"Still just skimming?" Jill asked with a smile when she spotted Rodney and caught sight of his reading material. It wasn't like she could really tease him much about it, not when, just a week or so earlier, she'd been doing the exact same thing and reacting in about the exact same way. Despite her smile, the situation was still utterly terrifying and she was fairly convinced that neither of them had any idea what they were doing.
Okay, so he obviously hadn't intended to hide from Jill considering he was out in public and all, but he hadn't exactly intended for her to catch him doing this, either. He'd thought she'd be in the lab or lying down or something, but she was here so he guess he just had to deal with it.
"I'd call this...extensive skimming," he admitted.
"Extensive skimming," Jill repeated, glancing over the titles of the books he'd discarded at his feet, giving him another faint grin. She understood the anxiety and the need to have as much information as possible. If they were well informed when the baby arrived, maybe they would have a better chance of not screwing it up completely.
At the moment, Jill was still trying to find the part of her that was supposed to be excited.
Rodney was experiencing more dread than excitement, presently. His research hadn't done much to change that.
"Fingernails and toenails don't start to develop until about the fourth month," he said. "Did you know that? I didn't know that. But I guess it makes sense, I mean you wouldn't want something with fingernails scrabbling around in there for too long."
Jill made a faint noise that could have been described as fearful, but she didn't say anything. Not right away. Instead, she took a seat near Rodney and looked at the books with a faintly pained expression.
"Are you happy about this yet? I mean... everyone seems to expect that we should be, but I'm not there. I feel like I'm missing something."
"Well, that's perfectly normal," Rodney said. "Sometimes the euphoric stage of pregnancy doesn't kick in until much later. According to this, anyway." He gestured at his computer screen and the books. It was easier to look at all this from a scientific point of view than a personal one. For Rodney, anyway.
Nodding her agreement, Jill pursed her lips thoughtfully, then shrugged. "I'm right there, too," she admitted. "It's frustrating, because you never really hear stories about pregnant women who are miserable about it, do you? You just hear about the miracle of giving birth and all of that nonsense."
"There has to be some kind of brainwashing involved," Rodney said. "A cover-up, a conspiracy to suppress all kinds of realistic...horror stories. Something like that."
Unable to stop herself, despite her mood, Jill grinned at that and nodded her agreement. "You're right," she said. "There has to be. Because, quite frankly, I can't imagine wanting to do this once, never mind more than once."
"I'm sure it will be fine," said Rodney, who actually wasn't sure at all. "I mean, people do it all the time. Have children, I mean. It can't be that hard."
"It might not be that hard for other people," Jill said, but she was smiling a little. It was tiring to be worried all the time. "But we're a little different than most normal people."
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"I'd call this...extensive skimming," he admitted.
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At the moment, Jill was still trying to find the part of her that was supposed to be excited.
"Learn anything interesting?" she asked.
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"Fingernails and toenails don't start to develop until about the fourth month," he said. "Did you know that? I didn't know that. But I guess it makes sense, I mean you wouldn't want something with fingernails scrabbling around in there for too long."
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"Are you happy about this yet? I mean... everyone seems to expect that we should be, but I'm not there. I feel like I'm missing something."
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She wasn't. And she wasn't sure a euphoric stage was ever going to kick in.
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Hey, at least he was being honest.
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