Title: Pregnant

Summary: "Isn't Simba a lion?" A glimpse of the Lit future. Fluffy version. Not fat – pregnant.

xxx

His lips kissed her pinkie lightly.

"Stop asking that, you know you don't look fat."

"Maybe not yet," she admitted. "But I will be soon."

"Not fat," he argued.

"Huge," she said with a cringe.

He put his hand on her hip. "Pregnant."

She smiled a little and moved his hand to her stomach. "Pregnant," she repeated to herself.

xxx

"It's not fair for you to drink beer around me when I can't consume alcohol!" she yelled, waving her arms in the air.

"You don't even like beer," he pointed out with a confused frown.

"That's not the point!" she said, getting frustrated.

"Then please fill me in, cause I seriously think I'm missing it," he muttered annoyed.

"You're supposed to go through this with me!" she cried, tears spilling from her eyes.

His mouth opened to respond, but he closed it again, noticing her tears and feeling all anger run out of him. "Rory…" he sighed, moving a step closer to her crying form.

She didn't answer and kept her eyes at the floor.

He gently touched her elbow. Soon she was sobbing into the fabric of his shirt, his hand patting her back awkwardly.

"Look, I'm sorry," he said as she calmed down a little.

"Don't be," she mumbled, wiping her face clumsily. "I overreacted."

"Well, yeah," he pointed out, earning a glare. "But you have the right to."

"I'll try to be less hysterical, I promise." she offered, biting her lip.

"Now, see, what fun would that leave us?" he said, pulling her in for a chaste kiss.

xxx

"I want my old teddy bear!" she exclaimed, turning the lights on.

He rubbed his eyes, blinking confusedly at the sudden light.

"Four in the morning?" he asked resignedly.

"Yes! This stuff is important!" she urged.

"I'm sorry, what's so urgent again?" he questioned tiredly.

"My old teddy bear!" she repeated. "Simba," she added for clarification.

"You need your old teddy bear now?" he asked disbelievingly.

"No," she said as if that was obvious. "And I don't need him. Rachel will."

"Rachel?"

"I watched Friendslast night, just go with it," she said impatiently.

"Okay, but Rachel will not be out of you for a few more months, you do know that right?"

"Yes, duh," she said. "But I just came to think of Simba and I realized I hadn't thought about him in a long time, and I just needed to tell you that we need to find him for Marissa."

"We are not naming our baby after some dead bitch from the O.C., just so you know."

"Not the point. You need to help me find Simba!"

"Now?" he sighed.

"Tomorrow morning," she decided.

"Okay," he agreed. "May I sleep now?" he said with a yawn.

She playfully hesitated for a moment. "You may."

The lights were off again and she lied down to sleep.

"Isn't Simba a lion?" came his thoughtful voice out of the darkness.

She smacked him on the arm. "Go to sleep."

xxx

"Jess…"

"Uh-huh," he answered sleepily.

"Aren't you scared?"

"No, I do not feel the need to check the closet for monsters, thank you very much."

She giggled. "No, silly. That was yesterday."

"Oh, sorry, my mistake," he muttered

It was quiet for a minute, then she spoke again. "I mean another kind of scared. Baby-scared," she added.

"They're like this small," he pointed out, measuring a baby in the air, "I don't think there's much to be afraid of even if there actually were babies in our closet."

She looked at him with a serious smile, putting her hand on her belly. "Our baby-scared," she explained.

"Oh" he said, taken aback.

"I mean, aren't you at all freaked out by this? Jess, you're gonna be a father soon!" she informed him, while biting her lip, her nervous habit.

He didn't say anything for a while. She got impatient and nudged him a little. "Je-ess," she whined.

He looked up at her, sincerely. She immediately stopped. "You are gonna be a great mother," he said earnestly.

She blushed a little, the turned back to meet his gaze. "You really think so?" she asked, a little doubt in her voice.

"I do," he said, cupping her chin.

After a while she broke the comfortable silence. "But… even though that was really sweet and all, you were being evasive."

"I would do no such thing!" he exclaimed, mockingly offended.

"Uh, yeah, you would," she argued. "Like, all the time."

He stuck his tongue out at her. She giggled again, but now chose not to talk, but to wait for the answer she knew, or hoped, was to come. He felt her waiting, and sighed. "I'm not scared."

"Not even a little bit?" she asked. "Cause that would be perfectly normal. I'm totally terrified by this sometimes."

"I know, but you don't have to be," he said, leaning in for a kiss.

"Don't even try that again, Mariano," she said, pulling away. "Talk," she ordered.

"I'm not scared," he persisted. "Maybe a little bit nervous," he admitted after a long expecting silence.

She smiled satisfactory at him.

"A teeny tiny bit," he pouted.

She smiled even wider, and kissed him on the nose. "Good night now. Ron," she added after a while.

"Ron?"

"You know, Harry Potter's side-kick who's always scared when Harry's being brave."

"I gotta learn not to tell you anything, since you always end up using it against me," he grumbled.

"Yep, it's mom's fault. But hey, it's not so bad. Ron's way cuter than Harry."

"So now I'm cute?" he asked disbelievingly.

"Yes," she smiled.

"Not dark and handsome?" he pouted.

She giggled, and he defended himself with "It's really late!"

"Of course you're dark and handsome. And cute!" she assured him.

"Thank you," he muttered, close to her ear.

xxx

She stepped inside, closing the door behind her and moving to the hanger to begin the removing process of her coat. He met her in the hallway and didn't even allow her to get un-dressed; he directly pulled her in for a passionate kiss.

"What was that for?" she giggled once he let her breath again. "Miss me that much?" she asked playfully.

He hesitated, not really knowing how to explain himself without sounding way too cheesy. "I just… you were late and I…" he muttered.

He didn't even have to finish that sentence; she spared him of demanding that he would. She got it. And she knew him well enough to know that just hinting this was something really unusual, even special. She grinned widely at him. He squirmed a little, seeing her understanding. But then she hugged him really tight and he forgot the embarrassment as she pressed her body against him, the feeling of the now slightly showing bump making his lips turn upwards.

"I'm here now," she mumbled in his ear, and he could feel her still smiling.

"Yeah. You are."

"We both are," she added proudly, once again motioning his hand to her belly.

xxx