Chapter 11

Now everyone is settled in for the night. I'm lying next to Logan, and we finally- FINALLY can pick up our conversation where it left off this afternoon. But I still can't get a little girl's name out of him. Every time I try, he gets this mushy look on his face, and I can tell he's picturing pink booties and frilly dresses. It's enough to make a confirmed tomboy gag.

"Logan?" I say, careful to keep my voice unthreatening.

"Mm?" He replies muzzily, and begins to nuzzle my neck.

"No daughter of mine is gonna be forced into ruffles. Pink booties, I can handle. Not without some qualms about stereotypes, but I'll deal. Ruffles are a nonstarter. Got it?"

"But...but if she's a girl then we have to have frilly dresses! They're so cute!" Logan looks downright upset. He moves away from my neck and I roll over to look at him. I've never seen him like this before- he's actually annoyed at me. I start to get a little worried. The little voice in the back of my head says to drop it. After all, the conversation is a moot point, since Paul is a boy. I don't see any reason to listen to that little voice, since I never have before. I stand by my statement.

"No ruffles! None! Lace, yes, ribbons, yes, but NO flipping ruffles." I'm quite pleased with myself. I just laid down the law. Too bad it's wasted.

"We'll see about that." Logan says under his breath and turns away. I'm left to decide whether to get really insistent.

"Over my dead body." I turn my back to Logan, and for the first time since we moved here, we go to sleep not touching.

I didn't notice until I woke up this morning that we still hadn't even suggested names yet again. He still wants ruffles. I refrain from telling him that no self-respecting little girl wears ruffles. That went as far out as the dizzy pop princesses of the early 00's. We go down to breakfast, barely speaking.

"Hey boo! Original Cindy definitely approves. The whole pink nightie thing is so you!" I look down in horror, and I see that I'm still wearing the sexy little pink teddy I went to bed in. No robe, either. Everyone in the kitchen cracks up as I turn beat red, and go zipping back up the stairs to my room. Logan follows me back up.

"Hey, Maxie, why don't we wait until Devonny Elizabeth is born before we start arguing about her clothes, hey? Please? I missed snuggling with you last night."

Hold the phone here. He actually came up with a name? I turn around, amazed his brain is once more functioning, and chose not to mention that I woke up more then a few times to discover that I was as snuggled in as ever. I choose not to make an issue out of it. After all, he did get past our mutual mush-mindedness in order to pick a name. And a pretty name, at that.

"We can wait till PAUL is born to prove that we didn't need to be arguing about it in the first place." I agree sweetly.

"I guess we'll wait and see." Logan wrapped me up into a hug, and I'm all of a sudden getting lots of help shedding the pink thing I forgot to change out of.

"The best thing about disagreements is the making up part." He murmured in my ear.

I have to agree with him. We were due downstairs two hours ago. I giggle and another round of making up ensues. Then I finally drag my sorry ass out of bed. I have to hit the bathroom again.

After I'm done, I clean up and get dressed (properly, this time). Then Logan and I meander down the stairs holding hands. Alec is standing at the bottom of the stairs, looking very pleased with himself. I can only wonder what he did to Asha.

"So, did you have fun escorting our baby terrorist back to her nest?" I ask waspishly. I know I'm being a bitch, but the mere thought of that ... person anywhere near my man is enough to get me started.

Alec grinned.

"We went around in circles for a while. Then I bought her a drink at the little café three kilometers from here. I slipped some roofies into her drink and she passed out like a baby. Then I drove her to Vancouver, and dropped her at the airport with fifty bucks and a ticket to Belarus. She said something about having contacts there. Not like I cared, mind you, but I wanted to make sure that she wasn't running to Manticore. If she had been, I would have killed her and still told you that story. Excepting the last part, anyway. And I managed to hook up with a cute little read head at the airport. All in all, I had a pretty good night."

I smiled at him, mentioned the food I was hoping was still in the kitchen, and watched him run off. Since he was gone, he doesn't know about Eva. I hurry into the kitchen to see his reaction to her. It ought to be priceless. That isn't the information he apparently gets first, however.

"Max is what?" He screams, loud enough for every transgenic, `nomaile and norm to hear for ten klicks. I shrink back, realizing that I probably should have told him when I saw him. Logan just laughs at his reaction.

"I said that Max is three months pregnant. You're going to be an uncle."

Alec looks completely shell shocked. He starts to make a move towards Logan, but I get there first.

"Oh, no you don't. Don't go pulling a Zach on me now. " I grab his collar, and he grins ruefully. He still looks a bit dazed.

"Sorry. Wasn't thinking. You two didn't waste any time, now did you?"

Neither of us answered. We both thought that we wasted too much time. Far, far too much. We pull each other in a tight, comforting hug to erase the bleakness of that thought, and then it's time for another bathroom run. I can't wait for this part to be over. Tinga says it will pass in another week or so. I hope she's right. Six more months to go, I keep telling myself. It seems small comfort when I have my head over the toilet.