Broadcast: Chapter 56 - Counter-Programming

Rose stroked her belly slowly as she paced across Grant's office. The pacing would've come off more menacing if it wasn't paired with a pronounced pregnant waddle but Rose was more about looking sexy than menacing anyhow. 

"Reporting on other news agencies' internal drama isn't what we like to do here at WMB," Grant said, reading over the stack of documents about PGNT Rose brought the network. "We prefer to give our viewers hard-hitting reporting and information they can use."

"But?" Rose smiled, raising an eyebrow.

"But...with the sudden rise in PGNT's popularity, the story behind the scenes of that rise is worth sharing," Grant said with a small grin. In the past two days, Grant's nightly news report, the station's flagship news program, was no longer in the top of the news ratings. That irked him. "May I ask one thing? A lot of these documents about PGNT selling off reports to advertising agencies include your name in them. Our news story on this will include you as well."

"Aww, Mr. Gabriel, that would be real annoying," Rose said, pouting and leaning forward so her bountiful cleavage was right in his face. "Anyway you could leave those little details out?"

Grant gulped and looked up at Rose's eyes, flashing his award-winning (literally) smile. "Sorry, but I have a duty as a journalist."

That's a pain Rose thought, leaning back and settling her belly by bracing her lower back. Oh well. Won't be the first time I've changed my name. "Well I just wanted to do my part to spread the word about what happened at PGNT. I couldn't be apart of that awful place anymore. And I was wondering if I could...get a job here at the station? I have experience after all and I was thinking about working in entertainment journalism. I have a great, warm personality."

She moved her hand across the table to touch Grant's hand, giving him a bright, lusty smile before tossing her golden blonde hair. But as soon as she touched his hand, Grant flinched and retracted it. "Sorry, the joints in my hand are still very sore," he said, shaking it out as Rose leaned back and frowned. "We don't have any positions open, I'm sorry. Believe me, I tried to find a job here for my girlfriend so I could be closer to her every day."

"Your girlfriend?" Rose said, her voice dropping.

"Yes! She is amazing!" Grant said, showing Rose pictures of Gigi on his phone in an instant. He flipped through them but they were all clearly dozens of photos taken across from her at the dinner table, all with Gigi looking increasingly annoyed. "She is the most wonderful woman in the world and she is beautiful and strong and smart and funny and strong and-"

Rose was already waddling out of the office, a scowl on her face. The one loyal man I've met in decades and it has to be now. She looked down at her belly, feeling a stiff kick on the side of her stomach. She groaned and spread her hand out wide. I'm not giving birth any time soon so why do you have to keep kicking? 

---

Gigi pulled out her phone, read the text, rolled her eyes, and stuffed it back into her pocket. "Some guy wants to get in your pants?" asked Brandy, the blonde dancer Gigi "battled" back at the Fiddler club when she and her pregnant friends spread mischief all over town.

"No, he's already gotten in my pants. I guess he's my 'boyfriend' but he is just so needy," Gigi sighed, stroking her brown belly. She tried to cover it up with her shirt but as she continued to grow day after day, like most every pregnant woman in Quincy Bay, half of it was still out in the open. Brandy looked pregnant as well but she just had a potbelly since she got knocked up the old fashioned way, not because of an ancient curse an irresponsible redhead was spreading.

"I'm jealous. This kid's dad is gone and I'm not getting any cute texts from him any time soon," Brandy sighed, looking over at Gigi's belly. "Your new guy probably didn't father those babies."

"Nope, it's all thanks to Athena Labs, if you believe what you hear on the news," Gigi chuckled, cupping one hand against her round stomach. "Guess I shouldn't be too annoyed with my guy...things could be worse."

Brandy groaned and spun around to get in Gigi's face. "You can't get off my back for one second, can you?"

"Ladies, ladies, please!" said Enrico McFly, a glad-handing, shaved bald man with designer sunglasses and a ridiculous big smile. "I know you two started your little dance-off at the club as a way to argue but if you could be civil enough to work together, I can find you some jobs that are way more fun than working at a gym or waiting tables." Gigi and Brandy both glared and sighed, turning back to face him. "And they'll pay better too."

Gigi looked at the walls of Enrico's "office." There were missing gaps of paint where cabinets and frames had been pulled off, the carpet looked like it was from the 1970s, and he was the only employee in sight. "You don't seem like you're handing out well-paying jobs too freely."

"The talent market has its ups and downs but I have great instincts. We're on the cusp of a big 'up' and you two have what it takes to ride it out," Enrico said, his smile never wavering. "And as it just so happens, I have a job for both of you tonight, if you want it."

"It pays well?" Brandy asked.

"The pay is...good for a first step," Enrico said. Both women turned to leave and he hurried toward them. "Wait! Trust me! This will open up so many doors for you, if you nail it. Which of course you will! I hand selected both of you so you must be the best!"

"What is it?" Gigi sighed, one hand on the door and one on her wide hips.

He removed his glasses, revealing his age, and leaned in with his obnoxious grin. "A pregnancy fashion show."

Gigi and Brandy looked at each other for a moment before turning back to him. "We're listening."

---

Kirstie was fuming as she waddled back into the studio, pushing her way past the wall of bellies in her way from the "Miss Housekeeping" competition. "Excuse me," Kirstie grumbled as she got through. "Kinda pregnant here. Maybe you didn't notice." 

"Mrs. Santana? We're ready to start soon," said a production assistant with a clipboard.

"It's Ms., I'm not married!" Kirstie shouted as she waddled onto the set.

"That's what it says on the production sheet," the assistant said. It was no doubt a change Rose put in place to make Kirstie seem like she fit in with the domesticated nature of this competition. "But do we need to get you into wardrobe or-"

"No time, just keep the camera above my butt and go," Kirstie grumbled, tugging at her apron to make sure it hid enough of her breasts from view. Hayley may have sparked a firestorm when her bare belly broke out of her clothes on TV but Kirstie was far more exposed now in just her apron. Worst of all, she was still worked up from her aborted fling with Harry in his car when he revealed his deception and she learned he was just a pregnancy fetish come to life with no loyalty or affection to her or any other woman. Should have expected that from Hayley's brother, I guess, she scoffed.

Now Kirstie was both angry and horny: a dangerous combination, particularly when she's half naked in an apron.

"This shit had better at lest get good ratings," she mumbled as she tried to pull her apron down over all of her belly and at least hide her belly button. Kirstie did not share Harry's affection for the pregnant form.

"On in five, four, three," the director said, signaling to the rest of the production crew. The "Miss Housekeeping" contestants waddled on stage as the lights came on the cameras started recording. Despite the innocent name of the competition, these women were all dressed like they were ready for a night on the town instead of at home cleaning. Not that Kirstie was opposed to that sort of thing but...the idea was to have pregnant women compete in chore-related tasks, right? Kirstie may have preferred men to women but even she got worked up seeing these swollen and flirty women bouncing around on stage.

With a deep breath, she got started. "Good evening and welcome to the first annual 'Miss Housekeeping' competition," Kirstie said with a big smile and phony sweet voice as she got cued up. Her lines were being fed to her through the prompter and she wished she'd read the script beforehand. "Our 12 moms-to-be are ready to show they have what it takes to fit in the home and we'll see if we can pick a winner before one of them pops!"

The women all giggled and Kirstie groaned under her breath, hating that grating sound. PAs scurried around to set up an adjacent set while the camera panned over all twelve women, focusing on their breasts and butts far more than their bellies.

"For our first competition, cooking is important in any household so we'll see how our ladies do. However, it wouldn't be a contest befitting pregnant women if they weren't barefoot in the kitchen!" Kirstie turned to see the adjacent set was a faux kitchen with lots of floor room. The women kicked off their shoes and hurried over while Kirstie tried to maintain composure and read the upcoming lines. "But be careful ladies because when you're barefoot, things can get slippery...wait, what?"

The floor of the kitchen set was covered in baby oil and as a siren went off, the women slipped and bounced around the set. Each time they bumped into one another, they embraced and fondled each other's chest, belly, and/or butt. It did not take long for the oil to splash up on them, making their bare pregnant stomachs shimmer and glow while making their clothes tighter and see-through.

Kirstie nervously tugged on her apron, feeling her nipples harden and tug her small amount of cover down ever farther. She already had the vaginal equivalent of blue balls after her time with Harry and now here were these 12 buxom, big-bellied beauties giggling and rubbing and spanking and shoving. Kirstie's belly was large enough to hide her thighs rubbing together as she watched her career falling into ruin in the sexiest way possible.

Within minutes, several women were writhing together on the floor while others were just rubbing bellies together while standing. A cameraman turned to Kirstie, capturing her pawing at her pregnant body while biting her bottom lip. She caught her image on the monitor and remembered the last time she was on camera, she was reporting on concussions in sports and breaking news on medical reports being fudged for the local team. And this is where she was now?

"Oh, fuck this," Kirstie groaned, waddling off set while trying not to show her bare ass to the camera. "I quit."

She stormed out of PGNT, going to a different parking lot than the one where she and Harry met up. Kirstie was burning up and she could no longer calm down with a joint thanks to this belly. Magic or not, she could still feel something kicking around inside of her and she'd rather air on the side of caution when it came to drinking and smoking now. But there was another way to soothe the fire inside of her: getting laid. Her old boyfriend dumped her as soon as the belly showed up and Harry had just broken her heart. Who did that leave?

"Thomas was always looking at Lucy's belly a little too long," she murmured to herself, patting her stomach. Then a grin spread across her face; Hannah's fashion show was tonight and it was all pregnant women. She could get some clothes to cover her half-naked body up and if Thomas was as fond of preggos as Kirstie surmised, he wouldn't be able to stay away.

She fished her phone out of the pocket on her apron and called Hannah. "Hey Kirstie! You still on for tonight?" Hannah asked, sounding exhausted.

"Sure am. Mind if I stop by early to try on the outfits?" Kirstie asked, patting her belly and smiling.