Jennie looked around the room bleary eyed and half asleep as she stretched out her muscles. She could barely make out anything in the complete darkness of the room, and the alarm on her nightstand informed her that it was a little after four. She could feel Lisa's warmth radiating from the other side of the bed, and it wasn't until her stomach roiled uncomfortably that she realized the reason for her being awake at this ungodly hour in the first place.
She quickly peeled the covers off of her, careful not to disturb her sleeping wife as she slipped out of bed, making her way promptly to the bathroom before blindly feeling around on the wall for the light switch. The tiled floor was cold beneath Jennie's knees as she knelt down in front of the ceramic toilet bowl with her elbows propped up on the seat and waited for what she knew was coming. Her body lurched forward a few moments later as she began emptying the contents of her stomach into the bowl. She tried to be as quiet as she could, but it wasn't exactly something that was under her control, and a few moments later Lisa was out of bed and rushing into the bathroom.
"Oh my god babe are you okay?!" she whispered with a panic, immediately crouching down at Jennie's side and gathering her hair before tying it in a loose bun on the top of her head.
Jennie couldn't speak as her body continued to betray her, and it was a few miserable minutes of her emptying everything that she had eaten throughout the day into the toilet bowl with Lisa's warm hands rubbing up and down the expanse of her back, the only semblance of comfort that she could find in her current state.
She flushed the toilet with shaking hands, struggling to fully push the button in before Lisa reached over and did it for her. She could feel herself shivering, although her pajamas were noticeably sweat stuck to her skin and her entire body felt as though it was overheating.
"Come on, I've got you." Lisa told her as she helped Jennie up to her feet, careful not to move her too fast in case she threw up again.
After making sure that she was steady on her feet, Lisa headed over to the large shower and stuck an arm in to turn it on, moving the dial over to make the water a little colder seeing as how Jennie would currently give an electric heater a run for its money. Jennie was quiet at Lisa undressed her, scared that if she opened her mouth she would start throwing up again, although she did offer her a small reassuring smile as she stepped under the water.
It wasn't long before Jennie was dressed in fresh pajamas and slipping back under their bed covers and into Lisa's waiting arms.
"Thank you." she croaked, throat a little sore as she settled down in bed.
"I love you." Lisa whispered back, pressing a kiss to Jennie's forehead before they drifted back off to sleep.
When Jennie woke up a few hours later the room was significantly lighter and Lisa was gone from the bed. After checking the time and realizing that her alarm was due to go off in a few minutes anyway, she decided to just get up and start getting ready for the day. After stopping by the bathroom and freshening up, Jennie headed over to the closet before pulling out a pair of black work pants and a dark red blouse. She was halfway through buttoning it up when Lisa walked in with a tray of what Jennie guessed must be breakfast, and a smile on her face, although it quickly vanished when her eyes fell on Jennie and she realized what she was doing.
"Jennie no, no way, you're not going into work!" she exclaimed as she set the tray down on the bedside table and made her way over to Jennie. "You're sick you need to rest, I ran out and got you some painkillers and I made peppermint tea, I heard it's supposed to settle your stomach or something but-..."
"Lisa." Jennie cut her off with a laugh, finishing up the buttons on her shirt before walking the rest of the way over and gently cupping Lisa's face in her hands. "I'm not sick, at least... I don't think that I am." she spoke softly, almost scared that if she said it any louder it would jinx the whole thing.
"Wait you..." Lisa trailed off as her entire face lit up with something that Jennie had never quite seen to this extent before.
"I'm not one hundred percent positive, but I think so." Jennie nodded, eyes suddenly brimming with tears as she took in the look of overwhelming joy in Lisa's eyes. "I think I'm pregnant."
"I didn't think... It's been over a month, I thought it didn't work... I-..." Lisa rambled on breathlessly as she looked at Jennie with an overwhelming amount of love in her eyes before picking her up and twirling her around as Jennie let out a tiny squeal of surprise before they each shared a laugh.
"I didn't want to say anything until I was sure, I didn't want to get your hopes up." Jennie admitted when Lisa set her back down. "My period hasn't come this month, but I thought it was maybe just stressed related until last night. I don't want to get too excited until we see the doctor though."
"Yeah, no, of course." Lisa assured her, visibly trying to reign in her excitement about the whole thing. "How soon can we go?" she asked Jennie, voice still a little high from excitement.
"I'll call today and ask for the next appointment that they have." Jennie replied with a smile so wide it almost looked painful. "I can't believe this really might be happening."
"I love you so much." Lisa told her as she cupped her face and gently pressed a kiss to the tip of her nose, earning a giggle from Jennie before going for her lips too.
"I love you too." Jennie told her.
One Month Earlier
The thin hospital gown currently covering Jennie as she sat on the edge of the exam table provided very little warmth, although she was almost positive that it had nothing to do with her current shivering. She was feeling more than a little anxious, although the presence of Lisa this time around made the whole thing so much easier to handle that she almost wasn't sure how she had done it alone the last time.
Jennie didn't ever think that she would be in this situation ever again, she had been positive that Ella was her one and only shot at motherhood, or at least, her one and only shot at mothering a child that she had carried and given birth to. When the topic of having children of their own had come up, Lisa had admitted that carrying a child wasn't something that she ever really wanted to do even though Jennie talked nonstop about how much she had loved it when she was pregnant with Ella. Of course Lisa, being the ever so loving wife that she was, told Jennie that she would be willing to carry the baby for them and that she was totally okay with doing so, unless Jennie wanted to go back to the doctor and see if there was any possible way that she could carry the baby.
Jennie had been a little hesitant at first, she hadn't realized how badly she really wanted things to work out because she had always told herself that Ella was her one and only. She was almost positive going into it that things wouldn't work out the way she knew that Lisa was hoping, but after having an extremely tear filled conversation with her doctor about how it could still work with the frozen eggs that were left over from the last time, Jennie was more than happy to give it a go.
They discussed the idea of a sperm donor with their doctor, but she also suggested a newer procedure in which they manipulate Lisa's DNA from one of her eggs and use that to fertilize Jennie's. The whole thing seemed like a lot to take in, although the scientist side of Jennie was reeling from all of the information. After spending a little time talking everything over and deciding on what they wanted to do, they got in contact with the doctor once again and an appointment was set up to extract Lisa's eggs.
It was another few weeks before everything was ready for implantation, and while it had seemed to drag in at the time, Jennie couldn't believe it was finally here and the worry and panic was beginning to set in.
"Hey, look at me." Lisa said softly, gently cupping Jennie's cheek and turning it towards her as she stood beside the exam table and held one of Jennie's hands securely in her own. "There's no pressure on you, okay? I love you, and nothing that happens within the next few weeks is going to change that. Whether this works or not, I don't want you putting pressure on yourself over something that you can't control."
Lisa always seemed to know what to say to calm her down, they had been married for just over a year but the way that Lisa just seemed to get her made it seem like they had been doing this whole thing for decades.
"I just really want this to work out, for both of us." Jennie admitted as she leaned into the comfort of the touch.
"I'll be alright, I love you and I love Ella and that's all we really need right now. That's all that matters, so just try not to worry about this. Everything will work out the way that it's supposed to." Lisa assured her calmly as she gently stroked at Jennie's cheek with the pad of her thumb.
"I love you so much." Jennie told her just as the doctor entered the room and greeted them with a warm smile.
Jennie could still feel herself shaking ever so slightly as her feet were put up into the stirrups, but she just closed her eyes and reminded herself that she had done it before, and this time she had Lisa. She let her eyes flutter open at that thought, she didn't have to close them and worry about it all on her own. She had her wife by her side, and Lisa's reassuring smile kept her grounded the entire time.
"Okay Mrs. Manoban-Kim, that's us done." the doctor informed them before standing up from the stool at the bottom of the exam table. "I hope that everything works out for you two."
"Thank you so much." Jennie told her with a grateful smile before she left the room to give them some privacy and space to let Jennie put her clothes back on.
"Are you feeling okay?" Lisa asked as she helped Jennie sit up and eyed her carefully.
"I feel great." Jennie nodded before hopping down from the table and letting Lisa help her get dressed once again.
A few weeks had passed since the eggs were implanted, they used three to give them a better chance of at least one of them working, but Jennie still didn't feel any different. With Ella she had started feeling the change rather quickly, she'd had awful morning sickness almost instantly and she felt extremely fatigued. She didn't feel either of those things right now, and she couldn't help but feel a little down about the whole thing.
She knew that each pregnancy was different and that she wouldn't necessarily have the same side effects and such, but Jennie was pretty sure that it hadn't worked, and she talked it out with Lisa, who immediately noticed that Jennie seemed off.
Lisa herself felt rather guilty about the whole thing, part of her wished that she hadn't told Jennie that she would rather not carry their child, because after seeing Jennie go through the whole thing and seeing just how badly she wanted it, Lisa instantly knew that if carrying the baby was what it was going to take, she would do it for Jennie in a heartbeat. Although she prayed that she wouldn't have to, not because she didn't want to, because she knew how badly Jennie wanted it.
All they could do was wait and hope for the best.
-----
After convincing Lisa that she was more than alright to go into work despite throwing up the night before, Jennie was unable to stop thinking about everything. In retrospect, a month wasn't actually a super long time considering everything that was going on, but she was just so impatient that when she didn't get instant results she automatically assumed everything had failed.
She felt her stomach flutter excitedly at the prospect of giving Ella a new little baby sibling to grow up with, she couldn't wait to decorate and pick out nursery colors with Lisa. She was beyond ready for the sleepless nights and the endless diapers, she knew that it wouldn't be easy, but knowing Lisa was along for the ride this time made the whole thing that much more fun and Jennie could barely contain herself.
When she arrived home from work, Ella was laying on the couch watching a movie with Oreo as her pillow.
"Hey babe, how was school?" she asked as Ella paused the TV and stood up to give her a hug whilst Oreo jumped around at their feet.
"Good, we did some spelling and I know how to write the days of the week now." Ella told her proudly as Jennie bent down for a kiss.
"Hey I thought I heard you." Lisa's voice crept up behind Jennie before she felt her arms wrap around her from behind and Lisa pressed a kiss to the side of her cheek. "How was work?"
"Long." Jennie sighed dramatically. "I'm so glad that I'm home."
"Hey mommy, can we get pizza for dinner?" Ella asked as both Jennie and Lisa took a seat on the couch.
"Pizza sounds great." Jennie nodded with a smile.
"Mom? You want pizza?" Ella asked Lisa as she shifted to face her.
"I do kiddo, I'll order it right now."
By the time they had eaten dinner and gotten showered, Jennie was exhausted. They had just tucked Ella in for the night and instead of going downstairs to spend some time with Lisa like she usually did, Jennie headed straight for their own bedroom and collapsed down on top of the covers.
"Hey, I have something for you." Lisa informed her as she appeared at the door with a paper bag in her hands. "I bought some pregnancy tests from the store, it's alright if you don't want to take one though, I just thought the option would be nice."
"Oh god you really are the best wife on the planet." Jennie told her as she stood up and made her way over to Lisa. "I was gonna stop by the pharmacy on my way home to get some but I really couldn't be bothered." she breathed a laugh before Lisa fished out one of the boxes from the bag and passed it over to Jennie.
"You want me to come with?" she asked as Jennie headed into the bathroom.
"I mean, seeing your wife pee on a stick isn't exactly the sexiest thing in the world, but feel free to join me if you like." she laughed as Lisa entered the bathroom with her.
After reading the instructions that stated they have to leave the test on a flat surface for three minutes to allow the results to be determined, Jennie and Lisa stood anxiously in the bathroom. The seconds seemed to dragging by, but when the timer finally sounded on Jennie's phone, she wasn't ready in the slightest.
"Oh god I can't look, you have to do it." she told Lisa as she paced anxiously back and forth across the expanse of the floor.
Lisa immediately took a deep breath, letting it out as she made her way over to the counter where the test was laying and picked it up before turning to Jennie.
"You're pregnant." Lisa told her as her face broke out into one of the largest smiles that Jennie had ever seen in her entire life.