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I felt more active Wednesday through Friday than I have my entire pregnancy. It was an extra hurdle to have to do everything around an excitable puppy filling up my middle, but it was great to get to work on real dressmaking again. It was like coming back home after a long, long vacation.
   First thing Wednesday morning, Maria drove me back to the office where I explained my ideas to my boss. I told her I needed a sample dress I could alter into a proof of concept for my maternity line, while leaving out the detail that I'd be the one wearing it. Amazingly, she wanted to see what I had in mind, so she let me borrow a Nouvaeu Blanc line evening gown that would have looked gorgeous on anyone. After that, I coaxed Maria into swinging by a fabric store I'd found online and picking up some great stretchy material that still felt comfortable against the fur, along with a dressmaker mannequin, sewing supplies, and little odds and ends I might need. At the advice of the clerk, we went by a maternity boutique to get a belly attachment for the mannequin. I figured I'd just measure myself for fitting, but it'll be better to have for the future.
   The next couple days were spent upstairs in my bedroom sewing, cutting, folding, sketching, modeling, measuring, screaming, and hormonally sobbing my dream pregnancy dress into reality. I needed to measure the width of my torso, only to find that the measuring tape I had wasn't big enough and had to elicit the help of Micky and his tool shed to get my belly measurements just right. The gown itself was rather sleek and simplistic, so in order to hide the obvious seams for baby bump room, I had to use some of the same, extra fabric to add stylistic folds to the shoulders as well as the torso, effectively transforming the style into something more flowing and loose. It took a lot of Google-ing, scouring old notes college on my laptop, and good old-fashioned bullshitting, but by the time Friday night rolled around, I finally had something.
   On Saturday, I spent ten minutes stuffing myself into the dress, with Maria's help, only to feel like someone decided to dress a basketball up for Halloween. But the more I looked at my reflection in the mirror, the more... right it looked. I'd done my measurements right, I'd hidden obvious seams, nothing seemed stretched or pulled. And, for what it was worth, the pregnancy had done wonders for the sheen of my fur, which seemed to almost shine like polished copper in the right lighting. Even my stomach seemed elegant and maternal instead of the big, stretched, patchy gut I knew was underneath.
   It seemed bizarre, going on a date in my condition. Looking for a new partner was always part of the plan, but in some nebulous future beyond the birth and beyond securing my dream job, not before. I feared the awkwardness of having to clarify that Larry and I weren't already together, that the baby wasn't his. That he might be humiliated as much as I would. The activity was giving me weird cramps that probably weren't making my any more attractive as I winced and braced my stomach every so often.
   Hope kicked. It distracted me just enough to cut the string of thoughts before they spiraled into something painful. I smiled, tucking a hand beneath the fabric to feel my own body. Throughout the entire experience, Hope had felt as much a comrade and partner to me as a child. For better or worse, she was always there, growing and squirming and giving me a reason to keep going, to keep striving for something better. Maybe, in a way, this date wasn't in spite of Hope, but for her.
   The pre-date alarm on my phone went off unexpectedly, snapping me out of my train of thought. I jumped at the sudden noise and shuffled out of the room as fast as I safely could. My gown passed the stress test of me rushing down the stairs in it, so I figured it would at least last the night. I brushed my hair and put a little fur coating up my arms to make them look sleek, then awkwardly sat on the couch and tapped my paws against the carpet, waiting for the doorbell to ring.
   When it finally did, I groaned and hefted myself up, feeling far less attractive than Larry supposedly thought I was. I smoothed out the fabric as I crossed the distance, not too quick to seem desperate, but not too slow to seem disinterested. Opening the front door, I was greeted by a groomed and cleaned Larry, not a dirt stain in sight. He was dressed in a pair of slacks that looked fairly new and a faded, striped polo that looked fairly not. It was stretched over his wide shoulders with the sleeves constricting tight over his biceps. Despite a new haircut and clean fur, he looked even more muscular than he had last week.
   His personality, of course, didn't quite match the image. As I came outside, Larry stared slack-jawed at me, totally still aside from his wagging tail. His eyes were wide in shock and awe. I blushed, pushing my hair back from over my face.
   “Don't overdue it or I'll just think you're making fun of me,” I said with a small smile.
   “I wasn't- You- I-” Larry stopped and cleared his throat loudly, before saying “You look amazing, Sierra.”
   I turned away with a nervous schoolgirl's grin on my face.
   “No I don't....I look like a pumpkin somebody lost under a bedsheet.”
   Larry took a step closer, laying a gentle hand against my belly before pulling my gaze back toward his.
   “You...are gorgeous,” he said, with clear certainty in his eyes that I couldn't help but believe. With his own smile, he gestured to the humble, white sedan parked on the curb. “And I want you to show that to the whole world.”
   I was completely enchanted. I barely touched the ground on the way to his car and didn't even get embarrassed when he had to pull the passenger seat back farther for me to fit inside. As he got in beside me and helped me buckle my seatbelt, he smiled with a twinkle in his eye as he drove us off.
   “So...where are we going?” I asked breathlessly.
   “There's an Italian place in town that I always wanted to bring a date to...b-but there's a lot of other places around it we could go if that doesn't work out.”
   “Australian Italian food? I think we can both work up a craving for that,” I said, patting my stomach. I paused, clearing my throat in the distinctive silence after a bad joke, before asking, “Sorry, that's...It's weird, isn't it?”
   “What is?”
   “Well...Yknow...” I shrugged. “The elephant in the room. The one that isn't me.” Ok, that one was a little funny.
   Larry stole a glance at me once he pulled up to a stoplight. He shrugged and shook his head.
   “Not really. I've dated women with kids before. It doesn't bother me.”
   “But those kids were probably...well, already out of them.”
   “Well yeah, I guess that's true.” He fell silent, taking a more direct look at me. “...Why are you so ashamed of your pregnancy?”
   “Uhm...” I stalled for an answer. It was an unexpectedly direct question.
   “When I look at you, I see a woman willing to own up to responsibilities and put someone else's life in front of her own. That's bravery. I think you should be proud you took the difficult path. That takes character.”
   “Oh...” I blinked, looking out the window. “I...I don't know, I never really thought about it like that. It just felt more like...owning up to a mistake. Being reckless.”
   “A punishment?” Larry added. “But you love your daughter. I can tell. You're proud of her, proud of her being a part of you, a piece of all the things you secretly love about yourself. She's your child and I think you should be as happy for yourself giving her life as she will be for having it.”
   “I didn't know you could be so...eloquent.”
   “Neither did I,” Larry said. “I'm on a date with a gorgeous, American wolfess in my car, but I feel more confident than nervous.” He paused, before clearing his throat and adding, “...but that 'I want you to show that to the whole world' line was...actually from a book I read...but it's still true. I promise.”
   “I believe you,” I said, laughing. “...Hope. Her name is Hope.”
   “Hope...” Larry repeated, nodding. “I like it.” He held out an arm and rested his large hand across my belly. “I can't wait to meet you, Hope.”
   “Neither can I,” I agreed. The muscles of my stomach suddenly tightened and I hissed at the pressure while running a hand through my hair. Larry, alarmed, began to slow down the car.
   “Are you okay?” He asked in a panic.
   “No, no, keep going,” I said, waving to the road. Already, the pressure was subsiding. “It's fine. It's gone already. Just Braxton-Hicks, nothing to worry about.”
   “You sure?” Larry asked, pulling into a side lane. “We can wait for...well, we can put this off until after Hope arrives.”
   “It's not a big deal, really.” I reassured him, patting his arm. “Let's get to the restaurant before it's too crowded.” Truth be told, I was a little nervous, but I was more willing to go into labor at the date than miss it. I think I needed this more than Larry did.
   We pulled into a single-story, old wooden building strung with lights, candle lighting on all the tables, and bustling crowds of people eating and drinking. We hadn't made a reservation, but a group ahead of us let us cut in front, likely out of pity for my paws. So we found a table toward the back of room, farther away from the rowdy crowds of drinkers on the patio.
   As our waitress, a cute otter girl who was probably older than she looked, approached, I pointed to her and made a demanding motion into my hand.
   “Breadsticks?” I asked. She nodded. “Breadsticks.” I ordered. “Tons of them.” She nodded again, made a note onto her pad, and spun on her toes without another word. Another cramp hit me, a little more painful than last time, but still not bad enough that I couldn't hide it.
   “You said you've always wanted to take a date here?” I asked, trying to take my mind off the discomfort. I massaged the bottom curve my belly, against Hope's back, in an effort to soothe the pain.
   “It wasn't open when I was in the dating scene. It's...it's been a little while.”
   “Why is that?” I asked, without thinking about it. Larry turned away, scratching behind his ear uncomfortably. “Oh...Oh no, sorry, I didn't mean to ask anything-”
   “It's okay, don't worry about it,” he said, reassuring me. “I...was married before. Only for a couple years, to a girl from high school. About a year and a half ago, she cheated on me and filed for a divorce to go with her new boyfriend.” He sighed, idly playing with his silverware.
   “Oh my god, that's horrible,” I said, taking his hand from across the table. “That's...god, that's awful. I'm so sorry.”
   “It's okay,” he said, smiling. “I'm finally looking past it and moving on. I..regret that I wasn't really assertive enough to fight it, but that's something I can work on. It's...why I wanted to get to know you better, actually. I think you had that familiar kind of heartache.”
   “I did. I had that and so much more.” I picked up the empty glass that was already sitting on the table and held it up. “To Josh, who had the decency to leave me before being as awful a father to his own son as his dad is to him.”
   Larry picked up his glass and held it up before saying, “To Kimberly, who I hope is having a wonderful time in the middle of Alice Springs with her charming, mechanic boyfriend, who doesn't know her last name, while I'm on a date with someone twice the woman she is.”
   We clinked glasses, then pretended to pour out the imaginary contents onto the ground. We laughed a little when the waitress saw us playing with them and offered to fill our glasses. After that, we chatted for a while. The breadsticks took about thirty minutes to get to us because of the crowd, but Larry and I were having a good enough time just chatting to care about it. We (mostly I and Hope) scarfed down breadsticks in ten minutes and ordered another basket, imagining the horrified cooks afraid of running out of them to the ravenous, pregnant wolf out at table number 15. I told Larry about that and we had a good laugh about it for a while before the waitress actually came back in sight with the basket in hand.
   “Oh thank god!” I said, sitting up to take them from her. “You are my savior!” But as I leaned forward to catch the breadsticks before they hit the table, I froze like a statue as I felt, and even heard, a very solid pop like a water balloon from between my legs. Larry and the waitress stared at me as my eyes widened and my jaw fell open. Warm liquid began to slowly pool onto the seat beneath me and I felt what seemed like a powerfully unstoppable peeing sensation coming from my lady parts. My belly tensed up, harder than before, in what I knew was a real, ready-for-primetime, all-natural, this-is-not-a-drill contraction.
   “Damn.” I said.
   “It happened, didn't it?” Larry said, taking his napkin out of his lap.
   I nodded.
   “I'll get the car and call Maria,” he said. Standing he whispered in the waitresses ear, who nearly dropped the breadsticks in shock as her eyes widened.
   “...I'll...I'll put these in a box for you,” she said before scurrying off.
   Leaning back, I took deep, relaxing breaths, hands on either side of my belly as I felt the contraction fade away. A few customers stole curious glances, turning to alarm as they noticed the pool of liquid on the floor.
   “That's not funny,” I said to Hope. I petted my stomach, knowing that she'd be in my arms any time now. I smiled, my eyes closed, picturing her face in my mind.
   “I'm ready when you are.”

Description
body div#devskin0 hr { }

I felt more active Wednesday through Friday than I have my entire pregnancy. It was an extra hurdle to have to do everything around an excitable puppy filling up my middle, but it was great to get to work on real dressmaking again. It was like coming back home after a long, long vacation.
   First thing Wednesday morning, Maria drove me back to the office where I explained my ideas to my boss. I told her I needed a sample dress I could alter into a proof of concept for my maternity line, while leaving out the detail that I'd be the one wearing it. Amazingly, she wanted to see what I had in mind, so she let me borrow a Nouvaeu Blanc line evening gown that would have looked gorgeous on anyone. After that, I coaxed Maria into swinging by a fabric store I'd found online and picking up some great stretchy material that still felt comfortable against the fur, along with a dressmaker mannequin, sewing supplies, and little odds and ends I might need. At the advice of the clerk, we went by a maternity boutique to get a belly attachment for the mannequin. I figured I'd just measure myself for fitting, but it'll be better to have for the future.
   The next couple days were spent upstairs in my bedroom sewing, cutting, folding, sketching, modeling, measuring, screaming, and hormonally sobbing my dream pregnancy dress into reality. I needed to measure the width of my torso, only to find that the measuring tape I had wasn't big enough and had to elicit the help of Micky and his tool shed to get my belly measurements just right. The gown itself was rather sleek and simplistic, so in order to hide the obvious seams for baby bump room, I had to use some of the same, extra fabric to add stylistic folds to the shoulders as well as the torso, effectively transforming the style into something more flowing and loose. It took a lot of Google-ing, scouring old notes college on my laptop, and good old-fashioned bullshitting, but by the time Friday night rolled around, I finally had something.
   On Saturday, I spent ten minutes stuffing myself into the dress, with Maria's help, only to feel like someone decided to dress a basketball up for Halloween. But the more I looked at my reflection in the mirror, the more... right it looked. I'd done my measurements right, I'd hidden obvious seams, nothing seemed stretched or pulled. And, for what it was worth, the pregnancy had done wonders for the sheen of my fur, which seemed to almost shine like polished copper in the right lighting. Even my stomach seemed elegant and maternal instead of the big, stretched, patchy gut I knew was underneath.
   It seemed bizarre, going on a date in my condition. Looking for a new partner was always part of the plan, but in some nebulous future beyond the birth and beyond securing my dream job, not before. I feared the awkwardness of having to clarify that Larry and I weren't already together, that the baby wasn't his. That he might be humiliated as much as I would. The activity was giving me weird cramps that probably weren't making my any more attractive as I winced and braced my stomach every so often.
   Hope kicked. It distracted me just enough to cut the string of thoughts before they spiraled into something painful. I smiled, tucking a hand beneath the fabric to feel my own body. Throughout the entire experience, Hope had felt as much a comrade and partner to me as a child. For better or worse, she was always there, growing and squirming and giving me a reason to keep going, to keep striving for something better. Maybe, in a way, this date wasn't in spite of Hope, but for her.
   The pre-date alarm on my phone went off unexpectedly, snapping me out of my train of thought. I jumped at the sudden noise and shuffled out of the room as fast as I safely could. My gown passed the stress test of me rushing down the stairs in it, so I figured it would at least last the night. I brushed my hair and put a little fur coating up my arms to make them look sleek, then awkwardly sat on the couch and tapped my paws against the carpet, waiting for the doorbell to ring.
   When it finally did, I groaned and hefted myself up, feeling far less attractive than Larry supposedly thought I was. I smoothed out the fabric as I crossed the distance, not too quick to seem desperate, but not too slow to seem disinterested. Opening the front door, I was greeted by a groomed and cleaned Larry, not a dirt stain in sight. He was dressed in a pair of slacks that looked fairly new and a faded, striped polo that looked fairly not. It was stretched over his wide shoulders with the sleeves constricting tight over his biceps. Despite a new haircut and clean fur, he looked even more muscular than he had last week.
   His personality, of course, didn't quite match the image. As I came outside, Larry stared slack-jawed at me, totally still aside from his wagging tail. His eyes were wide in shock and awe. I blushed, pushing my hair back from over my face.
   “Don't overdue it or I'll just think you're making fun of me,” I said with a small smile.
   “I wasn't- You- I-” Larry stopped and cleared his throat loudly, before saying “You look amazing, Sierra.”
   I turned away with a nervous schoolgirl's grin on my face.
   “No I don't....I look like a pumpkin somebody lost under a bedsheet.”
   Larry took a step closer, laying a gentle hand against my belly before pulling my gaze back toward his.
   “You...are gorgeous,” he said, with clear certainty in his eyes that I couldn't help but believe. With his own smile, he gestured to the humble, white sedan parked on the curb. “And I want you to show that to the whole world.”
   I was completely enchanted. I barely touched the ground on the way to his car and didn't even get embarrassed when he had to pull the passenger seat back farther for me to fit inside. As he got in beside me and helped me buckle my seatbelt, he smiled with a twinkle in his eye as he drove us off.
   “So...where are we going?” I asked breathlessly.
   “There's an Italian place in town that I always wanted to bring a date to...b-but there's a lot of other places around it we could go if that doesn't work out.”
   “Australian Italian food? I think we can both work up a craving for that,” I said, patting my stomach. I paused, clearing my throat in the distinctive silence after a bad joke, before asking, “Sorry, that's...It's weird, isn't it?”
   “What is?”
   “Well...Yknow...” I shrugged. “The elephant in the room. The one that isn't me.” Ok, that one was a little funny.
   Larry stole a glance at me once he pulled up to a stoplight. He shrugged and shook his head.
   “Not really. I've dated women with kids before. It doesn't bother me.”
   “But those kids were probably...well, already out of them.”
   “Well yeah, I guess that's true.” He fell silent, taking a more direct look at me. “...Why are you so ashamed of your pregnancy?”
   “Uhm...” I stalled for an answer. It was an unexpectedly direct question.
   “When I look at you, I see a woman willing to own up to responsibilities and put someone else's life in front of her own. That's bravery. I think you should be proud you took the difficult path. That takes character.”
   “Oh...” I blinked, looking out the window. “I...I don't know, I never really thought about it like that. It just felt more like...owning up to a mistake. Being reckless.”
   “A punishment?” Larry added. “But you love your daughter. I can tell. You're proud of her, proud of her being a part of you, a piece of all the things you secretly love about yourself. She's your child and I think you should be as happy for yourself giving her life as she will be for having it.”
   “I didn't know you could be so...eloquent.”
   “Neither did I,” Larry said. “I'm on a date with a gorgeous, American wolfess in my car, but I feel more confident than nervous.” He paused, before clearing his throat and adding, “...but that 'I want you to show that to the whole world' line was...actually from a book I read...but it's still true. I promise.”
   “I believe you,” I said, laughing. “...Hope. Her name is Hope.”
   “Hope...” Larry repeated, nodding. “I like it.” He held out an arm and rested his large hand across my belly. “I can't wait to meet you, Hope.”
   “Neither can I,” I agreed. The muscles of my stomach suddenly tightened and I hissed at the pressure while running a hand through my hair. Larry, alarmed, began to slow down the car.
   “Are you okay?” He asked in a panic.
   “No, no, keep going,” I said, waving to the road. Already, the pressure was subsiding. “It's fine. It's gone already. Just Braxton-Hicks, nothing to worry about.”
   “You sure?” Larry asked, pulling into a side lane. “We can wait for...well, we can put this off until after Hope arrives.”
   “It's not a big deal, really.” I reassured him, patting his arm. “Let's get to the restaurant before it's too crowded.” Truth be told, I was a little nervous, but I was more willing to go into labor at the date than miss it. I think I needed this more than Larry did.
   We pulled into a single-story, old wooden building strung with lights, candle lighting on all the tables, and bustling crowds of people eating and drinking. We hadn't made a reservation, but a group ahead of us let us cut in front, likely out of pity for my paws. So we found a table toward the back of room, farther away from the rowdy crowds of drinkers on the patio.
   As our waitress, a cute otter girl who was probably older than she looked, approached, I pointed to her and made a demanding motion into my hand.
   “Breadsticks?” I asked. She nodded. “Breadsticks.” I ordered. “Tons of them.” She nodded again, made a note onto her pad, and spun on her toes without another word. Another cramp hit me, a little more painful than last time, but still not bad enough that I couldn't hide it.
   “You said you've always wanted to take a date here?” I asked, trying to take my mind off the discomfort. I massaged the bottom curve my belly, against Hope's back, in an effort to soothe the pain.
   “It wasn't open when I was in the dating scene. It's...it's been a little while.”
   “Why is that?” I asked, without thinking about it. Larry turned away, scratching behind his ear uncomfortably. “Oh...Oh no, sorry, I didn't mean to ask anything-”
   “It's okay, don't worry about it,” he said, reassuring me. “I...was married before. Only for a couple years, to a girl from high school. About a year and a half ago, she cheated on me and filed for a divorce to go with her new boyfriend.” He sighed, idly playing with his silverware.
   “Oh my god, that's horrible,” I said, taking his hand from across the table. “That's...god, that's awful. I'm so sorry.”
   “It's okay,” he said, smiling. “I'm finally looking past it and moving on. I..regret that I wasn't really assertive enough to fight it, but that's something I can work on. It's...why I wanted to get to know you better, actually. I think you had that familiar kind of heartache.”
   “I did. I had that and so much more.” I picked up the empty glass that was already sitting on the table and held it up. “To Josh, who had the decency to leave me before being as awful a father to his own son as his dad is to him.”
   Larry picked up his glass and held it up before saying, “To Kimberly, who I hope is having a wonderful time in the middle of Alice Springs with her charming, mechanic boyfriend, who doesn't know her last name, while I'm on a date with someone twice the woman she is.”
   We clinked glasses, then pretended to pour out the imaginary contents onto the ground. We laughed a little when the waitress saw us playing with them and offered to fill our glasses. After that, we chatted for a while. The breadsticks took about thirty minutes to get to us because of the crowd, but Larry and I were having a good enough time just chatting to care about it. We (mostly I and Hope) scarfed down breadsticks in ten minutes and ordered another basket, imagining the horrified cooks afraid of running out of them to the ravenous, pregnant wolf out at table number 15. I told Larry about that and we had a good laugh about it for a while before the waitress actually came back in sight with the basket in hand.
   “Oh thank god!” I said, sitting up to take them from her. “You are my savior!” But as I leaned forward to catch the breadsticks before they hit the table, I froze like a statue as I felt, and even heard, a very solid pop like a water balloon from between my legs. Larry and the waitress stared at me as my eyes widened and my jaw fell open. Warm liquid began to slowly pool onto the seat beneath me and I felt what seemed like a powerfully unstoppable peeing sensation coming from my lady parts. My belly tensed up, harder than before, in what I knew was a real, ready-for-primetime, all-natural, this-is-not-a-drill contraction.
   “Damn.” I said.
   “It happened, didn't it?” Larry said, taking his napkin out of his lap.
   I nodded.
   “I'll get the car and call Maria,” he said. Standing he whispered in the waitresses ear, who nearly dropped the breadsticks in shock as her eyes widened.
   “...I'll...I'll put these in a box for you,” she said before scurrying off.
   Leaning back, I took deep, relaxing breaths, hands on either side of my belly as I felt the contraction fade away. A few customers stole curious glances, turning to alarm as they noticed the pool of liquid on the floor.
   “That's not funny,” I said to Hope. I petted my stomach, knowing that she'd be in my arms any time now. I smiled, my eyes closed, picturing her face in my mind.
   “I'm ready when you are.”