Holtz was happily rubbing her wife's back in childbirth class. They were sorting through which positions were good for labor and which ones were not. And at the moment, one of the teachers was showing them how to sit in a chair backward with a pillow against their abdomen to help take pressure off their backs between and during contractions. Holtzmann liked this position herself since she could help Abby rock a little against the pillow. She had read some stuff online that rocking helped move the baby along. Not to mention she liked making Abby thrust her hips.

"You are going to really enjoy my labor, aren't you?" huffed Abby at Holtzmann's enthusiasm. Holtz started rubbing a spot on the lower part of her spine that she knew Abby would appreciate.

"Coming out of it with a baby and getting to sing the Circle of Life is two life goals I'm going to accomplish with this one event. Plus I'm going to make Erin get up on the rooftop of the hospital to proclaim our progeny the prince or princess of New York. So 10 points life bonus."

Stephanie and Caroline, who were both beside them, starting laughing to themselves. Holtz had utterly charmed the couple and they had stayed talking to them for about an hour after class the one before. They were a rather young lesbian couple who really wanted a family, and Abby had decided that they liked hearing stories about how they had toughed out being married all these years. Abby and Holtz had hated the thought of telling them that they really hadn't been married all that long themselves since they hadn't met till they were older. Abby often had worried that she was robbing Holtz of thoughts of young love early on, even though she was only four years older than her. But Holtz had pointed out jokingly that over 50% of gay and lesbian marriages ended before five years, so they were already ahead of the curve as far as timing in their relationship. Neither Holtz nor Abby could imagine life without the other. Abby loved Holtz's mind and they could spend hours talking about literally nothing and everything at the same time. Although she wouldn't admit it, Holtz had enjoyed having someone to go toe to toe with for once. Usually, everyone was afraid of her brain or her eccentricities and left her alone. Abby had challenged her to be more. And in turn, Holtzmann had challenged Abby to be better. They had both strived to do things they wanted to do together.

Which right now, Holtz knew her main goal was to keep her wife happy. They both were listening as the teacher talked about which positions were best for focusing on their partner's breathing before switching to which ones were best for letting gravity do its job. She kept hitting the one spot on Abby's spine that would loosen the muscles before rubbing out the soreness in her hips. She was going to turn her fellow Ghostbuster into a limp noodle before the end of class. When the instructor told them to try something to see if it was going to be comfortable for them, Holtz grabbed for Abby's hand to help her up from the chair. Abby spoke to her softly as they stood.

"Elijah Dean and Eliana Danielle."

Holtzmann stilled for a moment, realizing what Abby had just said. They had been talking about names lately and had gotten down to a list of twenty they really liked.

"You want to name our possible son after Dad? And take my middle name?"

"Mmhmm," said Abby with a nod. "You should be glad I didn't choose Eldandil."

"They will always be friends to the elves," scoffed Holtz as she helped Abby down to a sitting position on the floor. "And we need to get you away from naming stuff after things from Tolkien. The wifi upstairs is already named Lothlórien."


Holtzmann was running around like a mad woman. Abby's parents and her dad were on their way to New York for Christmas. Abby was a little tired after doing most of the cleaning that hadn't been done and helping with the decorating so Holtz had sent her to the couch to relax. At least one good thing was that they didn't have to clean downstairs. That was taken care of by their professional cleaning service who came in twice a month. And it helped that the Ghostbusters had shut down for the holidays. Hopefully, there would be no Christmas ghosts popping up in the near future, but Abby was keeping an ear out for the answering machine. With Patty gone on vacation with Cheyenne, Erin visiting her parents briefly before going to David's dad for Christmas, there was only one Ghostbuster free and able-bodied. And she was flailing about trying to locate the extra blankets and pillows not in use. Abby laughed but found herself being hit by one of the extra pillows for doing so while her wife was muttering about there being much that still needed to be done before their parents' arrival for the holidays.

"At least we got the Christmas tree up first!" she said muffled before throwing the pillow back to the blonde.

"And all the cleaning and decorations," sighed Holtzmann. "But it's everything else that is worrying me."

"It has been a while since our parents have been in the same space," agreed Abby. "But they'll get along. They have a shared vested interest in their children and future grandchild. They'll be fine."

"You are calm about this."

Abby waved a hand. "I'm too tired to care one way or another. Eliana or Elijah is jabbing me with their feet."

"At least it's not both," smirked Holtz.

"No, I think it is both feet," said Abby. "Oh, you meant- yeah, I would have killed you."

"You would have been cute with twins," teased Holtzmann.

"You can be cute with twins," said Abby pointedly. "I want to see that, actually."

"I'll generate you a mock up," Holtz said, gesturing lazily with her hand.

"Then come play with the non-twin and help wear them out for a couple of hours so I can help you more," Abby said, motioning Holtz to the couch.

"You know if it was twins, they'd probably be here already."

"Don't even go there Holtzmann," Abby said warningly. Holtz went and put down the blankets and pillows in the bedrooms and came over to the couch, laying down next to her lover on the sofa.

"You're kicking Momma huh?" she said to the baby, rubbing Abby's side. Abby turned over on her back so Holtz could have better access to her whole abdomen.

"Play away," said Abby. "They won't be here for a couple more hours."

A knock came on the door downstairs through the security system. Abby groaned. Holtz kissed her on the lips.

"I'll play with you later." Holtz started to get up, but Abby pulled her close for another kiss.

"I'm holding you to that," she said. Holtzmann arched an eyebrow before getting up. She checked the video system and saw that it was her Dad at the door. She whooped loudly and went down the fire pole. Holtz opened the door wide, happy to see her father.

"Please tell me you're here to save us from cooking," said Holtzmann, pulling her dad into a hug.

"Happy to see you too kid." Holtzmann took Dean's shoulder bag while he grabbed his bigger suitcase. After three flights of stairs and showing him to his room, Abby was already up and fixing Holtz's dad a cup of coffee.

"You are a caffeine angel," he murmured as Abby handed him the still steaming cup over the counter bar. Holtz pointed back to the couch.

"I just got you sitting down." Abby sighed. Dean Holtzmann chuckled and took a sip of his coffee, running a hand through his thick blond hair. He took a few steps into the kitchen and sat down his cup, surprised as he looked at Abby's baby bump.

"Let her be just a minute Jillian. The pictures she sends just don't do you justice Abby. Someone's growing so quickly."

"I hope so," said Abby, rubbing her baby bump. "The kicks are definitely getting harder."

"Karate champ," said Holtz. "Lots of kicks and punches."

"I'm sure," chuckled Dean. "Since Jillian's got you on couch arrest, why don't we all go sit down in the living room?"

"She's just being overprotective," said Abby, rolling her eyes.

"And who has been in overdrive since last night trying to get everything ready?" said Holtzmann, giving her wife a look after lowering her yellow tinted glasses.

"So have you," scoffed Abby.

"Children, play nice," mused Dean. "At some point you're going to have to pretend to be adults."

Holtzmann sighed. "Fine... truce?"

"I suppose," said Abby, rolling her eyes. They pretended to shake hands, but then Holtz licked Abby's hand instead. Dean Holtzmann chuckled.

"Now that's more like my daughter."

"How was your trip?" asked Abby to Holtz's dad, shaking her hand as if in disgust.

"It was good," he said. "Thankfully short on the train. And the view was nice with all the new snow."

"Yeah, mom and dad's flight should be landing soon. Hopefully, it won't be delayed because of it," said Abby, rubbing her back as she sat down next to Holtzmann on the couch.

"Is your brother coming with his wife and kids?" asked Dean.

"No, they're going to have their own Christmas. And I think Ariel's parents are driving back from Indiana after visiting Ariel's sister." Holtz gestured to the door.

"While we're waiting, why don't I take you down to the lab and show you some of the stuff I'm working on?" said Holtz. "You know you want to."

"I do," laughed Dean. "Not sure if I'll be able to understand any of it, but I always love seeing what you're working on." He gestured to his coffee cup. "Can I finish this and thaw first?"


"I think they were impressed," said Holtz from the glider rocker. She and Abby were in the baby's room, and she was tired. She should have known the minute Abby's parents got there that she would be running around like a maniac for her wife. Abby's mom was tutting her about getting things for Abby and not making her wife get up. She was the one carrying a child and should be resting. Abby had been cackling behind her hands or into Dean Holtzmann's shoulder. Even Abby's dad was doing his best not to laugh and even teased Holtz a little (just a little) about taking care of things. She really should have known. Holtzmann was getting a dose of her medicine, she realized.

But at least now she could relax in the rocker. They had found the perfect chair for rocking the baby to sleep. It looked like a large squashy armchair, but it was on a glider system and came with a nice little square ottoman with the same level of squishiness. They had even thought about how it was going to be great to use during labor.

"A lot of work went into this room," said Abby after putting away one of their baby's future blankets in a white wicker basket in the closet. "And mostly by you, honey." Abby came over and kissed Holtz on the lips and patted her knee.

"It's all good," said Holtz, yawning as she looked around the room. The crib, chest of drawers, toy box, changing table, and a bookshelf with built in desk and chair were already set up and ready to go for their future child and their growing up. A rug had been put down and an old nightstand had been repainted and turned into a small side table for the rocker. All the space decorations were in place and Holtz had to admit, she wished her bedroom had looked this good as a kid. A white wicker clothes hamper and a small silver trashcan sat beside her on the other side. She had decided between spit up and diaper changes those would be the most used pieces in the room. A co-sleeper and a rocking bouncy seat were in the top of the closet, along with the car seat, just waiting to be used. A highchair and stroller were just out of sight inside. Two diaper bags already hung on the closet door.

"Three more months."

Abby sighed and tried to fix the hair falling out of her bun.

"I'm not ready for this."

"You've got 90 more days. You'll be fine. We're in this together." Holtzmann yawned. "Although I think I may have to forgo the promise tonight. I'm tired." Abby gave her wife a sad smile.

"You have been awfully busy today. I can't believe Mom was going to make you cook by yourself."

"It's Cynthia Yates. She was going to make sure you were being babied."

"Ha, it was just old fashioned-"

"Abs, seriously. You might not have been paying attention, but your mother was fawning over your every movement. She knew every time the baby was kicking because she was watching your hands go to the spot where they were."

"Someone was definitely putting on a show. I'm probably going to have some very purple bruises in the morning."

Holtz rubbed Abby's baby bump. "They were just saying hi to their family." Abby squeezed Holtzmann's hand before kissing it.

"There are days I wonder how I made it through life without you." Holtz stood and took off Abby's glasses and rubbed her temples.

"We're going to make it through this. Even the holidays."

Abby laughed under her breath, which made Holtzmann chuckle and smile.

"Come on, let's go to bed while they're still asleep."


About four hours later, Holtzmann was warm and comfortable lying next to her wife. She didn't know why she had woken up, but she had for some reason. She thought she had heard a whimper, but chalked it up to someone stubbing their toes on the living room furniture trying to make their way to the bathroom. She had closed her eyes when she heard the whimper again, followed by a soft cry. Her eyes snapped back open, realizing the noise had come from Abby. She leaned up and saw Abby was in the throes of a bad dream, as she was restless in her sleep. Her lover had the bad experience of nightmares after everything with Rowan and Holtz more than a few times had to hold Abby close till she either woke up or moved past the dream. She hadn't been immune from them herself and had woken up more than a few times to Abby having her in an absolute bear hug. It hadn't been the most pleasant of experiences at first because not only was Abby her salvation, but she had been the face of her terror. If she ever got to see Rowan in the afterlife, she was going to kick his ass for doing that to her and her wife, provided Erin didn't get to him first. When she had found out what Rowan had done to her best friend, she had been livid beyond imagination. Holtzmann had decided she was going to sell tickets to that fight in the Great Beyond. It would be one hell of a show. She frowned when she heard Abby whimper again. Holtz knew weird and vivid dreams were common in pregnancy, as Abby had more than a few already. The one where they had blown up Higgins was her favorite because as grateful as they were to the place that had kept them afloat for a few years, they both wouldn't mind seeing it burn to blazes.

Another soft cry came from Abby and Holtz knew this had to be a really bad dream. She moved the pillow Abby had placed at her back and pulled closer to her wife.

"Shhh... it's okay," she said softly, rubbing her wife's shoulder before dragging it all the way down to her hip and repeating the action. She kissed Abby's left temple. The action seemed to make Abby stir and her eyes snapped open, much to Holtz's relief. She wasn't surprised when Abby turned over quickly and pressed herself into Holtz's arms.

"That bad?" She felt Abby nod and grimaced. Holtzmann could feel the wet spots starting to form on her tank top.

"Yeah. Just give me a minute," said Abby. "Felt very real." Holtz rubbed Abby's scalp and kissed the top of her head. She sighed deeply, calming her breathing.

"A T5 very much Rowan-like had slipped in through the barrier. We fought and we fought and there was nothing left we could do. One by one you all were gone and I was alone. Like the whole entire planet was gone alone. Then the baby started coming and there was something wrong and-"

"Hey," said Holtzmann, peppering kisses in Abby's hair. "It was just a dream. This is what you get for working in a business where you get scared shitless on an almost daily basis."

Abby shook her head for a moment but laughed softly.

"I think it was the chili cheese burritos you got us for lunch."

"That too," said Holtz. "And your fear of being left alone again."

"There is that," Abby sighed.

"I'm not going anywhere and neither is Patty or Erin." Abby smiled a little at that, putting her hand on Holtz's.

"Did you ever know that you're my hero?"

"Because I'm the wind beneath your wings?" humored Holtz.

"Alright Bette," said Abby. Holtzmann grinned.

"Go back to sleep Abs." There was silence for a moment, and Holtz had almost closed her eyes.

"Since we're both awake," drawled out Abby, curling her fingers into Holtz's hair. She knew she had the nuclear engineer's attention. "I'm thinking about that promise from earlier." Holtzmann looked at the clock and cocked a half smirk.

"I'm glad I locked the door." She grinned wolfishly before yelping as Abby kissed her hard, pushing her down into the mattress.