This is a chapter.
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It was moving day. All the things they had accumulated over the course of the past year or so were packed away in boxes and Piper sat on the floor in the living room, marking them as essential and non essential for the ease of unpacking later. Their suitcases stood packed and ready by the front door. Alex and Nicky were out bringing the truck around. Most of the furniture had already been shifted the day before to the new apartment, which was about seven blocks away from here.
She heard boots stomping up the stairs and a moment later, Nicky's head appeared, preceded by her voice, which sounded annoyed. "Your woman is mad. Raving mad."
"What happened?" she asked.
"Remember how you guys hired the moving truck and all we had to do was pick it up and drive it up here?"
"Yeah…" she stood up and got a bottle of water for Nicky from the water cooler.
"Thanks. So we get there, and Miss Mechanic, suddenly, she knows everything about six wheelers and starts inspecting all the fucking trucks." She took a long swig from the bottle. "She then decides there's something wrong with each one of them and insists we look for another service."
"Wait, six wheelers? We don't even have that much stuff."
"Yeah, no I finally managed to convince her that the original truck will be enough. She was out there checking for transmission or whatever when I came up."
"Pipes we need to be on our way. Are you ready?" the brunette came in and went straight to the room. Nicky mouthed "mad" to Piper as Alex disappeared.
"I'll go talk to her."
"Al?" she watched as Alex fiddled around the old chest of drawers, opening and shutting each one. She bent down to check the lower drawers. The afternoon sunlight from the window hit her just at the right angle to make her seem luminous. Small wisps of hair escaped from the bun her hair was piled up in, gently tickling the exposed skin on her neck. She suddenly felt envious of the hair.
That's my woman you're touching. The love of my life. The future mother of my child. Just as she thought that, Alex got on her hands and knees, about to lie down on the floor. "Woah, hey." She hurried forward.
"Alex what're you doing?" Alex was squinting underneath the chest with her head on the floor. "Get up."
"I'm just making sure there's nothing rolled away under here."
"Oh God. I'll do it; you just get off of the floor." She reached for her arms and half-pulled Alex up.
"No I'm sure you'll miss something, I still have to check the study for the left behind stuff-" she broke off and rushed past Piper. She sighed and followed Alex into the study.
"Alex." She walked over to where the brunette stood by the window staring at the empty bookshelf. "You need to calm down."
"I am calm. This is me being efficient."
Piper stepped closer to Alex and placing her chin on her shoulder, she ran her hands up and down the pale arms soothingly. "No this is stressing. And unnecessary stressing." She placed a small kiss on her neck. "We're not even selling this place babe. So even if, by some chance, we do leave something behind, we can always come back and get it." She felt the taller woman relax a little into the embrace.
"Yeah, you're right. I just have this feeling. Like there's something that I need to do."
"Maybe that feeling has less to do with the move and more to do with," she dragged her hand down to the brunette's stomach, "this?" Alex's hands followed Piper's and intertwined with hers.
"How do you mean?"
"What I mean is you need to be in control. There's not much we can do about this except wait, so you just feel the need to take it out on whatever physical activity you can get your hands on."
Alex snorted. "Gee thanks doc. Same time next week?" she sighed and then was silent for a moment. Her grip tightened. "I just worry, a lot, about a lot of things. There's so much stuff that I wish I could control, so we would know where we stand. I hate this uncertainty."
"I know. It can get overwhelming Lex. There definitely are a lot of variables involved. But when we finally get Alex Jr. running around our new home on his pudgy little legs, too fast too soon, you know it'll all be worth it and then some." Piper felt a low laugh rumble through Alex and she turned around and wrapped her hands around Piper's waist.
"Alex Jr. huh? I thought we weren't gonna go with that."
Piper shrugged. "I dunno, it has a nice ring to it. Besides I love all things Alex." Piper reached up and tucked the loose strands behind her ears and claimed her cheek with a thumb. There. "You have me, right next to you, every step of the way."
She kissed her lightly on the forehead. "That I do."
Piper woke up early in the morning; still not used to the new angle the sun hit her from in their new home. She kept her eyes shut. Just a few more minutes. Stretching, she extended her leg out to Alex's side of the bed, only to find it empty. Faint retching sounds came from the adjoining bathroom and she sat up. Uh oh. With the precision of a drill routine Piper scrambled out of bed, poured a glass of water for Alex, grabbed a band and knocked on the bathroom door.
"Alex? Hon, you okay?" No response. Well, no response other than the gagging. "Okay I'm coming in." She opened the door.
"Piper get out. I told you, I don't want-" before she could finish her sentence, she threw up again.
"I know. I know. I am," Piper balanced the glass precariously on the sink. "Not." She gathered up Alex's hair and pulled them back into a sloppy ponytail, "even here." She quickly rubbed Alex's back once and left the room, closing the door behind her. She started making their bed, listening with one ear as Alex heaved and threw up for another a couple more minutes before she flushed and turned the faucet on. Piper opened the door a crack and peeked at the brunette's face in the mirror as she brushed her teeth. She saw the post-throw up sheen on her face.
"You're glowing."
Alex rolled her eyes at Piper and spat out the paste. "You know the whole leave-me-be-while-I'm-puking-my-guts-out thing doesn't mean anything if you have your ear glued to the door the entire time."
"Oh get over it, I'm compromising as it is. I'd rather be in here helping you out."
"I don't need help," she said even as she automatically reached for the glass Piper had been leaving for her every day. Piper quirked an eyebrow and Alex smiled sheepishly.
"Right. Of course. Good morning." Piper crouched down to Alex's stomach and kissed it. "What do you want for breakfast, O mighty independent one? Eggs? Oatmeal?" she asked, making her way to the kitchen.
"Ugh. No. Peanut wants something light." Alex stayed back for a moment, regarding herself in the full length mirror in their bedroom, a daily ritual. She turned to the side, lifted her shirt and ran her hands over the slight bulge, convincing herself that it was bigger than the day before. She felt a thrill of terror and excitement run through her.
"Smoothie?" Piper's voice floated from the kitchen, bringing her back. Alex shook her head slightly and made her way to the kitchen. "Yes, please." Piper got out bananas and yogurt from the fridge, "uh, why Peanut?"
"Why not Peanut? It's small, cute, and unisex, much like the baby right now." She grinned to herself, satisfied at her logic as Piper snorted. She grated some ginger into the blender along with the other ingredients and handed the smooth mixture to Alex when it was done. She took a sip and made a face.
"It tastes weird." Piper narrowed her eyes. "No, really. Because of the ginger you put in. And it's got lumps."
Piper took a sip of the smoothie. " No dice. You can hardly even taste the ginger, you big baby. Drink up; it'll help clear up the nausea." She got out the oats and filled a saucepan with water. "How is it that we invariably have the same conversation every morning?"
"Eh. Maybe we're both in a creative funk?" Alex said, tilting her glass this way and that to avoid the lumps. "Hey how about Ginger?"
"How about ginger what?" Piper took the glass from her and stirred it thoroughly with a spoon so Alex wouldn't feel the lumps anymore.
"As a name for the baby," she said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Piper burst out laughing. "Yeah sure. If you want Ginger to hate you forever, go ahead." Piper joined her with a big bowl of steaming oatmeal.
"I'll just bookmark it for later, then. By the way did you know there are some boxes that still need unpacking? It's been like, a month. Longer, in fact."
"Yes I know. I said I'll do it, so I'll do it." She held out a spoonful in front of Alex. "Taste."
"When?" She ate it and gave her a nod of approval. Piper got another spoon for herself and they shared the bowl between them.
"Um today. As soon as you leave for the store." Alex raised her eyebrows. "I swear."
"It's just that they're lying there, what if I need something that's in them and I don't even know it?" She paused and looked down at the half gone oatmeal and back at Piper. "How did I end up eating oatmeal?"
"Don't give me that look, it's very important to get a good breakfast. And anyway, all that's in there are decorations etc. I'll get them today, don't worry."
"I'm just saying if I had been in charge of the unpacking, it would have already been done."
Piper gave her a look. "I'll unpack. Today. Don't strain yourself over a couple of picture frames."
"Okay." she pushed herself off of the stool. "I'm gonna go shower and get ready." Piper nodded and got up too, taking the dishes with her to the sink. Suddenly two arms enveloped her from behind and Alex kissed her cheek.
"Thank you for breakfast." Another kiss. "Peanut says "thank you" too."
"You're both welcome." Alex left Piper near the sink then, grinning like a fool.