Jim handed Pam a glass of lemonade and sighed as he sat down next to her on his lounge chair in their backyard.  He brought a bottle of beer to his lips and sighed.  "That pool was the best purchase ever."

"I know, I just hope it lasts the entire summer...at the rate she's going who knows," Pam said joining hands with him between their chairs. "Does she look a little pink?"

"No, I think she's probably fine...Not that that's going to stop you from -

"Beanie come here," Pam said rolling her eyes at Jim. Jill splashed around in her little blue blow up pool making "snow angels" in the water, her little pig tails dripped rivulets down her back when she sat up.

"Daddy I was an angel in dat water! Did you see me!"

"Yeah Beanie it was amazing."

"Yeah, it was ‘mazing....Mommy I want Foxy to come inside with me!"

Foxy looked up from his place in the grass upon hearing his name, but lay his head down just as quickly, knowing it was a lost cause probably.

"No," Jim said shaking his head. "I'm not cleaning Foxy's fur out of that pool....Come on over here," he said curling his finger towards her.

Jill pouted as she stood up, walking through the grass on tiny feet with painted red toenails. 

"Nice work there, Daddy," Pam said as she looked at them, noticing the tiny gold star decals on each red toenail for the first time.  "You guys had a nice morning while I slept in, huh?"

Jim just shook his head.  "Getting my practice in for the next 7 months."

Pam smiled at him and he winked back at her.  It was hard keeping a secret, but sometimes - times like these it was really nice.  There was something sort of tingly about sharing something sacred between them.

"Yeah Daddy, you did nice work," Jill said glancing at her toes. 

She did this thing lately where she would parrot a compliment whenever either her mom and dad made one to the other.

"You need more sunblock and you need something to drink," Pam said as Jill came to stand between her legs.  Dripping all over the cement back porch. 

It was a quiet kind of 4th of July.  They'd thought about driving up to his parent's new house for the annual Halpert barbecue but had decided against it.  Jim had made up an excuse for his family, saying that they were both having car trouble.  Miraculously they'd bought it.

Pam held her lemonade to Jill's mouth and she took a few sips. "A couple more," Pam said. 

Jill took a big gulp, "Dat's good lemonade, Daddy," she said looking over her shoulder.

Jim smiled, "Thanks," and kissed her wet cheek.

Pam wrapped Jill in a huge Dora the Explorer towel for a short moment to soak up most of the water. It swallowed her whole. "Mommy I don't want to dry off!"

"Don't worry you can go back in the pool, I just want to put some more sunblock on you.  You've been out here forever."

Their little girl's hair was already starting to lighten with the summer sun and it was only July, it was the sweetest shade of caramel brown. 

Pam brought Jill's face close to hers. "I love you."

"I Love you too Mommy, and Daddy too and Foxy too - I love him too."

Pam's eyes filled a little and she blinked furiously as she pulled back.  Her emotions lately were just a tad out of wack...just a tad. When she looked at Jill she found herself wondering what this new baby would look like.  When the baby...if the baby arrived...would he or she look like Jill or completely different?  Jim and his siblings looked so different from one another, and she was an only child so she had no idea...

"Mommy I get to go swimming all day and then we get to the pawk and see all the pretty fiyaworks at night time." It wasn't so much a question as it was a reminder.  Sometimes she just needed to remind them of whatever the current contract was.

"So that's what all the loving was about," Jim said with a sideways grin as he turned to his side, watching his girls. "She's definitely going into sales."

"Yes," Pam said kissing her nose before she squirted a huge helping of sunblock into her hands.

"You still feel up for that?" Jim asked casually over Jill's head. He lifted his beer to his lips.

Pam met Jim's eyes as she started to rub her little girl's arms and legs.  She wore a white bikini with red stars all over it.  She stuck out her three-year-old little belly in a completely unselfconscious way. 

"Yeah...I think so," Pam said smiling. "If I don't you're gonna have to take her anyway...she's way too excited now."

Jim reached out and squeezed some water out of Jill's pig tails and she squealed. "Howdy...Pawtnah...you cut that out."

Jim grinned at her.  They'd played Cowboys the other day and since then she was stuck on saying "Howdy."

"Buckaroo it could just be the two of us tonight."

"No, I want Mommy to go too!"  Jill squealed.

Pam's eyes widened at Jim.  Clearly saying without saying, ‘Why did you just announce that?'

Pam quickly covered. "Maybe not Beanie...maybe not.  Mommy'll probably go."

Jim pulled his mouth to the side in an ‘oops' expression.

"Ok," Pam said capping the tube of sunblock. "Go ahead, you can get back in the pool, we're going to have lunch in a little bit though ok? Daddy's gonna put hotdogs on the grill...So no whining when you have to get out."

"Ok!" Jill called running back to her pool.  All future trauma having already been forgotten by the promise of more time in the water.

Pam sighed as she leaned back and eyed Jim's frosty looking beer.

"Oooh...sorry.  That was sort of cruel of me wasn't it?" Jim said glancing at it. He sat it down on the little table between them. "I'll abstain."

"You don't have to do that...I'm ok," she said grinning as she pulled her hair up into a ponytail.  Even the thought of being pregnant in the summer wasn't enough to bring her down.

She could go forever without another sip of alcohol if it meant she got to experience this again, the way it should be experienced.  If this baby stayed inside her until it was absolutely time to come out.

She smiled at him and he reached out for her face. "I'm glad we stayed here today."

She bit her lip. "You are? I was afraid you'd be a little disappointed not to be seeing your family."

"My family's right here," he said looking at her and then Jill. He let his fingers trail over her belly.

"You're not mad we haven't told them yet?" She said weaving her fingers through his.

He looked at her.  "We'll tell them when we're ready to tell them."

Pam knew that what he really meant was, we'll tell them when you're ready to tell them.  Because if it was up to him they would have told everyone they knew a few weeks ago. She was just still being cautious.  She also knew though that fairly soon she wouldn't be able to hide it anymore.  Part of the reason they hadn't gone to his parents house was that she was beginning to show.

At work she could get away with wearing bulky clothing. She could say she kept her sweater on because the air conditioning was always too high.  But on the 4th of July, in his parent's backyard she would not have gotten away with anything before his sister would have noticed or his mother would have.

As it was, she adjusted the empire-waist red sundress that she wore, smoothing it over her belly as she lay next to Jim.

He let his hand rest there.  "Don't look now Beesly, but I think there's something goin' on in there."

Pam smiled softly at him. "I think you might be right."

They kept their comments quiet.  Careful not to say too many things around Jill, even if she probably wouldn't quite understand what they were talking about anyway.  They didn't need Jill finding out about the baby before they were ready to tell everyone else.  She wasn't exactly known for her ability to keep a secret.

"Soon," Pam said softly.  "I just..."

She didn't need to finish. For now they'd protect this as their own.  Protect themselves just a little from the disappointment of others, if things...if things didn't work out.

"I know," he said, leaning over to kiss her.  "I know."