mtthwbyrne:
The memories came slowly, bits and pieces infiltrating his sleeping mind, displaying themselves in what he could only imagine were dreams. But he had always been told that one could hardly remember their dreams as the day went on. These details, however, continued to remain. They started to become more vivid, creating a feeling within him that argued against his mind telling him they were simply dreams. It felt like he had lived these dreams, becoming more and more real with each occurrence. Now he sat in McKenna’s living room, listening to her finally confirm that what he had confessed was real. A breath was released, shoulders slumping from the tension that had been eased out of them. His eyes lifted from his clasped hands to her features, shifting over them as he listened to her recount the memory further. Tyler’s birthday, the guys teasing and taunting him; she was filling in the blanks that his mind hadn’t fully been able to provide. Was he finally remembering, after all these years? He remembered Aurelia, almost every moment of her life, but there were still bits that had been displaced from his mind. Like the day they had found out Kenna was pregnant, or the day that she had given birth. Now he could cross one of those off the list of memories he may never get back. “I was…so inexplicably happy,” he spoke hesitantly, brows squeezing together. “I didn’t — care about anything else, only you and the start of our family.” And he hadn’t. Even if it meant giving up his chance at a football career, he had only wanted to be with Kenna and their child, to start their family.
It curled at the corners of her lips a little more, her laugh a little more real this time as she remembered all too well the look on his face as they’d watched the little window tell them what she already knew. Pregnant. He’d been over the moon, she’d been no different, and for a moment there hadn’t been a single worry over what they’d do, their only thought had been the fact that they’d be parents; together. “You stayed with me,” she continued on, “you didn’t even wanna’ leave me to go to class the next day, I had to convince you that I’d be fine.” From day one, he’d worried over her, as if the smallest thing might change their world again; as if it’d all been a dream and they’d wake up from it too soon. “I remember that you stayed up while I tried to sleep. You were..--” She smiled a little more looking across at him as she remembered how eager he’d been, “looking up everything you could about pregnancies and what I should or shouldn’t do, what I couldn’t eat.. I had to pry the laptop from your hands to get you to try sleep, and even then I don’t think you did.” She, on the other hand had been exhausted. Frowning slightly, McKenna paused and held her hand up for a moment as she stood up and crossed the room, pulling out a drawer to dig through a small box of cards, letters, small keepsakes she’d kept until she found a small crumpled piece of paper. “When I woke up you were working on this.” Despite the fact that she had every intention in giving it to him, she hesitated for a moment, the list of baby names in her hand seemed like a silly thing to keep when their own daughter was already here in the flesh, but it was a memory; she’d never loved Matthew more than she had when she’d seen how truly excited he’d been for the next step in their lives, it was how she knew she would have been completely okay with putting her life on hold for a little while. McKenna held it out for him, the paper folded all too many times in the past, “I think this was the third list you made, you had ink all over your cheek and I just..--” The sharp intake of air was necessary as she stopped, lips pursing as she retracted her steps to grab for the bottle of water she’d sat beside her gym bag earlier.
