Hey there, welcome, welcome... you made it to fluff land! Second last chapter here. I'll be sad to see this finished but I've also nearly finished another little ficlet which will be posted after the final chapter. Please let me know what you think, it feeds my muse :)

oxoxoxoxo

Waking up with your wife's protective hand across your tummy was one of the most amazing feelings in the world. Sure, she had a lot of "best feelings in the world" but this didn't mean that she couldn't add to the collection. Leena stirred and wriggled back, smiling at the open mouthed kisses being delivered to her back.

"Time to wake up," Claudia husked, moving her hand lower with a lecherous grin until Leena's eyes snapped open.

"I'm awake."

Claudia chuckled and rolled her over, pecking Leena's lips before she sat up. "Ugh, that was amazing."

Leena stretched and yawned. The yawn turned into a happy smile and she tussled her hair slightly to neaten it.

"It was. Same again tonight?" the innkeeper grinned.

"You betcha." Claudia chortled as she began to get dressed. "So Pete has to find a school for Daniel? Or…"

"Or what?" Leena frowned and peeled her bra off the floor before putting it on gingerly. Her nipples were so sensitive from both the pregnancy and last night that she felt slightly light-headed.

"Or…" Claudia moved from one foot to the other. "Or you could home-school him."

Leena's head whipped round and she stared at her wife with an open mouth. "Are you crazy?" Claudia shrugged. "You know what home-schooling does? It isolates a child. I know, I was one."

"So was I," Claudia murmured and waited for Leena to tie her slacks before she took hold of the waistband and pulled her over and wrapped her arms around her waist. "It's tough, I know… but you think putting him in a school for ten months is going to be any less damaging? He'll be making friends, and then he has to leave. Or he'll get bullied and he'll wanna leave all together." She wrapped her arms around Leena's shoulders. "It's sucky. Both have pros and cons."

"Claudia…"

Claudia pressed her body flush against the innkeeper's. "I'm just saying what I think is a good idea."

"He needs to socialize," Leena protested. She wasn't a teacher. She couldn't be a teacher - no freaking way.

"He can socialize when you take him to the playground. He can experience all the mean kids… The nice kids, make friends…"

"And he can do that at school," Leena shook her head. "No, I'm not doing it. You can't make me do something like that and put all this pressure on me-"

"Hey, hey," Claudia soothed with a chuckle and pecked her forehead. "Shh…" She murmured. "I didn't say you have to do anything you don't want to. All I'm saying is it could have been an option." She frowned at the hands clutching at her back and rubbed Leena's shoulder again. "Shh, I won't make you do anything." She felt a huff against her right shoulder. "You're really that spooked about homeschooling…"

"I think a boy like Daniel will do better in a school environment. He's a loner kid, he'll be even worse if we keep it that way."

Claudia nodded and rubbed her cheek with a thumb. "Like I said, just a suggestion." She leaned forward and gave the innkeeper a sultry kiss. "Come on, B&B, shower, breakfast…chill."

"In that order?" Leena sniffed and gave a smile.

"Yeah," Claudia grinned. "Unless you want a chilly shower. I won't judge." She waggled her eyebrows, chuckling at the gentle smack to her ass, then spent a good few more moments enjoying the feeling of Leena pressed up against her. "I'm sorry."

Leena squinted her eyes. "No more apologizing, please."

"Okay…" Claudia sighed. "But I really am." And with that, she moved away and got her jacket.

For the next few days, things remained happy. Contented. The Warehouse was quiet and it seemed like the Caretaker's good mood meant less artifact disturbances.

Leena's morning sickness disappeared after a few weeks and the woman was so bubbly, people (mainly Artie) were starting to get sick of it.

After entering the B&B after a hard day at work, Claudia had come home one day to find Leena lying on the couch, her blouse rolled up passed her ribs, Lil wedged in between her body and the back cushion, and Daniel sat cross-legged in between the innkeeper's. "I'm not even gonna ask," she smirked, an eyebrow raising as high as it could go.

Daniel grinned and patted at the woman's belly again, prodding slowly and watching as Leena did the same.

"I can feel her." Leena murmured with a wide smile.

"You can?" Claudia dropped her bag on the floor and approached the couch hastily.

"Mm…" Leena shifted up the couch to make way for her wife and watched as the redhead tossed Daniel up in the air before sitting down with him in her arms. He giggled wildly and plopped down in her lap. "The kids were helping me feel her." She said, looking up at Claudia who was transfixed by her belly. The bump was pretty visible now; a smooth slope. Usually nobody could see it due to Leena's choice of clothing but now, Leena wore a tight fitting blouse, almost as if to show it off. Claudia placed her hand against the soft skin and smiled as Leena developed a faraway look on her face as she concentrated. Suddenly she chuckled and nodded. "There it is again." The agent leaned forward to give her jubilant wife a kiss, then looked down at the young boy in her arms before glancing at Lil.

"What's wrong with Little Miss Grumpy?" She twitched her head to gesture over to the baby who had a stormy look in her eyes, chewing on her small fingers.

Leena rolled her eyes. "She's in one of those 'I don't trust anybody who isn't my mommy' moods."

"She was crying before," Daniel helpfully supplied, snuggling back in Claudia's arms as if to prove that he was being the good one.

"Oh she was, was she?" Claudia smiled down at him. "Did you help stop the noise?" Daniel nodded proudly. "Good boy."

Leena shook her head and stroked Lil's head with a finger. The poor child had had such a bad time with teething, the medicine cabinet in the downstairs bathroom was now full of only Calgel, teething rings and baby Tylenol. Tomorrow, it would be Lil's first birthday, and each adult in the B&B felt desperately sorry for the youngest Bering-Wells member and the pain she was going through. Lil felt the stroking to her head and looked up at the innkeeper. Her lips had begun to quiver and she held up her arms sadly. "Oh sweetie, come here." Leena patted her chest and watched as Lil crawled up her body before flopping down on her little safe patch of human. Leena glanced at Claudia and thinned her lips, trying not to smile at the sorry little whimpers against her chest. "Awww, it's okay."

"It's so bad, I kinda just wanna give her our present already." Claudia sighed, letting Daniel escape to go and play with his Lego.

"She'll be okay," Leena whispered. "They back soon?"

"Yeah," Claudia replied. "Getting the decorations from town. Myka texted me a photo of the cake," she laughed and turned her phone towards her wife. The picture showed a large white box housing a cake shaped like a cow, with black patches of icing that spelled out 'Lillian'. Leena laughed heartily and continued to rub the child's back. For a baby, Lillian was pretty darn obsessed with cows. She had a cow onesie, a cow teddy that she refused to sleep without and every freaking animal that she saw on the television was instantly named "cowwww". Besides "Mama", the only other words Lillian Bering-Wells could say were "No," and of course her beloved bovine.

"Awesome." Leena smiled. She pulled away from the baby hug and let Lil sit up. She wiped the baby's cheeks with her thumb and sighed. "At least her temperature's going down."

"Was she bad?" Claudia asked.

"Screaming." her wife replied. "Danny did a good job though," she smiled and watched Claudia hold her arms out. Lil wobbled as she stood up and toddled over to Claudia, bashing into her belly.

"Oooff, hello McQueen. How's it going?" She gave a quirky grin and lifted her up. "Want me to get dinner started?"

"Sure." Leena sat up the rest of the way and held out a hand. "Wait though…"

"What is it?" Claudia looked around.

Leena tutted and pulled her by the chin, pressing her lips tightly against Claudia's. "Just wanted to say hi."

"Oooooooooh," Claudia whispered with a smirk. "I think I'm getting lucky tonight, Lil."

"Shh!" Leena covered her eyes. "No you're not." She peeked through her fingers.

"Shhhh!" Lil parroted, pressing her finger to her lips, dark infantile eyes gleaming cheekily. Leena threw up her hands and stood up.

"I'll cook." She said with a roll of the eyes. "You seem to be doing a good job corrupting our goddaughter." Claudia giggled back and threw the baby in the air, watching her giggle. Daniel, of course, suddenly got jealous and asked for Claudia to do the same to him. Before she knew it, she was performing some kind of Circ du Soleil tribute act on the rug. At least this was better than paying for a gym membership.

Lil actually had an amazing first birthday. The pain in her gums had eased and she enjoyed her birthday cake immensely, actually squealing in delight when it was revealed. The day was incredibly happy, and the Warehouse family found themselves taking photos on a day they'd look back on fondly.

Having gotten away with her pregnancy being barely noticeable, at 22 weeks, Leena felt the change. It was harder to stand up after sitting, her feet hurt and boy was she getting big. The fluttering that she'd started to feel around Lil's first birthday were now fully fledged kicks. She swore that she was smiling in her sleep when she felt the strange sensations. Claudia, on the other hand, was getting beyond frustrated. Every time she put her hand on her wife's belly, the baby would stop moving and almost go into hiding. What upset her most was that Helena had been the first to feel the baby. It was Claudia's child. She should have been the one to feel her first.

"HOLY CRAP!"

Leena jumped awake at the scream and sat up with wide, bleary eyes. She turned to see Claudia who had a magical smile on her face, her mouth agape.

"What the hell, Claud?" She winced and rubbed at her face, sitting up slowly.

"I felt her," Claudia whispered, tears springing to her eyes, pulling her hand from under the woman's shirt.

"You gave her the freaking hiccups is what you did." Leena huffed but lay on her back, knowing that any second Claudia would want to press her head against her abdomen to try and feel more. "Here…" She scooted up the bed and pulled Claudia close. She clutched her chest. "God, you scared me."

"Sorry," Claudia grinned sheepishly and wiped a few tears away from her cheeks. She sniffled and pressed her ear against the soft skin, rolling up Leena's maternity sleeping t-shirt. That was something she was still trying to get used to… these crazy clothes that catered for big bellies.

Leena's fingers immediately tangled in Claudia's hair and she watched the redhead close her eyes blissfully. The dark almond eyes snapped open when she felt the said hiccups. "Oops…" the caretaker grinned, feigning shame.

"Doesn't matter," Leena smiled, rubbing her thumb against Claudia's forehead, tracing each eyebrow and each small wrinkle. She was more relieved than anything, finally glad that there would be no more whining about their child hiding from her wife.

"Oh this is just so adorable," Claudia sighed, rubbing more tears away from her face. "And kinda creepy." She opened her eyes and watched Leena become drowsy. She squinted and peered at the clock on the nightstand, gritting her teeth when she realized it was 4am. "Oops," she whispered again but Leena was pretty much asleep to even acknowledge it. Claudia continued to feel the kicks and the tiny, rhythmic hiccups against her ear and began to murmur to her daughter quietly, telling her the story of a lonely innkeeper being saved by a geeky caretaker and how if it would be Oscar-worthy had it been adapted into a film and so on and so forth, etc, etc. She talked until she too fell asleep, along with her unborn baby. For the first time, before she nodded off, Claudia acknowledged that there was indeed three people sharing the Warehouse bed that night and the many more nights to come.

By the time Leena hit 7 months, the Warehouse team had managed to get a perfect system going. Leena had moved back into the inn, finding the steps to the umbilicus far too hard. Daniel had said he wanted to go to school soon after he had moved to South Dakota, and was transfered to Univille Elementary pretty swiftly after his arrival. He was so comfortable with his surroundings and the people of the B&B that he didn't bat an eyelid when Pete told him that he had to stay over at the Warehouse at nights. As long as his daddy tucked him in bed every night, or "Grandpa Artie" (the nickname of course caused the old man to bumble and grump in embarrassment) then he was perfectly happy. He loved school, and he'd made friends, and though Pete continued to warn him that it wouldn't be like this forever, the small boy let himself daydream about how cool it would be for him to stay in South Dakota.

Each morning after breakfast, Myka and Helena would drive him to school, and then take Lil to day care. They would then all meet Pete and Steve at the Warehouse and discuss the day's work. If a ping came up, Leena and either Myka, Pete or Helena would stay back and help with the school rounds.

It was perfect.

Well almost… Claudia was so close to dropping her grocery bag when she saw an old dark skinned man sat on the couch after coming home from her weekly shop. Her couch. He stood up shakily, mostly because of his age and extended a hand. "You must be Claudia," he smiled steadily at her.

She froze and looked down at the wrinkled hand, then at her shopping. Leena emerged from the dining room with two cups of tea and after seeing the scene unfold, raised her eyes calmly to Claudia's face.

Glancing at her wife, Claudia snapped out of her little funk and put the bag down before she took the man's clammy hand. "Nice to meet you. I guess you're Tim."

"I am," he grinned.

Claudia nodded and looked down at the shopping at her feet. "I uhh… I need to put these away. Be back in a minute?"

"Of course," Tim chirped. Claudia dashed out of the room with her groceries and placed them on the counter, rifling a hand through her hair. She braced herself against the sink and held a breath before releasing it slowly. When all the frozen goods were put away, she took a few more calming breaths and re-entered the living room, hoping to whatever was holy and fabulous up there that this would go okay.

Leena glanced at her and mouthed in concern, asking if she was okay. Claudia nodded and sat down opposite the man at the table. The innkeeper chuckled, relieved, and toddled over to the redhead, placing both hands on her shoulders as she stood behind her. She whispered gently. "He just came round to say hi. Don't freak." She pecked her on the top of the head causing the agent to blush and squirm in her seat.

"I'm sorry," Claudia apologized as Leena sat next to her. She looked up at the man. "I'm still trying to get my head around this."

He waved it off. "It's fine," he smiled and took a sip of his tea. "Leena was just telling me about how you've been writing songs for the baby?"

She groaned, knowing a darker blush was inevitable. "Yeah… kinda." she scrubbed at her face, trying to get rid of the grin that was threatening. "I usually play some tunes, puts her to sleep." She finally smiled and noticed his face brighten. She looked down to see Leena's hand on her thigh and kept her grin, sinking down slightly in her seat as she relaxed. They chatted for a long time, and Claudia had to admit that this guy was pretty damn funny. He was kind. She noticed a hint of sadness in his expressions as they talked about the impending birth and felt her heart clench again at the idea of him losing a child. With her wife. Totally and completely fucking weird.

"I remember when my Jessica was a baby," he spoke grandly, causing Claudia's eyes to widen. Leena merely smiled. "She wouldn't sleep unless we played The Carpenters on the stereo."

Claudia let out a cautious smile. So he had moved on… and had a family. Leena was right, it seemed. She had nothing to worry about, and the only reason she should have been jealous was because he was there when Leena went through hell. That they'd been through hell together. Claudia looked down at the rubbing to her knee and smiled. Then again, so had she. She'd been through so much with the innkeeper. So freaking much. MacPherson. Sykes. The deaths. Melissa… She plopped her head on Leena's shoulder, glad of the closeness of their chairs and let out a breath. "The Carpenters? Really?" she smirked.

"Oh I know," Tim shook his head. "Hated them… darn child screamed and screamed until either I sung Top of the World or kept the stereo on."

"How old is she?" Claudia asked fondly.

He grinned and pulled his old weathered wallet out of his pocket. "24. And here's the lil'un. Her son, Max." He handed the photo over with his ever shaky hand and Claudia wrinkled her nose at the cute. Sure, it was kind of weird that Leena was only biologically a few years older than Tim's daughter, but it seemed that both parties had gotten passed their history and now had an unbreakable relationship.

"Dude, so Mrs. Frederic is totally a great-grandma, huh?"

"Yes," Leena chuckled. She winced slightly and placed a comforting hand on her belly, closing her eyes when the baby finally stopped spinning around and after a little stretch, apparently curled back up to go to sleep. She'd never get over that feeling. It was incredible, and somehow felt as if her abdomen wasn't even hers anymore, but something stuck onto her body to house this tiny human. Eventually after a few hours of chatting, Tim grew tired and he stood up slowly, grabbing his cane.

"Girls, it has sure been a pleasure, but I'm afraid I have to go home." He enveloped Leena in a tight hug and placed his hand on her tummy. "You look after your Momma, little one. We got a deal?" He smiled and turned to Claudia, opening his arms. She glanced at Leena who ushered her with her hand. Walking closer she wrapped her arms around him and almost passed out when he gave her a huge squeeze. "And you, thank you for looking after my girl and loving her the way you do."

"Easiest job in the world," Claudia sniffed slightly, trying to keep herself from getting too emotional.

"It's my 70th birthday next Friday. You have to come." He gave an enigmatic smile to both women, and pottered out of the room to let himself out.

"Wh- does he drive by himself?" Claudia whispered to her wife.

Leena laughed and shook her head, placing herself behind the woman and wrapping her arms around her middle, keeping her close. They both shuffled to the front door where Tim got into the back of a dark Mercedes. "Oh…"

"Yep." Leena smiled, nuzzling at the back of Claudia's neck.

"Should have known… He's a Frederic."

Leena's smile was huge and she leaned in a little further to kiss Claudia's cheek, belly be damned. "You're getting lucky tonight." she husked in Claudia's ear.

Claudia squealed and clapped her hands. The old man in the car mistook it for a wave and waved back. Giggling, the couple finally mirrored the gesture. "I see it, you know?" Claudia began, "I see why you liked him." she waved to the charming old man.

"Funny," Leena smiled as the car sped off and they were left swaying in the porch. "He thinks the same about you." Claudia's eyebrows rose and she spun round in her wife's arms, hands reaching up to lock behind the innkeeper's neck. She played with the curls at Leena's nape and quirked a grin.

"Yeah?"

Leena brushed her nose against Claudia's. "Yep."

"I love you," Claudia sighed, pressing her face against Leena's chest. "I'm sorry I nearly bolted earlier."

Leena shrugged nonchalantly. "It's cool. I should have told you he was coming. Didn't expect you back so early."

They were silent for a while, holding each other, paying attention to the tiny movements of their child wriggling around to get comfy. "Hey Leen?"

"Hmm?" Leena's eyes opened and she stopped rubbing Claudia's back. She may have fallen asleep for about twenty seconds.

"Does 'tonight' strictly mean tonight? Or can it mean now?" Claudia looked up with a smirk and that smirk turned into a fully fledged beam when Leena wordlessly took the her hand and slowly led her up the stairs with a determined sway of the hips. Now. Claudia bit her lip as her fingers tangled with Leena's. I guess that means now.

tbc