Andy moaned and rolled over as her alarm went off. She slammed the button as quickly as she could and snuggled back up against Sue, who had his tail draped over her legs. It was a bit of a challenge finding room for both of them in the bed, now, but she didn't mind; it felt comforting to have him around her like that, even if he was rather heavy.
The naga-man stirred, opened his eyes, and rolled over to face her. "Hey, it's sunup, sleepyhead," he gently teased. "Time to get going."
Andy sighed. "Why did I want a nine-to-five, again?"
Sue chuckled. "Didn't sleep well?"
The rabbit-woman shrugged. "I slept...enough. Just...in fits and starts, mostly."
Her husband nodded. "Me too. You were thinking about yesterday, I take it?" Andy nodded.
Yesterday
Andy sat nervously in the waiting room, wishing Sue were with her. He'd had to drop her off and leave to go pick the kids up from school; they'd had to stay late to work on a project. As it was, she was by herself, though there were a few other women in the room with her. A couple humans, even; she wondered if they were unchanged (it was after sundown,) or if they'd merely...changed sex, like she had, but not changed species.
Certainly the woman across from her had been pregnant before the Sun changed; she was...Andy wasn't really sure, but she had to be several months along. God, it'd been forever since she'd even thought about this. And now...now that was going to...to be her in...in a couple months... She shook her head, trying to stay focused. She didn't know for certain yet that she was pregnant; that was why she was here, to get a better idea. But...there was a part of her that was entirely certain that that was the case...
Andy figured that it was probably just her mind jumping to a conclusion because a conclusion, true or false, was more comfortable than uncertainty. But...then again, if she did have a baby beginning to develop inside her...she knew from both of Sue's pregnancies that it did funny things to the mother's hormonal balance, to the extent that it affected outward behavior - so maybe, on some subconscious level, her brain could detect that and draw the conclusion before her conscious mind knew for sure? Oh, who even knew - she was a metalworker, not a doctor...for being twice a father, there was still so much she didn't know about this...
"You look nervous," the woman said. Andy started a bit and looked over at her. She was quite a lovely woman; somewhere in her mid-to-late thirties, Andy thought, but she had a sort of radiance to her that made her feel about ten years younger than she looked. "Uh...um, a little," the rabbit-woman stammered.
The woman nodded and extended her hand. "Abbey. Abbey Gordon. Is this your first?"
Andy sat there, mouth open, trying to find her place in this conversation. This was not a question she had ever expected to be asked... "Uh, y-yes," she said. "Um, well, it's my first...we have two others...uh, I'm Andy."
Abbey looked a bit bemused, and smiled. "I see," she said. "This must be a lot for you to take in, then." Andy nodded mutely.
Abbey lifted herself out of her seat and sat back down next to Andy, taking the bunny-girl's hand in hers. "I can't even begin to imagine," she said. "How do you feel about it?"
Andy thought for a minute. "...confused," she said at last. "I...I was still getting used to even being like this at all...it hasn't even been three weeks, and now...now we think that...that I'm going to...I don't know, it's just...I don't know. This isn't something that I ever thought could happen to me..."
Abbey nodded thoughtfully. "I'm sure," she said. "You don't seem upset by the idea, though...?"
The rabbit-woman shrugged. "I...I dunno," she said. "Right now I'm...still trying to figure out what I think of the idea. I mean, we don't know for sure yet, and...and I'm still trying to convince myself that this is even real..." She sighed. "But...I don't know. I know what Sue went through, and it...it kind of frightens me, but...well, he...she...came out of it just fine, and neither of us would trade the kids for anything...I don't know." She looked Abbey in the eye. "Is...is this normal?" she asked. "I...I'm completely out of my depth here...I don't know what's normal and what's not..."
Abbey smiled and hugged her. Andy felt the other woman's belly and breasts press up against her...in a few months, in a few short months...but she tried not to get lost in her own thoughts again. "It's a big change for anyone," Abbey said. "When my husband and I had Li-had my...my oldest, I felt just as lost as you - and I'd even grown up knowing this could happen, and that I wanted to be a mother. It's life-changing, Andy, even when you're prepared for it." She laughed. "Of course, as a father it's not like you didn't have your own adjustments to make, but..." She smiled warmly, almost visibly glowing. "...but believe me," she said, "there's absolutely nothing like it. Not in all the world. For all the indignities, for everything you're going to have to go through...it's all worth it."
Andy smiled in spite of herself, in spite of her nervousness and confusion. She felt herself tearing up a little. "I...th-thanks," she said. "Thank you." She hugged the other woman back.
There was a short silence, as Andy took it all in. She looked Mrs. Gordon up and down, trying to imagine... "Uh, um..." she said, "c-could I...ask...?" She blushed a little. Maybe that was too...too...? "U-um, s-sorry," she stammered. "N-never mind..."
Abbey laughed. "There's nothing to be sorry for," she said. "It's nothing to be embarassed about...we're in the same boat, aren't we? Here." She took Andy's hand and placed it on her abdomen. The bunny-girl tried to stammer out a protest and pull away, but Mrs. Gordon kept it there, and Andy gasped softly as she felt a kick. She...she'd felt this before, with Alex and Sally, but...but she saw it from a different perspective now, that this was a thing that could happen to her, that in a few months she could have...have a baby growing inside her, that she could feel it move inside her own womb...
"This would be just about exactly six months, if that's what you wanted to ask," Abbey said. "Hence my being in for a monthly check-up." She smiled slyly. "Of course, it's a bit less charming when they're punching you in the kidney in the wee hours of the morning. But...there's nothing like it."
Andy said nothing for a while, still trying to take it all in. Eventually the conversation started up again, turning to other matters - their respective families, the weather, and so on. And then her name had been called...
Andy sighed. She really hadn't been surprised when it had turned out that she was with child; whether she'd really known or not, it was a confirmation of what it felt like she already knew. All the same...it was a lot to take in. She was going to have a baby...she was going to be a mother...this was completely impossible by everything she'd grown up knowing, but it was happening all the same...
She wrapped her arms around her husband, pulling him close to her. "Is...is it going to be alright?" she asked. "I...can I do this, Sue?" There were so many ways in which she'd fallen short as a father in the last four years...how could she be any more qualified to be a mother? Even if...even if she was free of the chemical side of her addiction, even if she was making a new start at a new job...
Sue kissed her. "Of course you can," he said. "Of course you can. You...you're going to make a fine mother, Andy, love. You make a lovely woman, you'll make a wonderful mother, and we'll have an even happier family with the baby." He glanced at the clock. "We'd better get going," he said, starting to get up.
Andy felt...felt reassured by his words. Felt...still confused, still a bit frightened, but felt a little more confident...a little...a little... She smiled, pulling him back onto the bed. "Not just yet," she said. "We've still got time..."
The naga-man smiled at her tone of voice and dropped back down, wrapping his tail around her. "You know," he said, "this is how we got into this situation in the first place..."
Andy grinned sheepishly and shrugged. "Well, in for a penny..."
