Three months. It has been three months since they found out the surrogacy pregnancy worked.
In that time, Dewey spent several days running to different stores after work and returning home with new baby essentials every time; first it was diapers, then it was baby clothes with puns and sayings only a five year old found funny - or a forty year old Sheriff - then there was toys, and a baby crib, and so on and so forth.
Sometimes Gale had to tell him to relax, despite her excitement too, but he could only do so for a day or two before he was out buying something again; as much as she looked annoyed the day he came home with matching dad and mom nutritional facts shirts, he caught the slight upturn of her lips when he explained each detail of the tees.
He felt guilty sometimes when it seemed like his excitement was too much, but he would immediately forget about it when Gale, Tatum, or Sidney insisted it was fine that he was that way. A plus side to his zest, for Gale and him, was that the positive emotions heightened his libido, something the stress of upholding status and popularity as a Sheriff, the fear of a possibly failing marriage, and the murders greatly decreased.
Gale, Tatum, Sidney, and himself had spent a day clearing out the guest bedroom and stock piling all of his purchases inside - with the pregnancy being so early, there was no point in setting everything up.
Today was another check up, but if Gale and his' research is correct there was the possibility that the baby was far along enough to have developed its chromosomes - today they could discover if their baby was a boy or girl.
Opposed to the first time they drove to the hospital for a check-up, everyone seemed to be elated in their own way. He was as giddy as can be and would've jumped out of the car and rushed inside if it weren't for his back and, more importantly, patience for Gale - plus, he was still the Sheriff, and he had to uphold his appearance at least somewhat.
At four months of pregnancy, Sidney had officially entered the beginning of the second trimester. Gale had been holding her breath for the past three months, anxious that something would go wrong, that Sidney would lose her. It was the first three months, the first trimester, during which the baby was most vulnerable, and there was a highest chance of miscarriage. She knew Sidney was strong and healthy, and she was being sensible and following the guidelines to care for herself. Still, she couldn't help her fear. She had nightmares of Sidney miscarrying, Sidney dying, the baby bleeding out of her. During the day she had flashbacks to falling from the barn loft, bleeding, of hearing in the hospital of Rowan's loss.
She tried really hard not to let Dewey see or know how afraid she really was. She didn't want to make him also anxious if he wasn't on his own, and he was so happy and excited that she hated to take even a small piece of that away. Dewey was so over the moon that he was buying everything and more that the baby would need, far before necessary, and his initiating sex had increased as well- something she certainly enjoyed. He was constantly in a good mood, and part of Gale felt guilty and like a horrible wife to have denied him such happiness for so long. They could have had a child years ago, could have saved Sidney the need to do this for them. But there was no undoing the past, and Sidney was willing and seemed actually content with the process. She was patient to give updates on how she was feeling and to answer questions with Gale and Dewey, no doubt also having to put up with the enthusiasm of Tatum too in addition.
So far, her symptoms had seemed mild- tiredness, occasionally heartburn, and occasional nausea that never developed into actual morning sickness. Gale, ever worried, had confirmed this with Tatum to make sure that she wasn't downplaying. But everything seemed to be fine.
Gale's muscles were tight with anticipation as the four of them returned to the waiting room of the OBGYN section of the hospital. She had read more than enough to know that by now she would be able to see the baby far more clearly and it would look much more like a baby- enough to maybe even see genitals. She tried not to mirror Tatum's fidgety energy nearby, but she did shift in her chair more than usual and keep a tight hold of Dewey's hand.
When they were called back to the exam room, Sidney wasn't given a gown to change into this time as her ultrasound would be on her stomach. She had her vitals checked, and asked about her symptoms. All were good, and as the doctor came in shortly after, explaining what he was doing he pushed up the hem of her shirt and prepped the machine and Sidney's stomach for the ultrasound. As the wand moved over her stomach,all four stares at the screen, watching the image appear.
"Whoa, look how much bigger it is!" Tatum said excitedly, and Gale was stricken by this too.
Of course the baby was tiny- the doctor stated it was about six inches long as he took new measurements. But that was huge compared to the tiny blob it had been before, and the heartbeat was clearly heard and seen. And it was clearly a baby shape. Gale could see the head and arms and legs, the torso and buttocks, and it even had facial features formed. It was so much more like a child, her child, that she could only stare, stricken with awe.
"Do you want to know the gender?" Asked the doctor, and Gale looked at Dewey. They had discussed it, and she did want to, but she still confirmed with him nonverbally before nodding.
"Congratulations. Your baby is a healthily developing little girl."
He comfortingly squeezed her hand back, aware of just how nervous she was. He understood her worry but was confident that their baby was alright, if Sidney's good condition was anything to go by. He got the chance to press a kiss to her cheek before they got up to enter the exam room.
He was just as shocked as everyone else, aside from the doctor of course, of the baby's size; it had only been three months and yet they were six inches now! He felt his heart quicken with excitement seeing their baby take shape, looking more like a human than a faceless bean.
His eyes told Gale everything she needed to know, that he too wanted to know the gender, and looked back at the screen with her.
*Girl*. They were having a girl.
He didn't know what is was, almost akin to his feelings about having a child, but he was always certain that he'd want a girl; of course if they were a boy he'd be just as excited and love them just as much. He looked back at Gale and said with a cheeky smile "Ready for a mini you?"
Sidney smiled as the gender was named, her hand instinctively touching her stomach. She was still not showing, at least not more than the smallest of a bulge that could resemble bloating more than pregnancy. Looking over to Dewey and Gale, she said sincerely, "A girl. She's going to be a badass, between me and Tatum's influence and Gale's genes. You ready for this?"
Tatum had lit up the moment she heard the baby was a girl. She had maintained that she thought the baby was a girl to Sidney for the past week, just as she had been certain that Sidney was pregnant, and now she bounced excitedly, not just for being right, but because she had secretly wanted the baby to be a girl anyway.
"I told you I'm a baby psychic!' She said to Sidney, giving her shoulders a gentle shake and kissing her cheek."Good job growing another girl for us to train up to take over the world."
Gale stared at the image of her child- her daughter. Now that she could see the baby as having more baby like features, and it had a gender to attach to it, everything felt so much more real. She was looking at her child, her daughter. A future baby, with arms and legs and a face. Her baby with a beating heart and a gender. Her daughter. She was going to have a daughter.
Her feelings on this were complex. She hadn't really considered having a daughter; somehow she had assumed that the baby would be a boy. It felt strangely frightening to her but also inevitable, as though once she heard the news, there could have been no other way. She was having a daughter, a chance at redoing the mistakes made in her own childhood, the wrongs she had committed against Sidney and Tatum when they were still teens. She was giving Dewey a chance to raise a little girl fully his, to put the skills he had developed parenting young Tatum to a child of his.
A daughter. A healthily developing daughter. A mini her, as Dewey had said.
She didn't realize she was crying until she felt the tears drip down to dampen the top of her shirt. She reached out to Dewey and pressed her face into his shirt, hiding it as she mumbled back.
"I was so scared we wouldn't get this far. I was so scared she wouldn't become a, a person, or...I was scared she would be gone."
He wiped the tears that slid down her cheeks and cradled her head into his chest. He brushed his fingers through her hair and kissed the top of her head. "But she's here," he said, happy to be able to call his child by something other than 'they/them'.
"She's a fighter, like you," he continued. "And Sidney and Tatum are watching out for her when we're not there to. She's going to be okay; she's going to live."
Gale nodded into Dewey's chest, tears still emerging. All the anxiety she had been suppressing is coming out now, and she wrapped her arms around his waist, crying silently with her face hidden.
"I know," she managed. "I know. I'm just. I'm glad. I'm really glad."
Sidney turned and placed a hand on her back, reassuring. "I promise, I'm taking care of her. I love her too. I'll keep her safe."
Tatum chimed in, still wound around Sidney, but nodding. "Yeah, me too. I take care of Sid, and she takes care of my niece. We got her."
He rubbed her back, encouraging the tears to fall and pool into his shirt. "I was scared too," he said, giving her comfort on an empathetic level. "But she's going to make it."
He set his chin on top of her head and smiled at Sidney and Tatum's comforting words for Gale. "See? Sidney takes care of our baby, Tatum takes care of Sidney," he said. "And I'll take care of you."
Gale pulls herself together as the others give their individual versions of understanding and empathy, none of them even seeming surprised or judging of her emotion. She keeps her face against Dewey, taking a few more moments after her tears have stopped to process this.
These people in the room, her husband and his sister and their pseudo sister, are the people she loves and trusts in all the world. They are the only people she knows would protect her life without a thought, who would defend her and help her if she needed. They are the only people in all the world who she knows she's safe with, the only people she trusts and loves and who she knows love her. They are the only people she can show her true feelings to and she doesn't hold that lightly.
Turning her head under Dewey's chin, she reached to take Sidney's hand, squeezing it. She says nothing, but her eyes show the gratitude she feels.
Tatum is still giddy, releasing Sidney and doing a little spin. "I'm getting a niece! And we are so gonna make her a badass. Between Sidney carrying her and Gale being her mom and me being her aunt there is no option."
"Hey, why am I left out of the badass clique?" he asked, feigning offense. "I think I've done my fair share of badass things."
Of course he himself wouldn't say the things he's done were 'badass', more just protecting his loved ones and community. He didn't take killing lightly for himself, and so he tried to do things as civil and bloodless as possible, but unfortunately some people were too far gone to help.
Even a year later, killing Jill haunted him - he doesn't regret it, but he hoped things could've been different. Maybe if she wasn't holding a gun to his psuedo-sister's head then he would've just arrested her, or, if he wasn't so vengeful, he could've shot her in a non-vital area.
Tatum snorts, crossing her eyes at him. "Because you know every word to every episode of Happy Days. That's enough to exclude you from badass clique, always."
"Hey, I think he can be a badass," Sidney defended mildly. "He's survived being stabbed how many times now? He gets to join the badass clique with the rest of us, Tate."
"But- he had action figures still in the box until he was 21!" Tatum protested.
This was not a fact Gale had known, and she snorted into Dewey's chest, finally dropping Sidney's hand. Turning to face the others, she looked back at Dewey, still marveling, yet concerned secretly. What did she know about raising a girl? She would have to depend on Sidney and Tatum to be decent examples to her of women, because she sure didn't know how to do that herself.
"A girl. We'll have to think of names."
Tatum saw a different opportunity. "We'll have to go SHOPPING!"
"It was the seventies! Everybody wanted to be the Fonz!" he defended. "I remember everyone in my year called Principal Himbry 'Fonzie' 'cause he looked so much like him, it was that popular," he reminisced.
"Nine," he stated. "Nine stab wounds, to be exact. I'd say that's badass," he pointed a finger at Tatum. "Limited edition action figures! And I'll have you know that they're *still* in their boxes, and our little girl is gonna learn the importance of collectibles."
He had to chuckle as well when Gale laughed into his chest at his childishness. He smiled and rubbed a hand up and down her back when she pulled back and looked at him adoringly. He couldn't wait to get home and start spewing names to Gale over a nice dinner and a glass of wine for her and a glass of Jameson.
"Oh jeez," he mumbled in jest, although he knew full well that he'd gladly take their daughter out shopping with his family of women if they called for it.
"No, Dewey, in the seventies most people wanted to be Rocky, John Travolta, or Harrison Ford," Tatum argued, and Gale snickered again, silently agreeing. "Only total geeks like you wanted to be the Fonz!"
Gale's eyes widened a little as Dewey mentioned still having the action figures. "Where exactly are these toys and what are they? Why would our child need old junk she can't even play with?"
Tatum giggled at that. "Yeah Dewey, why would she need old junk she can't play with?"
Sidney was the voice of reason as usual. Standing up and taking a tissue to wipe the gel off her abdomen, she looked at the others.
"Well if we're finished, we have some celebration to get to. Do you want privacy for that?"
"What? Shopping! And-" Tatum started, but Sidney covered her mouth, softening the gesture with a kiss to her head.
Gale smirked a little but nodded. Moving to hug Sidney again, she accepted it when Tatum inserted herself into it before they moved to leave.
"Yeah, well..." he tried to argue back, sifting through his 40 year old aged mind. "*You* were...you...**you** would cut out pictures of people's faces from Tiger Beat magazines and hide them under your pillow!"
He turned to Gale, teasing attitude shifting to an excited one - he was happy to talk about his collection, even if Gale probably thought of it as childish. "In the basement, in a box," he answered. "I got Transformers, Ninja Turtles, He-man, Star Wars - I can go on," he continued. "I will say that not *all* of them are in their boxes..."
He feigned offense at his stuff being called 'old junk'. "*Old junk*?! They're relics! And I'll *gladly* open those boxes for my little girl!"
He gave Tatum and Sidney a parting hug and wrapped his arms around Gale's waist. "So, what do you think would be the perfect dinner for tonight after such amazing news?"
"Yep, sure did," Tatum said calmly, not embarrassed at all. "And you kept playboys under your bed, and watched Gale on TV every chance you could and probably jerked off to her before she had a clue who you were. What's more embarrassing?"
"Tatum!" Sidney gave her a little push of rebuke as Gale snickered.
"I do so enjoy hearing these gems of wisdom of your past."
Her eyes glazed over as Dewey started to talk about all his "collections." She only is familiar with Star Wars and Ninja Turtles, and just barely.
"Honey. No kid born in modern times is going to be interested in 30 year old toys. The word relic says it all."
She was smiling though as she put her arms over his, looking up at him. "Somewhere quiet. I don't want everyone hearing all our business before we're ready."
His face reddened when Tatum revealed he had kept playboy magazines under his bed to hide them from their mother, and especially for bringing up how he watched Gale on Top Story religiously. It wasn't that Gale didn't know he watched her on TV, but it wasn't something he could ever not get flustered about.
"If there are kids these days who watch the Stab series religiously, I bet you there are kids out there who have an interest in my '30 year old toys'," he argued back, calling back on the teen fanatics that he recalled thought of the murders as a joke.
"Home sounds about the right place then," he concludes, sliding his hands to her waist before pulling away teasingly and grabbing her hand. "By the way, I never jacked off when I watched you on TV, especially because our TV was in the kitchen."
"Nah, doubt it," Gale shook her head. "Movies are immortal. Toys, not so much. I've never seen someone literally kill over a damn toy."
She paused, reconsidering. "Well other than over Black Friday sales. But that's adults. And the toys are new."
She twined her fingers with his, smirking as they walked towards the car. "Hm. But if you had one in your bedroom it would have been different?"
"You have no taste," he mocked, nudging her gently. "You'll see, our little girl is gonna be an eighties kid."
He chuckled at her reconsideration. "Were going to be one of those people some day - at least you will, and I'm convinced you would actually kill someone for a toy."
Making it to the car, he turned to her and scoffed. "Excuse me, I am a gentleman - I would never! I can't say I never envisioned you in those playboys though," he joked, although it wasn't entirely untrue.
"An eighties kid? She's going to be born in 2012, she most definitely is not," Gale countered. "Sid and Tatum were 80s kids, if you couldn't kept them into your toys, you missed the boat."
She didn't take his next comment as a joke, answering seriously. "Of course I wouldn't kill over a toy, I'm not an idiot. Kids lose interest in things as soon as they put them down and walk away, she would forget who I was if I went to prison. Besides, Black Friday is a scam. They mark stuff up before just to make it look like you're getting a deal. Anyone smart buys stuff way before Christmas comes if they want to save money."
Gale smirked and rolled her eyes at his comments about playboys, somewhat flattered all the same. "Unsurprising. Maybe we can have a photo shoot one day. Just us."
She raised her eyebrow as she got in the car, knowing and expecting his grin.
"Oh please," he said. "I don't know a single person who could forget you, especially a child - they tend to find you scary," he continued, stuttering to recuperate on his comment. "N-not that our daughter would be scared of you, heh. If anything she'll find what you do funny - if she got your genes in that department."
Goosebumps littered his body at the idea of a private 'photo shoot'. As she thought, and knew, he grinned excitedly and cockily before jumping in the car to get them home as fast as possible. "You're making me consider pushing dinner back by an hour or two," he flirted, pulling out of the hospital parking lot; he drove home just close enough to breaking the speed limit.
For a moment Gale's expression falters at Dewey's comment about children finding her scary. It was something she had wondered about more than once, whether or not she would have any idea how to act around a child. She had very limited experience around children for any prolonged period. Even as a teen she hadn't babysat. Dewey's long experience watching both Tatum and Sidney as children would have to counterbalance her own lack of experience, she had assumed.
But she hadn't thought that children were actually afraid of her- not really, not if she wasn't intending to be intimidating. And for Dewey to say that to her, the man who actually thought she was caring and kind, how true must it be?
He made an effort at recovery, fumbling to say that their daughter would think she was funny. But what if she didn't?
She smiled like she agreed, even as she worried. The smile became a little more natural as he showed his excitement at the idea of her proposed photo shoot. Men. In some ways, they really were so easy to excite.
As they went into the house together, Gale took his hand, raising an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? Some people manage to combine edibles with photoshoots."
He caught her expression fall at his slip. "I-I didn't...mean that," he stammered. "I promise, it just sort of spewed out - I got really caught up in what I was saying."
He followed alongside her inside, gladly accepting her hand. "Well yeah, but you see people, like, licking whip cream off someone, not eat a steak off their back," he said. "Plus, I like to focus more on the model than anything."
He turned and blocked her in between himself and the wall, his free hand placed beside her head. "Of course, you gotta do whatever the model is comfortable with, right?" he flirted. "So what exactly gets you going?"
Gale didn't comment further on Dewey's "slip," but she stored it away as something to brew over when not around him. Whatever he said, it had truth to it. She was sure of it.
Gale rolled her eyes at him, giving him a playful smile. "Oh, you have a lot of knowledge about food and sexual play then? You've seen that? When and how did this vast education occur?"
As he blocked her off, pressing her to the wall, Gale's breath caught briefly before she refocused. Although she doesn't like to be touched or confined in any way by people (although she does accept it from her psuedo sisters), it's different with Dewey. Exciting, sometimes.
She swallowed, letting her eyes go hooded, and said throatily, "How exact of details are you wanting?"
"Let's just say I had a collection," he answered. "It started when I was fifteen, ended at eighteen - maybe thirteen magazines and a single porno I forgot to return to the video store."
He untangled his hand from hers and flitted his fingers beneath her shirt. "I'm more into the photos where they're all exposed for me," he said in a sultry voice, the 'they' in this situation, he indicates, being her. "Squeezing their breasts, dipping their fingers into their wet cunt's - that kind of thing."
Suddenly he pushed his fingers down around the hem of her pants, tugging playfully. "Or the ones when their lips are wrapped around a man's cock, using their hands to massage his testicles, occasionally giving them a nice kiss. But hey, as I said, whatever the model's comfortable with," he added, tauntingly taking his hand away.
"Oh, lucky me to be able to benefit from the finest porn Woodsboro had to offer," Gale murmured, sarcastic but playful. She let her head arch back, exposing her throat to Dewey, but kept her eyes downward to remain locked with his, enjoying watching his expression. It always fascinates her to see Dewey play with his sexual side- almost like watching a teddy bear suddenly morph into a grizzly. And it's more than a little enticing to her to see.
As his fingers played with the skin of her stomach, painting a picture with his words, Gale's breathing quickened, as much from the description of Dewey's fantasy as his light touch. When he put his fingers down her pants, just barely, she was more than ready for him to take them down, or even to just push his hand inside. But no, he took his hand away, causing a huff of breath to escape her in faint protest. Her hand shot out to grab his wrist.
"You want me to tease you, but you're teasing me. I think maybe you should be punished for that."
He took as every bit of advantage of her exposed throat as she offered, pressing soft kisses up the length of her neck to her jaw. He lightly pressed his teeth onto the sensitive skin at her jugular, his breath heavy with sexual excitement.
He was a bit taken aback when she snatched his wrist, as he had been the more aggressive one thus far, but he was never adverse to letting her engage in the more 'masculine' acts during their intimate moments. This 'punishment' she spoke of was never anything intense, as they both agreed it just wasn't their style for sex, but light biting and pinning one another to the bed, whether it be by sitting on top of them or holding their arms above their head, was never off the table.
"And what *punishment* would that be?" he asked, bringing his hands down to her waist and pulling her towards him, their faces nearly touching.
Gale's pulse jumped as Dewey kissed up her neck, and she shuddered pleasurably at the nip to her jugular. His breath against her skin heightened her own breathing, and she let her body fully come into contact with Dewey, grinding against him slowly as she slid her hands down his back and grabbed his ass in a firm squeeze.
"Maybe I'll undress and pleasure myself, and all you can do is watch. And maybe you don't get to come until I do."
A wave of pleasure shot through his body, from his groin to his head, as she ground against him, with the clear intent of overpowering his sexual aggressiveness - and he'd be lying if he said he didn't find it hot. His demeanor fell even more when she grabbed his ass, a move she knew made him grovel at her feet.
He wasn't going to lie down this time though, he was too set, and stubbornly so, at being the proprietor of pleasure, even if he knew Gale would fight him back as equally as hard. He brought his hands from her waist to her wrists and pinned them to the wall, pressing his groin into hers and grinding against her faster than she had.
"Or maybe you'll touch yourself in all the places I want you to," he said sultrily, moving her wrists to above her head and locking them with one of his hands, the other beginning to travel down her body. "And make you take my cock, using *both* of your lips," he added, his thumb brushing over her lips before reaching down to rub her button.
Gale's breathing hitched as Dewey pinned her wrists, grinding himself into her. Already she was growing wet, her nipples hardening, and she let him keep her there for a moment, loving the deep commanding sound of his voice. As his hand stroked her body, she fought to suppress a shiver, even as her lips parted at the touch of his thumb.
Still, she remained stubborn, fighting for control. "Oh yeah? Think you can make me?"
She twisted her body, breaking his hold of her wrists by fully turning herself so her back is to his chest. Ducking down and around him, she pushed him against the wall, facing it, and pressed against his backside.
Her hitched breath and plainly obvious shiver, as much as she tried to hide it, told him that she was still trying to fight for control, even if her facade slipped ever so slightly - a facade of which only someone who's known Gale for a long time, such as himself, could catch slipping. He was proud of his actions causing her to momentarily relinquish control, and perhaps grew too cocky in the process.
"I don't think, I know -" he said before cutting off as Gale broke free of his grasp and circled underneath his arm to his back. He only turned about a quarter of the way around before his chest was pressed to the wall, hers placed onto his back. His breath shuddered at feeling her breasts pressed against his back, her hard nipples poking him lightly.
Quite frankly, he was a bit shocked at being outplayed, but he expected nothing less from Gale; he knew full well that he was in a losing battle with that being the case, and so didn't attempt to make any moves. "Alright, you win," he said smiling, knowing full well that he would pounce the moment she let her guard down as she had her way with him.
"What do you plan on doing to me?" he asked.
Gale grinned, her eyes flashing dark and almost dangerous. She ground her pelvis slowly into his backside, side to side, and then gave her hips a thrust, pushing him further into the wall and her body into his. Her hands traveled down his sides and around his ribcage, caressing, teasing.
"I plan to enjoy having my way with you. And I plan to make you wait a long time before you can show how you feel about it."
He pushed back into her crotch as she ground against his ass, deciding that while he was letting Gale take her time with him that he might as well relish in the pleasure of it. He was never at all fussed to have his rear played with, but he had always been hesitant when it came to full on penetration, particularly because it was a loss of control that he didn't feel like he was ready to give up - and just the general stigma surrounding it when he was growing up; he always told that Gale that 'one day' he'd be open to it.
A shudder coursed through his body as she further pushed him into the wall, her body flush with his, and caressed his chest, fingers occasionally running across his nipples that just barely peeked out from being flush to the wall. "I'll take it," he said breathlessly before a cocky smile just barely crept onto his lips. "And then I'll be sure to make it ten times worse for you."
Gale enjoyed Dewey's shudder, the way his nipples stood up at her attentions. She could feel his buttocks tighten at her movements and smiled, enjoying the response she could create in him.
"Bring it," she dared.
She breathed a long, slow breath against Dewey's neck, then kissed its skin, dragging her lips across, body still flush against his back. Then she slowly took his ear lobe into her mouth, flicking her tongue over it and then nipping. Her thumb circled his nipple, stimulating.
Her breath on the back of his neck sent shivers down his body, shuddering again at the pleasure. Her kisses up his neck made his neck muscles twitch every time, and he tried to suppress a moan when she kissed his jugular. Then she sucked his ear lobe into her mouth, playing with the flesh between her lips and flicking her tongue over it occasionally.
The warmness of her mouth and the wetness of her tongue made him subconsciously try to push his lobe in further, his head moving back slightly. His breath hitched when she lightly pressed her thumb into one of his nipples, a spike of pleasure shooting through the area. His cock was beginning to twitch, aching to be touched, but with his body pressed to the wall he was unable to reach forward and stroke his length.
Using the wall to his advantage though, he rubbed himself against it to cause friction between his pants and cock. At this point he was well and truly deep into being submissive to her, forgetting his devious plot to take advantage when her guard was down and letting her use him in whatever way she so desired. Letting himself give up control to her wasn't something he'd do for anyone, because he knew she wouldn't do anything to harm him.
And she always reassured him of how well he was doing, egging him further to please her so he can be further praised. It wasn't something he had received a lot growing up, especially since he was bullied for having a father who didn't love him, so when Gale came into his life and made him feel safe and secure, he was desperate to hear anything positive she had to say about him to reassure him that she did, in fact, love him.
His right hand reached back and placed itself on her adjacent thigh, squeezing lightly to encourage her further. He decided not to suppress the second moan that rattled out of his throat as another wave of pleasure washed over him from her repeated circling of his nipple.
Gale smiled, pleased with herself, when she felt Dewey respond to her, his chest rising and falling sharply and his nipples standing out. She let her tongue drift down from his ear to his neck, sucking the skin just behind his ear and finding the sensitive places she could feel his pulse.
"Good boy," she murmured, pulling away briefly to catch her own breath, her words throaty, chest rising and falling against his back. "Good job."
She squeezed his ass again as he rubbed against the wall, then slowly started to slide his pants down. She stroked each thigh, enjoying the twitch of his muscles, and encouraged him to step put of his pants, still facing the wall.
Her tongue left a wet trail from his ear and down his neck to his most sensitive spots, sucking on his jugular and throat. A heat of arousal pooled in his crotch at being called a 'good boy', as well as feeling proud to have pleased Gale. Her breasts rhythmically rose and fell as she breathed pressed up to his back, and he could feel her nipples, that had perked up as a result of his playing with her earlier, lightly poke into him as a result.
Squeezing his cheeks further added to the pleasure he felt in his cock, however he felt momentary disappointment when she took her hands away and starting sliding his trousers down, minimizing the friction between his length and the cloth of his boxers; the caressing of his thighs brought him back up to speed though. He stepped each foot out of the legs of his pants and kicked it out of the way. "What are you going to do to me?"
Gale stooped down, scratching her nails down the length of his thighs to the inside of his knees. She flicked her tongue over the sensitive skin behind his knees, then began to kiss and lightly nip back up his legs and thighs, stroking his hips and across to his crotch.
"I'm going to make you happy," she breathed. "If you stay very good for me. And listen close."
She turned him to face her by his hips, then tugged down his briefs, pushing them aside. With his dick out and erect, she took it into her hand, meeting his eyes as her thumb rubbed it slowly.
"Don't come. Yet."
He shivered at the light brush of her nails down his legs, and his knees near buckled as she flicked her wet tongue at the back of them, his calf muscles twitching. Feeling her teeth lightly press into his thighs sent electricity straight to his crotch, precum leaking from his tip.
When her hands stroked over his crotch, he tried pushing himself into her grasp, but she passed over his length quickly before speaking - the tease. Of course he'd be good for her, not just for the release of pressure but to make her happy. He followed her direction to turn around and watched as she pulled down his briefs, releasing his erect member and taking it into her hand.
The open air against his bare lower half, leaving him exposed to her, furthered his arousal, however he suppressed the chill going through his body to keep himself from further erupting. He looked her in the eyes and nodded at her demand. "Yes honey," he responded breathlessly.
"Good boy," Gale breathed again, her smile almost feral as she held Dewey's gaze in hers. She continued to rub the length of his penis, her thumb slowly stroking circles thoroughly around each inch of his surface. She could see him shaking with effort to hold back, his member hard in her hand, and commanded him again.
"I'm going to take you into my mouth, and you still can't come. Not until I pull back and tell you it's time."
She took his penis's tip into her mouth then, sucking lightly, and ran her tongue around it's surface. Slowly she took it deeper into her mouth, little by little.
The ferocity on her face combined with her praising words left him wobbly on his feet. Waves of pleasure shot through his crotch as she stroked his length, her thumb gently pushing and pulling the thin, sensitive skin covering his penis; at each tug, his foreskin closed around his tip and stretched back when she pushed.
Just her describing that she was going to take his cock into her warm, wet mouth made him want to erupt right then and there, but he held together and nodded in affirmation to her demand. As soon as her lips wrapped around his tip, he moaned and arched his back, holding everything in becoming increasingly harder. His fingers clenched against the wall, unintentionally putting a lot of tension on those muscles rather than the ones in his crotch to keep himself together.
"*Fuck*"..," he said through clenched teeth. When she reached his hilt, her tongue licking up and down his length, he practically whined her name to allow him to releave the pressure in his crotch, the knot closed to snapping, only being stopped through his willpower.
It was more than obvious how much Dewey had to brace himself to hold back him ejaculation. She could see it in his increased shaking, feel it in the taut muscles of his thighs and crotch. When he hissed a curse and whined, barely able to keep back, Gale pulled back, slowly running her teeth over his dick's length as she did. She stood, arm winding around Dewey as she pressed her body into him, and took him back into her hand as she finally whispered.
"Good boy. Good job. Now you can come for me, good boy."
He whined louder when her teeth ran lightly across his length, every muscle gone taut in wait to finally release. When she pulled her mouth from him and stood, he grew excited at the prospect of getting to come, however he worried she might make him wait longer as she stood and pressed against him, ready to tease him further. Luckily he was given the go ahead to finally release, which made him to automatically thrust faster into her hand, his hands reaching up to grab her upper arms.
The wait to come was grueling, but it was all worth it for the intense orgasm he got - one that made his whole body shake and practically lose all control of his legs. Cum shot in long, individual strings from his cock, his testicles constricting to push its liquids out onto her hand. He moaned softly as he rode out his orgasm by thrusting slowly into her hand, and his grip on her arms alleviated.
He brushed his lips on her forehead, breathing hard, before moving down to her lips and pressing a kiss to them. "Thank you, hon," he said, appreciative of her work to pleasure him. "Do you want me to make you come?"
Gale's chest rose and fell quickly, her breathing shorter as she watched Dewey come into her hand. She was vividly aware of his shaking legs, his moans of pleasure and release, his hands gripping her arms, and her face gleamed with satisfaction at the affect she had on him.
She wiped her hand on the material of her pants, kissing him back before murmuring against his lips.
"Do your worst."
He gently rotated their positions and got on his knees, hands slowly gliding down her thighs and stopping just before her knee. "Only the best for you," he murmured, bringing his lips to her pants and pressing a kiss to where her clit would be. He then proceeded to lick whatever he could of his smeared cum off her pants before tugging them down to the ground.
He hooked his index fingers on the loop of her panties and clamped his teeth on the front hem before sliding them down, exposing her wet pussy to him all the while maintaining eye contact. He stuck two fingers into her folds, coating them with her slick, and traveled to her clit, rubbing the lubricant over the sensitive ball of nerves. He recoated his fingers and circled them around her entrance, occasionally dipping the very tip of his fingers inside.
When he believed she was well lubed, he pulled his fingers out and ducked his arms between and behind her thighs, her legs practically resting on his shoulders as a result. With her cunt inches from his face, he couldn't resist any longer and lightly licked over the entire length of her vulva, his tongue flat. Reaching the top at her clit, he began circling the tip of his tongue around that spot; meanwhile his hands are squeezing her thighs.
With a few more quick, fluttering licks to her folds, he eventually placed his entire mouth over her sex and sucked gently, sticking his tongue as far into her cunt as he can. He pulled back momentarily, a string of her discharge attaching to his lip before snapping and dripping down his chin, and looked up at her face to see the pleasure written all over it. "Am I doing good, honey?" he asked, still submissive to her despite being the one currently eating her out.
Even with her pants still on, Gale was aroused by Dewey's gentle touch of her thighs, and his licking his own cum off her pants was fucking hot. She was already damp as he pulled her panties down, her leg muscles tight with anticipation. Dewey's finger inside her, rubbing the most sensitive parts of her, made her clit throb in response, her inner walls swelling.
By the time Dewey took her thighs and began to lick her, thoroughly covering her from vulva to clit and all her insides, Gale was gasping, her eyes shut, one hand bracing herself by holding tight to Dewey's shoulder. She could feel her own fluids gushing into his mouth as she build toward orgasm, and she nodded breathlessly as Dewey asked for feedback.
"Yes baby, you're doing so good- don't stop."
Pride filled his chest to be praised, and he immediately delved back into licking her sex. Rolling his tongue back over her clit, he unwrapped an arm from her leg and brought the hand that rested on his shoulder to his hair, silently requesting that she lightly tug at his roots. He then brought his hand to her pussy and rubbed over her vulva gently before opening her folds and inserting his middle finger into her cunt.
He added another finger soon after, pulling in and out at an even pace, hooking his fingers to hit her g-spot. His tongue would flick over her clit and then take a nice, long lick over her entire length. When he felt her muscles constrict and her cunt clench around his fingers, he knew she was close to her climax, and so used his free hand and placed it on the small of her back, pushing her crotch further into his mouth.
Gale obeyed quickly when Dewey moved her hand to his hair, requesting that she pull at it. She scratched her nails over his scalp, tugging lightly at his short locks, and her other hand moved across his side and then up his back, splaying across a cluster of his scars. She held onto him there, feeling closer and more connected when she touched them, somehow more intimate to touch the reminders of his fight to survive.
Her hips rolled with his attentions, her crotch thrusting into his open mouth, and as his fingers and tongue worked, Gale moaned, her breathing coming in near pants as she felt her fluids dampen her thighs and seep onto Dewey's tongue. She started to tremble as she built to her release, a choked "fuck" escaping her as she finally came against him.
He was encouraged further when she complied in lightly pulling on his short locks, licking faster and fucking her faster with his fingers, even adding a third. He absolutely loved having her hands over his scars, her fingers rubbing circles in the knotted scarring - her comforting touch made him forget just how he got those scars and all the pain it had caused him.
The fluids secreting from her cunt flooded his mouth, and he swallowed the more and more that came in with each lick. When she finally came, he pressed his mouth over her entire vulva to capture every drop of discharge, keeping his tongue flicking over her clit and fingers pumping in and out of her. The hand that rested on the small of her back rubbed up and down her torso, encouraging her orgasm out of her.
When she finished in his mouth, he pulled off her pussy, several slick strings connected to his mouth and her folds. He licked up every string and swallowed them before getting back on his feet, pressing kisses up her torso and neck until he reach her lips. "How was that?" he asked.
Still breathing heavily, Gale kept her eyes closed, aftershocks of her orgasm still trembling through the muscles of her thighs and lower torso. She swallowed, enjoying the sensation of Dewey cleaning her with his tongue, shivering occasionally at the damp touch. When Dewey got up, kissing her flushed neck and torso and working to her mouth, she kissed him with open lips, long and hard and wet, before resting her head under his chin.
"You ace the exam," she murmured. "Definitely star student."
He gladly accepted the open mouth kissing she initiated, brushing his tongue against hers and letting her teeth take a hold of his bottom lip. He managed to wrap his arms under her arms, and he rested his head on top of hers, closing his eyes in delight. "I have a good teacher," he responded.
Taking in his surroundings, seeing they were both bottomless in the foyer, he pulled back from her head and looked down at her. "We can't do this kind of stuff with a kid running around," he joked, chuckling lightly.
Gale laughed, startled as she realized that Dewey had a point. They had a lot of things to change before their child's arrival.
"Well, we have a while before she can see us well, infant eyesight isn't great for a while. And then she won't be walking let alone running for at least a year."
Looking over their surroundings more critically, she suddenly saw the dangers around them. Sharp corners, open outlets, cords- everything seemed horribly unsafe.
"We need to baby proof though. This place is not ready for a kid."
"Oooh, someone's been doing their research," he mocked lightheartedly. "And you think you won't be a good mom."
He too looked around the room as she did and saw the potential dangers to a baby. "I would agree, yes," he said. "Electrical sockets, open stairway, half naked parents out in the open - it's definitely in need of baby proofing," he joked, although he understood the validity of her worries.
He placed a kiss to her forehead and directed her eyes to his by gently tilting her chin. "Don't worry, we've got a lot of time to make this place safe for our little girl - if anything, we'll end up overcompensating, right?"
Gale rolled her eyes, huffing slightly. "Of course I've been doing research, you know that. You've seen me reading the stupid parenting books, that's the only reason I have half a clue what we're in for. Honestly the more I learn the more I realize I don't know shit. I hope you remember something about parenting from Tatum being a baby because I think I trust 7 year old you over me."
When he kissed her forehead, turning her face to look at him, she tried to relax, but the concern still showed in her eyes. "I've never even held a baby. What if she doesn't like me? Don't you dare laugh," she said defensively, before he could start. "Don't say she's a baby and I'm her mother so of course she'll like me. Babies are people, they can decide not to like people."
"Well, when you'll be the one taking care of her, putting her sleep, feeding her, telling her 'I love you', she'll realize 'hey, this lady is pretty great'," he said. "And then she'll call you mom, want you to teach her how to do makeup, tell you all her problems with boys - you know, all that kind of stuff."
He gave her a parting kiss to the lips before pulling back from her, examining the clothes on the ground. "So, do we plan on staying here in full view of the front door windows or should we this upstairs? The laundry I mean, take the laundry upstairs," he clarified, however he wasn't adverse to continuing if she wanted to. "Unless you want to take something else upstairs too?"
Gale rolled her eyes but had to smile, both enjoying the thought of the imagery Dewey was creating and anxious that maybe she couldn't follow through. "I never did that for anyone before," she said quietly. "You'll be great, you had Tatum to practice on. And..
"
She hesitated, not often one to open up about her own parenting, but it feels important, and she doesn't want it to impact her own child.
"My mother didn't do those things for me," she said in a low tone. "At least not once I was old enough to do it myself. I figured out my own food. Went through her wallet and walked to a gas station and got it half the time. I went to sleep on my own, I figured out makeup and boys on my own."
She paused, her chest tight; this is an admission that hurts and is harder to say than she had realized. "I don't think...I don't remember her saying she loved me. So...I don't know if I'll do these things right for her. I'll try, but I don't know if I can do it like you or Tatum or Sidney."
She took the clothes up in her arms at his words and started to walk upstairs, avoiding his eyes.
He listened to her intently, eyes softening and holding her waist gently. He felt guilty to have had a relatively easier childhood than she had, feeling she was undeserving of the pain anguish. He pulled her into a warm hug and pulled her head into the crook of his neck. "I'm sorry, Gale," he said. "You never deserved to deal with that."
He was certain that she thought of his gesture as far too late - he could almost hear her saying 'it's fine, it was all in the past'. But it's not fine, never was or will be, not for him. "I don't care how corny it sounds, I'll tell you that a million times more until I've convinced you that you didn't deserve the treatment you grew up with.
"And you never thought you could love someone like you do with me, so who's to say that you won't be a natural at loving a child? I mean, you know how poorly your mother treated you, so you know exactly what *not* to do when raising a child."
Her silent walk up the stairs with her clothes left him convinced that his words didn't get through to her completely, and so he was determined to do as he said - tell her until she was convinced. He too gathered his pants and followed her upstairs, entering their bedroom. "Is there...anything you'd like to do?" he asked, opening his drawer. "Get your mind off things?"
Gale let Dewey pull her into him, expressing his empathy and compassion for her. It wasn't something she was used to allowing for herself, and it felt strangely ambivalent to her. Part of her wanted to rebuff it, to protest she didn't need pity and it had happened long ago and she was beyond need for sympathy. Another part of her soaked in his words desperately, long overdue the need for someone to express understanding and validation of her pain.
She didn't answer him when he asked about getting her mind on things. Instead she got dressed, facing away as she said abruptly, "It took me ten years to tell Sidney and Tatum I love them. What if I can't say it to my own daughter?"
He pulled on some clean briefs and pajama pants, and proceeded to remove his button-up and put on a plain tee. He closed the drawer to his dresser a little harder than he intended, but he had grown frustrated - how could she not see what he saw in her? He brought a hand to his face and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Gale, I don't know what else to tell you," he said, approaching her and taking her hands into his. "You're beautiful, smart, and caring - maybe a bit rough around the edges, but buried deep inside is a loving heart; I know that better than anybody.
"And lets be honest here Gale, who're we to say how she'll feel? She'll be a little girl attached to your leg one minute, a rebellious teen the next, and finally a young woman moving out to make her own family. You've always told yourself that you were loveless, but look at all the people who love *you*. I wouldn't have vowed to spend the rest of my life with you if I didn't, and Sid wouldn't be willing to carry our child if she didn't - and Tatum, well...she likes hanging out with other snarky people."
Gale took this in, knowing that it was true. As much as she always wanted to be loved she feared it, the vulnerability it could give her and the lack of deserving she felt for it. She knew Tatum and Sidney loved her deep down, but it was difficult for her to fathom why.
And that wasn't even what truly bothered her. It was her own struggle to express her love plainly.
"You're not hearing me. I...I know I love people. I already love our baby. I just...it's so hard for me to say that to people. You don't know, it's different for you. It feels like work to me, saying it. It feels like taking a piece of myself away and offering it up and maybe it will be given back okay and maybe it will be stabbed through the core. What if I can't tell her until it's been too long and it's too late? What if she can't understand or know it?"
He hated to hear that there was something he was misunderstanding - he was one of the only people who *knew* Gale on such a personal level, and so not being able to read her scared him. The last time he didn't pick up on her signs she and Tatum nearly got killed, and they lost their baby; he still quietly blamed himself for the accident, and he was set on not letting something like that happen ever again.
"I...I don't know," he said, admitting defeat. "You're right, I don't know how hard it is, and I want to tell you that those three words will be first thing you say to her, but I can't predict that - and it *scares* me. It scares me that I can't even *tell* what you're going through, let alone understand it; you're my wife, and yet I'm just that oblivious.
"But please, *please*, listen to me when I say that you, Gale Weathers-Riley, are going to be a great mother. If there was one thing that drew me in about you, it's your unwillingness to back down when the road gets tough, no matter the odds. You reported to a live audience *minutes* after putting Billy Loomis down. You dropped *everything* just to catch Altieri and Mrs. Loomis. You practically *headed* the investigation against Bridger. And you *stole* a scalpel and a hospital buggy to race to the Reed's house to end Jill's reign of terror.
"It'll feel hard to do, to *say* 'I love you', but you will do it in the end, I know it. You're not your mother, Gale. She didn't have you to build a family or experience that wonderful feeling of parenthood. We haven't even met our baby yet, and you already love her! Maybe it will be hard, but...you won't be too late," he finished.
Gale listened to Dewey seriously, trying to take in his faith of her, the admiration he had for her shining in his words. He saw her in such a bright light, not as someone heartless and relentless, but as someone brave and caring, someone who would be a good mother. Someone who could love and say it.
She moved forward then into him, wrapping her arms around his waist, and let her head rest against his chest. They were still half dressed, but this was a moment of her expressing thanks and love for him, of taking the encouragement and comfort he gave.
He wrapped his arms around her waist as she did to him, rubbing a hand up and down her back. He brought a hand to the back of her head and held it to his chest, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "I love you," he mumbled into her hair. "You're everything I could ask for."
He lifted her and sat her on his lap as he sat back on their bed, wrapping his arms back around her waist. "There anything you want to do? Maybe dinner?"
Gale let herself be further comforted, relaxing into Dewey. Her body's tension loosened up, and when he sat her on his lap, she melted into him, letting herself breathe in rhythm with him.
She almost laughed when he asked her about dinner. It seemed to her that Dewey was always not so subtly trying to feed her, nudging her to eat and making sure she did in times she was anxious or stressed. She smirked up at him, unable to resist jabbing back.
"I'm not the one who's pregnant, you know, it's Sid you ought to be checking on the eating habits of. But yeah , fine, we can do dinner.,"
"Tatum's covering the 'checking-in' for me," he commented in jest. He did, as Gale thought, try to get her to eat when in a state of distress; not only did she already have problems concerning food on a daily basis, but a stressed Gale will refuse to eat if he didn't remind her to every five seconds.
He stood from their bed and continued to hold Gale to his chest, expecting she would wrap her arms and legs around him to hold on. Despite his back's protests, he held onto her until they reached the kitchen, finally setting her down; one of his arms reached back and rubbed away the sting in his back.
"Pick your poison," he said, opening the pantry and eyeing each shelf.
"Tatum's idea of nutrition is that a pop tart has vitamin C and cheetos have calcium," Gale rolled her eyes, mostly joking. "I think Sid is looking after herself when it comes to that."
She let Dewey pick her up, trying to adjust herself against him to be as easy on his body to carry as she could. She didn't like to hurt him, but she did like the feeling of being held and carried, being conforted and even cherished in this way. It wasn't something she ever voiced, but it was something she reached out for when she really needed it and something Dewey understood and offered all too readily.
She reached to rub his back for him, her thumbs working up and down his spine for several minutes, and pressed a kiss to its center before answering.
"Cereal."
To her that mean Special K with strawberries in it. She already knew Dewey was going to add something to it somehow, but she was used to that by now.
He dropped his arm when she took over rubbing his back for him, slightly pushing into her thumbs for pressure. He smiled lightly when she pressed a kiss to the center of his back, grateful for the loving gesture to the part of him that hurt the most.
Of course it'd be *just* cereal for her. "Cereal and...?" he said, attempting to coax more out of her.
Gale rolled her eyes at him, having been perfectly content with her answer as it was. "You do realize we don't have to eat the same things right? No one is going to revoke your meals just because I don't mirror them.
"
She got the box out and set it on the counter, testing how far he's push this today. "We don't have to have a meal plan for every single day. Sometimes people can just do what they want to and the world continues spinning somehow."
"It's not about whether or not I want to eat the same thing," he said, moving out of the way when she came to grab the box of cereal. "Or that we should have a 'meal plan' every day. I'm just worried about...you," he said hesitantly, worried this could start an argument.
"I'm not saying it to be mean or anything," he said. "I just think that you don't eat as much as you should, or at the very least get enough protein or carbs or whatever in your diet. You can't tell me that you're *not* consciously eating less, okay; I know how you work.
"And what about our daughter?" he added, daring to tread on the thin ice. "Don't you want her to have a *good* relationship with food? And her appearance? I know how hard it is for you to hear me tell you that you're beautiful when you think you're not. She's going to look you for guidance as she grows into womanhood, and she should know that she doesn't have to change herself for what other people want from her; or what she *thinks* other people want from her."
Gale went still as she held onto the box of cereal, head dipping down as she angled her body to shut him out from fully seeing her. She had been ready to argue about how she was fine, she was eating every day- even if that definition didn't mean eating meals every day. She didn't like Dewey paying attention to this though, nor understanding that it wasn't just not being hungry or not being in the mood to eat or "forgetting" or "not noticing" that shaped the habits he disapproved of. That might have worked once upon a time, but after ten years of marriage, her tricks were no longer tricky. It was hard to bluff even to herself anymore.
Still, she was going to try, she was going to argue, until he mentioned their daughter. It wasn't something she had considered. How could she serve her daughter a plate and then eat nothing or next to it herself and expect her not to catch on? How could she expect it not to affect her?
She pressed her lips in a thin line, her shoulders hutching up as she answered grudgingly. "I have years before I need to worry about that. That's a fucking cheap shot."
"You'd be surprised at how fast babies pick up on things," he said, remaining cautious that he give her her space, lest he wants her foot to kick him in the groin - he's seen it happen to other men, and he didn't plan of risking it. "Trust me, I know. Tatum was spouting cuss words not long after learning how to speak, no thanks to our dad yelling at the TV when his favorite team was losing."
He hunched up shoulders made him want to place his hands on them and rub his thumbs along them to relax them, however he wasn't sure how much distance Gale wanted in that moment - but he knew he had to try, nonetheless. He approached slowly and gently placed his hands on her tense shoulders, squeezing lightly to invoke a reaction, whether it be positive or negative. "I know. I know it was," he admitted. "But I'm not saying it to be an asshole. I want our daughter to grow up happy and healthy, and I know you want that for her too. And I want *you* to be as well. You know just as much as I do that what you're doing isn't good for your health."
Gale remained tense, knowing there was some truth to what Dewey was telling her. Their daughter might not consciously understand or remember what she was watching her mother do or say, but that didn't mean it wouldn't have an unconscious lasting impression. She had read enough about child development already to know how important it was to give a safe, calm, loving, and consistent environment for their child, from the moment she was born. It would possibly affect her for life if she didn't feel secure and unconditionally loved. The things she had read had stirred up a lot of uncomfortable thoughts for Gale of how and why she had turned out as she had, and she jumped slightly before relaxing, just a tad, when Dewey squeezed her shoulders.
"I've never been unhealthy," she muttered. "I literally grew up on cereal, bagged salad, and sandwiches. Somehow I survived. It will be different for her."
Even as she spoke she mentally cursed herself, hearing her own words and realizing for the first time the possible importance of what she had just said. Her main go to foods now when restricting were exactly the limited options she had made for herself when growing up, without many choices or someone to feed her. Even as she said it she knew Dewey too would make this connection.
