A/N: My Christmas gift to you guys!

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Eight months later:

My hands were on my belly as I felt around for the frequent kicks from the baby. I couldn't turn around because I was always scared that my positioning would harm him, so I always slept on my back.

When I had found out I was pregnant, it felt like the world had changed.

Jai was elated at the news and was always frantic about me and the baby's health–even more than I was. He wouldn't let me do anything and even tried to take over for me in the kitchen.

I was excited because he was excited, and as the months passed by and my stomach became bigger, there seemed to be a permanent smile etched on my face.

At one of the early check-ups, we were told that our baby was a boy. I had always wanted my first-born to be a boy, so it honestly seemed like a dream come true.

All of a sudden, a gasp left my lips as the odd sensation of my son kicking came once again. He was an energetic baby—one that was a big fan of kicking. Though it was gentle, it managed to keep me awake some nights.

And today was one of those nights, where a sudden craving for donuts hit me.

My eyes glanced to the side at Jai, who slept peacefully. Lately, he had been working a little bit late and would come home late as well, and every morning he had red eyes and dark bags under his eyes.

I shouldn't wake him up...he's sleeping.

But I couldn't control the cravings, and I could feel my mouth salivating in anticipation of stuffing donuts into my waiting mouth.

Usually, my cravings would hit in the morning and in the afternoon sometimes, but never during the middle of the night. I tried to control the urge, but I couldn't.

I sulked. "Jai," I whispered, softly, deciding to wake him up. It was only this one time, anyway.

He could find it in his heart somewhere to forgive me.

Hopefully.

He looked calm as he slept; his eyes were shut, his mouth was partly open and his handsome face was right beside mine.

"Jai," I said a bit more forcefully, "wake up."

When he didn't respond, I resorted to shaking him roughly.

"Jai!"

His eyebrows furrowed and he groaned, turning to sleep on his back as he brought his arm down to rest on his forehead, his head in between the crook of his elbow.

"What?" he mumbled, his voice deeper than normal due to sleep.

"I'm craving donuts," I whined.

He said nothing and remained silent, causing me to push at his chest.

"Jai!"

He heaved a huge sigh and slowly brought his arm down. Turning his head to look at the clock, he then looked back at me, his eyes half-open in exhaustion.

"Karishma, it's four in the bloody morning," he said, irritated.

"Please?" I pleaded. "I can't control my cravings!"

"And what are you craving again?"

"Donuts."

Jai's features softened after he stared at me for a couple of seconds, and then sighed before nodding.

He pushed back his blanket and got up slowly. He lazily walked over to the closet and grabbed a random jacket before putting on some socks and coming back to where I was. He placed a gentle kiss on my lips and then on my belly.

"Daddy's coming back soon with food, kiddo. Do me a favour and keep kicking your mommy so she stays awake," he whispered, half-asleep.

His state both concerned me and made me smile. I watched as he staggered out of the room and I sat up, not feeling tired.

My eyes felt a little heavy but it was because I couldn't sleep.

As I heard the soft noise of the door being shut, I got up slowly and waddled downstairs to the kitchen.

Soon, what felt like hours of waiting, Jai arrived, now wide-awake, with the familiar yellow box that held my favourite pineapple donuts. I smiled at him as he spotted me and walked over.

With a small sigh of exhaustion, he put the box in front of me and ran a hand through his hair. As I bit into my pineapple glazed donut, I frowned a little as I watched Jai's eyes close slowly then open groggily, fighting sleep.

Guilt took over my emotions.

"I'm so sorry, Jai," I mumbled, confused to why I felt like crying and why there were tears in my eyes.

The confusion to why I was crying and the fact that I had ruined Jai's sleep, caused my lips to tremble.

Ever since I became pregnant, I found myself more emotional than I usually was.

"Hey–wait, no, don't cry," he said, now alert, his voice rough because of sleep. "It's fine, I'm just a little tired."

I wiped the tears that began to run down uncontrollably.

"Ah, fuck, she's crying," I heard him mumble under his breath.

He sighed and walked over to me, wrapping his arms around me tightly. He placed a kiss on the top of my head and rubbed my stomach gently.

"I love you. You know that, right? I'd run out to the store and buy you random things during the night all the time if you need me to. But sometimes I get tired, Karishma. I have work and we have a work party to go to tomorrow as well."

As I nodded, he took my distraction as an opportunity to take a bite out of my donut. I didn't mind but I playfully pushed at his chest.

"I know you don't love me anymore," I mumbled to myself as I took another bite.

Jai spun my chair around to make me face him. His face was stern and his lips were set in a thin line as he stared at me, eyes ablaze.

The teasing atmosphere had completely gone and shifted.

"Don't ever say that, Karishma. I fall in love with you more and more everyday. You need to understand that sometimes my grumpiness is because of other things, not because I love you any less."

"Okay," I mumbled. He sighed.

"It's not okay. Whenever you say that it's usually the opposite of okay."

My shoulders sagged in defeat and I shoved the rest of the donut in my mouth, eating silently. After a few seconds of silence, I was suddenly lifted up into the air and I squealed.

"Jai, what are you doing?! I'm really heavy, and if–"

"I won't drop you," he said, rolling his eyes, a smirk on his face. "Trust me."

I shook my head at him, biting back a laugh as he carried me to our room. He raised an eyebrow as he placed me down on the bed and got in beside me.

"You happy now?"

"Happy?"

"Now that you've got your donuts?"

"Oh, right," I mumbled before nodding, a huge smile on my face. "But to answer your question—yes, I'm very happy."

He cupped my cheek then, his features softening as his eyes looked deeply into my own.

"I really do love you. Please, don't ever think otherwise," he said, voice a little strained.

It was so strange to hear his voice crack. It was unlike him.

I shook my head. "I'm sorry. I know you love me but for some reason, I've been feeling really down about everything. I know it's bad during this time but I can't help it."

Surprisingly, Jai chuckled. "No, I get it. Now that you're pregnant, your hormones manage to drive me crazy as well. Just make sure you don't let your doubts take over completely, okay?"

I nodded and he pulled me closer to him, placing a kiss on the side of my forehead. Like always, his warmth and, eventual, even breaths, lulled me to sleep, reassuring me in a silent way that he was there for me, keeping me safe.

***

"You ready, Karishma?"

Jai came in, tightening his black tie. He looked even more handsome than usual with his black suit and white dress up shirt.

His dark hair was slicked back, showing off his sharp facial features. His eyes widened a fraction as he looked at me and I averted my gaze, embarrassed.

I was wearing a long pink dress with sleeves that hugged my chest and hips tightly. It was a modern dress – something I thought I'd never wear, but I found it placed on the bed in a gift box.

It had a note from Jai, saying that he would like me to wear this for tonight because it would look good on me.

If this was given to me months before, I would have refused as it didn't seem like something I'd wear. It was tight and body hugging and made my baby bump look bigger than it actually was.

I thought it would make me look ugly but I was pleasantly surprised because it looked nice.

"Shit," I heard Jai mumble and I turned to look at him.

He ran a hand through his hair, as his eyes raked me up and down. He licked his lips, eyes burning with something dark and ardent.

"You look sexy." He smirked as his gaze bounced back up to mine. I bit my lip as I walked over to the bed and sat down, feet aching.

"Do you really think so?"

There were a few seconds of silence before I heard Jai's footsteps come closer.

As he sat down, the strong scent of his cologne filled my senses and I shuddered at how good he smelt. He leaned forward, his elbows on his knees and his head turned to look at me.

"Course I really think that, Karishma. What, do you doubt me or something?" Jai had an eyebrow raised.

"A little," I said with a teasing smile but then shook my head. "I do think this looks nice on me, though."

Jai straightened up and chuckled. "Good, for a second I thought you were going to say you hated the dress and wanted to change out of it."

I shook my head frantically. "No, of course not! I was just wondering how far we'd come. How far I've come. I would never ever have worn something like this when we first got married."

Jai ran a hand through his hair. "That's true. You've come a long way and I'm super proud of you for that." He placed a gentle kiss on my forehead before he got up. He walked towards the door and looked back at me over his shoulder.

"I'll be waiting downstairs, alright?"

I nodded and he opened the door and walked out. As the door shut, I stood up and glanced at myself in the mirror to see if I needed to do any last touch-ups.

Opening the door, I held my head high and straightened my shoulders, feeling confident about myself. A newfound energy made it's way through me as I walked down the stairs.

Jai looked up from his phone and saw me descending the stairs. His mouth slightly dropped in shock as if he hadn't seen me just a few seconds ago. He stared at me intently, his eyes serious. I smiled as I came down the last step and stood in front of him.

"I look nice, don't I?"

A small smirk grew as he pulled me closer, though my bump didn't make it possible to be too close to him, and leaned down, his lips right next to my ear.

"Trust me, you look more than just nice," he whispered seductively, his hot breath fanning my ear. I laughed and pushed at his chest.

"Thanks," I said, smiling. I glanced down at his attire. "You look more than nice, too."

"Yeah?" he smirked. "Not too shabby?"

"Not at all."

He chuckled and guided me out the front door and to his car. I was slightly self-conscious of all the places that the dress hugged, but I tried to pay no mind to it. But, there was a question that was irritating me.

As we drove towards the destination of the work party, I voiced my thought.

"Jai?"

"Hmm?" The sound rumbled deep in his chest.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

The light turned green and we began to move again. Jai glanced at me briefly from the corner of his eyes.

"For this dress. For everything," I replied.

He shook his head. "I should be saying all that to you."

I furrowed my eyebrows.

"To me? Why?"

As he parked the car, he turned to look at me. "Think about it. The me before I met you was fucked up and heartbroken. You were there for me without even meaning to. I'm the Jai I am now for myself but it was all because of you."

I wanted to reach forwards and hug him so tightly, he wouldn't be able to breathe. But both my stomach and probably Jai wouldn't allow it so I refrained, hoping that my wobbly but bright grin displayed how much his words moved me. I was trying so hard not to cry, too.

As we got out, Jai walked around to my side and intertwined our hands together. I smiled up at him before my eyes found a small building. Even from where I was, I could see the figures of some people dancing through the big window it had.

As we slowly walked inside, I found some familiar faces amongst the crowd, including Ross who wolf-whistled upon nearing us.

"Damn, dude," he said, shaking Jai's hand. "You look awesome, as always."

"Oh, I know." He looked Ross up and down before smirking. "And you look like shit, as always."

The laugh that came out of Ross was enough to shock all the living beings on earth as it was loud and quite booming. I snickered softly at how happy he looked.

"Damn, I haven't laughed like that since Gavin..." he trailed off.

We stood there silently at the mention of his name before Jai broke it.

"Hey, uh, if you don't mind me asking," Jai began, "what actually happened to him and the others?"

"Well, after the video you sent me, I forwarded it to the police and got them arrested–thank fuck you did that, by the way–and so they're in jail for attempted rape and harrassment. Gavin..." Ross ran a hand through his hair. "...well, I honestly don't know. Haven't heard from him since, but I left a message calling him some...colourful shit and told him that he wasn't my brother anymore and to never talk to me again."

Ross shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal, but from his eyes alone, I could tell that he really did feel conflicted and upset about the whole situation.

Jai sighed, his face hardened slightly as he spoke. "Even though Gavin was a part of it, he was the reason I was able to save Karishma in time. Your brother realised how fucked up it was and told me what was going on. In the end, he did the right thing. I'm not saying you should forgive him, but it's still something to think about."

Ross furrowed his eyebrows and looked at him in disbelief, as if he couldn't believe that Jai was saying something as wise as that. Shaking his head, he forced out a chuckle and let his eyes travel to me.

I watched as his eyes quickly looked me up and down, causing me to shuffle closer to Jai. I could feel his grip on my waist tighten protectively as he pulled me closer to him.

"Wow, you look gorgeous," Ross exclaimed, face a little pink as a huge, boyish smile adorned his face.

"Thank you," I said, smiling awkwardly. His eyes glanced briefly at my stomach where I had placed one hand.

"Say, how far along are you?"

"Eight months."

His eyes widened. "Woah!" He then looked at Jai who had been talking to some other worker that had come along.

"Jai, you're a month away from being a dad." He turned to Ross and nodded, heaving out a breath.

"I know, it's fucking unreal."

Other workers came around to greet us but there were also compliments that embarrassed me to no end. I looked up at Jai as we made our way over to the food table.

"Told you you looked sexy." He smirked as I shook my head with a small smile.

Minnie, the bubbly and cheerful woman that I had met the first time I had went to Jai's office came speed-walking over to us. She was the kind woman that had gushed to me about being his wife. Her eyes were wide and frantic as she looked me up and down.

"Oh my gosh, you look amazing!"

She reached out and hugged me but then stepped back as my stomach bumped against hers. Her eyes were as wide as saucers now.

"My god, you're pregnant!" She raised her eyes and turned around to shoot Jai a glare. "Why did you keep this hidden from us, Mr Agarwal?"

"Well, I–"

"Never mind that," she cut him off again, turning to me. I watched with a small smile as Jai rolled his eyes behind her back.

"You are rocking this outfit, and girl, you have that wonderful glow on your face and it's making me so jealous!" she exclaimed, oblivious to the face he was making.

I giggled and held her hands tightly. "Thank you so much, but honestly you shouldn't be jealous at all. You look gorgeous!"

And she really did.

Minnie was wearing a long black dress that showed a bit of skin, but seemed to make her look as elegant and as graceful as possible.

She beamed at me and flipped her hair. "Oh, I know babe."

After a few more minutes of chatting, she left to go keep her boyfriend, who was sulking in the corner, company.

I laughed under my breath as I watched her struggle to cheer him up, before Jai cleared his throat. I tilted my head at him as he raised an eyebrow at me.

"Aren't you lucky you don't have someone as whiny as him as your husband?"

Shaking my head, I looked away, trying not to laugh. "Shush, Ja—" The gasp of pain that escaped my mouth cut off anything that I had wanted to say.

My hands reflexively came around my bump as I winced in pain and bent over. Jai wrapped his arms around me.

"Shit, what's wrong? Are you okay?"

I could hear his frantic voice and I shook my head at all his questions. The sharp pain in my lower area worsened but I tried to swallow down the ache.

"Y-yeah, I'm okay," I said, shakily.

As I tried to straighten up, I looked right into Jai's concerned eyes. His face was tense and serious, eyebrows creased with worry.

"You don't look okay, Karishma," he pointed out, his voice stern. "Is it your stomach? Is it time?"

I shook my head just as I felt something trickle down my leg. I looked down and my eyes met with a small pool of water on the floor, between my legs.

Almost immediately, I weakly tapped Jai on the chest, pointing to the floor, my eyes wide. The sharp pain in my abdomen came back but it was in full motion now, and I let out a cry of pain. I could feel my uterus tightening and a strong ache in my back.

"Fuck, your water broke." I heard Jai shout.

I don't know how or when, but at some point, everyone's eyes were on me and Jai had picked me up and placed me in his car. I heard Minnie and Ross shouting something but I couldn't hear because of the pain that wrapped around my abdomen.

My head was pounding and my hands were sweating as Jai pressed down on the accelerator and sped out of the place as if we were being chased.

"Jai, drive faster," I mumbled, trying not to say anything. I wasn't the best at handling pain. Tears ran down my face as the contractions were becoming stronger and more frequent. I tried to control my breathing but the more I did that, the more it felt like I wanted to cry out.

It was like getting menstrual cramps–but much worse. It was like griping pains that built in intensity each minute.

"You'll be okay, Karishma, just hang on for me," Jai said, his voice maddeningly composed.

I didn't know how long we were driving, but soon he pulled into the driveway of a hospital and got out, racing towards the front of the hospital.

He left me?! Why would he leave me?!

I started to cry as I thought about how he had just left me and the baby to fend for ourselves.

"Jai!" I yelled weakly as I placed both hands on the dashboard and bent over, trying to stop the pain from building around my stomach and uterus. People had told me that contractions were uncomfortable, not painful. I had been a fool for believing them.

"Everyone—everyone lied to me!" I sobbed, uncontrollably, my emotions all over the place.

I turned to look out the car window, sobbing, only to see Jai running towards me with a wheelchair and a nurse behind