We've kept up our correspondence over the last six months. It's more intimate and flirtatious than before, but we don't make anything explicit, and we don't dwell on our night together. I don't want to put pressure on her if I move near her, and I know she doesn't want to pressure me to do anything.
When I know I'll be settling in her city, we start talking more. She says she's excited, and I am too. I don't really have the time to devote to her in my first couple weeks in town, and I don't want to try and just meet for a quick coffee or anything. Whatever else, I feel like our first meeting since sleeping together should be open-ended, with the time to talk and unpack our feelings.
Once things settled down, she invites me over to her place for an evening together. The whole way there my mind races, imagining what's going to become of us. I'm not expecting any sort of confrontation or rejection. Her tone on the phone was cheerful and fond, and people don't usually invite you into their home just to tell you it's not going to work out. But I don't know whether we'll just share a fling, whether we'll "see where this goes," or if we'll try for something serious. I'd like the latter, but I don't want to push her into anything.
When she greets me at the door, I lose myself for a moment in her smile. It's a smile I've loved since I first saw it, but it's all the more precious to me now after what's happened. Her face seems rounder somehow, the angles of her chin and jaw softened and smoothed. It's not a dramatic change, just a minor detail, a lovely little alteration.
Immediately she pulls me close for a hug and a kiss. I expect her to settle in my arms the way she always has, but now she doesn't quite fit. Before she could nestle close to me, but something keeps our bodies apart. Not fear or misgivings, but an actual, physical barrier I press against, keeping her from settling against me.
She releases me after a moment and takes a step back. I glance down to get a fuller view of her body, and I immediately understand what had blocked our full embrace. There, below breasts fuller and rounder than before, is the bulge of a pregnant belly. She looks down at herself then back up at me, giving a sheepish grin.
"I, um, didn't want to tell you until I saw you in person," she explains, "I knew you were moving here by the time I realized, and then I wanted to wait until I could see you face to face." I stare at her for a moment, dumbfounded. After a second or two of awe, a smile begins to spread across my face. I step into the apartment and shut the door behind me, never taking my eyes from her. She blushes as I gaze at her, but meets my eyes and grins even more broadly, evidently relieved at my obvious joy.
This time I pull her to me, holding her close and kissing her again. The kiss is deeper this time, and she sinks into my embrace, leaning in to press herself against me despite her baby bump. We manage to shuffle around to her couch, neither of us willing to let go of the other, and we settle onto the cushions.
For a long time neither of us speaks, preferring to just kiss and hold one another. At length she pushes away from me a little, just enough to look me in the eye. She bites her lip for a second, glancing away.
"Are you-" she begins, "Do you-"
