"We made it through another week." Bridget smiled as she crawled into bed next to the brunette.
"Was there a possibility that we wouldn't?" Franky teased as she pulled the older woman closer to her side, and placed a soft kiss on her lips.
"Mm, no," the blonde giggled. "I don't mean us. I mean we made it through another week of the pregnancy. We're one week closer to meeting our son or daughter."
"Yeah." The brunette couldn't help but smile. "I can't wait. Mostly so that we have a baby, but also so that Shayne can stop watching over me all the time."
"He's just trying to look out for you." Bridget remembered how concerned he had been the day that Franky had been taken to the hospital.
"I know." She took the blonde's hand in hers. "You know he held my hand the whole time we were waiting at the hospital?"
"He cares about you." The older woman smiled.
"He does. Who knew that first night I couldn't sleep, that our talk on the patio would end up with him here with us." A smile flickered across Franky's face, then she was quiet for a moment. "I'm going to miss him when he moves out. Even though he's not here much now."
"Me too." Bridget closed her eyes, and rested her head against the brunette's shoulder. "So much for only letting him stay until the restaurant opened."
"I know that's what I said, but at that point, I wasn't sure how well it would work out, or if he'd keep his word to stay sober." She smiled as she felt the older woman's hand on her stomach. "Do you think he'll move in with Vera?"
"I don't know. That would be a huge step for her." The blonde honestly hadn't thought much about it, but she doubted that her friend would want to rush into anything that big.
"Mhm." Franky could feel herself relaxing. It had been a busy day at the restaurant, and she and Em had stayed a bit later than they usually did to make the cookies for her class lunch tomorrow.
"That medication seems to be working." Bridget had noticed that the younger woman hadn't been sick the past couple mornings, and she seemed to be sleeping better as well.
"I still feel a bit nauseous, but it's nowhere near as bad. I did get sick once yesterday morning after you guys left, but I think I maybe just shouldn't have had the second glass of juice." Franky had learned that small, frequent meals were her friend.
"That's a big improvement, though." The blonde was glad that her wife was feeling better. She'd been concerned once the morning sickness had started, and her worst fears had come to life when Shayne had called and said that Franky was on her way to the hospital.
"It is." The brunette smiled, as she turned her head to give Bridget a kiss.
Franky heard the other woman let out a sigh when their lips parted. Ever since they'd told Emily about the pregnancy, the young girl had wanted to sleep in their bed with them to make sure that Franky, and the baby, were okay. Tonight, however, they'd managed to convince her to at least try to sleep in her own bed. So far, so good.
"I've missed this," the blonde said with a lazy smile as she moved her hand over Franky's stomach, and around her side.
"Me too." The younger woman pulled her in for another kiss.
Between the brunette's morning sickness, and Emily wanting to be near them the past few nights, it had been a while since they'd been able to share some physical intimacy.
"Mm." Franky smiled against Bridget's lips, and let out a quiet chuckle as she felt the older woman gently reposition herself so that she was straddling the brunette's hips. "You're not going to hurt me, you know."
"I know," the blonde said as she placed a kiss next to Franky's ear. She did know, but she also couldn't help being a bit more careful than usual.
The brunette felt Bridget's lips caress the side of her neck, and it sent a small tremor down her spine; her wife knew exactly what she liked. Franky closed her eyes, and let her head fall back against the pillow. She rested her hands on the blonde's hips, holding her gently in place. She liked when Bridget took control, and she wanted to encourage her to stay right where she was.
"Mm, that feels nice, babe." The brunette could feel her whole body relaxing. She wasn't sure how far the blonde intended to take this, but honestly, she didn't care. She was enjoying all of it.
Bridget continued to work her way down towards Franky's collarbone, earning a small moan from the younger woman. After a moment, she felt one of the brunette's hands slide down the side of her thigh, and come to rest beside her knee.
"I love you," she whispered once she'd made way back up beside Franky's ear.
She got no reply; no reaction. She placed a kiss beside the brunette's ear, then lifted her head. Franky didn't open her eyes, or acknowledge that Bridget had stopped her actions. The blonde could hear the younger woman's soft, steady breathing, indicating that she'd fallen asleep.
Bridget leaned forward, and placed a final kiss on Franky's cheek before she eased herself back onto the bed, and laid down beside her.
"Goodnight, baby, and baby," she said as she placed her hand on the brunette's stomach.
Franky woke, still laying on her back. She stretched, and felt the stiffness in her muscles that indicated she hadn't moved all night. That only happened when she was really tired. She thought back to the night before. The last thing she remembered was Bridget positioning herself on top of her, and then the feel of the blonde's lips against her neck. She had closed her eyes, enjoying what her wife was doing to her, and then...she couldn't remember anything after that.
"Fuck," the brunette whispered to herself. She realized she must have fallen asleep in the middle of everything. She looked to her right, and saw that Bridget was cuddled against her side. "I'm a jerk."
"No, you're not." The blonde stretched a bit then cuddled closer into Franky's side.
"Sorry, I thought you were still asleep." The younger woman turned her head, and placed a kiss on Bridget's forehead.
"Mm, not really. I was just enjoying laying here with you." The blonde looked up at her and smiled before she closed her eyes again.
"I fell asleep on you last night, didn't I?" Franky asked as she ran her hand up the other woman's side, then back down again.
"Yeah, but it's alright." Bridget stretched up, and gave her a reassuring quick kiss on the lips. "You were tired."
"I did enjoy it. It just relaxed me so much that…" The brunette trailed off, and ended her statement with a shake of her head. She really did feel bad.
"I know, baby. Don't worry about it." The blonde placed a hand on the younger woman's cheek, forcing her to look at her. "I love you."
"I love you, too." Franky reached up, and pulled her in for a slow kiss.
"It's Em's class lunch today. Are you excited?" Bridget wanted to move away from the topic of what had happened the night before. It wasn't a big deal to her, and she didn't want the brunette to spend any more time thinking about it.
"Yeah." Franky smiled. "I think she's going to have fun, and she's looking forward to spending the day at the restaurant."
"She's going to look back when she's older, and remember all the things like this you've done with her." The blonde knew even back when her niece was just taking Franky's class that the brunette would be someone the young girl would always remember.
"I hope so. I just want to be able to give her everything." Franky stopped and took a deep breath. She could feel herself getting emotional; it happened easily lately.
"I know, baby. And you do. You give her, and myself, so much, and when the baby arrives, you'll do the same for them, too." She tucked a strand of hair behind the brunette's ear. "Don't cry, okay? It's a fun day."
"I know. I can't help it." Franky took another deep breath, and wiped her eyes.
"Stop apologising for everything." Bridget gave her a small smile, then glanced at the clock. "We've got a few more minutes before we have to get up. Let's just lay here together, then I'll make some breakfast."
"Sounds perfect." Franky wrapped her arm around the blonde, and pulled her closer. Having her wife in her arms made everything better.
Franky, Shayne, and Emily all arrived at the restaurant at about the same time. Normally, Shayne would have started a couple of hours later, but he said he wanted to come in early to help out with the lunch, and the brunette wasn't about to refuse extra help.
"Franks! Looking much better!" Shayne said as he tossed his bag into the backroom. "And there's the big-sis-to-be!"
"Shayne." Franky gave him a half-stern look.
"What? You said you told her." The young man thought for a minute that maybe he'd misunderstood, and now he'd let the secret out.
"We did, but don't shout it around." The brunette waved her hand as she talked. "Someone could hear."
"There's no one here, Franks." Shayne gave a small laugh. "Besides, I have to talk about it somewhere, and I can't tell Vera. She thinks I'm going through a 'quiet, moody phase'," he added the air quotes with a slight eye roll, "but really I'm just trying to be careful not to blurt out the big news."
"I didn't realize you were so excited about it," Franky said with a small grin. She knew he'd be happy for them, but she wasn't really expecting anything beyond that.
"Why not?" He asked as he took his jacket from the hook. "I'm Uncle Shayne, remember?"
"I don't think I agreed to that," the brunette teased.
"You will." He gave her a wink, then turned his attention to Emily. "Good to see you back here too, kid."
"Yeah." The young girl gave him a smile. "I missed you."
The statement surprised both Shayne, and Franky, who exchanged glances. Emily hadn't mentioned to the brunette that she'd missed spending time with the young man. If she had, Franky would have asked him to drop by the house for a visit, or brought her to the restaurant for a bit one day.
"Aw, yeah, I missed having you around, too." He wasn't really sure what to say. "How do you feel about being a big sister?"
"I don't know if I am," Emily stated matter of factly.
"Well, technically not yet, but you will be in a few months." The young man wasn't sure if she was just confused, or if she was saying she was unsure how she felt about the situation.
"I might be a big brother if it's a boy." She looked at him as if this was something that should have been obvious.
"What?" Shayne let out a small laugh, thinking that she was messing around with him, then quickly stifled it when he realized that she was serious. He looked to Franky to help him out.
"Bub, you don't know if you'll have a brother or a sister yet, but either way you'll be a big sister." The brunette watched the expression on the young girl's face as she worked through what Franky had just said.
"Oh. Yeah." She giggled, then went to get her jacket, and wash up.
"Does she, uh, understand how this all works?" He waited until Emily was out of earshot before he asked the brunette his question.
"We told her the basics. That you need special cells from a man, and a woman, and they combine to make a baby. She also knows that those cells can be taken from the body and stored to be used later." Franky watched as he slowly nodded. "She asked if you were the dad."
"Me?!" Shayne gave her a look as if to say that was the craziest thing he'd ever heard. "Why me?"
"I don't know." The brunette shrugged. "I guess because she knows that you need something from a guy, and you're really the only guy in the family."
"I'm in the family?" He asked with a goofy grin.
"I mean, I suppose." She gave him a playful punch in the arm.
"So…" Shayne didn't really know how to ask what he wanted to, or even if he should.
"Ask whatever you want." Franky could see that he was struggling, so she decided to help him out.
"Who is the father? Did you guys buy it, or..?" He thought that was the most likely option, since he hadn't heard any of them talk about other male friends.
"Bridget's brother, Tim. Em's dad." The brunette smiled.
"Oh, wow. I didn't expect...but that's awesome." Shayne of course knew how that was possible, but it honestly hadn't even crossed his mind as an option..
"It was something he offered to us before he passed away. Of course at that time, we didn't know we would be raising Em as well." Sometimes when she stopped, and really thought about it, it was hard to believe that all of this had happened in about a year and a half.
"She knows that, too?" He knew this was the last question he'd get in for now, as he could hear Emily coming back down the hallway.
"She does." Franky gave him a quick nod, then turned her attention to the young girl. "Ready to get started?"
"Can we make a birthday cake?" Emily asked as she fastened the last snap on her jacket.
"Is it someone's birthday today?" The brunette didn't remember her mentioning anything about a birthday before.
"Colin's. He'll be seven." She gave Franky a small smile.
"Okay, do you know anything he likes that we can put on the cake?" She hoped Emily wouldn't come up with anything too elaborate since they didn't have a lot of time.
"He talks a lot about race cars," she said with a small shrug.
"I can make it," Shayne chimed in. "I've got an idea. I can do half chocolate, half vanilla cake."
"Does that sound okay?" Franky wasn't sure if Emily wanted to actually make the cake, or if she just wanted to have one at the lunch.
"Yeah." The young girl nodded.
"Alright, Shaye, you work on the cake, and cookies for the ice cream sandwiches." She had planned to make the cookies the afternoon before, but her time off work had changed that. "Em, you and I will get started on prepping the sliders, and getting stuff ready for the pizzas."
It was a lot of work, but she knew they could get it done. The dishes they'd chosen were fairly simple, and they'd all had experience making them before.
They all worked along in relative silence, each concentrating on their tasks, until Emily spoke up.
"Can I teach the baby how to cook?" The young girl didn't look up from her work, but Franky knew the question was directed at her.
"It'll be a long time before they're old enough to help in the kitchen, bub." She didn't want to discourage Emily from helping out with the baby, but some things just weren't possible. "But when they're old enough, if it's something they enjoy, then yeah, we can all cook together."
"When will you be a dad?" The young girl looked up at Shayne.
"Em, you shouldn't ask people that," Franky said gently. "Not everyone wants to have kids, and it's a personal choice." She left out the part that some people very much wanted to, but weren't able.
"Sorry." She directed her apology at the young man, and went back to her work.
"Oh, no, it's okay." He could see that even though the brunette hadn't scolded her, Emily clearly felt like she had done something wrong. "I'd like to have kids, yeah. I'm not sure I'm ready right now, but in a few years. Right now I'm cool with hanging out with you, and the future little one."
Franky smiled. She knew it wasn't a certainty that he and Vera would stay together long-term, but she felt like there was a good possibility that she could be the mother of the future kids he was talking about.
Jenna and Boomer showed up not long before the kids were scheduled to arrive. Shayne had finished the cookies, and was working on decorating the cake, when he announced that he had to run out for a minute, but he'd be right back. When he returned, he'd bought three small toy race cars, which he placed on the track he'd drawn on top of the cake. Franky had to admit that it looked pretty good, and she hoped the young boy liked it.
"Do you want to go out, and sit with your friends?" Franky had peeked out into the dining room, and saw Dan helping them all to get settled in.
"I want to help cook." Emily shook her head.
"Okay. Let's go out, and say hi though." The brunette held out her hand, and the young girl reluctantly left her work, and let Franky lead her out into the dining room.
"Hey." Franky greeted Emily's teacher with a smile, as the young girl let go of her hand, and went to say hello to the other kids.
"Hey," Ms. Williams said with a shy smile. She hated to admit it, but even though she'd accepted that she, and the brunette, had had nothing more than a one night stand, Franky still had the ability to fluster her. "This is a nice place. It was very generous of you to invite us all here."
"Well, you know me. I'm generous." The brunette saw her suppress a grin, and mentally scolded herself. She was a flirt, all talk, no action, but it was something she wanted to stop doing. "I'm happy to be able to do it. Em mentioned that it was Colin's birthday today, so we made a cake. I hope that's okay."
"Oh. Yeah, I'm sure he'll love it." She nodded as she watched the kids take their seats. "He's a quiet kid, like Em."
"Good to know. I won't make a huge deal out of it then." Franky figured they could just sing Happy Birthday, and have the cake. "Are you good with what the kids are having? I can make you something else if you want. Anything from the menu. Same goes for any of the parents."
The brunette looked around and saw that she'd brought three parent chaperones with them, one of them being Cynthia. On one hand, it surprised Franky that she'd volunteer to come, given that they'd never really gotten along, but on the other hand, it didn't surprise her at all. She figured the woman was mostly just being nosey, and wanted to check out the restaurant.
"Yeah, I'm good with the sliders, but thanks." She cleared her throat. "I'll go check with the other parents."
The meal went smoothly, and everyone enjoyed their food. Colin had been more than pleased about the birthday cake, and the toy cars on it that he got to take home with him.
"Thanks for having us, Em." Ms. Williams came over to her as everyone was getting ready to leave. "And Franky."
"My pleasure. We had fun cooking for everyone, didn't we, Em?" Franky looked down at the young girl who was standing beside her.
"Yeah." Emily smiled up at them. "It's going to be my job some day."
"Well, you're very good at it." The teacher was unsure how much of the food the young girl had actually cooked, but she had a feeling she'd helped out a lot. "Are you coming back with us for the afternoon?"
"I want to stay here." She looked at the brunette.
"I'm just going to help clean up, then I'm going home, bub. Why don't you hang out with your friends for the afternoon. I'll pick you up later at school." Franky was starting to feel tired, and slightly nauseous, which was her body's way of telling her that she needed to rest.
"You said I could spend today with you!" Emily reached up, and held onto the bottom of the brunette's jacket.
"Yeah, I did. I was just giving you an option since I plan to go home soon." Franky knew she should probably make her go to school, but she had said that Friday would be a day together for them, and she didn't have the energy right now to argue with her.
"I'll see you on Monday." Ms Williams gave the young girl a small smile, and a pat on the shoulder. She didn't want Emily to get upset. "Thanks again." She shook the brunette's hand before she left.
"Are you sick?" Emily asked Franky after everyone had left, and they'd returned to the kitchen.
"No, I'm just tired," she said as she worked at putting away the ingredients that they wouldn't need again that day.
"Can we nap?" The young girl took two containers that the brunette passed to her, and headed to the fridge with them.
"We can lay on the couch, and watch some cartoons, and if we fall asleep that's okay." Franky didn't know if she was that tired, but relaxing was definitely on the agenda.
"Ninja Turtles?" She asked as she returned to where the brunette was working.
"Sure." Franky gave her a small smile. "Let's get this done so we can go."
"There's my girls." Bridget smiled as she came around the corner into the living room to find Franky, and Emily cuddled together on the couch. She dropped her bag at the end of the couch. "How was your lunch?"
"It was fun! Franky let me help with everything, and Shayne made a birthday cake for Colin. Then Franky let me stay with her even though Ms. Williams asked if I was coming back to school for the afternoon." Emily said it all in one breath, then held out her arms for a hug.
"I'm glad it went well, love." The blonde bent over, and gave her niece a hug, and a kiss on the cheek, then gave Franky a quick kiss on the lips before she stood up.
"How was your day?" The brunette watched as the older woman sat down on the other section of the couch.
"It was good, but long. Tiring." Bridget hadn't realized it until now, but she was definitely glad to be home, and able to unwind.
"Why don't you have a nice, hot shower while I make supper?" Franky stretched in an attempt to muster the energy to get off the couch.
"You don't have to cook. You've had a long day, too." The blonde knew that the lunch for Emily's class would have been a lot of work, and the fact that Franky had come home early, and laid down meant that she was tired.
"Why don't you have a nice, hot shower while I order us some take out, then?" The brunette grinned when she earned a chuckle from her wife.
"Sounds good, baby." Bridget stood, and headed towards the bathroom.
"What are you in the mood for?" Franky asked, as she picked up her phone.
"Anything. You know what I like." She glanced back over her shoulder to catch the younger woman's reaction.
Franky simply smiled, and shook her head.
"What about you, bub? Any requests?" The brunette wasn't in the mood to make a decision, so she decided to leave it up to Emily.
"Spicy noodles?"
"Thai, it is." Franky found the menu online, and scrolled through the options. Down the hallway, she could hear the water running in the shower as Emily snuggled in against her again. She loved the sounds of their house, and she was glad the weekend was here, and they could all spend some time together.
