(Untitled)

[island_anne]

These days it felt like every day Anne got more and more heavily pregnant. Though once her days had been more outdoors than in, these days she wasn't pushing herself so hard to do all the chores herself. She had plenty of help, after all, and though she enjoyed her time with the animals and in the garden, she was content to make do with a little

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[jdick]

Over the past few days Joe had seen too much bullshit playing on the screen in the rec room and he'd gone back to avoiding the Compound unless he needed to eat or shower. It was easier that way, it seemed, there was less trouble, less things that the place could fuck up.

That was why his hair was still wet, why his t-shirt clinging to the water left on his shoulder and why he had a sandwich stuck in his mouth when he stuck his head into the office and saw Anne. The Compound was now for necessities only.

"Hi," he said, voice muffled by his food.

[island_anne]

"Hello, Joe!" said Anne brightly. "Oh, I suppose it's too much to hope that you've bought any food for me. I am simply unreasonably famished all of the time, and it's impossible that the baby wants quite that much food."

[jdick]

"Uh..." Joe shook his head, but offered Anne the other half of the sandwich, the half that wasn't already in his mouth. It wasn't much, but it was food and it was all he had. If she wanted more, he'd go get her more, the kitchen wasn't far.

[island_anne]

"That's very gentlemanly of you, Joe," said Anne, and while another time she might have declined taking what was obviously Joe's own lunch, today she didn't give it another thought. "Would you like to sit down and join me?"

[ooh_lily]

Emmy had escaped again. She ran into the office, looking around and then through herself on all fours and crawled under the desk, hugging in against Anne's ankles.

Lily walked into the room just after her.

"Oh, no," she said, in a deliberately flat tone. "Where can she be?"

[island_anne]

"I haven't any idea," said Anne, giving Lily a playful little smile as Emmy giggled at her ankles. "And how are you today, Lily?"

[ooh_lily]

"She must have turned invisible," said Lily, winking at Anne and taking a seat opposite her.

"Worn out, but not as worn out as you I bet?"

[island_anne]

Emmy, far from being disruptive, more or less settled in for a long wait pressed up against Anne's shins.

"Oh, I'm doing quite well, actually," said Anne, "but I have learnt to take it a little easier. All the advice people were trying to give me three months ago seems much more applicable now."

[new_ophelia]

"Anne!" Kate exclaims after finally having tracked her down. She was still ridiculously busy for someone that pregnant. "Hey, I made you something!"

The fact that it took Kate three tries to sew anything even resembling baby clothes is beside the point.

[island_anne]

"You made me something?" said Anne in surprise. "But whatever is the occasion, Kate?"

[new_ophelia]

"Well, it's sort of for the baby more than anything," she babbles, fishing around in her bag. "Because I know that you have a sewing machine but really I can't do much else so I thought I'd make something for your baby and Jane's and so here they are," she finishes, pulling out a tiny yellow hat and matching shirt. "I made them yellow because we don't know what it's going to be yet."

[island_anne]

"Oh my goodness," said Anne, feeling her eyes well with tears almost immediately. "Oh Kate, oh, this is the most wonderful gift I could possible have imagined."