Ok so here is the first chap of my second fanfiction. As usual I don't own anything from the show, I only own the fic's storyline and the characters that aren't in the show. I'm sorry that i haven't writen this sooner i've just been pretty busy and it has been kinda hard for me to go back on writing.. but well i hope you'll like it.

Thanks a lot for reading and well... reviews are really appreciated ;)

Chapter 1

Mel and Jim were back from Georgia for a couple of days. It was now Tuesday morning and Melinda was going back to work today. As Jim had been on a night shift the night before, he was still sleeping when Melinda got up to get ready, she quietly got dressed and went downstairs. She was just starting to drink her herbal tea when she heard footsteps.

'Hey! What are you doing up?' she asked softly, looking towards Jim.

He was only wearing the down part of his pajamas.

'Wanted to see you before you go.' Jim answered simply, before yawning.

Mel turned on her footstool to face him. He walked towards her and sweetly kissed her neck.

'Slept well?' Jim asked her.

'Yeah...' Mel answered slowly.

'That's a 'yeah' that means no, to me.' Jim replied.

He kept looking at Mel intensely, till she finally let it out.

'It's nothing, I just... missed you.' Mel started to explain, taking Jim's hands in hers. 'I guess I got used to have you with me almost all the time, now that we're back and that I had to sleep alone, it was a bit hard. But it's fine, really.'

'Ah, ok. I understand.' Jim said a bit sadly. 'I'm sorry.'

Mel could feel his guilt, so she gently squeezed Jim's hand.

'Hey, it's not your fault!' she started. 'That week away was amazing, really I can't thank you enough for it. I just need some time to 're adapt' to our normal life. As long as we get to be with each other as much as we can it'll be fine.' she finished smiling.

'I agree with this. I wanna be with you as much as I can, which is why I got up.' Jim said softly, leaning down to give her a quick, yet tender kiss.

'I'm glad you did.' Mel said after kissing him back. 'But you really should go back to bed, you've only been home for a couple of hours, you need to rest.'

'Yeah, well you'll be gone in a few minutes, so then, I'll be able to sleep all day if I want to.' Jim said.

'Really?' Mel said, frowning her eyebrows. 'All day?'

'Yeah...' Jim said in a I-don't-see-what's-wrong-with-that tone.

'Don't tell me you for-'

'I haven't. You really think I'd forget this?' Jim said smiling.

'You better not.' Mel replied in a fake threatening voice.

Jim came behind her and took her in his arms.

'Worried?' he slowly asked to her ear.

'I guess so. Sounds like Dr Williams was right; we can't ever stop worry.' Mel said with a light laugh.

'It's just a control visit, everything was fine a few days ago there's no reasons it won't be now.' Jim said trying to reassure Mel.

'I know.' Mel said in a whisper, knowing he was certainly right but still unable to stop worrying.

'You want me to pick you up at the store or we meet directly at the hospital?' Jim asked resting his head on Mel's shoulder.

'I think you better pick me up.' Mel said after a few seconds of thinking. 'Otherwise I'll probably go there way to early and worry like crazy while waiting.'

'I thought so.' Jim said laughing. 'Hey, since the appointment is early on the afternoon, why don't we go have lunch together before?' Jim proposed.

'For someone who was supposed to sleep all day, you already have a lot planned.' Mel pointed amused.

'Well if you don't want to it's fine.' Jim said jokingly.

'Oh, come on, you know I'd love to, I just think you should rest, you only have a few hours left to sleep and you have an other shift this afternoon.' Mel said turning to look him in the eyes.

They both knew she was right.

'Ok, tell you what: I go to sleep as soon as you leave, I don't put any alarm or anything and I'll only come if I'm awake in time.' Jim said. 'If I'm still not at the store by... let's say 1pm then it means I'll only come in time to pick you up.'

'Alright.' Mel said holding her hands up in giving up gesture. She knew perfectly that even without any alarm, Jim would be awake in time to have lunch with her and even if she wanted Jim to rest, she wasn't going to fight him anymore since it meant she will spend more time with him.

'Ok, but you should still put one alarm.' Mel added even if it was useless. 'If by any chance you're still sleeping after 1pm, then you'll need something to wake you up for the appointment.' she finished.

'Right, I will.' Jim said smiling.

Him too knew perfectly he wouldn't need anything to wake him up to have lunch with Melinda, as much as he knew he wouldn't need anything to wake him up to be in time at the hospital to check on their baby.

'Ok... not that I want to, but I have to go now.' Mel said when she finished her tea.

'You're not eating more than this?' Jim asked, noticing that there wasn't anything else but the tea out on the table.

'I doubt it'll stay in.' Mel confessed.

'Oh... you're not feeling well again.' Jim said, worry in his voice.

'It's fine, just slightly nauseous, I haven't thrown up since yesterday.' Mel said reassuring him.

Jim was worried about her 'cause she was still pretty sick, but she made her best to eat as much as she could and they were both very careful to keep Mel well hydrated.

After a long and tight hug, Mel put her coat on and walked towards the door. Jim followed and opened the door for her.

'You're going to bed, right?' Mel asked smiling at him.

'Promise.' Jim said nodding.

He gently put his hands around Mel's face and kissed her deeply, while she put her arms around him.

'I love you.' Mel whispered when they pulled away.

'Love you too. Drive safe.' Jim replied kissing her head.

A while later, Melinda entered her store, making the little bell ring. She smiled at the sound and stood by the doorstep taking a deep breath. It felt so good to come back here, she truly loved everything in her shop.

'Hi! Can I hel-'

Mel heard as Delia walked from the back room.

'Melinda! Hey I'm so glad you're back!' Delia said, very excited, as she hurried to Mel. 'You ok?' she asked seeing no reaction from Mel.

'Yeah! Yeah I am. I'm just taking time to enjoy all this.' Melinda explained while opening her arms. 'Gosh I missed you so much!' she finally said before taking the last steps to hug her friend.

They hold each other for a moment, smiling.

'I'm sure you did.' Delia said sarcastically, looking at Mel after they pulled away.

'What?' Mel asked surprised.

'Oh let's see... You were in holidays for the first time in ages, with your amazing husband in a -according to what you told me on the phone- very beautiful place, lost in the woods.' Delia said laughing. 'I bet you took time to miss me.'

'Ok maybe I wasn't thinking about you all the time,' Mel confessed 'but I did miss you.'

'Sure.' Delia said smiling suspiciously. 'So how the rest of the holiday?'

'Great! It was really awesome. Plus we managed to help Timothy just in time, so everything ended well.' Mel told her.

'And it must have been good having Jim there.' Delia teased.

'It sure was.' Melinda said smiling shyly. 'The problem is that now I can't sleep if he's not with me...' she added.

'Ouch. He has a lot of night shifts ahead?' Delia asked.

'Yeah, well, not that much but he had one last night, he has another one tonight and then a couple more. He said that since he had been away for a week now he has no choice but take the worse hours.' Mel said sadly. 'So how are you?' she then asked as she didn't wanted Delia to feel sorry for her and put the mood down just minutes after she came back.

'I'm good, thanks.' Delia only answered.

'That's all? What about Ned? What about... you and Tim?' Mel asked smiling.

'Ned is fine, he has a new girlfriend.'

'Already? Wow, he doesn't lose any time.' Melinda said quickly.

'Yeah, I know... ' Delia sighed, shaking her head. 'And...'

'And?' Mel said laughing at Delia's sudden blushing.

'And I agree to go on a weekend with Tim.' Delia finally let out.

'Oh my god! That's great! I'm really happy for you guys.' Mel said happily.

'It is, uh?' Delia said smiling shyly. 'I'm just... terrified.' she confessed.

'Oh.. I'm sure it's gonna be very nice for you.' Mel said putting her hand on Delia's arm.

'I'm just... I'm not sure if I'm ready for this.'

'Delia, I may not have any experience in this but I think; the more you wait, the hardest it's gonna be.' Mel said trying to make her feel a bit more confident.

'You're probably right. Well anyway I still have time to get ready, we're not going till a few weeks so..' Delia said smiling warmly.

They continued chatting all morning, between the help to customers and the paper work. Melinda realized by organizing all the sales bills, that there had been a lot of work for Delia.

'Hey, why didn't you tell me how much the shop worked last week?' Melinda asked her, holding the papers up.

Delia who was just back from Village Java with teas and muffins looked at her feeling uneasy.

'I... I didn't wanted you to feel guilty for leaving the store during a busy time of year.' she said.

'You managed it all by yourself?' Mel asked.

'Yeah. Why?' Delia asked surprised.

'It's comforting me for- er... nothing.' Mel said awkwardly.

She had just almost told her it was comforting her for when she'd have to let Delia handle the store on her own when she couldn't work. Delia looked suspiciously at Melinda but didn't say a word. After a few awkward seconds, she handed Mel a tea.

'Thanks.'

'Muffin?' Delia proposed.

'Oh no, thanks.' Melinda said making a disgusted face.

'What's wrong?' Delia asked worried.

Mel would never refuse a muffin.

'Nothing, I'm just a bit nauseous, that's all.' Mel said.

'You're still sick? I thought you said were fine.'

'I said I was better.' Mel pointed, jokingly. 'I'm fine, Delia. Don't worry. I even took an appointment to confirm it.' Mel added seeing that Delia was truly worried.

'An appointment?'

'Yeah, just a routine visit at the hospital that they told me to do.' Mel said trying to be as honest as she could. 'By the way, Jim may be picking me up for lunch before we go there, so I won't be here a lot this afternoon, I'm sorry.' Mel told her.

'It's ok don't worry.' Delia said. 'Wait? Jim may be picking you up?'

'Yeah, it's complicated. I'm pretty sure he'll come anyway.' Mel said shaking her head.

'Okay...' Delia said smiling. She loved all the weird things only Mel and Jim understood.

Sure enough a few minutes later, the bell rang at Jim entering the store.

'Hello, handsome! How are you?' Delia said happily.

'Hi Delia. I'm fine. You?' Jim said kissing her cheek.

'Except from having my boss back, I'm fine.' Delia joked.

'Hey! I heard that!' Mel said coming from the back room.

She laughed as Delia faked a 'oops...' at Jim.

'I should have bet.' Mel said watching her watches as she walked towards Jim. It was just 12.30pm. 'Did you sleep at all?' she asked him.

'Yes, I did. In fact I was still sleeping... half an hour ago.' Jim said taking Mel's hand to look at the time.

He kept her hand in his as Mel reached out to kiss him. A long tender kiss that would have probably embarrassed Delia if she wasn't used to them showing their love and affection without shame.

After waving at Delia, they left the store hand in hand. They ate at Lento's as it was the easiest place to go. Melinda spent most of the lunch telling to Jim what she had just learned from Delia. Tim's part was what interested Jim the most, since Tim hadn't told him yet. They figured Delia had asked Tim to wait till she had told Mel before he could tell Jim.

'So... ready?' Jim asked after paying the check.

'I wonder if I'll ever be...' Melinda replied with a shy smile.

'It's gonna be fine.' Jim said warmly, taking her hand.

They went to the car and Jim drove towards the hospital.