Expecting

She lingered on his stomach, licking and kissing, letting her nose trace the rise and swell of it, touched with child. The life within there should have been growing in her womb but she loved that he was willing to take such steps for their relationship, pushing things further than she could ever have imagined when the news of her infertility, however it had presented itself, had been confirmed. He was sweet, sweeter than she could have expected of him, and that it was her cub too in his belly, well... That was the cherry on top of the cake, what made everything all the more perfect for her, even if she could not do it for herself.

Now, it was time for her to make sure her husband felt as good as he possibly could.

Her breath warmed his fur as Jason's breath quickened, the dim light of their comfortably furnished living room with a throw flung over the back of the sofa casting their white and red fur into dark, sultry shadows. She took his paw and squeezed it but it was on his belly that she lingered still, nuzzling and licking, exploring every last curve and nuance that she could find there, changing day to day. His belly button was slightly raised even then in the early stages of pregnancy and she poked her tongue cheekily into the raised nodule it presented, wiggling around as he laughed lightly, although he could not deny the firming up of his shaft as his body was so delectably and tenderly worked over.

"Ah... Oh, Rebecca..."

He moaned out her name, her paw on his shaft, and yet even she could not deny how his belly fascinated her, knowing that there was life inside it. It was something that 'should' never have been seen on a male and she wanted to see more, to know more, every inch of her body quivering in anticipation of what was to come on that count. Nuzzling down the side, she worked her way back over, giving him a very different kind of massage as she left a trail of wet kisses in her wake.

"So big..." She murmured. "And you're gonna get so much bigger too, sweety."

Jason's tongue lolled out and he blushed heavily, working his pregnancy into the sexual encounter. It should have been too lewd for him but, hell, nothing was too much for him anymore now that he had defied sexual and reproductive norms, every step of his implanted pregnancy proving that it was a success of the highest order indeed. He wanted to see his stomach swell, feel those kicks as the cub developed, big and strong and ready to be birthed. They were too small at that stage for something like that but he still longed for it and that was just another thing for him to look forward to, lust rising as he whimpered and his wife's tongue worked his cock over.

He returned the favour under much insistence as Rebecca was, sweetly, more concerned with looking after him than she was about her own pleasure at that time, but there was nothing like lying in a sixty-nine with the vixen on top of him, her rubbing his belly and smoothing over the rise and shape of it as he lapped sweetly and sensually into her cunny. She did so make it difficult to concentrate on pleasing her though with how she circled his raised belly-button with the tip of a finger, giggling and moaning and blushing all the while. Rolling her hips back onto his eager muzzle, she too squeaked in climax, toes curling and flexing, her sweet juices flooding his mouth.

And it turned out that they'd been wrong because that was the first time that they felt the tiniest of kicks and movements inside his stomach. Rebecca laid there for ages afterwards with her ear resolutely pressed to his stomach but she was not to be dissuaded from her self-appointed task of feeling the next kick. She swore that he must have imagined it, that the baby would just have to kick again so she could feel it, but time would soon tell that he, of course, had not been imagining it at all.

Daily life had to go on regardless of the developing pregnancy and Jason spent time alone in their room, smiling and stroking his stomach, knowing that there was another life in there, growing slowly but surely. He took some time off work but Rebecca was not able to join him that time, wanting to make as much money as she could before the baby arrived, and, so, he was left entirely on his own in the house, lying on the living room floor with the little one shifting and moving restlessly around in his stomach.

"Oh, you're lively today, aren't you?"

Some would have said it was strange to feel as if he was bonding with a baby that had not even been born yet but that was exactly what Jason felt he was doing as he rubbed his stomach and tried to guess where the next kick would come from. It was just as fascinating to feel the kicks as it was to see them, to observe the strange excitement of his stomach bowing out, pushed in the subtle shape of a paw or a fist - it was, mostly, impossible to tell and that was okay. That didn't mean that he didn't like to speculate and imagine just how his cub was twisting and lying, what they were doing in there, eager to be born too judging by how often they were active.

"Oh! That was a big one, wasn't it?"

He giggled, tap-dancing his fingers over his belly as if they were playing a game together, just father and son.

"Come on now... Girl or boy, we want to see you out here! Give me your biggest kick yet!"

The cub was quiet and he thought that he'd lost them, even if he was sure, so very sure, that they could still hear him. There were no memories to be carried forth from before birth that fur-kind knew of but he knew that it would soothe them, the very act of talking to his unborn cub slowing his pulse and bringing his breathing to a slow, deep rise and fall of his chest.

Yes... Yes, everything was going to be okay. He could sit there as long as he liked, smiling down at his stomach, all the promise that it contained, admiring the curve of it. His tail fluffed up in excitement, anticipating where the cub would next kick, but they were woefully still even as he tickled his own pregnant belly, wanting to see if he could tease them into showing themselves once again.

"Come on now, little one..." He wheedled softly. "Come out for da-da?"

The baby talk would not have been like him if it had been anyone else's cub but, hell, they were his! He would talk to them however he liked while they were cocooned inside him!

"Make move for daddy? Come, come now... Big kick-kick? Can you kick for da-da?"

And, as if on cue, the cub squirmed and launched a kick so big at his stomach that a foot near defined itself as it bore through - or maybe it was his excited eyes playing tricks on him. Grunting, Jason could not have denied that it was a little bit painful but, well, that was just a little side-effect of all the joy as he laughed out loud for the sheer hell of it, hugging his stomach and running his paws over it repeatedly, wanting to show them oh so very much just how much he loved them at any measure.

"Thank you, oh, thank you... Such a good little one..."

Of course, he didn't know as yet whether he was carrying a girl or a boy and it didn't matter either way as they wanted to be surprised. Their cub would be perfect just the way they were as he stroked them through what seemed to sometimes be a terribly thin barrier between them and him, his belly throbbing lightly still where they had launched a hind paw at him. But he didn't mind as he cooed and murmured to them just how much he loved them, how much their mother loved them, what a little miracle they were to the world. Yes, they were perfect and this cub in particular deserved to know it above all else, making their worth known to the world regardless of whether the rest of the world was ready for the step forward that their birth would bring too.

There were other factors in being pregnant, especially as things developed, that were odder and perhaps less pleasant than spending time relaxing with his precious little one, of course. There was the needing to go to the bathroom rather often and having a smaller bladder than usual, or so it seemed, for one thing. If they shifted in the wrong way, they pressed down so violently that he had to leap up and run out of a meeting more than once with his cheeks burning, darting for the bathroom before an accident became imminent. It had also led to Jason having to get up in the middle of the night just to lumber to the bathroom, feeling an awful lot more ungainly than he had before. It was amazing what a few more pounds could do, especially in the belly area!

It was all a price that he was willing to pay, however, as he entered the seventh month, his belly larger than ever and the subject of a lot of attention. His clothes didn't fit anymore and he had to try to get at least a few pairs of trousers tailored, even if they didn't look like they could have possibly have fitted with such proportions when they were hanging up in the wardrobe. His shirts were more easily amended with larger sizes, although the buttons still strained over his belly, showing it off more and more. It would have been impossible for anyone to ignore even if they wanted to and he became a quick expert at answering questions - so much so that Rebecca even joked that he should carry around flashcards with him! That little minx!

"Yes, of course, you can touch it!"

He didn't mind other furs rubbing his belly too, even if he didn't know them, as long as they asked first, although he only had a few launch themselves at him without asking during the course of his pregnancy. It was uncomfortable to be so accosted but Jason tried not to dwell on that as a cashier cooed and murmured her approval of the swell of him, pressing her wolf paw to his stomach to feel if the baby was kicking again.

"Are they lively? You know that's a good sign!"

Jason beamed.

"I know!"

Another kindred soul was always good to come by and that wolf cashier, Julie, always made sure to ask after the cub each and every time he was in the shops after that date, although it became more and more difficult for him to waddle and sway down to the shops as he grew heavier and heavier. Each time he thought that his belly could not grow any larger, his body and the cub within surprised him with another spurt, even having to be careful moving around tables and the kitchen counters especially, at severe risk of knocking things over with the round of his protruding stomach.

He'd thought the morning sickness had been bad at the beginning too but there was something too that could catch furs off guard in the later stages, which was a hard pill to swallow. And he did swallow them too, every one of the pills that Dr Jones prescribed him to help with the nausea that just didn't seem to want to go away, though they didn't do a bit of good. He was routinely sick every morning and Rebecca coaxed him to eat as much as he could during the times that the sickness was not present, even though it seemed to ricochet back at the most inconvenient times during the day too. To his shame, though everyone understood, he even had to throw up once in the kitchen bin at work - now that had been embarrassing! Although everyone seemed to know or hear of the incident, he had, of course, bundled up the evidence and deposited it securely into the correct bin outside where it could be better dealt with. Getting the smell out of the kitchen, however, with all the air freshening sprays from the male and female bathrooms was another task entirely...

It went without saying that their friends wanted to celebrate their pregnancy and Jason was one of the first males in existence to be surprised with a baby shower, everyone dressed in soft shades of pink and blue and yellow, gifts for the baby that he almost had not even thought of for himself appearing from all directions. A bath set, a towel, a ducky toy... The smallest things made his eyes well up and he sniffled, dabbing daintily at his eyes with a tissue as others around him murmured and rubbed his shoulder, letting him have his moment there in the spotlight, all shared with Rebecca. For once, the mother and the father were just as important in the baby shower, everyone set on celebrating the encroach of a new life and the family that they all knew the loving couple had worked so very hard for.

"Are there any anchovies here?" Jason muttered to Rebecca, ears slipping back in embarrassment. "I have a weird craving..."

She giggled and rolled her eyes.

"Ew! I can run and get you some, sweety, won't take me ten minutes. Can you hold down the fort while I'm gone?"

"You're the best."

She really was and he smiled at the crowd, thanking everyone all over again for their generosity. His father stood beside him, a can of non-alcoholic beer in his paw, when Jason's eyes went wide and he sat bolt upright, clutching at his stomach.

"Oh! The baby's kicking!"

It was a shame that Rebecca was not there but there was no finer signal to draw everyone at the baby shower to him like a flock of birds, moths hustling to the flame. His father was first there, hesitantly reaching for him, although he had not yet felt just how soft but hard his son's stomach was. Truly, it had to be a strange thing indeed for a father to feel and Jason commended him for being so open-minded, his mother cooing and murmuring to him, even asking if there was anything she could get him to make him more comfortable. In pregnancy, he was most certainly the daughter that she'd wanted too, although his mother had had to content herself with three male foxes in the end, as much trouble as they'd caused her in their younger days.

"Oh..." His father's eyes lit up in wonder, pressing down a little harder again, rubbing and stroking through the fabric of Jason's long shirt, something that was taken from the maternity wear section but could be passed off as something masculine. "Oh, it's kicking! They're kicking!"

"You should find out if they're a boy or a girl!"

His mother still wanted to insist as Jason laughed softly and waved others in, wanting everyone to feel.

"Come on, everyone! Oh! Oh, they're really kicking up a storm!"

His head swam with the force of so many bodies clustering around him all at once but he would not have denied anyone the grace of getting to bear witness to, first hand, the miracle of life. There was something special, indeed, to feeling a youngster kicking and pushing through the wall of another fur's stomach and it would never cease to amaze him just how much he could feel from them, kicking so hard as they squirmed that he even woke up in the middle of the night. No matter what he tried, he couldn't sleep through it and the murmurs of wonder of those clustered around him, friends and family alike, lifted his heart even when it was so very slowly growing weary of the exhaustion of pregnancy.

He knew it would all be worth it in the end. Absolutely. No question about it. He only wished that they would hurry up and join them, as much fun as it was to have a large, round belly to play with. Jason wanted to enjoy every moment with them but even he was not ignorant to the fact that each step wore more and more heavily on his aching hind paws as he went about his day and his work. He had to keep going through his pregnancy for he couldn't afford to take extended time off and, besides, he enjoyed his job and getting to see his co-workers, aiming to be as productive as possible even if he was not at one-hundred-percent as yet. Still, at the baby shower, it was nice to be the centre of attention as Rebecca returned and kissed his cheek, draping her arms around his neck and snuggling close even out in public.

"Aw, are they a wriggly bee inside you today?"

Chuckling, he dropped a kiss on her muzzle.

"You should feel!"

And, even though she spent most of their free time together and evenings with her head or paws on his stomach, loving on him and murmuring how big his stomach was getting, she felt him again, fingertips grazing the raised belly button, which had become even more pronounced as if it was actively trying to draw attention to itself. A little sheepdog pup who could only have been seven-years-old, if that, tugged at her sleeve, curious eyes glimmering.

"Excuse me, miss," he whispered, eyes growing wider and wider as he asked, pressing on. "May I... May I feel too?"

Rebecca giggled, but retained a solemn, serious air that best befitted a child going out on a limb to feel something new and different.

"Yes, of course! But it's really Jason you should be asking. Shouldn't you ask Jason?"

The answer was obvious, of course, and Jason encouraged him to feel, blushing lightly under that kind of attention. The adults were one thing, everyone knowing just what they were feeling, but he found it strange still to have a kid rubbing his belly, the little sheepdog's brow furrowing as they tried to suss out just what everyone was so interested in. The baby did not kick for him but the next to feel, a white cat, squealed delightedly as the baby nudged her paw, yanking it back and spinning around.

"Oh! I felt it, I felt it, I felt it!"

She shrieked it like a chant and darted off with the adults laughing and shaking their heads. It would surely be a story to be told to many of her boyfriends or girlfriends and the like in times and years to come but a story that she too could pass on to her kittens or youngsters one day too. For there was no shame or room for embarrassment in the miracle of life and the kids clustered around Jason in anxious excitement, not seeming to mind all that much that he was a male bearing a baby and not a femfur like Rebecca. No one, thankfully, asked the question why he was carrying their cub and not her. That may have been a little too much for the time, even though she'd come to terms with it and was simply excited to be having her cub with him.

The best time was after the shower, however, when they got to sit back and Rebecca rubbed his hind paws, professing that they surely must have been aching after such a long, busy day at the shower. Everyone who had mattered to the two of them, the most important furs in their lives, had come together just for the two of them and Rebecca nose-bopped his stomach, listening to the little gurgles still rising up from within as their cub shifted within.

"I think they had fun today too!" She said happily, a paw on his stomach. "Look..."

She had to strain but she wriggled mostly into place, wrapping her paws around his stomach and him so that she could jiggle it, holding him warm and close, softly rubbing her cheek into his belly. Jason laughed and the vibration made their cub fidget all the more within him, squirming for more as Rebecca blew raspberries on his stomach, driving them into a squirming, kicking frenzy.

"See, they're not going to be long out now!"

And she loved on him even more, lusciously covering his belly in kiss after kiss, nothing too much for her lover as she wagged her tail, eagerly anticipating what their cub would do, how they would look, what they would turn out to be like.

"Isn't it amazing that there's a little miracle in here?" She whispered, eyes wide with wonder, just before his belly. "They're amazing... We're amazing... We made this!"

Jason nodded eagerly, drumming his fingers on his belly as if he was trying to call the little one back to wakefulness again, although there was not really any state of sleeping or waking in his belly.

"Oh, yes! There's so much they will do - oh, they will be beautiful no matter what, inside out!"

He patted his stomach, the harder bump of a head or perhaps a paw teasing beneath his fingertips, and the cub pushed back, shivering beneath his flesh and fur.

"You know... I'm going to miss having them inside me, carrying them around like this," he said softly, quietly as if he was afraid of letting the words out into the open between them. "It's like I'm keeping them safe, you know? What if I can't keep them safe once they're born? Why can't they stay here where I can protect them?"