Pre-Parental Panic

Of Irken Pregnancies

Once they were alone, Red sighed in frustration and let himself fall unto his side of the bed. "I swear, that kiddo hasn't even been born yet and he's already killing me..."

"What do you complain about? You're not the one who looks like you ate an irk ball!" Lena frowned, looking down at her tummy. It had grown considerably in the last trimester. It wasn't too big like a mammalian species, but rather medium-sized, slightly bulging out her once flat abdomen.*

"At least you sleep on the bed!"

"It's not my fault you move too much. You might kick the smeet."

Red chuckled and shifted closer to his wife to wrap his arms around her waist, gently stroking her tummy. "And this is your mommy, kiddo."

"Very funny," Lena said sarcastically before looking down at the unborn smeet. "That dork is your daddy, in case you're wondering."

The smeet shifted somewhat, but to Red's dismay, only Lena could feel it. "Did he move?" Red asked for the hundredth time.

Lena sighed. She felt a bit uncomfortable with her mate leaning this close to her abdomen. "A tiny bit." She groaned when Red instantly shifted even closer and started touching her tummy, even putting his head against it.

"Come on, smeet! Kick for daddy!"

"It's not that strong yet, you know."

"How come you can feel it and I can't!"

"Well, for starters, it's inside my body, not yours."

"Come on, little one! Could you kick a little harder?"

Lena sighed again. "Leave the smeet alone, would you? You'll have plenty of time to make him kick your hand later when you change his diapers."

"Come on, you don't look that bad. I think you look cute," Red whispered as he leaned even closer to her if it was even possible. "Besides, it's been a while since we had a smeet here."

Ah, how he missed Ilk. He wondered if his baby was doing well on Sobr with that kryvtor husband of hers. He still had trouble accepting Blue as a son-in-law even after all the trouble he went through to help them win the Massive back from a bet. Damn you, Skoodge and Bob!

"Oh, yeah?" Lena raised an eyebrow. "From what I heard, lots of people around here threw a party when Ilk stopped using diapers."

"Hey, you've never smelt a smeet's... poop. It smells worse than Skoodge's socks!"

"How do you know that?"

"Believe me, you don't want to know."

Lena lay down against the pillows, sighing dreamily. "Think it'll be a boy or a girl?"

"I'm betting for a boy." Red chuckled. Half of the Massive had bet on a boy, Purple included. Besides, after raising a little female smeet, he kinda was hoping to have at least one little male.

Lena noted there was an undercurrent of... something in his voice. He was happy, alright, but sometimes he sounded worried about something. "What's on your mind, Red?"

Damn it, why did she have to be so perceptive? His hand unconsciously gripped hers. "...What if something goes wrong?"

"What do you mean?"

"What if something happens...?" he had studied, indeed, and found that the mortality rate for birthing females was very high, especially if it was their first time. Ilk's biological mother had perished this way. "It's your first time... what if your body can't bear it...? Or what if the egg is too big and-?" He was cut off by a gentle finger on his lips.