Chapter 63: Moving Forward

"How have you been?" Fernando asked and Lia eyed him for a while.

Was that really his first question? Lia shrugged. "I'm doing okay. Just moody half the time and sometimes, I can't understand why."

Fernando's eyes filled with concern and worry and Lia hoped he'd ask the question that was really on his mind.

"How's the baby doing?"

Lia sighed. "The baby is growing bigger everyday. I thought I felt him kick yesterday but I think it's still too soon to tell."

"Him?" He asked with raised eyebrows and Lia took a moment to drink him in. It had been so long since she had gotten the chance to look at him like this.

He didn't look different from the last time she saw him, which was a few hours ago in the bathroom.

She looked away and her gaze fell on her lap. She had put on some weight. "I can't call the baby an it and I really want a boy."

He just smiled and Lia rolled her eyes.

"This is the part where you tell me what you want the baby to be."

He flushed and she laughed. "Well, I don't mind. A boy or girl, I would love the child the same but I would prefer a girl. One that has your eyes, they drew me to you the first time I started to notice you."

Immediately, Lia was taken back to the time when everything was okay between them. When this title hanging between them didn't exist and was unknown.

Her face grew hard and she glared at him. "What did you want to talk about?" Was he here to reminisce and make her miss what had been?

Fernando cleared his throat and got up. He paced around for a while. When he didn't sit down after some minutes, Lia leaned forward and grabbed his arm.

"You're making me dizzy with all your pacing."

He flushed and took his seat again. Lia watched him fidget, his legs bouncing up and down.

"Fer!" She called, touching his leg and the bouncing stopped. His eyes fell on her. "Relax. You're making me antsy and it's not good for the baby."

His face fell immediately. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

Liaoea threw her head back, laughter bubbling out of her. Fernando frowned, looking confused. He looked so lost, Lia couldn't stop herself from laughing.

"I don't understand what's happening anymore."

Lia coughed and covered her mouth with one hand, holding up the other in front of him. "I'm sorry. That was silly of me."

"What?"

Lia shook her head, her hands falling to her side again. "Let's just forget everything. What do you say?"

Fernando shrugged, not sure what she was referring to and she nodded.

"Alright so let's talk."

Fernando ran his hands through his hair and rose to his feet. "You know I tried to stay away. I really did but I guess I'm too attached to your. After seeing you in that store today, I just couldn't stay away anymore."

"Speaking of, what were you doing there? At the baby store I mean."

He flushed, his cheeks red hot. "Well, I was planning to get you something for the baby and have Adam send it without actually saying I sent it."

Lia narrow her eyes. "So Adam would take the credit?"

Fernando nodded. "I just thought it would be better that way, you know? Staying away from each other would make things better and easier and in no time we would be able to move on."

Lia swallowed and looked down at her hands. "And have you?"

"Have I? What are you talking about?"

Lia gulped, tears gathering in her eyes. "You said something about moving on so I asked if you have you know, moved on?"

Fernando let out a dry chuckle and scoffed. "What do you think Lia? If I had, would I be here?"

Lia shrugged and rose to her feet. "I don't know. You could be here to hand me your wedding IV or something."

"Oh please, you know that's not why I'm here Lia." Fernando sighed.

She blinked back tears. "Then why are you here Fernando? Why are you here?"

Fernando walked towards her and grabbed her waist pulling her into him. Lia gasped and placed her hands on his chest. "What are you doing?"

"Can't you see? I can't seem to stay away from you no matter how hard I try."

Lia scoffed, avoiding his gaze. "Well, you seemed pretty capable of it. Two months Fer, eight weeks you stayed away." She pulled away from him, putting enough distance between them. "You shouldn't have come here."

He tried to reach for her but she drew causing him to take a deep breath. "I didn't know what to say to you, I was confused. I mean everything had just started to go so great for us. We were happy and even having conversations about starting our family. And then your mother showed up."

Lia sat down on the sofa again and arranged a row of pillows in front of her as some kind of demarcation. "Maybe it was for the best."

He shook his head. "You don't believe that."

"Maybe I do, you don't know what I'm thinking."

He nodded in agreement. "You're right but I do know you and your mother coming back made you both happy and scared, jealous even."

Lia gasped. "Jealous? How could I be jealous of my mother?"

He smiled, a small smile that looked mischievous. "You can when she's touching your husband inappropriately."

Lia flushed but didn't back down. "Did not!"

"I remember one time when she placed her hands on my chest and your eyes became guns ready to shot her if her hands dared to move."

Lia crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head. "I don't know what you're talking about."

He chuckled and closed the distance between them, kneeling in front of her. "Those two months were the longest and most unbearable months I have ever spent in my life. I swear I had to stop myself from picking up the phone and calling you at every moment."

Lia sniffed, meeting his eyes. "Why didn't you? Why didn't you call me? You didn't even call to see how the baby is doing, to see how I was doing."

"My mistake but I thought you'd like it that way. Me giving you space to process everything that your mother dropped on us."

"That was something." Lia said with a sigh. "I couldn't wrap my head around it, still can't anyway."

"Yeah, neither could I. I still can't buy -"

Lia shook her head. "There's no buts Fernando, we have to accept this massive sign that the universe has sent us. We are not meant to be together and it's okay."

"That's bullshit and you know it."

Lia shrugged and rose to her feet. "The only thing I know is that you're my father." She spat out the word as if sh3 had eaten something bitter. "Father and daughter can never be together."

"Says who?"

Lia scoffed. "You shouldn't joke about this. It's serious stuff."

"I don't see anyone laughing." Fernando rose to his feet and held her hands. "Why are you giving up on us before we have a chance to fight? Why are you losing hope so soon?"

"You're not Dr. Luca Fernando and this is not a therapy session. I'm your wife and apparently your daughter. Can we just face the truth of the situation?"

"Why are you running away?"

Lia shook her head, waving her hands in front of his face. "I'm not, I swear I'm not. The only thing I'm doing is accepting the truth of our situation which you're clearly still in denial about."

"I'm not in denial Lia, I know what the situation is and I say fuck it." He cursed and she chuckled despite herself, tears filling up her eyes.

"You're not making any sense and yet I really want to believe things can go according to your plan." She shook her head nonstop, muttering under her breath. "I'm crazy and you're insane for even thinking that father and daughter can be together."

He grabbed her shoulders and pulled her close. "But what if we can? I mean what if we don't give a shit about what anyone says? I love you Lia and knowing you're my daughter hasn't changed my feelings for you."

Lia gulped and looked down at the floor. "Fernando, we can't -"

"Frankly, I think your dictionary needs some new vocabulary." He chuckled at the end of his statement and she glared at him.

"Let's just say this plan of yours can work. What do we tell our child? How do we explain this?" She pointed between them and he sighed, his hands going down to her waist.

Lia leaned in and placed her head on his chest, her eyes closing on their own accord. "What are we going to do, Fernando?"

"We will explain things to our child when he's old enough to understand it but until then, I think we should focus more on being happy."

Lia snuggled closer, kissing his chest. "I like the sound of that."

"I missed you so much. I didn't realize how much until you almost kicked me out and I started feeling lonely even in your presence."

"Kiss me?" She whispered and he chuckled, catching her eyes.

"You don't have to ask. It's all I wanted to do since everything happened."

"Then shut up and prove it." She commanded and he joined his lips with hers.

"I missed you too Fernando, so much." She whispered against his lips and he smiled, deepening the kiss.