Ivy Braddock was more than distraught, she was angry. She felt like everything was happening too fast and all at once. It seemed like last week the grocery was having its grand opening…now Ian and Jim had hired another two employees without even discussing it first. At least they didn’t discuss it with her. "You mentioned it to Melanie and she said it was a good idea in her opinion? You asked her before you asked me?

"Ivy." Jim reached out and rubbed her arm. "Ivy sweetheart, I’m worried about you. You just keep going and going. Your due date is really close and we can’t cover the store with the staff we have. We all need time off and I wanted to be sure it was taken care of before the fight." She had pulled away from him and held her arms across her chest so he leaned against the doorway and looked at her. "I leave tomorrow morning. I don’t want this to be how we leave things. You didn’t want me to tell Melanie she had to move out yet, fine. We can keep the baby in our room for a while. But you have to understand Ian needs to know things are taken care of too. We weren’t trying to upset you."

Ivy stole a glance at her husband, "Jimmy can’t you postpone the fight until after…well you know?" Taking her in his arms he kissed the top of her head. "You know I can’t. This fight has been scheduled longer than we knew about the wee one." Ivy giggled, she always did when he used the term "wee".

"Ok no more fighting" she stated resolutely as she gave herself over to his embrace and to the inevitable. The changes at the grocery, the impending birth of their child and Jim stepping back into the ring were all things that were going to happen whether she was ready for them or not. "Jimmy, just hold me for now", she muttered. Holding her close he closed his eyes.

"I’ll hold you both as long as you want" he whispered in her ear.