The water from the shower slides down her mothers curvacious body, gathering
together and creating a swirling motion before succumbing to the drain's suction
powers. She slides her fingers through her silky thin hair, dragging the remaints of the
shampoo with her. Every ordinary act she effortlessly makes extraordinary. A soft
loving smile grows on her face as she lets out an angelic humming sound. She is
perfection. But just when everything is right in the world that's when everything goes
dark and the water runs red. Aimee shoots out of unconsciousness as reality hits her
with a head rush. As she opens her eyes, ending her recurring nightmare the
surrounding objects appear out of focus and colour resembles foggy blotches of paint.
She looks down at the end of the bed and see's her boyfriend Wade sifting through bio
notes. From an outside perspective you'd think "Frat boy in the making" but his big
brain and thumping heart is what she stayed for. Aimee's eye's wander from Wade's
18 year old spaceship wall paper to his taunting shelf of trophy achievements and
stopping at his stretch mirror. Renewing her dreaded teen cliche status, she stares at
herself in horror, listing her unattractive qualities in her mind. Before these things
carried about as much weight with her as a fading snowflake but with a new boyfriend
and new parents, perfection became the unattainable goal. A tennis ball forms in her
throat as she opens her mouth to subtly hint at something that's been eating away at
her. "You like my eyes right?" Aimee asks. With his full concentration in his work
Wade relies on his "good boyfriend" recording when he cant come to the phone. "You
know I love them" Wade mutters. "Cause you know I'm thinking my royal blue and
your dark brown have to cancel each other out creating some kind of exotic green. I
mean sandy blond hair is a given but I want a side of smoldering eyes." Wade stops
writing mid sentence and he slowly cranks his neck to face Aimee, "As in...
Offspring?" Aimee nods. Wade's ease and care free nature vanishes as his new
expression is one of life shattering fear. He rises up and crosses his legs, avoiding eye
contact at first which then turns to an intense non blinking gaze as he starts to speak,
"Are we venturing into hypothetical scenarios or is their some hidden truth behind our
matching gene assessment?" Aimee exhales out laughter as she comfortingly places
her hand on his leg, "Simmer Down Wade, you're psychology major is showing."
Wade's dimples which Aimee feared would be lost forever reappear as he blushes
embarrassed, "Sorry. Flashes of 16 and Pregnant went off in my head and panic
mode ensued." Aimee smirks before glancing out at the luminous snow resting on the
windowsill. Wade brushes a strand of dangling hair behind her ear, "Whats up babe?
The topic of infants has been bouncing around lately." Aimee doesn't reply as her
hollow expression doesn't change. Wade bites his lip unsure if he should continue.
"Does this have anything to do with your new mom's miscarriage?" Wade asks
delicately. Aimee cringes as the raw memory clicks play in her head and she relives
the crying, the screaming, the blood and the tainted image of perfection. Aimee wraps
her arms around her knee's and begins thinking out loud, "You know I've done the
foster care thing and I've had my fair share of cold distant families but when Marla
and Ben brought me into their home, they showed me a kind of love that I only saw in
the movies. Marla was born to be a mom and to watch as her child is taken away from
her and sit there while a doctor tells her she can't have kids again, well it breaks my
heart. All I want to do is help but she doesn't want it. She's someone who, after all the
recent tragedy she continues to wakes up every morning and resume her mom of the
year duties. You know if this were a movie I'd be the heroine who suffers in silence
and everyone is just supposed to be so impressed by my restraint but that's not me. She
deserves a baby." Aimee rambles out, taking her first breath once she reaches the
glorious period at the end of her massive run on sentence. "Is it fair? No, not at all but
its reality," Wade says, going for a realistic approach. "We'll see about that," Aimee
whispers under her breath. Two days later, Christmas morning had arrived. After
a half in hour of unwrapping, the presents are out and Aimee is literally pinching herself
to make sure this isn't some perverse joke. Marla sits in Ben's lap and smiles, taking in
Aimee's overwhelming reaction, "You like your presents?" Marla asks. "Love! This is
just above and beyond." Aimee gushes. Marla and Ben share a satisfied look. "But you
guy's haven't gotten my gift yet." Aimee says with a hesitant tone. "Honey, we told you,
you didn't have to get us anything!" Marla says. Aimee takes a deep breath and then
slowly rises up her shirt, exposing what appears to be a normal stomach, "Well you
wont get my gift for another 9 months," Aimee states. Marla and Ben narrow their eyes
with curious smiles. Aimee pulls out her birth control and exposes the unused pills in
their line of vision. The curious smiles fade. "You- You didn't," Marla stutters out.
Aimee nods her head, "I'm late and all I have to do is take the test but I have a feeling I
am... And its yours." Aimee says, oblivious to early stages of their horrified reaction.
"Oh my God," Ben mutters under his breath as Marla slowly raises her her hand to her
mouth. "I'm young, Wade and I have time to raise kids later but right now, now is when
you should be changing a kids life, mothering them, exposing them to your kindness and
unconditional love!" Aimee says being stopped by Ben who walks off, hyperventilating.
Marla walks over to Aimee and drops to her knee's. "Okay. Honey, what you've done
is completely irresponsible and reckless! We'll be going to the doctors to make sure first
thing but right now I just need to know what you were thinking!" Marla pleads. Aimee
looks down into her lap as tears form in her eyes. "I can't be it. I can't be the only kid
you have, I'll just disappoint you like I did the rest. You deserve more then just me."
Marla's heart melts as she stares into Aimee's watering eyes. "I may have missed out
on the chance to raise you but I get to watch you grow and that's for life. You have no
return policy, you hear me?" Aimee sniffles as she continues to stare in her lap. "Look
at me, Aimee, look at me," Marla says in a soft but demanding voice. Aimee rises her
head and their eyes meet. "You are enough," Marla states with conviction. Aimee
shakes her head violently, "I can't be! There's no way I'm-" Aimee is cut off but Marla
who places her hands on Aimee's cheeks and forces Aimee to really look into her eyes,
"You are enough for us. You're more then enough," Marla restates. Aimee's immsense
vulnerability bursts through her vocal chords, cracking her voice as she says, "I love
you, mom!" Later that day Marla and Ben wait outside the washroom and take a
deep-life-altering-breath as Aimee walks out with the fateful pregnancy stick casually
resting in her hand. "Looks like you're stuck with just me," Aimee says. Marla and
Ben let out an over excited exhale as they walk over and wrap their arms around their
daughter. Marla leans in and whispers, "That's all that we need."