Adrenaline

When Esmeralda opened her eyes and saw that the sun was barely risen, she was shocked.

Esmeralda Crawford (or Esmeralda Mendeleev, now) was not one to wake up early, ever. Even now that she was married and had things to do, she slept as late as she could. Her husband, Connor, was always the first to wake up. He'd go downstairs and make breakfast for the both of them, not bothering to wake her. He didn't mind, anyway.

This morning, though, was different. Esmeralda sat up in her bed, looking around the room before her eyes eventually landed on her husband. He was peacefully asleep, his arm draped over her stomach, right under her chest, though it had moved down a little since she had sat up. She felt herself smile at him - this wasn't a rarity, as every time she saw Connor she smiled. It was an instinct.

For a brief moment, she thought about getting up and going downstairs, to make breakfast like Connor did. Instead of getting up, though, she scooted back down and cuddled up to Connor, nuzzling her head under his neck. She shut her eyes, feeling content.

Recently, she had found something out that both frightened and excited her. Esmeralda was pregnant. The couple had only been married for few months, but she felt they were ready to have kids. The frightening part stemmed from something else - something much deeper. When Esmeralda was little, she had lots of health issues that required rigorous treatments. Being pregnant, thanks to those treatments, could be dangerous. It made her very scared for her unborn child, and part of her didn't even want to give birth in fear of her and the child's life. She hadn't told Connor any of it yet - he didn't even know she was pregnant.

Perhaps she'd tell him on this morning, though. She looked nervous, and her words shook. "Connor?"

He didn't wake up immediately. Esmeralda nudged him a bit. "Connor, wake up."

When she said that, her husband's eyes opened and a smile appeared on his face. "Good morning." His voice was tired, but she could hear he was happy. He usually was.

"Um... I have something to tell you." Worry appeared in Connor's eyes. It made Esmeralda more nervous than she was. "Um... I'm, um..."

"Is everything okay?" he pressed, sitting up. Esmeralda sighed, sitting up as well and taking his hand.

"...I'm pregnant." There was silence in the room, but for only a second. Connor grinned, the worry in his eyes changing to excitement.

"You are?! That's fantastic! That's... Essy, that's great!" He hugged his wife, beaming with joy. Esmeralda returned the hug, still feeling anxious but smiled. She was more than happy that Connor was so excited about being a father, or father-to-be, but her fears wouldn't go away. She decided to not tell Connor right now, though - she didn't want to ruin the moment. After a second, Connor pulled away with a huge smile.

"We should celebrate. What do you want to do?" Esmeralda smirked a little, something specific on her mind.

"Well, I'd like to celebrate with something that I don't think we can do right now. I'm already pregnant, anyway. Not sure how safe it'd be." She laughed a little when she saw Connor's face turn red, soon smiling and nuzzling him. "I think we should just go eat breakfast for right now."

"Okay, but first..." Connor smiled sweetly at her, before kissing Esmeralda on the lips. The kiss lasted for a minute, before he pulled back and hugged her again. "Thank you." 

Esmeralda's face was a little red, but her blush soon disappeared while she returned the hug, cuddling up to him. "You're welcome." 

Connor got out of bed, helping his wife out. The couple went down to their dining room, extremely excited for their upcoming parenthood. Esmeralda still had overwhelming fear, but she could ignore it... for today, at least.