George wondered over the next few weeks what he'd been thinking to blithely agree to the addition of three needy dogs to their household, especially when Scout was nearing the end of her pregnancy and they were nowhere near ready for the baby, and they weren't sure the frightening occurrences at Farraway Mist had come to an end.

As February came and went, Scout continued to get bigger at an astonishing rate, to the point where they both sometimes wondered if there weren't two babies inside her. She continued to plug away at the library, with Sunil and Alfred by her side, while George transformed the small room next to theirs where Scout used to sleep into a nursery, often pulling the boys to help him. 

Every so often, Scout would dash off to the utility room at the back of the kitchen to check on Bess, which is what they'd named the black mother dog, and Harry and Hermione, her pups. George had objected to these names, saying that it was vaguely incestuous and wrong to name a brother and sister after this famous, non-related literary hero and heroine, but Scout had overruled him, pointing out that they'd never been romantically involved, and that they were fictitious, anyway. Plus, the boy dog had a mark on his dark forehead that looked kind of like a lightning bolt, and the girl dog was very fluffy and Hermione-like. 

Bandit, naturally, was very curious about these new additions to the household, and seemed to feel very paternal about them. At first, Scout tried to keep everyone apart, but one night, Bandit managed to get the door open, and George found him the next morning, curled up next to Bess and the puppies, and everyone seemed to be getting along just fine, so they just let everyone live together after that.

And the puppies and Bess thrived, much to Scout's delight.

"George, look!" she cried out from the utility room one morning. He came from the kitchen to see. "Their eyes are completely open now! How beautiful!" She held up a puppy for George to admire.

"You are completely beautiful," he murmured, pulling both her and the puppy in to kiss. "And fuck me, absolutely enormous, Jesus," he added, when he realized he couldn't get his arms around her. "Where are we, now, thirty-five weeks?"

"Something like that," she responded. "I feel like I'm about to explode, honestly." She put the puppy down. "I have to pee, like, every two minutes, George, and I'm hungry all the time, but I can only eat two bites before I'm full."

"Poor you," he commiserated," kissing her again.

"And I'm so, fucking, horny," she said, pressing George against the washing machine so she could kiss him really hard. 

"I know, I know," he replied, smiling, putting his hands on her hips. "Very nice for me, if I'm honest."

"Really?" She peered earnestly at him, shifting her hair out of her eyes so she could stare at him. "You're not just saying that? You're not secretly tired of fucking your girlfriend who's the size of a barge and as sexy as, oh, I don't know, a hairy old man peeling hard-boiled-eggs?"

George burst out laughing. "What? Is that an American saying?"

Scout thought about it, stroking George's jaw. "No, I don't know, it just struck me as a particularly unsexy image," she finally said, shrugging.

George moved his hands to her bottom, rubbing comfortably. "Well, you're right, it's a horrid image, darling. Luckily, you're nothing like that." He slid his hand under her top, running it up her front so he could give her breast a friendly squeeze. "You, love, are the sexiest thing in the world, exactly as you are, and if your center of gravity weren't all wonky, I'd suggest a quick shag right here, right now." And he leaned forward to nibble gently on her ear. "However, I'm a grown man, and I can wait until tonight, when we're in bed, okay?" He smiled and released her.

And every time there was a storm and the lights flickered, or a draft blew across their legs, their eyes would meet, and they'd wonder. And once, a lamp was knocked off a table and sent crashing to the floor, but Bess turned out to be the culprit. Scout found her, cowering behind the piano, terrified. It was obvious she'd been abused wherever she'd been before, for similar accidents; she wouldn't come out for hours after it happened, and no amount of coaxing would convince her it was safe to do so. 

Slowly, preparations for the baby were made, and signs appeared around the house that a new addition was coming. George and Scout's families sent way too much stuff, to make up for the fact that they wouldn't be there in person, though both mothers had of course offered to come and help. George and Scout were independent, and wanted to try things on their own, though they assured their moms that they'd call if they needed anything.

Sunil and Alfred showed up to work one day in Sunil's car, grinning like fools, with an antique, hand made cradle in pieces in the back. Apparently, Alfred, whose last name was Johanson, had gotten it from a relative somewhere, and the two of them had refinished and repaired it together in their spare time. It was all dark, inlaid wood and hand carved scrollwork, that hung from two spindles. It looked very old, and was absolutely gorgeous.

"Oh, you guys, it's stunning," Scout breathed, when the boys brought it in.

"We know you have everything you need upstairs in the nursery, but we thought you'd need something for down here, in the lounge, like," Sunil said in pleased explanation. "So you don't have to carry little Alis upstairs every time she has a nap, you know?"

"And we thought the dark finish would go with all the wood in this room," Alfred put in. "Right?"

Scout just nodded and hugged both boys, hard.

"What do you think, love, over here, next to the fireplace?" George asked. 

She nodded again, still unable to speak.

After they'd rearranged things satisfactorily, George, too, hugged the boys. "Thank you, boys, this is really, really, lovely, we'll treasure it," he assured them. "We'll use it for all our children, too," he added with a grin, which made both boys blush.

Scout sat down and put her feet up, while the boys brought her tea. They then went and took the storm windows off the upstairs windows. George had debated going to the attic and simply emptying it, clearing it out and dumping the contents, but he and Scout had finally decided to leave it alone, hoping that doing so might help keep things at Farraway Mist calm for the time being.

"And what else is left to do, then?" Alfred asked Scout that afternoon, when they'd finished with the windows.

"Just little things, I think? We're having a high chair delivered, things like that?" Scout replied with a smile. "I'm all checked in at the hospital in the village, so all that's taken care of."

"Oh, you're not having her here, then?" Sunil asked.

Scout shook her head. "Dr. Summerville says that since it's my first time, and Farraway Mist is so far away, it's better if we just cut our risks and do it at the birth center in town," she responded. "And in the States most people still do it at hospitals, so I'm fine with that," she added. "I mean, I'm all for natural, but I like doctors, too, you know?"

The boys smiled at her reassuringly.

George came in and sat down next to Scout. "What are we talking about, then?" he asked.

"Childbirth," Scout replied.

"Really?" he asked, surprised. "You boys interested in that?"

Sunil and Alfred nodded. 

"Actually, we are," Sunil replied. "We'd both be studying obstetrics if we could go to medical school straight away," he said. "Since we can't, we'll be doing a paramedics course, or a physician's assistant's course, like we said, which will be more general medicine, but that'll be very interesting, too, I think." He looked at Alfred, who nodded his agreement.

"I think we'll make it to medical school eventually," he said quietly. "Lot's of people start out as PAs, or even nurses, and go on to medical school," he said confidently.

"I think you will, too," Scout said with a smile. "You're wonderful boys, with bright futures." She leaned back and closed her eyes.

"What's the matter, Miss Scout?" Sunil asked.

"Darling?" George sat up, concerned.

"Stop, you guys, I'm fine, I'm fine," Scout said, with a tired smile. "My feet are just weird."

George bent over and lifted her feet out of her slippers. "What? They don't look swollen or anything." He looked at the young men for corroboration.

"No, they look fine to me, too," Alfred agreed.

"They're just sore," Scout said. "Relax, my gallant heroes," she said, flapping her hands at them.

"Here, let me rub them a bit, love," George said, leaning back with her feet in his lap.

"Oh, George, that feels great," Scout said, closing her eyes.

"Sunil? We should go," Alfred said, rising.

"No, no, you're fine," Scout insisted, not opening her eyes. "I made lasagne for all of us, please stay. That's why my feet are sore, actually, I was standing too long in the kitchen."

The boys looked at each other. They did love Scout's lasagne. 

In the end, the four of them enjoyed the lasagne, with Bess and Bandit hiding under the table, cold noses pressed against human legs in mute appeal, hoping for secret bites.

And Scout and George went up to bed, after a brief pit stop in the lovely nursery to unfold and admire the adorable baby clothes, which looked so tiny, way too small to fit an actual human child.

"Scout," George said softly as he folded up a miniature blue and pink knitted dress with matching socks, "I'm so happy I feel like I'm going to just die any moment, you know?" He turned to his girlfriend, blooming large with his child, gesturing to the lovely little dress with the intricate little lace collar. "I can't believe that in less than two months we're going to have a child, a baby girl to dress in these clothes and love for the rest of our lives." He blinked back tears. "I don't know what I'll do if anything happens to either of you, I really don't." He let out a breath and closed his eyes. "This feeling's never going to go away, is it? Is it?"

Scout stepped over and put her arms around him. "Sh, my love, nothing's going to happen to us, nothing, you hear me? That's over. Nothing's happened in months." She felt his arms come around her, grasping her tightly, and she knew he could feel Alis, tumbling lightly between them.

Over their heads, the bell rang softly. Once.