Memories Ch 08

Chris played his favorite moment from the day before in his head as Larissa slept on their flight to Turks and Caicos...

Watching Larissa walk down the aisle. The pride in her father's face as George and Larissa danced together. Their first official dance as husband and wife, which he had somehow talked Lars into letting them play the same Orleans tune, Dance With Me, as he had put on her mixed cd months before. Sneaking away from the crowd for awhile to listen to the waves crashing against the bluffs far below. Making love for hours when they got home. Everything about the night was absolutely perfect.

"What do you want to do first?" Chris asked as they finished settling into their home away from home for the next week. The little bungalow on the semi-private beach was even nicer in person.

"Walk out to the pier? It's too early for dinner and I know we just sat on a plane for hours, but I kind of just want to chill out for awhile."

Chris nodded in agreement. "I know what you mean. Being forced to sit on a plane, in a car, or otherwise isn't exactly relaxing or restful."

"Not to mention you kept me up to un-Godly hours last night,"Larissa gave him a mischievous smirk as she headed towards the door.

"Oh, like you didn't enjoy it!" he called after her. "Oh,Chris! Oh, God! Don't stop!" he teased with a terrible impersonation.

"I do NOT sound like that!" she claimed, not turning around.

"Yah," he drew out. "Ya kinda do," Chris took several large steps to catch up to her. "Don't be embarrassed," he rubbed her shoulders. "It's hot," he whispered in her ear before nibbling lightly on it.

"There will be plenty of time for that this week," Larissa turned and playfully pushed him away.

"Promise?"

Larissa had kept her promise. They ended up having sex all over that bungalow that week. Not that they were gross and didn't clean up after themselves, but he pitied whoever had to clean the place when they left.

They made love in the bed. In the shower. On the couch. On the tiny kitchenette countertop next to the sink. They even made love outside on one of the lounge chairs late one night after they had both had a little too much to drink. It wasn't until they were about to make love on the fourth night of their stay that Larissa brought something up besides his libido.

"Chris, wait," she grabbed his arm as he was about to reach for a condom.

"What is it?" his brow furrowed.

"I..." she let out a sigh. "I didn't get my depo shot this month."

Chris paused. He felt like he should know what it was by the way she was saying it, but he had no clue what she was talking about at the moment. "You're what?"

"My birth control shot, ya dummy!"

"Ooohh...Well, I didn't know what it was called!"

Larissa waved her hand in the air. "It doesn't matter. Sorry. Anyway..." she paused again. "You don't have to wear a condom, if you don't want to," she spoke quieter, looking down at her hands on the bed, shrugging.

"Hey," Chris took her by the shoulders. "Why didn't you say something sooner?" he spoke tenderly.

"I didn't want to make things...weird. But I've been thinking about it the past few days."

"Why would it make things weird? Hell, I think we forgot to use any protection a few times already this week anyways," he tried to lighten the mood. Larissa lowered her eyes at him.

"You know why. You know what happened the last time we got careless. I hadn't planned on bringing it up this week, or even until after your press tour, for that matter. But like I said, it's been weighing on me."

Chris was speechless for a moment, trying to collect his thoughts.

"Sooo...Does you not getting your shot this month mean you're ready to try for real?"

Larissa nodded, looking back down at her hands.

"Baby," Chris made her meet his eyes. "It's ok. I don't know why you're acting so weird about it. We both decided to be careful until after the wedding and talk about it then, right? Well, it's after the wedding."

"I know, it just seems like a weird time to bring it up. I didn't mean to be a buzzkill."

'You're not," he lifted her chin again and kissed her.

"So what do you think?" Larissa grimaced slightly, waiting for his answer.

"I say...Why the hell not?" he smiled at her, brushing some errant strands of hair away from her face.

"Really?" she asked hopefully.

"Yah," Chris drew out. "I don't think I'm ever going to fully be prepared to be a dad. And you know what they say: No better time than now."

Larissa laughed. "Well get over here, then, and put a baby inside of me."

***

Chris was exhausted, in a good way, from their honeymoon. Even after getting eleven hours of sleep the night they returned home. Perhaps his dreams had kept him from sleeping more restfully. But what were they about?

He racked his brain trying to remember what it was he had dreamt about the night before as he listened to the water running in the shower behind the closed door. It was right on the tip of his brain...

"Let's go house hunting!" Chris announced as he flung open the door to the bathroom, eliciting a startled cry from Larissa.

"Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" she laughed. "What are you doing up, anyway? I thought you'd sleep for longer."

"It's 8 o'clock," he replied simply. More laughing from the shower stall.

"Exactly. I think I could count on my fingers how many times you've been up at this hour."

"Ha ha," Chris replied sarcastically. Seriously, though. What do you think?"

"I think I'm wondering what brought this up."

"Well, we can't live in a one-bedroom apartment with a baby. Plus we're married now. We need a proper house. I don't know. It just seems like a good idea."

"Ok, ok. We'll go house hunting."

"That's the spirit. It'll be fun."

Chris wasted no time and contacted a realtor while Larissa finished getting dressed. He set up an appointment as early as he could...which wasn't until 2pm...that Thursday.

'That's three days from now," Larissa stated the obvious at the news.

"I know. But it's not like either of us has anything else to do this week, right?"

"No, but...What do you want to do now?"

"I guess we could always look online? Or run down to the corner and get one of those "House for sale" magazines we always see? What?" Larissa was looking at him strangely, trying to force a smirk away.

You're really into this, aren't you?"

"Yah. Why wouldn't I be? I only wish I had thought of it sooner. I could have surprised you by taking you to our new home when we got home yesterday."

"Ugh," she replied dramatically. "You and your surprises."

"Yah. You're right. It would have been an epic surprise, but I don't think I could buy a house for us without you, in good conscience."

Larissa shook her head in agreement.

"Besides, I don't even know what you like. People are way pickier when it comes to houses than apartments, right?"

"Right. Chances are, if you're living in an apartment, you don't exactly have the means to be choosy," they both laughed.

"Well, what are you looking for in a house, Mrs.Pine?"

"God, I love when you say that. Ummm," she thought and giggled. "I don't know. You're kind of springing this on me. I guess I haven't had time to think about it."

"Well, you don't strike me as a modernist type of person, if you don't mind me saying."

Larissa shook her head again. "Definitely not."

"You really don't have any idea at all? Is that not part of the "big dream" little girls have when they imagine their wedding and how many kids they're going to have and blah blah blah?"

Larissa raised an eyebrow at him. "Blah blah blah?"

"Sorry. That was insensitive. You know what I mean, though."

"Well, to be honest, I guess I never gave much thought to having an actual house in LA. I'm pretty open to most things, I guess. I would love to have a two-story. You know. To fit all of the kids in," she half-joked, gauging Chris' reaction.

"Speaking of which..." he spun towards her, trapping her on the couch, and leaned in for a long kiss.

***

House hunting ended up not taking long at all. They had met up with the realtor that week and she had shown them a few of the properties he and Lars had found in their own personal search. It was the second day, though, when the realtor had shown them a property she thought they might like, that they hadn't looked up themselves, that Larissa fell in love with their first home.

"Well, what do you guys think?" Marsha, the realtor, had asked as they approached the front door at the end fo their tour of the house.

Chris could tell just by the way Larissa was acting that she absolutely loved the place. It was an old, Victorian-style home, but mostly renovated on the inside and without the gaudy exterior colors of a traditional Victorian. It was even laid out surprisingly well.

"How much is it again?" Larissa asked.

"$820,000," Marsha replied simply.

"Oh, ok..." she tried to hide the disappointment in her voice, but failed miserably. Chris leaned over to her at this point, a smile forming on his lips.

"I told you," he spoke low into her ear so that only she could hear. "Don't worry about the price. You like it, don't you?"

Larissa screwed up her face before confessing. "I really do," she admitted aloud for both Chris and Marsha to hear.

"Can you give us a minute, please?" Chris looked to the realtor. Marsha nodded her head and walked out the front door and waited on the porch.

"Chris, we can't possibly spend that much on a house," Larissa spoke as soon as the door closed.

He sighed and growled at the same time, rubbing his hands down his face in frustration.

"Listen, if you like it, we're getting it. I like it too and I'm not worried about the price. I really think this Star Trek movie is going to kick things in gear. I've got a good feeling about it. Please, please, don't argue with me over this."

They just stared at each other not saying anything for a long time. Chris looked at Larissa expectantly.

"What about the drive to work? What about the drive to your parents? I didn't even realize this town, neighborhood, whatever you call it out here even existed until today."

"Monrovia isn't that bad of a drive. It only took us about 20 minutes to get here. It's probably about the same to my parents, maybe a little bit longer. It's always a chore getting anywhere in town because of the traffic and how big it is," Chris paused. "You know I'm right."

"Yah," Larissa conceded.

"Plus...Do you really want to raise kids downtown?"

She shook her head "no" vehemently.

"Exactly. And it's really not that bad of a price for a place like this."

Larissa couldn't help but laugh. "Are you a real estate expert all of a sudden?" she teased as she wrapped her arms around his waist.

"As a matter of fact..." he kissed her on the forehead, secretly pleased that he had gotten her to resign her protesting. "Come on. I've been around this town my whole life. I can at least spot a good deal when I see one. So?" he drew out.

"Sooo I guess we can snag this one. I really do love it. It has a little bit of that country feel I always thought I would end up with mixed with something new and exciting," she smiled up at him. "Do you like it?"

"Hey, happy wife, happy life," he chuckled.

"Christopher..."

"Alright, alright," he put his hands up in surrender. "I do like it. It's not the million-dollar bachelor pad I had in mind, but it will do," he teased, winking at her. She smacked him hard in the chest.