted up to the head of the bed
to wrap her frustrated partner in her arms. "I guess I've really been
negligent in my duties if you've started feeling this way."
"The facts
are the facts," Makoto said, even as she cuddled against her smaller
partner. "I'm as big as a house, I eat all the time I'm not sleeping,
which isn't very often, and I'm as graceful as an elephant trying to perform '
"Okay,"
Ami said, tightening her hold on Makoto. "Let's look at this calmly and
logically. You're as 'big as a house' as you say, because you're going to
deliver a normal, healthy baby boy any day now. You're eating and sleeping more
are responsible for that. As far as gracefulness is concerned, the additional
weight of our son is throwing off your normal center of gravity, so a bit of
unsteadiness is to be expected. Sweetheart, I promise, you'll be your old self
again in no time after Miki gets here!" Ami reassured her love.
"You don't
think I'm ugly?" Makoto said, the words barely
audible against Ami's chest.
"WHAT?"
"It's
just...I mean I know you've been studying awfully hard, and I know it's so you
can spend more time with us when Miki's born, but..."
"But
Nothing!" Ami insisted,
fighting down her natural urge to vehemently deny her lovers
suspicions. "Silly Mako-chan! Love, now you know
that's just not true. Ugly? Kami-sama, Makoto!"
With a sigh, she pulled Makoto even closer to herself, burying her face in the
reddish-brown mane. Taking a moment, she steadied herself by breathing in
deeply of the rich and wonderful scent that was her Makoto's alone.
"Don't you
know, my love, that you are the very definition of beauty to me?" Nuzzling
Makoto's ear, she whispered, "You always have been. At
all times and in all places. The way you walk. The way you move. Your voice. The way you smile. The way you think. The way
your hair curls up at the end of your ponytail." She felt Makoto chuckle
and snuggle closer. "I love everything about you," Ami continued.
"I love your eyes. Did I ever tell you how much I love your eyes?"
"No,"
Makoto said against Ami's neck.
"Well then,
just let me say this," Ami said, kissing Makoto's forehead. "I love
your eyes! The way they sparkle when you're happy. The way they flash when
you're not." Again, she felt Makoto chuckle. Lowering her voice, she
whispered, "and I really love the special way they glow, just for me, when
we make love." Ami rejoiced in the shiver she felt from Makoto at her words,
as it echoed her own.
"Ugly?"
she questioned, taking Makoto's chin in her hand and raising her face to see
her eyes. "You, my heart, are beauty itself," and she sealed her
words with a gentle, reaffirming kiss.
THE END