Lilian sighed, rubbing her swollen stomach as she sat at the couch of hers and Dave's house, watching a Golden Girls marathon, the fireplace burning brightly, warming Lilian's chilled skin in the mid-February winter...
She was bored out of her mind, but quite frankly, she didn't have the strength to do anything.
"Hey, baby," Dave said as he walked into the living room, frowning when he saw the somewhat bored and uncomfortable look on his wife's face. "Are you okay?"
"Hmm?" Lilian asked, not really comprehending what he asked.
"You okay?" he asked again, settling down next to her and taking her cold hand in his.
Lilian nodded, smiling tiredly at Dave. "Yeah… I'm just a little tired. And bored. I miss jogging and skating so much."
"I know, Sugar. But think of it this way… you are already 33 weeks along. Not too much longer, right?" Dave said supportively, wrapping his arms around her shoulders.
"I guess so," Lilian replied with a shrug of her shoulders, burrowing even further underneath the blanket she was sitting under.
Dave nodded slowly, not understanding why his wife seemed to be so down. Remembering why he came in the room in the first place, Dave brightly asked, "Hey, why don't we go visit my mom? We haven't seen her in awhile and I'm sure she wouldn't mind having us over."
Lilian sighed, shaking her head slightly. "Dave, I love your mom to death but I honestly don't think I can move right now," Lilian said, running a hand over her stomach again.
"Why? Is something wrong?" Dave asked, slightly alarmed.
"No," Lilian replied with a mirthless laugh. "I'm just tired."
"Oh," Dave said, relieved that it was nothing serious. "Lil, come one. I really don't want you to sit here all sad while I go out. So would you please come with me to visit Mom?"
Lilian rolled her eyes at her husband's insistence. "Fine, Dave, I'll come with you," she finally relented. "But can we please make it short? I'm sorry, but I really don't want to be around people today," she added apologetically.
"Of course," Dave replied, kissing her gently before helping Lilian to stand. "You go get dressed and I'll put out the fire."
"Okay," Lilian agreed, walking slowly to the bedroom.
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By the time the visit was over, Lilian was glad to have visited Dave's mother. After having a huge mug of her homemade hot chocolate, the little blonde felt a lot warmer and better than she had in a long time. Now, she was riding back with Lilian and Dave to have dinner and look at the just-finished baby's room, at Dave's insistence.
Lilian nearly rolled her eyes at the pride in Dave's voice when he mentioned the baby's room. The room was beautiful, Lilian gave that to him… an adorable theme of Noah's Ark and pink, all furnished with gorgeous oak furniture that Lilian had fallen in love with. However, Dave's wanting to show every visitor who walked in the house the room was becoming somewhat tiresome; however, she knew that Dave worked very hard on the room and deserved to show off his handy work.
Lilian closed her eyes as they rode down the road, only opening them when Dave's mom placed a hand on her shoulder. "So, dear, are you ready for the baby to come?" she asked.
"Oh, Mom, I really cannot wait," Lilian replied. "I love carrying her, but she's killing my back."
"How much weight have you gained?" Dave's mom asked.
"Only nineteen pounds," Lilian replied with a sigh. "Apparently, I'm not gaining enough weight."
"Well, you were underweight before the pregnancy, dear," Dave's mom pointed out.
"Yeah, I know," Lilian said. "But my doctor told me I should be at 137 pounds around this time and I am only at 129 pounds. I just don't get it because I eat at the right times and everything."
"Hmm…" Dave's mom said slowly. "Well, is the baby healthy?" she asked.
"Yes, everything is fine according to the doctor," Lilian said with a shrug, wrapping her fingers around Dave's hand when she felt it searching for hers.
"Well, that's a good sign," Dave's mom said with a shrug. "I wouldn't worry about it. Just eat more ice cream."
Lilian laughed at this, watching as Dave carefully maneuvered the SUV up their long back driveway. "Dave, why are you pulling in back here?" she asked curiously.
"Oh, I know how tired you are, so I figured we could come in back here so you didn't need to walk up the front steps," he replied casually, getting out and walking around the side of the SUV so he could help his wife out of the big truck.
"Well, that's sweet, even though you didn't need to do that," Lilian said with a smile, holding onto the side of the truck as she slowly made her way to the door, not wanting to slip on the snow that was still on the ground from their latest snowfall.
"Hang on, Lil, and I'll help you," Dave said as he helped his mother out of the truck.
"No, help Mom, I'll be fine," Lilian said, concentrating on the ground in front of her.
"Okay," Dave replied uncertainly, leading his mom to the house, knowing better than to coddle his wife. Still, after showing his mom into the house, he waited until she met him at the door, holding his elbow out for her to take. "After you, my darling," Dave said with a grin, holding the door open for her.
Lilian giggled, about to bite off a smart reply to his gentlemanly manners when something startled her.
"SURPRISE!"
She jumped slightly, looking into her living room to see about fifty of her closest friends and family standing there, including Trish, Lita, Stephanie, Linda, Marissa McMahon, Dawn Marie, Jackie, Ivory, Molly, Dahlia, and several others all smiling at her.
"Oh, my God! What is this?" Lilian asked, covering her mouth with her hand as she looked between Dave and her friends.
"It's a baby shower for you, silly!" Trish exclaimed, stepping forward to hug Lilian tightly. "How you doing, Preggers?"
"I'm good… just… surprised," Lilian said, hugging Amy as she stepped forward. "Now I know why Dave didn't want to park in the front! I'd have gotten suspicious by all the cars in my driveway!" she exclaimed, grinning at Dave for a moment before turning back to her guests. "Who's idea was this?"
"Stephanie and Dahlia's," Linda said, hugging her employee gently. "You look fabulous."
"Thank you, Mrs. McMahon," Lilian replied as she turned to her sister. "How did you manage to keep it a secret from my nosy self?"
"Believe me, it wasn't easy," Dahlia said with a laugh, warmly hugging her little sister. "I was having flashbacks to Christmas when you would always snoop in my room and somehow find your presents."
"Wait a minute!" Lilian said with a gasp. "You did that to me."
"I don't know what you're talking about, Lil," Dahlia replied with a laugh as Stephanie grabbed the little blonde for a hug.
"Lil, we have plenty of good food to eat and games to play, so why don't we get settled in the living room. Dave, you can join us too," Stephanie offered, nearly laughing at the somewhat horrified on the Animal's face at the suggestion of being the only male in the room with fifty females.
"Uh… thanks, Steph, but I think I will just go find a basketball game on television," Dave replied hastily.
"Aw, come on, don't you want to play Diaper Hot Potato?" Trish teased, all of the girls giggling when Dave turned a bright shade of red before muttering a reply and all but running from the room.
"No, thanks."
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"Guys, this was so nice of you," Lilian told her friends with a shake of her head, looking around the living room at the sight of all the baby gifts they had given her.
"It's not a problem, Lil," Trish replied. "Just tell us one thing."
"What's that."
"Have you and Dave settled on a name yet?"
Lilian laughed, remembering how despite winning the bet fair and square a month ago, Dave still insisted on allowing Lilian to have part in naming their daughter. "Um… we've discussed it a little bit," Lilian finally replied. "We're thinking of naming her Sophia."
"Sophia," Lita repeated slowly. "I like it."
"Yeah… I've always liked the name Sofia in Spanish culture, with an 'f' instead of the 'ph'. However, we want to give her a more recognizable spelling so we are thinking of spelling it with the ph."
"Sophia… so I can call her Sophie?" Stephanie asked excitedly.
"Of course," Lilian replied with a laugh.
"What about a middle name?" Dahlia asked.
"Well, it sure as heck isn't going to be Maria," Lilian said. "There's no way my daughter is going to walk around with the name Sophia Maria Batista." Trish nearly spit out her lemonade at this, snickering loudly once she swallowed. "What is so funny, Trish?" Lilian asked, bemused.
"Well, it's just that you should have kept your last name. That way she would be Sophia Maria Garcia." The room was silent for a moment, before everyone started chuckling and shaking their heads.
"Trish," Stephanie said with a groan, slapping Trish gently upside the head.
"What?" Trish asked innocently, shrugging her shoulders for emphasis.
"Only you."
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End Part 4.3
Next chapter's gonna be a doozy, so stay tuned! Please review now!