A/N: It's been a few months... and we're to Katie's baby shower :) Enjoy! xx Mariah
"You know, this would be so much easier if you would just find out if you're having a boy or a girl," Hannah mutters, taping blue and pink streamers to the trimming around the room.
She glances around the home. It is her and Ned's last day in the house before they move. Everything has been packed and shoved into a moving truck besides the furniture of the living room. And clothes they'd packed for their weekend at her parents cabin.
Her dad, some of his old firehouse buddies and Aaron are going to move them into their new while they were on their baby-moon.
Katie sends a glare Hannah's way and rests her hands on her stomach. She is feeling particularly irritable today, and Hannah's insistence that it would have been easier if she would just find out the sex of the baby isn't helping matters.
"Do not," she snaps. "Not today Han."
The baby delivers a swift kick to Katie's kidney, and she sucks in a sharp breath. Another woman plops down on the couch next to Katie. It is Jamie.. She'd met her in her and Ned's birthing class with her husband. They'd become fast friends, both due in February.
"You only have like three months left. You could totally still find out Katie." Jamie rests her hands on her swollen stomach, nudging Katie's side playfully. "Don't you wanna know?"
Katie has enough of their antics. She had made a bet with Hannah and Jamie and she is going to see it through even if it is going to drive her insane. But right now, she didn't want to put up with it. She is pregnant and feels huge and really wants some peanut butter on top of some chicken. She struggles to her feet with one hand on her back and one on her stomach. She may have only been six months along, but she is huge. Whether she was having a boy or girl, this child is going to be ten pounder for sure.
Ned meets her before she is able to stand, helping her the rest of the way up. She smiles at him and presses a kiss to his cheek.
"You're hungry, aren't you?" He knows her too well and helps her into the kitchen. Most of the kitchen had been packed, but they'd left a few things for the party today. "What are you hungry for?"
She sits on a chair from the dining room, pulling it into the kitchen. "I want something with chicken. Something really good Ned." She says.
He opens the fridge and there isn't much besides the food for the party, but after searching he's able to find a leftover chicken breast from the previous night's dinner and some shredded cheese. He takes the last two tortillas from the pantry and grabs a paper plate. He places a tortilla shell on the plate and pulls apart the chicken before adds cheese to it before putting a tortilla on top. He quickly made the quesadilla and gives it to Katie.
"This smells good," she kisses him and he gives her the plate, pulling back with a wink at her.
"Good," he leans against the counter and she devours it quickly, handing him the empty plate. "Taste good?"
"So good. Thank you," she glances to the time as she stands, hugging him. "I'm not excited for this party."
They have twenty minutes until the party started and all she wants right now is to be alone with Ned. She is not excited for this party one bit. It's hard to be excited when the whole party is just going to be everyone annoying her about not knowing if she is having a boy or girl.
Katie makes her way back into the living room with Ned, just as her mom and Delia arrive. She has just sat down when Delia rushes to her, her hand at her stomach.
"Hello, Katie," Delia says. "How are you and the little one feeling?"
"We're good," she smiles at her mother in-law. "Ned just made me some food."
"Good boy!" Delia hugs her son next as Melinda sits down, also pregnant.
"Hey baby," Melinda squeezes her hand in support and she shrugs. "Not excited for your shower?"
"Not really," she sighs, laying her head on Melinda's shoulder. "Everyone's just going to bug about the gender."
"I know how you feel," Melinda points to her stomach. "We usually don't find out, but this is the last time I'll be pregnant and that's why we found out with this little girl. We wanted this pregnancy to be as worry free as possible. I want to enjoy it and not be annoyed by everyone."
"I'm not letting anyone mess with me," she shrugs. "And if anyone asks I'll just ignore them."
"Atta girl," Melinda laughs.
An hour later the party is in full swing.
Katie has excused herself from the living room and is in the kitchen, scanning all of the available food in front of her. She frowns when she sees that there is exactly zero things smothered in peanut butter. That's all she wanted.
"I just want something with peanut butter on it," she scoffs, looking around the food again. she spots a pasta dish and scoops herself a healthy amount of it before grabbing some celery and carrot sticks.
"You always want something with peanut butter," Ned's hands touched her bare arms and she turns to look at him, glaring at him as he chuckles at her. "Just wait until dessert," he says. "There's a chocolate lava cake with vanilla ice cream topped with peanut butter with your name on it."
Katie nods once, pleased with that revelation. She reaches for the jar of black olives on the counter, suddenly craving something salty. She pops the lid off, sticking one in her mouth.
"How much longer until dessert?" She asks.
"We'll have it after you open your presents. Go on and go sit down," Ned says.
Katie picks up the jar of olives with one hand and tucks into her arm, pressing her free hand to the small of her back. She breathes in deeply when Baby Banks delivers another kick to her bladder. This kid better play sports or something, because he or she was always very active. She blames Ned for that one.
"So have you picked out names?" One of Katie's friends from college asked.
Katie pauses with an olive halfway to her mouth. She absolutely hates that question. Of course she and Ned have discussed many names at length. At this point, they had finally narrowed it down to four or five that they really liked. Katie wants to wait until she meets the baby until they pick. She just wants make sure the name will fit with how their son or daughter looks.
Hannah, having heard someone ask her that question, immediately came to her rescue. "It's a surprise," Hannah answered, shooing the other girl away as she moves Katie from room to room. She brings Katie to the couch and sits beside her, stealing a bite of her pasta. "You're welcome."
Katie scowls at her best friend, slapping her hand away from the pasta. "You know, stealing food from a pregnant person isn't very nice."
Hannah laughs and pats her hair. "You know I love you, Katie." Hannah claps her hands together to get everyone's attention as Brandon passes her a crying Jace. The five month settles into his mother's arms as she rocks him. "Alright! It's time to open the presents, so everyone gather around!"
Hannah settles Jace for another moment and then gestures for Jamie and her husband to bring the first set of presents over. Jamie plops the first present down on her lap and she smiles. Katie rips open the pastel colored wrapping paper and immediately turns into a pile of mush at the little baby outfit she finds. It is a onsie paired with warm comfy pants. The onsie is a light green with the word "Momma's little editor" with little circle glasses and a pen design around it.
It is perfect!
Forty minutes later, Katie is surrounded by piles upon piles of baby outfits, toys, books, blankets, diaper bags, and stuffed animals. Delia had purchased an expensive running stroller for her among many other things. Everyone had made sure that items such as bottles, hats and mittens and thermometers were on the list as well, so she unwrapped plenty of those.
"Are you ready for your last present, Bug?" Jim asks.
Melinda looked up at her father with wide eyes. "There's more?" she asks.
She has no idea how she and Ned are going to transport all of the things they got for the baby back to their new home, let alone where they were going to put it. Jim smiles, his eyes shining with what looked suspiciously like tears.
"Just one more," he corrects.
Without waiting for his daughter's response, he leaves the room. It is he returns with Ned, and Katie sees that he is helping him carry something. Katie's father and husband make their way over to her and set down a beautiful bassinet. It is made out of dark wood and is dressed with pristine white inside, she sees there is a blanket with a teddy bear stitched on the front. She picks up the soft blanket and holds it to her face, trying to hide the tears that have appeared. Jim smiles and helps his wife up from the couch and she hugs her daughter, well aware of Katie's constant change in moods.
"This was your bassinet," she says. "When we found it up in the attic and I had your dad fix it up for the two of you. That blanket was yours too. Definitely washed and everything."
Katie pulls the blanket away from her face long enough to say, "Oh, mom. It's beautiful! Thank you," she hugged her as tightly as she could then, kissing her cheek.
It truly is the best present they could've given her.