Several months had passed since Leni had completely blown the surprise and broken the big news to her family. Six months along. It was a boy, and for some reason Leni continued to stick to either "Lincoln" or "Lynn" when it came to names. At one point she did venture to "Pop-Pop" but that was shot down even more quickly. Then for some reason it was like she forgot the baby was a boy altogether and started listing off the names of her sisters and herself.
Chaz was actually surprised to see they would be having a son, when the obvious trait of daughters was so incredibly high with Leni.
And, while she found it very unfortunate, he hadn't let his own family know about the new baby. Truth was, his parents loved Leni and found her charming, helpful, and the sweetest girl he had ever brought home. The problem was, they hadn't actually wanted him to marry her. Date her, sure, but marry? It was like he'd done the unthinkable by telling them he was going to ask her. They'd always adored Leni and tried to treat her well, but because she was so slow, they always worried she wouldn't be a competent wife. It was so exhausting having her around them and being interrogated on how their marriage was going. They always made it sound like she was a problem for him, and if she wasn't a problem now, she could mess up really bad later on and become one.
He'd never even brought up the idea of a grandchild to his parents… If they thought Leni was so incapable of being his wife, there was no telling how much worse it would be if they knew she would be a mother. Lori told him he didn't have to worry about Leni ever letting anything happen to a baby, even unborn, and she had been very careful with her stomach. She was hardly the brightest person in the room—in any room—but she was obviously going to be an amazing mother. But his family wouldn't see that, and all this time she had been oblivious to his parents' concerned looks and questions thrown her way. They only wanted to look out for their son but what about their grandson? What would they want, would they want to tear a family apart? He doubted it. That would be a complicated issue.
Made all the more complicated because if him… His wife had been dying to tell his family with the idea that there would be absolutely nothing but joy and excitement, exactly like with her family. They had reached a very simple agreement—she got to tell hers, so he would get to tell his. And they would have to know sooner or later so he figured once Leni was visibly showing he would visit his folks and they could find out the moment they saw her.
Well here she was. Six months pregnant, belly very inflated and still growing. Walking was in the early stages of becoming a waddle. A little bit of difficulty getting up after she sat down. About thirty pounds gained. Plenty of complaining.
And, now that she had officially entered her third trimester, no time would be better than spending hours in the car to spend a day with his parents, who still hadn't been given the slightest hint that his wife was pregnant. It would give them another concern, and the fact that he had elected to move closer to Leni's family rather than move closer to his own certainly didn't help matters. But Leni needed to be close to hers. Even if it wasn't that far, moving away from them at all hurt her. He didn't have any siblings, and only had two cousins he rarely contacted, so he had no extraordinarily close bonds to latch onto. She did, and he knew moving to a different state altogether would send her spiraling into depression—she bounced back from a lot of things but twelve people she'd spent her entire life loving and close to suddenly gone from her life, restricted to phone calls for the most part? No. That would've been devastating. However, his parents never really understood Leni, and in their minds a family that huge, destructive, and sometimes obnoxious should've been a blessing to leave. They weren't too fond of him not at least moving to the middle just so she could be closer to "that kind of a family"—put in their own exact words…
Maybe that would change a little bit if they could feel the baby move? He didn't move very often but Leni had been feeling odd sensations in her stomach for a few weeks now and the doctor cleared it as just the baby just rolling around in there. If he did move it usually happened at night when she was trying to sleep. It kept her up and that wasn't fair, so she kept him up. Maybe this was supposed to be good practice for when the baby was actually born and kept everyone up all night with shrill newborn cries.
She made up for it with small naps and he made up for it with one longer nap before dinner, after got home from work.
But no naps were possible today. Leni was too excited about the visit with his family and he was driving. She continually did not understand why they didn't need pictures as proof of a baby. Maybe it was just because that was how she did it with her family and they would've found out that way had she not practically announced it beforehand. But now it was impossible to say she wasn't pregnant, the proof wasn't a subtle bump anymore.
He drove on with his wife merrily jabbering on about names, needs, nursery ideas, and baby clothes, the latter being her favorite thing to talk about. She mostly talked about fabrics needed to sew the clothes but she wasn't opposed to store-bought either, as long as the materials wouldn't chafe the baby's sensitive skin—would an inept mother prioritize the kind of materials used for clothing above her lifelong fashion passion for her first baby? Maybe he could rub that one in his parents' faces, or get Leni to bring it up in front of them so they could hear it straight from her.
It was bittersweet listening to her nonstop for hours on end going in an infinite loop about baby things. On one hand it showed how seriously she was taking this, but on the other hand he wasn't getting a minute of quiet to focus on the road.
But, thankfully, when the trip was over and he pulled up to the curb in front of his parents' house, she stopped talking. By now the routine of getting out of the car had become settled and over time she had learned to wait for him. Although this may not have been learning so much as her liking the help getting out of the seat. She could still get out on her own but it was easier to let him pull her up.
The moment he let go of her hand she ran to the door and rang the doorbell. She waited impatiently. As per usual someone only appeared right when he caught up to her, and she refused to waste time saying hello before hugging her father-in-law. Her stomach made him falter and he took a step back to catch himself.
She was careful with her stomach but she was hardly conscientious of the ever widening space it took up around her.
He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed.
"It's great to see you again, Len—"
He stumbled over his words as he let go of her and saw her stomach.
"So, Dad, as you can see—"
"We're having a baby!" she sang. "You're going to be a granddaddy!"
Chaz should've known better than to speak at all, or expect to finish that sentence without her blurting something out.
His mother appeared behind her husband.
"Oh…oh wow..." the woman said upon seeing Leni's stomach.
"You're going to be a grandmama!" Leni squealed. "It's so great to see you guys again!"
She and Chaz were both welcomed in and, although he already knew they would never be mean or treat her badly at all, he prepared himself for the inevitable questioning they would both be going through—only Leni receiving gentle probing while he would be quietly asked direct, blunt questions.
"So," his mother started. "How have you two been doing?"
"We're having a baby!" Leni answered. "It's so exciting!"
"Boy or girl?" his dad asked.
"I'm a girl, which makes sense because only girls can have babies." She held her husband's hand. "But the boys do help a little bit. Mostly with weird studyin—"
He slapped a hand over her mouth and laughed awkwardly.
"Honey, we are not having this conversation."
"I meant the baby," his dad clarified. "Is the baby a boy or girl?"
Chaz took his hand from her mouth.
"Boy," he said. "A little shocking when you look at how many sisters she has."
"Everyone was super happy about the new baby!" she added. "And now that it's not a bean anymore, they're even happier! They put their hands on me all the time now, and once they felt him move. It was such a noisy day. And I mean noisier than usual. But they were so happy they talked about it for an hour and they kept asking me so many questions. A big one was baby names, but I don't really know why they asked me that since it's not their baby."
"We haven't decided on names yet."
"I think it should be either Lincoln, Lynn, or Lori."
"We haven't decided on the list either…"
His mother cleared her throat, clearly concerned that a name hadn't been chosen yet—they had a while to pick on though—and asked, "So how far along are you, Leni?"
"Well, it took a few hours to get here…"
"She's six months," Chaz said. "We're in the final stretch now."
His wife frowned. "Actually I can't stretch that much anymore."
"No, honey, it means we only have one trimester left before the baby's born."
"So one month then, right?"
"Three," he sighed.
"Then why did you say one?"
The fact that she didn't understand things every expecting mother should know brought forth even more concerns from his parents. This only gave them ammunition but what was the point of them worrying now? She was having a baby, not getting a dog. She was considered one of the best babysitters in her entire town and as the second oldest of eleven, had helped raise and babysit a lot of siblings. It wasn't like she had no idea what she was doing, this woman had plenty of experience before he even met her—this simple thought was very reassuring when he had any doubts.
Now the big question. Would it be enough to alleviate at least some of his parents' concerns?
"You know, if we had known about this, we wouldn't have ever let you drive all this way." His mother glared at him. "But since you're here, states away from your home, how about we eat a little something and, Leni, if you'd like to rest for a while you just let me know and I'll fix up the bed or couch or wherever with a bunch of fluffy pillows."
"Aww! You're so sweet but I've been in the car so long it feels nice to stand and walk around," Leni answered. "If that's okay with you."
His mother laughed. "I've been there before. You can rest whenever you want to, sugar, it won't hurt our feelings. In the meantime let's fix you up something to eat."
Leni normally loved to help his mom cook and clean and even volunteered to run any errands no matter how long or short their stay. Setting aside errands, his mom usually let her help with simple chores like dishes or setting the table, and it was usually appreciated. This time all of Leni's offers were declined and she was sat down at the table.
His mom didn't know this but it actually hurt her a little, left her feeling unneeded and awkward. Leni's family let her help whenever and however she wanted to, unless heavy lifting was involved, at which point they would stop her and explain why she couldn't do that. For the most part she knew her limits but everyone understood that she didn't want to feel useless just because she was pregnant. His mom had good intentions and Leni probably knew that, but she was used to at least trying to be helpful.
"So, Leni, how is business going for you?" his dad asked as he sat down beside her.
She didn't realize what this was about but Chaz did—finances.
This question distracted her from being excluded from normal household duties and she smiled.
"It's going really well," she said. "Last year, CoverGirl let me pitch some of my design ideas, and I got to make gorgeous dresses for a big wedding! And the bride told her friends about me, and one of her friend's daughters is about to have…a, um…a kin…center…area…"
"Quincinera," Chaz corrected her. "She's Hispanic, she turns fifteen next month."
"Yeah, she turns fifteen, and apparently that's a really big deal for some reason? Anyway, Rachel called me and her mom wants me to make her a really nice dress for her birthday. It'll have a ton of frills by the time I'm done."
"So, just one dress after a wedding last year?" his dad 'asked'.
"Oh, no, that's just one dress due by next month…" she said. "I made lots of other clothes since the wedding. I also patch a lot of clothes up, too. I can make you something if you want. There's no charge for family."
"That wedding actually paid big and she worked really hard to make every one of those thirty dresses perfect," Chaz said, feeling the urge to remind his dad of how hard she would work.
His parents both disagreed with him on her line of work, more so because it was from home and she was mostly commissioned to make clothes, and despite decent pay they always assumed she made a lot less money than she really did, and had a lot less orders than she really did. Simply because they never saw it, they also assumed her work was easy because it was "just hemming jeans" and "stitching up a ripped hole" but if only they would ask her just once, even though she would never accept their money for it, if she would make them one piece of clothing, so they could see her handiwork for themselves. She didn't need to be paid to make things as well as she made them.
"Well…it's not really about how many orders there are or how much they pay, I just really like that my customers are so happy when I'm done," Leni said.
That answer was less than pleasing to his father, as he clearly translated it to asking for less money than she should've. Untrue… She'd never had any unsatisfied customers before, so her guarantee of less money involved if they weren't satisfied, or if she was giving them any trouble, had never been used. It probably pleased customers to know she cared about their satisfaction. She was doing just fine.
"It's good to hear business is going so well for you. Are you two preparing a nursery yet?"
And now came the question of responsibilities, which would lead to a bad answer…
"Nope, not yet," she answered. "We have a room for it already though. I want to paint it blue with little clouds on the ceiling. One should definitely be shaped like a bean."
"Any cribs or blankies?"
"I can probably just make those. We could paint the crib white to match the bean clouds."
"Wait, what do you mean make a crib? I get the blankets but a crib isn't cloth."
"Dad," Chaz said. "She works with wood, too. Just because it's not part of her job doesn't mean she has no other skills."
"I'm sure she has a lot of skills!" his dad happily replied. "You can't be as wonderful as Leni without having skills!"
It flattered his wife but it irritated Chaz. Both of his parents genuinely did love Leni and they would give her the shirt off their back if she needed it, but even after a year of engagement and three years of marriage for some reason they couldn't look at her the way her family looked at him. They saw her as part of the family but they weren't nearly as enthusiastic about it. And her family had been leaping with joy—literally, for some—upon hearing the news that the already enormous family was still expanding, and had offered to babysit and thrown advice at her and asked her questions… His family hadn't even congratulated her. It was impossible for his house to have that kind of energy seeing as even his extended family didn't amount to the sheer quantity of her immediate family, and he was sure that on some level his parents were excited about their first grandchild, but they certainly weren't showing it and hopefully this was going unnoticed by his wife.
Leni was a bleeding heart, and although she was more sensitive to others than herself, if she ever thought his parents weren't happy with her for having a baby, there was no doubt in his mind that coming back to his parents' house would be depressing for her, even if they decided to try to change their attitudes. This crucial moment would stick with her for a very long time and he wouldn't be surprised if it would be years before they saw their grandson. By which point she could've already had another baby.
His mom finally entered with some bowls of mashed potatoes, green beans, and a plate of seasoned chicken breasts. She sat down across from Leni and he hoped she wouldn't ask the same questions his dad did.
"So, Leni," his mom started. "Is the baby growing okay?"
"He's not a bean anymore!" she answered. "I watered him a lot."
He shook his head and fixed her a plate of food.
"He used to look like a bean in the ultrasounds," he explained to his parents. "But he grew." Like a beansprout. "He's pretty big now." As could be seen.
"I've been drinking and eating really healthy. Especially carrots, did you know they're supposed to help your eyes? That means he'll never go blind or get those gray…old person…things in his eyes."
"Cataracts, honey."
"He won't get those either," she said. "Oh and he can hear us now, and he can also hear music and stuff, so I play music while I work."
He actually didn't want her working on anything right now. She only had a schedule if she had a client, and despite Rachel helping she pretty much worked for herself. So she wasn't actually bound to anything unless commissioned. She could take off, he made enough to support the both of them…
Her center of gravity was askew because of the weight in her stomach, making it more difficult to work on almost anything requiring her mannequin. And with that dress, well…the mannequin was required. Which meant she had to get down on her knees to reach the bottom, and that ended up hurting her back because of the awkward way she had to lean over her stomach while still reaching the dress. Then she had to stretch to reach around the top, which not only moved the mannequin—stomach again—but also strained a different part of her back and, depending on the position she was in, her feet. Having to stand back and lean forward for a long time wasn't something he wanted her doing. Maybe this dress would be the wakeup she needed to realize that working like that wasn't good for her, no matter how much she loved it. But if she absolutely had to work, maybe she could stick to patch jobs, repairs, and anything that would allow her to sit down at her sewing table. She didn't need to be on her feet all day, every day.
"Did you do anything with your hair, Leni? I think it was shorter the last time we saw you," his mom said.
These were the questions he would prefer people asking her instead of a subtle interrogation that went over her head every time.
"I didn't do anything with it, it just got thicker and it grows faster now," Leni answered.
"When I was pregnant with Chaz my hair and nails grew so fast and if I tried to dye my hair, it would turn out a different color."
"That must've been awful, I'm so sorry."
"Oh, sweetie, it's fine now. I can dye it any color I want and I only have to cut it twice a year."
"I always let my hair grow a few inches longer for winter and I cut it back to normal in the spring," Leni said. "That way it won't keep my neck and back so hot for the warm months."
"That's a really good idea! Maybe I should start doing that!"
His wife smiled brightly at the compliment—skills were one thing, but hair was fashion. It should go without saying which compliment she appreciated more. Not to mention she'd given his mother an idea of hers. That probably made her day.
He nudged her with his elbow.
"Honey, you need to eat something," he said.
She grabbed a fork and pierced her chicken, but when she took up a knife, her father-in-law snatched it from her.
"Here, Leni, let me get that for you," he said kindly as he began cutting her chicken into ridiculously tiny pieces.
"Oh… Thank you."
Chaz could already tell she wanted to protest and do it herself since his mom already refused to let her do the very simple tasks she would normally help with, but she sat quietly with a fake smile on her face. His parents wouldn't be doing these things if they thought she was capable of handling pregnancy and apparently cutting her own food at the same time.
"Leni cooks great meals," he said. "All the time. Just last night we had pot roast, it was delicious."
It seemed out of the blue to Leni but his parents got the message.
"Chaz, can I talk to you in private for a second?" his mom asked.
He got up, made it a point to give his wife a quick kiss, and followed his mom into her bedroom. He closed the door, just in case there was a chance of Leni overhearing this inevitable conversation that seemed to happen every time he brought Leni here.
"Why would you let her cook in this condition?" his mom started.
"Because she can, and I would imagine you would want me to have a wife who feeds me well."
"Of course we do."
"Well, I have one, but she's not enough for you. Still. After three years."
"Chaz, we have always loved Leni, we still love her so much. She is the sweetest, most compassionate girl we've ever had the pleasure of meeting, and we had no problem with you dating her—"
"But for some reason marriage is an awful thing?"
"Dating is different from marriage. We actually thought she was a very good girlfriend, we had nothing against her, we still don't. But dating is when you're still trying to figure out what you want in a partner and Leni's heart is definitely something we wanted for you, and we hoped you wanted too. So, yes, please, date her, find out what kind of girl you want to marry. But then you picked her… Wouldn't it have been better to be close friends instead?"
"We've…we've had this conversation so many times, Mom…"
"She could accidentally end up poisoning your food, confusing spices for cleaning chemicals or something."
"Leni's mind works a lot differently than ours and yes, she's very slow, but don't treat her like she's some incompetent wife or mother, like a moron or an idiot. She can cut her own food, Mom, if she couldn't don't you think I would've already done it for her? No, of course not, I made her a plate because she was distracted by a conversation with you guys."
"She didn't even know you made her a plate and you were sitting right beside her."
"Because she's so easily distracted and because she was really enjoying talking to you two. She has a high respect for you."
His mother shook her head in disbelief. "But she's six months pregnant and didn't even give us a phone call?"
"That wasn't Leni, that was me. She's been wanting to tell you from the moment her family calmed down enough to let her remember my parents too."
"Remember?" his mom quoted.
"Don't dare turn this on her."
"And you, why didn't you tell us? You're our son."
"Leni had a whole surprise planned out for her family four months ago when she barely had a baby bump. When they found out, they were so happy and excited for both of us. Nothing but joy in that house and everyone in it. Her family kept calling her for days after that. She's six months pregnant now, she is way beyond a bump now. You can see it, and by now you can even feel your grandson, which is something her family didn't get to do for a long time. And you don't seem very happy about this."
"Chaz, we are two people compared to a litter. There won't be as much screaming and squealing here. We're very happy, we're just concerned that it's Leni's… Motherhood is hard work and we don't know if she's cut out for that. What if you end up having to take care of the baby by yourself?"
"The town she grew up in, Royal Woods, had four babysitters that the entire town unanimously declared the best. Lori, Luna, Luan, and Leni. All sisters. She literally comes from a family of nurturers and she's the second oldest of ten siblings. Of course her parents would need help from time to time, who do you think helped raise that many children? And when any family member got sick she was the first to volunteer her help. Anytime they got hurt she was there with an ice pack and bandages. She will cancel an entire day to help cheer her family up no matter how inconvenient it is for her. So you tell me how that isn't motherhood material."
His mother shifted uncomfortably.
"We still have a lot of concerns. All those things you said about Leni and her family would normally be convincing but, Chaz, sweetie, she's the second oldest, and as one sister after another grew older she had more help. With the oldest she's really always had help. This is something she'll be on her own with, she doesn't have another sister on standby. That worries us, a lot."
"Leni's going to pick up on that sooner or later."
"I really doubt that… She's Leni."
He took a deep breath.
"You're right, she is Leni, and let me tell you right now, if she chooses to leave at any time without me saying it's time to go, she knows what's going on with you two, and I'm not bringing her back up here for a long time."
"What?!"
"Yeah! Because I won't keep subjecting my wife, who has done nothing bad to you, to this kind of treatment. Family is the most important thing in the world to her and she sees you as family, so if she knew what you thought about her it would hurt a lot, and it's my job as her husband to protect her, even from you. And I would not force her to come up here again so unless you came to us, I guess you just won't see your grandson. And, frankly, I'm a little concerned about that myself. If you think this way about Leni what will you think about her baby? And what if he turns out to be as slow as Leni? What then? Disown him?"
"That's absurd, we think very highly of Leni and we would love our grandson no matter what he's like."
His mom folded her arms across her chest.
"I have no doubts that you guys like Leni, but that doesn't mean you think highly of her. You look down on her and you know it, otherwise you wouldn't treat her like this every time we come. It's making me mad, you need to stop or we're leaving."
"What are you talking about?! We ask her about her little sewing business—"
"Yeah, to get an idea of how much money she gets. I noticed everyone conveniently left out what she makes and what she does. You don't ask how she does it, you don't ask about colors, you don't ask what else she makes—you know she also makes Halloween costumes? How come you've never brought that up? She loves to talk about fashion but you never bring it up. And, yeah, I'll be the first to admit it's something I don't understand and it can be a little boring and repetitive but it puts a smile on her face. As her mother-in-law that should be something you want too."
"It's just clothes, I'm sure she doesn't even notice."
"Maybe. What about her family? There's always something to talk about with them and it's another thing she loves."
"We're not even part of her family."
"Actually, yes, you are. The moment I married Leni you became part of her family, whether you like it or not. And instead, the last time you ever saw her family was at our wedding. Three years ago. Plenty has happened since then, you could at least ask her a few questions about it. Wouldn't hurt to make her feel like you're actually interested in her life. Especially when you're a part of it."
His mother quietly slid past him and returned to the table, where Leni was stabbing multiple chicken bits with her fork just to get a full bite out of them.
"This all tastes really good!" Leni told her. "Thank you for cooking all this!"
He took his seat beside her and stared at his mom, who caught the look and sighed heavily.
"So, Leni, how is your family doing?" she asked.
His wife squealed and put her fork down.
"They're doing great!" she started. "Okay, so, you haven't seen them in a while, but I got to see Lori for Thanksgiving and it was so exciting! And Luan got married! Oh, and Luna was supposed to but it was called off. That was a shame. But I got to make all their wedding dresses and they were so beautiful and they all loved them! Luan told me she and Benny are thinking about a baby! Or, trying for one. But still! I've been wanting to be an aunt forever! And now that they know I'm having a baby, they're calling me more than ever and more of them are meeting together at my parents' house more often so I can see more of them at the same time. Oh, right! Lincoln moved out of the house to an apartment, and Luna visits him a lot, so he still has his sisters with him. He comes to my parents' a lot too, and everyone is still so happy there and they're always smiling now! And even Lori and Bobby try to come up every now and then but you know, it's kind of hard, because they live so far away. I would go see them but they don't want me in a car for that long, so I have to wait for them. But that's okay, because we still get to see each other! Oh, right, did I tell you Luan and Benny were thinking about trying for a baby? I hope they hurry up, I really want to be an aunt but I have to be Luan's baby's aunt because Lori said I wouldn't be one with hers. I'm pretty sure she's just doing it all wrong but Chaz won't let me talk about that, even to her. But the good news is, I think she's starting to figure things out, because she told me one day she and Bobby might have a kid! But just not right now. I can wait though, I can w—Okay no I can't wait, but that's why it has to be Luan now, Lori's waiting too long! Oh, oh, and my dad made up a new recipe that everyone in Royal Woods loves! I tried it, and it's amazing, he's such a great cook! And my mom finished her tenth book…in her fifth series! Her books haven't won any awards yet, but they did get her a newspaper job that she's super great at! And did I tell you about Luan and Benny?"
She kept going, spiraling into exciting stories and repetition, mostly about Luan and Benny—once she had been more concerned about Lori lacking children, Luan called her up and told her she could be an aunt with her future child as a form of consolation, and it worked. So now she shifted her strong expectations from Lori and Bobby to Luan and Benny. Now Luan and Benny were the ones being passively pressured to have a baby.
But that just went to show how much she loved them. Sure, she was freakishly excited about being an aunt to anyone's child at this point, but upon receiving the news that her sister and brother-in-law wanted a baby too sent her into overdrive with happiness for them. After all, she already knew the feeling of anticipation while still trying, then her version of a magical moment finding out, seeing the bean growing inside of her for the very first time, and feeling the baby's first kick. Of course she wanted that same experience for her sister.
Eventually his parents managed to steer her into the territory of her business—this time not at all asking about finances or anything having to do with finances. Colors, shirts, lacing, beads…everything fashion, and Leni eagerly answered every single question with excitement. He didn't know exactly what it was she was excited about, but he wanted to believe she was excited because she felt like his parents were engaging with her on a more personal level than they normally did, perhaps like they were trying to get closer to her. There was also the strong possibility that she was excited because…fashion.
Perhaps his parents just wanted him to stay a little longer. His mom knew he was serious when he said they would leave unless she and his dad started treating Leni properly, despite Leni having no clue why his parents asked questions that were more or less routine and restricted to almost the exact same questions each time.
The rest of the day passed by quickly. After the conversation with his mother, Leni was treated normally with zero other comments or questions regarding or hinting at irresponsible mothering. Under normal circumstances they would've stayed longer, but with the baby keeping her up so late nearly every night, Leni was tired—in order to spend as much time with his parents as they did, she had to wake up early and never took any naps in the car. They would end up getting back home late, but she was glad to have spent time with his family so none of this was a total loss.
She slept most of the way back, which was good for him since he wouldn't have to listen to her talk about what a great time she had with his parents. It was nice to know she felt so welcome there but it aggravated him that she would essentially be taken advantage of to be probed for information. And every single time she talked about her "great time" it only reminded him that she had been tricked the entire time, even if that wasn't his parents' intent. They weren't trying to hurt Leni, and they would never even think of trying to hurt her, but Leni was just like anyone else and they never thought of her that way. She was a problem, a bad wife, and a soon-to-be incompetent mother.
Ignorance truly was bliss in her case…
They arrived home just past midnight, officially into the am's. He managed to shake Leni awake and lead her inside, straight to bed, where she curled up as much as her stomach would allow and fell right back to sleep. Didn't change into her nightgown, didn't brush her hair, didn't do anything but pass out on the spot.
He put a hand on her stomach and for once she didn't feel the baby moving around.
A/N
And there we go, longer chapter (and hopefully higher quality) as promised, paired with a faster update! Chaz's parents don't make any appearances in the show but to avoid the question of where they're at and why they don't know they're about to have a grandchild, which is usually a pretty big deal, I threw them in. They're far away... Very far... I also explained why Chaz and Leni never go to see them. Hopefully this will just nix them! :D