"I'm sorry I wasn't very good company at the restaurant tonight," Daphne said, as Niles took out his key to let them into their apartment in the Montana.

Niles smiled. "If you're not quite yourself these days, I think you can be forgiven." He placed a hand on her stomach, where their second child was currently growing. The doctors had said it was a girl, and she would be born within the next month or so.

Feeling a rush of affection, Daphne kissed her husband. It seemed this pregnancy was taking an even greater toll on her than the last one did. David was just over a year, and Daphne was sure she hadn't even gotten her figure back from his birth before they'd had a second baby. But, still, Niles never saw her as anything less than beautiful. "I love you," she whispered as the kiss ended.

The feeling of her lips on his could never get old. Niles could only smile in response as he slipped his key into the lock. He wondered how she would react to what was waiting for them inside. But it was too late to back out now.

The door opened. "Surprise!" Niles flipped on a light to reveal Roz, along with Martin and Ronee. It was an impromptu baby shower.

"What's this?" Daphne asked. She hadn't seen this coming. For a brief second, she recalled another shower, which had been a surprise, but not in a good way. This, however, was nothing of the sort.

"This is your baby shower," Ronee explained. "Niles put this together, after he saw how worried you were about getting all the little-girl things."

Niles blushed as Daphne looked at him in surprise. "I know how hard this has been on you, my love, so I wanted to make it a little easier."

"Thank you," Daphne replied, kissing him once again. The kiss ended, and Daphne realized she needed to greet the other guests. "Roz, thank you for coming!" She hugged her best girlfriend tightly.

Roz shrugged. "It's no big deal. It was fun to shop for little pink onesies again! Alice begged me to let her come, but it's a school night, so I got a sitter. But I had to promise her she could come over this weekend and talk to the baby."

Daphne smiled, putting a hand on her abdomen. She didn't need her powers to know that the little girl would be having quite a long conversation with her unborn daughter very soon. Helping Roz adjust to motherhood had already prepared Daphne somewhat for what it would be like raising a daughter. But somehow she knew, being a mother of two was something she couldn't be ready for. She forced these thoughts from her mind as she turned her attention to her in-laws. "Thank you both so much for coming," she said, hugging Ronee.

"Oh, you're welcome," Ronee replied. "As soon as you guys left our place, we turned around and brought David back here to wait for you." She glanced at the infant who was sleeping soundly in her arms. It was clear to everyone that Ronee was enjoying holding him, even if she wouldn't admit it. "I told Marty men aren't supposed to go to baby showers, but he insisted. Sorry about that," she said with a slightly sheepish smile.

"That's all right. It's nice to see you, Martin." Daphne kissed her father-in-law's cheek.

"You too, Daph. I just can't wait for this little girl to be born so I can spoil her even more than her big brother!" Martin was a tough guy, but his first granddaughter already had him around her finger before she was born. There was no denying it.

For a moment, Daphne was too emotional to speak. This might not be much of a baby shower by most people's standards, but there was more love in this room than there could ever be in a huge crowd. Despite the difficulties of this pregnancy, Daphne knew she was surrounded by family who would stand by her no matter what.

"Well, shall we open the presents now?" Niles asked when the silence had gone on for a moment.

"I can't believe you all had time to shop!" Daphne said in surprise. Only yesterday she'd complained to Niles about all of the things she would need, items that could not be reused by a girl.

Roz shrugged. "It's amazing the things you can get away with when you're the boss!" When Niles had called her about the shower, she had canceled a meeting at the last moment. KACL's potential advertisers might be hurt, but she didn't care. Daphne had been her best friend for years now. If Daphne needed some support, along with a few onesies, that's what she'd get.

Daphne smiled as she took the wrapped package from Roz. She opened it and found several pink outfits. "Now your baby won't be naked!" Roz said with a grin. "Well, she will when she first comes out, but you'll probably want to put her in something after that."

Daphne squeezed her friend's hand. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Roz replied. She handed Daphne a rolled-up piece of paper. "This is from Alice."

Daphne took the paper, carefully unrolling it. Even before seeing it, knew it would be a drawing. Alice was forever taking out crayons to draw a picture of some sort. This was no different. It was a drawing of a baby, with a little pink bow in her hair. She was surrounded by hearts. "Well, this is going in our nursery for sure," Daphne said as he took it all in. "Tell Alice I said thank you."

"I will," Roz replied. "She'll be so happy to know her picture will be in the nursery. You better get it in there quick, because I know she'll want to see it hanging up this weekend."

"I give you my word, this will be on the wall of my future daughter's room tonight," Niles told her. "I hope Alice and this baby grow up to be close friends."

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that!" Roz laughed. "Alice is already talking about how there's going to be two babies she can hold and play with! I think she may want to come live with you guys once the baby's born!"

"I think I'll have me hands full with two children to take care of," Daphne said. "But I love this picture. Thank you both." She leaned forward, hugging Roz a second time.

The embrace ended, and Martin spoke up. "Open ours next."

"First of all, you should know this is something else that he insisted on," Ronee said. "You'd think he'd listen to someone who's been taking care of kids...oh, since you were a little boy," she said, pointing at Niles. "But you know your father!"

Niles laughed. "I do. And if I had to guess, I'd say this was some sort of sporting equipment, for our little tomboy."

"Hey, I think you'll like what I picked out!" Martin said. "Go ahead, open it."

Daphne did as her father-in-law said. The box contained a large stack of picture books. David already had a considerable collection, one which would be shared with the new baby. This was one thing Daphne hadn't thought about.

"Dad, as much as I appreciate your concern for our children's intellectual development, where exactly did you think we'd put all of these?" Niles asked.

"Well, if you guys run out of room here, there's always our place," Martin replied. "They're gonna be there all the time anyway."

"Not all the time," Ronee corrected, giving him a knowing glance. She might've resigned herself to being a grandmother, but she also wanted to make it clear that there would need to be some boundaries.

"I can hardly believe all of this," Daphne said, looking around at the faces of everyone who loved her. "Lately, I've been thinking that I'm big as a house, and I just want to have this bloody baby already. I forgot how exhausting it is to be pregnant! But now I realize that this baby is a blessing, and I'm glad she's got a family who loves her just as much as Niles and I do. I know I've been carrying on a bit, but now I feel like the luckiest woman in the world." She glanced over at Niles, kissing him.

"My love, for the past eight months, I've been pinching myself constantly. David is a miracle, and I really thought I couldn't ask for more. Having you and a son was already more than I'd ever dreamed. But when the doctor told us we were going to be having another one, well, I was simply amazed. If this baby is even half as wonderful as her mother, she's going to be very special. I already love her with all my heart, and I can hardly wait to meet her."

Tears welled up in Daphne's eyes. She knew from experience that the final month of pregnancy was by far the most difficult. Last time, she'd been stressed by a number of things: her husband's ex-wife's murder trial, and her father-in-law's marriage, and all of the things she'd normally dealt with on a day-to-day basis. This time, she was freed from those worries, but she was already caring for a baby. It was all very overwhelming. But, for the first time, Daphne saw she wouldn't be going through it alone. It certainly wouldn't be easy, but she knew without a doubt, it would be worth it.

The End