Chapter 3 - First Flutterings of Hope

Zoe was almost certain she heard angels singing and trumpets blaring when she walked, awestruck by her final promotion as she walked dazedly into her house.  A coworker had come home with her, but her sole thought alone was to tell Craig!

Impatiently, she dialed his number to invite him over.  Busy.

She washed her hands a few times, then went back to call. Voicemail.

She walked around her house aimlessly for a few hours, on pins and needles, glancing at the clock incessentally.  Finally, after 10 pm, she called again. 

He answered on the 5th ring.  "Hello?"

"CRAIG! COME OVER! I HAVE AMAZING NEWS!" she squealed.

"On my way," he replied.

Agonizing minutes passed while Zoe waited for the doorbell to ring.  The moment it did, she ran to the porch to greet Craig. 

Hardly pausing to take a breath, Zoe told him the news.  She'd reached the top of the medical career!  "You can move in with me!" she gushed happily.

(thanks for the buck, Craig 😒)

For the first time since the Zombie Apocalypse had begun, Craig felt the first flutterings of hope.  And all thanks to the amazing woman in front of him!  Dropping to one knee, he held out the ring he'd been carrying around for awhile. "Marry me, Zoe!"

He slid the ring on her finger, and although it was a simple band, it was the most beautiful thing Zoe had ever seen.  She nodded, so overcome with happiness that tears were starting to form in her eyes.

She jumped into his strong arms and felt him wobble. 

"Whoa, easy there," Craig said with alarm.  "I'm not as strong as I used to be! We almost fell over!"

They shared a laugh.

"Why wait?" Zoe asked.  If there was one thing life had taught her, it was that you should never take your future for granted.

Solemnly, Craig nodded.  "I'd be happy to marry you this minute," he told her.

So they did.

Zoe hunched over the toilet bowl, praying that she was finished throwing up.

Could she be pregnant already?

"You've never looked more beautiful than you do right now," Craig told her.

"Shut up Craig," she snapped with irritation as she proceeded to vomit again.

The best thing about the medical restrictions being eased was that they could finally use a shower! Zoe thought happily as she stood under the warm spray.  Thank goodness for warm water on freezing cold mornings!
 

Whistling, Craig gathered some ingredients.  "I am gonna make you the best oatmeal you've eaten in your life!" he said proudly.

Zoe didn't have the heart to tell him that all oatmeal probably tasted the same.

"So, how about that woo hoo last night?" he said inanely.  "Best honeymoon ever, huh?"

"I'll be back this afternoon," Zoe called as she headed to the clinic.   She would be giving the presentation of her findings regarding the Zombie biological make-up being very similar to Sims.

She knew the powers-that-be were impressed by her Zombie Anatomy study, but she wasn't sure there was a need to send a limo.  It was nice, though!

Although one string was broken and the bow had seen better days, Craig was glad that he still had his family fiddle.  The only other thing he brought from his government issued trailer was a small radio and a broken chess table with most of the pawns missing.

He hoped Zoe didn't mind that he'd helped her paint her living room.  Now that they were married, he could help out with more of the things around the house.  She might have more book learning than he did, but he was pretty sure she didn't have experience fixing stuff up like he did.

Their schedule was okay in the short-term, but it would be very hard on them in the long-term.  Just as Craig was leaving to head to the soup kitchen, Zoe was coming home from the clinic.

"Hey honey," he called with a small wave as he headed towards his carpool. 

Sore, exhausted, and hungry, Zoe decided to just take a nap. The lat thing she thought before she fell asleep was that Craig had done something to the rug.

Zoe was trying to listen as Craig told her about his day.  But, she was finding it hard to concentrate.

"Excuse me," she said suddenly, darting for the bathroom.

Waking up sometime in the early morning because she was famished, Zoe tip toed from the room and headed to the kitchen.

Nothing she ate seemed to fill her.  She felt ridiculous, but this was her 3rd bowl!

When Craig woke up and saw half the portions of cereal was already eaten, his eyes widened with surprise.  "Were you going to save any for me?" he teased.

"Shut up Craig. I'm eating for two," she snapped right before running for the bathroom.

"Feeling better this afternoon?" Craig asked cautiously as he returned home from work.  After the way Zoe had bit his head off this morning, he felt like he was walking on thin ice.

"I am, honey. Thank you," she gave him a quick kiss.  "I'm sorry I was so gruff this morning," she apologized.  "I believe it's the pregnancy hormones that stimulate the mood swings."

The couple spent the rest of the evening quietly, Zoe working on her nutritional research & Craig working on his seating charts.  Occasionally he would mutter under his breath as he moved the pieces, "So, if I seated someone here, here, and here, then where should I put the other family that comes in?"

The next afternoon, Craig suggested they head to the soup kitchen for a meal.  Zoe was all for it.  She seemed to always be hungry these days!

It felt like an eternity since Zoe had last visited the base.  It was nice seeing old friends and catching up.

Craig started boiling pasta for a large batch of macaroni and cheese.

The teenagers hung back and watched the adults eat.  "You can join us," Craig told them.  "There's plenty!"

They shrugged. "That's okay," one said.  Clearly they didn't want adults cramping their style.

After the meal, Craig unlocked the pantry and headed in to do an inventory.  Once that was done, he turned to the Canning Machine.

It would be good to fill a few batches to keep up the stock. 

Zoe was finishing her third bowl when she heard the teen girl behind her ask if she was going to eat the whole serving bowl.

She quickly laid her spoon down.

"Oh no Craig! What a mess!" she said when she peeked in to check on him.  "You're spilling all over the place!"

She grabbed a mop from the corner and started cleaning.  Craig quickly turned around and looked down at the liquid spread all over.  "No, no, you shouldn't be cleaning in your condition. I'll come early tomorrow to clean it."

Zoe would've argued that it was gross to leave the mess overnight, but she was pretty exhausted.  She allowed Craig to bundle her up and lead her home.

While Zoe went straight to bed, Craig still had energy, so he stayed up late arranging seating arrangements with the chess table.  He sleepily climbed into bed, fluffed his pillow and went to sleep.

Not long after, Zoe jerked upright and clutched her belly. 

It didn't take long before little Yoshi Sharp entered the world. 

"Wait! Before you leave," Zoe called. "Did you set the crib up?"

Craig flashed her a thumbs up sign.  "It's all set up, honey! See you after work."

There wasn't a large selection of cribs, so the Sharps made do with what they could scrounge up. 

(Seriously guys, I paused for something like an hour while I looked up a bunch of 1-tile cribs and tried to decide what I wanted to do. Lol.  It was ridiculous! Finally settled on Rebecah's 1 Tile Maxis Crib).

While her daughter slept, Zoe worked on finishing her newest research project.  Hopefully it would be finished soon and she could send it off!

Yoshi didn't sleep long & Zoe was exhausted from caring for her all day long.  She'd fed her, burped her... "Why are you still crying?" she asked, gently rocking the baby in an effort to soothe her.

"Oh, change the diaper!" she said.  "Silly mommy!"

Craig was home. The baby was asleep and things were getting hot and heavy in the bedroom.

"Wait, we can't do it right now," Zoe whispered.  "The baby's in here!"

Craig glanced over at the crib and whispered back, "The baby's asleep."

His wife was shaking her head. "She might hear."

"I don't think she'll know what noises she's hearing," he tried to point out reasonably.

He groaned as Zoe rolled over, patted her pillow and huffed angrily.  "But she's sleeping!" he repeated.

"Not tonight," she said firmly.

Craig was running late, but managed to make some breakfast for Zoe before he left.  He tried to make every meal to gain valuable cooking experience for the soup kitchen, sometimes experimenting with recipes on his family.  Well, as experimental as you could get with cold oatmeal and lunch meat sandwiches!

A quick goodbye to the girls and he was out the door!

The week had flown by as Zoe and Craig got the hang of being parents.  "Happy birthday baby!" Craig said, waving his hands around in front of Yoshi excitedly.

Their baby was growing up!

Zoe held Craigs hands and said suggestively, "You know... the room is empty right now..."

Craig's eyes lit up. "Yeah? Really?!"

Zoe goosed her husband and announced, "Race you to the room!"

Unfortunately, Yoshi thought the race was great fun and followed after her parents.  "Why don't you go play with your Wobbly Wabbit?" Craig asked hopefully, biting his lip and praying the toddler obeyed.

Boom Chicka Boom Boom!

Yoshi found her Wobbly Wabbit toy and was completely enthralled with winding it up and watch the eyes roll around time... after time... after time until she was finally exhausted.

With no fuss, she crawled to the crib and went to bed.  (Ohmigosh! I didn't realize the toddler could put themselves to bed in this crib! That's kinda awesome! I was confused about how Yoshi got in her pajamas and in the crib. Lol)

Early the next morning, Zoe raced the bathroom.