Rated M for Mature
If she had to guess, Alex would assume they'd gotten four hours of sleep that night. Piper was indeed sore the next morning, especially her thighs and behind her knees. They'd fucked in positions that Alex hadn't tried before, and Piper's limber body was up for just about anything. Her baby bump didn't stop them from anything, and Alex figured there would come a point when her lover's body wouldn't be able to bend the way it did, so they might as well enjoy various positions while Piper's bump was still mostly small. The blonde had purchased a vibrator that she swore she hadn't used on herself yet—she'd saved it for when she was with Alex, and the two of them got some use out of The Rabbit, though Piper admitted to enjoying her lover's tongue and fingers far more than the toy.
They showered together, where another round of sex ensued, but once they'd both gotten dressed, Alex made her girlfriend promise that they'd keep their clothes on until after her 10:30 doctor's appointment.
On the quick drive to the doctor's office, Piper clutched Alex's hand, but they mostly remained silent. The brunette could sense that her girlfriend was nervous about the appointment, but Alex didn't know if that was natural for expecting mothers or if it was because she was present. Before she was able to ask Piper about it, they'd arrived at the Northampton OB/GYN Clinic. Alex squeezed her lover's hand before getting out of the car. "I'm sure everything will be fine."
Piper undressed and put on a thin gown, while Alex stood frozen in the room. There were tools covered by a blue napkin, a wand next to a tube of some sort of ointment, and a small monitor that beeped every few seconds. The brunette didn't like hospitals or doctors' offices—they were always so cold, and she knew if she was in one, something was wrong. Alex had to remind herself that she was only there for Piper. Everything will be fine, she internally repeated the words she'd just spoken to Piper, trying to convince herself that they were true.
The doctor lubed up Piper's stomach and passed the ultrasound wand over it, and reality came crashing down on Alex like a tornado thrashing a small town.
"Look!" The blonde gasped and pointed to the monitor. "Do you see it?"
"Yeah." Alex's hazel eyes changed colors and resembled a stormy sea. "Yeah, I do." She felt like she'd been transported to another dimension—like they weren't at the doctor's office, looking at her lover's unborn child on a tiny screen.
If it was difficult for the brunette to fathom Piper being pregnant, and other than her protruding belly and insane sexual drive, there wasn't anything different about her girlfriend. The fact that a baby was inside of her seemed unimaginable, and knowing she would deliver the baby, and that child would be with them for the rest of their lives, well, that seemed downright impossible.
Piper clutched Alex's hand, bringing her back to the present.
"It's still too early to tell the gender," the doctor said, moving the paddle over Piper's belly. "But it looks healthy. See the little legs?"
Piper covered her mouth with one hand, clearly amazed at the developing fetus. "Oh, my goodness!"
Alex did, in fact, see the legs as she felt blood rush out of her face. She was thankful that her girlfriend's attention was focused on the monitor, because if Piper had glanced at her, she'd surely worry that Alex was close to fainting.
The gynecologist went on and on about the baby's vitals, position, and general health, but Alex couldn't concentrate on any of it. There was a dull buzzing in her ears that drowned out the conversation between Piper and the doctor.
Until that moment, the idea of Piper having a baby was so far out of their daily lives that it almost seemed fictitious, and now there was proof in the form of an ultrasound that her girlfriend would be a mother in five months. How in the fuck am I supposed to deal with that?
The doctor wrapped up the visit, giving Piper an excellent report on her health as well as the baby's. She instructed Piper to watch what she ate, keeping in mind that hunger could strike at any moment, and she should always have a healthy option on hand.
The blonde turned to Alex. "Do you have any questions for Dr. Nagle?"
She quickly recovered, adjusting her glasses and giving Piper her best smile. "No."
Alex knew that her girlfriend could tell something wasn't right.
The brunette hooked her thumb over her shoulder. "I'll wait for you out there."
"Ok." Piper began putting her clothes back on as Alex slipped out the door.
She paced in the reception room, where three women with protruding bellies sat in comfortable chairs awaiting their check-ups. There was too much gestation around her, and Alex almost fled the scene. She looked up at the ceiling and breathed in through her nose, out through her mouth.
"Hey." Piper hooked her purse over a shoulder. "Ready?"
The brunette whipped her head around as if she was caught doing something she shouldn't have been doing. "Yeah."
"You're in a rush. Hang on!" The blonde called as Alex walked out of the doctor's office three steps ahead of her.
She stopped and twisted around. "Sorry."
The blonde caught up with her and shielded her eyes against the sun with her hand as she stared up at Alex. "Is something wrong?"
Alex shook her head, eyes scanning the horizon. She tried desperately to sort things out in her mind, but she couldn't seem to put the way she was feeling into words. "That was…" she clenched her jaw. "That was fucking real."
The blonde lowered her hand and squinted up at her lover. "I'm having a baby, Alex, so yeah, it's real."
"Seeing it on the ultrasound…" She threaded her hand through her long hair. "I guess I wasn't ready."
"Did you need more time?"
"How would that help?" She shrugged. "Unless you could miraculously turn back the clock."
"And not be pregnant?" The blonde elevated her eyebrows. "Sometimes I wish that, too, but that's something I can't change."
Alex put her hands on her hips. "You could have an abortion."
"You're right, I could." She took a step closer. "But I'm choosing to have this baby."
Alex lifted her shoulders. "Where do I fit into this plan?"
"You'll be the baby's second parent," she stated as if it was a no-brainer.
"We've never had that discussion, Piper," she said with a firm shake of her head. "I said I'd support you, but I never signed up to be a parent."
"Is that what you're telling me?" The blonde's countenance changed dramatically as if Alex had just told her that the sky was falling. "Do you not want to do this?"
"I don't know, but I would like to have been asked or at least consulted instead of you just assuming that I was on board," she sighed.
"I just assumed…"
"Yeah, you did. And that's not fair to me." Alex looked directly into her girlfriend's eyes. "You should've asked me how I felt about terminating the pregnancy versus having the baby."
"I thought you were staunchly pro-choice?"
"Absolutely, I am, but when you expect me to be the second parent, I get to choose how active my role should be—not told that I'm going to be a parent when the kid isn't technically mine."
Piper looked despondent. "I wish this child could be yours, Alex. I really do."
The brunette glanced away, not sure what else to say at such a statement.
"Why is this all coming up now?" Piper filled the silence. "Is it because you saw a living, breathing baby on the screen?"
"Yeah, that's part of it." Once again, she ran her hand through her hair. "I know nothing about being a parent!"
"You think I do?" The blonde thrust a thumb towards her chest. "I was raised by an adulterous father and a drunk mother who had no idea what it meant to be good parents!" She took a deep breath. "I know we can do better than they did."
A woman walked out of the doctor's office, and Alex realized that they were still standing in the middle of the parking lot. "We should leave."
The blonde walked towards the Acura and waited for Alex to unlock the doors. She pressed the fob and climbed into the driver's seat. The couple was quiet on the short drive back to campus, and Alex didn't know what to say to make things better.
Piper looked up at her with dejected eyes. "I want us to be parents together. I shouldn't have assumed that you wanted the same thing."
"No, you shouldn't have." The dark haired woman parked under a tall pine tree. She turned her body towards her girlfriend and felt her chin start to quiver. "I'm so fucking scared." Alex blinked, and a tear rolled down her cheek and dripped off her chin. "I mean, what if I fuck up this kid's life?"
"You won't fuck it up any more than I will!" Piper laid her hand over Alex's. "Neither one of us will be the perfect parent, but we can learn how to do this together."
Alex stared out the windshield and was reminded of the time many years ago when she and Piper almost kissed after the blonde had attempted to steal beer from a convenience store. Life was so much easier back then. She grew a bit depressed at the thought of still working at Salvatore's almost five years later, having made very little of her life since then. Alex wondered what kind of parent she'd be when she couldn't string her own fucking life together as something to be proud of.
"My child and I are a package deal, Al." Piper squeezed her hand. "I love you more than I ever thought I could love anyone. I need you in my life, but there's two of us now, and that's not going to change."
The brunette twisted her neck to glance at her girlfriend, and she could feel tears racing under her frames. "I love you, too—that's not the issue. This is just so fucking hard."
Piper lifted her eyebrows and leaned in. "Since when have you avoided something difficult in your life?"
She shook her head and wiped her runny nose with her shirtsleeve. "Never, I guess."
"I'm asking you, Alex, please be my other half and raise this baby with me," she pleaded.
"I can try," Alex whispered.
Piper threw her arms awkwardly around the brunette as they sat in the front seats of the car. Alex buried her head in the crook of her girlfriend's neck and clutched her eyes shut, trying to prevent the waterfall of tears from staining Piper's jacket.
"That's all I ask," the blonde whispered against her ear.
That evening, both women were fairly quiet. They ate a poor excuse for Chinese food in the school cafeteria, and then went back to Piper's apartment and watched a movie. Although they were tangled up in each other on the small sofa, Alex didn't feel as connected to her girlfriend as she had when she'd first arrived.
At the end of the film, Piper turned to her. "Is there anything else we should discuss?"
Alex considered her question for a moment. "Have you read any books about having a baby?"
"A few."
She adjusted the blanket over Piper's legs as if needing something to occupy her hands. "Anything you think I should read?"
Piper tapped her forefinger against her chin. "There's one called Ina May's Guide to Childbirth that you might like. I'll give you my copy before you leave."
The brunette hiked her glasses up. "It's going to take some time for me to wrap my brain around being a parent, Pipes."
"You're not the one with the constant reminder." Piper rubbed her belly. "So I understand."
She kissed the blonde on the top of the head. "It's been a big day. I'm ready for bed."
"Me, too." Piper stood and stretched. "We didn't get much sleep last night."
Alex lifted her eyebrows and felt her lips turn into a smirk. "No, we didn't."
The blonde chuckled and pulled Alex up by the hand. "Maybe tomorrow we can go back to not sleeping."
Her smirk developed into a full smile. "I enjoy bouts of not sleeping."
Piper leaned up for a kiss. "So do I."
The next morning was unseasonably warm for February, so Piper convinced her girlfriend to go on a walk around the vast campus. She lent the brunette a pair of Lululemon pants and a light blue hoodie, and as soon as Alex changed into the sporty gear, Piper's sexual desire clouded over her. She'd seen her girlfriend in yoga pants a hundred times, but there was something about Alex wearing her clothes and looking so fucking hot in them that made her want Alex more than usual (which was saying a lot.)
About halfway through their walk, she tugged Alex into the library and towed her by the hand up three flights of stairs until they reached the third floor. "Where are you taking me?" Piper shoved her lover against a tall stack of historic European atlases, and all Alex could do was comply.
"Jesus, Piper!" She whispered between sloppy kisses.
The blonde untucked her girlfriend's shirt, and her fingers searched for bare flesh. She lowered her head and sucked on Alex's alabaster skin at the base of her neck.
Alex would be lying if she said she wasn't turned on, but she was far more conscientious than her lover. Piper had gone from I can't tell my dad about us to I want to fuck you against any surface.
The brunette looked around before shoving her right hand under the waistband of Piper's jeans. She drug a finger from the blonde's opening to her clit over and over again. Piper reached down to unbutton her jeans so that Alex had more room with which to work, so the brunette gave her what she wanted: she inserted two fingers while her thumb worked at the sensitive nub.
"Like that?" Alex bit her girlfriend's neck, and then soothed the mark with her tongue.
Piper bucked into her hand. "Mmm hmm. Harder."
She didn't know if she could fuck her girlfriend harder, but Alex did her best and twisted her fingers as they dove in and out of Piper's dripping pussy. "Cum for me, babe."
That was the only encouragement Piper needed—she released onto Alex's fingers as her groans intensified. The brunette covered her mouth with her free hand, but Piper showed no signs of keeping quiet. Alex could feel the walls of Piper's vagina tighten around her digits, and she closed her eyes as she enjoyed the sensation.
She pulled her hand away and placed kisses along Piper's cheek until she reached her lips. The blonde's breathing slowed as she returned her lover's kiss. Suddenly, a smile broke out on Piper's face, which turned into a full-belly laugh.
"Fuck!" the blonde whispered. "I can't believe we just did it in the library!"
Alex laughed as she held Piper's head against her shoulder. "Any other place on campus you want to desecrate?"
The blonde pulled back, smile stretching from ear to ear. "So many more."
She kissed her forehead. "Zip your pants, pervert. Let's get out of here."
By Sunday evening, Piper had finally gotten her fill of sex. The couple went to dinner at one of the only fancy dining establishments in Northampton and laughed at the various places they'd had sex. It wasn't until their main courses arrived when the conversation turned from humorous to serious.
"I talked to your dad about staying at the house," Alex said after a bite of grilled salmon.
Piper sipped her sparkling water. "And?"
"I said that it was no secret that neither of us were each other's biggest fan, but I wasn't going anywhere, so we needed to settle the fucking divide between us." She wiped her mouth with a napkin.
Piper raised her brows. "You said that?"
She nodded. "I told him that I didn't plan to freeload, but I needed a permanent place to stay." Alex nibbled on a sautéed green bean. "I promised to make dinner at least three nights a week, do the grocery shopping and help Cal with school shit in exchange for a roof over my head."
The blonde reached across the table and covered Alex's hand. "Why didn't you tell me any of this?"
She shrugged. "I wanted to wait until we were together."
"What was my father's reaction?"
"He didn't throw his fucking arms around me if that's what you're wondering." She ate another green bean. "He said it sounded fine. I'd already told my mom that was the only way I could be there—if Bill allowed me to earn my keep."
Piper pushed her plate away. "You don't have to do that, you know. My dad knows the consequences of not accepting you in his life."
"I want to, Piper." She ate the last bite of salmon. "I'm no one's charity case, and I'm not a fucking teenager anymore—I need pull my own weight."
Piper lowered her head. "I just don't want you to feel like those are things you have to do to have a place to call home."
"Trust me; they're not. It's settled." She grabbed her girlfriend's hand. "There's something else I want to tell you that's far more tantalizing."
Piper leaned forward. "What is it?"
She nudged her glasses. "Last week, I took my first two classes at Norwalk Community College."
"Alex, wow, that's wonderful!" She yelled, squeezing her girlfriend's hand. "What are you taking?"
"Nutrition, Health & Society and Introduction to Physicochemical and Biological Aspects of Foods," she replied with a tiny grin.
"I knew it," Piper said, matching her grin. "The way you gravitated towards the literature and articles your doctor gave you in December—I knew you'd discovered something that turned you on."
Alex wagged her eyebrows. "Speaking of turning me on…"
"I don't think I could have sex for another week if I tried." Piper had the decency to blush.
Alex let out a boisterous laugh, and it was a sight for sore eyes. Her girlfriend's health had improved dramatically over the course of six weeks, and Piper hadn't seen Alex look as relaxed and happy as she did in two years.
"Your loss," the brunette tossed back. Truth be told, she was all 'sexed out', too.
"Tell me about your classes. Are you planning to transfer to a four-year college?"
Alex told her girlfriend about the junior college courses, and her eyes lit up. It was still extremely early in the semester, but Alex appeared to have found her calling. She'd researched local universities with nutritional science programs and had even talked with her therapist about leads for a possible internship the following year.
The women passed on dessert, and Alex announced after another hour at the dinner table that she needed to get on the road. Her Monday morning class began at 8:30, and she hoped to get a good night's sleep prior to her favorite of the two classes.
Saying goodbye wasn't easy, and Piper's waterworks didn't help. When Alex dropped the blonde off at the dorm, Piper wrapped her arms around her and sobbed. Alex soothed her with words of encouragement and promises that they'd see each other in four weeks. That had to be enough; Piper knew that, but leaving Alex had never been a painless task.
Alex held her face between both hands. "Do good, kid."
She nodded.
"Love you." Alex kissed her on the nose, and then the lips.
Piper closed her eyes. "Love you, too."
With that, the blonde got out of the car and watched the love of her life speed away, hoping she wouldn't go back on her promise to raise the child together.