Title: Sweet Pea

Summary: Alexis gives Ryan some very good news. Takes place six weeks before they get married.

Genre: Romance

Characters: Ryan, Alexis

Alexis and Ryan sat next to each other on the bed, Ryan watching television and Alexis flipping through a magazine. It had been a long day for both, work and just life in general seeming overly difficult today. They had been together almost two and half years now and being so in tune both knew when the other wanted to discuss their day and when they didn't. It was obvious today warranted more of a quiet night, Alexis knowing Kevin didn't want to recount their current case which involved a child and Ryan knowing Alexis didn't want to talk about anything wedding related after burying herself in it recently.

"Hey Mr. Trivia did you know that most Caucasian babies are born with blue eyes?"

He nodded distractedly as he watched a show about tornadoes on The Weather Channel. "Yeah it's due to the amount of melanin present in a baby's iris. When irises have large amounts of melanin they're usually black or brown, while less melanin produces gray, green, or light brown eyes. Very little amounts of melanin produce blue or light gray eyes."

She shook her head in disbelief and looked back at her magazine, "How do you even know these things? Ok how about this, babies don't have kneecaps they have cartilage that resembles a kneecap."

"Kneecaps develop in children between two and six years old," he replied effortlessly as he continued to click through the channels trying to find something to hold his attention.

"There must be something you don't know," she said quietly as she closed her magazine and set it on the nightstand. "Here's one I bet you didn't know, the size of our baby is a quarter of an inch or the size of a…"

"Sweet pea," he finished as he switched to the ten o'clock news. The room was silent for a few seconds until he fumbled the remote and snapped his head around so fast she was sure he had whiplash. "Wait, what did you say?"

A large grin covered her face as she took in his hopeful yet cautious features, from his wide eyes to his slightly parted lips where rapid breaths were escaping. "I said, our baby is a quarter of an inch long."

The largest smile she had seen on his face, one that even eclipsed the one she got when she accepted his proposal, split across his lips. He scooted closer, "Seriously? You're..." he trailed off thinking about what he knew about pregnancy timelines. "Six weeks?"

At her nod he climbed on top of her and settled on her thighs, his hands spreading across her flat stomach as he looked at it in awe. "We're having a baby," he whispered before repeating it again and looking at her with a grin. "Ha! Lex we're having a baby!"

Alexis wiped away her tears of happiness and pulled him down for a kiss.

"How long have you known?" he asked excitedly as he rolled them over and switched their positions, his hands still caressing her stomach.

"A little over a week, I've been trying to think of how to tell you."

His cheeks were starting to ache from his smile but he just couldn't stop. "How'd this happen? I thought you wanted to wait until we were married for a bit."

She climbed off of him and snuggled into his side, her fingers gliding over his smooth skin. "I know how bad you've been wanting this and how patient you've been for the last two years. I thought it couldn't hurt to stop trying to prevent it from happening and just see what happened, lo and behold two months later…"

"God Lex, I just can't even believe it. Dev's going to have a little brother or sister." The room descended into silence while Ryan pictured a baby girl with green eyes or boy with bright red hair. "You're going to be a mommy."

She propped herself up to see his face better and rested her chin on her hands, "I already am a mommy to Dev."

"And you're a great mommy," he said with a kiss to her forehead. "You know what I mean though, it'll be different. A part of you."

"I'm scared," she admitted quietly.

Shaken out of his pleasant thoughts he frowned, "About what?"

Alexis gave a small shrug, "All of it. Being pregnant, birth, taking care of a newborn."

His hand lifted and his fingers began to rub slow circles on her back while he tried to quell her nerves. "My oldest sister Leah was pregnant my senior year of high school. She loved it. Everyone waited on her hand and foot, gave up their seats wherever she went. Ava bought her a crown to wear at the house since she was treated like royalty and she actually wore the damn thing. Other than a little bit of nausea and feeling tired she said it was the greatest experience of her life."

A small smile reappeared on her lips, "Well at least I can look forward to that. Birth sounds just horrible though."

"I'm going to try to tread carefully right now because I only have an outsiders views but Jenny said it was worse than she imagined." Seeing Alexis pale he rushed on, "But that night she said it was worth it, that she wouldn't change any of it for anything."

Feeling thankful that Kevin had witnessed someone surviving it she pressed for more. "In the movies they make it seem traumatic."

He couldn't help but laugh, "Yeah it's not like that, no screaming or anything. Look, don't worry about it until we have to ok? It's kind of inevitable so let's just enjoy the now and worry about the later, later. What else are you worried about?"

"Being a mom," she whispered vulnerably.

He grabbed her face and made sure their eyes met, that their focuses were only on each other. "You are and will be a wonderful mother. You're patient and have more love to give than you realize. You pay attention to the little things and that's what makes up kids, all the little things. Babies cry and scream and make you want to rip your hair out of your head but when they smile for the first time or grab you finger when they fall asleep it's just… indescribable."

She wiped away a tear that slid down his face as he continued, all his memories of Dev fresh in his mind. "The first time they fall asleep on you, the first time they discover their tongue and it's always sticking out. The first time our baby will say mama and the first step as they look at you with just as much excitement as you look at them with. Wait until this baby is born Lex, your entire life will change in ways you never thought possible. Everything will just fade away when you look at them, everything that seemed so important before will be so insignificant and this little chubby person will become your entire world in the blink of an eye."

"What if it doesn't happen like that? What if I don't bond with our baby, that happens to some women."

He shook his head at her numerous concerns, "You will love that child no matter what and yeah it might take a little bit to bond but it will be temporary. Jenny cried when she had Dev, loved him instantly but it took a good three or four weeks for her to truly bond and that's fine. It doesn't mean you love them less. Nothing about babies is set in stone, it all just happens when it's meant to happen."

It was quiet after that and Ryan assumed she had fallen asleep until she climbed completely on top of him and rubbed her hands through his hair. "Thank you, I'm feeling pretty excited now. I don't want to wait thirty four more weeks, I want to meet our baby now."

One hand rested on the back of her neck and the other found it's way to her hip as he pulled her closer for a long kiss, one that left them panting for more. "I'm excited too but there's a few other things I'd like to do before we meet the newest Ryan."

"Like eat a slice of pizza with extra pepperoni? Oh, and pineapple! And garlic bread. God doesn't that sound good right now?" she asked excitedly. "And ice cream for dessert."

He chuckled, "And so it begins. Have you told anyone?"

She shook her head, "I want to wait a little bit. I want this to just be ours for a while."

"Sounds good to me, the longer Castle doesn't know the longer I get to live."