The inevitable happened when Sam was about five and a half months along, and Saul was awoken one morning to the clang of metal being pitched across the room, followed by the foulest, most degenerate bout of swearing he had ever heard, let alone that it was coming from his wife. He sighed, got up, and reached for the package he had gotten for this eventuality.
When he got to Sam's dressing room, he prudently ignored the pile of armor that no longer fit his wife or the one angry tear that had managed to escape on his wife's face. He proffered the package that he had made two weeks ago.
"It's armor you can wear now that you are…you're…."
Sam smiled despite herself, taking the package. "Pregnant you mean? Come now Saul , you breed swamp dragons, you know the word."
She shook it out. It was leather, with metal plates inside, and in the shape of an apron.
Maternity armor. He'd gotten her maternity armor. With another not-tear not-making its way down her cheek, she slipped it over her head. It was still massive and she saw where there was a built in belt that would help keep it tight until she was further along.
She looked at Saul, in a rare state of shock. He had been pressing her to do more desk work than she already was and to stay at home more. When her armor wouldn't fasten this morning, she thought she was looking at three months away from the Watch.
Away from her duty.
Away from Ankh-Morpork.
Saul leaned into kiss her and to cinch her belt tight. "I had a think and…well, you're the best damn Watchman this city has ever seen. It would be a shame and a crime to keep you from your duty. So I will settle for keeping you as safe as can be."
He leaned back, looking at Sam. "That being said, I still think it'd be a good idea for you to stay at the desk a bit more."
Sam smiled. "Perhaps you are right; see how everyone does without me on the streets for a month or two." Her grin got sharper, thinking about the room for improvement she was going to be sure to see in her newer officers.
Of course, voluntarily choosing to do more desk work and being remanded to the desk for the rest of her pregnancy by Lord Vetinari were two completely different things.
She had never punched a hole clean through the wall outside his office before, but like maternity armor, there was a first time for everything.