A/N: I hope the wait wasn't too long! Here's the next piece. It's pretty short and fluffy, but I feel it stands better alone than it would have with chapter eight.

We get our gender reveal in this chapter, as you'll see in .5 seconds lol. The votes were fairly evenly split, and so many of you said you didn't really care, that I decided to just go with my original plan. I hope you guys don't mind!

Love you all, and thanks for reading as always. Your reviews are what keep me going.

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"A girl. We're having a girl." Josh repeats for the hundredth time.

Donna smiles, equally enthralled with the idea. "We are."

They're sitting on the same side of the booth in an Italian restaurant, a picture from their earlier sonogram resting on the table between them. Donna finishes off a plate of fettuccine Alfredo as they stare at their unborn daughter. "I'm still not totally sure I see it."

Donna stifles a laugh. "What did you expect, that she'd be wearing a bow?"

"No," he mutters. He continues to look at the picture, and an awed warmth glows in his eyes, as it has since the appointment. "I can't believe we're having a daughter. I don't know anything about having a daughter."

"Hey, I don't either."

"Well, you were one once, that's gotta count for something."

She rolls her eyes. "You're not going to be weird about this, are you?"

"About what?"

"You're not like, going to shelter her, and not want to play catch with her or do 'guy' things, right? You'll let her do more than dance classes?"

"Of course I will. God, what do you take me for?"

"I don't know." She shrugs. "I was afraid you always pictured yourself with a son. You know, teaching him to play baseball, running around outside."

"Sounds like you pictured me with a son."

She blushes, and leans into him gently. "Maybe. All I'm saying is, my dad let me play football with my brothers, he took me to the lumber yard, he took me fishing. And, I think it made a difference in how I saw myself, and my abilities, you know? That's all."

"Donna, listen. As far as I'm concerned, the only difference is that maybe she'll be the world's greatest soft ball player instead of baseball player. And even that's not set in stone."

She smiles, resting her head on his shoulder. "Okay. Good."

He kisses the top of her head, and takes a deep breath. "Can you believe this?"

"What? Still on the daughter thing?"

"No, us. We're only on our first date, but by now we're already halfway to having a daughter.

"Oh, that." She grins. "This isn't our first date."

"What?"

"Cook out was our first date."

"No it wasn't. That's insane."

"Hey, I don't make the rules."

"Cook out was not our first date."

"It was. It was romantic, too."

"That does not reflect well on me."

"Too bad."

"You harassing me and spilling milkshake on me, that was our first date?"

"Yupp." She looks down at him. Once they'd reached the doctor's office, he'd pulled the Harvard sweatshirt on over his stained clothes, all the while glaring at her as she laughed. "You look cute, by the way."

He rolls his eyes, but smiles nonetheless. "Shut up."

She starts to snake her arms around his waist, and when he realizes what she's doing, he leans forward to help her. "This was a nice second date, though."

"I'm glad you liked it." He allows. He glances at her plate. "Done?"

"Yeah."

"Finally."

She pulls her head away from his shoulder to send him a pout. "Hey."

"I can't believe you sent the food back."

"I don't know what it was, but something about the way that lasagna smelled made me want to hurl. I honestly think sending it back was the most considerate option."

"Fair enough." Idly, he runs one hand over her arm. "So... You ready to go?"

"Yeah. I think so." She can feel that a hint of tension and anticipation has entered their conversation. He doesn't know where tonight is going, and frankly, neither does she. They'd been almost ready to throw down in the car on the side of a road in Rocky Mount, but now that the moment has passed things are unclear once again. "I'm still good to stay at your place?" She asks carefully.

"Of course." He says immediately. He clears his throat awkwardly. "I can, um, sleep on the couch, or..."

"You don't have to do that." She says immediately. She feels him smile against her hair.

"Okay."

"In case I didn't make myself abundantly clear, I was really, really hoping tonight would end in sex."

He full out grins. "I'm so glad we're on the same page again."

An hour later, he has her backed against the doorway of his bedroom, faint traces of nostalgia clinging to the moment. It seems fitting that their second time would be here, too.

She smiles as she works her way through his shirt buttons, fumbling just a little, and he lazily kisses her neck. "You know," she starts.

"Mm?"

"I've been thinking about you a lot the past few months."

He pulls back an inch to smile. "Well yeah, I'd imagine you'd have to."

"No, I mean... I've been like crazy hormonal the past few months."

"You... Oh." He seems to suddenly lose the ability to speak.

"But I wasn't with anyone else, you know. Maybe I could've been, but I didn't want to. So it was just you, on my mind... In my room... Alone... Late at night..."

He groans, nipping her ear. "You're killing me."

She giggles, and finishes taking his shirt off him. She makes quick work of his undershirt, too, and in no time she's touching as much of him as she possibly can. When he starts to pull her shirt off, though, she freezes. "Wait."

"What?"

"Wait, I'm. Just, wait."

He pulls back to look at her, eyes clouded in confusion and concern. "What's wrong?"

She gives him an apologetic smile. "It's just, well, I'm pregnant."

He quirks one eyebrow at her, a hesitant smirk forming. "Really? I totally forgot."

She shakes her head, one hand coming up to her face in embarrassment. "It's just, I don't look the same."

He cocks his head to one side. "I had no idea pregnancy worked like that."

She pinches his arm. "Your sarcasm is not helpful right now."

"Donna. I know you won't look exactly the same. And I'm fine with it. Beyond fine with it, actually. You're growing our kid."

"I know, I just..." She bites her lip. "Stretch marks aren't sexy."

He shakes his head, eyes glowing softly. "Trust me, that uh... Won't be a problem."

She notices the change in his voice, and raises her eyebrows. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. Trust me."

A smile bubbles at her lips. "What do you have, like a pregnancy fetish?"

That makes him laugh. "No. I have a you fetish." He immediately cringes. "Terrible, right?"

She shakes her head, stifling her giggles. "No. Perfect."

"It's just different, you know? It's different when it's your kid."

"So pregnant women, not attractive to you before..."

"And most still aren't. But you?" He closes his eyes briefly, smiling blissfully as he pulls her closer to him. "Whole other story."

She wraps her arms back around him, where they belong, and gently kisses his jaw. "Okay. Undress me."

Josh has been plagued by sleeplessness for almost all of his life. Since he was eight years old, he hasn't truly slept a night soundly, and it only grew worse as he aged. His sleep, when he finally succumbed to it, was restless and patchy. After Rosslyn, nightmares were added to the potent mix, nightmares that resurfaced in an even more horrible way after Gaza. In short, Josh and sleep are long time foes who generally avoid each other at all costs, and whose interactions, while brief, are never good.

But that night, with a soft and sleepy Donna curled against his chest, he feels his entire body relaxing in a previously unknown bliss. He falls asleep easily, and doesn't dream at all.

He has Donna, and he has a daughter now. He thinks that maybe the thing he was missing all those years, that kept him from sleeping, was a family.

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Gah I'm so happy. I almost don't want to add any more drama or angst to their lives. Almost ;)

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think!