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[From Here.]

Mac lets them in and rubs her temples lightly before stripping out of her clothes. She hasn't gotten sick yet but she's still queasy and a little dizzy and thinks that feeling hot is only going to contribute to that. Once she's in her underwear, she crawls into bed and buries her head beneath the pillow.

"I am completely unequipped for life."

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"It's who you'd trust with me?" Perhaps it's a loaded question. "I mean, with...the care and handling of something as simple as childbirth?"

"If you won't let me do it myself?" he says, thumb brushing against the corner of her mouth. "Yeah. That's who I'd trust with you."

"No offense, but I'd really prefer if the only time you had your fingers in me was recreational and not business," Mac says, making a little face. "That's my only problem."

That makes him laugh, his hand skimming down the bare line of her side.

"I mean, obviously that's how I prefer it, too. I just want to do right by you, darlin'."

"You're here, aren't you? You're doing right by me," Mac assures him. "And if I don't feel well or something seems wrong, it'll be you I come to first anyway."

"You're assumin' that I'm not goin' be right here," says Jackson, thumb grazing over her hipbone. "But I'd appreciate it, all the same."

"You might be with another woman," Mac says, shrugging. "Or I might be out and not home or any number of reasons why you wouldn't be physically in the same space as me at any given time. So if you're not, I will come find you."

"I'm either in the clinic or the hub," he says, nail scratching lightly against her skin. "And there ain't going to be any other women."

"There's not?" Mac is surprised and she's trying to hide just how surprised and pleased she is about that. "I mean, there can be, I'm not going to put those restrictions on you."

"Lemme ask you somethin'," he says, rolling onto his back, head turned so that he's still looking at her. "How would it make you feel if I was off carryin' on with someone else. Honestly?"

"Hurt and jealous. But I would understand it," Mac says quickly. "And I would get over it if I had to but it would hurt me considering I do have feelings for you."

"And I don't like the idea of you with any man who isn't me," he says, idly scratching at his chest. "But I suppose I'll make allowances."

"No," Mac says, pressing her palm against his chest. "You won't have to make allowances for that if you only want me to be with you. I'll only be with you if that's what you want. I will happily only be with you."

"What about this?" he asks, his hand grazing over her still flat belly. "That's got to count for something, right? That fella?"

Mac frowns a little. "This baby doesn't mean I have to fuck him for the rest of my life. Having a child by someone doesn't mean you have to be with them. Besides, he has his own lover. What? Do you think he's going to propose to me on the spot? That's a poor reason to marry."

"You're forgetting when I'm from, darlin'," he points out, his hand covering hers, holding it against his chest. "People marry for that all the goddamn time."

"Well, I'm not planning on getting married to anyone right now," Mac says firmly. "And I don't plan on getting married to anyone I'm not in love with. So even if he asks me, I'm going to say no. He'll be involved with the child and we'll be friends but that's all. If you want me to be with just you, then I will be with you exclusively."

A slow smile spreads across his face and he nods.

"Be with just me, then."

"And no more marriage talk," Mac says, making a little face. "While I appreciate your adorable Victorian state of mind, I'm a modern woman and marriage is something I am completely unequipped for at the moment. Maybe someday, but now now. And definitely not with him."

"I am more than content to live in sin," he says, grinning at the face she pulls. "With you and another man's baby. Shit, we might even be happy."

"I will break it off with him as soon as I confirm the pregnancy," Mac promises. She leans over to kiss him lightly.

"I don't expect you to help me with the baby. It's my responsibility and that's not what this is about, why I want you."

"Wouldn't think much of a man who left you to it, though," he says, turning his head to press the kiss a little deeper. "I meant it when I said I was here for anythin' you needed. And that means the baby, too."

"I don't know you're in for much fun these next few months. This is not what I would have chosen. I've never wanted children," Mac admits quietly.

"You can't weep all the time," he teases, fingers grazing against her jawline again. "And life's full of things we don't really anticipate, darlin'. You make do. We'll make do."

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