#assuming a season is a month and a year is four months and a pregnancy is two weeks in sdv.. i assume bed rest won’t be long

[dollysilena]

TRAINING WHEELS

PROLOGUE | SOMEWHERE ONLY WE KNOW

ao3 | series masterlist | next chapter

five years ago, you stupidly had a fling with inarizaki athlete, miya atsumu– now, present day– he had a son he knew nothing about. you made sure it was going to stay that way, but as fate would have it, he unexpectedly stumbled back into your lives, now as volleyball’s biggest star.

wc & notes: 2.1k — pls bear with the obligatory setup, i promise you’ll see atsumu soon 😪

FIVE YEARS AGO — INARIZAKI HIGH SCHOOL

Hiding in a bathroom stall with Inarizaki’s golden boy, Miya Atsumu, was not on your to-do list this morning. 

Crammed into a stall with minimum space, you easily heard Atsumu attempting to stifle a laugh beside you. You shot him a glare and didn’t hesitate to clamp your hand over his loud mouth. You felt his warm lips curl into a smirk underneath your palm, did he seriously think this was funny? You shot him another warning look, but it seemed like he didn’t realize what situation you both found yourselves in. Maybe you would have found this situation funny too if not for the fact you were about to get caught. It was just your luck that someone happened to wander in while you two were hastily making out in a stall a few feet away. You were just glad the stall was closed.

Atsumu was far too impulsive for your own liking; you felt his hand sliding down your waist as his eyes gave a mischievous glint. You couldn’t see the bottom half of his face from behind your hand, but you could feel from the creasing of his mouth that he was grinning. The sudden caress didn’t do anything for your nerves. You swore the damn heat in the bathroom was crawling up your spine by the second, either from the risk of being caught or Atsumu. You couldn’t tell. 

It felt like an eternity as you waited for the other occupant in the restroom to leave. You finally heard the faucet stop running, as the other person finished washing their hands. You waited with bated breath as you listened to the footsteps walk away, followed with the door shutting. Relief washed over you like a tidal wave, as you pulled your hand off Atsumu.

“I thought you said nobody used this bathroom,” you jabbed, poking him in the chest. He held up his hands in mock-defense.

“There shouldn’t be,” he shrugged nonchalantly. When Atsumu had told you earlier he knew a spot, he safely assumed you’d have some privacy but as luck had it, some first year stumbled into the restroom right before Atsumu could manage to get your shirt off.

“That’s probably a sign that what we’re doing is a bad idea,” you replied, rolling your eyes. Atsumu’s smirk flashed again as you felt his hands lower down your sides. His fingers skimmed the edges of your school skirt, as you raised an eyebrow at him.

“Nah, we’re just having fun, baby.”

You didn’t realize fun would have you be reading a positive pregnancy test a month later.

PRESENT DAY — OSAKA, JAPAN

The air of your quaint apartment is filled with the soft chatter of the television as you busied yourself in the kitchen. You only had about an hour before you had to be at your work event, and as per usual, you were already in a rush. Your son hadn’t eaten lunch yet, you still had to drop him off at the babysitters, and not to mention you were still wearing pajama pants. Twenty-four hours in a day was not enough time to be juggling a full-time job and a preschooler, not to mention yourself.

You were too occupied with shoveling rice into a bowl to be listening to whatever was holding Haru’s attention in the living room, but you could tell it wasn’t his usual cartoons he tended to watch after school (not that you were complaining, you could only tolerate the high-pitched voices for so long). You glanced over at the television to see that it was the sports channel for a change, and you felt the spoon in your hand still when you caught the voice of the announcer. 

“Miya Atsumu is the hotshot to look out for once again this season!” The announcer exclaimed. “News has it, the Japanese Olympic team has their eye on him.”

The sports announcers chatted excitedly over MSBY Jackals, a frontrunner volleyball team for the upcoming season, championed by Miya Atsumu, the team’s starting setter. You winced at the aforementioned name, but you distracted yourself by setting the table with plates and cutlery. But despite your best efforts to busy yourself, you found yourself peeking up at the television screen. Atsumu still looks as lively as he did five years ago. Maybe even more so, seeing as how the professional athlete lifestyle was treating him. But it’s not the time to reminisce on your high school fling when you had a hungry toddler to feed.

Though, you find that Miya Atsumu is in your thoughts often. How couldn’t you?

“Haru!” You called out. “Lunch is ready!”

A small head of dark hair peaked up from the couch in the living room as you saw the television switched to commercial break, which made you nearly sigh in relief. You didn’t want to hear another word about Miya Atsumu. The boy traveled over to the dining table, where you helped boost him into his seat. The chair emphasized that he was much too small for it, but one he still adamantly insisted on since he wanted to “sit at the table like a big kid.” 

“Mama, you still have to change,” the small boy noted before picking up his spoon. Instinctively, your eyes darted to the clock. Damnit, he was right! How was your four year old more observant than you?

“Thank you for reminding me, baby,” you sighed, ruffling his hair.

Haru quickly got to gobbling down his lunch as you hurried to your room to get changed. You didn’t have much time to mull over what to wear so you threw on the first clothing items you saw. You mentally checked off your to-do list for the day as you tugged on a blouse—get ready for the work party, fix lunch for Haru before you drop him off at the babysitters… Everything seemed to be in order, and you actually seemed to be doing good on time. You swiped up your bag and keys before returning back to the kitchen to find Haru with nearly a clean plate. Perfect, now things were actually going smoothly. Maybe you even had time to grab a coffee on your way there, lord knows you need it considering you were running on practically zero hours of sleep.

“Can we go to a game one day, mama?” Your son questioned suddenly, as he shoveled a final spoonful of rice into his chubby cheeks. It broke your train of thought and you nearly dropped your keys into the floor and instead of inside your bag.

“A game?” You asked hesitantly, you hoped he didn’t say what you dreaded to hear. 

“A volleyball game!” He exclaimed as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Your mouth dried up and you felt your heart hesitate a beat.

Damn that sports channel! Though, you couldn’t blame the TV for your son’s sudden interest in sports, Haru seemingly always had an affinity for sports. It was always his first choice for playtime, and whatever toy he picked out from the store always had to be some sort of ball. You had just hoped it wouldn’t be a certain sport in particular, but much to your dismay, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. 

You wanted to brush off your son’s recent interest in volleyball as a child’s everchanging hyperfixation and just a phase he was going through, but much to your dismay, Haru never seemed intrigued by anything else. You introduced him to soccer, drawing, and many other hobbies, but the young boy was adamant on the sport and nothing else. And it was obvious who he got it from.

“It’ll be so cool!” He gushed. “I wanna get a jersey, and I saw all sorts of commercials about it!--”

You frowned as he continued on about his grand plan from the seats he wanted to sit at to the snacks he wanted to get. Your little boy seemed so excited, and the last thing you wanted to do was say no, but you don’t think you could ever fulfill his wish. Being in the same space as him… No, you could never do it, you couldn’t.

Haru looked up at you with hopeful eyes, waiting for a response. You paused, before sighing.

“Someday, baby.”

You knew you were lying for his sake. (But maybe it was actually just your own.)

Haru took it as a yes and continued to ramble on. He talked about his favorite players, the different teams, and anything else he could recall about the sport. You began packing up Haru’s bag for the babysitters, before you heard your phone ring from the counter. You grabbed it, silently thanking the fact you didn’t need to hear anymore about volleyball.

“Y/N!” Your coworker, Naomi, gasped from the other line. “Thank god, you answered!”

Not only was Naomi your coworker, but also a close friend. You both had met by bonding at the office over a broken coffee machine, and subsequently gone out for a coffee run together. She had easily become your friend once she won you over with her friendly, albeit eccentric, personality. You had gotten close enough that you had opened up to her about your past struggles like having Haru by accident at such a young age, but she never once judged you. Though, you could probably do without her MILF jokes. She easily became one of Haru’s favorite people once the two had met, and Haru affectionately called her Aunt Mimi, and she wore the title with pride. You even trusted her enough to be one of Haru’s emergency contacts at his preschool.

“Naomi,” you frowned at her sudden urgentness. “What’s wrong?”

“I totally lost track of time,” she groaned on the other line, and you could hear her rustling around. Don’t tell me she’s still not dressed, you thought. You may not be the best with time management, but you didn’t hold a candle to your dear friend. You raised an eyebrow before she continued.

“I’m on the other side of town and I’m not ready for the company party at all, and I don’t have time to get the catering! Do you think you can get it?”

“Why the hell are you on the other side of town half dressed– Don’t tell me it’s that finance guy you hooked up with last month again!”

“Now’s not the time to criticize my poor decisions!” Naomi exclaimed, and you could hear her zipping up her dress. “Can you please get the catering? I’ll get your coffee for a week– no, a month!”

Not a bad deal, you thought. You hummed in response as you checked the clock on the wall. It wouldn’t delay you by much, and definitely owed Naomi one after she babysat Haru last week when you had to work overtime. Not to mention, a work party with your irksome boss would probably be even more insufferable without food.

“Alright, alright,” you agreed, finally giving in. “Where’s the food from?”

You heard Naomi sigh in relief. “It’s from a restaurant called Onigiri Miya, do you know it?”

You sputtered. “M-Miya?”

While you were open with your life with Naomi, she still had no idea about Haru’s biological father. In your defense, it was kind of hard explaining you had a secret baby with one of the most popular professional athletes in Japan. Thankfully she had never pried about the topic.

“Is something wrong?” Naomi asked. “You sound like you choked.” 

You chewed on your lip, what were even the chances the restaurant had any correlation to who you thought it did? Despite you both living in Osaka, you hadn’t run into him once in your five years of residency. It was a large city afterall. And not to mention how common the last name Miya was, which you learned the hard way. Your old apartment had been coincidentally across from a cafe named Miya’s Coffee, and you had avoided it like the plague for months until you realized it was in fact owned by a sixty year old man with no children. However you still proceeded to steer clear of it after you realized he was flaunting his bachelor status a little too openly to you. Chances are, it coincidentally just shared the last name with him. 

It’s just a restaurant, it’s no big deal.

“Uh, nothing,” you lied. “I’ll pick it up for you before I drop Haru off at the babysitters.”

“Great!” Naomi chirped, and you could practically hear her grin. “I’ll see you at the party.”

reblogs, comments, & asks are appreciated!

[lovelytsunoda]

christmas on the road // george russell

summary: all george wants for christmas is to get home to his wife and his son. unbeknownst to him, his wife has a little surprise in the from of two pink lines that's about to make his christmas that much sweeter.

pairing: george russell x wife! reader

warnings: pregnancy. other than that, just fluffy dad! george. his son's name is hudson charles russell :)

king's lynn, norfolk. december 24th, 11:55 PM.

the soft lights of the christmas tree were the only lights on in the room as y/n russell sat curled up on the large couch, watching the clock tick as she ran her fingers through her son's fine hair.

hudson russell had insisted on waiting up for his father, but traffic out of brackley had been terrible, and though george had left four hours earlier, he still wasn't back yet. it was a hell of a commute to make, but george was lucky enough that most of his work could be done remotely when required. hudson had fallen asleep two hours ago, his little head resting in his mother's lap.

he was looking more and more like george every single day.

she still remembered the day that she found out she was pregnant. she had been so scared to tell george. they were so young, and he was still has something to prove. his second season at williams, his first with a new teammate. the weight of the world was on his shoulders, and she hadn't wanted to add to that.

it had been a tough race. george had ignored everybody when he got back to the garage, including his girlfriend. she'd tried so hard to stop herself from crying as she watched his driver's room door click shut.

fuck the pregnancy hormones.

"georgie?" she'd asked softly, gently knocking on the door. "can i come in, love? i need to talk to you, and i want to know that you're okay."

the door creaked open slowly. george was sitting on the massage table with his head in his hands. "i can't do this any more, y/n. i can't hang around at the back of the pack, driving in circles all on my own. i'd rather admit defeat."

it hurt her to see him like this. she took a seat next to him, looking at the windowless white room that he'd somehow managed to make feel like his own for the weekend. "george, you can't give up just yet. it's been a rough few years, i know. but we need you."

"we?" there was confusion in his voice as he turned to look at her. "honey, what do you mean 'we'?"

"george, i'm pregnant."

time seemed to stop as george just stared at her. "you're what? but how? we were so safe."

"sometimes, things just happen, george. i don't know. but i do know that this baby wouldn't want their father to give up right now."

george turned around, taking her hands in his. she was starting to cry, and he hated that he knew he was about to make things worse, even though he didn't want to. "baby, i love you so much, and i need you to know that, because i need some time to myself to process this, and i don't want to say anything i might regret. but i need you to know, you and this baby, to know that you're so loved."

nine months later, hudson charles russell was born, and george had come straight from the racetrack to the hospital, leaving nyck de vries to run the qualifying session, sitting in an uncomfortable hospital chair, race suit around his waist as he held his son to his bare chest, trying his best not to cry.

they'd gotten married a year later. george had walked down the aisle holding hudson's hand, and charles had hudson on his shoulders for the entire ceremony.

and now, a small box covered in sparkling wrapping paper was waiting under the christmas tree. something that would change her life again, in the best way.

the door opened behind her, and she found herself waiting for george's traditional 'honey, i'm home' shout before she remembered that her husband probably assumed that both she and hudson were asleep.

"in the living room, hon!" she tried to shout it as quietly as she could, not wanting to wake the sleeping toddler in her lap.

george russell couldn't stop the smile on his face when he saw his wife on the couch, wrapped in her fluffy bathrobe, hair thrown up in a messy bun. and he smiled even wider when he saw his little boy curled up at his mother's side.

"hi, honey." george smiled, leaning in to kiss y/n. "why is hudson still up?"

"he just wanted to see his dad." she smiled, brushing a small strand of dirty blonde hair out of hudson's face. "do you want to tuck him in?"

y/n moved to stand up, hudson in her arms, when george stopped her. "i've got him, darling." george was quiet and careful, doing his best not to wake the small child in his arms. hudson stirred, wrapping his small, pudgy fingers around george's thumb.

it was still little moments like that that made the mercedes driver's heart swell. it was a feeling even better than his win in brazil the year prior. (lando had teased him relentlessly for mentioning hudson and y/n in his podium speech.)

y/n followed her husband upstairs, her heart filled with love as she watched george kiss his son on the top of the head. before she went up the first step, she ran back to the christmas tree.

the clock read 12:06.

it was officially christmas morning.

the grabbed the small box, slipping it into the pocket of her bathrobe before she turned back towards the staircase, tiptoeing over to hudson's room.

the little boy was lying in the middle of his racecar bed, a custom-built replica of his father's old williams f1 car. the soft blue sheets were pulled up over the two-year old's small body. george was laying next to hudson, comfortingly resting his hand on the toddler's back.

y/n watched from the doorway, wondering how she had gotten so lucky to have found george william russell. and how the two of them were about to get even luckier.

at the sight of his wife standing in the doorway, george sat up, pressing a quick kiss to his son's temple before he slowly got up from the bed, crossing the room and closing the door behind him.

"merry christmas, love." he smiled, pulling his wife in for a deep kiss on the lips.

"since it's already christmas morning, i have something for you." y/n beamed, passing her husband the box. "go on, open it, you muppet."

george laughed, still standing in front of hudson's bedroom door as he pulled at the wrapping paper. it was an old box from swarovski, and the driver gave it a confused glance before y/n whispered to open it.

he carefully opened the end of the box, his face scrunched up in even more confusion before the white plastic stick fell out of the open end, into his palm. he turned it over, his eyes opening widely as he saw the two pink lines.

"you're pregnant? we're having another one?" his shock gavev way to excitement, his grin splitting his features as he beamed at his wife. "i'm going to be a father again!"

"that's a much better reaction than last time." y/n laughed, wrapping her arms around the love of her life before she kissed him. "we're having another baby, darling."

"i love you so much." george whispered, on the verge of tears as he kissed the top of his wife's head. "merry christmas, y/n."

"i love you more, george william russell. merry christmas."

________

Tags: @magnummagnussen @daydreamingleclerc @flannel-cures @libraryofloveletters @sidcrosbyspuck @diorleclerc

[darilarostarg]

Why do you think Aemond is actually only 15? It's pretty established in the show he is 16 or older

I agree that in the show as we currently stand he is meant to be at least sixteen, if not older (I believe Ewan has stated Aemond is 18?). I'm fine with going with whatever they want, as a lot of the ages in the show do not make sense, for various reasons (aging up/down of characters, the changing/not changing of actors etc).

But if you actually sit down and look at it, with the baseline we have been given, you have to be very generous with the timeline to make him even be sixteen - I tried to make him sixteen logically, but couldn't without warping the timeline or making a tonne of assumptions and liberties.

Here is how I broke it down and got fifteen:

Episode 1

Takes place anytime between 109 or 112 AC. Depending on who you ask it can change, I went with 112 AC for my timeline!

Episode 2

We know at least six months have past between episode one and two. Daemon has occupied Dragonstone for six months. Whether Daemon went straight there after exile we are not told, so jump could technically be longer. But for simplicity, I think we all agree there is a six month gap between one and two.

Making episode two take place in late 112 AC or early 113 AC. We will stick with mid 112 AC to make things a little easier.

Episode 3

It's been three years, making it mid 115 AC. Alicent is heavily pregnant with Helaena- we can assume Heleana was born within a month or so of this episode due to the size of Alicent's bump.

Episode 4

One year later, making it mid 116 AC - Alicent is not pregnant, or possibly is in the very early stages of her pregnancy with Aemond. I believe episode five confirms she is not in early stages.

Episode 5

Pretty much continues on from episode four to some degree. Again you have to assume that the year does not change over still making it mid 116 AC, even though some of these events in this episode and in between the two episodes would span over months, and we would now be into the next year or late 116 AC by the end of the episode, in my opinion!

Towards the end of the episode we see baby Helena, who is at least a year and a half (just based on how old I think the baby looks lol) confirming to me that some months (at least six??) have also passed, on top of the year stated in the previous episode.

So again by the end of the episode, if we are being generous it's late 116 AC and Alicent is not yet pregnant, or is now in the very early stages of her pregnancy with Aemond - meaning at the earliest Aemond can be born in this timeline is mid to late 117 AC.

Episode 6

Set ten years after episode five, which we have stated was late 116 AC, now making it late 126 AC.

We established the earliest Aemond could be born is sometime mid to late 117 AC, making him nine during episode six.

Episode 7

Episode seven picks up in the same year as six, mostly likely weeks after the death of Laena - also making Aemond nine in this episode. (Update: Confirmed in season 2 that it was only a couple of weeks)

Episode 8 , 9 and 10

It's been six years since Driftmark, so it is now late 132 AC - making Aemond fifteen.

The only way you can make Aemond sixteen, is by placing a larger time gap between episode six and seven - but if you do it for one, you would have to do if for others where it makes more even more sense, like episode four and five, which would most likely make him even younger than fifteen.

[crockettmarcel]

okay ❤️ yay ❤️ thank u @janfraiser

if anyone has not seen the post I am elaborating on, you can find it here. it's important to note that this is literally just me indulging my silly little headcanons. but also I'm right <3

this is going to be long so I'm putting it under a cut :)

anyway. in 5x02, Crockett said he's "fourth year". he did not specify what he was in his fourth year of (to this day I'm pissed that the writers did that to us), but it's safe to assume that the four years have been spent in one place (there is nothing to suggest he moved to Chicago at any point before during the four years). if 2019/season 5 is his fourth year in Chicago, this means he moved there in 2016/end of season one or beginning of season two (2019 is fourth, 2018 third, 2017 second, and 2016 first)

Sarah left at the beginning of season four (2018) which means there was at least an eighteen month/two year overlap when they were both at med

we only saw her do one night shift, but that doesn't mean it's the only one she did the entire time. it's entirely possible that she crossed paths with Crockett on more than one occasion. in fact, I'd be surprised if they didn't know each other

she broke up with Joey in April 2017 (2x19, Ctrl Alt), which gives us over a year when she was single and both she and Crockett were at med

there is literally nothing in canon that goes against the idea of Sarah and Crockett sleeping together. we know that after Joey, she didn't want to date Noah, and that could have been for any number of reasons, including but not limited to her having some sort of relationship with Crockett. or maybe it started later, in season three, and it really was just a quick little fling, or a one time thing

as for the pregnancy aspect, as I have mentioned in previous posts [x] [x], I think that the most likely way for Sarah to become a mom is a cryptic pregnancy. which, again, there is nothing in canon to prove that she didn't experience

obviously she is not pregnant here (she would be approx five months for it to line up with lolly's birth) (I literally only included these because I love her and I miss seeing her. also sorry that the first pic is such poor quality that's my bad)

however! cryptic pregnancies do not leave you visibly pregnant. and also you yourself do not know you're pregnant. all this to say, once again there is nothing in canon that says she didn't sleep with Crockett and get pregnant, then moved to Texas and gave birth to Lolly

she has only been mentioned once since she left (by Elsa in 4x10), and that's it. Crockett joined the show in season 5, by which point Sarah was long forgotten. he hasn't mentioned her, but that doesn't mean he never knew her, especially if things were very lowkey/almost secretive between them. it's their business what happened, not everyone else's. no point bringing her up, or people will just ask questions

and as for Sarah not telling him about Lolly? she's living almost a thousand miles away, and they both have good careers (I'm hoping she does now lol). he would drop everything in Chicago to go and be Lolly's dad in Texas, and I don't doubt that Sarah would know that. would she want him to give up his life? and what if things didn't work out between them? their relationship in Chicago could have only lasted 16 months, but even though she appeared to be the one who ended things with Joey, she was still obviously upset by the breakup afterwards. I can't see her immediately moving onto Crockett without a second thought

the other option, which is a little more unrealistic, is that Sarah Did tell Crockett about Lolly, but insisted he not give up his life in Chicago. again, if things were very lowkey between him and Sarah, he's not going to suddenly announce that he has a daughter with her. he's the type of guy that would be willing to keep the secret for her

anyway. tldr. there is literally nothing in canon to suggest that Sarah and Crockett didn't have a fling in season three that ended with her having a cryptic pregnancy and raising Lolly alone in Texas. I'm autistic about this show (and especially about Sarah and Crockett) so if there was anything, I would know about it

thanks for reading if u are as insane as me and got this far <3

[mistergreatbones]

Okay so in Aftermath Tech mentions that they haven’t been back to Kamino in 180 days, making it roughly 6 months that they’ve been away. Once they’re back on Kamino, Echo makes snide comments about their barracks, implying that he’s been there before, meaning that it has to have been at least six months since he joined the batch.

Before Echo is rescued, Anakin takes a call with Padmé, where she appears to be about four months pregnant. Of course, two fetuses is a lot to have inside a person, so it’s possible she might have started showing earlier than in an average pregnancy.

Ignoring the fact that twins are typically born prematurely, let’s assume that Padmé had a typical pregnancy of nine months, with the boys arrive on Kamino in time for Empire day, and the twins being born two days later.

Meaning that Padmé is nine months pregnant throughout the entirety of Revenge of the Sith. The first scene Padmé in has her revealing her pregnancy to Anakin, but by the time Empire day rolls around Bail, Obi, and Yoda know, and obviously everyone knows during her funeral. Which makes sense that she was waiting to tell Anakin first, but also implies that she hasn’t been able to speak with Anakin since she learned she was pregnant. (Also that she waited until she was about to give birth to tell her friends that “oh btdubs I’m super preggers.”)

According to Wookieepedia: Maul and Savage creating the Shadow Allegiance, Satine’s death, Ahsoka’s expulsion from the Jedi Order, Fives’ discovery of the chips, Padmé and Anakin’s misadventure with Clovis, Anakin helping Yoda escape from the Temple, and the whole Chiss Ascendency thing all happened within the year 19 bby. All of which require Anakin to either interact with Padmé or be on Coruscant where it’s highly likely that Anakin would visit Padmé.

For RotS to make sense, Anakin cannot have interacted with Padmé in person before the battle of Coruscant. Meaning all of the above events would have to be before she became pregnant or learned she was pregnant.

During her call with Anakin, she puts her hand on her stomach, implying that she does know she pregnant (obviously that’s not definite what the means but clearly that was the animators’ intent). She also mentions having not seen Anakin in months, which would fit in with idea of her carrying the twins to full term but ALSO means that her and Anakin cannot have spoken in person during her entire pregnancy. Meaning all of the above events would have had to take place before she became pregnant.

Wookieepedia also says that everything that happened in the bad batch between Aftermath and Echo leaving the batch also took place in 19 bby. The creators of bad batch have stated that season two take places months after the end of season one.

SO if we’re to give them the benefit of doubt, let’s say only two months passed between seasons one and two. If we add that to the nine months of Padmé’s pregnancy, that leaves… one month for seasons 5-7 of tcw AND seasons 1-the first half of 2 of tbh

Makes total sense thank you so much for the consistent timeline Star Wars 🙄

[maatriyoga]

Benefits Of Yoga For Fertility: The Best Pose

Maybe you are mulling over embracing yoga for richness, or perhaps considering how best to adjust your ongoing yoga routine to build your possibilities of imagining? Sounds perfect! Anyway before you get out there and purchase a yoga mat or a bundle of 20 yoga for richness classes then there are various things that you ought to be aware.

Before you even start, consistently recollect that a great many people these days go through years and at times even many years - making all potential moves to sidestep pregnancy in fact. It can then be a major shock when they quit utilizing conception prevention and don't rapidly get pregnant. In any case, in actuality, this is to be expected. It's like somebody who has ignored their body for quite a long time just to begin practicing and afterward whine that they are not thin straight away!

The typical youthful couple with no fruitfulness issues will regularly take somewhere in the range of four or five months to imagine. For a more seasoned couple, it as a rule takes more time. In spite of the fact that it can appear to be normal that couples prevail on their most memorable time, this is really more extraordinary than you could naturally suspect. It is provided that you have not gotten pregnant following an extended time of endeavoring, that your primary care physician will begin to consider that you may for sure have ripeness issues. Barely a specialist will try and contemplate fruitlessness before a time of attempting has elapsed.

That being expressed, yoga for fruitfulness is as yet something positive that you ought to do in the mediating months, assuming that it is too soon to see your primary care physician or on the other hand in the event that the person in question isn't treating your interests in a serious way yet.

Yoga is generally viewed as a method for unwinding, to some extent in the West. In Asia it is much of the time apparent as an otherworldly practice, as well as having different medical advantages. In any case, in North America, Europe and other Western nations it is seen essentially as an actual work on, expanding adaptability and loosening up the muscles by extending them. Simultaneously, it can help with profound pressure and stress. This large number of reasons join to give critical advantages when it includes expanding ripeness.

This pressure decrease perspective leads bunches of individuals to suggest yoga for ripeness. Stress can frequently set off fruitlessness, particularly in what is known as "unexplained barrenness". This implies barrenness that has no observable reason. The two accomplices appear to be sound and there is no recognizable issue with their regenerative frameworks. Ovulation is going on time and the man's sperm count is ordinary. However, horrendously, there is still no youngster on the way.

The vast majority of the times, Yoga Classes for Pregnant Women. Oddly enough, society actually feels that when barrenness is examined, without a doubt the lady has the issues. That to the side, it very well may be useful for men as well, yet remember that it won't lessen anyone's feelings of anxiety assuming one accomplice feels constrained into a yoga practice that doesn't intrigue them. Assuming your accomplice delays, there are other unwinding techniques that could turn out better for them, for example, sports, contemplation or practicing at the rec center. The key is to simply unwind... in the manner conceivable!

Whenever you have gotten the talent of an overall novice yoga course to increment adaptability and lessen pressure, you can participate with long time yoga experts to address specific represents that might meaningfully affect richness. Yoga for fruitfulness presents are those that can assist with unwinding and open the stomach region and pelvis, and animate blood stream to the conceptive organs.

For more details: visit here

Pregnancy yoga experts

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fertility yoga online

[skittlewaffle]

Disclaimer: I’m not actually mad I just think it’s funny

SO FIRST, I WAKE UP IN MY FARMHOUSE AND SEBASTIAN IS IN THE KITCHEN, I TALK TO HIM AND HE SAYS THIS

LIKE OKAY.. HUN. I KNOW NONE OF MY SPOUSES EVER MAKE ME ANYTHING EXCEPT WHEN LEAH MADE ME COFFEE THAT ONE TIME;; OTHER THAN THAT IT WAS ALWAYS ME MAKING YOU SOMETHING

WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT I DID AFTER THAT. I MADE HIM SASHIMI, HIS FAVORITE. WITH THE SOLE INTENTION OF MAKING HIM FEEL GUILTY FOR BEING SO BITTER TOWARDS ME AND VAGUE ABOUT WHAT CAUSED ALL THIS EVEN THO I CAN CARE LESS IF HE MAKES ME BREAKFAST OR NOT

CLEARLY IT WORKED AND HE WAS LIKE “fuck” AND THEN WE GOT A WHOLESOME FROG CUTSCENE

AND THEN GUESS WHAT HAPPENS THAT NIGHT

HE ASKS ME IF HE WANTS TO HAVE A BABY

(for context I have a mod that allows poly relationships and I’m currently married to Alex, Sebastian, and Leah; and I’m dating Abigail)

THIS MOFUGGER AND I CONCEIVE A CHILD AND JUST A COUPLE DAYS BEFORE I GIVE BIRTH TO ALEX’S CHILD!!! AND GUESS WHAT ALEX SAYS THE MORNING OUR SON KYLE IS BORN

I UNDERSTAND THE FEELING BUT WHY YOU FUCKEN LOOKIN AT ME LIKE THAT ?????????? REALISTICALLY I SHOULD BE ON STRICT BEDREST AND YOU HAVE TO TAKE CARE OF SHIT BUT NOOOOO I BUST MY ASS DOING THE SAME THING I DID WHEN SEB WAS ANGRY: MAKE YOU A WHOLE ASS COMPLETE BREAKFAST AND THEN VENTURE TO THE SKULL CAVERN !! HOPE YOU’RE PROUD OF YOURSELF YOU INSUFFERABLE SONS OF BITCHES, YOU BETTER BE GRATEFUL FOR WHATCHA GOT. FUCK YOU AND THE UGLY ASS CARPET YOU LAID DOWN IN MY BEDROOM THAT I PAID FOR

[forestlingincorporated]

S’chn T’gai Family Notes

• Sybok was born in 2224, according to the Star Trek Chronology (2nd ed.) and the Star Trek Encyclopedia (4th ed.; vol. 2). 

• Michael Burnham was born in 2226, on Earth. 

• Spock was born January 6, 2230, on Vulcan, in ShiKahr. 

This makes Sybok 2 years older than Michael, and 6 years older than Spock. It also makes Michael 4 years older than Spock. 

(Leonard McCoy was born in 2227, making him 3 years older than Spock, and 1 year younger than Michael. James Kirk wasn’t born until March 22, 2233, making him 3 years younger than Spock, and 6 years younger than McCoy.) 

From the Inside Star Trek phonograph album, Spock was not the first vulcan/human hybrid, but he was the first to survive. Earth-Vulcan conception will abort during the end of the first month. The fetus is unable to continue life once it begins to develop its primary organs. Spock was removed from Amanda's body as his organs began development and placed in a test tube for two Earth months, as physicians performed delicate chemical engineering and introduced over a hundred subtle changes. After that, Spock was returned to Amanda's womb. At the ninth Earth month, Spock was again removed from Amanda, prematurely by Vulcan standards, and spent the following four months of a Vulcan term pregnancy in a specially designed incubator. This was the first time this particular procedure was attempted, and was entirely experimental. Baby Spock proved surprisingly resilient. 

(Enterprise would later introduce the binary clone, Elizabeth, who would be the first vulcan/human hybrid, who passed away not long after her birth. Elizabeth was born 2155, 75 years before Spock was born.)

Michael’s biological parents, Mike and Gabrielle, were attacked by Klingons in 2236, after which point Michael was put in the care of her foster parents, Sarek and Amanda. Since Michael is shown spending her 10th birthday on Vulcan, this makes Michael 9 (going on 10 that year) upon being fostered. Spock would be 6, and Sybok would be 12. Sybok was raised by his mother until her death. Since we never see Sybok in the Discovery flashbacks, we can only assume Sybok was still living with his mother. We see Michael’s childhood up to age 11, so it can be assumed Sybok did not join the family until he was at least 13; while we still don’t see Sybok when Michael is 19, it can be assumed Sybok was either away for his own studies or already banished; banishment would explain why no one talks about him. 

 Sybok’s mother was originally described as a “Vulcan princess.” In the novelization of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, she was given the name T’Rea, and referenced as a Vulcan priestess instead. In the book Sarek, she was referenced again by the name T’Rea, and given the title “reldai,” translated as an archaic vulcan term meaning both  "female religious leader" and "female ruler or princess," in order to conflate both translations. “Priestess” appears to be the more correct term, as Vulcan does not appear to have a monarchy and she is described as being Sarek’s original childhood bondmate who annulled their bond in order to become a kolinahr adept, and later High Master. Sarek’s first “wife” is considered to (presumably) be Amanda, as she is said to be from Earth, so it would appear Sarek and T’Rea were never fully married, as Spock and T’Pring were never fully married. 

The novelization also explains that Sybok was banished from Vulcan for violating the mind of a Watcher in the Hall of Ancient Thought in order to locate the receptacle of his mother's katra and meld with it to discover the location of Sha Ka Ree, which T’Rea had raised Sybok to believe in. 

• Soon after arriving on Vulcan, Logic Extremists (a small Vulcan extremists group claiming to represent "true Vulcan ideology" and valuing logic above all, who regarded humans to be inferior and more heavily opposed human involvement in Vulcan culture than the average vulcan, who saw the extremists as fanatics) bombed the Vulcan Learning Center. This resulted in Michael Burnham dying for three minutes, before being revived by Sarek melding with her and leaving part of his katra inside her mind. Michael believed she, a human child living and learning among vulcans, was the target, however, Spock believes he was most likely the intended target, as the “half human abomination” in the household. It is likely that Spock is correct, as it seems Amanda, also fully human, was not targeted. 

( If the vulcan extremists’ intended target was Spock, then a comparison (or even loose connection) might be made to Terra Prime, the extremist xenophobic terrorist organization dedicated to the expulsion of all non-Humans from Earth and the Sol system, who used vulcan/human hybridization as a fear tactic in Enterprise. )

Fearing for her adoptive family’s lives, Michael tries to run away from home, when she is initially stopped by a very young Spock, who pleads with her to stay. In her fear for their safety, Michael pushes Spock away by calling him a freak and a “weird little half breed,” and telling him he’s not capable of love. This moment causes a rift between the previously close siblings, leading Spock to choose to close himself off and fully commit to logic at a very young age. Michael tries to repair their relationship, but Spock is unreceptive until adulthood. Michael and Spock can only be about 10 and 6 respectively when this fight occurs. 

• Spock is dyslexic, which is called L'tak Terai on vulcan. 

• Spock is espoused to T’Pring at the age of 7. This is the same year he partakes in his kahs-wan. 

The kahs-wan, or Vulcan maturity test, was a traditional survival test of adulthood for adolescent Vulcans. The basis for the kahs-wan was to survive ten days without food, water, or weapons in Vulcan's Forge.

In the animated series, Spock decided to take the kahs-wan early. His pet sehlat, I-Chaya, insisted on accompanying him, despite young Spock's orders. I-Chaya and Spock from the future end up having to save Spock from a le-matya attack, but I-Chaya had to be euthanized afterwards due to receiving a fatal wound from the le-matya’s poisonous claws. 

• Solkar was the first Vulcan ambassador to Earth, and father of Skon. Skon is implied to be an ambassador (and would have been confirmed one if the fifth season of Enterprise was ever produced), translated the Teachings of Surak into English, and father of Sarek. Sarek is also an ambassador and is, of course, the father of Spock and Sybok. 

• In the animated series, Spock goes back in time to save his younger self, and claims to be Sarek’s cousin by the name of Selek, son of T’Pel and Sasak. It is unclear if these are real relatives of Sarek’s, or if they’re fake and the S’chn T’gai family is so big Sarek can’t keep track of them all. 

• Spock claims Arthur Conan Doyle is an ancestor of his. It can only be assumed this is on Amanda’s side. 

[wangsejabin]

Yingchong 41

Pan'er looked dejected.

Of course, she was not so exaggerated, but she could not help but hang her head in dismay. She wanted to talk to the Prince, but she didn't know what to say, but when she thought of the Prince leaving her alone in the East Palace, facing the Prince Consort, Hu Liangdi and Xu Liangyuan, she felt sure that she would have to shed a layer of skin by the time he returned.After all, she was only a small fengyi. "Your Highness, then you must consider it carefully." At the end of the day, she could only say this in an attempt to salvage the situation. The prince nodded and said, "Take your time, I have to leave beforehand." Pan'er put down her chopsticks and escorted the Prince out. This time it was to the entrance of the courtyard, which surprised the prince a little, for only before did Pan'er have this kind of awareness. "Your Highness, you must think it over." This time the Prince did not nod, but hmmed. After a pause, he suddenly raised his hand and waved Fulu's group back to ten paces away before saying, "I seemed to be drunk last night and have little recollection of what happened afterwards, I didn't lose my manners, did I?" Pan'er was stunned and shook her head, "No, His Highness is fine, he came back and bathed and rested." "That's good." The prince gave her a deep look, saw a strand of hair falling down the side of her face, raised his hand to help her smooth it out, and then turned to leave. Pan'er was left a little stunned, wondering if he had a memory when he was drunk. If he knew what he had said and done last night, how could he still be standing here so calmly? Then why did he ask such a question? Pan'er thought about it for half a day, her head hurting from the thought, so she stopped thinking about it and tried to think about the matter at hand, how she should live her life next if the Prince really did not take her with him. --The Prince has been very busy for days. For days on end, the Prince was very busy and did not come to Pan'er's place. Pan'er guessed that he must be busy with preparing for his southern tour. It was always a very big event for the court, not to say that it took a year or two to prepare, but it was necessary to start preparing half a year in advance. Now that the crown prince has been rushed into the southern tour, and in such a hurry, the matters involved are as complicated as one can imagine.

As time passed and the Prince never gave her a reply, she gradually gave up the idea of going with him and began to make serious plans for how she would live her life behind closed doors when he left.

In response, Pan'er had given the servants around her a wake-up call, telling them to keep a low profile from now on and to stop thinking about going on the tour with the Prince before it was too late.The master has said so, it seems that there is really no hope, after the decadence Xiao Dezi and the others are in high spirits, really began to think about the next regulations. In the meantime, word has finally gotten out that Emperor Cheng'an has set a date for the Crown Prince's southern tour on his behalf, on the second day of the ninth month, which the Qintian Supervisor has calculated to be a rare and auspicious day.

The prince had also come to Pan'er, but he had not mentioned that he would take Pan'er on a southern tour, so Pan'er was not in a position to ask again, so he assumed that it was a moot point.These days, Fu Lu is very busy, the Prince's trip is very unusual.

Now that the Crown Princess is nursing her pregnancy, he is the only one who can take care of the Prince's travel arrangements. The crown prince travels in September, less than three months before the Spring Festival, the New Year's Eve is definitely not back, and when the spring starts the delayed trip is afraid to go further ahead, which means that when the crown prince returns from Jiangnan almost already summer.During the period to span the spring, summer, autumn and winter whole four seasons, which in the middle of just clothing to take a lot, not to mention the Prince usually some personal belongings. When he was finally done with this, he was able to take a break and care about other things. This day, when he came out of Pan'er's courtyard, he thought of Su Fengyi's hesitant look and naturally thought of what she had said earlier for His Highness to consider. "Master, are you really going out without Su Fengyi this time?" The crown prince glanced at him.

He was busy saying, "this servant didn't mean anything else, this servant was just …… curious.If you intend to take her with you, you should have made preparations by now, but if not, why didn't Your Highness give Su Fengyi permission? The actual fact is that you can find a lot of people who have been in the business for a long time. "Nosy!" The prince laughed and kicked him. Fu Lu fell out of the way as he followed that kick. It was deliberate, of course, seeing that the Prince was happy and deliberately teasing. When he was on his feet, he came up to him again and said, "I didn't mean to pry into my master's mind, but I just thought that if I planned to bring Su Fengyi along, it was time to make preparations."

"Then why don't you go do it!"

Fu Lu froze, then understood and said, "this servant obeys.""Quietly." The prince's teeth itched at the mere thought of how she had 'hoodwinked' him that night. The little girl was still pretending to be clever with him, so let her continue to be clever. "Yes, my servant will be quiet." -- On the first day of September, the Crown Princess hosted a family banquet at Jidetang to celebrate the Crown Prince's birthday. It was the first time since that incident that both the Crown Princess and the Prince had appeared at the same time, and everyone else had been so shy about it, but the Prince and the Crown Princess both looked as if nothing had happened. It was the same before and it is still the same now. The Prince Consort's foetus has been preserved for the time being, but the doctor is still telling her to recuperate, so Gao-mama is still in charge of the backyard. The prince did not intend to take Fulu with him on his trip, leaving him to look after the Eastern Palace, but instead took Zhang Laishun with him. As for whether he would bring his concubines along to serve him, the Crown Princess did not ask, and naturally no one else dared to ask either, assuming that the Crown Prince had already made arrangements. Hu Liangdi was very sad, as her delivery was due at the end of October, and seeing that the Prince was not in the capital, there was no way he could see the birth of her child. However, she did not make any pretensions, knowing that the Prince was very strict with his rules and would not allow her to be reckless in front of people. During this time, the three young country princesses also appeared, and this was the first time Pan'er had seen them in front of people.

The Second and Third Princesses were not in the best of health and were both skinny and small, both of them unable to walk steadily and were carried in the arms of their nurses. They were both carried in the arms of their nurse.

When the First Princess kowtowed to the Prince and said her blessing, Hu Liangdi asked her nursemaid to put down the Third Princess as well, so that the Second Princess would not be exempted.In the end, the Crown Prince stopped her, so she did not continue.

Looking at his two sickly daughters, the crown prince, even if he was well-tempered, was rarely a little irritated."Since she has recovered from her illness, don't keep her inside all day, go outside more often, and put on the agenda to learn to walk."

Hu Liangdi realised that the prince had some criticism of the Third Princess' inability to walk, but there was still the Second Princess in front of her.

But she didn't say anything about it, she just said yes, adding that the Third Princess was just over two years old, and that it wasn't uncommon for children as old as this to be unable to walk, and that the Third Princess had only been delayed by an illness.

The prince did not deny it, but did not go on about the Second Princess either.

The Crown Princess had always treated the Second Princess with pampering and kept her in her house, where she was not easily seen by ordinary people. This was not so much a comment made by the Crown Prince to Hu Liangdi as it was to her.It is just that the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess have had a lot of disagreements over the upbringing of the second county princess, and they have stopped mentioning it after a few times. The Crown Princess seemed to realise this too, and glanced at the pale, thin Second Prefect, dropping her eyes without saying a word. The Prince glanced at her reaction, and his eyebrows knitted involuntarily: "All of you should disperse, and I hope that you will all be careful in your words and conduct yourselves in peace during my absence." "Yes." All the people went out, leaving the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess alone.

"During my absence, you should rest assured that you will be able to nurture your baby, and discuss anything with Granny Gao, perhaps she can help you with some ideas, as well as with the Queen Mother ……""Your Highness, don't worry, I will definitely keep an eye on the Eastern Palace." The Crown Princess said, during which she raised her eyes and accidentally bumped into the Crown Prince's eyes, an inexplicable sadness came to her heart.

The crown prince fiddled with his Buddhist beads and patted his leg with his other hand, saying a few more words in a rare moment of patience, "What you need to do now is to nurse your pregnancy well, I have already made arrangements for the Eastern Palace, you don't need to worry much about it."The Crown Princess looked at the Crown Prince with a bit of disbelief, was this a move to take away her power? Although the affairs of the backyard had been handed over to Gao-mama before, they had not been put on the table, and now he was telling her without regard for her dignity. But what could she say? The Prince Consort suddenly found that she could say nothing. The Prince knew that she had misunderstood again, and his heart swelled with anger. If he did something, she would be too frightened to stop her from thinking about it. He stood up and said, "You should get some rest." "Yes." The Crown Princess watched as the Prince walked out, tears finally slipping out of her eyes. --. Pan'er did not expect the Crown Prince to come to her today as well. It was only logical that the Crown Prince would be travelling far away tomorrow, so he should rest at the Crown Princess' place today. But when she thought about the relationship between the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess, Pan'er could understand why the Crown Prince had not stayed at the Hall of Virtue. The rest was pure joy. The Prince will be leaving tomorrow, so it is good to spend more time with him, and so Pan'er is extra attentive tonight. She must sleep until sunrise, so that when she wakes up, he will be gone anyway. The next day Pan'er did sleep until sunrise, but she did not wake up in her room, she woke up in a fine carriage.

When she first woke up, she hadn't realised where she was, but thanks to Aunt Qing, who was with her, she realised that she was in the procession of the southern tour, and that she was probably on her way out of the Imperial City by now.

Pan'er put on her coat and combed her hair in a bun under Aunt Qing's care before she focused her attention on the outside of the carriage - it was quiet, but with a hint of noise from the streets.She quietly lifted the curtain of the carriage by a small corner and looked out.

By now the procession had come out of the imperial city and the streets were filled with people, the main road was lined with clearly armored imperial guards and the people watching were stopped at the periphery.The news that the prince was going to replace the emperor on his southern tour had long been released, and today everyone was there to see him. In the capital at the foot of the emperor, even ordinary people can see some of the princes and ministers, nobles and relatives, and some are lucky enough to have seen the face of the emperor, but this is the first time they have seen the crown prince.

one could think that this prince is very much in the emperor's favour, especially as he is on his way to the south on his behalf.

In the middle of the large procession, the Crown Prince's unique ceremonial warriors stood out, in front of which was a dragon banner team, one each of yellow, green, red, black and white, with the yellow banner in the middle, followed by a ceremonial team holding a purple banner, halberds, gongs, tridents, feather banners and green umbrellas.

The procession stretched for dozens of yards, with the Crown Prince's golden carriage in the centre being the most conspicuous.

The prince wore a formal dress, sitting in the golden carriage, through the curtain draped around the carriage, the people gathered on both sides of the road can vaguely be the prince's handsome face.

To catch a glimpse of the royal relatives is not difficult, but they're either older, or playboys, not many handsome ones. Now that there was such a handsome prince with such a noble status, after the southern parade had passed, there were people in the marketplace who would inevitably talk about how this prince was a majestic and good-looking man who would definitely be a bright ruler in the future.

The most popular were the maidens and young ladies, in whose eyes the Crown Prince was a heavenly figure, and such a Crown Prince would be a good emperor in the future.So people are still governed by their eyes, and it doesn't matter if they know each other or not, what they value was looks. On the other hand, Pan'er, with her head bent, lifted the curtain of the carriage and looked out, until she saw that she was about to leave the Yongding Gate.

How did she get out of bed and into a carriage on a southern tour?After that it was Aunt Qing who cleared up her doubts. "...... Eunuch Fu came to say so a long time ago, but because it was said to be hidden from the master, slave servant took Xiang Pu and the girls to secretly pack the trip for the master." In other words, the whole world knew about it, but she was the only one who was kept in the dark? No wonder she said that Xiang Pu had stopped looking sad lately, it was because of this.

[raysofcrosby]

37 and 45 for matty please!

37. “welcome to fatherhood” + 45. “you’re getting a vasectomy. that’s final.” w/ matty tkachuk

The one thing you and Matt both agreed on from the moment you got married and even before, was that you wanted to have at least, 4 kids. He grew up with a brother and sister while you grew up an only child, both of you wanted your future kids to experience life with a sibling by their side. 

And Matt especially had been eager to start a family from the moment the words “I do” left both of your mouths. He spent most of your reception whispering into your ear all of the things he had planned for the nigh, how he couldn’t wait to get you alone and just how excited he was for your honeymoon in Turks and Caicos— “I hope you don’t plan on leaving the room for the first two days...you know, adjust to the time difference and all.”

It was only an hour time difference between Turks and Caicos and your permanent summer residence in St. Louis, but Matt didn’t care— it didn’t matter, and the two of you definitely didn’t leave the room until your third day into your two-week honeymoon.

Which is why it was no surprise to anyone that you found out you were  pregnant a little over two months later when you were packing up to go to Calgary for the season. You were packing up some of the bathroom stuff when you came across a box of tests from your bachelorette party when it was decided the group of you would play “pregnancy test roulette” which thankfully— no one was actually pregnant.

But there was one left and instead of taking it with you or just leaving it behind, you decided to use it and see if maybe the back to back...to multiple back nights on your honeymoon and even then after, resulted in you being pregnant. Matt came into the bathroom, having stripped down to his gym shorts by the time he reached your bathroom only to see you holding the pee stick in hand.

“Is that?”

“I’m pregnant.”

He only stood there shocked for a few seconds before he swept you up into his arms and kissed you, the excitement shining in his blue eyes as he put you down and smiled. “We’re gonna have a baby.”

Your pregnancy was actually...pretty idyllic when it came to first pregnancies. Your appointments all went perfect, you were in good health throughout and even though at most times you were sure that your moodiness would chase Matt away at any given moment, he never faltered. He was with you every step of the way whenever the Flames schedule permitted it.

He took pictures of the ultrasounds to send to family, if he was on the road he’d always send you a text asking for a bump date, and then get a little cheeky asking straight up for a size check on your chest because he ‘wanted to see how the boobs are looking.’ He was loving, attentive and you felt more than lucky to be able to have him with you throughout.

You were sitting in the friends and family box at a Flames game when your water broke all over the nice fancy carpet floor of the suite. Both your Mom and Matt’s were helping you out of the suite, your last words to Keith before leaving for the hospital being “tell him my water broke, but do not let him leave this game!” A wish that Keith abided by and that Matt, when in an intermission, sent you texts worrying about missing the birth. You assured him that you doubted that you’d be having a baby in the 20 minutes of third period hockey.

The Flames won, Matt skipped media and came rushing to the hospital to be by your side, making it right as you were getting your epidural. Your families were in the room with you, waiting to pass the time and trying to distract you from your contractions. By the time you were fully dismayed, both you and Matt were escorted to the delivery room Brady yelling out via FaceTime that he hoped Matt didn’t pass out.

Out of all the books and websites you read and from the stories some of the WAGS had shared from their experience and friends experience, the pain was definitely worth it in the end. At one point, you thought that Brady’s chirp might actually come to fruition and Matt would pass out, since he was starting to look a little pale, but thankfully it never happened and his color returned once that small little cry erupted throughout the room, bringing the both of you to tears as he brushed your hair back and kissed your forehead, whispering small praises as you held the baby on your chest.

Grayson Tkachuk proved to be every bit his father. From the moment he was born— he was just always fussy. Fussy when he was tired, when he was hungry, when he was and and even when he was happy, he couldn’t stay still and couldn’t stay quiet. You were thankful that both of yours and Matt’s parents stayed around for a few weeks to help you and Matt adjust to parenting, especially you since right after Grayson was born, that following week was the Flames longest road series of the season.

Your late night FaceTimes with Matt and even the ones he had on free days, you could see that he was feeling sad and even a bit guilty that he wasn’t there to help you out. But you assured him that your parents were a great help and that if he felt so bad, he could change the first dirty diaper Grayson had the moment Matt came back. “Sure, it can’t be that bad.”

Matt came back late one night, your parents were all away in their guest rooms and you were struggling to fall asleep after Grayson’s last feeding. You felt gross, tired and in desperate need of a shower, but that didn’t stop Matt from cuddling you into the bed and kissing you endlessly.

“How’s my baby?” He mumbled, kissing along your jaw.

“He’s sleeping, thankfully.”

“No, my other baby.” He laughed, leaning up on an elbow. “You, you dork.”

“Oh, I’m—“ Graysons cry came through the baby monitor and you sighed, nudging him away and standing up. “I’m feeling like that.”

He shook his head and for up with you. “Come on, let’s go see our baby.”

You walked down the hall to Graysons nursery, his cries getting louder as you neared the crib. You knew what kind of cry it was, ready to tell Matt what he needed before he picked up Grayson and shook his head. “His butt is heavy.”

“Diaper change, Matty.” You laughed, walking with him over tot he changing table. You helped Matt get Grayson undressed from his onesie, Matt instantly gagging at the smell the was coming from Grayson.

“Oh my God, it’s leaking!” He groaned, shoving his nose into the crook of his elbow and looking at you with pleasing eyes. “He burst the diaper.” 

“You called dibs on the first diaper change of your return home. You smiled, leaning up and kissing his cheek as you patted his shoulder. “Welcome to fatherhood, Matty.”

++

Eight years and three kids later,  you’d become all too familiar with those signs of pregnancy— or so you thought you had. Grayson was a random positive pregnancy test, Madelyn was a ‘watch your period tracking app religiously’ planned kind of pregnancy and Sienna was not quite planned, since you found out you were pregnant with her only 7 months after having Madelyn.

You and Matt loved having the three of them so close in age—Eight, six and five— and while the three were also at each other’s throats over the smallest of things, toys, food, who’s car seat went where, they were also all extremely close. Most mornings, it wasn’t rare to find both girls cuddled with their big brother in his bed, or him sleeping on the floor in between their beds.

Their favorite time of the year, which also happened to be yours and Matt’s as well, was when both families got together at the Tkachuk’s lake house during the week leading up to the 4th of July. It was endless days of laughter, watching your kids play with their cousin and coo over the newest and smallest member, a baby boy Emma and Brady had welcomed only two months earlier, making their four year old son Tucker, a big brother.

Nights spent grilling out and enjoying the night summertime air only to wake up early the next morning to go out on the water— you loved it all. It was arguably the best time of the year.

Until the worst stomach cramps you ever felt in your entire life, ended up with Matt rushing you to the hospital where doctors listened to your assumptions of maybe it being your appendix. It was...a pleasant surprise when they came back and told you that you were pregnant before being told to relax while they brought an ultrasound tech in to make sure that everything was going okay.

“Pregnant.” You huffed, rolling up the tank top and stuffing it beneath your bathing suit top. “Pregnant! I was just pregnant!”

“Actually...it’s been awhile, five years. We wanted to wait a bit since Mads and Sie were so close in age.” He replied, spinning himself around in the stool. “And hey, with this being baby number four, we reached our goal.”

“And after baby number four, I’m staying celibate.” You mumbled.

You went back on birth control after Sienna was born, but it just never agreed with you. Through the last five years, you’d been through the implant, the pill, the iud— and all of them messed with your hormones so much that you and Matt went strictly back to condoms, much to both of your disdain for them.

“Alright, Y/N, I’m here to check to see what’s going on with your little one today,” the tech smiled, walking into the room. “Not your first rodeo?” She laughed, picking up the gel as she nodded at your rolled up t-shirt.

“Our fourth.” You replied, no longer phased by the cold feeling against your skin.

“Well congratulations again,” she smiled, turning on the ultrasound machine before picking up the wand. “I assume that you know what this is?”

You and Matt both nodded as she placed the wand against your belly, moving it around. “Can we do that thing we did with Madelyn? Guess the gender and whoever’s right gets to pick the name?” Matt smiled, holding your hand as he rested his chin on your arm.

“As long as you don’t turn it into a bet with your teammates.” You nodded, glaring at him. “I’m still not amused with the fact you almost let Sienna’s middle name be Sam because Sam guessed the gender correctly.”

“Sam’s not too bad—“

“Sienna Sam Tkachuk?” You asked, raising an eyebrow. “It doesn’t flow Matthew! If this is a boy, we’ll let him use his winning bet as a middle name, but no more bets with the guys.”

The ultrasound tech laughed as Matt started to blush. “Okay, agreed.” He said, kissing your knuckles before looking towards the tech. “So how’s baby number four looking?”

“Well, you’re definitely not around 8 weeks like you thought you were. You’re more around 12 weeks and the babies are doing great. The pain you felt was probably more having to do with your pelvic floor trying to prepare for them.”

“See, babe? The babies are fine.” Matt smiled, looking at you before snapping his head back to her. “Wait, babies?”

“Babies,” she smiled, turning the screen towards the both of you and pointing at the three different figures on the screen. “Baby A, Baby B and Baby C, and they’re all looking good in measurements and I don’t see any worry you should be having.”

Your jaw dropped and you felt Matt’s grip on your hand fall as the both of you stared at the screen in shock. “Babies...plural...three,” you said, letting out a small laugh. “Triplets?! I’m having triplets?!”

“Mhhm, and I’ll get these scans for you. But just know that they’re doing great and with multiples, your doctor is probably going to want you to check in a lot more. So when you go back home, be sure to make an appointment as soon as you can.” She smiled, handing you a paper towel before walking to leave the room.

Matt got up and walked towards the screen, staring at it before squatting down beside you and staring at your belly, poking it. “Huh...I guess I can kinda see a bump. I can’t believe there’s three mini us’s in there.” He turned to you with a big smile, only to let it falter as soon as he saw your glaring eyes.

“You’re getting a vasectomy. That’s final.”

[randomficsandshit]

Bellarke Fic Rec

*NONE OF THESE FICS ARE MINE*

Please do not forget. I have not written any of these. I’m simply recommending favorites of mine over the years. If you love something, send the author your love, not me :) and if any links don’t work, send me a message and I’ll see what i can do, this is a pretty old list 

There's A Nap For That 

Word Count: 6k+

AU. Based on that post: "If you both agree to take a nap instead of going out, it’s a date." Or: The one where Bellamy and Clarke keep taking naps together. You know, platonically. See also: Let Them Rest.

If You Wear A Dress and Have an Animal Sidekick, You Are a Princess

Word Count: 3k+

AU. Bellamy can't not take care of every animal he sees, and Clarke can't not find it endearing.

*Mouth Like Heaven, Kisses Like Stars

Word Count: 4k+

His eyebrows are knitted together in a slight frown, the kind he usually gets when he’s trying to work out a difficult problem. Finally, he meets her eyes again and says, almost hesitantly underneath his mask of bravado, “Well, I’m always here to lend a helping hand if you need it, princess.” Clarke actually chokes this time, and it feels like all the breath has been knocked out of her. -or, the time when everything goes downhill and bellamy just goes down.

Wingwoman 

Word Count: 1k+

AU. Clarke didn't think she'd need a wingwoman at the park playground when she's babysitting her one-year-old niece, but then Bellamy Blake strolls up, and Amelia rises to the occasion, luckily for her.

When Love Hits (Better Make It Worth The Fall)

Word Count: 4k+

AU. (She's All That) Four times Clarke gets hit on the head (+1 time she doesn't) during her last semester of high school, and every single time, Bellamy Blake is somehow involved.

All This Time

Word Count: 5k+

AU. Four times Bellamy innocently kisses Clarke, + one time he doesn't.

Take This Heart

Word Count: ~

clarke moves into bellamy's room. this is both soft and full of disdain for clarke's terrible... everything in season 3

You're Cool On The Internet, At Least

Word Count: 9k+

AU. Look, Clarke will not dwell on this. She will not get flustered just because a possibly cute guy on Facebook apparently shares her views on what constitutes a terrible person.

(Or: Clarke meets Bellamy on Facebook. They hit it off.)

(One of my personal favs)

We Came Out On Top

Word Count: 11k+

AU. “How can you guys be all like this and then be at each other’s throats during trivia night?” “Because it’s trivia night,” both Bellamy and Clarke said at the same time, sharing the same why don’t you get it tone. Bellamy, Clarke, and the trivia night rivalries only they care about.

She Does What The Night Does To The Day

Word Count: 5k+

AU. He assumes she would just giggle and continue petting him while saying how pretty he is, but instead, she pulls back with what might have been a leer had she not been three sheets to the wind, and says, “Your body is 65% water and I’m thirsty.” And then if that wasn’t bad enough, she stumbles out of his arms and fucking winks at him. Or at least he thinks it’s a wink. She used both eyes instead of one. or, the one where Bellamy is woefully and terribly oblivious.

The Giant Squid's Got Nothing On You

Word Count: 6k+

AU. Objectively, Clarke knows she’s probably right, but she still can’t help but lift her chin determinedly and say, “He is not going to find it.” She can barely hear her scoff in reply over the din of the cafe. “Yeah right,” says Raven, “The internet is forever, Clarke Griffin. He will find it eventually.” or, Clarke finds her new muse at the local cafe

Alone Together 

Word Count: 11k+

AU. Clarke shows up at Bellamy’s apartment at exactly two minutes to midnight on a Thursday. He's not sure how she ends up staying the night — or why he doesn't turn her away, when it happens again. And again.

Cold As The Wind Blows (so hold me in your arms)

Word Count: 3k+

AU. Clarke gets trapped in the storage room overnight, but at least she's not by herself.

Tequila Regrets

Word Count: 6k+

AU. Clarke and Bellamy have been roommates for a while, and Clarke has been in love with him for almost as long, but when she finds out that his terror of a boss has marked him as her next conquest, Clarke offers to pose as his fake girlfriend for the staff Christmas party to scare her off. She did not think this all the way through.

Mutual

Word Count: 6k+

AU. As acts of rebellion go, Clarke knows that getting a tumblr is both minor and pathetic. But it's her secret, her own tiny, online space where no one knows she's Clarke Griffin, Hollywood A-lister. She's just some nobody with like five followers and opinions no one cares about. And then she makes a friend.

Wish On Everything

Word Count: 11k+

AU. It's not as if Bellamy wanted anything bad to happen to his mother. All he wanted was to get custody of his little sister, so he'd know she was taken care of. And after eight years, he's basically given up all hope of that. Then his mother does die, and social services tells him he gets Octavia.

Legs Crossed Towards Each Other 

Word Count: 7k+

It starts with Raven wanting to set up Mr. Sinclair, out of what are probably genuinely good intentions. It's everyone else who turns it into a massive headache for Bellamy.

What The Hell Is The Catch? 

Word Count: 6k+

Bellamy gets tickets to take his AP US History kids to Hamilton, and Clarke figures he's going to need a chaperone. She's happy to help out. And if he says she owes him for it? Totally worth it.

If You Wanna Reach Me

Word Count: 5k+

AU. Clarke: So yeah, in the dream it's like We're in New York, I think. I'm not really sure, but you know how it is when it's a dream and you just know something. So we're in New York.

Jasper: whos we??????

Clarke: Most of us, I think? It's always kind of hard to remember when it's a dream. Like I just thought "everyone's here!" but I mostly interacted with Bellamy.

Raven: did u mean: real life

Time Enough For Rocking When We're Old

Word Count: 14k+

boston > boston/camb/brook > housing > apts by owner $2-300 Roxbury small room in 3-br 1-bath house, spouse preferred (Roxbury) Pair of siblings looking for housemate. Due to extenuating circumstances I will share with interested parties, I would prefer a roommate who is willing to get married for legitimate personal reasons that do not include sex or anything sketchy. If not interested in marriage, room still available for $300/month plus utilities. Pets okay, no smokers, NO DRUG USE. Please don't just email me to tell me this is fucked up, I know it is, you really don't have to tell me. If you are interested in the marriage part, a female spouse is preferred, but male would be okay too. I promise I will explain this if you really want details, but I'm not putting it online. Serious inquiries only.

Must Love Intersectionality 

Word Count: 2k+

AU. Bellamy hates his stupid history of colonialism class, until he makes a friend. Weirdly, the friend isn't actually in his class, they just share the same desk and like to write angry notes about the patriarchy. Bellamy's a fan.

Regardless Of Warnings, The Future Doesn't Scare Me At All

Word Count: 20k+

AU. 2 Chapters. After an argument with her mother about her unplanned pregnancy, Clarke Griffin ends up back in the small town where her father used to live, spilling her sob story to a sympathetic bartender. And then, somehow, she ends up moving in with the bartender and her brother.

(You Might Find) You Get What You Need

Word Count: 20k+

AU. Clarke needs a date to her ex's sister's wedding, and she's at the point of hiring someone off the internet when Octavia points out that her brother is always looking for money. So Clarke takes him instead.

Just As You Are 

Word Count: 10k+

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single Clarke Griffin in need of a Latin tutorial partner will always end up paired with Bellamy Blake.

I've Been Dreaming Of You From The Other Side (I Know You So Well)

Word Count: 17k+

AU. Ten years ago, Clarke found out she had superpowers. Now she's all ready to start a new life: English teacher by day, vigilante by night. All she has to do is figure out how to be a superhero, avoid getting caught and shipped off by mandatory metahuman registration, and not strangle the stupid history teacher down the hall. It'll be fun.

She's Touching His Chest Now, He Takes Off Her Dress Now

Word Count: 26k+

If Clarke had thought arguments could actually lead to switching bodies with someone, she wouldn't have been surprised this one really did. But since that's actually impossible, waking up as Bellamy Blake is still a shock.

I Know That Fortune Is Waiting To Be Kind

Word Count: 20k+

When Bellamy is eleven, his mother dies, and he finds out his father was a prince, which makes him a prince too, albeit a bastard prince. And when he's twelve, his family decides he would be a good candidate for marriage to Princess Clarke of Arcadia. Princess Clarke thinks so too, but only because he agrees to come back in ten years and help her make sure the wedding never takes place. It seems like a really good deal, when he's twelve.

And Dream How Wonderful Your Life Will Be

Word Count: 19k+

Clarke has known Bellamy Blake for two months when she finds out two completely unexpected things about him: he's married, and he has an eight-year-old son. He's also getting a divorce and he needs a roommate, and she's got a spot. It's complicated.

One Deep Breath and One Big Step

Word Count: 17k+

Clarke Griffin has been groomed for Ark University and Sigma Kappa Upsilon sorority since she was a kid, and she's a little annoyed to discover, upon getting to college, that she really does like Sig-Kap. That she wants to pledge. There's just this weird thing where they don't seem to like her new friend Bellamy.

Write What You Know

Word Count: 13k+

Bellamy understands every individual choice that got him to this point. He started writing erotica to make some extra money, he didn't correct the assumption that he was a woman, made up some facts about his new persona, and now his publisher wants him to start making public appearances, so he needs someone to be that persona. And Clarke really is the logical choice. It all makes sense to him, when he thinks about it, but he will admit it is incredibly weird. Luckily, Clarke's still got his back.

When Can I See You Again? 

Word Count: 13k+

Bellamy doesn't recognize a lot of people he meets at conventions, even if he's met them a lot. It's just hard to keep track. But the girl who comes once or twice a year is pretty easy to remember. And that's before her foster mom shows up in a panic because she took a bus to Vegas alone. After that happens, it's basically all over.

But They Ain't Doing It Right

Word Count: 14k+

“So,” he begins, running a hand through his hair. It’s a lost cause trying to work it back into some semblance of order. “What is this?” “What do you mean?” He doesn’t meet her eye when he says, “Once is a mistake, twice is a pattern,” too busy picking at a loose thread in his hem. “Wanna go three times and just make it a habit?” she jokes weakly, and his head snaps back up, eyes boring into hers. She flushes under the intensity of his gaze. “Actually,” he begins slowly, “That doesn’t sound that bad.” or, the friends with benefits au that got away from me

Phone A Friend

Word Count: 7k+

Clarke does not ask Bellamy for tips on having a threesome because she's hoping to have a threesome with him. He's just the only person she knows personally who has actually had a threesome, so he seems like her best resource. And when the opportunity to have a threesome with him presents itself, it's not like she's going to just say no.

I'm Swept Away and My Heart Ensnared 

Word Count: 15k+

Raven hums low in her throat. “Well, at least Bellamy can make it up in time. So you won’t get too axe murdered.” Clarke wrinkles her nose, leaning on the banister of the upstairs porch. From here she can see the ocean, just a five minute walk away, and she breathes in brine soaked air. “He’s still coming?” “What do you mean if he’s still coming? He didn’t say anything otherwise.” She shifts from foot to foot, feeling herself colour slightly even though there’s no one there to see her. “I just assumed that because you and Miller couldn’t make it up anymore he wouldn’t come today.” “Why the hell did you think that?” “Because Bellamy and I aren’t exactly friends, Raven." or, Bellamy Blake and Clarke Griffin don't really like each other. Or at least that's what they tell themselves.

Afraid To Call This Place Our Own 

Word Count: 22k+ 

(Single mom!Clarke and Teacher!Bellamy, with the usual angsty shenanigans.)

And Are We There Yet (Home) 

Word Count: 2k+

A Bellamy POV and mini sequel to afraid to call this place our own. (this shit made me cry) 

Bloodstains and Innocence: A Clarke Griffin Mystery

Word Count: 27k+

Police Chief Clarke Griffin knows three things: 1) Charles Pike is dead. 2) Octavia Blake is the prime suspect. 3) Bellamy Blake a giant pain in the ass with no business being involved in a murder investigation, and yet here he is, working the case alongside her. A hurricane is approaching the sleepy little island of Arkadia, NC as evidence begins to mount against Octavia and Clarke wrestles with her increasingly complicated relationship with Bellamy, all while trying to answer one simple question: Who killed Charles Pike?

Is There An IUD That Can Stop The Image of You and Me? 

Word Count: 8k+

It's probably impossible to be friends with benefits with someone who might not even count as a friend, but "lab partners with benefits" isn't a thing yet. So that's probably the right term. Whatever it is, Clarke's enjoying it. As long as she ignores the whole feelings thing.

I’m Gonna Leave You Anyway

Word Count: 65k+

Modern AU inspired by the show You're the Worst, where Bellamy and Clarke hook up after a wedding.

                  And You Can Have This Heart To Break

Word Count: 37k+

Clarke knows she's being a little over-dramatic in her complaining about having to move to Maine, but it does seem pretty unreasonable of her mother to drag her to a small town in the middle of nowhere for the three months between high-school graduation and her starting college. As it turns out, the summer is great. It's just the summer ending that's the problem.

Museums and Mistletoe 

Word Count: 1k+

Clarke buys Bellamy a museum ticket for Christmas and he acts like it’s the best gift he’s ever received. She buys one for herself too, because she knows none of their other friends have the time to go—finding a day they can all get together to exchange gifts is hard enough—and if it gets her an uninterrupted afternoon with her best friend and all around favorite asshole, she’s definitely not complaining.

When In Brome

Word Count: 57k+

Octavia is the one who tells Clarke about "Untitled Gladiator Project," because she thinks Bellamy wants to be on it, and also thinks Clarke is the one who will be able to convince him to do it. Plus, it turns out Clarke actually needs to be involved, because all of the gladiators are required to have girlfriends with them, and, honestly, the more she hears about it, the more of a mess it seems like. On the other hand, it sounds kind of hilarious, and definitely right up Bellamy's alley, so there's probably no harm in trying out. It might be fun.

It’s All Internet Interaction

Word Count: 11k+

Bellamy is less than pleased when soap opera star Clarke Griffin lands the lead role in the Callister reboot. So, naturally, he writes about it. It’s not supposed to blow up. She’s not supposed to respond to it either, but here they are.

Just Dive Right In (And Follow My Lead)

Word Count: 24k+

Clarke Griffin needs a partner. Bellamy Blake just happens to walk into her rink. (Or: Bellamy and Clarke as ice dancing partners, training together through the years to the Olympics.)

Sleight Of Hand

Word Count: 56k+

Notorious criminal prodigy Bellamy Blake has been tasked with a seemingly impossible heist. Luckily enough, he just might have the right crew for it. *Personal Favorite*

And Then We Were Chasing Comets

Word Count: 21k+

If you told Clarke Griffin that she would become best friends with the resident black sheep of Arkadia, she would have difficulty believing it, let alone the fact that he apparently wrote an entire book about her. (Or: Clarke and Bellamy through the years, as childhood best friends.)

See Me In Hindsight 

Word Count: 16k+

“You’re kind of a mess,” He says mildly. “Thanks captain obvious.” The corners of his mouth twitch a little, like he’s holding back a smile. She is not remotely pleased by that. Not at all. Or, the one where they're project partners and maybe, perhaps, friends. (And maybe, perhaps, more.)

Challenge Accepted

Word Count: 30k+

He doesn't even like Clarke Griffin, he's pretty sure he hates how easy everything has come to her. So imagine his surprise when he finds himself at their office party looking through dick pics on her phone. “You can do better, Princess. In fact, I can do better.” As soon as she turns to him with raised eyebrows and an open mouthed grin he knows he’s said too much but she’s not going to let it drop. “Oh really, you think you can do better, Blake?” And he's never backed down from a challenge in his life.

Found Myself In A Second 

Word Count: 5k+

The one where Clarke finds a lost wallet belonging to one Bellamy Blake.

Every Rose Can Sting You 

Word Count: 15k+

Clarke expected to encounter annoying guys when she got forced into becoming the Bachelorette, but she didn't realise that the most annoying of them all would be the head cameraman. Because seriously, Bellamy Blake is a total prick. It's a good thing there's absolutely no chance of her ever actually liking him, because boy, would that be inconvenient…

Choking On Your Alibis 

Word Count: 7k+

Bellamy gets a girlfriend and Clarke handles it spectacularly well

[indianamoonshine]

𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑘 𝑖𝑡 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑒

• 𝚋𝚎𝚗 𝚡 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚐𝚗𝚊𝚗𝚝!𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛 •

➪ 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑔𝑛𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠𝑛’𝑡 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑏𝑒𝑛. ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑛 𝑢𝑛𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛. 𝑀𝑂𝐷𝐸𝑅𝑁 𝐴𝑈.

☕︎︎ 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔: 𝑡 (𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑑𝑢𝑙𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑠)

꧁꧂

autumn in new york.

it was your favorite time of year. it smelled of dead leaves and school supplies. the sky was usually clouded with rain, wind swirling whirligigs from maple trees in a chaotic dance at your feet. and while new york was polluted, the air felt clean. crisp.

the leisured walk to your apartment from your nearest starbucks wasn’t very long. the knitted scarf made by your sister protected you against any chill that might redden your cheeks, but the two cups of coffee in your hands did most of the warming.

well, one cup of coffee. the other was a hot chocolate. you couldn’t have coffee. not anymore.

you walk up the stairs of the apartment building and buzz the com. you’d forgotten your keys when you’d left this morning. ben was asleep when you’d gone; he’d worked a late shift at the garage outside of the city. seven A.M might as well have been midnight for him.

“yeah?” a voice calls from the speaker. it’s sleepy. rough. friendly.

you lean in, pressing the button again. “it’s me. i brought you something.”

ben clears his throat. “where’s your key?”

“i forgot it,” you admit. you wish you could blame it on your current physique, but you’d always been forgetful; it’ll probably get worse as the months go on.

you smile as you listen to ben’s laughter filter through the speaker. “of course you did.”

the door unlocks with a loud mechanism. you push through and sigh with relief upon entering the warm lobby. it had to have been forty degrees outside.

the stairwell was a bitch - your natural born enemy - but you made it after five minutes.

you rapt on the door marked 218. the gilded numbers were chipping a bit, the handle also somewhat in need of a paint job, but it was the least of your concerns.

ben opens the door. he’s shirtless, only in his sweatpants that cling to his hips, and a head of hair that was rustled from sleep. even after three years, the sight of him half-naked and still lingering of dreams was enough to make you swoon.

you stand on your tippy toes for a kiss when he greets you. he obliges with a small grin, lips pressing against yours like a gift. and they were.

ben pulls away and looks at the coffee in your hand. “that for me?”

you nod, pushing past him and into the apartment. he quietly shuts the door behind you and takes the cups so that you may shed your coat.

“must be cold out,” he jokes. he sets the coffee on the kitchen table and places a hand on your cheek. “you’re freezing.”

“it has to be, like, forty degrees outside. the wind chill might make it less...” you mumble, untangling the scarf from your neck. you toss it onto the couch, along with your beret.

ben smirks at you, probably admiring the way your cheeks have blushed from the cold - how the pink makes your eyes look brighter than what they actually are. under his scrutiny, you duck your head in embarrassment and reach for your hot chocolate.

“starbucks?” he asks, taking a drink. he prefers black coffee. no sugar. two shots of espresso. it absolutely disgusted you but it’s what he liked.

you hum in agreement. “of course. what are we? animals?”

he laughs, opening the fridge. “you hungry?”

“no, actually...” you trail off. your stomach churns at the inevitable conversation.

would now be the right time? while he was still enjoying his coffee? or should it be said later when he was lounging across your lap where he could potentially feel the swell of your hipbones?

ben pulls out a package of sausage and starts searching for a pan. “you sure? i have your favorite sausage.”

bob evans sausage. growing up in the midwest definitely had its perks, but new york didn’t provide your comfort food from out of region. ben had actually ordered it specially for you after you’d complained of cravings. you hadn’t understood why you were salivating over it so much until last night, but suddenly the idea wasn’t appetizing at all.

“i’m sure,” you confirm, watching as he turns on the knob of the stove.

there’s a brisk silence. nothing but the sizzle of meat against iron or the way ben hums the song that’s been in his head for past two days. and watching this domestic bliss, despite it being so simple, brought tears to your eyes.

now was the right time.

you pull a chair out from the table and it squeaks along the linoleum flooring. “ben?” you ask when settled.

he turns, dark eyes looking more alert then before. sleep was vanishing from his face. “what’s up, baby?”

you smile at that, warming your hands against the sides of the cocoa you’d ordered with extreme caution. it was becoming increasingly difficult to find something you could keep down this past month. you trace an invisible pattern against the grain of the table.

“um, i picked up something at the drug store last night,” you sort of mumble. how did one broach this subject, anyway?

ben looks warily at you over his shoulder. “yeah?”

maybe he knows? maybe you’re not giving him enough credit? your thoughts swim so rapidly you feel as though they’ll drown and you along with them. you gulp, suddenly wishing very much that you could’ve spiked your drink with liquid courage.

you decide to blurt it out. otherwise, you’d dance around the news for hours.

“it was a pregnancy test.”

ben doesn’t freeze like you thought he would. he doesn’t even turn around. he continues to tend to the sausage in the pan like life-changing news hadn’t just escaped your mouth.

finally, he nods to the meat in front of him. “okay.”

you gulp. “it was positive. i’m pregnant.”

this is what causes him to freeze. you’re greatly relieved by this. finally a legitimate response.

ben takes the flipper and tosses the sausage onto a plate. there’s four pieces. he takes two of them and stuffs them in his mouth, despite the fact that they’re sizzling hot. you cringe on his behalf.

he walks the plate over and sets it before you. the expression on his face is indistinguishable until he seats himself in the chair opposite of you.

he swallows the last remaining bit of food. “i know,” he says simply.

he knows?

you blink. “what?”

he nods wordlessly and pushes a fork to you. “yeah. i knew before you got the test.”

you ignore the fork. “how?”

“you’ve been having cravings. you can barely sleep. and if you think i can’t hear you in the bathroom in the morning...” he trails off, but his expression is in good humor. “now eat. you need the protein.”

you’re at a complete loss for words. “you knew?”

he nods. “you haven’t started your period yet. yours is always on schedule...and the only reason i know that is because of the calendar in the bathroom.”

finally a good reason for the calendar; you knew it’d prove useful one day.

you grab the fork with hesitation and slowly cut a piece of the sausage. it suddenly smells appealing, even mouthwatering. you chew on it for a second, mulling over the taste and grease, and finally decide it’s okay.

“i would’ve said something, but i didn’t know for sure and i didn’t want to assume,” ben says, meticulously watching every bite you take. it’s almost as if he’s expecting you to spit it out at any moment.

that didn’t seem so far fetched. nothing ever seemed to settle your stomach.

“it’s okay,” you smile. “i’m glad you’re so observant. i was worried i’d give you a heart attack.”

ben gives you a full-bodied smile back. he shows teeth while laughing. “don’t be so relieved. now that i know for sure, i feel a little faint.”

your grin fades quickly. “you’re not...”

his laughter stops and his eyes grow sad. when he realizes his implication had sounded disappointed, he rushes to your side and looks up at you from his knees.

“no, no.” he takes your hands in his. “that’s not what i meant at all.” he brushes your lips with the back of his knuckles. “i meant that i’m faint with happiness.”

you blink rapidly again, his unbridled joy still registering in your mind. logically, you knew his reaction would be positive, but there was always that fear he’d be disappointed, that he might suggest getting rid of it. you suddenly feel guilty that ben would think these things at all.

“you’re not mad?” you ask, tears threatening again.

he chuckles under his breath. “baby, why would i be mad?”

you shake your head. “i don’t know. i just...”

ben nods. “i know.” he kisses the back of your hand and presses it to his cheek. “i know.”

the wetness gathering in your eyes clouded your vision, but you smiled all the same. “do you have a preference?”

he automatically knew what you meant. he didn’t have to consider at all. “a girl,” he says confidently.

you let out a relieved giggle, though it’s masked with tears. you nod. “i’m so glad.”

“and you?” he wonders, looking up from your hands.

you run your free hand through his thick locks. “i want a boy. he’ll look just like his father...” you pause. “and hopefully have his hair, too.”

ben lets out a hearty chuckle and sets your hands against your belly. it didn’t look much different than before - it still curved the same way it had just a few months before, but it felt different. it felt useful - like a home. and it was.

“whatever it’ll be, they’ll be ours...” ben murmurs against your stomach. he kisses you just below your belly button, as though he’s confident you’re carrying low.

you weave your fingers through his hair still, massaging that part of his scalp that makes him purr in delight.

“does this mean if i want watermelon at midnight, you’ll get it for me?” you tease.

ben’s chuckle is muffled against your stomach. he’s still pressing kisses against the nearly invisible bump.

“watermelon is out of season, but i’ll make it happen anyway.”

[brideofcthulhu10]

Next up on our list my lovelies is Paul! A special thank you to @trescharmant-mydear for helping me with brainstorming ideas when writers block had me stumped! I hope you fang babes all enjoy the next boy in our child birth saga!

Lost Boys Fem!S/O Gives Birth [2/4]

Paul

The whole pregnancy thing was undoubtedly a massive shock when you had finally told him. At first he wasn’t even sure it was his. Granted you slugged him for even suggesting you had been having an affair but he couldn’t help it! The idea of impregnation was pretty much impossible as far as they knew. He had no heartbeat, the blood in his veins was dead and black, he kind of assumed by that point his gun was shooting blanks. That is until you began rejecting anything that wasn’t blood or meat. Every day he could see more of that reality coming into play. At first he thought maybe he had just imagined it, but when your stomach grew in really sank in. 

 He was terrified beyond belief knowing he’d soon be responsible for a living, breathing thing- er baby- guh! The word freaked him out. No one even warned him what came with it. Well, Dwayne tried to but those books were nasty. Especially the pictures. Paul tried his best to sit through them but it just stressed him out! There wouldn’t be a doctor! There would be no sterilized hospital bed where a team of nurses would be on standby if there were complications- hell, they wouldn’t be able to know if there even were any complications! That’s what scared him more than anything. You both were utterly in the dark. Were you healthy? Was the baby healthy? Could this kill you if they weren't careful? Ultrasounds were out too, so he couldn't even know if it was a boy or a girl. The uncertainty of it all was torture!

The only way he knew they were still alive was from his own bizarre connection to them. Sure his mental powers were never as clean cut as David’s, but he could still feel their emotions inside you. It was raw. There were no clear thoughts. Even the emotions would pile over each other. Hungry, tired, anxious, hyper, mad, happy. It was almost like there was more than one consciousness in there, but he just figured it was your own heartbeat and emotions clouding the baby's.

Hormones were wild between you both. You wanted sex more than you ever had before, and at first he was all for it. Being the mother of his unborn child brought out a desire that was utterly foreign to him. Yeah he loved you to death before, but now… he couldn't keep his hands off of you. The first few months it was wild, but the bigger you got the more worried he was that something could happen if he lost control. Okay, well, as long as he was careful right? But, things did not go exactly to plan when a firm kick pressed on his erm… Needless to say it certainly freaked him out. Then came the morning sickness.

Fuck whatever liar came up with that name. “Morning”? Try morning, noon, night, and the ass crack of dawn. Twenty-four seven. He hated seeing you hugging a trash bin, panting between excruciating heaves that made your stomach spasm. Paul could only hold your hair back while you gurgled out sobs. It was even harder knowing he was partially responsible for putting you in this position to begin with. Afterwards he’d carry you back to your bed. Yeah, bed. All the guys had felt that you needed something way better than a couch to crash on. There were more pillows and blankets than you could count. Piles on the bed, scattered on the floor, stacked up in the corners. With a bit of searching they’d found a pocket-cave branching just off their own that kept you out of sight and even better, nearby. What Paul really couldn’t account for was how frickin’ clumsy you were! 

Oops you just banged your knee! Well looks like you accidentally nicked your hand while peeling a freaking apple! Paul nearly ripped a guys head off for bumping into you on the boardwalk just to cut in line with his stupid friends. Eventually he just refused to leave your side during the second trimester when he found a bruise on your stomach. You didn’t have the heart to tell him those were from the baby kicking. While the guys went hunting he’d just lay beside you in bed gushing over your taut belly. The baby always stirred when he spoke, even more so when he’d serenade them. His voice always made your face heat up, and inside you could feel your child eagerly pressing up. While Paul was certainly uneasy about his encroaching parenthood he was over the moon the first time the baby really kicked. Even if it seemed scary he was so excited he could hardly sleep most nights. Every day he'd wonder when they'd get here, bombarding you with thousands of questions.

"Do you think they'll have your eyes? I bet if it's a boy he'll be a bad ass like his dad, huh," he asked. There was almost a glee to his voice, it was so adorable to watch him shed that panic for just a moment to fantasize about the baby. Anything. Teaching them to play guitar, taking them on their first hunt. He didn't care if it was a boy or girl. Part of you really hoped it'd be a little girl. 

“They probably won’t get any eye color until the fifth month I think,” you’d remind him, flipping through the aged pages of a baby book. "I do know if it is a boy he's gonna be so much like you."

"Unless it's a girl," he pondered, tapping your belly like it was an over ripe melon, watching it stirr with life. "Oh god you'll break so many hearts. But no boyfriends. Or girlfriends. Only dad."

"Babe thats not gonna be for years," you assured, petting his head. "You can't keep them from dating when they're old enough."

"Uh, the fuck I can't," he retorted, his hand kicked again. "Yeah I said it. No dating for you"

As they grew you could feel something was.. Off. Granted you couldn’t do much to check but, it almost felt like there was more than one heartbeat...

Your due date was slowly rolling closer as summer shed it's long, hot days for the chilled season of autumn. Tonight was a late, stormy October night. Most of Santa Carla was holed up at home hoping it wouldn’t rain tomorrow on Halloween. Paul grumbled slurping at a blood bag laying on his side as he propped his head on his hand, currently bored out of his mind while you carved at a pumpkin with Marko. 

“I think it needs more teeth,” you’d say to yourself out loud.

Marko peeked over, titling his head to the side. “More eyes too.”

All the guys decided to stay back tonight. It wasn’t just the rain, all of them were nervous to leave you alone. None of them were doctors, but even they could tell your stomach was much bigger than expected. Dwayne was flipping through an old book while David had just gotten back from a hunt. 

Ever since you hit your third trimester each of them took turns gathering blood. A few blood bags alone would not cover it for four hungry vampires and an honorary vamp who had a ton of cravings. Instead they'd carry four or five empty milk jugs that'd be filled to the brim with sloshing, goopy red fluid. 

"Guys, you oughta go get something to eat, you don't need to watch me twenty-four seven," you insist, carefully dragging the knife through the thick gourd's flesh. 

"This wasn't up for debate last time, it’s still not now," David retorted, tossing one of the jugs Dwayne's way. Marko caught a second one, eagerly knocking back a swig. The sight made you want to throw up again. It was slow, like a thick molasses dyed crimson with globs of congealed plasma. Okay looking at the pumpkin again before you had to puke. 

"Don't worry about us, Y/N," Marko insisted with red stained teeth, tossing the now half empty jug to Paul. "It's only a few more months. Blood is blood."

Paul stood up, swooping behind you with his arms around your shoulders. "Speakin' of blood kitten, you need to eat." You looked at the jug as he set it on the table and immediately scrunched up your nose. Now, it'd been seven and a half months of drinking it, so you'd gotten used to the bizarre taste of salty, vinegary cherries with a metallic aftertaste. It always made your body heat up, the feeling itself was better than any booze you'd tried. But the texture. Oh god the fricking texture! Blobby, goopy, slimy- no! 

"Uuuugh," you hesitated, only to have Marko push it towards you. “Can’t I just have a raw steak or something, it’s not nearly as gnarly as straight blood.”

"Don't be picky, you need to eat."

You glanced back at Paul who was just pouting behind you. "Come on babes, drink up."

Once again. Thick, soupy but warm fluids ran down the back of your throat. Everything felt heated, spreading from your stomach to each of your limbs. This time you felt an ache in the base of your abdomen. It was enough to incite a small gasp. And with that suddenly each of them had sat up. 

"What's wrong, what's going on," Paul quickly asked, placing a hand over your stomach. 

Marko had stood up, looking at you with a furrowed brow. "Is it-?"

"Guys, guys," you interrupt. "I'm okay, I swear. It was just a cramp."

It wasn't even a surprise when Paul lifted you up again bridal-style. "Paul,c’mon, I’m fine, really."

"Nope, nope I am not even risking that shit babes. C'mon kitten I'll lay with ya," he insisted, kicking anything on the floor out of his way. But again it ached. This time it lasted two minutes. You clung to him, trying to take a breath. This wasn’t your average false contraction that would only occur maybe every hour. "Paul- Paul it's not stopping."

"Wait wait wait what," Paul asked in rapid following, gently setting you down. Marko had gotten up to help you stand with Paul on the other side. A sharp pain wrapped around your waist. Now another two minutes. It was enough to make you double over with your hands over your stomach. 

"Shit oh shit wait hold on." Paul was in a panic. He wasn't ready! The baby wasn't supposed to be there for another month! It was too soon! 

You, on the other hand, were far too busy trying to keep yourself standing. It wasn't just your abdomen. It was your stomach, all the way up your back, your womb felt like it was being torn open from inside. Dwayne jumped over the sofa when the two blondes failed to move, lifting you up. Your jeans were soaked, sharp pains were faster, harder, any time another contraction squeeze you let out an agonized cry. 

They all made a mad dash for your room, propping you up against a pile of pillows. "No,  no wait, don't look," you insisted to the others as Paul tried to help you get your soggy jeans off.

"I'm about to help you push a baby out, and you're getting embarrassed by us seeing your underwear," Dwayne questioned

"Shut up, turn your fuckin head," Paul snapped. Carefully he draped a blanket over your legs, pulling off your jeans. There was utter fear across his face. He was so afraid of what this could do to you.

 "Hey.. its okay," you assured him, cupping his face. Well, okay was a bit of an overstatement. Still, the tender touch seemed to provide some small ease as he placed his hand over yours. Again, you assured him it'd all be okay. Marko came running in with a bucket of warm water, David was grumbling about carrying over a mountain of towels, Dwayne leaned over Paul tapping him hard on the back of his shoulder. "Paul you need to check how dilated she is."

"WHAT?"

It was time for both of you chiming in disbelief. "No no, wait Dwayne man, I can't-!"

"If she pushes before she's ready, the baby will get hurt in the process," he interrupted him, grabbing Paul by his shoulders. "You gotta do it, man, I can't do it for you."

"The fuck, why me?!"

"Paul?!" It was your turn to question his logic and the blonde threw up his hands, clutching at his head trying to think.

"I'm sorry! I'm panicking!"

"Dude Paul," Marko shouted.

"What?!"

"Listen, man, this can't be good for either of them. Nut up, dude," he assured him, patting his back. Paul looked at you, still trembling on your bed. You were just as scared as him, bottom lip trembling, he could even see your shoulders shaking. "...okay…" 

The feeling was so uncomfortable. You couldn't even focus between the throbbing pains that shot up your back and the tearing pull between your legs. Tears burned your eyes, you thought you might pass out. Marko was rapidly wiping away sweat from your face, letting you hold his hand. Even if you broke it, unlikely, it'd heal in an hour anyways. 

"Okay how many fingers can you manage," Dwayne asked, getting a strange look from Paul. "Just tell me how many, you asshole.:

"It's like, all my fingers man I dunno what that means."

"Go to her man, I got this," he assured, pushing him up to you. Paul climbed up on the bed beside you holding you tightly in his arms with your shoulder nestled against his armpit with one arm over your shoulder and the other you immediately snatched his hand, panting rapidly. "Shh slow down baby, slow down."

"God it fucking hurts," you whine, throwing your head back on the pillow. Blood stained the bed, a thick pink-red spot on the blanket spreading out. Your face was completely flushed as a tight pressure slowly dragged down your back that made your toes curl. If Paul wasn't pinning you in place you would be writhing. There was a horrid fire in your body, there were no words left in you, only screams. Dwayne's urges to push were muffled, the ache in you back slowly pulled lower until you were able to hear them. A thick gurgle followed by high pitched, raspy wailing. While Dwayne had pulled the infant into a thick, fluffy towel something felt wrong. It still hurt. Your stomach felt no relief, in fact you felt it pull and ache again. "Wa...wait i.. no it's-it's not done, I'm not done," you whimper in a panic.

"Wait what the hell do you mean you aren’t done?! I thought there was just one?!”

Paul looked over at Dwayne, who in turn ran to David and passed the swaddled newborn his way much to his dismay. “Just hold them for a minute man, we weren’t exactly expecting more!

“I got it,” Marko volunteered, climbing off to bed to hold the baby carefully in his grasp. Your screams tore through, a second wave of pain reviving old agony. There was little relief as the same horrid tension in your back spread out. Paul coaxed you through it, but somehow it hurt even worse than before.

“No,” you cried, shaking your head. Your face burned, tears streaming down your face leaving your vision completely blurry. “No no no, I can’t, let me go! I can't, I can’t! Paul, I can’t-!”

“Baby, listen you can do this! You got this, yes you fucking do,” he yelled over you holding your head to his shoulder. “Listen to me. C’mon you fucking got this, kitten! Don’t you give up, don’t you dare fucking give up now!”

With everything you had you screamed until your throat felt raw, pushing as hard as you could until finally, finally… it stopped. A huge wave of relief made your muscles go limp. Two. You just had given birth. To twins. The realization had finally hit Paul asw he looked up at Marko still holding his first born. “Are they…”

“Dude, you got a girl,” he beamed, carefully passing the swollen new born half-awake clinging to the towel. Occasionally her grey eyes squinted open, making trembling whimpers until she nestled back into sleep.

You managed to catch your breath, Marko helping you lay down while Dwayne circled around with your son. A boy too. You couldn’t help but laugh through tears, finally able to see his face after so many months of waiting. Paul couldn’t even hold back tears, laughing like an idiot as he pulled you both in his arms. “Fuck man… oh shit I’m a fucking dad,” he choked out, trying to hide his tears.

“Let it out man,” Marko teased, patting his shoulders.

“Shit man I can't stop crying... they’re so perfect.” Paul ran a hand gently over his son’s head still softly crying in your arms, watching him soothed as he clung to his finger. He looked you in the eyes, both of you just in utter awe that you brought not one, but two lives to the world. Nothing but tears and smiles between you. It was October 31st, 2 am, and you had spent the past four and a half hours of Hell to bring your twins (Girl Name) and (Boy name). Paul could not even fathom the amount of love he was feeling, trailing kisses all over your lips and cheeks. “Happy Halloween, kitten.”

You couldn’t help but laugh, laying your head back against his chest just unable to tear your eyes away from your beautiful new family after so many hours of grueling pain, so much waiting, in the end it was worth more than either of you had ever dreamed.

 “Happy Halloween, babe…”

[woah-were-halfway-there]

Along For The Ride.

Word Count: 10.9k

There was just something about the off-season that Carson loved. But realistically, how could she not? 

The weather was warm. Carson got to spend loads of time with her loving fiancé seeing as he wasn't busy playing hockey. She could even work from home during it all after landing her managerial position around six months earlier. It was a pretty great setup if Carson was honest. 

However, this summer wasn't as peaceful as it had been years prior. 

It was the beginning of July. Carson and Auston had been back in Scottsdale for no more than a few days, and it was pretty lowkey. Like always, it took Carson a bit of time adjusting to not being at her home in Toronto. However, this specific year was even more difficult because she was insanely sick. 

She wasn't feeling the greatest leading up to their departure from Ontario, which was part of why she and Auston were so late leaving once the season had concluded. Almost every morning, for about a week and a half, Carson woke up at an ungodly hour with the need to vomit. 

She convinced herself it was just a bug of some sort or the flu, seeing as some days she wasn't as sick as others. Auston, however, thought it was a bit more severe than that. But, he gave Carson her space because she knew her body best and rescheduled their flights from Toronto until finally, she felt well enough to travel. 

Carson's first night back in Arizona was fine. The second, however? Not so much. 

After a lowkey day relaxing by the pool with her fiancé and cuddling with their almost fully grown puppy, Frank, Carson, and Auston had plans to go over to his parent's house for the evening. 

Seeing as Carson and Auston got engaged during Christmas and didn't have much time to spend with family because of Auston's hockey schedule, they never really got to celebrate the engagement with his family due to how rushed their last visit was. So, Ema took it upon herself to cook a massive meal for the whole family as a way to congratulate the two of them once they were back in Arizona for the summer. 

It was nice, too, because Carson has always been relatively close with Auston's family. Ema and Brian considered her to be like a third daughter, while Alex and Breyana welcomed her with open arms and accepted her as someone else they could plot against their brother with. Carson really did love spending time with them, so she was pretty excited about this dinner. 

But then things didn't go as planned. 

Once Carson and Auston arrived and were greeted by Auston's family, Carson was ushered away so that Ema, Alex, and Bre could all catch up with her while Auston went off with his dad to look at something in the backyard. 

Carson was telling Alex how work was going as they walked into the kitchen but then was met by a scent that made her stomach churn so intensely that she had no other choice but to bolt to the nearest washroom. 

Concerned over what had just happened with Carson, Auston's mom and sisters followed after her to make sure she was alright. Once she was done throwing up, Carson apologized to them for just running off as Bre grabbed her some Listerine to rinse her mouth out with, and Ema handed her a glass of water. 

"I really thought this sickness was passing," Carson sighed as the four of them made their way back to the kitchen. 

"Do you know what's wrong?" Alex asked while climbing onto one of the barstools at the island. 

"Not a clue," Carson shrugged and sat between Alex and Bre after Ema refused her help with dinner. "Thought that I might've eaten something that didn't agree with me, but I've been sick for well over a week now."

"Have you consistently not been feeling well?" Ema asked as she rinsed off some vegetables and glanced up to her future daughter-in-law. "Auston was saying you'd wake up sick most days and, for some of them, couldn't even get out of bed because of how nauseous you felt."

"Yeah, it's been pretty weird," Carson explained. "Aus has been trying to get me to go to the doctors, and I really should have before we left Toronto, but yesterday and the day before, I felt fine and didn't get sick once. I don't know. Something I smelt as we were walking in here just did not hit me well, I guess, which is strange because you know how much I love your cooking Ema."

Auston's mother smiled at Carson's comment as she turned off the running water and looked away thoughtfully as if debating something. 

"Mom, what're you thinking?" Bre asked with a pointed gaze. 

"Nothing!" She replied. "I'm just wondering." 

"About what?" Alex pressed, causing Ema to sigh. 

"Carson, sweetheart, please do not take this the wrong way or that I'm assuming anything," Ema started and looked at Carson. "Just from what you've told me, it got me thinking about how sensitive to smell I was when I was pregnant with these two and Auston. It's common in expectant mothers, as is morning sickness… Do you think pregnancy could be a possibility of what this is?"

Carson's instinctive response was to say no. She didn't think she was pregnant. She and Auston were always so careful, but before she replied, she got thinking. 

There's always the possibility of a slip-up, and Carson knew that. She also knew a bit about the symptoms of being pregnant, such as morning sickness and sleepless nights, but then she began thinking about her period and how it had been over a month, maybe two, since she last had it. That's when her eyes widened in shock.

"Oh my..." Carson gasped and covered her mouth as tears began pricking her eyes. "I'm late. I'm so late."

 Alex and Bre looked at each other on high alert and spoke in unison. "No way."

Carson glanced around at the three women, who looked back at her with nothing but love and support, but it did nothing to ease her nerves. 

Could she be pregnant? It was never really something Carson and Auston talked about. Sure, they made comments about having babies one day, and there wasn't anyone else Carson would want to be the father of her children, but she and Auston never talked about it in depth. She knew that Auston loved kids, but they had only been engaged for all of six months. Was it too soon?

Carson wasn't sure what to think or feel about the possibility of being pregnant, but the symptoms were there and the fact that her period was unnaturally late just added to it all. 

"How could I not notice these things?" She groaned and dragged her hand down her face in defeat. "There's just been so much going on, and oh my god, what if I actually am pregnant? How am I supposed to mother a whole child?"

Carson could feel herself begin to panic, but Ema was around the island and pulling her into a hug before it could get too bad, even though she still cried a little bit. Both Alex and Bre joined in, too, trying their best to make Carson feel better and make ease of the situation. 

"You don't know for sure," Alex said. "But you know that we're all here to help you regardless, right?"

"Yeah," Carson sobbed while moving away to wipe away her tears. "It's just a lot to take in."

"Everything will be okay, but I will say that I, for one, would not be mad if I became an aunt soon," Bre chimed in, causing everyone to chuckle. 

"When you and Auston are heading home, why don't you stop by the store and pick up some tests just to see," Ema suggested as she moved over to the other side of the counter again. "We can also make you a doctor's appointment for early next week."

"I will, and yes, that sounds great," Carson told her with a nod. "Cause even if I'm not, you know, expecting, an appointment wouldn't hurt, seeing as I have been sick. Thanks, guys. I really appreciate the support and love. Now I just need to figure out how I'm going to tell Auston."

"Tell me what?" Auston's voice sounded from behind Carson. It wasn't long until his arms wrapped around her waist, and he was placing a soft peck to her temple before looking around at his mom and sisters. "Did I miss something?"

"Just something you and Carson can talk about later in private," Ema told him and sent Carson a wink, knowing she'd tell Auston as soon as she was ready. "Why don't you four go watch some TV? Your dad and I will finish up dinner, and then we can eat?"

Immediately, both Alex and Bre locked eye contact with their brother as they stood up from their seats, but unfortunately, Auston was faster. 

"I'm picking the show!" He yelled before bolting from his spot behind Carson and out of the room. The girls weren't too far behind him, leaving Carson and Ema to watch and shake their heads. 

"Children, all of them," Ema said before coming around to Carson again and pulling her into one more hug. "You tell him when you're ready, sweetheart. I know you're probably nervous, but he loves you so much, and everything is going to work out just fine. Alright?"

"Yeah," Carson told her future mother-in-law with a smile. "Thank you, Ema, I mean it. If I am pregnant, this child will be so insanely lucky to have you in their life. I'm just… really nervous."

"Are you trying to make me cry? Because I will. And I understand, Carson, but there is no one else I'd rather my son experienced this with if that is the case. You're going to have an amazing support system, and you know you can come to talk to me about anything or ask any questions you have, right?"

"I do."

"Good," she said with a smile while giving Carson one more squeeze. "Now go with the others before they start complaining about me hogging you."

As soon as Carson arrived in the living room, she went to walk past Auston so she could sit with Bre, but he prevented that from happening by grabbing her hand so that she'd stop, then glance up at her with somewhat of a pout. 

"Can I help you?" Carson asked with raised eyebrows, earning chuckles from both of Auston's sisters. 

He looked at her with a bit of a pointed gaze in response before pulling her closer, indicating that he was hoping she'd sit with him. "What were you and mom talking about? Everything okay?"

"Uh, yeah, everything's fine," Carson responded before letting out a small huff. "I, uh, I just got a little sick again shortly after we first got here..."

"Again?" Auston asked, making no attempt to hide the worry that laced his voice. "Carse-."

"I know, Aus," Carson cut him off while shaking her head. Auston sighed as she looked to Alex and Bre for help. They weren't quite sure what to say because both knew Carson needed to be the one to tell Auston what she really thought was going on, but luckily Bre was quick to the rescue.

"Auston, would you hurry up and pick a show already?"

He scoffed and immediately looked to his little sister with a scowl. 

"Yeah, let's go," Alex chimed in. "And can you please pick something that's not The Office?"

"What's wrong with The Office?" Auston asked in a tone as if saying that was the most offensive question he'd ever received. 

Carson chuckled and squeezed his hand. 

"We can talk when we go back to the house, okay? But I want to catch up with your sisters first. I haven't really gotten the chance to do that yet."

Carson didn't leave much room left for argument, so with a nod, Auston let go of her hand and observed as she went over to the girls to talk before getting comfy and putting on The Office anyways. 

The rest of the evening went by quickly. Carson didn't eat a whole lot at dinner, having lost her appetite from getting sick, and she could tell it was worrying Auston. He watched her like a hawk the entire time, and it just made her feel even more nervous to tell him about the possibility of being pregnant. 

Once everyone finished eating, Carson and Auston helped Brian do the dishes so that Ema could finally have a break, while Alex and Bre cleaned off the table and went to pick out a board game. After a few competitive rounds of Jenga, Carson and Auston called it a night and headed home, but not without making plans to be back later in the week for another visit. 

On the way back home, Carson asked Auston to stop at a CVS so she could run in and purchase some pregnancy tests. She didn't tell him that's what the two of them were stopping for, but after a quick dash inside and an interesting look from the cashier, Carson went back to the car and tried to keep the contents of the bag hidden until they were back at the house. 

Throughout their relationship, Carson quickly learned that Auston was much more observant than a lot of people gave him credit for. He caught onto the small things like her mood changes, mannerisms, and so much more. So, it wasn't surprising that with the way she walked out of CVS, chugging a bottle of water before moving to a second before the two of them got home, he knew something was up. The fact that Carson bolted upstairs to their shared en-suite almost as soon as they walked through the door was a dead giveaway as well. 

Auston was worried. How could he not be? Part of him wanted to make a doctor's appointment right then and there because he knew the way Carson was acting had to do with how she hadn't been feeling well. He just wished that she would talk to him about it. After about 10 minutes, he became fed up with his nagging thoughts and followed after her to the washroom. 

Carson was sitting on the edge of the bathtub, hunched over with her head in her hands when a soft knock sounded on the door, and her fiancé soon peeked his head inside. 

"Hey," Auston greeted softly, worry prominently shown on his features as he observed her rough state. 

"Hey."

"Did, uh, did you get sick again?" He asked hesitantly as he sat down beside Carson and gently laced his hand with hers. 

"No," she told him and shook her head. "I feel like I could, though."

"Carson."

"Not in the way that you're thinking, Auston. From nerves. I'm so nervous I feel like I could throw up."

"What do you mean?" He questioned and squeezed her hand. "Did something happen?"

"Yeah, well, when we were at your parent's house," Carson started with a sigh. "After I got sick and was talking to your mom and sisters, I got thinking."

Auston watched as Carson used her free hand to reach over and grab the phone that sat beside her on the bath's ledge. He couldn't help but smile as he looked at the picture of her and him in front of the tree at the Leafs team Christmas party from the year prior set as her lock screen, but then she unlocked the device and opened an app with a tiny pink flower on it. There was no way he'd ever know what the app was for, so he just watched as a calendar opened up and Carson started scrolling through the months. 

Carson stopped once she reached April of that year and looked down at the only highlighted week that indicated significant dates she never thought of twice during the last two months before handing the phone to Auston so he could look at it as well. 

"What's this?"

"The app I use to track my period," she explained, not taking her eyes off of him as she waited to see how he would react. "That week in April that's coloured was the last time I had it." 

"Baby, that's almost two months ago."

"I know."

Carson continued watching him as he processed this information, it not taking much longer before his eyes widened and looked back at her. "Wait, you don't think you're -."

"Pregnant?" Carson finished for him. "I don't know. Like, the symptoms are there, and it makes sense..."

Auston kept staring at her, absolutely stunned but was quickly brought back to reality when Carson's phone alarm went off in his hand and caused him to jump.

"So, I took three tests that I got from CVS," she continued. "They're over there on the counter, and the results should be showing by now."

It was then Auston's gaze finally left his fiancee so he could glance at the three pregnancy tests sitting in a row on the vanity that he didn't notice before but remained utterly silent.

"Auston, please say something."

"I- this is why you think you've been sick?" He asked, and Carson nodded. "Holy shit, Carson, I-I don't even know what to say."

"Tell me that it's going to be okay," she pleaded, not being able to stop the sob that escaped her mouth or the tears that formed in her eyes. "That regardless of what those tests say, we're in this together, and it'll all be fine because right now I'm absolutely terrified, Aus, and I really need you with me for this."

"Hey, Woah, who said I was going anywhere?" 

"No one, it's just… we've never talked about having kids. I didn't want to just spring this on you. You still have your entire career ahead of you and-."

"And you being pregnant is not going to impact any of that negatively," Auston told her firmly as she sniffled a little bit. 

Carson then smiled slightly at his words, beginning to wonder why she was so worried to tell him in the first place. "I'm scared."

"You do not need to be," he assured as he reached over to grab her left hand so that the two of them could look at Carson's engagement ring together. "There was a reason I got you this and asked you to marry me, Carson. It's because you're the one I want to do this whole life thing with. There's no one else I'd rather start a family with than you, okay? You're it for me. And I mean, we already have Frank."

"You're right," Carson chuckled and reached up to wipe away a few stray tears that still spilled. "I love you, Auston. So much."

"And I love you," he replied and pulled Carson in for a kiss. Once he pulled away, he looked back at the counter nervously and gave her hand another squeeze. "Think we should go check those out?"

"Ready whenever you are."

Carson and Auston slowly stood up with a deep exhale and made their way over to the counter. Neither of them let go of the other's hand as they walked but jumped slightly when Frank strutted his way into the room, making the entire thing a real family affair. 

After one final glance at her fiancé, Carson looked down at the three tests and felt her breath hitch when she saw that each of them had a positive symbol. 

Auston wasn't long pulling her into his embrace so he could mutter sweet things while placing the softest pecks to her head. "We're having a baby."

"Oh, my God, we are," Carson replied and squeezed him a little tighter. "I need to make a doctor's appointment as soon as I can, though, Aus. I don't know how far along I am. Right now, this is all a guessing game."

"We can call first thing in the morning and get it all figured out," Auston assured while leaning away slightly so that he could look at her. "But tonight, we'll just take it easy, alright? Maybe try to find a way to break it to Frank that he's not going to be an only child anymore."

"Oh, I'm sure it'll devastate him," Carson teased before leaning down to pet the miniature Goldendoodle that laid at her feet. "But, I do think there may be three women who live pretty close by that are anxiously waiting for news about whether or not they're getting a new family member. Think we should call them?"

"Probably not a bad idea," he told her with a smile before leaning in to press a soft, loving kiss to her lips. "Then we can call your family if you want to."

"Sounds like a plan to me."

~*~

The rest of the summer went by in a blur. The day after finding out she was pregnant, Carson and Auston went to the doctors together to confirm everything and make sure nothing was wrong. After some tests, the doctor assured the two of them that their baby was healthy, explained how Carson was roughly eight weeks along based on the information given regarding Carson's last period and gave tips on how to deal with specific pregnancy symptoms like nausea. 

Carson spent time with Auston's family almost every day, which she was completely okay with. If she wasn't shopping and spending time with Ema, or just talking about life in general with Brian, she was hanging out with Alex and Bre; and those two sure never made any attempt to hide how excited they were about becoming aunts.

"I'm convinced my family is going to steal you away from me one of these days," Auston said one night he and Carson had gone out to dinner.

"They're excited, Aus," she replied while shaking her head at him. "We're not the only ones who can't wait to meet our little one."

He smiled at her response and watched as Carson mindlessly placed her hand on her stomach, smiling even wider as he thought about the baby she was creating. Their baby. It was surreal. 

Telling Carson's family that they were expecting was interesting. The first people they shared the news with were her dad and his girlfriend, Alice. The day the doctor confirmed how far along Carson was and everything, she immediately wanted to call her dad to share the news. He and Alice were ecstatic and were curious about how she planned on telling her siblings that they would be an aunt and uncle soon. 

With Carson's sister Mya living in Vancouver and her brother Nate residing in Montreal, it was difficult for the three siblings to be in the same place simultaneously. Still, they always had FaceTime calls to catch up with and torment one another. That summer, after finding she was pregnant, Carson didn't tell them right away. Instead, she waited until she visibly had a bump to show off, then during one of those FaceTime calls, she stood up so they could see. 

"Is that a bump?" Mya asked as she squinted and leaned closer to the screen of her phone, unsure if she saw correctly. Once she saw her sister nod and smooth a hand over her belly, Mya gasped and threw her head back dramatically. "Carson!"

"Shut up," Nate said, his jaw-dropping open as he realized what Carson was indicating. "Did you eat a watermelon seed?"

"I hate you," Carson replied and rolled her eyes at how her brother was making fun of how she used to think women got pregnant by eating watermelon seeds when she was little. "You two are going to have a little niece or nephew pretty soon."

"I'm going to cry," Mya stated. "I just need to see my pregnant sister in person, goddammit."

"Is Auston there?" Nate then asked.

"Yeah, he's right here," Carson replied and shifted the iPad she was calling on so her siblings could see him.

"Hey, Auston."

"Yes, Nate," Auston said, unable to keep a straight face because he knew what was coming.

"So, uh, next time I'm in Toronto, or you're in Montreal, I'm going to have to kick your ass for knocking up my sister."

"Nathan!" Carson gasped. 

"I'm just giving him a fair warning that the next time I see him, it's on sight," Nate replied with a shrug, earning a laugh from Mya and another eye roll from Carson. 

"You know, that's valid," Auston chuckled before Mya and Nate went on to congratulate him and Carson. 

The next person they told over FaceTime was Carson's oldest and best friend, as well as her old roommate, Lexie, who just screamed with joy and excitement before crying over the fact that her best friend was going to be a mom. 

Everyone else, Carson and Auston, wanted to wait to tell. 

Nearing the middle of September, Carson was about 20 weeks pregnant and well into her second trimester. It could not be assumed that she was already halfway through her pregnancy to an unknowing eye, but Auston saw the changes. 

He noticed them in her appearance, how there was a subtle bump when she wore tight-fitting clothes or walked around in one of his t-shirts. Even noticed them in her mannerisms, with mood swings and weird things she'd crave at the most random times, learning the hard way of how difficult it was to tell a pregnant woman she couldn't have poutine regardless of how bad she wanted it because she was not in Canada. 

But what he noticed the most was how Carson carried herself. Auston knew damn well that she was always one to take excellent care of herself, but from basically the moment Carson found out that she was pregnant, it was like that motherly instinct kicked in immediately. She didn't overwork herself so she wouldn't get stressed, ate the best foods she could, and spent so much time researching ways to bring a healthy and happy baby into the world. It truly blew Auston away, and he was so insanely excited to meet the little one the two of them made together because he undoubtedly knew they were going to have the best mom in the world.

When the time came to leave Arizona, it was hard to say goodbye to Auston's family, but it was more of a see you later, seeing as they already had plans to visit Toronto in the upcoming weeks. 

Carson was excited to be back in Toronto and experience whatever was left of the summer weather, even though it was stupid hot. It almost felt like she never left Scottsdale with how intense the sun was, but at least she was home. And that made it much more bearable. 

Auston was always there, adjusting the AC to the perfect temperature in the condo so that she'd be comfortable and making sure that she stayed hydrated at all times. Carson loved seeing the fatherly instincts Auston developed as well, and it sure made her feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside, but she also made sure to tell him if he was a little too much and remind him that she was capable of doing things herself. 

The two of them were back for only a short amount of time before Auston delved into practicing and having to leave for preseason training in the Muskokas with the Leafs, but in that time, they did a lot. 

The first project Carson and Auston tackled was starting to redo the condo's office, which no one used, and beginning its transition into a nursery. This project required a lot of planning, but with a couple of trips to IKEA, much to Auston's dismay because he was ready to drop an unnecessary amount of money on luxury baby items, they got a good start on it all. 

Carson had a few doctor's appointments within that week as well. Her doctor in Toronto wanted to make sure everything with the baby was okay, and once she determined it was, she rescheduled for Carson to see her again so she and Auston could find out the sex of their child. 

Unable to contain her excitement and nerves, Carson slept a little restlessly leading up to that appointment. Auston noticed this but didn't give her a hard time about it because he was excited too. 

But then the two of them agreed not to learn the baby's sex. 

Carson still went to the appointment, and the doctor was able to tell the baby's sex as she performed an ultrasound on her growing belly. Still, instead of telling Carson and Auston, she wrote if their baby was a girl or a boy down on a piece of paper and sealed it in an envelope so that if either of them changed their mind, they could look at the results. 

A few days later, Auston had to leave. Training luckily meant that the guys weren’t away from Toronto for long, even with the preseason games. But, Auston was still very reluctant to go. 

"Aus, you have to go," Carson told him as she crawled from her space on the bed to where he was sitting at the end of it, placing soft pecks to his exposed shoulder as she wrapped her arms around his waist. "It's only for like two days."

"Not a selling point," Auston replied and turned to face her. His eyes then flickered down to Carson's stomach, taking in how it had grown even more in size and how prominent it was in the lilac tank top and pair of Roots track pants she wore. However, Carson still managed to hide her bump whenever she went out in public somehow, which was fair because no one else knew she was expecting outside of the family. "Don't want to leave you… or the baby."

Carson smiled as he reached over to gently place a hand on her stomach before leaning in to kiss her. The gesture made her melt a little bit, but Carson was still the first to pull away. "I know, babe. But, we're both still going to be here once you get back."

Auston didn't respond but sent her a narrowed glance instead. 

"Don't look at me like that," Carson told her fiancé. "What are you going to do during the regular season when you're gone for much longer?"

"Bring you with me," he deadpanned, and this time it was Carson that gave him a look.

"I don't think so. The more weeks that go by, the more even the thought of flying makes me want to vomit. Coming back to Toronto was enough of a challenge. Plus, I'm going to start going into the office for work again now that we're back."

"Guess I'll just have to fly back as much as I can," he stated with a shrug. "Cause I refuse to be away from you for long, especially with your due date approaching."

"We've got until February, Auston," she explained. "Nothing to stress about."

"Not yet, at least."

Carson shook her head in frustration at his stubbornness before climbing off the bed so that she could help gather a few last-minute things before his departure. "I think you're being dramatic."

"Why? Because I'm afraid, I might miss the birth of my child?" He unintentionally snapped and immediately felt horrible when he saw Carson jump in response to his sudden change in tone. She was shocked at his outburst and remained utterly silent as the two of them stared at each other. "Fuck, I'm sorry, Carse, I didn't mean-."

"Is that what you're worried about?" She asked before setting down the t-shirt she was holding and walking over to him again. 

Auston sighed. 

"I- yeah, I've been thinking about it a lot actually. I'm just scared that I won't be here when you need me, and the last thing I want is to be away when you go into labour and..."

"Auston," Carson started while linking her hands with his and pulling so that he'd stand up from the bed. "I need you to tell me when things like this are bugging you. That way, we can try to figure something out together. We still have lots of time before we need to start worrying about any of that, babe. And even then, I think we'll be fine. You play for a great franchise and have amazing teammates. When we decide to tell them that we're going to be parents, I'm sure they'll be insanely supportive and understand if you have to miss a game. That's even if it comes to that."

Auston just looked at Carson for a moment with an unreadable gaze, and she wasn't quite sure if anything she said got through to him, but then a tiny smile danced its way across his lips, and he was soon pulling her into his embrace. "How do you always know what to say?"

"I don't," Carson explained while cuddling closer to him. "I really wish I did, but I'm just as scared as you are, Aus. However, I know that we're in this together, and it's all going to work out... So that helps a lot."

"God, I love you so much," he stated while leaning down to kiss the top of her head.

"Good, cause the feeling's mutual."

"Well, I would hope so!"

"No one else I'd rather be stuck with, Matthews," Carson replied, causing Auston to scoff. She then pulled away to look up and smirk at him before patting his chest and nodding towards his suitcase that still needed to be packed. "Come on now, Steph will be here to drop Mitchy off soon. Then you guys need to go."

"Yes, dear. Still don't know how you plan on telling those two we're having a baby."

"I'll figure it out."

The day after Auston left, Carson spent time relaxing with Frank. It was nice to chill, but the day after that, she had plans to get lunch with Steph at a nearby restaurant, and Carson was extremely excited to see her. It'd been a long summer not seeing one of her best friends, and Carson knew Steph was ecstatic to spend some time with her as well.

However, Steph was a little thrown off by how Carson was acting at lunch. 

Carson had taken a bunch of time that morning to look nice. It took her over an hour to do her hair and even longer decide what to wear. She ended up wearing a long, flowy maxi dress that hid her bump exceptionally well, then paired it with a pair of strappy sandals and some bangle bracelets. All in all, it wasn't anything about her appearance that threw Steph off, but rather how she was acting. 

What started it was how Carson barely talked about herself at all. Steph filled Carson in on all the details about her and Mitch's summer that she hadn't already shared with Carson over FaceTime and expected her to do the same. But she didn't. 

"It was, uh, pretty uneventful," Carson somewhat lied and started picking at the Caesar salad on her plate. "Spent a lot of time by the pool and with Auston's family, but other than that, it was pretty lowkey."

"You're joking," Steph stated and leaned back in her seat with crossed arms. 

"Excuse me?"

"Come on, Carson," she said and threw her head back in a dramatic groan before looking back at her friend. "You always have the funniest stories whenever you and Auston come back from Scottsdale. Did something happen? What are you hiding? Oh my god, did the two of you elope?"

"What? No!" Carson screeched, causing her to burst out laughing. "We're still engaged, Steph. You and Mitch would've been at the wedding even if it was in secret. Pretty sure Mitch would disown me as his twin if I didn't want him there."

"That's what I like to hear. And I'm just messing with you, hun. I'm really glad you're back, but you're sure everything's okay? You just seem I don't know… off."

Carson gulped as she attempted the most natural smile that she could. "I'm fine."

"Carse…"

"No, really, Steph," she assured, feeling a little anxious all of a sudden. "I just haven't been feeling all that great lately. Actually, I'm just going to run to the washroom real quick. I'll be right back."

"Oh, okay," Steph replied as she watched Carson stand up and grab her bag to take with her. "Take your time. I'll order us some sangria."

"Uh, none for me, thanks," Carson told her, earning herself a surprised look. "I'm good with water."

Steph didn't reply, just looked at Carson, wholly shocked over the fact that she turned down sangria, something she'd never done before. 

Unsure of what else to say, Carson awkwardly nodded towards her before fleeing to the washroom. 

As she was going, she took out her phone and texted her fiancé. 

Carson

This is proving to be rather difficult.

Auston

What is? Everything alright?

Carson

Yes, everything's fine. It's just really hard not telling anyone we're expecting, y'know? Please remind me why we haven't told Mitch and Steph we're having a baby yet cause this is getting painful. 

After hitting send, Carson waited for a second to see what he'd respond with; but when he didn't, she tucked the phone back into her purse and entered the washroom. 

A few minutes later, once she finished washing her hands, Carson felt her phone buzz with a new notification and moved to pull it back out, freezing as she did so. 

Auston 

… Mitch knows.

Before Carson could even react, her phone started ringing, and Mitch's contact picture showed up. Still a little shell-shocked, she answered the device and held it up to her ear.

"H-hello?"

"You're going to be a whole mom!" The oh-so-familiar voice of her cousin, Mitchell Marner, sounded from the other end, and Carson couldn't help but chuckle at it slightly. "Congrats, wow."

"Yeah, I guess I am," she told him with a smile while shaking her head. "Thanks, Mitch."

"So, when were you planning on telling me, hm?"

"I was still trying to figure out how," Carson told him honestly. "Didn't want you to freak out."

"Oh, I'm trying really hard not to murder your fiancé right now," he stated casually. "But luckily, my happiness for both of you overpowers that."

  "I can't with you. Now, speaking of my fiancé, you wouldn't happen to know where Auston is, would you?"

"Right here, babe," Auston's voice called from nearby, indicating that Carson was on speaker. "We just got back to the hotel, and I was driving, so it was Mitch texting you from my phone."

"I see, so that's how you know?"

"Yeah, the two of you didn't plan that out very well, if I'm honest," Mitch replied. "All the guys are kinda nosy. Literally, anyone could've been looking at his phone."

"No, pretty sure it's just you," Auston stated loudly, causing Carson to cover her mouth in an attempt to silence her laughter as the boys started bickering. 

"Okay, that's enough, you two," she said while putting the call on speaker as well so that she could gather her things and head back to the table. "Steph's gonna think I got lost on my way to the washroom if I don't go back soon. Now I'm going to have to figure out a way to tell her that I'm pregnant."

"Wait, you haven't told her yet?" Mitchy asked, a bit of concern lacing his voice. 

"No, not yet. Why?"

"Uh, no reason!"

"You told her already, didn't you?" Carson heard Auston ask, her mouth falling open when Mitch's silence confirmed the answer to her fiancé's question. "Bro, you haven't known for five whole minutes yet!"

"So?" Mitch argued. "I got excited!"

"That doesn't mean-."

After that, Carson zoned out a bit and did not hear the rest of Auston's response because, as if on cue, the washroom door swung open, and a familiar voice called out, making her jump. 

"Carson!?"

Although she couldn't see her from where she stood, Carson knew it was Steph that had just barged in, and it seemed that Auston and Mitch knew as well. 

"Oh, you've done it now," Auston snapped while Mitch scoffed. 

"How is this my fault?"

"Because you literally have the biggest mouth."

There was no way Steph didn't hear the conversation happening on the phone, so Carson stayed silent as she waited for her friend to come around the corner to where the sinks were and braced herself for impact. 

As soon as Steph appeared around the wall with an unreadable expression, Carson was more terrified than ever. 

"Is that Auston on the phone too?" Steph said as she walked up to Carson. Still unsure of how to approach what was happening, Carson kept quiet and nodded. "Great. So I get to ream him out as well."

Silence. 

"Uh, so, we're gonna go," Mitch finally spoke up, and Carson could briefly hear Auston say he'd call her later. "Bye!"

Once the line went dead, Carson hung up and tucked the phone back into her bag, all without looking from where Steph stood in front of her. 

"So, um…"

"You're PREGNANT!?" Steph cut her off, and Carson couldn't help the sigh of relief she let out, seeing as Steph sounded more excited than upset.

"I am," Carson replied and chuckled a little bit. Steph just stood there shocked, but then Carson turned to the side and started pulling the back of her dress so that the front would be tight against her body, showing off the bump that had been hidden the entire time. 

"Oh my god!" Steph squealed before rushing over and engulfing Carson in the biggest hug. "How? When did this happen?"

"I'm not going into the details of how it happened, Steph," she explained, causing Steph to laugh as she pulled away. "But we found out during our first week back in Scottsdale. I just thought I was sick, but after talking to Ema, I decided to take a few pregnancy tests and sure enough…"

"Oh babe, congratulations, I'm so happy for you and Auston. Wow, my best friend is going to be a mom!"

"And you're going to be an honorary aunt!"

"Ahhh, I am!" She screeched excitedly but was quick in going straight-faced and looking serious again. "I mean… what the hell Carson, why didn't you tell me?"

"Okay, drama queen," Carson told her with a scoff, easily breaking her facade. "To be fair, outside of me, Auston, our parents, siblings and Lexie, you and Mitch are the only people who know."

"Oh, I'm so sorry, knowing your cousin, there's going to be a lot more people who will know very soon."

"Yeah, I'm just waiting to talk to Auston again tonight and find out that the entire team knows."

"That is exactly what's going to happen," Steph replied before gently smacking her hand to her forehead, both of them laughing as she did so. "Do you know what you're having, or your due date, or anything? Wait, how far along are you even!?"

"Oh geez," Carson began with a smile. "Well, Auston and I decided not to find out the baby's sex, but the doctor wrote it down and put it in an envelope for if we changed our minds. So that's currently sitting in a drawer at home."

"That must be killing you."

"It is! I'm trying really hard not to look, but who knows? I'm weak. And I'm almost 20 weeks along now. My due date is February 4th."

"20 weeks?" She gasped. "Damn, mama, you look good."

"Why, thank you," Carson laughed and quickly struck a pose.

"Anytime," she replied with a wink. "I hope you know just how spoiled this child is going to be. Oh, and that there's no way I'm not throwing you an over-the-top baby shower."

"I don't know; I think Mya, Alex and Bre might have you beat to that."

"Fair enough. That's fine, though. We can plot together."

"I'd expect nothing less," Carson said and reached out to pull her in for another hug. "You know, I was terrified at the thought of being pregnant. But having people like you and Mitch and my family here to help and just having Auston go through it all with me, I realized I did not need to be. So, thank you, Steph. I really wouldn't be able to do it without any of you."

"Excuse you, I wasn't prepared to cry today," she mumbled and gave Carson another squeeze. "This baby is going to be so loved, and they're going to have the best parents."

"Well, now you're going to make me cry." 

After that, the two girls moved away from each other and wiped away the tears that had formed before finally going back to the table and finishing lunch. 

~*~

Time started going by insanely fast once Auston was back from training, and before Carson knew it, hockey season had started. 

By that point, it was next to impossible to hide her baby bump. During the month of being back in Toronto leading up to the Leafs home opener, their little one started making themselves known, and Carson was just too exhausted to keep a secret that didn't need to be kept. 

The entire team knew she was pregnant. Carson had received quite a few congratulatory texts a month prior within only hours of Mitch finding out, and even more in person whenever she was around any member of the TML franchise. 

The best part, though, was watching Auston whenever someone brought up the fact that he was going to be a dad. He'd always smile a little wider, and there'd be this tiny glint of excitement in his eyes whenever he talked about it. Carson was getting excited too, but watching him just made the whole duration of her pregnancy that much better. 

Even though Auston wasn’t playing in the home opener because since his wrist was still recovering from surgery in the summer, his family flew in and Carson was going to join them sitting in the stands for the first game of the season. She spent the entire day with them taking Frank for a walk, grabbing some dinner and then getting ready with Alex, seeing as Bre was still in Arizona for school, before heading to Scotiabank Arena. 

Once they arrived, everyone walked down towards the glass to watch a bit of the pregame warmup. Carson, Ema, and Alex found a few open seats to set their coats on before turning their attention back to the ice. After a few minutes, Carson sent Steph a quick text to let her know where they were since she would be there with her aunt, uncle and cousin Chris to cheer on Mitch. 

As soon as she put her phone away, Carson's gaze immediately fell on Auston as he stood over near the bench, dressed nicely in his suit, waiting for the opening ceremony to start. He spotted her, then winked and waved before going back to talking to one of the assistant coaches and pointing to Carson and his family as if to show that they were there. 

Carson blew him a kiss back, to which Auston smiled, but then she watched as he looked to the right a little bit, and that smile faded. Curious about what caused his mood to change so quickly, Carson followed his gaze and eventually saw a reporter and a cameraman with their camera pointed directly at her. 

"Alex, is it just me or are they taking pictures of us?" Carson asked Auston's older sister and nodded towards the reporter. 

Alex looked towards them and scrunched up her face a little bit. "I think so? That or a video, I'm not sure. They must be, or else Auston wouldn't be looking at them like that." 

Carson wasted no time looking back to her fiancé Sure enough, Auston was glaring at the two people. His face was unreadable, but his expression was stern, and Carson knew he would not start that game off happy. 

"I wonder why," Ema said as she noticed Auston’s hard expression and the reporters.

"I think I know why," Carson whispered loud enough for them to hear before looking down at her belly, which was rather prominent in the jersey she wore, then protectively placed her hand on it. Carson could have easily bought a newer, larger Matthews jersey, but the one she wore still fit comfortably enough that she didn't feel the need to do that yet. Sure, her pregnant belly was quite visible, but she didn't really care because Carson knew she would be surrounded by people who weren't going to judge her and knew she was expecting. But at that moment, thanks to the reporters who were undoubtedly about to make Carson's pregnancy their next big headline, she had never felt more self-conscious. "Can we go up to our seats, please?"

"Yes, of course," Ema said and started ushering Carson and Alex out of the row they were in and back up the stairs to their actual seats. She kept a comforting hand on Carson's back as they went, which Carson thanked her for as she tried her hardest not to cry. 

Once they reached their row, Carson looked down at the ice once more to see Auston give her an apologetic look before having to turn his attention away from her get ready for the game. 

Being in their proper seats relaxed Carson because they blended in with the entire crowd. She didn’t see the reporter again, but she was still upset when Brian joined them, looking more confused than ever. 

"Hey, Woah, is everything alright?" He asked, looking between his very upset-looking wife and daughter, before landing his gaze on Carson and seeing that she was on the brink of tears. "Oh, Carson. Did something happen?"

"Um, there were reporters," Carson explained. "They were filming us, and... I don't know. Maybe I'm being dramatic, but I can't help but think that as soon as the game is over, everyone's going to know I'm pregnant."

"I see," Brian replied and looked at Ema. "They didn't approach you guys or anything, did they?"

"No, I don't think they would have," she told him.

"But still," Alex spoke up from beside her mother. "That's not fair. This is Carson and Auston's business, not anyone else's."

"That's the thing," Carson added while shaking her head. "I don't care if people know we're going to have a baby, and I know Auston doesn't either, but not like this. I didn't want it to be a big spectacle, and now I feel like that's exactly what's going to happen."

"I guess all we can do is wait," Brian said with a sigh. "You can talk to Auston about everything once the game is over. Hopefully, nothing will happen between now and then."

Carson nodded in agreement and took a deep breath to calm herself down a bit. "You're right. Let's just watch the game; it's not worth getting upset over. I'll just talk to him once he's home tonight."

Everyone agreed and settled into their seats just as the entire Leafs roster. Carson went to sit on the other side of Alex but was stopped by someone's hand on her arm, causing her to snap her gaze to its source and see Ema. 

"Carson, you have every right to be upset," she said quietly but firmly. "You're going to be a mother soon, it's in your instincts to want to protect your baby, and the only way to do that right now is by protecting yourself. So don't think you're being dramatic or have no need to be upset over those reporters because you do. You never liked being in the spotlight, and this is worrying you, isn't it?"

Carson let out a breath and nodded. 

"It is, and I just feel so helpless. Like I knew my pregnancy becoming public knowledge was bound to happen, but I was hoping it'd be on my terms. Something I'd have control over."

Carson paused as she heard someone from a couple of rows back start talking about something they saw on Twitter. 

“Woah, is Matthews having a kid?”

At that, Carson’s eyes started welling up again before she groaned and frustratedly pushed her hand through her hair. Eventually, she looked back to her future mother-in-law and fought the urge to cry all over again. 

"As I said before, I really don't care if everyone knows," Carson explained. "But the last thing I wanted was for this to be a whole big thing that distracted people from the team because that's what we're all here for, right? This is already getting out of hand and-."

Carson's voice cracked as a sob involuntarily left her mouth, and she was no longer able to keep the tears in anymore. She sat down quickly to attempt not to draw any attention to herself, while Brian, Ema and Alex tried to console her.

"I'm okay, thanks, guys," Carson told them after taking some deep breaths and being able to calm herself down a bit. "I'm so over these hormones already."

"Perks of being pregnant," Ema told her with a smile before giving her arm one last squeeze and moving away. 

"Are you sure you're alright?" Brian asked sympathetically, and Carson nodded. 

"I can go back to the condo with you if you need to leave, and we can watch the game there?" Alex offered. "I'm sure Auston would understand."

"No, no, it's alright. Thank you. But, there's nothing I want more right now than to watch my favourite hockey player with some of my favourite people. I might head out a little early and just meet Auston at home, but until then, let's just try to enjoy the game."

"Sounds like a plan," Alex replied with a smile.

 Once the game concluded, Carson left. The Leafs had won, and she wanted to give Auston the chance to see his family once he finished all of his postgame stuff with the team. Carson also didn't want reporters asking her any questions if she went to see her fiancé, so instead, she and Steph went straight to the parking lot and drove back to the condo once Steph and Mitch’s family caught up with her and were filled in on what happened. 

Steph offered to stay with Carson until Auston was home, but Carson assured her that she'd be fine. After saying goodbye and telling Steph to text her once she was home, Carson went up to the condo and changed into comfy clothes. Once she was done, she curled up on the couch and watched the post-game interviews and highlights before sending a quick text to Alex about plans for breakfast the following morning.

However, Carson's train of thought was disrupted because as soon as she turned on the TV, Auston appeared. 

He was being interviewed about the game, like always, answering questions about how he thought the team played even though he couldn’t comment on his own performance. It was nothing out of the ordinary, so Auston responded to the question quickly. Just as he was about to leave, Carson could hear a reporter from off-screen pushing for one more question and watched as Auston's expression visibly hardened. 

"Auston, before you go, can you answer one more thing for us?" A voice asked, and Carson could see the debate in Auston's eyes of whether to stay and answer their question or just leave. But, her fiancé knew how bad it looked just to cut off a reporter without reason. So, with a deep breath, he nodded and waited for what it was they wanted to ask. "We were just wondering about your girlfriend, Carson. How is she doing?"

"Fiancée," Auston corrected, not missing a beat. "And she's doing just fine, she was here tonight with my family, but I think she's gone home by now. What does this have to do with hockey exactly?"

"Is there a reason she left so suddenly?"

Carson knew exactly where the reporter was going with their questions and started feeling anxious all over again because of it. Although she was aware of how well Auston could handle the media, that didn't stop her from scrambling for her phone and texting the first person she thought of. 

Carson 

Mitch, please get him out of there if you can.

Part of her didn't expect her cousin to text back right away, seeing as he did just finish a game and all, but the other part was hopeful that maybe, just maybe, he was near his phone and saw it go off since he had already done his interview for the night. Carson waited for a second, watching her phone screen as she heard Auston start speaking again and had to avert her attention back to the TV.

"She, uh, she was pretty tired, had a long day hanging out with my sisters," he replied calmly, but Carson could very clearly hear the annoyance in his voice. "Again, not sure what this has to do with the game we just played or why it's any of your business."

"Oh no, no, no," she muttered and burrowed herself further into the fuzzy throw blanket she wrapped herself up in. Frank seemed to notice Carson's distress and wasn't long in hopping onto the couch so he could curl up on her lap and provide some reassuring hand licks as she continued watching the television. 

"It's just that she was seen before the game and didn't look too well," the reporter continued while Auston looked at them with raised eyebrows. "Is she sick?"

Although Carson was thankful they didn't just flat out ask if she was pregnant, she still groaned at how badly they beat around the bush as a way to confirm or deny their suspicions.  

"No, she's quite healthy."

Her phone then buzzed with a new text, and she couldn't help the audible sigh of relief that left her mouth as she saw who it was from. 

Mitch

On it. 

After typing back 'thank you,' Carson moved her gaze back to the TV, completely missing what the reporter asked but catching what Auston had to say in return. 

"You know, I think you've made some type of assumption for when it comes to Carson… is there really a need for me to confirm or deny whatever it is you're digging for?"

No one spoke again after that. It was just the sounds of cameras flashing and the odd mutter in the background. An awkward moment of silence went by, and soon enough, Mitch appeared behind Auston and tapped him on the shoulder, telling him to leave. The two boys disappeared off camera, and Carson was quick in shutting off the television altogether so she wouldn't have to hear what anyone had to say about everything that just happened. 

Carson wasn't sure how much time went by of her just sitting in silence petting Frank, but soon enough, she was met by the sound of the door being unlocked and Auston entering the condo. Frank was immediately off her lap to greet him, and she wasted no time in hiding the small envelope she was holding behind one of the cushions before going to see her fiancé as well. 

"Hey…"

"I'm going to have that reporter fired," Auston stated firmly as he hung up his coat and eventually looked at her. "I don't know how I'm going to, but that was a complete disaster. There has to be something that can be done. That was too much."

"I know, I saw," Carson told him quietly in hopes of calming him down a little bit, but he didn't have it.

"Like, who do they think they are just asking someone that as a way to get a story? The fact that they were trying to dig into our personal lives apparently wasn't enough. They had to make a big scene about it. I'm surprised they didn't just ask your due date or something like that."

Carson hated seeing him so upset and just felt so crappy about the whole situation, but she wasn't sure how to approach it. "Aus, I know this sucks… a lot. I was there too. But it's really not worth getting upset over. They wanted some sort of a reaction from you."

"And they got one," he huffed while frustratedly pushing his hand through his hair. "Did I seem as big of a dick as I feel I was? I tried so hard not to snap at them, but..."

"I know," Carson replied and gently reached out to grab his hand. "I appreciate you defending our privacy, and I know all the guys don't blame you for how you handled those questions. It's just- I can't help but worry that you're going to get in trouble with management because you did lose your cool a little bit, babe."

"I don't care. I'd do it again. Management can get me in all the shit they want, but it won't matter because I refuse to let a reporter, or anyone for that matter, go after you and our baby again. God, I'm so sorry, Carse, this is all my fault. You shouldn't have had to deal with any of this."

He was livid, that much was evident from the moment Carson saw him glare at those reporters before the game even started, but he needed to calm down. Auston beating himself up over something he had no control over wasn't beneficial to anyone. However, Carson knew for him not to do that was easier said than done. Which was why after turning off the interview, she thought of a way that might ease his worries and wasted no time rushing into the kitchen and grabbing a tiny envelope she knew resided in one of the drawers. 

Carson thought about waiting until Auston was home to open it up and look at the envelope's contents together. Still, her curiosity got the better of her, and she snuck a peek at the small sonogram of their baby from the appointment she had almost a month prior, then read what was written on the back of it. 

Now Carson was left figuring out how to tell him what was on the back of that picture, but Carson just knew that telling him would help ease the current situation the two of them were in. So, without a second thought, she wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled until her head was able to rest on his chest.

The gesture caught Auston slightly off guard, but he quickly reacted and soon enough had his arms wrapped around her while placing a soft peck to the top of Carson's head. 

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Auston," Carson stated while squeezing him a little tighter. "You were being your protective self and looking out for the ones you love. You're incredible, do you know that? And it's just things like this that I can't help but think of how our little girl is going to have the best dad on the planet."

At that, he went stiff, and Carson couldn't stop the enormous grin that began stretching its way across her mouth. Auston eventually pulled away just enough to look down at her with wide eyes and a shocked expression. 

"Little girl?"

"Yeah," Carson told him and let out a tiny sob as the happy tears began pricking her eyes. "Baby Girl Matthews will be making her debut here pretty soon."

"What, I-," Auston started but stopped himself as he pulled her in for another tight hug and just held her there for a minute. "We're having a girl?"

"We are," she confirmed while reaching up to wipe away her tears. "I'm sorry I looked without you."

"That doesn't even matter," he said before moving away so that he could lean down to place a soft, sweet kiss on her lips. "I'm just- wow."

"I figured if the world is going to know we're expecting, at least this could be our little secret for the time being."

"You know my sisters are going to lose their minds over having a niece, right? Although I really would have been happy with whatever we were having."

"Me too," Carson agreed. "But this way, us girls get to keep you outnumbered for a bit longer."

"A bit?" Auston asked and looked at her questionably. "Are you suggesting that we have another baby before the first one is even here?"

"I mean, I don't hate the idea," she explained with a smirk. "Not that we need to think about that yet or anything, but yeah, I could see myself having a few kiddos with you."

"I like the sound of that," he replied and gave Carson another peck on the lips. "But after this little one arrives, I think I actually want to marry you first."

"Not opposed to that idea either."

[ocalaghan]

Full House (of plot holes)

So I spent a decent chunk of my 2020 watching Full House for the first time. I binged the majority of the eight seasons in the space of a month after Netflix announced it was going to be removed when I was only on season three, so I ended up noticing an awful lot of plot-holes. I then watched Fuller House afterwards and of course, there are plot-holes in that too.

So here they are for your reading pleasure. 

If you wanna talk about them or even add more that I missed, hit up my ask! 

( click here for other plot-hole masterposts )

JESSE’S NAME

Jesse’s last name changes early on in the show. It was Jesse Cochran before suddenly changing to Katsopolis after season one. This is apparently because John Stamos wanted his own Greek background represented in Jesse’s character, which is understandable. I just find name changes annoying in shows.

AGES & BIRTHDAYS

Ah... a huge one that many, many, many TV shows fall victim to screwing up. 

Let’s start with Jesse since his is fairly simple. His age skips from 23 to 26 in the space of about a year and a half. Then at the end of season five, he claims to be 29, which is a little better, but it’s more likely that he should be 28 at that point.

Next, let’s talk about Michelle. Her age stays pretty much as consistent as it can, and it kind of has to, since she is the character who ages the most noticeably, being that she was a baby when the show began. But her birthday is the issue, since it seems to skip around the year to whenever it feels like. 

There was an episode that covered Michelle’s third birthday which seemed to happen around summer time. 

Then, her fourth birthday happens right before the festive season. Season four continues and then ends in early summer, when the schools are breaking up for summer vacation (all the seasons seem to cover a full school year and then end during summertime). Nine episodes into season five, Michelle has a fifth birthday. 

During and after her fifth birthday, everyone seems to be in summer clothes. I understand that San Francisco doesn’t get cold bitter winters (anyone from there wanna confirm or deny?) but from what I can research, it’s not warm enough to be wearing legit summer clothing outdoors all the time. 

In season five, episode sixteen, Michelle actually says her birthday is in November. So that confirms it is indeed not long before Christmas but the timing of her third birthday disputes this. 

In season six, episode fourteen, Kimmy celebrates her 16th birthday. However, this episode is two after the Christmas episode. So, that means Kimmy’s birthday must take place in January, maybe February. This makes no sense as in season four, Kimmy celebrated her birthday before the festive episodes, presumably sometime in autumn. Her official birthday is apparently also November 29th. So why is she celebrating her sweet sixteen weeks later? 

Onto Fuller House... in season two, episode six, Danny says he just turned sixty. This pretty much lines up with how old he would’ve been at the end of Full House, but the episode is a Thanksgiving episode. Danny’s birthday is meant to be December 11th. So either he has forgotten he is not yet sixty or he’s forgotten he is almost sixty-one. 

DJ’s official birthday is February 9th. She celebrates her 39th birthday in episode ten of season two of Fuller House... but this happens immediately before the Christmas season begins, presumably in late November, maybe early December. That’s one early birthday celebration. Then in season three, episode seventeen, DJ claims to be forty when she is speaking to Danny. She should still be thirty-nine, as it’s only autumn, so her 40th birthday hasn’t arrived yet. 

BECKY’S PREGNANCY 

Memorably, Becky goes into labour in season five during Michelle’s fifth birthday party and gives birth to her twin sons later that same day. 

Now, consider that Becky found out about her pregnancy at the very end of season four, which was right before schools broke up for summer. Let’s assume that was June. She was not showing at all. If she were to have gotten pregnant in May or June, then given birth in November, she would only have been five or six months pregnant. We know that she carried almost to full term because on the day of Michelle’s birthday, she says the twins are a couple of weeks early. This means she more likely would have gotten pregnant in February or March right after she and Jesse’s wedding, but it’s weird that she wasn’t showing any signs of pregnancy at all by June. 

In episode one of season five, Becky and Jesse get a scan and find out they’ll be having twins, and she is visibly six months pregnant at this point. 

But that baffles me because are you telling me she didn’t go for a scan until she was SIX MONTHS GONE? Did scans work differently in America in the 90s? Confused. Especially because Becky was in contact with her doctor at the end of season four in order to confirm her pregnancy, so it seems weird that someone as organised as her would have NOT went for a scan before then. 

JOBS

People’s jobs are a big part of the show, particularly because the three main male characters are quite ambitious and have big dreams. But there are some confusing aspects. 

Jesse and Joey start their own advertising business in season two but it was rarely mentioned during season three. Then in season four, Joey got a job voicing a cartoon kangaroo on a TV show and Jesse’s band got booked for a tour. There was no word of how they were supposed to continue their business. Especially considering Danny was a silent investor in that business! That was never mentioned again.

By episode four of season five, Jesse shows off the converted garage (AKA Joey’s old bedroom) and how it’s been turned into a studio. Joey then talks to him about how they were in the advertising business together for three years and now Jesse’s back to doing his music and Joey is “going back to comedy full-time.” Apparently Joey’s starring role on the cartoon was completely forgotten about. I guess you could assume the show ended up getting cancelled after all but it’s weird that it wasn’t mentioned since that was a pretty huge break in his career. And then a little later in season five, Joey gets a part starring on a different kids’ show as presenter Ranger Joe. It seemed a bit weird for him to have a part on a show, have the plot forgotten about entirely, and then give him another part the season after.

Additionally, Jesse’s music career is a central point for his character but it’s a bit all over the place. He has his long-term band, Jesse and The Rippers (which seems to be made up of about two dozen people at any given moment), and they got booked for that tour at the end of season four, but then obviously in season five, Jesse is trying to juggle fatherhood and songwriting in order to get a record deal, whilst also doing small music gigs on the side for extra cash, but his band don’t seem to be a part of any of that. Is Jesse trying to make it as a lead singer or a solo artist? It’s hard to tell. 

In season six, Jesse is signed to a label and his single goes to number one in Japan. But it’s very clearly stated that it’s Jesse and The Rippers -- him and his band. They all go to Japan yet the focus is entirely on Jesse. JUST MAKE HIM A SOLOIST. There’s also various other mentions of him still being a part of the band but nothing he does musically seems to involve them whatsoever. He even forgets the name of his bass player in an episode of season six which is fucking weird considering he’s been in this band for years. Even if the bass player was a new member, that’s fucking rude. 

Then mere episodes later, both Jesse and Joey get a job as radio presenters. That’s fine, but in that same episode, Joey is given a new co-host on his Ranger Joe show. Didn’t Jesse have the job of co-host just a handful of episodes prior? 

Joey gets fired from his show right after this for speaking out against his new co-host anyway. It’s just all very messy. 

Until the end of the show’s run, Jesse and Joey are co-hosts of the radio show. Jesse inherits the bar known as Smash Club and recreates it, becoming a business owner as well, and it’s briefly mentioned before the show’s end that Joey is still doing the occasional small comedy tour. Jesse also continues to try and make it in the music world, but his band kicks him out because he doesn’t have enough time to rehearse any more, prompting Jesse to get a new band together and go on tour. I don’t really get how that’s possible when he and Joey have a radio show and he has a business to run. It feels as though these two men in particular lost sight of their ambitions as the show went on. 

JESSE & BECKY’S WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

Becky decided that she and Jesse should marry on Valentine’s Day. Obviously, this makes their anniversary in February. 

However in the season six finale, Becky discusses how they will have a second honeymoon when attending a family vacation to Disney on their anniversary. However this trip takes place at the beginning of summer... so it can’t have been their anniversary.

It’s possible she was talking about their anniversary of getting together rather than their wedding anniversary but it seems odd she would mention a honeymoon in relation to that. 

DANNY & PAM'S RELATIONSHIP HISTORY

An aspect of the show that never gets discussed is the fact that Danny and Pam became parents when they were still very young -- still in college, even. In season one, DJ is ten years old. There is an episode regarding Danny’s birthday mid-way through the season, and he turns thirty. This would mean that he and Pam had DJ when they were just nineteen. 

That in itself is not a plot-hole, though it is odd they don’t have conversations about it, because that must’ve been difficult. 

It’s more that Danny and Joey frequently reminisce about their college days, and girls they dated whilst in college. Danny must’ve only been in college for around a year before becoming a father, meaning he had a lot of antics to squeeze into a short space of time. 

But wait! That still makes no sense at all. Danny and Pam met in tenth grade -- when they would’ve been about fifteen years old. They apparently eloped at a young age (when they were nineteen, actually) and upset their families. All of that implies they were together from high school through to college. So when did Danny have time for college girlfriends? Danny is not shown to be the type to cheat so... 

He and Joey also discuss how they struggled to get dates for prom, and how Danny had a crush on Pam in junior high but was too shy to admit it. None of this really adds up or makes sense as per the timeline of their relationship. 

It also doesn’t sound so wholesome when you realise it was probably a shotgun wedding due to Pam already being pregnant with DJ. 

Suddenly, Danny and Pam’s fairytale romance seems a lot more like sheer dumb luck that their relationship was able to survive an unexpected teen pregnancy whilst they were still in college, and both families were hurt and angry at them about their non-traditional wedding. 

KIMMY’S FAMILY

I can’t reference specific episodes because I’m struggling to remember, but I swear to God, Kimmy is referred to as an only child at some point in the series (and if anyone knows the episode that is mentioned, PLEASE tell me).

But in season one, DJ says Kimmy has three sisters. 

Then later in the series, it is revealed Kimmy has an older brother named Garth.

And then in Fuller House, a younger brother is introduced -- Jimmy. However, Jimmy’s existence is a bit of a puzzle. In season three of Full House, Kimmy says she is glad her parents stopped having children after her, making it clear she is the youngest Gibbler child. There is a decent age-gap between herself and Jimmy, as it’s mentioned in season three of Fuller House that he is twenty-eight. With Kimmy being about thirty-nine at this point, there is eleven years of a difference between them... but back when Kimmy said she was glad her parents stopped having kids after her, she would’ve been about thirteen. Meaning Jimmy should’ve already been born. 

The four other Gibbler siblings are never mentioned again. 

DISAPPEARING PETS

This plot-hole seems to be a recurring theme, though I guess they are more of a dropped plot. 

Remember that horse called Rocket that DJ really wants in season two, and though she ultimately can’t buy him, Becky decides to and says DJ can ride whenever she wants? Yeah, what the hell happened to that horse? That’s a pretty big commitment and poor Rocket was never really discussed again after that. 

This happens in Fuller House too. 

Max gets chickens as part of a school project in season two and names them Danny, Joey, Jesse, and Becky. These chickens don’t stick around for long and after he completes the school project, we don’t see them again or find out where they went. I assume they were rehomed, but with DJ being a vet, it seems pretty irresponsible to let your kid think getting any kind pet is a temporary thing. 

Then, in season three of Fuller House, Ramona is gifted a pony. We don’t see how or where they intend to keep this pony but it’s small so I guess one might assume the backyard since their yards are quite spacious. In fairness, the pony is seen again a few episodes later at the homecoming dance Ramona planned, and it is mentioned in season five, episode ten. So the pony is still around but it’s also never made clear where he was kept. 

THE LAYOUT OF THE FAMILY HOME

One that I’m sure irks many -- the way the Tanner family house is set up just doesn’t make any sense. They have two staircases leading to the upper floor of the home but you never actually see how that’s possible or pans out. One might assume that the staircases each lead up to opposite ends of the hallway, which is fair, except they’re frequently seen to lead up to the same part of the hallway somehow. Similarly, there are two sets of stairs in the garage, but it’s not very clear where the second set is supposed to go -- they’re positioned directly opposite the ones that come from the kitchen, so logically, that must mean they lead out to the part of the yard we never get to see. Maybe. It’s hard to tell.

There’s also no attic... actually, the roof is completely flat. Yet Jesse and Becky move into the slant-roofed attic, and convert the whole thing into a full apartment. Annoyingly, in the second episode of Fuller House, when Kimmy and Ramona are moving in, DJ suggests they live in the attic. She gives them a tour and shows them where the twins’ bedroom was... except it’s on the opposite side of the attic now? The entire layout changes entirely with zero explanation.

As a bonus to the attic conundrum, in the first episode of season five of Fuller House, the kids seem surprised when Danny reveals the house has an attic. When they go up to the attic, it is cluttered with stuff, and has become a storage space. Sorry, but hasn’t Kimmy been living in that attic for around two years? When did she move out? When did they move all the junk into what used to be an apartment space? How did the kids forget she was living up there? Especially Ramona, who as far as I know, is still living in the Tanner-Fuller home and not next door with Fernando (where I assume Kimmy must have inexplicably moved to)?

Then, believe it or not, it gets more annoying. In season five, episode eight, Kimmy claims she lives in the attic of a home of people she is not related to. So she’s apparently still living in the attic EVEN THOUGH IT MAGICALLY BECAME A NORMAL ATTIC AND NOT A BEDROOM FOR HER ANY MORE. In the penultimate episode of the show, we see the girls digging around in the attic for ‘something old’ and ‘something borrowed’ for their wedding. HOW IS THE ATTIC BOTH KIMMY’S LIVING SPACE AND AN ACTUAL ATTIC? AHHHHHH. 

There’s also no word of how the driveway ever worked as a driveway when it was seemingly beneath the house, with no obvious way to drive out of it (obviously this isn’t so much an issue since it gets converted into a bedroom/studio but... you get the idea). The bathroom and Danny’s bedroom are also apparently completely interchangeable in multiple episodes. 

BECKY’S FAMILY 

Becky frequently talks about growing up on a farm in Nebraska, working and raising the animals throughout her childhood. This is mentioned from her entrance into the show all the way to the very end. 

However, when her parents enter the picture, they don’t seem like simple farm folk at all. They’re very wealthy and don’t come off as the type to own and work on a farm. Her cousin also visits with his wife and their twin daughters in the duration of the show, and he too is very rich and stuck-up. They even discuss how Becky once dated a rich man that they thought she might marry one day. It doesn’t really match up with what Becky describes as humble farmyard life. 

Additionally, in season two, Becky says her parents are called Wilbur and Rose, both of which come off as sweet names for a couple of farm folks. But when she and Jesse get married, they are introduced as Kenneth and Nedra.

JESSE THE DROP-OUT (EXCEPT NOT REALLY) 

In season six, there’s a whole plot spanning more than one episode in which it’s revealed Jesse is a high school drop-out, and he begins going to night school in order to finally graduate. 

However... in season four, he had attended a high school reunion, in which there’s a flashback about his high school sweetheart. It’s specifically mentioned that he graduated, because he refused to wear his graduation cap in case it messed up his hair, and he was still at school the day prior to the graduation. 

DANNY’S FAMILY

In season one, Danny’s nephew Steve comes to visit. Steve is seventeen years old and Danny mentions that his parents are getting divorced. He refers to Steve’s father moving out, which may be a hint that Danny is not related to the father -- therefore meaning it must be an older sister of Danny’s who is Steve’s mother.

But after that episode, Steve is never seen or mentioned again. Though, of course, DJ gets a boyfriend also called Steve later on in the show, which is a little confusing. Is it that hard to pick a different name? 

Only in season five, do we finally meet a sibling of Danny’s, named Wendy. But Wendy is younger than Danny and travels a lot for work, and is depicted as single and childless, with only an adopted chimpanzee named Ginger as a companion (again with the name thing, though... Joey’s wife in Fuller House is named Ginger!). 

Danny is never mentioned to have any other siblings (and Wendy becomes forgotten about after a couple of episodes too, despite being a short-term girlfriend of Joey’s as well). So it’s confusing as to how his nephew Steve actually existed in the first place. 

BECKY’S SINGING

In season three, Becky is shown to be a lovely singer. Yet in season eight, her voice is suddenly awful to the point Jesse tries to tactfully give her singing lessons as a plot point. She even sings nicely in the Fuller House pilot when the family all sing Forever together though. 

JOEY’S CHICKEN POX

Joey claims to have never had the chicken pox, and contracts them as an adult in season one. However in season four, his dad says he had them as a little kid. Though in fairness, it seemed to be something Joey had forgotten happened up until that moment it was mentioned. 

JESSE’S HOBBIES

In season one, Jesse claims to have met his girlfriend Adriana while skydiving, and actually discusses how he missed the target he was meant to land on. However, when Jesse is getting married to Rebecca seasons later, he opts to go skydiving to do one more wild thing before becoming a married man, and says he took all the lessons for skydiving but never actually did the deed. Confusing. 

He’s also claimed to be very poor at sports (such as basketball, as shown in season eight). Yet in earlier seasons, he’s actually good at games like football and basketball, and seems quite efficient at sporty things. 

JESSE AND BECKY’S THIRD CHILD

I can’t remember exactly when this is first mentioned, I think it’s season five. Jesse and Becky discuss trying for another baby, and they actively do start trying to get pregnant again. But then the next season rolls around and this never gets brought up. I kept holding out hope that it would... but the plot is dropped entirely. 

As we see in Fuller House, they do somewhat correct this by having Jesse and Becky go on to adopt a baby, whom they name Pamela for Jesse’s late sister, which I thought was really nice. Still, it was very annoying to have them hint at a third Katsopolis baby in Full House and then leave everyone hanging for decades. 

FERNANDO’S INFIDELITY

Kimmy and Fernando were split up because of his infidelity. During the show’s run, this was mentioned maybe twice, but there was no discussion of it when they were getting back together and repairing their relationship. Seems like an odd thing to sweep under the rug if you’re hoping to rebuild a marriage with the father of your child.

THE GIBBLER HOUSE

In season three of Fuller House, Fernando announces he has purchased the old Gibbler home next door. Kimmy refuses to move in with him because she made a promise to help out DJ and her children. Later in season three, Kimmy gets jealous that Fernando has decorated a beautiful bedroom for Ramona and tries to gift Ramona better things so she’ll stay living at the Tanner-Fuller house. 

I really don’t understand that plot at all. I know it wouldn’t be ‘the same’ if Kimmy and Ramona moved out of the main house but honestly... does it really matter? They’d literally be right next door. Kimmy was already living with Fernando again in the Tanner-Fuller home anyway, and she could’ve helped DJ out in exactly the same way from next door lmfao. It just seemed really dumb.

SIBLING ABSENCE AT THE TRIPLE WEDDING 

In the finale of Fuller House, we see the adult couples have a triple wedding -- DJ and Steve, Stephanie and Jimmy, Kimmy and Fernando. It is discussed why the Gibbler parents will not be attending the wedding a few episodes prior, but there is never any mention of why Michelle Tanner isn’t present to see both of her sisters get married. Even if the Olsen twins did not have interest in participating in the show, I feel like there should’ve been some mention about why she wasn’t there, as they never made any hint to her being estranged from the family or anything. 

On the topic of siblings... as mentioned earlier, Kimmy had an older brother in Full House, Garth. He was never seen, but he was mentioned by name, and other nameless Gibbler siblings were briefly touched on. They are never mentioned once through Fuller House’s run, and therefore, they are also suspiciously absent from a wedding where two of their siblings are getting married. 

THE ENTIRE TIMELINE OF FULLER HOUSE 

Throughout season five of Fuller House, it is mentioned multiple times that Kimmy and Stephanie moved in “five years ago.” 

Now, it may have been five seasons, but it absolutely has not been five years. 

This is most notable by the fact that DJ is aged thirty-eight when Fuller House begins, and then she has a 40th birthday during the final season. It has literally been two and a half years, guys. Not five. 

[maykonguyendaily]

Need something to break you out of the winter/pandemic blues? Thankfully, Hudson & Rex returns on Tuesday, January 5 at 8/7c to Citytv for its third season. In Season 3, Detective Charlie Hudson (John Reardon) and Rex, his intrepid German Shepherd partner, are back on the trail of St. John’s most devious criminals. Season 3’s caseload promises to present the Major Crimes team with some of their biggest mysteries yet. Charlie and Rex will need every member of the team, including Dr. Sarah Truong (Mayko Nguyen), Charlie’s closest collaborator, by their side.

Sarah is always lockstep with Charlie when it comes to solving cases, and their friendship grows even closer in Tuesday night’s season premiere. In it, Charlie brings Sarah along to a trip the past that details how his partnership with Rex began. Nguyen recently spoke with The TV Junkies about what Charlie’s gesture means to Sarah, as well as what lies ahead for Sarah this season. She also previews some great guest stars, including one that offers up a mini-Killjoys reunion for fans of the dearly departed sci-fi drama. Nguyen played Delle Seyah Kendry during Killjoys’ five-season run and looks back upon that experience with us as well.

The TV Junkies: What’s it like coming back for Season 3, especially when you had to film in such unprecedented times?

Mayko Nguyen: When all of this started going down in March, I just assumed that the entire film industry would shut down for a year. So to be honest, I just feel very lucky and grateful to still have work and get to be together in a room full of people. We were socially distanced and with masks, but I feel so fortunate to be with this family again. It’s been a nice mental break from COVID.

TTVJ: This is also your third season coming back and shooting in St. John’s. Has it really become like a second home? What do you love about being there?

MN: I’ll let you in on a secret, I’m someone that really likes to be in my home. I’ll go away but for a max of like three weeks. Particularly in the first season, I found it really hard to be out here for 16 episodes and six to seven months. The turnaround is quick so we don’t end up being home very long. The second season I got a bit more acclimated to being here, but now, we came in July and the weather was particularly glorious. There’s something that happened this season where it’s really become my second home. Having a new baby and a toddler out here is just so much easier and makes so much more sense.

TTVJ: From the screeners I saw, Sarah seems more confident than ever in her abilities. What’s her mindset like in Season 3 and what were you most looking forward to exploring with her?

MN: Not a ton has changed with Sarah. Year by year the group gets more and more cohesive, and coming from COVID and getting to be together again has been really nice. I think that translates to the show. The four of us become tighter and tighter each year. In terms of Sarah, her work is her life and there’s more references to that this season. She’s pretty reliable and consistent. You know what to expect with her. There’s always stuff happening with her and Charlie here and there. Those are the fun surprises but I can’t talk too much about that. [laughs]

TTVJ: A big part of the season premiere is that Charlie brings Sarah along on a trip to the past, chronicling how his partnership with Rex began. What’s that mean to her to be a part of that?

MN: I loved that episode and it’s quite a departure from how our episodes are typically structured. It felt really special and fun to be outside of the group. Sarah is the newer member to the department and this is a story close to Charlie’s heart. It’s all about how he and Rex started and developed their relationship. In the episode, I’m asked to join this annual tradition and Sarah feels incredibly honored to be a part of that. It further cements her feeling of being a part of the team and not so new anymore. It also makes her feel close to Charlie and their friendship is quite strong.

TTVJ: Hudson & Rex always seems to pull in some pretty fantastic guest stars. Are there any in particular that you’re excited for viewers to see?

MN: In the second episode of the season we have Allan Hawco from Republic of Doyle. I have a favorite, and I don’t think she even knows it, but it’s Cara Ricketts (Anne with an E, Street Legal). She’s on this season and so is Sarah Podemski. I really enjoyed her as well. We’ve had a bunch of really great people.

TTVJ: Because I’m a huge Killjoys fan, I loved that in the second episode of this season there’s a mini-reunion that happens when Gavin Fox, who played Gared, guest stars.

MN: Oh my gosh yes! We were so happy that we actually got to work together. I often don’t have much with the guest stars but we got to share scenes. He’s this big, imposing guy but is just a pure teddy bear. He’s so respectful, lovely, and warm. Just a lovely, lovely person.

TTVJ: Speaking of Killjoys, I wouldn’t be who I am as a person if I didn’t ask you about one of my all-time favorite characters, Delle Seyah. Now that you’ve had some time away from her, what do you think about as you look back to that experience and playing such a dynamic character?

MN: It’s interesting because I’ve found that it’s unfortunate actually because you get so caught up in the work when you’re in it. Of course you’re grateful for it and enjoying yourself, but it is also work. I went in and out of having challenges with her, in terms of keeping her based in reality, but then when you leave a show like that you just miss it. I almost feel like I didn’t appreciate how incredible that experience was when I was in it. I’m someone who broods over my work and has a hard time enjoying things. I always reflect back after the fact when it’s too late. I should’ve taken more time to really enjoy that experience and the people.

She was a really great character, and I had no idea when I set out to play her that she’d have the arc that she had. When you’re in it you’re just trying to do good work, and you’re anxious because you have no idea if what you’re doing is going to translate. To be honest, I don’t watch my stuff and I often questioned my choices as Delle Seyah. It’s not until hearing that people liked her and enjoyed that arc that it felt satisfying to me. I definitely miss her, and wish I had allowed myself to enjoy that experience more while I was in it, and not after the fact.

TTVJ: I was always so afraid she was going to be killed off, and I never wanted to lose her!

MN: She came close, right? Michelle Lovretta [Killys creator] is just so great, as is her writing and what she can do. When I got pregnant I just assumed that I was going to be done. The fact that they not only kept me in, but incorporated the pregnancy into the storyline, allowed it to go so far. She’s just incredible.

TTVJ: What do you think the Green Queens would be up to now?

MN: I feel like not too much. After all of that they’d just be arm and arm and lounging.  [laughs]

Hudson & Rex Season 3 premieres Tuesday, January 5 at 8/7c on Citytv.