A year after the blessed wedding (which, shockingly, went down without a hitch) Dom and Liberty were nicely settled in their new house in a very quite part of England.

Liberty sat gingerly on the couch at the opposite side from where Dom sat, cheering on the football match. He was decked out in a Manchester United outfit and was holding a beer in one hand; his other hand was in a bowl of popcorn. Though he often got very football-ish while watching football, he didn’t often tune Liberty out as he was doing today. Which made her rethink what she was about to do. Perhaps, she thought, I should take Raya’s advice and take him out to dinner to tell him. But no, her inner monologue continued, I don’t want to tell him in front of a bunch of strangers. She’d much rather have waited until then following day…but as she was having morning sickness more and more often and Dom was starting to realize she wasn’t eating much, she felt it best that she tell him here and now, before she lost her nerve.

She cleared her throat and Dom yelled something about a ‘bloody ref’ before he threw some popcorn in his mouth and swigged down some beer. “Er…Dom?”

“Yes, love?” He didn’t take his eyes off the television screen, but at least he was responding to her within five seconds of when she spoke.

Her fingers nervously began playing with her wedding band as her teeth worked on her lower lip, “I have some…sort of…news.”

“Did Billy ring about his movie premiere?” He looked at her briefly, flashing her a smile. “He said he’d be sending us invitations.”

“No, he didn’t call.” Liberty’s voice was distant, weak and held a tone of nervousness that even she hadn’t experienced before. Not even on their wedding day had she felt so nervous.

“Are you all right?” Dom asked suddenly, turning away from the screen as a commercial came on. “You sound odd. And you look pale.” He leaned across the sofa to put a hand against her forehead. “You’re a tad on the hot side. Want me to tuck you in?”

Liberty shook her head, her hair flying into her eyes; she flipped it off her shoulders and took a deep breath. “I’m fine. I just need to tell you something sort of important.”

“Want me to turn off the match?” He’d never offered to do that before, and it surprised her; he’d always offered to turn it DOWN so they could fool around on the commercials, but he’d never turned it off completely. Usually Liberty didn’t care, as she enjoyed a good match of football as much as the next sane person.

“No, it’s fine.” She swallowed, “You know, Will said his first word the other day.”

“I know,” Dom laughed and turned back to the TV where the match had come back on. “OB called me in hysterics, ’He said Daddy!’ You’d think he hasn’t already gone through this once.”

“It’s special each time around,” Liberty replied; Dom nodded and finished off his beer. “You’d be excited, wouldn’t you? If one of our kids said its first word?”

“Of course I would,” he turned to her again, his eyes narrowed. “What’s wrong, Libs?” He reached over and took her hand in his, squeezing slightly.

Tears were pricking the corners of her eyes, but she smiled and shrugged, “I’m emotional.”

“Ah,” he sighed. “Want me to go out and get you some Midol?”

The mere suggestion nearly caused her to burst out laughing, but she pressed on, “No, no thanks. I won’t be needing that for quite some time.”

“Liberty,” Dom stated, sounding stern. “Spit it out, love.” He took the remote control and flipped the television off, plunging them into half-darkness; the only light was in the kitchen, shining through the open doorway. She gaped at him. “Are you ill? That doctor’s appointment yesterday, they didn’t tell you something…something…awful, did they?” His heart was beginning to beat irregularly fast and he felt a lump form in his throat. He’d noticed lately that she hadn’t been herself, her appetite had all but diminished and he found her a lot of the time in the early morning, dry heaving into the toilet. She always passed it off as something inconsequential, but now he was getting really worried. “We’re married, Liberty Monaghan, and I don’t want you to hold something back from me. You have to tell me what‘s going on. Are you ill?”

She almost turned the television back on; the sound of whistles and screams of ‘GOOOOOOOALLLLLLL!’ were soothing to her. She hated the silence she had just been dropped into where all she could hear was the beating of her own heart in her ears.

“I’m not ill,” she choked out. “I went to the gynecologist.”

“Oh, buggering hell. You haven’t got some sort of woman’s disease, have you?”

A small smile tugged at her lips, “No.” Her mind screamed at her, ‘SPIT IT OUT! Spit it out!’ “Dom.”

“Libs, I’m getting really frightened here.” He slid across the middle of the sofa to sit directly beside her; reaching across her, he flicked on the lamp that sat there on the clean table. They were suddenly bathed in light and she could see his worried expression clearly from here.

“I’m pregnant.”

The words brought more silence than the TV being cut off. Until Dom jumped up off the sofa and began dancing around the room looking foolish with his arms waving around in the air. “You’re pregnant? You’re pregnant! Oh my GOD! You’re pregnant! You’re pregnant!”

Liberty laughed quietly, watching him, “We’re going to have a baby.”

“I’m going to be a Daddy! Eat that, Bloom! YES!” He punched the air with his fist and spun around to face her; taking her hands in his, he hauled her to her feet and engulfed her in a bone crushing hug that left her breathless. He began spinning her around yelling, “We’re having a baby! We’re having a baby! And I’m the father!”

“Of course you’re the father,” she chastised, shaking her head as he released her. “Who did you think it would be? Roger Rabbit?”

“I hope not. He’s really promiscuous. That Jessica Rabbit, she’s a bit of a bunny whore, to be honest. I’d hate to think you’d slept with her husband. Who knows what kind of disease you’d catch.” Liberty tipped her head back and laughed and he began kissing her furiously. In between kisses, he said, “I can’t believe it. I can’t believe it.”

“Well, I have proof…so…”

Dom laughed, “I don’t need proof. How far along are you?”

“Two months,” she replied. “I don’t know why I didn’t find out sooner. I hadn’t noticed, I guess…all the signs.”

“Is it a boy or a girl?”

“I don’t know yet. I have another appointment scheduled in three weeks. You can come if you want. I’d like you to. Husbands are allowed.”

He grinned hugely at her, “I’d like nothing more than to escort you to your women’s doctor appointment.”

“Don’t you want to watch the rest of the match?” She asked, indicating the vacant television.

“No,” Dom replied, kissing her again. “This is much more entertaining.” He put his palm against her stomach and she giggled, “God, I love you.”

“I love you, too,” she smiled, and kissed him.