changes

✧

"How do you feel about this one?" Eddie eyed Olivia as she closed the backdoor and entered the barren living room. As she began to breach the second trimester, house hunting started to feel more of a priority, and when the two connected with a realtor, they decided to embark on the journey.

It started off rough, they saw a plethora of houses and each of them had their fair share of issues with the places; lack of space, too far from from work and the kids' school, or the neighborhoods were questionable.

"I love it," she beamed up at him. "The yard is huge and the bedrooms are roomy enough to the point where the kids won't fight over which one has more space."

"I'm sensing a but..."

"No buts." Olivia mischievously smirked as she poked his backside. "Yours looks good in those jeans, though."

"Hey!"

She tilted her head. "Opinions on the house?"

"I think it's one of the best options we've looked at. Maybe even the one."

"But?"

"It's expensive," Eddie sighed and crossed his arms against his chest. "Like the kids have to go community college expensive."

"First of all, there's nothing wrong with community college and I speak on mine and Buck's behalf," Olivia retorted. "Second of all, this house isn't nearly as expensive as all the other houses we've looked at. If anything, we're saving money."

"Liv..."

"Think about how much happier we'll all be with much more space.." She dropped her hand on her growing bump and puffed out her bottom lip. "Plus, all we're doing is putting in an offer, there's no guarantee it'll be accepted."

"You've worn me down," Eddie playfully rolled his eyes. "Let's put in an offer."

"Yay!"

✶❤︎✶❤︎

Olivia flipped absentmindedly through the baby book in her hand as chaos ensued around her. Well, it was not exactly chaos; more like Elisa decided to come over and make dinner for her older sister and the kids. The only issue was that the college student wasn't entirely gifted when it came to cooking.

She looked up from the words on the page to see her sister fumbling with the colander and looking utterly confused at the pot of boiling noodles.

"Elisa, do you need help?"

"No. Stay. You're carrying my niece and while your baby daddy is out, I'm here to lighten your load."

"Niece?" Olivia quirked her brow. "We don't know the gender yet."

"I'm manifesting. If another boy enters this world, we will be greatly outnumbered."

Olivia couldn't argue with that, the house was already overflowing with male energy and it would be bound to grow if the baby just so happened to be a boy.

"As long as the baby is healthy, I'm happy," she shrugged. "So, what exactly are you making?"

"You know that Gigi Hadid pasta that went super viral on Tiktok a few years back?" The college student asked, receiving nothing but a blank stare from her older sister. "Hmm, I forgot you're old. It's basically just spicy vodka pasta minus the vodka, you don't have any."

Olivia acknowledged her with a bewildered expression and before she could open her mouth, the sight of her children entering the kitchen captured her attention.

"Is dinner almost ready?" Malakai asked.

Christopher groaned as he clutched his stomach. "We're starving."

"Give me ten minutes," Elisa notified the two. "Have a snack or something." She waited until they were satisfied with her answer and left the kitchen before pivoting toward her sister. "I've been meaning to ask..."

"Oh, no. I'm scared."

"Don't be. I'm just curious. Kai obviously knows you and Eddie are having a kid, but have you told Ty? What was his reaction?"

Olivia couldn't help but roll her eyes at the mention of her ex-boyfriend/father of her child. She knew it was the question most people had in mind when the topic of their blended families came up but it wasn't something she loved talking about.

"No. I didn't tell him but he knows about the baby. Unfortunately, this isn't something I can hide," Olivia admitted as she glanced down at her growing bump. "I just didn't want to share this with him. I already have to share every other milestone in my life because we have a kid and I need to make sure he's okay with certain things. Having a baby with the man I love isn't something I felt like sharing."

"I guess it must suck having to share everything with him while also maintaining a relationship with another man. Sorry for bringing it up."

"Don't apologize, I understand the curiosity even if I hate explaining the complicated aspects of everything."

✶❤︎✶❤︎

A wave of exhaustion washed over Olivia as she sunk down on the couch in the station's loft. They had nonstop calls for the better half of their shift and the alarms would go off whenever there was a sudden stillness in the day.

She didn't bother moving from her slumped position as her boyfriend spotted her and dropped down beside her. He slung an arm around her shoulder and kissed her temple as she leaned all of her weight against him.

"I'm over today," she grumbled.

"I can tell," he snorted. "If it helps, I have good news."

"Bobby found five firefighters willing and able to take over the rest of our shift so we can go home?"

"No. The realtor called and our offer went through, we got the house."

"Seriously?" Olivia perked up. "We got the house?"

"Yeah."

"That's great news."

"What's great news?" Buck strode over to the couple with Hen and Chimney following behind.

Olivia sat up with a grin. "We are officially homeowners."

"Ah, you two got the house!" Buck exclaimed. "That's exciting."

"And it seemed a lot less stressful than mine and Maddie's househunting experience," Chimney quipped.

"You can't tell but I'm stressed," Eddie pointed to his forehead as everyone watched the crinkle lines form. "Our bank accounts definitely took a hit."

"LA is expensive," Hen sympathized, she knew all too well how pricey homes in their city were. "When do you guys get to find out the gender? If you choose to do so."

"At our next appointment," Olivia hummed. "I'll be around nineteen weeks by then so hopefully we'll get to see something on the ultrasound this time around."

"Yeah, last time all we saw was a big blob."

Chimney raised his eyebrows in amusement. "Or your baby will decide to moon you the whole time."

"I hope not. The suspense is killing us."

✶❤︎✶❤︎

"Okay, Kai has been picked up by his father, Christopher is working on homework, and you..." Eddie trailed off at the sight of his pregnant girlfriend standing in front of the floor-length mirror as she admired her bump. "What are you doing?"

"I'm starting to show."

"Starting?" Eddie quirked his eyebrow. He didn't mean to offend her but she was a noticeably slim woman and the swell of her stomach was a lot more noticeable now than ever before.

"Shut up." Olivia shoved the hem of her shirt down with a frown. "Honey...the baby wants ice cream."

"Then the baby will get ice cream," he affirmed. "We should still have some in the freezer, right?"

"Unless your kids got into my stash. Again."

When he returned from the kitchen, Olivia was sitting in bed with her iPad balanced on her bump while she scrolled intensely through the tablet. He raised his brow and walked around the bed to set the pint on the nightstand before he dove headfirst into his side.

"Thanks."

"No problem," he momentarily shut his eyes as his head hit the pillow. "Now that we have the keys, we should probably work on packing up the house."

"Moving is going to be so much work."

"And you won't be doing any of it. I'll call in reinforcements because you are carrying precious cargo."

"You're so sweet."

"I try."

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authors note

-a bit of a boring chapter but excitement will be coming soon!

-also i desperately need ideas for baby names (boy or girl) so if you have any please comment them🥰