Chain Reaction 2.41: A Dad

     "You're what?" I must not be completely awake yet.
     "I'm pregnant!" she repeats in almost exactly the same way.
     I don't know why, but I pout. Wait. Maybe I do know why. "You are?" Now, my pregnant wife is going to leave me to go back to college.
     "Yes!" She looks at me and really sees me and my expression. "What's wrong?"
     "You're leaving again!" Plum, don't cry, Ethan! The stress of my job is really getting to me: I can't pin the crime on the Landgraabs; my wife is pregnant and I'm not ready for it; and now, she's leaving me again!
     "Ethan!" she says like she's complaining. "This is good news! We wanted kids, right?"
     "I wanted you to be home for that." It's not fair!

    Then, it happens! The university lets Claire finish in a special way! She's going to intern HERE! Somehow, her history degree helps her enter the political arena. Oh, she's not going to be a politician... more like a politician's worst nightmare.
     I'm just happy I have my wife, my pregnant wife, at home now.

     She doesn't waste time getting to work, not letting her pregnancy get in the way.

    She starts rallying people to her cause.
    Then, she gets hungry.

     The people she left protesting gather more people. The Maker thinks this is funny, and She wonders if the protest is still going. She circled Claire to show where she is in relation to the protesters.

     I'm still working on the Landgraab case. The chief is putting the pressure on me to make an arrest. I want to arrest the Landgraabs. I don't know for sure if it was Geoffrey or Malcolm or the two of them working together, but someone went in and destroyed all records of Malcolm's arrest. I'm certain they're behind it, but without the stuff I obtained with Uncle Alex's help (that I can't use), I have nothing on them.

     What are they talking about? They're guilty little monsters, that's for sure.

    Claire's pregnancy grows quickly. I can't believe I'm going to be a dad! Me! A dad!
    A dad?
    I'm going to be someone's dad. That's so odd I can't even begin to describe how it feels.

      "You're gorgeous," I tell my gorgeous wife. I've never seen a sexier pregnant woman in my life.

     "You need your eyes checked, monkey boy. I'm a whale." She giggles anyway.

     "I know gorgeous when I see it, Daisy." She STILL doesn't know why I call her that.

     Claire and I have to find a new house. I'm going to miss this one. It has a great view, and I doubt we can afford another place with as good a view. But we hope to at least get a place in the same area of town, across the bay from downtown Eden.

     Same section of town. Different neighborhood. It's a two bedroom. Claire loves it. She keeps gushing about how much she loves it and how adorable it is. I'm okay with it. It's a game-made house because The Maker isn't feeling creative. The Maker just wants this baby to be born before she has to go and pick up a few people at the airport.

     Not too much time goes by before Claire does go into labor. I'm cool about it. No freakout dance from this daddy!

     The guy at the reception desk doesn't act in a hurry at all to get her checked in. I keep trying to tell her it's going to be okay, but she apparently doesn't want to hear that, especially from me. What'd I do?

     Remember when I said 'no freakout dance'? I'm making up for that now. My wife... My WIFE is in that machine!

    Then, before I know it... I'm a dad.
    Welcome to the world, little Michael Taylor.

     Oh yeah. I can do this. I can be Daddy. I'll be an awesome daddy. I'll be the awesomest daddy. I have an awesome daddy, so I know I can do this.
    "Yeah, we'll be buds, won't we, Mikey? You'll be the awesomest kid on the playground. I'll teach you everything I know." I kiss him while he drinks his bottle. "Daddy's little Mikey."

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In case you're wondering, I made it to the airport at the perfect time to pick up Michael and Gail. :)

And HOW CUTE is Ethan holding a little baby?! It's like my baby holding a baby. It's surreal. I can't get the Ethan kid that burped in Claire's face outta my head as Ethan. Seeing Ethan as a dad is strange...but in a good way.

So...what's next? Well, I still have more Alex story to tell. I'm ready to age Emily and Drake up. I'm curious to see how Isabella turns out. See you in the next chapter!

Click here to go to 2.42