"Karen I'm really worried about you" Chris said knocking on the bathroom door because Karen had locked herself in there and she still felt a bit sick.
"I'll be fine in a minute I swear" she replied uneasily. "Don't you need to go and get the boys"
"You're clearly not fine Karen... and yes I do but there is no way I am leaving you here on your own in this condition"
"Oh don't say that you're making out I have some kind of mental illness!" her muffled voice came through the door.
"I'm not, you know it's not like that I'm just really worried about you! I'm taking you to the doctors tomorrow if this hasn't cleared up by then" Chris said sternly as if he were her mother.
"No please Chris I don't need a doctor you know I hate them especially hospitals they are the worst!" she said, now just sitting cross legged by the toilet.
"I know you do honey..." Chris now had the side of his face pressed up against the bathroom door wanting to come in but Karen still wouldn't let him. "but if this carries on you can't just ignore it you're going to need to be checked out" he told her.
"but I don't want to" she whined on.
"Well you are not going to have a choice if this carries on! Now please let me in?" Karen jumped up from where she was sitting on the floor, a little too quickly resulting in a touch of dizziness just as Chris burst in anyway suddenly realising the door wasn't even locked in the first place. "Karen you're as white as a sheet" he said still worried about her as he looked at her up and down.
"I'll be fine stop panicking!" she said getting annoyed with Chris now she hated all the fuss. "Right I'm going to get ready now, you go and get the boys and I'll see you in a bit when you bring them back here, okay? Please?"
"Okay baby... As long as you're sure you're okay now?" he said still pestering on at her.
"Yes I'm bloody fine now please just go before I kick you out myself!" Karen said getting annoyed at him as he kept going on at her, however she didn't feel any better than she had at any point all morning, if not worse, but of course she wasn't going to tell him that because it would panic him even more and he'd never get himself out the house. When Chris finally did go it only took him 15 minutes before he was back again with 3 excitable children, but in that time Karen had been ill again and not even made it to the shower, she was back where she started on the bathroom floor when they all came through the door. The first thing Chris did once he'd sorted the boys out with a drink and snack and the best he could find on tv to suit them all, he went to see how Karen was, who was ill again as he walked into the bathroom.
"Karen!" he said annoyed at her for not saying anything before. "I thought you said you felt better? You haven't moved have you? What's wrong baby, you're killing me here I just want to know what's the matter" he said crouching down on the floor next to her, feeling the temperature of her forehead (which was high and a few beads of sweat were forming underneath her fringe).
"If I knew what was wrong I'd tell you but I don't....and now I'm worrying myself and you're not helping" she admitted in a timid voice, a lump was forming in her throat and her eyes were filling up with hot tears.
"Karen come here..." Chris said reassuringly holding her body close to his chest and rubbing her back comfortingly in attempt to calm her.
"Daddy..." Little Tommy came running up the stairs into the bathroom to see his dad to ask for another packet of crisps.
"shhhh" Chris said to Karen as she sobbed lightly into his chest. "What's the matter baby? Don't worry about Auntie Karen she's just not feeling very well at the moment but she'll be better soon okay? And then she'll be able to play with you again?" he said trying to get rid of the petrified look that had appeared on his son's face.
"Can I have more crisps... hello auntie karen" he said innocently, his sweet voice making Karen look up and smile weakly at him mouthing hello because no sound wanted to come out.
"of course you can buddy... ask Jack or Sam to get them for you? I'll be down in a little while when I've looked after auntie Karen okay? Don't worry son" he answered the cute little boy before he dashed off back downstairs begging his brothers to get him more crisps which he knew his mummy wouldn't have let him have.
"auntie Karen isn't very well she's crying and cuddling daddy" he said his own little voice filled with worry as he reported to the other two boys. Sam immediately got up to see what was wrong and Jack closely followed, while Tommy decided just to try and get his own bag of crisps despite the fact he wasn't normally allowed by himself he knew exactly where they were.
"dad?" "what's wrong?" voices echoed outside in the hallway while Chris was still comforting Karen, the two boys knocked and waited patiently unlike their younger brother.
"Don't worry boys everything will be okay I promise, will you take Tommy down to that park at the end of the road for a while?" he said poking his head around the door.
"Yeah of course, we'll be back in a while then I hope everything's alright" Jack replied peering round.
"It will be son I promise okay it will be soon"
"Thank you Chris I'm so sorry" Karen said quietly to him releasing a fresh new set of tears.
"Don't be sorry baby it's not your fault... I'll ring the doctor and we'll get him round in a while okay find out what's wrong with you" Karen was too weak to protest she just wanted to rest so Chris tucked her up in bed, surrounding her small body with pillows and placed a cold wet flannel on her head in attempt to cool her down a bit, before going downstairs to call the doctors and get the earliest emergency call out appointment he could, they were due to come and check Karen out in just a couple of hours, so he called the boys back from the park leaving Karen upstairs to sleep and rest, to explain to them what was happening and most importantly reassuring them that everything was going to be fine and they weren't to worry, and then he apologised to them for having a bit of a messed up arrival, cuddling them all tightly as they huddled together and watched a movie while Chris waited for the doctor.
When the doctor arrived the boys were very well behaved and agreed to just stay downstairs and amuse themselves while Chris and the doctor who's name was also Chris, went up to see Karen who was still fast asleep however she did stir slightly when both of them entered the room, she was aware of their presence at least.
"Karen honey? The doctor's here" Chris said in a soothing voice sitting on the bed next to her gently stroking her head as she woke up to see them both in the room. She just about managed to get out a struggled and weak hello to doctor Chris, but she did feel a lot better than what she had done before and the sick feeling had gone away.
"Right, would you like to tell me what's the matter then?" said Dr Chris kindly, sitting himself on the end of the bed to ask Karen the questions.
"Well this morning I've been sick as anything and was up all night with hot sweats and had horrible pains in my stomach, but it does all seem to have worn off a bit now that I've had a sleep I have to say" she told him quietly.
"So it's just been today?"
"I did feel a bit dodgy before we came here from the UK, but I figured it was just going to pass over as it was only a bit of a headache"
"Ok Mrs Barber then... I'm just going to take your temperature and then we will phone up the hospital to see when they can fit you in, everything will be okay" he reassured her getting the reading of her abnormally high temperature.
While Dr Chris went to make the call to the hospital reporting Karen's illness, Karen was feeling sick with worry again at the thought of going to the hospital which she hated so much, her eyes filled up with tears as she thought about facing her fears and getting into the horrible feeling of the white cotton oversized tops that she would be made to wear, and the uncomfortable bed she didn't know how long she'd be staying in for. She explained all this to Chris who just simply tried his best to comfort her and reassure her that it wouldn't be for long but it was much harder than anyone would think.
"Right then Karen, we're going to drive you up to the hospital now in the ambulance, but don't worry it's just so everything can be sorted out quicker, just try to keep calm" he said jotting down some final notes.
"Chris I don't want to go" she whispered her voice breaking a little as she held back the tears.
"Don't worry baby I'm not going to leave your side okay? I've just rung Jill and she's coming to pick up the kids and then we'll be off okay? Let's get you some clothes on then yeah?"
The doctor went downstairs and into the ambulance which was wonkily pulled up outside the house, while Chris helped Karen into some plain black jog bottoms and a simple white t shirt, it was rather hot outside so they didn't need anything else, Chris just picked up his phone and got Karen into the ambulance, by which time the boys had been collected by Jill and they'd said a short goodbye, Chris apologising for the little amount of time they'd spent together but he reassured them he'd see them again soon, despite what an angry Jill was muttering under her breath, not caring in the slightest there was an ambulance pulled up on the driveway.
They soon got to the hospital and Karen was issued a semi private ward because that's all that was left, but there was only one other woman in the same ward with her, she was quite young but fast asleep when they arrived. Karen changed into the nightgown and got into the bed to wait for the nurse to come and explain to her what was happening. After about 15 minutes a nurse named Kathy came to see to Karen and wrote all her information on the board behind. She then had a few tests run over her and within 30 minutes of arrival both Karen and Chris were patiently waiting for the results.
"See that wasn't so bad was it?" Chris asked her, Karen was now looking a lot perkier than she had earlier that day, but she didn't have an answer to his question because she didn't like to admit the truth, however she did still hate the environment she was in even if the people around her were so much nicer than she thought they were going to be. "You'll be out of here in no time" he told her squeezing her hand and kissing her still hot forehead.
"I hope so" she said, she'd also got her voice back a bit more too, but it was still weaker than normal.
"Ok Mrs Barber..." Kathy said walking down the ward to where Karen's bed was on the end right next to the window, giving them a wonderful view. "I do have some news for you..." she said building up the suspense as she flicked through the paper work. "You're pregnant! Congratulations both of you" she said happily. A look of pure relief came over Karen's face, a bit of panic set into Chris's. They were both happy but confused.
"I don't understand" Karen murmured in disbelief, her hand had fluttered down to her stomach and was now resting there comfortably.
"The tests show your baby is healthy but developing slightly slower than average. You're 3 months gone"
"Wow... thank you"
"Its normal for your body to react a bit strangely like yours did so there's absolutely nothing to worry about, have you got any children?"
"Yes I've two grown daughters, Emma and Laura, this is my first with Chris mind you, but I didn't know I could still get pregnant, and I certainly didn't have any of that with my girls"
"Its all totally normal please don't worry, and seems you're an expert then you've done this twice before!" Kathy was a bit shocked at Karen's answer as she didn't think Karen was as old as she was but realised when she looked at the notes again.
"Well I'm not sure about that it was all 20 years ago" Karen said laughing.
"Okay well you're all safe to go Karen whenever you like, just pop over and get this medication on your way out, it should help with the sickness"
"Thank you" Chris said as Kathy walked away, and then Karen and Chris shared a first passionate kiss. "I can't believe you're pregnant! We're going to have our own little family" he said happily with visions going through his mind.
"Yes we are" Karen agreed delighted, kissing Chris again. "Can we get out of here now?"
"Sure baby" Chris said laughing as he helped her out the bed and changed again before they both walked hand in hand out of the hospital getting the medication on the way out, and then calling a taxi to get them back to the house, understandably in a much more relieved state than they'd gone out in, but Chris still had worries on his mind even though he knew everything was going to be okay.
When they got home from the hospital Karen went straight to turn the tv on, made herself comfortable on the sofa and picked up a magazine too, while Chris just pottered around not really doing anything in particular but finding silly little things to do. He was trying to distract himself but he was still worried as hell about Karen and the fact they were in a different country didn't help either, he was finding it difficult to come to terms with the whole pregnant thing. Eventually Karen had got him to calm down and come and join her but she had no idea what was bothering him but she knew it was something, he was frightened to admit it to her because he thought it was stupid, and then maybe Karen would think he was stupid too. All the thoughts whizzing around in his head even as he snuggled up next to Karen in bed that evening, he was still panicking without any real reason. They were just general concerns, like, what if the baby wasn't okay (even though they'd been told it was fine), and when they were going to get home, what if Karen got ill again, what was going to happen when they got back, who are they telling first, or at all, and it just went on...and on...
"Morning beautiful lady" he whispered into her ear when he woke up. Karen was just in a light sleep like she had been the whole night, unusual for her as she was normally a deep sleeper and would sleep through anything.
"Morning baby" she said turning around to face him and kissing him. "I love you so so much... thank you for looking after me yesterday" she said gratefully kissing him again.
"Well I wasn't just going to leave you and let you suffer was I now" he chuckled "you did half give me a fright though I'll tell you that!"
"I feel so much better today, still a bit of a headache but I think that's just lack of sleep"
"Glad to hear it, I really don't fancy a repeat of yesterday thanks..." he smiled as he held her in his arms.
"Right do we want a baby boy or a girl then?" Karen asked tilting her head to look upwards at Chris.
"A boy" he replied quickly "we can teach him to play ice hockey, he'll be skating before he can walk, and be a right little charmer and a hit with the ladies!" Chris imagined.
"Sounds like you..." Karen said laughing. "I want another little girl, again she'll be skating before she can walk, no choice! but then I can dress her up in all those adorable little skating dresses..." Karen imagined.
"Well you've got two girls and I've got three boys so I think our chances are pretty even... whatever it is we will love it so so much like no one else in the world..." Karen agreed nodding her head and the two of them just lay there for a while imagining their fantasies, but then the niggling thoughts came rushing back into Chris's head and he was overwhelmed by everything all of a sudden, but he couldn't cope with them much longer he had to tell Karen.
"Karen.. I.." he started uneasily not really sure of what he was actually going to say.
"What is it baby?"
"I... well all last night, well ever since we got back from the hospital really, I've had these thoughts in my head and its making me worry like hell even though I know everything is fine..." it was harder getting it out in plain english than he had anticipated.
"thoughts like what?"
"Oh just everything related to you and the baby, its driving me mad I can't think straight.. I don't know what to do" he explained to now a confused but sympathetic looking Karen, but another thought came to the front of his mind and he knew what he wanted to do.
"Whatever it is I'm here for you baby, I'm fine, the baby is fine, and everything is going to be perfect, okay?" she said rubbing his arm affectionately.
"I want to get the first flight back home" he blurted out.
"What?" Karen was a little shocked at this totally random outburst.
"I'm going to book us the first flights out of here... I want you, us home Karen, I think that's what's making me panic... I don't know why but that's what my instinct is telling me and now that's what I really want"
"Well I'll do anything if it makes you happy you know that, so if you want to go home then that's what we'll do!" Karen said hugging Chris a bit tighter than before showing her support. As soon as they got up Chris went straight onto the apple laptop and searched up the flights, managing to get some for midnight that night so he booked them anyway however awkward it was going to be to get there at that time. Once he'd done that he left Karen for a while (after much of her pleading and encouraging) and went to Jill's to see the boys one last time and explain everything to them that was happening, including that they were going to have another new baby brother or sister which surprisingly they got quite excited about - Chris thought they would have been fed up with it all by now. He spent a good couple of hours down there just spending quality time with them all while Jill was with the new baby, but eventually he knew he'd have to talk to her too, however much the pair of them resisted.
While Chris was out Karen was packing all their things ready to go back home, happily singing and dancing to herself as she did so, with the radio up full blast. When she did that she realised her stomach pains had slowly tamed a lot than they were before, so she thought the baby must like her singing - Chris pointed this out later too. It didn't take her long to pack up because they hadn't come with all that much - Karen still had 2 bags more than Chris though. When Chris got back Karen was still singing along and dancing around the house having a good time by herself, she didn't even hear Chris come through the door; he crept up behind her and quickly grabbed her wasit giving her the fright of her life she almost screamed, then tilted her head back to see him.
"Everything okay honey?" she asked turning around, their bodies pressed up against each other's.
"Yep...wow you've been busy haven't you" he said looking at all the neatly packed bags behind Karen all piled up on the bed ready to go.
"Well I had to find something to do" she said laughing before kissing his lips tenderly.
They had a lazy afternoon from that point onwards and just lounged around before they had to leave to go to the airport which wasn't far. They were home by 9am UK time and both absolutely shattered, going straight back to bed just dumping all their luggage in the hallway and changing before climbing in together just lying in each other's arms romantically.
A few weeks later Karen and Chris were still very happy and even more so now expecting the baby, they'd started discussing things and decided that the wedding would be on the 28th December, and had sent out invitations to a rather large list of guests. Emma's baby bump was growing quite a bit too, and for 4 months pregnant she was quite big already. Karen had got quite big with Emma but not so much with Laura, and this time around at 4 months there wasn't any sign of a bump yet, and still a lot of morning sickness which she now had pills for in hope to tame it down a bit.
Karen was dying to tell Jayne about their baby news, but she'd been away with Phil and the kids since Karen and Chris got back from America, so she had to wait a bit longer as she was coming back on 7th August, which was only a few days away, she couldn't wait to see her best friend's reaction as no one had been planning a baby. Karen had already text Jayne who was in Spain to say that she had news, but with no clue to what the news actually was, and Jayne had no ideas either but she was excited to find out.
"Karen babe when are we going to tell people about this baby, we can't just go back on tv in January with a little bundle of joy" Chris joked but making a good point. They'd only told their parents and close friends that they'd happened to come across in the few weeks that they'd been back, and hadn't even told Jayne yet.
"Well we're telling Jayne as soon as she gets back, I've already demanded that she comes over as soon as she gets back" Karen said excitedly "and I'm going to make a statement and do an interview with Best in a couple of months, so the news will be released before so people can expect it" Karen explained.
"I'm surprised you haven't just rung Jayne by now you know" Chris laughed.
"Chris you can't possibly share news like that over the bloody phone, it needs to be in person"
"If you say so..." he said kissing her and pulling her body closer to his.
It didn't seem like long before Jayne and Phil were back of course with Jess and Keiron, they all returned with beautiful sun-kissed tans, looking wonderfully brown. Their flight was at a good time, 10am spanish time, and they got back at about 4pm UK time, so when they got back Jayne decided to quickly pop over to Karen's seeing as it wasn't too late, and she was dying herself to find out what the news was.
"Get the door Chris please?" Karen shouted through the hall to Chris who was on his computer as usual while Karen was just relaxing on the sofa, watching tv with a cup of coffee and some magazines. She heard the knocks but didn't know who it was; she didn't expect Jayne to be round the day she came back, and they weren't expecting anyone else to call round either so she was intreeged to find out who it was. Chris opened the door and immediately gave Jayne a welcome back hug surprised to see her, and as soon as Karen heard her best friend's voice and giggles she got up and rushed to the door.
"Jayynnieee!" she practically squealed as she rushed over to the door where Chris and Jayne were giggling at Karen running over. The girls shared a massive hug, their arms wrapped around each other's necks as they stepped slightly to the sides swaying.
"I think I'll leave you two to it!" Chris said wisely, laughing to himself and then going back to what he was doing before. Karen went to put the kettle on and got them both a cappacino, and carried them carefully into the lounge where they both sat on the sofa with their legs folded underneath them, coffees resting on their hips.
"So.... what's the news?!" Jayne said practically bursting.
"Ah, bless you Jayne, you look more excited than I am! I'm pregnant!"
"Noooo wayy!!" Jayne said excitedly staring at Karen's stomach, putting her hand on the almost there tiny bump.
"Yess wayy!!" The two girls were like two teenage girls, giggling and squealing away, Karen told Jayne about going to America, the illness and everything that happened, and Jayne told Karen all about her holiday, before begging to take a good look at Karen's engagement ring again. The two of them were chatting all afternoon and had a good catch up. At about half 8 Jayne decided it was time for her to go because the travelling was beginning to take its toll and neither of them had eaten yet either.
"Chris you did a fabulous job with that ring I tell you, and the baby, congratulations" Jayne said poking her head around the door on her way out.
"Thank you, thank you, and thank you" Jayne said flirtaciously while Karen showed her off. "I'm so jealous of your tan by the way," Karen said standing in the doorway while Jayne got in the car.
"Aww, well don't worry it'll soon be time for a fake one" she laughed, then waving before driving off.
Karen and Chris had almost finished all their wedding plans, Chris had secretly booked the venue and written out all the invitations so Karen wouldn't find out. She was dying to find out where it was but he wouldn't tell her, he'd just tease and say she'd have to wait and find out on the day. She'd even tried to ask Jayne but Chris had threatened her not to tell, it was supposed to be top secret because he knew how much Karen would love it so it would be even better when she did find out on the day.
The one thing they did have to sort out was dresses for Karen and the bridesmaids (Jayne, Laura and Emma) but Karen had no idea how big she'd be by then so didn't want to buy the dress yet until she saw how the bump was going to develop, and then take Jayne with her right before dancing on ice starts to buy the perfect dresses. Jayne had been begging Karen ever since the engagement about when they could go bridal shopping she was possibly just as excited as Karen was but Karen wanted to leave it as late as possible so she always had it to look forward too, but she'd been keeping her eyes out for the perfect dress actually for years, before she'd got together with Chris.
"Karen don't you think we'd better get some stuff for the baby?" Chris suggested one morning in August. The baby was kicking Karen all the way through the night keeping her awake, and it made Chris realise they really didn't have anything to prepare for the new coming child, all they had was some things Laura and Emma had when they were babies, but what if it was a baby boy? And Karen didn't think the old buggy from almost 20 years ago would be much use anymore, and didn't have a clue where it was for another point. Besides, she liked the idea of having lots of new things for the new baby for a new start, and this would also mean another excuse for a shopping trip sometime soon which was always going to be a bonus.
"Yes we had... and don't forget I've got my 16 week scan today too, we can find out whether we're having a boy or a girl!" Karen said excitedly while she imagined all the new things for the baby.
"Of course I wouldn't forget baby..." Chris said kissing Karen's soft lips. "Once we're done at the hospital we'll go to the interchange and go and have a look at some things, and then to b&q or somewhere like that to get some paint, and when we get back I might even start decorating the spare bedroom for the baby..." Chris mused over the day's plans.
"Sounds perfect... just think, by the end of the day we'll know whether we're going to have a little girl or boy, whether we're going to have a ballerina or a footie player" Karen said.
"Does that mean if we have a little boy he can't do ballet, and if we have a little girl she can't play football?" Chris said laughing at Karen's slightly discriminative point.
"Of course not... but you know what I mean" she said laughing. "Look... feel that" Karen said getting Chris's hand and placing it over her stomach.
"I'm sure that's a little boy in there... he's practising his football"
"I'm sure Emma and Laura didn't start kicking like this this early on, I'm only 4 months" Karen said surprised.
"I'm sure your belly has grown a little overnight... there was nothing there yesterday I'm sure" Chris said laughing putting his hands all over her stomach feeling the newly formed bump that had definately grown.
They both slowly got ready to go to the hospital, there was no real rush as Karen's scan wasn't until 1pm and it only took them 20 minutes to get to the hospital at a leisurely speed. Karen put on a loose baggy long vest top with some 3/4 length leggings.
Sorry I don't have time to finish this bit, that's really annoyed me, but I will add on tomorrow! X
Lol I didn't realise it was yours I couldn't think where I'd got the idea from I remember now tho lol whoops oh well you can use something from mine lol x
So here's the rest of the part I started the other day and never got time to finish:')
Chris grabbed a couple of cereal bars on his way out the house, then locked the door behind him and followed Karen to the car. They chatted happily along the journey at the same time as listening to Capital FM. It seemed like no time at all before they got to the hospital so they signed in and went to wait in the waiting room where there were a few other expecting mums, some for the first time and a couple of experienced mothers, one lady looked just about ready to pop but she was very relaxed, with 3 other very young children sitting around her. Karen and Chris took a seat each at the back of the room in the corner, Karen picked up a fashion magazine from the table in front of them while Chris just sat, occasionally peering over her shoulder but the rest of the time he was just gazing around the room at the different people in there surrounding them ,watching the cute small children running around playing games.
"Mrs Karen Barber?" the nurse came out into the surgery to call Karen in, glancing around the room.
"Yes" Karen said standing up at the same time as Chris and walked over to follow the nurse.
As Karen climbed onto the bed with Chris closely at her side the nurse asked her some regular routine questions regarding her pregnancy, and everything seemed to be fine. The most amazing moment was a couple of minutes after the cold gel was applied over Karen's small but perfect bump and sonogram of the baby came up on the screen and the baby's heartbeat echoed around the room. Karen's eyes welled up with happy tears and smiles were automatically plastered over both of their faces.
"Its beautiful" Karen whispered.
"That's our baby"
"Would you like to know the gender of the baby?" the nurse said looking at some of Karen's notes and enjoying watching the happiness on both of Karen's and Chris's faces. They exchanged a glance and decided they did want to know.
"Yes" Karen whispered, wiping a tear of happiness that had leaked from her eye.
"You're having a baby boy!" Karen and Chris shared a celebratory hug and a romantic kiss.
"I told you you he was playing football in there" Chris said cheekily rubbing Karen's stomach again and kissing the bump.
"Congratulations both of you, your little boy is still very healthy, remember call if you have any problems or just questions, anything" the nurse told them both reassuringly as they got up to leave the surgery.
"Yes, thank you, see you soon" Karen said happily as she walked out hand in hand with Chris with her handbag thrown over her shoulder. "Time to go baby shopping then for this little guy?" Karen said looking up at Chris, they shared another romantic kiss pausing slightly as they made their way out of the hospital and back to the car which they both had a hard time remembering where it was parked and ended up circling the car park three times before they finally located it.
There was an interchange retail park just up the road from the hospital so went round looking for all the things they needed for the baby, paint for the nusery, a cot, carrier, two buggies, a travel cot and lots of other bits and bobs which they arranged to have delivered to the house. Karen insisted they have the set of everything so it all matched and would look perfect, and by the end of it they had practically purchased the whole lot. For the baby's bedroom Karen picked a pale yellow colour named Morning Sunshine and a selection of Winnie the Pooh and football stickers to decorate with which Chris promised he'd do before they got back to training.
"Right I think we do have everything we need now... maybe a bit more clothing for him" Karen said as they drove home with the radio on again, pleased with what they'd bought.
"Karen he has more clothes than me and he's not even born yet" Chris complained jokingly.
"Well in that case I think we need to go shopping for you..." Karen suggested really just wanting another excuse to spend more money (most of which was Chris's anyway) and another shopping trip, maybe on their way back?
"No don't even go there we have done quite enough shopping for now don't you think, I'm not that desperate for clothes" he joked hitting her arm playfully as Karen let out a slight sigh and grunt, oh well she'd tried at least.
"Jayne phoned" Chris said as Karen came through the door with bags of shopping loaded up on each arm, she came staggering in the front door when Chris greeted her and took a couple of the bags from her peeping inside a couple of them.
"What did she say" Karen asked half interested as she went to put the bags into the bedroom and kick off her nude heels (http://designer-shoes.me.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Pour-La-Victoire-Sand-Patent-Leather-Courts.jpg) with which she was wearing a black dress which flowed over the bump perfectly (http://oldnavy.gap.com/Asset_Archive/ONWeb/Assets/Product/573/573195/main/on573195-00p01v01.jpg?redirect=true), and she had a light pink in a nude shade light cotton cardigan over her shoulders.
"She wants you to go out with her later" Chris said still looking through Karen's clothes which mostly contained more new pregnancy clothes as the baby was growing more and more by the day.
"Oh good we haven't had a girls night out for ages" Karen said beginning to get excited.
"Oh I said you might not have been feeling up to it" Chris said acting seriously but he was just playing around with her.
"You what?!" she wasn't impressed and thought he was actually being serious.
"I'm only joking babe I told her you'd call her back when you got home from shopping, but you should have seen the look on your face a minute ago" he laughed.
Karen just abandoned the shopping bags dumped in the middle of the bed as she couldn't be bothered to put everything away and find it all a home. She gave Chris a quick kiss and then went into the living room to ring Jayne and arrange what time they were going to go out. They eventually agreed that Jayne would come to meet Karen at 7pm, they'd have a drink at the house (a lemonade for Karen) and then they'd go out.
"Karen Jayne's here!" Chris called up the stairs a couple of hours later. Karen had got absolutely nowhere, there were clothes spread out all across the bed and scattered across the floor, most of which were what she'd bought earlier on. All across her dressing table was a variety of different make up that she hadn't got very far with either as she couldn't find the right foundation that she needed to match her skin colour at the moment. Jayne came padding up the stairs wearing (http://www3.images.coolspotters.com/photos/179918/donna-mizani-one-shoulder-cut-out-dress-profile.jpg) with (http://static3.heels.com/images/shoes/main_view/medium/ZMAT026_MAIN.jpg) which Karen immediately begged to wear the next time they went out.
"Karen you're not even dressed!" Jayne said laughing as she walked into the room to see Karen in a right state as she tried to decide what to wear.
"Believe it or not I have actually been trying to decide what to wear for the past two hours... I then took a break from the clothes and tried to do my make up but I couldn't find any foundation so didn't get far with that either..." Karen sighed and flopped back onto the bed surrounded in dresses, skirts and tops.
"No I know I can see you haven't got very far..." said Jayne glancing around, picking up a few items and putting them back on the hangers. "Do you want me to pick for you?"
"Yes please" Karen replied as Jayne carefully picked out and outfit for her, looking through her whole wardrobe and going through and considering the pros and cons of each outfit in her head, eventually deciding on a red knee length dress which had black lacy decoration around the neckline. (http://www1.burlingtoncoatfactory.com/FileLibrary/3c80f641d5d443a1be85e2793197d49d/BCF331503796_L_1.jpeg) Jayne left Karen to pick herself out a pair of black tights which just about came over the bump and gave her a perfect sillouette.
"Do you want me to pick the shoes too?" Jayne asked opening Karen's other wardrobe which was dedicated to shoes and bags. A nod came from Karen as she pulled the dress over her head and spent a while straightening and flattening it out so that it sat right against her curvy figure. Eventually Jayne pulled out these from the bottom of the closet (http://www.amiclubwear.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/243x365/17f82f742ffe127f42dca9de82fb58b1/s/h/shoes-heels-op-nikki-11red.jpg) which Karen could just about walk in considering the size of the growing bump by now.
"Jayne...."
"Yep" came the quick response from Jayne who was looking through Karen's shoes considering changing her own for a pair of Karen's as they were the same size, and that came in handy a lot of the time.
"Would you paint my toe nails please" came Karen's favour.
"Course I will honey... but what's the point no one can see them in those shoes"
"I know but they really need doing and I can't reach my feet now and Chris won't do them for me" she went on.
"Well then yes I suppose so..." Jayne agreed.
"We'll do it downstairs in the lounge because then I can sit on the chair at the breakfast bar to make it easier"
So the pair of them went downstairs with the bright ruby red nail varnish nattering away, saying hello to Chris on their way through, who was sitting watching the football with his iPad in front of him. As Karen hopped up on the chair in the kitchen they were both talking away about shoes, make up and dresses, occasionally laughing quite loudly as they were both in a giggly mood.
"Can you two shut up please or at least keep the volume down a bit" he asked turning the volume of the tv up.
"Chris baby can you get Jayne a glass of wine please" he sighed and got up from the sofa to go and get Jayne a drink returning quickly putting it on the table by which time Karen's toe nails had been painted and had toe seperators on.
In the end Chris ended up getting another wine a bit later and Karen a lemonade, and Jayne ended up doing Karen's make up and hair too while she was just sitting there nattering away about anything she could think of. Finally by 9pm they were both ready to go out, a lot later than what they anticipated originally but at least they were getting out. Karen gave Chris a romantic kiss before they both went out and Karen drove them both to the pub in town as she obviously wasn't drinking. They had a brilliant night in the end even with Karen not drinking, but it was amusing for her to watch Jayne get a bit tipsy as it was usually the other way around. They danced for a bit too when songs they liked came on, and then they returned to the table and had a few more drinks and had a good catch up.
"How about a ****tail?" Jayne suggested a while later, Karen had now totally lost track of how much her friend had drunk, but Karen was still just drinking coke and lemonade and quite happy.
"I'll be back in a minute" and a few minutes later Karen returned from the bar with a huge ****tail for Jayne which was the biggest they sold, 'Tropical Twist', and just a water for herself now.
"What the hell is that" Jayne slurred as Karen sat back at the table her jaw dropping just at the side of this thing Karen had presented to her. Jayne sat for a while just twiddling the ****tail umbrella between her long painted nails before Karen eventually made her drink it, which resulted in Jayne clumsily gulping down the whole thing in one go and Karen just sat there in hysterics at the sight, quietly sipping her glass of water.
Early the next morning Karen was awake early with the baby kicking her and Chris was fast asleep, she decided to text Jayne to see how she was feeling, probably not even awake yet as by the end of the evening she was absolutely hammered and consumed about three times more alcohol than she normally would. It made Karen realise she could have a good night out without drinking, but also realised that would probably be the last one she had for a while as soon Dancing on Ice would begin, and then she would have the baby to take care of not long after that. At midday Karen got a text back from Jayne saying 'I feel awful, what the hell did you give me last night, my head is absolutely pounding' which Karen had to laugh at, replying 'well it could have been something to do with this amongst other things' and attatching a shot of Jayne which she'd managed to sneakily get while she had been gulping down the huge ****tail.
"You had a good night then" Chris said peering over Karen's shoulder at her phone looking at the pictures she'd taken, mostly of Jayne, including the ****tails, Jayne standing on the chair and nearly falling off the chair, and in one of them she'd even got the shoe and put it randomly on the table for no apparent reason... Nevertheless it was a great night even if Jayne couldn't remember the majority of it.
"Certainly was" Karen laughed as she flicked through the photos.
(Lauren wasn't able to get onto the internet so she sent me the next part and I've put it on here for her!)
'you better get ready we are going wedding shopping' was the next text Jayne got from Karen about half an hour later. Jayne felt even worse than she had the first time she had woken up. She quickly tapped in a reply to Karen saying she'd be over as quick as she could but she knew that wasn't going to be very quick at all considering her condition. She got out of bed incredibly slowly so she didn't have to make any sudden movements. Her feet were throbbing her still from the heels, she noticed while slipping them into her purple fluffy slippers and wrapped her silly purple dressing gown around her. Not surprisingly her first priority was to find some paracetamol from the huge medical box her and phil kept on top of the fridge freezer out of the way of the children. Tablets washed down, she realised the house was unnaturally quiet and took a guess that phil had taken the kids out before she woke up - they could be very loud when they wanted to be; most mornings Jayne and phil were greeted in their bedroom by two bouncy children.
Jayne managed to sort herself out relatively quickly she just pulled out the first clothes she could find that were comfortable eventually opting for a flowery vest top and black leggings that came down to mid calf so they showed off the lower part of her muscly legs and tiny ankles, on her feet she slipped on a pair of flowery pumps that went well with the top. When she stepped out the door with just her purse, car keys and blackberry she was quickly hit by the hot summer weather - 20 degrees was the hottest it had been all week and when she got in the car she quickly pulled her hair into a high ponytail which wasn't very long because of her short bobbed hair that normally sat nicely following the shape of her face when she had it down. As she got to the end of the road she realised she hadn't even bothered to put any make up on, she hoped they wouldn't be stopped for any photos especially by the press, however she had found over the years that it was always days like this that they were.
"where the hell have you been" Karen said looking Jayne up and down when she turned up on the doorstep, karen was wearing black shorts and a top similar to Jaynes.
"sorry... I thought I was quite quick actually" Jayne admitted laughing.
"we haven't got long now though and I did text you 3 hours ago!" Karen exclaimed ushering jayne into the car after she had kissed Chris goodbye. "how your head anyway?" Karen said while putting the keys in to start the car.
"not good Karen... Not good! I dont know what the hell you gave me last night but I certainly don't remember much of it, my head is pounding" Jayne said laughing but wincing slightly at the pain in her head. "remind me why we have to do this today please?" she said opening her sore tired eyes as Karen pulled up in the car park of the shopping centre 15 minutes later.
"well me and Chris were discussing it earlier and we worked out this is the last weekend we'll have before we're up to our eyeballs in work again, and Chris got his suit ages ago" Karen explained getting out the car and going around to the other side to open Jaynes door. "what are we going to do with you eh" Karen laughed seeing the hungover state of her best friend.
"this is exactly why I don't drink much!"
4 hours later Karen had put up with way more moaning from Jayne than she could cope with in one afternoon, but she had found the perfect dress, more beautiful than you could imagine, and three matching bridesmaids dresses for Jayne, Emma and Laura that were just as pretty. The dress Karen chose had quite a low neckline and simple wide straps for more support. Sequins and silver jewels covered the material over the bust and the stretchy material of the rest of the bodice section covered the bump perfectly, the seams were ruched from just above her waist down to just past her hips and would stretch to however big the baby grew to in the months that were left before the big day.
"ooh can I see it!?" Chris asked when Jayne and Karen walked through the door.
"no you must certainly not!" Karen almost shrieked at him.
"it's bad luck!" Jayne added. "I'm keeping them at mine so you won't be tempted to take a peek Chris..." Jayne giggled and then collapsed on the sofa while Karen and Chris shared a quick romantic kiss. "someone stick the kettle on and then I'll be off" jayne said, her head was now flopped back on the back of the sofa and her eyelids were fluttering closed while Karen and Chris were still stood in the doorway behind her kissing, and jayne hadn't noticed that neither of them had heard her. 10 minutes later Jayne had practically fallen asleep and Karen and Chris were still kissing passionately their hands wondering each others bodies.
"hi mum, Chris" Laura said emerging from her bedroom briefly to go to the kitchen.
"hello darling have you had a good day" Karen asked quickly breaking off the kiss but still standing closely to Chris.
"not really" laura replied unhappily reappearing with a coke in one hand, her long, painted nails tapped against the side of the can as she walked into the lounge, not noticing Jayne.
"why not really? Whats happened baby ?"
"I broke up with Matt" Laura said sadly slumping down into the chair, suddenly noticing Jayne and giving her a strange look but not saying anything yet.
"who's Matt" asked Karen confusedly, she wasn't aware Laura had a boyfriend.
"oh mum, I've been dating him for the past year!" Laura said laughing, luckily she wasn't too heartbroken over the break up.
"oh Laura sweetie I had no idea I'm so sorry" Karen gushed rushing over to her younger daughter to give a comforting cuddle.
"aw no its fine, he was a **** anyway" Laura explained laughing. When loosened the hug and went to sit on the arm of the chair next to Laura, still being supportive although Laura had insisted everything was okay and acted like it wasnt a big deal, Karen could see she was hurt a little even if it was deep down and she didn't want to admit it. "mum what's up with Jayne?" Laura asked curiously looking up at her mum. Jayne was now totally sprawled over the sofa her limbs spread out her head was leaning against the cushion on the side of the sofa and her mouth was ever so slightly hanging open.
Karen giggled before replying "to be honest love I actually have no idea I thought she'd gone home, whoops... I dragged her out earlier to go wedding shopping after we went out last night, did get the most amazing dress today though" she then got up using Laura as a prop and went to wake Jayne up carefully without startling her. "Jayne honey" she said quietly in a hushed voice gently shaking her shoulders and moving her legs together and her head into a more comfortable position.
"hmmm?" Jayne mumbled opening one eye, not 100% sure where she was at first when the first thing she saw was Karen staring directly at her.
"wake up sweetie... I think it's time you got home eh? I'll get Chris to take you back though I think it's better you dont drive"
"oh my god I'm sorry how long have I been asleep" Jayne gasped sitting upright.
"no youre fine dont worry " Karen laughed "and not that long" the last part was a lie because Karen had no clue how long her friend had been asleep, but it was definitely nearing on half an hour. "Chris!" Karen shouted, suddenly realising he was no longer in the room but he'd only gone to put the kettle on.
"yes baby?" he called back from the other room, poking his head around the door.
"will you drive Jayne home please?"
"course I will, didn't realise she was still here" Chris laughed and then went to put his shoes on and find the car keys.
"thanks Chris" Jayne thanked him as she stood up ready to leave, letting out a small yawn. "see you tomorrow kaz, bye Laura!" "bye"
The next morning was the first meeting for the new series of dancing on ice and it was quite early (9am) so they all got early nights, especially jayne who went straight to bed when Chris had dropped her off. They rose nice and early and got ready quickly to meet at elstreestudios with the whole team including all the coaches, judges, producers, celebrities and pro skaters. The meeting went on for nearly 3 hours by the time they had sorted everything, the amount of work they had to do so early on was unbelievable.
On thursday morning of that week they were due to start the training with the pro skaters only, and the following week would be just working closely with the celebrities until the final partnerships were confirmed and united a few weeks after that. But first things were first and they all needed to start brainstorming choreography and music ideas, so they all broke off into their small groups to see what they could come up with - the plan was a few hours later they would all come together and see what they could do and vote on the song choice for the grand opener which had a lot of pressure to be better than the previous series.
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She explained: 'Chris is happy because I am' "Make the most of your time and have no regrets."
