The Fluttering
“Clarke! Have you seen Macy’s boots?” Lexa shouted up the staircase.
“What?” Clarke popped her head around the banister, fastening her watch around her wrist. Even after all these years, the sight of her wife shot a wave of warmth through Lexa’s body and pulled a smile from her lips.
“Hey, gorgeous,” Lexa smirked, and Clarke rolled her eyes.
“Flirt later, tiger. What did you need?”
“I can’t find Macy’s boots, and she’s refusing to wear anything else.”
“Have you checked her grocery cart?”
Lexa peered around the corner as a fit of adorable giggles chattered quietly in the dining room. Lexa smirked and mouthed up a thank you to Clarke before taking a dramatic step towards her daughter.
“Hmm,” Lexa tapped her chin playfully. “Did someone go shopping for shoes and not tell me?” She laughed to herself as the distinct sound of plastic wheels and tiny bare feet echoed in the hallway. “Did someone trick her momma and make her think she lost Macy’s boots?”
Lexa jumped around the corner, stopping her daughter in her tracks with a gleeful shriek. She scooped her up, placing dozens of wet kisses on chubby cheeks and tickling her soft belly. Macy cackled at Lexa’s attack, and Lexa laughed with her. “Where are your boots, monkey? Are they in the cart? Have you been hiding them from momma the whole time?”
“No!” Macy giggled as Lexa finally placed her on the ground.
“Oh, really? Then what are these?” Lexa pulled out the tiny pink cowboy boots from the grocery cart and wiggled them in front of her daughter.
“Those are Mommy’s. Not Macy’s.”
“I don’t think those would fit on Mommy’s feet, sweet pea,” Clarke waltzed into the kitchen and placed a sweet kiss on Lexa’s lips before ducking down to drop a kiss on Macy’s dark waves. “Are you ready for your first day of preschool?”
“Yes! I get to go to the blue school today. And there are dinosaurs and unicorns and all my friends will just love them.”
Lexa suppressed a giggle as she cut up an apple. Children really did provide endless amounts of entertainment. She just finished placing Macy’s lunchbox in her backpack when the strangest feeling bubbled up from her abdomen.
And that was truly the best way to describe it. She placed her hand on her stomach, pressing firmly at the spot just below and to the left of her belly button, and there it was again — a light flutter, like butterflies taking wing.
“Are you okay?” Clarke ran her hand soothingly down Lexa’s back, concern radiating from the touch.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a weird feeling. Feels like bubbles or tiny wings.”
Clarke’s face morphed in an instant. Her smile was radiant as she dropped to her knees and pressed both hands to Lexa’s stomach. “Come on, baby. Move for Mommy.”
“Clarke?”
“That was the baby moving. That’s what it feels like in the beginning,” Clarke mumbled as she kept her hands pressed to Lexa’s belly.
“Momma?” Macy called out from the breakfast nook, and Lexa turned as best she could while Clarke held her in an iron grip. “What’s Mommy doing?”
“She’s trying to feel your baby brother or sister moving. Come here, monkey.”
Clarke shifted to hold Macy in her lap and guided her little hand to Lexa’s belly. Lexa was overwhelmed with warmth and happiness, and when she felt that little fluttering once again, her head snapped to see Macy giggling with joy and Clarke’s eyes locked on hers staring at her like she hung the moon in the sky.