For The Smeets
He had the feeling the pregnancy would be hard, but he never imagined just how much. Up to now, Tenn had to stay in bed most of the time and he had to make sure she didn’t get stressed. She bled a few times, but thankfully the smeets were okay.
Red and Miyuki had been a great help so far. The latter had already gone through a pregnancy; so she knew what type of cares Tenn needed. And she often stayed behind with Tenn when Purple had to go to work. Red tried to help by having Purple work at home, but there were times when he just had to be present.
“This is your fault, you know.” Tenn murmured as her husband gently dabbed a humid cloth on her burning face. “You put these smeets inside my body.”
Purple chuckled. “I know, love.”
“If you touch me again after this, I’m cutting off your male parts, you hear?”
“Oh, come on, you thought it was a good idea too!”
“Easy for you to say, since you’re not carrying the smeets in your body and you’re not constantly throwing up in the morning!”
Chuckling again, Purple placed a gentle hand on his wife’s swollen abdomen. “Don’t mind mommy, little ones. She’s a bit tense, but she’s actually a nice person when she wants to.”
“Look who’s talking, Mr. ‘I’m blowing up the opera house if you don’t marry me’.”
“Ow! That hurt!” Purple made a dramatic gesture, placing his hand on top of his chest. “My heart!”
A small laugh escaped Tenn’s lips. “Dork.”
The Irkenette raised her lekku as she felt something moving inside her body: likewise, Purple froze as he felt a mild, barely noticeable tapping against his hand.
“Tenn, do you…?”
“Yes.”
One of the smeets was kicking.
“Hello there, little one. I’m daddy,” Purple whispered, stroking the spot where he had felt the kicking. “Nice to meet you too.”
“Why don’t you play something for the smeets? They love your music.”
“Well, duh! I’m the greatest composer on Irk, of course they’d love my music.” Purple went to the case where he kept his smaller instruments and took out his violin from its case. “Any petition?”
“How about something soothing?”
“I got the perfect song in mind.”
Tenn’s lekku relaxed as he began to play a soft, almost melancholic melody with a hopeful undercurrent. It took her a while, but she recognized it as ‘Mothran Sonata’. Once again, the way Purple played it made its composer sound like a hobbyist.
It wasn’t long before the kicking increased considerably. One tapping there, another to the right, and so on. Tenn rubbed her abdomen affectionately as her babies continued to move; they always got more active while hearing daddy playing something. Sometimes it even felt like they kicked rhythmically with the melody.
