A/N: Thanks, and dedication, go to Chantal on this story. I told her of this idea and she loved it-and then helped me form it into this story. Ya'll enjoy! Until next time-PCGirl.

Disclaimer: All characters are property of ABC/Disney. I'm just borrowing them and will return them before anyone knows any different.

Natalie's eyes opened and for a moment she wasn't sure where she was—but quickly realized she was in a hospital room. How did she get here? The last thing she remembered was she was leaving the coffee shop with Rex—him forcing her to try some horrid fruit and vegetable concoction—It's good for you and my little niece or nephew, he joked—but in reality it tasted like sludge.

She stared at the door and suddenly got nervous at seeing Michael walking into her room—he didn't know, nobody knew but her family—how was she going to explain this to him?

"Good, you're awake—I got most of your labs back Natalie—."

"Let me guess—my hormones are showing that I'm around 8 weeks gestation," she said dryly—praying he hadn't called John, she wasn't ready to tell him just yet.

"You already knew." It came out as a statement rather than a question.

"I've had regular cycles since I was in middle school, Michael—I've known for a month and a half now. How did I get here?"

"Rex brought you—said you suddenly had trouble breathing and felt faint. Is it John's?" he asked as she nodded quietly, not making eye contact with him. "Does he know?"

"Not yet—I wanted to wait until I had him alone, but lately his new buddy Marty is always in the office when I stop by."

"He needs to know," he said as he looked back at the chart. "Natalie—there's something else."

"What? Is the baby ok?"

"The baby is fine," he smiled at the idea of himself being an uncle. "There is a problem with your heart. The defect has probably been there since birth, it's not an issue normally, but the pregnancy—it's starting to put a strain on your heart. I want to keep you overnight for observation and then I suggest you just take it easy so we don't have to put you on permanent bed rest, ok?"

"Yes, doctor," she said with a guilty look on her face.

"I'm not just worried about you, Nat—that's my little niece or nephew you are carrying in there too now," he said as he thought silently, and John will kill me if anything happens to you.

"Welcome back, Natalie," said one of the officers as she walked into the squad room. It had been a week since she'd been in the hospital—she'd taken the week off and rested at Llanfair, spending most of her time sitting on the couch with her laptop in front of her researching everything she could about her condition.

The prognosis for most was good—seventy five of the women at some point in the later part of pregnancy had to go on permanent bed rest, and there was a 1 in 3 chance she would probably have to have the baby before full term. She would carefully go across both bridges as she got to them, but until then she wanted to work—so Uncle Bo had cut her hours back to three days a week, six hour shifts—cutting her back even more once she got midway through the second trimester.

As she looked up a smile appeared on her face, "Hey," she said to John.

"Hey—Bo told me you caught a nasty stomach bug."

"Yeah, it hit me pretty hard—I think I'll be ok though."

"Glad you're back—I—I missed seeing you around," he said bashfully. Honestly he'd wanted to go by Llanfair and check on her—but something always seemed to come up so he'd push it off, saying he'd go by tomorrow.

"Thanks," she smiled—as he started to go to his office she began to follow him—ready to tell him the news, but then heard Marty calling his name, asking about some consult he wanted her to do, so she sat back down—taking a deep breath before starting her work.

Natalie stood outside of John's door, thinking about the conversation she'd had with Michael the night before.

"How you feeling?" he asked as he sat down on ottoman next to hers.

"Good. Being back at work these past few weeks has been helpful—though I'm getting scared. What if I'm doing too much? What if I'm putting myself and the baby at risk? Are you sure there's no way to repair my heart while I'm pregnant?"

"That's why I came by—there's a doctor in Harrisburg—her specialty is pregnancies where the mother has a heart condition. She can tell you more about the options than anyone can. Normally it would be a month before she could see you, but I pulled some strings—what are you doing two days from now?" he asked with a grin on his face as she jumped up and hugged him.

She'd packed her bag last night in anticipation of the appointment, and was ready to head down to Harrisburg today. She was scared though—more scared than she ever thought possible, and the only person she wanted there next to her when she met the doctor tomorrow—she wasn't even sure if he'd come.

As she hesitantly knocked she heard his gruff enter and opened the door, "Hey."

"Hey," he said as he realized she was looking better than she did when she came back from the stomach flu—she was almost glowing, he thought.

"Are you busy?"

"I've got court in an hour," he said as he glanced at his watch.

"Oh, well this won't take long. John—there's something I need to tell you. I'm—going out of town—I think it'll just be a day or two, but it might be longer."

"Is everything ok?" he asked absently as he looked for a file.

"Yeah," she said as she heard heels clicking down the hallway and so wanted to slam the door in Marty's face and tell John right there everything that was going on, but instead let the woman intrude on the semi-family crisis they were having, though half the couple didn't even know it existed.

"John—do you want to go over some reports before court?"

John glanced at Natalie—something wasn't right—and he wanted her to talk to him—to tell him why he'd gotten this sick feeling every time she had a day off or left early. But he thought himself as a cop first, besides—if it was serious she would have stopped Marty from talking, right? "Yeah—sure—you said you'll be back in a few days, right?" he questioned Natalie.

"Yeah—I'll see you when I get back," she said as she walked quickly out of the office and straight to the woman's restroom—taking deep breaths and not letting herself get worked up. He didn't know—so it wasn't his fault that he'd just pushed his own child out of his office.

Twenty minutes later she got up from her desk and looked at the letter she'd written. She told him everything—how she was pregnant with his child, that she had a heart condition and was going to Harrisburg to see a specialist. She'd even told him when and where her appointment for the next day was—in case he wanted to be there with her. She slipped it in an envelope addressed to him, put it on his desk, and headed out for Harrisburg—hoping when he read it he'd come be with her—not just for the responsibility of his child or to be her white knight—but because he honestly wanted to be by her side throughout whatever came next.