"Yeah, that was my reaction too." Todd's grin widened at my disbelief.
"What does that even mean?"
"Hell if I know." He threw his hands up. "Something about adjusted sleep schedules and nutritional tracking and—I don't know—probably a spreadsheet for vitamin intake. She's got a whole document started."
A laugh escaped me before I could stop it. "That sounds exactly like her."
"Right?" He shook his head fondly. "I keep telling her we need to loosen the reins. At least while she's pregnant. The dynamic doesn't have to be so—" He gestured vaguely. "Rigid. We can adapt. Be flexible."
"And?"
"And she's completely opposed." He sighed. "Says the structure is what keeps her grounded. That she'll need it more, not less, when her body starts changing and her hormones go haywire."
"What are you thinking?" I asked.
"I've made a couple decisions, but I'm still torn on some."
I nodded. This was the part most people didn't understand—the weight of it. They saw the control, the authority, the power, and assumed it was simple. Easy. They didn't see the hours spent considering the cost. The constant calibration between what your submissive wanted, what they needed, and what was safe.
"Like?"
"Like the kneeling. She greets me at the door every night. Drops to her knees, waits for permission to rise. She loves it. I love it. But at seven, eight months pregnant?" He shook his head. "Her center of gravity's going to be shot. Her joints are going to be loose. One wrong move and she's falling, hurting herself, hurting the baby."
"So you're adjusting them?"
"I'm eliminating the ones that don't make sense and modifying the ones that do." Steel crept into his voice. "She doesn't have to like it. I'm the one responsible for her body. For both of them. She just has to trust that I'm making the right call."
This was what it meant to lead.
"How's she taking that?"
A dry laugh punched from him. "About as well as you'd expect. She pushed back. Hard. Told me the structure was what kept her grounded, that she'd need it more when her body started changing." He shrugged. "And she's not wrong. But her emotional needs don't override her physical safety. That's not how this works."
"No," I agreed. "It's not."
"I never thought I'd want this, you know?" he continued, quieter now. "The white picket fence shit. Kids. A family." His head swung to Vivian. "But with her..."
He trailed off. Didn't need to finish.
I understood.
Better than he probably realized.
"What about you two?" He pointed with his chin toward Emma. "How's your newly budding dynamic?"
"Practically non-existent right now," I scoffed wearily, guilt slamming into me. "I've just been so damn exhausted."
Todd nodded. "You've had a lot going on."
"So does she, and I don't want to step into this half-assed." I chuckled. "I have a feeling she isn't going to be an easy submissive anyway. Can't afford to start in the red."
Todd tipped his head back, laughing.
"Smart." He grinned. "How do you plan on starting things back up?"
I turned the question over, settling on the answers that had been circling for weeks now, taking shape in the margins of sleepless nights and stolen moments.
"When I collared her I set a couple of rules," I admitted at last. "Nothing elaborate. Nothing like what you and Viv have. Just... small things."
