ahhh im super excited for this chapter. i'm sorry it's so short but writer's block has been kicking my ass. hopefully you guys still like it!

didn't find any trigger warnings but pls let me know if you do! i'll just add it in :)

summary: in which cynthia is pregnant and excitement ensues

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Their parents had been acting weird for the past week and a half. Connor and Zoe had decided that there must be something very strange going on. They talked a lot in hushed whispers and spent too much time in the empty guest rooms. At first Zoe thought they might have been planning a surprise, but then the next day Cynthia had said she was going to the doctor's. When she came back, there were more whispers with Larry, and odd glances thrown their way. Connor thought she looked like she may have been crying. There was just something very unusual going on that he didn't understand.

At dinner, Zoe had wondered aloud what the doctor said, but Larry shook his head and didn't reply. Neither did Cynthia.

Connor hoped that nothing bad was going to happen.

He knew one boy in his kindergarten class who said his mother had gone to the doctor and the doctor said that she had gotten cancer, and that she might die. Connor really, really hoped that Cynthia didn't get cancer, too. Had the doctor said something bad?

After dinner, he helped to clear his plate into the kitchen, and was just about to go upstairs to read a book when Larry stopped him.

"Connor, don't go upstairs yet, come sit down. Zoe, you too… Mummy and I have something to tell you."

This was it, Connor thought. Larry was going to say Cynthia was going to die, or something else bad was going to happen, or—

But when he looked up, Cynthia was smiling.

"Kids, Daddy and Mummy have something very exciting to tell you," she began.

Connor relaxed. So this was going to be good news. Maybe they were planning a surprise for them after all.

Larry cleared his throat. "Mummy is going to have a baby!"

Connor and Zoe gasped, turning to each other in consternation, then back at their parents. "Really?"

"Yes, really," Cynthia replied, practically glowing. "Mummy's pregnant."

"Can I see the baby?" Zoe asked in excitement.

Cynthia laughed. "No, the baby is still in Mummy's tummy. It's not ready to be born yet."

"When will it be ready?"

"Baby is two months old now, so it will be born around November."

"Is it a boy or girl?" Connor asked.

"We don't know yet, but the doctors will tell us in a few weeks."

"I hope it's a girl," Zoe declared. "Because I already have a brother."

"And I already have a sister," Connor said. "So I want a brother."

"It is what it is," Larry cut in. "We can't change that."

"What if I pray hard enough? Like super, super hard?" Connor pressed.

Cynthia smiled. "I don't know, but you can try. But we'll still love the baby whether it's a boy or a girl, right?"

"Yeah," they agreed, nodding.

"Are you guys excited?" Larry asked.

"Yes! Super excited!" They chorused.

"This is so cool," Connor exclaimed, doing a little dance.

Zoe suddenly gasped at her new realization. "And I'm going to be a big sister!"

"Yes, you are!" Larry affirmed, tugging at her pigtails affectionately.

"But how do babies happen?" Connor queried. Larry almost choked and turned bright red. Connor looked at him in puzzlement

However, Cynthia had anticipated the question, and she simply replied, "Well, Connor, sometimes God chooses to give a family a baby!"

"Ohh," he nodded, accepting the answer. "Cool."

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The next week was a whirlwind full of excitement, especially for Connor and Zoe. Cynthia began unpacking their old baby clothes, while Larry started to set up their old crib in one of the guest rooms, which they decided to convert to the new nursery. Connor and Zoe found it endlessly amusing to sit inside their old crib, giggling and making baby noises at each other before hollering at Larry to let them out. Sometimes, they put their stuffed toys and dolls under their shirts, exclaiming "I'm pregnant too!" before pulling them out with an exuberant shout of "baby's born!"

They loved putting their hands on Cynthia's belly as it grew, marveling at the fact that there was another human being—their sibling—inside their mother. When Cynthia brought home ultrasounds pictures from her checkups, they "ooh" and "ahh"-ed in delight, even though they couldn't really see anything in the grainy black-and-white pictures.

"The good thing is," Cynthia commented one night as she sat down with a box of baby clothes, "I already have a boy and a girl, so either way, I don't have to buy too many clothes." She pulled out a dress. "Zoe, look! This was your first dress!"

Zoe giggled, going over to take a closer look. "It's so nice, I wish I could still wear it," she commented, running her little hand over the soft, white material.

Connor dug through a box of their old toys. "Why are all the books so soft?" He picked up one and waved it around as an example.

"That's so it won't hurt the baby if the baby drops it," Cynthia explained.

Zoe held up a shoe. "Why is it so small?"

"That's because you had very small feet as a baby," Cynthia said.

"Not so small!" Connor exclaimed, grabbing the shoe to better examine it.

"Yes! You were that small," Cynthia laughed at their incredulous expressions. "Actually, Connor, you were even smaller than Zoe!"

"He still is!" Zoe teased.

"Hey!" Connor poked her side playfully and she squirmed, pushing his hand away with a laugh.

Cynthia went into her room and returned a few minutes later with two photos albums in her arms. "See, these are pictures of both of you in the hospital just after you were born," she said, placing them on the table and flipping them open.

"Why did we have to go to the hospital if we're not sick?" Connor asked.

"There's a special part of the hospital that is for mothers giving birth, not for sick people."

"What happened to Connor?" Zoe asked, pointing to one of the pictures of him in the NICU. Cynthia's brows knit together at the painful memories—the hope, the fear, the pain of seeing her little one fight to stay alive, hooked up to tubes and machines.

"That," she began, trying to keep her voice from wavering. "That was the NICU, which is short for the neonatal intensive care unit. Connor was there because he was born too early, so he was very small and the doctors needed a special place to take care of him."

"Why was I born too early?"

"I don't know, sometimes some babies are born earlier than others, and we don't always know why."

"So is that why I'm still smaller than Zo-zo?" he continued.

Cynthia chuckled. "We don't know, it could be a reason, but it also might not be. But it doesn't matter, as long as you're happy and healthy, right!"

"Right!" he cheered enthusiastically.

"And in Star Wars, Yoda says that size matters not!" Zoe reminded him, failing comically at an impersonation of Yoda's voice, causing all of them to explode into laughter.

"Oh, did Daddy and I tell you that we'll be finding out the gender of the baby tomorrow?" Cynthia remembered.

"What's gender?" Zoe asked.

"It's boy or girl," Connor cut in quickly before Cynthia could reply, eager to show off his knowledge.

"Oh, okay," Zoe nodded. "I hope it's a girl."

"And I hope it's a boy," he countered.

Cynthia smiled at both of them, a hand resting lightly on her stomach. "Well, we'll find out tomorrow," she smiled.

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please comment and let me know what you think of this chapter! or hmu on tumblr (thewickedverkaiking) and i may or may not give you a sneak peek at upcoming chapters...

next chapter will hopefully be longer! sorry please bear with me as i get through this writing slump...

also, do you think the baby is a boy or girl? :D