"Finally, that's all over," Bickslow groaned.

Lucy sighed as she tucked herself into his side in the back seat of the taxi. "I'm so glad it is," she agreed. "I'm exhausted." It had been a long, tiring night, and it was well past Lucy's bedtime. She rarely stayed up past nine or ten at the latest, but it was after midnight and all Lucy wanted to do was go home, get out of her dress and into some more comfortable clothes, and sleep.

And considering she wouldn't have to be up early because of Ingrid, she'd get to sleep in for a change, and she was going to savour that.

"Me too," Bickslow sighed. He leant forward to give the driver the address of their building, and then they were pulling away from the taxi bay at the hotel where the gala had been and were on their way. It wasn't a long drive per se, ten minutes at most, really, but Lucy was finding that she wasn't as exhausted as she thought.

She was still practically dead on her feet and her heels were killing her feet, but she was really, really hungry. The food at the event had been nice, but Lucy hadn't loved it all that much. She'd honestly preferred the pretzels over anything there, and she'd been so glad that she'd been able to bribe one of the hotel workers in the lobby to bring her some more every time she'd run out and wanted some more.

But she didn't want pretzels right then. She'd had enough of them over the course of the night. No, Lucy found herself craving one thing in particular, and she really, really hoped Bickslow wouldn't mind taking a little detour before going home. "Hey, Bicks…" She lifted her head from his shoulder and smiled up at him.

He knew that smile. He knew that smile well by that point. "Yes…" he drawled.

"Since you love me and all and you really love making me happy, do you think we could stop by somewhere before we go home?" she asked, batting her eyelashes just for good measure.

"What do you mean by somewhere?"

"Somewhere that serves really horrible, disgusting, unhealthy, greasy food that I really should not be eating at all."

"Lucy, it's twelve-thirty," Bickslow reminded her. It wasn't so much that he was opposed to the idea of not going straight home, because as tired as he was too, junk food was incredibly appealing right then. It was just that he really wanted to get Lucy home and to bed because she needed her sleep more than she needed junk food. "I thought you were exhausted and wanted to go home."

"I am, and I do," she said slowly. "But…"

Bickslow rolled his eyes, and finished for her, "But you're more hungry than tired. Got it." Of course Lucy was more hungry than she was tired. She was practically always hungry when she wasn't feeling sick. Sighing in defeat, Bickslow leant forward to let the driver know about their new plans.

Lucy had laughed so much in just the last half hour alone that her cheeks were actually hurting. From the burger place that had just been a block away from their apartment building, they'd only found themselves in a small park also not too far from their building. It was the middle of the night so they were the only ones there, aside from the odd drunk teenager or homeless person that stumbled through, so no one was there to judge them for laughing too loud.

She'd laughed so hard and so much that she'd choked on her soda and her burger or fries more than once, and almost fallen back into the fountain they'd been sitting on while eating their horribly unhealthy midnight snacks just as many times. Getting home and going to bed was the last thing on her mind, just like it was for Bickslow, because she was just having far too much fun sitting in the park in the middle of the night.

Bickslow had been making a point of getting her to laugh though, just because he loved hearing it. It didn't help that it was incredibly easy to get her to laugh, too. She seemed to laugh at anything, even his horrible, lame, cringe-worthy jokes, but according to her, his 'dad jokes' were actually brilliant.

For the most part, they'd really only laughed about their oh so boring night – from how everyone seemed to be wanting to stake their claim to being a godparent, which they had to admit was pretty damn entertaining, to how Lucy had figured out just why she hadn't seen Bickslow wear that particular suit. They talked about everything and anything, and Lucy even explained the entire pretzel situation. That, Bickslow hadn't exactly liked, just because he hated that she'd even talked to Veronica at all, but it wasn't the worst thing to happen in the world. It could've been worse.

But aside from all of that, it only really came down to the fact that Bickslow, who had had just a little bit too much to drink, was willing to make an absolute fool of himself, all for Lucy's entertainment.

And that was how they got to where they were right then, with Lucy laughing hysterically and getting dangerously close to actually falling into the fountain from where she still sat, all because her boyfriend had decided to start doing some sort of strange strip tease. It started because he'd been taking off his jacket because he'd been getting hot, and somehow, in his intoxicated and permanently perverted state, that just meant getting up and beginning to slowly take it off.

"Oh my god, what the hell are you doing?!" Lucy giggled.

He stopped his out of tune humming to a song that Lucy didn't know, and shrugged while slowly slipping the fitted suit off his shoulders. "Dancing."

Whatever it was he was doing, it was not dancing. Or if it was, they seemed to have very different understandings of what dancing actually was. "Bicks, that is not dancing." It was… Swaying, if anything. And if Bickslow was trying to sexy, it really wasn't working. No, he could do that without trying. In fact, it was better if he didn't try to be sexy.

"No?" He went back to humming his out of tune song and he slowly swung his jacket around before tossing it to the patch of grass next to the path. "Does that mean you don't like it?" he asked.

She watched as he slowly moved his hands down to untuck the crisp white shirt and he continued to slowly turn and sway in time to his horrible song. So Lucy might have found herself beginning to enjoy his little dance, probably because her eyes seemed to be drawn to the way he moved his hips in the suit that fit him far too well. And it was really just a little strange, because she had honestly never seen something weird, but she really was enjoying it. Only her absolutely insane, former Seith mage, sort of husband, boyfriend, technical father of her children could be completely fine with doing some sort of strip tease in the middle of a night in a very public park.

"No, no," Lucy shook her head and picked up her drink again to take a sip from the straw. "Keep going." No, she was going to enjoy her night off from her responsibilities, and if that meant watching Bickslow dance horribly and take off what she hoped was only some of his clothes (because they were still in a park, and she really didn't want him to get arrested for public exposure or anything like that, even though it would make her laugh her ass off) and wishing that the next two weeks weren't going to be so torturously long for her, then yeah, she was going to enjoy her night.

"As you wish, Cosplayer."

The longer it lasted, the more Lucy seemed to laugh, and she just about fell over when a group of people younger than them walked through the park and past them, cat-calling as Bickslow slid his belt from the loops of his pants. He could've stopped, and he was going to have to soon because he really was not going to strip in a park (even he had his limits and his standards, tipsy or not), but he couldn't. He was having too much fun, just because he liked teasing her and that was all he could do.

When he got to his tie, raising a hand to begin to loosen it while trying not to laugh too much himself, Lucy apparently reached her own limit, and when Bickslow heard a splash, some squealing, and then just a whole bunch of hysterical laughter in the space of just a few seconds, he turned back around just to see that she'd fallen back into the fountain. "What the hell are you doing in there?" he chuckled, his odd little dance coming to an end in an instant.

"I don't even know!" she squealed. She couldn't quite remember how she'd gone from sitting on the edge of the fountain like she had all night, to actually falling back into it, but she had a feeling it had something to do with how she'd just been laughing far too much to be aware of she'd been tipping back and forth the entire time. "I was… Oh, I don't know."

Bickslow rolled his eyes. Lucy was definitely special, but he loved her all the same. "Come on. Time to get out of the fountain." Reaching for her hands, he pulled her up until she was back to sitting on the stone edge, and then to her feet. The water hadn't been deep, only a few inches, but she'd still been lying in it and her entire back was wet, and it was enough to make her dress incredibly uncomfortable. Now Bickslow really did have to get her home. Turning back around quickly, he picked up his jacket and shook it out, then draped it over her shoulders. "Are you okay?" he asked quietly. "You're not hurt, are you?"

Lucy shook her head. "I'm okay. I think I just really want to go home so I can have a nice, warm shower." Fountain water, though it probably looks somewhat clean, Lucy didn't even want to know what was actually in that water.

"That can most definitely be arranged."

It felt just a little strange coming home to an empty and dark apartment, especially for Bickslow. It felt just as strange knowing that Ingrid wasn't in her room, either, and Bickslow was having to remind himself that he didn't need to go in and check on her like he usually did each night before going to bed, just because there wasn't anyone to actually check in on.

And the apartment just felt too quiet to him, too. As soon as he'd opened the door, he'd noticed it, and he really didn't like it. It wasn't like it was constantly noisy, either, because Ingrid wasn't exactly one to scream and cry all day long – no, she was good when it came to that – but it was still too quiet. Bickslow only put that down to the fact that he knew Ingrid wasn't there though, and maybe, he just missed her because she was always there.

She was just across the hall though. He had no reason to worry, like he seemed to be deep down. He just needed to enjoy his night off and the sleep-in he'd get from not being woken up at 7 a.m. on a Saturday by his daughter.

But first, he needed to go to bed.

He sighed as he reached the end of the hall, right before Lucy was about to turn and head into the bathroom instead to take the shower she needed. "Did you um…" He cleared his throat when Lucy shrugged his jacket off her shoulders and tossed it inside the bathroom once she opened the door. "The uh… zip," he mumbled. "On your dress." Did you need me to undo it since I had to do it up in the first place? God, why couldn't I just say that? How hard is it?

Lucy smiled and let out a nervous chuckle. She hadn't exactly thought about how she was going to get out of the dress, but she was realising that she really was going to need Bickslow's help to do that. Her arms didn't bend the way she needed them to to get out of it. "Yeah, please, if you wouldn't mind," she said.

Bickslow waited until she'd pulled off her shoes and had pulled the pins out of her hair that was still damp from the fountain before he actually stepped into the bathroom. For some reason, undoing the zip on her dress felt a whole lot different to actually doing it up. It didn't help that he was seriously wishing he could actually take the entire dress off of her and then get in the shower with her.

But undoing it… Hell, he was nervous for some reason, and he didn't even understand it. He was quite good at undoing zips on dresses, just… Apparently not when it came to ones Lucy was wearing. First it had been the zip getting stuck on the wedding dress, now it was the zip sticking because it was still wet.

Lucy, on the other hand, was really just glad she wasn't standing in front of the mirror. If she was, Bickslow would have known that she was blushing, and she really didn't need him knowing that, even though with what was running through her head, he'd pretty quickly be figuring it out. Lucy was sure that if she bit her lip any more she'd be tasting her own blood, but it was all that was keeping her from saying something incredibly stupid. And, by under no circumstances was that stupid thought in her head about maybe not showering alone.

No. She wasn't thinking about actually asking if Bickslow wanted to take her up on her offer to join her in the shower for once. Well, she was, but she really didn't know whether to actually open her mouth or not and quite possibly make a fool of herself.

And even on the off chance that she didn't make a complete fool of herself and Bickslow did want to actually get in the shower with her, Lucy was ninety-nine percent sure that he really would not be as into her as he currently was once he saw what she looked like without her clothes. To say her body had gone through a few changes was an understatement, and Lucy most certainly did not look the same as she had when she'd first woken up in that world and that body.

She really hoped Bickslow wasn't as shallow as he'd once seemed, because if he still was, Lucy was going to feel even worse about how she looked and felt.

But she needed something else – something more – and she almost wished she didn't have to, because that was part of why she was even considering turning around and making her offer. It was just a shower though. It wasn't like she could do anything, and even if she could, it wasn't like she knew what to do. She wasn't completely naïve, but she hadn't done anything of that nature with anyone else. But she still wanted to, and she wanted to with Bickslow.

Lucy just didn't want to make a fool of herself.

But he's going to see you naked eventually, hopefully.

The worst thing that could happen was that she'd get a little embarrassed, and that wasn't even considering the fact that the coming months would be more than a little painful if she really wasn't able to ever sleep with him. Of course, that was still just something Lucy never expected to want, but she was really just using her raging hormones as an excuse for everything those days.

She nodded when his hands came away after getting the zip down all the way, and smiled weakly. "Thanks," she mumbled.

"You're very wel—" He'd only tried to lighten the mood for himself more than anything, because he still didn't understand why he felt so awkward over a damn zipper, but he hadn't even been able to get welcome out before Lucy was kissing him.

Unexpected, yes. But it was great, too. There was an intensity to it that he'd never felt before, and it only made Bickslow wonder just why it was there.

When Lucy pulled away, she did so almost reluctantly, because Bickslow could see how flushed she was, and she could see just how confused he was. Biting back on her anxiety, she bit her lip again and nervously said, "So uh, did you know that when you've been drinking, you always kind of joke about how I should shower with you?"

Bickslow grinned. He liked where this conversation was going, or at least where he thought and hoped it was going. "I was never joking."

"W-Well um… You know that I want to… You know…"

"Fuck me?"

Lucy glanced down to where her hands were laid flat against his chest and let out a nervous laugh. Well, that's putting it bluntly… "But… You know that I can't. Yet. Because of everything that happened before with the bleeding and all…" she mumbled. Yes, Lucy. Be weirder. Make him find this even more entertaining than he already does. "But if you maybe wanted to… Shower… With me… Then that would be okay…"

Oh, she was just so awkwardly adorable that Bickslow was almost tempted to let her keep going. He wanted to see how far she would actually go before just giving up and kicking him out of the room so she could shower alone, but that would just be too mean.

He knew that they really couldn't do anything. Not just because she didn't want to, but it was quite literally the doctor's orders, and Bickslow was sure as hell going to keep his distance because he didn't want to do anything to hurt her or the babies. If that just meant waiting to actually have sex with her, then yeah, he'd wait, and he would do so as patiently as he could manage.

But showering together? Oh yes. Bickslow really did want to do that. Probably more than he should, anyway, considering it would literally just be a shower. But showering with people was always fun, even though Bickslow had practically zero experience with showers that involved his pregnant girlfriend and not shower sex. But there was also a first for everything.

He leant down to quickly press his lips to hers, almost catching her off-guard, before murmuring, "Told you you'd take me up on my offer one day."

Lucy rolled her eyes, yet began reaching for the buttons on his shirt while his own hands remained glued to her waist, not daring to roam any higher or lower just yet. She was the one that needed to be in control right then, not him, because she was the one that was in new territory. "Shut up. Don't make me change my mind," she smirked. She wasn't going to, but she could at least tease him. "But…" she added, and she worried her bottom lip between her teeth again as her fingers stopped pulling the buttons through the holes. "You know I've never… Never done… Anything, really…"

"I know," he whispered, and he smiled softly as she glanced back up to meet his gaze. "But you know that kind of makes you an actual Virgin Mary, right?"

"Call me that again and I will hurt you."

"Noted."

As soon as his shirt was off and on the floor with his jacket, he was leaning back down to capture her lips, and carefully walked her backwards until he could pull the shower door open and get the water running. Her hands fumbled with his belt buckle as his own slid down to her hips. Their lips never parted, and each second she only grew bolder, but her clear lack of experience to do with anything in that department was something Bickslow never thought he'd find so damn attractive. He almost wished that they weren't having to wait, because he was so hard already from just knowing that he would finally get to see what was under that dress.

She seemed to freeze once Bickslow was left standing in just his boxer briefs, his arousal clearly evident through the thin material if it hadn't been already. He gave her an impish smirk when she looked back up, and Bickslow was witnessing for the first time just what shy and turned on looked like together. "I'd apologise, but… Y'know. Not gonna happen."

Except Lucy was glad that he wasn't going to apologise, because she was strangely flattered that she could do that to him, and that was without even touching him – which, incidentally, was something she wasn't sure if she wanted to do. Nodding, she turned around – her self consciousness getting the better of her in the moment – and slipped the strap for her dress down and off her shoulder.

"We don't have to do this now if you don't want to," Bickslow whispered, his breath hot by her ear as his hands closed around her waist from where he stood behind her.

But it was just a shower. Lucy knew she was making a bigger deal out of it than she needed to. It wasn't as if she was glad it was just a shower, either, because she really wished she could do something – anything – to relieve the near constant ache between her legs. But she couldn't. She couldn't do a damn thing.

Still though, she couldn't help but be slightly nervous. But even if she was nervous, she realised that she wanted to do that – even if that was something as simple as taking a stupid shower together. Lucy shook her head and slowly reached for the top of her dress again and pulled it down over her breasts and then her stomach, and let it fall to the floor to pool at her feet.

He stepped back so she could step out of her underwear – and he knew which drawer those had come from – and watched in some sort of daze as she stepped into the shower. He'd seen her in just a bra when she'd been finishing changing, but right then, she was very much as naked as the day she was born and Bickslow was realising that he was a very, very lucky man.

And that was still with her back facing him.

He quickly pulled the rest of his own clothes down and almost tripped in the process, and stepped into the shower behind her, closing the door with him. He reached for her waist to gently pull her back against his chest and he quickly found himself regretting that decision when his arousal pressed against her ass. He didn't even need to see Lucy's face to know that she was blushing as much as he was, if not more so, but he didn't pull back.

Bickslow dropped his head to lightly graze his lips up her shoulder and the side of her neck to her ear, and smirking, he whispered, "Are you going to keep your back to me the entire time?" He wouldn't exactly have any problems with that, but he would like it a whole lot better if she actually turned around.

"I… Maybe," she mumbled.

"Why?"

Because she was embarrassed, and she didn't want to be. It wasn't exactly like she could back out now, not that she wanted to, either.

His hands slid down to her hips and he whispered again, "Do you need me remind you that you're beautiful? Because I can, and I will."

She looked over her shoulder before she slowly began to turn herself around. "Well, it wouldn't hurt…" She did kind of need to hear it though, and she was almost annoyed that he'd even guessed that. When she finally turned around, Bickslow was just as close to her as he had been before – his chest just grazing against her breasts, her belly touching his own flat stomach, and his hardened length against her thigh. But Lucy didn't mind, as she was realising.

Bickslow only leant back slightly so he could let his eyes wander down her body, and he felt himself harden even more. He couldn't stop his hands from slipping a little lower before sliding back up to graze against the sides of her breasts. "Yup. Definitely beautiful," he murmured before ducking his head to kiss her again, and not as softly as his voice had been.

Her back hit the cold of the glass wall, yet her hands continued to reach for everywhere she could while tongues and teeth battled wildly. Her hands were in his hair, on his face, his shoulders, arms, chest, hips – everywhere she could reach, she touched.

But as soon as she became more curious and her hand slipped between them, he pulled back suddenly, leaving just her fingertips lightly grazing the flesh beneath his navel, yet unmoving. "Question," he began, clearing his throat and looking down to her flushed face. She wasn't looking back at him though – her eyes were fixated on her hand, and Bickslow had no idea what was running through her head right then. "What exactly does no sex mean? 'Cause if it's just no actual sex…" If it was that, then Bickslow's life would be so much better, and he could probably make Lucy's a whole lot better, too.

Lucy smiled and sighed quietly. "It means no sex. At all."

"So… Does that mean I can't even do…" His hand slid down from her waist, trailing down over her damp skin to her hip before sliding between them and to between her thighs. She didn't stop him, and her chest only rose and fell with a harsh breath as his fingers brushed against her clit. "…This?"

She wished he could, but he couldn't. "N-No," she whispered. She pushed his hand away before looking back down to where her other hand was, and she swallowed her nervousness to add, "I can't do anything, but… But just because I can't, it doesn't mean you can't…"

Her fingers closed around him and he couldn't help the moan that slipped past his lips. "You… What are you doing?"

"Um… Learning," Lucy mumbled. That was the truth, wasn't it? Lucy was more than embarrassed to admit it, considering the current predicament, but she figured that she had no choice. She gave an experimental squeeze before slowly sliding her hand up his shaft. "I mean, if you… If you wanted me to, that is. Because I… You know that I've never… So I don't know if… Or what…"

Bickslow's hand went to her chin to tilt her head back up, and quickly kissed her so she wasn't having to ramble any more. Words weren't her forte right then, but he still knew what she was saying, or what she was trying to say, at least.

He wanted her to, and he wanted her to a lot, because he just wanted her. But he knew that she was a virgin (sort of), and Bickslow was figuring it was pretty safe to assume she'd never given anyone a handjob, either. He didn't care though. If anything, it really did just make her all the more attractive and impossibly hotter than she already was, because he was the one that she was willing to do those things with.

But as much as he loved that, and he really wasn't opposed to teaching her, Bickslow still wasn't going to push her. They could wait – he could wait, as much as his dick disagreed. His forehead rested against hers when he pulled away again, and he tried to read her face, but he couldn't. "You don't need to. I can survive, I promise," he smirked.

"But I… I want to," Lucy whispered.

If she wanted to… Well, Bickslow wasn't exactly going to stop her. "Are you sure?"

Lucy nodded, and she worried her bottom lip between her teeth again. "I want to be able to do more, I really do, but I can't," she whispered again, and she only glanced down to where she was still holding him in her hand. "But this, I can do, because it's not… It's not strictly sex, and it's not me."

It was one-sided, which Bickslow loathed, but he'd make it up to her in two weeks' time. Oh, he'd definitely make it up to her then. For now, he would cope with that. His own hand covered hers, and he gently moved it back down his length as he softly kissed her lips again with a smirk still on his own. "Like this then."

Her eyes flicked up from the book she had sitting on her lap and to the former Seith mage standing in the hall in front of the spare bedroom. Sighing, she quickly closed the book over her thumb to keep her page and rolled her eyes. "Bickslow, you've been standing there for ten minutes. What on earth are you doing?" she asked.

"Thinking," he answered absentmindedly.

"Why are you thinking?"

Bickslow smirked as he closed the door behind him then headed back to the bed. "Because I'm a human and humans think sometimes."

"Ha-ha. Aren't you funny," Lucy said sarcastically. She properly marked her page with a bookmark and set her book on the nightstand beside her as Bickslow climbed into bed. "But I don't like it when you think. It usually doesn't end well."

"And I love you too."

Lucy giggled as Bickslow crawled over her to switch the lamp off before he moved down to settle his head against his favourite pillow. "Tell me what you were thinking about though," she said quietly. He'd been standing in front of the spare room for ten minutes straight, unmoving, so of course Lucy wanted to know what he'd been thinking about.

He sighed and pushed the quilt back just so he wasn't hidden beneath it. "I was thinking about moving," he answered honestly, and his answer caught Lucy off guard.

"Moving?" Lucy repeated. "What do you mean?"

"Like to a bigger place. A house or something, maybe."

Lucy pushed Bickslow's head up and motioned for him to move back up, patting the empty space in bed beside her. She still didn't have any problems with being used as a human pillow each night before bed when they just talked about their days, but when he suddenly brings up something like moving, Lucy strangely just wanted to be able to actually look at Bickslow, as simple as it was. She reached behind her to turn the lamp back on, then waited until Bickslow was lying on his side in front of her before asking, "Where is this suddenly coming from?"

"Well, I had lunch with Freed and Ever today, right, and we were just talking about a lot of things, then Ever asked again if we'd started buying any baby things yet," Bickslow began to explain. "I said that we hadn't, because I guess it's still a little bit too early for that. But, it got me thinking about, well… The future, I suppose." It wasn't the first time he'd thought about the future, though. Admittedly, Bickslow had been thinking about that a lot over the last few weeks, but it had mostly just been about Lucy and wondering whether or not they'd still be together. That wasn't something he was going to tell her, though. Hell no.

But telling her that he was thinking about something that was quite logical to him was something he could do.

"So where does suddenly thinking about moving fit into this?" Lucy asked. She wasn't going to mention that she'd completely forgotten that baby shopping was going to be a thing they'd need to do at some point, and she wasn't going to tease the former Seith mage over doing something like thinking about the future. She quite liked that, if she had to be perfectly honest, because at least someone in the relationship was. Lucy had found that she wasn't doing much thinking lately.

"Because I'm thinking that we're going to need a bigger place at some point, regardless of whether or not we end up working out and, you know, staying together."

I hope we do. She smiled softly and whispered, "At some point, maybe, but why are you thinking about this now?"

"Well, the twins are only going to really be a year younger than Ingrid, so we're going to have three toddlers at once," Bickslow began to explain.

Lucy shrugged. "It's about thirteen months' difference by the time I have them."

"Same thing," he said. "But, you know this apartment isn't exactly all that big, especially since we'll have three kids. I guess if it wasn't twins, it would be okay for a little while because we wouldn't have our hands quite so full, but since it is twins, it means two of everything."

"Bicks, I know how twins work, strangely enough."

"I know you do. I'm just saying that we're going to need more room, because I don't think the spare bedroom is going to be big enough for twins. Even as just a nursery. It's smaller than Ingrid's room, and there's still all that stuff in the wardrobe in there that we haven't gone through, plus everything else we've shoved in there since getting here. We don't have anywhere else to put any of that, either."

She furrowed her brow as she tried to get her over-tired brain to function. Maybe it was because she was so tired, having been up most of the night before because of a teething infant who did not want to sleep (or do anything other than cry), but Lucy couldn't quite see the necessity of moving. She could see how the spare bedroom would be more than a little cramped with two cribs in there, because even with just one, Ingrid's room was cramped, but it wasn't exactly like they'd be needing much room for the first few months of their lives. She could see that they were going to be needing more room, just…

Eventually.

Not yet.

"And, you know," Bickslow continued, "Ingrid's going to be moving around herself soon, so we probably should've started baby proofing everything. And even if we did stay here, by the time the twins are Ingrid's age, she'll be nearly two, and we're really going to need more room. We can't have three kids in this apartment. It's just too small. And besides, the twins are going to want their own rooms at some point in their lives, especially since there's a chance they won't both be girls or boys."

Lucy sighed. "I suppose you have a point there, but it's not exactly like we can move right now, anyway," she said. She was grateful for their position right then so she could duck her head against his chest so he wasn't witnessing her blush as she added, "And even if we do actually consider moving, like to a house or a bigger apartment, even, that's kind of a big deal, even though we already live together. I mean, I'm not saying I wouldn't want to, but… But to me it's just…"

"I know," Bickslow whispered. He'd considered that factor, too, in all the time he'd been thinking about it, which had admittedly had only been all afternoon and evening. Actually moving someplace else was different to what they were already doing. It wasn't exactly like they'd wanted to live together in the first place, but they hadn't had much of a choice. Now though, it was more of a case that Bickslow didn't want to live separately. It didn't help that he didn't want to be away from Ingrid, either. Wrapping his arm around her shoulders as she stayed like she was, Bickslow continued, "But we could move. It would obviously take some planning and looking at all that boring shit like finances, but we could."

"Before or after the twins are born?"

"Before," he answered. "That way, we would save having to baby proof this place for Ingrid, and everything would be sorted for the twins."

If it was before she was due, then they really didn't have all that much time. If they did decide to move, then Lucy already knew for certain that she would want to have everything sorted out before she reached her third trimester. She figured by then she would already be stressing about the arrival of the twins, and adding the stress of moving would just be too much for her.

But even if moving was suddenly seeming like it was a good idea, because Bickslow really had made a few good points that she hadn't even considered once, talking about it late on a weeknight was not the best time to be doing so, especially when Bickslow needed to be up for work early, and Lucy just really needed her sleep. Lifting her head, Lucy sighed quietly again then said, "Can we talk about this some more on the weekend? 'Cause, you know, moving is a big thing and there's a lot of factors to consider, and right now, I'm not thinking all that straight and I make stupid decisions when I'm tired." She paused before quickly leaning back over and kissing his cheek and smiling innocently. "Not that I mean moving would be a stupid decision, especially with you because I love you, just in case that was what you thought I meant."

"Well, it is now…"

"I just need to think about it, and then we need to talk about it some more, okay? Just later. It's not a stupid idea. I actually kind of like it."

"Uh-huh."

She reached to turn off the light again, leaving the room in darkness aside from the small amount of light streaming in through the window from the city, then leant over again to quickly kiss the corner of his mouth before she settled herself on her side of the bed. "Bedtime now," Lucy said, far too brightly considering her exhaustion level. "Goodnight, Bicks."

The next morning saw Bickslow miraculously getting to work on time, but that probably had something to do with the fact that he'd been up since 3 a.m. and he'd really just had nothing else to do at home that morning.

It was a Friday again, thankfully, exactly a week after the gala, so he didn't have much to do that day aside from go to a few meetings, make a few calls, procrastinate. The usual for Bickslow, really. He was pretty confident that it was going to be a good day.

"Good morning, Bickslow."

He looked up from his phone just as he passed the cubicle closest to his office door, and saw his assistant, James, sitting there. "Oh, morning, James," Bickslow greeted him with a slight wave of his hand before unlocking his office door.

James followed him in with a binder under an arm, then set it down on the desk in front of the shelves as Bickslow went about opening up the blinds in his office to see out into the rest of the office floor. "How are you this morning?" the assistant asked politely, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "You're here a little earlier than usual. Not even Mr. Justine has arrived yet."

"Tired," Bickslow answered as he sat down at his desk after folding his jacket over the back of his chair. "I've been up since three because of my daughter, so I'm tired." He looked at this watch then just to check what the time actually was, and only blinked when he saw that he really was in fact early to work for a change. Only half an hour before he was due to start, but still.

"Well I'll get you your coffee right away then," James laughed.

"Please."

As James left, Bickslow pulled his laptop out and opened it up to what he'd left open early that morning: property listings. He knew he wasn't supposed to be looking into it because Lucy wanted to wait until it was the weekend to properly talk about it, but Bickslow hadn't been able to help himself. There'd been nothing on T.V. to watch, and it hadn't been like he'd been able to go to sleep, because he'd been too busy making sure Ingrid's fever wasn't getting too high. So he'd sat in the lounge room with his seven-and-a-half-month-old daughter in his lap and his computer in front of him until the sun came up, allowing Lucy to get the sleep she needed.

He knew they needed four bedrooms, so that was what he'd been looking at. Three would just put them in the same scenario they were currently in, so Bickslow hadn't even bothered looking at anything with less than four bedrooms. The twins were fraternal, not identical, so even though they still had a while to wait before they knew the sexes, Bickslow was taking into account that they'd need their own rooms when they were older. If they were both girls, they'd probably just end up fighting, if they were both boys, they'd probably just end up arguing, and if they ended up being a girl and a boy, then they'd probably end up wanting to kill each other at some point because they were kids and kids were weird. When they were still babies, sure, they could share a room. They'd probably be fine with sharing a room right up until they had to start any form of school, but anything after that, Bickslow figured it would just be easier for everyone.

So four bedrooms was the magic number. One for Lucy and himself, one for Ingrid, and two for the twins.

But the four bedroom houses and apartments in Magnolia were strangely disappointing, and as Bickslow began to scroll through them again while waiting for what would be his third cup of coffee already, he was realising that fact again. They were all either too old, far too expensive as far as the rent goes (which was saying something, because he'd come to realise that what they paid in rent for their apartment was a lot, too), too small, or too far away from everything like their friends or where Bickslow worked.

He had, also, briefly considered buying, if they did in fact decide to move. For whatever reason, they had almost too much money in one of their accounts – neither had any idea why their other selves had a few hundred thousand in the bank, but they'd decided it was best not to touch it since they'd been able to reason that it had been there for a specific purpose – but it was enough that they could easily afford to pay off a considerable amount of a house which would reduce what they'd have to pay back on a mortgage.

But the fact still remained that they couldn't have anything with less than four bedrooms, and everything Bickslow had seen so far that had four bedrooms was just not what he had in mind. Surely he was allowed to have ideas of what he wanted to live in, because if he moved, he didn't want to have to be moving again. He wanted somewhere that he could actually raise their kids, from now until they decided to move out and get on with their own lives. Bickslow guessed that that was what Lucy would want too, if she decided she did want to move (which, they hadn't talked about yet, but it had been all Bickslow had thought about since he'd woken up again at 3 a.m.).

Five bedrooms though…

Five bedrooms could work. Two would be empty for a few years, and one of those would remain as a spare bedroom for a whole lot longer, but that was okay. Worst case scenario if they did move into a five bedroom house, the fifth room would be used when Lucy decided she hated him and really didn't want to be with him anymore (which Bickslow really hoped didn't happen) but the entire living separately thing would just be too frustrating because of the kids. Or, best case scenario, it got turned into something like an office or a place that they could go to to hide from the evil monsters they'd created, or… It got used as an actual bedroom, just not for himself or Lucy.

No. Don't think about that. Do not, by any circumstances, think about that.

Thinking about even the possibility of there being a fourth baby was something that was just bound to end horribly for Bickslow, but it was something he just couldn't help. It was the first time Bickslow had even actually thought about that – having another baby with Lucy – but in the three seconds it had been lodged in his brain so far, he knew it was something that he liked. But he also knew that it was something Lucy wouldn't like. One kid was enough for them, and considering they had another two on the way, that was more than enough. And considering Lucy hadn't exactly wanted any of them to begin with, Bickslow highly doubted her ever wanting a fourth, and that was assuming that they were still together a few years down the track.

But Bickslow liked the idea of it. He'd been an only child, and he'd hated it. It had been boring and he'd been miserably lonely for a long time because he just hadn't really had any other kids around him to play with or grow up with. It was because of that that Bickslow had always known he'd want a big family when he did reach that point in his life. Even when he'd been more than fine with how things were before he'd been thrown into his new role of being a parent and had had no intentions of ever settling down any time soon before then, he'd known that a big family was what he'd want one day.

And in a way, their family was already pretty big, and Bickslow loved that all three of their children would be able to grow up and play together, especially so since they'd really just be a year apart in age, but a fourth…

He really did like the idea of a fourth kid one day. Not for a while, of course – maybe four or five years down the track if things were still good between himself and Lucy – but one day, maybe.

But Bickslow sure as hell wasn't going to bring up just why he thought a five bedroom house could be a good option for them to move into, if Lucy decided she did like the idea of moving at all. Or at least, he wouldn't give her an exact reason. He'd probably just give her a vague answer like, 'just in case.'

Just in case he manages to make her hate him, or just in case they ever have another baby, unplanned, or better yet, planned.

Just in case.