Author's Note: Writing this chapter made me feel both very accomplished and very naughty. It's hard enough to write normal fanfiction when you're stuck in a small hotel room with your family, but even worse when it's not family-friendly subject matter. Well, on that note, I hope you enjoy!

~::~

The end of the school semester went out, not with a bang, but a hard freeze. Early December passed in thick flurries of snow followed by sleet and hail for a solid week. By the last day of school, everyone in the city was so tired of white many of them almost swore to never wear it again.

Deprived of any company other than each other and Axel's parents, Roxas and the redhead holed themselves up on Axel's bed and talked the hours away, interspersed with raiding the kitchen for food and watching whatever movies they could pilfer from the computer room. The prolonged contact with Axel was doing funny things to Roxas's head, but either the redhead didn't notice, or the blonde boy was getting better at hiding his feelings.

"We've been snowed in for what, three days now? You've gotta wonder when our food's gonna run out."

Roxas glanced up at Axel, one eyebrow raised. "Well, aren't you the picture of optimism?"

The redhead grinned, something he'd done almost constantly since the blizzard hit. "I'm just being realistic. With us two eating as much as we do, we can't have much."

"But you forgot that your mother went to the grocery store the day before we got stuck in here," Roxas replied, grinning back.

"Oh. Right. I knew that."

"Sure you did. You know ev-…" A kiss from Axel silenced him in a heartbeat. Roxas blushed. "Nice diversion."

"It's a tried and true method," Axel replied, adjusting the thick woolen blanket draped over the two of them. "And you're adorable when you blush. I could just eat you up." The redhead tapped the tip of Roxas's nose.

"Eat me up? Really? What are you, my grandmother or something?" Roxas wrinkled his nose and tried to bite Axel's finger.

"No," the redhead replied. "Uh-uh, bad boy. No biting me."

"That's not what you said last night," Roxas clapped a hand over his mouth in surprise. Oh, shit. Did I really just say that?

Axel cocked an eyebrow. "Oh really?"

"M'sorry," Roxas looked down, embarrassed. "I didn't mean to say that."

Axel's expression of incredulity melted into a knowing smile. "I understand. You don't have to hide your little fantasies from me. No one else will ever find out."

"Okay, I'm leaving. How do I get out of this blanket?" The blonde boy began searching for an escape from the tightly wrapped fabric.

"You're not getting away that easy!" Axel growled playfully and pounced on Roxas. The blonde giggled when the redhead began rubbing circles on one of his exposed ankles. The blonde squirmed, trying to escape his hands.

"No, no, no, quit it, please!" The giggles exploded into full-blown laughter. The two boys went down in a tangle of flailing limbs and blanket. "Axel, Axel, what are you doing… Stop!"

All noise stopped abruptly when Roxas ended up pinned to the bed, Axel's face just inches from his. Both of them were breathing heavily. The blonde boy's eyes widened as Axel leaned down and kissed him, his tongue licking hungrily over his bottom lip. Roxas opened his mouth in a gasp and the redhead's tongue slid inside his mouth, tracing the roof of his mouth. The redhead pulled back faster than lightning and slid off the bed, stumbling to the bathroom. Roxas sat up, still in shock, and tried to will away the growing lump in the front of his pants.

Axel remerged from the bathroom after a few minutes. Roxas was still seated on the redhead's bed, knees bunched up to his chest. Axel sat down beside him and sighed. "Rox, I'm sorry. That was uncalled for."

The blonde boy didn't look at him. "It's okay. We just gotta be more careful. Your parents don't need to get suspicious."

Axel laughed, a harsh, mirthless sound that grated against Roxas's taxed nerves. "You don't have to tell me. I hope to hell they didn't hear that little incident."

The blonde boy sighed. He didn't have the heart nor the brainpower to respond. What the hell just happened? We've kissed a hundred times before this. What changed? I'm not complaining, but…

"That was weird," Axel managed to finish his thought for him. When the blonde didn't respond, Axel continued. "Why are your ankles so ticklish? I don't know anyone who's like that."

Roxas breathed a small sigh of relief. Oh, thank God. He wasn't thinking what I was. "I dunno. They just are. The back of your neck is ticklish, isn't it?"

"No, it is n-…" Axel broke off into laughter when Roxas ran his fingers across the nape of his neck. "Hey, don't start that again. I don't think I can take much more tension."

"Tension?"

"Yeah, y'know, of the sexual kind," Roxas rolled his eyes and tried to push the redhead off the bed. "Hey, I told you I can't lie. Be careful what you ask me, because ninety percent of the time, you'll get an honest answer."

"You're horrible," the blonde boy said.

Axel smirked. "To quote you from earlier, 'That's not what you said last night.'"

Roxas groaned.

~::~

That night, Axel's parents informed them of an update to their plans for the next couple of weeks before Christmas: The four of them were going to visit Roxas's hometown for a few days. Roxas groaned inwardly, but tried to sound excited when Mrs. von Fusen asked him if that was all right with him. Axel shot him a worried glance, but refrained from saying anything.

"Sorry for dropping this on you two days before we leave," Mr. von Fusen said. "Also, the first couple of days there, we may go and see some of our old friends in a nearby town, so you can explore for a while. Roxas, you can introduce Axel to your friends and show him around town."

"It's cool, Dad," Axel said, face plastered with a grin that was all too fake. "I'm Roxas wouldn't mind acquainting me with his town."

"Not at all. You can finally try the sea-salt ice cream," the blonde replied.

Mrs. von Fusen smiled. "Great. You two can go back upstairs now. Dinner's in half an hour. Be good until then."

"Okay. We will," Axel and Roxas returned to their room. Roxas immediately climbed up to his bed and flopped down face-first into his pillow. The redhead followed and laid a hand on his back. "Are you sure it's okay for us to go to your old home? Will you be okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Roxas lied through his teeth.

"Well… Okay. If you say so," Axel returned to his own bed, leaving Roxas to wallow in his ill-concealed misery.

Things will be so much more awkward than last time. Roxas sighed and rolled over onto his back so he could stare at the blank white ceiling. I wonder what Hayner and the gang will say when they met Axel, since I've told them so little in the few phone calls we've shared the last couple of months.

At dinner that night, the von Fusens began talking over their plans in detail. Roxas barely listened to what they were saying, not engaged enough in the conversation or the subject to even bother. He remained in this lethargic daze most of the night, even during the usual talk he and Axel shared, although inside on the redhead's bed due to the snow. Axel just sat and held him in his lap, not saying a word. He knew better than to press the blonde boy for answers.

Before Roxas crawled into bed that night, Axel climbed up the ladder to hand him the phoenix plush, now nicknamed Moeru, the Japanese word for burn. Without a word he climbed back down to his bed after kissing Roxas on the forehead once.

Roxas rolled onto his side facing the wall and clutched the stuffed animal to his chest, holding on to the scraps of hope sewn into the fabric. He lay there in the darkness, waiting for sleep to come.

~::~

"Everybody got everything? Are you sure? Yes? Okay, let's go!"

Seven in the morning saw Roxas and the von Fusens piling into Mr. von Fusen's car along with a plethora of suitcases. The four of them were relatively subdued as they headed for the highway that would take them most of the way to Eden View.

About thirty minutes into their drive, they stopped to eat breakfast as a fast food restaurant. While Axel's parents ordered, the redhead and Roxas began passing notes via a pile of napkins and a purple crayon they found on the floor, drawing silly pictures and nonsense messages. When Mr. and Mrs. von Fusen returned, the two boys were doubled over with the force of the giggles they were smothering.

Once they were back on the road, Axel began writing in his journal again, much to Roxas's dismay. Still the redhead refused to let him see anything that was written inside it, only telling him that he would get to see it someday. It infuriated the blonde.

A few quiet hours passed, interspersed with a few detours to rest stops and a restaurant at lunch. About thirty minutes after they ate, they pulled into the parking lot of the hotel where they would be staying for the duration of their trip. Mr. von Fusen checked them in and then the group headed up to their room, a third floor suite with an excellent view of the town's skyline, complete with Sunset Hill and the train station's clock tower.

Axel walked over to the window immediately after they entered, dropping his backpack on the side of the bed nearest to it. "Man," he breathed. "I can see why the people here usually don't move away. This view is just… stunning."

Roxas walked over next to him, a faint smile on his lips. "At least, we don't move out by choice. Work or family circumstances may drive us away, but we always find our way back, somehow. As my grandmother always says, 'Once a denizen of Twilight Town, always a denizen of Twilight Town.'"

"It is a beautiful place, though," Mrs. von Fusen commented as she fixed her make-up in the mirror. "Your parents could talk about it for hours on end, Roxas. I've never gotten to really explore, but that'll have to wait a little longer."

Axel turned around to look at her. "You're going to see your friends already? I thought you'd stay longer so you could get situated."

Mr. von Fusen shook his head. "They're expecting us very soon. It's only about forty minutes down the road. We'll call you when we get there."

"You can go ahead and look around while we're gone. I'll leave you a room key on the dresser over here," Axel's parents grabbed their bags again and began making their way back out into the hallway. "You two be good, okay?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Axel and Roxas chorused. The door closed, and they were left staring at the blank white paint.

Axel turned to Roxas. "So… Now what?"

The blonde boy shrugged. "I dunno. You tell me."

Axel grabbed his cell phone out of his bag and gestured towards the door. "Shall we?"

"Why do I get the feeling I won't like whatever you're about to suggest?"

The taller boy stepped closer to him and leaned down so their faces were just an inch or two apart. Roxas could smell the mint gum he was chewing on his breath, masking the smell of the cigarette he smoked earlier that morning before they left. "You've just gotta trust me, okay? I would never do anything that would hurt you."

"Okay, fine," The blonde sighed in defeat. "Just don't do anything stupid."

Axel pressed a gentle kiss to his lips, pulling their bodies together. Roxas could feel both of their hearts pounding through his thick hoodie and idly wondered if Axel could too. The redhead withdrew and took him by the hand, leading him out the door, grabbing the key card on the way.

Ten minutes later saw the two boys sitting on the edge of the huge fountain in the center of town, nursing two cups of hot chocolate in their hands. The chilly mid-December air nipped at their exposed fingers and noses, turning them bright pink. Axel kept making comments about how cute he thought Roxas was, adding to the artificial blush with a real one.

"Hey, look out!" One of the children skating on the ice of the fountain barreled towards Roxas, unable to stop herself. The blonde boy froze, unsure what to do. Axel moved like lightning, managing to catch the little girl and slide over to the other side of Roxas without spilling a drop of his drink.

"Th-thank you, mister" the girl sniffed, wiping at her runny nose with a mitten-clad hand. She turned to Roxas when Axel let her go and looked down. "I'm s-sorry."

Roxas smiled at her after he got over the shock of seeing Axel leap in front of him like that. "Just be more careful, okay?" The little girl nodded and skated shakily back over to her group of friends. The blonde boy then glanced at Axel in awe. "How the hell did you do that?"

"What? Oh. I dunno. Good reflexes, I guess," Axel seemed distracted by something, staring off into the gathering dusk. His phone began ringing, and he handed his cup to Roxas so he could answer. "Hello? Hey, Mom. What's up? …really? You're sure? Well… okay, that's cool. No, it's fine. Okay. Yeah. We will. Bye."

Roxas cocked an eyebrow. "What was that about?"

"Mom and Dad are staying over at their friends' house tonight, apparently. We've got the hotel room to ourselves. She said we can also go get dinner whenever we feel like it, so long as we don't break the bank."

"She really thinks we'd eat that much after all that lunch?"

Axel laughed. "This is us we're talking about. But I'm not really hungry yet. I guess we can go back and warm up in the room once we finish our hot chocolate."

A few minutes later saw the two of them back in the hotel room, shaking of the snow flurries that had started to fall as they made their way through the streets of town. Roxas shivered the whole way up on the elevator ride, and after Axel and he changed into his thick woolen pajamas, the redhead curled up next to him on the bed they would be sharing, a blanket covering them.

"Too bad the TV doesn't have a DVD player," Axel said. "I wouldn't mind watching some sappy Christmas movie right now."

"What, just because it's snowing? Aren't you tired of snow after that blizzard we got hit with back at your house?" Roxas rolled his eyes.

"Aw, come on, where's your Christmas spirit?"

"Oh, I was supposed to bring that? Sorry, I didn't have room in my suitcase," Sarcasm dripped off of Roxas's words.

Axel punched his shoulder playfully. "If you start saying 'Bah, humbug,' I'm going to disown you."

Roxas sighed and leaned into the redhead's embrace. "I won't. It's just… This will be my first Christmas without my parents. It's… kind of a hard concept to grasp. I still miss them a lot, you know."

Axel kissed his forehead. "I understand, I think. My first Christmas without Reno was tough, too. That little empty space in your heart where they were before hurts just a little more than usual. Don't be afraid to ask me if you need anything, okay? Never forget rule number three."

Roxas gave him a weak smile. "Okay. I won't forget, got it memorized?"

"Hey, that's my line!"

The two boys laughed and then lapsed back into silence for a while. The minutes ticked away as they sat there. Roxas felt himself beginning to fall asleep, but he fought to stay awake. He liked the feeling of Axel breathing beneath him, chest rising and falling rhythmically. It made him feel safe and secure in a place where he wasn't sure how much he really belonged anymore, despite his grandmother's assurances that once you lived there, you always had a place.

"Hey, I'm hungry now," Roxas sat up, rubbing his eyes. He glanced at the clock to see that it was almost six. Axel yawned and stretched. Was he asleep? "What do you suggest we get?"

"Well, there's a really good little pizza place downtown, if you don't mind waiting a little while longer. I can go pick it up, if you'd like."

Axel ruffled his hair and slid off the bed. "Nah, give me directions and I'll go get it. Your hands are still cold. I think you could use a good, hot shower."

Roxas rolled his eyes. "Yes, Mommy dearest."

"Do I have to tell Demyx on you, young man?" Axel waggled a finger at him as he stuffed his feet into his shoes.

The blonde boy chuckled and scribbled down the directions to the pizzeria on the pad of paper on the dresser. "No, sir. Here, these are the directions. Be careful, okay?"

Axel walked past him, planting a kiss on the top of his head as he went. "I will. Be good."

Roxas nodded and walked into the bathroom to undress. He didn't bother shutting the door behind him because he knew it would take at least thirty minutes for Axel to find the restaurant, have the pizza made, and get back, if not more. The blonde boy stepped into the shower and twisted the knob to turn on the water. He felt some of his fatigue and the lingering cold from the winter air wash away as the hot water rained down on his back.

I sure hope Axel doesn't get his ass lost out in the snow. I would hate to have to go out and find him. Roxas shook his head, sending water droplets cascading onto the shower walls. Why am I worrying about him so much? If he can save me from a runaway ice-skater, he can find a silly little pizzeria.

After he had scrubbed himself down and thoroughly washed his hair, Roxas turned off the water and grabbed a towel, wrapping it around his waist as he stepped out onto the bathroom mat. He drew a silly face in the condensation-covered mirror and proceeded to dry himself off. He pulled on his underwear and pajama pants, but left his shirt lying on the floor in the bathroom.

On his way out of the bathroom, he glanced at the clock. It had been well over the thirty minutes Roxas estimated it would take Axel to return from his errand. "Where the hell is he?" The blonde boy went to stand by the window, staring out the sheer curtain at the snow-covered streets below.

"Hey, Roxas, I've got the-… Oh, shit. I'm sorry," Roxas whipped around to see Axel standing in the doorway, a pizza box balanced on one hand and the key card in the other. The door shut behind him with a loud bang.

Roxas's face turned crimson. Despite having lived together and changed out for gym for almost five months, the two of them had managed to avoid being in the same room together with any clothes missing. This was a first for both of them, and the two boys were unsure what to do or say to break the awkward silence hanging in the air.

Axel walked forwards and set the pizza and keycard down on the dresser, his cheeks the faintest shade of red. He motioned over his shoulder at Roxas's shirt, crumpled up on the floor behind him. "Um… Do you want your shirt?"

"I… Uh…" Roxas could barely form a sentence, let alone make a decision. He just stood there staring at Axel.

The redhead walked forwards to stand a couple of feet away from him. His eyes roved up and down Roxas's body, as if he was appraising it. "You're gorgeous, you know that?"

"I'm what?"

"Gorgeous," Axel repeated. "I dunno what else to call you. I don't think beautiful is quite the right word… Neither is handsome. Even for a writer like me, words escape me when I try to describe you."

Roxas thought somebody could've cooked eggs on his face, it was so hot. "You're weird."

"You know you love me because of it," Axel began to close the distance between the two of them. He stopped in front of Roxas, just close enough so that the blonde could feel the fabric of Axel's shirt on his bare chest. "I love you, you know that?"

"There was a rumor going around," Roxas smirked up at him, standing on his tiptoes to kiss him, but Axel pulled back teasingly. "Aw, come on. You get to kiss me whenever you want, but I can't kiss you? No fair!"

"Life's not fair. Anyone who says different is selling something," Axel replied. He leaned over, but instead of kissing him on the lips, Roxas felt his breath on his neck. The blonde boy shivered as Axel's cold hands traced patterns up his back, leaving an icy trail in their wake. The taller boy moved his head up so that his lips met Roxas's, his tongue sliding out and slicking the other boy's bottom lip with spit. Axel pulled him close all of a sudden, causing him to gasp as bare skin met the remains of snow flurries on Axel's clothes. The redhead's tongue slid between Roxas's lips and began exploring it. The blonde felt helpless, his mind unable to function properly any more.

A spark of panic coursed through Roxas as Axel began tugging at the sides of the waistband of his pajama pants. The blonde tried to turn and pry himself out of Axel's arms, but instead, he tripped over the other boy's feet and fell backwards onto their bed. Roxas froze, but Axel's hands continued to move, pulling the pants down around his hips.

Axel paused when he looked up and saw Roxas's shocked expression. "I… I'll stop, if you want me to. I don't want to do this if it reminds you too much of Namine…"

Roxas felt a need in his gut, an insistent wanting that screamed at him to let Axel continue to what he knew was coming. The only other part of his brain that was able to function was the little voice that most people called their conscious, but its cries were so weak, the instinct to just go with it won out. "Axel… I trust you."

The redhead gave him a reassuring smile and pulled the other boy's pants down around his knees and then all the way off, leaving him in his underwear. Roxas glanced up to see that the bulge in his underwear was already substantial just from thinking about what Axel was going to do.

"Not eager at all, are you?" Axel smiled, running his fingers down the blonde boy's thighs, earning a slight gasp from him. "You have no idea how much I've wanted to do this for the last couple of months."

Roxas wasn't able to express his surprise as this admittance because Axel brushed his hand against his erection, trapped beneath the thin layer of fabric that was his boxers, causing him to moan. The redhead grinned and continued avoiding most direct contact.

"You damn tease!" Roxas hissed as he brushed him again, fingertips lightly pressing the fabric. "Just get on with it already if you're gonna do it!"

Axel grinned. "As you wish, Your Highness." He slowly pulled Roxas's boxers down until they slid off his feet and threw them onto the floor, leaving Roxas lying pinned on the bed beneath him, stark naked. The redhead's fingers met the skin of the other boy's dick and wrapped around it, moving up and down in a slow, rhythmic motion that drove Roxas crazy.

"A-Axel, c'mon, just… Please…" Roxas gasped as the older boy's tongue flicked out, licking the very tip of the head of his cock.

"You said you trust me," he replied. "Keep your word."

Any reply was cut off when Axel's mouth enveloped Roxas's dick, slicking it with spit. A wave of intense pleasure coursed through the blonde boy's body, making him squirm under Axel's hands, tickling the base. Axel began crawling backwards all of a sudden, pulling Roxas with him, mouth still wrapped around him. The blonde followed helplessly, unable to find the words to protest this strange turn of events. Before he knew it, he was leaning back against the edge of the bed with Axel on his knees in front of him, back arching in pleasure as the redhead got down to work. The sparks in Roxas's gut exploded into flames as Axel increased his pace, pulling a small bottle out of his pocket as he did. He squirted some of the gel-like substance onto his finger, and then slid it into Roxas, causing him to writhe.

Axel's finger hit one spot, and Roxas's world was suddenly black night skies filled with popping stars and dizzying swirls of color, interspersed with what could only be described as what heaven might feel like, only much, much better and certainly more tangible.

Roxas's knees gave out and he fell to the floor, limp as a rag doll. Axel rocked back on his heels and then stood, walking to the bathroom. The blonde vaguely heard water run and the sound of spitting before Axel reappeared and handed him his clothes.

"A-Axel… Th-that was…"

Axel pressed a finger to his lips to silence him. Without a word, he handed him a glass of water and said quietly, "Drink."

Roxas obeyed, taking a few sips of the water before he put his clothes back on. After he threw away the paper cup he was holding, Axel pulled him onto the bed and sat him down in his lap, wrapping his arms around him in the familiar embrace.

"I love you," Roxas whispered against the fabric of the blanket Axel wrapped around them again.

"I know. I love you too," Axel replied.

~::~

The two boys woke up the next morning entwined in one another's arms. Roxas's cheek was pressed against Axel's chest, and Axel's chin rested on the blonde's head. The sheets of the bed were tangled around them in an impossible mess of a knot.

"Good morning, beautiful," Axel murmured as Roxas's eyes blinked open. "How're you feeling?"

Roxas yawned. "I dunno. Good, I guess."

"That's good. I'd hate for you to be exhausted after last night's little… uh… ordeal."

Roxas's eyes widened as he remembered what went on the previous night. I thought that was just a dream… Oh, fuck. "W-well, we did sleep until…" He glanced at the clock. "…nine in the morning."

Axel suddenly started scrambling to get untangled form the bed clothes. "Shit, my parents are gonna be here in an hour! We've gotta clean this place up. It's a fucking mess!"

Roxas looked around the room with bleary eyes. The remains of their dinner were still on top of the dresser, their dirty clothes were in a pile on the floor nearby, and the pillows from the bed they were sharing were flung haphazardly all over the room.

"How did those pillows get on the other side of the room?" Roxas asked as Axel began sprinting around the room, cleaning as fast as he could.

The redhead paused to look up at him. "You were dreaming that you were fighting a huge fire-breathing dragon."

"And how do you know that?"

Axel's face was completely deadpan as he replied, "You kept smacking me in the face with the pillows and yelling 'Die, stupid dragon, die!' I then disposed of the pillows over there and just about sat on you when you started kicking me."

Roxas was mortified. "Oh God, I'm sorry! I should've warned you of my vivid dreaming when I'm under a lot of stress."

Axel wasn't listening any more. He was doubled over with laughter, leaning back against the side of the other bed. Roxas stared at him in confusion and promptly fell backwards onto the bed, curling up in the still-warm blankets again.

"Hey! Uh-uh! Bad! Get up, Roxas!" A pillow flew through the air and landed square on the blonde boy's face. He sat bolt upright and threw it back at Axel with less-than-perfect aim, hitting his left shoulder with a glancing blow. "Oh, come on, that was weak!" A full-out pillow fight ensued. Roxas eventually lost when Axel braved the no man's land of their bed and pinned him to the floor with two of the pillows.

Somehow, the two boys got the room reasonably clean by the time Axel's parents returned. Mrs. von Fusen hugged both of them and congratulated their ability to keep the room in relative order. Roxas and Axel exchanged a glance, biting their lips to keep from bursting out laughing.

That day and the next passed in a happy blur. Roxas got to give the von Fusens the grand tour of his hometown, showing them the best places to eat, where to buy clothes and food, and the ice cream shop where his beloved sea-salt ice cream was made and sold. The four of them ended up buying scoops of the blue-green treat and eating them slowly, trying not to freeze themselves any further.

"As cold as it is, this stuff if amazing," Axel praised the ice cream more with every bite. "I'm not expert, but this is divine!"

"Shut up and eat or we're leaving you here," Roxas replied.

Despite the amiable atmosphere, there was a tangible degree of tension in the air between the two boys. The events of two nights before still hung over them like looming black storm clouds, threatening disaster on the horizon. As much as they tried to ignore it, the feeling of doom persisted.

That night, when they returned to the hotel with their dinner, Chinese take-out from a local restaurant, Axel seemed more worried than usual. After receiving a text around ten that morning, he had been glancing anxiously at his phone all day. Roxas tried to ask him what was wrong, but the redhead waved him away every time.

Halfway through their meal, Axel's cell phone began ringing. He leapt up off the bed and went into the bathroom, answering it as he went. Roxas and his parents stared at each other in confusion. Axel never left a meal without excusing himself. What was so important that he forget such a common courtesy?

They continued eating, but five minutes later, Axel came back out, white as a sheet. His hands shook as he put his cell phone back in his pocket.

Mrs. von Fusen nearly dropped her take-out box. "Axel, honey, what's wrong? You look like you just saw a ghost!"

Axel walked over and sank down onto the bed next to Roxas. He stared at the wall across from him, as if not daring to look at anyone else. No one anticipated his answer.

"Larxene is pregnant."