Hi there!
I know, took me a while to get back to this one-shots series, but I gave you some snacks in between, haven't I? ;)
However... Did someone request some fluff? :D
Enjoy
Alex has that look on her face again.
The one of mild disgust that would almost completely mask the real amusement lying underneath but that you still catch with practiced ease, even before she speaks and comments on the scene playing before her, on the show that you are offering with anything but elegance.
"You know, it's going to be very hard for me to push away this image from my head if I ever want to have sex with you again."
Okay, so maybe hearing that comment out loud is actually a little embarrassing.
Self-consciously, you fold a little onto yourself, slowing down your chewing and then taking a much smaller bite of your cheeseburger, offering her an apologetic little smile adorned with a smudge of barbecue sauce on the corner of your upper lip.
"Sowy." You mumble around the bite, having at least the decency of covering your mouth when you speak before reaching for one of the napkins piled up on the coffee table.
But Alex, as if to prove that she isn't as disgusted by the display of you devouring two burgers (in what is probably going to be a new record time) with the same grace and table manners of a starved t-rex, just like she first might have - rightfully - given the impression to be, starts to chuckle.
"It's okay." She reassures, finally letting the humor of the situation to emerge, shaping her previous grimace into a full, deeply amused and pleased smile. "In fact, it was worth it waiting in line for half an hour just to witness this whole scene."
Another breeze of guilt washes inevitably over you in hearing that, making your gaze shift once more to the clock on the stereo.
"I'm so sorry, baby. I can't believe there was a line outside that restaurant at midnight." You comment after swallowing your bite, exhaling a long remorseful sigh, but Alex just smiles at you, without that usual glint of mischief, shaking her head and dismissing what has now been your billionth unnecessary apology for the night.
"It's okay." She repeats, knowingly, with that same soft smile gracing her lips, so warm and reassuring and loving, and more than enough to soothe that uncomfortable spikiness from your chest that is so easy to elicit in you lately.
Just like the thousands of other emotions that seems to be constantly fluttering all over the space surrounding you.
That soft smile on her face however, twists into another little grimace as she winces, looking once again a bit horrified when you lean forward from the couch to pick up the opened jar of strawberry preserve from the coffee table, using the spoon peaking from the rim to add a little more of jam inside your burger.
"Jesus Pipes... I get the hunger and everything, but seriously?" Gone is the note of amusement from earlier, right now she sounds and looks somewhere in between exasperation and real, authentic revulsion. "How can you even think about eating that?"
But the embarrassment that you felt earlier upon hearing her first comment is completely gone now as well, replaced by yet another one of those emotions flitting wildly about you.
Something akin to disinterest, or maybe even resignation.
"Don't ask me." You merely shrug this time, because honestly, you have given up trying to explain or find a reason behind your newly discovered, messy, and utterly unreasonable tastes in food, something that, if you were in different... conditions, you are sure you would find the whole thing pretty disgusting as well.
And yet, as you take another generous bite of cheese meat and bread covered in strawberry jam, and let the taste unfold on your palate, you have to admit that "It's actually really good."
You glance over at Alex. "Want to try it?"
You practically thrust the burger in her face, from which she promptly turns away as if you were showing her an old, dirty, smelly sock.
"Nope. I'm good, thank you."
But this time you don't allow the self-consciousness about what have lately become your new, personal, arguable tastes in food sink in front of her refusal.
"I believe we have both eaten worse things." You point out, quirking an eyebrow at her, not needing to remind her the awful, daily excuses of slop of meals you have endured for way too long.
She still looks a bit reluctant, which you are starting to find offensive actually.
But you don't get defensive. Somehow managing not to surrender to that temper that can get even more unstable with your unpredictable mood swings.
Instead, you go for another tactic and just... pout a little.
And for how simple, this does the trick.
Alex crumbles.
"Ugh, okay fine!" She groans, glaring at the overly satisfied grin stretching on your lips and then at the burger in your hand before leaning in, sniffing and then sinking her teeth into the corner left by your latest bite.
She pulls back, chews, and after a thorough review of the sample she took, she - still very reluctantly, though - nods, somehow approvingly.
"You know," She comments at last after swallowing and politely wiping at her mouth. "It's actually not half as bad as I thought it would be."
The statement is immediately followed by an eye roll when she sees you gloat in the rarity of having her admit that she was wrong about something you have insisted on.
It's almost enough to satiate your seemingly limitless appetite.
Almost.
The rest of the burger is gone in just a couple of more bites, and you would probably sink your teeth into a third one if it were there, but that would just be out of pure gluttony.
You wipe your hands, your mouth and chin from any residue of sauce before adjusting your position on the couch, something that these days require a gigantic effort.
And also something that amuses Alex infinitely.
"Here, let me help."
She is smirking again, helping you fix the pillow behind your back against the corner of the couch before you can lean into it, releasing a happy relieved sigh of pure contentment at the comfort brought by the new position.
"So," She asks, after having picked up a couple of wrappers, closed the jam jar and reclaimed her previous seat, swinging your legs up and in her lap. "Even without the strawberry addition I take it they were good?"
You hum, both in approval and in contemplation.
"Although, to be honest, I would have preferred if the meat of the burgers was actually medium cooked, and not well-"
"Piper..." The soft reprimand comes with that inflection that you are starting to find quite endearing. It's a tone you never thought you would hear coming from Alex.
"I know, I know." You sigh, a hand already coming down to gently pat and rub your sated, swollen belly.
Tentatively, Alex's hand reaches out, coming to rest above yours, but you don't hesitate a second to intertwine your fingers together, giving hers a little squeeze and flashing her a grateful smile for her late-night delivery services.
And it's right then, in the immediate moment that follows, just before you can actually voice your thanks, and in the second your joined hands settle a little more firmly on your stomach that you feel it.
The little stirring coming from below.
The quiet movement coming from inside you.
You feel Alex go instantly rigid, and when you whip your head up to look at her, for a second, you half expect her to bolt.
You have... experienced that feeling for a couple of weeks now but...
It's the first time for her.
And you watch her attentively.
Eyes wide, lips parted, and every muscle in her body drawn impossibly tight and tense.
Suddenly, she doesn't look like the fierce, proud, strong predatory wild creature you have come to compare her with.
In fact, right now, she looks more like a startled deer that is too stunned to move, but that after a second - which you have spent in breathless anticipation - surrenders to curiosity and, still tentatively, leans forward.
"Was that...?"
Those wide green eyes filled with a turmoil of emotions meet yours, and doesn't matter how hard you try, a smile still twitches at the corner of your mouth despite your intention to keep a soft, neutral expression, wanting to reassure her, even though part of you wants to tease her a little for asking such an obvious question, but...
She has this look on her face.
So vulnerable and frightened. And yet, under that dark hue of shock mingled with a drop of fear, there is that glint in the depth of her eyes, sparkling with a brighter sense of wonder, of awe.
It's a blend of emotions that breaks your heart and mends it in all at once.
You caress the back of her hand with your thumb, slowly feeling the tendons there losing tension.
"Are you scared?" The question comes out so softly that it almost gets lost in the stillness of your apartment, swallowed by the other muffled noises of the city and perpetual traffic coming from the streets below, but at least, all those mingled sounds serve to mask the emotional crack in your voice.
Alex swallows, hard, and nods her head, releasing a long shaky breath as her frozen gaze finally shifts from your joined hands resting on your belly, to meet your own.
"I'm... terrified." She admits.
There is no resisting the tears that well up in your eyes. Just like there is no resisting the contrasting smile that breaks across your face. All result of the display of her vulnerability and honesty.
"You are going to be great." You tell her with nothing but all of your conviction holding up that statement, giving her hand another reassuring squeeze.
But of course, it's hardly enough to convince Alex, who immediately protests.
"How can you even say that when I know nothing about-"
You don't let her finish. Promptly shushing her before she can utter another word. Before she can say whatever big fat lie she was going to.
Ever since the very beginning, ever since you decided to re-approach the subject with her, even if it was just to test the waters one more time on a matter you thought was already settled for good but couldn't help ask again, she has done nothing but getting information from everywhere she could.
Searching for the very last kind of literature you would have ever expected to find in her possession. But catching her reading such material, for how surprising, almost shocking even, was already a step towards the answer you were hoping to receive this time around.
But you get what she means.
You know nothing on the subject either.
Are still not prepared.
Don't think you'll ever be.
And it's not like you can blame Alex for being scared, especially not when you undoubtedly are as well. But you still don't allow her to finish that sentence, refusing to let her spiral down a potentially destructive path of uncertainty.
So you scoot closer to her - herculean effort or not - lean forward and kiss her, soft and slow, succeeding in interrupting whatever nonsense she was going to say next. Feeling the tension in her body slowly melt away.
"You are here." You breathe against her lips when you part, resting your foreheads together, placing your hand on the side of her head, caressing her cheek, stroking back her long proud dark mane. A gesture that in its simplicity seems to be enough to get her breathing and the insistent pounding of her heart under some resemblance of normalcy.
"We are going to figure this out together." You continue with the same unyielding certainty. "And we are going to teach her how to be better. So that she won't make the mistakes we did."
This earns you an unexpected, genuine laugh.
A quiet puff of warm air that brushes against your own lips before Alex pulls back.
"Yeah," She smirks. "Like fall in love with a drug dealer and end up in prison."
You know that she means it as nothing more than just a humorous comment. That there is no real weight pressing on that sentence. But you still frown upon hearing it, feeling the burning need to clarify that statement just in case there might some trace of deprecation that you haven't heard and that might be lingering in her. You wouldn't be surprised if there is, hiding under the mask of that deceptive little smirk.
"I've have made a lot of mistakes in my life." You admit in earnest, and the confession is already enough to get her attention, and slowly take away that sly smile as her expression grows gradually more honest. "But falling in love with you has never been one of them. It was never even a choice."
Her eyes immediately clear of that haze of doubt, until you see the reciprocation of that same sentiment of that truth, beating proudly in your chest reflected into those green pools.
But for how endearing it would be watching her squirm a little before she too would admit that out loud, you decide to spare her from such an open confession by adding immediately some humor, carefully balanced by a layer of light seriousness in the conversation.
"But we are definitely not going to let her fall in with a bad crowd, become a drug smuggler and go to prison. And we are going to keep a very close look on whoever she'll decide to date."
The tension from the previous moments dissipates with the newfound lightness in your tone, making Alex chuckle. Green eyes sparkling brighter with that pure glint of humor, as her smile widens into a full grin.
"Sure, the whole stalking/threatening possible dating options may be too much, for me at least." She teases and you roll your eyes at her, playfully, wisely deciding not to add anything else, or even deny her implied accusation. "But... it's good to know we still agree on a few things."
On the important things, you think, you always manage to find an agreement.
"So..." This time, she is the one who takes the turn to completely divert the conversation towards an entirely different route.
"I know you have eaten for like three people already and that it's getting pretty late, but..." She pauses, tongue briefly darting out to wet her lips, and you already have an idea about where this is going. "How do you feel about concluding the night with some... dessert?"
The mischievous little smirk that starts tugging at the corner of her mouth then is more than enough for you to confirm what she truly has in mind, and what she actually means with that "dessert".
It's a test. That's the first thought that crosses your mind.
She is probably just teasing you.
Although... as you observe her for a second longer and notice the way her eyes scan with open appreciation the new, softer curves that your body has gained, you really aren't so sure.
You have been craving "dessert" every single day lately.
Multiples times per day.
With the same voracity of your appetite for food.
You never thought that your libido would get even higher than what it already was before pregnancy.
And yet here you are. Rendered even more insatiable. Feeling that desire starting to stir at the mere mention of what Alex is offering. But for the first time since ever, you probably have also been gifted with the same amount of stamina that can stand up to hers in bed.
It makes you so weirdly proud.
"I think you already know the answer to that." You tell her at last, with a slow smirk that grows to match her own. That's it, until you suddenly remember the comment that she made earlier while you were eating...
"But I thought that watching me eat like that," You say, tilting your chin to the takeout bag and the two burgers wrappers balled up and discarded on the coffee table. "Was so unappealing that you would have had problems picturing ever having sex with me again."
However, Alex's smirk doesn't diminish one bit, in fact, it becomes only more infuriating, overly pleased... but always so undeniably gorgeous.
"And here I thought that you could smell my bullshit from at least a mile." She sasses back. "But we are still in time to stop if you are no longer in the mood, I guess."
With that, she heaves a sigh of pretended disappointment, but you manage to reach out and get a hold on her shirt before she can start pulling back from you and get up from the couch altogether.
"Oh no," You practically growl. "Don't you dare teasing me like that. I'm almost double your size, Alex."
Maybe it's the threat veiled in that comment or the comment itself what makes her burst out laughing.
"Hardly." She answers in between deep, husky chuckles, scanning up and down the length of your body, still slender, lean, in what has always been your normal constitution, but with a new undeniable softness in your curves.
The appreciation in that emerald gaze is evident, even from above your clothes, and it only makes that spark of desire that she has ignited with a simple offer burn that much brighter.
"But that's fine," She reassures, crawling slowly onto the couch. "I have nowhere else I have to be anyway."
With that she carefully straddles you and leans forward, pressing her lips against yours before you can say anything else.
The kiss doesn't last for as long as you wanted it to, you barely get a teasing taste of her tongue before she pulls back, but when she does, she immediately shushes you whines of protest by planting more kisses along your jaw, down your neck, across your cleavage, brushing her lips against all those sensitive spots where you can feel the heat of your desire grow hotter and more demanding.
In her slow descent down your body, she unexpectedly stops once reached your swollen stomach.
Eagerness is tingling along your spine, pooling between your legs, but still, not even the need threatening to overwhelm your senses is enough to make you reach out and urge her to continue.
Instead, you find yourself holding your breath when she lifts your shirt by just a slit or so, barely a couple of inches, and then she leans in, pressing her lips on the growing bump there.
Her lips move as she mouths something, you can't quite hear the words, but the last few ones sound like a quiet "I promise".
A wave of infinite tenderness and affection swells in your chest, almost closing up your throat with emotion when she presses a kiss on that same spot and you feel a responding stir echoing from inside your belly.
Another grin breaks across your face, unable to do anything about it.
"Are you already conspiring with her?" You ask her, narrowing your eyes with playful suspiciousness.
When she looks up she is smirking again, a hand taking the place of where her lips were just a moment ago, stroking her thumb that same spot.
"Just expressing how grateful I am for her being the reason why her mama's boobs got so big."
You scoff a laugh at that, and another one when she reaches out with her other hand to gently knead one of your indeed bigger breasts, which is not exactly an excuse, because she has never turned down the occasion to show exactly how grateful she is for some of the changes your body is going through with all the rampant pregnancy hormones. She hasn't been very subtle about her appreciation either.
Alex flashes you another smirk, resuming with her trail of kisses and caresses further down your body, but in the moment she hooks her fingers into the waistband of your sweatpants and underwear, you stop her.
"Wait."
Maybe you should have said it a little softer and not with that rush of urgency in your increasingly labored breath that has her snap her head up in alarm.
"What is it?" She asks, worried, like you might be in pain or she might have accidentally hurt you, and you feel a bit sorry for worrying her like this, although, the display of concern it's also kind of endearing, and it makes you smile.
"No, it's nothing," You reassure her. "I just..." You pause, blushing a little at the increasing need that you feel stirring more insistently deep inside you, mingling with another one.
"I just want you up here."
The desire for her touch in fact, your intense craving for it, during these moments it's also met with an equally strong need for as much closeness with her as possible.
But Alex, as observant as she's always been, has already reached and understood that need even before you could actually voice it.
She crawls back up, taking off the thick cushions at the back of the couch and throwing them on the floor, making more space before she can settle behind you, adopting that same familiar position that allows her body to cradle yours.
You immediately melt, snuggling back against her. Seeking for as much contact with her as possible.
"Better?" She asks after you have adjusted into the most perfect fit, feeling her breath so pleasantly warm, tickling so sweetly as it brushes against the back of your neck, and from the softness of her tone you don't even have to turn around to check if there is an equally tender smile curling her lips.
But you do it anyway, unable to resist. Turning ever so slightly, just enough to catch sight of her gorgeous - indeed smiling - face. You reach back with one hand, cupping her cheek, while hers settles protectively on your belly once more.
And even if the position is a little awkward, it doesn't keep you from kissing her.
When you pull back there is only one answer, one word good enough to describe how safe and cozy and complete having your bodies pressed like this feels like.
It falls from your lips and flits like a whisper in between the peaceful quietness surrounding you, the soft glow cast by the lamp at the corner of the room, the easy smile on Alex's face, the depth of the fierce affection that you have for her reflected into your own eyes, and... another little kick coming from inside you, knocking right against Alex's hand.
"Perfect."
I couldn't help but notice that a guest in the comments mentioned that I, said that Piper and Alex having children is "not them". I never said that, however, I did say, in one AN of my other Vauseman story "A Thief's Heart" that, "I'm not much into them having kids, mostly because I don't see Alex as maternal." But this doesn't mean that I'm completely opposed to that scenario either :P Maybe this clarified that little misunderstanding :) Anyway, the prompt(s) for this short story wasn't very specific, in fact I simply received a couple of "them having a baby", so I came up with this; pregnancy and odd cravings with a dash of humor and fluff :)
