"Everything grows rounder and wider and weirder, and I sit here in the middle of it all and wonder who in the world you will turn out to be."
— Carrie Fisher

"Bentley, wake up, sweetie." Marceline gently called to the boy, but he just shut his eyes tighter, smiling. She knew what would get him out of bed and smiled at the thought. "That's the alarm, get on your feet. Time to wake up and start the week."

Bentley threw the blanket to the side as he sat up in bed. "Look out, world. Get outta my way 'cause I'm gonna have an awesome day."

"Ready for school, little man?"

"Yip, yip!" He chirped.

Marceline and Bentley had waffles and eggs for breakfast and she drove him to preschool when they finished. She went to Freddie's parlor afterwards and made $600 with only four sessions. She had a few people request her for an appointment over the phone for later in the week and that made her smile too. She finished at 2:30 and drove back to Bentley's school to wait in the parking lot for 15 minutes, then the school was coming out in groups to meet the awaiting parents. Bentley came running over to her and gave her a hug, his arms barely able to wrap around her due to her enlarged belly.

"Hey, cutie. How was school?"

"I made a new friend. Her name's Coraline, like the movie with the button-eye people."

"That's great, buddy." She smiled at him as she loaded him into the car. "Any homework?"

"I finished it already. Can we go to the clubhouse? I wanna watch Kip work on the cars."

"You like Kip, huh?"

"He reminds me of Max." Bentley said as she drove them to the clubhouse. "Can we go visit him and Beast Boy sometime?"

"I wish we could, but I have no idea where Max is. When we came here, he left with his brother."

~.~.~.~.

Marci and Bentley stayed at the clubhouse until Kip's shift was over and they all drove back to her house. She sat on the couch as Kip offered to make them Chicken Parm for dinner and went in the kitchen to prepare it.

"Hey, take it easy." She mumbled to her kicking tummy, her hand on the spot where the thumping was happening.

"Kicks again?" Kip asked as he held his hands out to help her off the couch.

She sighed. "It's like FIFA in there."

"You know that means it's a boy, right?"

"Yeah, 'cause I need another one of those."

"Mommy?" Bentley called from the table as Kip helped her sit down on one of the chairs.

"Yes, my ducky-duck?"

"Are you sick?"

"No, why?"

"Your belly's all big. And you said something kicked you." He noticed. "What's wrong?"

"Can I?" Kip asked and she nodded.

"Bentley, when a man and a woman love each other, they sometimes decide to have a baby. To have the baby, they have to kiss and hug and the man has to tell the woman he loves her every day until the stork calls them on the phone." Marceline began giggling at his explanation, so he stopped and smiled at her. "Hey, you wanna take over?"

"No, no. Please continue."

"What happens when the stork calls?" Bentley curiously asked.

"The stork flies from the Baby Factory to the man and woman's house to drop off a bottle of milk." Kip continued. "The woman drinks the milk, then she has to wait a few weeks for the stork to call again and tell her she's pregnant with a baby. Month after month, the baby grows inside of the Mommy's belly until he or she has all his or her fingers and toes, then the Mommy goes to the hospital and the doctors take the baby out of her."

Bentley thought for a moment, then asked, "Is that what's happening to my Mom? She's gotta baby in her tummy?"

"That's right."

"Am I gonna be a big brother like Abel?"

"Maybe. Bentley, sometimes the stork has to take the baby back to the factory when it's born."

"Why?"

"Because the baby's missing something. The stork takes the baby back to the factory and gets him or her the right parts, but that can take a long time. Instead of waiting, the stork gives the man and woman another bottle of milk and they try to have another baby."

Bentley was staring at Marceline's belly for the rest of dinner and he whispered that he couldn't wait to meet the baby when it was born when Marceline tucked him in for the night.

"That was very creative." She told Kip in the hallway.

"It's better than what my Mom told me when I was a kid." He smiled, but got serious. "That's the first time he's asked about the baby?"

She nodded. "I was starting to get worried."

"You gonna talk to him about the adoption?" She didn't know how to explain that there would be no baby after being pregnant for so long to anyone, let alone her son. She figured something would come to her after she was detached from the infant because she was blanking at the moment. "I could do it for you, if you want me to."

"You've already done the 'This is where babies come from' talk. I'll come up with something." She told him with a small smile.

He asked if he could spend the night and Marci agreed. She went to get him a blanket and pillow from the hall closet while he went into the living room and removed his pistol and knife, taking his kutte and shirt off. Marceline slowed when she came back into the living room upon seeing him undress and she admired the new tattoos he now had on his back. His chest was still bare, save for two stars on either front deltoid, and she wondered what he was saving it for.

Kip caught her staring and walked over to her, gently putting his hands on her belly. She looked up at him and got lost in the blues of his eyes, thinking about what she wanted to do when it was clear that he and her son were already attached to it.