Good Life Gone

by dfunkt21

Sequel to Nothing Left. Following the lives of Lois, Clark and Chloe and how they handle the curve balls life throws at them.

26. Chapter 26

- Chapter 26

Chloe smiled at her cousin. "Lois, I'm getting married to an amazing man in July and I'm working at my dream job. I'm freaking giddy about my life."

"Could you at least be visibly giddy? I can never tell."

"Sullivan! My office, pronto!"

Chloe looked over at Perry, who was already retreating back into his office, before looking back to Lois. "Everybody wants a piece of me today." She slowly and gently transferred the now sleeping infant to his mother and looked over at Clark. "You've been oddly silent. Anything to add before I go?"

"Like my wife, I just want to see you happy. If you're happy now, so am I."

"Isn't a husband supposed to side with his wife, Smallville?"

"I do agree with you because I want her to have what we have. The difference is that I trust Chloe to achieve what she wants and be as happy as we are and have what we have, assuming that is how she chooses to be happy. We aren't all happy the same way, and seven years ago you'd have laughed in my face had I told you we'd be married and living in the suburbs with a five month old son."

Chloe smiled and patted Lois on the shoulder as she walked. "Have a good argument, you two." Weaving her way through the bullpen traffic, Chloe got to Perry's office and knocked on the door before walking inside. "What's up, Perry?"

"Sit." Chloe slid into a chair, the smile wiped off her face as she noted just how much tension there was in his face. It hadn't been so bad since Lois had come back to work after Jacob had been born. Crossing her legs, she put her hands in her lap and waited patiently for him to speak. "Lex Luthor is claiming that your exposé on his science division is a fabrication and is threatening to sue the Planet unless we print a retraction and fire you."

Chloe sat forward, eyes wide. "What? I showed you all my information and the legal department said everything looked fine. I say let them do their job and handle this, make Lex look foolish and maybe send him to jail for what he did."

"The board folded, Chloe."

"What? What do you mean they folded?"

"They're not going to try fighting Luthor on this. The retraction is being printed on the front page of tomorrow's morning edition and... and they're firing you, effective immediately."

Chloe stared at Perry, mouth agape. She felt like somebody twice her size had punched her in the stomach and had taken to squeezing her lungs, just to make a point. After a moment she felt like she could breathe again and spoke. "They fired me? I did everything by the book, double checked every fact. I know my sources were anonymous, but there's nothing wrong with the article!"

"I'm sorry, Chloe. I've been fighting with every member about this since they told me this morning. They know the readers love your work but they don't care and they won't budge. They're more interested in blowing billionaires than telling the truth."

Chloe stood up, swallowing the bile that was rising in her throat. "It's, uh..." She cleared her throat, giving speech another try. "It's not your fault, Perry. You did what you could, and I appreciate that you fought for me so hard. I, uh..." With nothing else to say Chloe walked out of his office, feeling like she was in a nightmare. The world around her didn't feel real. Everything seemed to be kind of hazy, and while she heard people speaking, she couldn't seem to understand anything being said. It was like the world had taken to speaking gibberish as a universal language in the minutes she'd been in Perry's office.

"What happened, Chloe?"

Looking up, Chloe found herself looking at Lois and Clark, who was rocking the baby carrier that held Jacob. She hadn't even realized that she'd been walking anywhere. "Fired," she mumbled.

"What? You're mumbling."

"I got fired." Hands closed in tight fists, Chloe told herself that she wouldn't cry. "Lex claims my exposé is false, threatened legal action and the board decided it would be a whole lot less painful to fire me and print a retraction than fight for the truth." Chloe looked up to find two shocked faces staring at her.

"You're... fired?" Lois asked.

"Seems that way." Chloe blinked back tears and started towards her desk. A hand took her gently by the arm and she was pulled into an involuntary hug by her cousin. Letting a few tears out would have been extremely satisfying right about then, but if she started she wasn't going to stop. That wasn't something she wanted to be doing in public. She extracted herself from the hug. "Look, I'm going to go. I... I don't really need to be here anymore." With a trembling sigh, Chloe grabbed her purse out of her desk, shot a weak smile at Lois and Clark and walked off to the elevator, getting in before the doors could close. The ride down was deafening after the din of the bullpen, and she almost jumped when the bell dinged, indicating the lobby just outside the opening doors. Bustling out with the few other people in the elevator, she walked through the lobby and out onto the sidewalk. For once, she got a cab after only about thirty seconds of waving them down, and made small talk with the cab driver during the fifteen minute ride, though she was barely aware of what she was saying, only that she was somehow holding herself together. After paying him and heading into her building, Chloe walked up to her floor and made her way into her apartment. Dropping her bag on the couch as she sat down, she couldn't fight the tears anymore and collapsed into a sobbing heap.

Her eyes popping open, Vicki blinked and pulled some hair out of her face before sitting up and wiping some tears out of her eyes. That was one of the most vivid dreams she had ever had, easily. Rubbing at the corners of her eyes in hopes they would stop watering, she looked at the clock on the nightstand, wondering how long she had before she had to get up and start getting ready for work, but then realized it was about to be Saturday, not a work day. Laying back down, Vicki snuggled up next to Jeff, who was all ready facing her. Gently taking his arm, she wrapped it around her body and felt him pull her closer as she was covering them both with the sheet. "You two doing okay?" he mumbled into her neck as he situated himself behind her.

Reveling in the comfort and peace she felt in his arms, Vicki wrapped her hand around his, moving it down so that it was resting on top of the bump she now, after another two weeks of growth, would readily admit was their baby and not a part of her body exercise didn't seem to affect. "Yeah, just a weird dream. Go back to sleep." Closing her eyes and taking a long, deep breath that she released slowly to try and relax, Vicki put the dream out of her mind, only a question remaining as she drifted back to sleep.

Why would she have a dream where she was Lois Lane's cousin?

---

Covering a yawn with the back of her hand, Vicki blinked a couple times and shook her head as she rode in the passenger seat while Jeff stopped the car at the site where their new house was being built. After talking it through, they had decided to rebuild somewhere else, Jeff selling the property so that somebody else could build a house and perhaps start a life with somebody there. Not far from where Beth, Chuck and their girls lived a new subdivision was being built, half of it where one could buy lots and design his own house, the other half where people could buy one of the pre-designed houses that would be going up. They had chosen to buy two of the lots, which were not inexpensive, and now their new house, designed by an architect specifically for them, was being built. Whenever they were going to Beth's house they would stop and look at the spot where their house would be for a few minutes. "You remembered the drawings, right? I'd rather not have to put this off again. We should have told her that we were going to build a house ten minutes from her and her family months ago." Vicki sat up straight and started drawing little circles on her stomach to remind herself not to unintentionally start napping when they were about to go to Beth's for a late lunch, though they would probably end up staying for dinner, too. That seemed to be how things worked in the family she was now part of, but she kind of liked it. Definitely not the way her family had worked growing up.

"I have the set of drawings in the trunk," Jeff said, smiling at her for a second before turning to look out the window. The foundation had been laid and a lot of wood had gone up, but it would still be at least three to four months before the house was finished, and Vicki doubted it would be ready by the time the baby was born. "And yes, I probably should have told her all ready but I wanted things to be in progress, to be well on their way and not just getting started. If we had told her when we bought the lots, the anticipation she would have worked up by now would be enormous."

"Yeah, well, when you tell her how long we've been working on this without her knowledge, I'm directing all blame right at you."

Jeff put the car into drive and pulled away from the side of the half finished street, turning around and heading back towards Beth's house. "You're pregnant with her niece or nephew. I'm almost certain that you can do no wrong in her eyes. The only thing that would get you marked down would be trying to kill me, and we both know that you all ready skipped out on the opportunity after we were attacked in your apartment."

"There's a good memory," Vicki muttered.

"I don't remember any of the bad stuff. All I know is that one minute we're agreeing to be exclusive and the next I'm waking up in a hospital bed with you watching over me. Not one to believe in signs, but were I to believe in such nonsense I would say that was a pretty big sign." He grinned at her as they pulled up to a stop sign. "Haven't let you out of my sight since and nothing but good things keep happening."

"One could say that getting stabbed in my apartment was a sign," Vicki said as Jeff started driving again. "Nearly dying mere seconds after getting into a full blown relationship with somebody is not how most healthy couples start out. In fact, most couples I know try to avoid the dying part for at least a few years after getting together."

"All I know is this: all the relationships during which I have not been stabbed have ended. All the relationships during which I have been stabbed have led to marriage and a pregnant wife." Vicki had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. Every time he mentioned that she was pregnant there was a hint of pride in the statement, like he had done some immensely difficult task. It had taken seven attempts, but still, not THAT much work involved. Taking his hands off the wheel, Jeff mimicked weighing the two things he knew on a scale. "I don't know about you but the relationship where I've been stabbed is clearly the winner. Having a pregnant wife outweighs everything else combined."

"Hey!" Vicki said, looking over at him to glare.

"Sorry, sorry," he said, motioning with his hand as he pulled up to the curb in front of Beth's house. "I really should have thought that sentence through before saying it. I will apologize with chocolates, flowers and other clichés as soon as possible."

"I expect at least three clichés, but no more than seven." Getting out of the car, she used her thumb to work out a kink in her back as they walked up to the house, Jeff knocking on the door a couple times before leaning in to kiss her, doing so in a very pleasurable manner that made Vicki wish they would have a little more time before anybody answered the door. That was also when she remembered that they had left the drawings in the trunk. "Keys," she said, pulling away from him.

"What?"

"Your keys. I'm going to go get the drawings out of the trunk. I'd rather spring the surprise now and let it have time to be digested before we eat."

"You stay; I'll go. My sister would kill me if I allowed you to go get something out of the car. She's been giving me little lectures about how to be extra nice and treat you extra special whenever you aren't around. You'd think she was under the impression I hadn't been around all my female friends, plus her, when they were pregnant. Most of them twice and some more than that."

Watching him jog back to the car, Vicki turned back and was greeted by the sound of the door opening, followed by Jenny and Liv running up and stopping just short of her. The last time they had been here and seen the girls they had run up and hugged her. She was a little surprised until Beth came up behind them, saying, "Thank you for not tackling Vicki, girls." That apparently being their cue, they closed what little distance remained and hugged her, each taking a turn feeling her stomach as she stepped inside. Each having her curiosity sated for the moment, they ran off, Vicki losing sight of them as they rounded a corner. "Sorry about the stomach groping, but now whenever I tell them you and Jeff are coming they get wide eyed and start asking about you having a baby and talking about how they want a baby brother."

"They want a little brother? They must think all brothers and sisters are as close as you are to Jeff." Following Beth into the kitchen, Vicki sat down at the dinner table while Beth grabbed a couple bottles of water out of the fridge, sliding one across to Vicki as she sat down. "And for them, I believe I can allow unlimited stomach access. They're great girls."

"Thank you, and thank you. I still wish I could figure out how they equated you having a baby to mean that I should have one, too, and they don't seem to want to understand that Mommy is all done having babies. That might be a concept a little over their heads, though." Beth stopped to take a drink of her water before asking, "Where's Jeff? He fall asleep in the car or something?"

"Jeff is right here," he called out, Vicki looking back over her shoulder to see him enter the kitchen with the drawings for their house in hand.

"What are those?" Beth asked, getting up as Jeff put the drawings down on the table and started pulling the rubber bangs off that were keeping them rolled up.

"These, dear sister," Jeff said in an overly dramatic way, "are drawings. What drawings, you ask? Why, they just happen to be the drawings for the house Vicki and I are having built!" As he finished his sentence Jeff rolled the drawings open, a picture of what the their house was going to look like from multiple angles being revealed.

"What?" Beth exclaimed, walking around to the side of the table Vicki was on to see the drawings right-side up. Vicki got up and slid her chair out of the way so Beth could get right in the middle of the drawings and not be looking from an angle. "You guys have all ready had a house designed? I thought you were just taking you time looking at houses around Gotham to find the perfect one!"

"On the contrary!" Jeff exclaimed, pulling open the drawings to display the layout of the first floor before stepping out of the way. "We've been working with an architect to design a house that has all the things we want, and then some. The basement will be an added floor, much like yours is, with two bedrooms, full bathroom and large living room area. There will also be a third floor walk-up that will have its own bathroom. Go ahead and look through the drawings and have a look at what we came up with."

"This place looks huge," Beth commented as she turned the page to the layout of the second floor. "How many square feet is it?"

"4,780, so it is definitely big," Vicki said. "I have no idea what we're going to do with five regular bedrooms, let alone the two in the basement and the walk-up. We'll only use the one and the baby will use one. Jeff says he has an idea of what to do with them, but whenever he does he starts eyeing my stomach, which I think is the definition of thinking a little too far ahead." Crossing her arms, she watched Beth for a moment before noticing Chuck walk into the kitchen out of the corner of her eye. "Hey," she said, smiling at him. "We just revealed the plans for the house we're building to your wife. Want to take a look?"

"Why yes, I believe I do," he said, and Vicki stepped out of the way, moving over next to Jeff so Chuck could join Beth in poring over the drawings. "Wow, this is going to be a hell of a house. Five bedrooms, a family room, a living room, a solarium, a huge kitchen, a playroom, giant basement and a third floor walk-up? This must be costing you a not-so-small fortune. Where are you guys building?"

"That's the news that at least one of you is really going to like. Chuck, I'm sorry but Vicki and I may actually be in your life more often once the house is built and we're moved in, if such a thing is possible. That, or Beth is going to be over there fawning over the baby," Jeff said with a shrug. "Our lots are in that new subdivision just north of here, which is, at most, a ten minute drive from this very house. And, we actually waited to tell you about this. The house is all ready being built." As Chuck and Beth looked up from the drawings, Jeff grinned at Vicki before looking back to the others. "Surprise."

"It's all ready being built?" Beth asked. "How much is done?"

"From what we've been told it's supposed to be ready around the beginning of October, which I am sure you remember is basically the same time as Vicki's due date. We're not actually expecting to be in the house before the baby is born, but we do have a realistic hope to be moved in by the end of the year."

"October 10th, right Vicki?" Beth asked, and she nodded.

"October 10th. Should the house be ready on time and I have the baby within a week of my due date on either side that could turn out to be an extremely busy couple of weeks. Even if the house isn't ready I expect it to get pretty hectic. If I haven't lost my mind waiting to not be pregnant anymore, and based on first hand accounts I've listened to I'll certainly be close to it, adding moving to that can only do bad things to the mind of a pregnant woman, or a new mother should I have given birth all ready." That was still a strange thought to Vicki, that she was going to give birth. She would probably get used to being pregnant about a month before she had to come to grips with the idea that a person was going to expelled from her body. Painfully. She put those thoughts aside as she continued with what she was saying. "But like Jeff said, we're not expecting it to be done on time. If we're in the house by the end of the year, we're counting it as a success, and in the house or not we'll have a baby." Shaking her head, Vicki couldn't help but smile to herself, resting her hand on her stomach as she did so. Never would she have thought she could be so happy about something but it seemed like every time she thought about the baby, her baby that she was having with Jeff, she felt a little happier.

"We're having a baby?" Jeff asked, looking around like this was news. "I wish you would have told me. I thought you were gaining weight in oddly specific areas of your body because you're not going so hardcore on the workouts anymore. Have to say, a little bit relieved that I just got you pregnant and didn't get you lazy." Rolling the inside of her lip between her teeth in an attempt not to smile, Vicki didn't want to encourage further irreverent behavior like that no matter how much she liked that he was totally irreverent and not treating her any differently now that she was pregnant, at least not verbally. He'd gotten gentler in the physical aspects of their lives, but she could live with that if that was what made him comfortable. All she needed to feel comfortable was him, but he did more than that. He made her feel good about herself and her life. He was an addition she hadn't known could make her life better, but now that she knew and they were also adding a baby she thought she finally understood why his friends had worried about him. If they had all found this in their significant others she could understand why they would want the last remaining single member of the group to find it as well. "Vicki?" Looking up when she heard her name, she found Jeff looking at her, confused. Beth was back looking at the drawings and Chuck had disappeared, apparently walking away while she had been lost in thought. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, smiling and bumping him with her shoulder. "Got lost in my thoughts for a moment."

"Good things, I hope."

"As it turns out, yes. I was thinking about how falling in love and having a baby with you has turned my all ready very good life into a great one. And I also think I figured out why your sister and your friends wanted this for you."

"If what you're about to tell me doesn't involve society pressuring people to conform to social norms then it's an incomplete theory," Jeff said, raising an eyebrow as he glanced back towards beth at the sound of her turning the page of the drawings. "I'm not convinced that's not the whole reason, Beth's insistences otherwise be damned."

"Vicki's a brilliant woman, Jeff, so listen to her because she's probably right." Beth looked up from the drawings for a second, frowning. "Unless I end up sounding crazy. Then she's probably only half right and holy crap is that the time?" she asked as she looked up at a clock on the wall. "I totally forgot about making lunch! You guys talk and I'll make us some sandwiches." She paused, pointing at Vicki. "Don't tell me, I think I have it perfect now. Turkey and cheese on toast, the cheese melted, with a lettuce leaf under each slice of bread."

"Perfect," Vicki said nodding. "I'd be happy to make it myself because I know it's more work to throw together than the usual sandwich."

"Yeah, because I've ever let you make your own sandwich here before," Beth said in response, grinning and shaking her head. She walked over to Vicki, stopping in front of her. "May I?" she asked, and Vicki nodded, knowing what she was asking. Beth leaned over, laying her hands on Vicki's stomach before placing a kiss between them. "Love you, kid, almost as much as your parents do." Standing up straight, Beth smiled before walking away to make their sandwiches, leaving Vicki with Jeff, who she noticed was still watching his sister.

"I still think it's weird that she likes to do that," he said as they both sat down at the table, Jeff closing the drawings and rolling them up. "Though it's a lot less weird now that you have popped. Her kissing your mostly flat stomach when we were about to leave the anniversary party she threw for us was flat out strange, though I don't think I'll ever find my sister kissing my wife's stomach normal."

"I think it's sweet that she likes to tell the baby how much she loves it. It's not like we haven't both been doing that. And before you go say something like we're the parents and we're supposed to be doing it, she's excited that she is finally going to be an aunt and all ready loves our baby. There is no bad in that, or weirdness. See what trying to argue otherwise gets you." After giving him a second to make sure he wasn't going to try and argue, Vicki moved on. "Now, my point about your friends is this: think about how you feel. I don't know about you, but this is the happiest I've ever been, and before I met you I was all ready at a place in my life where I thought I couldn't get much happier. I was doing the best work of my life at one of the best papers in the country, a dream of mine since I was a kid. Now imagine that your whole group of friends feels all the same happiness we do while watching one member of the group not have the same thing. I can see how they would worry that you were missing out on something. So yes, there is an element of pressure enforcing societal norms, but it's also your friends feeling like this, feeling this happy, and wanting a friend to feel the same way."

"So basically, what you're saying is that happiness loves company, much the same as misery?"

After thinking about it for a second, Vicki said, "I guess it could be interpreted that way. I was going more for the explanation that while all of us as individuals have specific things that make us happy, such as being a journalist or practicing law, as a whole we tend to be similar in the broad concepts that make us happy, such as finding somebody that loves us for who we are and starting a family with that person."

"I think I'm going to chose to interpret it a different way." Stepping closer, Jeff wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close until she was resting her body against his. "People are hard wired for sex, and as a result of hormones, evolution and whatever else, became hard wired for love. People in love don't understand how those around them could choose to live without love because their brains are soaked in happiness hormones. Basically, people are drugged by love and they become pushers once they've become dependent on it because of long-term monogamy."

"That's not cynical at all," Vicki mumbled against his chest. Closing her eyes, she inhaled and couldn't help relaxing into his arms. It was too good to fight against.

"I prefer calling it a scientific view of love and why perfectly rational people become pushers of love, and I think the same thing applies when it comes to babies and wanting other people to also have babies. Thus, my sister and group of friends aren't nuts, but simply high on love and children." He paused. "And they also like to enforce societal norms because if you're not married and raising children, you're obviously doing something wrong."

"You're not going to let that go, are you?"

"It's true and you know it." Vicki rolled her eyes as she leaned back, looking up at him. This was getting to be ridiculous, but he kept going. "Don't deny that life is one long message telling us the way to achieve happiness is to work, have sex and raise children, and that if you choose to go about life a different way you're not doing it right."

"You know what? You're right. I don't know what I was thinking," she said, getting up on her toes to kiss him and hopefully get him to think about something else. Not the best reason to kiss him, but she was going to use whatever tools were available to her, and kissing was the best weapon she had when they were at Beth's house.

"You had obviously forgotten that how great I am." After another kiss Jeff released her, allowing Vicki to take a step back and stretch her arms out behind her body. "On that note I'm going to go find Jenny and Liv, as I've been in the house for fifteen minutes and have yet to be tackled, chased or even hugged. I wasn't aware that could happen when I entered this house and they were both home."

"I got hugs as soon as I came inside."

"Yeah, that seems to be a common trend with women in my family. Going to have to look into that."

Vicki smiled as they walked to the stairs so Jeff could go up and find the girls. "Here's a clue: they've been telling Beth that they want a little brother. Since she doesn't plan on attempting to oblige their request, I'll be interesting for a while but I'm pretty sure the novelty of Vicki wears off as soon as they have a baby to hold instead of a tummy to hug. Of course, should we have a boy then at least we might be able to take the heat off Beth, close as we'll be living to her. He could be their surrogate little brother."

"You think it will be a he?"

"I'd say the chance are about 50/50," she responded, shaking her head. "Go get your hugs and play time. I'll stay down here with Beth so they don't get distracted by the incredible expanding stomach." Watching him go up the stairs, Vicki turned and walked back to the kitchen, joining Beth as she was finishing her sandwich. Thanking her as she took it, Vicki sat down at the table and waited for Beth to join her before digging in. It didn't take her long to finish the sandwich, or any other food, when she was hungry now. Before she had always been a slow eater, keeping her food simple but liking to take her time eating so she didn't overeat. She was having a much more difficult time controlling the speed at which she was eating now, which she hoped was not a quirk specific to her.

"I figured you might want another one so I left one in the microwave with the bread all ready toasted. Lettuce is in the bottom shelf of the refrigerator."

"Thanks," Vicki said quietly, getting up and taking her plate with her. Punching ten seconds into the microwave, she started that before getting the lettuce out. Breaking off a couple leaves, she put them on her plate before pulling out the now warmed sandwich, putting a leaf under each slice of bread before walking back to the table. She took a bite and washed it down with some water before she spoke. "Normal before I got pregnant was eating three smallish meals a day, any snacking between those meals consisting of fruits or vegetables. Now I not only eat more often but it also feels like the hunger between meals is ten times stronger. I got something out of the snack machine every day this week at work and am pretty sure I went through a week of groceries in three days. The only thing I can say I'm proud of is that, aside from snack machine trips, I kept it all healthy."

"That does sound like something to be proud of. If you can keep that up you'll probably get to be one of the few women who stays within the gaining 25 to 35 pounds range that doctors recommend." Beth stopped and wiped her mouth with her napkin, Vicki taking the opportunity to take another large bite of her sandwich. "I don't know if it was harder to stick to nutritional foods the first or the second time I was pregnant. With Jenny I was just trying to savor the whole experience and for a while I ate whatever I wanted whenever I wanted, but that was mostly when I was in my third trimester, enduring the absurdities of the last three months of pregnancy. Ended up gaining 38lbs in that pregnancy. With Liv I was better prepared to keep my eating habits in control but I had a toddler to take care of, which made things difficult. I was tired from chasing her all day and as things wore on I got more and more exhausted from being pregnant so I kept taking the easy ways out with dinners, like fast food or pizza, and that resulted in a gain of 41lbs. Don't worry, Vicki, because everybody struggles with it."

"Kind of a relief. Would have hated to be afflicted with extra strong extra hunger. And speaking of the absurdities of pregnancy," she said, setting down what little bit of her sandwich remained, "here's a question. Are my boobs ever going to stop growing while I'm pregnant, or are they just going to jut out as far as my stomach by the end?"

Beth frowned as she leaned against the table, making a face before she sighed. "I wish I had an answer for you, but it really is different for every woman. When I was pregnant I would get a big growth surge early, have little to no growth for a while, then get another surge near the end. Sam, if I recall, had pretty steady growth throughout, never really getting a time where they weren't getting bigger. Beyond her and myself you would have to ask the others in the group, and I'm sure they would be happy to share. Has it been bad for you?"

"Bad?" Vicki said, swallowing her last bite of sandwich. "No, just strange. I hit sixteen weeks yesterday and pretty much from day one of this pregnancy it has been an explosion. That's why I got into the topic using your 'absurdities of pregnancy' line. I was hoping that they were going to slow down at some point because I've gone up two cup sizes and am on my way to going up a third with no sign of a slow down. At least my nipples are starting to become less sensitive." Realizing what they were talking about, Vicki grimaced and looked around to make sure neither of the girls had snuck up on them, and hoped that Chuck was out of hearing distance. "Thank you, by the way. It's nice to have somebody to talk to about pregnancy stuff since I don't have any family or close friends of my own to talk to."

"You have family, Vicki," Beth said with a smile, reaching over and taking Vicki's hand into her own. "You're a Powers now and for life, so you'll always have me, and with me comes Sam, no questions asked. It's been over a year now since the day we met and you and Jeff got married, and on that day I told you that I hoped you were in his and my life for a long, long time. As far as I'm concerned you're my sister, and with that comes the responsibility to talk to me any time you feel you need to. Any questions you have, come to me with them. If I don't have the answer then there are numerous other women that I can refer you to, depending on the topic."

"I'm your sister?" Vicki asked, smiling and finding herself with a sudden onset of tears in her eyes. "Wow. That's an amazing thing to say to an in-law."

"You're a damn good in-law, Vicki, a better wife to Jeff and will be an amazing mother."

Trying to control herself, Vicki smiled through her tears, taking a couple long, deep breaths to try and compose herself. "Thank you. I've heard Jeff tell me that, but there's always that voice in the back of my mind, the niggling self doubt that I'm going to mess up my son or daughter more than normal parents mess up their children."

"Here," Beth said, handing her a napkin that Vicki used to dab at her eyes. "You'll be amazing, trust me. You've got lots of women around you to help figure anything out that's giving you trouble, but I don't think you'll need us. I've got a good eye for talent and I see a good mom hiding beneath that tough exterior. You wouldn't be such a good mentor to that girl Ashley at work if you didn't have it in you. I started reading her articles the first time you mentioned her to me, and with every article she gets better. I can see your work in her, too, because you have a specific style and she mimics it, but doesn't do as well as the original."

"You're making it really hard to stay humble," Vicki joked, finally feeling like she had reeled in her emotions. That was not something she thought she would ever get used to having to do.

"Let other people be humble. People in the Powers family are awesome and the world should know that." Beth sat back in her chair, hands still resting on the table, staring at her before she quirked a little smile. "So, how are you really doing? No bullshit, sister to sister. How are you handling the fact that you're going to be a mom?"

"No bullshit?" It took Vicki a moment to come up with the right word for what she was experiencing, her vocabulary not seeming to have what she was looking for in it until she stumbled onto the right word. "I'm flabbergasted. Why flabbergasted? Because saying I'm overwhelmed makes it sound like there's something bad going on, and there isn't. There's all this information I should know yesterday about pregnancy and babies and all the things a baby needs, but at the same time I almost feel calm, like I know that this is something I can handle. I don't know why I feel that way because I know nothing about babies and am spending all the time I should be reading pregnancy books and baby books doing an investigation on organized crime in Gotham! Even with that kind of chaotic lifestyle, with the glut of information I receive and have to try and process each day, there's a peace in my life when I'm with Jeff that I've never had before. Just the two of us laying down together... there's so much love in a simple embrace, so much emotion I feel when we're curled up together in bed. And then he'll be move his hand down and rest it on my stomach, or I'll do it for him, and somehow it makes it better. I told Jeff earlier that my life before he came along was everything I wanted it to be, and now I have all these things I didn't think I would ever have, that I didn't care about having, and it has all made me even happier, taken me to places of joy I didn't know I could go."

Leaning forward, Vicki rested her forearms on the edge of the table, smiling at Beth. "My body is doing God-knows-what at any given moment. I've got boobs twice as big as I'm used to, a protruding stomach that was flat a month ago and I'm pretty sure my hips and butt are joining in on the growing fun. But despite any complaints I have, I'm loving being pregnant. It's the strangest thing, but I've never felt more feminine in my life. I love how close Jeff and I are right now, somehow closer than we were before. I love how it has helped me get even closer to you. There is nothing but good coming from this pregnancy, and every time I use that logic it makes me look forward to becoming a mom. I can't wait for every smile and moment that makes pregnancy, labor and sleepless nights worth it." Vicki smiled a little wider as she nodded to herself, dropping her eyes to the table for a moment as she realized what she was about to verbalize. "I accused Jeff of putting the cart before the horse earlier, talking about him glancing at my stomach when I asked him how we would fill all the rooms in the new house. But you know what? Even when I'm peeing three times an hour and I'm the most uncomfortable I've ever been, I'll know how good life can be. This happiness, the contentment I feel in my life and in our relationship is something I will never forget. So in a couple years, when I'm pushing forty and chasing around a son or daughter who is almost two, when I'm complaining that a second baby would be mistaken for my grandchild at least once before the age of ten, Jeff will be able to talk me into it, as long as he reminds me of times like this, of how good life is, and how despite no longer being in total control of my life I've never been happier."