The first time she said "I'm going to go for a run," his eyes nearly bugged out of his head. He reacted emotionally and rapidly with a curt, "No."

She glared at him in return. "What do you mean, no?"

"The last time you told me that, you were running off to Sandstorm."

"You can come with me."

"Are you sure you're ready for this?"

"No, but I want to try."

"Give me a few minutes to get changed, and I'll come with you."

He came back in sweatpants and a sweatshirt, and she showed him her phone. "See, when we use Strava, it live updates with a location. So you can see where I'm running even if you're not with me."

"If something happens and you need help, I'll be able to find you?"

"Yes."

"Okay."

"I'm going to use it while we're running so you can see how it works."

"Okay."

"Let's go."

They ran for a grand total of seven minutes before returning to the apartment. She showed Kurt where they ran on his phone. "See? We ran, and I'm fine. I'll have to work up to more distance, but it was a good first try."

Kurt nodded, and they headed for the shower.

A few weeks passed without incident. Sometimes Kurt ran with her, sometimes Patterson, and sometimes Jane ran by herself. She was slowly working up to longer distances, now able to run 45 minutes without stopping. "I'm going to be in better shape than you," Jane regularly joked with Kurt, egging him on.

She was looking forward to being able to spar again. It would be another welcome stress relief. "I'll take you," Kurt had promised.

She had a regular checkup with the neurologist and was thrilled to share her progress. "The headaches have really improved a lot," she explained, "closer to few and far between."

"That's great," the doctor responded.

"You had mentioned you'd be willing to change the medication at that point," Jane paused, collecting her words, "to something that would be safe during pregnancy. This is something that is really important to me and my husband."

Kurt smiled from his usual spot in the corner. They hadn't talked about this before coming to the office, yet he was thrilled she was taking the initiative to bring it up. "Yes, we can do that," the doctor explained, "yet I'm going to need you to closely monitor your headache patterns and give us a call if they start coming significantly more frequently again."

"I brought the expert monitor with me in the corner over there," she joked, pointing at Kurt.

A few days later, she announced, "I'm going to start out in the gym today. Want to spar a little bit?"

"Dinner says I'll win," he joked.

"Winner makes dinner and dessert."

"No, no. Winner buys dinner and dessert."

"Deal," she smiled, sealing their deal with a kiss.

"No fighting dirty," he reminded.

"Wouldn't dream of it."

"Best of three takedowns."

Jane nodded, tapped gloves, and threw a jab, testing the waters. They sparred back and forth, punching and parrying, then Jane swept his foot and moved him into an arm bar. He tapped the mat, signifying the end of round one.

They both bounced back to their feet, tapped gloves again, and this time he went on the offensive. She retaliated with a round kick, which he caught and took her to the ground. He mounted her and worked toward getting her into a submission. "You choose jiu jitsu? That's gonna be an awful lot of shrimping when I flip you."

She shrimped, bumped, and flipped him. He took advantage of the momentum and flipped her right back, then brought her to submission, tapping out round two. "You underestimate me," he joked.

They popped back to their feet, tapped gloves, and started round three. She aimed to beat him on energy, and launched a flurry of punches, then weaved, taking him in circles around the room. He saw an opening and launched a cross, followed by a hook. She tried to bob and weave, and bobbed her head straight into the path of his left hook. She dropped and he brought her into a headlock, holding until she tapped out round three. As soon as she tapped, he let her go, and they both returned to their feet. "Dinner's on me," she conceded.

"And dessert," he smiled and wiggled his eyebrows.

"Winner's choice on dinner."

"How about Thai? We can get our spot in the back, have a nice quiet dinner…" he stopped his train of thought and kissed her, leaving a promise for more later that day.

"Sounds great."

Kurt and Jane sat side by side on a padded bench in the back of the restaurant. They each ate their own renditions of curry. Jane yawned and leaned into Kurt's side. "I could have used a nap today," she joked.

"Give me a few minutes to finish up, and I'll get you home."

"Your dessert."

"No worries, that's at home."

Kurt parked and looked over at his sleeping wife. She seemed so peaceful, and he hated to wake her to bring her into the apartment. "Jane, we're home," he spoke, resting his hand on her knee.

"Mmmm, okay," she responded, exiting the car and taking his arm to walk to the apartment.

"I might need to give you an IOU," she said, "I'm really tired."

"It's okay, Jane - let's get you to bed."

Kurt woke to Jane sprawled next to him, still sleeping. Her t-shirt had hitched up while she slept, her bare stomach peacefully rising and falling with each breath. He lightly trailed her serpent tattoo with his fingertips, then featherlight kisses, to where her t-shirt rested below her breasts. He savored her soft, delicate skin. "Mmmmm," she stirred a little bit when his stubble brushed her skin.

He raised her shirt, continuing his kisses through the rest of the serpent and across the dots on her breast. She brushed his head with her fingers, rubbing his hair.

"Good morning," he whispered, taking her nipple into his mouth.

"Mmmmm," she moaned, enjoying his ministrations as his hand captured her other breast.

After a few minutes of pleasure, she reached under his armpits and pulled, coaxing him up to eye level so she could kiss him. Between kisses, her hands wandered his back and ass, and then sought his cock.

"Mmmmm," it was his turn to moan in return as her fingers circled him.

"I want to fuck," she smiled, tugging at his boxers.

He pulled her t-shirt over her head and shifted to remove his boxers. She took the opportunity to flip them and start kissing a line down his chest. Wanting to fulfill her request, he flipped her back over, removed her panties, and moved his fingers to her mound, testing, teasing.

"I want to fuck," she repeated, grasping his cock.

He didn't need to be told again. In a swift move, he buried himself into her, their moans muffled in kisses. They frantically sought purchase, racing each other until he grunted in release and brought her to climax shortly after.

They rested, panting in each other's arms for a few minutes. "Good morning," she said with a smile, kissing him once more before they both made their way to the shower.