Chapter 10

A/N: Hi! It's been a while. You must hate me by now, but I have a new chapter! The new Hope pregnancy storyline just kind of kicked me in the butt and inspired me to write more. I guess I can only write when I hate what's happening in the show. LOL! Weird.

Anyway, I referenced the amount of times Steffy and Liam have been married in the chapter so feel free to tell me if I'm wrong, but there was aspen, and the first time she was pregnant, and then after Quinn kidnapped Liam and he broke of her marriage to Wyatt, and then the vow renewal after Sally and Bill and all that, which I'm going to count. If they get married again that makes 5, right?

I swear all anybody ever does on this show is get married and divorced over and over again. Why do I like it so much?!

Anyhoo, here is the new chapter. Enjoy!

Steffy's POV

Things were going great. Almost too great.

The annoying fickle bitch in my head constantly reminded me that whenever things were this great with Liam and I, something happened to ruin it.

But I ignored her, for the most part.

I was happy to bask in the moment and enjoy where we were.

We were in the honeymoon period without the permanency of marriage, and I wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible.

That's why I ignored the little black box Liam carried around in his pocket. I changed the subject anytime he got too romantic, which was often, and I pretended to have to go pee whenever he knelt down to do anything.

He had moved back in, the baby's room was almost finished, and we had chosen a name. We were happy together, and I wanted to stay that way forever, just without all the paper work.

I mean, we'd been married so many times before, was there really a point in doing it for the fifth time?

This all came to head at work thanks to Cameron and his big mouth.

It was after a meeting, Cameron strayed behind as usual. I couldn't tell if he flirted with me because he was just a flirt or because he liked annoying Liam.

Usually, the muscle in Liam's jaw would tick as he clenched his jaw and just ignored him. It made me all giddy because he was still jealous even though he trusted me and never gave Cameron any attention. He just didn't want Cameron giving me attention.

But after the meeting today, Cameron struck a nerve.

"When are you going to lock this pretty lady down, Liam? I might be tempted to step in." He smirked.

And suddenly, Liam was shoving him out the door, slamming it behind him.

"What the hell, Liam?" I asked. "The last thing I need right now is HR coming down on me."

"Are we ever going to get married?" He asked, quite loudly.

"Keep your voice down." I glared. "The walls have ears. I think we should talk about this at home."

"You run away every time I try to bring it up."

"Well, why do you always have to bring it up?"

He frowned. "What?"

"Why does it always have to be marriage with you? What about the way we are now is going to change after we get married? We'll still love each other, we'll still be making a family together, we'll still be together."

"I want to share my love for you with our family, I want the world to know we're together and that we've made a commitment to be together for the rest of our lives." He said.

"If that's all you want, then we can have a press conference. Release a public statement. The whole world already thinks we're back together. We'll confirm it, and our family already knows that we're together. They know that we love each other. We don't need all the legalities." I shouted.

"You'd rather have a press conference than stand in front of a few people and have a ceremony. Why are you so against a wedding? I thought that's where we were heading when you asked me to stay that night."

"I did want you to stay. I've always wanted you stay. Are you saying that you need a marriage to stay?"

"No, that's not what I'm saying." He ran his hands through his hair, frustrated. "I just thought we were past all this. I thought you were ready to move forward."

"I am!" I yelled. "We are."

"No, we're not. We're staying in place." He shouted.

"It's literally the same thing. After we get married, we're going to be just like you think we are now, staying in place. There is no difference, except if anything were to happen as we are now, we won't need lawyers to help us divide up our assets and all that other bullshit." I shouted.

"Nothing would happen, Steffy." He shouted back. "It would be forever."

"We thought it would be forever all the other times too, Liam." I walked over to him, running my fingers across his scruff like I always did to calm him. "This could be forever too, without all the drama if it isn't."

He pulled my hand away.

"I don't want half way with you. I want everything." He said, turning and leaving almost running into Pam.

"Are you okay?" She asked me.

"Yeah." I sniffed. "I'm fine, Pam."

"Do you want any advice from your Grand-Aunt?"

I sighed, flopping down into my chair.

"Sure, why not?"

"I think if you're going to give him a chance, if you're going to let him in, then let him all the way in. You're only hurting him and yourself. You can't keep thinking in what ifs."

"It's not what ifs, Pam. It's experience. All of my what ifs have already happened."

"You didn't go into any of those marriages thinking it was going to end. You followed your heart and married the man you love. You have a strong heart, just like Stephanie. You should listen to it. It's been hurt before, but it's still in there fighting for your happiness. I think if you trust it, you'll find it again."

"Thanks, Pam." I smiled.

"Anything for my favorite niece. There's lemon bars outside if you want some extra comfort." She smiled back.

"No thanks, I think I'm going to take the rest of the day." I said.

"Where should I say you're going?" She asked.

I smiled, grabbing my purse. "To follow my heart."

Liam wasn't at home, or on the beach. I thought of one other place he might be, but the little break I decided to take on the couch turned into a long nap. My alarm woke me up, after sunset. We needed to leave in a few minutes if we wanted to make it to Lamaze class on time.

"Liam?" I called.

"Liam?" I checked outside.

He didn't come home.

The pain in my chest was only trumped by the yelling of that annoying fickle bitch in my head.

You push too far. How long did you think he was going to stay? You can't blame him, but hey you got what you wanted. No marriage, no divorce, no annulment, no pain. It's better this way. She said.

I wished I could've gotten her out or my head.

I wished I didn't listen to her before, because I was in pain now anyway. Liam didn't need to divorce me for that.

I could hurt myself all on my own.

I got into the garage and got behind the wheel of my own car for the first time in almost three months.

As I walked into the birthing center, I dreaded having to do this alone. It would be the first class I had attended without Liam, and I saw the looks the other moms gave women when they came in alone. A sad, concerned, pitying look that they all tried to hide but was very obvious.

Michelle, the birthing instructor, was a loud but kind woman. It always baffled me how she commanded so much attention and authority for being such a flower power, animal rights activist, for lack of a better word, 'hippie'.

"Steffy, come on in. You're blocking the door, sweetheart."

I glared at her.

Of all the women here, I was by far the largest, a fact that Michelle liked to bring up. I was giving, Chelsea, the woman pregnant with twins, a run for her money. It was a class joke for Michelle to measure us, and it was cute at first, when I was smaller than Chelsea, but at 7 months with her twins, and me at 8 months with my one precious girl, I was 3 inches larger.

Liam would always kiss my cheek and whisper, "More of you to love."

Especially when he thought I might punch someone.

"C'mon, Steffy, I'm sure you'll be more comfortable with your coach behind you." She said.

My attention turned to our corner, where Liam and I usually sat, and there he was.

Annoying Fickle Bitch: What do you know? He didn't leave. Okay. I guess I trust him now.

As if I were ever listening to her over my heart ever again.

I walked over to him.

He helped me sit, taking his place behind me, his knees surrounding me, his chest warm and firm at my back.

"I'm sorry." We said together.

"You first." Again, together

"Jinx." I laughed. "It's okay. You go first." I chickened out.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there to drive you. I went for a drive to clear my head and lost track of time." He murmured in my ear, giving us some semblance of privacy as the other couples shuffled in.

"I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have lost my head like that." I said.

"It's okay. I learned how to handle your attitude a long time ago." He smiled.

"What attitude? I don't know what you're talking about."

"Nothing. You're not stubborn at all." He chuckled.

"Shut up." I said.

"Or bossy." He joked, coughing when I elbowed him in the stomach.

"Alright." Michelle started. "Phone's off from now on. If I see one, its mine till the end of class. Babies need peace."

"Yeah, that's why they cause so much chaos on their way out." One of the second time mothers muttered.

The class laughed as Michelle glared at her.

"Alright, ladies let's focus on our breathing exercises." She commanded. "Coaches what do you do?"

"Shut up and let them yell at us if they want. They are giving us a great gift." The men began to recite, the chorus echoing steady like drums. "We get them ice, hold their hands, do anything and everything they want."

She nodded her approval.

I stopped my breathing for a minute, shifting to look at Liam.

"You have to do anything and everything I want." I smirked. "I'm giving you a great gift."

"Anything you want." He smiled. It didn't quite reach his eyes, but it would.

"Okay." I leaned back as far as I could and brushed my lips over his. "Marry me."

He stared at me for a long time, before shaking his head. "You're not ready yet. It's fine."

"Shh. No arguments. Babies need peace." I said, turning back around for fear of Michelle scolding me.

"But…" He sounded confused.

"Everything and anything I want, Liam." I said. "I want this."

My pants continuing in rhythm with the others, as if I hadn't just taken a massive leap of faith.

"I love you, you know that?" He kissed my temple.

"You better." I said.

"After this," Michelle said, "Prepare yourself for the birthing video I promised. Natural birth is a beautiful process, bonding between…" She droned on as I settled deeper into Liam.

"I love you, too." I smiled. "And hey Liam?

"Yeah."

"As soon as possible."

A/N: Hope you like it! I improvised. I've never had a baby, so my Lamaze knowledge is limited to tiny over dramatic scenes of TV or movies. I was watching today's episode of B&B when I wrote this, and I was so proud of Steffy when she said our family is growing, and of course Liam, the ultimate flip-flopper that he is didn't look so sure about marrying her anymore. I'm so glad I fixed him in my fanfic. Not to toot my own horn, but my Liam is way better (insert evil chuckle). Hopefully, the writer's block is taking a back seat, and I can update frequently and complete this story.

Thank you for sticking with me! Knowing that you enjoy this story and want more really forced me to get cracking and beat this block, so thank you. I couldn't have done it without you. As usual read, review and enjoy!