Alis had been born on April 18, nearly two weeks early, though you'd never have known it, given the fact that she was seven pounds, two ounces, which was a completely normal and lovely weight for a baby. And once Scout's milk came in, a few days later, Alis began to gain weight at an astonishing rate, jumping to eleven pounds by the time she was four weeks old, and doubling her birth weight to fourteen pounds by the time she was two months old at the end of June.

Life rolled along in a state of unrivaled joy for George. He'd never known such happiness in all his years. And he knew he wasn't the only one. Once, he watched as Scout began to cry as she was nursing Alis in the lounge, the tears just coming unannounced from nowhere as she held their baby to her bosom.

"What's wrong?" he asked, sitting next to her and laying his arm along the back of the couch. Bess, too, sensitive to Scout's moods as only a fellow nursing mother could be, came to sniff anxiously at her lap. "Does it hurt?"

Scout shook her head, sniffing, trying to wipe her eyes on her shoulder. George quickly grabbed a tissue and took care of the general leaky misery while looking into her pale blue eyes, which were still wet.

"It's so stupid," she began, which was her typical response to her own tears. "I feel like such an idiot." She looked at George, eyes glossy, twisting his heart. "I keep remembering Will, and what he said, you know?"

George pursed his lips, nodding curtly.

"And I'm so fucking happy that I can do this, that I'm good at it, that I can feed her, and she likes it," she said with a little shrug, her mouth turning up slightly at the corners in that way that melted George's insides.

"Oh my god, darling, of course she likes it," he returned earnestly, leaning forward, grasping her shoulder. "You're her mum, you're the most important person in her life." He brushed her hair from her eyes. "You're connected in the most primordial way." He shook his head at her, smiling. He leaned back, cuddling them into himself, and Bess jumped up, scooting into his other side and they sat, enjoying being together.

"We all like it, if I'm honest," he added with a smile, which made Scout snort with laughter. He was referring to something very amusing which had happened a few nights ago.

After childbirth, of course, there was a six week waiting period before Scout and George could resume their regular bedroom activities; at the beginning, this was not a problem, since nothing could have been farther from their minds. All they could think about was Alis. And Scout, of course, was in a lot of pain, and recovering physically from what her body had been through took some time.

However, she was young, and healthy, and eventually the time came when she was feeling fine, and Alis was sleeping in her crib next door, and she and George had turned to each other in their nice, big bed, and kissed each other, and instead of drifting into comfortable sleep, the kissing had deepened to something more, and George had finally pulled away in frustration, saying, "Fuck me, I thought new mums were supposed to smell like pablum and constantly be talking about nappies and such? How can you be so hot?"

"George, I'm breast feeding, why would I smell like pablum?" Scout murmured, leaning in to kiss him again. He responded for a minute, before stopping again, sitting up finally to get away from her ardor.

"No, Scout, stop, this is making me crazy, please!" he begged.

"Well, what should we do?" she asked, sitting up herself. "I mean, we have three more weeks before we're allowed to have sex, you know? You want to just not do anything?" She leaned in and pecked his cheek. "Or should we just take care of you, hm?" She reached in and grabbed him, making him close his eyes and groan.

"No," he said after a minute.

"Really?" Scout sat back, surprised. They were normally a pretty uninhibited couple, she'd thought.

"Really," he replied. "Makes me think of that wanker Will," he added darkly. "I won't have it, Scout, not for a second."

Scout blinked at him, then rubbed his shoulder. "Okay, okay," she said. "But in a way, isn't that letting him control our lives still?"

But George wouldn't be moved.

"So then I guess a blow job's out, too, huh?" Scout asked with a grin.

George just gave her a narrow-eyed look.

So they'd waited through three more weeks of mutual frustration, as Scout's baby weight fell away and she regained her boyish figure that George loved so much, as her soft flesh seemed to magically transfer from her body to her daughter's. And finally Dr. Summerville gave the okay for them to resume their "activities", which made George fist pump in the car.

And that night, when Alis finally closed her beautiful eyes, which looked like they were going to be the color of cornflowers, George picked Scout up from where she stood next to Alis' crib and carried her off to their bed, as she laughed and tried not to scream. He laid her down, looking at her for a moment before flopping down on top of her and attacking her neck.

"George, go shut the door!" Scout whispered. "Jesus, we're going to wake her up!"

George obeyed quickly, scooting back to the bed and whipping his shirt off with a maniacal grin as he rejoined his girlfriend. He unbuttoned her top, exposing her front, smiling at the breasts he loved so much, even though they were bigger than when he'd met her.

He leaned in to kiss her, moving to suck on one while firmly grasping the other. Scout arched her back into the sensation, closing her eyes.

"Jesus, I've missed this so much," she murmured, putting her hand on the back of his head.

"Me too," he whispered, loving the feel of her soft yet firm nipple in his mouth. He swallowed, and swallowed again, feeling so satisfied, somehow, sucking harder, loving how much he could fit in his mouth.

Hold on.

He opened his eyes.

Scout was busy shucking her bottoms off, and pulling his shorts down as well, and hadn't noticed anything amiss. George pulled his mouth off her breast, and nearly got squirted in the eye with something warm.

Breast milk.

No.

He sat up.

"George?" Scout looked concerned. "What's wrong?"

"Um, you're lactating."

"Really?" Scout, far from being concerned, seemed to find it amusing. "Oops. I guess you're going to have to watch out when you pop off suddenly, huh?"

"What? Scout, it's not funny! That can't happen! It's not okay! It's, um, weird!" George was beside himself, and deeply embarrassed.

Scout was now laughing. "Oh, come on, George, it is too funny! It's a riot! It's god damned hysterical!"

George was out of the bed and on his way to the bathroom. He didn't know what else to do. He shut the door and turned on the water, cleaning up. He could hear Scout knocking.

"George? George? Seriously? You're upset? I'm so sorry. I didn't know you'd be bothered, I really didn't!" He could hear genuine apology in her voice. "Please accept my apology, George, please. And please open the door? Fuck."

"Just gimme a mo, okay?" he called. He leaned against the sink. He needed to think. Was he wrong to be embarrassed? He was normally very easy going about bedroom things.

But this was new to him. And he felt strange about it.

He opened the door and stepped out.

Scout was sitting up in bed, her shirt buttoned up, looking contrite.

"I'm sorry I laughed, George," she said immediately. "I wouldn't have, if I'd known you were bothered. I hope you know that."

He nodded. "I do. I know you'd never laugh at someone else's discomfort." He climbed back into bed with her.

"If that particular thing's going to bother you, I guess you're going to have to stay away from my breasts for as long as I'm nursing Alis," Scout said with a shrug. "It's kind of a physical response my body has right now, you know? A reflex? I can't really control it." She turned to George. "It's not like I can lactate when it's her, and not when it's you, you know?" She blinked at him. "So I guess these little guys are a no-go area for you for the next year or so?" She sounded regretful. "It's too bad, because I like when you, um, pay attention to them. It's actually one of my favorite things."

George put an arm around her. "Well, it's one of my favorite things, too, darling, so that's not going to work for me, unfortunately. I don't think it's really going to bother me, actually," he continued, beginning to undo the buttons on her top as he smiled at her. "It's just that I wasn't expecting it, you know? Hm?" He smiled at her. "It was actually quite nice, very comforting, and sexy, if that isn't too strange a thing to say." He kissed her, insinuating his tongue between her soft lips. "There were just a lot of things to process once I knew what was going on." He kissed her again.

"But now I have, and I know you don't have a problem with it, either," he said with a little smile.

She shook her head. "It's actually pretty common," she said in a soft voice. "Lots of couples do it as a normal part of foreplay, and it actually helps keep milk flow high for the baby, too," she added with a sexy little smile.

"Well, if it'll help Alis," George said, letting the sentence dangle, adding a shrug, "I guess I almost have to, hm?" He slid her shirt off her shoulders, exposing her white skin, eyes glowing.

Scout nodded, mouth tipping up at the corners.

"Well, wonderful, now that's all sorted," George said comfortably, laying Scout back into the pillows, nuzzling into her neck as she tipped her head back and closed her eyes.

And a little later, he slid into her, into her wet and tight heat, where he hadn't been for nearly two months, and thought that he hadn't felt such bliss in forever.

"I love you, I love you, I love you," he whispered into her honeysuckle scented hair as he rocked into her.

"I love you, too, George," Scout said back as she took him into her body. "Oh, I love you, too."