Name: Brittney
URL: AloneInthePretense.org
Favorite Christmas Movie: Frosty the Snowman

Blessed

Starring: Zac
Rating: PG
Note: This story takes place in the Catalyst universe, but I think the story will stand on it's own if you haven't read it.

Aubrey smiled softly to herself as she gazed out the window. It seemed like everything was covered in white – even the car she and Zac had arrived in only hours ago with their young son was now obscured by the mass of flakes that fell steadily from the sky.  

From her perch in the window seat, she watched as her niece and nephews  - at least the ones older than a year – tried to run through the snow. Their snowsuits seemed to eliminate most of their mobility, and often they wound up toppling over into the mounds of snow their grandfather had tried to shovel out of the driveway, only to be recovered by a new sheet of snow.  

Absently, Aubrey rubbed her belly, remembering how just the previous year she had found out she and Zac were expecting their first child. Her eyes floated from her now mostly flat belly over to the playpen where Eli slept beside his cousin, Viggo. Eli was just under three months old, but he became the most important person in both hers and Zac’s life since the moment she realized she was expecting.  

To think that in another year he could be out there playing with his cousins seemed unreal. Her eyes drifted back outside. It seemed the two couples –Nikki and Isaac and Natalie and Taylor - had finally managed to get their children in an upright position for the time being and were attempting to get them to build a snowman.  

Ezra, the oldest, seemed to be the only one really interested in the venture while Ellie was shaking her snow-filled hands, sending the icy flakes scattering around them. Considering, Ellie was the only girl among a brood of boys it was shocking she hadn’t become a bit of a tomboy. No, Ellie was every bit girl, and the idea of cold, wet snow probably did not appeal to her in the least.  

Everett and Monroe were meanwhile glued to their parents’ sides. Monroe was probably still a bit too young to enjoy the snow. Aubrey hoped the cold wind wouldn’t leave the tiny boy feeling sick. Maybe they should have left him inside with Eli and Viggo. 

River seemed mildly interested in the snowman idea, but Ezra kept waving him off. Aubrey remembered the days of being hindered by her younger siblings and couldn’t help but chuckle lightly at Ezra’s blight.  

“What’s funny?” Zac’s voice startled her slightly, causing Aubrey to jump slightly. Zac snickered at her reaction as she turned to glare up at him, where he stood just behind her.  

“I brought hot chocolate,” he offered by way of apology. 

Aubrey took the mug gratefully, cupping her hands around it, seeking the warmth it offered. “I was just watching the kids playing outside,” Aubrey answered after she took a sip of the warm cocoa. “And I was just thinking that next year Eli might be big enough to be out there playing in the snow.” 

“Hmm … that’s hard to believe,” Zac murmured as he lifted Aubrey’s socked feet and sat down where they had been and placed her feet in his lap.  

“I still can’t believe that only last year he was just an itty bitty thing that was growing inside of me,” she commented, rubbing her belly absently once again.  

“I still can’t believe how you told me,” Zac grinned, shaking his head. His thoughts drifted back to Aubrey’s elaborate theory about procreation among the Hanson boys. Apparently, out of wedlock was the catalyst to pregnancy in his family. After that, there seemed to be little to no problem conceiving. The ache he’d felt last year when Aubrey mentioned his inability to get Kate pregnant while they were married was nothing but a distant memory now, overshadowed by the joy of finally becoming a father.  

Most would probably consider the last year a blur, but Zac felt like he remembered everything with perfect clarity – from arriving in Tulsa from New York City with Aubrey, toting that ridiculous ‘Say Hello To My Little Friend’ t-shirt that pointed down to her then still flat belly, to planning a small intimate wedding for just their family and closest friends.  

They were married by the end of February. At the time he thought he’d never seen Aubrey look more beautiful, but as he watched her belly stretch and grow to accommodate their child, he realized he’d been wrong.  

After much discussion, Aubrey gave up her apartment in New York and they bought a house in Tulsa. He hated to see her give up her dream of the big city, and when he’d confessed as much, her answer had melted his heart. “Zac, I’m not giving anything up. I’m getting everything I ever could have dreamed of. I have you and this baby. We’ll visit the city again, and the beach and everywhere in between. As long as you’re with me, I’ll always be right where I want to be.” 

Their spring was occupied furnishing their new home, and the summer was spent on a tour bus, traveling from one city to the next, before they were back home in the fall. Every day Aubrey looked that much closer to bursting, and some days Zac worried she might go into labor as he drove to the studio to work on his next album with his brothers. Every night he would come home to the woman he loved, and kiss her growing belly and say hello to their growing baby, and thank God for blessing him so completely.  

At the end of September, the contractions began and ten hours later, Elijah Walker Hanson was born.  

Throughout his life, Zac had always kept a mental checklist of the best moments of his life. They mostly consisted of meeting his favorite musicians or playing certain venues or visiting different places, but everything before the day Eli was born quickly fell from the list was and was replaced just as fast. Everything, of course, except meeting and falling in love with Aubrey – the girl who saved him from giving up to grief over a failed marriage and made him laugh and begin to live again. Aubrey and Eli were everything to him. Even music had been overshadowed by their presence. 

From the first time he held the tiny six pound two ounce babe in his arms, Zac knew nothing could ever mean more to him than his son. He still loved playing music, but he understand now more than ever what his brothers had been talking about when they said that becoming a father had changed them and inspired them in new ways.  

The past year had been nothing short of amazing, and Zac felt that if every year after this one could be just half as amazing as this one, then he could die a happy man.  

“You know what I’d like to give Eli next year for Christmas?” Aubrey commented, piercing Zac’s inner thoughts. 

He smiled and shook his head slightly. “I think by now it’s pretty clear that I rarely ever know what’s going on in that pretty head of yours,” he admitted.  

Aubrey reached for his hand and clasped it in her own. “I love you,” she said.  

Her serious tone surprised him, as he was just being lighthearted in his admission, but she spoke with such conviction. “I love you too,” he said, answering her soft smile with one of his own. “Now what were you saying you’d like to get Eli next year for Christmas?” 

Aubrey wet her suddenly dry lips with the tip of her tongue and sat her mug of hot chocolate down on the table off to the side before she answered. “I was thinking that maybe a new addition to the house would be nice.” 

Zac’s brows furrowed. “Aubrey, we already have plenty of room in the house,” he answered. “What kind of addition could we possibly need?” 

Aubrey bit back an ornery smile. She loved that Zac could rarely read her mind and often became befuddled when he had no idea where she was going with something. “Well, as you said, we do have plenty of room - two extra bedrooms. So I was thinking maybe we could start working on another baby for one of those rooms.”   

Zac blinked disbelievingly for a moment before the corners of his lips began to lift upward. “Seriously? You’re ready?” he asked anxiously. 

While they were expecting Eli, they’d discussed having more children in the future. Zac, of course, was anxious, given how much trouble he and Kate had trying to conceive, but Aubrey stood by her theory that after knocking her up out of wedlock, they’d be golden when trying for another baby.  

He’d watched how quickly both of his older brothers’ family’s had grown, and while he wanted his own little brood, he wasn’t necessarily looking to pop them out one right after another. Aubrey hadn’t seemed too keen to that idea either, so he’d been expecting at least another year before she would even want to try for their second child.  

As Aubrey nodded her confirmation, Zac’s face lit up like a Christmas tree, which Aubrey murmured was very fitting given it was Christmas, after all, but her words were muted as Zac sat his cup of hot chocolate down and then pulled her to him, wrapping his around her in an almost suffocating hug. 

“Can’t breathe,” she managed to gasp, and Zac loosened his grip. 

He pulled his head back to look at her face. “I love you, so much,” he said, his tone reflecting the seriousness he’d heard in hers before. “And I think that’s a wonderful idea. When can we get started?” 

“I think at the very least we should wait until we get home,” Aubrey grinned. “I’m sure your parents and the rest of the family wouldn’t appreciate watching the conception of the next Hanson baby take place in the middle of the living room.” 

Zac rolled his eyes and waited for the real answer. Since Aubrey had always been much better at reading Zac’s mind, it didn’t take her but a moment to answer him. “I was thinking we could start in a couple of months,” she answered. “I’d kind of enjoy being able to see my feet and touch my toes for a little while longer.”  

Zac laughed heartily for a moment before pulling his wife to him to cover her lips with his own.

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