A/N: Sorry it has taken me so long to update, I can't blame anyone but myself. Writer's block kept me from this story for far too long, but thanks to watching reruns on Tv, I've gotten my inspiration back. I know my time line is slightly different from the shows but I needed to change a few things for this story to work right. I know, this chapter is short, but it picks up right where I left off, so please enjoy.

Chapter Nine

Ruthie sighed as she turned the corner into the hallway that lead to Mary's apartment. The door was, for the second time that week, covered with chocolate "poop" and laying at the foot of the door were the "dirty" diapers that the building teenagers had thrown at the door.

Sighing again, Ruthie closed the distance between herself and the door, unlocked it, and entered the apartment to deposit her purse and shawl and retrieve the trash can, paper towels, and cleaning supplies she'd need to clean up mess. Just as she was making her way to the still opened door, Martin appeared in the doorway.

"Ruthie," he began, concern obvious in his voice, "what happened here? Who did this?"

"It's kinda obvious what happened here, isn't it Martin?" She responded, looking ad sounding as tired as she felt, as she moved to clean up the mess. "Someone, probably a couple of teens who live in the building, throw chocolate filled diapers at the door once or twice a week. Always when both Mary and I are not home. Mary's complained to the super several times, but there's never any witnesses and he can't afford to install security cameras just because one apartment keeps getting pranked."

"That doesn't make it right, Ruthie. You shouldn't have to deal with all this, especially not on your own." Martin took the paper towels and cleaning supplies from were Ruthie had set them down as she picked up the wasted diapers. "You should go sit," he was worried by how tired she looked and didn't want her to push herself. He hadn't been around Sandy much while she was pregnant with Aaron and Lucy was already on bed rest by the time she'd gotten as big as Ruthie currently was so he had no idea if Ruthie's tiredness was due to the pregnancy. "I got this," he added when she gave him a questionable look.

Shaking her head and sighing she turned first toward the small kitchen and headed toward the fridge. Grabbing to bottles of water she headed toward the sofa and set one of the two bottles on the coffee table before sitting and opening her own bottle and taking a sip, waiting for Martin to finish cleaning the mess he had insisted on cleaning for her.

Martin studied the door, Making sure no trace of the melted chocolate mess remained on the white door before turning toward Ruthie. He'd followed her back to Mary's apartment from the cafe only a moment after she had disappeared from view and only after turning to glare at the group of teen girls tormenting her, intent on learning more about the baby and try to come up with some sort of plan that would suit both of them. Ruthie had chosen to sit on the couch once again, her feet tucked under and a partial bottle of spring water on the end table beside her, leaving him with an unopened bottle and the decision on where to sit. Moving quickly, he shut the door, grabbed the water, and st on the other end of the couch, leaving one cushion empty between them.

"Tell me about the baby?" he asked her, his voice quiet and calm. "You say you regret not letting me have a say when you found out you were pregnant; that you regret coming here without telling me about the baby, so tell me what I've missed."

"Martin," she replied, he voice weak and full of shock before continuing in a stronger voice. "I'm due in late December. I first felt the baby kick about eight weeks ago. About four weeks ago I found out the sex of the baby and Mary has been helping me get things, like the crib, mattress, sheets, clothing and diapers ever since."

"Boy or girl?" Martin interrupted before she could get any further. Are we having a boy or a girl?"

"A girl," she answered, a smile tugging at her lips. I'd like to name her Jennifer, Jenny for short, after my mom's mom who died when I was little, before the twins were born and then I was thinking Maranda as her middle name, as it's the closet to your name that sounds decent, and of course she'd have your last name."

"Maranda was my mother's name," Martin reveled quietly. "Jennifer 'Jenny' Maranda Brewer. I like it."

"You do?" Ruthie asked him, relief flooding her eyes as he nodded. "I never knew your mom's name was Maranda."

"Yeah," he confirmed, even though she hadn't said it as a question. "I never told anyone that, it's always been my mom whenever I talked about her."

"Well, I'm glad we can honor her memory in this way, and Grandma Jenny's, seems right."

"Yeah it does. What else can you tell me about our daughter?"

And so Ruthie continued to tell Martin everything she could remember about her pregnancy and her time in Chicago. They sat there for the rest of the afternoon and well into the evening, Ruthie only getting up to use the restroom or get the ultrasound photos to show to Martin. Martin made them dinner that night so they could discuss what the plan was for them in the following weeks, Martin knowing only one thing for sure, he wasn't leaving Ruthie for too long before he'd return to help her in any way he could.