Shopping and Fighting and Crying, Oh My!

A/N: Thank you for reading. Special thanks to Astrid, RKOGirl18, and ghost303 for reviewing the last chapter! I really appreciate it, y'all! Please review!

[months later]

Liz and Randy had just left Dr. White's office after Liz's check-up; she was now 7 months pregnant. She was much bigger than doctor expected, so Liz insisted that Dr. White be sure it wasn't twins. Thankfully, there was only one baby in Liz's belly, but Madison insisted that Liz be on bed rest because of how large the baby was. Being a mother and a business woman, Liz didn't take that suggestion to heart.

"I am too busy to sit on my ass all day, Randy!" Liz complained as they walked to the car from the building. "I've got a show to put on for my bridal collection; Reby's birthday is next week and I have to do a party for her; I still have to get stuff for the baby; hell, I have to name him," Liz rambled off.

Randy was calm and coolheaded listening to her. "You, don't have to do anything. We do. I'm here for you, Liz. I can do most of that stuff; the only thing I can't do is the fashion show thing. Everything else, I can take care of. We're a team, remember?" he said.

Liz sighed as she approached the car door. "I guess," she said with a soft smile.

Randy smiled and pecked her lips; he helped her into the car. Liz put on her seat belt as Randy jogged around the front of car to the driver's side.

"Why do you need a bridal show in November anyway? Nobody gets married in November," he said as he got in.

Liz shook her head. "No, but people get married in May," she said. "Do you even know how long it takes to be fitted for a dress and have it tailored?" she asked.

He shook his head. "No… how long?" he asked.

"Remember that girl Tiffany Miller I complained about for months?" she asked. Randy nodded. "Well, she came to me in January about getting her a dress for her wedding. She got married two months ago," Liz said.

Randy counted to himself. "8 months? She came to you 8 months before her wedding for a dress?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yes! And she bugged the hell out of me about the damn dress a week before the wedding. It takes a long time, babe. That's why I have to do my show this month. Otherwise, I'll have a dry season," she said.

Randy nodded and drove. "Where to?" he asked.

"Well," Liz sighed. "The kids are in school all day now, so we literally have hours to get stuff done. How about we get Baby Boy's furniture first?" she asked.

He nodded. "Sounds good, but you know we can't call him Baby Boy forever," Randy said with a smile.

Liz giggled. "I know… but I can't think of anything. Can you?" she asked.

Randy shrugged. "I want to name him after my dad," he said.

"But what?" Liz asked; she knew there was hesitation.

He sighed. "I want him to be his own person, you know? Like I don't want him to know that he was named after someone and think that he has to be like that person," he explained.

Liz nodded. She understood Randy's logic. "I've always liked the name Ashleigh for a boy," she said.

Randy glanced at her in confusion. "The poor boy will get bullied all through school!" Randy said with a slight chuckle.

"Not if we call him Ash. Ash sounds badass, don't you think?" she asked.

"I guess, but I don't like Ashleigh," he said.

Liz shook her head. "You're pronouncing it wrong. Not Ashley; it's Ashleigh. The emphasis goes on the second syllable," she explained.

"That's even more complicated! Imagine having to correct people reading his name. He'll have to remind them that his name is Ashleigh, not Ashley," he said.

Liz nodded. "I get it; we can keep thinking. We've got a month until we have to give him a name he'll have for the rest of his life. No pressure," she said.

Randy frowned. "Did you have this much trouble naming the first three?" he asked.

"No; but that's because I never had to compromise with another person. I was always on my own until now," she said sadly.

Randy had never realized that all three of her births had been alone; no one was ever there for her. She was about to deliver her fourth child in 4 weeks or less and it was going to be the only child who would have his father with him. Part of Randy wanted to feel ashamed for not being there for Michael and Reby; another part of Randy had to be reminded that it's not his fault that he wasn't around. He wasn't blaming Liz but he wasn't blaming himself, either.

Randy soon changed the subject and talked randomly until he pulled up to the store. He helped Liz out of the car and gingerly walked her into the store.

"What all are we looking for?" Randy asked.

Liz looked around the store. "Everything," she said.

Randy frowned. "You don't have any of Michael and Reby's old stuff?" he asked.

She shook her head. "No. I wasn't planning on having any more kids so I didn't see the need for their old baby stuff," she said. "If I had their old stuff, we obviously wouldn't be here," she added.

Randy ignored her snappy comment; her hormones were getting the better of her but he had gotten used to them. "What colors do you want for his room?" he asked.

Liz smiled; it was finally getting real for her. "Brown and blue. That way when he gets older, there won't be too much to change about his room. Brown and blue works for any age boy," she said.

He sighed. "Let's just look around for stuff," he said.

Liz nodded and waddled around the store. "Look at this, babe," she said as she pointed to a dark brown crib.

Randy looked at it and frowned. "That's pretty big for a baby," he said.

"Yeah, but it's convertible. It turns into a toddler bed. All you gotta do is take the bars off," she said.

Randy grunted and kept looking around. "What exactly do we need Liz? Did you make a list or anything?" he asked.

Liz shook her head as she looked at other furniture.

"Well why not? How do you know what you're looking for if you haven't made a list?" he asked; Liz could tell he was angry, so she didn't say anything to risk upsetting him any further.

"Hey, look at this changing table," Liz said as she approached the 2-in-1 changing table and dresser. "It has drawers and everything. That leaves more room in the nursery for other stuff," she said.

Randy frowned. "What other stuff? What else do you need besides a crib and a changing table?" he asked.

"We need a rocking chair, a lamp, and some decorations," she said.

He rolled his eyes. "Why do we need a lamp, Liz? There's a light already in there. And what kind of decorations does a baby need?" he asked, irritated.

Liz raised an eyebrow at her boyfriend. "I want a lamp. I want decorations. We're getting a lamp. We're getting decorations. Do you have any other questions?" she asked sternly.

Randy sighed and walked away from Liz. He found himself in the toy aisle; he heard an employee ask Liz for help.

"Can I help you find anything, ma'am?" the woman asked.

"Do y'all have like a tiny sofa?" she asked.

Randy groaned loudly and stormed in the direction of Liz's voice. "What do you need a sofa for, Liz? The kid isn't even born, yet! What the fuck are you going to do with a sofa?!" he asked rudely in front of the employee.

Liz's eyes filled with tears. "Well I didn't know what I would do with it before now. But now I know you'll be the first to sleep on it," she said before storming away from him. She walked out the store and stood at the passenger's car door.

Randy sighed and followed her. He felt terrible for the way he was acting towards Liz.

"Come on, babe. Let's go back inside and finish up," he said softly.

Liz sniffled and shook her head. "No. I want to go home," she said through sobs.

He tried to take her hands in his, but she pulled away. "Take me home. Now!" she yelled at him.

Randy nodded and unlocked the doors. He went to help Liz inside, but she pushed him away. Of course, she struggled; her belly was huge and she couldn't balance herself very well. Randy helped her much to her dismay.

During the car ride, Randy tried to talk to Liz, but she was ignoring him. "Just leave me alone, Randy! Don't talk to me!" she yelled at one point. Randy adhered and kept quiet.

At home, Liz decided to soak in a warm bath. During her soak, Randy knocked on the bathroom door. "Go away, Randy!" she shouted.

"Will you just listen to me for a minute?" he asked.

"No! I'm trying to relax and calm down, but you aren't helping. I'll talk to you when I'm good and ready. Now get!" she said on the other side of the door.

Randy sighed and let her be. He was trying to apologize for being so harsh, but Liz wouldn't even let him. He tried to think of something that would convince Liz to hear him out. He thought about the engagement ring he bought months ago and smiled. He went to the closet and retrieved it from its hiding place. He opened the velvet box and fingered the ring.

What am I thinking? She's too mad to say yes right now. Randy thought to himself. He snapped the box shut and put it back where he had been hiding it for 7 months.

Defeated, he laid out on the bed and waited for Liz to come out of the bathroom. He checked the time and noticed that it was still early. Usually, around this time, it would be time for Reby and Michael to get out of school.

Suddenly, Randy got an idea of what would lighten Liz's mood. He jumped up from the bed and knocked on the bathroom door yet again.

"KNOCK ON THAT FUCKING DOOR ONE MORE TIME AND YOU WON'T HAVE ANYTHING TO KNOCK WITH!" Liz screamed from inside the bathroom.

"I'm going out. I'll be back in an hour. I love you, Liz," he said. He waited for Liz to respond, but she didn't say anything. At that, he left.

oOo

Left in the bathroom, Liz sank deeper into the warm water. She gently rubbed her belly with soap suds while she was in deep thought. Her day hadn't gone anything like she had hoped. She planned on getting all of the baby's furniture ordered, picking out his first outfit, getting all the baby essentials, and naming him. So far, none of that had been done.

She wept to herself as she recapped the day's events; all she wanted was to spend the day with her boyfriend while they planned for the arrival of their son. Liz thought that day was going to be one of the best days of her life; instead, it had turned out to be one of the worst.

Randy didn't even seem interested in shopping with her; it was his first son and he seemed like he wanted to be elsewhere. That's not what hurt Liz; what hurt her the worst was the fact that he didn't even pretend to be excited about shopping for the baby boy. He was completely zoned out and bored; Liz thought she deserved better than that from her children's father.

When her bath water chilled, Liz carefully eased herself out of the tub and dried off. In the bedroom, she smoothed cocoa butter over her belly; regular lotion for the rest of her body. She pulled on her lounging maxi dresses and went to her office.

Liz immerced herself in her work to take her mind off her terrible day. She got an update from caterers, scheduled practices and fittings with the models, called higher-ups in the fashion industry to invite them to her show, and she called Bo to check her messages.

Hey, Liz! How was your morning?

I don't want to talk about it. Do I have any messages?

No messages, but a few people called to RSVP for the show. I added them to the list and emailed the updated list to you. I was also able to make up a seating chart; I emailed that to you, too.

Thank you so much, Bo. You are my good news of the day.

What's going on, girl?

Liz sighed. Randy. He was an ass today.

Isn't he an ass everyday?

I'm not being funny, Bo. He was seriously mean today. I know hormones can make it seem like I'm over reacting, but I promise you that I haven't seen him this mean since before he told me he loved me.

Maybe he's acting like that for the same reason he was an ass before.

Before, he was just jealous of the guys I was hanging out with because he liked me. We live together, now, so there shouldn't be any reason for him to be jealous.

True. I don't know, girl. Have you talked to him?

No. We went shopping for the baby today and he was just so blank and uninterested. We didn't get anything done. I'm too pissed off to even look at him, let alone talk to him.

I get it. Is there anything I can do to help?

Liz thought for a minute and smiled. Actually, yes. If I email you a list of stuff from the store, could you swing by later and place the order?

Of course! I'll do it as soon as I'm done here.

Oh my goodness, Bo! Thank you so much. Use the company debit card and I'll just transfer the money from my personal account to cover the charge.

Okay. I'll call you as soon as I place the order. Anything else?

Nope; that's all. Thank you so much. I really appreciate your hard work.

No problem, Liz. I'll talk to you later.

Okay. Bye.

Liz took a deep breath when he ended the call. She immediately went online to the store's website and found each item she wanted; she typed up the list and emailed it to Bo.

As she was looking through the two emails Bo sent her that day, she heard Randy in the kitchen. She tried to drown him out by balancing the budget for her fashion show. Before she knew it, almost an hour had passed.

Randy stood at her office door with a food tray in his hands. Liz eyed him; she only paid him any attention because she was hungry.

He smirked when he saw that Liz was actually paying attention. Randy placed the tray on the coffee table in the office. "Now, will you listen to me?" he asked.

She narrowed her eyes at him and looked at the food again. "What?" she asked harshly.

"I made you that breakfast casserole to apologize. I know you're mad at me right now and I completely understand. I was a jerk and I will never ever treat you like that again. You deserve so much better than the way I treated you in the store. I love you and I am so sorry,"

Liz took a deep breath to suppress tears that threatened to fall when she recalled how Randy made her feel. "I love you, too, but you made me feel like I was a kid, Randy. It was like I was a little girl in the grocery store with my dad telling me not to touch anything," she said.

Rand hung his head in shame.

Liz continued. "This is the first child we get to raise together and I wanted it to be special. I just wanted to make everything perfect. I wanted the wooden furniture so it would last long; we may have more kids after this one. I just assumed you would want to spend a lot of time with the baby; that's why I wanted the sofa in the nursery. So you could be comfortable if you fell asleep while holding him," she said.

Randy felt even more bad about the way he acted as he listened to Liz explain her feelings. "I guess I'm just scared, Liz,"

Liz frowned. "Scared of what?" she asked.

He sighed and sat in one of the chairs in front of Liz's desk. "This is my first son, you know. I'm scared I'm going to end up like my dad. I don't want Michael and the new baby to grow up like me and Nate did. That's been on my mind ever since you told me you were pregnant,"

It was Liz's turn to feel guilty. "Aw, baby. Michael and the baby won't be like you and Nate. Why would you think that?" she questioned.

Randy shrugged. "Well, I grew up without my dad…Michael kind of did, too. I was always sort of jealous of Nate because he had a much better relationship with dad that I did. What if Michael ends up jealous of the new baby?" he asked.

Liz offered a comforting smile. "Michael has you in his life, babe. He understands our situation; and the new baby will have you, too. There's nothing to worry about, Randy," she reassured.

Randy nodded. "You're right. I feel like an asshole for earlier today," he said sadly.

She smiled. "I forgive you, this time. I just don't like feeling inferior to you. We're equals in this relationship, Randy. Please don't forget that," she begged.

He nodded. "I won't. God, you're beautiful. I swear, if you weren't supposed to be on bed rest, I'd fuck you all over this house," he said lustfully.

Liz chuckled. "Speaking of… we need to come up with some ideas for birth control. Four is enough for now. No more for a few years, okay?" she said.

He laughed. "Deal. No more babies for a few years," he agreed.

"Good. Now, gimme," Liz said motioning for the food Randy brought for her.

Randy chuckled and handed her the tray of food.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Please review! Only 4 chapters are left!