"Mama," Esther began one night as her mother was tucking her into bed. "Do you think I'll ever have another brother or sister?"

Midge was taken back, this was a topic of conversation both she and Lenny had made sure the kids had never been privy to. "Erm…" she fumbled. "Well, you've got Ethan and Kitty, you love them, don't you? And your papa and Mei have Kai and Zara…"

"I know, but I want you and Lenny to have a baby," she requested.

Me too, Midge thought. "Well, hopefully, one day that will happen, but if it doesn't, that's OK too, isn't it?"

"I suppose," Esther replied, pouting a little.

"Now, you get some sleep, you've got school in the morning," Midge told her daughter, further tucking the covers around her and dropping a kiss to her head before she left the room.

Clicking the door behind her, Midge closed her eyes and took a deep breath, only realizing when she turned that Lenny was standing in the hallway.

"How much of that did you hear?" she questioned.

"Pretty much all of it," he replied with a shrug before stepping forward to wrap his arms around her and pull her in close. "It'll happen," he mumbled into her hair. "I just know it."

As it turned out, Lenny was right.

They were sitting around eating dinner - roast chicken to be exact - almost two months after Lenny returned from his last tour when Midge finally let herself suspect that she might really be pregnant.

"Ugh, I don't feel so good," Midge said as she placed her knife and fork down. "I think I might…" She didn't get any further words out before she ran to the bathroom.

"Is Midge alright?" asked Kitty.

"Yeah, I'm sure she's fine," Lenny assured his daughter. "I'll go check on her." Standing, he went to leave the room before having a second thought. "You kids keep eating dinner," he added as he turned back to the table. "Ethan, I'm putting you in charge."

"Alright Lenny," Ethan agreed smugly, earning a pea to the side of the head via Esther.

"Behave," Lenny warned with a wag of his finger before he left the room.

Even though the door to the bathroom was mostly open, hearing the flush of the toilet, Lenny still knocked before entering. "Midge?"

"Hey," she greeted him, perched on the side of the bathtub.

"How you feelin'?" he asked, sitting down next to her.

"Better; probably won't want to see roast chicken for a while, but better."

After letting out a small huff of amusement, Lenny took her hand in his. "So…" he started, silently studying her hand for a few seconds as he rubbed his finger over her wedding ring. "We're thinking-"

"Pregnant, yep," Midge confirmed matter of factly, her eyes fixed forward.

"Hey, this is a good thing," Lenny said, squeezing her hand.

"I know, it is." She turned to him, her face happy but a little apprehensive too. "It really is. But it's early, I don't want to get my hopes up."

"I know, but it's OK to be excited."

"Yeah," she agreed. "But that's if I am definitely pregnant. I mean, my period is a week late and I had this sickness with the other two, but I need to make a doctor's appointment to be sure."

"Then that's what you'll do, first thing tomorrow."

Midge tilted her head and rested it on his shoulder while he rubbed her arm soothingly. "But God Lenny, can you imagine?" she pondered wistfully. "A part of you and me."

Lenny snorted a laugh. "I know one thing for sure, they're gonna have to keep those alphabet blocks away from this kid in kindergarten because it'll be spelling 'fuck' and 'shit' before you can say parental complaints."

Midge chuckled, closing her eyes with her head still on his shoulder.

"But yeah," he added more seriously. "There was a time when the thought of something that was a part of me scared the shit out of me - fuck, I even distanced myself from Kitty for a while because I was terrified of her being anything like me - but I think something that's a part of you and me, that sounds pretty great."

He felt her smile as he turned to press a gentle kiss to her forehead.

The doctor unsurprisingly, but much to Midge's joy, confirmed her pregnancy three days after her appointment. The next morning, Susie requested her client meet her at the Stage Deli. By the time Midge arrived, Susie had already secured a booth.

"Hi," Midge said politely as she slid into her seat.

"Hey," Susie said, unusually cheerful to the extent she was almost bouncing in her seat.

"So…" Midge asked, looking at her manager questioningly.

"Alright, I was gonna build up to this," Susie said shaking her head, "but fuck it, I'm too excited."

"OK…" Midge looked at her in apprehension.

"OK, you ready for this?" Susie asked rhetorically. "I got you headline dates dotted around the country starting October 2nd for a month. Biggest venues you ever played too, some 5000 seaters!"

"That is uh…" Midge glanced down at the table. "That's great."

"You don't seem thrilled; why are you not thrilled?" Susie questioned, brow creased in confusion. "This is a huge fucking deal!"

"I know," Midge assured her, hands out and palms flat as if physically quelling Susie's abstract annoyance. "I know it is. It's just I'm not sure I'll be able to tour then."

Susie shook her head, still bemused. "Why wouldn't you be able to tour then?"

"I'm…pregnant."

"Holy shit," Susie said in pure reaction. "I mean, congratulations," she added on second thought. "Mazel tov or whatever, I guess."

"It's a good thing," Midge assured her. "I mean, we've been kind of…trying for a while now."

Susie shuddered. "Well that's a mental image I won't be able to get rid of for the near future: you and Bruce going at it balls to the wall for a baby."

Midge glared at Susie, rolling her eyes. "I'll be…" She thought for a second. "Six months then if everything goes to plan."

"And you can't tour pregnant?" Susie asked plainly.

"No," Midge shot back instinctively, shaking her head before stopping to question herself. "I mean, I can't, right? It would be too much, what with all the traveling and performing night after night…"

Susie shrugged. "I dunno, I've never been pregnant, you tell me."

"Well, with Ethan and Esther the early months were the hardest. A few months in, my energy started coming back and I felt pretty good."

Susie shrugged. "Sounds like you'd be good to tour to me."

Midge bit her lip. "Yeah."

"I er…I talked to Susie today."

"Oh yeah?" Lenny said, handing Midge a plate to dry as they washed the dishes after dinner.

"She's booked a tour for me."

Lenny stilled in his actions scrubbing the plate and turned and to look at her, his eyebrow raised.

"Thing is, this tour will be in October and I'll be-"

"You'll be six months by then," he finished her words, having already made the mental calculations about when she should be due probably one too many times.

"Right," Midge agreed with a nod, "so I said I wouldn't be able to do it."

"Right…" Lenny began knowing there was more to come. Closing his eyes, he rubbed the back of his neck as he processed the information, before reluctantly looking at his wife to give her the go ahead to continue. "Go on."

"But then when I thought about it, why couldn't I do it?" She shrugged her shoulders. "I mean, I'm pregnant, not sick."

Lenny sighed, knowing full well there would be no changing her mind. "You really think it's a good idea?"

"Look," Midge began, taking his hands in hers. "I know my body and I know that when I was pregnant before, the first few months were the hardest but after that, my energy came back and I really felt pretty good. Plus, the tour is only for a month, so I would be back here with plenty of time to give birth. Please say you're OK with it?"

Lenny sighed again. "I kind of have to be, but then when I married you, I was never under the illusion I would be able to tell you what to do."

Midge beamed as she kissed him. "Thank you."

"I didn't choose Kitty's name, you know," came Lenny's voice in the quiet dark after he and Midge had gone to bed and turned out the lights.

"You didn't?"

"Honey swears we discussed it, but I don't remember it; I was probably high off my ass on dope. Her name isn't actually Kitty, it's…" He paused cringing. "Brandie Kathleen Bruce. Kitty is just a thing I came up with."

"You don't like Brandie?"

"Brandie in itself isn't awful, but Brandie Bruce? It's a fucking stripper name."

Lenny didn't need to see Midge's face to know that she had opened her mouth to object.

"Yes, I am well aware of the irony of my judging a name for sounding like it belongs to a stripper," he countered, at least showing self awareness. "I worked with strippers for years, I even married a fucking stripper, and if"—he closed his eyes and hesitated slightly before his next words—"in the future"—he gestured with his hand—"the far, far away future"—he took a breath and opened his eyes—"Kitty should decide that's the career for her, I will support that. But spare me if I'm not crazy about my daughter sounding like she's the eleven o'clock headliner at 'Girls, Girls, Girls' when they call her name at the pediatrician's office."

Midge laughed despite herself. "I'll admit, Kitty is much nicer. It's sweet, it suits her."

"I think so," Lenny agreed, proud of his choice. "I know it's probably too soon to be thinking about it, but this baby," he gestured to Midge's abdomen, "what are we gonna call it?"

"Well, if it's a girl," Midge pondered, "I've always liked Elizabeth."

"No," Lenny shot back instantly, leaving Midge slightly wounded. "It's a fine name," he clarified, "but no more E names. That was you and Joel thing, and - apart from Ethan and Esther - I do not want anything that was a"—he gestured vaguely in the air—"you and Joel thing anywhere near you and me."

Midge nodded, seeing his point. "Do you have any ideas?"

"I like Hannah, but Hannah Bruce," he said with a frown, "sounds far too close to Honey Bruce for my liking…" He thought for a moment. "Abigail is a nice name."

Midge thought for a second. "Abigail Bruce," she said, testing the name on her tongue. Finding it pleasant, she tried the abbreviated version: "Abby Bruce. I think that sounds nice."

"Yeah, it does."

"Hang on," Midge said, clicking the light on and sitting up in bed as she reached for the baby name book from the bottom of the pile on her nightstand.

"The baby name book?" Lenny asked, more amused than accusatory.

"Alright, so I might have been thinking about names myself," she admitted. "Maybe even before I got pregnant," she added more sheepishly.

Lenny grinned.

"Anyway," Midge continued as she opened the book and found the right page. "'Abigail comes from the Hebrew name Avigail and is derived from the Hebrew elements ab, meaning-'" She stopped, chuckling as she read ahead of herself. "OK, this is definitely the one we're going with."

"Why?" Lenny asked, left eyebrow firmly raised.

"It says it comes from the Hebrew elements ab and g-y-l, which mean 'father' and 'to rejoice', which this book roughly translates as"—she gave a dramatic pause—"'my father is joyful'".

Lenny laughed. "Alright, that's the one."

"And if it's a boy," she began, "I think Issac is really nice. Plus, I looked it up and it means 'laughter' which is kind of perfect, right?"

"Issac Bruce is a good sounding name. Strong."

"Alright then," Midge said as she turned out the lamp, "Isaac or Abigail it is." There was silence in the dark for a moment until Midge had another thought. "Although, Bobby Bruce does have a real air of professional gigolo to it."

"Do not even think about it, Mrs. Bruce," Lenny scolded her jokingly as he leaned in to kiss her.