She was staring at the dark ceiling, not moving for fear of disturbing the man beside her, but wanting nothing more than to reach out and shake his shoulder until he turned over and opened his eyes. The blanket that was draped across her naked body was too heavy. Her pillows were stacked too high. Her feet hurt, her belly itched, and she was hungry…

She wanted pickles. She wanted ice cream. She wanted pie.

And she wanted it now.

Or rather…Ezra's daughter wanted it now.

It had only been a few weeks since they found out they were having a little girl, and Aria was ecstatic, but in moments like this, when their little bundle of joy was being a bundle of…something else…she preferred to think of their daughter as his daughter. Keeping an inch of distance between herself and the irritations of pregnancy made dealing with things just a hair easier. Ezra didn't seem to mind being reminded that the baby was his. In fact, it seemed to Aria that the father of her unborn child got a certain level of enjoyment from seeing her struggle through the various side effects of her increase in hormones. All the nausea aside, of course.

Either way— it was two in the morning and Aria would not be going to sleep until her cravings were satisfied, and she couldn't remember if they had a single one of those things in the kitchen.

She adjusted herself as best she could, her now twenty-week belly making it the slightest bit more difficult to maneuver the way she used to. As soon as she reached behind her back and eased up so that her back was resting against the pillow mountain rather than her neck, Ezra moved beside her and rolled over. She took a moment to watch him sleep before reaching out and running a hand through his hair.

It was curly, and just a little sweaty, and she could see the silver strands hiding beneath the jet-black strands, catching in the moonlight that was shining through the window. His face relaxed as she continued her ministrations and for a moment she forgot about the need for food. One hand was resting above her belly button and the other lost deep in the tangles of his hair, only coming out every few seconds to trace the smattering of freckles that graced the creases at the corner of his eyes. She had never felt more in love with two people than she did in this moment.

"You're really lucky, baby girl," she said quietly. "You've got a good daddy."

As much as he did seem to derive a lot of enjoyment from watching her work through the pregnancy, and as much as it could irritate her when he didn't seem to understand that she didn't enjoy being as out of whack as she was, she had a hard time denying the fact that he had been wonderful. Especially when it came to dealing with her crazy cravings and demands, even if it meant being on call at all hours of the night. She just hoped that he was still as ready and willing when they were accompanied by a baby's wailing cries.

At the thought of a baby crying, Aria suddenly felt her voice seemed too loud in the dark, quiet room and she felt silly for having spoken out loud to their child at all. It wasn't as if the baby couldn't hear her…but it seemed more like she was talking to herself than anything else. Her lips fell into a slight pout as she redirected her gaze to the mirror across the room and settled on her own reflection. She could make out her own figure perfectly, and she could see the top of Ezra's head and his shoulders well enough. Her hand continued to make its way through this hair, from hairline to neck, nails dragging against his scalp in a mindlessly loving way.

She'd thought a thousand times about what her life would look in the years after she graduated college, and only on rare occasions had it crossed her mind that she may be on track to starting a family of her own. Of course, now, after a good five months of being pregnant, she'd thought about it a lot. She lived for every tiny detail of being a mother—something she already considered herself, even though Hanna thought it silly to call yourself a mother before the baby was "out of the oven"—but…it wasn't really that different. Her daughter's life was completely in her and Ezra's hands. She was helpless and it was their responsibility to make sure she got everything she needed. It didn't matter to Aria that she was packed away, neatly tucked inside her womb. Every last ounce of her depended on Aria. If that didn't make her a mother, what did?

Even though the room was dark and the mirror was a good few feet away, she could see the tiredness in her own features. Her hair was a mess, and her skin seemed extra pale. The only defined color on her face came from the bags under her eyes and the plump redness of her lips, which were still swollen from a few hours earlier.

It didn't matter if it occurred at nine, at ten, at the midnight, or sometime during the wee hours of the morning…it seemed like every night she woke Ezra up for a round of sex. Or two.

Tonight had been no different, and it only made Aria feel bad that she was now considering waking him a second time.

Her stomach growled again and she absently rubbed her hand from just under her breast to the waistline of her pants, following the trail that was marked by a fine strip of hair. Her belly button was starting to stick out just barely. She'd dreaded the odd pregnancy trait, and had hoped and prayed that somehow she'd be lucky enough to make it through the entire pregnancy without it, but sure enough, it had popped out around Wednesday of the week prior, almost like clockwork. Aria let out a deep sigh and whispered into the darkness again, putting off her self-conscious feelings.

"All right, all right, we'll go find some pickle and pie ice cream."

She scooted her body to the side of the bed and reached down until she came across her night gown which was piled beneath a few other discarded garments, possibly hers, possibly Ezra's. As soon as she lifted herself off the bed, she heard a deep intake and a recognizable movement behind her.

"Hey," Ezra said quietly, his voice still clouded by sleep. "Everything okay?"

"Everything's fine," she said as she turned around to face him. He had his head still flat against his pillow, one arm jutted between it and the mattress, the other now thrown over his head. His eyes were barely open, but there was a soft smile playing at his lips.

"God, you look sexy against the moonlight," he whispered.

Aria suddenly felt hyper aware of the fact that she was still standing naked in the middle of the room. It didn't matter that she'd just been thinking of the activities that had taken place, not even three hours ago, or the fact that she was bearing a very visible consequence of said activities, she still felt over exposed.

She averted her eyes and pushed both hands through the arms of her nightgown, which was honestly just a glorified t-shirt, and pulled the material down and over her burgeoning belly.

"Don't," Ezra said quietly, "I was enjoying the view." Aria cocked her head at him, the uncomfortable feelings she'd felt a half second ago dissipating as he continued to speak. "What are you doing up?" he asked, his voice finally losing its grogginess.

She framed her stomach, simultaneously framing the baby within. "I am in desperate need of very specific menu items for your daughter, and I was going to raid the kitchen. I'll probably come up empty handed, but I wasn't going to get any sleep until I tried."

Ezra cracked a grin and reached out a hand. Aria walked over until she could reach it, but she kept her distance, not wanting to get pulled back into bed.

He might think she was joking, but she seriously couldn't go back to sleep until she ate something. Even if it was a bag of pickle-flavored potato chips…which, funny enough, sounded absolutely disgusting.

Ezra surprised Aria by sliding his hand out of hers and instead letting his fingers make their way over her belly. He had long fingers, gloriously long fingers, and he was still able to perfectly palm her like a basketball. It was a small detail she adored, and something she knew wouldn't last long. Eventually her belly would reach a point where he had to use two hands. She didn't mind as long as it meant her baby girl was growing.

"What does Little Miss Fitz want tonight?"

"Ice cream," Aria said, her hands on her hips as she looked down at him. "And pickles…and pie."

Ezra pushed his head back into the pillows further, a trill of laughter breaking into the corners of the room around them.

"Ice cream and pickles, maybe," he said, "but pie…that's all you."

Aria scoffed. "Excuse me," she said, indignant to the accusation. "Your love for pie is arguably ten times more substantial than mine, so by my count, the likelihood that she not only has her own craving for pie, but that it's largely a result of your genes…it's pretty favorable."

As she stood there before him, both hands still positioned on her hips, the hem of her over-sized t-shirt hitting her mid thigh, and a few strands of wispy hair that had escaped the small bun on top of her head, Ezra couldn't think of anything apart from how lucky he was. He let the hand that had been splayed across her abdomen slide back, bringing her closer, and then let it slide down so that he was cupping her butt. His hand trailed under the fabric and he watched as a shy grin spread over her face.

"Stop," she whispered, not meaning it in the slightest.

He didn't, but instead continued to bring her forward until her knees were touching the side of the bed and her belly was close enough to him that he could lean forward and kiss the little obtrusion that was her belly button. He stayed like this for what felt like hours, but was actually only a matter of seconds, just enjoying her scent and the way her skin was warm beneath the poly-fiber blend. Leaving his mouth where it was, he looked up to meet her eyes and waited until the corners of her mouth drew up at the sides, leaving behind a bright smile.

The fire that roared between them was enough to burn an entire forest to the ground, but it was a quiet, subtle, slow burning fire. One that would creep up, curl around the trunk of a tree and eat away at the roots until all that's left is a smoldering pile of embers and ash.

Somehow, Ezra managed to tear his eyes away from Aria. He sat up, the absence of his body against hers leaving her chilled. He tore the blankets off and Aria appreciated him from every angle until he found his own clothes. He had been right. Something about the dusky glow of moonlight streaming in through the windows did something to his skin…the blue tinge making her crave something all together else.

He must have seen the look in her eyes because he burst out laughing and shook his head.

"Nuh-uh," he said, opening the bedroom door and posting up against it as he waited for her to pass through. "We are up for one thing, and one thing only. To satisfy your daughter's 'cravings'—then it's straight back to bed." He made sure to put the word 'craving' in air quotes, but gave Aria a wink nonetheless.

"Don't even start with me," she said, walking straight past him, her back straight, head held high, and belly sticking out like it owned the world. "You did this to me. It's your fault."

Despite his own words, Ezra stared at her ass as she made her way down the hallway. Leaving the door ajar, he tore off down the hall behind her and wrapped both arms around her waist, pulling her in to his bare chest and playfully buried his head in the crook of her neck, gently rubbing the scruff on his chin against her tender skin. Aria let out a mild scream, laughing uncontrollably out of surprise.

He continued to keep some part of his hands on her as they made their way down the hall, eventually down the stairs, and into the small kitchen.

"You can say whatever you want," he whispered into her ear, drawing on her words from their bedroom a moment before, "but you were very much a part of this."

She felt the hairs along the back of her neck tingle as they stood on edge in the dark kitchen.

Euphoria ran through her veins as a shiver ran down her spine.

He was standing behind her, his head still buried in the crook of her neck, his body pinning her gently against the counter, and his hands dipping lower, and lower, and lower trailing along her sides, down over her hips, and into the small pocket of space where her hips became her legs. She had both of her hands clamped along the countertop, but let her back press against him and her head fall back against his chest, the top of her head just barely meeting his chin. Just as she was sure he'd reach under her nightgown and run his hands along her skin, her stomach growled again.

Her head slacked against him, all the heat of the moment gone.

"Pie," she said. "Please tell me we have pie."

An hour later, Aria found herself happily propped up in bed, a thin slice of pie and pickles balanced atop her belly and a sleepy but loving fiancé by her side. There had been no short supply on ice cream, since Ezra had thought to buy extra Ben & Jerry's a few days back when he'd offered to make a very similar midnight run, but there wasn't a single jar of pickles or frozen pie stashed anywhere around the apartment. At first, Aria had tried to satisfy her cravings by eating the ice cream, thinking naively that it might lessen the craving for the other two foods, but…when she was about halfway through the pint of Chocolate Fudge Brownie, she realized the want for the other two foods was just growing stronger.

Being the man he was, Ezra had simply smiled at the look on Aria's face, leaned in to kiss her forehead, and left to find pie and pickles. If he was lucky, a pickle flavored pie. Even though he knew better than to think she wouldn't send him right back out if he walked through the door with anything less than two separate purchases.

She scraped her fork across the plate, dragging up the last few crumbs of crust and shoveling them in her mouth. Her eyelids drooped heavily when the last of it was finally gone, and sitting there in the warmth of their bed, with the weight of Ezra by her side, she felt absolutely at peace.

"How was it?" Ezra asked.

So far, her cravings had seemed to come in pairs, but they'd been fairly mild pairs. He'd yet to make anything as horrendous as a tuna and strawberry smoothie or bacon and gouda melt—both combinations Hardy had sworn up and down he'd have to watch out for. How Hardy knew what pregnant women craved, Ezra had no idea…Ezra hoped Aria never asked for anything remotely near those two things, though, if he was being honest, in a certain kind of light, he could see where the bacon and gouda might sound like it had potential…

Aria rolled her neck over so that she was facing him and the sleepy look on her face said it all.

"Absolutely the most satisfying thing in the entire world," she said. "I mean, the pie's not Paula's, but it's good."

Ezra pretended to look offended. "Wait, back up, the most satisfying thing in the entire world?" he said in mock horror. Aria let out a lazy laugh. "Even more satisfying than sex?" he added. "I thought we had a good go of in earlier…"

"All right, maybe not more satisfying than sex, but just so you have a margin of comparison, it's a very, very close second."

He reached over and took the plate from her hands, sat it on the floor, then rolled over so that he was lying on his stomach, lazily feeding his fingers in and out of lock with hers. He could tell she was getting sleepy again, and he was glad for it, but now he'd been up for over an hour, he'd gone out into the chilly night air, and he'd dreamed up another round of extra curricular activities, at this point, fantasizing about a world where a piece of pie was in competition with an orgasm.

In all honesty, he wanted to visit that place. Challenge accepted.

But by the look in Aria's eyes, or at least the lack thereof, considering the fact that her eyes were steadily closing more and more by the second, he figured that was a different activity for a different time. Maybe he'd get the chance to woo her when the sun rose.

He scooted up just barely, leaving the soft glow of the lamp in the corner across the room to light the shadowy corners in a slight way, and let his head rest at her waist. His legs were hanging of the end of the bed, but he wasn't in the mood to sleep anyway. He was enjoying watching the wave of peace that had washed over her since having the cravings satisfied.

Ezra placed his lips to her hip and left a small kiss there. Aria let out a breathy but lazy moan, diving her hands sleepily into his hair, and he continued across her waistline, watching her face the whole time. He had one arm draped lazily across her, his elbow resting between her legs and his fingers tracing along the hem of her underwear. He was just about to comment on how beautiful she looked when he felt a strange flutter of something below his chin.

Aria's eyes darted open and she looked at him in shock.

"Was that—?"

"Shh—" she cut him off. She sat up straighter and pulled back the material covering her belly, exposing her round, tout skin to Ezra and the dark night around them. She let one hand rest on the right side of her abdomen where she too had felt a fluttering, without any shadow of a doubt. "Did you feel it too?" she asked.

It was a stupid question. Of course he'd felt it too.

Ezra was now on his knees beside her, a look of complete awe and confusion plastered across his face.

"She moved, Ezra," Aria said quietly. A bubble of laughter spilled out of her chest and she reached one hand up to cover her smile, keeping the other pressed firm to the spot where she swore she felt the tiniest of kicks. All the while, her eyes stayed locked on Ezra, whose gaze was rightfully locked on the spot being covered by her hand.

She reached out for him, replacing her hand with his, and gave the space around it light, encouraging jabs, urging their baby to move again.

"Come on, little girl," she cooed quietly. "Move for mommy and daddy."

It was a tender moment, and in it, each of them fell more in love with the other than they had dreamt possible.

As if on cue, another light fluttering tickled its way from the middle of Aria's belly to her right side.

"There," she said in excitement. "Did you feel her?"

She had been looking down at Ezra's palm against her skin, but when she looked up to see his reaction, her breath caught in her chest. All the hormones that had materialized first in the form of her libido and second in the form of hunger were now plummeting into an overwhelming world of pure, emotional bliss.

Ezra's eyes were locked on where their daughter was moving within Aria, but they were glistening with a soft layer of fresh tears. He choked back a breathy sob of happiness as he moved to look from Aria's belly to her face, and in that moment, he was so overcome with happiness, he wanted to pick her up and spin her around the room.

Instead, he reached up and cupped Aria's face, bringing her mirth-filled smile up to meet his in what might have been their most tender kiss to date.

"It's really not just the two of us anymore, is it?" he asked.

Aria just shook her head. Words didn't seem to be enough at the moment.

"I love you," he whispered against her, a light laughter trickling out behind his words. He let his forehead rest against hers and lightly brushed his nose to the tip of her nose before dipping down for another chaste kiss.

"I love you too," she whispered once they were apart again.

He leaned back and brought her into him so that he could once again let his hands find their place around her belly. She moved with him easily but after a few minutes of nothing, she smiled slightly, feeling only a little disappointed, and met his eyes once more.

"I think she was telling you thank you for the pie," she said with a wink.

"Well she's very welcome. I'm happy to supply pie, any time, any place," he said.

Reluctantly, he retracted his hands and sat up, adjusting Aria so that her head was propped securely against his chest, her shoulders square against his left side. Aria reached out and pulled his arms around her, draping them over the bump at her waist, both of them silently, patiently hoping to feel something more before nodding off to sleep.

"She's going to need a name," Aria said sleepily. "Have you thought of anything at all?"

"Not of anything I like," he said. "What about you?"

Aria let out a big yawn and snuggled down into his side a little further.

"I know I've made jabs at my Granny Rose before," she paused to let out another yawn, "but I kind of like the idea of a family name…and on my side it's either Rose or Margaret."

Ezra cleared his throat awkwardly. He dipped down to kiss the top of her head and then rose again before speaking in a gentle tone. "I'm going to stop you there," he said evenly. "Margaret has too much potential to be turned into a Meg or Maggie, and I'm not about to let our daughter share that name."

Aria groaned. "Good call," she said. "I didn't think of that. Anything good on your side?"

"My grandmas were named Beatrice and Ada," he said. "I didn't care much for Grandma B."

He smoothed a hand over her hair and laid his own head back so that it was resting against the headboard. He found the small red numbers on the alarm clock across the room and squinted until they came into clearer focus.

"It's almost four-thirty in the morning," he said. "Why don't we sleep on the name thing?"

Aria's breathing had already evened out and once Ezra realized this, he could feel that her weight had sunk a little further into his side. He reached out and pulled the comforter up around their legs as best he could and scooted their bodies down so that they were in less of a sitting position. The lamp across the room was still on, but it was dim enough, and early enough in the morning, that he figured leaving it on for a few hours wouldn't be the worst thing ever. It was worth it if it meant he could have another few minutes holding his girls at his side.

"Sweet dreams," he said quietly. He pulled Aria into him and let his cheek find the top of her head, leaving it here as he drank in her scent. One arm was still wrapped securely around her shoulders as she rest against his chest, but the other had found its place on her belly once more.

As he drifted off to sleep, he let his fingers trail circles along the fabric of her pajamas and thought up all the ways his life had been made better by the two lives in his arms.

Author's Note:

Sorry it's been a little while. I wanted to make sure that I got another chapter up in case I'm unable to update for a few weeks. I am getting married in 12 days so I am very preoccupied. My hope is that I'll get at least one more chapter out before I leave for my honeymoon, but I don't want to promise that. SO, know that if that doesn't happen, updating will be at the very tippy top of my to-do list.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I wanted something light and sweet...a little fluff to tide you over. If I do update again in the next week, it'll probably be much of the same.

leighB26, thanks for the line of inspiration; it greatly effected how this chapter turned out. You've been very influential in helping me feel like I can make time to update here and there. I think we probably all appreciate you for that.

All right, last thing. I feel like it's only fair that I tell you straight up: I'm not naming this baby Daisy. Don't even try to talk me into it :D Leave a review if you feel so inclined! I've loved hearing from each and every one of you. Thanks for continuously reading.