At 12 weeks their doctor said he could tell them the sex of the baby. They had looked at each other for a moment, having a silent conversation with their eyes before Piper declined, saying it wouldn't be absolutely certain for a few more weeks anyway.

They had discussed the new baby with Jack and to their surprise and his credit, he was excited. The prospect of being a big brother and having someone to play with all the time instead of just Finn while his mother worked made his blue eyes light up. Occasionally a jealous outburst would occur, making Alex cringe.

She had just walked in the apartment after a long day of work, greeting Piper in the kitchen with a gentle kiss. Her hand stroked her wife's stomach lovingly, a small bump forming.

In her regular clothes the blonde looked slightly bloated, but wearing Alex's shirts like she was now gave her a little extra room and the signs of pregnancy disappeared. Alex didn't know what she loved more, the small bump beginning to form or seeing her wife in her worn Led Zeppelin tee shirt.

You fucking sap.

The thought made her smile against Piper's lips.

Jack had heard the front door open and was now wandering into the kitchen from his bedroom. He wouldn't take a nap earlier and had been whiny all afternoon. Alex was busy working late on payroll and inventory and Piper didn't want to bother her with a distress message via text. There would be a second crying person in her life soon and she needed to be able to handle the madness.

Piper was leaned against the counter, eyes closed and head tipped up, fingers tangled in her wife's dark hair while she kissed her. Alex had her back to the room, pushing Piper against the counter with her close proximity and gentle caresses.

When Jack saw Alex stroking Piper's stomach he started to cry, "I yo' baby, mama."

Alex and Piper sprang apart at the sound of their son's cries.

"What's wrong, kid?"

Alex leaned down, picking Jack up and placing him on the counter next to Piper. His face was scrunched into a scowl and his Chapman temper flared. He pushed himself away from Piper as tears silently rolled down his cheeks.

"Hey!" Alex lifted her glasses on her head, locking eyes with him. She had a stern look on her face and her voice was deep and strict. "Be nice."

The glare fell off his face and he burst into tears again, loudly sobbing.

"Why are you upset?"

Her tone had softened, but remained firm. She knew if she kept the previous inflection he would be inconsolable. If he ever started mischief all she had to do was remove her glasses, glare at him, and lower her voice to make him immediately apologetic. She was relieved his moral compass was intact, afraid her DNA and personality might somehow lead him to a life of danger and crime.

"I sorry, mommy."

Piper wiped the tears off his cheek, "Why are you mad at me?"

Alex was holding him in place on the counter by his knee and she once again began absent-mindedly stroking Piper's stomach while they looked at him. He noticed and his brows once again furrowed. Alex picked up on his scowl and realized what he was upset about.

"Are you mad at Max?"

He shook his head, still glaring at Piper's stomach. Piper and Alex shared a concerned look before Piper addressed him again.

"Why, baby?"

His attention shot to Alex. He looked at her quickly before clinging to her shirt, little hands grabbing fistfuls. His face burrowed into the soft tee shirt and he mumbled against it, "I yo' baby."

She wrapped her left arm behind his back, stroking it gently while her right hand rested in his golden hair.

"You're both my babies," Alex said softly.

He started sobbing again, "No! I no wan' a new baby!"

Piper started to move away, wanting to give them privacy. Only Alex could drag him from his heartbreak when he was inconsolable and the cause of his sadness was inside her, the sibling they were afraid he would grow to resent.

Alex caught her by her wrist and gently pulled her back, "Stay. All of you should hear this." She gently tapped Jack's nose, Piper's nose, then Piper's stomach. "I love all of you very, very, very, very much," she paused briefly to kiss Jack's forehead then Piper's cheek and stomach, "and this is your baby too, Jacky. Max is always gonna be the baby and you're the big boy now. We need to be nice to mommy, she's letting the baby live in there," she pointed to Piper's stomach while Jack giggled, "and we have to be nice to the baby. It's tiny," she held her hands up to demonstrate the size.

"Do you want to see it tomorrow?" Piper offered.

Their next check-up was in the morning.

Jack sniffled, "I get a picture?"

Alex hit the home button on her phone and a picture of the last sonogram lit the display, "A picture like this?"

He nodded his head.

"Yes," Piper told him. "And you can color one tonight."

They had printed several sonogram outlines and let him draw his interpretation, usually resulting in his deliriously excited pleas to see the baby immediately.

Alex leaned close to whisper conspiratorially, "You'll always be my first baby. You have a special place in my heart, okay? Don't be mad at Max."

He burrowed his face back into her shirt. Piper melted looking at them.

He has Alex's heart.

x

"So ladies," the doctor said, "you're at 16 weeks. Care to find out the sex today?"

Alex said Yes and Piper replied No in unison. They looked at each other, confused.

"I thought you said we didn't have to wait this time."

"No, I asked for your opinion and you said you thought you'd be too curious to wait again. That was the end of the conversation."

"Well," the doctor took a piece of paper, writing on it and sticking it in an envelope he then sealed, "how about I give you this," he held the envelope out to them and Alex quickly snatched it away, "and you look when you're ready."

Piper yanked it from Alex's hands when she held the envelope to the light, trying to read the contents.

There was a knock on the door and Nicky entered holding Jack's hand, "The nurse told us to come back."

Alex lifted Jack to her lap to get a better view of the monitor, "Ready to see Max?"

Nicky's eyebrow lifted, "Who's Max?"

They were trying to keep the name and gender a surprise.

"My baby," Jack said, patting Piper's stomach.

"Max Vause?"

Alex turned to glare at Nicky, "Yes."

"Sounds like a fuckin energy drink," Nicky cackled.

Alex punched her in the leg, "We were gonna give it Nicholas or Nicolette for a middle name, but you can say goodbye to that idea."

The doctor flipped the lights off and started the machine. The baby's heartbeat quickly filled the room. He waved the wand a few passes over Piper's stomach before the image popped on the screen.

"And there it is," the doctor said, zeroing in on it.

"Hi, Max."

Alex looked down at her boy. He was leaning forward towards the monitor, grin on his face, waving his hand hello.

"You're a sweet boy," she said, kissing him all over his face and making him giggle.

x

That night after Piper got Jack ready for bed Alex sat in the rocking chair in his room, reading him books before he fell asleep.

"Wild Things," he asked around the thumb in his mouth.

She picked up the worn copy of Where The Wild Things Are, reading it to him again. When she finished he lifted his head up, talking to her with a sleepy voice.

"I wanna say ni'night to Max."

She smiled, "Mommy would like that."

He wiggled his way out of her lap, running to his parent's room. Piper was laying in bed reading her own book. The little stampeding footsteps drew her attention to the door where she saw her son run in followed by her wife walking behind him.

He stopped by the edge of the bed, the top of his eyes peeping over onto Piper's side. She lifted him next to her and he kissed her stomach.

"Ni'night, baby."

He stood up quickly and ran to the edge of the bed, jumping into Alex's arms.

She threw a pillow at Alex, "I hate when you two do that!"

"Sorry, Pipes." Alex laughed, "He's a daredevil like me."

Alex held him upside down and carried him back to Piper so she could give him another goodnight kiss.

"I love you," Piper told him.

"Wuv you too, mommy," Jack said between giggles, his face turning red from hanging upside down.

"Tell Max too," Alex said with a smile on her face, dangling him over Piper's stomach.

He cupped his hands around Piper's belly button, speaking into it like a megaphone, "Wuv you, baby!"

Alex kissed his cheek, then held his hands and stood him on her feet, stomping like a dinosaur back to his room.

x

Once he drifted off she placed him in his crib and made her way back to her room to find Piper asleep as well. She marked the blonde's page and placed her book on the nightstand, turning off the side lamp next to it. She curled up next to Piper and quickly fell asleep.

x

The vivid dream pulled her from her sleep, Piper's voice soothed her pounding heart.

"What was it?"

Alex reached out for her wife in the dark, wrapping her arm around her waist and curling against her back, inhaling the smell of her shampoo.

Her nightmares were usually about prison. In time, the frequency reduced and her fear of the dark disappeared, but when they came they still shook her. Tonight was different.

"My mom."

Piper rolled over so she could be eye to eye with Alex, "Want to talk about it?"

Alex shook her head, "I think I just miss her."

"I do too," Piper said quietly.

"I just wish I had done something sooner. I wouldn't have lost you both," her voice was thick with sleep and sadness.

Piper caressed Alex's face with her fingertips, "There's nothing you could have done for an aneurysm, Al. And as for me," she leaned in to kiss Alex, pausing to finish her thought, lips grazing as she spoke, "I'm right here."

"I lost you for a long time," Alex muttered between kisses.

"I'm right here," Piper said again, moaning into Alex's mouth, their kiss intensifying.

"Paris... Prison... Our fight about the cartel..."

Piper rolled on top of Alex, silencing her with her lips. She kissed her deeply then pulled back briefly, locking her eyes on the green ones in front of her. Even in the dark she could tell they had darkened with lust.

She sat up, straddling Alex's hips and placing Alex's hand on her chest to feel her heart beat, "I'm right here."

Alex stilled and could feel the panic from the dream slowly fading, replaced completely with desire. She let her hands wander, kneading Piper's breasts while keeping their hooded eyes locked.

She slipped her hands under Piper's shirt, lightly feeling up her body. The muscles in Piper's stomach tensed when she felt Alex's cool fingertips against her skin. Her hands travelled further upward before palming Piper's breasts. Her movements were loving but firm.

She sat up, Piper's body pressed against hers. She gently leaned forward, laying Piper on her back.

"I need you," she whispered.

"I'm right here," Piper pulled her down for a kiss, their tongues battling and moans filling the room.

The blonde reached between them, pulling her underwear down and kicking them off with her foot. She took her wife's hand and ran it down her stomach to her wet center. Alex took over then, slipping her fingers between Piper's wet folds.

The sensation made her mouth water and she moved from Piper's lips straight to her pussy, licking it quickly before sucking the clit into her mouth.

x

After making Piper shudder with an orgasm she untangled their limbs, climbing out of bed.

"Where are you going?" Piper mumbled sleepily.

"To get some water. Go back to sleep," she have Piper a brief kiss before walking to their son's room.

She cracked the door and looked in at him sleeping, "I wish you knew him, ma."

She watched him from the doorway, not wanting to walk in and risk disturbing him. Tears started to form in her eyes and her mind was racing again, so she didn't hear Piper walk up behind her.

"I heard you on the monitor," Piper whispered. She touched Alex's shoulder making her jump, then tense.

She had seen Alex like this a few times before. She would have a vivid dream or memory of her mother, good or bad, and be depressed for days. Usually a combination of NA meetings, cuddling with Jack, some alcohol, and sex with Piper could bring her back to normalcy. Piper was tired of seeing her suffering. She didn't want to wait a week to have her wife recover, so she had taken the envelope from her purse when she heard Alex on the monitor.

She leaned into her wife, wrapping her arms around her waist and whispered against her back, "It's a girl."

She could feel Alex's heart rate pick up. She turned around, eyes wide, "What?"

Piper had a small smile on her face, "The baby's a girl."

Alex ran her fingers through her hair and leaned back against the wall next to Jack's door. Piper stood still, letting her process.

She spoke quietly and calmly, her words and voice having a visibly calming effect on her wife, "I'm right here, Al." She put one of Alex's hands on her heart like she did earlier in bed, the other on her stomach, "I'm right here, and we're having a girl... A little baby girl, Al!"

A smile slowly crept onto Alex's lips, she pulled Piper in for a hug and kissed her sweetly, not able to hold back her tears anymore.

"I love you so much," she whispered to the blonde, then broke apart to tangle their fingers together, gently tugging to lead Piper back to their room. "Be my little spoon?"