At thirty-eight weeks, Edith couldn't help but feel a little heartbroken she hadn't received a single visit from her parents. She had gotten the occasional phone call from Cora, and Edith suspected it was Robert who kept her mother from visiting in earnest, but that didn't help. She wanted to be worthy of a fight between them, if that's what it took for her mother to come see her.

The baby was healthy, though, and Edith could hardly ask for much more than that. And she did have Rose, Rosamund, Thomas and Jimmy, and regular phone calls from Sybil. Edith suspected her baby sister supplied Cora with updates, but tried not to waste much time wondering how much her mother may or may not worry about her.

"You, my darling girl, will never have to wonder if I love you," Edith said to her belly, running her hands over her tummy as she sat cross-legged in the center of her bed. She had her i-Pod on playing a mix of calming music she wanted her daughter to know. "You are going to be good, and strong, and I'm going to remind you every day how important you are, and how special you are."

Baby kicked back and Edith grinned. "I'm here, my sweet love. What are we going to name you, hmm?" She flipped open the baby names book Anthony had brought home for her and began perusing as she hummed along with Cat Stevens and Simon & Garfunkel.

While Edith was now full-term and allowed to move about as much as she wanted, she generally felt too large and uncomfortable to enjoy her reestablished freedom. Anthony was a dear and worked hard to keep her relaxed, and Edith tried not to harp too much on her discomfort—she had wanted a baby so badly, and she was beyond thrilled to be having one. She was less thrilled with her swollen feet, aching back, the constant need to use the loo, heartburn that radiated from her chest to her knees, and the emotional rollercoaster she'd been riding for months.

Even with all that, Edith was sure she'd never been happier.

"Eed, sweetheart, I have a surprise for you," Anthony called, knocking lightly on her bedroom door before entering.

They still hadn't switched rooms again, so Edith was in Anthony's master suite, and Anthony was in her much more feminine room down the hall. The third bedroom had been painted a lovely, warm taupe and the baby furniture was in boxes on the floor. It seemed a rather large step to actually set it all up, and while both Edith and Anthony were fond of the idea, neither had the nerve to actually say it.

Like so much of what their lives had become, Edith and Anthony both smiled and carried on with the day-to-day, taking what they could and pretending not to be terrified of what could happen next.

"A surprise?" Edith asked, pushing herself up against the headboard with a wary smile.

"We have the IPoL conference coming up, and I'm afraid I'm going to have to be at the office quite a bit over the next week, so I called in reinforcements," he explained.

"Anthony, I'm not strictly on bed rest anymore, I don't need a babysitter," Edith said.

In reply, Anthony just let the bedroom door swing wide, revealing a giddy Sybil.

"Sister!" Sybil squealed, running and throwing herself onto the bed. Edith laughed at her sister's enthusiasm, looking at Anthony in gratitude as Sybil hugged her.

"I trust you two will stay out of trouble while I'm gone today?" Anthony asked, pulling his keys from his pocket.

"Yes, Boss," Edith assured.

"Excellent. I'm picking up Rose on my way home from work tonight, we'll be back for dinner around six. Yes?"

"Thank you, Sir Anthony," Sybil called after him, giggling at the audible groan from the hall in response. "He does hate that title, doesn't he?"

Edith was still staring at her sister in disbelief. "I'm so glad you're here. How long do I get to keep you?"

"A whole week. Anthony arranged it all you know, and even paid for my train ticket. Said he knew he'd be away and didn't want you alone so close to your due date, said you've been missing your family too even though you won't admit it. And Tom's in Dublin right now, some month-long business venture with his brother. I don't really like it, but he says when he gets back we'll have enough to get a little place of our own somewhere off of Papa's property. And Mary says hello. I think she and Matthew are having problems but you know her, she'd never say if she did. Oh!"

"Sybil, for god's sake, take a breath," Edith laughed, her head spinning with Sybil's deluge of information. Sybil ignored her as she rummaged through one of her many bags, now spread among the bed.

"Mama sends her love. I think she wants to see you and while she won't ever admit if anything is remotely wrong, Papa has been particularly nice to her, which makes me think she's angry with him. I don't know."

Edith worked to remain expressionless. She had been sparring with her parents since she was four years old, but it had been her own actions that caused the final break. She had long felt the best response to avoid heartache and frustration and blame was to remain neutral in front of her sisters.

Apparently finding what she hunted, Sybil let out an "ah-ha!" and turned back to Edith, a bundle in her hands. "This is for the baby," she explained, throwing her arms to spread the blanket between them.

It was knit, obviously by hand, in a soft, light cotton yarn. The pattern was random-width stripes of pale taupe, a sort of mauve, light brown, and cream, and there was an occasional gold ribbon laced through. "Oh, Syb, it's really beautiful," Edith gasped, fingering the threaded ribbon. "Really, really beautiful. It's just perfect."

"Mama made it," Sybil said softly, her great blue eyes watching for Edith's reaction.

For her part, Edith just closed her eyes, and smiled. "I didn't think she cared."

"She does. A lot. She just doesn't want to step on your toes or push herself on you. But she makes me tell her in detail every day all of what you've told me. Rather annoying, actually."

"Well she could call more if she liked."

"Goes both ways, Eed," Sybil prodded, placing a hand on Edith's shoulder. They were quiet for a while until Sybil returned to her usual, exuberant self. "Well! Enough, I don't want to waste a minute. I have all sorts of things to entertain us." She started emptying her bags.

"You're only here for a week, Sybil, you're not moving in."

Sybil smiled devilishly. "Yeah, but what a week it will be."

It was a good week, too. Edith and Sybil would go for walks and talk and shop online for the baby. They spent an obscene amount of time in bed, being lazy, and every night Anthony would come home and cook them dinner and the three of them would chatter until Edith couldn't keep her eyes open. It was rather blissful, and Edith was a little sad when it came to Sybil's last night.

Edith and Sybil were lying in bed, watching old movies on the television Anthony had put in the room. Magazines and crosswords were spread around them, along with a fair amount of junk food, bottles of nail polish, and some knitting Sybil was attempting.

"What about Catherine?" Sybil suggested, flipping through the entertainment magazines. "Catherine's a good name."

"Yes, but not for this one. It needs to be something really sweet. I can tell she's a fighter, but I want her to be kind and gentle, like," Edith stopped herself short.

"Like her father?" Sybil asked, risking a glance up as she counted her knits.

Edith was quite for a moment, thinking, then took the knitting from Sybil's hands and laid her head in her sister's lap.

"Thank you for coming to keep me company," Edith sighed as Sybil stroked her hair maternally. "Anthony's been so good. Poor man worries like nothing I've ever seen, and he just hates going into work right now, I know. Usually it's Rose or Auntie Ros he has come sit with me, but I'm glad you're here. I miss you."

"I miss you too, sister," Sybil said. "Tom's been looking for jobs over here, though. I'm rather feeling the need to get away from Mama and Papa's place. I know Tom wouldn't mind being outside their focus for a while."

"I'm glad you're making plans together. That's good."

"Speaking of," Sybil said tentatively, leaning over so she could examine Edith's expression. "What are your plans?"

"For what?"

"Well, I don't mean to cause any stress, but what are you going to do when the baby comes? I mean, are you going to stay here after she's born? And if so, for how long?"

"I, well we hadn't really talked specifics," Edith mumbled, frowning.

"And what about Anthony? Will he be 'Father' or 'Uncle Anthony' or just some bloke Mummy works with?"

"I suppose that's up to him, really. I'd hate to pressure him one way or another. He's done so much for me already."

"And I suppose the baby will have your last name then? And what about the nursery? You have all that baby furniture in boxes and crates. You have to set it up at some point. Will you do it here or at your flat?"

"I don't know," Edith fairly barked, sitting up with some effort.

"You haven't talked about it at all?"

Edith felt a wave of something strange and sad and panicky wash over her. "Well, no, we haven't. I mean, Anthony said I could stay as long as I wanted, but we hadn't gone much further than that. I suppose we were putting off those conversations. I mean, it's been so good, you know, so comfortable that we've sort of just been going with it."

"Well putting off the inevitable won't make it less inevitable, will it? And you've an expiration date on this one that's fast approaching," Sybil said, running a hand on Edith's stomach.

Edith sputtered a few words before Sybil interrupted her. "I'm not criticizing you, and I'm not trying to cause problems," she explained gently, taking Edith's hand in hers. "It's just, I've never seen you so happy and content, and I know very well it's not just because of the baby."

Edith's face colored, she knew, and her heart sank into her stomach. She couldn't take a breath. The one thing she'd managed to avoid all this time and here Sybil was about to lay it out in front of her.

"Anyone who's around you two can see how mad you are for each other. I don't know why you're both so afraid to admit it."

"We're just friends," Edith said. She had intended to be dismissive, emphatic even, but her voice was trembling so pathetically that she didn't even believe herself.

"Friends," Sybil confirmed, "Who live together, and know everything about one another, and spend practically every waking moment together, and who happen to be having a baby together." When Edith said nothing, Sybil dropped her voice and said gently, "What are you so afraid of?"

Edith was determined to argue with her sister, but she had spent so long arguing with herself that she was suddenly all out of fight. She'd reached her limit in denial. Edith dropped her head into her hands. "Oh god, Sybil," she whispered. "I love him."

"I know," Sybil said, rubbing Edith's back.

Tears streamed down Edith's face as she gave into her nurturing and persistent sister. "I love him so much. I think I always have. I just don't know that he feels the same way. He's so reserved and kind, I'm terrified I'm just taking advantage of his goodness. And I can't tell him now, after all this," she said, gesturing to her stomach. "What if he thinks it was just a sort of ploy? I mean that's what it looks like, isn't it? That I did this to make him feel obligated? And he keeps offering to help but I know he's just doing what he thinks is right. And in all this time he's never once," Edith trailed off. "You know."

"What?" Sybil asked with a knowing little laugh. "Tried making a move on his emotional, pregnant employee half his age? Anthony's a terribly decent man."

"Almost to a fault," Edith blubbered.

"Exactly. Of course he hasn't said anything. He doesn't want to push you. Edith, you two are in about the strangest situation I've ever heard of. You can't expect someone as shy and prone to worry as him to just lay it all out, can you?"

Edith shrugged, knowing Sybil was right, and wiped the tears from her face. After a moment she let out a little growl of frustration. "How did I get it so wrong, so backwards?"

"Look, darling, the doctors didn't give you much of a choice, did they? Anyway, who's to say what the proper order is, hmm?"

"I know he's far too good for me, and I don't think I've any right to ask him for more than he's already given me, you know?"

"Edith," Sybil said firmly, "Stop that nonsense. Here's what we're going to do."

"What?" Edith asked warily, trying to believe in her sister and ignore the piercing fear in the pit of her stomach.

"You're going to take a long soak in the tub while I clean up in here. Then you're going to do your hair and makeup, and we're going to make a beautiful meal together, and when Anthony gets home I'll have made myself scarce. Then you're going to sit him down and tell him exactly how you feel."

"What? No!" Edith said, nearly laughing at the absurdity. "Haven't you been listening? I can't tell him now, it wouldn't be right. I don't want him to say yes just because of the baby."

"You know Anthony better than anyone. Is he the type to make rash decisions for the wrong reasons?"

Edith opened her mouth before realizing she really didn't have an answer to that one.

"I didn't think so. Now. Go get in the tub, relax. It'll all be perfect."

And it really, really was. Sybil, the dear, cleaned up the room, turned down the fresh linens, and put a vase of fresh amaryllis on the window seat that made the room smell amazing. In the kitchen she had worked wonders with a simple roast and potatoes and had a lemon tart chilling in the fridge. The dining room she had set, with candles and chargers and linen napkins.

Edith stood, holding her sister's arm, gaping. "You…Sybil, really, you are a miracle worker. It's perfect."

"You look beautiful, sister," Sybil said. Edith didn't feel exceptionally attractive at the moment, her navy maternity dress, just a simple cotton thing, was stretched over her protruding belly and she was barefoot.

"I feel huge. And very plain. But you're sweet. Anthony's seen me look worse."

"Are you ready?"

"I think I am, yes," Edith said, hoping that if she could convince Sybil she could convince herself.

"Alright. Dinner's in the oven. Pull it out in twenty and let it rest before serving. I'm off to meet my train," Sybil rambled, gathering her things and heading for the door. "Let me know how it goes."

"I will."

"And Edith?"

"Hmm?"

"You do deserve this. All of it. Don't forget that."

With that Sybil was gone, leaving Edith to wrestle with her own panic while she waited for Anthony to get home from work.


A/N: I know I've said it before, but I mean it every time. Thank you. You are just too lovely, and I really can't tell you what your support means. This story is just a bit of fun, and I'm so glad you're enjoying it. Thank you so, so much! Your reviews are always greatly appreciated.