FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

In what would become a rare occurrence, Daph had arrived at the clinic earlier than Cora. She sat in her usual chair next to the coffee table of magazines, her hat pulled low and her jacket opened. She was slumped over, her back nearly parallel to the ground, her sleepless eyes blinking at her phone. Her belly sat below her, rounded out to the size of a small cantelope, her navel already starting to pop and poke out from beneath her white tank top. Every so often, to observant eyes, it would gently shift or wobble from the gentle movements inside.

Turning her phone to the side, she sat it on her sternum, just beneath her steadily growing breasts, and took a picture of her belly, just barely eclipsing the sight of her toes beneath it. Snapping a few just to get the angle she wanted, she opened the Facebook app and started the upload to her wall. She captioned it "Your little squirt is already kicking me like I owe him money" and tagged the two friends she was carrying the baby for. Hitting the submit button, she put the phone down atop her stomach like a table and sighed, having to wait for signal to come back before it would actually upload.

A soft twist from the baby disturbed the phone enough to knock it off of Daph's belly and send it clattering to the floor.

"You're almotht as bad a Lilly, you little munchkin," she said, jabbing a finger into her belly. She sighed, totally unwilling to expend the awkward effort it would take to pick it up, and decided to let it sit there. Daph scratched the bare fur beneath her tank top and leaned back more, staring at the ceiling while waiting for something interesting to happen.

Minutes later, something finally did. The metallic doorbell rang as the clinic door finally opened. Before Daph could even sit up to see who it was, a quick-paced series of heavy hoof-steps approached her and a hand began slapping at her thigh.

"Daph," Cora muttered, urgently. "Daph. Daphodille."

She sat up, finding Cora looming above her, buried inside a thick jacket she'd never seen before. Even with the extra layering, it was impossible to hide her rounding stomach in the middle of her frame.

"I wath wonderin when you'd get here," Daph said happily. She sat up and gripped the sides of her belly. "Yo, you feel yourth move yet? Mine tharted flippin around about two weekth ago and never wanted to sto-"

"Daph," Cora hissed, slapping her thigh again. "I need your help."

"Huh?" Daph sat up, concerned. "Cora? You ok? I can get one of the doctorth if you-"

"No, no," Cora hissed again. She stood rock-still and glanced around at the few other waiting patients, who weren't even pretending to pay attention to her. "Please...just be_quiet_...follow me..."Cora walked stiffly across the room, one hand at her side with the other stuffed into her pocket. She had a faintwaddle to her step as her belly's weight was beginning to press down on her. Shuffling her hooves, she side-stepped into the bathroom and shut the door, locking it behind her.

Daph blinked, confused, before sighing. With a grunt, she pushed herself to her feet with little effort. She dragged her phone out from underneath her chair with a paw and simply pushed it along beneath her like a soccer ball instead of expending the effort to pick it up. While her gait was still unaffected, she still felt the now-familiar weight of her bellybounce lightly with every step, hopefully lulling the baby squirrel inside back to sleep.Arriving at the bathroom door, she used the doorknob as leverage to crouch and pick up her phone.

"It'th me," Daph whispered. After a moment, the door clicked unlocked, where Cora shot out a hand and nearly dragged the squirrel inside with her powerful grip. Daph stumbled over the tile floor and caught herself against the opposite wall. Cora shut the door back and locked it again.

"What the fuck?" Daph said, raising an eyebrow. "Dude, are you okay?"

Cora spun on her hoof, panting as she stared wide-eyed at Daph. There was still a small tag dangling from the zipper of her jacket.

"I need your help," Cora began, "but you keep this between us."

"Uhh..." Daph blinked. "Okay?"

"Alright," Cora said. She turned around and began to zip her jacket down. Daph simply waited, trying to imagine what bizarre fate had befallen her new friend. With her back still to her, Cora took off the jacket to reveal a light-purple top with short sleeves, revealing many of her thick muscles. She even took the time to hang her jacket on the hook before turning around.

In the roughly two months since their last checkup, Cora's bust had grown at least another cup size, possibly even more. Her already substantial breasts filled out her chest above her own intimidatingly sizable belly. Two dark streams of liquid led from the tips of her nipples and dripped down her body all the way to her belly, staining the shirt wet.

"Oh_fuck_!" Daph exclaimed, stepping back and trying to suppress laughter. "I gueth it'th true what they thay about c-" she stopped as a glare appeared over Cora'sface. Daph coughed. "...Uh...I mean...What happened?"

"I don't know!" Cora hissed in desperation. "I was on the way over here and riding the subway and they just...they just started going!"She hovered her hands over her chest, avoiding touching any of the wet spots. Daph noticed a single drop of liquid seep through Cora's shirt and drop unnoticed against the girl's belly. "A woman pointed it out to me and I almost...I swear, I could have fainted right there. I got off at the next stop and had to buy this jacket just to cover up!"She pointed to the thick parka hanging from the door. "It was seventeen dollars, Daph!"

"Why aren't you wearin a bra?"

"I am wearing a bra!" Cora growled. She looked down at her chest and tried to hike up her bra from beneath her shirt. "It just went right through! I thought I wouldn't have to deal with-"She suddenly noticed a drop of milk fall from her nipple, past her stomach, and drop onto her hoof. "Are you serious? It's still going?"

"Well hey," Daph shrugged. "Not like the calf's gonna go hungry, ith it?"

"I'm_serious_, Daphodille!I can't go out there looking like this!"

"Oh c'mon, you're jutht thpotting a little. It happenth to everybody."

"A little?" Cora parroted. She paused, staring at Daph, then held up a finger to turn in a circle. "Turn around."

"Huh?"

"Just turn around. Face that wall."

"...'Kay..." Daph said, turning 180 degrees to face the blank wall of the bathroom. Her tail fluttered in anticipation. "Ith there thomething there? I don't know-"

"Just hold on," Cora said to the sound of shifting fabric.

After a few moments of Daph awkwardly waiting, she jumped as a steady, continuous stream of milk arced over her head like a fountain and hit the wall she faced.

"HA!" Daph barked, laughing like a happy coughing fit. "Oh_shit_! Do that again!"

"No!"Cora snapped back. As much as she wanted to spin around and look, Daph politely waited for Cora to put her shirt back on before she turned back.

"Okay," Daph said, shrugging. "Tho _maybe_it'th more than a little milk..."

"I didn't leak this early last time!" Cora panicked. "I didn't even start until I was full term! What if something's wrong?"

"Nothin' ith wrong, Cora," Daph said, shaking her head and waving an arm dismissively. "A lotta girlth start leakin early their thecond time. You jutht...um..." Daph paused, momentarily transfixed on Cora's cleavage. "You've got...'enthusiastic boobs!'"

"Well aren't I so lucky," Cora snarked, crossing one arm over her breaststo possibly stem the flow. "But what am I going to do now? I can't go out there!"

"Alright, alright, jutht calm your tits," Daph said. She paused, mid-thought, to grin at her own unintentional joke and snort. Cora was less amused. "I'll think of thomething. You can...you can thtay here, I gueth. I'll be back."

"Thank you," Cora said, sighing in relief. "Thank you thank you thank you, Daphodille." She stepped aside from the door, trying to squeeze her widening body out of the way.

"No problem," Daph said, sauntering to the door. She stopped, one hand on the handle, and pointed to Cora's belly. "Tho you feel em move yet?"

"I...I don't know. Maybe a little," Cora shrugged, bringing on hand down to her stomach.

"Mine'th all over the place right now," Daph said, leaning back and patting her own belly to a quick drumbeat. "He'th kickin me like I owe him mon-"

"Can we talk about this later?" Cora pleaded, a bead of milk dripping down into the fur of her arm.

"Alright, alright, alright," Daph sighed, rolling her eyes. "Be back in a thecond."

Daph slipped out of the bathroom as quickly and quietly as her girth could allow. She nevertheless uncomfortably scraped the front of her belly against the closing door and winced, rubbing the pain away. A few extra patients had entered the waiting room and a few others had left it. Daph nonchalantly crossed the room over to her seat, tugging down her tanktop as it began to ride high over her stomach.

Pulling up her bag, she dropped her phone into an outside pocket and began to dig around the contents inside. She couldn't even remember the last time she'd cleaned it out, rummaging past bottles of supplements, magazine articles, extra running socks, three different pairs of earphones that were all tangled into a giganticball of cables, an arm strap for an iPod, and three different caps to water bottles. Like everyother squirrel she knew, Daph was a bit of a hoarder and hated throwing things away. On one hand, it made it a Herculean task to find anything specific she needed. On the other hand, it gave her a wealth of tools to improvise with any situation.

Daph grinned as she finally discovered something useful. Buried down in the lower layers of her bag, long unused, was a wrinkled pad, still in it's light purple packaging. One of the fringe benefits of being Professionally Pregnant most of the time was that her own periods became minor annoyances throughout the year, so many of her feminine products went unused. Daph had no idea if pads or tampons could expire, but if they could, this one certainly had. Either way, it would be enough. The problem camewhen she tried to dig through to find a second one.

After a few more minutes of grunting around in her bag, Daph emergedempty-handed, sore at bending over for so long over her belly, and sighed. She was almost ready to completelyflip her bag over and dump its contents over the floor until she noticed someone out of the corner of her eye. A roughly six month pregnant rabbit woman sat in the chair opposite the coffee table, frustratedly trying to refresh Twitter with no reception. Daph at first had the urge to tell the woman to move out of Cora's seat, but realized how absurd that sounded and stopped herself. Instead she approached the woman and spoke as softly as she was able to.

"Uh, hey," Daph said, waving slightly. The rabbit looked up from her phone, grumpy to be interrupted from the nothing she was in the middle of. "Do you have an extra pad on you I could borrow?" Daph held up the one from her bag for emphasis. The rabbit blinked, eyes traveling down to Daph's bump. She blinked again, eyes traveling back up to her face. The rabbit sighed and opened up her arms, gesturing to her swollen, lightly wobbling middle.

"What do you think?" the rabbit said, shortly.

"Uh,"Daph blinked back. If she were anywhere else, the bunny would have gotten an earfulspitting, lispy rage from the squirrel, but Daph managed to hold her tongue for the sake of not getting her or Cora in trouble. "...Right." Daphturned around before she said something stupid and took stock of the rest of the room. Of the half-dozen or so patients waiting for an appointment, every single one was a woman in the middle to advanced stages of a pregnancy. It was slowly dawning on her what kind of dry zone of feminine products she was in.

"Fuck," she muttered to herself. "Who_ithn't_ pregnant inthith dump?"

The answer came as the clinic door opened, drawing everyone's attention.The fox nurse stepped outside with a clipboard, dispassionately reading names.

"Huntington," she called out. Across the room, a bobcat woman carrying a healthy litter grunted up from her chair and crossed the room. Before it was shut, Daph hopped to the door and blocked it with her arm.

"Hey, Felicia!" Daph said, grinning. The nurse stared at Daph with a blank expression and slowly blinked.

"Can I help you, Ms. Westinfold?"

"C'mon, Felicia, you can call me Daph, yknow?"

"I would rather not, Ms. Westinfold."

"Uh...Okay. Well hey, do you, like, have any uh..." Daph pushed open the door farther and held up the pad. "Do you have an extra pad I could borrow?"

The nurse blinked again, looking at Daph straight in the eye before traveling down to her pregnant belly like the rabbit had done. Traveling slowly back up, she sighed as she looked Daph in the face.

"Why do you need a pad, Ms. Westinfold?"

"It'th not for me, yknow?"Daph said, defensively.Felicia raised an eyebrow,but her expression remained otherwise flat.

"Who is it for?" she asked.

"Uh," Daph paused, turning over her shoulder to glance out in the waiting room, her eyes landing on the bathroom. The Hippocratic Oath wouldn't do much to defend against Cora's wounded self esteem orembarrassment."....A friend, yknow? You don't know her. But I really need it thoon, okay?"

"Mm-hmm," Felicia nodded, nonplussed. "I'm sure you and your 'friend' can manage without it, Ms. Westinfold."She leaned closer, her voice dropping to a whisper. "Because I still remember what you did with those rubber gloves."

"Thith ith different," Daph groaned, fidgeting her tail and stamping her foot. "You wouldn't do thith if it wath a medical emergency, would you?"

"Is it a medical emergency, Daphodille?" Felica said.

"...I mean...not really, but it kinda-"

Daph was interrupted by a noncommital nod and grunt from the nurse as she began to shut the door again, forcing Daph to jam her arm between the wood and the doorframe again.

"Look," she hissed. "Jutht give me_one_ pad, I really fuckin need it for my friend. She'th too embarrassedto do anything, but it'th really for her. Pleathe."Daph pleaded like she never would have for her own sake, only for someone else's. Felicia, long a victim of Daph's snark and strange sense of humor, noticed this change in her patient. Someone who hadn't put up with the squirrel so long would simply have attributed it to her pregnancy, but the white fox knew better.

Shesighed.

"Wait here," Feliciasaid, closing the door in Daph's face. She stepped back, putting her hands in the pockets of her jacket and taking a step back, making anxious chittering noises.Somewhere, deep in the recesses of her belly, the squirrel baby stirred enough for Daph to notice.

"Yeah yeah yeah," Daph said, cupping a hand to her stomach. "I know, you're hungry. Jutht go back to thleep, alright? Thith ith born people talk."

The door cracked open again, the thin opening showing half of Felicia's face and one hand clutching a Kotex pad. Before Daph could reach in and snatch it, she pulled it out of reach and stared into her eye.

"What will you do for _me_once I give you this?" Felicia said.

"Uhh..."Daph paused, blinking dimly while she thought. "I'll...like..." She snapped her fingers as an idea came to mind. "I'll thtop tryin to color your fur with sharpie!"

"A start," the nurse said, waving the pad.

"Uhh...I won't make joketh anymore about lothing you in a blizzard?"

"Better."

"Fuck...Um..."Daph thought for a moment more. "...I'll thtop callin you the 'Mayonnaise Nurse?'"

Felicia nodded wordlessly, passing over the pad. Daph grinned and snatched it out of the nurse's hand and shuffled back to the bathroom, making a conscious effort not to run with her belly already beginning to blossom. She crossed over to the bathroom and knocked a quick beat against the door. She heard a sudden thud from inside, followed by the flushing toilet.

"O-occupied!" said Cora's muffled voice behind the door.

"It'th me," Daph whispered, knocking again for emphasis. She stepped out of the way just in time for Cora to crack open the door, just wide enough to look through.

"Ok," Cora whispered, sliding the door open a little more. "Hurry,hurry."

Daph braced against the wall and tried to slide inside the cracked door, but was stopped as the side of her belly bumped against the side and prevented her from going any further. She groaned and pulled it open farther, making Cora make a sound in surprise. In the meantime, while Daph was gone, she had done her best to fold paper towels and toilet paper underneath her bra. Some of them she had already pulled out from being too wet.

"Thethe do anything for ya?" Daph said, holding up the pads. Cora gasped and snatched them out of her hand. Before opening them, she glanced at them and raised an eyebrow.

"Why are they different brands?"

Daph shrugged incredulously.

"Who careth?"

"...Right. Ok. Turn around again."

Daph sighed and complied, listening as Cora tore open the packaging and made small noises as she applied the pads to her obviously sensitive nipples.

"Can I turn around?" Daph asked as she turned around. Cora's shirt was still spotted with wet streaks from her breasts, but the pads seemed to hold the milk in just fine. She sighed, her arms falling relaxed to her sides.

"Thank you thank you thank you so much," Cora said. She closed in quickly to give Daph a hug, but stopped as she noticed the squirrel recoil slightly at the damp spots. "Oh my god, my shirt. What do I-"

"Calm down, it'th okay," Daph said, soothingly, motioning with her arms. "Jutht wear your jacket 'til you can thee the doctor. They've theen thith kinda shitall the time, trustme."

"Okay...you're right...yes..." Cora breathed. Daph turned around to pass her the jacket still hanging on the coathook on the door.

"I'd offer you my shirt but...uh..." Daph paused, pulling on the fabric and frowning at Cora's thick, muscular arms.She blushed demurely and zipped up the jacket as far as she could.

"No no, I understand," Cora said, waving dimissively. "Thank you, though, Daphodille."

"Pfft," Daph said, shrugging. "Don't even think about it."

Behind them, through the bathroom door, they heard a muffled voice call out, 'O'Reilly?'Cora gasped and scrambled to tug the zipper up the three extra inches it had left, then scurried to the door, her hooves clopping against the tile floor.

"I have to go, that's me, thank you so much, we'll talk later, thank you, thank you again!" Cora stammered before slipping out the door as quickly as her large body could move. Daph sighed in the quiet as the door fell closed.

"Damn..." She breathed. Before she left the bathroom, she caught sighther reflection in the mirrorand raised an eyebrow at a thought. Pulling up her shirt, she approached the mirror and tugged aside her sports bra to get a better look at her own breast. She cupped it in her hand, lightly squeezing it and tapping her nipple with her thumb. It was sensitive, more so than usual, with the slowly building pressure of what she recognized as her milk glands, but she was still totally dry.

She felt a kick from the baby inside and looked down at her exposed, furry belly.

"Don't you get any ideath, you little twerp," Daph said to the growing squirrel infant in her womb.

"Count of three?" Cora asked, holding anenvelope by the tips of her fingers with one of the edges already in place to tear off.

"On three or on go?" Daph asked, holding hers the exact same way.

"I guess on go?" Cora said.

"Cool, cool," Daph nodded, thumbing a slit in the paper with one of her short claws.

"Three..."Cora began.

"Wait, hold up," Daph interrupted. "Right now?"

"No, the count of three."

"But you thtarted on three."

"I was counting down."

"But I asked if it wath on three?"

"I know, and I said it was on go."

"Tho are we counting up or down?"

"Down."

"Why?"

"Fuck me, Daphodille, I don't know. You count, then."

"Okay okay, god damn," Daph sighed, holding up the envelope again. "Three...two...one...go."

The two of them tore open the envelopes simultaneously. Without the aid of a sharp climbing claw, Cora was forced to wrestle with the paper for a few extra seconds to get to the contents inside. Eventually, the two of them pulled out the sheets of thick, translucent sheetsexcitedly, throwing away the protective paper over them.

After a few minutes of staring at the dark, indiscernible blobs, the two of them frowned, holding them up at different angles to try and catch the light differently.

"...You thee anything?" Daph asked, pressing hers beneath a table and angling a lamp toward it.

"I have no idea," Cora admitted, holding the picture above her head in front of the fluorescent light. "It's like one of those psychological ink blot tests."

"I've looked at thethe god damn thingth for five yearth," Daph said, holding hers up to the light like Cora did. "And I can't thee a fuckin thing unless the doctor pointth it out."

"Is that something?" Cora asked, pointing to a white blob in the lower right hand corner of the photo.

"Nah,"Daph shook her head. "They'd be bigger than that by now."

"You're right about that," Cora sighed. "Whether I can see it or not, that calf is in there."

"Wait..." Daph muttered. Still holding the ultrasound photo up, she flipped it over and stared at it through another angle. After a few minutes, her eyes lit up and she bounced up and down in her chair as much as her belly would let her. "Oh oh oh oh oh oh! Look look look look!" She leaned over and pointed to a pair of larger blobs near the edges of the frame with her two outside fingers.

"Fuckin_twinth_!" Daph cheered. She flung the ultrasound photo across the room like a frisbee and kicked her feet in the air, both hands clutching her her stomach. "I god damn_toldja_! I'm on fuckin fire! Third pair of twinth tho far!"She relaxed in her chair,panting at the sudden outburst of energy, but grinning happily. Her belly gurgled and lurched with the shifting of a baby. She put a hand over it and laughed again. "I shoulda been able to tell. No way one set of legth couldkick that much. I gotta fuckin tweet thith." Daph pulled out her phone and held it out to take a wider-angle shot of her belly, curling her fingers into a 'peace' sign.

"Daph," Cora said, nudging her shoulder.

"Hang on," Daph muttered, trying to decide on a filter while holding the pose and ultimately choosing not to.

"Daph, look."

"Just a thecond." She snapped the photo and brought the phone down to eye-level. Frowning at the quality, she tugged her tank top back down as far as it could go and glanced up. "Are bathroom selfies thtill cool?I put up, like, three or fouras progress picthand they got nothin."

"Daphodille."

"Yeah, okay, what'th up?" Daph said, turning away from the photo to find herself face-to-face with Cora's ultrasound. The cow's large hand slid underneath the photo and tapped two spots within the black space of her womb.

"Twins." Cora grinned behind the photo.

Daph stared dumbly at the photo, blinking. Dropping her phone to sit precariously on top of her belly, she snatched the ultrasound out of Cora's hands and held it up to the light.

"No fuckin way," she breathed. "No fuckin way you got twinners, too."

"You don't believe me?" Cora asked, mildly offended. "What about you?"

"But I'm the Queen Bitch of Baby Making,'"Daph said, not looking away from the photo. "I had two more pairth of em before now, tho I know what to-" She cut off, staring at the point on the photo Cora hand pointed to.

"Holy_fuck!" Daph shouted, making the waiting room's only other patient jump on the other side of the room. She leaned over and pointed to the spot on the picture. "Right there? That little thing? And right next to it?" Cora nodded at both points, not even trying to hide her beaming grin. Daph shook the photo, her own shock almost sending her into convulsions. "_Holy fuck!" She repeated, handing the photo back.

"Satisfied?" Cora added smugly, taking the ultrasound back and gazing at it proudly. Sitting up, she flipped the photo around and pressed it against her belly as a sort of 'window' to her womb. She probed through her soft, curly belly fur until she felt the resistance of both calves. "There they are," she nodded.

"They're runnin outta room already," Daph said, reaching over and patting Cora's stomach. Before pulling away, she slid her hand over her curly fur. "Fuck...you're really thoft..."

"Oh fuck off," Cora teased, batting away Daph's arm. She giggled and brought her hands to her own belly. Her tongue stuck out of her mouth in concentration, she poked around her stomach, testing it like a furry, copper-red watermelon.

"Ok,there'thone baby," she said, rubbing the right side of her stomach while still poking with her other hand. "And...fuck, there'th thupposed to be another one of you little stinkerth in there, right?" Daph made a sound between a belch and awheeze as a lump pushed out beneath her tightly stretched undershirt. "Ugk...there you are."

"I wonder how big they are," Cora said, holding up the photo and squinting at it. One hand still held onto her belly, one of the calves softly kicking into her palm. "They feel gigantic."

"At about thix monthth, they're like..." Daph held up her hand, stretching her thumb and pinky as far apart as they could go. "Jutht about that big. Twinth are a little thmaller than singleth, though." Daph glanced down at Cora's comparatively much larger stomach and winced. "...Yourth might be...uh...'extra healthy.'"

"I can take it," Cora scoffed, smirking confidently. "S'long as they're alright in there."

"What breed are you?" Daph asked.

"Mypopisa galloway and my mum is...holstein, I think."

"I dunno why I asked becauthe I don't know that thothe are," Daph said, shaking her head.

"Galloway is big and fluffy," Cora explained, holding out her arm and pinchingher curly fur. "Holstien isblackspots." She pointed to hermonochrome coloring."

"_Ooooohhhhh,"_Daph nodded. "I gueth you learn thomethin new every day. Do thoethe breeds have twinth a lot?"

"Never,"Cora said, shaking her head.

"...You uh...you know a lotta cowth back home?" Daph asked.

"Plenty."

"Any of them ever have twinth?"

"None."

"Tho...you're like...one in a million?"

"I guess I am,"Cora said, proudly rubbing her stomach. "Especially since I had twins the first time, too."

"God damn," Daph said, reeling. "Tho you're like...a fuckin_mutant_?"

"Sure, Daph," Cora said, rolling her eyes. "I'm a fucking mutant."

"Fuck, dude," Daph said shaking her head. "I'm the veteran, you're the talented newbie, right?" Daph said, gesturing between the two of them before laying her hands on her belly. "And we're _both_carryin deuces? That'th rad. That'th fuckin thepecial."

"If you say so, Daphodille," Cora sighed, chuckling.

Daph shifted over in her chair and pulled up Cora's shirt suddenly to expose the curly, spotted fur of her belly again.

"Ghhgk," Cora spluttered. "Daph, what-"

"Shhhhh," Daph whispered, her fingers playing over Cora's body and feeling the calves inside. "Jutht let it happen. I'll take it thlow."

"Jesus, Mary and Joseph," Cora breathed, using an expression she'd unwittingly picked up from her father. "Keep your hands to yourself, you daft rodent."

"Make me," Daph teased, continuing to poke and agitate the twins into movement.

"You keep doing that, they're going to come out swinging."

"They could uthe the exercithe," Daph said. "Chubby little cow babieth." She paused, exploring with her fingers to find the head and feet of one of the calves inside Cora and holding them next to each other to estimate the baby's size. Daph shook her head and chittered. "You're gonna get tho fuckin big."

"Oh I'm sure of that," Cora said proudly, looking down at her body. She smiled, imagining the kind of belly she'd have in a few months. But as the reality dawned on her, her expression fell and the brightness left her eyes.

"...You're right," Cora said, dejectedly. "I'm going to be huge..."

"I'll thay," Daph agreed. She glanced up to see Cora's distracted gaze and pulled away. "What? Ithn't that a good thing?" She shrugged. "Healthy kidth and all that?"

"I suppose..." Cora nodded, pulling her shirt back down.

"What'th up?"

"It's nothing..." Cora said, shaking her head again. "It's...stupid."

"I didn't ask if it wath thtupid or not," Daph said, lightly punching Cora on the arm. "I asked what wath botherin you."

"Oh, no, it's not-"

"Now hold up," Daph said. She gripped Cora's shoulder and shook her. "What you wath gonna do wath jutht deflect or change the thubject or whatever. That ain't what I asked, though. Maybe I don't_want_ you changin the thubject becauthe I don't wanna be that kinda friend you gotta change the thubject around whenever you're feelin bad. Yknow what I mean?" Daph scooted her chair around, loudly scraping it against the floor, so she could face Cora. "Tho what'th bugging you, you goddamn adorable beefcake?"

Cora couldn't help but laugh at Daph's strange compliment, silently remarking at how easy it was for the squirrel to put a smile on her face. But her good mood faded quickly and left her somberly picking at her fingers.

"I...uhm...I start classes next month and..." She trailed off, trying to think of how best to voice her anxiety. Daph, meanwhile, shrugged, throwing her hands in the air.

"That'th fuckin rad." She said. "That'th what you wanted, right? What you did the thurrogacy for?"

"Well...yes, it is. And I'm glad that I'm going to be starting school, soon. I'm still happy about that." Cora sighed, trying to find the right words.

"What wath it again?" Daph asked. "It'th at a tech school, right?"

"Small engine repair," Cora nodded. "Fixing and building things. Outboard motors, farm equipment, things like that."

"Ith that what you wanna do?" Daph asked.

"It is. I've always liked that sort of thing. It made me feel intelligent, like I could take care of myself. I like to build things, useful things, things that weren't there before."

"Like chubby little cow babieth," Daph added, smirking.

"Wha-" Cora spluttered, looking up at Daph in surprise, shaking her head. "No no no, this is...I just do this to pay the bills. It's...I'm...I'm good at it and it helps me get to school and...and..."

"Sure, sure," Daph nodded, unconvinced. "But that ain't what'th eating you?"

"No, it isn't." Cora sighed again, finally getting to the core of what was bothering her. "The school is almost entirely men."

"Yuck," Daph said, sticking out her tongue.

"No no, that's not...I don't mind men. I like men. I have more male friends than women." Cora sat up, gesturing to her swollen body. "But I'm going to be in a class of all men...while seven months pregnant. With twins."

"Aaaahhhhhh..." Daph said, nodding knowingly. "And you think that'th gonna be weird."

"I_know_ it's going to be weird," Cora said, slumping back in her chair frustratedly. One of the calves kicked out at being suddenly jostled, but she mostly ignored it, absentmindedly petting her belly in response. "What are they going to think? What are they going to say? How am I going to fit in a desk when I'm full term? What if I have to get underneath a car to look at the undercarriage? What if..." Cora gasped, bringing a hand over her mouth. "What if I go into labor in the middle of class?"

"Okay, okay, okay, chill out," Daph said, motioning with her hand. She then held it up in front of her face with five fingers extended. "Okay, tho...in order," she pointed to her pinky finger, "'who giveth a fuck," pointing to her ring finger, "also 'who giveth a fuck,'" pointing to her middle finger, "sit thideways or get a bigger dethk," pointing to her pointer finger, "jutht raise the car up higher or whatever," and finally pointing to her thumb, "and I'm pretty thure the teacher will let you thkip class if you're gonna have a baby."

"But it's...ugh," Cora groaned, frustratedly. "It's not that easy as-"

"Yeah, it really ith, though," Daph nodded. "Not givin a shit ith the easiest thing in the fuckin world, dude."

"Really. Is it, now?" Cora said. "Then fucking educate me, Daphodille. I'm going to be a bloated, leaking, waddling mess when I go into class that first day. And I'll have two months left to get even_bigger_. I'm going to look like a fool around all those men. None of them will take me seriously, I know it. How do I just 'not care?'"

"Easy," Daph shrugged. "There ain't nobody in the world who can tell you how to be yourthelf other than you. You wanna learn how to build engineth and be a kick-ass mechanic? Do it. You wanna get pregnant all the time and give birth to the healthiest, biggetht babieth? Do it. S'long ath you ain't lyin to yourthelf, ain't nobody got the right to give you shit for doin what you wanna do."

"You try to make it sound so simple," Cora said, shaking her head. "But...that's just now how it is..."

"You think I don't get lookth?" Daph said, pointing to her body. "When I go to the gym with my gut hangin out and my titth all sloshin around? Fuck yeah, I do. But I know I'm doin what I wanna do, and that I'm helpin people at the thame time. I don't let anybody give me shit for me bein who I am. Once you realize how to do that, wordth ain't gonna hurt you no more."

Cora remained silent, trying so hard to process what Daph said. There was truth to what she said, real power to her words. But no matter how she tried to think about it, that fear of walking into class that first day, of getting those looks at her huge twin-bearing belly, of the snickers as she'd try to fit into her desk, at how the professor would probably stop the class to let her settle in and draw even more attention to her, was more powerful. She only sighed and shook her head.

Daph's obstinate nature gave way to pity for her friend, who was clearly dealing with some baggage the squirrel couldn't even comprehend. Half of her adult life was spent using her body to give things to other people, to help them through their lives in the best way she could. It was agonizing for her to see a pain she couldn't just reach in and fix with her bare hands.

"Besideth," Daph shrugged. "Men are dickth, anyway."

Cora snorted at the expression, despite herself.

"What," she added, "you mean, like, literally?"

"I mean, I gueth," Daph shrugged. "I dunno. Dudeth jutht kinda thuck. If any of thothe little pencil-dickth give you any shit, let me know." Daph pounded her fist into her hand and winked. Cora chuckled again.

"Daph, you'll be just as pregnant as I'll be."

"Fuck it. I'll do it. I'll fight anybody. I don't give a shit," Daph said, flexing her admirably toned arms. "Babieth or no babieth, you think I can't thmack down thome dumbass meathead fuck? Please. I'll thtomp a motherfucker talkin shit to my 'Belly Buddy.'" Daph suddenly gave a squeaky hiccup as one of her twins kicked into her diaphragm, surprising the two of them. Cora laughed, deep in her chest.

"I'll call you if I need any backup, then," she agreed.

"Of courthe," Daph nodded, rubbing the baby calm. "Maybe I could convince you to join the wonderful world of lesbianth, too."

Cora spluttered, looking around self-consciously to make sure they weren't overheard.

"Daphodille!" She hissed, giggling under her breath.

"What?" Daph shrugged. "I don't fuck around with guyth anymore. Girlth are cuter, yknow? We both know you wanna try it..." She wiggled her eyebrows and grinned behindher overbite. Cora blushed hard enough to be seen beneath her white hairand she giggled again.

"Daph, shut up," Cora muttered, waving a hand bashfully in her direction. "Besides, we both know you like...uh..." She held up both hands around an imaginary phallic object. "'_men'_too much to be a lesbian."

"I don't like men, Cora, I like dick,"Daph said, smirking, talking maybe a bit louder than she should have been. Cora winced and glanced over her shoulder. The doe woman across the room met her eyes as she glanced over her book, shooting them a puzzled expression, before going back to her reading.

"I can like dick and thtill be a lesbian if I wanna be," Daph continued on, as nonchalantly as if she were talking about the weather. She grinned. "Hey, you wanna hear a joke?"

"Daphodille, I'm begging you," Cora pleaded. "Can we _please_change the subject?"

"Ok, but real quick, I got a joke."

"Daph,please."

"'I bet you munch carpet like you munch on grass.'"

"Daphodille,"Cora nearly screamed through her clenched teeth. "Please."

"Hehehehehehe, okay okay okay, I'm done, I'm done," Daph chuckled, her stomach bouncing with the rhythm.

"Jesus Christ, woman," Cora sighed, sitting back with a hand on her head. "How does anyone take you _anywhere_without getting tossed out on the street?"

"Who sayth they don't?" Daph added. Her eyes suddenly lit up and she sat up in her chair. "_Hey!_Lemme try thomething!"

"Oh my Lord," Cora groaned.

"No, thith ith cool, I thwear."

Daph stood up from her chair and cradled her belly in one hand as she lowered herself to her knees. Shuffling across the floor, she approached Cora, Daph'shead right at the height of her stomach.

"Umm..."

"No, jutht wait. By month thix, the babieth are developed enough that you can fuck with 'em. Watch."Daph cleared her throat, took a deep breath, and made a surprisingly loud chittering sound deep in the back of her throat, leaning forward to project it directly into Cora's belly. All at once, both of the calves jumped in simultaneous surprise inside of her and began to kick and squirmagitatedly. She gasped at the sudden, tickling movement and held her belly in an attempt to calm them. Very rarely did both calves move so much at the same time.

"'Bout thith time ith when they get workin ears," Daph said, grinning. "Try playin em thome music. They alwayth react differently. It'th awethome." Bracing against the armrest, Daph pushed herself shakily to her feet, wobbling slightly as her balance shifted. She regained her footing and stood in front of Cora, her belly at nearly face-height.

"C'mon, try it!" Daph sad excitedly, patting her stomach.

"Right now?" Cora asked, eyes darting to the doe in the corner. "I think I get the picture," she said, shaking her head.

"No, I want you to do it! Make like a cow-noise or thomething!"

"Daph, I don't want to-"

The back door opened, drawing the attention of the three women in the waiting room. The canine nurse glanced down at the clipboard and called out, "Summerton?"

The doe in the corner of the room took a moment to stow away her book in her purse, then stood and daintily walked across the room, her long skirt swaying gracefully over her thin legs.

"Damn..." Daph breathed, watching her exit the room. "I love does. They're like...tho classy."She turned back to Cora and rubbed the sides of her belly again. "Ok! C'mon! Before anybody elthe cometh in!"

"Why do..." Cora glanced around, taking in their empty surroundings.Even the nurses and doctors behind the counter were occupied with other patients. She sighed and sat up in her chair. Daph edged slightly closer, putting her belly almost directly in Cora's face. It was warm, almost radiating heat, just to have her face so near it.She cleared her throat, took a deep breath, and moo'd from deep in her chest, making a sound she hadn't made since she she lived on her parents farm. Even trying to suppress it, she was louder than she intended, and was likely heard all the way from the second floor of the building.

Daph burst into a giggling fit, stumbling back with her hands wrapped around her belly. She laughed until she coughed, slipping her hands under her shirt to steady the visible shiftingbeneathher stomach.

"Hah...haahh...hahahahahah....hahaha..." She breathed. "Fuh-fuck...they didn't like that! Haahhhahahahah!" Daph stood up straight and lifted her shirt, pointing to the bulge a foot made as it pushed out from her womb.She dropped her shirt andleaned back,steadying her breathing into a breathless pant. "Oh fuck me...thethe twinth are not gonna be thleepin anytime soon."

Behind them, the door opened, with the nurse Felicia standing in the doorway, clipboard at her side.

"Westin-" She said, pausing and raising an eyebrow at Daph's position in the middle of the room. "...Westinfold."

"Right, right. Be there in a thecond." Daph shuffled over to her chair and pushed it back into place. Picking up her jacket, she slung it over her arm and grinned at Cora. "Feelin better?"

In the quiet moment, Cora noticed that her cheeks were sore from smiling more than she had in months.

"...I am," she said. "...Thank you."

"Don't mention it," Daph said, winking. She turned and walked back into the doctor's office for her checkup and vanished behind the closing door.

Cora sat still in the new silence, free from the squirrel girl's constant chatter, and was surprised to find herself starting to miss the sound of it.