Author's Note: This is a fanfic of a fanfic, if you will - my attempt at continuing Omens' wonderfully begun, but unfinished, story "Out of the Blue". If you haven't read "Out of the Blue", I strongly suggest doing so before starting this. It won't make much sense otherwise.

...

it's a long, long road

from which there is no return

while we're on the way to there

why not share

and the load

doesn't weigh me down at all

he ain't heavy, he's my brother

- He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother, by B. Scott and B. Russell

...

They tried to argue it, of course. She couldn't throw her life away on a whim, a week from now she'd be regretting this, how were the two of them going to raise a child together when half the time they couldn't spend an hour in the same room together, and on and on.

If there was one thing that Alex had learned in years of arguing with Justin, though, it was that you couldn't argue with someone unless they argued back. And so she simply let their parents' protests and pleas wash over her, ignoring them as if she simply didn't hear them.

Ever-logical Justin tried to meet their arguments, of course, but between the emotions of the day and having just come off an hours-long drive, Jerry and Theresa weren't in a logical mood. The three of them argued quietly, faces rather than voices carrying the intensity of their emotions... until the nurse came by to see if Justin had any questions about the paperwork and to take Ricky back for the pediatrician's routine check.

That interrupted the argument, but once the nurse was gone, it resumed, louder now that there wasn't a baby there to possibly be disturbed by it. It was then that Alex finally broke, after a long, sleepless night of worrying about her brother, about the baby, about everything.

It was a quiet break, though, and surprisingly, Max was the first one to notice it. As tears ran down Alex's face, he looked up from the game he was playing on his cell phone and blinked at her. "Alex? Are you okay?"

Everyone stopped at that. Justin was closest to her, and he moved to her, trying to take her in his arms. She pulled away, feeling suddenly ashamed and embarrassed that he should be supporting her right now, when she was supposed to be here for him, but Justin caught her, wrapped her up in his strong arms and squeezed, placing himself between her and their parents as he did.

Turning his head to face back at them over his shoulder, Justin said, "Look. I'm keeping my son. That's final. I didn't ask Alex to help - I tried to argue her out of it - but if she's going to school here, she'll be around here anyway. So I'll let her help, but if she changes her mind, I'm not going to try to make her stay."

"I'm not changing my mind," Alex got out somehow, but Justin kept talking.

"Mom, Dad... if you want to help, I'd be glad to have the help." He swallowed then, and Alex felt tears drip onto her shoulder, hugged her brother harder. "But if you're not here to help," he went on, his voice cracking, "then please... just leave. This is hard enough already."

A moment passed, then another, and then another set of arms was enfolding them, then another as Jerry joined Theresa. "I'm sorry," Theresa said. "You're right. We shouldn't be yelling at you right now. If this is what you really want…."

"It is," Alex and Justin said together, Alex lifting her head from Justin's shoulder.

Theresa nodded and smiled, her eyes welling up with tears. "Then that's what you'll do."

…

As much as they might have liked to, Justin and Alex couldn't simply leave with Ricky as soon as Justin finished the paperwork. The hospital was insistent that procedure be followed… and besides, while Justin was willing to bring his son back to his dorm room if needed, the less time the baby had to spend there, the better.

Thus, Jerry and Max were dispatched to begin looking for an apartment, while Theresa took on the job of getting food, a change of clothes, and other necessities for Justin and Alex, since it didn't appear that Ricky would be released until at least 24 hours after the birth, and neither Justin nor Alex was willing to leave before then.

They did, however, bow to necessity enough to take bathroom breaks, and thus it was that around eleven in the morning, Alex was alone when one of the nurses brought out little Ricky. "It's feeding time again," the short, somewhat pudgy blonde woman said, smiling at Alex, who stood up to meet her and take Ricky. Looking down at her nephew's round little face, she smiled automatically when his bright blue eyes (Theresa told them their eyes had been blue when they were born too - most babies' were) met hers, taking him into her left arm, holding his head with her right hand for a moment as she got him situated, then gave him the bottle.

"Very good," the nurse said approvingly. "You're doing very well for a first-time mother."

"Thanks," Alex said, still smiling down at Ricky - and then what the nurse had said sunk in, and she shook her head quickly, looking up from him to the nurse. "Oh, no - I'm not his mother. I'm his aunt, and -"

She cut off as the nurse smiled gently and touched her on the arm. "I know who you are. The staff talk, even if we don't do it in front of patients. If you're the woman who's going to be helping raise him, then you're his mother, no matter who gave birth to him, or what the paperwork says."

Alex stared at the little nurse for a moment, mouth open and suddenly feeling dry, then swallowed. I… oh my God. I'm going to be his mom. She looked down again, at the little blue eyes that were looking up at her as Ricky greedily gulped down his formula. Can I do this? Really? Can I even back out now? I can't stick Justin doing this alone, not after what I said….

"Hey… don't let it get to you," the nurse said then, and Alex looked at her again.

"Don't let what get to me?"

"That sudden panicked feeling you're getting. It happens to all new parents."

"When does it stop?"

The nurse smiled, then shook her head. "It goes away for a while sometimes, but if you're a good parent, it never really ends."

…

A few hours later, the four of them - Justin, Alex, Theresa, and little Ricky - were sitting peacefully, Ricky asleep in his father's arms. They were ensconced in one of the waiting rooms in the maternity area, since the postpartum room the new parents would normally be using was Marjorie's room, and since Marjorie's insurance was the one paying for that - and indeed, for all of this - Justin wasn't going to push for another.

"Justin." The voice was quiet and unfamiliar, and when Alex looked up, the face was as well - but although she'd never seen the pretty, tired-looking brunette, Alex knew instantly who she had to be. Marjorie.

Alex shifted uncomfortably as Justin got to his feet, still holding Ricky. "Yes?" he asked, his voice a little wary.

"Can I… can I hold him for a minute?" she asked, and Justin looked at her for a moment, then nodded. Carefully, he handed Ricky over to Marjorie, saying as he did, "Use a hand to support his head. A newborn's neck isn't strong -"

"I know," Marjorie said quietly. "They made me take the child care classes, in case I changed my mind about giving him up." She cradled him carefully in her arms, swayed a little side-to-side, rocking him gently, then smiled down at him. "He's beautiful," she said then. "He has your hair."

Justin swallowed, looking uncomfortable, and Alex stood up, moved over to his side, linking arms with him. Behind her, Theresa stood as well, and the three of them watched Marjorie.

After a few moments, the brown-haired girl looked away from the baby and up at Justin. "I… I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier."

"Yeah, well…." Justin looked away, stared at a spot on wall, then shrugged. "You told me. That's the important thing."

She kept looking at Justin, the look turning into a stare, a blush growing on her face as he continued to not look at her. "I… you're braver than I am." She stopped, swallowed. "I didn't get a good impression of you… that night. I didn't think you'd…."

Marjorie's voice trailed off, and Alex narrowed her eyes. "You didn't think what? You didn't think my brother would want his baby? You didn't think he'd care about it?" Alex was snapping at the girl, and she realized it on some level, but right at the moment, she didn't care. Justin didn't deserve to have some kind of guilt trip or whatever laid on him, and if Marjorie was looking for forgiveness for laying all this on Justin, she was looking in the wrong place.

The other girl blinked fast and licked her lips at Alex's words, then shook her head quickly. "That's not how I mean it," she said quickly, and then she looked back at Justin. "I… Justin -" Her voice became just a little more than a squeak as she said, "If you think you could forgive me… I'd like to keep our baby."

"No!" Alex called out - and then she was looking up into Justin's eyes, as he leaned over her where she was sitting on the slick pale-green vinyl of the waiting room chair.

"Alex… wake up. It's just a nightmare," he said, one hand on her shoulder, the other stroking her hair. "I'm right here. You're okay."

Quickly, Alex looked around, then looked back to Justin. "Where's Ricky?"

"Back with the nurses. Another test. Mom's with him - I went down to get you this." He gestured toward the end table by where Alex was sitting, and she looked down to see a cherry Coke and a Snickers. "When I came in, you were making noise and kicking. Are you okay?" He stroked her hair again, and Alex felt a momentary urge to throw herself against her brother's chest and cling to him. Instead, she swallowed, then nodded.

"Yeah… I was just having a bad dream. About Ricky." Yeah, she thought. That was bad. Marjorie actually had come to see him, earlier, asked to hold him for a moment… but then she'd left, not made any attempt to try to keep him, nor any indication that she'd wanted to.

Still, the whole time she'd been there, Alex had found herself terrified that the girl had had a change of heart, that she'd want to raise Ricky with Justin now, and… And he'd be taken away from me, Alex thought. But that didn't happen. Everything's okay. She realized then that Justin was saying something, had been saying something. "Sorry… what?"

"Alex…." Justin stroked her hair, then quietly said, "If this is too much… if you've changed your mind, it's okay. Just say so."

"What?" Alex repeated then, shaking her head. "Changed my mind? About what?"

"About this - about helping me raise Ricky." Justin's grey-green eyes looked down into Alex's as he went on. "I know you didn't know completely what you were getting into. If you've -"

Sitting up straight, Alex shook her head quickly, frowning at her brother. "No. I haven't changed my mind. I want to help you with Ricky." She paused a moment then, grinned and said, "Sorry, but you're stuck with me."

Justin smiled, straightening up as well, and shook his head a little. "I'm not."

"What?" Alex frowned, then raised a hand, pointing at him with it. "Oh yes you are… you are definitely -"

"I'm not sorry," Justin clarified then, catching Alex's hand in his. "Come on. Let's go see Ricky."

...