"'Course I have. And had Hortense beat me near-senseless with a shoe for that," Scrooge joked.

Though, really, it wasn't too far off the mark. She had smacked him quite a bit with her shoes in the past.

"Besides, you're already uncomfortable enough. I can't imagine spreading aloe on your belly would be that much fun. Bad enough there's that goop for the ultrasound."