STA: Been trying to post on Mondays, but I don't anticipate having internet next Monday, so here's the chapter little early.

It was because Rogue seemed so on edge over the idea that Sting's body was going to just give out someone that Sting refrained from mentioning anything when he first noticed something amiss.

Erza had Alex that day. She had decided to take Kiseki to some kiddie park that neither of Alex's motion sickness prone parents would ever dare go to, and had offered to take their daughter along with her. Sting had planned to send Lector and Frosch off on some long errand, light a few candles, and finally, finally consummate his relationship with Rogue. But when he was in the closet, digging around for the candles he bought over a year ago for when he eventually found a time to use them, he felt a sharp twinge in his back, and had to pull out.

He waited for it to settle, then crawled onto bed and tested a couple different positions that he and Rogue might get into, and found those made the pain come back.

With a sigh, he resigned himself to being a virgin for another day. Probably another three or four months, unless they could find a way to pawn Alex off onto Erza without Rogue needing to go out for work first. But it couldn't be helped.

Rogue mentioned the possibility of them having a nice, romantic dinner. Make something of their break from parenthood. He probably didn't have sex on his mind. He thought of it far less often than Sting. But Sting, having sex on his mind, said he didn't think it would work. So he'd amended plans to going on a quick job and letting Sting relax on his own for the day, with the promise of a nice restaurant dinner instead. Since it was still cold out, he said, Sting wouldn't attract too many looks wearing warmer, baggier clothes.

Sting donned such an outfit when he followed Rogue to the guild. His stomach had grown considerably in the past few weeks, and he now straddled the line between looking like he was pregnant and looking like he had a lot of belly fat. He still wasn't overly fond of the bump, whatever he told Rogue about it, but surely he'd still come to appreciate it. Perhaps once he could feel the baby kicking.

Or maybe when they had a gender? They were going to learn next week. Unlike Rogue, Sting couldn't wait until the baby was born to find out.

"You didn't need to follow, if you wanted to take it easy."

"I wanted to come here. And If I didn't come, then how could I trust that you wouldn't take a job that lasts all week and cheat me out of that dinner you promised?"

That earned Sting a chuckle. "If there's nothing that will have me home by dinner time, I won't work at all."

"Good." Sting rubbed his lower back, feeling for any obvious abrasions that might be responsible for the dull twinge that had pestered him since he looked for those candles. "Maybe we can get something nice for breakfast while we're here? Coffee cake?"

"Can you stomach eggs?"

"Yes, but—"

"Eggs it is," Rogue ordered. "You need more than sugar to sustain yourself. Especially now that you aren't constantly sick."

"It's not constant, but for as often as morning sickness still hits, something that I'm less likely to throw up would be nice."

"Eggs or nothing, Sting."

"Could I at least get something… different? Toast? Sausage? The cook here always makes eggs—"

"Are you alright?"

Sting froze. "What?"

"You keep rubbing your back." Rogue narrowed his eyes at Sting's arm, which was bent behind him. "Is it bothering you?"

"It's nothing," Sting insisted. "I slipped earlier and bumped into the table before I caught myself."

"I didn't hear anything."

"Of course not. You were trying to convince Alex that us not going with her to that kiddie park wasn't a good reason to scream."

"How convenient."

"You don't trust me?"

"That's really it?" Rogue pressed.

"It really is."

Sting hoped that would settle the matter, but Rogue hovered outside the guild doors, watching him with a look that made the blond uncomfortable.

"Promise me," Rogue said. "Promise that if anything feels wrong, you'll let me know."

"I promise."

Rogue nodded, satisfied, and pushed the guild door open.

Inside was the usual bustle. Natsu's team, sans Erza, had left on a dark guild suppression assignment. That left the guild a little quieter and significantly less chaotic than normal, but it also meant there was no awkward tension to quiet things considerably when Rogue and Sting showed up.

Rogue and Natsu really needed to sit down, talk things out, and move on. Sting would push them to do so, were he a bigger person. It wasn't that he was afraid of Rogue leaving again. Even if Rogue had cheated on Natsu, the shadow slayer had always been as loyal to him as could be. But Rogue and Natsu had been close for a time. A time when Rogue and Sting had been much too far apart. And being reminded of that made Sting uncomfortable. Rogue and Natsu being close again, even as mere friends, was an idea that made Sting queasy.

Or was that just morning sickness?

"Good morning, you two!" Mira called from behind the bar counter. "Are you getting anything today? Or is it just work?"

Rogue paused to see if Sting would respond, then said, "We'll have breakfast here."

"Then hop on up. I just got the stove started, so you'll have something nice and fresh."

"Warm. The stove can't effect freshness, but if you've just started cooking then everything should be warm," Rogue corrected, which made Sting grin. For someone who hated cooking, he was awfully particular about it.

"Is that your offer to come back and help?"

"I intend to never set foot in that kitchen again."

"Oh, really? Well, I'll have to do something about that. In the meantime, what can I get you?"

They had eggs and sausage, and Rogue's insistence, and Mira mercifully brought Sting a scone free of charge. "Since I know your baby likes sugar."

While he'd received a loud and cheerful reception upon making his announcement, it was rare for someone from the guild to verbally acknowledge that there was another baby coming. A holdover of their tiptoeing around the twin slayers' relation with Natsu, Sting suspected. He knew Natsu wanted a kid, and that Natsu still thought about how Alex had almost been his, at least from time to time. Even if he really was over Rogue, the news that Rogue was going to have two children soon, both with the man Natsu had lost Rogue to, probably wasn't the most pleasant.

While Wendy got a pass, as she was the blessed saint who could suppress his morning sickness entirely, most of the guild was more subtle in how they showed consideration for Sting's condition. No one questioned it when Sting stopped working. Wakaba went outside to smoke, or at least hovered by an open window. Elfman, more than once, had mentioned that he had a few worn out shirts, if Rogue still liked clothes in that size. Even Cana, at her most thoroughly wasted, wouldn't try to tempt him to drink.

Sting nibbled on the scone as he reflected on those changes, and on the possibility that he might end up in Elfman's hand-me-downs if he didn't resign himself to going out with Rogue to buy maternity clothes. So deeply lost in thought was he that when he felt someone's lips clamp down on his ear, he instinctively reached back and swatted them.

"Well, if you're not in the mood, I won't say goodbye," Rogue said. "Not that it matters. I should only be gone a few hours."

"Oh. Sorry." Sting rubbed the ear that Rogue's lips had brushed over. "We're still on for dinner?"

"Yes, and there's lunch in the fridge. Lector can reheat it in the microwave."

"Dammit, Rogue. I can use a microwave."

"No. You can destroy microwaves. I am not teasing you when I say that, for the sake of our apartment not burning down, you are forbidden from using the microwave."

"I won't put metal in it this time."

"You said that last time."

"And I didn't put metal in."

"Then how did the microwave catch fire?"

Sting shrugged.

"Well… whatever. Have Lector warm up lunch for you. There's tea too. And I made you ice cream, but I'm not telling you where it's hidden. Frosch will get it out for you as long as you actually eat a healthy lunch."

"You think Frosch will remember where it's hiding?"

"I have faith in her."

"We're both going to be disappointed."

"It's a small apartment. I'm sure she'll manage to find it eventually," Rogue amended.

"Oh? Is that so?" Sting smirked. "Maybe I can sniff it out, then."

Ignoring that, Rogue leaned over and kissed Sting on the forehead. "I won't be gone long. You two take care."

Out of habit, Sting assumed Rogue meant him and Alex, and was about to remind the shadow slayer that Alex was out for the day when it struck him that Rogue had referred to the child he was carrying. This was even more bizarre than the guild mentioning his pregnancy aloud. While he and Rogue discussed it often, Rogue seemed more focused on how it impacted Sting's wellbeing than anything else. The baby itself he typically only discussed when Sting made their unborn child the subject of discussion.

He blinked, stunned, and missed his chance to say a proper farewell to Rogue before he was out the door.

"So?" Mira leaned over the counter, taking Sting's attention and making him miss his chance to race after Rogue too. "How are you going to take advantage of the free time? Throw a party?"

He might have, a few months earlier. Now he felt a little queasy, and that twinge in his back was getting more irritating the longer he stayed upright.

"You guys have enough parties here for me to get my fill. I think I'm just going to take it easy, like he said."

"Oh. Well, you have a nice day with that."

-o-

Frosch wasn't perceptive, but even she would notice if Sting acted way out of the ordinary, and Lector had been on a constant watch even more vigilant than Rogue's to see if anything went wrong with Sting's pregnancy. He didn't know what Rogue was so afraid of, but in Lector's case, at least, Sting knew he'd alarmed the little guy by staying in bed for a month. Since they were both there, he decided to continue concealing the back pain. He'd managed to fool Rogue, more or less, so he could keep the cats from noticing anything amiss.

That was the plan, anyway. As the day went on Sting became increasingly skeptical of this. Reaching for corners while cleaning hurt. Searching for the ice cream hurt. After enough active ways to occupy his time hurt, even sitting started to hurt.

He diligently ate the lunch that Lector heated for him, let Frosch fetch the ice cream (from the freezer—Rogue hadn't hidden it after all), and had a bowl before putting himself to bed. The less pressure he put on his back, he figured, the easier a time he would have at dinner with Rogue. And once that special occasion was over he would go back to bed and pretend to be totally exhausted for a day or two.

Everything would be fine. Lector and Rogue kept worrying, but there was nothing wrong. Nothing at all.