Sorry for the delay guys! Uni has been so stressful this week, I had a bunch of labs that were nine hours straight, no sitting down as I was working with bacteria cultures that grew fast and had to constantly be working on them to decrease chances of contamination and destroying my last year of uni thesis. It's stressful and I had to travel hours to and from uni so I got home late and went straight to bed after eating my dinners on trains. But for now, that is over and I'm back on track with only deadlines for other modules upon me which are not until December so I can finally write! God, I missed this!

We have some adorable Frary moments and Mary gets more advice on what she's going to eventually experience.

"Fran-"

"I'm going to do a food shop," Francis says, writing down a list as he investigates everything in the kitchen cupboards. "You should avoid certain meats, all types of cheeses, fish and caffeine. I know you love caffeine because it helps you work but I'll get you some decaf instead."

Mary leans against the wall and watches him fly about the kitchen, like a busy fairy on a mission and she stifles her giggles with her hand. "I'll come with you-"

"No, you'll get some rest," Francis replies, not bothering to look at her as he continues to write up his inventory. "We got home late last night and you were working all morning so have a nap. You'll feel better for it."

She smiles and nods a little. "Are you sure?"

Stopping his writing, he looks up and nods. "Yes. I can handle a few chores. Speaking of chores, no more hoovering and cleaning, I'll do those. Don't want you lifting a finger at all, am I clear?"

"I'm not an invalid," Mary chuckles. "And I'm in my first trimester, Francis. I'm not even three weeks pregnant yet."

Francis tuts, crossing his arms. "Haven't you read all of those blogs and doctors' websites? Most miscarriages occur within the first trimester, so up until twelve weeks. If I can get you to avoid doing anything until the safe mark then I will."

"Okay..., Daddy."

That almost makes Francis choke up and he walks over to her to capture her lips in a kiss. "We're having a baby."

Mary beams and nods, winding her arms around his neck. "We are. How do you feel about that?"

"Terrified but I'm so happy, I could burst."

"I could burst too!" She cries out happily before they share another kiss. "Thank you, for making my wish come true."

Francis nuzzles his nose against hers and smiles. "I'll always make your wishes come true." He pauses to press a kiss on her forehead. "I love you."

Mary smiles against his chest. "I love you too," she whispers back.

...

"Greer's had her baby!" Mary cries out the next week as she hurries out of their bed to go into the shower, chucking her phone on the bedside table in her rush.

"Mary!"

She stops and meekly slows down, giving Francis a wink before disappearing into the bathroom with him following behind her. "She had a girl! Oh my God, what if we have a girl and she will be best friends with Raven, Bella and... Joy. They named her 'Joy'!" She gushes, stripping her clothes off.

Francis chuckles and smiles happily. "How are Greer and Joy doing?"

"Lola just said that Greer's resting up but the baby is so adorable! Bald but adorable! Our baby's going to be so adorable," Mary replies, turning the shower on. Everything she talks about draws back to the baby so she's glad she rarely sees everyone and only texts them otherwise she'd blurt that she is three weeks pregnant. She's a volcano that is just waiting to explode.

"We'll have to grab the happy family something then," Francis says, heading to the sinks to brush his teeth. "Especially something for Joy... Maybe we should start buying stuff for our baby."

Mary pauses under the warm stream of water and turns to view him through the glass of the shower. "Y-Yeah. Are you sure we should start this early? I mean, we still have a while to go."

"Yeah, I meant like hats and gloves and stuff," Francis says, squeezing toothpaste onto his toothbrush. "Not like a crib or buggy or anything like that. We'll start small now that it's confirmed."

Mary pulls a nervous face, glad that the steam hides her reactions. "Yeah, sure."

"To be honest, I'm terrified of telling our mothers. We know they'll take over the whole process with 'do's and don't's'," he tells her. "And remember that they've already stuffed the spare bedroom with our own baby stuff."

"Yeah, you wore questionable stuff back then," Mary laughs. "Who wore rainbow trackies?"

Francis scoffs. "It was stylish, Marie!"

"The Nineties were weird..." She replies with a chuckle. "Uh, don't judge me."

"For what?" Francis asks, muffled by brushing his teeth.

"I may have slowly been buying things for the baby. Since the second cycle..." She trails off. She hears him spit and soon, she feels a cold gust of wind because he opens the shower door, water splashing out. "Francis!"

"Things like what?" He asks suspiciously as he drags the bathroom mat to the shower.

Mary shrugs. "Clothes, I guess? Just the normal cute baby clothes. I couldn't resist."

"Want to go through them together later today?"

"You're not mad? Or worse, think I'm crazy for buying stuff for a baby we didn't know we'll have?" Mary asks, eyes wide.

Francis gives her a fond smile. "We can share loots."

"You got the baby stuff?"

"When you weren't looking, I went crazy at the toy store," Francis tells her. "And my dad is shipping one of our old rocking horses over. I thought you would find me crazy."

Mary laughs in disbelief. "We're just as bad as each other!"

"Yes, we are. Now, hurry up and shower. I've got to-"

She pulls him in under the hot stream, taking his shirt off in the process. "How about..." She starts, trailing her fingers down his bare chest. "We share?"

...

"She's just so beautiful, Greer. Well done," Mary gushes, seated at the hospital chair with Joy in her arms.

"Thank you," Greer says softly. "What about you? Was this cycle successful?"

Mary bites her lip and she shrugs. "We'll see," she lies. Not yet. "I'm hopeful though." And she's smiling widely, Greer returning the grin as Mary continues rocking Joy in her arms.

She takes a deep inhale of Joy, smelling the baby products which almost sets her off as she smiles widely and closes her eyes. She might as well give Greer some respite and take Joy home with her and Francis. And it's not a bad idea as she starts thinking about babysitting for practice. Her friends won't mind and she'll make sure to return every child the way their parent gave them to her.

"I almost want to steal her away," Mary gushes, pressing her cheek against Joy's soft one. "She's so precious!"

"Mary, I think you should give Greer back her baby now," Francis laughs, pointing at Joy's kissy face. "She's searching for something."

Greer snorts, shoving her arms forward for her child. "Yeah, that's her 'feed me, peasant' face there," she says as Mary begrudgingly returns the baby to her mother.

"I'll wait outside," Francis says awkwardly when Greer freezes to pull her gown down. "Perhaps help Aloysius with... yeah, bye."

The women laugh as Francis hurries out of the room, closing the door securely behind him with his ears stained pink. After a while, Mary watches as Greer helps her daughter latch on. It's not foreign to her. They're women, they've known each other since they were babies. What's seeing each other feeding their children? It's Kenna's fault really and for their twenty-fifth birthdays, she managed to convince them to get naked photoshoots.

It was really empowering for Mary who was in an abusive relationship back then. The words her ex told her didn't matter as she had fun and realised that she was perfect the way she was for herself and no one else's opinions. She will always be grateful to Kenna as it gave Mary the strength to leave the arsehole because she realised she was worth a million than him.

"How does it feel?" Mary asks, smiling warmly when Joy's eyes open a little and land on her.

"Breastfeeding?" Greer asks with a smile as Mary nods. "It's so natural. You have to get as much skin-to-skin as possible for it to work. The baby gets used to you and it could help them latch on. Some women find it hard. I did with my first but with this little one, it's all coming back to me." She takes her daughter's small hand and presses it on the top of her breast. "There's a connection between you and your baby... one that could never be broken because you are at your most intimate, they feel their safest as they feed and you'll do anything for them."

Mary's eyes sting with tears as she bites back a smile. "God, I can't wait. I'm scared I'll screw things up."

Greer scoffs, shaking her head. "Mary... Parenting is a learning process. Lola, Kenna and I all experience it differently as well as our husbands. No matter how many books you read, you'll feel like you're not prepared. This is Aloysius eight child and you'd think he'd be an expert by now but children are unpredictable. So you have to adapt and hope they turn out wonderful at the end of it."

"Greer... promise you won't say a word to anyone nor tell Francis I told you," Mary whispers.

Greer smirks, giving Mary a wink. "I know. Congratulations, honey."

Mary bites her lip, bowing her head shyly as she giggles. "I feel like I've been on cloud 9! And I want to burst so badly but... Twelve weeks, I wasn't allowed to tell anyone until then but I had to tell someone!"

Greer chuckles and nods. "I'm happy for you. Now, wait until you hit the six-week mark because you'll feel like crap from all the morning sickness starting."

"Bloody hell," Mary mutters before they laugh.