A feminine scream from down the hall cut through the house, even over the distinct sound of bacon sizzling in a metal pan on the stove top—a sound that made Chaz get a quick appetite every time. The scream was high-pitched and fearful and the man couldn't help but assume the worst, whatever that "worst" may be. The possibility of a common house spider did still exist.

He dashed away from the kitchen and made his way to the bathroom in record time.

"Honey!" he cried out.

Behind the door was a 24-year-old Leni, frozen in a flinching stance and looking, horrified, at a plastic stick held in the middle between her thumb and index finger. Her arm was extended as far away from her body as possible to put distance between herself and the small purple object.

Aside from that, danger was clearly not present.

"Honey, what's going on?"

Suddenly the girl broke into a earsplitting wail.

"My body is infested with ants!" she bawled.

"Wh…what?" Chaz panted—not that a run down the hall had winded him or anything, but this was the first time he had heard Leni scream like that. Of course he would be rattled, any husband would.

As she continued to cry without producing any answer, he walked behind her and held her shoulder with one hand.

"Honey…" he sighed. "Move your thumb."

Her head shot up and her stance relaxed. She slid her thumb farther down the stick and read it aloud.

"It says 'preg…nant'," she mumbled. "Pregna— Oh my gosh, is it Lori's?! Am I going to be an aunt?!"

He had been married to this woman long enough to understand that he had to restrain himself from acting purely on emotion for the simple fact that it could further confuse her. As much as he wanted to crush her in a great hug and smother her with happy kisses all over her face and tell her how much he loved her and…just react like normal fathers-to-be would…he didn't. He had been to consultations before. He had discussed Leni's...different mind with her family before.

Back in the day, his classmates and sometimes even his friends would laugh at him—and her—for dating the "ditzy klutz," the "stupid blond," the "retard." And Leni's reaction to her own pregnancy test was a perfect example of why everyone looked down on her and their relationship. She was practically immune to all the subtle insults and rumors, which in the end worked out in her favor.

He took a breath to calm himself down first.

"No—"

"What?!"

He quickly backpedaled. "Maybe you will be in the future!"

"Wait…" Her brain went into overdrive and she squinted hard at the little thing still in her hand, as if trying to figure out a riddle after being given one lousy clue. "Did I do this?"

"Well, we did—"

"So I passed the test?!"

He chuckled. "Honey, you didn't fail the other ones."

He supposed that in her world no baby meant fail and yes baby meant pass. It had been something they'd spent four months trying for and they had talked about it for at least a year. It took a bit of effort to convince himself Leni would be a good mother, and even more effort to assure himself that he was finally ready to be a dad. They both had jobs and were financially stable, so money wasn't a worry. Leni's job relaxed her and was essentially something she viewed more as a hobby than hard work—she never made the high end of the fashion industry but she still made decent pay—so he didn't have to worry about unneeded stress for her.

And finally, after living in a small apartment for a few years, they were able to buy a cozy house together so that they could start a family of their own. It had only been a few months since moving in but Leni occasionally thought it was the apartment and would struggle to find the master bedroom. All things considered, she had adjusted very well, and was almost completely accustomed to this new house.

When he realized there was no response from her, he smiled and said, "Yes, you passed."

Her earlier scream of fear turned into a scream of joy and she threw her arms around him, squeezing as tightly as she could. It had to have been a full minute before she let him breathe again.

"We're going to have a baby!" she squealed.

She then ran a finger gently over his collar bone, looking him straight in the eye.

"First a promotion and now a baby, you're living the good life," she giggled.

He shrugged. "What can I say, I'm a lucky man."

Leni frowned and sniffed the air. "Chazzy, is something…burning?"

The bacon. He gasped and ran back to the kitchen, where he lifted the pan up and turned off the stove. It was a wonder the fire alarm hadn't sounded. Or maybe that was a bad thing…what if it wasn't working? What if there could've been a fire and Leni inhaled the smoke? Whatever went into her went straight to the baby and he had read those pregnancy books, he knew how delicate the first trimester was. He would check it out later.

Leni followed him at much slower pace knowing someone was already there to take care of the problem. Part of him felt like she should stay in bed for the next nine months just so she wouldn't hurt herself or the baby—accidents were more frequent with her than other girls—but even if she said she would, he knew she wouldn't. Besides, it was unrealistic and unhealthy and what if she turned over the wrong way and suffocated on a pillow while he was at work? A-And then she would die and the baby would die and…and…

And he had to relax and just be happy like she was. She could take care of herself, for the most part. In terms of dietary needs she ate healthily—this assuming no chocolate was nearby. She drank plenty of water and smoothies. She usually slept well at night. She practiced good hygiene. Overall she was a very healthy person, he really didn't need to worry about her taking better care of herself.

So why was he so worried…? His wife was a klutz but she never hurt herself beyond lightly bruising a knee or getting pricked by needles while she sewed. Maybe a paper cut from time to time. Her accidents were so minor they barely counted as harmful or dangerous. Perhaps it was because there was solid proof that he had two lives to take care of now. He was so happy and excited about that, about having a family of his own with the most beautiful woman on the planet, but his thoughts of what could potentially endanger either of them were already spiking to new levels.

A sharp ringing assaulted his ears as he threw out what had become the edible equivalent of charcoal. Leni claimed the phone first.

"Hello, Horvitz house, me speaking," she said. (A/N: Chaz's last name is unknown so I used the last name of his voice actor, Richard Steven Horvitz.) "'Me' is Leni by the way."

…

"Oh, hi! How are you?"

…

"Oh, I passed a test today so now we're having a baby!"

…

"Awww, thanks!"

…

"Okay, sure."

…

"Sounds good, how many?"

…

Her classic Leni smile suddenly dropped.

"Wait…who is this for?"

…

"Oh, uh, no, of course I can. I just…"

…

"Yeah, but that's when the Fall edition…and I have to start planning for Winter."

…

"That's even worse, I never work on Thanksgiving, I'm supposed to visit family."

…

"Are you sure you can't find some way to work around it?"

…

"What if I just pitched them all at once?"

…

"Right. Well, is there any chance I could have a few more days?"

…

"About a week."

…

"No, no, I can do it. But I need to be able to pay for that much fabric…"

He tried to tune everything out after that. From what he'd gathered, Leni probably had a wedding coming up. It was the only event she truly fretted over because a wedding dress had to be perfect and more often than not she would be commissioned to make a unique one only to have to change it ten more times before the bride was satisfied. It required a lot of fabric. To make things even more taxing, if the bride liked her dress enough, Leni would also be paid to make dresses for the bridesmaids. The net income for wedding events was much lower than normal orders due to the extra fabric that she had to buy again and again.

Leni sighed and ran her fingers through her hair.

"Would Thursday work?"

…

"I guess I have a few ideas."

…

"Alright. Have a good day!"

Leni hung up the phone and turned to him.

"I have to make fifteen designs and thirty dresses by Thanksgiving."

His jaw dropped. For one, Thanksgiving was only two months away, and secondly, she had never taken on such a big workload before…what if it was too stressful for her, despite involving fashion? What if she didn't rest because there was too much to do? What if made her have a miscarriage?

She didn't seem to be thinking about any of this. Now wasn't the time to be putting herself last and viewing others' wants—not needs—as more important. It was a huge order and she was fine giving herself so little time to complete it. She was too nice for her own good…it was a terrible habit she couldn't seem to drop.

"Honey, you can't do all that in two months, were those all for a wedding?" he asked.

"Thirty dresses are for a wedding with a really big family—I have to make dresses for the bride, the bridesmaids, the mothers of the bride and groom, and some of the guests. The designs are for CoverGirl's Fall edition."

"Won't that set you back for Winter?"

"Yeah but the designs are for CoverGirl. It would be great if one of them could be featured."

"It'll help get your name out there," he said matter-of-factly.

Confusion crossed her face for a moment before she laughed.

"A name can't go anywhere."

"No, babe, it means more people will know about you," he clarified.

It was a nice treat to see her smiling again, bouncing back with positive ideas in her head. Hopefully with those ideas came inspiration for clothing designs. But what if she got too excited about it and worked too fast and ended up poking herself really deep in a really bad place and had to go to the ER because no one could stop the bleeding?

She waved a dismissive hand.

"You go ahead and finish up your breakfast," she said, turning back towards the master bedroom. "I need to see how much white fabric I need from the store."

From past experiences he'd learned that a typical wedding dress—just one of them—could easily take fifteen yards of fabric. That was a lot of money. Then dresses for bridesmaids, which were usually all the same except for fittings, could cost a lot more money than the wedding dress. Now there were extra dresses involved. An email would be sent with more details and he could already see dollar bills flying out the window, not to be returned with friends until a few months later, when Leni was paid—one reason many people were so fond of her was that she refused to take money in advance, in case of an unsatisfied customer which was unheard of so far.

She had even made her sister Lori a gorgeous gown for her wedding, and Lori was almost impossible to please. Afterwards Leni tackled her own wedding dress and never had a girl been more stunning. Then a couple of her other sisters had gotten engaged or married, and once again she created magic with their dresses. Perhaps the experience she had racked up with her sisters' and her own dresses was what pushed her to begin sewing dresses for other women, as he noticed she only started doing so after she had finished Luna's dress—the one sister who was once engaged but called it off after the dress had been made. It never upset Leni that her work was never used. If he had been the one to make a dress that amazing, he would've been very upset, especially if all of it was completely free without any strings attached.

Chaz began to prepare a second breakfast of eggs and bacon, waiting for his wife to pop her head around the corner and tell him she was all out of white fabric and that she needed a ride to the store, where she would spend two hours looking at three kinds of white fabric pieces before asking him what he thought, and then totally ignoring his opinion. She probably had the right idea ignoring him. He was no fashionista like she was and she by far had a better eye for this kind of thing. It was just annoying when she spent so much time on one color, otherwise he wouldn't have much of a problem standing there doing nothing the whole time.

"Honey!" she shouted from their room.

Here it came.

"I'm all out of white, and also purple! Oh, and yellow and pink too! And I think I need to get more red!"

Awesome. Five colors, greatly extending the amount of time spent in that store. It was a good thing he was off today otherwise he would have to drop her off and not pick her up again until that afternoon.

He finished his breakfast quickly and attempted to make Leni a smoothie the way she liked it. But the blueberries and bananas didn't look the same way her smoothies did… He probably added too much of one ingredient, failing to balance it out. He had never really been able to make smoothies quite like hers, some of which were very new and made from unorthodox recipes. Her latest triumph included spinach and carrots. She was still working to perfect it and his input was useless since he was too cowardly to try it even when offered.

Thankfully she also appreciated simplicity. Blueberry and banana smoothies were common and easy, whether they were on par with hers or not. Plus, she liked the thought no matter what, as proven by the one time he tried to get creative with a smoothie and she forced herself to drink a whole glass. Her words described it as "different" than what she was used to, but her face told a separate story. From then on, if he made a smoothie, he never tried to mix up recipes or add anything new.

Besides, most of Leni's breakfast was a smoothie…something about health kicks.

Leni came back to him fluffing her hair and smoothing out her bangs, making sure each hair was in line. She had her purse in hand, prepared to leave for the fabric store.

"I think cotton and silk would make a nice wedding dress. What do you think?" she asked.

And the asking of his opinion came early.

"Silk sounds smooth," he answered, leading her to the car.

"Actually…cotton is more durable," she mumbled to herself. "I'm thinking lace around the collar and shoulders. Right in the middle of the chest could be a red jewel and the lace around it can be lined with sequins. Silver sequins. And silver glitter spread out on the bottom half. Maybe I can put some light lacing around the wrists."

She continued to go on and describe her visual of the wedding dress as the car ride progressed. At some point she seemed to have the idea for the wedding dress down and got started on visualizing the bridesmaids' dresses. His opinion had been cotton but she elected to go for silk to give it more of a shine. She had a hard time deciding between pink or red for them.

He merely let her talk to herself, giving her a chance to memorize the ideas forming in her head. For almost twenty minutes all he heard was talk of color and material. It was amazing how much she could focus on fashion yet became so easily distracted from everything else.

He slipped his hand over hers, snapping her out of her own self-induced trance, and squeezed lightly.

"So," he said. "Any ideas on how to break the big news?"

"You mean, like getting on TV? Because I'm not sure how we can do that."

"No, I mean telling our families about the baby?" he suggested. "Any ideas?"

"Nope," she chirped. "It's so exciting though, isn't it! We're going to be parents!"

"What about Thanksgiving for your family?" he asked. "Everyone's supposed to be coming, I can't imagine a better time."

Family reunions with her were…somewhat frequent? The older siblings were no longer packed together and had spread out to different places, Lori being three hours out. He and Leni were only about thirty minutes away from her parents, Luna tended to crash in multiple places while she continued to chase her music career starting by playing for various clubs, Luan was about forty minutes away from her parents and just slightly closer to Leni, and Lincoln lived in an apartment another twenty minutes out that Luna frequented. The rest of her sisters were still living with their parents, who had thankfully stopped popping out babies since the youngest sibling, Lily, was born.

With all that said, her sisters and brother had lives now and weren't always able to come together at the same time except on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas. It was saddening at first but Leni had accepted this separation over time and it rarely bothered her anymore.

And speaking of separation, she used to be constantly in touch with Lori. Then, last year, Lori simply stopped answering her calls. No texts, no voicemails, nothing. Leni claimed they hadn't fought but remembered that the last time they talked, Lori sounded upset despite insisting that she was fine. Other family members were contacted but, aside from Rita and Lynn Sr., nobody was really talking to Lori anymore, suffering the same problem Leni still did. Even their parents had no idea why Lori and her husband, Bobby Santiago, were both ignoring calls.

"I think it's a good idea," she finally answered. "It'll make everyone so happy! Maybe I should make new outfits or Thanksgiving, you know? Something Fall-ish and festive. Something with turkey colors!"

Before she could continue down a road of new Thanksgiving outfits, he reminded her that she already had a very heavy workload with the latest orders, to which he added that the fabric store visit was only for the colors she needed for those specific orders. No turkey colors. He would see to it that she didn't get her hands on brown or orange. Yellow was something she could need so that would be allowed, but that was the only exception.

After a brief moment of silence he parked the sedan as close as he could to the entrance. He refused to let his wife get out of the car on her own and made her hold his hand to 'help' her down…just in case she fell out, even though the vehicle was fairly low to the ground.

He led her inside and she took off like a hyperactive child, starting with the white cotton sheets.

A/N

Second fanfic, first Loud House fanfic. Let me know how I did for a first-timer!