Ages:

Jim - 29
Melinda - 25

Twenty weeks pregnant sure didn't seem like much to Melinda, seeing as days passed slower and slower each day.

Fortunately, the baby was very healthy according to the doctor, which gave her and Jim so much relief. They were finally able to breathe a little after that appointment. Their baby was healthy, growing just as he or she should. They'd even gotten an official due date.

August 1st.

Getting through the first trimester gave her quite a relief, her morning sickness had lessened to only when she smelt certain things. Everything was pleasant now. The past few months were mostly a blur, much of it spent on the couch and in bed, but now she was more like her old self, some days with energy to spare.

Melinda came in after lunch most days because Delia wanted to take on some more responsibility at the store to prepare her for when she would be off for the first few months once the baby is born.

She had a slow start to today because just as she was about to get out of bed, Melinda felt it, a strange fluttering deep in her belly. She had relaxed back into bed for almost an hour, reveling in the feeling of her child moving inside her. She'd gone over to the empty room that was to be the nursery and smiled, imagining how it would look when it was finished.

Now things have been getting back to normal they had begun ordering different items for the nursery. A dresser had come and so had a changing table, but Jim hadn't had a chance to put them together yet. She still hadn't found a crib and that dismayed her a little, but she'd crossed over two ghosts this week and that made her feel a little better.

She glanced at the background of her computer, which was a digital copy of the first ultrasound picture. Their baby looked more like a gummy bear than anything else. But now at twenty weeks, they could make out the slope of its nose, the little chin, the tiny, clenched fist, the round belly.

A baby. Their baby.

She smiled every time she saw the picture.

"Delia?" She asked, trying to push herself up from the chair. She wasn't even that big yet, remembering how she'd gained a little more with the baby she'd lost in a fall. She was nearly five months along around then too, but she didn't want to think about that. "I need some help."

"Is everything alright?" Her friend peeked around the corner as she sent a customer out the door with his bag and receipt.

"Yeah. I'm alright," she sighed. "I was just seeing if you had anything for me to do besides spreadsheets. I'm bored and stuck. I can't get up."

Delia chuckled and came to her aid, helping her up and rubbing her back. "How are you feeling? I remember feeling so big all of the time with Ned. He was a ten-pounder." The woman grunted and shook her head, trying to remember other things about her pregnancy. "That kid has always been a pain, but I love the little rascal. He just has so much energy."

"I hope I don't have a ten-pound baby," Melinda sighed and squeezed her friend. She was completely terrified of what was going to happen when she gave birth, but she trusted that she would be alright with Jim there. She knew that in her heart. "I don't know how Jim or his brother were as babies. I've never asked. My mom has always spoken well of me as a baby. She said she had trouble nursing at first, but she took some nursing classes and after that, she said I was just fine."

"Ned was biter, so if you ever need any tricks just ask." Delia sighed. "I doubt you'll have too much trouble. You seem like the type to be good at everything."

"Well I'm not and if I'm being honest I'm terrified." She held her stomach then, her palms running over the soft fabric of her shirt. "But please just take my mind off it with something to do."

Delia hugged her friend, placing her hands on top of hers. "Jim said no heavy lifting and I want to stick by my promise."

"He didn't say that I couldn't help around my store. I am the boss around here," she said, leveling her gaze with her. "Right?"

"Yes, ma'am. I won't argue with a pregnant lady." Delia laughed. "You can work on pricing the new arrivals. I'll bring up boxes." Delia said and then leveled her pointer finger at her with a smile. "But only if you stay sitting."

"Okay. Deal." She said as a few customers walked in. She moved to the front of the store as Delia went to get the boxes. "Welcome to Same as it Never Was. We have a sale on holiday knick-knacks on the corner table to the left. Let me know if you need any help."

"We sure will," the woman said and linked her arm around her husband and brought him over there.

Melinda moved back around to her desk and sat comfortably into her chair as Delia brought up a box and set it on the floor near her feet.

"Here," Delia said, placing a few items on her desk for her

Melinda turned to boot up her computer and the screen lit up a few different pictures of cribs and she scrolled down, sighing. Still nothing.

Delia laughed. "Still looking for a crib? It's been a month since you started looking, Mel."

"I'm not finding anything I like..." I say and scroll through the page of cribs for the baby.

"You're too picky. This one is nice!" She says and points to a white one.

"I'm looking for a darker one. It will match with the colors Jim and I have been throwing around for the nursery. It all depends on what we're having." She said. "And we haven't decided if we want to wait. We're still debating, but I think I'm having a girl. My last pregnancy was a lot different and it turned out I had been carrying a boy."

She turned from Delia then, not wanting to talk about it. It was hard for them to talk about these things. Her friend didn't know what to say. She had never carried to five months and lost a child before.

"I'll be out front," Delia said. "If you need anything."

"Okay," Melinda breathed, squeezing her hand and smiling at her. "Thanks, Delia. Maybe it'll be easier to talk about one day."

And then she felt it again; a sudden jab to her abdomen. Almost like a fish was swimming around inside her.

"Oh," she whispered, running her hands over her growing stomach. "Hey there, little one." The doors to the backroom opened suddenly to reveal her husband. Just seeing him made her smile and she wished she could meet him halfway, but instead he was there and kneeling before her, kissing her cheek. "Oh, why hello there to you too."

Jim was wearing a tight-fitting gray thermal, and she could see every muscle in his arm and back flex as he moved back to sitting on her desk. She noticed that he smiled, too, when he saw the sonogram picture as her background and bit her lip, watching him hungrily. Then, just when she thought she was already done for, he reached into his jacket pocket and held out a pack of Reese's Cups.

"Still loving these?" he asked, and that was it. She was a goner.

"Come here," she growled, pulling him to her by the front of his shirt and kissing him. It took him a second to catch his bearings, but when he did, he reciprocated happily.

"Mm, I like it when you're feeling better," he said sweetly. "I haven't gotten this much action in a while."

"I'm sorry I've been such a hassle," she sighed, but her smile must have been unconvincing because he leaned over and gave her the bag with an eye roll.

"You're my wife," he smiled. "And you're pregnant with my child, so I can take a little moodiness." He admitted as he ran his fingers up her leg. "We've come such a long way and now we have a person coming that is depending on us for everything."

"I know," she agreed, smiling. "And we are prepared."

"We'll be okay." He promised, whispering in her ear as he leaned up to kiss her cheek. "Right, baby?" They both waited to see if there would be an answering kick, and she felt the somersault a second later. "She agrees."

She couldn't help but smile back. "You think it's a girl?"

He nodded confidently. "I've noticed you're carrying differently this time," he said. "And your cravings are different. More sweets. Unlike before. You couldn't handle the smell of sweets before, remember?"

She sighed, remembering how hard it had been staying there with all the different smells. It had driven her crazy. "I think they are a girl, too," she confided quietly as he continued to rub her stomach.

"You're going to make a great mother, you know." His hand moved to her face, his thumb rubbing her cheek.

She looked up in surprise and then exhaled in relief. She kissed him again, lightly, as she stood carefully and sat on his lap. "And I know you're going to be a fantastic father."

He claimed her lips softly, his hands grasping her face. She pulled him close, her hands on his chest.

She pulled back, her lips briefly touching his. "Fuck me."

"What?" he asked with a laugh, his eyes widening. He hadn't heard her talk like that unless they were home, alone, in the comfort of their home. Never in public, let alone in her store.

"Fuck me," she repeated, kissing him, and he met her tongue with his as he stood, his hands grasping her close.

She was in a maternity dress, one with an easy zipper. She fumbled with his belt as she turned him around and sat him in her chair. She pushed up the maxi skirt she favored these early spring days and straddled him, wrapping her arms around his neck. She moved against him, kissing him and claiming his tongue with hers.

"Oh, Jim," she whispered, gasping as her eyes closed in ecstasy as he moved against her. She controlled her urge to scream and kissed his neck, sucking the skin there. "Mmm baby," she purred, her nails digging into his back. She kissed his cheek sweetly, then leaned in to whisper in his ear, "I've wanted you all morning."

He started to move quicker in her, his hands hooked under her thighs as he buried his face in the crook of her neck. She clenched around him, smiling triumphantly he cried out, moving faster.

"Does that feel good?" He grunted, kissing her jaw.

She seemed incapable of speech at the moment, so she nodded enthusiastically. He held her tightly to him as he milked her orgasm from her. His mission was always that, to make her come first and she usually did, twice.

"Oh Mel, I'm close," he said a few seconds later, and his voice was so low and raspy that it turned her on even more.

"I'm close," she told him, moving her hand between them to touch herself. "I'm so, so close Jim."

"Oh, fuck," he cried out in her neck, marking her. He tended to do that. A lot. "Keep doing that."

She complied, and when he came, he was holding her so tightly that she worried about bruises.

"Mel," he sighed when he was finished. "Oh my god."

He replaced her hand with his, and she cried out as she found her release, in a quiet kiss that she held until it subsided.

"Damn," he sighed, reluctantly pulling out of her. There was something so satisfying to relax as one with her, deep within her warmth. They shared another kiss and his hands spread over her back, pulling her snug into him. "I wish we could do that more often. Especially when I randomly pop in. I'll do that more now."

"I'd like that," she grinned, kissing him again as he continued to catch his breath and she tore open the package of Reese's and took a bite.

"You know, sharing is caring Melinda." He told her, eyeing one of them hungrily.

She glared at him as she popped the entire thing into her mouth. "Not this bag. These are all mine."