Chapter 9

"No peaking," Roger reminded Jeannie as Tony led her further into the nursery.

"Don't look until we tell you, darling." Tony was behind her, his hands covering her eyes. He'd been unable to sleep the night before, partly from worry, and partly because her side of the bed was empty. He felt guilty too. No matter what the doctors said, he was the one who upset her before she collapsed; and he felt responsible. When he'd mentioned to Roger that he would be up all night worrying, Roger offered to stay up with him and had suggested they do something special for Jeannie.

That ultimately meant finishing the nursery. It had been painted for over a week, but they hadn't had the chance to decorate it. Jeannie had it all mapped out; down to the exact position of the crib in relation to the dresser. Those books she'd been reading had her thinking that things like placement of furniture and decorations could influence the well-being of a child and she was intent to do anything and everything to give their child the best that they could offer. He loved it all though, watching her go through the pregnancy, learning, growing, trying to be responsible for their child. That was part of the reason he wanted to do this for her. He couldn't wait to see her eyes light up at the finished product.

"May I look now?" She asked excitedly, bouncing on her feet as Tony and Roger stopped her in the center of the room.

"Almost," Roger told her, as he moved to flick on one last lamp. She had to see it complete. He nodded to Tony a second later.

"Alright, darling," Tony blew into her ear, "open your eyes."

She nodded a bright smile playing on her lips as his hands slid away from her eyes. "Oh," She blew out a second later, "it is wonderful." It was exactly as she had pictured it. "You did this all of this last night?" She asked of Tony, and then of Roger, who both nodded.

"I couldn't sleep and Roger stayed up with me."

"We thought we should do something productive with our time," Roger told her, through a happy smile.

"It is perfect," She beamed, happily, as she moved about the room.

"You did a great job choosing the theme," Tony told her proudly. "It really does work for a boy or a girl."'

"Oh yes, and when he or she is born, we can start putting in blue or pink," She was rambling happily, about this that and something else, as she went around the room. Her eyes were wide, and her smile was bright as she told them about everything in the room.

She really had done well choosing colors and decorations that worked for either sex. The walls were a dark green, which they'd decorated with jungle animal decals; lions, giraffes, tigers, zebra's and monkeys, who climbed the very real decal on the wall opposite the crib. Jeannie had read that visual simulation was good for a child as he or she was growing, and had given very specific instructions or where everything went. The crib, dresser, and changing table were all a dark mahogany wood with white sheets and blankets. It was the perfect room and their child could easily grow into it for years.

"Now you just have to get this kid here, so we can see how he likes it," Roger said, looking around the room. "Blue will work well in here."

"Pink will be better," Jeannie countered with a playful smile. "She will love it."

"We only get to have this argument for a few more weeks," Tony reminded her. "I look forward to winning our bet." He smiled, tossing Jeannie a quick wink.

"I will enjoy those long nights sleep," She countered, with a knowing smile.

"Sleep?" Roger asked curiously.

"Jeannie is sure we're having a girl. I say we're having a boy so we decided to have a little fun with all of this, and so whoever loses gets to get up with the baby at each time during the night for the first month."

"He will be losing a lot of sleep," Jeannie laughed, leaning against Tony as she laughed.

He smiled down at her, and shook his head, before leaning in for a quick kiss. He truly didn't care if they had a boy or a girl-mortal or genie-he was just wanted the baby in their arms, they could start their life together as a family.

"Have you finally decided on names?" Roger asked, knowing they'd been struggling for weeks to choose a name for a girl.

Jeannie nodded excitedly as Tony slid an arm around her waist. "Allison for a girl and Benjamin for a boy," Jeannie told him happily.

Roger nodded. He wasn't surprised. Tony put up a good fight, but it was clear Jeannie was always going to win things like this. "Allie or Ben Nelson," Roger said, trying the nicknames out, "How normal."

Jeannie nodded happily. "I know, are they not perfect?"

"Yeah, they're cute. A little boring, all things considered."

"Not boring," Tony told him with as proud smile, "normal, average."

"That is what we want for this baby," Jeannie told him, "And to do that we had to choose a normal name."

Roger shrugged. "It doesn't matter what you call him, I'll still be here to spoil him."

"She will love you, Major Healey," She laughed, watching Roger nod. She knew that none of them really cared what the baby was, as long as it was healthy; but they were having fun teasing one another.

"Dr. Barnes said that you need to take it easy today," Tony reminded her, his arm still around her waist.

"Yeah, that kid needs to finish cooking for a few more weeks," Roger said, as Tony nodded both of them ready to lead her out of the room.

"I am fine," She told them, but she knew it didn't matter; they were going to make her stay off her feet.

"Rog and I will cook dinner," Tony offered, but Roger shook his head.

"I want us to live to see this baby be born," Roger pushed out through an nervous breath.

"I've cooked before," Tony countered, as they headed out of the room.

"Yeah and it was barely eatable," Roger reminded him.

"Why do I not just blink us some dinner?" Jeannie asked, eyes drifting between them, before she started to blink.

"NO!" Both Tony and Roger exclaimed as Jeannie burst into laughter

"You should have seen your faces," She said between laughs.

"That's not funny," Tony pretended to scold, though his smile gave him way.

"Oh yes it was," She beamed. They were at the top of the stairs now, and starting to bicker about dinner again. Who was going to cook? What should they make? Jeannie wasn't to lift a finger. She knew they were all waiting for the baby to be born, to be a family, but she thought the three of them were already family. Major Healey was their best friend, their protector, and the only person besides Tony whom her secret was safe with. He was by their side through it all, and she had no doubt that when their child was born, he would be right there with. Probably cleaning up whatever mess they'd got themselves into as they figured out parenting.

It all seemed so natural, and so normal. From the outside there was no difference between them and anyone else; but on the inside they were about as different as anyone could be. There was truly nothing normal about their situation, yet, there was probably more love and a stronger feeling of family in their house than a house perceived to be normal.

Maybe when it was all said and done, normal was just an overrated word for "everyone being the same".

Maybe what made them normal, was their being anything but.

And maybe that was what would keep them strong, keep them together; despite it all.

She could get used to this.

To be continued

Authors Notes: To the names- It's the 70's my choices were limited and I didn't want to go with the over used names. Both Allison and Benjamin were used in that decade, just not all to frequently. I had to show Roger a little love. The guy is so good to them, that it was time he got a little back.