Lia was doing what she did best, typing away on her computer, running a very thorough background check on a suspect for the profiling unit. Though they were located in the CNU, the analysts worked with all the departments, for whatever they needed. CNU had priority though, considering their work was usually of the emergency variety. Even though she was the best, Cheryl had called on her less the last few months.
Her boss, and good friend, didn't want to stress her, and her husband agreed. Lia rolled her eyes at them, but accepted it, it was probably better for the baby anyway. Her belly was getting big, and at twenty weeks, she was starting to feel the strain. Her morning sickness had been awful, but it was over now. However, her back was killing her, and dear god, the sweating was starting to piss her off. She forced the doctor to give her a prescription for super-strength deodorant.
Though, she had to admit, being pregnant now, as opposed to some other time, was a lifesaver. Emily was pregnant too, and had already gone through it once, so Lia both had someone to talk to about her concerns, who was very sympathetic and could reassure her. Matt provided the same thing for Duff, who was nervous as a squirrel on speed. Of course, so was she. But, she was more emotional than anything else, and it sucked, she cried over everything now.
Lia felt something in her abdomen, and gasped, startling the rest of the analysts. She held her stomach, eyes wide in wonderment. Nate, the analyst closest to her looked worried, and swiveled his chair closer.
"Lia, you okay?" Duff had put the fear of God into them, if anything happened to Lia or the baby.
"Yeah Nate, the baby moved...I've never felt that before." She smiled at him, and reached for her phone, she wanted Duff to feel. As if by some sixth sense, Duff entered with Frank, bored in HRT, and wanting to visit his wife. He always checked on her.
"Duff, the baby moved!" She squealed at him, motioning him over. Duff's jaw dropped to the floor, but her ran over, and gently placed a shaky hand on her belly. Sure enough he felt movement under his hand, his baby was turning somersaults in her belly.
"About time, kid," Frank mused, according to Matt (who'd read his share of baby books when Emily gotten pregnant with Brandon), this was a little late.
"Don't rush my baby, man. He moves at his own pace." Duff shot him a playful glare.
"He?" Cheryl asked, entering with a stack of files.
"Or she, whatever. I just don't want to call the baby, 'it'." It didn't seem right to call his unborn child It.
"The baby moved, Cheryl!" Lia was beaming, and Cheryl had to smile at her. Pregnancy looked good on the tech.
"Congratulations." She handed her stack of folders to a tech, and walked over to Lia. She watched her friend's face suddenly drain of color.
"Oh god," Lia muttered, looking suddenly frightened.
"Babe, what's wrong?" Duff kneeled down beside her, taking her hands.
"We're having a baby." Lia looked stunned as she made the announcement.
"Yeah, you can't be just realizing this?" Duff was puzzled and worried with her sudden demeanor change.
"No Duff, it's, it's...in less than five months we're going to be parents. We, we have to care for this baby, we have to teach it to be a good person, oh god, what if we aren't good at it?" Lia was starting to become a little frantic.
"Babe, relax okay. Nobody is perfect at being a parent. Matt and Emily aren't, but Brandon's great, isn't he?" Lia nodded, still looking very freaked out. The baby had moved, and suddenly, it was much more real to her.
"Lia, you will be a great mother. I can't see you not being a good mom." Cheryl smiled at her, and squeezed her hand. Thank god, she never wanted children. She could deal with the physical toll, but the emotional toll was like getting steam rolled.
She was nodding as the door opened again, and a dark-haired seven year-old ran in, and attached himself to Frank.
"Hey Uncle Frank!" Brandon shouted gleefully. "Hi Uncle Duff, Aunt Lia, and Aunt Cheryl!"
"Come here, kiddo." Frank reached behind himself, and grabbed Brandon, pulling him in front, and lifting him upside down in the air. Brandon was giggling hysterically when his parents came in the door. Emily was barely four months along, and not really showing yet, except for the tiniest, barely perceptible bump.
"Lia? What's wrong?" Emily caught the still freaked-out look on her friend's face, and grew worried.
"The baby kicked." She didn't offer anything else, so Duff supplied it.
"Uh, it kind of just hit her that the baby is real." Oddly, Matt and Emily didn't need anymore explanation than that, they both remembered that feeling with Brandon.
"How'd it go at the doctors?" They'd left early so Emily's doctor could perform an amniocentesis test, which they were doing partly because of her age, and partly because of odd results from an early test.
"They sent it to their lab, they said they'll rush it and we'll know tomorrow." Matt looked tired as he spoke, sadness in his eyes.
A test they did in Emily's tenth week of pregnancy suggested their baby may have Down's Syndrome, a more common defect for women over 35. Emily would be 43 when the baby was born. She'd blamed herself, and cried herself to sleep for weeks after they found out. This test would tell them definitively if their baby had the birth defect. If it was positive, they'd have to decide if they were going to abort the baby or keep it, and deal with a mentally handicapped child. Neither knew if they'd be able to make that decision.
They tried so hard, and for so long to get pregnant again, they couldn't just give their baby up. But, if the results were positive, could they raise that child? Could they even love it? They hated themselves for not being able to say they could. Parents were supposed to love their children no matter what, weren't they? Even if that child wasn't perfect?
"Let's take this to my office," Cheryl suggested. No one knew about that possibility, except their four closest friends, and they wanted to keep it that way.
They followed Cheryl to her office, and Duff motioned Lia into a chair, not wanting her to stand a minute longer than she had to. Matt tried to direct Emily to the other one, but she chose to stay beside him, leaning against him, her arm around his waist. During her first pregnancy, Emily had been very determined to prove she didn't need help, she was just as capable as she always was. This time around, she was didn't seem to care as much; she was almost clingy. Especially after that first test result came back, she seemed to need to be beside him, need the comfort that she felt when he was near her.
"Oooh!" Lia jumped slightly, as the baby moved again.
"Are you okay, Aunt Lia?" Brandon asked from his spot on Frank's back, his face scrunched in concern.
"I'm fine Brandon, the baby moved and surprised me is all." She smiled at him, he was so damn cute.
"It moved!" His eyes nearly bugged out of his head.
"Yep, you moved around in your mommy too."
"Can I feel! Pleeeaaaase!" He dragged the word out desperately, and scrambled to get off his uncle's back. Lia nodded, and Frank put him down gently. Brandon ran over, and put his hand on Lia's belly. When he felt movement under his hand, he yanked it back. Then he giggled, and ran to hide behind his father. All six adults rolled their eyes, at least during this trying time, they had comic relief.
Lia suddenly sighed, annoyed. "I have to pee, again." She wasn't even that big yet, but the baby seemed to enjoy resting most of it's tiny weight against her bladder.
Emily turned to her with a sympathetic expression. "Me too." She did have to pee, but more importantly, she didn't feel like talking about the baby.
Lia waved away Duff's attempts to help her get up; she wasn't that big yet, damn it. She could move by herself. The two women vacated the office, leaving Cheryl with the guys, and a plan hatching in her head.
"They're both stressing too much, and Emily is going to make herself crazy tonight. Can you boys live without them for a night?"
Matt and Duff both gave uncommitted shrugs, and Brandon's face was screwed up in confusion. Frank rolled his eyes at his friends, who were both very nervous with their wives being pregnant.
"They'll live, I need to borrow them anyway." He'd keep the nervous fathers-to-be occupied for the night, god knows they'd need it too, especially Matt.
"Good. Can you take Brandon with you?"
"Sure, what do you say Bran, you want to come with us guys tonight?" Frank asked the little boy; Matt and Duff were just looking back and forth between them, wondering what was going on.
"Yeah! Yeah! Where are we going?!" He jumped up and down excitedly.
"Yeah, where are we going?" Matt asked, skeptically.
"Shopping." Frank barely spoke loud enough for them to hear.
"Dude, a guys night out, and you want to go shopping?" Duff was not impressed. Cheryl struggled not to laugh at the unhappy looks on all four male faces. Even Brandon didn't want to shop.
"Not girly shopping, Gonzalez. I need to look for..." The end of his sentence was lost in a mumble.
"What?" Duff asked, and Frank mumbled again.
"Frank stop mumbling," Matt demanded impatiently. What was embarrassing him so much?
"A ring, okay? I need to look for a ring for Shannon."
"Uh, that kind of ring?" Matt asked, completely dumbfounded.
"No Flannery, she wants a skull for her voodoo practice. What do you think, genius?"
"Don't get cranky, it's just a surprise is all. I didn't realize it had gotten so serious with Shannon." Matt held his hands up defensively.
"It's getting there." He shifted uncomfortably. Frank Rogers was the last person in the world comfortable discussing his romantic life.
An hour later Cheryl, Emily, and Lia walked up toward a huge movie theatre, that announced itself as having 24 screens. A little excessive, but it had plenty of choices, and Cheryl knew that was a good thing. No movies with babies or children in any sort of danger, no tearjerkers of any sort, no sappy romantic dramas or comedies, nothing with people dying, and nothing with deep thought. Cheryl was looking for something a stoned monkey could follow with no chance of causing either of her friends to cry.
"Uh, we aren't sure what we want to see, looking for an easy movie," Cheryl informed the guy at the counter.
"Three ladies, how about Penelope?" He sized them up and offered a suggestion.
"What's that one about?" It sounded harmless.
"A girl who's born with a pigs nose--" He didn't get to finish.
"No, that won't work." Last thing they needed was a suggestion of birth defects.
"Uh, well what are you looking for?" He seemed confused. Cheryl decided to cut her losses, and cringed while she asked him.
"Have anything completely devoid of emotion?"
"Uh, SemiPro? Will Ferrell movie." Now the kid seemed even more puzzled.
"Perfect. Three tickets to the next showing." She handed him a credit card, hating herself for spending 35 dollars on that piece of crap movie, but it would work. He gave her, her card back and the tickets, and Cheryl walked back to her friends.
"So what are we seeing?" Lia asked brightly.
"SemiPro, in twenty minutes." Cheryl didn't even try to pretend she was excited.
"What?" Emily wasn't impressed, she'd expect the guys to waste money on that movie.
"There won't be any thinking, or any possibility of it upsetting either one of you," Cheryl explained. "And, that's what we're here for, so relax and enjoy losing some of your brain cells for the next two hours."
Lia giggled, and Emily smiled for the first time since she and Matt returned from their doctor's appointment. Oh, what good friends will do when their friends are feeling down.
"Alright, so where do we start with this?" Frank rubbed his hands together ready to get going, as if they were preparing for an assault. They were at the gianormous mall near the outskirts of the city, kind of a nightmare vision for most men.
"Pizza!" Brandon shouted gleefully.
"I think your kid wants dinner, Matt," Duff suggested amused at his nephew.
"You hungry, Bran?" Matt crouched and asked him.
"Yeah Daddy, can we get pizza?" Matt looked at the guys, who shrugged. What man is going to turn down pizza?
They walked ten minutes through the mall until they found a small pizza restaurant and ordered a pie, and breadsticks. The waitress was a young woman, late twenties, maybe early thirties, with a beaming smile, and an obvious affection for children. She had a short, over-excited conversation with Brandon, before rushing off to get their drinks and breadsticks.
"So, what kind of jewelry does Shannon like?" Matt wondered.
"I don't know, she wears a lot of gold. So, that makes it easier. Gold and diamond, pretty traditional." Frank shrugged, he knew very little about jewelry.
"So, you really just need to browse for cut, maybe see if you want any extra decoration on the sides of the diamond." Almost nine years ago, when Matt was ring shopping, he wasn't nearly as comfortable with the topic, but this time it wasn't him.
"Get her a big rock, Uncle Frank. Girls like really big rocks," Brandon explained, startling his father and uncle into open-mouthed expressions.
"Uh Brandon, who told you that?" Wait until Emily heard that.
"Maureen told me, Daddy. She said Mommy deserves a bigger rock for putting up with you." Brandon struggled to remember the secretaries words. Maureen was the CNU secretary, who Matt and Emily frequently left Brandon with when they had to run in for a case file or what not.
"Did she now?" So, Maureen wasn't going near Brandon ever again.
"Yes...Daddy why do girls like rocks?" He looked up at his father, confusion twisting his face.
"Uh, well you know that ring with the shiny stone Mommy wears?" Brandon nodded.
"Well, sometimes people call that pretty stone a rock, because it's a kind of rock, sort of." Matt shook his head, explaining things to a child was never easy.
"So, why do girls why them big?" Frank and Duff's faces were practically split with the size of their smiles, they were enjoying this so much.
"Uh, some girls think that the bigger the stone, the more a boy loves them." Was Brandon going to understand that, Matt wasn't sure. The little boy got a very serious look on his face, he was thinking it over, biting his lip.
"That's not true, Daddy." Brandon shook his head.
"Oh, what makes you think so?" Matt was amused now, his son could be so suprising sometimes.
"Mommy's rock-thing isn't that big, but you love her a whole lot." Brandon spread his arms wide to demonstrate. The three adults chuckled, and it took a minute for Matt to speak again.
"You're right Bran, I love Mommy a whole lot, and size doesn't mean much for rings." They were interrupted as the waitress dropped the drinks, and batted her eyes at Matt.
"The food will just be another minute, can I get you anything else?" She smiled at him, talking directly to Matt, and standing so close she was nearly touching him.
"No, I think we're good." Matt shifted uncomfortably.
"What about you buddy, you need anything?" She asked Brandon.
"Nope, I'm good," he declared, sipping his coke.
"He is so precious," the waitress giggled, patting Matt's arm, her fingers lingering a bit too long, before skittering off.
"Wow, that was some really obvious flirting," Duff commented, shaking his head. If Emily had been with them, in her current emotionally unpredictable state, she might have hurt the waitress.
"Yeah," Matt answered, still uncomfortable. Had she missed the wedding ring?
"Daddy, what's flirting?" Oh no, here they go again.
"It's what a boy and a girl do when they like each other." Matt sighed, he had a feeling this was going to be complicated.
"Like they want to be friends?"
"Not quite, Bran."
"If they want to be girlfriend and boyfriend?" Brandon wasn't going to let it go until he understood.
"Yeah, that's it." Matt silently prayed he'd drop it. No such luck.
"She wants to be your girlfriend, Daddy?" Brandon frowned at the idea.
"That's what it looks like." God, it was so embarrassing to be explaining that to his seven year-old.
"But, what about Mommy?" Now Brandon looked upset.
"Don't worry Brandon. I don't want a girlfriend, I love Mommy, remember?" Matt tried to reassure his child, and cursed the waitress silently.
"Hello fellas, here's your pie, extra cheese and pepperoni." She smiled widely, and set a large pizza on the table. "Let me get you boys some refills."
She touched Matt's shoulder before hurrying off in that bouncing sort of way some girls do. She returned moments later, and set down their drinks, making a big deal over Brandon's second coke, trying to make him feel special. Brandon wasn't paying much attention, but embarrassing his father by stretching out and playing with the melted cheese on his pizza. Frank and Duff were cracking up, Matt was trying to get him to behave. The waitress giggled again.
"Oh, he is just too cute, such a little comedian." Then she all but leaned against, Matt, squeezing his shoulder. That's when he decided he'd had enough. He brushed her hand off unkindly.
"Look lady, I'm married!" It came out a little louder and a little angrier than he intended. She looked surprised for a moment, before her expression returned to flirty.
"Never stopped a guy before." She purred.
"Yeah, well it's stopping me. I love my wife, very much." He scowled at her, the woman had no taste. Hitting on him, in front of his son?
"Easy pal, just thought you might appreciate a change in the menu." Her tone had turned icy, as she turned her heal and walked away.
Frank and Duff had been quiet watching the scene, and could tell how angry Matt had been getting with her persistent advances. They watched him now, all trace of humor gone from the faces.
"Finish your pizza, Brandon; we've got to help Uncle Frank find a ring." Matt didn't have much of an appetite anymore. He'd almost wished Emily had been there, so she could set the waitress straight, or even better, deter her advances.
The whole mood at the table was ruined, but the men resumed eating their food silently, until another question struck Brandon's mind. He stopped playing with the remains of his dinner, and turned to Matt.
"Daddy, would she really have changed the menu here, just for you?" He asked, staring with innocent eyes at his father.
The three grown men looked at each other, then burst out in hysterical laughter. Thank god, Brandon had totally missed her meaning.
They walked out of the movie laughing, not so much at the movie, but at how bad it was. That was plenty good enough for Cheryl, who hadn't seen one tear the whole film. It was as emotionally devoid as the teller had promised, and maybe the dumbest movie any of them had ever seen. Even the guys wouldn't have been crazy about it, and they like their share of stupid movies. And, then there was Matt and his zombies. Emily would take the zombies over that dumb movie any day.
"So, I suppose you two are ready for dinner?" They may only be in the second trimester, and still small bellied, but those babies were still eating.
"Are you kidding? For the last two months, I've been ready for food every minute of every day." Lia smiled at her, the baby could eat. She'd figured it had to be a boy with how hungry it made her. Of course before those two months, she'd been puking her guts out constantly, maybe it was just making up for that.
"I'm starving, what are we eating?" Emily looked between them, but nobody offered any helpful suggestions.
"Well, what are you in the mood for?" Cheryl asked, shrugging.
"You don't want to ask me that, my cravings have been really weird." Emily shook her head. Matt was really good about catering to them, but he couldn't hide the disgust some of them generated.
"Try me, I bet I could beat you," Lia challenged.
"Tonight shrimp, the rest of this week was: sardines, oranges and steak sauce, ketchup and mustard, fried onions." Emily listed her cravings, not the least bit bothered by them.
"Those aren't that weird. I made Duff get me pineapple juice to marinate my hamburger in the other night." That had been one of her weirdest ones, and as soon as she finished she had to clean the pan fast because the smell was making her ill.
"Oh, I didn't finish. Everything has to be served on top of ice cream. I want tin roof sundae with shrimp on top. The sardines were on vanilla, that wasn't too abnormal. But, the ketchup and mustard on top of the peach ice cream nearly made Matt vomit." Emily still wasn't bother at all by her cravings, it was part of the package deal.
"Okay, that's really gross. You win." Lia giggled, scrunching her face up. They turned to Cheryl, who had her eyebrows raised, and an expression of an expression of disgust on her face.
"Think you two can eat normal, tonight? Or, do we need to hit the grocery store, and eat at home?" Their cravings were not meant to be seen in public.
"How about Chinese?" Lia suggested.
"Ooh definitely, I can get shrimp," Emily agreed enthusiastically.
"I wonder if they have anything with olives, I really want olives," Lia rambled, stomach rumbling at the thought. Either way, they had a jar or two at home; green olives had been a constant craving for her.
"Chinese it is," Cheryl said laughing. Two of the best minds in the Bureau are all excited over shrimp and olives. Still laughing, Cheryl pulled out her phone and called Frank, informing him that they were going to Chun Li's Chinese. Duff and Matt could pick their wives up there if they got done first.
"So, you can keep these secrets, right Bran?" Matt was crouched down to his son's level in the parking lot of Chun Li's. Thankfully, Frank hadn't had a problem finding a ring he liked.
"I promise, Daddy." Brandon told him very seriously.
"Okay, what aren't going to tell Aunt Shannon?"
"That Uncle Frank bought her a rock," Brandon said with glee, still determined to call diamonds, rocks.
"Good, and what aren't you going to tell Mommy?" This had taken a lot of coaching at the mall and in the car, but Brandon seemed to have it down.
"About the silver heart," Brandon declared, nodding his head once to make his point.
"Good boy, Daddy's getting you ice cream this weekend." Matt ruffled his son's hair, and stood up, turning to his companions. All set, they were ready to see the girls.
While shopping for the ring, Matt had seen a small antique locket. It had delicate engravings of Celtic knotwork, and space for two pictures. According to the clerk in the store, it was almost a hundred years old, brought from Ireland by one of the many that passed through Ellis Island in the early nineteen hundreds. He paid a small fortune for the locket, and would tell Emily he lent the money to Frank for the ring. He was going to put a picture of Brandon in the locket and give it to her when their new baby was born. He was still counting on their baby being born, he had to believe it would.
"Mommy! Mommy!" Brandon tore into the restaurant and launched himself at his mother. Emily barely caught him without falling backward.
"Hey baby, did you have fun with Daddy and your uncles?" She pulled him up into the booth beside her.
"Yeah, we got pizza and the pizza lady wanted Daddy to be her boyfriend!" He announced, excitedly. Matt's shoulder's slumped. This would be fun to explain. Lia showered Duff with the sip of ice tea she'd just taken, and Cheryl nearly gagged on her noodles.
"Really?" Emily asked, looking at Matt, almost amused.
"Yeah, but Daddy got mad at her."
"Did he?" That's why Emily wasn't concerned, she trusted him. Only an asshole would respond to a woman's advances in front of his son, while his pregnant wife wasn't there. Matt wasn't an asshole.
"Yeah, he said he was married and that he loved you, uh...very much!" Brandon got very loud remembering his father's words, almost word for word.
"I love Daddy very much too." Matt rested a hand on his wife's shoulder, and she put her hand on top of his. Brandon nodded enthusiastically.
"I know, that's why you don't care that your rock isn't big." Then Emily's mouth did drop, as did Lia's and Cheryl's. Emily's head flew toward Matt. What had they been teaching her son. Matt held up his hands defensively.
"Bran, tell Mommy what Maureen from the CNU told you," Matt instructed his son.
"Maureen?" All three women chorused in equal confusion.
"She told me that all girls like big rocks." He turned to his father to confirm he'd done as asked. Matt made the continued motion with his hand.
"What else did she say?" Brandon thought for a moment and then got it.
"Oh, she said Mommy deserves a bigger rock because she has to put up with Daddy...what does that mean?" He looked from adult to adult, waiting for a response.
"That means she doesn't like Daddy much." Emily didn't know if she should be amused or angry.
"Why doesn't she like Daddy?" Brandon grew upset, why wouldn't someone like his daddy?
"Because she's a lonely, grouchy woman," Matt offered by way of explanation. Truth be told, he'd slept with her almost fifteen years ago, and then made it clear it was just a one-night thing. She wasn't happy.
"Brandon, can you do something for Mommy?" Emily asked sweetly.
"Yes, Mommy." Brandon nodded his head.
"Please call them diamonds, and not 'rocks'," she pled. All she needed was her eight year-old seeing a ring and exclaiming about the 'size of that rock'.
The next morning was very difficult for Matt and Emily, actually the first half of the day was very difficult. The doctor was supposed to call them when she got the results back sometime today. They were both desperately hoping the results would be negative; they couldn't seem to wrap their minds around the possibility of the tests being positive. It brought up too many questions, too many decisions that had to be made, and too much guilt.
If they even considered aborting their baby because it had a birth defect, did they really deserve a baby? But, could they give a special needs child the care and attention that it needed, that it deserved? They had busy hectic schedules, that would only grow more complicated as Brandon grew up and started participating in sports and school clubs. A baby naturally steals attention from it's older siblings, but a handicapped child would take it's parents' attention their whole lives. That wasn't fair to Brandon. One of them would have to quit work, and could they even afford that? Tradition said it would be Emily to stop working, but could she do that without resenting their child?
There were so many reasons not to keep the baby if the results were positive. But, if they chose to abort it, could Emily actually go through with it? Could she lay there and let them take the baby she and Matt had tried so hard to make?
These thoughts beat against their brains plaguing them as they worked, as they had lunch. Happy as they'd been last night, they were as glum and distant that morning and afternoon. Then the phone rang, and it was the doctor.
"Emily, good afternoon. I've had a chance to go over your results, and good news, it's negative. Your baby is healthy, no birth defects of any kind. Congratulations." Emily could hear the smile in the doctor's voice.
"Are you sure?" Emily's voice came out loud, heavy with emotion and a tad desperate, causing the room's attention to focus on her. Matt hurried over to her, resting a hand on her back, but not saying anything.
"Yep, I've been reading amnio results for a long time, I know what I'm looking at. Your baby is fine."
"Thank you, Dr. Marbry." The doctor acknowledged her thank you, and hung up. Emily turned to Matt, hands over her mouth and nose, relearning how to breathe.
"So?" He asked, body tense as if to allow the answer to bounce off him.
"It was negative, the baby is fine, healthy." She threw her arms around him, and held on tightly.
"Oh, thank god," Matt breathed, reciprocating just as fiercely.
This is what made couples strong, moments like this. Surviving these intimate crises, that took a kind of love that few people see, and even fewer appreciate. Wanting to celebrate these personal victories with each other, before anyone else, that meant something.
In a room not to far away, another man sat rubbing his wife's back, whispering to her that maybe they weren't really ready, but nobody really was until the time came. They still had twenty weeks, they'd be okay, and they had plenty of close friends and family to help if they weren't.
So this one doesn't really have Cleo, but I couldn't really fit her in. Sorry, but I'm continuing the series, so she'll come back in. Thanks for reading, and please review! Oh, and baby name suggestions are entirely welcome!