Alvaro 'Alfie' Cooks's Story

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Richie had just woken up, when he heard a female voice. "Passengers, please unbuckle your seatbelts, and take the nearest exit off the plane. Thank you for flying with us, and have a wonderful day." What time is it? He groaned as he shifted in his plane seat, and looked at his wristwatch. Exactly 11:30.

"I hope Rosalie isn't too mad... I'm a little late." He muttered to himself. Richie stood, straightening his camouflage uniform, and making sure his boots were still laced, before opening the overhead compartment, and getting out his camouflage duffle bag.

Like a herd of cows, all the passengers slowly inched their way off the plane, and walked through a long hallway, until they reached inside the airport.

"Now.. if I'm right.. Rosalie said she'd be..." He stopped kinda by the door, and looked around. There were hundreds of people in the airport at this hour. How was he possibly going to find her? Or.. how would she recognize him? He rubbed his chin as he looked, his duffle bag straps in his right hand. Richie'd grown stubble and had longer, darker blonde hair in the months he'd been away.

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Slowly opening his eyes Alfie noticed there was more sunlight than there should have been. To his right he could see the alarm clock which showed him it was 9.30 in the morning. Shit, I'm late. When turning over to his left he saw the girl who lived in this apartment. She was blond, and Alfie seemed to remember she had sparkling blue eyes. What he could not remember was her name. Something starting with an S he thought...

Looking over at her he could see she was still fast asleep, maybe aided by the amount of alcohol they consumed the previous night. He slowly removed her arm from his chest and waited a few seconds. Her eyes twitched a bit, but it didn't look like she would wake up. He lifted the sheets and slipped out of bed as carefully as he could. The search for his clothes was not an easy one. He found his shirt half under the bed. His pants could be found on the couch in the living room and his socks and shoes were partly in the kitchen and partly near the front door. His wallet and keys were still in his pants and for some reason his watch was in his left shoe.

Just before he left he had a last glimpse into the bedroom to have a look at... Suzy. No, not Suzy, maybe Stacey...oh, whatever it was, he didn't really care. He stepped through the front door and closed it behind him. At street level he halted a taxi who took him to his office building on Wilshire boulevard. Fully realizing he was wearing the same clothes as yesterday he had to find a way to sneak into the the office without any prying eyes spotting him. He took the east entrance and went into the stairwell rather than the elevator. He sprinted up to the 15th floor as quickly as he could. He opened the door ever so slightly and saw no one around at the moment. He opened the door a bit further and sprinted to the office in the corner. He opened the door and closed it right away. Made it...

He walked to the cabinet in the corner and opened it, revealing a huge mess and a lone sports bag on the bottom shelf. He always kept a bag of gym clothes and normal clothes as a spare. He sat behind his desk and called the first number that he called every single day, his 'boss'. "Hey Marc, do you need me for that meeting with Josh Jiving Juices? I might be needed somewhere else if you don't." After getting the go ahead he picked up his cell phone and send a message to his sister.

Hey Ammy, I know you have that birth thing today. I've cleared my schedule, so please let me know if you need a ride or something.

He tried to sound casual, but to be honest, he was quite excited about becoming an uncle. It was his primary thought these days. After her of course...

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Richie looked around for about a minute more, before spotting his fiance. "Rosalia!" He smiled big, and went over to her, but then nearly stopped. How long was he away again? Over 5 months? Yeah.. that sounds about right... so..

He got Rosalia pregnant? His eyes grew wide at the sight of Rosalia... with a pregnant belly.

Richie hugged her oddly, and then took a step back still holding her hands. "You're pregnant... with me?" His face had be ice white, and he m bit his lower lip. "Darling, why didn't you tell me this sooner? I could've gotten a leave... I could have been here with you.." He felt horrible now. He'd missed the whole pregnancy pretty much... besides the birth.

Why didn't she tell me? All he seemed to think about was the baby. Was it alright? Was Rosalia alright? "We'll have to wait until after the baby to get married... and.. do you have stuff for the baby? " He rubbed his forehead slowly, and took a deep breath.

He may be in the Army, but that doesn't mean he's strong enough to be ready to be a father on impulse.

Blanking out, for only a second, he looked at her. She seemed so happy. Happy to be having the baby. The baby he didn't know about until a minute ago. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad... With Rosalia, they'd been through hell and back, just with him in the Army.

But, if he has a kid.. he'll want to spend time with it. And in order to do that, he has to have time, which means resigning from the Army. He'd been in for almost over 2 years coming up. His contract was for at least 4, if not 10. That'd be the first 8 years he'd miss things with the kid.

"Welcome To Parenthood..." He mentally sighed, and wondered how the heck he was going to do this.

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Alfie didn't have to wait long before he got a reply from his sister. He picked up his phone when it started vibrating and read the message she send him.

We're fine, bubs. If you wanna come, I don't care, but it might be a little awkward in a room of pregnant women for you.

Alfie thought of the idea of a room full of pregnant women and himself in the middle of it. Somehow it made him a bit nervous, maybe a guilty conscience over the amount of one night stands he had had in his life so far. Alfie was sure he wouldn't be the only male in the class, but still, if Ammy and Willow were sorted there was no reason for him to be there. After all it was more his job to spoil the baby than to spoil the mothers, or the surrogate mother for that matter. Alfie hadn't asked why they would use a surrogate, but afraid of an awkward conversation he had never pushed the subject. Ammy knew that if she had anything she wanted to talk about, she could always come to her brother.

He thought back to the blonde that he had woken up next to this morning. Just another one on the pile of mistakes in my life. Alfie always had been quite the fan of one night stands, until he had met Dianna. She literally changed his life, she made him want to be a better boyfriend, a better worker, a better brother and a better person overall. He never had anyone push him so much with what seemed so little effort. He never thought he ever would, but he had bought an engagement ring after almost a year of being together. He had to be careful sneaking around to keep it a secret. He even went to the jewellery shop with one of his friends who had the same ring size as Di. He remembered he was just waiting for the moment when she left.

Not a note, not a sign, not a message or even a text. He just came home late from work one day to find all her stuff removed from their apartment. It was actually his, but they had stayed there together for months, in pure happiness. At least I was... He had been confused about her leaving, shocked, and after a week of not seeing her he had broken down in tears for the first time in his adult life. That was the time he was so grateful to his sister. Their talks helped him through it. The only thing he did not follow her advise about was to look her up, or call her at least. His pride or his stubbornness would not allow it. It was she who had run out on him after all. He had stayed by the phone waiting for weeks, until at one moment he went to the bar to drown himself in sorrow and alcohol. He blacked out and the following morning he had woken up to a girl he did not recognize, very similar to his experience with the blonde girl this morning. He picked up where he left off before he met Di and started his one night stands business as usual. One difference, it made him realize what a sad case he was. It never had before, but his only long term relationship had shown him how life could be.

Deep in thought he heard his phone vibrating once more. Convinced it was a follow up message from his sister he grabbed it and looked at the name reflected in the screen and the picture in the background. He opened his drawer, looked at the box with the engagement ring inside of it and closed his drawer again. He stood up from his chair and paced around the office for a solid minute before he picked up his phone again. With shaking hands and not knowing what to expect he opened up the message.

Hey Alfie, Do you remember where I live? Come on over at 10 this morning. Please it is very important. Xoxo Di-

Alfie checked the time on his phone and realized it was 9.15 AM, one hour... He read the message over and over. It was so light and matter-of-fact like, he almost thought it must be from someone else. He got upset over how light it was. After a year of happiness and the sudden disappearance of her and her stuff this was not a satisfying message. No apologies, no 'I miss you', no 'I made a mistake leaving you', none of the things he had hoped to see. She must mean her own place, the apartment she still had when they were already living together in his. He had not even once driven by the address although he always suspected she would be there. He was afraid of running into her and hearing the reason why she left..., he still was. He must have done something wrong, otherwise why would she leave?

He decided it was time for an answer, an explanation, maybe a rekindling. Lord knows that's what he really wanted. Just to forget about the past three months and continue as if she had never left. He left his office and went to the parking lot where his motorcycle still stood from the previous day. He shouldn't ride while being this nervous, but he wasn't thinking straight. With minimum traffic he arrived not much later and parked in front of her building. For once in his life he was 5 minutes early and after taking a deep breath he knocked on her door.

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"Well, I was planning on stopping into a few shops today. Maybe making a registry. There's this cute little place in the city that sells specialty items and also offers birthing classes. I was thinking about stopping in and signing up for a few... Wanna go? I've got the car outside, I'm sure you're ready to be back on American soil... I know I'm glad you're back."

Richie smiled as his hands were placed on her stomach, and he didn't feel the baby. He was starting to feel slightly worried, but started to calm himself down, and kissed her cheeks.

"Already so much like their mother, hmm?" He chuckled, and held her hands in his. "Yes, I've been dying to get back to home. To you, and.. our child now." He smiled,wrapping his arm behind her as they walked towards the exit. "It's been too long since i've been home." He swallowed, smiling still, not thinking it was physically possible to wipe the grin off of his face.

Why wouldn't he be happy? He was home, alive, with all his limbs, and he was getting married to the love of his life who, currently, was carrying his child.