Complicated

Disclaimer: Nothing has changed since the first chapter. The show is still not mine.

Chapter 10: Perfect

Calleigh bumped down on the couch with a movement that lacked every grace. Well, it had as much grace as such a movement of a seven-month-pregnant woman could contain. She leant back with closed eyes and rested her head at the back of the couch while stroking her large belly. She relaxed a little and enjoyed the silence that had just settled on the house. She heard as Eric's car left which was followed by the familiar voice of her husband's steps as he approached the room which would hopefully soon be their living room.

Ryan sat down next to Calleigh and put his arm around her.

"Hey!" He said then placed a kissed on her temple.

"Hmm?" She didn't even open her eyes but snuggled closer to him.

"It was quite a tiring day, wasn't it?" He asked while running his eyes around the room which was scattered with boxes. Finally they managed to find a weekend when everybody was free and they could begin the packing. It was quite a challenge to box everything in their old apartment but finally they managed and by the end of the weekend everything was in the new house… stilled packed up. Ryan sighed when he realized how difficult it would be to convince Calleigh that not everything needed to be unpacked in one day. But they still had a whole night before he should convince his wife about that.

He looked down at Calleigh's large belly and stroked it. It always amazed him that a little life was growing there. It was wonderful… and it was more wonderful when the baby kicked.

"Calleigh!" Ryan exclaimed excitedly leaving Calleigh's embrace and giving his full attention to her belly. "She kicked!"

Calleigh looked at him and her hand also found her belly.

"No kidding. Really?" She asked Ryan while she grimaced in pain when the baby kicked again.

Hearing the discomfort in her voice Ryan looked at her and became worried. Calleigh gave him a reassuring smile and squeezed his hand which rested on her belly. Truth was that however unpleasant the kicking could get sometimes, she liked the feeling of it.

"She is kicking every organ in her reach whole day. I tried to calm her down a little but she wouldn't listen. Don't worry, Ryan. I'm sure she'll calm down sooner or later… My money is on later, though." She hissed the last sentence as the baby kicked again.

"Alright." He said with determination in his voice. "I'll talk to her." And with that he turned his attention back to her belly not noticing the raised eyebrow that his wife was giving to him. "Look, little girl. At the moment your Mommy feels quite uncomfortable so what about being quiet for a little while, huh?"

"Oh, thanks Ryan, it certainly made the tr…" She couldn't finish the sentence as the baby kicked again.

"Alright." Ryan said standing up and walking to the pile of boxes searching for something. "I'll try something else. I really don't like the idea of it but desperate times call for desperate measures."

Calleigh waited patiently while closed her eyes and continued stroking her belly in a vain attempt to calm her daughter. She listened to the noise Ryan had made and suddenly from somewhere the room she could hear loud metal music filling the room. She relaxed a little as she let the music wash over her. Meanwhile Ryan resumed his previous position next to her.

"Is it better?" He asked after a little while.

Calleigh opened her eyes and looked at him while contemplating a little a while. After she hadn't felt anything, she gave her husband a bright smile.

"Yeah, thanks, Babe."

"You are welcome. But promise me something, will you?" He asked her with despair in his voice. "Next time we're pregnant, you'll listen to Mozart instead, okay? Or something else. I don't mind but I don't think I can bear anymore from this stuff."

"Whatever, Honey." And at that moment her glanced shifted from Ryan's face towards the doorway where their three-year-old son stood with hands plastered on his ears. Calleigh smiled at him then looked at the woman standing behind the blond boy. Alexx, who was looking after him during the day, mouthed that she was leaving and Calleigh said a thank you in similar manner then Alexx left the family alone.

Ryan, after having noticed them standing in the doorway, stood up and turned of the stereo. During his way back to the couch he gathered the little boy into his arms and together they sat down next to Calleigh.

"Hey, Danny. What's up?" She stroked the boy's blonde hair.

"I don't like when she is doing this." The little boy whined in his father's lap.

"What, Honey?" Ryan asked him.

"Not being good. Every time she is bad, I have to listen to this music and I don't like it."

"Oh, Sweetie, she is not bad, she just likes to move. And sometimes it hurts me. That's all. And she seems to calm down at this music. And, little boy, if I remember correctly, you did the same while you were in here." Calleigh explained smiling.

"Really?" He looked at his mother's large belly curiously with his big blue eyes. He seemed to be thinking about something. "I think I found out something." He stated seriously while reaching out with his hand towards Calleigh's belly.

"What, Honey?" Calleigh inquired.

"I think she doesn't hear this music. She hears something else." Calleigh just looked at his son not knowing where this idea came from. Ryan just nodded in agreement.

"I have to agree with Danny here. There must be some strange acoustics in there."

"Alright, alright. Will you let this subject drop if I agree with you that this music is really awful?" She asked exasperated.

The boys looked at each other then turned back to Calleigh and nodded. Music was a delicate subject in the Wolfe family and the boys never passed an opportunity to give voice to their opinion about it whenever they caught Calleigh listening to her music, which was a rather frequent event in the past few months.

"Great then, consider it done. This music is awful." Hardly had she finished her sentence when she felt a strong kick. "Ouch!" She put her hands on her belly while a large smile appeared on her face.

"What?" Ryan asked her in concern.

"You know, I can't wait for your daughter to begin to speak." She got two confused looks. "I bet she will agree with me in this matter and finally I won't be outnumbered by you two."

"God help us, Danny!" Ryan said resigned as he looked down at his son. "Promise me something!" The little boy nodded. "We stick together no matter what, alright?"

"Alright." Danny said seriously while he nodded in agreement.

"Good. That's my boy." Ryan said relieved and kissed the little blond head who giggled in his lap.

After the disagreement was temporarily settled they remained on the couch for a little while. The silence was interrupted by a loud grumble. The adults shot up their heads and looked at each other questioningly but then they heard a little "oops" coming from Ryan's lap. They looked down at Danny who looked back sheepishly.

"I think it's dinnertime, then." Ryan said with a smile and after kissing the head of the boy he put him down and stood up. "What about pancakes?"

Hearing about the pancakes Danny began jumping and clapping his little hands in delight then grabbed his father's hand and began to pull him towards the kitchen.

"Are you coming?" He looked down at his wife while holding against the little boy's pulling.

"Just give me a minute. I'll be right there." Calleigh said smiling. She wouldn't pass it for anything. It was one of her favorite activities to cook with her boys. They were just cute in the kitchen. "You'd better go before you lose that arm of yours!" She laughed at her son's enthusiasm.

"Yeah, you are probably right." He laughed, too. Then he made a little step towards the couch bringing a still excited Danny with him and put a kiss on Calleigh's forehead. It was only after that that he gave in to the tugging of his son and let himself to be dragged to the kitchen.

Calleigh smiled after them then leant back in the couch. It was so comforting to hear the boys' happy chatter from the kitchen while they were trying to find the necessary equipment for making pancakes in the boxes which took up the greater part of the kitchen. She sighed contently and stroked her belly. She couldn't chase away the thought that life was sometimes just simply perfect.

THE END

Wow, I did it! I really did it!!!

It really is a difficult task to finish a story but I hope I managed write something enjoyable.

Thank you for staying with me and reading my story!!!

And for my reviewers, I owe you a huge THANK YOU, too!!! I loved getting your reviews and although I didn't really answer them, I most definitely appreciated them. It was good to see people writing chapter after chapter and sharing their opinion. Thank you again!

There were one or two questions which arose during the writing, though, and I think I didn't answer them then. Let me do it here, just in case.

For the latest chapter, concerning Jake's knowledge about the pregnancy, well, truth is that at some point I was thinking about it and about writing it into the story just to make it clear. But I guess finally I didn't find it so important, as you can see, because during the actual writing of the chapter this subject didn't even occur to me.

Another thing is the involvement of the others. Well, I tried but I can't really deal with many characters. Sorry!

So that was it...