Chapter 16---I'm finished with this latest chapter. I hope you enjoy it, thanks for reading and the feedback!

C.J. sat in the Brick next day with her breakfast, trying not to think too much about the previous night and about what had almost happened between Matt and her. He hadn't pressed the issue and they had sat by the fire, his arms wrapped around her body and it had felt nice. Still, she knew she had made the right decision although it hadn't been easy to put the brakes on herself as well as him.

Shelli dropped another plate of eggs decorated with sprigs of what looked like parsley in front of her.

"A gift from Adam," the waitress said simply.

C.J. looked at the plate and thought, they certainly smell sumptuous so she picked up her fork and took a bite. The eggs melted in her mouth like a dream and she closed her eyes in approval. Ever since the town folk had discovered her pregnancy, they had kept her well fed. Her pants today felt tight and she couldn't be sure if it were from the pregnancy or the pounds that had returned to her frame from eating all this delicious food. She sipped her orange juice and settled in to finish her eggs…after she ate the last few bites of her cinnamon French toast.

Joel stopped by, trying to unravel his thick winter parka from his body and place it on a chair near an adjacent table.

"It's great to see you eating so well," he said, nodding approvingly, "You were a bit thin when you first arrived."

"I've had more reason to eat," she said, "and who could say no to all this delicious food?"

Joel examined her eggs more closely.

"Adam might be a borderline psychotic misanthrope but he is a culinary whiz."

C.J. smiled.

"He's been very sweet to me."

Joel harrumphed.

"Well trust me," he said, "that's very unusual behavior from Adam. Enjoy it while it lasts."

"He told me that you were unreasonable to him when he brought you as a guest into his house," C.J. said, between bites.

Joel's eyes shot up.

"He had me chained to a table," he said, "until I did what he want or tried to but there's no pleasing that psycho."

C.J. shrugged and kept eating.

"You feeling okay otherwise," he asked.

She looked up at him again and nodded.

"I think the nausea's gone," she said, "and I'm starting to feel more energized."

"Well you're getting closer to your second trimester," Joel said, "and the body's usually on a more even keel then even when the changes are more visible."

C.J. nodded, knowing what he was broaching.

"I haven't told him," she said, "and I plan to way before he can figure it out on his own by looking at me."

"That's up to you how you tell him," Joel advised, "but he seems to be very concerned about you and your health."

"I know," she said, "I almost told him at dinner last night."

Joel nodded.

"I heard about that…on the grapevine," he said, "You know just because you're pregnant doesn't mean that you…he can't…"

Her face flushed.

"Excuse me?"

He saw her expression and became a bit flustered.

"I mean I'm speaking as your doctor of course," he said, "and in fact, during the middle trimester, some women report a heightened libido due to hormone fluctuations."

She blew a tendril of hair out of her face.

"Thanks for telling me," she said, "I'll keep that in mind."

Joel continued on with his medical observations.

"In fact, often the father of the child feels especially…"

She held up her hands finally.

"I'm not going to discuss whether I…he…my sex life with you unless I have any questions."

"That's perfectly fine," Joel said, "You know where to reach me if you do…and by the way, your ultrasound is on schedule in a couple of days."

She smiled.

"I can't wait."

Matt got up early and prepared for the new day. He had left C.J.'s cabin when her eyes had begun to flutter and he knew soon she would drift off to sleep. While lying with his arms wrapped around her and his libido on ice. Still, Matt had never been one to push the issue with a woman and always respected her boundaries no matter how difficult it felt at the time. Like the time that the two of them had been in Utah defending an amoral two-bit criminal on multiple murder charges. After C.J.'s first motel room had been torched by a vigilante group of men and women bearing Molotov cocktails, she had moved her things into the room that he had paid for when he arrived after driving all night from L.A. He had arrived early and had crashed on the only bed in the small room and had dreamed that she had been there with him. Of course, when he woke up several hours later, she had been dressed and ready to go visit her client and had been writing up a list of questions to ask him. She had turned to ask him if he had felt more rested from his nap and his face flushed, while he struggled to find the words to answer her rather simple question. He had chalked up his rather vivid dreaming about his best friend to them working together in close quarters.

"Excuse me," a voice said, jarring Matt from his chain of thought.

Ed joined him as they both walked down Cicely's main thoroughfare to the Brick to grab some breakfast and for Ed to meet up with C.J. Matt knew she would be there eating already and wondered how he would approach her. After last night…when she had felt like heaven in his arms, stroking his hair and his own hands caressing her bare skin.

"What…"

Ed didn't notice how flustered he had sounded but continued talking.

"Maurice wants to move up the premiere of my movie."

"Earlier or later?"

"Earlier…he wants to tie it in with the arrival of the tourists to see the Northern Lights."

Matt had seen the natural phenomenon before on his travels and the marvelous mosaic of lights dancing against the sky never failed to captivate him. He had heard rumors since he arrived in Cicely of a legend tied in with the celebration of the Northern Lights.

Ed read his mind in that way of knowing what most people were thinking.

"Oh every year couples come from all over the world to Cicely to ask for a blessing from the Northern Lights to give them a child."

"Does it work?"

Ed nodded.

"I think every couple that's visited Cicely during that time has had children," he said, "Many of them send photos to Ruth Ann who keeps them in scrapbooks."

Matt thought about that.

"What if you're already having a child?"

Ed thought about it, his brow knit in concentration.

"Then that child will grow up healthy and strong."

Matt nodded, believing that sounded nice but also knowing he had his work cut out for him.

"Your dinner went well last night," Ed said, nodding.

That caught Matt off guard.

"Yes it did," he said, "The venison tasted great…"

"She will open her heart to you when she's ready."

Matt raised his brows but Ed had switched to other topics.

"I'm going to tell Maurice that my movie's going to be finished when it's done," Ed said, nodding, "Yes that's what I'm going to do."

C.J. had finished her eggs after Joel had left to return to his office where patients waited and she prepared to leave with Ed after he finished his own breakfast. She smoothed her long blue sweater over her pants and sat back to relax some more when she saw Matt enter the building with Ed. They saw her and walked over to join her at the table.

Maggie saw them both as well and joined them. She looked dressed to take the plane out for a spin that day.

"I thought I'd get a meal in me before I take the hunters and drop them off at Elk's Grove."

Ed nodded.

"It's prime hunting season right now."

Maggie smiled.

"It's a great time to earn some extra cash to pay for a new transponder."

"Can't fly too far without one of those," Matt said.

"How did your dinner go last night," Maggie asked.

Matt and C.J. looked at each other.

"The venison was delicious," they both said simultaneously.

Maggie looked pleased.

"That was great deer hunting," she said, "I miss it. Of course, my mother doesn't approve of my engaging in masculine pursuits but then she's never happy with what I've chosen to do with my life…but it's my life after all…"

C.J. listened to her wondering what life had been like if her parents had been there to play a more active role in it. If they had been there to even know they were soon to be grandparents. Matt glanced over at her as he knew discussions about parents brought up some sadness even though she didn't show it.

"When I have children…"

C.J. bumped her glass and spilled her juice. She jumped out of her seat to clean it up, but Ed reached for some napkins and blotted up the spill. Shelli whizzed on by to get her a fresh glass, saying it was no trouble at all. Maggie looked at the two of them quizzically.

"You'll be aware of that soon enough…"

Matt looked at her, his brows furrowing.

"What do you mean?"

Maggie covered for herself.

"I mean all couples want to have children someday…"

Matt certainly did and he knew he had picked out the right women to be their mother. When the time was right and he had convinced her that he was there beside her for good, he would broach their future with her. That future included plenty of children to fill a house and spending his life with her raising the into adulthood. He knew that C.J. would make a great mother, even though she hadn't really known her own.

C.J. looked at him looking at her and wondered what he was thinking. Did he suspect after Maggie's near slip? She realized again that if he didn't know, he soon would if he stuck around long enough. It had been more difficult to snap her pants and she knew she had more on top than she had before she got pregnant. Men usually noticed those details, didn't they? But then Matt hadn't gotten quite close enough to her last night to come to that conclusion.

Matt left the table to go make a quick phone call and Ed went to talk to Hollings by the bar. Maggie sipped the juice that Shelli had brought her and studied C.J.

"You are going to have to tell him," she said, "because one morning, you'll blow up like a balloon and he'll figure it out on his own."

"I'm going to do it," C.J. said, "I nearly did last night when we were eating dinner but then things heated up a little bit in the kitchen."

Maggie nodded.

"Ah yes, being with a guy in the kitchen does it for me too," she said, "Something about washing dishes together side by side, hips brushing against each other, inhaling each other's pheromones and next thing I know I just want to run my hands all over them before I jump them."

C.J. listened to that and thought it sounded somewhat familiar.

"It just happened," she said, "though I started it…and I stopped it."

Maggie tilted her head.

"We women usually do," she said, "like we're supposed to have all the self-control."

"I didn't want to," C.J. admitted, "but I couldn't go further without telling him about the baby."

"It's hard to control myself sometimes," Maggie said, thoughtfully, "That time with Joel in the barn…temporary insanity that I hope never rears its head again."

"You want to talk about temporary insanity…"

Both C.J. and Maggie looked up as Shelli, her hand on her huge abdomen sank in a chair at the table.

"What is it," Maggie asked, "Hollings driving you crazy again?"

Shelli shook her head.

"I'm driving myself crazy," she said, "I was looking at patterns for the nursery which isn't finished yet and I couldn't decide."

Maggie shrugged.

"Who needs a nursery," she said, "The baby won't care how fancy its room looks and if you take the minimalist approach, you could save a ton on therapy bills later on?"

"Huh?"

Maggie sighed.

"Never mind."

Shelli looked at C.J.

"What about you," she asked, "are you going full blown with the nursery?"

"I'm still trying to figure out how to tell Houston that I'm pregnant."

Maggie nodded.

"They were getting it on in the kitchen last night and she couldn't go through with it."

Shelli sighed.

"I felt that way with Hollings but I bit the bullet anyway," she said, "and I felt much better when I told him."

"Do you think Matt's going to be freaked out by the news," Maggie asked, "because I think he'd go the other extreme."

C.J. looked at her hands.

"I think he'll be thrilled," she said, "He loves kids but will he then take off again and leave us?"

"I don't think so," Shelli said, "I mean the guy's here in Cicely right now trying to win you back."

"He's here trying to prove he's there for me," C.J. agreed, "but that night…he said all the right things and then he was gone."

"You know that wasn't the way he wanted it," Maggie said, "I mean when my boyfriends leave me, it's because they died but he seems like he's really committed to you in a way that defeats death and that's got to be pretty rare."

Shelli nodded.

"Hollings held off death because everyone in his family did," she said, "but if he came back to life and stood right in front of me, I'd pee in my pants."

She then smiled ruefully.

"Excuse me, I'll be right back."

C.J. watched her go and considered what Maggie had said. She knew in her heart that Matt would never leave her or their baby in the lurch but how would he feel even as he kept that promise? Would it chafe at him, to have him stuck to her side while the excitement and unpredictable nature of the life he loved called to him?]

She didn't really think she wanted to find out.

Matt listened to Uncle Roy give him a briefing on what had been happening with both of his businesses in L.A. while he had been up here in Cicely. His uncle had reassured him that there was no reason to be concerned and that he could remain up in Alaska as long as he needed to be there. Matt told his uncle he didn't know how long that would be, how long it would take him to convince C.J. that he was there with her to stay. No matter what the future held for them.

"She needs to keep hearing that," Roy told him, "She took your death much harder than she ever took anything. I thought she had died inside."

Matt ran his hand through his hair listening to his uncle.

"But then she decided one day that she had to return to the world of the living and keep on going with her own life," Roy said, "and she's done just that."

"What made her make that decision?"

Roy remained silent for a while as Matt awaited his answer.

"She'll have to give you her reasons Matlock," he said finally, "and you'll have to respect them."

That sounded a bit cryptic, Matt thought, listening to his uncle's advice but he didn't push him further. He knew what answers existed, he would just have to learn on his own. He knew that she loved him, she had told him both the night she bled from that shoulder wound that threatened to drain the life right out of her and after they had made love before he had left her. His response to her declarations both time had been pathetic. Something he intended to remedy beginning right now as he headed back to their table.