10 weeks

Mauras POV
"Do you think your mother will… scream?" I asked Jane curiously as we stood beside each other cutting up different things to put into the salad I was making for the family dinner tonight. Jane smirked down at the kale she was cutting.

"She will hug you. Tight." Jane chuckled as I unintentionally scrunched up my face, dreading the hug I now knew I was destined for at any moment. "I'm amazed she hasn't figured it out on her own yet." Jane added as she went back to the task before her. I tilted my head slightly as I thought through her statement.

"Why? I haven't been acting any differently." I realised, frowning when Jane started laughing from beside me. I nudged her with my hip, losing the battle of trying to keep a smile off my face.

"The fact you haven't worn a fitted dress to work in the past two months should have been her first hint." I rolled my eyes at her, my hands falling to my slightly rounded abdomen.

"Hear that? You've stolen all my favourite dresses from me." I said, my eyes directed at the bump underneath my shirt. I had a surprisingly big baby bump for ten weeks and could no longer wear any of my usual pants, so we decided we'd waited too long already to tell them.

"Wait until you see your mommy's ass in those dresses." Jane said, leaning down and pressing her lips to the top of my stomach. I giggled and rolled my eyes at her.

"Do you think we're being selfish?" I asked my wife, turning around as she wrapped her arms around my waist. My arms instinctively moved to wrap around her shoulders, my fingers playing with the curls at the back of her head. She cocked her head to the left slightly, silently telling me she had no idea what I was asking her. "For not telling them when we started trying." I clarified, smiling as realisation washed over her face.

"Not at all, we were being safe." She said, shrugging before she pressed her lips softly against mine. She chuckled into the kiss, pulling away to look down at the small bump that was stopping our chests from touching. "I wonder if this is preparing us for when he gets here." Jane mused leaning down to press a quick kiss to the bump.

"Preparing us?" I asked, deciding not to call her out on the fact that she again referred to the baby as he.

"Isn't this what happens when married couples have babies? They stop… touching." I giggled at her wording, knowing suddenly exactly what she meant as she nodded down at the space between us.

"That's only an issue for straight couples." I said with a smirk.

"Was… Was that a joke Dr Isles?" She asked, feigning shock at my quick joke. I smiled proudly and pushed her away, turning back around to continue with the task at hand.

We were telling Angela tonight and my mother when she came to visit in two weeks. They were both going to be very different grandparents so we had planned two very different ways of telling them.

Angela had been waiting for the best part of Janes adult life for her to give her a grandchild. Now that time was finally here, we knew we had to do something special to give her the news.

"Hi baby's." Angela said loudly as she walked through the front door, a pumpkin pie in her hands.

"Hey Ma." Jane laughed from beside me, rolling her eyes at her mother's choice of pet name. More often than not we were referred to as her sweethearts. She had picked a hell of a night to make the name change.

"Can we talk to you about something?" I asked in the sweetest voice I could, gesturing toward the kitchen bench where we stood. She nodded and sat down across from Jane and I, a worried expression making its way onto her face. Jane took a deep breath and grabbed the gift we had gotten for Angela from under the counter, placing it in front of her mother.

"….What's this for?" Angela asked sceptically, her eyes narrowing as she looked between us. I looked anywhere but her face, knowing that if she asked me I would not have been able to hide it from her.

"Just open it Ma." Jane encouraged, pushing the small yellow box closer to her mother. Angela sighed and began opening the gift, my heart racing a little faster the closer she got. One of Janes hands snaked around my waist, resting on my hip in anticipation.

Angela's face went blank when she got to the onesie inside the box. She slowly let her eyes move between the two of us before I pursed my lips and pulled my shirt tight around my stomach, my swollen stomach becoming apparent for the first time since she got here.

"Are you serious?!" Angela screamed suddenly, making both Jane and I jump where we stood. She placed the I love my grandma onesie back in the box and was quick to wrap her arms around my shoulders, squeezing tightly. Jane smirked from behind her moth, earning a glare from me.

"We're ten weeks today." Jane told her proudly as her mom moved to wrap her arms around her. And that's when the tears started. "Ma stop." Jane laughed awkwardly, rolling her eyes at her mothers emotions.

I didn't know why but I suddenly found my own eyes welling with tears. Janes face dropped as she walked past Angela, placing both her hands on my forearms, bending down so she was at my eye level, a look of pure concern all over her face.

"What…" She started, shaking her head, trying to figure out where the sudden shift in my demeanour was coming from. I shook my head, earning a quiet laugh from Angela.

"Hormones." Angela clarified when Jane shot her a glare for laughing. I nodded, confirming for Jane what her mother had just said. "I wish I could tell you it passes." Angela said with an apologetic smile.

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"Do you want to talk about earlier?" Jane asked quietly when we were in bed later that night. Her fingers were tracing light patterns over my barely there baby bump. It made my skin itched, but I didn't dare tell her and risk her removing her hand from my skin.

"Hmm?" I asked, not entirely which part of the evening she was referring to.

"When you cried…." I smiled against her shoulder, pressing a light kiss to the exposed skin before I looked across at her.

"It was nothing but hormones, seeing your mother cry triggered it. It's perfectly normal." I tried to assure her, earning nothing but a slow, unsure nod from my love. "Do you want to see the studies? Oh this could be fun! Let me go get my tablet!" Just as I started moving away from her, her arms wrapped around my middle. I giggled as she pulled me back against her.

"This might surprise you, but the last thing I want to do when we're in bed is read about pregnant ladies emotions." She said, burying her head in my neck as she spoke. Goosebumps made their way across my arms as her breath tickled my neck.

I frowned and sat up suddenly, one of my hands supporting my weight behind me while the other moved to rest on my stomach. Jane shot out of the bed, suddenly standing in front of me, her hands out like she had no idea what to do.

"It's okay." I assured her, taking her hands and forcing her to sit down in front of me. "It's just moving around a lot." I took a few deep breaths and waited for the strange sensation in my stomach to calm down. I looked across at Jane whose face was pale, her eyes glued to my stomach. "Hey… I'm sorry that was me overreacting." I said quietly, reaching out to place a hand reassuringly against her cheek.

"What does it feel like?" She asked, seeming to relax as she moved to lay back down beside me, instead resting her head just where my bump started. I thought about the strange feeling and had no idea how to translate the feeling.

"It's sort of like butterflies." I started, pursing my lips as I tried to find the right words. "Except a lot... weirder." She laughed at my vague description, moving her head to press a kiss to the exposed skin of my stomach.

"Do you want a boy or girl?" She asked, turning her head so she was facing me now. I smiled down at her, placing my hand on her forehead and letting my thumb trace her hairline.

"So long as it's…"

"Healthy, I know." Jane interrupted, rolling her eyes at my stereotypical response. "Be honest."

"I wouldn't mind having a boy." I admitted, giggling when her eyes lit up. "Though bear in mind I didn't have brothers growing up like you did, I wouldn't know where to start with a little boy."

"What are you talking about? You're great with TJ." I smiled down at her as she spoke.

"Babysitting is a lot different to raising him, Jane." She nodded in agreement, both of us letting that be the end of the conversation.

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The next night we decided to invite the rest of the family over so we could share our news with them, assuming Angela hadn't already screamed it from the rooftops.

"Why didn't you tell me you were trying?" Angela asked when we sat down to dinner. She looked between the both of us; clearly unsure of who she should direct her questions to.

"We wanted to be sure it stuck before we told anyone." Jane shrugged casually, and I was thankful that she had opted not to tell her family the reason we waited was because before this baby, there were two that didn't stick. Jane smiled softly at me as she placed the meat she had been cooking all day on the table in front of me. This, of course, had to be the first time my body had decided it wanted me to experience morning sickness.

"Jane…" I started, one hand resting on the top of my queasy stomach, the other moving to cover my mouth as I closed my eyes, trying to get the mere image of the pink meat out of my head. The smell was overwhelming, like nothing I had ever smelt in my life.

Without thinking I stood up and raced to the kitchen sink, the contents of my stomach spilling out into the steel basin. I felt Janes hands on my back, rubbing small circles on my lower back as I stood back up, sighing as I pulled all of my hair back.

"Tell me it's gone." I begged, my hands gripping onto the counter in front of me for support. I felt small beads of sweat start to form on my forehead.

"Gone!" Tommy said from the front door. I involuntarily frowned, wondering if the meal my wife had spent all day cooking had just ended up in the garden.

"I am sorry." I laughed, turning to look at Angela who was smiling at me from the counter opposite us. She shook her head at me as she poured me a glass of milk. I looked down at the glass with wonder. "When I was pregnant with Jane, milk fixed everything." I had done a lot of research about everything to do with giving birth and new born babies, but looking up the best cures and triggers for morning sickness was never at the top of my list.

It sure as hell is now I thought as I turned back around to the sink, taking a deep breath as I slowly sipped at the milk in my hands.

"What are we going to eat now?" Frankie complained from the dining table. I heard a faint ow and could vividly picture Jane or Angela throwing something at him.

"I'll go get us pizza." I offered turning and grabbing my keys; Janes eyes widening as she took in my appearance.

"Baby go lie down." She instructed me, grabbing my car keys out of my hands and guiding me to the bedroom. I sighed and sat on the edge of the bed, angry at my own body for ruining what should have been a great night. I looked up and caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror, groaning as I noted the sweat on my forehead and my pale face.

"I need to lay down." Jane nodded at my words and pulled the blankets off the bed, making it easier for me to climb in. "I feel so silly." I admitted, both my hands moving to cover my face.

"No one can blame you for morning sickness." Jane said with a soft smile as she climbed into the bed beside me. "Just for a minute." She clarified when I started to object to her spending time in bed with my while her whole family was downstairs.

"You should ask your mother if she wants to come to the ultrasound." I suggested, my eyes closed as the smell of the meat from downstairs started to make its way into the room.

"You don't want it to be just us?" She asked and I shook my head without a second of hesitation.

"It'll be nice to have another person there to get excited with us. Besides, we won't be able to see much of the foetus at this ultrasound. The 20 week scan is when we'll be able to see his or her anatomy." She looked at me with raised eyebrows and I couldn't help but giggle.

"You could have stopped at another person to get excited with us." Jane said with a smirk, pressing her lips softly to mine. "You'll be okay?" She checked as she started to slip off the bed. I nodded as reassuringly as I could as my stomach started turning. I waited for the door to shut behind her before I was on my feet and throwing up into the bathroom sink.

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"Isn't 10 weeks a little early for a scan?" Angela asked as the ultrasound technician began squirting the conductive jelly onto my bump. Jane looked up at the woman, waiting for an answer to her mothers question. I pursed my lips, knowing exactly what the woman was going to say.

"We tend to do the first scan a little earlier when the mother has a history of miscarriages." The woman smiled apologetically at me when the m word left her mouth. I turned all my attention to the small screen before me, Janes hand squeezing mine as we both refused to look at Angela.

"Here we go." The woman smiled as she began moving around my bump, stopping every now and again to take screenshots. She bought her finger to the screen suddenly, resting on what looked like a peanut inside my uterus. "There's your baby."

"Holy shit." Jane said from beside me, her breath catching in her throat as her wide eyes focused on the image before her. Then, without warning, the sound of the babys heartbeat filled the room. I felt like the air had been knocked straight from my lungs. This was suddenly feeling far too real.

"Wait…" I said with wide eyes as I deciphered what I was seeing on the screen in front of me. I looked at the technician who was smiling down at me. "Oh God." Jane finally tore her eyes away from the screen, scanning my face for any suggestion as to why I was panicking.

"What…" Jane started, squinting at the screen to try and understand.

"Jane… There's more than one baby in there."