Uncomfortable Sleep

Laura was tired, but her brain wouldn't let her sleep. She fretted about what they would do in the coming days and weeks. The insurance company just had to help. She knew what happened wasn't her fault, but she couldn't help blame herself for everything. As Laura lay on the more or less comfortable mattress, she heard Dan slowly drift off to sleep. His breathing slowed, and his foot stopped moving, a trait Dan picked up from her.

What felt like hours, Laura hugged the lumpy pillow as she contemplated her life and the choices she'd made to bring her to the point that she was wearing nothing an oversized men's shirt, sleeping in a hotel that prostitutes used, had no job, and was in debt. She fought back tears, not wanting to wake Dan.

Noises in the room below her made Laura close her eyes and take a deep breath. On top of everything else, her body was betraying her mind. Muffled, fake moans mixed with a little louder, real moans of a woman. A spike of jealousy wormed its way into her belly and traveled lower to pulsate between her legs. "Stupid, hooker," she growled and covered her ears.

Movement beside her made her freeze. Dan grumbled something as he shifted on the bed. A pale light broke through the darkness as he shifted. Laura didn't move. Dan sighed and snuggled back down into the bed pulling the sheet up around him as if to protect him from the squeaking bed downstairs. Laura fell into a fitful sleep, semi-conscious and dreaming at the same time. A warm heat at her back helped soothe her into real sleep.

Movement woke Laura again. "Are you alright, dear?" she asked as she suddenly felt a cold draft down her back and over her butt. Goosebumps prickled her skin as she tried to cover her exposed body. She should have worn panties to bed.

"Yeah, go back to sleep," Dan answered.

Laura felt more than saw him linger by the doorway as a cold draft tickled the skin over her chest. She'd come out of the shirt as well. Pulling the sheet up, she just hoped Dan hadn't seen anything. It was dark, so she doubted he had, but still.

"Going to take a shower," Dan mumble, a hitch in his voice.

Laura lay in bed, unable to get back to sleep. The shower in the small bathroom made a lot of noise. She stretched and realized something. Her thighs were sticky. That was about the time she realized she really needed to use the bathroom. The later stages of her pregnancy hadn't been easy on her, and when her morning sickness struck, she usually accidentally peed herself while throwing up more often than not. After having Dan, her bladder never seemed to have recovered.

"Dear?" Laura called, holding her thighs together and trying to think non-watery thoughts. "Are you out of the shower yet?" She'd tried to wait until the sound of the water lessened.

"Hey, sorry, I used your towel," Dan answered.

She didn't care about the towel. She just wanted to make it to the toilet before she had an accident. "Oh... I can wait on a shower. Uh, I need to go!" she urged, fighting back a sudden cramp of pain.

"Sorry, sorry, I'm getting out now," Dan called.

As soon as the door opened, Laura rushed the bathroom, all put pushing her son aside. "If she didn't make it," she cursed to herself. Lucky she had, and it was a close thing.

Laura did her best to clean up her thighs while in the bathroom. She didn't even want to think about the sheets at the moment and hoped Dan didn't go poking around on her side of the bed. "Sorry," she apologized as she exited the bathroom, holding her shirt to cover her breasts completely.

"Hey, I understand. I hate using the bathroom at work and will hold it until I get home sometimes."

Laura tried to smile at him. "It's still too early," she grumbled. "Too early to call the insurance company," she clarified at Dan's look.

"We might be able to try the Red Cross hotline," he suggested. "If you want, you can make that call while I go back to the dollar store. I need to get you another towel... and maybe a pack of shirts?"

Laura knew he'd seen something thing. It'd been a mistake to just wear the shirt to bed. She felt her cheeks redden as she tried to find something else to talk about. "Uh, yeah, that would be smart," she managed to get out. "Can you get a smaller size as well? I... overestimated how large these were. Just a pack of extra larges."

"No problem, is there anything else while I'm out?" Dan asked with a nod.

She glanced toward her purse, knowing how little was in there. "Breakfast if we can swing it?"

"I'll see what I can do," Dan promised and started to get dressed.