chesstotem | For dontthinkabout

"Like I can't take care of myself," she said, rolling her eyes fondly. "If Arthur had his way, I'd be bedridden for the next seven months."

“And for those next seven months, I’d wait on you hand and foot,” he added.

"You'll be doing that, no matter what," Ariadne said with a laugh, giving his hand a squeeze.

"Do you want us to come out there?" her mother asked, and Ariadne shook her head.

"For the birth, but there's no reason to make the trip now..."

He turned to look at Ariadne. “They could if they wanted to. We haven’t seen them in person in two months.”

Ariadne looked at Arthur rather adoringly for a moment. "Of course, you're always welcome to come out and stay with us. We can go to the beach before I start packing on the pounds."

"Before you thoroughly enter the glowing expectant mother stage, you mean," Grant corrected.

“What are you talking about? She’s already glowing,” he said with a laugh.

"And just imagine what she'll look like when she starts showing off her baby bump," Grant retorted with a grin.

"We could fly out next week, if that's all right with you?" Elizabeth suggested.

Ariadne leaned against Arthur a little. "That would be fine, Mom, just let us know when you get in so Arthur can pick you up at the airport."

He took out a notebook, a pocket-sized on, and jotted down some information. “That’d be no problem at all. We’re not working at the moment.”

"Just designing the nursery," Ariadne said with a smile. "We're thinking Winnie the Pooh."

"That would be darling," her mother said. "Are you going to find out the sex?"

"Yeah," she replied. "It's just more practical that way."

“We’re staying away from pink and blue, though,” he added.

Ariadne nodded in agreement. "We want to keep everything pretty gender neutral."

Grant smiled. "I think that's a great idea, but if I try to explain why, I'll spend the next three hours telling you all about my research into early development and socialization."

Arthur laughed. “I wouldn’t mind taking a look at your research, Grant.”

"It's pretty jargon-y, but I can bring it along with me when we come out there."

"Arthur is determined to be the best dad in the world," Ariadne said with a fond smile. "No matter how many times I tell him that it's already a given."

“You don’t know that,” he said a bit bashfully as he looked at her. “I’m pretty sure the baby’s going to know right away that this is the first time we’re doing this.”

"Do you think it'll write you negative performance reviews?" she asked, teasing.

“Raising our first child is basically an experiment, isn’t it?” He pointed out.

"Maybe, but it's not totally new territory," she retorted.

Grant smiled at them both over the feed. "I'll let you in on a secret: after all of my years of research, all the studies I've done and all the children and parents I've met and talked to - the one common thread linking all the happiest, healthiest children, the ones who grow up the best, is coming from a place where they're loved and respected."

He looked from Grant to Ariadne. “That shouldn’t be too hard.”

"No, I don't imagine it will be," Grant said.

Her mother spoke up again. "You'll be fine, I know it. We'd better get off this thing before the charges start going sky-high. I'm so happy for you. We'll let you know when we'll be flying in, okay?"

"Okay. I love you," Ariadne said, blowing them a kiss.

"We love you, too, sweetie," Elizabeth said.

“Bye Elizabeth, bye Grant. Thanks for the advice,” he added.

They ended the call and Ariadne turned to Arthur, wrapping her arms around his neck. "That went well, I think."

“Not we just have to worry about my mother.”

"Think we should go ahead and call her?"

“Yeah, might as well get it over with. Do you want to talk to her or should I?” He asked as he got up and moved the chair back to its original spot.

"Well, she's more likely not to just hang up on you," Ariadne pointed out.

"If nothing else, we can leave a message on her answering machine."

For dontthinkabout

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