"You okay, baby?" Bridget was just waking up, but she could see the brunette sitting on the edge of the bed. She reached behind her, and silenced her alarm clock.

"Yeah, I just…" Franky shook her head. "I'm fine."

The blonde moved over so that she was closer to the younger woman. She placed her hand against the other woman's back.

"Feeling a bit nauseous?" Bridget asked, as she rubbed her back.

"A bit, yeah." The brunette wasn't going to say anything about it, but then she remembered their conversation a few days earlier where the older woman had said she wanted to know everything that was going on.

"Anything I can do? Do you need anything?" The blonde knew that there was likely nothing she could do to actually make Franky feel better, but she could get her some water, or a cold face cloth if she wanted one.

"No, it eases a bit when I sit up, so I'm just going to stay here for a minute." When she'd first woken up, she'd thought she was going to have to make a dash to the bathroom, but it was starting to pass now.

"Okay." Bridget pulled herself up into a sitting position behind the brunette. "I'm making breakfast, and lunches this morning. Do you want to try some toast?"

"Yeah, maybe." Franky thought for a moment. "Just with some butter though. Nothing fancy."

"Noted." The blonde placed a kiss on her cheek. "I'll keep the aged, organic, grass-fed jam for another time."

"No such thing," the brunette replied with a small grin.

"I know. I just like to see you smile." She gave Franky another kiss before she got out of the bed, and headed to Emily's room to make sure she was awake before she started making their food.

The younger woman stayed sitting on the edge of the bed. She was thankful that Bridget had offered to take over the food duty for the morning. Her main concern now was keeping up enough of a front so that Emily didn't suspect anything. Since she had her next blood test today, Bridget would be dropping the young girl off at school, so she only had to make it through breakfast.

The blonde had decided to go with a lighter breakfast for everyone. She prepared dishes of fruit, granola, and yogurt for herself, and Emily, and toast for all three of them. Her main goal was to stay away from anything that involved cooking, so that the smell wouldn't upset Franky's stomach more.

"Non-fancy toast, as requested," Bridget said as she sat the plate down on the table in front of the brunette.

"Thanks, Gidge." Franky looked at their dishes of yogurt. While it looked delicious, she was fairly certain that it would be a bad idea for her to have any of it today.

Emily sat down at her place, and looked at her food, then over at the brunette's.

"Why don't you have yogurt, too?" the young girl asked as she took a mouthful of hers.

"I just wanted toast this morning, bub." Franky gave her a small smile, and picked up a piece.

The brunette thought she would be okay. She took a small bite, and began to chew. She could taste the saltiness of the butter. The more she chewed, the more she knew she wasn't going to be able to swallow it. Her body wanted it out, and she felt like it was about to expel more than just the bite of toast.

She stood from the table, and walked as fast as she could towards the bathroom without actually running, although the final few steps to the toilet as she flung the door closed behind her, could probably have been considered a light jog.

She hadn't eaten since supper the night before, so after the first couple heaves, her body was basically just going through the motions.

"Is Franky okay?" Emily asked as she watched her disappear into the bathroom.

"Yeah, she's fine, love." Bridget reached out, and gave her hand a squeeze. "Let's eat up so you're not late for school."

"Is she sick?" The young girl hadn't resumed eating her breakfast yet.

The blonde was about to lie, and say that Franky was fine, and that she probably just had to use the bathroom badly, but it was obvious from the faint sound coming from behind the closed door, that that wasn't the case.

"She's just got a bit of an upset stomach. She'll be fine." Bridget was hoping that Emily would accept that answer, and was relieved when the young girl continued to eat her breakfast.

Franky sat in the waiting room at the clinic. She hadn't tried to eat any more of her breakfast that morning, but she'd managed not to throw up again.

"Franky?" One of the nurses called her in. "You can have a seat here, and I'll be back in a minute to take your blood."

The brunette took off her jacket, and sat down in the chair in the small cubicle. It wasn't long before the nurse returned

"Would you like some water before we start?" She held out a small bottle.

"Yeah, thanks." Franky opened it, and took a sip while the other woman gathered her supplies. The cool liquid felt nice.

"Morning sickness?" the nurse asked with a knowing smile.

"Yeah." The brunette gave her a small nod. "I've had just a bit of nausea the past couple of mornings but today was the first day I was actually sick."

"It's tough, but it usually gets better after the first trimester." She reached out, and positioned Franky's arm.

"You could tell, huh? That I wasn't feeling well?" The brunette glanced over at her.

"Kind of, yeah. I see this pretty much every day though, so I'm good at picking up on it." She gave her a reassuring smile. "Were you trying to hide it?"

"Yeah, well, no. I mean, not from you, but I have to go to work later, and I don't want my coworkers to know." The brunette took a deep breath. She was tired, and obviously not expressing her thoughts very eloquently today.

"Is your coworker a guy?" the nurse asked as she tied the tourniquet.

"The main one I don't want to know yet, yeah. He's a close family friend, too, and we're just trying to keep it quiet for a few more weeks." Franky didn't know why she'd felt the need to explain, but she did.

"He probably won't notice. From my experience, a lot of guys don't tend to pick up on the subtle signs, especially if he's never been around someone who's gone through a pregnancy. Ready?" She positioned the needle above the brunette's arm, and waited for Franky's confirmation.

"Yeah." she glanced away just for a second. The needle actually going in was the only part she couldn't watch. "I don't think he's spent much time with any pregnant women."

"There, all done." She applied pressure to Franky's arm with a piece of gauze. "Did you have any other concerns, or want to speak with the doctor about anything?"

"Could I talk to her about the morning sickness? I just want to make sure I'm doing everything I should." The brunette knew she was probably worrying too much over something completely normal, but she needed reassurance.

"Sure. I'll get you to go to exam room three, and she'll be there in a few minutes." The nurse took the blood sample she'd just drawn, and left the cubicle.

Franky carried her jacket as she walked. She was starting to feel a bit warm again. When she got to the exam room, she sipped on the cool water once more. She sat, absentmindedly staring at the floor.

"Franky, good to see you again." Dr. Ryan entered the room, carrying her file, and took a seat at the desk. "What brings you in today besides the blood test?"

"I've started having some morning sickness, and I've done some reading on my own, but I just want to make sure I'm doing everything right." She felt kind of silly bothering the doctor at this early stage, but she reasoned with herself that she wouldn't have come in just for this; she was already here for the blood test anyway.

"Unfortunately, there's no real cure for it. Most of what we do is just try to find something by trial and error that eases the symptoms. Has it been bad?" The doctor opened her file, prepared to take notes.

"No, this morning was the first time I actually threw up. I know I can't take any meds for it, I just want to know a few things to try that are safe." Franky's main concern right now was for the baby. She could handle any discomfort that was necessary.

"Of course." Dr. Ryan gave her a warm smile. "Here are a couple booklets that have some good information." She handed her some reading material. The nurse had told her why the brunette had wanted to see her, so she came prepared. "Ginger is usually something that helps most people. You could have cookies, soda, candies, anything ginger-flavoured as long as it actually uses real ginger. The BRAT diet works for a lot of people, too; bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast. It's easy on your stomach, and you get some nutrients. Some people find that peppermint, and citrus, especially lemon helps. You could have those in teas, or candies, or just some fresh lemon slices in your water. Taking your prenatal vitamins at night helps sometimes with the morning nausea, as well as having smaller, more frequent meals or snacks. Basically, right now, give some of those a try, and see if anything works for you."

"I'll definitely try all of that." Franky put the booklets into her bag. "When should I be concerned?"

"At this point, the embryo, the baby, is very small. It's not requiring a lot of nutrition from you yet. That will come later, when it's bigger. The concern now would be dehydration if you couldn't keep liquids down, or if you started losing weight." The doctor glanced down at the file. "We could weigh you now, and get a starting point, then if you continue to have issues, we can do a quick weight check at each appointment."

"Yeah, sure, anything." The brunette stood, and walked over to the scale with Dr. Ryan.

"You're starting your sixth week today. If it would help, I can do a quick ultrasound. We most likely won't hear a heartbeat yet, but we should be able to see the gestational sac around the embryo." She was willing to do anything to put her patients' minds at ease.

"No," Franky shook her head, "but thank you. I just want Gidge to be here for everything. I wouldn't feel right about her missing seeing our baby for the first time."

"I understand." Dr. Ryan gave her a small smile. "You should bring her along to your appointment at the end of next week. It'll be the first ultrasound."

"Oh, yeah she's planning to come to that one. I just figured I could handle the bloodwork on my own." The brunette stepped off the scale, and watched as the doctor made a note in her file.

"Good. Oh! One more thing before you go." Dr. Ryan began looking through one of the drawers in the small desk. "Here." She handed Franky a small package with two wristbands inside. "These can help with the nausea. The little bump on the inside presses against an acupressure point on your wrist. They're mostly for motion sickness, but pregnant women have a lot of luck with them as well. And they're completely safe to wear as much as you like."

"Thanks." Franky put them in the bag along with the booklets. "I guess I'll see you next week then."

"Absolutely. I'll be calling you shortly with your results as well." She left the brunette to find her way out when she was ready.

"Shayne, can you taste this for me?" Franky had taken on the task of making the salad dressings for the day, then realized that the caesar dressing called for raw eggs; something she wasn't allowed to eat right now.

"What? The dressing?" He gave her a slightly confused look, as he came over to stand beside her.

"Yeah, can you just taste it for me, and let me know what you think?" She dipped a spoon into the mixture, and held it up for him to try.

"Is it something new?" He sniffed it, and didn't pick up anything different or unusual.

"No, it's just the caesar dressing." She let out an impatient huff.

"Did you try it?" He moved his head back when she pushed the spoon forward slightly.

"Yeah...I did," she lied.

"Then why do you need me to taste it?" Shayne was suspicious now. He didn't trust her not to be playing a practical joke on him.

"I just want a second opinion." She saw the skepticism on his face. "Just fucking taste it!" She still wasn't feeling the best, and she just wanted to get her work done so she could get out of the kitchen.

"Geez, fine." He took the spoon from her, and licked the dressing from it. "Tastes fine." He dropped the spoon into a nearby sink, and headed back to finish his work. "No need to yell at me," he mumbled under his breath.

Franky heard him, but gave no response. He was right, she shouldn't have been mean to him, but right now, all she could think about was getting to go to bed at the end of the day. It was like she'd gone from not even feeling any different, to fatigue, and morning sickness, almost overnight.

She finished up as quickly as she could, and headed to her office. She was actually glad that she had to do the payroll today. It was a task that wasn't usually her favorite; she enjoyed being in the kitchen more than working with the numbers side of things, but today she was happy to have an excuse to be in her office alone, in the peaceful quiet, and away from the heat, and smells of the kitchen.

Around lunch time, she opened her bag to look through the booklets that Dr. Ryan had given her. She was feeling a bit better, and she wanted to keep it that way, so she was hoping to put together a lunch for herself that was easy on her stomach.

She saw the motion sickness bands lying at the bottom of the bag, then something else caught her eye; something she didn't put in there herself. She pulled it out, and saw that Bridget had packed her a small bag of snacks. There were some pretzels, plain saltines, and one of Emily's applesauce snacks. She smiled to herself. Apparently the blonde had done some research of her own.

"You guys good here? I think I'm just going to pick Em up, and head home." Franky had made it through the work that absolutely needed to get done, and she was tired.

"Yeah, we're good." Jenna looked at Shayne, and Boomer, who both nodded their agreement.

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow." She gave them a wave as she left, picked up her bag in her office, and continued out the side door to her car.

She had a bit of an ulterior motive for leaving early, besides just wanting to rest. She'd had an idea that she wanted to talk about with Emily's teacher. She'd wanted to run it by Bridget as well, but it seemed like their only time alone lately was when they were in bed, and she'd been falling asleep quickly each night. She was sure the blonde would be on board, though.

She parked in front of the school, and walked inside. Some of the kids were just starting to make their way to the main doors, so Franky continued on to Emily's classroom, not wanting to miss her, and have the young girl end up on the bus heading for the restaurant.

"Hey." Franky greeted Emily's teacher, who was standing in the doorway of the classroom, watching the kids get ready to leave. She could see that Emily was still in the room packing her things.

"Hey." Beth gave her a small smile. "Haven't seen you in awhile."

"Yeah, I've been kind of...busy." The brunette knew that was putting it mildly, but she didn't feel like getting into the details.

"I bet. Congratulations on the win by the way." Beth had been following the show even before she'd know that Emily was going to be involved in it.

"Thanks." Franky gave her an awkward smile, and was grateful that the young girl came around the corner at just that moment, and wrapped her arms around her waist. "Hey, bub!" She reached down, and hugged her with one arm. "Can you do me a favor?" The brunette crouched down so that she could talk to her. "Can you go play on the playground, and I'll be right out to take you home? I just need to talk to Ms. Williams for a minute."

"Am I in trouble?" Emily gave Franky a serious look, then glanced up at her teacher.

"No, I just want to talk to her about something. It won't take long, okay?" The brunette gave her what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

"Okay." Emily wasn't completely convinced.

"Alright. I'll take your bag, and you go play for a minute." Franky stood, as the young girl went off down the hallway. "And don't leave the playground!"

"She adores you," Beth said as the brunette turned her attention back to her.

"It's mutual." Franky gave a small laugh. "Has she been behaving?"

"Mostly." The teacher gave her an apologetic look. "She's not acting out, but I can tell she's not being challenged academically, and she's bored. I try to find extra things for her to do."

"She's too smart." The brunette gave another small laugh. "If there's anything we can do, just let us know."

"Will do." Beth nodded.

"That's not really what I came here to talk about though." Franky wasn't in the mood for any more small talk than necessary today.

"Oh? Did you want to come in, and sit down?" The teacher motioned towards her desk, unsure how long, or serious the conversation was about to be.

"No, that's fine. I just wanted to invite the class to the restaurant for lunch one day. Em says she talks about it a lot, so I thought maybe they'd like to see the place. It'd be my treat." The brunette knew that some of the families probably didn't have a lot of money, and she didn't want any of the kids to have to miss out because of that.

"Oh, wow, that's very generous. I'd uh, I'd have to get it approved by the principal, and get permission from the parents. I'd need to bring some extra adults as chaperones, too." The offer had truly caught Beth off guard.

"Yeah, sure, whoever you need to bring. I was thinking two weeks from tomorrow. It could be a nice way to end the week." She was glad that her idea hadn't been rejected.

"I could probably make that work. Give me a couple of days, and I'll be in touch. I may need some more details or information." The teacher knew she'd need specifics for the memo to the kids' parents.

"Sounds good. I'll make up a little menu too so they'll know what to expect." She figured there were probably at least a couple of picky eaters in the class, so she'd give them a heads up what to expect.

"That'd be great. Thanks again." She reached out to shake Franky's hand, then realized that was a bit too formal, so she awkwardly pulled it back.

"I should go get Em. Have a good night." She gave Beth's arm a gentle squeeze before she turned to go. She had noticed the awkward gesture, but chose to ignore it, so she wouldn't embarrass the other woman.

"Thanks, you too!" Beth called after her.

"Come on, Em, let's go home." Franky held out her hand, and waited for the young girl to come over from the playground.

"How come we're not going to the restaurant today?" she asked as she took the brunette's hand.

"I'm just a bit tired, so I decided to leave early." Franky smiled down at her.

"Are you sick?" Emily remembered the brunette's dash to the bathroom during breakfast.

"No, bub. I'm just tired." She opened the car door, and waited for her to get in.

When they arrived at the house, they both changed into their pyjamas. Franky returned to the living room, and laid down on the couch. What she really wanted to do was go to bed, but she couldn't leave Emily alone.

"Can I lay with you?" the young girl asked when she returned from her bedroom.

"Sure. Are you sleepy?" The brunette turned more onto her side, and moved back to make more room in front of her.

"Not really, but I like cuddles." Emily settled in, and made herself comfortable. "Can we watch Ninja Turtles?"

"Yeah, whatever you want." Franky handed over the remote, and closed her eyes.

Bridget walked into the house after work to find Emily, and Franky fast asleep on the couch; cartoons still playing on the TV. She picked up the remote from the floor, and lowered the volume.

The blonde went to change out of her work clothes, and when she returned to the living room, she could see that Emily was starting to wake up.

"Hey, love," she said quietly, so as not to disturb Franky.

"Hey." The young girl smiled at her.

"I'm going to make supper. Would you like to help?" Bridget wasn't sure exactly what she was going to make yet, but she'd figure something out. She knew it was her turn to take over more of the things around the house like the meals, and packing lunches, and she was more than happy to do it. She only hoped that her cooking skills had improved enough to keep everyone happy.

"Yeah." Emily carefully slid away from the brunette, and joined her aunt in the kitchen. "What are we making?"

"I don't know yet." She opened the door, and peered into the fridge, hoping inspiration would strike.

"Can we have spag bol?" the young girl asked.

"Yeah, that sounds perfect." Bridget was thankful that she'd picked something simple, and began gathering the ingredients they'd need.

"You don't have to come to bed this early if you don't want to," Franky said as the blonde laid down beside her. Bridget had just put Emily to bed, and it was a bit earlier than they normally turned in for the night.

"I know, but I'm happy just laying here with you." She placed a kiss on the brunette's lips. "How were your test results?"

"They were good." Franky smiled at her. "I talked to Dr. Ryan about the morning sickness, and she gave me some things to read. I found the snacks you sent with me, too."

"Good." Bridget smiled back at her. "I thought they might come in handy. Were you sick any more after breakfast?"

"No," the brunette shook her head, "but I was still a bit nauseous, so I just ate those for lunch."

"Do you feel okay now?" The blonde was hoping that supper wouldn't have upset her stomach too much, and she'd be able to sleep tonight.

"Yeah, I feel pretty good right now, actually." She pulled Bridget a bit closer. "I talked to Em's teacher today when I picked her up. I want to do a lunch for the class at the restaurant. She said she'd clear it with the principal."

"Oh that'll be great! Em will love it! Have you told her yet?" The blonde thought that it was a great idea.

"Not yet. I wanted to make sure it got approved first." She sighed as she settled further into the mattress.

"That's a good idea." Bridget tucked a strand of hair behind the younger woman's ear. "You should sleep now."

A hum of content was the only response she got. She closed her eyes, and listened to the brunette's slow, steady breathing.

"I love you," Franky mumbled quietly.

"I love you, too," she whispered back. "Both of you."