"Would you please sit down?" Logan pleaded with Rory who'd been pacing around the living room for half an hour
"Why isn't he kicking?"
"Doctor said it's normal for a first pregnancy to not feel the baby move until 20 weeks or even a little later" Logan reminded her
"I am 20 weeks. I wanna feel him kick. How else am I supposed to know that he's really in there?"
Logan stood up and grabbed Rory's hands
"I wanna feel him" Rory said
"I know" Logan said and kissed her gently
"I know what you're doing"
"I know" Logan said and kissed her neck
"You're trying to distract me, and it's not fair, because I'm hormonal, and you know it's gonna work"
"That's the point"
——
A few days later Rory was sitting in the living room with Honor and Stephanie
"You know what's crazy?" Rory said, seemingly out of nowhere
"What?" Steph asked
"This" Rory gestured to her belly "pregnancy. The whole idea is nuts"
"Yup" Honor nodded
"You're only realizing this now?" Steph chuckled
"I'm being serious" Rory said "think about it. You have sex, get pregnant, 9 months later you have to do something that I'm imagining is really gonna suck, and then you just have a baby, and it's your job to keep it alive"
"Yeah...?" Honor said, confused about what Rory's point was
"And anyone can do this, whether they know what to do with the kid or not. Look at me, I don't know what to do with a newborn. I wouldn't even hold either of your babies until they were like 6 months old. I've never changed a diaper. I don't know how to feed it, or how to get it dressed, or how to put it to sleep. Also-"
"Stop" Stephanie interrupted Rory, realizing that she was freaking out for whatever reason and likely wasn't gonna stop any time soon "first of all, you probably shouldn't call your baby 'it'. Secondly, why are you freaking out all of a sudden?"
"Because I just realized that in 20 weeks, I'm gonna have a baby, and I don't know how to take care of it"
"First of all, you have natural instincts for this stuff" Honor said "you won't feel like you do, but once the baby's born you'll realize that you do, in fact, know what you're doing. Plus, they'll teach you how to feed the baby in the hospital"
"Yeah, and it's gonna be really awkward, and your gonna feel really exposed" Steph chimed in
"Don't tell her that!" Honor snacked Stephanie
"You're gonna tell me that when you were sitting there, with a bunch nurses touching your boobs, you didn't feel exposed?" Steph raised an eyebrow
"Not the point" Honor said
"Not to mention that there'll be other people in the room, too" Steph added
"Like who?" Rory asked
"For starters, Logan" Steph said
"What about me?" Logan asked as he walked through the living room, having heard the last sentence
"I'm not worried about Logan" Rory said
"What about Logan?" Logan asked again
"That you're gonna see Rory's boobs" Steph said
"Um...what?"
"She's talking about after the baby's born" Rory explained
"We're telling Rory all about how fun it's gonna be when she gets to learn how to feed the baby" Honor said
"Please don't scare her" Logan said
"We're just telling her that when she's sitting, topless, with 5 people that she just met touching her boobs, it's gonna be awkward" Steph said
"Oh! And that once you start leaving the house, your breast pump will be your best friend" Honor added
Logan looked between Rory, Stephanie, and Honor "I'm gonna change the subject here, by telling you that I'm finished"
"Really?!" Rory asked, excitedly
"What did you finish?" Steph asked
"I put the rocking chair together, in the nursery" Logan told them
"I wanna see it" Rory said
They headed upstairs to the nursery
"Try it out" Logan said.
Rory sat down in the rocking chair "I live here, now" she said, getting laughs from Steph and Honor "seriously, I'm never getting up"
——
The next day Rory and Logan called a meeting at work, to fill everyone in on what was happening with the repairs from the fire. It had been a month since the fire and everything above the 7th floor had been closed off.
Rory was standing at the front of the room, looking out at about 250 people. She had been trying to get everyone's attention for a few moments, but she didn't usually lead meetings with this many people and her voice wasn't louder than everybody chatting amongst themselves.
Finally Andrew got sick of it and stood up "hey!" He shouted "shut the hell up, and listen!"
"Thank you" Rory said
"When will we have our offices back?" Someone called out
"Yeah, there's too many of us and too little space!" Someone else said
"Look, I know that you all have questions, and if you let me get through what I have to say, I promise they'll all get answered" Rory said "floors 8,9,and 10 will be reopened starting next week, except for the west side of the 9th floor. As for floors 11 through 15, there is still severe smoke, fire, and water damage. For now nobody is allowed up there. We probably won't be back in there for a few more weeks"
"That's ridiculous!" Bradley called out "we can't work like this!"
Rory ignored him and continued "if work on the 15th floor, on the west side, there are desks and everything else you need being set up for you in the 8th floor break room. 14th, and 13th floor west, you're in the 7th floor break room. 12th floor west, 6th floor break room. 11th floor west, 5th floor break room and 9th floor west, conference room 5b. 15th floor East, conference room 8c. 14th floor east, conference room 7b. 13th floor East, 4th floor break room. 12th floor East, conference room 7a. 11th floor East, conference room 6d. Lastly, Mr Huntzberger and I will both be working on the first floor, conference room 1a. There are diagrams of everyone current workspace hanging on the cork board on each floor. We thank you for your patience and understanding during this time"
——
Later that day Rory had a doctor's appointment.
"Alright, 20 weeks. Baby looks healthy. He's 10 inches long. That's about the size of a banana. Do you have any questions or concerns?" Dr Williams asked as she did Rory's ultrasound
"I'm just a little worried that I can't feel him moving" Rory said
"Some women just feel it later, especially if it's their first pregnancy. There's no need to worry yet, but I do have something we can try" she pressed the call button and a nurse came into the room "can I please get some orange juice, for Rory here?"
"Of course" the nurse smiled and left. She came back a moment later with a small bottle of orange juice and gave it to Rory.
"Seriously?" Rory asked, skeptically
"Sometimes the sugar in the juice gets baby moving" the doctor explained "drink the juice and we'll wait a few minutes to see if anything happens"
Rory drank the juice and they talked for a few minute until Rory gasped.
"Are you ok?" Dr Williams asked
"Yeah, just like a weird pain" Rory said "well, not really a pain...I don't really know what it was"
"I think I do...." The doctor squeezed some of the ultrasound gel on Rory's stomach and started moving the ultrasound wand around "that...." She smiled "is your baby moving" she turned the monitor around so they could see
"Oh..." Rory exhaled, and a few tears escaped her eyes "that's so weird"
——
That night Rory and Logan were sitting up in bed. Logan had his hand on Rory's belly and her hand was on top of his.
"Are you feeling anything? Because I'm not"
"Just wait" Rory said
A second later the baby kicked
"Woah!" Logan exclaimed "does that hurt?"
Rory shook her head "it does feel really weird, though"
"Do you know how amazing you are?"
"Only because you tell me 5 million times a day" Rory chuckled
"Well, I wanna make sure you know" Logan said "because you are"
"I love you"
"I love you too, Ace"