Note: The timeline in this story is a little off... but according to my calculations (from where my story started, when CJ was cancelled, et cetera) it's now somewhere around the end of July, 2007. Therefore: Bush is still in office, the "rumours" of Jorja Fox leaving CSI are just surfacing, touch-screens are not all the rage yet, and I was a twelve-year-old girl who had never, ever heard of fanfiction before. —shudders—

The last chapter was short and awful, do to my writer's block. Now the block is gone, but it makes my chapters go awry... this is a lot longer than I planned on it being, and a little tiresome, I'm afraid. But better than short, I suppose... anyway.

Chapter Twenty-One: Redecorating

"I think we should convert my spare bedroom into a nursery," Kate blurted out, smiling uneasily. Nigel looked up from the computer screen.

"Yeah, sure." It was a big step, emotionally, for her. Kate had always been weighing the idea that this wouldn't happen, but six months into it... They had to start preparing for the better of two options. "You want me to help?"

"Well, that was kind of the reason I used the word 'we.'" She smiled, putting her hands on her hips in that authoritative pose he liked so much. "And you're better at all this decorating stuff than me, anyway. What kind of colour... thingy do you think her room should have?"

"Colour scheme, or theme," he corrected automatically, to which she let out an exasperated sigh, "The norm for this kind of thing is usually pink with flowers, or yellow with bees or animals is unisex... or blue, but that's boys', right?"

"What about purple? Light purple, of course, 'cause babies like light colours... I think. Has anyone done a study on that? Which shades are better for babies? Maybe we should go with primary colours; red, yellow and blue? Or something cool, like green and purple. That's different. And I like purple."

"I got that." He grinned. "Purple it is! Maybe more of lavender—" Kate threw her hands up in the air in defeat.

"Just give me a can of paint and a brush, and a couple of hours. They have nontoxic paints now, right?" She patted her belly, a look of concern creasing her features.

"Yes, Kate. I'll make sure that there is nothing harmful you can breathe in." He paused. "You want to paint, then? What colour is it right now? White, right? Then we won't need too many coats... why do you want to paint? Aren't you afraid of exerting yourself?"

"No."

"But if you strain your back—"

"I want to paint because I like painting. Make sure it's nontoxic, and I'll worry about it. And we need a crib or something, right?" Nigel cocked an eyebrow. "Yes. Right. Err... and sheets, to match the paint colour we pick. You said lavender? Ooh, have you ever seen Winnie the Pooh?"

"Who hasn't seen Winn—?"

She cut him off. "Isn't Eeyore sort of lavender-ish? I love him." Nigel's eyebrow cocked again. Kate had never displayed this kind of tenacity towards liking anything before. She had never been described by him as 'enthusiastic,' either, but she sure was acting that way then.

"Hormones," he muttered to himself.

"What?"

"Nothing. Just Eeyore's always so sad..."

"That's why he's awesome!" Nigel just rolled his eyes.

"He's awesome... because he's sad?" Kate nodded earnestly.

"Yes, well... not only because he's sad. He's also smart, adorable— he's always losing his tail, and when his house falls down? Magic happens. That cute little butterfly that's always knocking it over was cute, too."

XXX

"Oh, I love Eeyore!" exclaimed Lily when she caught Kate in the hallway. Apparently Nigel was already spreading the news of their redecorating, true to his 'Gossip Queen' title. "I was planning on doing Maddie's room in a Winnie theme, too, but butterflies just seemed more appropriate once I moved in with bug. And she loves them, anyway." Kate nodded, half-listening to Lily's one-ended conversation. "That reminds me— have you seen Bug? We were supposed to leave half an hour ago, but he's up and disappeared... oh, there he is! See you! And don't hesitate to call if you guys need help with the nursery or anything." She skipped off toward her boyfriend, leaving Kate standing by herself outside of Trace.

"Odd," she murmured to herself, putting a hand on her stomach and walking to the break room. Nigel was in there, eagerly telling Jordan about their redecorating. Kate didn't see what the big deal was; it was only a nursery!

"Can I help?" Jordan asked, glancing up at Kate when she heard the door open. "Painting sounds like fun." Kate sighed, then smiled.

"I was planning on asking you to help," she explained, shaking her head slightly. "'Girls' day in.'" She helped herself to a cup of coffee, which Nigel immediately removed from her hands and replaced with a ginger ale from the mini-fridge. Jordan clapped her hands together.

"Cool! And what's this about Eeyore being the theme? He was always my favourite from Pooh." Nigel, again, rolled his eyes.

XXX

The next afternoon, Jordan pulled one of Woody's old t-shirts over her head and then put up her hair in a messy ponytail. Kate had explained how they had to move fast because it was 'only a matter of time until I'm a blimp and can't help.' She was wearing sweats that Woody had deemed okay for painting the nursery in; old clothes that could be messed up and he wouldn't miss them. The shirt had a hole along the seam on one side; a small one, but a hole none the less. He was planning on getting rid of it anyway.

"I'm going now!" she called over her shoulder as she grabbed her boots and jacket, "Be back for dinner, probably!"

She heard Woody's joking reply of, "You'd better!" as she slipped the jacket over her shoulders and stumbled out into the hallway, pulling on her boots. She could hear the rain pounding against the windows at the end of the hall. Oh, a perfect day for staying indoors and doing baby preparations! No way she was going to stay out for long in that pounding, heavy summer's rain.

When she got to Kate's townhouse, she was met by a man of about Garret's age at the door— and she momentarily wondered if she had gotten the address wrong. He smiled at her welcomingly, though.

"Jordan, right?" He opened the door wider and gestured for her to come in. She did, taking down her hood and shaking out of slightly damp hair. "I'm Henry McGregor; Katie's neighbour." Jordan almost laughed; she'd never heard anyone refer to Kate as 'Katie,' before.

She shook his hand and introduced herself. He was a little taller than her, with brown hair that was mostly gray; dark green eyes that were almost black; he had a long nose and dimples on his cheeks as he smiled at her. Not a bad looking guy, he reminded her of her fiancé a little; but he was nothing compared to her Farm Boy, of course.

Kate appeared at the top of the stairs, smiling wildly and brandishing a clean paintbrush almost like a weapon. "Jordan! Come on up; oh, I see you've met Henry." She frowned. "He's taking Binky for a walk for me." Henry nodded with another smile, unhooking a little red leash from the coat rack.

"We'll be bank in twenty minutes. You've got my cell phone number— don't hesitate to call if you need anything." He walked off into the living room in search of Binky as Jordan hung up her coat and trotted up the stairs to the landing.

"I found the perfect bed sheets yesterday!" She took walked into the second door on the right off the small hallway, gesturing for Jordan to follow. "See, they're so cute!" They were light blue with pictures of Eeyore in different poses all over it; doing a somersault; sitting with a sad expression; standing with his tail between his teeth; sitting next to a crumpled pile of twigs; standing with a butterfly perched on his nose; putting the last twig onto his house. It was very cute.

"And yet you don't have a crib," Jordan replied with a chuckle, "So, are we going to paint this thing, or what?" She gestured to the white walls of the newly cleaned-out spare bedroom. Kate nodded, putting the sheets back into the plastic bag she had pulled them from.

"Yep. Is Wonder Boy coming over?"

"Woody has to work."

"'Kay."

Painting the room was a lot of work, but the two friends had fun chatting and just having girl time. Jordan let go more than she had in a while; she smiled and laughed at the right points in their conversation, putting in her thoughts and speaking freely to Kate. It felt good to be herself again. It felt good to feel carefree. It felt good to be interested in everything that was going on around her, again. Even if there was still a lot on her mind; the wedding, James, her mother's murder, Max, Maddie's health, Kate's baby... she felt freer than she had in a long time.

"Oh, you'll never guess what I saw on a billboard yesterday while we were out shopping!" Kate said, wiping the sweat from her forehead and dipping her paintbrush into the can again.

"What did you see?" asked Jordan, actually interested.

"A Hoyt." Jordan's eyebrows shot up. "Not Woody... but they have to be related! They could be brothers. Does Woody have a brother? 'Cause this guy looked just like him..." Jordan relaxed and grinned.

"Calvin. He's a couple years younger than Woody, got into modeling with for Calvin Klein recently." She chuckled. "He actually has a billboard?"

"Yes! And he looked gorgeous..." Kate smiled. "I don't think Calvin Klein underwear have ever looked as good as they do on him." They laughed about the subject for a while, eventually talking about modeling, and then famous people. They discussed the goings on of the Spears sisters, who their favourite actresses are, their theories on what was going on in Lost, whether or not Sara was really leaving the team on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, what George Bush was up to nowadays... everything imaginable.

The pair was still comfortably giggling about Drew Carey's attempt to replace Bob Barker on the Price is Right when Henry returned, not twenty minutes later but more than an hour, holding a cardboard tray of coffees. Binky, in all his twenty-five pounds of glory, began to hop around Kate's ankles, barking happily.

"Guess I was a little longer than I said I'd be," he apologised, offering the tray to the two women. Each took a cup gratefully; they'd been working for an hour and needed a break. "Sorry. The boys were trying very hard to run as fast as possible; Bijou and I were just trying to keep up." Jordan gave Kate a questioning glance and she went on to explain that Henry had two show dogs of his own; Bijou, a female Biewer Yorkshire Terrier, and Bear, a male fancy white teacup Pomeranian puppy.

"That's one long name for a breed of dog," Jordan commented vaguely, taking a sip from the hot caffeinated beverage Henry had been so kind as to bring, "What was it? Fancy white...?"

"Fancy white teacup Pomeranian," said Henry proudly, "They're quite rare, but absolutely beautiful." Kate nodded in agreement, and Jordan pretended to know what such a dog would look like.

When Kate and Henry started discussing dog breeds, Jordan silently left the conversation to survey the work they'd done. With the two of them, they'd been able to paint three of the four walls the soft lavender that was the colour of Eeyore's stomach. Kate would have wanted to paint Eeyore all over the walls, but neither were that good at painting. Not to mention that Erin would grow out of Eeyore eventually, and might not appreciate having to repaint her walls just to get rid of all the baby stuff... better just to put up the vinyl removable wall-decals that Nigel had found earlier that day.

"...And my mate Mike has a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever. Thinking about entering him in the large-breed category next show... he's a good dog, very well trained. Mike had him shipped in from. God knows where..."

"Nova Scotia?" Jordan suggested meekly, finished her looking around and ready to talk again. She sipped her coffee.

"Err, no." Henry laughed a little, taking a long drink from his own Styrofoam cup, "Somewhere down near Utah, actually, I believe. Though Buddy's old owner might have gotten him from Canada." Jordan nodded.

"Oh."

"I hear you work with Katie at the ME's office," Henry said after a moment of awkward silence, "Did you see the fake Naeema we sent Katie a couple of months ago? Terrible thing. At least we got a real one back."

"Oh, no I didn't. But I heard about that. I was doing another case at the time." Henry nodded, turning to Kate.

"I've got to go to the museum," he said with a dimpled smile, "I'll see you later, yes?" Kate nodded.

"Thanks for the coffee. Nigel won't let me have any." Henry chuckled.

"There is absolutely no proof whatsoever that it affects the fetus. He's just a wuss. I told you to be careful with that one, but no. Now you're having the child of an over-protective Limey." Kate rolled her eyes, and Jordan's widened.

"Now who's being over-protective," Kate muttered as Henry left. "He doesn't like Nigel much. Keeps telling me I can do better. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I love the guy."

"You're in love with Nigel?" Kate rolled her eyes again, this time toward Jordan.

"Well, duh. I'm also having his kid, remember?" Jordan blushed.

"Sorry, I didn't mean— It's just, I've just never heard you say it."

"I've never heard you say you love Woody, either, but that doesn't mean that you don't."

"Of course I love Woody!"

"Exactly."

"I'm lost." Kate grinned.

"That was the point." She patted her stomach. "I'm hungry. Want to pig out on ice cream and continue our discussion downstairs?" Jordan nodded eagerly, following her friend down the stairs and to the kitchen.

"Kate... what's a fancy white teacup Pomeranian look like?"