“Shhh! Here he comes!”

Rayanne crouched down farther behind the ice machine, pulling Brian down with her.

“Owie.” she laughed. “This gets a little bit harder everytime I do it.”

“What?”

“Crouching.”

“Oh.” he laughed quietly.

“Where is he?” she lowered her voice to a whisper.

“He just went in AJ’s room. Wanna make a run for it or stay?”

“Stay. We’d have to run right by there. He’d definitely hear-”

“Shh...here he comes.”

They were on hour three of hide -n- seek. It was the last week of the tour and they were running out of ways to entertain themselves.

Nick’s footsteps grew louder as he made his way toward them, followed closely by LeighAnne. Rayanne and Brian crunched as close to the wall as possible, knowing they were about to be caught and have to put their plan into action.

Nick’s foot appeared in front of them and he saw them hiding beside the ice machine.

“Busted!” he yelled.

Brian jumped up in front of him enough to startle him, allowing Rayanne time to crawl between their legs and dart down the hall past all of them.

LeighAnne reached out to grab her as she ran past, but had been startled by Brian’s distraction too.

Rayanne ran as fast as she could, turning when she got to Brian and LeighAnne’s door. She ran inside and jumped on the bed.

“Safe!”

As soon as she was on the bed, LeighAnne flew through the door, out of breath and laughing. Nick was close behind, running past her where she had stopped, tackling Rayanne on the bed.

“Oof!” she grunted, feeling the soft mattress underneath her.

“Ray!” she heard Brian yell from the doorway. “We won fair and square!”

“Yup we did!” she looked up at Nick and smiled.

“You guys cheated.”

“Did not.”

“Did too.” he laughed, laying all his weight on top of her.

“Ooh...baby.” she reminded him.

“Oops, sorry. I keep forgetting I can’t really play with you like that anymore.” he smiled.

“It’s OK. Actually, it probably doesn’t even hurt the baby yet, but it’s a good excuse to get you to leave me alone every once in a while.”

“Nice Ray.” he laughed.

“Who’s ready for more?!” Brian asked, grinning from ear to ear.

“Switch teams or the same?” Nick asked.

“Ugh. Guys! We’ve been playing for like 8 hours!” LeighAnne whined.

“I know. I don’t want to play anymore.” Rayanne agreed.

“Party poopers!” Brian laughed.

“I’m not an anything pooper!”

“Come on Ray! You couldn’t play for so long, now you can...doesn’t that just make you want to?”

“I want to do something, I’m just sick of hide -n- seek.”

“Yeah. Let’s do something else.”

“Like what? If you think something else would be more fun, what is it?” Nick asked raising and eyebrow.

“I want to go swimming.” Rayanne stated.

“Swimming?”

“Yeah...” She turned slowly to look at him as she spoke. “Did I stutter?”

“Did I say you did?”

“No, but did you have to repeat what I said?”

“I was playing.” he defended himself.

“You were being a dork is what you were doing.”

“Man! Hormones! Let her go swimming!”

Brian laughed lightly, not sure if they were joking or not.

“Come on.” he said, pulling LeighAnne by the hand.

They left the room, shutting the door behind them.

“Where’s your suit, I’ll get it for you.” Nick offered, standing up.

“In the bathroom, on the rack.”

He stood up without looking at her and walked into the bathroom, grabbing her suit.

“Here.” He tossed it to her and shut the bathroom door to get dressed.

Rayanne dressed slowly, pulling her bikini on. She looked in the mirror and decided to wear her one piece instead.

“Getting big in there, huh?!” she joked poking her small belly.

She rummaged through her bag on the bed, pulling out her other suit. She slipped into it and sat on the bed, waiting for Nick.

When he finally walked out of the bathroom, he grabbed a towel and headed for the door.

“Come on.” he said, waiting for her.

“I’m sorry Nick.”

He looked at her from his spot by the door.

“I know you can’t help it.”

“I know you were just playing though.” she said, walking toward him.

“I’ll just learn how to judge your mood better.” he laughed. “I’ll get good at this before this baby is born!”

“Halfway there!”

“Can you believe that? Halfway? Man.”

“I know.”

“Alright, give me some sugar and we can go swimming.” He flashed her a cheesy grin.

She stood on her tiptoes and kissed his lips, teasing them with the tip of her tongue. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer. She let her tongue slide all the way into his mouth, deepening the kiss.

“There’s your sugar.” she laughed, pulling away from him.

“No fair. That was only like a pinch of sugar.”

“You just wait till later, I’ll give ya a whole bowl.” she said, opening the door and stepping out into the hall.

“Later is my favorite part of the day.”

“Mine too.” she giggled.

They headed to Brian and LeighAnne’s room to see if they had waited for them. They found them there, playing PlayStation.

“No games! Let’s go Leigh!”

“Coming, coming!” she laughed, standing up.

“Aww...let’s talk to baby.” Brian joked, turning off the game to talk to Rayanne’s stomach. He placed his hand lightly on her and talked in a goofy voice.

“Baby...baby...when you coming out of there anyway? Uncle Brian wants to teach you how to play basketball!”

“You are goofy sometimes, ya know that?” Rayanne said, but smiled down at him.

“Man.” He stood up. “When are you gonna get a cute little belly anyway?”

“You don’t think my belly is cute?” she asked, pretending to be hurt.

“That’s not what I meant! It is cute, but I can’t wait to see you all fat in maternity clothes...” he trailed off.

“Brian!”

“Brian, quit while you’re ahead.” LeighAnne covered his mouth, pushing him out the door.

Nick and Rayanne followed, laughing at both of them. They took the elevator to the bottom floor and made their way to the pool.

*Two hours later*
“Man, I am so wrinkly.” Rayanne laughed.

“That’s what you get for making us stay in there for that long!”

“Oh, you had fun and you know it!”

“I didn’t say I didn’t. I had a lot of fun actually.”

“Good. Now, I vote we take a shower together, cause this baby is hungry and I don’t know how much longer I can wait till we eat.”

“I vote we take a shower together just because I like to see you naked.” he smiled.

“Good, I was afraid you wouldn’t want to anymore.”

“Of course I do!”

“OK, let’s get this show on the road then.” she laughed.

They headed to the bathroom together. Nick turned on the water as Rayanne peeled off her wet bathing suit and dropped it on the floor.

“Ya know...” he started, turning around.

“Yeah?”

“Ya know...I find that tiny belly of yours very sexy.”

“That’s what you were going to say?” she asked, a little unbelieving.

“No, but when I turned around and saw you I forgot what I was going to say because I was noticing how sexy you look.”

Rayanne just smiled and stepped into the shower.

“You’re such a talker.”

“I am not!” he laughed as he took of his suit and stepped in behind her.

They took a quick shower and got dressed. They met Brian and LeighAnne in their room less than an hour later. They four of them climbed into the awaiting limo and headed to the restaurant.

“Come on food, I am so hungry!” Rayanne whined while they waited for the food.

Brian glanced at his watch. “Not to much longer Ray. You have been hungry lately!”

She looked at him and slowly raised an eyebrow. “Why do you think I’m hungry? There a person inside of me!”

“Which is why I don’t understand why you’re not getting fat.”

“OK...you wanna see my stomach? You think I’m not getting fat, but I am getting a little fat.” she smiled.

“You don’t really look it.”

“Why do you think I didn’t wear my bikini when we went swimming?”

“So show me.”

Rayanne stood up and lifted her shirt slightly. “Nick, pull my pants down a little.

Nick obliged, pulling her black pants down to show off her stomach.

“There.” she smiled, running her hand over her skin. “Wanna feel it?”

Brian laughed and stuck his hand out. Rayanne put it on her stomach and watched as he pushed lightly and moved it up and down.

“See, it’s getting big isn’t it?”

“I guess it is a little!” he smiled.

“Good, now you can stop wondering why it’s not growing.” she said with a smile as she fixed her clothes and sat back down.

“Good thing we have a hidden table, huh? Everyone would have been seeing my baby!”

“Your baby? It’s my baby too.” she laughed and took Nick’s hand in hers.

“I was talking about you blondie.” he laughed.

“Oh. Cute.” she smiled.

“Food’s here!” LeighAnne laughed as Rayanne’s eyes lit up.

The waitress passed out their food and left them to eat. Everyone dug in and there was silence for a few minutes.

“So, is all your stuff moved down yet Ray?”

Rayanne held her finger up and finished chewing before she answered LeighAnne’s question.

“Almost. We have one more trip to make. Then we’ll finally be done!”

“When are you going?”

“I think around Christmas so we can see our grandparents.” Nick answered.

“It’s gonna be here fast!”

“I know! You guys should come.”

“Thanks. We might come up for a few days, but Jackie and Harold would flip if we weren’t there for Christmas day.”

“Yeah they would!” Nick agreed.

“Are we going to be in Buffalo on Christmas Day?” Rayanne asked looking at Nick.

“I don’t know. I guess we’ll figure it out when we’re there.”

“I’d kinda like to be alone.” she winked at him.

“You two are like nothing I’ve ever seen. I’m surprised we see you as much as we do.” Brian laughed.

“And what exactly is that supposed to mean?” Rayanne asked, smiling.

“I’m surprised you have time to come out of the bedroom!”

“Jealous?” Nick joked.

“No, I’m sure I’m-”

“Enough!” LeighAnne laughed, stopping anything before it could start. “So, have you guys started thinking about names?”

“Yeah, we’ve come up with a lot. Too many actually.”

“Anything since Helga?” Brian laughed.

“Yeah, we’ve moved on from Helga.” Rayanne smiled.

“Has LeighAnne crossed your mind?” LeighAnne grinned.

“Actually, yeah. I like your name!”

“Thanks.” she laughed. “So, what else have you come up with?”

“Hmm...there’s Kennedy. I really like that one.”

“I like it too.”

“Good. What else do you like? I’ve thought of so many names, I’m like...spent.” she laughed. “We could use some help.”

“Let’s see. I like Alexandria Chastity. Kyra is pretty too. So is Aryssa Kay. Kaycie, Kylie, Grace. I like them all.” she laughed.

“What’s up with all the girl names?!” Brian asked. “She very well could have a boy you know.”

“Yeah...so you want to come up with some?”

“Brian Thomas. Thomas Brian. Either would be acceptable.”

“Funny. Anything else genius?” Rayanne laughed.

“For real I like Chase. Umm..Dylan, Spencer, Jason...” he trailed off.

“What about Isaac? I like that one.”

“That’s a pretty name.” LeighAnne agreed. “Oh! I just thought of Bailey. I’ve always loved that name.”

“Wow...you guys are good! I’ll have to get you two to write those down sometime.”

“Hey! I’m not done.” LeighAnne laughed.

“Well, by all means, continue.” Rayanne smiled.

“There’s Hunter, Donovan, Nathan, El-”

“Wait.” Rayanne interrupted her. “Nathan...”

Nick turned to look at her. “What?”

“I just really like that name. Nathan. It’s cute. Do you like it?”

“Yeah, I do.” he smiled.

“Good. Thanks Leigh.” she laughed. “I don’t know how that one got by me!”

“Nathan what? What would sound good as a middle name for Nathan?”

“No idea. Right now I’m only stressing about the first names.”

“Good idea.”

Rayanne finished her vegetables and took a long drink of water. “I ate to fast.” she laughed.

“Full?”

“So very full.”

“Madeline.”

They turned to look at Brian, who had been quiet for a few minutes.

“Where did that come from?”

“I just thought of that name. Isn’t it pretty?”

Rayanne smiled. “It is. I like it a lot actually.”

Brian flashed them a huge grin. “I thought of a good one. My work here is done.”

The conversation drifted away from baby names to other things while they finished eating. 45 minutes later, they had had dessert and were on the way back to the hotel.

*Later that night*
“Can you believe it’s been over 3 months since we found out about the baby?” Nick asked as they lay in bed.

“No. Can you believe this tour is over and we get to go home in a few days?”

“Nope. Can you believe you’ve been living with me for 3 months?”

“No! I can’t believe I put up with living with you.”

“Hey! You’re not funny Elizabeth.”

“Then why are you smiling?”

“Cause you’re funny looking.”

“I’m sure. You better hope this baby looks like me.”

“And why is that?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“For the poor baby’s sake. It’s not gonna want to look like you.” she laughed.

“Oh, now you’re asking for it.”

“Asking for what?”

“A beating.”

“I don’t recall asking for a beating. If I want something, I will ask for it.”

“Oh yeah? So you don’t want a beating?”

“No.”

“Well, sometimes you don’t always get what you want.”

“I do.”

“No you don’t.” he said as he climbed out of bed in his boxers, pulling her up with him.

“Yes I do.”

He slapped her playfully on the arm. “Come on toughie.”

“Nick?” she asked sweetly.

“Yes?”

“Make love to me?”

He stopped and dropped his hand. A smile spread across his face as he moved closer to her. She leaned in and kissed his lips softly, pulling him closer. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she felt his warm skin and soft hair with her fingertips. He gently laid her down on the bed and began to undress her.

“See?” she said pulling away from him.

“See what?”

“When I want something, I ask for it. And I always get it.” she smiled, kissing him again.

He kissed her for a minute before he pulled away.

“How long do you think we can do this?”

“The Doctor said until it was uncomfortable.”

“Are you uncomfortable?”

She smiled. “Do I look uncomfortable?”

“No.” he grinned. “You look like you’re having a lot of fun.”

“I am. I always do, and I’ll tell you when I’m not.”

She kissed him again, pulling his boxers off. His hands were soft and gentle, finding their way down her body as he entered her slowly. She pulled away from him one last time.

“Madeline Nicole.” she whispered.

“I like it.” he smiled, kissing her cheek.

“Me too.” she brought him closer, kissing him gently as they moved together.