"Colton, will you go ask mama if she knows where the screwdriver is?" Adam asked, looking closely at a toy that the boys didn't want to play with anymore. It was still in good shape and he figured he could box it up and donate it, but he'd have to take it apart first.

"Mama!" Colton hollered, running into the hallway and meeting Lindsay as she was coming out of the bathroom.

"What?"

"Daddy needs a screwdriver."

"Go ask him if he needs a Phillips or a flathead."

"Daddy!"

"What?"

"Mama says if you need a Phillip or flat one."

"Tell her I need a Phillips."

"Mama!"

"What?"

Colton was slightly winded by now, but excited to be charged with the task of messenger.

"Daddy said a Phillip one."

"Go tell him it's going to take me a while to find it and ask him if he could use a flathead anyway."

"Daddy!"

"Yeah?"

Colton stopped for a moment, leaning against the wall and taking a breath before starting again.

"She said it will be a while to find, but if you could use the flat kind anyway."

"Tell her no and how dare she make me wait."

"Ben, you come help me remember."

Ben jumped up off the floor where he had been playing with the cardboard box, and followed his brother out into the kitchen where Lindsay was sorting through the junk drawer.

"He said no and how dare you make him wait."

"You go tell your daddy to stop being so picky and learn to plan ahead before he does a project."

"C'mon Ben, 'fore I forget."

They tromped back into the bedroom where Adam was disassembling the rest of the toy.

"Mama said… mama said… Ben, what did mama say?"

Ben shrugged his shoulders and shook his head.

"Oh yeah! Mama say you stop bein' picky and plan ahead now."

Adam chuckled.

"You go tell mama she's being snotty."

Colton took off again and Ben plopped down on the floor, pushing his glasses up before inspecting the box again.

"You didn't want to relay messages because me and mama are too lazy to talk to each other?"

"Yeah," he sighed, laying back on the floor and rolling over to pick up a book.

"Daddy, mama says she's not bein' snotty, you are just bein' um… in… um… incorrigible."

"Go tell her I don't know the meaning of the word."

He was off again and Ben giggled.

"What's so funny Ben Ry?"

"Cole runnin'."

"You think your brother runs funny?"

Ben nodded and pushed his glasses up again, being careful not to smudge them.

"Mama said that she gots a bun in her oven and it's all your fault," Colton reported, one hand on his hip.

"She has what?"

"A bun in her oven. 'Cept I don't know what that means because she's not cookin' nothin', but that's what she said."

Adam sat there for a second, not quite sure what to say. It was April first, but he was almost certain that she wouldn't trick him with something like this.

"Babe," he started, standing up from the floor and going into the kitchen. The look on her face as she leaned against the counter was enough to let him know that not only was this not a joke, it wasn't even a "maybe, maybe not" kind of thing. She nodded slowly and a grin cracked across her face.

"Are you… I mean… for real?"

"Yeah."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I'm… yeah."

They just stared at each other for a second before he started laughing and pulled her into his arms.

"When did you find out?"

"A minute or two ago. I was pretty sure when I spent the entire morning puking my guts out, but I figured taking a leak on a stick wouldn't hurt."

He didn't know what else to say and she was pretty in speechless herself, so they both just stood there silently for a while. Finally she couldn't hold it in anymore, and burst into laughter.

"What?"

"I wasn't expecting this. We went from talking about a baby to talking about a house and I just wasn't thinking about it at all. I'm a little surprised."

"Well you shouldn't be that surprised babe. After all, you're the one who kept forgetting to go to the store."

He cleared his throat pointedly and she laughed, not even bothering to argue that he could have gone to the store too. It really didn't matter at this point.

"Are you feeling alright?" he asked suddenly, slipping into protective mode, his hand reaching up to her forehead, even though there was no reason to be checking her temperature.

"Yeah, I feel fine."

"Do you want to sit down?"

"Adam."

"Sorry. I kind of forgot how this all goes. I know we talked about more but… it was kind of in the back of my head that we were done."

"I know. But now it feels like there was something missing before."

He brushed her hair back and kissed her, completely overwhelmed at something he hadn't been expecting.

"I love you, Linds."

"I love you too."

"Hey, what's goin' on in here?" Colton asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "I thought I was going to be givin' the messages! How come you came in here, daddy?"

"Mama and I are just really, really happy right now."

"Why?"

"Because we're very lucky people, that's all."

"Ben come out here! Mama and daddy is huggin' without us."

Ben ran into the room, his cheeks jiggling with the movement, and crashed into Adam's legs with a laugh.

"Yay! Happy!"

"Yeah," Lindsay said with a smile. "Very, very happy."

"Thanks for taking the morning off," Lindsay sighed as they left the doctor's office a few days later. "I know it was a lot of just sitting there."

"Yeah, but I want to be there for all of it. I was last time and the time before. Besides, it's kind of thrilling to hear a doctor confirm it."

"Yeah, it is."

He took her hand and they walked slowly back home glad Faye had offered to take the boys for the morning. They had passed it off saying they had errands to run, as they weren't sure when they were going to tell people.

"So remember that appointment with the realtor?"

"Yes."

"I'm kind of getting a little antsy."

"Antsy?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Because now we really, really need to move. And I get all… well you know how I get. I'm just worried that we won't find anything or we'll be moving when I'm nine months pregnant and ready to just burn everything we own and start over."

"Well then let's hope we find something."

"That's it? That's all the reassurance you're giving me?"

"Yep."

"You're mean," she grumped, leaning against him as they walked.

"You're gorgeous."

She giggled and looked down at the sidewalk.

"Wonder how long it will be before I can't see my feet."

"Never if you got clown shoes."

"Why are you the way you are?"

"If I changed you wouldn't love me as much."

"Maybe."

"And that nausea you've been ignoring all morning has finally gotten the best of you."

"I need to go home."

"I'll still love you if you puke in a garbage can."

"I've done it before. Austin held my hair. We bonded."

"You think she's going to get pregnant this time too? Like how you always PMS at the same time?"

"Nah, I don't think so."

"December seems really far away."

"It's going to be a pretty busy month for us. Three birthdays and Christmas."

"I know. We'll spend the rest of the year recovering."

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Me neither."

"So do you want a boy or a girl?"

"Either. A girl would be a nice change, but I like having boys. And you would get to keep being the queen of the house."

"I can see that being good."

"What do you want?"

"I don't care. I would love to have a girl someday, but if we don't have one, I don't care. I've got Isa and Sarah to dress in frilly clothes."

"I love when you're pregnant."

"Oh really? And why is that? Besides the inevitable infant I mean."

"You're really glowy. I don't know, there's just something about you."

"You know what?"

"Hmm?"

"You're a little glowy when I'm pregnant too."

"We men call it a high gloss."

"Okay, so you're pretty glossy."

"Do you want to wait a while longer before we tell people?"

"I want to tell Austin and Danny but wait with everyone else."

"Until you're showing like we did the last times?"

"Yeah. I'm comfortable with that."

He smiled and stopped walking, drawing her into his arms and holding her tight.

"Thanks for being fertile hon."

"You're welcome."

They sauntered the rest of the way home, as the fresh air was helping to lessen her morning sickness. They boys were playing quietly when they got home and Faye headed off to do errands of her own. Lindsay sat down on the couch, feeling slightly dizzy, but grinning when Ben jumped up into her lap.

"Hey Benners. Did you miss me?"

"Miss mama. Play."

"Did you have fun playing?"

"Yeah."

"Hey honey, should we tell them?"

"Yeah, we might as well."

"Tell us what? Tell us what daddy?" Colton asked, hopping from one foot to the other, then crawling into Adam's lap.

"Well sometime around your next birthdays, something really exciting is going to happen."

"What is it? I can't wait! What's going to happen?"

"I know it's a long time to wait for it, but it will go by pretty fast."

"What is going to happen?" Colton asked again, getting frustrated by Adam's evasiveness.

"We're going to have a new baby in the family."

Ben just stared at them, his brow furrowing in confusion. He was happy that they were happy, but he really didn't understand why.

"Another baby? You mean I will have another brother?"

"Or a sister."

"A sister? It might be a sister?"

"Yeah. We won't know for a while but-"

Colton whooped and jumped off the couch, running around the room as if nothing more amazing had ever been revealed to him.

"I am so excited!" he hollered. "I don't know what to even do! I gotta tell somebody!"

"We're not going to tell anybody just yet, okay?"

"Okay, but I really want to. Mama, I am thrilled."

"Okay, if you kids are just going to play with your food, it might be time to be done eating," Austin sighed, doing the best she could to remove the mashed potatoes from Junior's hair.

"Okay, we're gonna play!"

Within seconds the table had been vacated of all children, and a deafening silence filled their places.

"Why do they lose all sense of manners around each other?"

"Linds, do they actually have manners?"

"Well, I guess not. They more closely resemble co-eds on spring break at times."

"Linds, did you ever go on spring break?"

"Well," she started, not able to look her best friend in the eye. "Not in the traditional sense."

"What's a hick version of spring break?" Danny asked, getting ready to tease her mercilessly.

"We went to Idaho."

"You did what?"

"We went to Idaho, okay?"

"But… what did you even do there?"

"Kind of… nothing. We just went to see one of our friends who went to college there and we went hiking and ate and drive-ins and went downtown and watched the cruise, but it was pretty tame."

"I did spring break one year," Adam confessed. "It took us two days to get to Florida and two days to get back and the two days that we were there we pretty much laid on the beach and slept. I didn't have any desire to go back."

"Guess I didn't miss anything," Austin shrugged. "You two and your college lives. Was it really as fun as it looks on TV?"

"Yeah, but not as wild. There's a lot more studying and all nighters with flashcards than there is study dates and all nighters with flashers."

"Hey, that was kinda poetic babe."

"Yeah, I thought so too."

Austin snickered and Danny shook his head.

"You two are ridiculous."

"Yes, well so are you."

"Speaking of which, did you two find a house yet?"

Adam and Lindsay exchanged a look and a smile.

"We've got a couple on our list, but we haven't made any offers yet. We can't quite agree."

"Are you going to put it on hold for a while?"

"No, we need to find something. Pretty quick too."

"Why- wait. Linds, are you… you are!"

"Yep."

"Wait, she's what?"

"Pregnant, Danny. Get with the program."

"Are you really?" he asked his eyes growing wide as he looked at her.

"Yep. Got a doctor's note and everything," she teased.

Congratulations were said and Austin held back happy tears, even though it was so unlike her to cry at all. They all talked about what it would be like with another kid running around at family dinners and how they were excited to see how this new child would fit in, what place he or she would hold in the family.

Adam and Danny got up after a while, gathering the dishes and taking them to the sink while the girls went into the other room and sat on the couch.

"How long have you known?"

"Just a few days. We went to the doctor yesterday to double check but…"

"I can't believe it," Austin grinned, tucking her legs underneath her.

"Me neither. I just keep thinking about what it's going to be like and I can't wait."

"Is Adam excited?"

"For the most part. Last night we were laying in bed and all the sudden he's like "Babe, I only have two hands! How am I supposed to hold three kids?" It took me twenty minutes to convince him that it will be fine and no one is going to die."

"Danny can give him some tips too."

"Yeah, once I mentioned that he seemed to simmer down a bit."

"I know there's not much there yet but… can I touch it?"

Lindsay snorted.

"Yeah, go ahead."

Austin moved over and put her hand on Lindsay's stomach.

"I can't even believe there's a kid in there."

"I know. Remember when we were pregnant with the boys and if we stood close enough they would start kicking at each other?"

"Inseparable even from the start. Did you tell Ben and Colton yet?"

"Yeah. Ben was indifferent. I think he'll understand once I balloon out some more. I've never seen Colton more excited about anything. He didn't even sleep last night. He kept coming into our room and asking questions and how many more days it would be and if he could hold the baby first and if we could be sure to have a girl."

"You need a girl. Though I can see you with all boys too."

"I don't even care. Healthy is all I want."

They lapsed into silence for a while, just sitting together as they found themselves doing more and more, not needing very many words.

"I'm going to do better this time," Austin whispered finally.

"What do you mean?"

"You've always been there for me when I was pregnant. Especially the first time, you called to check on me and you brought us food and you listened to me when I was scared. And then with Sarah you did the same thing, and you took care of Isa for me when I was sick and couldn't get out of bed. You were always there. And I never did that for you."

"Austin."

"No, I'm serious. You were pregnant with Colton and I was in California for months. I didn't throw you a baby shower, I didn't cry over ultrasound pictures with you, I didn't help you find his first outfit. None of that. I've always regretted that I missed so much. I'm going to make it up to both of us this time though, I swear."

"You don't have anything to make up to me Aust. Nothing. Life was the way it was. You came home. That's all that matters."

"Well if I have nothing to make up to you, can I at least make stuff up to me?"

"Okay. But when I can't sleep and I have weird cravings and I'm fat and bloated and don't want to be pregnant anymore, you're going to be the one to hear about it."

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

They giggled together and Lindsay ran her hand over her stomach, completely taken with the life growing inside, and desperately looking forward to the coming months.