The morning of the seventh, Daniel and Andrea were waiting for Harvey in the room of the clinic while he finished up his morning appointment and working on some wedding details; no reason they couldn't multitask since they had less than two months to the twenty-first.

'So we're agreed? You're sure?'

Andrea just looked at her fiance, smiled at him. 'Daniel, I am one hundred and forty-two percent certain this is the menu I want to have at our wedding.'

Daniel nodded, then picked up his pen to fill out the form for the caterers. 'So for pre-dinner hors-d'oeuvres, we're going with arrancini di riso-'

'That's the cheesy rice balls, right?'

'Yep, plus prosciutto and fontina-stuffed mushrooms and red pepper pesto on toast points. For the kids there are mini pizzas and fried gnocchi with cheese.'

'And for the soup course, we're doing minestrone, plain tomato and rotini for the children and the vegetarians,' Andrea added, looking over their antipasti options. 'Why again do Ryan, Robina and Cam have to eat the tomato-rotini?'

'Because it's a beef-and-tomato broth for the minestrone.'

'Right. Main course is chicken parmigiana and eggplant parmigiana for the vegetarians, and cheese pizza for the kids. Then table-side gelato cart for dessert, plus cake and coffee to follow.'

'I think that sounds like a delicious way to start our married life together.'

Daniel gave Andrea a quick kiss, then because she tasted so good, leaned in for another one and would have stayed there when he heard a discreet cough from Harvey. He pulled back, a little red-cheeked. 'Morning, Doctor.'

'Good morning, Nurse Brick. Andrea, how are you feeling today?'

'Alternating between nauseous and hungry, but I haven't been actually sick to my stomach,' she replied.

'That's good. And you're keeping up your vitamins?' At her nod, Harvey nodded back while he read the output on the blood-pressure cuff. 'Looking good, one-eighteen over eighty. Let's have a look at the body weight.'

Daniel watched with baited breath as Harvey measured her weight and let it out when she was at one-ninety-one. Though Andrea wouldn't openly admit it, he knew that the weight gain was a concern of hers, not for her own appearance but for health reasons. He moved from his spot in the chair to the head of the exam table as Harvey drew her blood sample, then instructed her to lie down so he could do the sonogram. At the sight of the image on-screen, he decided to be the funny-daddy this time around.

'It looks like a tadpole,' he commented, making Andrea giggle.

'You're not far off,' Harvey chuckled, freezing the image on-screen. 'Those little flipper-looking things are the arm and foot buds, and the head is oversized right now but the rest of the body will adjust itself. The heart is good and strong. You've got one tough little acorn there. I'll print you a copy. Unless there's an issue with your blood work, I'll see you.'

'Great. Andrea, do I need to put any dietary concerns on this info-sheet for the caterer?'

'Yeah.' She sat up, wiping off the cold-blue gel from her abdomen. 'Lanie is deathly allergic to shellfish and Dell is diabetic.'

'Got it. Okay, I'll be dropping this off after shift.'

'Actually, it might have to wait a moment,' Harvey told them. 'We've just been paged by trauma, looks like we need to prep for an emergency c-section.'

'Hey, look at that,' Andrea said proudly, digging out her lucky tropical-fish scrub cap from her pocket. 'It is possible to be a nurse, a parent to be and a wedding planner all at once.'

Andrea made it home on time after shift, for which she was immensely thankful as she'd nearly forgotten she and Daniel were having the Ryans for dinner that night until she'd bumped into Honey-Milk and she'd asked if she needed to bring anything. How Andrea could have forgotten since she had something very important to discuss with them about the wedding was beyond her, but nonetheless by the time Daniel arrived home an hour after her, the chicken and potatoes were roasted in the oven, she had fresh coffee made - decaf now - and was just wondering if it was too early to slice bread when the intercom buzzed.

'Hello?'

'It's us.'

'Come on up.'

A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door and Andrea's smile was genuine and warm when she opened it to see Honey-Milk, Mallory and Dell on the other side. Dell, of course, was all smiles and greeted her like a little prince.

'Hello Andrea! Hello baby!'

'Hello Dell, how are you?'

'I am doing guh-reat, thank you Andrea. These are for you.' He held out a bouquet of flowers to her. 'How is your baby feelin'?'

'Hungry, but that's normal because the baby wants to get big and strong.'

'Like me!' With her coat and boots off Mallory came over, gave Andrea's tummy a pat. 'Baby need noo-dee-ints.'

'We are learning all about healthy eating at school,' Dell said proudly as he put down his bag by the couch. 'We are learning about nu-tuh-rients. Did you know that milk has cal-ci-um in it?'

'I did learn that.'

'It's in our milk and cheese and ice cream. I have to have a suh-pecial kind of ice cream because I have diabetes.'

'He nee-nills,' Mallory explained, looking around at the apartment. 'Nee-nills ouchie. Bu' no tears. Daddy soon.'

'Ryan got held up in court, he'll be here shortly,' Honey-Milk added, taking off her coat while Andrea put the flowers in a vase on the table. 'Mallory, Dell, you may draw if you like, or if Andrea says it's okay, you may watch something on TV.'

'Wall-E!' Mallory clapped her hands together. 'Bots!'

'Aren't you tired of Wall-E yet, Mally?' Dell asked as he got out his books from his back-pack, with his rex overseeing the activity.

'No. Love 'bots. An' Dell.'

'Love you too Mally. You will have to wait to watch your 'bots because I have homework to do.'

'Dell, how do you have homework?' Andrea asked as he pulled out a pencil case and began to write.

'I have to do a pre-sen-ta-tion for the big kids on next Wednesday.'

Honey-Milk grinned as Andrea passed her a warm cup of coffee. 'Dell's teacher is thinking of putting him in the first grade class twice a week for language and math. He's so smart.'

'That's exciting.'

'He can already read Geronimo Jones and the Bobbsey Twins out loud with some help too. I just worry that if he gets stressed it'll send his sugars out of orbit, you know?'

'It's understandable, but then, the teacher wouldn't think of doing it if they didn't think he was mature enough. My teachers in grade six wanted to move me up, but they decided against it when my parents split up because they thought it would be too much change all at once. I ended up fast-tracking high-school instead.'

'Were you good at math and language too?' Dell asked, and Andrea nodded.

'I was very good at math and science, especially chemistry.'

'What chemi-ty?' Mallory asked, then giggled when Daniel walked out of the bedroom without his shirt on. 'Daniel! You no' dess!'

'Oh, hey guys I didn't hear you come in. I just woke up.' Daniel walked over, gave Andrea a kiss. 'I'll go put on a shirt before poor little Marsh-Mally has a heart attack.'

Andrea felt a happy little rush in her veins as she watched her soon-to-be husband walk back down the hallway and giggled. 'I couldn't blame Mallory if she did go a little goofy. He's a handsome man.'

'I think you mean sexy as...as.' Honey-Milk winked, leaving off the end word since children were present. 'How are the hormones treating you so far?'

'They've been touch and go. Fortunately for me, I've been more weepy than snappy. Then I give Daniel a hug and wanna bite him all over.'

Honey-Milk laughed, thinking of her own husband and how she'd felt like that when she'd been pregnant both times. She opened her mouth to tell Andrea it was perfectly natural to go from weepy to horny in a nanosecond but before any words came out, the intercom buzzed again. It was indeed her own sweetheart, and when Daniel emerged fully-clothed this time to answer the door, he watched in fascination as both Mallory and Dell raced to their father, gave him big hugs and kisses.

'Daddy! How was work today?' Dell asked eagerly.

'Dash baddies?' Mallory chimed in, not to be outdone.

'Yeah, Auntie Katie and I got the bad guy today.'

'Yea Daddy!' The little girl kissed his cheek, then tugged him into the living room. 'We vissin', Daddy.'

'I can see that,' Ryan laughed, then stood up from the crouch he was in to be at eye level with his kids. 'How's it going, Daniel?'

'Not bad. Coffee?'

'Sure.'

He headed into the living room, took a seat beside his wife and accepted the mug Daniel brought over to him. When Daniel sat down beside his fiancee, he put his hand on her thigh in support to give her the extra little bit of courage she unconsciously needed to ask her question.

'So, the main reason we wanted to invite you over is because I have something very important I want to ask you, Kevin.' Andrea looked at Daniel, then back at Honey-Milk and Ryan. 'Kevin, I would like you to give me away at the wedding.'

Ryan blinked. 'Seriously?'

'Yeah. Andrea nodded. 'You and Daniel are the only men I've ever seen stand up for me against my family, and you have no idea what that means to me. I've been bullied by them for so long it took you both to open my eyes to the fact of just letting it go was akin to letting them get away with it. Daniel is the love of my life, and you...you're the best big brother I could ask for.'

'I'd be completely honoured.'

'Oh, thank you. Oh, dammit. Damn, damn, damn.' She waved her hands in front of her face, and fought for control. 'Friggin' hormones.'

'No tears.' Mallory, ever the softie, saw the shimmer of water in Andrea's eyes; she a tissue from the box on the table and climbing onto Andrea's lap, dabbed at the woman's cheeks. 'No be sad.'

'I'm not sad, Mally. Just sometimes, when a lady is growing a baby inside, her body does funny things and makes her cry sometimes.'

'Moosh bedda?'

'Yeah, sometimes a kiss makes it better.'

'Daniel, moosh An'ea,' Mallory instructed him. 'Fee' bedda.'

Now Andrea laughed as Daniel moved closer and laid his lips to hers. It was a sweet, innocent gesture yet it had her going to her happy place in a microsecond. She blushed a little as Mallory clapped.

'All bedda?'

'Yes, I'm all better, sweetie.'

R&R&Enjoy!