Chapter Twenty-Eight: Happiness is a Butterfly

                                    

                                          

~One Year Later~
                          
It's a very familiar sound.
                          
The beeping of machines, the bright, almost blinding light, and the uncomfortableness of not only the bed but of the situation and the predicament she's in. 
                          
She turns to her side, and sure enough, Asta's there. He's always there. Through the good and the bad, he was always there for her. Sure, that's what a husband was supposed to do, but she was still so thankful for him. She would always be. So much had he done for her. 
                          
"Hey, " Asta speaks up.
                          
"Hey," she speaks back. 
                          
A hand goes to her swollen tummy, rubbing it. "Is everything okay?" she hesitantly questions. 
                          
Asta bites his lip before turning away. It was sad. He couldn't even look his wife in the eyes and tell her the news. Of course, he went through this, but it wasn't him who had to go through the saddest part. Noelle had felt their baby move, she had grown an emotional attachment to it, from getting cravings and mood swings to hearing the heartbeat. 
                          
Just the idea of a child living inside of her was amazing. The fact that her body was built to carry a life was...thrilling to both of them. For Noelle, she could never really imagine how it was even possible. For Asta, it seemed like magic. Seeing her change, see her get bigger, seeing her get excited about their baby moving and what he wanted to eat. 
                          
Those were the things she got happy about with this baby.
                          
"Asta?" she questions. He didn't answer her. Why wouldn't he answer her? Did something- no, there was no questioning it. Asta having not answered meant that the worst had happened. 
                          
"The doctors confirmed it while you were still asleep. Our baby...miscarried," he says. 
                          
Noelle let's out a sob, not even holding it in. She couldn't. She was too sad. Their first baby, from nearly four years ago, miscarried back when she first left Asta. Nearly four months after getting married, she had gotten pregnant again, that baby got miscarried at eight weeks, and now this baby miscarried at fourteen weeks. 
                          
They were so happy when they first found out she was pregnant again. In their minds, they thought "third times the charm." Well, clearly it wasn't. Their baby was dead now. All the things she was excited about, she wouldn't experience those things again; maybe with another pregnancy, but not with this one. This baby was gone forever. 
                          
This was unexpected. For their first baby, she had experienced cramps and bleeding. It had been the same for the second, but for this one, she had gone for a regular checkup. It was then they told her that they couldn't hear a heartbeat anymore. 
                          
"I-is there something wrong with me?" she questions, tears full in her eyes. 
                          
"There isn't anything wrong with you, the doctors said so themselves, " he tries to reassure her, but even he needed reassuring. If Noelle couldn't have children, he wouldn't blame her, they'd adopt or find other options. It would still be a sad time and process though. 
                          
"Then...t-then why do...why can't I stay pregnant? Not even long enough to find out a gender..." 
                          
He couldn't answer her.
                          
Not because he didn't want to.
                          
Because he didn't know. 
                          
It was a sad time for them both. They returned from the hospital a few days later, Noelle no longer pregnant and no baby in tow either. It wasn't just her being depressed, it was both of them. Neither could be the moral support that the other needed.