A/N: Prompt from the server: Sesshomaru overhears a phone conversation that Kagome has with with friend and learns she is pregnant. AU

"No, no, of course I haven't told Sesshomaru yet."

Sesshomaru, who had been prepared to walk past Kagome's study on his way to make tea and lunch, paused in curiosity. Hadn't told him what?

"...I mean, I guess, but I don't know how he's react to news like that. We haven't really talked about it, Sango." She sighed heavily.

Despite himself, he stayed to eavesdrop even know he knew it would earn her ire if she found out. But once his curiosity had been aroused, he found that he was incapable of giving her the privacy she desired. What, exactly, was his priestess hiding from him?

Was she ill? Injured? Had she been fired from work? His mind began racing with the possibilities even as he shifted a little closer to the cracked doorway. If she were plagued with money troubles, she wouldn't have been so worried, he thought; his business was doing well enough that he could support her if she needed—and if her pride would allow her to.

No, it had to be something else.

"...I don't know, Sango; the topic just never came up before!" Kagome sounded a little defensive and his lips thinned as her reiki began to leak. "...I know it's a big deal but I don't know how to bring it up without sounding weird! You can't just bring up babies out of nowhere, Sango!" she wailed. "What if this responsibility is more than he's ready for—more than we're ready for?! We've only been together a year!"

Kagome is... His brain short-circuited. How? We have always used protection...

And then he recalled the one moment when they hadn't. They'd found the condom had shredded during use, though both had been too involved at the time to notice it. He did quick mental math as his eyes narrowed.

Two months. The woman he loved was two months pregnant.

And judging from her conversation with Sango, who was evidently still lecturing his priestess, she didn't trust him enough to tell him directly. She worried over his reaction—needlessly. He hadn't desired children with her yet—she wasn't even thirty—but that did not mean that he hadn't desired them, either.

The idea of their children nearly brought him to his knees. Kagome was pregnant. She was having a baby—they were having a baby.

Sesshomaru felt the excitement well up within him at the thought.

He sent Kagome a text that he was going out on an errand and hurried to dress properly to leave—he would not be caught outside in anything less than his best—and grabbed his keys before heading out to run a few errands.

.

.

When he returned back to his house hours later, grateful that he'd asked her to move in with him several months before, his black SUV was fully loaded with everything they'd need. Pleased with the success of his mission, he texted Kagome to come outside and help him bring in groceries.

She appeared in the doorway with a puzzled look as he rarely requested her help with physical labor but the surprise, he knew, would be grander if she saw the whole effect of a car, loaded to the brim, with everything their son or daughter would ever need.

As soon as he saw her, he hit the button for the automatic doors and trunk to showoff his purchases. "You worried needlessly, Kagome," he told her, his voice proud. He still had the engagement ring in his pocket but, baby or no baby, he wouldn't be deterred from the romantic proposal he'd been preparing—he had not endured hours of lecturing from his father to throw it all away now.

No, she would see that he wanted her for her and the baby for the baby and not ever once doubt that he'd married her simply because she'd been pregnant.

He was pleased to see her eyes widen as her mouth dropped open. "You...I..." She gaped. "How?!"

"I have my ways," he told her smugly. "I am pleased that you are carrying our young."

Her eyes grew rounder. "Me?" she squeaked. "Y-you think I'm—that we're—" She stopped short and began laughing, doubling over and wheezing as she clutched her stomach. "Sesshomaru, we don't need all of this," she told him once she'd caught her breath.

He stiffened. "I have been assured by the store clerks that everything here is exactly that a child would require to grow and develop properly."

"That's not what I—" She groaned. "I'm not pregnant, Sesshomaru."

He did not appreciate her lie. "There is no need to lie, Kagome, until you are prepared to tell me yourself. I overheard your conversation with Sango."

"You overheard my—" She glared. "That was private, Sesshomaru!"

"Then you should not have left your study door open and spoken loudly enough to be overheard," he reminded her, his annoyance biting off the words.

She squared her shoulders. "Okay, that's fair," she agreed easily, irritating him further. "But I'm not pregnant. Sango is." As he stared at her, she added, "Sango and Miroku want us to be the baby's godparents. You know, in case anything happens. Miroku doesn't have any family and Sango only has her little brother and he's still in middle school so he's too young right now for that kind of responsibility. Besides, Sango didn't want to shoulder him with about raising her kids if something happened to them. But you know Sango; she likes to be prepared for anything. That's why she wanted me to talk to you about being the baby's godparents in case something happened. They...see us as family, you know?"

She sniffled, wiping back a tear and he pulled her into his arms without thinking. "So you are not pregnant," he rumbled quietly.

"No, I'm not. But if I was, this would be really touching, Sesshomaru. I can't believe you went and did all of this in one afternoon." She kissed the corner of his jaw before giving him a soft kiss. "It means a lot to know that you're as serious about this as I am."

He considered her words for a moment and then nodded. "Hnn."

He turned and pressed a button to shut the doors and locked the car before he scooped up Kagome in his arms and took her into the house with him.

"Hey!" she protested, giggling as she pushed gently against his shoulders. "What gives?"

He smirked as he stared down at her flushed face. "Perhaps you are not pregnant yet," he stressed meaningfully.

Her eyes widened at the lascivious look on his face. "You better not be trying to get me pregnant if you aren't going to marry me," she warned, trying not to show how she was melting in his arms.

"Hnn." His grin grew as she huffed, wasting no time in hurrying to their bedroom.

After all, he'd already purchased everything. It would be a shame to waste it.