The couple needs to look for some maternity clothes. Logan is excited. Jennifer is not.

Part 3 of the story commission for  geckoguy123456789

We're moving right along, aren't we?

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Despite the gorgeous day, the wind flowing through her fur, and the excited chatter of the surrounding shoppers, Jennifer still felt uncomfortably exposed. Perhaps it was the crowd of people itself, or even the hot sun out in the open that made her feel like she were under a spotlight. Either way, she walked with her arms at her sides and tried to keep her head down.

Logan was helping her navigate the crowd by cutting a path in front, which helped. Despite how social she was, Jennifer had never been comfortable around crowds. At least, not like Logan, who was able to tune them out of his attention fairly easily (in frankly stark contrast to his awkward track record with one-on-one interactions).

What didn't help was how Jennifer's pregnancy had continued to grow unimpeded by her nerves, even taking a large spurt forward in size. Her belly had rounded out in the past few weeks, even seeming to grow larger between days, until she had begun to fill out clothes far more than she used to. She was hardly in danger of popping out, but her clothes around her tummy had grown uncomfortably tight and tended to ride up, exposing her gray, furry underbelly and navel, which was making the slow transition from innie to outie. In fact, this was the very reason for their trip.

The crowd gratefully began to thin out as Logan led them to their destination. Jennifer was thankful to stop walking, as it had started to become uncomfortable for longer distances. She felt more weight on her stomach than she was used to and wasn't a fan of how it bounced slightly with every step. The two of them stopped before a white building between a trendy gelato restaurant and yet another Starbucks. In metal letters above the doorway was the word 'Bundled.' Jennifer glanced over at her husband with dread in her eyes. He looked back, sympathetic.

“You knew this was coming eventually,” he said, rubbing the exposed curve of her belly protectively. Jennifer pouted and made a whining noise. In the large windows on either side the doorway stood mannequins wearing the kind of clothes she'd expect to see as shower curtains, except with ample room in front to house any size of belly.

“Don't do this to me,” she begged.
“This was your big shirt, wasn't it?” Logan said, teasing her by snapping the tight fabric. He pulled back before she could smack him away like a wasp. Jennifer laid the free hand over her belly and rubbed the sore, stretched underside.

“Ugh, these are like…mom clothes,” she complained.
“Well,” Logan said, “you're going to be like a mom anyway.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Yeah, I do. But look!” Logan excitedly pointed through the door. “It's a maternity consignment shop! There's all kinds of cool stuff in there, I'm sure of it.”

“Eh, I don't know,” Jennifer said, skeptical. “I don't want to be wearing a mumu for the next four months. And how do you even know about a place like this?”

In response, Logan simply raised an eyebrow and pointed to himself with a smirk. Jennifer rolled her eyes, but chuckled as she walked to the glass door.

“C'mon, let's go pick out that extra-sized raincoat I'll be living in.”
The inside of the shop was longer than it appeared on the outside, but every inch of space was taken up by lines and lines of clothing racks, each one covered in a rainbow display of fabrics. Most of them hot pink. Jennifer stood stunned for a moment at the volume of clothing, unsure of where to begin. While the store seemed clean and fairly modern, there was a strange, musty smell to everything she couldn't shake off or ignore. Beside her, Logan wrinkled his nose and folded his ears back slightly, evidently coming to the same conclusion.

The two began to wander between the stands and racks, with Logan simply taking in the sights as a whole as Jennifer tried to keep her eyes peeled for something, anything, that would jump out at her. She had no such luck; every dress, shirt, and set of stretchy pants looked like the kind of middle-of-the-road, boring style of fashion that made her eyes gloss over every pattern and every cut. There was nothing exciting, nothing bold, nothing that seized her attention.

Every outfit seemed to want to do one of two things: either hide the belly or show it off. None of them would work with her growing curves or create something flattering out of her changing body. But as Jennifer stood closer to a counter to get a look at a blouse on the other side, and her belly rubbed uncomfortably against the edge, she resigned that, one way or another, she'd have to walk out of there with something, whether she liked it or not.

Logan seemed happy to help his wife with her choices, but at the same time was utterly lost within the labyrinth of Fashion. He was perfectly content with being there with an increasingly frustrated Jennifer and ogle some of the images of pregnant models on the walls, his tail wagging steadily behind him.

As they migrated a circle around the store, a large, heavy-set raccoon woman noticed them from behind the counter at put on her chipper, saleswoman face. She strode confidently around the counter and approached, grinning toothily like a hunting shark. Logan caught sight of her approach and was able to alert her presence to Jennifer, still lost in thought comparing maternity jeans. If Logan hadn't tapped her on the shoulder, the woman's shrill voice might have scared the twins right out of her.

“Hellooooooo!” the woman almost shouted, forcing Logan to wince and dig a finger into his upraised ear. “My name's Su-san! Can I help the two of you find anything!?”

“No no, we're fine,” Jennifer was quick to say in an attempt to keep the woman from shouting at them again. “We're just kinda browsing-” She was interrupted by the sharp gasp of the raccoon woman as she turned around. Without warning, one of Susan's hands became magnetized to Jennifer's belly, causing her to jump.

“I guess I should have said the three of you!” she cooed, bringing her second hand into the mix to rub intimate circles into Jennifer's sensitive stomach. She resisted the desire to growl at her, if only because of social graces.

“Twins, actually!” Logan added, the proud father always ready to spout that bit of information. Susan gasped again, dropping onto one knee so she could run her fingers through Jennifer's belly fur more delicately than before.

“My Goooood! Y'all must be so excited!” She climbed back to her feet with a series of loud, exaggerated grunts. “Now I can't let y'all outta here without getting something around that little bump of yours!”

“We're still looking,” Jennifer said, coldly (which was exactly as civil as she was willing to be).
“No, honey, you're lookin' in the old section. You've got to see the designer stuff we've got back here!” Susan turned around and quickly lumbered off. Slowly, with her patience hanging on by a thread, Jennifer lifted the front of her shirt to smooth down the fur that Susan had so enthusiastically tousled. Once satisfied, she turned to Logan and simply, deliberately, shook her head. He nodded, understandingly.

Jennifer sighed and followed Susan to the back of the store. Regardless of how overbearing she was, Susan was right; Jenn needed something to cover up with, and at least the 'designer' section held a little more promise. But as she and Logan approached the rack, she found herself staring at more of the same. As Susan chattered away while pulling clothes off the rack, Jennifer looked over the various dresses and shirts, disappointed. Sure, they were made of better materials and had more vibrant coloring, but but whoever these 'designers' were, they seemed to take it very safe with maternity clothing.

“We had a local regular bring us some Vivre Mere dresses she found in Paris,” Susan said, pulling two dresses from rack and absentmindedly passing them off to Jennifer. She held them up to the light and looked them over, trying desperately to picture herself wearing them. Even with the smooth material that would likely feel amazing against her growing bump over the months, it all seemed too formal. Just because she was pregnant didn't mean Jennifer had to stop dressing like herself.

“I don't know,” she said, handing off the clothes to Susan. “Nothing really stands out to me.”

“Oh...Well, uh...” Susan turned and began frantically sifting through the blouses, her bushy tail flicking across the floor in anxiety. “Oh! We've got a vintage Grace Fellini top here that would be gorgeous with your fur color!” It took only a moment of Jennifer holding it to learn that 'vintage' meant 'old,' but she couldn't deny that the lived-in look of the blouse suited her better than anything else she had seen. The muted colors did compliment her fur well and had enough fabric and room to cover her comfortably until the twins were fully baked. She was nearly ready to carry it back to the register before Jennifer caught eye of the price tag and nearly caught morning sickness all over again.

“No,” she said, simply handing it back. Susan seemed more frightened than frustrated as she hung up the blouse and continued to dig for something her lone customer might like.

“Hey Jenn!” Logan called her attention to the very back of the store as he stood next to a small, wheeled clothes rack adorned with a simple collection of t-shirts.

“Oh, oh don't worry about those, honey,” Susan said, following her gaze. “Those are just the novelty shirts. We can barely give those away.”

“No reason not to look,” Jennifer responded as she padded across the floor. Her back was starting to hurt from standing with the extra weight for so long, while her ankles felt sore. She hoped and prayed she'd find something soon.

“Hey, Jenn,” Logan said, chuckling. He held up a white t-shirt adorned with black prison lines and words over the stomach reading 'Mommy Prison: 9 Month Sentence.' Jennifer rolled her eyes, but smiled anyway as Logan giggled again and put it back. With a finger, she flipped through the shirts herself, absentmindedly scanning the captions before a blue shirt caught her eye.

“Logan,” she said, holding up the shirt, “look at this one.” It was a royal blue shirt, with a speech bubble positioned over the belly reading 'Knock Knock!' A counterpart bubble led upwards to the neck hole and read 'Who's there?' “This is adorable,” she added before putting it back to look more.

“Look, look,” Logan said excitedly, presenting another shirt with the graphic of a cartoony wolf pup leaping out of the belly in a parody of an Alien chestburster.

“Ewwwww!” Jennifer shouted, laughing while she swatted it out of Logan's hands. He picked it up off the floor and hung it up while searching through the right half of the rack while Jennifer took to the left. The two of them spent the next five minutes pulling out the shirts they laughed at the most, with Jennifer even tucking a few of them under her arm.

“Oh my god,” she said, pulling out a black shirt that read 'Kickboxing 101.' “This one is my favorite. I did kickboxing in high school, remember?” Setting aside the other shirts, Jennifer held it aloft and over her torso to check how it would fit. “What do you think? I don't know how much it's going to stretch, but it's probably good enough up until the thi-”

Jennifer's words went dead in her throat as her eyes widened. She blinked, trying to see if she imagined it. But as she felt it again, she dropped the shirt to the floor and grasped her belly, her fingers spread wide. It was very small, almost imperceptible, but as she felt it a third time, a broad smile grew on her face as her eyes began to water.

“What?” Logan said, concerned. “What's wrong?” Jennifer, unable to speak, simply beckoned over her husband with one hand while keeping the other spread across her bump. She grabbed his hand and spread it across her stomach while looking deeply into his eyes. Logan only registered confusion until he felt it. Almost like a tiny poke against his palm, from somewhere beneath the soft fur of his wife's rounded tummy. Logan's eyes lit up as well, his jaw falling open. He dropped to his knees and pulled Jennifer closer so he could rest his ear against her belly. While he couldn't hear anything beyond her heartbeat, he did feel yet another tiny, fluttering kick against his face.

“OH my Lord!” Susan said, approaching with a hand outstretched. “Don't tell me ya'll are feelin' the-” She froze in place, shocked, as Logan stared at her and began to menacingly growl, deep in his throat, surprising Jennifer perhaps even more. The overbearing store clerk retracted her hand and stepped away, finding something else to do. Logan quieted down and began wagging his tail, ear still pressed against Jennifer.

“At least we know they have a sense of humor,” Jennifer said, wrapping a loving arm around Logan's head and wagging her own tail as their baby continued to kick for the first time.

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