And Again

Chapter eleven

One morning in June, Allie woke up with Nicky's arms around her and his hand on her stomach, inside the waistband of her sweatpants. "Good morning" she said and put her hand over his.

"Good morning" Nicky said and kissed her cheek. "How's baby doing?"

"Baby's fine" Allie said.

"And what about my beautiful wife?"

"She's fine too"

"You know what today is, right?" Nicky asked.

"Do I know that today is the last day of my first trimester?" Allie asked "Yes, I do"

Later that day Allie was at work, sitting in the break room, having coffee with some of her coworkers and reading something off her iPad.

"Allie, can I steal a sip of your coffee?" Violet asked as she walked into the room. "I'm in a rush and don't have time to make my own"

Allie lifted her cup without taking her eyes off what she was reading.

"Thanks" Violet said and took Allie's coffee. "Ugh, since when do you drink decaf"

Allie had coffee with Logan that morning which meant that now she was drinking decaf. Her friends didn't know that she was pregnant yet so she wasn't sure what to say but luckily she didn't have to because Owen walked into the room.

"Allie. There's someone downstairs for you" Owen said.

"Who?" Allie asked.

"Didn't ask, I'm rushing"

"Ok" Allie said. She put a lid on her coffee and headed down to the lobby of the building where she was surprised and pissed to see her mother. "What the fuck do you want?"

"Is that how you talk to your mother?" Cindy asked.

"Yes. Why are you here?"

"You've chosen an interesting career"

"Yeah, I became what I needed as a child" Allie said. She didn't miss the way Cindy looked her up and down before her eyes landed on her left hand.

"You've gained weight" Cindy said.

"That's what you came here for?" Allie asked. She was now 12 weeks pregnant and while it wasn't obvious that she was pregnant, it was starting to become clear that she gained some weight. It wasn't super noticeable though and most people wouldn't notice.

"And when did you get married?"

"What do you want, mother?"

"I want to know when you got married" Cindy said. "And I want to know why I wasn't informed"

"May 3rd 2037" Allie said. "Because as far as I'm concerned, you're not a part of my life"

Just then Nicky walked into the building. He was meeting Allie for lunch.

"Nicholas" Cindy said.

"Cindy" Nicky said. He gave Allie a questioning look but she just shook her head.

"I gather congratulations are in order" Cindy said. Allie shook her head, letting Nicky know that Cindy was not talking about the pregnancy.

"What for?" Nicky asked.

"Well, that's a wedding ring on your finger, is it not?"

"Right. You'll have to excuse. Usually people get congratulated when they get married, not two years later" he said and then turned his attention to Allie. "Al, you ready to go?"

"Yeah, I just need to get my stuff from my office" Allie said.

"I'll come with you" Nicky said. It was clear that a mutual decision had been made between them to ignore Cindy. "Are you ok?" He asked once they were in the elevator.