A wonderful pic courtesy of the delightful  derrysome with Tamika and Natasha together. Seems we're seeing some progressing developments... >:3

Special shoutout to the little details on the pictures on the wall. Get little images of Tamika's family - extended or not. Big families are big after all! Guess we should see more of them together, right? :P

Original Image: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/34944674/

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Tamika sat in her chair, taking the time to read one of her many magazines. Not that she wanted to read the magazine in particular that morning, but it beat sitting around doing nothing and risking passing out before her visitor could arrive.

Typically, the morning for Tamika and her husband worked like clockwork. The sun would rise, a few dozen or so of her children would begin fussing for food or cleanliness or some combination of the two, and then the two parents would split up duties as their progeny continued to wake up one wave after another. On occasion, help would already be working on the first few waves of waking children, and that offered the couple an hour or so additional sleep. And yet on this morning, the mother sat in a chair near the foyer, awake when she otherwise would have enjoyed at least another hour of sleep.

She was not particularly angry that she was awake, however. She was angry when her phone went off earlier in the morning, and had she not read the caller ID, the phone would have been in multiple pieces ricocheted off the bedroom wall. The Ratton was annoyed that her friend Natasha was calling so early - knowing full well of her morning regiment - but the panic-ridden babble that she heard on the other end of the call was enough to shed the annoyance and replace it with curiosity and concern.

The mother of many held back her squeals of joy when she heard the news. Natasha was erupting with a flurry of concerns, and Tamika knew that time was not on their side, so she kept herself calm and simply asked for Natasha to come over quickly. When the call abruptly ended, Tamika just about woke her husband up in a delighted squeal.

She knew it was the right night to wear her watermelon pajamas!

A rapping on the front door helped lift Tamika from her chair, magazine tossed mid-article to the adjacent table.

“Door’s unlocked,” she called out, loud enough for her friend to hear, and the wide door swung open, revealing Natasha in her pregnant glory. Tamika could barely contain her delight.

Natasha did not share a motherly glow. She held her arms around herself, sheepish, concerned. The grey Ratton wore a blue-green shirt with some markings down the fabric, but the shirt no longer fit her like it did the day before. Instead, a rounded belly pushed out in front, leaving the shirt inadequate to cover all. Her pants still fit, relatively speaking, but Tamika knew it would probably be a struggle to put them back on in the near future. Watching her friend’s cute little belly wobble slightly where she stood, Tamika could not contain herself.

“Oh, Natasha! What a lovely surprise! Congratulations and welcome to the Mommy Club!” the motherly Ratton squeaked, arms wide open as she began to waddle toward her friend. Compared to the smaller Ratton, Tamika’s belly was substantially larger, her pregnancy proudly shown out to the world. She did have larger clothes, but Tamika loved the watermelon pajamas’ fabric against her fur. And it always seemed to be worn at the best of times - or at least the morning moments she remembered most fondly.

“Please, Tamika…” Natasha said softly as her friend’s belly pressed gently into her side, “not now...this is serious,”
“I am being serious, Nat,” Tamika giggled as she completed what she would consider a hug given her current shape. “This is a new chapter for you, and I want you to feel proud of it,”
“I g-get it, but new is sometimes scary, okay? I know we Rattons are like this on the regular back home, but here, it’s different,”
“You’re telling me something I already know. But don’t worry, Nat, I’m sure we will be able to help you out, and I bet dollars to donuts (mmm..donuts) that your family will be absolutely ecstatic to hear it,”
“Sure, but for how long?”
“Long enough. Besides, your hunky-ass boyfriend should be ecstatic, too, right? I mean...he IS the father, right?”

Natasha’s eyes bugged out.

“Oh, God, Rico! He left for work or something this morning, and he doesn’t know!”
“Ooooh, you didn’t tell him yet?”
“No! I had to rush here because I was going to eat his entire kitchen, and at this rate I might end up eating whatever you have here! This hunger is really really bad right now...and am I supposed to be showing this big this fast?”
“Food is not an issue here, hun. I have more kids than a few schools around here, so we have to keep up the inventory,” she looked at her friend’s shirt as it slightly rode further up her growing middle, a centimeter at a time. “I could only see so much from your photos, but...Rico is pretty loaded, isn’t he?”
Natasha only tugged at her shirt, ears flushed beet red. Not as red as the pajamas.
“I’ll take that as a yes. Either way, we need to give you something quick.”

Tamika was always a bit of a tease to her friend, but she knew when to take it seriously. She gestured for Natasha to follow her as both pregnant ratties made their way toward one of the many bathrooms in the house. Natasha stood at the sink and looked over her profile in the mirror while her friend searched through one of their locked medicine cabinets. She stroked her partially-covered belly, trying to quell the sensations within as best she could and keep herself from sprinting to the kitchen for an everything buffet. Before such thoughts could take over, Tamika appeared in her periphery holding a small injector.

“W-what is that? I thought these medications are pills,”
“Oh they typically are, but as you can see, you’re progressing quite a bit, and without a specialist to tell you what you should be taking, given how gifted your boyfriend is, I’d much rather stall things with this emergency shot. I mean, we can try calling the EFB and see if they can get someone here quick, but...that litter isn’t going to stay small for long...and it already isn’t!”
Natasha sighed and nodded, both hands on her middle. “Okay, then let’s d-”
Tamika pressed the injector into her friend’s arm and quickly released the medicine.
“Ow! Hey!”
“Sorry, Nat! Figured it was better to do it when you didn’t expect it. Better that then count down to three some times. And you should start feeling it very quickly…”

Natasha rubbed her arm, whimpering a second. She could tell that was going to sore for a while! Soon after, a gentle warmth rushed through her body and concentrated in her middle before dissipating away. The activity that had been boiling up within her seemed to slow down until it stopped entirely. It had only been a few seconds, and she already felt like she was missing out on something. In her panic, Natasha never thought about whether she'd feel Ratton Pregnancy FOMO.

“Wow it does work fast...why not use this the whole time?”
“It is an emergency use item. It costs a lot more money, and you don’t want to keep using that all the time. And it hurts a lot more, as you can tell. I think we’ll need to call a specialist soon enough, and then we can start to get you on a plan that will slow things down a lot. Otherwise, in a couple days that shot will wear off and you’ll be filling the bedroom in no time!”
Natasha’s stomach grumbled, and together with her friend’s tease, her blush returned.
“It seems we both could use some breakfast first...and then maybe you can give me some deets on last night with Rico...sounds like it was a great night,"

“Tammy!”

She was a bit sheepish, and maybe a little annoyed - thought Tamika - but Natasha was going to be quite over it once she saw how many cinnamon rolls they had ready for breakfast.