She woke up and blinked a few times before she noticed that he had completely encaged her body with his. As she shifted, she felt his arms tighten around her rib cage. She tried to look back over her shoulder, but settled with a smile and feigned a pained moan. Instantly, his arms loosened around her torso. She laughed a little to herself. He had become so concerned with her comfort that he often did this even in his sleep. She laughed again when she felt his leg tangled with hers move a little. Jaejoong was, by nature, a cuddler, but had become even more obsessed with being close to her since she announced her pregnancy, and became even more aware as her due date approached, “Jae,” she spoke softly, trying to find a way to kiss him awake as they both liked, but in her position it was impossible. She settled instead for kissing her own palm and reaching back with a freed arm to ruffle his hair, “Jae?”

“Hmm? What’s wrong, babe?” he asked sleepily.

 She wondered if he thought this was a dream or not, “You have to let me go now. It’s time to get up.”

 He frowned into her hair, “just five more minutes.”

“You can stay as long as you want, honey, but I have to get up. The baby needs to eat…”

 She didn’t have the chance to say another word before he shot up off the bed. After seeing the look of shock on her face, he knelt back down and kissed her quickly, “Stay here, I’ll make breakfast.”

“No.” she replied, “I want to get up. Can you help me?”

He looked disapprovingly at her, but knew that she would stubbornly argue with him and he didn’t want to start a fight with a pregnant woman, let alone this early in the morning. As she reached her full height, her arms moved to her back where she rubbed with a pained look on her face, “Does it hurt? Do you want me to rub it for you?” he asked, pushing his thumbs into the small of her back.

“It’s okay,” she laughed, “it comes with the job. I do want you to give me a real kiss though.”

He smiled back, “I can do that, too,” and slanted his lips over hers. Her arms wrapped around his neck in satisfaction. This was easily the most romantic he had ever been with her. Of course, their honeymoon had been romantic, but not in the same way he was now. This romance was more domestic; she knew that he loved her in every movement he made. Now that she had reached her seventh month, he would be staying home to be with her to help until the birth and he insisted on doing everything. Meals were usually on the table before she could even tell him that she was hungry, foot and backrubs were offered before she was in too much pain, hugs and kisses were given freely, not to mention the incredible that was available at her every request.

Before she could say another word or think about how lucky she was, Jaejoong was off in the kitchen preparing breakfast for her. She rubbed her extended belly lovingly and spoke softly to the infant inside before waddling into the dining room that her husband had already started setting up. As he rushed back in with yet another side dish, she grabbed his hand and looked up at him with shining eyes, “I love you.”

“I love you, too, babe,” he smiled, “and I love you, too, little man,” he continued, moving his gaze down to her belly.

She let go of his hand and he hers before rushing back into the kitchen, soon returning with two bowls of the kimchi jigae that she had been craving the night before. She wondered how it was possible that he knew of this craving when she hadn’t said a word about it, but chose not to ask. He knew her too well. As she raised a spoonful up to , his eyes watched her carefully from across the table. She swallowed and he looked at her expectantly. Her eyes lit up as she moaned in appreciation. “You made it less spicy,” she smiled.

“I know that it’s usually too spicy for you now,” he replied, standing up and leaning over the table, “my son doesn’t like it too spicy.”

She raised up out of her seat and met his lips over the table, leaning on the table for support, “Thank you,” she mumbled against his lips.

As he leaned back from the kiss, he smiled smugly, “You’re welcome, but you shouldn’t tempt me, babe. If I remember correctly, this is how we ended up like this.”

She blushed as she remembered the night he was referring to. They had decided when the last JYJ album was completed that she would stop taking her birth control and that they would start trying to have a baby after the following tour finished. As a welcoming present, she had prepared a beautiful meal for them and picked the night to wear the new dress that he bought her. When Jaejoong had finally arrived, she was still setting out some of the side dishes, but had invited him to sit and he had watched her with the eyes of a predator. She, like the prey she was, hadn’t even noticed the ravenous look on his face as she came back with dish after dish in her y dress and cute apron. She had never even seen him stand up, but as she set the last dish down she felt him against her as she felt his hands push her dress up.

“Yah!” she yelled, throwing her hands over her belly as if she could block the baby’s ears from hearing his father, “I thought we weren’t going to talk about that!”

He laughed airily at how cute she looked staring at him indignantly like that, “I don’t think he understands yet, babe. If he did, maybe he could tell his mommy not to wear such a y dress if she didn’t want daddy to notice.”

“Or maybe he could tell daddy that if he didn’t like it, he shouldn’t have bought it for her.”

“I think he could tell mommy he’s proof that daddy clearly liked it a lot,” he laughed again as she sank down into her chair embarrassed by the conversation, “let’s finish eating. My son needs to eat a lot,” he chuckled again as she still failed to notice the way he looked at her.

As she put her spoon down after her last bite, she stood up to help collect the dishes, but he swatted at her hands. “Just let me help,” she whined.

“Nope, this is my job today,” he declared, before seeing her pout, “Fine, but I’m washing them. Your feet will swell if you try to do them.”

“My feet swell all the time, Jae; it’s okay. I’m pregnant. Everything swells all of the time.”

“They wouldn’t if you didn’t work so hard. I’m here to help you, babe,” he mused, moving back to let her through with a handful of dishes.

When everything was put away, he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and brought her to the couch where he pulled his reluctant wife onto his lap.

“No, Jae, I’m too heavy!” she cried.

“My wife and child will never be too heavy for me to hold,” he answered, sneaking a kiss onto her cheek.

She giggled partly at his answer and partly at his roaming lips over all over her face and neck, “Never?”

“Never,” he stated into the skin just below her ear.

“Come on, Jae. I’m too fat right now.”

His kisses stopped. “Good. You need to get big. My son needs room to grow. Besides, mommies need to be warm and soft. You’re already such a good mom, babe. Let’s make a lot of pretty babies,” he said seriously before continuing his light kisses on her face and neck, “Also,” he added as he got close to her sensitive spot, “I like your new body. I especially like these,” he said with his hot breath tickling her neck as he moved his hands up to cup her enlarged s, “we can keep these forever,” he moaned as he dove back into her neck, hungrily on the sensitive flesh and catching her head when it fell back in pleasure.

“Oh, Jae,” she moaned appreciatively, “I…I love you.”

He leaned back and admired the purple mark he had made on her neck before looking into her eyes and replying with his own declaration of love. He kissed her lips again and declared, “Mine,” before sliding his hand down her body and over her belly, “and mine.”

She crawled off of his lap and he took the opportunity to get off the couch and lay her back down before settling on his knees on the floor in front of her. His hands pushed her shirt up her belly and settled just below her s before turning his attention to the baby, “Hey, little man, it’s your dad. I know that you’ll be coming soon. Are you almost done in there?”

She laughed, “He’s not a casserole, Jae.”

“Do you mind?” he asked indignantly, “I’m trying to have a man-to-man talk with my son. No girls.” He tried to sound serious, but he was clearly trying to hold back a smile of his own.

“Sorry to interrupt, please continue.” She laughed again.

“I hope that you’re comfortable in there and that I get to see you soon. I’m so excited to finally see you. I wonder if you’ll look more like me or your mom. Here’s the thing though: Daddy spends a lot of time away from home, but he loves you and your mommy very much. When I’m not here, you’ll have to take care of Mommy and make sure all the bad men stay away from her. Your mom is really pretty, but she doesn’t know it, so you have to take care of her when I’m not around. You can do that for me, right, little man?”

She giggled again and he looked up at her, “Sorry! He just moved.”

“He did?!” he asked excitedly. She wordlessly took his hand and put it over the spot in which the infant was moving. His smile widened as he continued to speak to his son, “I need you to do one more thing for me, son,” he smiled again at the word, “I need you to cover your ears sometimes because mommy looks so good. In fact, maybe you could do that now? Maybe you want to take a post-meal nap? I would really appreciate it. Like I said, your mom is really beautiful. You understand, right?” he rubbed the spot where the boy had moved and was happy that he had settled down. Jaejoong’s lips kissed the spot and looked back up at his wife who was smiling back at him in awe. He reached up and grabbed the hem of her shirt to pull it down when she stopped him.

“Why?” she asked as he looked into her eyes in confusion, “Aren’t you just going to take it off anyway?”

“I thought you were going to let me have a talk with my son, but you were eavesdropping?” he laughed.

“Are you going to help a pregnant lady up or aren’t you?” she asked with a coy smile, “Didn’t you know that you’re supposed to take advantage of a sleeping baby while you can?”

“I kind of like you here,” he confessed, pulling the shirt over her head, “but I know that my pregnant lady would be much more comfortable on the bed. I also remember learning that I don’t get to have my y wife for at least six weeks after birth, so we’ll have to take advantage of that, too,” he added as he pulled her up.

“How did you know that?” she asked, starting a trail of kisses down his neck.

“I read the books. Six weeks is a long time, babe, and the baby could come at any time now,” he whined with heavy breath.

“We shouldn’t waste any time then, should we?” she asked, taking the pause to push his shirt up and let him take it off.

Jaejoong tilted her head up to his and whispered an I-love-you before pulling her into a slow, deep kiss and tangling his fingers in her hair.