A/N: Good lord, that took too long to write! My apologies!I I SWEAR I haven't and won't abandon it! ~Kryss

Chise pulled back from her goodnight snuggle to look up at Elias, propped up on pillows above her. "I think I'm ready to start trying again," she smiled.

Elias regarded her with some concern. "Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yes; I'm fully recovered, and the timing is right, so, you know… Any time you're feeling up to it, the next forty-eight hours would be particularly good…"

"No, I mean…" he trailed off. Pulling her back into his arms, he gave her a loving nuzzle. "You know I am always 'up to it' with you. But…" He hesitated, before asking softly, "Do you still want to do this? To—to try?"

"What, for a baby? Of course!" Chise laughed, then sobered. "Do you? I mean, don't you? Are you having—are you having second thoughts?" She deflated slightly; he held her tighter. "I mean, I guess we could talk about it more…"

"No! No, I am quite happy to have a child with you! I do want this, Chise! I just—I just don't want to see you in pain again. I mean, ever; but certainly not because of me."

"Because of us , Elias," she murmured, squeezing him back. "But it is a part of the process of having a baby. I'm going to hurt, sometimes. I'm going to feel fat and bloated, and my feet will ache, and I'll probably be nauseous and want to eat weird and disgusting things, and of course there's the actual labour…"

"Don't remind me."

" But ." She pulled back again, smiling up at him, her eyes full of love. "You will rub my feet when they hurt, and tell me how beautiful I still am, and Silky will make me all the things I am craving, no matter how weird and disgusting they are, and you and Ruth will not say anything about how weird or disgusting it looks—"

Hey!

"—and yes , giving birth will hurt. And I'm not particularly looking forward to any of that stuff either. But Elias," and she nuzzled his cheek, "It is a small price to pay, and one that I pay willingly, to have a baby with you. To have your child, Elias. To have our child."

"Can you, though?" he asked softly. " Can we have a child together?"

"Well… I couldn't have had a miscarriage without being pregnant in the first place, could I?" She squeezed him tightly; it was a difficult topic for them still, and she was afraid that mentioning it might hurt him. But she wanted to offer him hope. "So we can at least conceive, right? And that's the first step."

"Mm. That might actually be the result of the first step."

"Oh?" She trailed a hand down his stomach with a cheeky grin. "And what would Step One be?"

"I think you know very well what Step One would be, Chise," he said archly.

"Is it… insert Tab A into Slot B?"

"Oh, so that's how it's going to be, is it?" He wiggled his fingers into her armpits, making her squeal and squirm.

"—Repeat as needed?" she gasped between giggles.

"You are going to pay for that terrible, terrible joke," he growled, pinning her down and ticking her mercilessly.

Again, each day was carefully crossed off the calendar at sundown. Days became a week, then two, then…

Elias glanced up from his book as Ruth wandered in to top up a side plate with more biscuits from the stack on the coffee table. "Is she still marking?"

"Yeah; she thinks she'll be done in time for supper, though—ugh." Ruth moaned and staggered, nearly dropping the plate. Elias leapt to his feet in alarm.

"Chise?"

"Dizzy…" Ruth clutched one-handed at his head and half-sat, half-fell onto the sofa.

Alarmed, Elias dashed upstairs to his wife's old bedroom. "Chise!"

He flung open the door, and she smiled wanly up at him from the bed. "I'm alright, Elias," she assured him, her paleness belying her words. "I just felt a bit queer all of a sudden and had to lie down. I'm feeling better now."

He sat beside her, careful not to jostle her, and gently stroked her hair from her forehead. "You don't look better."

"No, I really am feeling a bit firmer." And sure enough, the colour was returning to her face as she struggled to sit up.

Elias scooted back slightly, but regarded her skeptically. "Your forehead is clammy."

"I know. But I really am feeling better now." She sniffed.

"You've been working too hard."

Chise dug out a handkerchief as she sniffed again, and blew her nose. "I haven't, really! Ask Ruth!" She wiped her nose, and Elias stared at the white cotton in alarm. A tracing of red spattered across it.

"No…"

Chise's eyes widened at the blood, and she wiped at her nose again as Ruth burst into the room. "What's wrong?"

Elias scrambled to his feet in a panic, and swept her into his arms. "We need to get her to The Anthill, now!" he barked, pushing past Ruth and racing for the stairs.

"Elias, I'm okay! Elias!" Chise struggled to escape his frantic embrace. "I swear! Look, the bleeding's already stopped! I'm okay!"

Ruth finally managed to get ahead of him downstairs as the poor magus struggled to don his robe while maintaining his hold on his wife. "Elias! Elias, she really is okay now. I promise!"

Gradually his frantic flailing slowed, and he allowed her to slide to her feet. "You are alright?"

"I am!" Chise hugged him tight before reaching up to help tug his voluminous sleeves up over his shoulders.

"The bleeding really has stopped?" His eyes narrowed at her.

"Yes! Look!" She blew her nose again, albeit gently. "And it was only a few drops anyways." She showed him the small stain. He took the hanky from her, eyeing it critically, before extending his tongue to carefully taste the blood. His head tilted.

"...I don't know why, I promise I haven't pushed myself too hard or been skipping meals; I was just sitting there marking and—"

"I know why," he interrupted her, absent-mindedly returning the hanky. "I know this taste." His eyes met hers, curving into a smile.

Her own widened. "Are you sure?" she breathed.

"I am. You may confirm it with Shannon if you so wish; but I already know." He swung her into the air. "My wife is pregnant!"

A/N: In movies etc, the first sign of pregnancy is *always* morning sickness, but in real life it's just a common, but not ubiquitous, symptom. I was brutally nauseous with my first kid, but barely at all with my second. I had dizzy spells early on with both, however, and for some weird reason, my earliest and most reliable pregnancy indicator has always been spontaneous nosebleeds.

I've also missed a period or two just from stress. As with all things, best to check with your doctor if you want to be sure—especially if you don't have a magical, blood-tasting husband!