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"Ms. Nayeli?" one of her four year old kids asked. She was currently on a home visit, her last one for the day and she was getting ready to go.

"Yes, Kyra?" she looked down at the girl who just got placed with a new foster family. She was really happy now, coming from a place where she barely ate and didn't have clothes that fit her.

"Why is your belly big? Why are you walking so slowly?" she tilted her head, making the beads on the ends of her fresh braids click and clack together.

"Well," Nai laughed. "I'm gonna have a baby, and my baby is getting bigger, so carrying her around makes me walk slow," she said, once she finally made it to the door.

Nai had successfully made it to seven months, and was finally starting to gain weight. She was carrying much smaller before, but now, she actually looked really far along. She was starting to have back pains and her feet would swell so she couldn't wear heels to work like she liked to, and she had to keep a pillow in her office chair for her back.

"A baby?!" she gasped, making Nai nod. "It's in your tummy?"

"She is in my tummy, yes," Nai giggled. "It's a little girl in there,"

"A little girl like me? What's her name?" she wondered.

"Just like you, sweetheart. Her name is Noémie, you say it like No-ay-mee," she repeated so Kyra could get it. For a little while longer, Nai talked to Kyra's foster parents about how she was acclimating, her behavior with her new siblings and if they were considering adoption, and then Nai's long day was officially over.

Mani was on the couch slumped over, nearly asleep when he heard the doors unlock. His eyes fluttered open upon hearing Nai humming some song as she walked through the door. It was around 6:45, that's when she usually got home if not later, and Mani usually got home around 6.

"Oh! Hey baby," she smiled, making him smile as well. He thought she was the cutest pregnant girl he ever saw. She just looked so adorable with her baby bump and her chubby cheeks. Her nose hadn't spread much, but he was sure it would later.

"Wassup gorgeous? How was your day? Come sit," he patted his lap and she pouted, making him sigh all loud. "Nayeli, you're not that heavy mamas, I promise," he chuckled. She was convinced that she was a cow and didn't like putting her weight on him.

"I am! But it's okay, I'm hungry so I'm gonna get some food," she said, turning towards the kitchen and marching right to the fridge. Mani chuckled to himself because she went through this at least twice a week. She reappeared in the living room a few minutes later with a plate of food and a bottle of water, happily sitting on the loveseat, legs crossed.

He just sat there, watching her. She's really just gonna sit all the way over there, he thought to himself as she scooped some of the food into her mouth.

"Nayeli," he said, catching her attention.

"Hm?" she turned to him, chewing on her food.

"Bring yo ass over here, man,"

"Armani," she whined. After all this time, he couldn't have guessed she was really insecure about her baby weight. Usually, due to her influx of hormones, if she was that upset about something she'd say it.

"Nai. Look, you're not heavy baby. You're pregnant," he said, standing to his feet. "Put the plate down, babe," he said. She did as told and he easily lifted her up off the couch. Just as easily as he would have before.

"See? Now when I ask you to come sit in my lap don't tell me no again," he smirked, quickly kissing her lips. "Okay?"

"Okay," she nodded, blushing.

Later on that night, Nai and Mani were still on the couch being lazy, both tired from the long week.

"Babe, you know what you're doing this weekend?" Nai asked him, picking something out of his hair while his head rested on her stomach.

"Uh yeah, Ima be here with you," he said, like she should have known that already.

"No baby, you should go out this weekend. Go hang out with Ducky and Tripp. And Josiah, get out the house," she suggested. He looked up at her confused, seeing as they just decided they'd start spending weekends together.

"Huh? You tryna kick me out my own house?" he joked.

"No papa," she laughed. "Its just—you deserve a break. With everything that happened with Hailee, you jumped right into supporting me, and I got pregnant and I was an emotional wreck. You just been here every day with me, worrying about me, taking care of me, cooking for me. Yeah you still go out with the boys and stuff, but never for long since you're so worried about me and my mental illness and shit. Like just go out and do you, don't worry about me, I know you gotta be sick of me," she chuckled.

"Nayeli," he straight faced her. "Ain't nobody sick of you. You're my wife, how the hell ima be sick of you already we just got married," he chuckled, shaking his head. "You talking like I don't wanna be here doing all that for you, I wouldn't want you going through this alone, you need support Nai and that's okay,"

"It's okay baby, yes. But I have a mental illness, I was diagnosed with anxiety, you're technically dealing with a mentally ill person and although it's not as severe as anxiety can get, it can be very draining. And I-I don't wanna burn you out, you know? You're such a good husband and you're already a great daddy, I don't wanna be the reason you're tired all the time on top of working and being a father," she said, becoming slightly emotional. "You deserve a break, Mani. Plus I already told Duck to come get you tomorrow morning," she sniffed, rubbing her eye with a short smile.

"You did?! What if I didn't agree? Wait, we're not done talking about this baby," he said, in regards to her previous words.

"You know Duck world force you out the house," she giggled. "We can talk about whatever you wanna talk about later, okay? Promise you're gonna go have fun,"

"I promise baby. But what are you gonna do?"

"I don't know yet, probably do some of Noémie's laundry, put her clothes away. I been itching to open them gifts and wash the stuff. I think I'm nesting," she chuckled. "I don't wanna go out, maybe I'll invite Lea, Bri and Brooklyn over, or my mama," she shrugged. "But that's not important. You're gonna be out of this house," she pointed and he laughed, nodding.

"Good morning, ugly ass," Duck said, pushing the front door open. "Chop chop, let's get a move on before all the good breakfast places stop serving french toast,"

"You're greedy," Armani chuckled. "Lemme tell my wife bye, nigga damn. I'll see you later baby. Adíos princesa," he kissed Nai and her stomach, making her grin. "Call me if you need anything you hear me?"

"I'll see. Go, have fun. I'll see you when you get home. I love you," she cheesed. "Bye Ducky! I love you too,"

"I love you too, baby,"

"Love you, sis," They both said at the same time, before walking out the door. "Aight, we gotta pick up Tripp and Josiah. Siah first, because that nigga Tripp takes forever to do every damn thing," Duck shook his head.

"Bet. What we finna eat?" Mani asked, getting comfortable in the front seat of Duck's car.

"I don't remember, Tripp picked. I know it better be some damn french toast, though," he said, and Mani just laughed at his friend.

Once everyone was picked up, they went out to eat at a brunch place in downtown Atlanta, and luckily for Duck, there was lots of breakfast food, including french toast. The guys were just talking, Tripp was telling them what having a newborn was like, since Brooklyn was a month and a half old.

"Man, she just like Bri," he chuckled. "Fussy and hungry all the time. She hates being woken up from naps too, like she will scream your head off. She hates tummy time, for whatever reason, too," he explained. Armani was especially invested because he was gonna be a dad in three months.

"Look at this man, a whole ass father, that's crazy," Siah shook his head.

"It's wild as shit, you just look at em like damn...I helped make this. And it's better if the baby cute like B. My girl gorgeous, she a lil bald head but that's okay," he laughed, causing everyone else to laugh.

"Not too much on my niece," Armani said. "She not bald head, she just know y'all ain't ready for the flex of Brook with hair," he defended. The boys all loved baby Brooklyn, and she loved getting held by them when they came to visit. She never cried with them, and they all could make her laugh easily.

"You helping Lea wedding plan?" Duck asked Siah.

"Man," he sucked his teeth. "She so picky! We could have been married twice by now if I was making decisions,"

"If you was making decisions, y'all would get married in a damn church parking lot. Let her do her," Tripp joked.

"I agree," Duck laughed. "It's much easier when you just let her choose and give your input when she asks. Weddings are their thing, like most girls been knowing what they want since they was teenagers, so you really just fucking with the vision, bro,"

"How's Nai doing, tho? With the baby and everything," Duck continued.

"She been doing way better. She sleeps straight through the night now, no nightmares. She still a lil paranoid about shit, so she don't go out much unless she'd going to work or we're going to visit y'all or our family , but she's good. Noémie is healthy, she's healthy, that's all I'm worried about," he nodded.

"How are you doing?" Tripp asked, eyebrows raised.

"Me? I'm straight. I mean I'm tired as fuck, but I'm straight. My mama and them are good now, Jojo in college and she works, Mila just graduated, and my mama doesn't really need my help anymore financially which is great. I got more to contribute to the lil savings we got," he said. He knew his friends were worried just like Nayeli was that he was working way too much and too hard, but he'd slowed down a lot recently.

"And everything with Nai? You sure you good bro? You can talk to us you know that," Duck said.

"I mean...I'm good. She's...getting there, and that's scary. I don't tell her I'm scared because then she's gonna start trying to force herself to do shit she really doesn't need to be doing just to prove to me she's okay and that I don't need to worry and give herself a damn anxiety attack,"

"Armani, you sound stressed," Siah said. "That's normal, though. You finna be a dad and your wife been through some shit. But don't try and make it seem like you're perfectly fine, you stressed out, bro,"

"That sounds wild though, my wife and my unborn stressing me because Nai got anxiety. That don't sound crazy?"

"No, nigga," Duck chuckled. "That shit so normal. Nobody expects you to be superman all the damn time, because you can't, you're a human being, AK. Things you cannot fix are always gonna stress you out, and you can't fix Nai," he said. "You can just be there for her, and that's what she wants, I'm sure. You don't have to solve everything, Mani,"

"But I can try," he said, stubbornly.

"That's why you so stressed out!" Tripp interjected. "Just do what you can. You don't have to try and fix everything wrong, because you simply can not do that, bro. You're gonna drive yourself crazy because nothing in this life is gonna be perfect. Shit is hard, all you can do is acclimate and do what you can to make it less hard. It's not gonna be fixed, but you doing what you can and being what Nai and Noémie need is gonna make everything less hard,"

Armani had to sit back and let what they said sink in, before responding again, because he could see where they were coming from, he just had never been one to not fix things. When things went wrong Armani swooped in and saved the day, but a part of him had to realize he simply could not do that this time around.

"She's gonna beat your ass," Duck laughed as they drove back to Mani's house.

"She won't," Mani chuckled. The rest of the day was fun, they went and did goofy stuff they love doing, like very aggressive go-karting, they did some day drinking, played basketball for a long ass time since they were all collegiate athletes.

They went to the mall as well. Mani couldn't help himself, he bought Noémie more shoes, more clothes and little bows. He knew she had all of that already, but he figured she needed some more for when she got bigger. He also finally saw want he wanted to get Nai for her push present, but he had to wait till Noémie was born for that.

"I had fun bro, thank you for coming to get me," Mani said, dapping him up when they pulled into his driveway.

"I'm glad," Duck nodded. "We finna do this more, Ima just start coming and stealing yo ass from this house, and Nayeli can fight me if she wants to," he joked.

"She just might. She's very stingy," he laughed. "Oh shit, before I forget, lemme give you this," he said, digging in the backpack he brought. He and Nai already agreed that Duck was gonna be Noémie's Godfather. Of course, Nayeli was extremely pressed to get him something to say thank you.

"So, you know we been best friends since—what freshmen year of college? We like brothers, man. I can't thank you enough for being there for me all this time, through everything—like everything, even when you was calling my ass stupid the entire time," he chuckled. "So, me and Nai figure, you know, Duck a lil more than an uncle," he smirked.

"You lying!" Duck immediately cut him off and Armani started laughing loudly. "You swear?"

"Nigga let me finish! You more than an uncle, so we was wondering if you'd do us the honor of being Noémie's Godfather,"

"Of course I would! The hell type question is that?! Yes, my nigga, absolutely," he laughed giddily, dapping Mani up.

"Bet, thank you bro. Nai got this for you, well we did," he handed him the box.

"Nah it's from my sister, you got bad taste," he chuckled, opening the box, seeing a keychain he could keep that just said 'Godfather of Noémie Anaïs-Soraya' and his name on there, Demar, not Duck.

There was also a framed ultrasound, and Nai wrote on the picture 'Godfather's are a blessing, thank you for being mine XO Noémie'

"This nice as hell, don't make me cry. Get out my car man, thank you," he smiled softly, looking over everything.

"Of course, bro. We love you, man,"

"I love y'all too nigga, now get out, I'm tryna be emotional," he fussed, making Mani laugh and do what he said, waving one more time before he got in the house.

He wandered all around the first floor, looking to see if Nayeli was down there so he could say hi. When he didn't see her, he made his way upstairs, peeking in the nursery and smiling at the whole thing being decorated, just waiting for his baby's arrival.

He finally went into their room, and had to catch himself from busting out laughing. Nai was in a sports bra and some shorts, eating salt and vinegar chips, which were her new favorite thing, and a oreo milkshake from chick fil a, crying while watching Trolls. He snuck and took a picture of her before coming all the way in.

"Hey pretty girl," he said, smiling. He just realized how bad he missed her face.

"Oh! Hey babe," she greeted, pausing the movie and wiping her face. "You had fun? I hope so,"

"I really did, thank you for forcing me to leave," he chuckled. "You in here crying?"

"It's sad baby! Poppy lost all her color and they're all singing and stuff," she whined. "But anyway, tell me about your day. You want some of my milkshake?" she offered. He nodded and took a sip before explaining to her how his day went.

"How was yours?"

"Oh it was fine, I just cleaned up around here, did some of mine and baby's laundry. I cooked a lot and I ate it all," she laughed. "I took a very long nap and when I woke up, I bribed my brother and father to bring me chick fil a," she nodded. "Good day overall,"

"That's good, mama," he laughed. "Wait! I did one more thing, I forgot to tell you,"

"Oooh, what?"

"I got a tattoo," he

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