It was amazing how much different my life was now, compared to a month ago. I was excited when I got up for work, excited to work on the divorce cases, and of course I was more than happy to see Marcus. It was a bummer that we had to be so very careful. I still felt guilty every time I saw Meredith. I felt like I needed to confess to her like a penitent child. There was no way in hell I wanted my time with Marcus to end. I loved all of the secretive touches, our hands rubbing against each other, his hand running over my back as he walked behind me, making out in his office with the door closed. Of course, I also loved the office sex which had occurred only once so far- but I was hoping there would be more where that came from.

I kept getting ready for work, pulling on my pants and zip-- What the hell? "Lance! When you do my clothes the next time you do laundry, can you just hang my clothes up to dry? I swear to God these new pants you got me have shrunk."

If one of us doesn't have a full load, we'll throw some of the other's clothes in it. Normally I'm fine with having my clothes in the dryer but the fabric of these slacks must not do well in the dryer. I pulled out another pair of slacks to put on. They weren't as form fitting as my new ones. What the hell? These pants were tight too. Was the dryer malfunctioning?

"Hey, what were you yelling about?" I turned to see Lance sticking his head in my bedroom.

"I think the dryer's malfunctioning. I've just tried on two pairs of pants and both are too tight."

Lance's eyebrows rose.

"No, I don't think so. My clothes fit fine. And I even just did laundry last night."

I frowned looking down at my zipper and button that were an inch away from each other. Why the hell couldn't I even zip my pants up?

"How did you gain weight so fast?"

I shook my head. I hadn't been eating anything different. I had no idea. I shrugged my shoulders, sucked in my gut the best I could, and zipped up my pants. This wasn't going to work. I unzipped them and let out a sigh of relief as I let my stomach out.

"My God, I have really gotten fat. I can't even wear these pants! What the hell am I going to wear to work?" I tried on every pair of pants I owned. Every damn pair was too tight. I was going insane. There was no way in hell that I had eaten so much food that I had gotten this fat. My only remaining option was to wear some sort of sweatpants to work, which was not going to happen.

"Have you been tired lately? Kind of feeling nauseous or anything?"

I narrowed my eyes, turning around to look at Lance.

"Tired? What would that have to do with me gaining weight? And why would I be nauseous? I've been fine. Actually. I've been, oh-" that was it. Dammit. "Yeah, I've been hungrier than usual. I probably have gained weight." Fuck. I turned around to look at my closet and I had absolutely nothing left to wear. My shirts fit fine, even my new fitted shirts, but what the hell kind of pants was I going to wear?

Lance shoved a pair of pants at me. "Here, try these on. I'm taller than you, hopefully this will give you a bit more room. But you might have to roll the pants up." I pulled them up, and yes they did fit better, but they were a bit longer. I'd look like a kid trying on his big brother's clothes. I groaned, glaring up at the ceiling.

"You sure you haven't been tired, or nauseous, or I don't know, just being all weepy and stuff?"

I slowly turned my head to glare at Lance.

"What the hell are you getting it? You think I'm depressed? I'm the happiest I've ever fucking been!"

Lance rolled his eyes and shook his head. He leaned against my door frame with his arms crossed.

"No, you dumbass. We're omegas, remember? We can have babies? Does that ring a bell?"

Oh. Oh. I looked down at my formerly flat abs and stared at the little barely noticeable pooch. There was no way.

"There's no way I'm pregnant. I'm not puking, I'm not crying, I'm not overly emotional. I don't have any of the other signs of pregnancy."

"Some people don't have any of that. They go through pregnancy just fine without realizing they're even pregnant. Frankly, I find that hard to believe but I guess some people are like that."

I shook my head. There was no way I was pregnant. I pulled Lance's pants off and threw them on my bed. They landed on top of the pile of all the other slacks that no longer fit. I dug down deep in one of my drawers and pulled out track pants. They didn't look like they had ever been worn. They were completely black and could pass for slacks. Maybe. I pulled them on and looked at myself in the mirror.

"So, can you tell these are actually sweatpants? Do you think I could get by with this?"

Lance tilted his head and stared at my reflection in the mirror.

"I actually think you could. Just go out on lunch and pick up some real slacks."

Yeah, that's a good idea. Anyway, I needed to run. I'd deal with the mess on my bed later.

Marcus

I hated that I was in the middle of a heavy caseload when Ryan and I were finally getting together. I worked late on my cases. I wasn't going to do a half assed job just because I finally had Ryan. I was known as the best divorce attorney for omegas in the city for a reason and I wasn't going to screw that up. Guilt flooded me just thinking about that. Ryan deserved someone better. An alpha that could be there for him, that could do a long term relationship without fucking it all up.

Yet, I was the bastard that wouldn't let him go so he could find someone better. Not only that, but if our relationship came out he would lose his job for sure and God knows what would happen to me. Eric had weathered all his employee relationships with no problem, but he was a master at keeping things low key. If anything had ever come to light, Eric charmed his way out. That's pretty much how he won his cases. I won my cases based on facts and sheer dogged determination to uncover everything. Hopefully, if our relationship was over uncovered I wouldn't lose my partnership. If anything did to happen to Ryan, I would take care of him. Hell, I wanted this to be a long term, very long term relationship, if only I could keep from fucking it all up.

An all office message popped up on my computer. "Don't forget about the Cinco de Mayo potluck in the break room at noon." I raised an eyebrow. I wouldn't consider this important news but just then my stomach rumbled. I thought about Ryan being there and I decided I would just have to go down to the Cinco de Mayo potluck. Maybe we could sit next to each other.

I had given money to Meredith to chip in for something because there was no way in hell I was bringing anything. I didn't know if we had this catered in or if people really did bring stuff from home. Who knew? The thrill of seeing Ryan again and sitting next to him had me leaving my office and walking down the hallway within a minute of getting that message.

The break room was hopping, if a break room could ever be called hopping. Whoever had planned this potluck had gone all out. There was a piñata, decorations, virgin margaritas, a taco bar that was catered along with crockpots of Spanish rice and desserts. It was one hell of a spread. I made myself a fajita, a soft shell taco, and added Spanish rice to my plate along with sopapillas. I picked up a margarita and sat down at one of the tables with paralegals. After all, these events were supposed to foster working relationships. Ha, I was at this table because Ryan was. I sat right next to him. I couldn't rest my hand on his leg because it would be seen, but at least I could sit next to him. I should've thought this through more carefully, because now I was torturing myself sitting next to Ryan and being unable to even do anything. Sometimes I wondered how intelligent I really was.

"Whoever thought to cater this in was a genius. There was no way I was making anything and lugging it through the subway."

I nodded my head as I chewed my fajita. Damn, this was really good. The chatter continued along those lines with everyone discussing the best Mexican restaurants. I interjected myself every so often, mentioning the places I'd enjoyed. I mainly just chowed down, though.

Being so attuned to Ryan, I did notice that he wasn't eating very much. I glanced at Ryan, and noticed that he didn't look good. Should I say something? As a boss, he probably wouldn't want me to ask him if he was feeling okay. Dammit. I left my phone back in the office so I couldn't even text him. Although, that would be pretty noticeable to others if I texted something and then he suddenly get a text. Dammit, how the hell did Eric do this shit?

Ryan scooted back his chair and ran out the door. What the hell? I looked at Luke, who sitting on the other side of Ryan. I narrowed my eyes, and tried my hardest not to actually glare. "Luke, what did you say to Ryan to make him run off?"

"I have no idea. I just noticed he didn't look too good and then suddenly he ran off."

Now I was really worried about Ryan. Could food poisoning hit that fast? He'd need to get to a hospital quickly if it was botulism. How the hell could I check on him without making it obvious that I was checking on him?

"Someone should go check on him. I can't go in there, obviously, I'm female but one of you-" I stood up, interrupting Amy.

"I'll check on him. I'm his boss, I should make sure he's okay." That sure didn't make me feel guilty about fucking my subordinate. I needed to get over it if this relationship was going to have legs. I walked into the bathroom and heard the sound of retching. I waited until I heard no more, while trying not to gag myself, and then called out. "Ryan? Is that you?" I wanted to help him, to make him feel better, but I didn't know what he wanted or needed. He might even want to be left alone and was probably embarrassed that I was here at all. "There's no one else in here. Did the food make you sick?"

"Oh. No, I don't think so." His voice was weak. I couldn't just stand by anymore waiting for him to let me know what he wanted from me. I pushed the stall door, but could only get it open a few inches. "Let me in, I can help you. Do you need paper towels or a washcloth?"

"How about a washcloth? I just think I want to sit here for a bit." I grabbed one of the rolled up hand towels- hey we were a high-end law firm here- dampened it, then passed it through the opening to Ryan.

"Can you move so I can open the door? I want to see how you're doing. Honestly, I just want to hold you and make sure you're okay." I was embarrassed admitting that in the bathroom of all places, but that's exactly how I felt.

"I'm sitting on the floor." Ryan sounded miserable. He must have the flu or something. He seemed fine earlier, though.

"I don't care. Just let me take care of you." Ryan made a sound as he pulled the door open and I realized he was crying. Crying from puking? I didn't think Ryan was so...weak. I didn't want a weak omega. I wiped his face off and felt his forehead but he felt fine. He wasn't hot to the touch.

"What's wrong? I didn't expect to find you crying over puking at work. Everyone gets sick at some point." Did I eat the same thing he did? I wasn't sure what Ryan had on his plate but he didn't eat much of it, I knew that for sure. Ryan shook his head, with his head still hanging. "Hey, look at me. You don't have anything to be embarrassed about."

Ryan sniffled and held his hand out. I was confused, did he want me to hold his hand? I was crouching in the stall with Ryan on the floor by the toilet. I didn't really want to be in here for a while holding his hand, but if that's what he needed, I would. I grabbed his hand but he shook off my hand, chuckling. "No, I need the wash cloth."

I chuckled, embarrassed at my gaffe as I handed him the wet wash cloth. He wiped his hands off and made a shooing motion at me. I stood up and backed out of the stall. Ryan stood up and I noticed his slacks...weren't slacks at all. I also noticed that there was a distinct bump where he used to have flat abs. I didn't think my eyes could get any wider. Of all the things, I had not suspected a pregnancy!