"I think it's about time, don't you?" Jim asked.
"If you say so. I suppose people are going to start noticing sometime soon, anyway."
The pair stepped off the elevator and stood at the doors to Major Crime.
"Deja vu," Blair grinned. "Didn't we do this before?"
"Sure feels like we did, Darwin. Enough procrastinating. Let's get it over with." Jim opened the doors and stepped through, followed by his constant shadow.
"Hey, Jim! Hi, Blair!" Brown greeted the pair. "Long time, no see, Hairboy. Whatcha been up to?"
"Finishing out the semester at Rainier," Blair answered. "Lots of tests to be graded, but I finally got everything turned in. I'm a free man."
"Now that he's out of school," Brown turned to Jim, "you'd better take that boy jogging with you. He's putting on a little weight." He reached out to give Blair's tummy a pat.
"Jogging isn't going to help, H," Jim informed him before turning his back and walking away.
"What did he mean by that?" Brown asked, turning to Blair. The anthropologist just shrugged and smiled, and followed Jim to his desk.
Megan waltzed over, happy to see Blair back in the bullpen. "You're looking all flushed and healthy, Sandy," she commented. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were pregnant." She chuckled.
"Why would you say that?" Jim wondered.
"Well, look at him." Megan gestured in the young man's direction. "He glows."
"Cat's out of the bag," Blair grinned mischievously at Jim. "She guessed." Then turning back to Megan, "You're right. I'm pregnant. Going on eighteen weeks."
The Aussie looked curiously from one set of blue eyes to the other. "You're pulling my leg, right?"
Blair glanced briefly at Jim before turning back to Megan. "No, Megan, it's the truth. You've heard of the Caitlin Infertility Clinic?" She nodded. "They have a new male pregnancy program there, run by a Dr. Lynne Casey."
"I've heard of her. She has quite a reputation for thinking outside the box. So, you really went through with this procedure?" Her mind began to click. "Then you weren't in Borneo, were you?"
"No, Megan. I was in the hospital having surgery, then home puking up my guts for nearly three months."
"At the commitment ceremony?"
"Already eight weeks."
"Then it wasn't the flu at the party."
"It wasn't the flu," Blair confirmed.
"Oh, Sandy! I'm so happy for you!" She flung her arms around the surprised man, hugging him tightly, then repeated the performance with Jim. By the time she was through, she had the attention of the entire bullpen.
"What's going on out here?" Simon Banks bellowed, storming out of his office to find his absentee detective and police observer sitting together at Jim's desk.
Megan was grinning ear to ear. "Sandy's preggers!" she announced to the room at large.
The room suddenly became quiet. Everyone turned to the two men seated at the desk. "You'd better come clean," Simon suggested, not unkindly.
"That's why we came in today, sir," Jim told him. He turned to the assembled group. "The short of it is, Blair and I decided we wanted a baby and we couldn't adopt."
"So we went to the Caitlin Infertility Clinic," Blair picked up the story, "and met with Dr. Casey."
"She runs the male pregnancy program there," Jim explained.
"And so now I'm, well, I'm...." Blair stuttered to a halt.
"Preggers!" Megan crowed.
"How far along are you?" Joel Taggert asked.
"Eighteen weeks." He hiccuped and quickly placed a hand over his stomach, looking decidedly confused.
"What's the matter?" Jim wrapped an arm around Blair's shoulders.
Blair took one of Jim's hands and placed it on his swollen belly, holding it there. After a couple minutes, he said, "There! That! Did you feel it?"
"I felt something," the Sentinel admitted. "It just felt like a flutter or muscle spasm."
"Like butterflies in my stomach," Blair said, disbelieving. "I just felt the baby move!" He looked at their friends with wide, owlish eyes. "She moved!"
"It's probably just indigestion," Jim reasoned.
"No, no, Jim.... Lynne said anytime after the fourteenth week, although around eighteen to twenty weeks is more the norm for a first pregnancy. It's the baby, Jim. I feel her."
"Do you know the sex yet?" Megan asked.
"It's a girl." "It's a boy." The voices sounded simultaneously. Both men broke out in laughter.
"We don't know yet," Blair admitted. "I think it's a girl."
"From the way you're carrying, I'd agree with you," Megan said.
"How he carries the baby has nothing to do with its sex," Jim argued. "It's a boy."
"Why? Because you say so?" Blair looked at his partner in mock disgust. It was an old argument.
"Because I'm the Sent..., uh, because I know."
"It's too early to tell like that," Blair reasoned. "Let's not argue here, okay? Besides, does it really matter?"
"No, I don't suppose it does." He turned to his boss. "Got anything you need us to do while we're in, Simon?"
Simon, who had been standing on the fringes of the crowd, stepped in to break it up. "Everybody get back to work. You can talk to the new mother-to-be and his husband on your own time." There was grumbling from the crowd, but they broke up and headed back to their respective desks.
"Talk to you later, Sandy." Megan blew a kiss in his direction as she headed back to work.
"Yeah, Megan. Thanks." Blair waved as she walked off.
"So, you two hanging around here for a change?" Simon asked. "I was beginning to wonder if I'd lost one of my best detective teams."
"Got any paperwork that needs doing?" Jim asked. "I don't want to take Blair on any ride-alongs right now."
"Understood," Simon agreed. "I'm sure we could find something for you to do around here."
~oO0Oo~
The day had been longer than either man had expected. Between the piles of paperwork dropped on their desk, and the frequent interruptions of well-wishers, they were kept busy long past the five o'clock hour.
"You boys hungry?" Simon asked, exiting his office as he put on his coat. "It's about time you went home. You don't have to make up all the work in one day. If you want to come along, it's my treat."
Jim's eyes lit up at the prospect, but one look at Blair changed his mind. The young man looked drawn, exhausted. He hadn't complained. In fact, he'd worked harder at the paper load than Jim had, but now he was paying for it.
"I think we'd better pass this time, Simon. Thanks. Blair tires easily these days, and it's been a long day." He unconsciously stroked his lover's hair.
Simon noticed the proprietary gesture and smiled. "You'd better get the kid home then," he said gently.
"'Night, Simon."
"Good night, Blair. You take care."
After their boss had left, Jim helped Blair to his feet, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. "Ready to get out of here?"
"You bet."
~oO0Oo~
After a dinner of take-out Thai food, the couple settled on the couch. Blair sat at one end, while Jim stretched himself out, settling in his favorite position with his head in his lover's lap, an ear plastered against the gentle swell of his belly.
"Is she talking to you, Jim?"
"Yeah. He says you're doing a damn fine job being his mommy."
"Fuck you, James," Blair said with affection.
"That could be arranged...."
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