[For Shadow]

[theirlawyer]

It was getting to be a routine that Ainsley could set her clock to. Every day she would have to run to the washroom and then think she was fine and then it would hit out of nowhere with this constant regularity, this present insistence of the little boy growing inside of her that apparently had his mother's appetite. "Okay! Okay," she said, glancing lower to glare at her ever-growing stomach. "Look, as much as you and I both want fudge-encrusted french fries right now, I'm trying to finish a book."

And she was going to try and set her inner circadian baby rhythms to right if she had to hear a symphony of stomach growls in the process.

Comments

[palmthemoon.livejournal.com]

"Let me tell both you and the tiny person inside you," Shadow remarked mildly as he sat bent over a mostly empty crossword puzzle. "That doesn't even sound like food, that is how gross it sounds. And I have had prison food."

He looked up at her and, even though by this time it was routine, his gaze was still concerned. "How are you feeling?"

[playingtheenemy.livejournal.com]

"It's the delectable and incredible layer of sweet and salty. I have to admit, that's one of the cravings that I've been experiencing that I genuinely may try once this little guy is out of me," she said, patting on her stomach lightly. "I'm okay. Tired, but okay. Well, really tired and slightly paranoid that means something, but I'm sure Rollie will tell me it's all okay."

[palmthemoon.livejournal.com]

"I think just being tired is okay." He held his hands out to her. "I was reading it in the book. But we can ask the doctor in the family too, if you want."

Shadow didn't ask Rollie as many questions as Ainsley, because of the sheer words to minute ratio difference, but he had to be damn tired of their queries all the same.

But it was just for a few months more. Rollie could hack it.

[playingtheenemy.livejournal.com]

"I love it when you call it 'in the family'," Ainsley said, absolutely glowing at that fact, leaning down to pat her stomach before she glanced up at Shadow. "Well, what do you think of your progeny? He's definitely growing by the second, the little easily-persuaded thing. I eat and I eat and he eats it all for me."

[palmthemoon.livejournal.com]

"I find him wholly wonderful." That was directed half at Ainsley and half at the little person slowly blooming inside her. His smile was distant but his eyes were warm as he touched her stomach lightly. "I'll love you more still once I meet you, but let's wait til the rest of you is as developed as your appetite."

[playingtheenemy.livejournal.com]

"God help him if he gets that from me," Ainsley mock-sighed and tipped Shadow's chin up to press a light kiss to his lips. "Thank you," she said sincerely. "I know I say it a lot, but I keep meaning it. Thank you for agreeing to let us be a family."

[palmthemoon.livejournal.com]

He leaned into the kiss with head tilted back to reach and one hand still resting just above her hip.

A strange little family, true, and Shadow still couldn't say exactly when it had properly started, but the prospect of adding a new member still knocked him off his face.

"I love you," Shadow murmured against her mouth then kissed her again. "And I got the easy end of this part, anyway. Thank you."

[playingtheenemy.livejournal.com]

Ainsley gave a laugh at that, coming out of her suddenly. "You know, considering what I thought pregnancy might be like, it's not half bad. I mean, I barely had any morning sickness and yes, so my appetite is largely increased, but that's just a by-product of...well, being me."

[palmthemoon.livejournal.com]

He let out a small pleased sound at that good news then looked at her with teasing eyes. "I guess you're well suited to it. Maybe after this one we'll have five more."

[playingtheenemy.livejournal.com]

"Maybe after this one, we'll give me a break for a little while," Ainsley suggested, pleasantly, but firmly. "But..." She couldn't help a soft smile, biting lightly on her lower lip. "Five more of your kids would be nice. Tall and brooding and handsome, all of them."

[palmthemoon.livejournal.com]

He smiled as he looked at her standing in front of him from his chair. Strong fingers trailed lightly over her stomach and the curves of her hips in lazy, comfortable touches. "I think you underestimate your own maternal and genetic influences."

[playingtheenemy.livejournal.com]

"Do I?" Ainsley wondered with a laugh, glancing down. Sure, she couldn't see her toes and yes, so she had some sensitivity, but at that very moment, Shadow was making the very best of the latter. "Does that mean my Republican genes get passed on?"

[palmthemoon.livejournal.com]

He smiled up at her, because he didn't know how much American politics would matter to a little boy growing up in this tropical place, but she was just so sincere. "Sure they will. And you can tell him bedtime stories about the great Republicans of yore- Abraham Lincoln...Cicero...Aristotle...Richard Nixon..."

[playingtheenemy.livejournal.com]

"Richard Nixon," Ainsley said ruefully, shaking her head. "You know, he opened the borders to China. We first got into that country because of that man. Though, nobody knows it for the scandal he brought on a nation. We're not all proud of every last Republican," she promised wryly.

[palmthemoon.livejournal.com]

"I'm just teasing you." He caught up one of her hands and pressed a kiss to the back of her fingers. "Have you thought about names? Or should we decide in the moment when he's out and about and squalling?"

[playingtheenemy.livejournal.com]

"I've thought some," Ainsley admitted as she bit on her lower lip while the top three came up. "For reasons pertaining to old relationships, I think Samuel and Joshua are out of the question, but I wouldn't exactly mind naming him after someone who had a great deal of faith in me."

[palmthemoon.livejournal.com]

His eyes were smiling as he looked up at her.

"Lay it on me."

[playingtheenemy.livejournal.com]

"Well, the President who hired me, me the first American Republican woman to serve in a White House filled with people opposed, his name is Jed, but it's short for Josiah. Josiah Bartlet and maybe our politics didn't always align, but he will have my undue respect until the day I die," she swore, earnestly passionate about this.