Always

It was the end of february and midterm push was in full force for Liz. Her and Freddy sat in the living room of her apartment surrounded by what could have easily been mistaken for a binder explosion. Papers were scattered everywhere, but it wasn't surprising considering the hectic nature in which they were studying.
"Why exactly did we leave this 'til the last minute?"
"Because we're idiots."
"Fair."
"Ugh! I know I wrote it down somewhere, and the paper couldn't have just walked away!"
Liz flopped back on the pillows that were on the floor behind her and groaned. "I need a shot."
"Oooof apple juice?"
She sighed and looked up at her ever growing stomach.
"Wouldn't have the same desired effect." She gave her stomach a little rub and sat back up.
"The desired effect wouldn't be very good for my little niece in there." He had a joking stern look on his face as he looked up at her from his papers.
"I knooooooow. You don't have to tell me. I AM going to be a nurse after all. Eventually… someday. Hopefully."
She sighed hoping that this wasn't the last semester that she would be writing exams. Never did she think that writing exams would be something she hoped for, but she wasn't exactly sure how things were going to pan out after her little princess came around.
"Hey. If I have anything to do about it, you will be. No hopefully, perhaps an eventually, but all good things take time."
She snapped out of her thoughts and looked up at him with a confused face. "Since when did you get all wise and philosophical?"
"I'm always like this." He feigned a look of offence.
"Oh yeah. I forgot about all those times I had to go pick your drunk ass up oh wise one."
"Why are we chit chatting? We should be studying."
She rolled her eyes and picked up the stack of papers sitting beside her. They had been at this for hours now and she was starving but there was no time to stop when the exam was less than 12 hours away. She grabbed her phone from the couch beside her and quickly sent off a text. About twenty minutes later, there was a knock on the door and Liz smiled, popping up out of her spot on the floor and scurrying to the door. She opened it revealing a sleepy looking Tyler holding two bags of Chinese take-out in his hands.
"It's a good thing I like you Lizzie."
"You know you didn't do it for me. you did it for your boyfriend." She perched herself on her tip toes and kissed his cheek before taking the bags out of his hands.
"I'm not even going to try anymore with you." He rolled his eyes and plopped down on the couch in front of the mess of knowledge. Liz pulled out a contained, and grabbed the papers from Fred's hands replacing it with the food.
"Stop. Eat. We need it."
He sighed and opened the container staring at it with tired eyes.
"I don't know if I have enough energy to eat this."
"If you don't eat it I will, so eat quick." Liz said with a threatening glare.
"She's not lying, look at that bump, she'll do it."
"I'm eating for two! No judgement is allowed to be passed."
"And with Quaider's kid in there, she may never stop eating."
She glanced up at Tyler and flicked a piece of her rice at his face. "You can leave any time Seguin."
"Ou, last names. Feisty."

Four hours later, long after Tyler had deemed them 'too boring for him' and left, the pair were asleep on the floor still surrounded by their notes. Suddenly, Liz was awoken by the small pangs in her stomach. Moving a hand to the spot where she felt the movement she sighed and opened her eyes.
"You would start this now." She grabbed her phone and looked at the time. "At one in the morning, before my 8 am exam."
She sighed and looked over at Freddy who was awkwardly slumped against the back of the couch. She stood up and nudged him with her foot and he startled awake.
"It can't be exam time already." He groaned and threw his arm over his face.
"Nope. Only one am. You might be more comfortable on the couch though. I'm going to bed."
He groaned and slithered up onto the couch, pulling the blanket over top of him and resuming his sleep. Liz shuffled off to her bedroom, closing the door behind her and peeling off her clothes before throwing one of Adam's oversized shirts on and crawling under the safety of her blankets. She had hoped to get back to sleep just as easily as Fred had, but her daughter had other ideas. After twenty minutes of kicking, she gave up and grabbed her phone dialling the familiar number.
"Hello?" A sleepy Adam mumbled.
"She won't stop kicking."
"Huh?" Clearly he was not awake enough to understand what was going on.
"Your daughter. She's practicing to be a soccer player mere hours before my exam."
He yawned and she could hear the creaking of his bed as he sat up. "Oh come on princess. That's not very nice."
"That's exactly what I've been telling her."
"Put the phone on your stomach."
"Put the what?"
"Just do it, huh?"
She gave in and placed the phone on her stomach, feeling silly as she did so. She heard the faint mumbles of Adam telling their daughter she needed to calm down because mommy needed to sleep and chuckled to herself, wishing he was here to do that in person. She could definitely use his warm arms around her right now to help her sleep. She heard the mumbles stop and grabbed the phone from her stomach putting it back up to her ear.
"Hi."
"Hi. I tried my best."
She brushed a hand over her stomach and smiled. "I'm grateful."
Surprisingly she felt the kicks getting fewer and fewer and shook her head. "I think we've got a daddy's girl on our hands."
"Did she stop?"
"She's not prepping to be a soccer player anymore, just letting me know she's in there."
"See, I've got the magic touch with all the ladies."
"Whatever you say magic man. But I really need to sleep."
"Okay. Good luck on your exam in the morning. Love you."
"Thanks babe. Love you too."
She hung up the phone and tossed it on her night stand, rubbing her other hand over her stomach as she drifted off.

The next morning Liz sat outside the building she wrote her exam waiting for Adam to come pick her up. Fred had long ago left and neither of them wanted to discuss what went on during that time period. She heard a car pull up and looked up seeing Adam's sad smile coming from the drivers seat. She slumped off the step and started towards the car, opening the door and slamming it after she got in, slumping down in her seat.
"That bad?"
"I don't want to talk about it. I want junk food and a nap."
"You're on your own for the junk food, but you're welcome to accompany me during my pre-game nap."
She looked over at him, "meet me half way? Frozen yogurt in bed before we nap?"
He chuckled and reached over grabbing her hand and lacing his fingers through hers. "I can go for that."
"You're the best."
"I know." He chuckled pulling her hand up to kiss her knuckles.
They stopped at her favourite frozen yogurt place and got the biggest size they had available before heading back to Adam's place for a much needed nap. Twenty minutes later they were both tucked into bed sharing the massive bowl of yogurt. Liz finished the last spoonful and set it on the nightstand, cuddling into Adams side and closing her eyes.
"Ugh, I could have used this last night."
"What, you didn't enjoy my calm through the phone plan?"
"No, that was great. But it's just not the same cuddling with a pillow."
He kissed the top of her head and pulled her in closer and wrapping his arms around her. "Well, you've got me for the next few hours. So nap away, babe."
It didn't take long for Liz to fall asleep, but Adam was a different story. He laid there staring down at the sleeping woman in his arms, eyes falling over the bump that was just visible in the oversized shirt she was sporting. He loved falling asleep with Liz in his arms and couldn't wait until they could do this with their little girl cuddled up with them. He felt bad that he wasn't there last night when she couldn't sleep because of the baby and thought that maybe they should bring up the living situation soon, before things got too hectic. He knew that he wasn't going to let her live ten minutes away forever but it was just bringing up the fact and figuring out what to do with their roommates that was the problem. The thought of them living together was exciting, he loved when she stayed over and he came home to her after games. It would be even better if he could come home to her after road trips too. The more he thought about it he sooner this conversation needed to be had rather than later. But he felt bad making her leave her roommate and friend. But as he thought about all this he felt himself relaxing with the warm body cuddled into his side. He placed one last kiss to Liz's forehead as his eyes drooped shut and he succumbed to sleep.

Notes

Well look at that. Two in 24 hours. This is what happens when I have some free time!

Okay so it's short but I needed to get it moving forward to get to the good stuff. I think there's going to be a little more drama soon because you can't have a McQuaid story without some injured McQuaid. I mean that is 3/4 of his existence it seems (which makes me very sad. I want a healthy Quaider.)

SO LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK LOVES!

Comment, Vote, Rate. All that yummy stuff.