Chapter 40: Nudger

Derek's Point-of-View

I didn't want to, or more specifically I knew she didn't want me to. She was tired and cranky as it was, but having me constantly there poking her small protruding abdomen was annoying her, this I knew full and well... but yet again, I couldn't stop myself for the life of me.

*poke*

"Derek!" she hissed…again.

"Sorry." I cringed, even though I really wasn't, nor would I stop doing it. "I just want to feel it move."

"Well, poking it isn't going to make it move any faster!" she scolded "If anything it'll stop moving because its tired of being poked at!"

"Maybe it doesn't like me." I pouted, she bought it every time, it was my get-out-of-trouble face. She rolled her eyes and sighed.

"I'm sure it'll love you, and when your pokes are tickling it I'm sure that at that point it'll actually like your poking. But I just barely felt a bubble of a nudge last week, you probably won't feel anything for a good two weeks."

"What!" I gasped, by then she won't let me touch her.

Since the other day when she gasped and slapped the side of her stomach and told me she felt something kick her my hands have been obsessed with feeling it. If I had to wait too much longer I'd probably try to surgically attach my hands to her belly... hey, I know how to do it kay?

"I'm only 17 weeks." She sighed "Be patient. It'll fly by soon enough, before you know it, you'll be sick of changing diapers."

"Me changing diapers?" I frowned as I laid back into my pillow, she gave me a sideways glance of death and I smiled "Of course I'd never get sick of it."

*gag*

"When do we get to stop calling it an IT?" I asked randomly in the hall the next day. She looked up at me with wide bambi, ok more 'where the fuck did you come from?' look on her face.

"What?" she snapped as she slapped a chart on the counter..

Oh, she's cranky, ok..I've learned how to deal with this. I pulled a snickers bar out of my pocket and dangled it in front of her face, her glare turned into a drooling smile as she snatched the candy bar from me and ripped the wrapper open with her teeth. Candy always does it for her, I learned quickly that health bars only made it worse…little did she know snickers makes health bars.

"The baby?" I asked again, "When do we get to start calling it a him or a her?"

"Who says we're going to call it anything until its born?" she frowned. Take another bite baby...

"Well we can't keep calling it IT, or it'll come out wearing a scary clown mask and making all the other babies in the nursery scream." I stuttered before I could stop myself, I realized what I said after she did judging by the look on her face "Bad analogy?"

"Yeah." She scoured into another bite, it was halfway gone, her sugar high would be hitting soon "Why not just call it baby, or peanut or…" she moaned, at first I thought it was the sugar, but I saw her hand roll over her stomach and I felt a sinking feeling like I missed it "Nudger."

"I missed it again." I muttered. She rolled her eyes and grabbed my hand, placing on the top of her small belly.

"You feel that?"

"Feel what?" I asked after concentrating hard.

"Exactly." She sighed "The baby is kicking like crazy right under your hand but it's too early to feel anything, so stop pouting and be patient."

*gasp* she looked at my wide-open mouth with surprise as I felt a small roll underneath my palm. I grinned in amazement and pride as I felt life under my hands moving around in my wife's belly.

"Nudger."