A/N: I'm really sorry for the lack of updates this week, guys. All week long, I had a gum infection that caused horrendous pain, but I got medicine for it and all is well now, so I'm starting to get back into my groove. Thanks for being patient with me, and I hope you like this next chapter. I'll try to get more frequent updates going this week. Thanks again, faithful readers!

She was initially roused into wakefulness by a knock, but not at a door, like in the typical sense. This knock echoed from the inner walls of her abdomen, and the kicks started light, flourishing into a series of four distinct knocks, as if her baby were tapping out a message to her in Morse code. Stephanie's eyes fluttered as she struggled to open them, leaving the comfort of sleep behind for sweet reality. She placed her open palm on her stomach, smiling while she waited, but when impatience got the best of her, she tried pressing firmly along her budding stomach, hoping for some sort of response.

Another solid thump emanated from the other side of her hand, and Stephanie couldn't be bothered to contain the sharp squeal that slipped out of the back of her throat. She rolled over in bed, knowing full well that the sun's rays were barely peeking through the sheer curtains, indicating that it was still early. Even so, she had her doubts that Chris would mind being woken up for an event as huge as feeling his baby's first kicks, so she shook his arm firmly, but when it became apparent that wasn't enough to actually wake him, she rolled on top of his body and kissed him hard. He moaned into her mouth, and she felt his muscles go stiff as he flexed them underneath her.

Stephanie pulled away smiling, and she touched her fingers to her lips. "I'll just apologize now for kissing you with morning breath, but I needed you awake."

"What's up?" Chris asked sleepily, speaking through a yawn.

"I felt the baby kick just now."

"You did?"

"Yeah," she confirmed. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I've been feeling movement from the inside for a while now, but this is the first time I've ever been able to feel the baby kick from the outside. Here, give me your hand so we can see if you feel it, too," Stephanie offered. Chris extended his hand and she grasped it, placing his palm flat against her stomach and pressing in lightly to encourage movement from the baby. Within 10 seconds, another flutter of kicks flooded in, and she knew exactly when Chris became aware of them, because he smiled so widely that she could nearly see every tooth in his mouth. "You felt it."

"Holy shit, I did!" he said, chuckling softly as he sat up in bed, much more alert than he had been even a minute earlier. Chris placed his other hand on her belly and kept both of them there, pressing around her stomach until he felt another flick. "Wow."

"Isn't it incredible? I know you've already been through this before with Graham, but this is my first time being pregnant, so I'm constantly amazed by all the new things that pop up."

"This never gets old, trust me. No matter how many children I have, I'll always be amazed by the things they do," Chris told her. He gazed at her stomach in elated wonderment, massaging her belly with his thumbs. "I can't believe we did this together. We created this little person, and now they're moving around and kicking, and they have a strong heartbeat that we get to hear every time we go to the doctor. I might not say this enough, but thank you for carrying my kid."

"No thanks necessary. It's my complete honor and pleasure," Stephanie answered. She cupped Chris's left cheek with her right hand and swished her thumb over his skin. "When we first met, did you ever think we would be having a baby together one day?"

"Looking back, I really think I was at least a little bit in love with you from the beginning, but I just didn't realize it that early on," Chris admitted. "I was completely mesmerized by your entire aura, but I thought you were way out of my reach. I'm sure I wanted to be with you on some level back then, but I never would have thought I'd marry you or have kids with you. And can I just mention that it was a whole lot of fun getting you pregnant?"

Stephanie laughed heartily at that, thinking back to their lively night on the bathroom counter. "It was a lot of fun for me, too. You can never just stick with staying in bed, but that's one of the things I love most about being with you. You always have to find some crazy place for us to make love."

"It's more fun that way."

"We've had sex on a bedroom floor, against a bedroom door, on our movie room floor, in the backseat of a car, and on our bathroom counter, which is exactly when I suspect I conceived this baby," she said, patting her stomach lightly. "I still don't know how you convinced me to go through with it, but there was even that time in the janitor's closet at work. Thank God the door has a lock on it. Remember when we were about halfway through and someone started wiggling the door handle, trying to get inside?"

"How could I forget?" Chris said, laughing against her skin when he leaned forward to kiss her neck. "That's a part of what makes it so fun. The risk of being caught gets your adrenaline pumping, and it makes the sex even better. My next goal is to get you to the beach after-hours, so we can do it underneath the lifeguard tower."

"First of all, the weather is too cold and snowy for us to be hanging out at the beach after-hours. Second of all, if we were to get caught in the act, we would both be arrested, and I really don't want that kind of thing on my record. You're only going to be able to convince me to get minimally crazy before I start turning your offers down."

"Nah, I don't believe that," he argued playfully. "I'll wait until the weather gets warmer and we'll give it a try."

"Not gonna happen."

"We'll see," Chris said. He rubbed her stomach gently, and they sat in bed for a long while, holding and caressing one another and waiting out short intervals of quietness, anticipating each new kick that came. "Before I forget, I thought of another name for a girl last night, but you had already fallen asleep, so I wrote it into the notepad for you."

"Oh, really?" Stephanie replied, slipping her hands over the top of his. "What was the name?"

"Take a look."

Stephanie reached for the notepad on their side table, and Chris's hand immediately missed her warmth. She flipped the cover of the notepad over and followed their list of names all the way down to the bottom of the page, checking on the newest addition to the girl name list. Her eyes lit like he had never seen before, and her mouth dropped open. "It's perfect, sweetie! Oh my gosh, it's so perfect, I almost can't even put it into words. How could I have not even thought of this name?"

"I'm so happy you like it," Chris said, letting out a deep breath. He'd had his reservations about how Stephanie would react to that particular name, because they usually discussed the names they came up with before including them on the list, but apparently, he had struck gold with his latest choice.

"I can actually imagine having a daughter and calling her by this name," Stephanie said. She spoke the name aloud a few times, allowing it to hang in the air. Her smiled widened, and so did Chris's. "It's unreal how perfect it is. I love this name more than any other name we have on the girl list."

"So we've got our girl name set?"

"I'd say so, as long as you're in agreement with me."

"I am, for sure."

"Good, then it's settled. This is our name if the baby's a girl, and we'll have to keep working on our boy names until we find the perfect one," she said, glancing back down at the notepad. "I really love this name, Chris. It's so beautiful and girly, but sophisticated at the same time, and I'm almost mad at myself that I didn't come up with it first. Have you considered any middle names for her, if it turns out that the baby is a 'she'?"

"Not yet. I was thinking we could come up with one together."

"Sounds like a deal."

That afternoon, Stephanie slipped out of work without Chris, since Vince expected him to stay late for a production meeting. The day had already been decided upon as the special date when Graham would choose his new puppy, or perhaps it would be the other way around and the puppy would choose them. Stephanie had an assured feeling that they would know which pet was right for them the second they saw it, but she didn't want to make a selection alone, so she made a pit stop, picking Linda up first, then setting off in the direction of Graham's school so they could get him from football practice. Linda noticed the partially empty vehicle when she climbed into the front passenger seat, devoid of Chris, and naturally, she questioned it.

"Where's that handsome hubby of yours?"

"Take a wild guess," Stephanie japed.

"Your dad asked him to stay late for work?" Linda asked.

"Always. Who ever would have thought that the one person who constantly steals my husband away is my own father?" she teased. Linda laughed and patted her arm sympathetically. She understood the plight of a wife left alone due to the nature of her husband's busy profession taking him away. "I miss him all the time, but Chris is happy and loves his job, so I always try to keep that in mind. Plus, we get to spend our lunch breaks together every single day, and I always treasure that hour I get alone with him. We go out for food somewhere good, and we made a rule for ourselves that we can't talk about work during lunch, so we talk about everything else instead. It's so nice."

"It sure sounds like it."

"This morning, I woke up to kicks from the baby. I've felt kicks from the inside before, but this was the first time they could be felt from the outside. It woke me up, and when I put my hand on my stomach, I could actually feel these solid kicks, so I woke Chris up," Stephanie said. "He was so happy. As soon as he felt the first kick, he got this huge grin on his face, and he literally didn't stop smiling the entire time. He was so happy, Mom."

"Sure sounds like you had an eventful morning. Chris is always so sweet and supportive of you. I watched him very closely in the beginning, not because he did anything wrong, but because I was concerned about whether or not he was good for you. I didn't want him to be choosing a relationship with you for the wrong reasons, but I've never seen any man who loves you the way he does," Linda admitted, glancing out her window at a wall of healthy green trees. "Your father told me that you, Graham, and the baby are all Chris ever talks about at work. He's actually had to go out of his way to refocus Chris, because all he ever wants to talk about is all of you."

"I pretty much only talk about him, Graham, and the baby, too. That's how it is when you have a family," Stephanie said. "They're all you think about, to the point where it consumes your every waking thought, but only in a good way. Family is what's most important."

"I taught you well, I see."

"You did."

"Can I ask you something personal?" Linda said, speaking tentatively. "I don't want you to be angry with me for bringing this up, because this might be a sensitive topic for you, but the only reason I'm asking is because I've never experienced it before for myself, and I'm just curious."

"Spit it out, Mom. What do you want to know?"

"Was it easy or difficult to start seeing Graham as your own son?"

Stephanie let out a relieved breath that she hadn't realized she was holding onto. "Oh, that's all? You had me terrified that you were going to ask me something crazy. Um, as far as Graham goes, I think I've felt something deep for him ever since the night we met, probably because of the harsh circumstances I met him under. He was this sweet, innocent kid just trying to get food with his father, and when I saw the tears in his eyes and the devastation on his face when they got turned down by the cashier, my heart broke. All I wanted was to hug and kiss him and tell him that everything would be all right."

"So you loved him right away?"

"I did in some sense, but I don't necessarily know that it was in a motherly type of way back then. It was more in the way that a teacher might love their student, or that a friend might love another friend. Like I said, I felt very deeply for him and for Chris right away, mostly because of what they were going through when I first met them," Stephanie said, turning onto the long, winding road that would ultimately lead to Graham's elementary school. "I would say that right around the time that Chris moved out of my house with Graham was when I first knew I loved them on a larger scale. Funny enough, that was also right around the first time that Graham told me he loved me, so when I said it back to him, I truly meant it."

"I remember when you called to tell me that had happened. You were so happy," Linda said, positively beaming as the memory resurfaced in her mind.

"It was just so cute, though. I wish you had been there to see it. Graham was playing and running around the apartment, and he stopped so abruptly and grabbed onto my hands. He looked up at me and said 'I love you', just like that. I'll never forget that day, or the way that I felt when he said it. I had already known that I loved him, but something about hearing those words from his mouth deepened my love for him, so I said it back."

"And you looked at him like a son, by that point?" Linda questioned.

"Mm...I would say I felt that there was potential to be in his life in a bigger capacity. I knew he wasn't my son back then, but that was when I first began to feel like I had the potential to be a motherly figure to him, and I started feeling like I had potential to be with Chris in the romantic sense, too. Although, if you ask Chris about that, he sees it a little differently. He says I've been like a mother to Graham since the first day we met, but he also loves me way too much, so he always says sweet things like that."

"Your husband can never love you too much," Linda said, reaching over the seat to pat Stephanie's thigh.

"I know. I was really only teasing about that, but he does sing my praises all the time." Stephanie flicked on her turn signal and pulled into the parking lot of Graham's school, finding a free space and pulling her vehicle in. She shifted the SUV into park, and they waited for his football practice to finish up. "Chris and Graham are very easy to love, for multiple reasons. It wasn't difficult or any kind of a stretch to love them as more than casual acquaintances, because the love that I get from them fuels my own. It's always easy for me to mirror love when I feel the enormity of their love shining back on me. They both love me beyond measure, and when I feel that, it makes it easier for me to reflect that back onto them. Of course, that's not the only reason I love them, but it's a contributing factor, if that makes sense."

"It does, and you've answered my question," Linda stated. "I was always curious about how you three came to be a family. What do you think the turning point was that made you see Chris as more than a friend?"

"I had felt something extra for him for a long time, but when I truly knew in my heart that we could have a future together was when I found out he was seeing Melissa," Stephanie said, a faint smile spreading across her face when she thought back to that morning, so long ago. "We were in the car together, getting to work, and I asked Chris about a girl named Melissa, since he had mentioned her over the phone the day before or something. He kept saying they were just hanging out, and he wouldn't admit that she was his girlfriend, but I could tell that she was. I was crushed."

"You must have been."

"I seriously was," Stephanie said, repositioning her hands on the steering wheel. She looked toward the field to see if Graham was coming, but the boys were still in the middle of their plays, so she turned away. "I felt this weird mixture of rage and jealousy boiling up in me, and I'm never like that. I don't feel those types of emotions very often, so when I noticed that, I figured it was because I wanted Chris to myself. There would have been no other reason for me to feel that way."

"So that's when you knew?"

"I'd say so. That, and also when he moved into his apartment with Graham. I was so hurt that he left, but I was also hurt by the way he left. To this day, I'm not sure he even understands just how badly my feelings were hurt," Stephanie said, eyes clouding over at the memory. "It felt like we had been so close for several months and built such strong relationships with each other, then it was gone, all in the blink of an eye. I remember catching him in the act of moving, because he didn't tell me he was leaving ahead of time, and I literally wanted to sink into the ground and never reappear. I felt that bad."

"You were frantic when you called me that night, and I remember being angry with Chris for a while," Linda said. "I felt like he had hurt my little girl, and for that, I wanted him to hurt. Something tells me he was already hurting enough back then."

"He was. We've talked about it since, and he told me that he already loved me back then. His feelings for me played a role in why he moved out, actually," Stephanie relayed. "He told me shortly after we got engaged that he had wanted to be with me back then, but I had Ross, and he couldn't handle seeing me with another guy, which made him feel like he had to leave. He also didn't want Graham in the same house as Carter, because he had a little bit of a bad feeling about the guy, which turned out to be a sign. I should have listened."

"Oh well. Mistakes happen and you learn from them. It sounds like you and Chris had such a long and bumpy road. It's like you were destined to be together, though," Linda said. "There were all these obstacles in your way, but you overcame each one, and now you have a stepson and a new baby on the way."

"A son," Stephanie corrected.

"Hm?"

"I don't refer to Graham as my stepson. I know you didn't mean anything by it, but I don't like the connotations that a stepson is lesser than any other type of son," Stephanie said. She happened to glance up and found Graham dashing across the field near the bleachers, headed straight for their car. Her eyes lit up involuntarily at the sight of him, and Linda took notice, smiling at Stephanie's reaction to him. Stephanie gazed out the windshield at him lovingly. "He's my baby. No matter what anyone says, that little boy is mine, and he always will be. He belongs to me every bit as much as the baby who's in my stomach right now."

Linda nodded along with her sentiments. "I completely agree with you."

Graham finally made it to the vehicle and opened the door, shoving his bags into the backseat and climbing inside. Stephanie turned to smile at him. "Hi, sweetie. Did you have a good day?"

"Yep, I did," Graham said. He looked over and noticed there was an extra occupant in the front passenger seat, which was normally empty when Stephanie showed up at his school. "Hi, Mama Linda. You're here!"

"Hi, little one. I thought I would come along for the ride, since Mommy has a special surprise for you today."

"She does?" Graham asked, watching Linda through a pair of wide eyes. She nodded, just as Stephanie reached into her purse and retrieved a roll-up fruit snack. She held it out toward Graham.

"Here, honey. I brought you a little snack to hold you over until we can get home for dinner. We're going to make a pit stop on the way, because there's something we have to get," she said, speaking cryptically. She put the car in gear and began backing out of the parking space, and the car was filled with the sound of Graham's crinkling paper as he struggled to open his candy. He finally tugged the roll-up free and began eating from it.

"Mommy, where are we stopping?" he wondered.

"You tell me," Stephanie challenged, grinning at him in the rearview mirror. "What did you ask me and Daddy for a few days ago?"

"Um...I asked for..."

"It starts with a 'p'," Stephanie said, hoping to jog his memory.

"A puppy!" he exclaimed. "I get a puppy today?"

"Yes, you do. We're going to go pick one out right now," she said. "We have to pick the cutest, friendliest one we can find, and we'll show Daddy when he gets home this evening."

"I'm excited for this!" Graham exclaimed.

"Then I'm glad you're so happy," Stephanie commented. "Seeing a smile on your face is what I live for."

They showed up at the animal shelter with open minds and hearts, searching far and wide for the puppy that took to them most. Stephanie had her heart set on a pug, but Graham shied away from the one she pointed out, wanting something a little furrier and nicer to look at. There was one small puppy in particular who ran to his gate and pawed at it when Graham and Stephanie passed, whining and yapping away relentlessly, until an employee finally let him out to be petted. He climbed right into Stephanie's lap, leaving her only to be petted and hugged by Graham a minute later, and the sign they had been waiting for came to them. Stephanie's heart knew they couldn't possibly leave without that puppy; he was the perfect fit for their family.

They returned home that evening with a male chocolate labrador pup, whom Graham chose to name Brownie.