The last three months fly by but I don't even care because Blink and I are so ready. We've got everything we need, from diapers to a mobile to a bottle warmer, and we've even been surprising each other by randomly setting one another's alarms for random times of the nights (which is comparable to Pearl Harbor when you think about it but it's still kind of fun to watch Blink wake up with a start and fall out of bed) so that we're used to the baby crying. We've read every parenting book ever known to man, subscribed to at least seven hundred and forty-two parenting and baby-related magazines, and we've even watched the extremely outdated Brazelton videos from the 1980s... though that was more for sheer entertainment value than for educational purposes.

I'm so excited I've barely been able to work. I can't even pretend to be paying attention on the set, and that's why I'm glad I've just been there to supervise dance routines and check out how they look on film. The video's just finished wrapping, and Blink and I are preparing to take a few months off to spend with the baby and get him or her (and by "him or her" I obviously mean "her," but don't tell Blink that I said that) and get to know the baby and stuff. We've already started looking at nannies and other daycare services, even though we don't really want a full-time nanny or to put our child in full-time daycare. Maybe just during the day until one of us gets home.

Anyway, point is, we are so ready.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Tonight's our last shebang as non-parents. This is the last night we are allowing ourselves to get out and have a really good time before we're tied down (though blissfully so) by a baby. Our plan is to go to the wrap party for my last video, get as shit-faced as possible, then come home and either have wild, drunken monkey sex or pass out... whichever comes first.

Blink comes wandering into the bedroom from the bathroom in his shirttails and boxers, fussing with his tie and scowling. "I can never figure these fucking bow ties out. They're not even worth it. All they do is make you look like a Chippendale's dancer."

I laugh. "Perhaps I like looking like a Chippendale's dancer."

"That's probably because you pretty much are one." He grins. "Tie it for me?"

"No, you insulted me."

Blink puts on a full-mouthed pout and opens his one big, light-blue eye at me. "Pwease?"

I roll my eyes, but it's hard to be mad when someone's looking at you like that. Especially when it's Blink, and especially when he's wearing only shirttails and boxers and he looks so. Fucking. Good. "Fine, come here."

He smiles sweetly and walks over to me, and I grab him by the collar and press my mouth to his. He moans a little bit in surprise at first, and then laughs against my lips as he wraps his arms around my waist. He deepens the kiss, angling his head a little more, before I break it and he whimpers at me.

"Mush, that's not fair. That's just cruel and unusual. You can't just kiss me like that and then--"

I push him backwards onto the bed and pounce on him.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

We climb into the cab, all loose and happy and a little bit drunk though there wasn't a drop of alcohol between us, and head to the wrap party, a good twenty minutes late.

I look Blink over, his hair combed but a little bit tousled, legs splayed out as far as they'll go behind the driver's seat, Chippendale's-style bow tie fastened tightly at his collar, that sweet, satisfied little smile on his face. He's gorgeous.

"What?" He looks at me, still smiling.

"I love you."

"I love you, too." He leans over, planting a soft kiss on my lips and drawing an awkward glance in the rear-view mirror from the cab driver.

We arrive at the studio forty minutes late for the party and not caring at all. We climb out of the cab and walk in the door, holding hands and grinning. Lisa bounds up to me with a big smile and a wet, slightly drunken kiss on the lips.

"Mushie," she says a little sloppily, "thanks for all the pretty dancing."

I laugh and kiss her on the forehead. "It's not a problem, Lisa." Smiling, I look at Blink. "Um, Lisa, have you met my partner, Blink?"

She grins. "Wow. He's just as attractive as you are, Mushie. That's not fair."

"I lucked out," I say with a shrug, and then Lisa gets distracted and wanders off.

We wander around the party for a few minutes until the director of the video seeks me out and pulls me over to the side to praise me for how awesome I am. Blink goes off to get us some champagne.

As Blink comes back with two glasses, my cell phone rings. "Sorry," I say to the director, turning away from him and answering the phone. "Hello?"

"Jason?" A woman's voice answers me.

I look at Blink, not sure of who it is that's calling me. "Uh, yeah. Who's this?"

"This is Janice, Jenny's mother?"

"Oh, hey." I take a small sip of my champagne.

"It's awfully loud on your end. Where are you?"

"I'm at a party, um, for my work. Is everything okay?"

"Oh, um, well, I thought I'd call you because things are a little hectic at our house right now... See, Jenny's gone into labor." She chuckles a little, as if this is hilarious and I'm ready to scream. "We're on our way to the hospital now. Meet us there?" She rattles off a location.

"Yeah, we'll... shit. Okay, um, bye." I hang up the phone and take the champagne glass from Blink's hand as it's halfway to his lips. "We have to go."

"Why? What's wrong?" Blink's face goes from jovial to stone-cold fear in less than a second.

"We're having a baby." I grab his hand and head out the door.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Mommy, I don't want to do this!" Jenny cries from her hospital bed, clinging to her mother's hand. She yelps a little as another contraction hits, squeezing her eyes shut and shaking her head.

"Baby, it's going to be okay." Janice pats her hand and looks at Blink and me with a small smile. "This'll all be over soon, I promise."

"Not soon enough!"

I have to stifle a laugh and instead just squeeze Blink's hand. He looks at me with a secret little smirk and turns back to Jenny.

"We'll get you an epidural, okay, sweetie?" Janice strokes Jenny's hair back from her forehead, smiling.

"Well, do it now!" Another contraction comes along and Jenny screams.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Fourteen hours, thirty-eight minutes, eight cups of coffee, and no sleep later, I am holding the world's most beautiful baby girl in my arms. Soft, fine red hair, the biggest blue eyes you'd ever see (though I realize that could change), ten tiny pink fingers and ten tiny pink toes.

"Hi, Claire," I say with a smile, moving her little pink blanket aside to look at her face. She squinches up her nose and cries a little, but I snuggle her closer to my chest and she quiets down. I smile at look up at Blink as he's standing over my shoulder, and he stops his cooing at the baby to look down at me and grin.

"We did good, baby," he says, kissing me.

"You know, we really did." I grin. "You wanna hold her?"

Blink blushes. "I, uh... I think I might break her."

"You will not, Blink."

"I've never held a baby before. I... I'll break her. Seriously."

"You're not going to hurt her. She's small, but she's not that fragile. Trust me, honey, you can hold her and she'll be just fine. I promise."

I stand up so Blink can sit down and ease the baby into his arms. He smiles up at me nervously and then looks down at Claire, beaming. I've never seen him look so proud.

"We doing good?" I smile at him.

"Oh, yeah." He nods and strokes a finger down Claire's face. "We're doing real good."