One month later...

Skye Penderwick hated January. It was her least favorite month of the year. As she stared out at the dark, snow covered town of Boston, she realized something else. It wasn't just January that had put her in this mood. As much as she hated to admit it, she was lonely.

For the past three and a half weeks, Jeffrey had been in New York, attending a conference at Juilliard. Sure, she was happy for him and sure, he would be home in three days, but she missed him. It was the longest they'd been separated since they got married, and she wasn't used to it.

Sighing, she turned away from the window and looked around at her house. It seemed so big and empty when she was there alone. Just as she was deciding to take a hot tub and go to bed early, her cell phone rang. It was Sarah Snyder.

"Hello?"

"Skye! How are you?"

"Oh, you know. Pretty good." She should have known better than to try and fool Sarah, though.

The other woman went silent for a second. "Are you sure? You sound rather down in the dumps. When does Jeffrey get back?"

"Saturday."

"Three more days to go, girl. You're going to make it!"

"I know that! I'm not completely codependent." There was another pause, and Skye could swear that Sarah was trying not to snicker.

"Well, then. I guess I don't have to ask you to come to dinner, if you're so independent."

Skye blinked. "Dinner?"

"Yes, dinner. You know, where people sit down at a table and eat... Like we do every Wednesday night? Please say you can come. The girls will be very disappointed if you don't. Come to think of it, so will Cooper."

Despite herself, Skye grinned. "Okay, I'll be there. What time?"

"Seven?"

"Sounds good!" She hung up and laughed. Maybe this was just what she needed.

"Auntie Skye!" Two year old Skye Snyder was bouncing up and down and tugging on the blonde-haired astrophysicist's leg. The woman in question rolled her eyes.

"Does she have to call me that?"

Cooper laughed. "Well, we have to have some way of distinguishing you two from each other.

"Well, that's your fault, too. I told you not to name her after me! Why don't we just call her Baby Skye?"

The young person didn't like that very much. "Not baby! Not baby! Twins baby!"

Her mother smiled. "You're right, dear. Emma and Juliet are babies. But you're a big girl, aren't you?"

Winking at her friends, Skye bent down and studied the girl closely. "Oh, I don't know... You look pretty little to me..."

"Not little! Not baby!"

"Really?"

"Yeah!"

Laughing, Skye scooped her namesake up and spun her around. The little girl giggle and squealed. She always had a good time when her 'auntie' came to visit. Before too long, however, Sarah was telling them to quite down so that they didn't wake up the twins.

"Alright, off to bed with you!"

Skye looked up at Cooper with wide eyes. "Off to bed with me! I'll have you know that I'm married!"

He rolled his eyes. "Oh, shut up, you idiot. Not you..."

As he carried his daughter upstairs, Sarah and Skye went into the kitchen.

"So, do you miss him?"

"Jeffrey?"

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Of course. Who else? Anyways, do you?"

Skye sighed and nodded. "Yeah. I feel like a such a sap, I'm kind of lonely. I've gotten used to to having him around."

"Yeah, well marriage will do that to you. Have you talked to him much?"

"Just a few times. He hasn't had a spare second. I've been pretty busy, too. I finished my dissertation last night, and sent it to the publisher this morning. It feels so good to have that done."

"Oh, I know. I remember writing mine. The handling of war trials post WWII. In that last month of cramming I got blisters on my fingers from all the typing. How do you think your's turned out?"

"Pretty good. It's easy when you're passionate about your topic."

Cooper pushed the door open and walked into the kitchen. "Dissertations?"

Skye smiled. "Yeah. I just finished mine."

"Congratulations. You can now join the club of dissenters."

Sarah rolled her eyes and grabbed the bowl of salad from the counter. "Lets go eat! Skye, would you grab the soup from the stove?"

As Skye picked up the pot and began to carry it to the table, the smell hit her nostrils. All of the sudden, she felt a funny feeling in the pit of her stomach. It smelled delicious, yet she had just been bit by a wave of nausea. Swallowing hard, she smiled and set the pot down. Sarah dished out the soup and salad.

Skye raised her spoon to her mouth, and just as the hot broth was about to hit her tongue, she gagged. Knowing what was coming, she quickly set down the offending spoon and pushed back her chair, rushing to the nearest bathroom.

She barely made it in time before the contents of her stomach rebelled and relocated. She kneeled there, retching, bracing herself against the white porcelain for what seemed like hours. Somewhere along the line, she was aware of Sarah coming in and pulling her hair back, before kneeling next to her and rubbing her back.

Finally, empty and completely exhausted, she collapsed and rested her forehead on her knees. Sarah handed her a napkin and a glass of water, and began to clean up the mess. Then, she sat down across from her friend.

"Are you alright?"

Skye nodded weakly. "I think so. I don't know what happened. Maybe I have a bug of some sort."

The other woman just raised here eyebrow. "Not bloody likely. I think you're just not telling me something."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, come on, Skye. You know perfectly well what I mean."

"No, I don - Ohh." Skye started to laugh. "No, that's not possible. I'm on birth control." Her friend just looked at her. "Wait, scratch that. I'm not. I ran out about a month and a half ago, and I never refilled the prescription."

"Uh, huh." Sarah smiled at her.

"But I can't be pregnant. I haven't seen Jeffrey for nearly a month and this is the first symptom I've had."

"Have you had any anti-pregnancy symptoms?"

"You mean..." A nod. Skye sighed and thought back. Suddenly, her eyes went wide. "No..."

"Should you have?"

"Yes. I wonder why I didn't notice..."

"Well, you've been busy."

"That still doesn't explain the complete lack of symptoms. No morning sickness, no nothing."

Sarah glanced around the bathroom and raised her eyebrows. "You don't call this a symptom?"

Skye rolled her eyes. "This counts, but I haven't had anything before this."

"They don't always kick in right away. I was sick from the first second with Skye, but I didn't have anything for about a month with the twins."

"Oh, I don't know. That seems pretty far fetched. I probably just have the stomach flu."

The dark-haired woman smiled mischievously. "Well, there's one way to find out..."

"What?"

But she was already gone. She was back a second later with a small package. She handed it to Skye and smirked. It was a pregnancy test.

"Where did you get this?"

"I keep a few one hand."

Skye decided it was better not to push that subject.

A bit later...

As Skye stared at the white plastic stick in her hand, she had to work very hard not to hyperventilate. She was pregnant. She was going to have a baby. And yet, there was only one thought that coursed through her head. I am going to be a perfectly awful mother.

Saturday evening...

Skye was scared to death. How on earth was she supposed to tell Jeffrey this? Any minute know he would walk in the front door, and she would have to tell him that she was going to be a mother. Probably, the worst mother ever known to mankind.

Suddenly, she heard the sound of his key in the lock. This was it... Taking a deep breath, she walked toward the front door. And there he was.

"Skye!"

He was grinning. She smiled back and practically leapt into this arms. She might be scared, but she had missed him too much to let that interfere. And then his lips were on hers, and she really didn't care any more. As his mouth pulled at hers and the warmth of his arms spread across her back, she moved closer and held on tighter. He was literally making her dizzy.

Then she came back to her senses. Those were the feelings that had gotten her into this mess in the first place. Taking a deep breath, she mustered all of her self-control and stepped out of his embrace.

Without even looking looking at him, she knew that he looked hurt.

"Well, I must say, that isn't really the welcome I was expecting. What's wrong?"

She shook her head. How was she going to do this? What if he wasn't happy about it? "Nothing. How was your conference?"

"It was wonderful. Now, tell me what's wrong with you."

"I already told you, nothing's wrong."

There was a pause before he said, softly, "You're lying to me." Suddenly, he grabbed her arm and spun her around to face him. "Skye, what's going on? Why are you lying to me?"

And then she just couldn't stop. "You want to know what's wrong with me? I'll tell you! I'm scared to death! I've frightened and panicked and scared to death, and you haven't even been here!"

A look of complete dread filled his eyes. "Skye, what happened?"

"You happened!"

"What?" To add to his confusion, the tears that had been threatening to burst forth for the past three days finally began to fall. Utterly lost, he pulled his sobbing wife into his arms and held her. "Skye, what's wrong?"

Her answer came buried in his shoulder. "I'm going to have a baby."

There was a pause and then he grabbed her shoulders and looked at her, shocked. "What?"

She smiled slightly. "I'm going to have a baby."

"A baby?"

"Yes!"

"A baby? Are you sure?"

She rolled here eyes. "What do I have to do to make you believe me?!"

"A baby! How?"

She just stared at him. "Look, Jeffrey, I know that science has never been your strong suit, but please tell me that you know this much!"

He blushed. "I know that much. I mean, when? When did this happen?"

"The doctor said I'm somewhere between four and five weeks along."

Jeffrey stared out into space for a second, doing the math, before blushing and slamming his eyes shut in a wince. "Yeah, well, that would do it." She smiled and nodded. Then, another thought occurred to him. "Wait, you're four weeks along and you didn't tell me?!"

"I didn't know until Wednesday! By that point I figured it would be better to tell you in person."

He nodded, staring at her in wonder. "A baby! Skye, can you believe it?! We're going to have a baby!" And then he sobered and brought his hand up to her face. "Are you okay with this?"

And that was when she realized that she was. She was okay with this. In fact, now that he was here to share it with her, she was looking forward to this adventure. She nodded and smiled at him. "Yeah. I am. I'm scared out of my wits, but I'm also excited."

His face was so full of joy she thought it would pop. "We're going to be parents, Skye. I'm going to be a father!" He stared into her eyes, mesmerized. "Skye Penderwick, you are the most amazing this in the universe!"

And then he kissed her. And kissed her, and kissed her, and kissed her. She moved into it, her lips flying across his and her hands tangling in his hair. As he began to push her towards the stairs, she couldn't help but think that, even if this child was getting an awful mother, it was getting one heck of an amazing dad.

And there you have it! :-) If any of you have ideas for pregnancy situations that could use, that would be wonderful. I'm having a hard time brainstorming... As always, thanks for the a wonderful reviews!

GuestB - Aww... Well, thank you! You are too kind. :-) I will try to update more, I promise.

BabyBubble262 - Oh, gosh. I don't even know what to say! You are incredible! What stamina! :-) You have made my week with your kind words! To answer your question, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is a nerve issue in your hands and wrist, caused by overuse. It really hurts... :-) Anyways, thank you for your dedication! I don't even know how to thank you properly...