"Yep," she said, tugging on his hand.
"You realize that while today was a step in the right direction, I have not taken you on a date yet?"
Laughing a little, Julie said, "Aaron, my gentleman caller, it is possible to nap with clothes on."
"You actually want me to take a nap? Two year olds take naps."
"I don’t like sleeping without you," she said, pouting at him. "I have grown accustomed to sleeping in your arms, dammit. How on earth does a person fall asleep without a pair of strong arms and a nice warm body to curl into?"
"Gee, I don't know," he said, following her down the hall anyway. "It's not like you did that for 20 years before you met me or anything."
"That's it, I'm making my negotiation comeback. I'm giving you a baby—hours and hours of labor, terrible months of gas and nausea, headaches and having to run to the bathroom every 15 minutes. My body is going to get stretched out—I will never again wear a bathing suit without fearing that stretch marks are showing from this little human being's stay inside of my stomach. All you have to do is hold my hand and tell me to push, and you get a baby. So while I am napping—because I'm tired, because I'm currently giving said baby room and board—and you're at home, I require cuddle time. You have to nap with me at least until I fall asleep."
"Oh, you are going to love being able to hold this over my head, aren't you?"
Grinning, she opened the bedroom door. "So far I have no complaints."
He shook his head as he followed her inside, but before he shut the door he said, "That's it, we're going to need to go on that first date as soon as possible."
---
Returning to work was not something that Julie was looking forward to at all.
It would have been bad enough if the smell of the food didn't make her want to throw up, but to make her day brighter she was scheduled to work with Leigh. While she typically liked Leigh, she didn't figure that on that particular Monday Leigh was going to want anything to do with her.
During naptime, Julie and Aaron decided if they were going to do the baby thing they were going to do it all the way. Regardless of their status as a couple, as far as Julie could see signing parental rights from Matt to Aaron was an amazing upgrade.
Before breakfast Aaron had already been talking about how his one-bedroom apartment wasn't going to be big enough for them once they had the baby and how he would find them something bigger and better as soon as he could. Julie tried to tell him there was no need to rush, he should probably wait and see if he liked dating her before he decided to move in with her.
When she suggested that he just looked at her dumbly and said, "But we already live together."
"Yeah, but… I mean, why make a change right now?"
"We're having a baby," he stated as if she had somehow not been informed of the fact.
"Yes, I'm aware."
"You agreed that it was mine, too.” That was said a little defensively.
"Definitely is," she replied easily.
"So… we're having a baby—you're my family now, Julie.
I'm never going to be able to have another one, so why not do it right?"
"Because… I mean, Aaron, we're very new. I don't want you to change apartments and then find out you hate me and don't want to live with me."
Shrugging, he said, "Even if we didn’t work out, the baby would still need a bedroom. I don't see a problem with my plan at all."
And then before she could say anymore he had gone into the kitchen to make her French toast for breakfast. Really, who could argue with the man making the French toast?
But once at work the magic was gone. Just looking at Leigh as she watched Aaron walk in, her face lighting up in a familiar smile before she remembered that he was no longer only hers, then the dimming of the smile and its relocation to Julie, where it finally disappeared altogether.
Walking in the door when Leigh worked turned out to be a bit depressing.
Leigh was still as nice as she could be to Julie. She wasn't petty about it at all, but Julie could tell the difference.
In place of the bubbly happy-go-lucky waitress, every smile felt like an effort, every exchanged glance just a little painful. Leigh's politeness was no longer an offer of friendship, but a kind of forced civility.