Mari placed on the biggest sweatshirt she could find. "Would you quit that?"
"Quit what?" Josh laughed.
"Quit staring at me!"
"Well honestly, Darling, I'm worried."
"About what?"
"If you still have a shape or if you've turned into the blueberry from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. You've been wearing stuff that's eight sizes too big for weeks."
"Shut up," Mari snapped. "This thing is your fault. I'm in the middle of a crisis. I don't appreciate jokes."
"Mariah Taylor," Josh chuckled, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow, "let me see or I'll cook fish every night for the next three weeks."
"You wouldn't dare."
"I would," Josh grinned. "Fish with ketchup and Brussel sprouts."
"Don't make me throw up," Mari gagged, taking off the sweatshirt.
Josh stared in shock. "Wow. That's not six weeks, is it?"
"No, idiot, it's not."
"Well you won't tell me anything. How am I supposed to know?" Josh laughed.
"Jack said I'm about fourteen weeks," Mari sighed.
"Fourteen?" Josh gaped. "That many? Mari, how come you didn't tell me sooner?"
"I was in denial," Mari said sheepishly. "I kinda figured if I waited then...I don't know. It'd evaporate or something."
Josh tried his best to remain composed as a smile crept across his face.
Don't laugh. Don't laugh.
"Evaporate?" He said a seriously as could be managed. "Like the water cycle?"
"Oh, there was a cycle involved, alright."
Josh leaned against the wall. "You're gorgeous. You know that?"
Mari scoffed. "Funny."
"I don't deserve you. I never did," Josh sighed.
"Don't say that," Mari sighed, wrapping her arms around his waist.
"Ha!" Josh grinned triumphantly, jumping away and pointing a finger. "I felt it! I can feel it! There's a bump! You lose!"
"I hate you," Mari muttered.
"No, you don't!" Josh's sing-song voice chimed. "I'm burning the hoodies, Mari. I've gone power crazed. It's half my kid. I deserve to see it, at least."
"Don't you dare," Mari frowned.
Josh marched over to the drawer and thrust it open. "Lighter's out front."
Mari grabbed his wrist. "No, please! I won't wear them at home, I promise!"
"Fine," Josh chuckled. "You're calling work in the morning."
"Why?"
"For maternity leave," Josh said as if it were perfectly obvious.
"Not yet. You can barely even tell I'm pregnant," Mari argued.
"It doesn't matter. Mari, you're not supposed to stand that long. You can't do entire two hour shows in a corset!"
"Watch me," Mari scoffed. "Catherine managed to do it in her fourth month and she had two."
"You're not Catherine!" Josh exclaimed. "And I'm not Matt. Mari, I don't want you exhausting yourself. We have to have some sort of balance here."
"I won't be exhausting myself," Mari sighed. "Stop being so overprotective."
"Mari, you haven't slept in days," Josh sighed. "You cry when you think I'm not looking, and when I am looking, you're busy trying to not to look at me."
"I'm emotional, not exhausted. Thanks a lot, by the way."
"Mariah," Josh said sternly, grabbing her hand and bringing it to his lips, "let me love you? Please? Just a little bit? I want people to know. I want to shove it in Jeremy's stupid, blockhead face. I want to let you sing the things you want and be stress free. It's the least I can do, Mari, and I'm begging you to let me."
Mari sighed in defeat. "Fine. I guess Lexie will have to take my place as Cosette then if Catherine isn't back."
Josh gave a loud sigh of relief. "Thank you. Now, follow me, please."
"Why?" Mari whined.
"Come on, it'll only take a minute."
Mari grumbled something under her breath as she followed Josh.
"Bring a coat. It's a bit of a walk," Josh nodded.
"He gets me pregnant and then he orders me around," Mari said to herself, grabbing her coat.
"You said you didn't want to be treated different, so this is me, treating you like parasite-free Mari. Keep up."
"I hate you."
"Come on." Josh pulled the coat further over his shoulders and walked with her the two blocks to the theater. "In here," he said, pointing to a small building next door.
"Josh, what are we doing?" Mari sighed.
"Come on, I don't want you getting cold," Josh said softly. He retrieved a key from his pocket and creaked open the front door, turning on some warm, orange lights in the entryway.
"Explanation, please?"
"Come on," Josh chuckled. He slipped his hand into hers and led her past a small kitchen and sitting room. A single wooden staircase led upstairs, each floorboard creaking as they journeyed upward.
"Josh, what-"
"In there," he said, pointing to a closed door at the end of the hall.
Mari sighed.
"Go on!" Josh chuckled. "Open it."
Mari opened the door and a small, turquoise colored room was revealed. A small, white crib and a bassinet lay in the furthest corner, the walls decorated with photos of Mari as early as her first run of The Phantom of the Opera.
"I- I knew we didn't have enough space back home. Believe it or not, your dad saw this coming. All of this. He- he, uh, left us this. All of it."
"Really?" Mari laughed. "It's beautiful."
"And, um," Josh stammered awkwardly. He stood on his tippy toes and tapped the ceiling until a small ladder to an attic came cascading down. "There wasn't much space to work with," he said nervously, "but for us..."
"Oh my goodness," Mari smiled.
"Go up," Josh urged. "Carefully, please!"
Mari quickly ascended the ladder. "Josh, it's wonderful."
"Oh, god, I was so worried," Josh sighed in relief. "I mean, we've been a little distant lately, and I feel like I don't know what you want from me and chances are I would mess everything up-"
"Shh," Mari smiled, pressing her lips into his. "I love you."
"Really?" Josh chuckled. "I was worried for a bit there."
"Shut up and kiss me again."
Josh smirked and tilted his chin upward. "Nah, I thought that wasn't allowed with this version of Mari."
Mari pulled him down by the collar of his shirt and kissed him tenderly. "You love me?"
"Come on, don't do that," Josh laughed. "Can't you see I'm playing hard to get, here?"
"What's the point when I've already got you?" Mari smirked.
"Hey, you've been making me suffer for weeks. At least let me get a little payback here."
"This baby is your fault, Joshua Taylor. Just give me this."
"My fault?" Josh laughed, pushing her away. "I don't think so."
"Um, yeah, it is," Mari smirked. "You at least share part of the blame."
"Get over here," Josh laughed, grabbed her waist and pulling her into a kiss. He jumped backward abruptly in shock.
Mari's face went pale.
"It moved!" Josh shrieked.
"It didn't!" Mari yelped. "Don't do that! You scared the crap out of me."
"It did! I felt it!"
"That was my shirt, you moron!"
"No, it wasn't!"
"Josh, you can't feel a baby until at least sixteen weeks. I'm only at fourteen. It's impossible," Mari sighed.
Josh flipped open his phone and typed furiously. "Google says four months! How do you know exactly how far along you are? Hm? You could be further than ya think!"
"Because Jack said so," Mari shrugged.
"We're trusting Jack now?" Josh chuckled. "He's my brother."
"Thanks for the update," Mari chuckled.
Josh sat down on the bed and shook his head. "God, Mari, I missed almost half of it already."
"Don't say that."
"I did!"
Mari sat down and wrapped her arms around Josh. "We didn't know. You didn't miss anything."
"I've spent my whole life running, Mariah, missing things...I'm terrified this- this is just going to slip right by like- like everything else."
"Don't worry, Hon," Mari sighed. "It'll be alright."
"Am I allowed to talk about it now?" Josh smiled.
"Sure," Mari smiled softly.
Josh gave a grin and nudged her gently. "You're coming around, aren't you?"
"Maybe," Mari blushed.
—————
"Hey," Matt said, kissing Cath's cheek. "You got the carseats?"
"By the door," she smiled.
"I'm just gonna run out real quick with Logan, alright?"
"Okay," Catherine shrugged.
Matt nodded and scooped up his son before giving Catherine a tender kiss. "Back soon."
—————
A few hours later.
Matt returned home with a sigh, his face emotionless.
"Hey, where-"
"He's sleeping," Matt said bluntly.
"Babe, is something wrong?" Catherine asked worriedly.
"Everything's fine," Matt said firmly, pulling the cover over Logan's carseat a bit further down. "I'm gonna put him in his crib, alright?"
"Okay," Cath nodded, returning to her book.
Matt placed Logan in the nursery and quietly shut the door behind him. He paced nervously to the kitchen and grabbed a coke.
"Hon, are you sure everything's alright?" Catherine sighed.
"You don't need to worry."
"Matt," Cath said firmly, setting her book aside and walking into the kitchen, "what's going on?"
"You're gonna freak out," Matt whispered. "And it's nothing to freak out about, okay?"
"Tell me, and I'll decide that for myself."
"I took Logan to the doctor," Matt shrugged, cracking open the can.
"And?" Catherine sighed.
"And he sent me to an audiologist," Matt sighed.
"What happened?"
"What I thought would happen."
"Wait...you don't mean-"
"You should have seen him smile, Cath," Matt laughed with tears in his eyes. "It's like he was really alive for the first time. He was looking around everywhere and his eyes bugged out."
Catherine smiled sadly. "He'll be happier now."
"They're blue, if that helps," Matt chuckled. "They look awesome."
Catherine nodded. "Mine were pink. My sister insisted on it."
"Yours?" Matt frowned.
"I was hard of hearing when I was born. I had surgery when I was five to have it fixed," Catherine shrugged.
"Cath, how come you didn't tell Jack that?"
"I did," Catherine nodded, "when I first found out I was pregnant. When they had their hearing checked at their appointment...I thought it was fine. I thought they didn't get it."
—————
"Mari?" Josh asked rubbing his eyes. "What are you doing?!"
Mari sat on the kitchen floor with her legs crossed, an entire bottle of grape juice beside her. "I've given up water."
"What?"
"It tastes bad."
"The water?"
"Yes."
"It's a boy, by the way."
"What?!" Josh stammered.
"Grape juice means it's a boy. My father told me about it. Old family genetic weirdness."
"Hon, ya haven't even had the ultrasound yet. We don't know that for sure."
"I don't want to know," Mari sighed. "I want a surprise. How about you?"
"I wanna know," Josh whined.
"Come here," Mari whimpered. "I'll regret this, I know."
"Okay," Josh chuckled. "What's up?"
Mari groaned and grabbed his hand, placing it gently on her stomach. "There. Now wait."
"Did it just kick?" Josh asked excitedly.
"That was a turn. When it kicks, you'll know," Mari sighed, closing her eyes.
Josh waited and then felt something again. "Was that a kick?"
"Yeah," Mari muttered bitterly. "The alien demands more grape juice."
"Shh. It can hear you," Josh said softly, rubbing her stomach. "Hello, little one."
"Come on," Mari muttered, "don't be weird."
"In five months, you will do my bidding," Josh cackled evilly. "That better?"
"No. It can't hear or feel you, so quit it."
"It can hear," Josh nodded. "I looked it up. It can distinguish voices by now."
Mari glanced downward and shuddered. "It can't feel though, right? I mean, skin's too thick."
"No, it can," Josh smiled.
Mari went pale. "How?!"
"Because it's living," Josh laughed.
Mari's face twisted in concern. "Am I supposed to be like letting it know I'm there, then?! Is it ticked off at me? Or depressed? Is it dead?!"
"It's not dead, Sweetheart," Josh chuckled. "Every time you rub your stomach, it can feel it." He grabbed her hand and placed it gently on her stomach.
"You made it move," Mari said, her face full of horror. "Every time you do that, it does freaky stuff."
"It's not freaky. Just calm down. It's just reminding you it's alive."
"It feels so weird," Mari shuddered, slipping her hand into his. "Not bad weird, just different weird."
"Well," Josh smiled, "sometimes different is good."
—————
"Logan," Matt cooed with a smile. "Hi, Logan."
Logan made a funny noise and stared up with a grin.
"Lotte, be nice to your brother," Matt chuckled, placing them beside each other in the bassinet.
Catherine watched silently from the doorway, a big smile gracing her features. She enjoyed seeing Matt with the children.
"Watch this," Matt grinned as he crouched down, out of sight of the babies.
Logan gave a yelp of surprise.
"Boo!" Matt laughed, jumping back up.
Lotte stared, wide eyed in wonder at her father as Logan giggled.
"Here we go again," Matt grinned, crouching down again and popping up. "Boo!"
Logan looked over at Catherine as if to say, "How much longer do I have to pretend to like this?"
Cath chuckled.
"Say Dada. Can you say that?" Matt cooed. "Dada. Say Da-da. Or boo. Say boo!"
"They're only a month old," Catherine laughed.
"They're Collins kids," Matt grinned. "Genius material."
"I think Logan's slightly terrified," Catherine chuckled. "He thinks you're insane."
Logan cooed in agreement.
"Nah, he loves it," Matt argued. "Look."
"Whatever you say, Hon," Cath shrugged, walking out of sight and to the terrace. She looked up into the night sky and let a few tears fall down her cheeks.
Why Logan? Why her child?
"Hey," Matt said softly from behind, putting a hand gently on her shoulder, "what's wrong?"
"It's my fault," Catherine cried, burying her face in her husband's shoulder. "He got it from me. It's my fault."
"It's nobody's fault, Cath. And it's not a disability, it's just another thing that makes him so much more special," Matt said firmly.
"I still hate that he has to suffer," Cath sniffled.
"I know," Matt nodded, kissing her forehead, "I know."