AN: This story can be read by itself, but it's better in my little universe. I would read it following "Telephone."

I own nothing from Murder, She Wrote.

I hope you enjoy! If you do, please do let me know!

111

"Seth—what did you order?" Jessica asked.

"That's the point of a surprise, Woman," Seth said. "Eat your lunch, Jess."

She rolled her eyes at him, but his insistence at least reminded her to take a bite of her food.

"Furniture, Seth?" She asked.

"A-yuh," Seth responded, doing his absolute best not to make eye contact with her. He knew, if he made eye contact with her, it was going to be harder to keep his resolve, and this time he didn't want to buckle. "Furniture. It was supposed to be delivered this morning."

"I know," Jessica said. "I told them not to deliver it this morning. I wanted to talk to you, first."

"If you'd had it delivered, Jess, then you'd know what I ordered," Seth said. "Now, I have to call them back to set up a new delivery."

"Just tell me this," Jessica said, "for whom did you order the furniture?"

"For all of us," Seth said. "Everyone in the household benefits from new furniture."

"But some furniture is more specialized than other furniture," Jessica said. "And we haven't talked about any furniture."

Seth laughed to himself.

"Forgive me, Jessica. I thought—that our home was also my home."

"Of course, it is," Jessica said.

"Then—as man of the house, ought I not be able to buy furniture for the house without first checking with you?" Seth asked. He didn't need a verbal response. Jessica's face said it all. "You know what, I knew better than to say that. You're right. Ruthie wouldn't have stood for it, either."

Jessica sighed loudly and he saw her entire body shift with the release of some of the tension she'd been holding in her muscles.

"Listen—I'm not trying to be difficult, Seth. Of course, our home is your home. And—of course, I want you to feel at home. I want you to feel like the man of the house, in every way that implies. I'm certainly not—progressive enough, or what have you, to want to take that feeling from you. I'm at least somewhat traditional, myself, and I like it that way."

Seth hummed, hiding his amusement as best he could. He would let Jessica talk her way through this as much as she needed.

"One of the things that I like about you, Jess, is that you're a very traditional woman, combined with a healthy dose of progressive. The best of both worlds."

"Careful, Seth," she warned.

Seth believed the warning.

"I'm not criticizing, even if it sounds like I am," Seth said. "I'm attempting a compliment, though—judging from your reaction—I will admit that, perhaps I didn't go about it quite right."

"It doesn't matter," Jessica said, waving it away with her hand. "All I'm trying to say, Seth, is that…I want you to feel comfortable at home. I want you to feel like the man of the house, because you are. But—furniture is a big decision. It means—moving things around at the very least or, possibly, even getting rid of something. I won't say that I'm unwilling to do that so that you can have things that you enjoy, but…I need time to settle into it, too. I don't like having things sprung on me like that."

Seth softened, slightly. There was no need for conflict, really. This was born, like most potential disagreements, from a failure to communicate and, perhaps, from some deeper feelings that hadn't been fully explored yet.

Seth reached his hand across the table and caught Jessica's forearm. He squeezed it gently, and then moved his hand down to pat her hand. She turned her hand, requesting that he hold hers for a moment, and he happily obliged. Always and forever, he assumed, holding Jessica's hand would be one of his greatest pleasures.

"This is not about getting rid of anything," Seth said. "Or even changing anything, really. This is new furniture. We don't have anything like it. And if it needs its own space, it'll be the room we already agreed to clean out, Jess."

Her eyes went a little big at the suggestion.

"For the baby?" She asked.

"A-yuh," Seth said. "I told you I was getting something for her."

"You didn't say it was furniture," Jessica countered.

"Now, listen," Seth said. "I know you probably—want to pick out all the nursery stuff and what-nots with me, Jess. And I would never take that chance away from you. Goodness knows, we probably won't ever get the opportunity again, so I wouldn't want to rob you of any experience, but…I just made a couple of small, minor selections."

'Seth—you can't just buy furniture for a baby like that," Jessica said.

"You can, actually," Seth said. "It's surprisingly easy."

He knew that the ice on which he was treading was dangerously thin. However, it amused him at least a little. Every now and again, he figured a good row was good for the spirit. Jessica certainly had that fighting spirit—but she sometimes forgot that, every once in a while, so did Seth.

"Seth—I appreciate the thought, really…"

"I'm glad," Seth said. "When do you want me to tell them to deliver it?"

"We can't just buy furniture," Jessica said. "What if…" She looked around, lowered her voice, and leaned more toward him. "Seth—what if there is no baby? And we have furniture for a baby that's never coming."

Seth's chest felt a bit tight. His throat followed suit. He reached his hand back out and patted Jessica's again.

"We can't live our lives like that, Jess," Seth said. "If you want, Woman, I will sit down with you and we'll talk about it as much as you want. I will hear it. I'll hear it every time that it comes back to you—because I know it's going come back to you a lot. But we can't live like that, Jess—always waiting for the shoe to drop. What are we going to do? Wait until we have a baby in arms to buy things for her?"

Jessica frowned at him.

"We'll deal with anything we have to deal with," Seth continued. "Together. We need to—focus on positive things, though. And we both have different needs. Goodness knows, Jess…I'm going to try to meet all of yours. But—I have needs, too, and I need to focus on the good. Because there's so much good in our lives. I don't want to miss it, Jessica. I don't want to miss a minute of the…the wonderful that we have together."

She continued to frown at him, and he knew that she was focused. Outwardly, she was simply staring at him—glaring at him, even. Inwardly, he knew that she was having a talk with herself and, in essence, getting herself under control. He wasn't going to rush her. Instead, he simply squeezed her arm, gently, a few times to help to ground her.

"I don't want to miss out, either, Seth," Jessica said, when she clearly deemed it safe for her to speak.

"Good," Seth said. "Because—Woman—half my joy in things is seeing you enjoy things."

She managed a hint of a smile, now, as she calmed.

"I love you," she said.

"I love you, too, Woman," Seth assured her. "Eat your lunch. I'll call when I get back to the office."

"Are you going to—cancel the order?" Jessica asked.

"No," Seth said. "I'm going to ask them to make it the last delivery of the day, so I can be home with you when it comes. We'll do this together, Jessica. Just like everything else."

111

"Mrs. Hazlitt," Seth said, walking up behind Jessica in the kitchen. He tested the waters by touching her shoulders, first. When she didn't move away, he kneaded her shoulder muscles. She groaned with appreciation—but that only meant that she appreciated his touch.

Seth was very ready for the fact that she might not appreciate him quite as much right now. He leaned and kissed her neck as he moved his hands down to her hips.

"Are they gone, Mr. Hazlitt?" She asked, pausing in her work. "Because I don't want them to come walking in here and find the good doctor trying to make out with his wife like a…a randy teenager."

Seth laughed. Jessica echoed it. He stopped kissing her neck, though he kept his hands on her hips for a moment.

"Everyone left a few minutes ago, out the front door," Seth said.

"Well?" Jessica asked. "Are you—ready for me to see what you've done?"

Seth laughed again.

"It's not as if I burned down half the house, woman," Seth said. "I had them move in two pieces of furniture."

"Two?" Jessica asked, turning halfway around to look at him over her shoulder, as though he'd just said something entirely shocking.

Seth placed his hands back on her shoulders and took the opportunity to steal a kiss. She didn't return the first kiss, clearly not expecting it, so he kissed her again. She returned the second.

"But—two, Seth?" She said, breaking the kiss.

"Put the potatoes down, Woman," Seth said. "Come and see what I've done. Then, I'll finish the potatoes."

"You don't have to cook," Jessica said, putting the potato in question to the side, washing her hands, and drying them, before she followed Seth.

"I don't mind," Seth said. "Besides—if I peel the potatoes, it keeps you away from the knives, just in case you aren't happy with me when we come back downstairs."

Jessica laughed, but there was some anxiety to the laugh. Seth didn't take it personally. She had agreed that he could have this. He'd told her that he simply needed it. It wasn't going to work for him to simply pretend that their daughter didn't exist, that she wasn't growing, and that he didn't believe that she was coming into the world, healthy and happy, near the start of the new year. He needed to celebrate her. He needed reminders of all their happiness around him.

And, while he understood Jessica's trepidation, he also thought it was important for her emotional health to allow herself to celebrate their daughter's life. After all, even if it ended, they had already loved her every moment of her existence.

For that reason, too, Seth was still making sure that Jessica knew that he was going to keep making space for her to remember and, perhaps, celebrate the lives of her sons. She had known them. She had held them, in more ways than one, and she had loved them.

Both Seth and Jessica knew a great deal about life and death—love and loss— at this point in their lives. They were going to honor those who had been lost to them in death, but they were also going to celebrate life.

Jessica had agreed, and she'd said that she wanted Seth to have anything and everything that he needed and wanted—but she would need patience and understanding, both of which he promised her in abundance.

Seth held Jessica's hand as he tugged her up the stairs.

"Now—like I said, Jess, I didn't get carried away. Most of it we'll buy together. I promise you, whenever you're ready. But—it's a start."

She squeezed his hand.

"It's a little overwhelming," she admitted. "Having furniture, it just…"

"Makes it real?" Seth offered, when they were outside the room that they had designated the future nursery. For now, it was still something a guest room, but it was also an all-purpose catch-all area. It needed to be cleaned out, but they hadn't quite started that process yet. "It is real. Come on—like a bandaid. Let's just…rip it off so you can start to settle."

Seth opened the door and led her into the room. He'd at least cleared most of the stuff out of the way—pushed as close together as he could get it—to make the two new items front and center.

"We're going to get to the rest of the room soon, Jess," he said. "We'll get someone to help move everything out of here. We can take most of it down to the charity shop, if you don't want to keep it."

If Jessica heard him, though, she didn't respond. She'd walked straight for the two new items. She reached out to touch one gingerly. She traced her fingers around the edge of it. Seth gave her a moment with it. He gave her a moment with everything, inside of her, that he thought she might need a moment to deal with.

"We'll get some sheets for it," Seth said. "Blankets or—whatever. We'll get one of the cribs for this room, and that one will go by the bed in our room."

"Our room?" Jessica asked.

"For now, it's just in here," Seth said. "Unless—you want it in there now. I don't mind moving it in our room now, Jess, and we just—start getting used to it. To be honest, I'd kind of like having it around."

"It's a…"

"Bassinett," Seth said, when it seemed like Jessica might not finish.

"I know," Jessica said with a soft smile.

"I didn't mean to imply that you didn't," Seth said.

Jessica laughed quietly.

"I'm not offended, Seth," she said. "But—I've heard a lot of people say that…you don't want your baby in your bedroom."

"People say a lot of things, and I try not to listen to any of it," Seth said. "She'll need us a lot in the beginning. This'll be convenient. You'll see, Jess. It'll be a lot easier having her close."

Jessica turned and looked at him. She looked a little teary-eyed, but nothing had yet started to stream down her face. Seth had tissues, just in case she needed them, but he didn't tell her that he'd stuffed his pockets ahead of time.

"I'd like to keep her close, Seth," Jessica said. "For a while."

Seth felt his chest tighten.

"A-yuh," he managed, deciding not to point out that he could imagine that there were multiple reasons why Jessica might want their newborn daughter close to her for a while. "She'll be close, Jess."

"A rocking chair?" Jessica asked.

Seth smiled.

"For rocking the baby," Seth said.

"Well, obviously I know that," Jessica said. "But—we have one."

"Not upstairs, we don't," Seth said. "I wanted one here, and one down there." He moved around Jessica and settled into the rocking chair. He ran his hands over the arms and rocked it with his feet. "It's a nice chair, Jess. You should try it."

"I'm sure I will," Jessica said. "But…do we really need two?"

"We'll have one no matter where we are. I like the idea of…rocking my baby girl to sleep," Seth said. He smiled to himself at the image in his mind. "I like the idea of—rocking her at night, in between feedings and changing diapers. I like the idea of…seeing you rock her while you feed her."

Jessica stared at him, something of a smile playing at her lips. Seth couldn't be sure if she was simply smiling at his words about the chair, or if she might be about to tease him. Either way, it didn't matter. With her looking at him like that, he still had a shiver of affection run through him.

"Did I do as bad as you thought I would?" He asked.

"You did—wonderfully," Jessica said. "As you always do."

"Maybe that means you ought to give up doubting me, Woman," he said with a chuckle. "I know the two chairs seems…excessive, but…I think I just…need the extra chair, Jess."

Her expression softened, but the smile still tugged at her lips.

"I understand," she said. "I'm not going to argue about the chair. It's a beautiful chair, Seth."

"Comfortable," Seth said. "Well-built. It'll be an antique someday."

"I'm sure it will," Jessica agreed. "It's still a bit scary to get excited…as crazy as I know that sounds."

"Doesn't sound crazy at all," Seth said. He got to his feet. He took Jessica's hands and held them in his own. "Woman—I've been terrified, before, to think that something so wonderful could be real. It's a very scary thing, Jess. You don't want to be let down. You don't want to be excited, because you know the fall is just going to be that much harder if it comes. But—if you don't take the chance…"

"I know, it's just…"

Seth smiled at her and squeezed her hands, letting his thumb trail over her skin.

"The last time I was absolutely terrified and excited all at the same time…I was asking a woman I loved to marry me, scared to death that, if she said no, I was going to lose the woman of my dreams, every dream I'd foolishly dreamed for the future, and my best friend…all in one go."

"Seth…" she said, smiling at him.

"Look how good that turned out," Seth said. "And I've got a hunch, Jess, that we're just getting warmed up. It only gets better from here out, Woman."

Seth could tell, just by how Jessica looked at him, what she wanted. He leaned and kissed her. She settled into the kiss, and he didn't move to break it, playing along with her and prolonging it each time it seemed it might break, just to spend a little more time together.

"Seth," Jessica said, when she did break the kiss. He hummed at her. "Do you think…you could do something for me?"

"I'd do anything for you, Jessica," Seth said. She smiled and nodded her head gently. She held his eyes with hers. He felt like his breathing was shallow, just from the way that she was looking at him. He really would do anything for her, in that moment.

"Do you think…you could move the bassinet to our room?"

Seth couldn't explain how the request made him feel. He was nearly lightheaded with the unexpected rush of happiness.

"You really mean that?" He asked.

"I do," she said sincerely. "It's just—I think…I need it in our room."

"Say no more, Woman. I'll move it right now," Seth said. "You can help me decide where it goes—close to your side of the bed. And then, I'll help you get supper going. We'll spend the rest of the evening together."

"Sounds like a wonderful evening to me," Jessica confirmed. "Just what we both need."