Okay so, here were all the little references from Chap 25 in case you missed them.

I used the last name Martin in reference to Jesse L., but that was kinda hard to catch b/c Martin is such a common name

530 Syosset Circle- 5/30 is Miss Idina's b-day and Syosset is the neighborhood she grew up in

Stu and Helene are the names of her parents

Cara is the name of her sister

Anthony and Adam- in reference to Rapp and Pascal

Also, Amory as in Amory Heights is the town that my cousins Kristina and T live in. Kristina has never seen RENT, but has started reading the fic and loves it so that was a thank you to her! Thanks, Kristi!!

Now to the shout outs I promised!! Many people got one or two, but only a few pretty much got them all! OnEtHoUsAnDsWeEtKiSsEs, BabyLezzie, and kp0282!!!! Huge "WHAT UPS!" to you guys!! That was awesome!!

I'll be out of town for a week starting tonite and I'm not sure how much net access I'll have, but hopfully if all else fails I'll have some good time to write! Hope you guys are still enjoying yourselves. Please keep the reviews coming. They are more appreciated than you could ever know!!

Chapter 26 (17 weeks pregnant)

Beep…beep…beep…beep…

Joanne reached for the alarm clock on the night stand and flipped the switch on the top to "OFF". She rolled onto her back and lay there for a moment, trying to wake up a bit before pushing herself into an upright position. She leaned against the headboard, rubbed her eyes, and looked to her left. There lay Maureen, on her side, the covers pulled up under her chin

"Honeybear, it's time to get up," Joanne said gently, but Maureen stayed put. "Come on Sleeping Beauty, we gotta meet Nathan at 9."

"Aaaawww," Maureen growled, pulling her pillow over her head. "The only thing worse than getting up early on a weekday is getting up early on a weekend." Joanne could only just make out what she was saying since everything was muffled under the pillow.

"Come on, babe," Joanne egged, tickling Maureen's exposed under arm, "Aren't you excited? The house will be officially ours by the end of the day!"

Maureen swiftly pulled her arm down, making her arm pit inaccessible to Joanne's tickling finger. "Of course I'm excited about the house," she said, pulling the pillow off her head and flinging it across the room, "But I'd be a lot more excited if we closed on the house…say around….noon. You gotta remember, I'm sleeping for two here."

"Yes, how could I forget," Joanne sighed, leaning down to give Maureen a good morning kiss before planting another kiss on her belly and climbing out of bed. "I'll hop in the shower first. You can doze for a few more minutes."

After a quick shower, Joanne emerged from the bathroom in a towel. As she went to the closet to find something to wear, Maureen staggered sleepily into the bathroom. After dressing and putting on some make up Joanne shuffled into the kitchen to scrounge up some breakfast. She put a strawberry Toaster Strudel in the toaster and a mug of water in the microwave to heat up. Since the smell of coffee still made Maureen a little whoosie, Joanne has switched to hot tea in the morning, though she usually got a cup of Joe after arriving at the office.

Jo crossed the room, her Toaster Strudel in one hand, her cup of tea in the other, making her way to the couch to eat her breakfast and watch what she could of the morning news. As she passed the hallway, the bathroom door opened and a stark naked Maureen nonchalantly stepped out. This was not uncommon. In fact, Maureen never took clothes with her into the bathroom when she showered and rarely did she ever wear a towel while strolling from the bathroom to the bedroom. Joanne had grown completely accustomed to this routine, however, today Joanne could not take her eyes off Maureen.

Though Jo had spent many nights the past few months rubbing, and kissing, and talking to Maureen's belly it had been a little while since Joanne had seen Maureen completely naked. Usually she was already gone when Maureen got out of the shower in the morning and there hadn't been any action in the bedroom pretty much since Maureen had gotten pregnant. It wasn't until she saw Maureen, standing unashamed, bedroom door wide open, rummaging through her chest of drawers for a pair of underwear that Jo realized not only how much Maureen's body had changed, but also how sexy she found it.

Maureen felt herself being watched and looked up to find Joanne gazing at her intently from the living room. "What?" she asked, giggling and furrowing her brow.

"Nothing!" Joanne said quickly as if suddenly awakened from a trance, "I just….you're…"

"Fat. Yes, I know! And it only going to-"

"No!" Joanne interrupted. "No, you don't look fat! You look…….beautiful," she smiled.

"Whatever," Maureen said, rolling her eyes. "You don't have to lie."

"Baby, I'm not lying….you look gorgeous," Joanne smiled.

"Oh please! Go eat your Toaster Strudel and shut up!" Maureen said, rolling her eyes again and returning her attention to finding underwear.

Joanne wanted to do much, much more than watch the news and eat her breakfast after seeing her beautifully pregnant girlfriend butt naked, but she wasn't sure if Maureen was even ready for that, not to mention there was no time for hanky panky anyway. They had a big day today. They were meeting with Nathan and the Martins to close on the house in Amory Heights. Over the past month they had haggled a little over the price and had drawn up the paper work. The Martins had already begun packing and by the end of the day, Joanne and Maureen would be the official owners of this little suburban palace. If all went according to plan, they would be moving in next weekend and neither one of them could wait.

Joanne was licking the remnants of Toaster Strudel icing off her fingers when she heard an exasperated moan from the bedroom. "Damn it!"

"Baby, what's the matter?" Joanne called, getting up from the couch to investigate.

"It's official. Nothing in my closet fits me anymore!" Maureen said as Joanne made her way down the hallway and into the bedroom. "Even my overalls are too tight now." Maureen pulled off her pair of trusty overalls, balled them up, and threw them in the floor before flopping down, in bra and under-roos, on the bed.

"Sweetie, I know you don't want to hear this, but I really think we are going to have to start considering maternity clothes," Joanne said, sitting down next to Maureen on the bed.

"I know…..it's just…..maternity clothes are always so frumpy! I already feel fat. I don't want to feel frumpy too!" Maureen whimpered.

"What if we find you some cute ones? We'll scour the city and buy you some cute, non-frumpy maternity clothes." Joanne said, tucking a lock of hair behind Maureen's hear

Maureen sighed heavily. "Fine," she groaned, still not happy about the thought of buying pants with a stretchy belly panel, but she knew she didn't have much of a choice. "But what are we going to do today? I quite literally have nothing to wear and we're supposed to be meeting Nathan and the Martins in an hour!"

"Well, it just so happened that I prepared for just such an occasion," Joanne said, getting up and walking to the closet. After disappearing into the darkness she emerged a few moments later, a plastic shopping bag in hand. "I picked these up the other day," she said, tossing the bag to Maureen.

Maureen flipped the bag over and the contents fell out onto the bed: a pair of maternity jean.

"They are the kind the sit below your belly. I knew you wouldn't like the belly panel ones," Joanne said as Maureen unfolded the pants and held them up in front of her. They were actually kind of cute.

Maureen smiled. "You always take care of me," she said, laying the pants on her lap and looking up a Joanne.

"It's my job!" Joanne smiled back as she kissed Maureen sweetly, "And I wouldn't have it any other way. Now get dressed. We've got go buy ourselves a house."

TBC!