Tyra Moore

“No, really? God you’re smart, did you write the dictionary?” Leni asked the other sarcastically, sucking in a loud gasp as if to further illistrate her point. Rocking her son back and forth as she spoke to Tyra she saw her face starting to relax, allowing the new mother to do the same, which was a relief for everyone. “Just know that if one of them vomits on the floor you will be the one to clean it up because i’m holding a baby plus in all likelihood it’s fucking vomited down me as well, so i’ll be dealing with that. You forget how much I used to clean up Gracie’s puke.” She cackled, rolling her eyes dramatically. “Apart from when I was out, or strung out, but you are neither of those things so no excuses mama.” That was a new nickname Leni had decided to give to her friend, since she was going to be one again, plus she’d started using it more and more when talking to her own children so it tripped off the tongue easily. “Good! Wait you have! Fuck off, how far along are you then? Why don’t you tell me these things! I need to know how much older than your baby the boys will be, so I can work out if that makes sense for the wedding. Although I’m sure it will.” She laughed, twinkle in her eyes. “As well as work out when to book my holiday so I don’t have to listen to you screaming while you’re in labor.”

“Of course I did, have I never told you..?!”, a wide grin on his face, Tyra didn’t even pretend to be serious anymore. Although when her friend mentioned having cleanined up after her and Gracie, she rolled her eyes as a joke. Of course she was right and they both knew it. Leni had done so many for her and her daughter after all. “Just know that if you’re now starting to call me mama all the time, I might have to throw you out!”, she stated with raised eyebrows before finally becoming a little more serious again. “Six weeks”, the brunette explained with the hint of a little smile on her lips before she eventually had to laugh again, “Don’t you think it’s a little early to already plan a wedding though..?! And fuck off with your holiday plans!”

“Since fucking forever, don’t make me thump you while I’m holding a baby it wouldn’t look very good eh?” She grinned, relieved to see that she was once again ready to joke around like they normally did, even if it was just a small one. The only thing Leni wanted was for her friend to be okay. “Oh shit, I need one of the muslins, I bet you he’s going to puke on me. He’s such a puking kid, the other one isn’t but I swear Felix just vomits up everything I give him. Sleeps better, keeps things down worse, nightmare.” The girl tutted, standing up carefully to try and find the cloth in her bag while still holding the little boy. “Good, because he really fucking does. Your life hasn’t been what you imagined since you were sixteen babe, it’s not only starting to be different now we both know that. This is exciting, you’re going to have a baby! Smile, it’s going to be okay I promise. Allow yourself to be fucking excited about it! We gotta get you to the doctor though to find out how far along you are, you know how this shit works.”

“You know that forever isn’t the same as yesterday right..?!”, Tyra continued joking, hoping that the other had been serious by saying she wouldn’t thump her with the little boy in her arms. The first shock had slowly started to decrease and she couldn’t deny that she already started picturing the little family she hoped they would be in the future. And Matteo clearly loved Gracie, so there was definitely a chance that he would love his own child as well, wasn’t it..?! “Just know that in case one of them vomits on the floor, I won’t be the one to clear it up!”, she said with a genuine grin on her face, although they probably both knew that she wouldn’t be mad at her best friend if that would be the case. At Leni’s next comment, she simply nodded. She was right after all, her life had never really been how she had imagined it and still she couldn’t really complain about it. “Alright, alright.. I get it!”, raising both her hands, she grinned at her friend, “I’ve already went to see a doctor though, as you said, I know how this shit works!”

Antoine opened his mouth to talk again but when he saw Gracie coming back from her room, he shut it and a smile immediately spread across his face. He couldn’t help it, especially when she beamed at him like this. He nodded and stood up, gathering the plates on the table and getting ready to leave. “Can you put the rest of the pastries in the fridge?” She asked Tyra before turning his attention back to Gracie. “You ready to show me your special skills? It better be as good as you pretend,” He teased the little girl before patting her shoulder. “You ready?” He asked Tyra as well with a softer smile.

When Gracie came back into the room, Tyra glanced sideways at Antoine and was relieved to see him smile as well. Maybe it would indeed turn out well. Grabbing the pastries she put them into the fridge as the man had said before returning to the other two. “Alright, let’s go!”, she said, packing a few things into a bag as well before they left the apartment to get their bikes. After renting one for Antoine as well, they finally reached the park after a while. And Tyra definitely couldn’t deny that it was great to see Gracie with her father. But when they had eventually found a place where they wanted to stay and the little girl had started to play with the football a few feet away, she still nervously ran her hand through her hair. She still hadn’t told Antoine about Matteo and didn’t want to postpone it any longer. “Hey..”, she carefully started, glancing at Gracie to make sure she didn’t wouldn’t notice anything, “I just.. I mean, I wanted to tell you that I’m currently seeing someone and.. I don’t know, I guess it’s something more serious and I just wanted to tell you..”

Leni looked at Tyra for a moment with a stern glare before breaking out into her lazy trademark grin. “Babe i’m always right so there is no reason for you to sound so surprised. I’m fucking amazing at everything.” Tapping the bottle that was attached to the pump in a vein attempt to get it to fill up faster she sighed heavily, pulling it off so she could better lift her son into her arms. “Hi my little prince, are you hungry? We’re going to have to work on your patience or we’re going to be butting heads a lot in the next eighteen years.” She smirked, helping him calm down before turning back to her friend. Leni was going to hold off on feeding him for as long as possible, trying to get a little more milk into the bottle as she attached it to herself again. “The cow machine. Don’t you love the cow machine? And I know he’s not, that’s what i’m telling you, stop panicking because it’s not like he’s never giving you any kind of affectionate words or something. He loves you, he just…maybe doesn’t say it as much as you’d want him to. Also you’re welcome, i’ll actually follow through on it too. You know I fucking will.”

“Really?! Since when..?!”, raising both her eyebrows, Tyra pretended to be surprised at the others comment, probably a sign that she slowly started to calm down again if she was able to joke around with her friend. And watching Leni around her two little boys, she couldn’t deny that maybe it wouldn’t be that bad at all to have another child. Gracie would probably be over the moon to get a little brother or sister as well. “I know he does, I really do. And I know you will be there for me as well as lots of other people. But it is still scaring you know..? I just didn’t really imagine my life to be this way right now..”

Violet’s eyes widened in understand and she quickly shifted some of her paperwork as too make room for whatever the other woman bought with her. “It’s free, you can have it.” She looked around then, noting that the place seemed even busier than before. “I suppose they must be happy with the business” she mused, more to herself then anything. Not quite sure if the other woman would want to start conversation (did she want conversation?), she went back to her work, the sound of pen scratching against paper accompanying the loud noise of the busy cafe.

Giving the woman a smile as a ‘thank you’, Tyra sat down at the table while glancing at the various notes that had been spread all over the table before. “If they’re not happy, then I guess something is wrong with them!”, she agreed with a grin before nodding at all the papers, “Looks like a lot of work hm?! I hope it’s at least something interesting..” She actually didn’t mean to be curious but she had already spent countless hours in various cafes as well, trying to finish her articles.

“I fuckin’ love watching people fall on their faces. Watching way too fuckin’ drunk pieces of shits trying to convince taxi drivers to take ‘em. Oh, and drunk pranks are fuckin’ fantastic.” Truthfully, he liked most things about watching drunk people trying to find their way home. There were just a few things he hated. Drunk people who decided to drive, drunk people who crossed boundaries, and drunk people who got innocent people into fights. Anything else was fuckin’ hilarious to him. “What about you?”

Laughing at the things the man listed right now, Tyra had to admit that those were most probably situations she would find pretty funny as well. Which is why at his question, she shrugged a little before finally answering. “That might be some stuff that I would laugh at as well although if you’d ask me in front of my daughter, I’d clearly have to deny it!”, she stated, a wide grin still on her face.

Bea laughed at that. “Are you hoping that when it does, she’ll support you in your old age?” she asked with raised eyebrows. The princess, for one, never had to worry about that. The people of Italy supported her. Even if she didn’t always remember it or show her appreciation for it. “We do” she agreed. “I have a reputation to uphold as someone who knows how to have a good time, after all.” If she sat around and did nothing but charity work all day every day, the tabloids would go out of business. Even if it would make her grandparents incredibly happy. “No kidding. If I wanted heat like this, I’d move to the desert.”

Laughing as well, Tyra raised her eyebrows at the others comment. “She’ll better support me as well, I’ve already done that for the last eight years after all. And there will probably be some more..”, she said with a grin before thinking about a day when she would have the time to grab some drinks. “What about next weekend, Gracie’s staying at a friend’s place then..?”, she finally suggested after taking a sip of her coffee. Although with those temperatures outside, she probably should have ordered an iced coffee. “You’re italien. Shouldn’t you be used to a heat like that though..?!”

“Mhm,” he nodded, an amused grin around his lips as he thought back at the numerous people he had seen nearly slip and fall on that exact spot that same evening. Unless his luck suddenly ran out, there would be more to come. “Listen–– I think it’s fuckin’ hilarious. But then again, I have a bit of a twisted sense of humour as it is.”

Glancing sideways at the man and the grin on his face, Tyra had to smirk as well. That actually sounded like the exact distraction that she needed right now. Not worrying about all those things that had recently happened in her life. “What kind of humour it is that you have then?”, she curiously asked, “Except watching other people slipping and falling to the ground I mean..”

Her reaction is understandable to say the least although Matteo is clueless as to what he should be doing to calm her down, bu he figures that letting her speak her heart would help that. The word ‘happy’ is one he doesn’t think about nor feel often, her question felt like what could only be described as a punch to his chest as the male goes appalled for a split second. Is he happy? He can certainly feel excitement for the news, but he would say it’s a bit too early to feel happiness when this was the last thing he saw happening to him. Matteo does it again, however, and he covers his broken self with a kind smile and a nod of his head. “Of course I’m happy! Aren’t you?” It was not a full lie, so it doesn’t feel as bad this time. “Home, yes of course. I’ll just pay for what we had and then we can go, darling.” One of Matteo’s hands rubs her back gently as if that would support the comforting and warm idea of going home, although there is one last question before he opens the door for her to walk in with him. “Does anyone know?”

Carefully watching his face, the girl wasn’t entirely sure if Matteo was telling her the truth but Tyra simply decided to believe him for now. She already had enough to worry about after all. As he returned the question, she thought about it for a few seconds before eventually nodding. “I am if you are!”, she mumbled, not breaking eye contact, “A little scared maybe..” She couldn’t expect him to be completely honest with her after all, if she wasn’t either. Feeling his hand on her back, the brunette finally took a deep breath again. Even though their relationship hadn’t been the easiest, he still always managed to make her feel safe. And that was probably what she needed the most right now. “I might have panicked a little, so I talked to Leni yesterday..”, she admitted, somehow afraid that he wouldn’t be too excited that she didn’t tell hi first but simultaneously hoping that he could at least understand the fact that she had simply needed to talk to her best friend after finding out.

With Jamie only having spending an hour at football training that afternoon, there wasn’t much point on her going back home or to the precinct. As soon as she got there, she’d need to head right back. So she had decided to sit down in a cafe near the oval and get some paperwork down there. To be quite honest, she was lucky she had managed to even grab an empty table with how busy it was. Luckily, she had managed to snag it and there she sat, her chai latte next to her, she made a start on the paperwork for the current case. Even amongst the noise, she heard someone stop at the table and her eyes flitted up, pen still in hand. “Can I help you love?” If it was another person offering their unwanted opinion on her situation, she’d lose it.

It had been some hard few days after finding out that she was pregnant once again but after finally telling Matteo, it already felt a lot better. A lot easier. Still she needed some time for herself and when she had finally dropped Gracie at one of her friends’, the girl had decided to grab a coffee in the city before picking up her daughter again in the evening. When she entered her favorite cafe though, it was already packed and by the time she finally had a coffee mug in her hands, there was only one free place in the entire room. Quickly approaching the table, the woman who already sat at the table almost immediately looked up. “Just wanted to ask if that place is still free..?”, she said, nodding at the empty chair opposite her.

Eventually, Antoine looked up at Tyra and sighed. We. Maybe she wanted this as much as him in the end and that she wanted to be a team too. He and her. He swallowed and remained silent for a while. He was overthinking and he knew it but who wouldn’t? When he looked at Gracie, everything was easy, innocent and full of joy but when he looked around them, when he looked at Tyra, Leni… He felt useless, clumsy and more than anything, alone. “Hopefully, yeah.” He said eventually, placing his hands on the table. He waited for Gracie to come back, offering a weak and forced smile at Tyra as he kept thinking about what happened and what was coming next.

Looking at Antoine, it was pretty obvious that there were a lot of things on his mind right now but she didn’t dare say anything until he finally spoke again. She was well aware of the fact that it wasn’t only hard for after all. On the contrary, it was probably even harder for him. And that was something she definitely wanted to respect. “I promise you we can make this somehow!”, she eventually repeated, just in time before Gracie came out of her room again, already beaming at Antoine once more. Something that immediately put a smile on her face again, when turning around to the man. “This is going to be good!”, she stated, meaning not only this day, but their entire situation.

Leni gave her a reassuring smile as she saw her trying to breath normally again, although honestly her version of reassuring normally became more of a leer without it being intentional. She knew the woman was in…well a huge bind right now, if their positions were swapped she’d probably be in the corner rocking back and forth by now so actually Tyra was doing better than expected. “Well, they haven’t because you’ve got your own place to live now so you’re doing way fucking better. Plus you know who’s kid it is, plus my mum ain’t going to stick her nose in it, so this i really good actually.” She tried to might light of it, cackling a little which made the baby wake up properly now, making his mother sigh. “Jesus christ, I can’t even finish milking myself without them interrupting.” Although she was only being half honest, standing up to unbuckle the boy out of the car seat gently lifting him into her arms. Nodding her head she tried to get him to calm down as she rocked him back and forth, chewing her bottom lip. “Yeah, I got bored waiting for you to introduce him to me so I figured i’d take it into my own fucking hands. He’s a cool dude, way too cool for you if you ask me but hey, someone in the relationship has to date down right?” She joked, smirking. “I’m fucking with you by the way. He told me he cares about you a lot, because I may or may not have told him that if he hurts you i’d staple dead pigeons to his car.”

Listening to everything her best friend told her, Tyra couldn’t help but start thinking that maybe she was right. The situation she was in right now actually was much better than the one all those years ago. Which is why she simply nodded, trying to force a little smile on her face. “Yeah, maybe you’re right..”, she eventually mumbled, her smile becoming even wider at her next comment. No matter how much Leni had worried about being a mother before and no matter how much she was still sometimes complaining, in Tyra’s opinion, she was doing an amazing job. “He’s not always like this!”, she immediately insisted when the topic came back to Matteo. She knew perfectly well herself how cool he could be sometimes but then again he could as well be one of the most caring people she’d ever met. “Why am I not surprised you told him something like that though..?”, she finally added, her smile turned into a wide grin by now.

Leni couldn’t lie she was getting worried about her friend as she started to visibly panic in front of her, it wasn’t good for the baby and it wasn’t good just in general either. “I know, i do trust me. I understand but you know what you need to do now babe so you’re going to just have to … bite the bullet and do it. I’m happy to do whatever I can to help, watch Gracie or whatever, but you do have to do it.” She was trying not to be too bossy, but it was hard not to be because the time pressure added a new dynamic to the whole thing. Glancing towards Gracie’s room before at her own children, and finally back at her best friend again. “It’s all going to be okay you just need to take a step back and breath. Okay?  If he didn’t feel the same about you he wouldn’t still be here, I think we both know that, I actually went down and met him at work the other day because I wanted to know what he was like. He does care about you a lot Tyra, even if he hasn’t directly told you he loves you yet, it doesn’t mean he doesn’t. Some people just take longer and stuff right?” Hearing Harrison start to wiper in his car seat she looked down at the bottle attached to the pump to see how much was left in there, needed a bit longer before she fed him the girl sent up a silent prayer that he didn’t descend into full on screaming straight away.

“I know, I know..”, Tyra simply answered, trying to get her breathing back to normal again. She just didn’t know how to convince Antoine that he could still get to know his daughter, even with Matteo being in her life. Or how to convince Matteo that even though he already was like a father for Gracie, the girl would still need her real father as well. “It suddenly feels like someone has turned back time and I’m eighteen again..”, she mumbled, some hint of an ironic smile on her face this time. Just like right now, she had been on the edge of a complete meltdown, when she had found out that she had been pregnant. Although she knew that it still was a completely different situation this time. Her friend was right after all, even though Matteo didn’t necessarily talked about things like that, she still knew that he loved her, so maybe all her worries were indeed completely in vain..?! “You’ve met him..?”, she finally asked, glancing up at her with a surprised look on her face, “What did he say..?” She had actually planned on introducing the two a while ago, but somehow there had never been the time for that, so she was actually glad that they had finally met now.

“Okay babe, okay chill out i’m just pulling your chain.” Leni tried to look a little more serious even though she thought she was personally hilarious, it wasn’t really the moment for her twisted wit. Hearing her ask the question she threw one of her hands in the air, wishing the pump would be faster so this whole process didn’t take so god damn long every time. “Fuck if I know, you need to talk to him about it because he ain’t my baby daddy. Hell neither of them are so it should be between you three, not us four.” Although she’d somewhat inserted herself into the situation by being there when Antoine had come around to Tyra’s about a month ago. “Could you sit down please, you’re making me nervous plus you’re stressing yourself out and that’s not good for the baby. Sit the fuck down.” She instructed, jabbing a finger towards the chair opposite her as she slumped down in her own seat so she could push it out with toes. “Maybe he’ll get better at talking about feelings as time goes on, have you mentioned this to him?”

“Sorry, it’s just...”, shaking her head, Tyra let out a sigh before running both her hands through her hair. She didn’t mean to snap at her best friend in any way, she was just way too stressed right now. It seemed like everytime she could finally push back one of her bad thoughts, another one popped up right away. “I will talk to them. I just thought I had more time for all that you know.. but now with the baby it’s just... a little too much all at once you know?!”, finally sitting down, as Leni had asked, she looked up at the other girl, a desperate look on her face. The other was right, she needed to calm down a little or Gracie would immediately know that something was wrong if she would see her like this. And that was the last thing she could need right now. The entire situation was already complicated enough. “Not directly..”, the girl admitted with a little shrug, “But I tried to tell him so many times how I’m feeling, I just thought he’d finally do the same.. Sometimes it still feels like he is a stranger somehow but the next time he’s that incredibly lovely man again, it’s.. hard.”

“This is a bloody high-in-demand tripping spot, if ye must know.” Although the ‘everyone falls for me’ joke lay on his lips, he knew well enough to swallow his tongue and keep that comment for himself. He pat the fence behind him, gesturing she could lean beside him if she wanted to. “It’s quite funny, to be honest, watching drunk-arse people try and stay vertical. Makes for a great time.”

Seeing the man wave at the fence behind him, Tyra leaned against it as well. “Is it really..?”, she asked, looking at the man with slightly raised eyebrows. “I could actually use something to cheer me up a little so if you don’t mind some company..?! And it better be as funny as you say or I’ll be pretty disappointed, I hope you know that!”, she stated, trying to be serious at first but eventually breaking into a wide grin. 

Matteo is wrapping his arms around her as if it was a second nature while still trying to control his own heartbeat. He’s sure she can feel his heart hammering against his ribs for the way he had the girl pressed against his chest. Matteo will need a few more seconds to believe it. He’s going to be a father. The thought makes him hold Tyra even closer before he finally lets go to have a good look at her, locking his eyes with hers. “Tyra, you just told me we are going to be parents, can’t we have that talk later? When did you find out?” It was a smile that lighten up his features right after he voiced the news himself for the first time, Matteo is kissing the girl more passionately than ever at the moment, looking down at her still flat belly now that he was aware of the pregancy. “Come with me, you need to eat.”

Feeling his arms wrap around her as well, Tyra finally managed to calm down a little. Although listening to the man’s heartbeat it was pretty obvious, that he was still far away from that. And she couldn’t blame him for that. This hadn’t been the way she had planned to tell him about her pregnancy, not at all. Eventually looking up at his eyes again after what had felt like hours, she almost burst out crying again after seeing the little smile on his face. Not because it made her sad but because it actually gave her some hope that in the end it would turn out well. “Something felt different during the last week, so I went to the doctor yesterday..”, she explained in a hushed voice, not taking his eyes off his. At least until he finally pulled her into a kiss, causing her heart to immediately start beating faster once again. “You’re happy..?”, eventually pulling away again, the girl finally found the courage to ask the question that she had worried about the entire last day. At the thought of going back inside the restaurant, she swallowed though. “Can’t we go home and eat something there. I just... I just want to be alone with you for a while..”, she mumbled, resting her head against his chest once again. After she had finally told him everything, she just wanted to cuddle up on the couch with him and finally get some rest again.