Calleigh sat in the passenger seat of their car in the mall's parking lot trying to remember what stores would sell any kind of maternity clothes in her style. She sighed and started to get out, deciding to just walk around the mall and check out different stores. Eric, who had resolved to follow her around wherever she wanted to go today as a personal punishment, got out with her and followed slightly behind her, before lengthening his stride and grabbing her hand. Calleigh looked over and smiled at him, swinging her hand lightly between them.

"Cal, do you want to try one of the department stores? I'm sure that they have maternity clothes, and we could look at baby clothes while we're in there." Eric suggested, trying to help out his wife.

She whipped her head around and glared at him, "I am not wearing department store maternity clothes, seeing how I am not 45 and on my fourth child."

Eric, slightly offended, just nodded his head and offered another suggestion. "What if we try some of your regular stores, and just buy some of the clothes you already have in bigger sizes?"

"Or, I could pick out my own clothes, seeing how I am a big girl." She replied in a sarcastic tone. She was irritated from sitting for over an hour, her back hurt and her clothes were uncomfortable.

Eric reminded himself that he loved his wife, and took a deep breath. "Whatever you want Calleigh. I'll go and wait for you in the food court if you want. I just thought maybe we could do some shopping together for our babies, but if you'd like to pick out some things on your own, that's fine."

Suddenly mortified Calleigh's hand flew up to cover her mouth as her eyes started to swell with inevitable tears. "Eric, please come with me. I'm so sorry."

He moved towards her and pulled her in a light hug, squeezing her gently as she rested her head on his chest. "It's no problem Cal, I know you're not in the best mood today. Where do you want to go?"

She sighed, back at the original issue. Calleigh didn't want to look frumpy, but she didn't want any of the newer 'teen' maternity clothes, so it seemed she was at a crossroad. Eric's suggestion seemed plausible, so she headed towards Forever 21, thinking that maybe she could find some of her favorite shirts in bigger sizes to fit over her belly. Her husband followed dutifully behind, content to follow her to whatever store she decided on.

"This is not working." She groaned, frustrated. "I've tried on a million outfits, I'm hot, and none of these shirts are big enough."

"Calleigh, this store was fine when you were-"

She cut him off and in a harsh tone asked, "What, this store was fine when I was skinny?"

Eric closed his eyes, opening them again slowly to stare at the woman he had to remind himself that he loved. "Baby, you're gorgeous. But, you are 17 weeks pregnant with twins; you can't expect to be the same size as before."

Hearing the argument a brave attendant, who Eric guessed to be about 26, ventured over to help the disgruntled blonde. "Excuse me ma'am, I couldn't help but over hear your dilemma. If you'd be willing to drive a little bit, there is a wonderful maternity store about twenty minutes away. They carry all kinds of new fashions for pregnant women, about your age. It is slightly pricey, but the quality of their clothes is worth it. It was the only placed I shopped when I was pregnant with my son."

For the first time that day Calleigh smiled and nodded, following the woman to the front desk to get their information and a card with a phone number and an address.

"Hey, do you want to go check it out? It's on the way back to the house, and it couldn't hurt." Eric asked.

Calleigh looked down at the card she had been given, and nodded. "Even if I find one outfit, that's something. Because right now, I've got nothing to wear and your mom is having that cook out next week, then we have that 4th of July barbeque at your sisters, and I need to find something decent before then, not to mention work."

As she spoke Eric nodded, knowing that they had a busy few weeks coming up. It was the peak of their summer holidays, and Calleigh was close to that 20 week mark where the doctor would hopefully help them determine the sex of their babies. They thanked the kind attendant again, and returned to their car for the slight hike to what they hoped would be Calleigh's new favorite store. Luckily, the store was open and ready for them when they pulled in not much later. Eric opened the thin glass door, and held it as Calleigh walked through. He admired her for a second, before following her beeline to a clothing rack in the center of the room.

For the second time that day, an attendant approached them. "Hello, welcome to A Pea in the Pod, are you looking for anything in particular?" After a bit of advice and some reassurance that they would call her if they needed any help, she left the couple alone to browse the masses of racks and tables that the store held.

Calleigh warmed up a bit to shopping once she realized that there was some cute maternity clothing if you found the right store. She managed to find 6 new pairs of jeans, with a strip of stretchy fabric to expand over her bump as the babies grew as well as a few pairs of khakis and dress pants for work. Moving on to dresses and tops, she got right into her element. Eric took a seat in a chair by the dressing room after Calleigh reprimanded him for playing with the stretchy belts.

Every few moments Calleigh's words of excitement would penetrate the silence in the store as she exclaimed, "Look at this, I didn't even know that they made formal dresses in maternity!" followed closely by the frequent, "How cute is this!"

Eric smiled and nodded as the pile on his lap grew. Calleigh was currently on an adventure through the shoe department, although she was 'not quite finished' with tops. She had found a few blouses that she would need for work, including a tunic she loved and decided she wanted in green and black, as well as ten or twelve every day shirts that she could wear out and about while running errands or just hanging out at home. Then in amazement, she found the dress section and picked out two different dresses for special occasions this summer. One, a short formal white gown with a black decal and ribbon and the other a long strapless yellow patterned dress. Eric couldn't help but think that even pregnant his wife was going to be the best dressed woman in Miami, these outfits didn't even look like maternity clothes until she tried them on and you could see the definite outline of her baby bump under each of the shirts and dresses. More than once Eric caught his wife eying herself in the mirror, no doubt imagining the rest of her pregnancy, as she got bigger and bigger and then finally the arrival of the babies.

"You look gorgeous Calleigh." She smiled at him, and headed back into the dressing room to change back into her stretchy yoga pants and big t-shirt. Once she was dressed, she looked down and shook her head. Thank God that she found this store, it was expensive, but she could be comfortable at last, and look good at the same time.

She walked out of the small room and looked toward Eric who was guarding quite a pile in his wife's cart, all of clothing that Calleigh had deemed simply adorable. "Ready dear?"

"You bet." He stood up and stretched his arms over his head, giving Calleigh a view of a small strip of his dark muscular stomach. She winked in approval and he laughed before moving the cart and heading towards checkout. Luckily the total was about what they had estimated, despite the change in location. They paid and finally left what was sure to be Calleigh's one stop shopping for maternity clothes from now on.

With a sigh Calleigh leaned back in her seat, resting her head on the rest behind her, before turning towards her husband. She reached over and placed a hand on his neck, turning his head to face her, and leaned over to place a light kiss on his lips. "Thank you for today."

Eric leaned back for a second, and smiled with eyes half shut. "No problem, whatever it took to make you see yourself as the beautiful woman I see you."