Disclaimer: I, Reita May, do not have any custody over the characters, settings, and/or etc. from Hamtaro. All of this awesomeness is Ritsuko Kawai's. The lucky duck. XD
To Us
Chapter One: Preparations
"Alrighty!" Panda said with a happy sigh as he pounded in the last nail. He stood and brushed off his paws by slapping them together a few times. The young man's proud smile was nothing compared to Sandy and Maxwell's grins and beams of approval on his work with re-building the crib.
"Ohh! Thank you, thank you, thank you, Panda! You're the best! You sooo have like, no clue how grateful I am!" With that, Sandy began to peck his cheek repeatedly.
"Umm…" Panda side-stepped away from his friend, blushing. "I think I do…"
Everyone in the room laughed.
"Just… Take our humble words and know that what you did is very appreciated," Maxwell said, shaking Panda's paw.
"Oh, it's noth-"
"Hey! What about me?" Someone chuckled in the doorway.
All eyes moved to where the familiar voice came from and there stood Stan, one arm draped around his wife Candace's shoulder and the other busy getting tugged at by Starlette. The groups exchanged short greetings as the toddler ran over to her parents.
"Hi, Mommy!" Both Sandy and Maxwell pet her on the head with tender looks upon their faces.
"Whew! That little girl's a lotta work! And you guys are gonna bring in ano-" His sentence was interrupted by his twin's choking bear-hug and many cheek kisses.
"Stanley, you're silly!" she giggled, getting pulled away from the confused ham by Maxwell. Candace and Panda watched in amusement, snickering.
"Sorry about that," Max apologized to both his brother-in-law and Panda.
"Nah. It's fine." Stan waved a paw. "I blame the hormones."
-.-.-
Both Sandy and Candace grimaced, pulling out a glass and a bowl form the dishwasher with their fingers. They traded disgusted glances and laughed.
"Don't men have the concept of a dishwasher by now?" the brunette asked, picking at a dried-on fleck of the other night's dinner.
"Beats me, girlfriend, but I'm totally guessing no."
Giggling, the duo of women continued with paw washing the silverware.
"You know, guys can be so careless at times."
"Mmhm," Sandy agreed. Her pregnant belly jiggled as if nodding when she lowered from her toes after putting some plates away on the shelf. Candace found this sweetly comical and let out a warm, hearty laugh.
"I mean, I can understand Stan doing this, but wasn't Max helping t-" Sandy put a tight hold on her trembling friend's shoulders. Candace could feel the chilly dishwater seep into her fur, but was too scared to really notice.
"Don't you dare go there, Candace Michelle! My hubby is like, way more organized than that ham of my brother you married." Candace's eyes blinked frantically, looking to the left then right in her anxiety. She wasn't sure if Sandy was joking and she could laugh or not, but by the looks of things, that was a negative and meant she should keep quiet. And that's what she did, shivering. It was very uncharacteristic for Sandy to act like this. "Look at me, Candace!" snarled Sandy.
Staring in the other lady's fiery emerald eyes, a very deep and perplexing thought crossed Candace's mind. It was a silly one, but one that worried her so.
'Will I end up like this if Stan and me decide on having a family…? Will everyone think I'm a monster, too?'
The rest of Sandy's banter was drowned out.
-.-.-.
A random and makeshift meeting was called amongst the other three since Sandy had fallen asleep on the couch in hers and Maxwell's part of the house. Stan was sure to close the door to the kitchen before joining Candace and Maxwell at the counter to chat at this ample opportunity.
Maxwell watched solemnly as Stan traipsed around the room in circles until he finally sat down next to Candace, who drank weak coffee in the silence. Each and every one of them felt differently about this situation, yet all three were feeling the same worry over Sandy.
Eventually Stan spoke, after clearing his throat.
"Okay. There's something up with my sis. I mean, she didn't go through all these freakish mood swings with Star!"
"Every pregnancy is different, though," Maxwell told him. "But I do agree. Her changes in temperament are becoming more of a concern to me too, with how rapidly they come and how powerful they are…"
Candace nodded wearily.
"I think we should do something for her so she doesn't end up strangling me." She sighed, gazing down into her empty mug.
"Or smothers me with hugs and kisses! Yuck! Haha."
"Or keeps wanting to… You know…" Maxwell flushed.
Stan burst into laughter. "Who wouldn't want that?"
"I don't think I would," Candace mumbled to herself, picturing herself in Sandy's shoes dreamily. No one had heard her.
"Well, she has our child inside of her, Stan. It would just be wrong to me." The other man shot him a weird glance. "It's a personal choice, and a mutual one, that Sandy and I have made," Maxwell defended.
"Whatever."
-.-.-.
Stan and Candace would have been invisible to the world that night, or so it seemed, hadn't their overlapping bodies made a reasonably sized lump under the blankets in the dark. It bobbed up and down with every movement they made in their entanglement, proving their presence.
Between frequent kisses, Candace giggled to herself at first, laying below Stan, whom smiled timidly at her. The longer the two were intimate, the more uncontrollable her soft laughter became until Stan had had enough.
"What? Is my dick telling jokes down there?" he questioned teasingly. Candace's laughs amplified.
"Nooo…" She gave him a smile and a peck. "I'm just really happy."
"Happy?" Stan raised an eyebrow, earning himself a brisk pat to the cheek.
"Yes. Happy. It's been a while since we had a nice night like this."
The man nodded, kissing her forehead.
"It has," he finally replied. Three weeks was a long time to go without 'bonding' like this for them. He frowned when Candace had lifted the blanket covering them some quiet minutes later. She turned on the lamp next to their bed so that she could check the clock.
"Oh gosh! It's that late already? The baby shower's tomorrow and I promised your sister I'd help! I'm so sorry, dear, but I need to get some sleep." Her eyes were full of remorse as she's said this, but Stan brought her joyful mood back with his antics of begging.
"Can't we just finish before closing up shop?" he plead gently, moving his face closer to hers, forcing her head back onto the pillow so they could share another kiss. She sighed, nuzzling him.
"Fine," she caved, turning pink. "But, hurry up," was her playfully stern warning as she tried concealing a smile.
Stan quickly shut off the light before submerging them in the blanket to continue their moment of passion.
-.-.-.
All of the women at the shower were in bunches of twos to fours scattered about the living room. Some were munching on hors-dourves or nibbling on tiny candies and all of them were chatting excitedly over which ever the topic was. Mainly the new coming baby.
Candace leaned against the wall near Sandy, drooping her head. After not getting much sleep the night before and spending all morning setting up the party, she was exhausted. Sure, she had talked with her friends a bit, and of course she ate and took part in the activities, but if the rest saw her as anti-social now, she didn't mind them not bothering her thinking that. All she wanted to do was take a nap. To curl up with Stan… To be a mother.
All of this baby shower stuff was making her pang more and more for such a blessing. But, being a mom fell into second at the time- next to sleeping. Since the party was starting to get dull, some others began to feel this way too. Especially not-so-little Penelope.
" Pashy, I'm bored!" the girl whined.
"Shush. The shower isn't over yet and don't be rude," was Pashmina's soft reply.
Sandy had noticed the dying aura her party had and quickly snuck over to Candace after dismissing herself from Bijou and Sparkle.
"Psst! Candy!" she whispered. Her only answer was a snore. "Candace!"
Candace's eyes shot open from the startle.
"Huh? What?" Seeing Sandy, she wiped a bead of cold sweat from her brow and smiled.
"I need your help for like, figuring out what to do next. I'm totally out of ideas!"
The panicking ham's friend looked at her considerately through bloodshot eyes and thought. It was getting late into the afternoon, and since all the games had been played already by then, she figured the best closer would be to open the guests' gifts.
"Why not get to the presents now?" Candace said simply, yawning.
Sandy clapped and took a hop.
"That's a great idea! Thank-Q!" Candace's reward was a smooch on the cheek. "Okay, girls! It's present time!" she announced, walking towards the decorated table on which gifts had been piled on in the center of the room.
"Finally!" Penelope breathed out. Her sister narrowed her eyes at the child.
Before she got there, though, Candace had attacked her from behind with a napkin. With it, she wiped Sandy's mouth.
"Ya had a little extra lipstick on there, hon," she explained with a sheepish laugh. The tiger-striped lady glared at her.
"Well, if you wouldn't have put so much on me…" she trailed off huffily.
"You're such a tomboy, Sans." Candace giggled in a friendly manner. Sandy growled, ready to yell something at her, but decided not to embarrass herself like that in front of her other pals. Instead, she grabbed the fancy little bad that was handed to her by Pepper. Candace smiled meekly at seeing it was hers and was happy when it had quickly changed Sandy's mood with what was inside.
"Aww…!! Like, oh my gosh, Candy! Thanks so much! These PJ's are sooo totally adorable!" she cooed in a squeaky voice, eyes lighting up.
Candace let out a relieved sigh.
'Thank God for itsy bitsy footy pajamas…'
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Author's Note: Sorry about the super long wait, everyone!! I started to write this story last summer, but never got around to getting the first chapter done! I just didn't know what to do or where to go with it until last week! I've decided to go in a different direction with it and that's what's so frustrating! I could have done that all along! lol Well, anyway, I'm not the most happy with this, but I'll be content since it's the farthest work I've gotten. I had a few later chapters written for almost a year now, but they'll have to be revised for sure, so hold on tight, all! This story is meant to be a little more... "grown-up" compared to the other two, in case you were wondering. Well... Thanks for reading! I appreciate you taking the time! And I really, really hope you enjoyed it! xoxo