more than cat moves

There was just far too much talk about babies, lately. Well, Audrey sensed it. Lived it, in fact.

Always, something new Avery did. Audrey wished Kayla would shut up about her baby daughter, but she couldn't tell her to stop. Then to be there for Olivia's whole ordeal. Audrey almost passed out when she saw how much pain Olivia was in, during child labor.

Of course, Audrey was sure she'd endured enough womanly pains. She'd had a massive menstrual cycle for months, after she got off the shots that her mother put her on, when she first suspected Audrey might be sexually affect. There was a good long time Audrey didn't know what a monthly might be.

She supposed it was back to normal now.

"You mean, you don't even use any protection, at all?" Kayla made her feel stupid when she found out Audrey wasn't even on the pill.

"Aiden takes care of that." Audrey didn't want to talk about it. There were condoms and plenty of them. And she was really good at marking things on her secret calender in the kitchen. Little hearts weren't exactly what Aiden thought they meant, but she suspected he figured it out. He stopped teasing her about it.

Usually, she didn't think about those cycles much. It was like the usual. Yes, she'd have cramps, but nothing like after she got off the shots. She could handle it.

And then she dreamed she had a litter of kittens one night. Actually, it was the sweetest dream. Three furry kittens. She had kittens. She was so happy even if she did wake up in sweat.

Audrey tip-toed to the bathroom thinking this was just a little wake up call to let her know, it was that time of the month. She wasn't going crazy. But nothing.

So here she was at three in the morning taking a peek at the calender in the kitchen under the silverware. She flipped through the little calender of kittens. She squinted as she looked for the hearts, their location and how far apart they were from the previous month.

She squinted more when she figured out she was late, like two weeks late.

"Shite." She sputtered, "Shite..Shetland ponies." She was really trying to clean up her potty mouth. Audrey scrunched up her face in disgust. Could it be possible? Could it?

"What are you doing?" Aidan found her. She almost jumped out of her skin. All she could do was give him the doe in the headlights look.

He stood there in his flannel sleep pants with his arms crossed, waiting for her to explain.

"This!" She wanted to fling the calender at him. "This is what is happening."

He rolled his eyes and went to the cupboard. He found the pregnancy test she hid behind the coffee.

"I don't know why you keep it here." He handed it over.

"I can't. No. I won't." She shook her head. She'd only gotten it, for an emergency, which she never had. Never.

"Its not like you've had it for five year, you know." He sighed. He would know. He knew when she got the pregnancy test. And he'd smiled then as if something exciting was about to happen. The smile was back. A little impish, but ever so smooth.

"Can't I wait until morning. I need some sleep." She shrugged.

"We are both wide awake." He pushed back his curls with his fingers as if he might be ready to take that pregnancy test himself.

She sighed, thinking she'd need to read the instructions.

He went to make coffee as if they'd be up for the rest of the night.

"I only dreamed I had kittens." She told him as she went to the bathroom.

"Kittens?"

"Kittens." It didn't take long to find out the truth. She studied the test. Aidan found her staring at the stick.

"Kittens." He hugged her from behind then, and she heard his soft laugh in her ear.