**Hi friends! I was going to upload this on New Year's Eve, but I lost track of time getting reading to go to the bars and then I was highly intoxicated and had to nurse my hangover all day yesterday. I hope you guys had a very happy new years eve! Enjoy the chapter**

Picture below pertains to the chapter:

Roxie's POV

To say that I was ready to be done being pregnant was an understatement. It wasn't because I didn't love being pregnant - it was actually one of my favorite things in the world - but Jedrek was...overbearing to say the least.

I had finally passed my first trimester and was feeling like I could really breathe. The night I finally broke down and told Jedrek about our first child...it changed him and I both. I had been on the fence about telling him for so long. I knew he deserved to know but...I didn't want him to have to carry the same burden I had. It was in the past and we were focusing on our future. In the end, I knew that if the roles were reversed I would want to know. He helped me create that life.

It was one of the only times I've ever seen him cry. And he cried hard. The news only served to fuel his fire to get the fuck out of the contract. He ended up doubling the security he'd hired to watch me. I felt smothered, but I let him do it. I knew that he just wanted peace of mind, and I was more than willing to give that to him.

Besides the constant security surrounding me, I also wasn't able to just get up and leave the place Jedrek and I were staying whenever I wanted. Now that I was a little over fourteen weeks pregnant, it had become more than obvious that I was, well, pregnant. The risk of being seen and word getting back to Tori and Sandra wasn't worth having that freedom. I was willing to do whatever necessary to ensure that I got to hold this little boy or girl against my chest. If that meant being secluded to one place for the next five and a half months, then so be it.

I was still able to do some work for Ezekiel while I was at home, though, which was nice. I'm sure Evelyn was more than happy to have me out of the office once again. I also enrolled in an online culinary course just to get the ball rolling. It was only a few credits, but it gave me something to do on the days that Jedrek was at the office. 

The days where Jedrek worked from home, however, were my favorite. We had slipped back into our norm before the breakup, it was like no time had passed at all. However, we used every moment we could to make up for those four years worth of missed laughs, kisses, snuggles, and...you know. Jedrek was insatiable, despite my ever-growing belly. Actually, I think the belly added to the appeal for him. He was always resting a hand against it or rubbing it soothingly. Some mornings he would be borderline late for work because he 'refused to get out of bed and leave us'. I felt like my life was finally coming back together.

There was just that one pest that we had to deal with. The possibility of being found out constantly loomed over my head. Jedrek did whatever he could to reassure me that things were going to be fine and would eventually work themselves out, but sometimes I was doubtful. We had so much more time left in the pregnancy. I feared that the longer we lived happily, the more complacent we would get. What if we accidentally slipped up? We could never be totally certain.

The only thing I could do was pray and hope for the best. For our baby's sake, I really wished my paranoia was for nothing...

"Alright! Turn off Say Yes to the Dress and get in here, baby!" Jedrek called as he walked in the door from work, quickly snapping me out of my thoughts.

"What're we getting up to?" I asked before waving goodbye to Ronan, one of the men who always spent the days inside with me. "Tell Seth I said good luck with his proposal to Riley this weekend," I murmured, referring to the man he took turns with when it came to babysitting me. Seth had taken outside duty after lunch today - which meant he just sat in a car across the street and watched for any sketchy activity. I couldn't imagine how horribly boring that job must be. Good thing Jedrek paid them very kindly.

"Will do, Roxie. Have a good weekend. Bye, boss," Ronan called before shutting and locking the door behind him. I sauntered into the kitchen while Jedrek pulled thing after thing out of his work bag as if he was the male Mary Poppins. When he was done, he reached his hand out for me. I gladly took it and let him pull me near. After he kissed me breathless, he took a seat on one of the dining table chairs. He spun my body by my hips before pulling me back and helping me settle onto his lap. I loved that he was so much taller than me; even with me sitting on his lap, he could still see over my head easily.

He reached around me and pulled the various supplies within quick reach before finally speaking. "There's something I want us to do," he said. I had a strong feeling I already knew where this was going, but I didn't interrupt him. "Let's redo our dream home plans. We're different people than we were back in the day and I have new, fresh ideas I want to implement. And now that we have a baby on the way, I want to really focus on the nursery and the safety features of the house."

I felt myself grow emotional, my eyes clouding with happy tears. Everything was coming together for us and this symbolized another new step in our budding future. Already knowing I wasn't crying for any reason other than just being so damn happy, Jedrek just wiped my few tears away before kissing the tracks they'd made down my cheeks.

"Do we want to go with the original two-story idea we had? Or are you thinking more of a ranch-style home?" he asked. I pondered the question for a few moments.

"I still like the two-story idea, but I want the outside to have a completely different feel. Instead of going with the modern, cookie-cutter thing everyone is doing these days, I want it to feel like an old farmhouse. Maybe a light pastel yellow on the outside with bright white shudders. A wrap-around porch so I can watch our kids play in the front and backyard. I still want a plot of land that has a nice, big backyard with a tree that'll be able to support a treehouse-"

"Like this?" he asked, pulling out a printout of an online real estate posting. I gasped, the house was almost exactly what I'd been picturing in my head. Sure, it was a little run down. The house wasn't the color I wanted and the entire exterior and interior needed some serious updating, but the layout was almost there. I could see the serious potential the entire place had. I flipped through the pages, noting the numerous medium-sized bedrooms that I fully intended to fill with children. I stopped when I saw a pair of big beautiful oaks trees.

"The plot of land is bigger than we were thinking since it used to be actual farmland owned by a small family back in the day. It's about 10 acres, which would mean a good deal of privacy. It's about an hour commute from there to the city, so it's a reasonable drive for me. I did some research, the nearby school district is great. It's been on the market for a little while, so we have time to decide-"

"Yes," I said without a second thought. "Yes."

"Without even knowing if the inside can be renovated and laid out the way you want?"

"Can it?" I asked, already knowing full well that he looked into that aspect. He knows what kind of layout I like, there's no way he wouldn't have checked into that before presenting the idea.

"By that smug, shit-head grin on your face, I know you already know the answer," he stated with a quiet chuckle. I smiled and leaned forward to peck his lips.

"I'm also pretty positive that you've already put in an offer..." I said. A sheepish look took over his face before he nodded.

"I still want the same open concept kitchen and living room plan, but-" I cut myself off, taking the sketching supplies and beginning to draw a rough layout based upon what I imagined the inside of the house to be like. I got lost in the moment, sketching away before finally dropping the pencil when I was sufficiently happy with what I'd come up with.

"This looks amazing, Roxie girl," he murmured. He pulled out the actual house plans before helping me rework what I'd wanted to make it a reality instead of fantasy. He added in a few ideas of his own that I didn't know were even possible. A little over two hours later, we had completely finished drawing up the plans for the first floor.

"There's a huge basement that they didn't have pictured. I'm assuming it's not finished, but that's something we can do easily."

"You can put your man-cave down there," I said, my tone filled with mirth.

"Planned on it," he joked. "I sketched this up today during a spare twenty minutes I had." I took the sketch from him and looked it over. Sure enough, his man cave took up the majority of the space - something I didn't care about seeing as my own female space would be the kitchen where I could cook to my heart's content.

"What's this room? PR?" I asked.

"Hmm...that's my favorite room in the whole house," he husked out, voice dropping a few octaves and causing goosebumps to rise all over my body.

"What is it?" I asked again, my voice coming out breathless and raspy.

"You didn't really think I'd forget our playroom, did you?" he asked with a sensual laugh. A shiver ran down my spine as I clenched my legs together. "I've already taken the liberty in designing every. Single. Aspect of that room," he growled against the shell of my ear. His hand started to trail up my thigh. He had just pushed the silk material of my panties to the side when the doorbell rang throughout our place. I groaned in disappointment before sliding off his lap. Jedrek wrapped his arm around my waist as we made our way to the door. He checked the peephole before huffing in annoyance. Undoing the locks, he pulled the door open with an annoyed glare.

"You're a bunch of cockblocks," he grunted, causing Ivy and Khloe to cackle as they pushed past him and entered the living room. He diligently relocked the door before peering outside for a few moments. Deeming the place safe, he turned to me. "I'll be upstairs finishing up a couple of things for work. If you need me, just holler," he said. I nodded and leaned up on my toes to kiss him. He whispered a few things into my ear that I was really hoping Ivy and Khloe didn't hear before giving my ass a single pat and turning for the stairs.

"You two are a bunch of fucking horndogs," Khloe commented with a snort "You're almost as bad as Milo and Candice. I swear, I can't walk into a room without second-guessing if a quick round of sweaty sex was just had." I rolled my eyes, neither agreeing or disagreeing with her. However, what she said did have merit.

The other amazing thing about being in the second trimester - besides the morning sickness finally subsiding - was the sex. Holy shit. My doctor told me that some couples have more sex during pregnancy and some have less - Jedrek and I were definitely the former of the two. We couldn't keep our hands to ourselves. My hormones acted up every time he was anywhere near me and he was more than happy to oblige. At one point, we were fucking so much I was worried about the baby. That was one awkward phone conversation, good thing my gyno couldn't see my blushing face.

"Just wait for her to spout her 'it's good for my health!' excuse again," Ivy added in with a laugh.

"It is good for me! It's a wonderful form of exercise and helps ease my lower back pain because of the oxytocin released whenever I come. Doctor Camille said it can even help lower blood pressure. So, you can both kiss my ass," I remarked with a playful smile, turning my back on them as they followed me into the kitchen.

"Yes, but everything in moderation. Too much of a good thing can be a bad thing, you nympho," Khloe retorted back, poking me in a teasing manner as she slid onto one of the barstools.

"I just think he's trying to make up for four years of lost orgasms," I commented.

"How many was it last night, then?" Ivy asked.

"Six," I stated, popping a grape into my mouth from the bowl I'd just pulled out of the fridge.

"How the fuck do you do it? The most I've ever been able to handle is three. After that, if Xander even tries breathing near me, I pass out," Khloe deadpanned all the while Ivy's jaw dropped before she quickly reached for her phone and fired off a few rapid text messages.

"Honestly, I had no idea it was that many. I could've gone the rest of the night, really. My max with him before getting pregnant was four in a two-hour time frame. I'm telling you guys, the second trimester is fucking incredible," I sighed dreamily.

The three of us settled down as Khloe changed the topic to her travel plans with Xander for the upcoming weeks. That quickly morphed into them updating me on all things Mandice - Ivy's coined term for Candice and Milo - seeing as I hadn't seen him in person in a few weeks and the one time I did see him, he'd been eager to leave and get back home to his lady. I was over the moon happy for both of them that our little plan had worked out - better than we could've ever hoped for, too. I'd screamed so loud when he'd called and told me he bought a ring while down in South Carolina that Jedrek had come skidding into the kitchen on full alert.

They were laying out Milo's proposal plans for next month when there was an abrupt knock at the door. All three of us exchanged similar looks of worry before I started making my way to the stairs. I wanted to grab Jedrek without yelling for him and risking the person outside hearing me.

"I got it, baby," he murmured while jotting down the stairs. He checked the peephole for a second before swinging the door open, already having an idea of who was at the door I assumed. "What's up?" he asked Ezekiel - who was currently sporting a look of stress. Ezekiel held up his hand - the gesture telling Jedrek to hold on - before he strutted into our place and to the counter Ivy was currently perched at. He twisted Ivy's body to face him before stepping between her now-spread legs.

"Sweetheart, we can't just get pregnant. I know you want a baby, but we've talked about this. We've agreed that marriage needs to come first," he explained, his tone filled with exasperation. I had a feeling he and Ivy had had this conversation more than a few times over the past two months.

"Then let's get married!" Ivy remarked, looking equally as exasperated as Ezekiel sounded. Now, this was something I heard all about. Ivy had been not-so-subtly hinting at Ezekiel to 'pop the question, dammit!' for the past four weeks. However, all of her attempts thus far have been unsuccessful.

"Sweetheart, it's not that simple," Ezekiel plead.

"Yes, it really is! Either you want to marry me, or you don't. Shit or get off the pot, asshole! I'm not going to wait around for a ring forever," she grunted in annoyance before softly shoving him away so she could turn away from him.

"Ivy, less than six months of dating could hardly qualify as forever," Ezekiel laughed, though Ivy was having none of it. I giggled but secretly felt a little sorry for Ivy. I knew how head-over-heels she already was for Ezekiel. She'd dropped the 'I love you' bomb only a month into them seeing each other - something everyone was shocked about. But, then again, when I saw the way Ivy looked at Ezekiel, it wasn't that hard to comprehend at all. I'll never forget what she said to me.

"Roxie, I finally understand why you could never move on from Jedrek. It's so crazy. I never thought it'd be true for me, but when you know they're the one you just...know!" It felt good to have someone who truly understood. Khloe was no different. After spending copious amounts of time with Jedrek over the past couple of months and seeing how we were together, she quickly forgave him. Warmed up to him, even. Well, only after threatening his balls if he ever fucked me over again.

"Ivy," Ezekiel tried again, though Ivy seemed adamant about ignoring him now. Feeling slightly uncomfortable at witnessing the couple's fight, Khloe, Jedrek, and I glanced at one another briefly to try and decide the best way to slip out unnoticed.

"Are you still going to let me take you out to dinner later?" he asked. No reply. He just chuckled and shook his head.

"Well, I guess my plans to propose tonight don't matter then. I'll just return the ring-"

"What?" Ivy gasped before finally whirling back around in her chair.

"You are so goddamn stubborn, you know that?" Ezekiel grunted.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. Did you say propose?" Ivy rushed out, so much hope in her eyes it caused my own throat to tighten with emotion as I reached for Khloe's hand and squeezed. Ezekiel just shook his head at her antics before reaching into his breast pocket and producing a small, velvet box.

"Are you sure you don't want to wait for me to do this at dinner?" Ezekiel asked.

"If you make me wait one more second I'll maim you!" Ivy threatened, her breathing picking up as a huge smile overtook her face. When Ezekiel dropped down on one knee in the middle of our kitchen, I thought Ivy was going to explode with excitement.

"Ivy Sofia Alavarez, will you-"

"Yes!" Ivy yelled, not even giving Ezekiel a chance to finish his sentence. We all laughed at her before Ezekiel pulled the ring from its velvet confines and slipped it onto her finger - a perfect fit. I wondered how he did it seeing as neither Khloe or I had any idea this was coming.

"It's so beautiful, Pookie," Ivy gushed while admiring the massive rock.

"Pookie?" Jedrek asked, his tone filled with humor.

"Watch it," Ezekiel hissed to him with a glare before accepting the rain of kisses Ivy was showering his face in.

"So, celebratory dinner tonight?" Ezekiel asked as Ivy finally pulled away and pulled both Khloe and me into big bear hugs as we congratulated her.

"Fuck that, let's go practice making babies!" she squealed before grabbing his wrist and pulling him out of the house behind her, Ezekiel laughing and shaking his head the whole way.

"Well...that was not how I expected this afternoon to go," Khloe joked.

"Me either. Now I owe Catarina a hundred bucks," I groaned.

"Why's that?" Khloe inquired, eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"She and I had a bet going. I had you getting engaged first. I was sure Ezekiel would hold out a little longer than that," I laughed. She gasped in faux anger before gently smacking my arm.

"That's what you get for betting against our love lives," she said. "However, I might try Ivy's approach now seeing as it worked for her."

"And what approach is that? Pester Xander until he's on one knee?" I giggled.

"I was going to say bully, but pester works too."