Not Another Cinderella Story (lxngdon & MaryGold)

M A S O N
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"Okay, then."

Mason loaded his sleek black car with their things one by one until everything they prepared and needed was packed in his trunk. He stretched his heavy and tired arms before strapping himself in the driver's seat only after securing Lainey's in her seat first. The drive to their destination only started after he dropped by a coffee shop and purchased a hot cup of Joe for him.

Under normal circumstances, he did not drink the beverage for it made his already horrid nerves worse. However, he was already tired as it would and would need caffeine to stay awake for the long drive ahead of them. So, he got his coffee and whatever drink Lainey wanted and they were on their way. The boost of energy he was given with his drink was just what he needed.

The journey outside the city felt like it took no time at all, though, it was enjoyable. Conversing with his girlfriend throughout the time was the most loveable part of it, he considered the way to the spot a piece if their date as well.

The spot that Mason had picked was, of course, located outside the city and on a beach. It was gorgeous. And even more so because it was the night. The moon illuminated the area in dim light, reflecting off the water and making it shine. The sounds of the waves washing up on the shore and the cool breeze blowing through the tall grass had never sounded so calming.

After spreading their blanket did Mason unpack their things.
 
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The place Mason had rented for them was absolutely beautiful and Lainey felt a warm blanket of peace and relaxation wash over her as she stepped outside of the car. The soft whispers of the waves crashing against one another a little way away was music to her ears. She was a Hungarian, a landlocked country, but she still loved the sea. It was wonderful.

She limped over to the blanket Mason had spread for them and took it upon herself to take each component of their meal out of the basket and lay them on the blanket -- the ravioli and sauce, the cupcakes, brownies and garlic bread. Her stomach growled but she waited for Mason to join her before she tucked in.

"This place is stunning. You spoil me too much," she said jokingly, kissing Mason on the cheek as she scooped them both some ravioli, which had been kept warm in a thermos, and some garlic bread. She sipped a can of Coke as she watched the waves roll over one another in the distance.
 
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Mason sipped from a water bottle, flushing out most of the caffeine in his system. The high he had been feeling was already wearing off even without the water. Now, he was sitting beside Lainey, shoulders slumped his posture slackened, he was at some ease. The resonance of the waves lulled him to a more even state.

He wasn't too hungry or at all, but he ate because Lainey had made it and served him. It was their date so he would do anything to make her happy. Well, if it wasn't their outing he'd still do the same.

"I come to this particular beach and spot all the time. It's just as beautiful during the day." It was one of the few places he could find a peace of mine. He discovered it when his anxiety was terribly bad in the past. The singer needed an area to reside and take a break in.

"The best feat is considerably far from the city." The beach was actually part of a small town. "So, there's no paparazzi to worry about."
 
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"That's good," Lainey murmured upon hearing that the paparazzi did not frequent this place Mason had brought her to. The paparazzi was not something she had experienced in a long while -- she hadn't experienced it at all since her days of professional tennis. Piper and Vasily experienced it now but she didn't imagine they did so more than Mason, who was a famous singer.

Lainey leaned her head against Mason's shoulder and gazed out at the mesmerising pattern of the waves as she just relaxed with her boyfriend. Everything was calming and serene. She had her beautiful Mason by her side, and their beautiful Harper floating in her womb, still for once. Lainey felt like she was on top of the world. She felt like everything in her life was going right for the first time.

"I love you," she murmured to Mason, straightening up to kiss him on the lips.
 
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Mason cupped the side of her face subsequent to brushing her long brown hair away from her face. He pushed his lips against hers gently, returning her kiss happily. Giving out any form of affections had always come easily to Mason. And, now, with Lainey it had never been easier. His body moved on its own before he could even think to.

His mouth on hers, his hand holding her thigh firmly but not as to hurt her, he felt nothing but pure bliss. There was nothing else in this world he could possibly need but Lainey and he couldn't help but wonder how he ever was able to receive her love and affections. He was sure, however, that he was the luckiest person alive.

"I love you too," breathed Mason, pulling away and gulping in the cool air around them. He pecked her on the lips once more. "More than you'll ever know."
 
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"M - Mason?!"

A couple of months had passed since that lovely night on the beach, and now, Lainey was a full nine months pregnant. Her belly was huge, so much that she waddled everywhere she went and her general life was inhibited. But, she wasn't upset about that. In fact, she was happy. And excited. And nervous. She would be giving birth very soon.

Apparently, sooner than what she had thought.

She was standing in the kitchen when she felt a sharp pain in her lower stomach, one she immediately recognised as a contraction even if she had never had one before. She then felt a wetness, and her eyes widened when she realised what was going on.

She was in labour.

"MASON!" she cried out again, becoming very alarmed when she felt another contraction. She put down the cup she had been holding and gripped the edge of the bench so she didn't fall over when she felt another pang.
 
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It was but a split second and Mason came rushing to her aid when hearing her panicked and clearly laced with pain screams. A hundred horrid possibilities ran through his head when he heard her. What could have happened? He was quick to put two and two together when seeing her hunched over gripping the bench.

Ah, she was going into labor ... Labor?!

Mason blinked once, swallowed hard and was quick to come to her side. "It'll be alright," he hoped. "just breathe and I'll get the car ready and ..." Oh, fuck, fuck, fuckity fuck. He had read tens and tens of books just for this moment, he had even been there years ago for his sister's pregnancy through and through. Therefore, he should be a goddamn whiz? But he himself was on the verge of freaking out.

All of his knowledge flew right out the window. He had never been so lost. Mason was clueless.

Of course, he could stand there and do nothing when his beloved was in so much pain. "I'll - I'll get the car ready." He was quick to step back into action. Car keys. Her bag. Lainey. Once he had them all, he drove to the nearest private hospital and may have broken a few speed limits on the way.
 
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Lainey didn't even complain when Mason broke speed limits because all she was thinking about was the pain she was experiencing. It came and went in flashes, and those flashes were intense and horrible and she had never felt so much agony. Not when she had broken her leg. Not any of the countless times Harrison had beaten her.

When Mason got to the hospital, Lainey gripped his arm tightly as he helped her inside. A nurse came rushing over and after quickly explaining the situation to her, Lainey was put into a wheelchair -- which was good because she couldn't walk anymore -- and she was wheeled to a private room.

"Is this your first?" the nurse asked sweetly as she helped Lainey out of her jeans and top and into a gown.

"Yes," Lainey said through gritted teeth as she felt another contraction.

"I see," she said as the doctor came with a couple of midwives. The doctor, who was a blind middle-aged man, laid Lainey down on her back and conducted a quick examination to see how far dialated she was.

"Your baby should be on the way soon." He took off his gloves to offer his hand to Mason. "I'm Dr Carson, I'm assuming you're the father?"
 
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"I am," confirmed Mason, taking his incessant pacing to a halt when addressed by the doctor, Dr. Carson. He unfolded his tightly locked arms, took the man's hand and shook it firmly. This whole experience was panic making despite him not being the one giving birth. Still, that fact didn't make him feel any better it actually had him feeling worse.

He was totally unsure of what to ask. Clearly, Lainey was in a lot of pain but none of the nurses were rushing in an apprehensive way so he could only assume she'd be fine. It was her first time, after all, naturally, it wouldn't be so easy. For either of them.

"Um ... is there anything I can do?" It was a total shot in the dark but he wanted to do more than just fumble around and watch fro the sidelines.
 
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"I'm afraid there's not much for you to do other than to be supportive for her," Dr Carson told Mason, giving the soon-to-be father a small smile before returning to Lainey. The young woman was crying now, because the contractions were becoming too frequent and too intense for her to handle.

"Okay, Ms Applewhite, we're going to start pushing soon," Dr Carson said, sitting on a stool just before the end of the bed. Lainey frantically reached out and grabbed Mason's hand, pulling him close because she needed him. She couldn't do this without him, without the love of her life at her side.

And so, Lainey was thrust into the single most painful experience of her life. The painkillers they gave her didn't help much, if at all. Every push was agony, but she also knew that every push was one more closer to meeting her little boy, so she carried on. She didn't give up, didn't rest for the whole five and a half hours of her very first labour.

Or, that was what the nurses told her afterward -- Lainey had no concept of time whatsoever by the time she gave the last push and the tiniest cry filled the room. A towel was placed on her chest, and then on top of the towel appeared a small weight, and Lainey opened her eyes to see an angel resting on top of her. A small, damp, hairless, naked little angel with closed eyes and tiny little fingers and --

"Oh my God," she whispered in her native language, Hungarian, as she realised, this was him. This was Harper. Her son. Her perfect, perfect baby son.
 
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Standing straight for five hours and a half would normally be tiring. Comforting and supporting his girlfriend in any and every way possible through those hours of labor would be exhausting. Controlling and suppressing the rising anxiety was just more if a reason to add why he should have dropped still in the chair beside the bed. Through her cries of pain, the commands of the medical staff and his simple solace in anyway helpful it was the mist nerve-wracking, exhausting and terrifying experiences that Mason had ever gone through.

Yet, he was wired. He had never been so full of than when he set eyes on the little bundle of joy that was placed into Lainey's arms. He was so tiny and, well, magnificent. To think that he had grown in a womb for nine months and suddenly he was just here now. It was so strange and magnificent and mystical.

Harper was here.

Mason had momentarily forgot to breathe with the arrival of their son. He quickly gulped in air and smiles warmly at the amazing woman sitting in the bed beside him. He leaned over and kissed the side of her head, rubbing her back soothingly.

"You were amazing."
 
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Lainey gave Mason a small smile and kissed him on the cheek while he was there, before turning back to her absolutely stunning little baby boy. He was the single most beautiful and amazing child she had ever laid her eyes upon, and it was difficult for Lainey to believe that she had ever wanted to give this exquisite creature away. She would not be able to do it now, even if she had to. Harper was hers. Hers, and Mason's.

She was so happy that she didn't even notice the afterbirth that was falling out of her and she barely registered the words being said to her by the nurses. All she could think of, all she could concentrate on, was the precious newborn, laying on her chest.

"Harper Elliot Wagner," she said to the midwife when she asked for the name to put on the certificate.

"Lovely. I'll just get you two to sign here and here ..." Lainey and Mason complied, declaring their son as their own. "Okay. Now, we'll need to take him to do some quick tests, and weigh him and measure him, things like that. Is that alright with you?"

"Of course." Lainey very unwillingly handed her baby to the midwife, not wanting to let him go just yet but also knowing that he needed to take these tests.

"We'll take lovely care of him, I promise. Perhaps you'd like to take a shower while we're doing the tests? Do you need some help?"

"Mason can help me," Lainey assured her. She looked up at Mason and requested him to help her shower and clean off.
 
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"Sure," Mason quietly complied, tearing his eyes away from the infant and back to Lainey.

He helped her into the bathroom where the shower was. Naturally, he had her sit down in a seat during her wash up. Besides, the fact that it would be nearly impossible for her to stand, it would also be most undesirable for her to pass out due to blood loss.

So, she sat and he ran her water until it reached a temperature she wished for. He also lathered her sponge with soap and waited outside the curtains until she had completed her washing. It was nothing he hadn't seen before but did not want to exceed the boundaries by cleaning her too.

Though, he sure as hell helped her dry off and get into her fresh gown. He was happy to have returned back to the room and sit in a sit watching Lainey with the newborn.
 
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Lainey washed all the blood off the lower half of her body and the sweat off the top half. She felt much better after she was clean, though, she was running on adrenaline so she couldn't say she felt bad anyway. She was tired and sore, but she was elated and ecstatic. Harper was here. Her baby son was born.

She let Mason help her dry herself off and change into a clean gown, and a nurse gave her a maxi pad to soak the bleeding that came after the birth up. Lainey had been reading up on birth and what happened afterwards so none of this came as a surprise. Once she was seated again on the bed, she was handed back her baby, who she happily accepted. Harper was now dressed in a pale blue onesie with a matching cap on his bare head. He was also wrapped in a thin blanket to keep his tiny body warm.

"There are no noticeable health issues or problems," said the same midwife happily. Lainey wasn't looking at her, she was too transfixed by her baby boy. "You have a healthy little son. Congratulations."

"Thank you," said Lainey.

It was then that Harper opened his eyes for the very first time. Lainey had been expecting to see her own brown eyes, or maybe Vasily's green. She had not been expecting a bright shade of metallic grey, the same eyes she had faced for many years.

"Oh," she said softly, her face falling ever so slightly. Harper had Harrison's eyes. She looked up at Mason, wondering what he was thinking.
 
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When Harper opened his tiny eyes it didn't occur to Mason where he had got them instantly. How could he have? He only had met the man a few yes and each encounter was an extremely unpleasant one. It wasn't as if he stopped and stared into his eyes before, no. So, the only thing that did come to him that they certainly weren't his mother's and he started to wonder if ant of her other family members had them.

"He has pretty eyes," Mason acknowledged aloud. And he did indeed have pretty eyes, it was a fitting feature to his already good looks that he had so obvious received from his mother. "He'll be a heartbreaker when he gets older."

Mason leaned forward against the bed with folded arms. His eyes were stuck on the infant but he managed to turn them on Lainey. It was hard not to notice the difference in her expression now and the one she had not a minute ago even if it was slight.

"What?" A concerned Mason asked, straightening himself. Was she still in pain?
 
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Had Mason really not noticed? Lainey didn't blame him, really. She just wished she didn't have to say it out loud, because somehow saying it made it more true. Lainey kissed her baby on the forehead and adjusted his cap so it sat straight before she finally said, in a quiet tone, "He's got Harrison's eyes."

Lainey didn't like saying it out loud. She had wanted to distance Harper from his biological father as much as possible, but he had inherited a very noticeable feature from the man Lainey detested so much and it was unavoidable. This did not change the way Lainey thought of her baby, not at all, and that was evident in the way she continued to gaze at him in total adoration.

Well, adoration, with a touch of worry.

"But I'd like to pretend he inherited them from Tristan, Harrison's brother." Lainey had told Mason about Harrison's dead brother, her first love, so she didn't need to elaborate on why she would prefer to imagine that Tristan was the biological father and not his evil sibling. "They had identical eyes." She glanced up at Mason, trying to read his face. "What are you thinking?"
 
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Mason felt a tiny bit shameful for not noticing right off the bat but no one could not blame him for it. He paused after she explained and let it settle in on him. It did not take long for him to fully grasp and hold on to it and nor did it have a negative affect him. No, not when he was completely expecting it one way or another.

Harper didn't come from him, he came from Harrison. It wasn't a very happy making fact but that was probably the only good thing that came from the revolting man. So, obviously, he would take after him in some form in physicality. He had accepted that before he witnessed. He had to if he was going to be his father in this case. He wouldn't see Harper as his own in appearance but something more deeper than that.

"I'm thinking when I see his eyes I simply see Harper," Mason shrugged his shoulders, staring at the baby before leaning back in his seat. "I didn't know Tristan and his brother was intolerable but I just see of as Harper's eyes and that's all."

 
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"You're right," Lainey murmured.

Of course Mason was right. These beautiful eyes Lainey was currently gazing into, they weren't Harrison's, or Tristan's, they were Harper's eyes and they always would be. They were the eyes of her beautiful, perfect little son, the son she loved so much she couldn't even begin to describe it.

"I love you, baby," she murmured to her son, leaning in and kissing him very softly on the smooth little forehead. The infant did not respond, he just continued to gaze up at his mother, transfixed.

Lainey turned to Mason and held Harper out to her, realising her baby hadn't been held by his real father. "Do you want to hold him?" she inquired in a soft and happy whisper.
 
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Mason took the baby from her arms without hesitation and sat back in his seat again. He was so small, such a small little person and so perfect. Ten tiny perfect little fingers and toes, two perfect eyes, one perfect nose and mouth. He was so absolutely perfect it was ridiculous that he was his father, the one to care for and raise and take responsibility for.

Mason could never have been happy and so overwhelmed at the same time. When he agreed to father Harper he had been worried but brushed it off and pushed forward. But now that he was actually here and in his hands it felt so much more real and terrifying to know this little life was in his hands.

He really hoped he didn't screw up.

"I always thought I'd be a dad when I at least turned thirty." Mason chuckled, that was what he had planned for. Things changed, however. "Life is just full of surprises."
 
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Seeing Mason cradling little Harper in his arms just cemented the knowledge that he had always been the baby's father in Lainey's mind. There couldn't possibly be anyone else who was up for the task, not when she saw how perfect they looked together. It was gorgeous, it was amazing and Lainey never wanted it to end.

The doctor came into the room to speak with them. "Alright, everything seems to be in order," he said, handing Lainey a birth certificate in an envelope. "You should be alright to go home today, unless you wanted to stay overnight for observations?"

"No thank you," said Lainey at once, shaking her head. She just wanted to get home with her partner and their baby. She hated hospitals anyway.

"Well, in that case, congratulations. We'll bring a wheelchair around for you soon."

The doctor left and a midwife helped Lainey back into the bathroom so she could change into her own clothes, which consisted of leggings and a baggy T-shirt, while Mason continued to cradle the baby.

"How about I wheel her out and you carry him?" the midwife suggested to Mason as she helped Lainey into a wheelchair.
 
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