Eleven

Chapter Twenty-Three: Elastic is a Pregnant Girl's Best Friend

Chapter Twenty-Three: Elastic is a Pregnant Girl's Best Friend

The kimono robe was plastered to my skin by the time we finished adding both doorways to connect the townhouses. I wasn't allowed to use the sledgehammer in my "childbearing-state", as North so lovingly called it, but somehow I was trusted with both measuring and drilling duty.

Gabriel woke up at one point and called us enough colorful names that he had to reach into his French vocabulary when he started running low, but then North promised to make breakfast and all was forgiven.

One quick shower, two fluffy slices of french toast, and a much needed nap later, I was cuddled up on a couch in Headquarters and flipping through one of Kota's pregnancy books.

It was just getting into the nitty gritty of what body changes to expect in the second trimester, when Gabriel came bursting through the front door with enough department store bags to clothe a small army.

He promptly dropped them in a pile on the floor, wiping a sheen of sweat off his forehead as he spotted me.

"Oh good," my out of breath husband exclaimed with his signature grin. "You're here!"

"...Do I even want to know?" I asked cautiously, eyeing the dozens of bags at his feet.

"Since you're pregnant, I'm bringing the shopping to you," Gabriel explained proudly, sweeping a hand towards the pile of shopping bags. "It's finally time to pick out some maternity clothes. The guys took a vote and said I needed to wait until you started showing. Assholes."

My jaw dropped, and I pointed at the mountain of bags around his feet. "All of those bags are for me?"

Gabriel sighed, resting both hands on his hips as he gave me a flat look that told me I should know better than to be surprised. "We need an entirely new wardrobe for you, Sang. Eventually you won't fit into any of your current shit, and no way in hell am I letting you leave the house in Silas's shirts if it gets to that point."

Letting me?

"But...but that's a lot of bags! I won't need that many clothes before the baby is born," I argued, squinting at all the different store names scrawled across the bags. I didn't recognize a single one.

"This is just to try on." Gabriel waved away my concern with a flip of his hand. "We'll return anything I don't like, doesn't fit, or isn't you."

"Anything you don't like?" I asked with raised brows. "Don't you mean we?"

Gabriel didn't grace me with a response, but simply raised his eyebrow expectantly at me. I rolled my eyes, huffing out a breath of surrender.

"Fair enough. What'd you get?" I asked curiously, leaning forward on the couch cushion.

"What didn't I get?" Gabriel beamed, gesturing towards the pile of department store bags. "We've got summer wear, comfy dresses, loads of skirts, and even pajamas. I've never bought so much shit with elastic in it before. I feel dirty."

I wasn't going to lie...pajamas sounded wonderful.

"Can I see the pajamas first?" I asked with more interest, perking up a little.

Gabriel's returning smile was far too pleased for my liking.

"Whatever your pretty little ass wants. Okay. Strip, Trouble," Gabriel commanded, clapping his hands together in a way that signaled me to hurry.

"Gabriel." I gaped, not moving from the comfortable couch cushion as I set the book down. "We're in the living room!"

Gabriel glanced around the room before turning back towards me with a frown. "So?"