As Alex walked Olivia up the treed, cobblestone path, the home's red front door opened and Elliot appeared, slinging a light jacket over his shoulders and shepherding his two youngest children before him. A familiar smile broke over his face and he met the two women with an air of open geniality. He squeezed Alex's shoulder and clasped his very pregnant partner in a one-armed hug. With a brief grimace of a smile, he gestured back towards the house.

"You're just in time, Liv," he drawled sardonically. "Kathy and the girls just gave me and the twins the boot. I warn you, it's a pink and blue nightmare in there." He smirked and then, feeling a tug on his shirttail, he turned his attention downward.

"Daddy, we're going to miss Nemo," Lizzie urged. Elliot palmed her blonde braid and grinned.

"We won't, I promise. Take your brother and get in the car." Practically hopping with excitement, Lizzie grabbed her twin's hand and tugged but Dickie didn't budge. Rather, he seemed rooted to the spot, his brown eyes round and fixed on Olivia's changed body. Following the line of his astonished gaze, Olivia chuckled and greeted him warmly. Her voice seemed to snap him from his rapt fascination.

"Wow. You're big," he breathed. All three adults laughed out loud and Elliot nudged his only son's shoulder, propelling him gently towards the driveway.

"That's enough, kiddo," Elliot quipped. Grinning at Olivia and winking at Alex, he said his goodbyes. "We gotta get out of here before Nemo gets found. Have fun in there. Oh, and Liv, you are getting pretty big. You sure you're not having twins? Or triplets?" Olivia swatted at him, though her expression was pleased, and he ducked out of her reach before beating a quick retreat. Alex wrapped an arm around her wife's swollen waist and guided her up the rest of the path and onto the front stoop. She rang the bell and then jumped back in surprise as Elliot's two older daughters ambushed Olivia.

The two girls, gawky, excited and blooming with the potential of womanhood, gushed their greetings. Elliot had already warned Olivia; Kathy had been planning something simple but Maureen and Kathleen had quickly taken it upon themselves to spruce it up. It was excusable, Alex supposed. This was their first real baby shower. That said, as Alex peered through the open front door, she had to admit she was glad she was heading out to meet her parents for a late lunch. Elliot's description paled in comparison to the reality. Every inch of visible wall was decorated with pink crepe paper and the stair banister was crowded with clusters of blue balloons and ribbons. Alex made a conscious decision to greet Kathy, thank her and then make a speedy escape. She loved Olivia, she would stand by her wife's side through anything. Well, anything but this. Kathy appeared in the foyer and ushered the girls back inside, smilingly allowing them to ferry the quaintly waddling woman down the hall with a chorus of excited giggles and shrill requests to feel the baby kick. The two blondes watched them disappear into the kitchen with matching grins before Kathy turned back to Alex.

"Sure we can't convince you to stay?"

Alex chuckled with grateful regret. "No, thanks, Kathy. I like what you've done with the place though."

Kathy rolled her eyes with good-natured exasperation. "yeah, well, I had some cupcakes and balloons all ready but Maureen conned the car keys and a credit card out of her father and, well… you can guess the rest." Alex nodded in understanding and then, instinctually, she reached out to clasp Kathy's hand. She and Elliot's wife had never been close. Hell, until Kathy had learned exactly which team Olivia batted for, the relationship between Elliot's family and his beautiful partner had resembled that between the USSR and the US in 1962: cold. But over the years, Olivia had saved Elliot's ass when he needed her to and had kicked it when Kathy needed her to. Their icy stalemate had thawed and then warmed into a strange sort of friendship. Kathy didn't have to go through the trouble of throwing Liv a shower but she had done it anyway and had evidently gone all out for it. Alex wanted to express her gratitude.

"Kathy, I just want to say thank you. I…"

Kathy cut her off with a brisk wave of her hand. "Alex, don't worry about it. The girls and I have had a great time setting it all up. Now, if you don't want to stay, you'd better get going so we can get this party started. I'll wrap up a cupcake for Olivia to take home for you." With a last, poignant glance, Alex grinned and turned away. Olivia was in good hands and she had to get on the road before she was late. Alex's mother hated tardiness.

Alex wove her way between white-draped tables of subdued diners, scanning over their heads for familiar faces. She caught her father's eye and changed course, returning his wave with a bright smile. She had big news to share with her parents. She had not told them of Olivia's pregnancy, citing to herself a fear of miscarriage to allay her vague sense of guilt at keeping it a secret. But, with Olivia at the center of a shower in her honor and her waist reaching epic dimensions of telltale roundness, Alex decided to come clean at last. Her excuses had worn thin. Her parents had given her marriage their blessing. She had to trust them to welcome her child or at least grow to accept it. But, first, she had to tell them.

Shrugging out of her jacket, Alex allowed her father to hold her chair for her as she settled herself and greeted her mother. She folded her napkin in her lap to give herself a moment to contain her nervous excitement. Swallowing hard, she decided to bite the bullet.

"Mom, Dad, I have some good news. I… we're… Olivia's pregnant." For a heartbeat, the trio sat in stunned silence. Then Nancy and Paul broke the stillness at once, their exclamations overlapping.

"Alex, honey, that's wonderful news."

"Pregnant? What are you thinking?"

Alex swallowed again, wetting her suddenly dry tongue with a sip of water. This conversation was not quite getting off to the start she had hoped for. She chose to acknowledge her father's positive comment first. Maybe it would give her mother a chance to calm down.

"Thank you, Dad," Alex said softly with a proud but restrained smile. "She's due in November. We wanted to tell you but… well, we were worried she wouldn't be able to carry it to term. We're…"

"Alexandra, she's seven months along? How? Why?"

"Mother," Alex snapped, heedless of eavesdroppers and taken aback by her mother's callous question. "Why? How can you ask that? Did you ask Aaron why he got Nicole pregnant with Andrea? Or Henry? We want a child, that's why. I had hoped that you would be happy for us." Nancy pinched her lips together and met her daughter's hotly angry stare with a cold look of her own.

"You know, I've tried to be okay with all this. I've tried to accept you the way you are and I've tried to accept Olivia as… your partner. But a child? Do you really think that your home would be the best place for a baby, Alexandra?" The breath seemed to evaporate from Alex's lungs. The way she was? Not the best place for a baby? She had expected resistance to the idea but this was too much for her to handle. Numbly, she moved to set her napkin back onto the table and run but her father's hand on her arm stopped her. Reluctantly, she looked up into his kind face.

As if Nancy was absent, Paul focused his attentions exclusively on his pained daughter. "Ignore your mother, baby girl, you know how she is. Tell me about it instead. Do you know the sex?" A weak smile returning to her drawn face, Alex laid her hand on top of her father's and pressed it. Neither she nor Paul spared Nancy a second glance as the older woman huffily excused herself to the powder room. As her mother's back disappeared around a corner, Alex took a steadying breath and focused on her joy. Alex was about to become a mother and her father wanted to know about his unborn grandchild. She managed to imbue her smile with a little more feeling.

"We don't know. The doctor almost let it slip but Olivia caught her. We want it to be a surprise." Paul chuckled with real pleasure despite his distraction.

"Well then, honey, I guess we'll be sending over something for the baby in yellow. Or would you prefer green?"

An amused grin plucking at her lips, Alex watched patiently as Olivia sank heavily onto their bed and heaved her legs up onto the mattress. Grunting and sighing dramatically, Olivia really did make a comical sight. Alex wanted to tease her beached wife but restrained herself. Adrift in a roiling sea of hormones, Olivia could dissolve into fits of laughter or inexplicable tears within the space of two breaths. Alex was unwilling to be the inspiration for any extremes of emotion at that particular moment. Lunch with her parents had been draining. She just wanted to whittle away the rest of the afternoon in quiet time with her wife, cuddling and admiring the onesies and plush blankets that had been showered on Olivia. Groaning, Olivia rolled onto her side to take the pressure off of her back and looked up at Alex, a sleepy, contented half smile making her face beautiful. Alex took the expression as an invitation. She joined Olivia on the bed, lying face to face with her wife and mirroring her relaxed posture.

Laying a hand on Olivia's hip, Alex sighed with comfort. "So, you had fun, huh?"

"Yeah, it was alright. A little overwhelming. I think Maureen and Kathleen enjoyed themselves the most." Olivia paused as she relived the happy memory. "They wanted to feel the baby kick and asked question after question. I think Maureen was about two minutes away from strapping her iPod to my stomach and playing Mozart to the baby. Elliot should really pay more attention to his kids' Google usage." Alex scooted closer and brought her fingers to the hem of Olivia's blouse.

"May I?"

Olivia sighed indulgently and squirmed to let Alex tug the shirt up over her belly. Biting her lip, Alex molded her palm to the taut swell of her wife's baby bump and held her breath. No matter how many times she did this, Alex never could breathe until she felt movement. They had spent so much time, sweat and money to make this happen; Alex felt as if she was eternally waiting for the other shoe to drop. Until she felt that telltale kick, Alex couldn't help nursing a spark of terror that things wouldn't work out after all. But she always felt it sooner or later, that miraculous thump of a heel or fist sheltered within the body of the love of her life. This time was no different. Alex let her breath whistle slowly through her teeth.

Warm fingers closed around Alex's wrist and moved her hand to her wife's hip. Olivia grinned smugly. "I have a better idea." She took hold of Alex's blouse, mimicking the way the blonde had only a few moments earlier, and pulled it up, baring Alex's flat stomach. With a hand curled around to the small of her wife's back, Olivia coaxed Alex even closer, maintaining her efforts until their bellies were pressed together. She held Alex tightly. She knew that something about her meeting with her parents had upset the blonde. Olivia could guess but Alex didn't seem to want to talk about it. In the meantime, she wanted to do something to cheer her up. "Close your eyes," she cooed.

Alex complied and, for a long while, they laid together in silence. Then, without warning, Olivia's grin widened and Alex gasped in delighted shock. She felt it, felt the baby kick against her like he or she kicked Olivia. It was different like this, so different from how it felt against her palm. Her eyes popped open to meet Olivia's and her jaw tightened with clashing joy and pain. In that instant, the reality of Olivia's pregnancy washed over Alex like a blessedly cool wave over sun-baked sand. Olivia was going to give birth to a baby and become a mother. Alex herself was going to be a mother. They were going to be a real family. It was as if all the dreams Alex had pursued and prayed over had burst, blinding her with bright stars and soothing her with warm breezes. Alex was happy.