Thanks again for all of your reviews. It makes the writing process more fun, which, in turn, motivates me to update regularly. So we all win.
Today is gender reveal day.
After what turned out to be the longest day ever, Emily rushed home and sank into her bed, mindlessly watching the weather channel until receiving a phone call from Christian, who had been packing up the last of his clothes. The next day would be his last in Louisiana. The plan was for him to leave Saturday afternoon and make it to D.C. by mid-Tuedsay morning.
"Hey, I thought you had a meeting until 6?" Emily asked as she looked to her watch.
"I told everyone I had food poisoning and went home. What are they going to do to me, fucking fire me?" He laughed as Emily shook her head. "How are you feeling?"
"My back hurts, but other than that I'm fine."
"I wish you felt better" Christian responded in a gentle voice. He hated not being around to offer her some sort of help, despite how 'helpful' he could really be in the situation at hand.
"You owe me back rubs" Emily ordered with a smirk.
"Is that so your highness?"
"Yes it is so. Right baby? Baby says so too" Emily told him in a matter of fact tone as Christian laughed as he threw a pile of clothes into a box.
"I don't know if I like you and spawn conspiring against me like this. This is wicked fucked up, it's like a fucking conspiracy."
"Oh boo hoo" Emily sarcastically stated with a lopsided grin as she ran her hands over her small baby bump, which was finally starting to give her the appearance of being pregnant. "So first, the doctor said that baby is as big as an avocado and has all of it's limbs and joints formed. Oh, and he said that it can probably suck it's thumb now."
Christian scratched the hair near his temple in confusion, "That's nice, but I thought that your doctor was a woman."
"Yeah my OBGYN is, I was talking about Dr. Reid" Emily laughed as Christian shook his head while a smile crept across his face.
"That kid needs a fucking hobby. But really, how is everything?"
Emily took a deep breath and leaned back against the headboard of the bed, "Everything is good so far. In two weeks we'll get the full results but the possibility that something is wrong is very slim."
"Good" Christian sighed as he sat down on his bed. "I have to admit that I've been a nervous fucking wreck. I swear to God I feel like a fucking reality TV divorcee who needs a Xanax to get through the day."
"Have you been sleeping?" Emily asked, already knowing the answer.
"No" he admitted with a sigh. "I just want to come home."
Emily nodded and softly responded, "I know."
"Everything is starting to feel so real but it doesn't feel real at the same time. I've never felt more confused in my entire life. I feel like if I'm there and not just hearing everything fucking second-hand like a prick it'll be easier" he nervously admitted as Emily took a deep breath.
"I think that's probably normal. It wasn't like you signed up for any of this…"
"I did sign up for it" Christian interrupted firmly. "I just thought I'd be less of a fucking disaster and more, I don't know, confident about all of this. I don't get fucking nervous about anything. I never get shaken up, but this is different. I feel like I have no idea what to do. What if I fuck everything up?"
"I don't think you'll fuck everything up. Most things, but not everything" Emily joked which made Christian laugh, immediately giving him a small sense of relief. "Really though, I think you'll end up being a great dad, it's just new. It's not like I know what I'm doing either."
"But you seem so much more together than me."
"Well I've known longer and it's hard not to know this is real when you're throwing up nonstop for three months until your pants suddenly don't fit" She replied in a matter of fact tone with a smirk.
"If my pants don't fit my cruel fiancée is going to put me on a fucking juice cleanse" he quipped as Emily could tell he was starting to feel better.
"She sounds brilliant."
"She's something all right. Brilliant? Maybe in an evil genius sort of way. She even has the fucking cat to pet whilst she carries out her evil machinations against me."
"You sound like you got extremely lucky with her" Emily laughed. "This is driving me insane, are we ready to know? I've got the envelope here."
"Fuck yeah we're ready, I'm going fucking heart attack waiting here" Christian groaned. "Do you have a preference?"
"Honestly? Yeah I do."
"Are you going to tell me?"
"Nope" Emily answered in a serious tone as she started to carefully rip open the sealed enveloped.
The fact was that she did have a preference, but if she didn't ever want her child to know. She was sure that she would love her and Christian's baby regardless of the gender. Emily bit her bottom lip as she scanned the results, finding the one piece of information she didn't already know at the bottom of the page. A red pen circled the sex chromosomes with the gender written down and underlined. But Emily knew basic biology and didn't need the doctor's labeling to know what she was having, and she couldn't help but smile at the news. It was what she had wanted all along, an 'X' and a 'Y.'
Emily laughed and shook her head before speaking up, "We are having a boy."
Christian grinned at the news, "Boy?"
"Boy" Emily confirmed with a chuckle.
"Are you okay with that?" Christian asked as he cleared his throat.
"Yeah I'm really happy about that. Of course I'd be really happy with a girl too, but my mom and I always had a strained relationship and, I don't know, I see the connection JJ has with her son. I want that too. I don't want mother and daughter tension."
"He's going to be a fucking menace like his mother, a total mama's boy. I can already tell" Christian laughed.
"Like his dad was" Emily softly added as Christian nodded on the other end of the line.
"Like his dad was" Christian repeated as he inhaled sharply as a sense of sadness tinged the air. "But wow, this is going to be a-fucking-mazing. I'll teach him how to play football, hockey, basketball, and fucking baseball. He's going to be a Sox, Bruins, Celtics, and Pats fan. I have to get him a St. Christopher's Medallion!" Christian added with the excitement evident in his voice.
"And we have to watch Dr. Who, The Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, and Star Wars with him. And we can read The Hobbit to him, ooh and don't forget about Vonnegut when the time comes" she added as she heard Christian groan on the other end of the phone. "It's nice not calling him 'it' anymore huh?"
"Yeah, that was wicked creepy Kid" Christian nodded as he cracked his back. "The Oracle is going to be fucking pissed."
"But maybe she'll quit bothering me about being the godmother. Also, there is less of a chance that she'll try to kidnap him."
"Well that's a bonus" He laughed as he thought back to Emily's unique group of friends. "But D.M. and I are playing fantasy baseball together so he's our Godfather" Christian added, which briefly confused Emily.
"D.M.?"
"Derek fucking Morgan, your partner. What the fuck is this? Goddamn pregnancy brain?"
"No, I just didn't realize you guys played fantasy baseball together too" She answered with a small smile. It was nice to know that Christian had connected with the members of her team. She already knew that he liked Hotch and JJ, and apparently Morgan too. Emily also found it hilarious that Christian seemed to get along well with Garcia.
Christian merely shrugged in reply before changing the subject, "Do you have any name ideas you've been working on?"
"I have an idea for a middle name" Emily began as she got up to turn the air conditioning down. She hated being hot all the time. "I was thinking Gabriel because it relates back to your guardian angel tattoo. I always want him to remember that he has someone watching over him, protecting him. I don't ever want him to forget that. I don't ever want our son to question why we do what we do, even if it means I'm away. Maybe it's stupid…"
"No I like it" He interjected with a smile. "Something Gabriel Cavanagh, I like it. What about Lucas?"
"Lucas pucas" Emily replied with a shrug. "I don't want him to be teased."
"Graham?"
"Graham cracker."
"Thomas?"
"Do not say Brady" Emily threatened with a smirk.
"Umm Philip?"
"I'm not feeling it. I don't just want a name that flows well with Cavanagh. I want a name that means something to us and him."
"Kennedy?"
"Christian" Emily laughed. "Stop trying so hard to Bostonize our son. Patrick?"
"That's my father's middle name. You want him to become a fucking shanty Irish drunk criminal like my father and grandfather? No thank you."
"Joseph?"
"Gimpy Joe was a wicked strange coke dealer Jimmy used to work with. It kind of ruined the name" Christian sighed. "Picking a baby name is wicked hard. The poor kid is stuck with it for the rest of his life. What about Matthew? Like your friend..."
Emily smiled sadly at the suggestion, "That's very sweet of you, but I want our son to have a name with a different story. I loved Matthew, but it'd be hard…"
"There are other names" Christian offered. "We can try narrowing down our options by cutting out any names we can't use. Obviously Jack, Jackie, James, Ray, Ian, Donny, Dickie Skidder, Mickey hummer, Red Sam, and Fat Tony are out."
"Definitely" Emily confirmed with a laugh. "Mickey hummer?"
"You don't want to know" Christian answered with a chuckle.
"Okay then, and we would never name our son 'Fat Tony.' He'd get a complex."
"Says the woman who threatened me if I dared to gain a few pounds" Christian offered with an eye roll.
"And David, Aaron, Derek, Morgan, Spencer, Reid, Kevin, William, and Henry are also all out" Emily added as she took a deep breath. "I don't want to name him after a unsub either."
"Well then we have like no fucking names left" He whined before rubbing his eyes. "Well we have a middle name, that's a start. So what now boss?"
"We need to cut down on your 'fucks.'"
"WHAT?!" Christian yelled into the phone, not realizing what Emily meant. "What is this fucking nonsense you're saying?"
"No you idiot, I mean the amount of time you say 'fuck' in a day. I will not have my son's first word be 'fuck.' I can accept 'wicked' or even 'Sox' but not 'fuck.'"
Christian smirked at the statement, "I thought you were always up for appreciating a good fuck?"
Emily groaned at the remark. How was it possible that she was actually turned on from this? "I'm going to ignore that comment for now…"
"You're getting all hot and bothered aren't you?" He interjected with a smug look on his face.
"No!" She snapped before sighing, "Can we please not talk about anything physical until you're here? I swear, I thought all of the 'pregnancy makes your libido go crazy' stories were lies, especially because I would rather vomit than have sex with you for the first three months…"
"Hey!" He interjected in an offended voice.
"But now, now…" she trailed off before shaking the thoughts from her head, changing the subject before she seriously started considering phone sex, which could be a disaster considering how handy Penelope Garcia was with a wiretap. "When you get into town we should probably go house hunting, and other than that I don't know what we should have done by now" She admitted with a sigh as she glanced over to the baby book that was sitting on her dresser across the room. "The book is so far away and I finally got comfortable" She huffed as Christian just shook his head and laughed.
"Books are for people who can't work the fucking internet anyway. I got this Starsky" he informed her as he began searching online. "Sixteen and a half weeks right?"
"Yeah."
"This says to start planning nursery…"
"We'll table that for after house hunting" Emily interrupted as Christian continued on.
"Look into childcare options…"
Emily sighed, this was going to be a big decision. She had no plans to quit her job, nor did she want to. She had always assumed that she would go back to work as soon as her maternity leave ended, but what is Christian had other ideas? What if Christian expected her to stay home with the baby? What if he wanted her to transfer to another unit? Would he be unhappy with the idea of her traveling days at a time, leaving him home alone with a crying baby? What did he expect of her? "What are you thinking on that? I was leaning towards nanny."
"You want to go to work after your maternity leave right?" Christian asked as Emily chewed on her bottom lip nervously.
"Yeah."
"And I don't want him going to daycare right away with all those other fucking germy rando kids, so nanny sounds like a plan" Christian agreed, causing Emily to breath a sigh of relief of the other end of the phone. She was grateful that he didn't expect her to just give up work completely. She loved her job, it was part of how she defined herself. She couldn't imagine giving it up permanently, and Christian knew that. "This also says to join a baby birthing class. We have to take a fucking class for this? I thought you just went to the hospital and had the fucking baby. You have to learn this shit?"
"I don't know" Emily shrugged. "I'll talk to JJ. We have a middle name and we decided on hiring a nanny so I think we've done enough for now. We'll be able to do more when you actually make it down here."
"I'm working on it boss lady" Christian defended as Emily started laughing. "Where do we even hire a nanny from?"
"I'll ask an expert, my mother" Emily answered with grin as Christian started snickering.
"What's this?" Christian asked as he continued to search online. "6 disgusting facts about giving birth that you need to know…"
"Christian do not read that" Emily sternly ordered.
"But…"
"Nothing good ever comes from knowing things" Emily adamantly replied as she heard Christian become silent on the other end of the line. "Christian stop now…"
"Oh my fucking God…how is that...what is that…I-I…" He stuttered before trailing off.
Emily rolled her eyes and scoffed at the man, "I told you not to read that."
Christian cringed as he continued, against his better judgment, to read the webpage, "Baby, I am, I am so sorry for what I've done to you."
"DON'T TELL ME!"
"Okay, okay, I just, I-I really have to go" he gulped as he slammed his laptop shut.
"Ugh, you're the worst" Emily stated in a matter of fact tone with another eye roll, "Finish packing, I'll see you Tuesday morning."
"I will" he offered as he squeezed his eyes shut, trying to stop the images from flooding his mind. "I love you."
"Love you too, despite how much I hate you right now" Emily huffed as she hung up the phone and turned on her TV. "And now I really want to know what it said" she complained before getting up to order dinner.
"What are we having? What are we having? What are we having?" Garcia excitedly asked as she bounced up and down on her office chair, causing Emily and JJ to share a look, rolling their eyes at their insane friend.
"PG you texted me '911 emergency, huge fire, get down to my lair now' in all capital letters" Emily scolded as JJ tried to stifle a laugh.
"Well to be fair, you are pregnant so you shouldn't have come down here if there was a fire anyway. That's on you" JJ stated to the annoyed brunette. "Come on tell us."
Emily shook her head and couldn't help but smile before telling her friends, "Fine. I'm sorry Garcia but the BAU curse has struck again."
"Boy?" JJ asked as Emily nodded. "Oh my God that is amazing. Welcome to the boys club" the blonde warmly stated as she embraced her friend, before they both turned their attention to the disappointed technical analyst.
Garcia hung her head in defeat at the news, "How could you do this to me Gumdrop? When am I going to have a baby girl?"
"Maybe try having one yourself Pen" JJ offered with a shrug.
"With who? My bacon donut eating ex-boyfriend who is dating some heartless wench? Emily took the last good man left. Sinfully Delicious was mine first. You said you would rather shoot yourself in the face than have sex with him" Garcia reminded as JJ burst into a fit of laughter.
"From what I saw a few weeks ago that is not the case" the blonde profiler teased as Emily glared at her before giving Garcia a sympathetic look. She knew how hard it could be when all of your friends were paired off except you. JJ was married with a son, she was pregnant and engaged, and poor Garcia was all alone.
"Oh it's okay" Emily comforted as she pulled the typically excited woman into a hug. "I know he's going to love his crazy Aunt Penelope."
"I just wish there was something that could make me feel less empty, less alone" Garcia replied with a sign as she burrowed her head into the brunette's neck.
"I know" Emily coaxed as JJ felt a wave of guilt pass over her.
"I think if I felt a sense of responsibility to help someone, to guide someone through their life it might help. If I had that sense of purpose I might feel better" Garcia mumbled into Emily's hair as the brunette profiler stepped back to notice the smallest of smiles on her friend's face.
"I can't believe you!"
"Did she try to feel you up or something?" JJ asked as Emily rolled her eyes in reply. "What? Your boobs look amazing."
"Oh my God!" Emily exclaimed, blushing profusely as she face palmed. "No JJ, she is trying to steal Godmother from you."
JJ gasped as Garcia slightly cringed, displaying her guilt. "That's what all that garbage about being alone and guiding someone and sense of purpose crap was about?!"
"No" Garcia shot back in the most unconvincing tone ever as JJ put her hands on her hips.
"I can't believe you, how long have you been planning this?"
"This is probably why she broke up with Kevin all along" Emily cut in with a laugh.
"No, I'm heartbroken. I need this baby. JJ would be the most boring Godmother ever" Garcia argued to Emily in a matter of fact tone.
"Hey!"
"What?"
"I'm fun."
"I'm more fun" Garcia shot back as she motioned to her Hello Kitty dress, "Look at my dress."
"So because you dress like Japanese pop star you get to be Godmother?" Emily asked with a lopsided grin as she continued rubbing her baby bump, watching the show unfold in front of her.
"I consider that a compliment" Garcia shrugged before turning to glare at her blonde competition.
"You already have one Godson, you don't need another. Baby Prentanagh is mine!"
"Actually he's mine" Emily corrected with a raised finger before pointing to her small pregnant stomach, "And we're leaving. Sorry PG but you already have a Godson, JJ gets this one" Emily informed her friends as she left the room.
"This ain't over blondie" Garcia warned as JJ flipped her hair and left the office.
It was Monday afternoon and the team was busy with their various assignments. Hotch was in a meeting with Strauss, Garcia was doing God knows what, and the rest of the team was working on assorted paperwork.
Emily was working on a stack of consults at her desk, trying to convince herself that she didn't have to go to the bathroom yet again. The book she had been reading claimed that the constant need to pee would subside in the second trimester. The book lied. Maybe Christian was right, books are just for idiots who didn't know how to work the internet. Emily was shaken from her thoughts by the booming voice of Morgan.
"Yo Eminem's body double" he greeted as Emily looked up from her case files.
"Fuck you, Eminem wishes he has this body" Christian shot back with a grin. He was wearing a black Adidas track suit, the sleeves pushed up almost to his elbows with a white undershirt peaking through. Emily assumed it was that combined with the backwards green Red Sox baseball cap that prompted the nickname. She also noticed that Christian's hair was a little longer and it looked like he was starting to grow a beard, which she was oddly into.
"You weren't supposed to get here until tomorrow" She remarked in a surprised voice, getting up from her chair as he engulfed her in a tight hug, giving her a soft kiss on the top of her head. "I really have to go to the bathroom" She confessed in a quiet voice as Christian laughed and pulled away as she briskly walked off.
"What up kid" Christian greeted to Reid who briefly looked up from his paperwork to give him a smile as Christian sat on Emily's desk.
"What's in the bag Cav?" Morgan asked as he pointed to a small blue bag Christian put on the brunette profiler's desk.
Christian was about to answer as Erin Strauss stomped out of Hotch's office after an argument about the possibility of Alex Blake joining the team in Emily's absence. "Look at this fucking character" Christian announced to Strauss with a nod.
"Christian Cavanagh?" The section chief asked in a surprised and almost gleeful tone that caught the attention of Hotch, Morgan, Reid, and Emily, who was just heading back to her desk.
"Erin go Bragh" Christian replied as Strauss laughed?
"Very clever."
"I'm fucking E equals M clever squared" he shot back with a grin as Reid got a confused look and leaned over to whisper to Morgan.
"That's not right."
"None of this is right" The older man responded to the perplexed genius.
Strauss nodded her head at Christian before glancing over to a shocked Emily, "Well is very good to see you. I'm glad you're feeling better."
"So don't I" he offered in happy voice as Emily was once against confused by his Boston-speak. Hell, she was confused by this entire goddamn interaction. "You watch that docu-fucking-mentary with your son?"
"I did" Strauss answered as Hotch felt his chest constricting. Was he having a panic attack? Was this an out-of-body experience? Did Christian really just greet Erin Strauss by saying, 'Look at this fucking character?'
"Was it wicked pissa or was it wicked pissa?" Christian asked knowingly.
"It was an outstanding film. Thank you for the suggestion. My son absolutely loved it" she offered in a polite voice. "Well I need to be going. It was great to see you and I wish the best for your Red Sox" she informed him, sounding almost disappointed that she had to leave. "Agents" the woman greeted in a professional tone as she nodded to Morgan, Reid, and Emily.
"Ma'am" the all simultaneously replied as she walked out the glass BAU doors.
"See, wicked delightful" Christian stated as he crossed his arms over his chest and grinned while Emily sat down in her office chair next to him.
"What documentary were you talking about? How did this all happen?" Emily asked as Christian lightly brushed his fingers against her baby bump. "No, first, when did this happen?"
Christian bit his lip as he thought back to when he first met Erin Strauss, "I guess like eight months ago. The movie I was telling her about was called 'Senna,' it's about a race car driver. You'd fucking hate it."
"Eight months ago and she still remembers what you said?" Morgan asked before shaking his head in confusion.
"Well we email" Christian nonchalantly added as Emily's gave him a questioning look with an eyebrow raised.
"You email Erin Strauss? As in my boss's boss Erin Strauss? What the hell do you even talk about?"
"I don't know, my thoughts on life, different current events, and sports" He began as he noticed Emily chuckle. "What? That's fucking funny to you? I'm like fucking Stephen Colbert, everyone wants to know my fucking commentary on the world."
Emily scoffed at the statement. "Oh most definitely. You should start a podcast. Through His Eyes: The Christian Cavanagh Story" she teased as her and Morgan broke into a fit of laughter.
"Fuck you" He playfully scolded. "Will you just shut up so I can answer your fucking question?" He incredulously asked as Emily and Morgan both nodded. "I was going to visit her royal fucking highness at the BAU" he began as he nodded over to Emily. "When I decided to hit up Dunkies and in the parking lot I see this broad with a stack of crap she's trying to throw in her trunk, but she has some sort of fucking incident because she looks over to me all drops all her shit. I pick it up for her because she's an older woman and what if she broke a hip trying to bend over or something? And the book I pick up fucking disgusted me. I swear I haven't felt so betrayed since The Globe published pictures of Tom fucking Brady wearing a New York Stankees cap."
"Wait, what was Strauss reading that disgusted you?" Morgan asked, cringing slightly as if he didn't really want to know the answer.
"Prepare your-fucking-selves" Christian instructed as Emily rolled her eyes.
"Go on" she ordered with her arms crossed across her chest. "What was the book?"
"The Old Man and the Sea by Earnest fucking Prickingway" He answered with a look of pure hatred on his face.
"Wait a second here" Emily cut him off as she raised her hand to stop any interruptions, "The book that 'disgusted' you was The Old Man and the Sea by Earnest Hemingway? Who you also apparently hate."
"He's pretentious as fuck. Who gives a shit about some bastard catching a fish?"
Emily raised her hands in frustration and sighed, "First of all, the entire book is a parable for life. It's not just about a fish, it's about life, honor, combating forces, man's place in nature, and death. The entire book is symbolic dumbass. Second, He's one of the greatest American writers of all time. You just don't like him because the main character in The Old Man and the Sea idolizes Joe DiMaggio" she challenged with a pointed look.
"If you want to write about a baseball hero you always pick Teddy fucking Ballgame!" Christian exclaimed as Morgan and Emily started laughing. "And William Faulkner is the greatest American author of all time, and Dashiell Hammett for mystery. You know what, I like that name."
"Dashiell?"
"Yeah, what do you think?"
"Maybe" Emily shrugged as Morgan started to get annoyed.
"Are you going to tell us about Strauss or not?"
"Whoa D-Mo money mo problems cool your jets. So Erin had that book and I said it was shit and she agreed and told me her son was reading it. I tell her that's why kids fucking hate school. She laughed, as usual, and then I said I had to get going so I could watch the Holy War…"
"What?" Reid asked, his interest piqued with the possibility of a history conversation.
"Yeah, you know when BC plays Notre Dame. I have to admit my fucking heart hurts during these games."
Morgan rolled his eyes at the dramatic statement, "Why?"
"My grandfather was a Triple Eagle, I went to a lot of BC games as a kid but I bleed fucking Irish green."
"Triple Eagle?" Emily asked with an eyebrow raised.
Christian rubbed his face in frustration, "I swear you all need to learn sone Boston talk because your fucking ignorance is killing me. When you go to fucking Boston College High School, Boston College, and Boston College Law School you are a Triple Eagle. Okay? You got it so I can finish my fucking story before I'm fucking dead?" He complained before finally finishing. "After that experience I go to the BAU trying to meet up with Starsky and who do I see but that Dunkies broad walking into the FBI building. I was fucking shocked. We talked some more and it turned out she was your boss. I wasn't that surprised since I saw Drew fucking Bledsoe eating a whoopie pie at the fucking Commons."
"What did he just say?" Morgan asked with a laugh as Emily just shook her head in response.
"Let me get this straight, you insulted one of the most revered pieces of literature of all time and now she likes you?" Emily asked with a confused look on her face as Reid was still attempting to piece everything together.
Christian just shrugged in response, "I'm wicked charming kid. When are you going to see that?"
"Okay, so that whole situation aside" Emily began again as she pointed to the bag on her desk. "What is that?" Christian gave her a small smile and slid the bag over to her, with Emily reaching inside to take out a baby blue Yale onesie. "Yale? Oh my God Christian, where did you get this?"
"I keep trying to tell you, I can work the fucking internet" Christian grinned as Emily smiled and pulled him into a hug.
"You smell good" she mumbled with a sigh as her hands drifted to the nape of his neck, massaging his hair as her breathing began to quicken. "You need to go" she sternly told him as she jerked her body away from his, awkwardly pushing him away.
"What?" He asked, tilting his head in confusion as he noticed her slightly blush. "Okay then" he remarked, trying to stifle a laugh as he walked away.
"What was that about?" Morgan asked with a knowing grin as Reid stared at Emily, even more confused than before. This was a weird day.
"None of your business" Emily snapped as she started working on a new case file, thanking God that Garcia was nowhere to be found during the interaction. Morgan was bad enough without adding in Garcia's pervy Robin to his Batman. Why couldn't she have any normal friends? Not even JJ was what one could consider 'normal,' she just hid it better than everyone else. And that is when it hit her. Was she just as crazy as the rest of them? Christian definitely was. "My poor son."
Christian's tattoos were always part of telling this story so the gender was decided all along. I hope no one is too disappointed.
Typically if I get a lot of requests I'll try to work with them, but this time it contrasted with what I had been planning. I'm sorry, but I still think you are all the best.
I hope the longer chapter made up for it.