Peace Maker - Chapter 177

They stared at each other for a moment, frozen, taken, enthralled. It was only for a moment, before Antonio smiled lightly, turning to the baby below him. Annabeth’s eyes followed his gaze, but then stayed fix on how his eyes were. In her chest, there was a light throb she had felt when he had looked away.

Like magnets being forced to repel, when his gaze was shifted to the baby, it felt like someone had pulled her away from her mind forcing her to reality, being washed over with a wave of electricity.

It stung. It throbbed. It felt… weird.

Annabeth blinked blankly.

But worse than all the emotions she was getting right now, was the fact that she was even feeling something. The fact that she knew it stung, and the fact that it throbbed. And even the fact that it felt weird. The fact that she was aware of feeling those things, that was the worst thing of all.

“Hm…” his voice cut into her train of thought like a knife. “I don’t really know. I never looked at babies with any fondness,” he chuckled.

There was a moment of silence when Antonio leaned into the baby to look at their features, his hair brushing further against Annabeth’s.

“But if I had to say…” he smiled, “I’ll like them because they’re cute…” His hand released slowly and touched the baby’s cheeks slightly and patted its head, then it lowered back to below the baby’s legs, pressing against the back of Annabeth’s hand, covering hers completely as his fingertips brushed against the baby’s bum.

A light chuckle left his lips when the baby giggled, his grip on Annabeth’s hand tightening gently,  “…and they’re soft.”

Annabeth flinched, feeling the warmth of Antonio’s fingers, and turned to look up at him with bright eyes. His eyes locked with hers, his gaze soft for a moment before brightening immediately along with his cheeks when he realized how close he was to her. His hand tingled when they felt her hand in his. They fit in his palm nicely.

“I- uh…” he stuttered, immediately pulling away from her, “I just- I didn’t mean to ho-”

His words are cut short when the sound of chattering could be heard from close to the door.

Annabeth finched, her hand trembling as her eyes flew to the door immediately. “There’s someone coming…”

“I’ll go lead them away. I’ll come back and knock on the door once immediately after, ok?” Antonio replied, turning back to look at Annabeth. In her eyes, there was a hint of fear.

He let out a little puff of air and gently placed the baby back in her arms. Then after looking back down at the bay, he looked up at her and grinned when they made eye contact.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be back in a bit,” he smiled brightly and nodded his head, “if I’m not able to come back myself, I’ll get one of my friends to come for you. Just wait for one knock, ok?”

Annabeth stared at him for a moment before reluctantly nodding. “Are-are you sure though.. I can just come out with you right now-”

Antonio’s eyebrow raised mischievously as he smirked. “I think you know better than that, my lady.”

Annabeth sighed nodding her head.

Antonio nodded, throwing her another reassuring smile. “I’m serious, just wait in here. Everything will be fine.”

She stared up into his eyes. For some reason, even when she logically knew she shouldn’t. She trusted him. Something about those eyes made her want to believe in them.

She hoped it wasn’t a mistake.

“Ok I’ll be going now!” he muttered as he turned around and began to reach for the handle of the door.

Before Annabeth knew it, her mouth opened and called out to him. “Wait-”

Antonio froze, turning back to her curiously, his eyes bright as his heart skipped a beat. “Yes, Lady Annabeth?”

Annabeth flinched realizing she had called him out. “Oh.. uh I just wanted to say to be careful,” she muttered, “if you’re not too careful, things might go wrong…”

Antonio stared at her blankly for a moment before grinning. “I know, I’ll be careful! Thanks for the worry, Lady Annabeth,” he replied, “I’ll be going now, wait for the knock. Don’t leave otherwise.”

Annabeth nodded her head to which Antonio smiled and gave a tiny wave before pulling open the door to the room and stepping out. From outside the room, she could hear the greeting of someone as they spotted Antonio.

“Marquess Antonio?! My, good evening,” the voice of a woman greeted.

“Good evening to you too Lady Elisea,” Antonio immediately replied.

“But, forgive me if I’m prying too much, but why did you come out of the baby room just now, my lord,” another voice asked.

“Oh, I simply came to see my niece. I haven’t seen her in such a long time that I couldn’t resist just taking a little peek at her face,” Antonio chuckled in reply, a smile forming on his face.

“Ohwow… what a thoughtful uncle you are, my lord,” a lady giggled to which Antonio entertained her laughter with a laugh of his own.

“Then, I hope you beautiful ladies will spare my harsh words and bear this as a secret between us, right?” Antonio asked with a calm but persuasive tone to which the ladies immediately complied with.

“Of course, my lord,” a lady replied.

“Great!” Antonio exclaimed, “then… in exchange, shall I be honored to take a little walk with you? I hear the deserts are splendid.”

“Of course!” the ladies replied almost in unison. There was a moment of silence before both the group of girls and Antonio burst into laughter.

It wasn’t long before their voices faded away into the distant chatters of the ballroom, leaving Annabeth with the babies in the room. There she stared down at the baby for a moment as her nerves began to calm.

“Sigh… looks like he’s gone,” Annabeth smiled, looking down at the baby, “who knew such an innocent-looking person would be so good with his words. I couldn’t even tell if he was lying or not.” She hugged the baby slightly, her head leaning against its tiny head for a moment. “It makes me wonder if he even was lying. Is one of you his niece? Is it you?”

The baby looked up at her with pure bright eyes that seemed to sparkle.

Annabeth chuckled. “Well you do share the same eyes, that’s for sure.” She walked closer to the babies in a little play pen and stood over it as she slowly rocked the baby in her arms. Its bright eyes began to close in sleepiness.

“I wonder if he’ll be able to do the second part of his plan though… it sounded like him and the group and girls will be talking for a long time,” Annabeth muttered as she looked at the babies that looked up at her curiously from the play pen, “it looks like it’ll be just you guys and me… right baby?” she lowered her head to look at the child in her arms, a smile formed on her face when she saw it’s peaceful sleeping face.

“Looks like I’m going to be waiting alone,” Annabeth chuckled as she walked over to the many rows of baby beds and laid down the child in one that was empty. She stared down at the tiny figure and sighed, “sleep well love.”

Slowly, she turned on her heel and walked back to the chair seated by the door of the baby room. Her eyes looked up at the clock that sat on the wall.

“I hope he comes back quickly… there might be someone coming in here soon and…” her voice trailed off when she heard soft shuffling from behind the door. Her heart slowed down to a near stop as everything seemed to stop around her, unsteady deep-green eyes focused on the door.

The door handle began to move and Annabeth stepped back, her eyes wavering for a moment as she looked around the room, thinking of a place to hide. Her legs began to move towards the wall next to the door when the handle stopped moving and she heard the quiet sigh of the person behind the door.

A second passed and Annabeth stood there silently, her hand trembling slightly as her eyes stared at the door. Her foot lifts slightly in the direction of the wall-

KNOCK

A tremble runs down her entire figure as her eyes darted to the door, her heart seemingly falling to the ground.

“Lady Annabeth?” the voice called out to which Annabeth flinched, finally recognizing the voice. “You can come out right now, there’s no one by the door.”

Annabeth immediately reached for the doorknob and pulled the door open, her eyes looking up at the figure that stared down at her, his eyes showing slight signs of alarm. They stay in eye contact for a moment before Annabeth let out a sigh. “Ah… hello Lord Falls.”