A few weeks had passed since Elizabeth had the feeling she was being followed. Jack and Bill kept their eyes open around town and while during rounds for strangers that may be the cause of Elizabeth's uneasy feelings. They found no one. Jack continued to walk his wife to and from school as promised. Truth was even though he was concerned about what caused the feelings in the first place, he was happy to be spending extra time with his wife.

One night, Elizabeth couldn't sleep. She decided to make herself a cup of warm milk and go read in front of the fire in the living room. She hoped Jack wouldn't notice she wasn't in bed with him, but she knew he probably would wake up. He hated sleeping alone now; every time he was called away on Mountie duty he would come home exhausted because he missed holding her in bed at night.

Her hopes were dashed when thirty minutes later she heard him calling for her. "I'm in the living room, Jack." She called to him.

Jack walked into the living room and sat down on the couch next to her. She put her book aside as Jack put his arm around her. "Can't sleep?" He ask her

"No. I am not sure why. I didn't want to disturb you so I came down here to read."

"You could have woken me up. I wouldn't have minded, especially since I have a surprise for you. Bill offered to work for me this weekend so we don't have to get up tomorrow morning."

"Oh, Jack! How wonderful! A whole weekend together! But wait! Why didn't you tell me at dinner?"

"I wanted to surprise you in the morning with breakfast in bed." He kissed the top of her head. "Is there anything I can do to help you sleep? Would you like some warm milk?"

"No thank you. I made some for myself already." She pointed to the cup on the coffee table. "It's not working. Maybe you could just hold me for a while in front of the warm fire."

"I will always hold you, Sweetheart. You never have to ask." They laid on the couch for a few minutes before Jack decided to sing to her.

Elizabeth closed her eyes and listened to his rich voice. She loved it when he sang to her. Suddenly, she felt the baby kick, much harder than she had been feeling the last few weeks. She gasped and moved her hands towards her belly, startling Jack.

"Elizabeth? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, Jack. Give me your hand." She took it and placed his hand on her belly.

Jack waited, knowing she must have felt the baby move, but he didn't feel anything. "Elizabeth, I can't feel the baby."

"I know, the baby stopped moving. Try singing again. I was only feeling fluttering before you started to sing."

He did ask she asked and after he sang for a about a minute, he felt it. A nice strong kick. "Oh, my goodness!" He exclaimed. "That's some kick!" He felt tears come to his eyes as he felt their baby kick for the first time. He brought his other hand to her belly and closed his eyes, relishing the moment of feeling his child move for the first time. He really felt like he was bonding with the baby now. He often found himself feeling envious of her that she already had a bond with the baby.

"It's wonderful, isn't?" Elizabeth replied, with tears falling down her cheeks.

"Yes, it is." He whispered. "I love you, Sweetheart! So much! I love our baby, too."

"I love you too, My Love." She wanted to turn to face and give him a kiss, but the baby was still kicking and she didn't want Jack to miss out on feeling the baby for the first time. "Jack? What do you think we are having? A boy or a girl?"

"Well, that was some kick, so from that I would say it's a boy, but I have this feeling deep in my heart that the baby is a girl. A beautiful little girl who looks exactly like her mother and will steal my heart the moment I see her for the first time." He was still feeling emotional and took a moment to move one hand from her belly to wipe the tears from his eyes.

Elizabeth felt tears in her eyes again, listening to Jack talk about having a daughter. "Oh, Jack! That is so sweet! I think we are having a girl too. Woman's intuition."

"We haven't discussed names yet, Sweetheart." He said as he put his arms around her belly. He grinned when he felt another kick. "Should we talk about that now while we cuddle together?"

"Yes, I would love to discuss names. I have been thinking about names a lot lately. Since I first felt the fluttering."

"What are your thoughts?"

"Well, I was thinking I want to have our names as a middle name. I love both our names but it would get too confusing to have two Elizabeth's or two Jarrick's or Jack's in the house."

Jack laughed. "Yes it would get a little confusing. I wouldn't mind using my name as a middle name."

"I was thinking Catherine Elizabeth for a girl. We could call her Katie. And Christopher Jarrick for a boy, Chris for short."

"I love them. Katie or Chris. Beautiful! Great job coming up with them"

"I am so happy you like the names." The last part was interrupted by a yawn. "I'm sorry, Jack. I didn't mean to yawn."

"It's ok. You must be getting sleepy. Do you want to go back to bed and see if you can fall asleep?"

"Yes, as long as you promise to hold me."

Jack was already getting up from the couch. He rolled his eyes in an exaggerated fashion. "If I must." He pretended it would be so hard for him to hold her. They looked at each other and burst out laughing. Jack held his hand out to her and helped her up. He put his arm around her as they walked upstairs to bed.

Decided to make this chapter a little shorter as it is a transition chapter. I had one idea about the stranger when I was writing this before but I have changed my mind. I am going in a different direction. I will be re-introducing the stranger at a later date. In the meantime, I would love some opinions on the names I picked.