Chapter Text
Letting out a soft sigh, Nozomi rolled onto her left side facing the alarm clock on her bedroom stand.
The bright numbers on the clock read 3:35 A.M. Another quiet sigh escaped her lips.
Sleep was evading her tonight much like it had been the last several days. She would sleep for only a few hours before her eyes would flutter open and that would be the end of it. Even the warmth of her girlfriend, Eli, sleeping next to her did nothing to help her get back to sleep. This go around, she’d been staring up at the ceiling for an hour before she decided to give up the idea that she was ever going back to sleep.
Nozomi chalked it up to restlessness. A lot was happening in her life at the moment. She’d been busy with photography portraits, Eli had just started her new job at the beginning of the month, and they were starting a family. And even though all of these things made Nozomi incredibly happy, it still gave her much to think about – apparently when she was trying to sleep.
Deciding to herself that it was useless lying in bed, Nozomi slowly began to sit up and swing her legs over the side of the bed. This was easier said than done, though, because as soon as she tried to sit up normally, she found herself unable to move the full distance. She laid her head back on the pillow for a moment before glancing up at her round stomach. The growing bump had developed to a point where somethings were becoming more and more difficult. Sitting up was apparently one of them that was now extremely complicated. Five months down, four more to go.
Eli stirred beside her momentarily, and Nozomi was worried that she had woken her up in her efforts to sit upright. But the blonde merely shifted in her sleep and settled facing the wall as her blonde hair cascaded over the pillows on her side of the bed. Nozomi smiled at her girlfriend fondly, but noticed that the blanket had slipped off of Eli’s shoulders. She reached over and tucked her girlfriend back in before leaving a small kiss on the back of her blonde head. Eli mumbled something but she didn’t wake. Talking in her sleep was just another one of the adorable things about Eli. Nozomi chuckled lightly before turning back to her task at hand – getting out of bed.
After some interesting maneuvering (that included nearly fully rolling off the bed and onto the floor at one point), Nozomi managed to get out of bed without waking Eli and without injuring herself. She stretched her back lightly before putting on her slippers. The bare floor was too cold to go without, even if they did have their heater going. Winter took no prisoners in Japan, not even a pregnant woman’s feet. Once her slippers were acquired, she stopped briefly in the bathroom because pregnancy also did a number on a person’s bladder and Nozomi had gotten to the point where she was peeing every half hour. At least it felt like that. It had gotten so bad that whenever she was working or whenever she went out shopping or with Eli they always had to make sure they weren’t very far from a bathroom. It was a hassle but Nozomi hoped that it would all be worth it in the end. Because Nozomi sure was tired of staring at the beige wallpaper in the bathroom. She should talk Eli into remodeling it into something more cheerful or interesting if Nozomi was going to be spending the next 4 months in there.
Once that ‘errand’ was taken care of, Nozomi waddled softly out of the bedroom and into the living area and eventually the kitchen. Taking the kettle off the stove, she filled it with water from the tap before returning it to its position on the stove and turned the nob to begin heating the water. The click-click of the pilot light was louder in the middle of the night, but luckily Nozomi had remembered to close the bedroom door behind her. Once that was settled, Nozomi reached up into the cabinet (also a complicated task when trying to reach vertically over a cabinet and your stomach made the reach that much farther) and pulled out her favorite purple raccoon mug. She decided on a lemon ginger blend of tea, spooning a few heaping tablespoons of it into the tea ball, before closing it. She liked the taste of the herbal tea and it lacked caffeine, so if she felt sleepy again, it wouldn’t impede her trying to go back to bed. She had also chosen this particular blend for the sheer fact that ginger was good for the stomach and that it might head off any ‘morning sickness’ Nozomi might potentially encounter later that day.
Nozomi leaned her back against the counter as she waited for the water in the kettle to boil. She idly placed a hand over her stomach as she tried to make sense of all of the thoughts roaming around her brain. She They were going to have a baby. They were going to be parents. And while Nozomi was excited for the prospect, she was also worried about it. She wasn’t worried about Eli. Eli would be a wonderful mother. She’d have nothing but the best for her child and she would teach her to be happy. Eli would do just fine and smother the child in love. Nozomi could already picture Eli on the poor child’s first day of school: eyes full of tears, not ready to let her child grow up. The eyes of someone so genuine and caring. Eli had known love all of her life. She was praised for her academic talent, skills and looks since she was young by friends and strangers alike. Her parents were always supportive of their wonderful little Elichika. They had always been supportive of whatever she had wanted to do, and even supportive of the relationship between Eli and Nozomi because their love for their daughter was unconditional – even with their strict upbringings. Her grandmother didn’t like the idea but who could hate Eli? No one that Nozomi had ever met.
No, Nozomi wasn’t worried about Eli. She was more worried about herself. She didn’t know if she was ready to be a mother or if she even knew how to be one. She hadn’t had the best upbringing, her parents were barely there for her, even when they still lived under the same roof. And yes, Japanese culture promoted independence in their children from an early age, but promoting independence was far different from what Nozomi’s parents had been. Her father was never home as he was always working or on assignment in whatever town they had moved to that year. He didn’t have time to be a father and sometimes she was sure that he didn’t remember that he had a daughter. Nozomi’s mother didn’t work as much as her father, but even when her mother had been at home with her, Nozomi got the sense that her mother would rather be anywhere else than having to tend to her child. The relationship wasn’t malicious; it was just distant. It had become even more distant over the last couple of years when they found out about Nozomi and Eli’s relationship. Nozomi’s parents didn’t approve of same sex relationships and they made it known. Nozomi wasn’t surprised by the reaction, and she heard less and less from them over the years since to where it was barely one call form her parents during the year. Needless to say, Nozomi doubted what her chances were of being an actual decent parent if she couldn’t even have a good relationship with her own parents.
The kettle began to whistle, bringing Nozomi suddenly out of her own thoughts. She clicked the burner off and removed the kettle form the heat forcing the whistling steam to quickly quiet. Nozomi poured the hot water over the tea ball and into her mug before placing it on the back of the stove on a cold burner. She then took a small hour glass from the back of the counter and turned it over, letting the white sand within begin to countdown to the perfect cup of tea. As she stood there, Nozomi had another thought that troubled her.
Nozomi should probably tell her parents that she was pregnant. She and Eli had already told the Eli’s parents and they were overjoyed. But due to the fact Nozomi’s parents had yet to think of calling them at all to ask how Nozomi was, they still didn’t know. Nozomi bit her lip as she considered the prospect. She would feel guilty if she didn’t tell them about it. It was a huge step in Nozomi’s life. She was going to be a mother and she was already 5 months along. If her parents found out she was having a baby right before she was going to have it, or heaven forfend after she had the baby she would probably get more of an ear full if she just told them now. Nozomi checked the clocked that was ticking away on the kitchen wall.
4 A.M.
Nozomi scrunched her eyebrows in thought trying to remember where her parents had said they were traveling to for this portion of the year.
‘Oh, that’s right,’ Nozomi thought. ‘They had a job in Hawaii this year. So, it should be….’
Nozomi waddled into the living room to retrieve her phone from its charger and then came back into the kitchen, checking her math.
‘Right, it should be about…’ Nozomi continued her line of thinking as she checked on her tea timer. She removed the tea ball from her mug and set it gently in the sink with one hand while she worked her phone with the other. ‘It’s about 9 am where they are. So, I should be able to catch them before they head to work.’
Nozomi stared at her phone for a moment. She knew she needed to make the call, but was it the best thing to do in this moment? Well, it was now or never. So, Nozomi picked up her tea mug and pressed the dial button on her Mother’s contact entry. She placed the phone up to her ear, wedging it between there and her shoulder as she placed both hands on her mug and blew on the hot liquid before taking a sip. She then waddled back into the living room and over to the window as she listened to the phone ring and then pick up.
“Hello?” Her mother’s voice came in clearly from the other end of the phone just as Nozomi reached the window and looked outside at the darkened street. There was a pause as Nozomi gathered her thoughts.
“Hello?” her mother asked more loudly, prompting Nozomi into action.
“Hey, Mom.” Nozomi’s voice was quieter than her mother’s, but it was clear. “It’s me.”
“Me? Oh, Nozomi, hello.” There was rustling of paper on the other end of the line. No doubt Nozomi’s mother was getting ready to go to work. “What do I owe the call this early in the morning? What time is there, anyway?”
“4 A.M.”
“Shouldn’t you be sleeping? It’s not good for you to be up this late. I thought you were more responsible than that…” her mother replied distractedly. But the comment was still harsh in execution. Nozomi was used to it. “
“I do sleep normally,” Nozomi tried to answer without sounding irritated.
“But I just woke up and I couldn’t get back to sleep. And I hadn’t spoken to you and dad in a while so I thought I would give ya a call since I was awake anyhow. Also, I had something I wanted to talk to you about.” Nozomi added, attempting to sound upbeat. Her mother on the other hand let out a long sigh.
It did not look to be a promising conversation, so Nozomi held fast to the hot mug in her hands.