Chise retched again and moaned weakly, leaning back against Elias's comforting bulk.
Silky appeared in the bathroom's doorway, bearing a gently-steaming teacup. Elias accepted it from her and sniffed. "Ginger, my love. Try and have a sip."
Chise obeyed. "I'm so sorry, Silver," she said apologetically. "You know how much I love your Sunday roasts! It's just—when the oven door opened, the smell just—I don't know if it was the beef, or the parsnips—" She stopped suddenly, and gulped at the tea.
Silky patted her shoulder in commiseration.
"How long does this last?" Ruth asked mournfully from her shadow.
Chise was limp in her husband's embrace, head hanging down as she focused on her breathing.
Elias answered absently as he gently rubbed her back. "From what I've read, it depends on the pregnancy. Often it only strongly affects the mother in the first trimester; but some women don't get nauseous at all. Some few are nauseous for the whole thing. There's really no way to know."
"Being a human female seems deeply unpleasant all 'round," Ruth muttered in disgust.
Chise groaned wholehearted agreement.
Within a few weeks, though, her general morning malaise had faded to the point that it was only triggered by certain smells, most of which, happily, she was able to avoid. Parsnips, though, remained an unfortunate, but avoidable, adversary.
Foods she could actually stomach, however, were another story. Most fruits and vegetables seemed to sit fine, so long as they were crispy; but meats…
"Chise, you have to try to eat it! Even just a bite! You need the protein!"
"I know, Elias! It's just that even the thought of it…" She grimaced. "Believe me, I'd love to have some."
"Dogs need protein, too," Ruth muttered, pushing his baked beans about his plate. Seeing the thick, tender-looking pork chop on the mage's plate wasn't helping his mood. But they'd learned that, unfortunately, if something wasn't going to sit well, then it wasn't going to sit well for either of them, and it didn't really matter which of them ate it.
The Silver Lady sighed, gathering their plates up, and scraped them off into the scraps bucket. At least the chickens had no hesitations about it!
Chise was disconsolately munching the last of her buttered toast the next morning when Angelica arrived. "Aw, the babe's a picky eater, is she?" she commiserated. "Althea was the same way. It was months before I could eat anything but fish!"
"I can't even eat fish," Chise grumbled, donning her coat.
"How do you know the baby's a girl?" Ruth asked, curious.
"Oh, this early they're all girls," Angelica replied airily. "Don't worry, Chise; we'll find you something you can stomach in town—no offence, Silky!"
The brownie sniffed a bit and disappeared into the back.
"Right, then; we're off," Angelica smiled reassurance at Elias, who was hovering in the hallway behind them. "Don't worry; we'll take good care of her, and you know I mean it. She'll be home this evening."
"And you can come back sooner if you get too tired," said Elias, fiddling with his ring. "Or contact me, and I'll come and get you." He gave Chise a tender nuzzle as she hugged him goodbye, and added, sotto voce, "Perhaps I should come along after all."
"I'll be fine," she smiled up at him as he tenderly brushed a lock of hair back from her face. "I'll see you soon."
Outside, the sun promised a bright and cheerful day, despite the autumnal nip in the air. Chise took a deep, cleansing breath as Ruth shifted into his canine form, happily snuffling through the fallen leaves.
As they set off down the path to the bus stop, Angelica tucked her arm through Chise's elbow, and asked companionably, "So, what sort of things can you eat..?"
And thank goodness they'd discovered she could eat curries, Chise reflected, helping herself to a third piece of naan. She rather suspected that Elias was growing somewhat tired of them, though; a good third of his dinner still lay untouched on his plate.
"Do you want the rest of your chicken, Elias?" She asked, and the mage good-naturedly pushed his plate to her.
Her steady improvement over the past month or so since her stomach had finally settled down, and her appetite had increased, was noticeable, he reflected, as was her apparent preference for his food, rather than seconds of her own. He had taken to leaving a little extra on his plate for her.
Elias rested his chin on his interlaced fingers, elbows on the table, and regarded her fondly. The hollows of her cheeks had filled out again; her lovely green eyes were bright and cheerful; and her hair shone. She had even gained a little weight, and as much as he had always loved her form, he was developing a growing appreciation for her increased curviness. Even her skin felt different, smoother, and somehow even softer.
"It looks to be a lovely evening, Chise," he said softly; "Would you like to take a walk after dinner? Even just around the garden, if that's all you're up to?"
"I'd love to," she smiled at him, and his heart fluttered, as it did each time she did so. She stood, gathering the empty plates. "Just let me help Silky with the dishes."
The Brownie, however, took the plates from her, setting them aside, and turned her about, giving her a firm push towards the doorway.
"Gentle exercise, Chise," Ruth reminded her. "You know if you're on your feet doing the dishes that you won't have the energy for a walk afterwards, not with how tired you get in the evenings."
"But I don't want to leave Silky all alone with the washing up!" she protested, as Elias wrapped an arm about her shoulders, and gently propelled her into the hallway.
"I'll stay and help her," Ruth gallantly offered, but Silky pushed him out of her kitchen, as well. She knew perfectly well how much the Grim loved his walks.
Chise was halfway down the stairs when she heard the hushed voices in the kitchen. She froze, one hand still tangled in her hair, mussed from her mid-morning nap. They weren't expecting any visitors; but surely customers would be in the sitting room, and not Silky's inner sanctum?
A spoon clinked gently against a teacup as she crept the rest of the way down, and cautiously peeked around the edge of the doorway.
"Ah, here she is!" Angelica smiled widely as she spotted her, and Silky bustled over to usher her to the head of the table, where pink and blue balloons floated above the chair.
Alice gave her a hug as she settled into the seat, saying, "Congratulations! When's the due date?"
"Um… We have… no idea? What's all this?" She looked in confusion to Silky who beamed, and poured her a cup of tea.
"It's your baby shower, of course!" said Angelica, embracing her as well. "Didn't think you would get away without one, did you?"
"I hadn't really thought about it," Chise confessed, sipping her tea. "But it's lovely to see you both!"
"We invited Stella, too, of course, but she's in the middle of her midterms," said Alice, reaching under the table. "But she sent you this." She plunked a gift bag, overflowing with pastel tissue paper, onto the table.
"Let's leave the presents for after the sandwiches." Angelica tucked the bag away again. "We can do it in the sitting room; there's no room for it here."
"Goodness," laughed Chise, "How many did you bring? We've pretty well got things sorted, I think."
"Oh, we only brought a few non-essentials you might not have considered," Angelica grinned, as Alice smirked. "Have your lunch, and then we'll get into them."
"Where're Ruth and Elias?" Chise asked, looking around. "Aren't they having any lunch?"
"Oh, guys don't want to be bothered with a baby shower." Alice flapped a dismissive hand. "They're off doing their own thing somewhere."
Ruth? Is everything okay?
We're fine; we just went down to the village, the Grim silently responded. We'll return in about two hours.
"They went for a walk," Angelica elaborated. "Ruth likes the exercise and we didn't want Elias making faces at us from the doorway."
Chise giggled. "He doesn't make faces!"
Alice snorted. "Bullshit. He totally does and you know it." She took a big bite of a tiny, triangular sandwich, and mumbled around the mouthful, "Still can't believe you guys are actually bumping uglies."
"Alice, you know we've been married for years."
"Yeah, yeah, but, you know…" She swallowed, reaching for another sandwich.
"You were at our wedding!"
"Yeah, but, I mean…"
"You were my maid of honour!"
Alice sighed. "I just… try to not think about it, okay?"
Chise looked helplessly at Angelica, who shrugged. "Not saying anything against the two of you, love, you know that." She reached for the plate piled high with sandwiches herself. "Just a little strange sometimes to think about Ainsworth actually, you know… banging you."
Alice gave a slight shudder. "I try really hard to not think about it."
"Well, we've been doing it for ages… " Chise grinned mischievously into her teacup.
"That's great."
"He's really good, too."
"Super happy for you."
"I mean, his tongue's got to be at least half a metre—"
"Right!" Angelica stood abruptly, jostling the table slightly in her haste. "Presents time it is!"
Chise just laughed.
A/N: Thanks to NaNoWriMo 2019 and a friend who roped me into the local scene for getting most of this chapter (and the next) finished! In fact, I got enough written that I'm breaking it into a couple of chapters- maybe even three? We'll see.
My plan for these chapters about her pregnancy is to do them as a series of short anecdotes, same as this one. I'm trying to get the next chapter out within the next two or three weeks. Wish me luck! ^^