A/N: So I actually still have ideas for this in my head! If you knew me you'd know that was actually a big deal. I'm excited that I can actually put out decently written work (at least I hope it's decent) and I hope you all enjoy!

This chapter will be a lot cheerier than the one previous so no need to worry… at least not yet. This will take place before the big reveal party, as I'm sure you'll all realize, but in case it's not clear there you go! (Again I play around with time a lot in my pieces, so again I'm SORRY!)

She had finally finished dressing, granted it was nearly an hour and a half longer than expected, but when she walked out of the bathroom he found himself breathless at the mere sight of her. He had planned on teasing her. He wanted to poke fun at her typical womanish tendencies of being late and worrying about clothes, but those mocking thoughts faded away as soon as she stood before him. He smiled up at her and she couldn't help but give a shy smile back.

She was playing with the hem of her blouse, fingers fidgeting. She was nervous, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet, nibbling lightly on her bottom lip.

"Do I look fine?"

The question in and of itself flummoxed him and he couldn't believe it.

He couldn't quite find the words to explain just how wonderful she looked. Beautiful, elegant, radiant, gorgeous, perfect…. He could go on and on. But instead of saying any of this he stayed silent, staring up at her like an idiot.

"You know what, you're right. I'll go change." She took a few steps away from his place near the bed, on her way to their shared closet to pick out another outfit when he caught her mid stride.

"No! No, you don't have to do that." His voice held a little quaver and he sounded like a nervous schoolboy.

She had to suppress a laugh at the youthful tone that had taken over his normal deep and raspy southern drawl.

Sure she had felt uncertain of her appearance before she'd asked, but his obvious change had told her all she needed to know. Instead of heading straight away to Deanna's, she wanted to have a little alone time with him.

Although they worked together and despite the fact that they shared a home, shared a room even, they never seemed to have enough quality time with one another. She figured why not have a little fun at Rick's expense. It was easy enough and she loved doing it, him not so much, but he was a good sport…usually.

"But why not? This blouse is a terrible color, it's hugging too tight and my boobs look absolutely ridiculous! We're still strangers here! It's bad enough that there's a party to even announce the pregnancy, but all we need is to have the neighbors thinking that I'm there for their entertainment! I don't want them thinking that they're getting a free show."

She had to keep herself from laughing, and as hard as it was she managed. She kept her voice sincere, sounding both embarrassed and unbelievably frustrated.

She had watched him closely as she spoke, watched his eyes travel down her body, breaking eye contact to settle on her breasts then on to her protruding belly.

He shook himself back to reality and looked her deeply in the eyes, reaching up to cup her face between his hands.

"Absolutely nobody will think that! And if they do who cares? That's not what we'll be there for, and if that's what they're concerned about then fuck them. We don't need people like that in our life and the little one won't either."

He gave her nose a little peck before joining their lips, "And your boobs do NOT look ridiculous," he mumbled ever so quietly, almost as if he were embarrassed to voice his opinion.

She gave his hand a squeeze before exiting the room a little more quickly than he'd expected.

"I know!" she said as she descended the stairs, laughing all the while. "I couldn't help myself, you're too easy a target!"

He shook his head, astounded at the playful behavior. Damn he was a sucker. He took his turn to be a bit nervous, and he found himself adjusting the collar of his shirt before working his way toward her and her place on the kitchen counter.

"You know you're gonna pay for that right?"

She smiled smugly over the rim of her glass of water, her eyes damn near glinting with mischief.

He leaned against the fridge, crossing his legs waiting some smart ass reply.

She dumped the remaining few drops from her glass into the sink before wrapping her arms around her belly. She gave him a doe eyed look and did nothing but walk away again, she knew it infuriated him when she did that, leaving him to do nothing but watch her retreating form.

"You wouldn't want to scare the baby now would you?" her voice leaking with innocence.

He let out a growl knowing she was absolutely right, he wouldn't get her back, his paternal fear too strong to even think of risking it.

"You're lucky I like you!" he said as he ran to meet her.

He finally caught her and wrapped his arm around her waist as they left the home and walked the dimly lit path to Deanna's.

"No," she said, barely above a whisper, into the dimly lit night air.

"I'm sorry?" he uttered, stopping mid-step.

She followed suit and turned back to where he'd stopped walking. Wrapping her arms around his waist, pulling him closer, she said, "I'm not lucky you like me. I'm lucky you love me, it's something entirely different for you to like me, and for that I'm forever grateful."

She hugged him and he did nothing but hum in response, enjoying the simple embrace more than anyone could have imagined.

She spoke into his chest, "You liking me shows that I'm doing my job right. You can always love me, you don't need to like me to do it. But you do, and that tells me that I deserve to be loved."

He rubbed small circles on her back and pulled back ever so slightly, looking down into her still glowing eyes.

"You will always be deserving of love, and I don't want you forgetting that." He brought her chin up and kissed the spots under her eyes where he had seen tears forming.

She snuffled and pulled at his arm, taking his hand in hers and tugging at it.

"Come on now, we don't want to be late now do we?"

He gave a throaty chuckle

"Oh I see, now you're worried about it?"

She kicked him lightly in the shin and picked up her pace, dragging him along. "Shut up Grimes! We got places to be!"

He sighed his agreement and matched her pace."You're right, I wouldn't want to miss the show!"

Her face turned down in mock aggravation, "You're so lucky I love you."

He kissed her temple, letting his lips linger a little longer than they needed to.

She hadn't expected a reply, so when she heard one her heart swelled in response to the simplest words she's ever heard spoken.

"I know."