A/N: Just for added visuals, I'm including two links here. The first is going to be of the actual bedding set Ash chooses later in the chapter. The second is going to be for a different crib than the one pictured with the bedding set because I didn't like the one originally pictured with it as much.

Link to bedding set:
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=31224706&cp=2255957.2273443.2256244.2256251.3123060.3123061&parentPage=family

Link to chosen secondary crib: http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=4217962&cp=2273443.3252292.3250660&parentPage=family
~Cyn


Three months later, in early-to-mid-September, Ash was moved out of his old apartment and into the house he’d bought, and feeling better than ever. At eighteen weeks into his pregnancy, the morning sickness had finally faded into nothing more than a distant memory for him. He was beginning to feel the baby’s first fluttering kicks, which Rebecca had assured him was normal, and that he was actually feeling them slightly earlier than most first-time mothers.

The only thing that was even remotely concerning to him was that, as far as he could tell, he wasn’t showing much, if at all. He’d seen women around this stage in a pregnancy before and knew that he should have a small baby bump at the least, so he was worried that something was wrong with the baby. Considering that he had an appointment with the OB/GYN that morning, he was going to ask her about it.

Sammi was still living with him while the guys were touring, Jinxx having all but moved in with them when they weren’t so he could be with his fiancé. Rebecca still thought it was a good idea to have someone with him at all times, given that they weren’t sure if he’d wind up with another migraine that caused him to bleed out of his ears again, and they were all more than agreeable. Besides, it gave him some peace of mind knowing that, if something were to happen to him, there were people around that he trusted to help him out, even if that meant taking him to the hospital for treatment.

“Morning, Ash,” the wild child said, coming into the kitchen with a sleepy-eyed Jinxx hot on her heels. “How’re ya feeling this morning?”

“Pretty good. This little demon kept me up most of the night kicking me,” Ash chuckled, gently caressing his bare belly.

“Damn, man. You’re barely showing, are you?” Jinxx asked, eyeing him curiously.

“Not really. It’s actually worrying me a bit,” he admitted. “I was planning on asking Rebecca about it when I go in for my appointment later.”

“You’re, what? Eighteen weeks, right?” he asked.

“As of this morning, yes,” he answered, nodding. “That’s why I’m kinda worried.”

“Don’t get yourself too worked up,” Sammi said, joining them at the table with plates full of food. “You don’t wanna get your blood pressure up too high.”

“I know that. But I can’t help worrying about my baby,” Ash told her.

“Now answer me this…” Jinxx said, sounding a bit curious. “When are you gonna tell Andy?”

“I honestly have no idea. I mean, he doesn’t even know I’ve moved because, according to you guys, he’s too stuck up Juliet’s ass again to give two shits and a flying fuck.”

“I honestly don’t know why he did that.” The multi-instrumentalist sighed and shook his head. “Jake and I were gonna try working together to get you guys on semi-decent terms, for the baby’s sake, if nothing else, till we found out he did that. Now neither one of us really hang with him, both by our own choice and because he’s always with that slut.”

“Baby!” Sammi snapped, glaring at him.

“Sorry, hun. I couldn’t think of a better term that would fit as appropriately,” he said sheepishly.

“Eh, true enough. She’s really done nothing but use him for sex and fame,” she agreed reluctantly. “It’s almost as if she wants to be the next one to get pregnant with his kid.”

“Well, so long as he’s got her around, I want nothing to do with him,” Ash said, leaving no room to argue. “And I don’t want him knowing about the baby, either. I’ll not have that…trash…in my child’s life, just because Daddy Number Two is dating her.”

The couple sitting at his dining room table with him didn’t blame him in the least, considering that they didn’t like Juliet, either. Jinxx assured him that, although he knew about the feelings Ash and Andy had for one another, having figured it out for himself, Jake knew nothing about his pregnancy. Andy was immersing himself in preparing for tours when he wasn’t stuck up Juliet’s overly-toned ass, and CC was just being…well, CC. He didn’t really keep tabs on the guys’ personal lives, and they didn’t keep tabs on his.

After they’d all finished their food, they started collecting the essential personal effects and headed out to Jinxx’s Tahoe. Even though he’d be driving the Mustang he’d bought after the baby’s birth or when he was alone, the bassist agreed to the truck this morning since it was roomier and there were three of them. Besides, he had a couple errands to run for the nursery today; he’d get to drive it later.

Upon arriving at Rebecca’s office, they saw her waiting by the counter to escort them back to an exam room for his appointment. Having been introduced before, she said nothing when the couple followed them back, knowing that they were the only ones from his social circle who knew and that they were there for moral support. Jinxx took a seat in the spare chair by the exam table, pulling Sammi into his lap, while the bassist went through the normal routine. Even when he was asked to strip to his boxers, he said nothing, given that he’d seen him in his underwear and naked numerous times before.

Ash was unable to hold back a wince when the OB/GYN pressed on his tender chest, grimacing until she stopped. She moved on to pressing on his belly, keeping the fingers of one hand at a point right above his pelvic bone while the other grabbed a tape measure from her pocket. She held one end to his pubic bone while using the other hand to press down on a point closer to the bottom of his ribcage, then stretched the tape measure up his belly and held the other end down, too. She told him that he was measuring eighteen centimeters, which was normal for a person’s eighteenth week of pregnancy, given that the womb grew about a centimeter a week. It was an easy way to keep track of the baby’s growth if one knew what they were doing.

“So if I’m measuring like I should, why am I not showing very much, if at all?” he asked, still sounding worried about that.

“Well, for one, you’re carrying pretty high,” Rebecca answered, firing up the ultrasound scanner. “When I was pressing on your belly to get the measurement, I felt the baby more or less right in here.” She gently caressed his belly right over where she meant. “Secondly, you kept yourself in such good shape before getting pregnant that your abdominal wall is pretty strong. The stronger the abdominal wall, the less a person is likely to show during pregnancy.”

“So there’s absolutely nothing wrong with the baby?” Ash asked, sounding relieved.

“Not that I can tell, Ashley. I’ll know if there is during the ultrasound, so prepare yourself for the gel,” she warned him.

The bassist gasped as she squirted the cold gel on his belly, just as he did every time.

“Sorry about that,” she said, using the probe to smear the gel around. “All right, let’s see here. I don’t see anything wrong with the baby, the umbilical cord, or the placenta, which is good. Fluid levels are right where they should be, too.”

Ash held his breath as he waited for her to continue.

“I’d say everything’s looking good, Ashley,” the OB/GYN told him, grinning. “You wanna know the gender today, if the little rascal will cooperate?”

“I’d love to,” he answered, nodding.

“All right, let’s see here…” She focused her attention back on the screen, moving the probe so she was looking at the baby’s pelvic region. “I’d say it’s…a little girl! Congratulations!”

“Oh, my Godsmack,” the bassist breathed, covering his mouth as tears welled in his eyes.

“That’s awesome, Ash!” Sammi piped up, grinning widely.

“Congratulations, bro,” Jinxx added, smiling serenely.

“I’m gonna get your next appointment set up for six weeks from now. That sound good to you?” Rebecca asked.

“Sounds great, but I’m gonna have to fly back from a show in Milan, as long as it’s safe for me to go overseas,” he agreed, wiping the gel off.

“I don’t see why not. There’s nothing wrong with you or the baby, you haven’t been getting migraines like you were the first few weeks of pregnancy, and I’m pretty sure that if you’re not acting right, Jinxx here’ll make sure you get medical attention,” she said.

“You’re damn right I will,” Jinxx assured her. “We went through enough Hell when he started bleeding from his ear in Denmark; we don’t need anything else like that to happen.”

“Yeah, Papa Jinxx is the one who always takes care of us,” Ash chuckled.

“Papa Jinxx exists nowhere but on the bus,” the multi-instrumentalist insisted.

“Anyway, you’ll be fine to tour overseas through the end of October, I’d say,” Rebecca continued. “But after that, you’ll have to stay home unless the tours are domestic. Starting around twenty-seven weeks, which you’ll be close to at that point, it’ll be too dangerous to fly much of anywhere, but especially overseas.”

“He’ll only have to miss the show in Bristol, England on November first, then,” the multi-instrumentalist said. “Everything through November and December after that is here in the States, and then we don’t go on tour again till March.”

“Well, from what I’ve calculated, his due date is February tenth,” she said. “He may have to skip touring till around May or June of next year, depending on how he feels.”

“We’ll see what happens between now and then,” Ash told her. “Besides, it might be hard to tour with a newborn, anyway.”

“Well, with everything cleared up, I’m gonna let you go. See ya, Ashley.”

“Until next time, Rebecca.”

Once the OB/GYN had left the room, he started pulling his clothes back on, Jinxx crouching down to help get his boots back on. He felt like he couldn’t lean over quite as far anymore, even though he wasn’t really showing, and neither of them wanted him falling off the exam table and hurting himself or the baby. Besides, that’s what he and Sammi were there for: to lend moral support and help out with some things.

Now that he was dressed, he headed out to the check-out counter to get checked out and make sure he knew when his next appointment was. There wasn’t much else to do after that, so they decided to head back to his house so he could get his car and go shopping for the nursery. He was doing little things, like picking out color schemes, now that he knew it was a girl, and buying small decorations for the time being. Once he was ready for the big stuff, like the crib and changing table, he’d use Jinxx’s Tahoe so there’d be room for the huge boxes. He’d even likely get Jinxx to come along to do the heavy lifting since he wouldn’t be able to.

Jinxx and Sammi were planning on going out to lunch for a date while he was home and they didn’t really have much to do, so they parted ways in the driveway. Ash didn’t even bother going inside before hopping behind the wheel of his Mustang and firing it up, chuckling when he felt the baby lurch from the sudden roar. Apparently it’d startled her a bit and she’d jumped in reaction, which was fine by him. He gently caressed his belly to calm her down again, then put the car in Reverse.

The drive to Babies “R” Us a hop, skip, and a jump from the Ronald Reagan Freeway was fairly uneventful, considering that it was the lunch rush hour and the traffic was heavy. Sure, he didn’t really like driving in heavy traffic now, not that he ever really did, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. He was planning on just wandering around the store browsing, not really having anything specific in mind. Ash wanted to just see what caught his eye and screamed to him that it was perfect for his baby’s room, and he’d go from there. If he saw something he thought would be perfect, he’d design his color scheme around colors used in whatever caught his eye, whether it was bedding or a cute little stuffed toy to sit on a shelf somewhere.

“Welcome to Babies ‘R’ Us,” a saleswoman said. “Anything I can help you with, ma’am?”

“Sir, actually,” Ash corrected her, chuckling. “And no, not really. Just came to browse a bit.”

“Wow, a man coming in here without a woman dragging him.” She let out a low whistle. “Don’t see that happen often, so I’m surprised.”

“Well, I’m a graphic designer by trade. My fiancé is more about crunching numbers, and since I’m such an artist, she wanted me to design our baby’s nursery,” he lied. Not all of it was a lie, seeing as he really did have a degree in graphic design, but this woman didn’t need to know that.

“Interesting. My name’s Mykenzy, so let me know if you need help with anything,” she told him.

“I’ll be sure to,” he promised, smiling as he continued on his way.

Before long, Ash found himself wandering through the bedding section, and was somewhat surprised to see that they had bedding for not only cribs, but for cradles, bassinets, and portable cribs, as well. There were so many different types that it was mind-boggling, and he was starting to wish Sammi’d come along to help. But he was a grown man, supposedly sent out by his pregnant fiancé, and he could do this on his own, come Hell or high water, and he knew it.

It wasn’t long before he stumbled across a set of crib bedding called the Dena Bloom set, which included six pieces. A quilt, two fitted sheets, a dust ruffle, diaper stacker, and velour changing pad cover were what made up the set, so it was pretty much everything he’d need for his sweet little girl. What had caught his eye was the color scheme: mostly purple and lavender with some aqua blue and lime green accents, and designed to be a cross between flowers and a paisley print. So long as he painted the walls in a matching color, likely lavender since there wasn’t as much of it in the set, and used white furniture, it’d be beautiful.

Having settled on what scheme he wanted to use, he went to find Mykenzy to see if there was more to this set than what he’d found on his own, such as décor and whatnot. When she saw the set he had in hand, she grinned and nodded as she told them there was way more to that particular set than what he’d found so far, and led him over to grab a cart for it all.

By the time he was ready to leave at last, Ash had the crib bedding, bumpers, and matching receiving blanket, as well as other décor from the set. There was a little lamp, wall art and decals, a musical mobile, and even a little plush toy that looked like a sleeping chicken to match. Since he’d planned on having two bassinets, one by his bedside and one in his office, until the baby outgrew them, he settled on pink sheet sets for those, as well. The pink would somewhat match what he’d bought for the actual nursery, and since his own bedding was black and red, it wouldn’t be that far off from the color scheme of the master bedroom, unlike the majority of the other colors he’d found.

“Have a good day, sir. And congratulations,” Mykenzy said, waving as he left.

“Thanks again, Mykenzy,” he returned, returning the wave as he headed out. “Now it’s time to text Jinxx so we can come back tomorrow to get the big stuff before they sell out.”

After loading the bags into the trunk of his car, he returned the cart he’d used before climbing behind the wheel. Before he bothered putting his seat belt on, much less cranking it up, he pulled out his phone and quickly typed out a text to Jinxx. He didn’t want to bother the couple too much while they were out on their date, or he would’ve called him. He simply told him he was going to need his help and truck the next day, then put his phone in the console and started his car so he could head home.

Notes