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Against All Odds: Part 3
Warning: MPreg, homosexuality

The next afternoon he got to the pool a little early, hoping to talk to Eleanor before the class started.  By some stroke of luck, she’d gotten there a few minutes early too, and he pulled her aside.  “Listen, I wanted to tell you that this is the last class I’ll be attending.”
“What?  Why?  Is everything okay?” she asked.
“Well, my doctor wants to induce me early to avoid unnecessary complications.  I talked with him yesterday, and we’ve set an appointment for 7am Saturday morning.”
“Ooh how exciting!  You’ll finally get to hold your sweet little baby!” she exclaimed, placing a hand softly against Josh’s inflated belly.
“I dunno about sweet, but yes, I’m glad to be getting it out of me,” he laughed, trying to giggle as a woman might.  “You won’t be far behind though, you know.”
“Just three weeks and one day!” she beamed.  “But here I thought I’d be going to the hospital before you.  It’s too bad you can’t keep it in for 3 more weeks; then we could have our babies together.  How fun would that be?”
“Heh, I dunno, nothing about having a baby sounds like a lot of fun.  But it might help to have some company.  You know I’ve only got my boyfriend Ted to help me through it.”
“That’s not true; you’ve got me as well.  I’ll see if I can’t do something to help.  Let me give you my phone number and you just let me know if there’s anything at all that I can do.  I’m there for you, and don’t forget that.”
Josh smiled.  “I appreciate that Eleanor, I really do.  Here’s my home number.  If neither Ted nor I are there, just leave a message and I’ll get back to you.”
“Okay.  You know, I’ll miss having you in my class.  It won’t be the same without you.”
“Seriously?  I didn’t think I made that big of an impression on anyone.”
“You’ve got a very unique personality that you let shine through sometimes.  I know there’s more to you than you let on.”
Josh was taken aback by this, and didn’t quite know how to respond.  “I’ll take that as a compliment, I think…”
“Silly, of course it is.  But get your stuff; it’s time to head to the pool.”
It was an overcast day, and everyone was hoping the rain would hold off until they were done, because no pregnant person there wanted their pool time cut short.  Josh found it hard to relax though when the threat of rain loomed overhead.  Their instructor had informed them that she’d taken the precaution of turning the heat off to the hot tub in the locker room so they could continue in there should it start raining.  Then they heard a clap of thunder, and the lifeguard ordered everyone out of the pool.  The troupe of bulging bellies made their way awkwardly out of the pool, picked up their belongings, and waddled en masse to the cooling-off hot tub.
It was still warm when they got there, but not dangerously so, and Josh liked to have melted right into the tiles it felt so heavenly.  The instructor was saying something, but he wasn’t listening.  He was enjoying the water too much.  And he figured that since he’d be having the baby soon, what she was saying wasn’t entirely important.
“Josie, tell me what I just said about infants and hot tubs.”
“Er…”  Shit.  Perhaps that would be something good to know if he was going to have to bring the baby home for a few weeks.  He may not be putting the baby in a hot tub, but a hot bathtub was a very real possibility.
“That’s what I thought.  If you don’t want to pay attention you should drop the class and let someone else have your place.”
“This is actually Josie’s last class,” Eleanor spoke up.  “She’s going to be having her baby this weekend!”
“Oh is she now?  Well congratulations then, Josie.  I apologize; no wonder you’re distracted.”
“Thank you.  I should probably be going though.  I’ve got a lot of stuff to do to prepare for the early arrival of the little one.”  Eleanor reached over to pat his belly again.  This time he placed his hand on top of hers and smiled.  Then he hefted himself up and grabbed up his towel, dried himself off, waved to his classmates, and went to go change.  The baby didn’t like being taken out of the warmth of the hot tub, and neither did Josh, but there really was no point in him being in a prenatal class if he wasn’t going to pay attention to what was said.  He didn’t bother showering but instead simply got dressed and headed home.
Ted hadn’t gotten home yet, so Josh showered and cleaned all the pool water off of him while he waited for his boyfriend to get home from work.  He’d just gotten out of the shower when the doorbell rang.  ‘Ted wouldn’t ring the doorbell, so who could that be?’ he wondered.  He put a robe on and toddled to the door.  He peeked through the peephole and saw Chelsea standing there.  He took a deep breath, knowing he wasn’t dressed up as he’d been the day before, but opened the door anyway.
She had a big box sitting on the rail next to her, which she picked up with a smile and walked in saying “I hope I didn’t disturb you, how are you feeling today?”  She set the box down on the nearest table and turned back to give him a hug and a belly pat.
“You’re not bothered by this at all?” he asked her, with a funny look on his face.
“Well sure it’s weird, but you’re still Josh aren’t you?”
“You won’t tell anyone about this, will you?” he asked, quite seriously.
“If you don’t want me to then of course I won’t.”
“Have you told anyone yet?  Like your cousin or anyone?”
“No, I just told her I had a friend who needed some baby things.  Is that okay?”
“Yeah, that’s fine.  I just don’t want anyone to get wind of this and report it to anybody.  This isn’t exactly normal you know.  My doctor even had Ted sign a confidentiality agreement, if that tells you how important it is that you keep this just between us.”
“Well of course I won’t then.  I’d never do anything to hurt you.”  She stood up on her toes a bit to place a kiss on his cheek.  “Let me show you what I’ve brought though!”  She went to the box and started pulling out plastic toys and blankets, and Josh stood there amazed.
“Why are you doing this for me Chelsea?” he asked.  “I mean, you broke up with me months ago.”
“That baby’s mine isn’t it?  It’s the least I can do.  Gosh, that sounds so weird coming out of my mouth.  I always figured that was a line reserved for the guys.”
“It is, until it’s the guy that ends up getting knocked up.  But you know I’m living with Ted now, right?  We’re in a pretty serious relationship and I don’t think there’s much room for a third person here.”  He looked down at his bulging abdomen.  “Make that a fourth person.”
She looked sad.  “I’m sorry I yelled at you before.  I was just frustrated at not knowing what was going on.  You were going through something but I had no idea what it was.  I broke up with you because I couldn’t stand being left out of something in your life.”
“I didn’t know who I could trust.  I’ve only told Ted.  Not even my mother knows about this.  My mother would probably disown me if she knew what’s happened.  I figured the fewer people that knew about this, the better, but I’m sorry I left you out.”
“But you’ve told me now, so why not let me back into your life, why not let me have another chance?”
“Chelsea, that’s a lot easier said than done.  Look at me.  I’m eight months pregnant.  Do you think I’ll have the time to spare to work on building another relationship?  And what will Ted think?  I’ve got to include him in this too, and I doubt he’ll want to share me with anyone that isn’t our offspring.”
“You wouldn’t even have that god damned thing if it weren’t for me!  Don’t you forget that!”  She stomped across the room to the front door.
“Wait, Chelsea, don’t go.  I didn’t mean it like that.  I didn’t mean that you couldn’t be around; I just meant that we can’t be lovers.  Ted and I made the decision to be exclusive after you broke up with me, and I can’t go back on that now without his approval.  You can understand that, can’t you?”
She looked at him, like she wanted to forgive him but was having trouble doing so.  She didn’t want to be a bother, but she knew she had to be pushy when it came to Josh.  Then she thought of something that would surely improve her mood so she could better deal with her expectant ex.  “Show me your tummy.”
“Huh?”
“Open up your robe and let me see your tummy.”  He gave her a strange look, but did as she instructed.  The terrycloth fell away revealing the dome of overly stretched skin.  She reached out her hand and walked back to him to touch it.  “It’s so incredible.  I can’t believe that it’s real!”
“Oh it’s real alright.  I can attest to that.  And the day after tomorrow I’ll have a big gash across here and an infant in my arms.”  He drew his finger across his belly where Dr. Marco would be cutting into it.
Chelsea cringed.  “Don’t say it like that; that’s horrible.”
“That’s what’s going to happen though.  It’s gotta come out somehow, and it certainly won’t come out the way it went in.  Hmm… can you believe it?  In less than 48 hours, we’ll be taking care of a baby!”
“I can’t wait.  And I’m glad I came by yesterday.  To think I could’ve missed something like this!  Hey, you should keep the baby.  I mean you’re going to have to keep it until the end of June anyway, why not just tell that couple you’ve changed your mind?”
“Because I don’t know the first thing about raising a child.  There’s no way…”
“You’ll figure it out.  I’d help too you know.  With the three of us we can raise it just fine.”  Ted came home at this point, and was a bit alarmed to see his boyfriend standing there with his robe open and his ex-girlfriend standing there with him.  “Don’t you think three of us is enough to raise a baby, Ted?” she asked.
“What are you two doing?”  His eyes were focused on Josh’s exposed belly.  Josh became very self-aware and wrapped himself back up.
“Chelsea brought some baby stuff over and then wanted to see my tummy.  She hasn’t gotten to see it yet.”  He walked over to greet his boyfriend.  “Did you have a good day at work Teddy Bear?”
“It was alright.  What did she mean when she asked if the three of us were enough to raise a baby?”
“I’d just suggested that you two keep the baby and I could help out, and between the three of us it should grow up healthy and happy.  I think the baby will have an edge on all the other kids, having two daddies and a mommy,” she explained.
“Is she serious, Josh?”
“Yeah, ‘fraid so.  But then you’d suggested yourself that we keep it, didn’t you?”
Chelsea clapped her hands.  “It’s settled then!  That other couple will just be out of luck!”
Josh sighed.  He didn’t know what to think.  He hadn’t been planning for this and he couldn’t decide if he liked the idea or not.  Ted was more on the same wavelength as Chelsea though, and rather liked the idea of raising the baby growing inside his boyfriend, even if he hadn’t donated any genes to it.  “Well let’s see what all Chelsea has brought over, shall we?” Ted asked rhetorically, walking to the box. He picked up the items that had already been taken out to examine their condition.  He reached into the box to pull out the remaining items.  “Lots of stuff for boys,” he commented.  “Josh, you should call your doctor and get him to tell you what gender the baby is.  That way we can be planning for what to expect.  We can go out and get girls’ clothes if we need to.”
“You’ll find out what it is on Saturday.”
“But I want to know now!” Ted and Chelsea said in unison.
Josh blinked at the minor onslaught.  He was outnumbered.  “You call him.  The number’s on the fridge.  Ask for Dr. Marco and tell him you’re calling on behalf of Josie Blackwell.”
“Woohoo!” Ted yipped and ran to the phone.  He fed the secretary that answered the names that Josh had given him, and soon was on hold to speak with the doctor.  “Yes, this is Ted. … Yes. … No, Josh is fine; we just wanted to know what the gender of the baby was because we’re thinking about keeping it after all. … Yeah, I figure we’ll be so attached to it after a few weeks that we won’t want to give it up after that.  And why should we?  It’s our baby is it not? … We have to sign another agreement to keep our own baby?  That’s insane! … Ugh, stupid legal processes.  Alright, well we’ll do whatever we need to do.  So tell me, is it a boy or a girl? … I knew it!  Thanks so much Doctor!  We’ll see you Saturday! … You too, bye!”  He hung up the phone grinning like a kid at Christmas.
“Well, what is it?” Chelsea asked, eagerly awaiting the news.  Ted went over to her to whisper into her ear.  She giggled joyously.  “That’s perfect,” she said, grinning as big as Ted now.
“Are you two going to keep it a secret from me?”
“I thought you didn’t want to know,” Ted replied, still grinning from ear to ear.
“Well if you two already know, then there’s really not much point in keeping it from me, is there?  And unless you’ve forgotten, I’m the one carrying this wriggling chunk of flesh around.”
“Alright, alright.  It’s a boy!  So we don’t need to worry about getting girl stuff after all!”  Ted was beaming, and Josh was too stunned to really react.
He opened up his robe again and looked down at the prominent curve.  “So you’re our son are you?” he asked its contents.  “I figured you would be.  You kick too hard to be a girl.”  The baby gave him a slight nudge as if to say ‘sorry.’  He moved to sit down on the couch and Chelsea and Ted followed, one sitting on each side, all of them talking to and feeling the little boy still wiggling inside Josh.  He looked at the other two on the couch with him and declared “I don’t think I’ve ever been happier than I am right now.”
This earned him a kiss on each cheek simultaneously from Ted and Chelsea, and the baby gave a typically strong kick so he wouldn’t be forgotten.  “We didn’t forget about you baby boy,” Chelsea cooed to him.
“So what do you think, Ted, can the four of us be a family?” Josh asked.
He looked across to Chelsea, who’d put a puppy-dog look on her face.  “Hmm.  We’ll see.”
“What exactly did you have in mind, Chelsea?  Actually living here with us, just visiting on weekends, what?”
“Whatever you’ll let me do.  Would you let me move in?”
“Let’s start with afternoon visits.  This is only a one-bedroom apartment and there won’t be enough room for our own things once the baby stuff takes over,” Ted answered.
“At least you’re guys and shouldn’t have as much stuff, right?”
“Chelsea, we’re gay.  Of course we have a lot of stuff.”
“Josh isn’t, he’s half straight.”
“Ted, take her to look at our room.  She’ll understand when she sees it,” Josh said.
They both left and when they came back Chelsea said “okay, you’re right, you need a bigger apartment.  You need to get organized too; you’ve got stuff everywhere!”
“I can’t get a bigger one yet.  I just renewed my lease here about four months ago.  Right before Josh found out about the baby, or else I probably would be in a two-bedroom right now,” Ted told her.
“Umm… I’ve got a two-bedroom apartment.  You could move in with me if you want.”
“That’s nice of you Chelsea, but I’m not moving anywhere like this.  And it’ll be even tougher once the baby is here.”
“You’re not going to try to keep me away from the baby are you?”
“Of course we won’t.  After all, you’ve got as much of a right to it as we do.  Er, make that a right to ‘him’.  Heh, man this is weird.  This whole gender thing gives a lot more credibility to the fact that there’s a human being in here.  Before it was just an annoyance that happened to have a face and was called a baby; now it’s like ‘whoa, you created a new life!’” Josh said as much to himself as anyone else.  He wrapped his arms around his middle as best as he could.  “There’s just no way to describe how immense this feeling is for me.  It’s overwhelming.  In fact, I think I’m going to go take a nap.  Ted, you and Chelsea go through what she brought over and see what we need to buy before Saturday.”
“Oh, there’s a car seat in my car too that I forgot to bring in!” she suddenly remembered.
“That’s good, we’ll definitely need one of those,” Josh said.  “Okay, see y’all in a couple of hours.”
“Wanna go ahead and put that car seat in my car and show me how it works?” Ted asked of Chelsea.
“Sure, but why your car?” she asked.
“Because I’m going to be the one bringing the baby home from the hospital!”
Josh couldn’t fall asleep from all the thoughts swirling in his head.  His brain was tired from thinking, but still the thoughts kept coming like a tornado.  He lay there with his eyes open, thinking about the things he would do with his son.  He’d teach him to play ball, he’d teach him to ride a bike, he’d teach him to fly kites… there were innumerous things to do.  And what would they call him?  He’d need to be named in two days because they had to put something on his birth certificate.  And whose last name would they use?  Babies were typically named after their father, but they didn’t know exactly who the father was in this case.  And the mother and the carrier were two different people.  Josh wanted to use his last name since he’d been the one to go through all the trouble of carrying it for the past eight months.  Seemed only fair to him.
Before even an hour had passed, Ted poked his head in through the door to see if Josh was asleep or not.  He spotted that his eyes were open, so he came in and started picking things up off the floor.  Chelsea was right behind him doing the same thing.  “What are y’all doing?” Josh asked, perturbed at them disturbing his peace.
“We’ve gotta clean up to make room for the baby’s crib,” Ted replied simply.
“We can’t put it out in the hallway or the dining area?”
“Or on the balcony perhaps?” quipped Ted.
“No, of course not, I mean do you really want him and all his stuff in here, especially when we’re trying to do certain things?  I mean spit up sounds like a mood killer to me.  We can put him right outside the door; we’ll still be able to hear him cry, but we’ll have our own space too.  And we’ll give him his own room as soon as we can get a bigger place.”
“Hmm… alright.  I’ll push the kitchen table up against the wall so there’ll be some wall space on the other side of it for the crib and changing table.”
“We don’t even have a crib or a changing table yet.  How do you know it’ll even fit?”
“Chelsea knows about how much room they take up, and we’re going to go get one as soon as we make room, so we can bring it in and set it up right away.  Do you want to come with us to pick it out?”
“Nah, I’m going to spend tonight and tomorrow resting up for the big day.  Y’all go have fun.  Get whatever, I trust your judgment.  And think of some names while you’re out.”
“Huh?  Names?”
“Yes, names, so we can call our son something besides Baby and You.”
They came back a couple of hours later, lugging in some large boxes.  Ted stood in the middle of the doorway to the bedroom, where Josh still lay and announced “Griffin Kyler Blackwell.  How do you like that?”
Josh smiled.  They’d agreed to use his last name and he hadn’t even had to fight them for it.  After a triumph like that, he’d let them use pretty much whatever name they wanted.  “It’s great, I love it.  Should we call him Griffin or Kyler though?”
“I like Griffin personally,” Chelsea broke in.
Josh looked down and stroking his belly gently told his tiny inhabitant “Your name is going to be Griffin.  Do you like that name?”  The baby pressed a fist up against where Josh’s hand was placed.  “I take that as a yes.”  He smiled, feeling nothing but tenderness now for his baby.  “I love you Griffin Kyler Blackwell.”
Ted brushed away a pseudo-tear from his eye as he came to lie on the bed with his boyfriend and child.  “That was so touching.  And look at you; you’re positively beaming right now.”
“Small wonder.  I mean I think you’d feel the same if it finally hit you what a fantastic miracle this is, and how incredible this feeling of having a life inside you is, a life that’s about to be brought into this world to grow and learn and be strong.  He’s so small and helpless right now; so fragile, so innocent, but full of such promises and expectations and hope!  And he’s ours!  Nobody else’s but ours!  And nobody else can love him like we can so why not love him like nothing else in the world?”
Chelsea came over to lay her head on Josh’s warm rounded tummy.  “You’re so right.  And you said it so well.”
“Thanks you two.  And thanks for giving me this little squirm-ball.  I’d been thinking I’d just go back to my old life after this was over, but now I know I can’t do that.  I’m going to have an entirely new life and three wonderful people to share it with.”
“It’s us that need to thank you.  You’re the one who’s suffered for so long to get to this point.  And you made the decision to keep him as soon as you found out he was there.  It takes a lot of guts to want to go through with that; more guts than I think I have,” Ted told him.
“Don’t be thanking me yet, the kid’s not even born yet.”
“He’s only gotta be in there for one more day; what could go wrong?”  Josh didn’t say anything but looked away.  “What, what’s wrong?  What’d I say?”
“Go easy on him Ted, he’s eight months pregnant and he’s about to not be, of course he’s going to be moody,” Chelsea said reproachfully.
“I’m not moody,” Josh pouted.
“Well you stay here and Chelsea and I will get that furniture put together,” Ted said.
“Can’t I come watch?” asked Josh.
“Sure you can, but you’re not allowed to help.”
“I don’t think I’d be much good assembling stuff with this big belly in the way.  I can read out the instructions though!”
“Heh, come on then, Tubby.  Ow!”
It took a few hours to get the crib and changing table assembled, the drawer slides being the most troublesome task, but finally they were complete and the baby mattresses were unwrapped so they could air out.  Chelsea arranged some blankets and pillows and toys in the crib to make it look inviting and comfortable for a newborn.  She took the outfits and onesies and folded them, and then carefully placed them into the changing table/ dresser drawers.  The top drawer was devoted to diapers and baby powder.  Josh came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her neck in a big hug.
“What’s that for?” she asked, enjoying the embrace.
“For taking care of Griffin.  He’s got everything he needs to start his life.”
“We don’t have any baby formula yet.  You’re gonna have to have that if the kid is going to eat,” she said turning so she could rub his tummy.
“Oh shit, you’re right!  I totally forgot about food!  Ted!  We need to go get some baby formula!”
“I know.  I was planning on picking some up tomorrow.  Don’t worry Babe, I’ve gotcha covered!” he said with a wink.
“Well aren’t you just wonderful?” Josh said adoringly.  “You’d be even more wonderful if you got me some strawberry ice cream though.”
“Can’t you just get a bowl of that chocolate swirl that’s in the freezer already?” Ted implored.
“I don’t want chocolate.  I want strawberry.”
“You don’t even like strawberry ice cream all that much!”
“I know, but Griffin does.  And in order for him to get it, I have to eat it, at least for another day.  So if you wouldn’t mind, go get some ice cream?”
Ted sighed.  “I’m doing this because I love you.  Remember that.”  He grabbed his keys off the table and off he went on his quest for strawberry ice cream.
“You know he won’t do that for you once the baby’s born, don’t you?” Chelsea said.
“I know.  But once the baby’s born he won’t have to.  I’d go get it myself, but I don’t feel like putting any more makeup on.”
“You make for a nice looking girl, you know that?”
“Shut up.  I don’t like dressing up like this.  I just want to be able to wear my own pants again, and my own shirts, and get rid of these goddamned maternity clothes I’m forced to wear.”
“Aw, you mean to say you don’t want to hang onto them in case you ever need them again?” she asked slyly.
“Oh fuck no!  I’m not doing this ever again.  You can have your own baby next time.”
Chelsea grinned.  “But it’s more fun seeing you all swollen up and miserable.”
“You’re gonna see me really miserable if Ted doesn’t get back in the next sixty seconds.”
“He just left dear.  He probably hasn’t had time to even get to the store yet.”
“Damn it.”  Chelsea laughed.  “You really enjoy seeing me like this, don’t you? Josh asked her.  “You’re a sadistic little wench.”
“You know I love you.”  Josh didn’t say anything, but instead pretended that he hadn’t heard her say that.  “Well umm… you want me to help you get ready for bed then?  It’s getting a little late.”
“I’m still capable of undressing myself.  I’m not a complete invalid you know.”
“I didn’t say that you were.  I was trying to be helpful!”
“I realize I look pathetic, but you don’t have to act like I actually am!”
“Josh, chill.  Forget I offered.  Geez, your mood swings have got to go.  And you’ll get your fucking ice cream soon enough.”
“You don’t have to get all bitchy on me Chelsea, fuck!”
“You’re the one… never mind, I’m just going to leave now.  I’ll stop by tomorrow to see how you’re doing.  Tell Ted goodnight for me.”
“Whatever.”  He watched her leave and once he heard her car drive away, he wondered why he’d snapped at her.  ‘Must be the strain on my back that’s putting me in a bad mood,’ he thought.  ‘I have been up for awhile now.’  He went to sit down on the couch and take the weight off his feet and back.  ‘That’s better.’  A few minutes later Ted came back, handed the carton directly to Josh, and went to the kitchen to get him a spoon.  “Thanks, you’re so awesome Teddy Bear.”
“Sure thing.  Where’s Chelsea?” he asked.
“She left.  I snapped at her so she said she’d stop by tomorrow.”
“Hmm.  Alright then.  Wanna go ahead and get ready for bed?  It’s getting late and I’ve got work in the morning.”
“I want to eat my ice cream first.  Can you sit with me for a few minutes?”
Ted smiled.  “Of course I can.  I can rub your feet too.  Are they hurting?”
“Yeah, thanks,” Josh said, moving himself around so his feet were up in Ted’s lap.  He was happy now.  His feet were being rubbed, his boyfriend was with him, and he had his strawberry ice cream.  “Just one more day, little man,” he said to his tummy, “and you’ll get to see for yourself what a great man your daddy is.”  Ted just grinned and kissed his toes.

Description
Against All Odds: Part 3
Warning: MPreg, homosexuality

The next afternoon he got to the pool a little early, hoping to talk to Eleanor before the class started.  By some stroke of luck, she’d gotten there a few minutes early too, and he pulled her aside.  “Listen, I wanted to tell you that this is the last class I’ll be attending.”
“What?  Why?  Is everything okay?” she asked.
“Well, my doctor wants to induce me early to avoid unnecessary complications.  I talked with him yesterday, and we’ve set an appointment for 7am Saturday morning.”
“Ooh how exciting!  You’ll finally get to hold your sweet little baby!” she exclaimed, placing a hand softly against Josh’s inflated belly.
“I dunno about sweet, but yes, I’m glad to be getting it out of me,” he laughed, trying to giggle as a woman might.  “You won’t be far behind though, you know.”
“Just three weeks and one day!” she beamed.  “But here I thought I’d be going to the hospital before you.  It’s too bad you can’t keep it in for 3 more weeks; then we could have our babies together.  How fun would that be?”
“Heh, I dunno, nothing about having a baby sounds like a lot of fun.  But it might help to have some company.  You know I’ve only got my boyfriend Ted to help me through it.”
“That’s not true; you’ve got me as well.  I’ll see if I can’t do something to help.  Let me give you my phone number and you just let me know if there’s anything at all that I can do.  I’m there for you, and don’t forget that.”
Josh smiled.  “I appreciate that Eleanor, I really do.  Here’s my home number.  If neither Ted nor I are there, just leave a message and I’ll get back to you.”
“Okay.  You know, I’ll miss having you in my class.  It won’t be the same without you.”
“Seriously?  I didn’t think I made that big of an impression on anyone.”
“You’ve got a very unique personality that you let shine through sometimes.  I know there’s more to you than you let on.”
Josh was taken aback by this, and didn’t quite know how to respond.  “I’ll take that as a compliment, I think…”
“Silly, of course it is.  But get your stuff; it’s time to head to the pool.”
It was an overcast day, and everyone was hoping the rain would hold off until they were done, because no pregnant person there wanted their pool time cut short.  Josh found it hard to relax though when the threat of rain loomed overhead.  Their instructor had informed them that she’d taken the precaution of turning the heat off to the hot tub in the locker room so they could continue in there should it start raining.  Then they heard a clap of thunder, and the lifeguard ordered everyone out of the pool.  The troupe of bulging bellies made their way awkwardly out of the pool, picked up their belongings, and waddled en masse to the cooling-off hot tub.
It was still warm when they got there, but not dangerously so, and Josh liked to have melted right into the tiles it felt so heavenly.  The instructor was saying something, but he wasn’t listening.  He was enjoying the water too much.  And he figured that since he’d be having the baby soon, what she was saying wasn’t entirely important.
“Josie, tell me what I just said about infants and hot tubs.”
“Er…”  Shit.  Perhaps that would be something good to know if he was going to have to bring the baby home for a few weeks.  He may not be putting the baby in a hot tub, but a hot bathtub was a very real possibility.
“That’s what I thought.  If you don’t want to pay attention you should drop the class and let someone else have your place.”
“This is actually Josie’s last class,” Eleanor spoke up.  “She’s going to be having her baby this weekend!”
“Oh is she now?  Well congratulations then, Josie.  I apologize; no wonder you’re distracted.”
“Thank you.  I should probably be going though.  I’ve got a lot of stuff to do to prepare for the early arrival of the little one.”  Eleanor reached over to pat his belly again.  This time he placed his hand on top of hers and smiled.  Then he hefted himself up and grabbed up his towel, dried himself off, waved to his classmates, and went to go change.  The baby didn’t like being taken out of the warmth of the hot tub, and neither did Josh, but there really was no point in him being in a prenatal class if he wasn’t going to pay attention to what was said.  He didn’t bother showering but instead simply got dressed and headed home.
Ted hadn’t gotten home yet, so Josh showered and cleaned all the pool water off of him while he waited for his boyfriend to get home from work.  He’d just gotten out of the shower when the doorbell rang.  ‘Ted wouldn’t ring the doorbell, so who could that be?’ he wondered.  He put a robe on and toddled to the door.  He peeked through the peephole and saw Chelsea standing there.  He took a deep breath, knowing he wasn’t dressed up as he’d been the day before, but opened the door anyway.
She had a big box sitting on the rail next to her, which she picked up with a smile and walked in saying “I hope I didn’t disturb you, how are you feeling today?”  She set the box down on the nearest table and turned back to give him a hug and a belly pat.
“You’re not bothered by this at all?” he asked her, with a funny look on his face.
“Well sure it’s weird, but you’re still Josh aren’t you?”
“You won’t tell anyone about this, will you?” he asked, quite seriously.
“If you don’t want me to then of course I won’t.”
“Have you told anyone yet?  Like your cousin or anyone?”
“No, I just told her I had a friend who needed some baby things.  Is that okay?”
“Yeah, that’s fine.  I just don’t want anyone to get wind of this and report it to anybody.  This isn’t exactly normal you know.  My doctor even had Ted sign a confidentiality agreement, if that tells you how important it is that you keep this just between us.”
“Well of course I won’t then.  I’d never do anything to hurt you.”  She stood up on her toes a bit to place a kiss on his cheek.  “Let me show you what I’ve brought though!”  She went to the box and started pulling out plastic toys and blankets, and Josh stood there amazed.
“Why are you doing this for me Chelsea?” he asked.  “I mean, you broke up with me months ago.”
“That baby’s mine isn’t it?  It’s the least I can do.  Gosh, that sounds so weird coming out of my mouth.  I always figured that was a line reserved for the guys.”
“It is, until it’s the guy that ends up getting knocked up.  But you know I’m living with Ted now, right?  We’re in a pretty serious relationship and I don’t think there’s much room for a third person here.”  He looked down at his bulging abdomen.  “Make that a fourth person.”
She looked sad.  “I’m sorry I yelled at you before.  I was just frustrated at not knowing what was going on.  You were going through something but I had no idea what it was.  I broke up with you because I couldn’t stand being left out of something in your life.”
“I didn’t know who I could trust.  I’ve only told Ted.  Not even my mother knows about this.  My mother would probably disown me if she knew what’s happened.  I figured the fewer people that knew about this, the better, but I’m sorry I left you out.”
“But you’ve told me now, so why not let me back into your life, why not let me have another chance?”
“Chelsea, that’s a lot easier said than done.  Look at me.  I’m eight months pregnant.  Do you think I’ll have the time to spare to work on building another relationship?  And what will Ted think?  I’ve got to include him in this too, and I doubt he’ll want to share me with anyone that isn’t our offspring.”
“You wouldn’t even have that god damned thing if it weren’t for me!  Don’t you forget that!”  She stomped across the room to the front door.
“Wait, Chelsea, don’t go.  I didn’t mean it like that.  I didn’t mean that you couldn’t be around; I just meant that we can’t be lovers.  Ted and I made the decision to be exclusive after you broke up with me, and I can’t go back on that now without his approval.  You can understand that, can’t you?”
She looked at him, like she wanted to forgive him but was having trouble doing so.  She didn’t want to be a bother, but she knew she had to be pushy when it came to Josh.  Then she thought of something that would surely improve her mood so she could better deal with her expectant ex.  “Show me your tummy.”
“Huh?”
“Open up your robe and let me see your tummy.”  He gave her a strange look, but did as she instructed.  The terrycloth fell away revealing the dome of overly stretched skin.  She reached out her hand and walked back to him to touch it.  “It’s so incredible.  I can’t believe that it’s real!”
“Oh it’s real alright.  I can attest to that.  And the day after tomorrow I’ll have a big gash across here and an infant in my arms.”  He drew his finger across his belly where Dr. Marco would be cutting into it.
Chelsea cringed.  “Don’t say it like that; that’s horrible.”
“That’s what’s going to happen though.  It’s gotta come out somehow, and it certainly won’t come out the way it went in.  Hmm… can you believe it?  In less than 48 hours, we’ll be taking care of a baby!”
“I can’t wait.  And I’m glad I came by yesterday.  To think I could’ve missed something like this!  Hey, you should keep the baby.  I mean you’re going to have to keep it until the end of June anyway, why not just tell that couple you’ve changed your mind?”
“Because I don’t know the first thing about raising a child.  There’s no way…”
“You’ll figure it out.  I’d help too you know.  With the three of us we can raise it just fine.”  Ted came home at this point, and was a bit alarmed to see his boyfriend standing there with his robe open and his ex-girlfriend standing there with him.  “Don’t you think three of us is enough to raise a baby, Ted?” she asked.
“What are you two doing?”  His eyes were focused on Josh’s exposed belly.  Josh became very self-aware and wrapped himself back up.
“Chelsea brought some baby stuff over and then wanted to see my tummy.  She hasn’t gotten to see it yet.”  He walked over to greet his boyfriend.  “Did you have a good day at work Teddy Bear?”
“It was alright.  What did she mean when she asked if the three of us were enough to raise a baby?”
“I’d just suggested that you two keep the baby and I could help out, and between the three of us it should grow up healthy and happy.  I think the baby will have an edge on all the other kids, having two daddies and a mommy,” she explained.
“Is she serious, Josh?”
“Yeah, ‘fraid so.  But then you’d suggested yourself that we keep it, didn’t you?”
Chelsea clapped her hands.  “It’s settled then!  That other couple will just be out of luck!”
Josh sighed.  He didn’t know what to think.  He hadn’t been planning for this and he couldn’t decide if he liked the idea or not.  Ted was more on the same wavelength as Chelsea though, and rather liked the idea of raising the baby growing inside his boyfriend, even if he hadn’t donated any genes to it.  “Well let’s see what all Chelsea has brought over, shall we?” Ted asked rhetorically, walking to the box. He picked up the items that had already been taken out to examine their condition.  He reached into the box to pull out the remaining items.  “Lots of stuff for boys,” he commented.  “Josh, you should call your doctor and get him to tell you what gender the baby is.  That way we can be planning for what to expect.  We can go out and get girls’ clothes if we need to.”
“You’ll find out what it is on Saturday.”
“But I want to know now!” Ted and Chelsea said in unison.
Josh blinked at the minor onslaught.  He was outnumbered.  “You call him.  The number’s on the fridge.  Ask for Dr. Marco and tell him you’re calling on behalf of Josie Blackwell.”
“Woohoo!” Ted yipped and ran to the phone.  He fed the secretary that answered the names that Josh had given him, and soon was on hold to speak with the doctor.  “Yes, this is Ted. … Yes. … No, Josh is fine; we just wanted to know what the gender of the baby was because we’re thinking about keeping it after all. … Yeah, I figure we’ll be so attached to it after a few weeks that we won’t want to give it up after that.  And why should we?  It’s our baby is it not? … We have to sign another agreement to keep our own baby?  That’s insane! … Ugh, stupid legal processes.  Alright, well we’ll do whatever we need to do.  So tell me, is it a boy or a girl? … I knew it!  Thanks so much Doctor!  We’ll see you Saturday! … You too, bye!”  He hung up the phone grinning like a kid at Christmas.
“Well, what is it?” Chelsea asked, eagerly awaiting the news.  Ted went over to her to whisper into her ear.  She giggled joyously.  “That’s perfect,” she said, grinning as big as Ted now.
“Are you two going to keep it a secret from me?”
“I thought you didn’t want to know,” Ted replied, still grinning from ear to ear.
“Well if you two already know, then there’s really not much point in keeping it from me, is there?  And unless you’ve forgotten, I’m the one carrying this wriggling chunk of flesh around.”
“Alright, alright.  It’s a boy!  So we don’t need to worry about getting girl stuff after all!”  Ted was beaming, and Josh was too stunned to really react.
He opened up his robe again and looked down at the prominent curve.  “So you’re our son are you?” he asked its contents.  “I figured you would be.  You kick too hard to be a girl.”  The baby gave him a slight nudge as if to say ‘sorry.’  He moved to sit down on the couch and Chelsea and Ted followed, one sitting on each side, all of them talking to and feeling the little boy still wiggling inside Josh.  He looked at the other two on the couch with him and declared “I don’t think I’ve ever been happier than I am right now.”
This earned him a kiss on each cheek simultaneously from Ted and Chelsea, and the baby gave a typically strong kick so he wouldn’t be forgotten.  “We didn’t forget about you baby boy,” Chelsea cooed to him.
“So what do you think, Ted, can the four of us be a family?” Josh asked.
He looked across to Chelsea, who’d put a puppy-dog look on her face.  “Hmm.  We’ll see.”
“What exactly did you have in mind, Chelsea?  Actually living here with us, just visiting on weekends, what?”
“Whatever you’ll let me do.  Would you let me move in?”
“Let’s start with afternoon visits.  This is only a one-bedroom apartment and there won’t be enough room for our own things once the baby stuff takes over,” Ted answered.
“At least you’re guys and shouldn’t have as much stuff, right?”
“Chelsea, we’re gay.  Of course we have a lot of stuff.”
“Josh isn’t, he’s half straight.”
“Ted, take her to look at our room.  She’ll understand when she sees it,” Josh said.
They both left and when they came back Chelsea said “okay, you’re right, you need a bigger apartment.  You need to get organized too; you’ve got stuff everywhere!”
“I can’t get a bigger one yet.  I just renewed my lease here about four months ago.  Right before Josh found out about the baby, or else I probably would be in a two-bedroom right now,” Ted told her.
“Umm… I’ve got a two-bedroom apartment.  You could move in with me if you want.”
“That’s nice of you Chelsea, but I’m not moving anywhere like this.  And it’ll be even tougher once the baby is here.”
“You’re not going to try to keep me away from the baby are you?”
“Of course we won’t.  After all, you’ve got as much of a right to it as we do.  Er, make that a right to ‘him’.  Heh, man this is weird.  This whole gender thing gives a lot more credibility to the fact that there’s a human being in here.  Before it was just an annoyance that happened to have a face and was called a baby; now it’s like ‘whoa, you created a new life!’” Josh said as much to himself as anyone else.  He wrapped his arms around his middle as best as he could.  “There’s just no way to describe how immense this feeling is for me.  It’s overwhelming.  In fact, I think I’m going to go take a nap.  Ted, you and Chelsea go through what she brought over and see what we need to buy before Saturday.”
“Oh, there’s a car seat in my car too that I forgot to bring in!” she suddenly remembered.
“That’s good, we’ll definitely need one of those,” Josh said.  “Okay, see y’all in a couple of hours.”
“Wanna go ahead and put that car seat in my car and show me how it works?” Ted asked of Chelsea.
“Sure, but why your car?” she asked.
“Because I’m going to be the one bringing the baby home from the hospital!”
Josh couldn’t fall asleep from all the thoughts swirling in his head.  His brain was tired from thinking, but still the thoughts kept coming like a tornado.  He lay there with his eyes open, thinking about the things he would do with his son.  He’d teach him to play ball, he’d teach him to ride a bike, he’d teach him to fly kites… there were innumerous things to do.  And what would they call him?  He’d need to be named in two days because they had to put something on his birth certificate.  And whose last name would they use?  Babies were typically named after their father, but they didn’t know exactly who the father was in this case.  And the mother and the carrier were two different people.  Josh wanted to use his last name since he’d been the one to go through all the trouble of carrying it for the past eight months.  Seemed only fair to him.
Before even an hour had passed, Ted poked his head in through the door to see if Josh was asleep or not.  He spotted that his eyes were open, so he came in and started picking things up off the floor.  Chelsea was right behind him doing the same thing.  “What are y’all doing?” Josh asked, perturbed at them disturbing his peace.
“We’ve gotta clean up to make room for the baby’s crib,” Ted replied simply.
“We can’t put it out in the hallway or the dining area?”
“Or on the balcony perhaps?” quipped Ted.
“No, of course not, I mean do you really want him and all his stuff in here, especially when we’re trying to do certain things?  I mean spit up sounds like a mood killer to me.  We can put him right outside the door; we’ll still be able to hear him cry, but we’ll have our own space too.  And we’ll give him his own room as soon as we can get a bigger place.”
“Hmm… alright.  I’ll push the kitchen table up against the wall so there’ll be some wall space on the other side of it for the crib and changing table.”
“We don’t even have a crib or a changing table yet.  How do you know it’ll even fit?”
“Chelsea knows about how much room they take up, and we’re going to go get one as soon as we make room, so we can bring it in and set it up right away.  Do you want to come with us to pick it out?”
“Nah, I’m going to spend tonight and tomorrow resting up for the big day.  Y’all go have fun.  Get whatever, I trust your judgment.  And think of some names while you’re out.”
“Huh?  Names?”
“Yes, names, so we can call our son something besides Baby and You.”
They came back a couple of hours later, lugging in some large boxes.  Ted stood in the middle of the doorway to the bedroom, where Josh still lay and announced “Griffin Kyler Blackwell.  How do you like that?”
Josh smiled.  They’d agreed to use his last name and he hadn’t even had to fight them for it.  After a triumph like that, he’d let them use pretty much whatever name they wanted.  “It’s great, I love it.  Should we call him Griffin or Kyler though?”
“I like Griffin personally,” Chelsea broke in.
Josh looked down and stroking his belly gently told his tiny inhabitant “Your name is going to be Griffin.  Do you like that name?”  The baby pressed a fist up against where Josh’s hand was placed.  “I take that as a yes.”  He smiled, feeling nothing but tenderness now for his baby.  “I love you Griffin Kyler Blackwell.”
Ted brushed away a pseudo-tear from his eye as he came to lie on the bed with his boyfriend and child.  “That was so touching.  And look at you; you’re positively beaming right now.”
“Small wonder.  I mean I think you’d feel the same if it finally hit you what a fantastic miracle this is, and how incredible this feeling of having a life inside you is, a life that’s about to be brought into this world to grow and learn and be strong.  He’s so small and helpless right now; so fragile, so innocent, but full of such promises and expectations and hope!  And he’s ours!  Nobody else’s but ours!  And nobody else can love him like we can so why not love him like nothing else in the world?”
Chelsea came over to lay her head on Josh’s warm rounded tummy.  “You’re so right.  And you said it so well.”
“Thanks you two.  And thanks for giving me this little squirm-ball.  I’d been thinking I’d just go back to my old life after this was over, but now I know I can’t do that.  I’m going to have an entirely new life and three wonderful people to share it with.”
“It’s us that need to thank you.  You’re the one who’s suffered for so long to get to this point.  And you made the decision to keep him as soon as you found out he was there.  It takes a lot of guts to want to go through with that; more guts than I think I have,” Ted told him.
“Don’t be thanking me yet, the kid’s not even born yet.”
“He’s only gotta be in there for one more day; what could go wrong?”  Josh didn’t say anything but looked away.  “What, what’s wrong?  What’d I say?”
“Go easy on him Ted, he’s eight months pregnant and he’s about to not be, of course he’s going to be moody,” Chelsea said reproachfully.
“I’m not moody,” Josh pouted.
“Well you stay here and Chelsea and I will get that furniture put together,” Ted said.
“Can’t I come watch?” asked Josh.
“Sure you can, but you’re not allowed to help.”
“I don’t think I’d be much good assembling stuff with this big belly in the way.  I can read out the instructions though!”
“Heh, come on then, Tubby.  Ow!”
It took a few hours to get the crib and changing table assembled, the drawer slides being the most troublesome task, but finally they were complete and the baby mattresses were unwrapped so they could air out.  Chelsea arranged some blankets and pillows and toys in the crib to make it look inviting and comfortable for a newborn.  She took the outfits and onesies and folded them, and then carefully placed them into the changing table/ dresser drawers.  The top drawer was devoted to diapers and baby powder.  Josh came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her neck in a big hug.
“What’s that for?” she asked, enjoying the embrace.
“For taking care of Griffin.  He’s got everything he needs to start his life.”
“We don’t have any baby formula yet.  You’re gonna have to have that if the kid is going to eat,” she said turning so she could rub his tummy.
“Oh shit, you’re right!  I totally forgot about food!  Ted!  We need to go get some baby formula!”
“I know.  I was planning on picking some up tomorrow.  Don’t worry Babe, I’ve gotcha covered!” he said with a wink.
“Well aren’t you just wonderful?” Josh said adoringly.  “You’d be even more wonderful if you got me some strawberry ice cream though.”
“Can’t you just get a bowl of that chocolate swirl that’s in the freezer already?” Ted implored.
“I don’t want chocolate.  I want strawberry.”
“You don’t even like strawberry ice cream all that much!”
“I know, but Griffin does.  And in order for him to get it, I have to eat it, at least for another day.  So if you wouldn’t mind, go get some ice cream?”
Ted sighed.  “I’m doing this because I love you.  Remember that.”  He grabbed his keys off the table and off he went on his quest for strawberry ice cream.
“You know he won’t do that for you once the baby’s born, don’t you?” Chelsea said.
“I know.  But once the baby’s born he won’t have to.  I’d go get it myself, but I don’t feel like putting any more makeup on.”
“You make for a nice looking girl, you know that?”
“Shut up.  I don’t like dressing up like this.  I just want to be able to wear my own pants again, and my own shirts, and get rid of these goddamned maternity clothes I’m forced to wear.”
“Aw, you mean to say you don’t want to hang onto them in case you ever need them again?” she asked slyly.
“Oh fuck no!  I’m not doing this ever again.  You can have your own baby next time.”
Chelsea grinned.  “But it’s more fun seeing you all swollen up and miserable.”
“You’re gonna see me really miserable if Ted doesn’t get back in the next sixty seconds.”
“He just left dear.  He probably hasn’t had time to even get to the store yet.”
“Damn it.”  Chelsea laughed.  “You really enjoy seeing me like this, don’t you? Josh asked her.  “You’re a sadistic little wench.”
“You know I love you.”  Josh didn’t say anything, but instead pretended that he hadn’t heard her say that.  “Well umm… you want me to help you get ready for bed then?  It’s getting a little late.”
“I’m still capable of undressing myself.  I’m not a complete invalid you know.”
“I didn’t say that you were.  I was trying to be helpful!”
“I realize I look pathetic, but you don’t have to act like I actually am!”
“Josh, chill.  Forget I offered.  Geez, your mood swings have got to go.  And you’ll get your fucking ice cream soon enough.”
“You don’t have to get all bitchy on me Chelsea, fuck!”
“You’re the one… never mind, I’m just going to leave now.  I’ll stop by tomorrow to see how you’re doing.  Tell Ted goodnight for me.”
“Whatever.”  He watched her leave and once he heard her car drive away, he wondered why he’d snapped at her.  ‘Must be the strain on my back that’s putting me in a bad mood,’ he thought.  ‘I have been up for awhile now.’  He went to sit down on the couch and take the weight off his feet and back.  ‘That’s better.’  A few minutes later Ted came back, handed the carton directly to Josh, and went to the kitchen to get him a spoon.  “Thanks, you’re so awesome Teddy Bear.”
“Sure thing.  Where’s Chelsea?” he asked.
“She left.  I snapped at her so she said she’d stop by tomorrow.”
“Hmm.  Alright then.  Wanna go ahead and get ready for bed?  It’s getting late and I’ve got work in the morning.”
“I want to eat my ice cream first.  Can you sit with me for a few minutes?”
Ted smiled.  “Of course I can.  I can rub your feet too.  Are they hurting?”
“Yeah, thanks,” Josh said, moving himself around so his feet were up in Ted’s lap.  He was happy now.  His feet were being rubbed, his boyfriend was with him, and he had his strawberry ice cream.  “Just one more day, little man,” he said to his tummy, “and you’ll get to see for yourself what a great man your daddy is.”  Ted just grinned and kissed his toes.