Getting Their Ducks in a Row

"How are my girls," Ryan called out as he walked into his and Marissa's new apartment. Things had definitely changed since graduation, and they had only gotten better for the young, married couple.

Getting several job offers, Ryan had his pick of where he wanted to settle in Southern California, plus the option of going further away. Surprising him, Marissa had requested that they move from LA, so they had settled an hour outside of the city in Laguna Beach, living together in a two-bedroom, beach front apartment which had plenty of room for the occasional guest or addition to their budding family.

Although not licensed yet as an architect, he still had a few years of on the job experience to gain, Ryan was happy in his position, learning new tricks of the trade constantly and improving his skill with every project he was assigned to work on. Even though he did not know his long term career goals, did he want to start his own business someday or eventually work with Kirsten, he was enjoying himself and his income, combined with Marissa's, provided them with a very comfortable lifestyle with plenty to save for whatever might come their way in the near future.

Marissa had surprised Ryan when she suggested that he take the job in Laguna. He thought the commute would be too difficult for her, and the fact that they were trying for a baby did not improve his skepticism for he never wanted her to drive that far everyday while she was pregnant. However, the network had been very accommodating. Apparently, it was quite easy for her to work from home, something she had learned from the week she had spent with him in San Francisco. She would write at home during the day while he was at work, stay in contact with the studio via phone, email, and fax, and, once a week, go into the city for a meeting. That schedule they could both live with.

Pulling his tie off after sitting down his briefcase on the sidebar table in the entryway, Ryan made his way through the apartment looking for his wife. He knew she wasn't working, if she was music would be playing from her office and he would hear her singing along with it while she pounded away at the keys on her laptop, so he assumed, by the silence of the apartment, that she was sleeping. Pushing the door of their bedroom open, he saw that his suspicions were correct, but she was not alone. Curled up in Marissa's arms was his little sister sound asleep beside her.

Tossing his tie on the nightstand beside the bed, he kicked off his shoes before settling down beside Marissa and carefully taking her into his arms. Not wanting to wake her, he didn't say a thing, but he could not resist kissing the back of her neck softly, the curling wisps of hair too tantalizing for him to resist. His gentle actions made her stir and before he knew it she had shifted in his arms, slowly letting go of Zoe, and grabbed his hand to pull him off of the bed with her. Shutting the door behind them, they walked into the living room where she pushed him down onto the couch and climbed into his arms, letting him hold her closely.

Kissing him tenderly, savoring the feeling of his lips on hers, Marissa didn't pull away until she needed to take a breath. "Hi," she cooed out, her eyes sparkling out of contentment and joy.

Returning the sentiment, Ryan leaned in and kissed her again before laughing softly.

"We almost got caught," he answered. When she just stared at him in puzzlement, he continued. "When I came in a few minutes ago I said 'how are my girls'. If Zoe would have heard me…."

"We would have just covered and said you knew she was coming." Teasing him, Marissa glared at him slightly. "And who said we're having a baby girl. I could very well be carrying our son."

"Uh huh," Ryan mocked her, "and so why is it that I always catch you calling the baby a her, and don't think I didn't spot that little dress you hid in the closet a couple of weeks ago. You think it's a girl, too, admit it."

Blushing, Marissa just grinned at him, refusing to say anything and changed the subject. "How was your day?"

Pulling her back to him, Ryan talked while soothingly running his hands up and down her back. "Long, boring, felt like I'd never get to come home. We had meeting all day. How was your day, shopping with Summer?" When he said his soon-to-be sister-in-law's name, he did not attempt to hide the slight tone of disdain from his voice. Their relationship with their brunette counterparts would never be the same again. Slowly things, sometimes out of their power, chipped away at their bond to the point where they no longer wanted to live together and spoke perhaps only once or twice a week. Ryan could not forget or forgive the fact that Seth had attempted to kiss his wife, and neither of them could understand or help eradicate Summer's jealousy towards Marissa. There was an unspoken line running through the family, and inevitably, it affected them all.

"Long, boring, felt like I'd never get to come home," Marissa replied, using the same response he had. "Summer would not make up her mind about what bridesmaid dresses she wanted, but, thankfully, I talked her into empire waist gowns." She waited for a comment from Ryan and after he just sat there in silence for a moment, she giggled and kept talking. "It's a high waist, easier to hide my bump so we won't have to tell anyone about the baby until after the wedding."

"You know, we don't have to do that," Ryan spoke quietly. "This is good news, the baby; we should be able to share it with those we love."

Sighing, Marissa agreed with him. "I know, and it's not like I don't want to. As soon as I reach that fourth month mark and I've gotten through my first trimester, I would love to tell everyone, but I'm not going to put up with dirty looks and complaints for two months while Seth and Summer sulk over our news. I am supposed to remain stress free, and if that means waiting until after they return from their honeymoon to tell everyone about the baby, then that is what we'll do."

"It's a good thing we don't live with them anymore or go home that often," Ryan teased. "It would not have been easy to hide your morning sickness before we got you on that medication. Did you get any weird looks today? No one suspected anything did they?"

"No one had a clue, but…" her voice trailed off as she confessed what happened, "I did have to lie a little bit. When we were leaving, I wasn't thinking when I was talking to your Mom and I told her that I've never been this exhausted before in my life. She started watching me carefully, so I covered and said that with moving in and getting settled into the apartment, I was really tired. She seemed to believe it."

Knowing her feelings and emotions were extremely sensitive, Ryan carefully asked his next question. "If you were tired, why did you bring Zoe home with you?"

"I felt bad," Marissa confessed. "Your Mom is so run down, between working full time, taking care of Zoe and Hayley, and picking up the slack around the house because of all the classes Sandy's taking to get his teaching degree as quickly as possible, so I wanted to give her a break. Besides, Zoe is easy to take care of. She actually insisted that we take a nap this afternoon after I finished dinner."

"Well, I don't care what you say," Ryan admonished, "you're going to bed early and I'll take care of Zoe tonight."

"Trust me, Zoe will go to bed really early." Laughing she continued, "I bet Summer had her try on at least 100 dresses. You should have seen some of the looks Zoe was shooting her way. It's a good thing we're already married, because there is no way anyone will ever be able to talk Zoe into being a flower girl again."

"Did you have any fun today at all," Ryan inquired incredulously, horrified by the description of her day that she had shared with him thus far.

Quiet for a moment while she thought, Marissa suddenly sat up excited in Ryan's lap, a smile lighting up her already glowing face. "Oh, lunch was delicious. Zoe and I snuck out while Summer and Branning were looking at some stupid, unnecessary accessory and your Mom was on a business call."

"What did you have?"

"We split this amazing sundae, had some cinnamon rolls, cheese sticks, and then for dessert I bought some maple fudge." As Ryan smirked at her, a playful glare on his face, she attempted to look as innocent as possible. "I'm sorry, honey, but it all just looked so good, I couldn't help myself, but I made a healthy dinner."

Nodding at her, he ordered, "go on. What did you make?"

"Marinated chicken breasts, a zucchini casserole, sweet corn…"

"That will be fun to watch Zoe eat, and you get to clean her up afterwards," Ryan taunted as he interrupted her.

Sticking her tongue out at him, she just ignored his comment. "And my dessert is pretty healthy as well, blueberry muffins."

"And there are no hidden stashes of chocolate anywhere or a large tub of excessively sweet ice cream in the freezer," he continued to pick.

"No," she answered honestly before dropping her voice and breaking eye contact with him, "but there might be some left over fudge in the fridge."

Surprising her, Ryan guided Marissa down again so she was laying on top of him, taking her mouth in a leisurely kiss. "Well then, I guess we'll just have to eat that in bed tonight." Smiling into the kiss, Marissa just un-tucked Ryan's shirt so that her hands could have access to his stomach, sliding them up and down the muscular, toned surface. Forgetting the fact that a very curious four year old was asleep in their bed, Ryan unbuttoned Marissa shirt, leaving it open for his eyes to admire, not in any hurry to rush.

"Stop playing doctor," a loud, high-pitched voice demanded, shocking Ryan and Marissa and making her fall down on top of him so that her undressed appearance would not be noticed. "I'm hungry. Let's eat dinner." And with that, the little girl walked through the living room into the kitchen laughing softly to herself.

As Marissa closed her shirt, re-buttoning it, a deep blush on her face, Ryan helped her. "I guess this is one thing we're going to have to be careful about," he said ruefully.

"Not for a long time," Marissa comforted him. "We have seven months before the baby's born, and for quite a while after that she'll be completely oblivious to her parent's foreplay."

Standing up from the couch, Ryan wrapped his arm around Marissa's waist as they walked into the kitchen to join Zoe. Leaning over and whispering to her, he pointed out something she completely missed. "You did it again," he said, clarifying his statement when he saw her bewildered expression. "You called the baby a girl."

Four hours later, after dinner, a game of Candyland, an intense coloring competition where Zoe insisted upon judging and grading Ryan and Marissa's works of art, a bath, and a bedtime story, Ryan finally made his way into his room to see his wife resting peacefully on their bed, book in hand, fudge already out beside her, and soft music playing. Without a word, he silently kissed her, Marissa's eyes never straying from her book, and made his way into their bathroom to shower quickly before joining her.

Dressed in just his boxers, he settled into the bed, pulling Marissa's book out of her hands and marking it for her before sitting it down on his bedside table. Noticing her flushed appearance, he slid the blankets off of her body to reveal that she was merely wearing a pair of barely there panties. Laughing to himself, his eyes greedily took in her appearance.

"What's this," he asked, unable to hide the note of pleasure in his voice.

"It's too hot to wear anything else, but I knew that if I let you see what I had on before you took your shower, you never would have." Teasing him, she wrinkled her nose and continued. "And you stunk, so there was no way you were touching me before you cleaned up."

"Well, I'm all clean now," he played along, "promise."

Rolling onto her side to face him, Marissa looked deeply into Ryan's eyes, a mischievous glint in her own. "Did you lock our door so Zoe couldn't wander in?"

"As soon as I walked in," he answered her, rolling onto his side as well to stare into her eyes.

"And the baby monitor, did you turn it on when you left the living room?" Although they had a spare bedroom, it was currently home to all their computer equipment, work supplies, and odds and ends they hadn't yet unpacked.

"I did, but I don't think it's necessary. She's four, Marissa, she'll sleep through the night."

"I know, but what if she has a nightmare or gets confused because she's not used to our apartment." Playing her trump card, she turned the tables on him. "Just imagine if it was our daughter sleeping at Seth and Summer's, and she had never stayed there before. Wouldn't you want to know that they could hear her if anything went wrong?"

Without batting an eye, he responded, "she's never staying with them or anyone else for that matter. She'll never not be with at least one of us."

"Uh huh," Marissa smirked at him. "And when it's been weeks since we've had any alone time, we're both exhausted, and it's our anniversary, do you really think you'll turn down anyone's offer to watch the kids for us over night?"

"If you're trying to scare me, it's a little late for that, don't you think," he questioned her. "You're already pregnant, and even if we could, we're not giving her back." His hand automatically moved to Marissa stomach, gently caressing it.

Covering his hand with her own, Marissa brought it up to her lips and kissed it before guiding it to her breast. Letting it sit there while she spoke, she moved her body closer to his. "You do know how much I love you, right?"

"Almost as much as I love you," he teased her lightly. Eyes dancing with mirth, he picked up the fudge that was still between them and dropped it on top of her book on his bedside table. "You know, I think we need to work up an appetite before we finish your fudge."

"Oh trust me," she giggled, "my appetite is just fine right now, but," she went on when she noticed he was about to object, "that doesn't mean that I don't find your idea appealing for other reasons. What did you have in mind?"

Without a word, he slid his hand from her breasts to the edge of her baby blue, lace panties. Lifting her hips for him, he slid them down her legs, throwing them carelessly onto the floor, not caring about where they landed. Moving his hand back up to her, he sought out her warmth, merely resting his hand there while he looked deeply into her eyes.

"Are you sure you want to do this tonight," he asked her considerately. "You were tired earlier, and I don't want to…."

His voice trailed off as she took his bottom lip between her teeth and playfully bit it. Moving her hand inside of his boxers, immediately inducing the reaction she was looking for, she answered him with a desired filled grin on her face.

"Baby you better take advantage of moments like this while you can. I might want you all the time right now, but that could change any day. Who knows what my moods will be like in a month or two. Besides, like you're really going to want to sleep with me when I'm big, bloated, bitchy, and bemoaning the fact that you got me pregnant?"

"And I'm going to find you breathtaking beautiful, craving your body the entire time," he contradicted her. "Besides, I do believe you were the one who instigated our anniversary celebrations."

"What were those again," she feigned confusion. "You better remind me of exactly what we were doing." With that, she rolled on top of him, suffocating any response he might have had with her lips, their discussion forgotten within seconds as the waves of pleasure washed over their bodies, taking their senses into matching states of euphoria.

"Come in, Marissa," a voice from inside of a large office called out after they noticed the young woman pacing in front of their doorway. As she walked in, the man noticed how nervous she looked, wringing her hands together and avoiding meeting his eyes. "Sit, make yourself comfortable," he suggested kindly to her. "What can I do for you?"

"Well," she began, taking several deep breaths before continuing. "There's something I have to tell you, and I'm not sure how you're going to take the news."

"You're not quitting, are you," he asked in concern.

"What," Marissa stuttered flabbergasted. "Mr. Robinson, I swear, quitting is the last thing from my mind right now. Even if I didn't like my job, which I do," she added when he looked up at her in alarm, "I really couldn't afford to quit. I'm expecting."

Totally oblivious, he asked, "expecting what?"

"A baby," she answered him, unable to keep her ecstatic smile off of her face.

Mr. Robinson, Tennessee, name chosen himself and changed to pay tribute to his favorite American playwright, was the executive producer of the new show that Marissa was working on, a family drama about a young woman who's parents die and leave her in charge of her three younger siblings just as she is about to move cross country to pursue her dreams. Simply entitled after the main character, Esme would premiere that fall. Working for Mr. Robinson was quite a different experience for Marissa. Compared to her last job, he was a complete professional. Having almost thirty years of knowledge and skill in the television industry, he knew what it took to make a hit show, but because his life had been his work, never marrying and never having children, at times he was slow to understand some of the things people said to him. This situation was one of those.

"You're pregnant," he asked her, a small smile creeping onto his face. Standing up, he rounded his desk and gently pulled her into a fatherly hug, congratulating her the entire time. "This is great news, Marissa. Your family must be thrilled!"

"Actually," she confessed as she sat back down in her chair and he made his way back to his own, "they don't know yet. We're keeping it to ourselves for a while. You're actually the first person we've told."

"Well, I'm honored," he said honestly, beaming at her. "What I don't understand is why you were nervous about telling me this."

Hesitantly, she answered, "I'm due in February, right in the middle of sweeps, and I know that's probably going to be an inconvenience."

"Marissa," he gently chided her, "what kind of boss do you take me for? This is the twenty first century. Women have babies; they go on maternity leave. It's not a hard or unheard of concept. Besides," he smirked at her, "by the time February rolls around, I'll have all my episodes in from you already. I don't run things the way other producers do. Sure, they might have to be edited and reworked slightly, but the other writers on the staff can handle that, and you'll be ready to come back to work just as we're starting work on season two."

"If there is a season two," she corrected him, an amused look on her face. She loved how confident he was in this show, a project she was extremely proud of, due to the fact that she was one of its creators.

"There will be a season two and many others following that. If this show wasn't capable of at least five good seasons, I would never have signed on to produce it." Pulling out his calendar, he smiled up at her. "Now, let's get down to business and figure out when I'll be able to get you back to work."

And just like that, one more piece fell into place for Marissa, Ryan, and their unborn child, one more detail was sorted out.

What was supposed to be a quick trip to LA turned into an all day excursion. Following her meeting with Mr. Robinson, he had insisted that she let him take her out for a celebratory lunch which turned into a five course meal at his favorite four star restaurant. Unfortunately, on their way to dinner, she spotted an adorable baby boutique. After their lunch was over, they parted ways back at the studio, and Marissa quickly found herself at that very store she had glimpsed earlier. She didn't buy a thing, wanting to make most if not all of her purchases with Ryan, but she lost track of time browsing. Never one to enjoy shopping for herself, she was initially surprised by how much she enjoyed even window shopping for their unborn child. The long day had exhausted her though.

Unlocking the door to their apartment, the last thing Marissa wanted to do that evening was cook dinner. Walking past the kitchen she saw a recently delivered pizza on the counter and smiled to herself. Sometimes it amazed her how well Ryan seemed to know her. He had no idea that she was tired, but it was as if he could sense want she wanted, always able to take care of her.

Unlike her, she could not always tell what he was doing by gauging the sounds coming from the apartment. She knew he was home, she saw his car in the parking lot, but he often worked in complete silence, so it was nothing new for her to walk into their apartment and hear nothing. Looking into the living room, she didn't find him, so she made her way to their bedroom and then their bathroom, but still she did not find her husband. Smiling to herself, she went to the spare room expecting to find him working away diligently, creating another masterpiece on his computer, but, instead, when she opened the door, she found him standing in the middle of an almost empty room. Besides the small work station he had set up in a corner of the room, portioned off with an oriental screen she had filled with pictures of them together, everything had been put away and the room appeared ready to be decorated for the baby.

"I wanted to surprise you," he said softly, making his way to her and encircling her waist with his arms, drawing her into him so that she was leaning against him, resting her head on his shoulder. "I know she won't be here for a while, but I would rather get the room ready now instead of when you're on maternity leave and supposed to be resting."

"Aw, that's sweet," she teased him. "You just want me to do all the work." When he went to protest, she giggled and stopped him from saying anything by talking herself. "I know you'll help me, and I'm glad you did this. Today, after I had lunch with Mr. Robinson…."

"How did he take the news," he cut her off, eager to hear of her boss's reaction.

"Really well," she answered him. "And he insisted that if it's a boy that we have to name it after him."

"My son will not be named Tennessee," Ryan shot back effortlessly, making Marissa laugh again.

"Oh, he said there's no need for the first name, he only wants dibs on the middle," she played with him. Before he could say anything else, she continued. "Anyway, so I stopped at this baby boutique, and I really want to start buying things. Now that we have the room ready, we can." Getting excited, she turned around in his arms, placing her own around his neck and looking up at him with pleading eyes. "What are you doing this weekend?"

"Staying in bed the entire time with my gorgeous wife," he shot back making her roll her eyes.

"Try again," she ordered.

"Staying in bed part of the time but making small excursions to the shower, couch, and perhaps even the kitchen counter." Marissa couldn't help but laugh at this while shaking her head no. "Fine, what do you want me to do?"

"Take me baby shopping," she asked sweetly, punctuating her request by placing a small, strategic kiss in the hollow of his throat.

"And what do I get in return," he asked her, the serious expression on his face hiding his mirth entirely.

Simply shrugging her shoulders, she replied, "me."

"I'd love to take you shopping for the baby," he whispered to her, turning her around in his arms again so they could both look at the room. "So what do you think? Are you convinced enough that we're having a baby girl to paint the room pink?"

"Absolutely not," Marissa laughed.

"Do you want to find out what we're having….when we can, I mean," Ryan asked unsure of her response.

"Not really, do you?"

Brushing his lips against the exposed skin of her neck, he quietly replied, "no, I like not knowing for sure."

"It's settled then. We'll just decorate the room for either a boy or a girl," Marissa decided effortlessly.

"And that means what," Ryan pondered.

"What about yellow," she suggested, "a pale yellow, like the sunshine?"

"I like it," he agreed with her. "This room has eastern exposure, too, so it could be like the sunrise."

Smiling to herself at how adorable his idea was, Marissa pulled her husband's arms around her even tighter, and they just stood there imagining the room they were going to create for their baby, savoring every second of their time together as they prepared for the arrival of their little bundle of joy.