There was something very comforting about listening to Stas' quiet breathing in the dark stillness of their bedroom, AJ decided finally. She'd been lying awake by his side for what felt like hours, unable to drift off to sleep so easily as him, her mind whirling with the implications of what they were going into together. Beneath the covers, her hand snuck down to rest against her belly, stroking thoughtfully over the smooth, flat area.

A baby ....They were going to be parents. There was a tiny life growing inside her right now. It was mind-boggling to think about. After all, they'd only recent become intimate enough to make a baby - surely it wasn't supposed to happen so fast' And come to think of it, wasn't the woman supposed to know first' She just about managed not to groan through her smile as she remembered the first she'd heard about the allusion of being pregnant ...

Oh, this was getting ridiculous, AJ thought to herself as she wiped her face clean after her third spontaneous trip to the bathroom that day. It wasn't just the random vomiting, it was the incredible weariness, too ....was she ill" Had she caught something off Stas without him catching it too' After washing her mouth out and cleaning her teeth, she shuffled back into the living room, swamped in one of Stas' t-shirts and nothing else but her panties, and returned to her study of her own hand, tracing the image in charcoal on the page in front of her.

Stas had taken the day off to be with AJ. While her bouts of nausea weren't really a concern, physically, he knew they could be, emotionally. Carrying a tray out of the kitchen, it contained a pitcher of water, two glasses, a can of ginger pop and two sleeves of crackers. Hanging from it was a towel with some ice in it. The tray was placed on the table in front of the couch. "Hey." he smiled and poured her a glass of water.

She looked up at him with a smile. "Hey ....you know, you really didn't have to take the day off to look after me," she said for what was probably the fiftieth time that day, gratefully accepting the glass and sipping the water with a low sigh of relief. "It's just a bug, I'll get over it."

He settled onto the couch, slinging his arm around her shoulder. "Not for another couple of months, I'm afraid." He gave her a supportive look and kiss to her temple. "Morning sickness isn't anything to be too awfully worried over. Once the first trimester is over, so is waking up to the toilet." He gently moved hair from her face. "Crackers before you get out of bed will help."

It took a moment for that to sink in, and she leaned her head back to stare at him. "Excuse me" Morning sickness?" AJ's eyes were wide and suddenly terrified. "When did my stomach bug become morning sickness?"

"When we made love." he whispered and pulled her even more closely to him. A proud smile upon his face as his hand brushed away her sketchbook so it could rest on her flat stomach.

Shocked hazel eyes looked down at his hand resting over her - currently - flat stomach, and slowly dragged back up to meet his gaze as her own hand laid gently atop his. "I ....I'm pregnant?" she whispered, scarcely able to believe it.

He nodded slowly, with a smile on his face. "I think so. A test should prove it. Urine's good, blood is better." He pressed a kiss to her cheek and then laughed softly. "It's all we've dreamed of, Amelia."

AJ was totally floored by this news, staring into space for a very long time while she tried to process what she'd just been told. It made perfect sense, and well, he was a doctor, he should know about these things, but ....pregnant' So soon' "Oh my god!" she exclaimed suddenly, jumping as another thought occurred to her. "Your mother!"

He watched the wheels spin behind her eyes, he'd seen it dozens of times before and withheld any further reaction until hers registered. "Mother will be fine." He laughed softly and pulled her back down. "No sudden movements, it'll make you rush to the bathroom again. Sip your water."

"But ....but ....pregnant ....not married ....haven't even met her ..." Coherence was apparently not at AJ's beck and call at this precise moment in time. She didn't stop trying to create a full sentence, though, even as she did as she was told and sipped her water.

"Now, now, it's alright, calm down." he squeezed her shoulders tightly. "The marriage is a technicality at this point. We already know we're going to spend happily ever after together. And you'll meet my mom soon enough. It'll be alright. I promise."

"You-you're sure?" She twisted in his grip, grabbing his hands and squeezing them almost painfully tightly.

"Yes, my love." He smiled warmly, reassuringly. "And mother's going to love you. I promise that, too."

"Really?" That, it seemed, was exactly what AJ needed to hear. She relaxed slowly, curling up against his side, still working her way through the technicalities of what he'd told her. "Oh god ....we're having a baby," she whispered softly, rolling up the hem of his t-shirt to look down at her flat, tanned stomach as if she could almost see the embryo growing there.

"Really." When she relaxed against him, his arms curled around her and his hands rested on her stomach. "We are. A perfect little girl with beautiful blond hair and hazel eyes that light up like the sun."

"We don't know that," she murmured, a soft smile playing on her lips as her hands joined his to rest protectively over her belly. "Could just as easily be a flawless little boy with tousled brown hair and big blue eyes, just like his daddy." She looked up at him thoughtfully. "Are you sure you're okay with this" I mean, I know it's really soon, and you wanted to be married before we went this far, and ..."

He put his finger to her lips, then replaced them with his own. "We created a miracle, Amelia. Of course I'm ok with it. And when we see those perfect little toes and fingers, those eyes, nothing else will matter."

"Like hell I am," AJ objected at once. "I'm not having this baby anywhere but a hospital."

"What, don't trust me, Amelia?" He lifted a brow to her.

She gave him a flatly fond look. "You're not going to be my doctor, darlin'," she informed him gently. "You're gonna be a mess when it comes to it ....you'll need a doctor. And much as I love you, I'm going to insist on having a hospital birth."

"I will not need a doctor. And being at home is a perfectly good place to have our child. No, it's been decided and arranged. Marie is an excellent midwide." He nodded, as if to say that's the last of that.

She stared at him. She was just too tired and too stressed out to have him do this to her. "Excuse me" That's it, it's just decided without even talking to the woman who's going to be doing all the work?"

"One less thing for you to worry about." he nodded.

"What, so you've just decided how everything's going to go, just the way you like it?" AJ slid herself off his lap and into the seat beside him, close to furious at the assumptions made. "Do I get any say in this at all"

"You can pick the colors for the nursery."

"Oh, yes, of course, because that's all I'm good for," she snapped icily, scowling in a very hostile manner at her fiance. "Just a walking incubator for your perfect child."

"Now, Amelia..." He gently patted her shoulder.

"Don't you 'now, Amelia' me!" She shrugged his hand away from her angrily. "I am not going to sit back and let you decide how my life's going to be run. Because, you know, in case you hadn't noticed, I'm the one who's actually pregnant here, Stas. I think I have the right to at least have some say in what?s going to happen for my baby."

"Our baby." he corrected. "and a home birth is perfectly safe. We'll have everything that both of you need, there. So stop fussing."

She stared at him incredulously, and her voice lowered to a dangerously quiet tone. "What did you just say to me?"

"I said that it'd be perfectly safe. Everything you need. Maybe even a nice, soothing birthing tub." He smiled warmly towards her belly. "It'll be alright, Amelia. Our child will have every advantage. And so will you."

Oooh, storm clouds were brewing in AJ's eyes. "Number one ....you told me to stop fussing," she pointed out deathly quietly. "Might surprise you, Stas, but I've never done this before. I think I am entitled to fuss if I want to! And second ....you really need to stop talking to my stomach when you talk about our child."

"And you seem to forget that I've delivered a lot of babies. Trust me, Amelia. There's no need for all the fuss. And it's beneficial for the father to talk to the mother's belly. Lets the little guy know his father's voice."

"And what happened to talking to the mommy?"

"What have I been doing for the past hour or so?" He blinked, confused.

Tears were beginning to form in AJ's eyes, but she made a valiant effort not to cry, biting into her lip and looking away.

He saw the tears and his arm snaked around her shoulders. He sighed heavily, knowing that the tears were just a hormonal thing. "Amelia, it'll pass and everything will be right again."

"I hate it when you justify my feelings like that," she sniffed, still hanging onto being angry if she could. "I am not just some walking incubator, I need to have some input here. I'm scared, Stas, and I haven't seen my brother in weeks, and you keep talking to my tummy instead of to my face, and ....and ....my hormones are so out of wack I don't know if I'm overreacting anymore!"

"You are, but it's to be expected." He pat her shoulder, reassuringly.

Her finger shot up to waggle in front of his nose. "That's not helping," she sniffled.

"What's not helping?" He frowned and canted his head. "It's normal for pregnant women to be highly emotional." Nodding

"I am not just any pregnant woman to you, Stas, I am not one of your patients," she ground out in a wobbly voice. "I am your fiance, this is your child, and you damn well better start behaving like a person, instead of a doctor before I get really mad!"

"Now Amelia, sweetheart." he rubbed her back gently. "Don't get upset. It's not good for either of you. Calm down, ok?"

"Stop it!" She flinched away, rising to her feet with her fists clenched by her sides. "Stop being 'Doctor Ryan'! And I'll get upset if I bloody well want to! I have a reason to be!"

Oh boy. "Amelia.." his voice trailed off. "please. You're making a scene."

"God forbid I should make you look bad in public!" Okay, she probably didn't mean what she was about to say, but AJ was hormonal and upset; in Stas' own words, it was to be expected. "Wouldn't it just be awful if people actually found out that we're normal people, with normal problems?"

He gave her a stern look. "I'll remind you that you are engaged to a doctor. You are having a doctor's child. Don't keep throwing my profession in my face. Doctors are people too. We're just more educated." His eyes went wide, and his hand went over his mouth.

Her hand lashed out and caught him a tidy thump around the cheek. "Uneducated, am I?" was delivered in utterly calm tones - not a good sign in an irate AJ. Then she turned on her heel and marched towards the door. Unfortunately she didn't make it there; her face turned pake once again, she was forced to take a high-speed detour to the Ladies' Restroom for the second time that night.