Fingers resting on the table, Ruth looked around the dimly lit Italian restaurant. She'd never dined there before but from the speed in which Harry had procured a quiet table away from the dinner crowd, it was obvious he had. More than likely numerous times. Trying not to dwell on the other women he had been there with, she pulled her gaze from the decor and back to her husband.

Tie gone, top two buttons of his shirt undone, he looked more relaxed than he had been the past few weeks. His hair; longer than he normally wore it; was slightly mussed and her fingers twitched as she longed to run them through it. Later, she thought to herself.

Reaching for her glass of water, she took a sip. "You didn't have to cancel your evening meetings."

"Hmm?" Looking up from his menu, Harry smiled as he met her eyes. "I didn't, but I wanted to. I've missed you."

"You see me every day."

"Across the Grid when the others are around. Or for a few stolen hours when we're both asleep." With a final glance at his menu, he closed it and set it down. Reaching across the small space, he slid his fingers between hers and gripped her hand lightly. "It's been weeks since we've spent any time together. And besides, this afternoon was important. Nothing short of a National Crisis was keeping me from our appointment."

"You could have. I would have understood." Seeing the look that flitted across his face, she squeezed his hand. "I would have been disappointed; and missed you; but I would have understood."

With a sigh, he leaned back in his chair. "I wouldn't have." Looking around the room for a moment, he gripped her hand tighter. "This is my second chance at being a better father and I'm already messing it up."

"No you're not." Pausing, she pulled his hand towards her. "Hey, look at me."

Waiting until his eyes met hers, she smiled at him. "Yes, you've missed most of the appointments with the doctor but honestly, aside from the first one and today, they've been pretty boring. Just weekly meets to make sure everything is alright since they've classified me as high risk between my age, the fact that there's two, and the eventful first two months we had. You were at the important ones."

"I wasn't at their first one." he said quietly, thumb brushing her soft skin.

"No." she said, glancing down to their joined hands, "but you were at the two most important; today and the one following the bombing."

"It doesn't feel like enough. I didn't even know coffee is making you sick. I thought you've had no morning sickness with the pregnancy."

"Because I chose not to tell you. Harry, you've got enough on your plate without having to worry about every little thing with me. I'm a grown woman, I can handle the mundane parts of this pregnancy."

"I should be with you for everything." he all but growled as he met her eyes again.

"And I'd kill you before they were born."

"Ruth..."

"No Harry, you listen to me. You're not a bad father; not with these two at least. I can't speak for the old you because I didn't know you then, but now, you're not being a bad father. At any time over the last 10 weeks, if I needed you in any way, would you have dropped everything? No matter who you were pushing off?"

"You know I would have."

Squeezing his hand, she smiled at him. "I may have been a bit harsh with you this afternoon but I was frustrated at both how you were reacting to our current situation and the possibility that you were going to miss the appointment. It was my fault as much as yours though; I could have spoken up. But I was being petty."

"I'm sorry." Lifting their joined hands, he brushed his lips against her knuckles.

"There's no need to apologize." she said softly. "You're busy, I'm busy; we're both busy. We just forgot what we promised each other."

Smiling, he lowered their hands to the table. "That's why I canceled my meetings tonight on the pretense of us having an evening appointment. We needed dinner tonight."

Hands linked together, Harry and Ruth strolled quietly through the streets of London.

Dinner had been nice. Pleasant conversation. Good food. Great company. And Harry had talked her into a slow dance between their main course and dessert; a few stolen kisses in the shadows of the dance floor.

All in all, a good date.

It was still early; the evening rush not over for another hour. With traffic as backed up as it was, neither were in a particular hurry to get home. As they rounded a corner, Marks & Spencers came into view. Stopping by the door, Harry pulled Ruth back towards him.

"Let's go in here."

"What?" Looking between the overhead sign and Harry, she frowned. "Why? You hate shopping."

Stepping from the main path, he pulled her in front of the display window. "That may be but you need clothes."

"What are you saying?" she asked, eyes narrowing as she watched him.

"That I overheard you and Fiona talking the other day about needing to go shopping. That your shirts were getting to be too tight."

"I can go this weekend. You don't need to take me shopping."

"We're here. There's nothing stopping us from picking up a few things."

"You're not just covering up the fact that you think I've gotten fat, are you?"

"What? No! I'm actually quite found of your growing curves. All of them but especially the ones where the peanuts are." Sliding his hands around her waist, he leaned closer until his breath whispered against her ear. "And I'll admit to finding more than a little pleasure in your growing breasts."

"Harry!" Smacking him in the shoulder, she leaned back and smiled; happy that her changing body didn't seem to bother him.

"I promised you I'd never lie." he answered with a smirk. Meeting her eyes, he brushed a hand against her face. "Tell me the truth, are you upset about gaining weight with this pregnancy?"

Looking around at the people milling about, Ruth blushed. "Now is not the time to talk about this."

"Bugger everyone else. We don't know anyone."

"We could."

"And so what if we do. We're married, we're allowed to be affectionate in public." Fingers gripping her hips, he pulled her closer.

"But we're usually not." Hands resting against his chest, she looked around. "And no, to answer your question, gaining weight is not upsetting me. I know I need to for the twins to be healthy." Meeting his eyes, she smiled and tried to step back. "Though I do admit that I was worried at first you'd distance yourself as I put on pounds."

"Never." he said, loosening his grip slightly.

"I know." with a smile, she patted his chest lightly. "You keep muttering 'Mmm, mine' and 'My Ruth' in the night as your hands wander. I stopped worrying."

Sliding her hands down to his, she moved them from her hips and stepped back.

Reaching out for her hand, he gripped it in his before pulling her towards the store. "Good."

Letting out a sigh, Ruth stepped back from the rack. Nothing in the maternity section was appealing to her.

It was either to plain, to tight, to low cut, to 1970's or to animal print.

"There's nothing here."

Frowning, Harry looked around. From where he was standing, he could see a number of shirts, skirts, pants, and dresses that she'd look amazing in. And none were all that different from what she normally wore.

Stepping around her, he pulled a dark blue cotton shirt from a rack and held it against her front.

Looking down, Ruth frowned. "It's too low cut."

"No it's not. It's almost exactly like the red one in the wardrobe at home."

"It'll be too tight then."

Placing the shirt back on the rack, Harry wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close. Lips pressing against her ear, he spoke softly. "No it won't. What's really wrong? Were you lying when you said you weren't bothered by your changing size?"

"No." she said softly, her fingers picking a piece of lint from his shirt.

"Then what is it? Because you'd look great in at least half these clothes."

"It's nothing."

Hand splaying against her middle back, he pulled her closer. "And that's you lying. Ruth, what is it?"

"I..." pausing, she rested her head against his chest. "I hate having to spend all this money on clothes I'm only going to wear for a few months."

"Is that it?" Kissing the top of her head, Harry stepped back and watched as she nodded yes. "Don't worry about that. Unless you're planning on going around naked for the next five months; which by the way means you won't be leaving the house; we need to pick out some new clothes."

Blushing at his comment, she conceded that he was right.

"And if the thought of only wearing them for a few months really bothers you, we'll save them for when we get pregnant again." Picking up a hunter green wrap around shirt, he held it out to her. "Now, I think we should try this on."

AN: Thank you all for your reviews and wishes of my feeling better. I'm doing a bit better and know that it'll only be a matter of time before I'm fully back to normal. A small offering to continue June from their doctor's appointment. There's more coming from their shopping trip later; hopefully Wednesday night as I've a new Crochet group tomorrow night to attend. I still haven't fully decided on if they're having two boys or a boy and a girl yet - thoughts? I'm also taking ideas for things you'd like to see worked into the coming months. If you've a moment, please spare a review.