The fudge only lasted as long as it did because Natsu made too much. The pan fried doughnuts he made the next time he came, caked in sugar, lasted less than a full day, and Sting ate them so fast that despite his new found tolerance of sweetness, he was still horribly sick afterward. He didn't know if Natsu caught on to that or not, but the third time the boy came, he made Sting a tart in a bowl sized dish that was obviously meant to be a single serving.
His scent was all over the kitchen for days after each visit, and while Rogue did his best to ignore it at first, after a month had gone by he couldn't help but ask.
"He and Lucy want a kid, so he visits for lessons on child rearing."
"That's all?"
"He makes sweets as payment." No doubt Rogue could smell that whenever he came home. "He says he'll teach me to cook eventually."
"I wish him the best of luck with that. Truly."
"Wish me luck teaching. Do you have any idea how dense this guy is when it comes to kids? I wouldn't for a second leave him alone with Alex. I don't doubt that he means well, but I'm sure I'd come back to find her in horrible condition."
Rogue nodded, unsurprised to hear that. Natsu had bowed out of their love triangle when he learned that too much of Rogue's heart still belonged to Sting. Your boyfriend staying in a hospital for a week watching over your rival in love was a pretty strong signal that said rival meant a lot. And that Sting had been in the hospital as a consequence of saving Rogue's life hadn't helped. Nor had Sting revealing to Natsu that, despite Rogue having been one-hundred percent faithful when he was with Sting, since starting to date Natsu, he'd snuck back to his old home to visit Sting and ended up making out.
Among the reasons Rogue had been willing to avoid Natsu for so long was that he realized what a horribly unfair person he'd been to the fire slayer throughout that ordeal. It was amazing Natsu was willing to ignore him to, rather than turn on him.
"You two aren't fighting?"
"I don't have the energy to fight. And he makes me sweets, so I can tolerate him."
"You need to eat more than just sugar."
"You make me healthy things. Although if you feel like mixing up some ice cream, I wouldn't mind. You can flavor it with fruit. Fruit are healthy."
"Here." Rogue tossed Sting an apple. "The baby eats what you eat. Take better care of them."
Sting blushed and grudgingly bit into the fruit.
"Anyway, has Natsu commented on that yet?" Rogue asked, gesturing with the knife he was using to mince garlic to the soft bump visible beneath Sting's tight shirt.
To Rogue's annoyance, Sting covered the area with his free arm. "He hasn't been here in a week. It wasn't really noticeable then."
"Do you not like it?"
"I feel fat."
"Too many sweets?"
"Rogue!"
Rogue chuckled. "Well, I seem to remember someone saying that all those shirts that didn't cover their stomach would fit just fine while they were pregnant. Should I buy maternity clothes?"
"I…" Sting straightened and raised his chin defiantly. "Once it's big enough that I actually look pregnant, instead of just chubby, it will be fine. I wanted to be pregnant."
"Until then?"
"Ah… well… I have a few loose shirts."
Which were almost all pajamas.
"You can borrow a few of mine," Rogue offered. "My clothes aren't as skintight, and they're better suited for going around during daytime."
Sting considered the option, then shook his head. After begging Rogue to agree to this second child for years, after all the hassle and heartbreak of the miscarriages and managing to have pregnancy that would last—or that had lasted so far, at least—Sting felt like he had an obligation to find everything about the experience great. He couldn't hide that the morning sickness sucked, and maybe he wasn't as happy with his baby bump as he'd thought he would be, but for as badly as he'd wanted to be pregnant, he'd be damned if he wasn't going to enjoy it. And that meant no hiding his stupid bump.
"Are you sure? My clothes are warmer."
-o-
Rogue didn't need to know that it wasn't the idea of warmth that got Sting into his shirt. He wasn't likely to discover the truth either, since Sting quickly found that warm clothes were nice. Their apartment was heated, naturally, but the heater only worked so well, and it was still cold out. In fact, it was snowing just then.
It was also nice to have something that Rogue's scent so deeply permeated. It felt like getting a warm, fuzzy hug from Rogue himself.
When Sting said as much, Rogue blushed and mumbled something about taking Alex outside to build a snowman. Sting thought he'd only said that as a way to change the subject, but a few minutes later Rogue started dressing Alex in snow pants and a little winter coat, nodding along while she babbled about carrots.
Rogue caught his eye and looked away, blushing, trying not to scowl while talking to their daughter, who was too young to tell what had upset her parents—only that they were upset with something. Sting grinned at that. So Rogue had tried to change the subject and was now going out of his way to make it look like he hadn't just brought up snowmen because he got flustered.
"You're cute," Sting said.
"Shut it. And put a coat on. That sweater isn't going to keep you warm if you're out in the snow."
Rogue tossed Sting his coat and picked Alex up, heading outside before Sting could embarrass him any further.
Sting pulled the coat on, but paused before going out, and ran to the bathroom to inspect himself in the mirror. No matter the angle, he couldn't see the bump through the sweater, although he could still feel it when he patted his midsection. He could also see a softness in her arms and cheeks that he wasn't sure he liked. Without the baby bump diverting attention, he became aware of the fact that it wasn't just his stomach that had grown in the past few weeks.
"Guess that's what I get for eating so many sweets." He sighed, pinching at his arm. If he hadn't already had two miscarriages, he would find some workout that was advertised as baby safe. Since he'd had two miscarriages already, he would have to settle for a more dedicated workout regimen after the baby was born.
Since Rogue had left in such a rush with Alex, Sting took it upon himself to check the kitchen for snowman decorations. He grabbed raisins for the eyes and mouth, and upon failing to locate carrots, substituted a celery stalk.
His lover and daughter were out of sight by the time he made it out into the snow, but that was fine. Rogue's scent was one he knew better than any, and he could easily follow it to the park, where he found Alex making a snow angel. It would have been cute to catch Rogue making one too, but instead, the shadow slayer was instructing Frosch on how to wave her arms and legs without wiggling her tail too much so she could make a snow angel too. A snowball that had been rolled to half the size of what one might reasonably use for the base lay abandoned off to the side.
Since he'd gone through all the trouble of walking across town with a celery stalk, Sting took it upon himself to finish rolling the base of the snowman. Seeing her daddy do a thing sparked Alex's interest, and she got up and put together another snowball, rolling it alongside him. Soon Frosch and Lector had come back over to help to, and Rogue…
Were the heck did Rogue go?
"Cold?"
Sting turned around to see Rogue offering up a cup of hot chocolate. Sniffing the air, Sting noticed that they weren't too far from a café. Rogue must have slipped away to get them something.
He had a cup for himself too, and a kiddy cup for Alex, which he'd managed to get a straw for. They both took a test sip, and silently agreed to take the lid off of Alex's drink and let it cool a bit before giving it to her. No need for all of them to end up with burnt tongues.
Rogue took over the snowman, helping Alex roll while Sting sat back and watched. She was getting bigger. The snow came up almost to her knees, but she showed no signs of letting that stop her, plowing through the snow after her mother. Her birthday was a few months away, but it still felt surreal to think she was going to be three soon.
"No, Mama! Me! I do it!" she cried when Rogue moved to lift the second snowball up and set in in place as their snowman's midsection.
Rogue hesitated. The snowball was already too large for Alex to roll, but when she pouted like that…
"You can do it, pumpkin," Sting called.
Sighing, Rogue stepped back and let Alex squat down and wrap her arms as far as she could around the snowball. Hugging it as she was, chubby cheek smushed into the snow, she didn't see her mommy slip into the shadows, nor the hand that rose up seconds later from under the snowball that helped her lift it and slide it onto their growing snowman.
She squealed, jumping up in down with delight upon seeing the snowball in its proper place, and began packing snow for the head.
"How are you feeling?" Rogue asked Sting when he noticed the blond still sitting back.
"Fine."
"You don't feel sick?"
"Not much."
"Tired?"
"Not really."
"Not really, or no?"
"It's mid-afternoon, Rogue."
"It's okay if you're tired now. You're growing a baby. That takes a lot of energy," Rogue insisted.
Sting laughed. "When you say it like that, it sounds like I've got the poor thing in an incubator in a lab somewhere."
Rogue glanced down at Alex, who was pushing with all her might to get their final snowball to a good head size. "It's too bad we don't make children that way. I think it would be a lot easier, overall."
"Aw. Don't say that. You loved carrying Alex."
"I love having Alex. Every part of obtaining her I would have happily skipped," Rogue corrected. "You're sure you're fine? Nothing hurts?"
"My stomach. A little. But the hot chocolate isn't making me throw up."
"That's everything?"
"That's everything," Sting assured Rogue, but now he couldn't help but frown. Lately, when Rogue was around, Sting might catch him watching with an odd expression. Like he was just waiting for Sting to collapse. "Why? Did you have any weird symptoms that I needed to be on the lookout for?"
"Once the baby gets bigger, nothing will ever be comfortable. But right now, everything should be fine. Just… I haven't been around as much since you took back over with Alex." He paused to check on their daughter, and saw she was still patting their snowball into place. "Sometimes I get worried, when I'm away with work. What if something happens goes wrong while I'm out, and there isn't anyone there to help you? I hate taking jobs that last overnight. I don't like leaving you along that long. And I hardly get any sleep worrying about you anyway."
"Aw. You like me, don't you? You really like me."
To his amusement, that made Rogue blush and duck so that his hair hid his face.
"Mama!" Alex cried out then, taking both their attention. She had finished with the head, but had realized in the middle of attempting to lift it that the top of the snowman's body was out of her reach.
Rogue picked the snowball up and placed it for her, while Sting handed their daughter the packet of raisins and lifted her up to decorate the face. She ate a handful before they could correct her on their purpose.
When it came time to apply the nose, Alex started crying and screaming, because celery wasn't a carrot, and snowmen had to have carrot noses. That was all she'd ever seen in picture books so she knew that was the way it had to go. While Rogue crammed the celery stalk in for the sake of being done with it, Sting turned so he blocked her view of the horrible celery snowman, and made up some story about how this snowman was afraid of the color orange so she would accept the horrible monstrosity they had shoved into the poor thing's face.
"Soon, we're going to have two of these," Rogue said. "You're really sure your ears can handle that?"
"I'll ask you that the next time she's giggling," Sting promised. "Stop pretending. You know you love her."
Rogue grinned, but the expression faltered a second later. "Here. Let me hold her."
"I'm not going to wear myself out carrying a toddler, Rogue."
"I know, but…"
Rolling his eyes, Sting handed Alex over. "Weren't you the one who didn't want me lying in be the whole nine months?"
"I don't want you overdoing it either, and she's getting bigger."
"Don't worry so much. It's been three months, and at the last doctor visit they said the baby's still going strong."
"It's not the baby I'm most worried for."
"Then you're being even more ridiculous. There's nothing wrong with me, Rogue."