(35/40 Weeks)

The day was beatiful and crisp. Fall had set in and the leaves had turned. Reds and golds and orange. Splashes of color that satisfied something in my soul. Gary and I were walking together on a trail that ran through lightly forested parts of the Estate. I was trying to keep myself active, despite my huge stomach.

Scattered along the trail you could find benches. We had decided to sit down and take a short rest. I breathed in the chilled air and closed my eyes, listening to birds chirping and the wind rushing through the leaves, and taking in everything that I loved about autumn.

The weeks we had lived through since the night we had sex had been truly... wonderful. The stress I had been under since becoming pregnant was gone. And Gary was making sure to keep me relaxed and taken care of.

I was a fool for not being on edge.

He sat beside me, quiet, taking in the scenery. The cold made his cheeks and nose a bit rosy and something about the scenery made his hazel eyes seem almost silver. It was otherwordly and my breath stilled as I took in the sight of him.

He was lounged against the back of the bench with his arms thrown across the top and his legs were kicked out in front of him. The wind had tussled his usually tidy hair and I felt my lips quirk up as I went back to looking at the scenery.

We sat there in silence for about twenty minutes, only concerned with our own thoughts, before he turned to me.

"Shoud we start heading back?" He asked, slightly tilting his head as he regarded me with his half smile.

"Yeah. I think we've gotten enough fresh air for today. Besides, I've got to start dinner."

"I'll make dinner." He offered. "I figured I could just make that frozen lasagna that we have."

"Are you going to let me wash the dishes then?" I asked, raising my eyebrows at him in mock sternness.

He pressed his lips to mine in a quick, chaste kiss. "Not a chance."

He hadn't pulled back too far so I grabbed the front of his hoodie and crushed my lips against his again, wanting a hot and steamy kiss.

He obliged me as he pushed his tongue past my lips, making me moan. The noise made him pull back to examine me. I bit my bottom lip in embarrasment as I averted my eyes.

"Was this morning not satisfying enough for you?" Gary asked in amusement.

That made my face go red. "This morning was great. My hormones just don't want to behave." I murmured.

He nuzzeld into my neck. "We'll try to take care of that later. How does that sound?" He asked, his voice taking on that husky tone that sent shivers down my spine.

"That sounds amazing." I whispered.

"Then we had better go back and get dinner ready."

He stood and took my hand to help me stand. "Thanks."

We walked back in silence and at a slower pace than I woiuld have liked but, with my shifted center of gravity, it was as quick as I could manage. "You've been really quiet today." I said, trying to fill the silence.

He didn't turn his head to reply. "Have I?" I watched his lips quirk up.

"It seems like it. Maybe it's just me. I just... if you feel like you need to talk about something, you know you can talk to me."

"I know." He kept his reply short and pressed on, his hands in his hoodie pockets.

I let the distant response slide. He still needed his space just like I did.

Once back at the apartment, I went to Paralee's room. For weeks, I'd been nesting. Doctor Abernathy said it was just my insticts telling me I needed to get ready for the baby. It was normal but it annoyed Gary to no end. Today, I was going to fold clothes while he was preoccupied with making dinner.

As I folded, I spoke out loud. She supposedly could hear me. A fact I liked taking advantage of. "You know we're ready to see you. Everything is ready. I'm so excited to see you. And I think your Daddy is excited too." As I spoke I felt her start giving a series of sharp kicks to my insides. I grimaced, my hand going to my stomach.

"Why do you have to be so mean?" I grumbled, rubbing gently. Her answer was another violent onslought of kicks. I inhaled sharply and fought the urge to double over. It would have done me little good. Instead I made my way over to the rocking chair and sat down, hoping the change in position would make her stop kicking me.

After a few moments of gentle rocking, I gave a relieved sigh because it seemed to have worked. I ran my hands over my stomach as Gary poked his head into the room.

"Dinner is going to take about an hour."

"That's fine." I replied, giving him a small smile.

"Were you rearranging again?" He asked, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"I can't help it. And by the way, your daughter is being mean to me."

He stepped into the room, a warm smile gracing his face. "Is she?" He neared and sank onto his knees before me, his hands caressing my stomach. He lifted my shirt over the swell of my stomach and began pressing kisses against my taunt skin.

"Gary."

He raised his head to look at me and I ran my fingers through his hair. I'm sure I wasn't masking the lust in my eyes very well.

His lips found mine in a searing kiss that quickly turned heated enough to leave me breathless.

Gary pulled back and swallowed thickly. "After dinner. I promise." He spoke in a low tone that made it hard for me to let him put a little distance between us.

"How are your feet?" He asked, making an effort to kill the mood.

I cleared my thoat so I wouldn't sound too breathless. "A little swollen." I admitted. "But not too bad."

His hands traveled down my legs and rested on my ankles. "Do you want me to rub them for you?"

"You don't have to. But it would be nice."

Gary's lips quirked up as he took my right foot into his hands and slowly began to work his fingers into my poor, sore, swollen fee. I let my head loll to the side as the tension and pain in my foot was relieved by the gentle kneading of his hands.

"This good?" Gary asked, his eyes meeting mine. There was a look of apprehension staring at me in a hazel gaze.

"Oh, yes. Definatly yes." I breathed.

A smile spread across his face. "Good, because I honestly have no idea what I'm doing." He admitted.

"It feels amazing so don't worry about it."

He tapered his massage off slowly and started tending to my left foot. And to my embarrasment, I made a noise in my throat that was unmistakabley a moan.

He looked up at me with a smug smile on his face. "That good, huh?"

"Shut it." I smiled back. This was nice. This was how out little family should be. Pleasant. And warm. Loving, even. If Gary or I would stop beating around the bush and actually breach the idea of a real relationship. We still had yet to talk about it, despite the fact we had been having sex for weeks now.

I felt that, given enough time, we could make this work. Somehow. We had finally found a proper balance to the dynamics of our personalities.

The smell of lasagna started wafting into the nursury just as Gary was finishing up with my foot rub.

"I should go check dinner." He stood and pressed his lips to mine in a quick but forceful kiss.

After dinner found us sitting together on the couch for a few hours watching television. I was nuzzled as close to him as I could possibly get, the baby was making me clingy lately. I knew any minute now I'd start feeling exhausted. And I was still feeling eager for a bout between the sheets before actually sleeping.

I placed my hand gently on his knee, rubbing slow circles with my thumb. He looked at me, his eyes questioning as I looked up at him sheepishly.

His lips met mine in a firm, needy manner. His hands cupping my face as he pushed his tongue into my mouth. My tongue darted out to press fiercely against his, fighting for even a hint of dominance. But I quickly allowed him to take control again when I felt the graze of teeth, which also caused me to gasp and clench at his hair. He moaned at the force of my grip and deepened the kiss.

My head was spinning when I pulled back to gasp for breath. And Gary took it as an invitation to go for my neck. His lips working along my collar bone and pulse point soon had me moaning like a shameless whore as my pants got tighter.

He paused in his actions so he could take in the sight of me. His lips were swollen and his face was flushed. I knew I must have been in a similar state.

"Bedroom?" He inquired, tongue darting out to wet his lips.

I nodded as I fought the urge to buck my hips to relieve some of the tension.

He helped me stand and led me down the hallway by my hand. I was practically trembling in anticipation, having wanted this all day. I could not wait to undress him. And I had the overwhelming desire to go down on him, something I had not done yet.

Once in our room, with the door closed to shut out the world, we started to undress each other frantically.

As I fumbled with his jeans, I went down on my knees. I chanced a glance up at him. His lips were slightly parted and his eyes were wide in surprise.

I slowly pulled the hem of his underwear down, feeling my face heat again as his cock sprang free. I glanced up at him again. "I've never-so... if I'm not good-"

He ran his fingers through my hair, his lips quirking up. I took a deep breath as I wetted my lips. And I leaned forward to run my tongue along the underside of his cock, ripping a moan from Gary's vocal chords. I gave a few more quick licks and one slow one before hesitantly taking his cock in hand and squeezing experimentally around the base as I pressed the tip of my tongue against his tip. Salty and bitter. He hissed out as he pressed his hips forward, eager for me to take him into my mouth.

I did as he desired, feeling my face heat up as I slid my lips down his shaft until I felt myself start to fight my gag reflex. Gary was silent but a quick glance up left me feeling the strain in my pants that much more.

His lips were parted and his brows were furrowed in pleasure. His chest heaving with quick breaths and his face flushed. I could help the moan that escaped at the thought.

Gary cursed under his breath as he pushed his hips forward roughly, making my gag. I pulled back, sputtering, saliva dripping down my chin. "Sorry." He whispered, stroking my cheek.

"It's okay." I replied, running the back of my hand across my chin.

He smiled as he helped me from my feet. And then his hands started roaming my body, his light touch making me tremble. He was getting me closer to the bed with every second that passed.

Feeling him as he pushed in, hearing his shallow pants as he thrusted into me. His frantic whispers, heated word. The absolutly wonderous feeling as I spilled onto his stomach. The gentle kisses he pressed against my face as we drifted off to sleep together.

For what?

The next morning he was gone. The only proof he had ever been there the feeling of dried cum between my legs and a note. Words so brief it was barely a message.

I'm sorry. I just can't do this. No matter what seems to happen, no matter how much I want to stay, this is never going to work. I'm never going to be the Dad she deserves.

Forgive me. -G

I was a wreck as I called my mother, sobbing into the phone as I kept my hand pressed against my stomach. Somewhere along the line, somehow, I'd actually fallen for Gary fucking Smith. I often wonder now how much of that was my real feelings and how much of it was the effect of the connection. This force, tying me to him. It makes me think of the invisible string, the heart string, the concept of soul mates. Is any of it real?

And if it is, why? Why did it have to be him?

Is this really how it ends?

-End Chapter 13-

Okay, one more chapter after this. To finish it up, answer a few questions. It'll be short though. About the length of this one? This ended up shorter than I wanted.

Also! If you guys have Facebook, I'd like to offer a very formal invitation to a group a friend and I made for all fangirls, of everything, ever. I'll be posting news about my fics on there, if we get any takers. It's a relatively new group callled The Fangirl Fix. So, by all means, join us. We have cookies.

Now that the shameless self promotion is out of the way, after the last chapter of this I'll be posting a Sherlock fanfic for a friend. Shouldn't be too long. Then, I'll start the sequel to this. And like I said above, to hear news about all that, theres a group. XD Sorry, I'll stop now.