Disclaimer: These characters are the property of Ted, Terry, and Disney. I only own the plot.

Chapter 2

Two weeks had passed since Elizabeth's nightmare. Fortunately, sleep had been coming easier and easier to her over those last two weeks and she had not had another nightmare since. She supposed that Will had been right when he told her that nothing would come from them; that they were just dreams and nothing more.

While Elizabeth was pleased that her nightmare had not returned, she couldn't deny that the thought of it still troubled her, in some sense. Usually dreams didn't bother her, but this one had been different – she couldn't shake off the ominous feeling that it gave her; she couldn't let go of it. The feeling of dread always hung over her head whenever she thought about it, and that didn't sit well with her. Not in the slightest.

But, that was something that she no longer had to worry about, it seemed. It was just a dream after all, as Will had said - nothing to worry about, right?

With her insomnia gone, Elizabeth found it quite easy to fall back into her normal, daily routine. Well, as easy as her daily routine permitted.

"Elizabeth, did you check the guest list?" Susan, Elizabeth's American coworker, asked as she hurriedly fingered through the invitations to the benefit their company was hosting within the next few days.

"Yes, yes," Elizabeth replied, surpassing the urge to roll her eyes, as she laid the list down on the nearest desk. "I've checked it three times already."

"Oh, don't sound so irritable," Susan remarked, glancing up from the invitations for a split second to glare at her coworker. "We're all on edge here."

"Us more than anyone," Elizabeth murmured softly.

Susan once again looked up from her work to stare at Elizabeth, only this time in a friendlier manner.

"Indeed," Susan smiled slightly. Elizabeth returned the small smile.

"This is just…" Elizabeth let out a long sigh. "Just very stressful."

Susan got up from where she was seated to stand in front of her colleague. "I know it's stressful now, but it'll all pay off for us within the next few months."

"For one of us, you mean," Elizabeth retorted, quirking an eyebrow. Susan rolled her eyes.

"Yes, I know," she said, letting her hands rest on Elizabeth's shoulders. "Just stop worrying about it. I know that only one of us can get promoted, but staying in this position isn't necessarily the worst possible thing."

"That's easy for you to say," Elizabeth said, shrugging Susan off before sitting down in the chair behind her desk. "You've only been at this job for what? About three months?"

"Three months is a long time, my dear," Susan tried to point out, reseating herself at her own desk.

"Not when I've been at this job for the last two years," Elizabeth countered. "That's twenty-one more months that I have over your head."

"So, maybe you've been working at this longer than I have – big deal." Susan let out a long frustrated sigh. "I'm ready to move onto bigger and better things, things that don't involve folding napkins and counting invitations to stupid banquets that I could honestly care less about."

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes at her arrogant coworker. "You do know that the only difference between moving from Assistant Director to actual Director is that one – you get paid more, and two – you don't have to do all the actual folding and counting yourself."

"Exactly!" Susan exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air. "You don't have to deal with all of this shit" – she indicated the invitations, lists, and layouts lying strewn across the table before her – "or anything of the like. All you have to worry about is who you hire to do it for you."

"You still have to work," Elizabeth stated, growing more and more agitated with Susan as the seconds passed. "Just because you don't have to do this work doesn't mean you just get to sit around all day and do nothing."

"Whatever." Susan waved her hand as she turned away from Elizabeth, indicating that she was through with the conversation.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes as both she and Susan got back to their tasks at hand – Susan resuming her counting of the invitations while Elizabeth looked over the layout of the ballroom their next benefit would be held in.

Competing for a job was not something Elizabeth particularly enjoyed. While Elizabeth knew that she was both more deserving and more qualified for the position of Director of Organization than Susan was, she was also aware that her boss, the current director, liked to play favorites – and his current favorite was none other than Susan.

Maybe being a slut does have its perks, after all. Elizabeth once again rolled her eyes as she overlooked the centerpiece arrangements. She wasn't willing to admit it to anyone, but she was scared. Too long she'd been working for this; too many hours she'd put into doing her job to the best of her ability. But, for what? Yes, she was now in a position to possibly move up, but it came at the price of having to compete for the promotion with the director's new favorite fling – er, employee.

"Elizabeth!"

Elizabeth's head shot up from her work as she heard her name. When she turned around to get a good look at whoever had called for her, she came face to face with her boss, Todd Matthews.

While Elizabeth knew that she would never want, nor love, any man other than Will, she had to admit that her boss was quite attractive. With wavy, ear-length sandy blonde hair, a tan, lean figure, and an large smile, Todd was an easy man to fall for - almost as easy to fall for as her husband.

His personality, as well as his eighteenth century attitude towards women, however, put her off greatly. She couldn't recall ever meeting a man as pompous and egotistical as her boss. A reason, she noted, that Will didn't like her working for him.

And he was married – married to a lovely girl whom she liked very much, named Samantha. Elizabeth couldn't understand why sweet, loyal Samantha had picked to marry her fickle, discriminating boss of all people. Elizabeth knew that Samantha was aware of his fooling around with other women, but she was powerless to do anything to stop it. Cheating was not something Elizabeth condoned, and she couldn't grasp why her boss put his poor wife through this.

"Elizabeth, my dear!" She inwardly cringed. "How are the preparations coming along? The event is in three days, you know," he reminded her, stopping in front of her desk.

"I'm quite aware of that, sir," she told him coolly, handing him a copy of the documentation for the event as she respectfully stood up.

"Just checking," he said loftily, looking through the packet Elizabeth had given him. "As I'm moving onto bigger and better things, I want to make sure my two selections for Director are working diligently."

No wonder he's bedding Susan – their arrogance levels off quite well. "Oh, I am, sir," Elizabeth reassured him, giving him the brightest – fake – smile she could muster.

"Good," he said smoothly, sliding the documents into a folder. "I'll be back to check on your progress tomorrow afternoon." With a wink and a hasty wave over to Susan, he left. Elizabeth visibly relaxed.

"What's wrong with you?" Susan asked, once again looking up from her work to stare at Elizabeth.

Elizabeth froze. "What do you mean?" She tried to act nonchalant.

"You look really pale," Susan told her point blank.

Elizabeth scoffed. "We live in England, Susan – almost everyone is pale. It's not like California, or wherever the hell you're from."

Susan rolled her eyes. "You look paler than you normally do."

"Do I?" As Elizabeth thought about it, she did begin to notice a queasy, uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. She began to feel rather lightheaded, as well.

Susan got up when Elizabeth began to sway unsteadily on her feet. "Maybe you should sit down," she advised, helping Elizabeth back over to her desk chair.

"I…uh…" Elizabeth pressed her palm firmly against her forehead, hoping to alleviate some of the pressure she was suddenly feeling. "I think I need a glass of water."

"I'll be right back." Susan quickly got up and made her way towards the employee lounge.

Elizabeth couldn't remember ever feeling this unbalanced and queasy before. It was an odd feeling – and she didn't like it one bit.

"Here's your water, Elizabeth," Susan announced, hurrying back over to where her coworker was sitting.

"Susan, I…" Elizabeth suddenly felt her nausea come at her full force. She covered her mouth and ran to the employee loo as quickly as she could.

"What's wrong with Elizabeth?" one of Susan and Elizabeth's coworkers, Steve, asked Susan concernedly as he walked into their office.

Susan was at a loss. "I have no idea. She was honestly fine like two minutes ago."

Steve glanced worriedly in the direction of the loo. "Maybe I should ring Will…"

"Yeah," Susan agreed, nodding, "that would be a good idea."

It didn't take long for Will to show up after he'd been called. As he was a professor of Caribbean history at Oxford University, he'd been able to end his class early, earning quite a roar of approval from his many students, and drive out to his wife's office. Steve was waiting for him in the lobby of the building.

"How is she?" Will immediately asked upon seeing Steve.

"I don't know," Steve told him honestly, leading him towards the elevators that would take them to Elizabeth's floor. "She hasn't come out of the loo yet."

"Tell me exactly what happened before you called me," Will demanded as they stepped into one of the two elevators.

"Well," Steve began, pushing the '8' button on the panel inside the elevator, "I just saw her run into the loo. If you want a more detailed response, I would suggest asking Susan when we get up to their office."

Will only nodded, too focused on watching the ascending numbers above the elevator doors to respond verbally.

Ding. Will took off at a run towards Elizabeth's office as soon as the elevator doors opened. Upon entering the spacious office, Will immediately spotted Susan seated behind her desk, nervously awaiting his arrival.

"Susan," Will started, coming to a direct stop in front of her, "where's Liz?"

"She's still in the loo," Susan informed him, biting her bottom lip. "She's been in there for about twenty minutes."

"You haven't even tried to coax her out?" Will asked disbelievingly.

"Believe me – I've tried," Susan snapped. "It's not that easy, Will; she's stubborn as hell."

"Sorry," Will apologized meekly.

"It's all right. But, she's apparently fine," she reassured Will. "While I was trying to get her to come out, she kept telling me that she was fine and just wanted to be left alone."

"Well, that's good, at least," Will said, running a hand through his unruly, shoulder-length brown hair. "I've just been really worried about her – she hasn't been in the right mindset lately."

Susan furrowed her brow in confusion. "What do you mean? She's seemed fine to me – same old bossy Elizabeth Turner."

Will rolled his eyes at the comment before explaining. "You know how she took a week off about two weeks ago?"

Susan scoffed. "Yeah. I was left to do all of this crap by myself," she muttered bitterly.

Will chose to ignore her comment. "The reason she wasn't here was because she was losing countless hours of sleep over these odd feelings that she'd been having."

"Wait." Susan held up a manicured hand to stop him. "She told me that you guys went on, like, a second honeymoon, or something."

"Well, she lied," Will said slowly as if he was speaking to a four year old.

"So," Susan began again, ignoring the tone in her coworker's husband's voice, "she wasn't sleeping at all?" She regretted her earlier rudeness.

"I got her to sleep once," Will admitted, vividly replaying the memory of his wife waking up, screaming and sobbing, in his mind. "She had a terrible nightmare and woke up scared as hell that something had happened, or was going to happen, to me."

"Poor Elizabeth." Susan tried to feel empathy for the other woman, but found it difficult to do so; she'd never experienced that in her life, and hoped that she never would.

"Have you taken her to a therapist or a psychologist?" Susan asked quietly, trying to help in some way.

Will shook his head. "She's not crazy," he snapped.

Susan held up her hands in defense. "I'm not saying she is; I'm just saying that it might be beneficial for her to talk to someone."

"Look," Will said, holding up a hand to stop her as he rubbed his tired eyes with his other hand, "I appreciate the thought, but it was only one dream and nothing more. And she hasn't had any of those feelings in weeks."

"Then, why did you even bring it up?"

"Because the worrier inside of me automatically thought of that when I got Steve's call; I'm not saying that what's going on with her now has anything to do with what was going on before, but there's always that possibility," Will rationalized.

Susan nodded as an uncomfortable silence fell around them. After several moments, Susan spoke up.

"Maybe you should go and check on her," she urged. "You're her husband – if anyone around here could get her to come out of the bathroom, it would be you."

"Right." Will nodded before walking off towards the loo. When he reached the door, he gently knocked against it a couple of times.

"Liz," he began, pressing her ear up against the cold wood.

"Will?" she called out uncertainly. He felt his heart break slightly as he heard her choke back a sob.

"Yes, it's me." He spoke softly and patiently, all traces of his earlier urgency gone. "Can I come in?" he asked hopefully. Not but three seconds later, he heard the door lock click and the door opened, revealing a disheveled Elizabeth.

The dam of her resolve broke as soon as she saw her husband. Letting out a loud sob, she hurriedly threw her arms around Will and hugged him to her tightly.

"Lizzie, what's wrong?" Will asked confusedly into her hair, holding her head gently against his collarbone. "I got a phone call from Steve saying that you were sick to your stomach, but then Susan told me you said you were fine."

"I did feel sick to my stomach," Elizabeth told him, pulling him into the bathroom with her before locking the door behind them. "But, I didn't want Susan to know that."

"Well, how do you feel now?" Will pulled back from his wife to check her over. "You do look quite pale."

"I feel somewhat all right at the moment – the nausea's seemed to go away. But, I do still feel really lightheaded," she said, gripping her husband's shoulder in order to steady herself.

"Let's get you home, then," Will said, beginning to move them towards the door.

"But," Elizabeth objected, "what about work? We have that benefit in three days! I have to stay and make sure I get everything done."

"Susan can take care of it," Will conceded.

"But, then that'll make me look like a slacker; you know I'm in competition with her for that promotion, Will," she protested.

Will sighed. "Liz, you can't work when you're feeling like this. I'll phone Todd and let him know of the situation. It'll be fine."

Elizabeth pouted. "Fine. But, he won't be happy," she muttered.

Will rolled his eyes. "Well, screw him. He's never happy with anything anyone does anyway."

"Will!" she giggled.

"You know it's true." He smirked. "Come on," he said, helping her out of the room. Walking back past Elizabeth's office, they spotted Steve.

"Are you all right, Elizabeth?" Steve asked worriedly, running over to the couple.

"I'm decent," she said with a slight smile, leaning against her husband.

"I'm going to take her home," Will told the other man, one arm wrapped around his wife's waist securely. "She's in no position to sit here for the rest of the day and work."

"Want me to go and explain to Susan?" Steve inquired, trying his best to help out.

"Yeah," Will told him gratefully. "That would be quite helpful, actually."

"I'm on it," Steve assured him, smiling. He turned to Elizabeth. "I hope you feel better." He leaned in close to Elizabeth, so he could be sure that Susan wouldn't overhear him. "That bitch is hell to work with, especially when she and Todd are together, so please hurry back."

Elizabeth laughed softly. "I'll try my best." After a quick goodbye, Will and Elizabeth left the office.

The drive home was not a pleasant one. Elizabeth became sick about halfway there, resulting in an impromptu stop off to the side of the road. Will held her hair up and rubbed her back gently as she emptied her stomach into a random bush.

The couple finally made it home after one other stop off to the side of the road. While Elizabeth felt sicker than she'd ever felt in her entire life, she was glad Will had gotten her to leave work; home, she decided, was a much better alternative.

Carrying his sickly wife in his strong arms, Will slowly walked up the stairs to their bedroom. After placing Elizabeth gently on their bed, Will walked into their bathroom to fill up a glass of water, hoping she'd be able to keep it down.

"Here," he said, walking back over to the bed, "drink this."

Elizabeth moaned intolerantly when she saw the glass of water. "Will…"

"Come on," he prompted, "it'll make you feel better. You need to keep yourself hydrated." Elizabeth begrudgingly complied with his request, taking the glass from her husband and downing a few sips of it.

"No more," she said, pushing it back into Will's hands. Will nodded, grateful that she at least took a few drinks.

"Do you want me to get you anything else?" he asked kindly.

Elizabeth shook her head. Silence settled around them, as Will made sure she was comfortable.

"Will…" Elizabeth began hesitantly.

"Hmm?"

"What if…"

"'What if' what?" he inquired, giving her his undivided attention.

"What if I'm pregnant?" she suggested, silently studying his face for any sort of reaction.

Will stared at Elizabeth for several moments. "Will…"

"You would make me the happiest person on this entire earth," he told her honestly, smiling.

Elizabeth laughed. "How very cliché of you," she said, smirking.

Will rolled his eyes playfully. "Cliché, yes; but, it's true."

"Even if this is a bit early?" she queried. "I know we wanted to wait a few more years, but…"

"It doesn't matter," Will told her, taking one of her hands in his. "I did want to wait, before, but I'm ready to be a father now, if you are indeed giving me that opporntuniry."

"I'm ready, too," Elizabeth happily agreed as Will climbed over her, contently laying himself behind her.

The couple fell into a comfortable silence. Will protectively wrapped his arms around Elizabeth as he began to nod off.

"Will," Elizabeth spoke up suddenly.

"Mmm?" he murmured tiredly, his eyes closed.

"Would you mind running to the grocery store and picking up a test for me? I want to make sure of this before we get too excited."

Will groaned in protest. "Do I have to go right now?"

"Yes," she insisted, turning around so she could push him towards the side of the bed.

Will begrudgingly complied with her request, slowly getting up off the bed before sliding his shoes back on.

"Will you be all right here by yourself?" he queried, nervous about leaving a nauseous Elizabeth all alone.

"I'll be fine," she said, kissing his hand. "Just don't take too long."

"I won't," he assured her, giving her a quick kiss on the forehead before leaving.

--

A/N: Hope that didn't bore you all too much. It's essential to the story, so it has to be there. I hope you guys liked it, regardless.

Just for you, Meggie, I'm going to attempt to make Will's shopping trip humorous in the next chapter. I know you requested some lighthearted/fluffy/humorous moments before it all goes under, so hopefully it'll live up to your expectations. If it doesn't, you can always curse me out later. Hah.