Abby decided to make Holtz squirm and wait for her to get home. She went for a walk around Erin's neighborhood. It was a very quiet place with lots of trees and sitting areas. Erin had joined her for a few minutes, pointing out where they were going to put up a new playground before going back in and checking on the lunch she had started making. Abby sat down at one of the outside tables in a small picnic area, enjoying the deep breaths of cold, crisp December air. Sometimes it didn't feel like there was a large city surrounding them with millions of people going about and living their lives. It was a beautiful day, even if it was chilly. She texted Holtz and asked her if she wanted to go out and grab something to eat. Her wife texted an affirmative, but only if she came home first. She sent a small picture of a yellow and white star on a blue background. She could only imagine what Holtz had been up to.
"Your room is getting closer to completion," she said to her abdomen, rubbing it. She was certain the baby was asleep, as she had only felt a few little movements here and there. He or she had kicked up a storm during the night. Abby had assumed that was because Holtzmann wasn't there to play games right before bed. She had to admit, Holtz's arm draped across her waist during the night was something she missed herself. It had been a while since she had slept completely alone without Holtz. Not that she was completely alone when their child was doing pirouettes at three in the morning.
"I guess we'd better head back home kid," Abby said, stretching as she stood.
"Mom, look! It's one of the Ghostbusters ladies," said a voice. Abby looked around and noticed a little blond haired boy running up to her with wide blue eyes. He couldn't have been any more than four or five. A young woman came scrambling up behind him, carrying a baby girl who couldn't have been any more than four months, all wrapped up in a cute Sesame Street blanket.
"Jake, don't take off running like that!" huffed the woman, holding onto her son's shoulder. "I apologize. He really, really likes the Ghostbusters."
"You do huh?" said Abby, bending down to see him. "I like them too. They're all my closest friends."
"Really?" said Jake. "I want to be able to shoot ghosts. My mom said one day I could."
"Maybe," said his mom, patting his shoulder. "If they let you on the team."
"It's always possible," said Abby, smiling. "Tell you what. If you can next week, get your mom to bring you by our headquarters during the day. You can come meet the others." Abby could have sworn she had never seen a kid's face light up so fast.
"You're not just kidding him...?" said the younger woman, adjusting her daughter in her arms.
"No, I really do work with the Ghostbusters," said Abby, sitting down. She couldn't stay bent over like that for long. That took a lot of breath. "One of our team lives in this neighborhood and I was here for a visit."
"I-uh, wow," said the woman. "I never actually thought he'd get to meet one of you," she said sheepishly. "Thank you."
"We like fans," said Abby. She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a card and handed it to Jake. "I'm Abby, and this is our address. Just get your mom to ask for me."
"You're a doctor?" said Jake, looking confused.
"Not like the doctor you see when you're sick," smiled Jake's mom. "She went to school a lot and got very smart."
"Like me?" said Jake. "I started school this year."
"Just like you," chuckled Abby. "But you've got a lot to catch up."
"Okay!" he said happily. "I want to be a Ghostbuster, so I'll go to school."
Abby was amused when his mom mouthed "Thank you."
"Are you having a baby like my mom did?" asked Jake.
"Jake!" said his mom, aghast. Now Abby was very amused.
"I am," she said. "They have about three more months to grow." Abby put a hand on the table behind her and helped herself get up. She smiled at Jake. "Maybe I'll have a little boy like you."
"I'm so sorry," the younger woman said apologetically. "I thought I had taught him better than to pelt strangers with such personal questions."
"He's no trouble," said Abby. "But I actually need to get going. I'm meeting my wife for lunch."
"Thank you for your time," said Jake's mom. "I'm sorry we bothered you." Abby nodded in return and started walking off.
"You mean you can be married and be a Ghostbuster too?" Abby heard in a quiet voice. She shook her head and laughed to herself. Jake was cute, and she couldn't help but see Holtzmann in him. She hadn't really given much thought to the gender of their child lately. She and Holtz would be happy with either. But seeing Jake made her start thinking about a son. Her brother had two boys and three girls. If she had a boy, then the grandkids would be even. And she was certain that Holtz's dad would be plenty happy with a boy.
Maybe they would have a son. At least it was only one baby. She didn't know what she would do with two boys. Although Holtz would probably love having twins just so she could have double the pranksters. Abby mused on that thought all the way back to the firehouse after grabbing her stuff from Erin's and getting a cab. It was a bit of a ride, but when she walked in the door of the firehouse, she was happy to be home.
No matter what she had thought or hadn't thought in the beginning of the whole thing with the baby, this was home. This was her and Holtzmann's home.
And pretty soon it would be the home to the Yates-Holtzmann family.
"Holtz?" she yelled loudly.
There was a loud stomping upstairs before the sound of someone sliding down the fire pole brought her wife into view. If Holtz's overalls had been paint covered before, they were now double and triple covered. Holtzmann gestured wildly.
"You're back!" She came over and wrapped her arms around her wife. Abby kissed her happily and pulled back, looking at her overalls again.
"You look like you've been busy."
"A true artiste never sleeps," said the engineer. "Which you know, means I'm probably going to crash during work tomorrow."
"Of course," responded Abby. Holtzmann pulled on her hand.
"Come on, I want to show you before lunch. Although don't touch anything. It's still drying."
Abby followed Holtz upstairs, setting down her bag and pillow on the couch before heading to the baby's room.
"I think you're going to love it Abs. It's brighter than I thought it was going to be."
"I'm sure-" Abby started to say, but the minute Holtz opened the door, she was literally speechless. It did not look like the dark blue room she had gotten a quick peek of yesterday. Holtz had said she wanted to paint on the ceiling, but she had done more than that. There were murals on all four walls AND the ceiling.
"Oh Jills..." said Abby, putting a hand on her baby bump and looking around the room. On the lower half of one wall, Holtzmann had painted a half Earth showing off part of the continents. Up a little higher she had put the moon with all its craters, plus a couple of satellites and the International Space Station. There was even a rocket ship headed for it. Up on the other walls were the planets and dwarf planets, along with their moons. She had even depicted the asteroid belt, and in one large section complete with solar flares, a very large orange and red sun flourished. Up on the ceiling where many of the constellations that could be seen from Earth. And in between the planets and their moons in the background were depictions of more stars and galaxies.
"It's beautiful," Abby said breathlessly. "And so colorful."
"The blue let a lot of the color shine through," said Holtz. "There's still some detail work, but-" Holtzmann didn't get to finish her thought as Abby grabbed her and pulled her close for a kiss. The brunette still had tears on her face and Holtz could taste the saltiness. She pulled back and put her hands on Abby's shoulders.
"You like it?" Abby nodded.
"God, I'm a mess," she said sniffing, wiping the tears from her cheeks. "I can't even look at the furniture without crying."
"We did get some kick-ass baby furniture." Abby laughed, still wiping her eyes.
"You could have let me help."
"Nope. I wanted to do this." Holtzmann grinned. "And we've still got to move things and decorate."
"It's gorgeous Holtz. I want to take pictures."
"We can after everything is done. Did you have fun with Erin and David?"
"It was nice," said Abby. "Short. David was grading."
"I do not miss those days," said Holtz. She clapped her hands. "Lunch. I'm starving, then I need a nap. And baby time."
"I'm going to second you on that nap," said Abby. "Someone was performing a five hour ballet performance last night."
"It's because I wasn't there, wasn't it?" Holtz said to the baby. "I didn't get a chance to wear you out before bedtime."
"Yes, but you can definitely wear me out later," said Abby.
"Now there's a fun suggestion I will take any time of day," Holtz said with a wink. "Let me get my coat and we'll get food. Then we can work on that."
"Have I ever said I love you?" said Abby, still looking around the room.
"Just once or twice," said Holtz as she reappeared, flipping up the collar of her leather jacket with a grin.
"If this is one of those touchy-feely classes where we have to express our emotions about our pregnancy or do any sort of uterus craft work..." began Abby as they walked towards the building where the childbirth classes were.
"Do you think I would sit through that?" said Holtzmann, glancing at her wife with a disgusted look on her face. "Seriously Abs."
"Just for the sole purpose of torturing me, you would."
"While the idea is novel, I am not a crafty type, unless it involves metalworking and nuclear material."
Abby was relieved at that as she started to open the door to the place.
"I do love your craft work."
"I'm sure you'll love me more when I learn their counter pressure and massage techniques to use while you're in labor."
"So that's the reason we're going."
"The Internet, while one of mankind's greatest inventions next to me, is not a very hands-on tool. I thought it would be something useful."
They had made their way over to an elevator and headed for the fifth floor. The elevator was playing an old 80's hair band song and Holtzmann started pretending to rock out, even throwing horns over her hand and pretending to play air guitar.
"I am still bummed I never got to crowd surf that day," said Holtzmann.
"Yes, but then you would have been the one with the ghost demon on your shoulders and you were the one with the trap. That would not have worked."
"But it would have been awesome." Abby patted Holtz on the shoulder.
"I'll tell you what, if there are any other jobs at a rock concert, you get to exclusively crowd surf. You can deal with all those pointy rings all you want."
"Yes!" exclaimed Holtz, pumping both fists in the air. The elevator dinged and opened the doors. Holtzmann grabbed Abby's arm and started leading her out, much to her confusion.
"I will take that offer, but for now, I need to hear all your pointy and sarcastic barbs while we sit through birthing videos. First class is stages of labor." She clapped her hands together. "Whoo!" Holtz stopped Abby from doing an about face beside her.
"You can do this."
"I'm going to be experiencing this. I do not want to watch it."
"This is why you need to watch it."
"Really?"
"No," said Holtz. "But it's good Abs. You can learn something. It's only a couple of hours." She guided her wife over to the doorway of what looked like a large classroom with one side full of tables and chairs. The other side had all manner of birthing balls, bean bag chairs, soft cushiony cubes to sit on. There were more than a few bins of yoga mats and pillows. A large flat screen TV and a whiteboard were on the classroom side while instructional charts were on the other. A few people were already at the tables and chairs.
"I don't want to watch someone in labor Holtz."
"Little too late now, I've already paid for the classes," said Holtz, guiding her inside. They both sat down in the back of the classroom, Holtz propping her feet up on the desk.
"Hello ladies," she said, nodding to a young lesbian couple nearest them. The little wink at the end made one of the women blush as she nodded in return. Her partner eyed Holtzmann, who eyed back before flashing her wedding ring.
"No worries love. I didn't come here for pregnancy speed dating."
Abby closed her eyes and shook her head, which made the woman who had blushed laugh.
"Is she always like this?"
"Never turns off," responded Abby. Holtzmann nodded in agreement to the statement. She hooked an arm around Abby's shoulders.
"Dr. Jillian Holtzmann and Dr. Abby Yates at your service."
"Caroline Schaffer. And this is my partner Stephanie Drake. Neither of us are doctors."
Stephanie eyed the two of them. "If you are doctors, why are you taking a childbirth class?"
"Not that type of doctor," said Holtzmann. She pointed to both her and Abby. "Physicist and nuclear engineer. We don't exactly have the best of bedside manners."
"And they'd kick her out of the hospital if she started practicing," said Abby, holding a hand to the side of her mouth in a joking manner before smirking at her wife. Caroline laughed.
"So you have a combined I.Q. of everyone in the room. Probably more."
"Maybe," teased Holtzmann. "You can never tell." They all watched as more couples appeared.
"How far along are you two?" asked Stephanie.
"28 weeks," said Holtz proudly. "My wife is a trooper."
But before there was any response, the class teachers walked into the room. Holtz did a double take, taking her feet off the desk. One of the ladies who had come in looked almost exactly like Jennifer Lynch, the Mayor's assistant.
"Is that-?" began Holtzmann. Abby's mouth was down a little, looking surprised herself. She shook her head.
"I don't think so. But she looks like her. A lot."
"Must be a relative," shrugged Holtz.
"Must be close," said Abby. The other lady introduced herself and started everyone going around the room and introducing themselves.
"This should be fun, Peanut," said Holtzmann to Abby's abdomen. "Your moms are going to meet other parents and watch how you're going to be born."
"You're going to owe me so much for this," grumbled her wife. Holtz smirked at Abby's grumpy face and kissed her hand, holding it.