Spring hadn't officially arrived yet, but it was certainly getting there. It seemed like Doctor Doctor was showing more and more every day. She couldn't really believe it herself. Still, she had the due date to look forward, as it meant she was inching closer to having that baby and not having to deal with this miserable experience ever again. Today was Tuesday, March 1st, and Professor Professor had decided that this would be the perfect day to buy everything for their daughter's room. And where better to get everything than at Westfield London?
Originally, the room had been pegged as a backup home laboratory in case something happened to the first one. Of course, nothing had happened that would necessitate such a change and the room had remained unused until now.
This shopping trip had been delayed so long that if they'd waited any longer, they'd been scrambling to do this after their daughter had been born. Professor Professor had been hovering for days ever since the Venice Beach Recreational Center incident, just as he did whenever she got a little too upset. A fight or even a mild disagreement, and he'd amp up his usual spoiling to her to overdrive. He couldn't help but let go the minute they actually got inside the building and made his way towards a baby store. Doctor Doctor waddled right behind him.
"Wow, everything is just..." Professor Professor was momentarily speechless. "Look at all this! Isn't this the most amazing baby store you've seen?"
Doctor Doctor had to look around for a bit. "It's alright, I guess. Nothing too impressive."
"Look— look at this!" He ran over to a display that had what looked to be whole bunches of onesies. "Aren't these adorable?"
Doctor Doctor just nodded. "Mm-hmm. Adorable. Okay, now where can we find the crib sheets? I really want to look at those."
"Somewhere around here, I bet? Why don't I ask someone?" Professor Professor walked off to find someone to help them. He came back moments later with rattles and some baby toys. "Okay, they're off in the aisle by your left."
"Alright, off we go, then."
She waddled over to the aisle with the crib sheets, with Professor Professor following behind her. They looked over a few of that sheets, some of them pastel blue and pastel pink. Others were different colors of the rainbow.
"Ooh, what about these ones?" Doctor Doctor asked. "They're mauve."
"Yeah, that works. Now we see what she thinks." He set a rattle up on her stomach. "Okay, you like the sheets? One kick for yes, two for no." He put his ear to her stomach. "Awww, I got a kick! She likes them!"
"By those standards, she either likes everything or hates everything, too," Doctor Doctor said.
"I guess she'll take after us either way. Isn't that right, schätzchen?"
Another kick seemed to confirm his guess. Doctor Doctor couldn't help but assume her child would grow up to be more like her father, which was either a good thing or a bad one depending on who you asked. (Victor would probably tell you it was the latter.)
Doctor Doctor chuckled despite herself. "You've got baby fever."
"What? No, I don't."
She turned towards him and touched her hands to his cheeks. "Admit it. This is absolutely baby fever. You have a raging case of the dads."
It was harder to embrace now, harder to walk, and harder to keep her balance. Still, he put his arms around her and hugged her as close as he could.
"Maybe, baby." He chuckled. "I'm afraid for the calendar. Its days are numbered." He flat-out started laughing now.
Their daughter hadn't even been born yet, and he already had the dad jokes down to perfection.
"Are we done buying out the entire store or are we going to have to start commissioning custom inscribed baby designs now?" Doctor Doctor asked. "Consider yourself lucky that you even earn seven figures per year."
Professor Professor's face lit up. "I never thought of that! Maybe I can ask Googly Moogly where I can get some of that. He must know someone who does it." Googly Moogly was Changed Daily's new name today.
Doctor Doctor playfully rolled her eyes. "I'm sure he does."
They'd need a bigger place if they were going to be able to store even half of the stuff Professor Professor had plans to get.
Professor Professor and Doctor Doctor finally came home at about six in the evening. They had managed to bring in just about everything they needed for the nursery.
"What a day that was, huh?" Doctor Doctor asked.
"You said it," Professor Professor replied. "At least we have everything we need."
All of a sudden, they heard the doorbell ring.
"Now who could that be?" Doctor Doctor asked herself while she approached the door.
She opened it up to find their landlady Maggie standing there, wearing a lavender Zesica boho maxi dress with spaghetti straps and wooden sandals.
"I certainly wasn't expecting you to stop by," Doctor Doctor told Maggie.
Maggie gave a smirk and crossed her arms. "What do you mean? I can't just check up on my tenants when I feel like it?"
"That's not what I meant."
"Come on, take a joke. Did you three have fun shopping at Westfield at least? I bet you did."
"We sure did, Maggie," Professor Professor replied. "We managed to buy out most of the inventory in one of the stores."
"Did you now?" Maggie raised an eyebrow. "Is all that inventory outside or something?"
"We also ate some food at that Padella place," Doctor Doctor interjected. "It was pretty good for what it's worth."
"So then you're not hungry?" Maggie asked, somewhat disappointed by the sound of it.
Doctor Doctor shook her head. "No."
"That's too bad. I already had Chandler help me make some eggplant parmigiana for dinner. I was hoping to serve it to you guys."
"Sorry, but we're full," Professor Professor replies while dragging out the word "full." "We got some takeaway if you want that instead."
"Well, thank you, Professor Professor. That's actually very thoughtful of you."
"No problem, Maggie. I'm sure you would've done the same for us."
"Why don't you come in? You already decided to invite yourself over. Why not make yourself at home at least?"
Maggie walked in and sat down on one of the recliners. "Sure, no problem."
Later that night, Doctor Doctor and Professor Professor decided to turn in for the night. She got dressed into pajamas. She'd had to stick to long nightgowns; nothing else really fit her anymore. This one was particularly frumpy, with a neck full of lace and long sleeves edged with rough lace like some Victorian spinster's dress.
"How are you tonight?" Professor Professor asked his wife.
"I'm alright," Doctor Doctor replied. "Thank God we only have about two months left. I just want this to be over."
"I bet you do." Professor Professor cleared his throat. "So what now?"
"I don't know. I know I can't be pregnant forever. I have to give birth at some point, but then what do we do after that?"
Truth be told, Professor Professor had been having similar thoughts. Working as U.Z.Z.'s top scientist was hard. Being married to a former baddie was hard. Doing both at the same time was even harder. Then, of course, there was the fact that a new child was on the horizon. How was he supposed to manage all three at once? He wanted to have faith in their marriage surviving any obstacle that came their way, especially having to raise a child to be a functioning member of society, but there are days where he would wonder if it would be easier to break up and spare each other any potential further misery this child could bring their way. As tempting as that sounded, however, he had wonder if it would be even more unfair to break up than to keep going. After all, they'd been together for years. Would it be a good idea to break up now when they hadn't even experienced the worst of what parenting had to offer?
"Professor?" Doctor Doctor asked him. "Are you still there?"
He snapped out of his train of thought. "Oh, ja, sorry, my mind was wandering off. Of course, we can do this. If we're going to do that, though, we'll need to make sure to talk through our problems effectively. Understood?"
"Understood." She shifted in his embrace. "Thank you... ah, this is hard to say. Thank you for not judging me when I'm at my worst. For believing in me and supporting me and... just thank you."
"Of course. Just don't forget how much I love you, okay?"
"Okay. And don't forget how much I love you."
"I won't, Doctor Doctor. I promise. That's what you do when you love somebody."
"Again, thank you. That means so much to me. Okay, good night."
"You too."
With that, they drifted off to sleep.