Steph stood in the kitchen of her and Joe's house, surveying the utter mess she had made preparing dinner. She didn't cook often, but it seemed whenever she did she couldn't avoid using just about every bowl and pan her and Joe owned. Steph wasn't up for cleaning the kitchen tonight, it would just have to wait until morning. She blew out a long breath and wondered whatever had possessed her to try cooking in the first place. It had been a rough few weeks since the fiasco with Carlos Leslie. Oh, things had been quiet on the crazy stalker front and for that Steph was eternally grateful. But she'd been dealing with another hardship, one she wasn't enjoying much more than being harassed by crazy people. It was while she was in hiding from Leslie that she had discovered she was pregnant. The end to the Leslie mess had been the opportunity to tell Joe they were expecting and he was so excited. Steph smiled at the memory of that happy moment. And although she was excited too, her excitement was greatly tempered by the nausea and vomiting that accompanied each day. She had gotten sick once while hiding at Ranger's, which had been one of the first clues she was pregnant. It wasn't long after that, though, that the nausea started coming all day, every day. It got to the point where Steph had had to take a leave of absence from RangeMan, not feeling comfortable with being constantly sick in front of the RangeMan employees. She couldn't keep track of the amount of times she visited the porcelain god in one day, nor did she really want to.
Joe had been amazing with her during this time. He couldn't be home with Steph constantly during the day, of course, but when he was home he was always willing to be there with her, holding her hair, and offering a cool cloth or a glass of water when it was over. Steph couldn't have asked for a more attentive husband. His quick wit and dry humor brought smiles to her face even when she felt her sickest. But despite Joe's unceasing patience and joviality…or maybe because of it, Steph couldn't be sure…she was incredibly cranky and unpleasant. For the last couple weeks, the vomiting had lessened, though not abated completely, but constant nausea still pervaded. Her hormones were running amok, and it all combined to have her feeling downright bad-tempered. She was more than ready to start feeling human again. Oh yeah, now she remembered why she attempted dinner. She wanted to do something nice for Joe to show her appreciation of everything he did for her, so she'd chosen one of the easier recipes she'd been given by Joe's mom right before he proposed and thought to surprise him with dinner waiting when he got home. The dish was currently in the oven, Joe was due to be home soon, her stomach was only slightly nauseous for the moment and despite the mess in the kitchen, things were going relatively smoothly. Yet Steph could still feel the hormonal rage simmering right below the surface. She wanted so much for tonight to be nice, but lately there was just no telling what would pop out of her mouth when she opened it.
"Honey, I'm home" Joe shouted as he came in the front door. Joe knew Steph hated when he did that—too 50s sitcom for her-- and he never quite knew what reaction he'd get each time he said it, but it was always fun to guess. Right about now he'd guess that the penalty for pricking Steph's temper would be pretty severe. Her hormones were working overtime. Joe figured that just meant he'd have to work overtime to improve her mood. What came to mind to accomplish that certainly always improved his. But if that didn't work, he sighed inwardly, the Tasty Pastry box in his hand should.
Steph had maintained her position at the sink as she heard Joe's footsteps approach. Despite the fact that she knew Joe did it just to annoy her, sometimes his call could rally her to the front door. Why not, when she was frequently anxious to see him anyway? But not today. She was tired and nauseous and determined to be difficult. Joe stepped into the kitchen and placed his box on the counter opposite to where Steph was standing. Her back was to him and she wasn't turning around. Joe started mentally calculating good naturedly what he'd do to get back in Steph's good graces. He started by walking up directly behind her and placing his hands on her upper arms, leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek.
"You know I don't like when you shout that," Steph pouted. "It makes me sound so domestic." As Steph heard the words come out of her mouth, she blamed those ever-rampaging hormones. Because for the most part, Steph had been enjoying domestic bliss with Joe. It's not like they still didn't have the typical arguments couples had. But overshadowing that by a huge margin was the comfort of sharing meals with him, quietly hanging out together or separately, but still knowing the other was there. And going to bed every night and waking up each morning seeing the face she loved. But she just felt too ornery to admit it to Joe.
Placing his hand on Steph's stomach, Joe replied "It's too late for fearing domesticity Steph. I think you've crossed the final frontier."
"Well, thank you Captain Kirk," Steph retorted in a tone that would have chilled a polar bear.
Joe had the nerve to laugh out loud. "My, my. You are in a wicked mood today." Joe grinned. "Luckily, I'm a great enough guy to overlook it."
"This is going to be a long six months," Steph said with a gusty breath full of exasperation.
Joe placed his finger under Steph's chin and turned her head until she was facing him. "Hey, I'll be with you every step of the way, going through it with you."
"Oh? Then I can look forward to you getting swollen and fat too?" Steph looked down, perused Joe's perfect--disgustingly, glorifyingly perfect male form-- and frowned. "On second thought…"
Joe smirked knowingly, not a speck of modesty within him. Steph liked what she saw and he knew it.
Joe wrapped his arms around Steph's waist and pulled her closer against him, hoping to squeeze even a little of that bristly tension out of her. As he held her, he wondered for how much longer he would be able to hold Steph just like this, before the size of her belly would prevent him from wrapping his arms completely around her. The picture of Steph in his head made him smile. "I can't wait for you to start getting bigger," Joe said, voicing his thoughts.
Surely Steph hadn't heard Joe correctly. Surely he wasn't getting all mushy about her turning into a blimp. Hormones, Steph thought. Your reaction is pure hormones. Still, the words spat out of her like bullets from a machine gun. "Shouldn't your hands be higher up when you say that?"
"No, they shouldn't," Joe said evenly, with all the patience of a saint. "I'm much too much of a gentleman to do something like that." Joe chuckled when Steph readied herself for what he was sure would be a scathing comeback…and beat her to it. "Besides, they're already bigger and trust me when I say I've most certainly been enjoying the hell out of them." That did it. With his arms still firmly wrapped around Steph, Joe could feel she was reaching boiling point. She was in no mood for joking tonight, apparently. It was time to bring her back to a simmer. "Steph, what I said is exactly what I meant. I had my arms around you and I got a nice picture in my head of how you'd look when I might not be able to do that anymore. And I look forward to it."
Steph butted an elbow into Joe's ribs, but with a lot less force than she might have a minute before. "I still can't believe you'd say you want me to get fat."
"I didn't, because you're not going to be fat, you're going to be carrying our child," Joe said as he slowly rubbed her flat stomach, leaning in to also kiss her neck. "Don't you know how happy and proud that makes me? And how beautiful that's going to make you? Even more beautiful?" He quickly added, slowly ramping up his attempts to soothe her mood. Touching Steph was creating an aching need in Joe and if men could get pregnancy cravings too, then he desperately craved her. Constantly.
"How are you feeling right now?" Joe recognized the change in his voice, the thickness he couldn't hide.
Steph recognized it too, and felt her bad mood slipping away. The Joe effect, she thought, and gave up to it. "I'm not likely to throw up on you if that's what you're worried about," she responded accordingly, with a breathy tone of her own.
"I wasn't worried. I was just wondering…"
Steph turned in Joe's arms, planted a soft kiss on his lips, interrupting his inquiry, "How about you make me feel better?" Although, really, he already had.
Joe grinned. "I can do that." He leaned in, slowly, teasing Steph with the caress of his breath on her skin before she ever felt the press of his lips on hers. Something niggled at the corners of her mind, but she couldn't bring it into focus, not with her every thought focused on how good Joe was about to make her feel. But then it was there, intruding, annoying, but not to be ignored. Steph put her hand against Joe's mouth, and even the press of his lips against her palm had her cursing inwardly.
"Wait! What about the chicken?" More than halfway past the point of reason, wanting Joe so badly, Steph leaned in to give Joe the kiss she'd denied herself with her interruption.
"There's chicken?" Joe managed to gasp out as Steph's teeth captured his earlobe.
Steph released his ear. "In the oven. I'm trying a new recipe. Since we have a kid on the way I thought I could at least try cooking once in a while."
Joe reached over and shut off the oven. "The baby and I don't care if you can't cook, and right now the chicken can wait."
"It'll get dried out. Our mother's would faint over dried out chicken," Steph protested.
"Our mothers don't have to eat it," Joe murmured, nuzzling that spot on Steph's neck that drove them both wild. "I happen to love dried out chicken."
"You love dried out chicken?" Steph gasped out, wondering how she was holding such a ridiculous conversation when Joe's lips were turning her insides to mush.
"What choice do I have? Right now, what I love more than anything is the idea of taking you right here, and if that means the chicken will dry out, then I accept it gladly." Joe lifted her onto the counter and Steph's eyes widened with shocking greed.
"Here?" Steph asked, the question laced with an undercurrent of excitement.
Joe detected the excitement and desire flared in the muddy depths of his huge brown eyes. Steph saw the desire and it called out to her as a shiver of anticipation crawled through her veins. "Here," she breathed, as she lowered her head and took Joe's mouth with a passion equal to his. Her legs slid open and Joe took his place between them.
What felt like an eternity later, as Steph sat recovering, still on the counter with her arms and legs wrapped around Joe, her eyes darted to a box on the opposte counter and they lit with new excitement.
"Did you bring me a cake?" Steph asked, her voice considerably warmer than it had been when Joe first walked in the door.
Joe lifted his head from Steph's shoulder to look at her. "Hey! It took you longer than 2 minutes to notice. That's a new record for you."
"Maybe I should have you arrested for distracting me then."
"Honey, if anyone's getting arrested it would be you, for disarming a police officer."
Steph slanted her best skeptics look Joe's way, but amusement sparked from her eyes. "Oh my God! You've been afflicted with that lesser known pregnancy symptom, excessive corniness."
"Go ahead, scoff, I can take it," Joe replied, his face a portrait of mock dejection.
Steph laughed. It occurred to her that she had a man who loved her, who was beyond thrilled about her pregnancy. That was more than a lot of other women had and scoffing became the furthest thing from her mind. She placed a light kiss on Joe's lips then twisted to put the oven back on. "First, the dried out chicken. Then the cake."
"Sounds perfect, Cupcake."