Dan and Laurie were getting married.

It wasn't really a surprise, Eddie supposed. The two had grown very close over the past year, and it made sense that they would want to make it official. They had been living together since they had begun dating- at first, Laurie had said she would try to look for her own place, but at some point, she stopped looking and Dan never complained. It was obvious that they were inseparable, so it was obvious that he was going to propose eventually.

And things were going well for the two of them. Dan had finished his degree and wrote for a living and Laurie had finally gotten the acceptance letter she had been hoping for for so long. With so many good things happening to them, getting married was practically part of the celebration. It wasn't something he could say he hadn't seen coming, but just like the beginning of their relationship, it was a strange thing for him to watch happen.

When a girl got engaged, the man used to ask the father for her hand in marriage. Maybe that wasn't common anymore- Eddie really wouldn't know- but once upon a time, the father would know well in advance, and he would be a part of the arrangements and get to know what was happening as it happened. But even if things were still the way they had been, it wouldn't matter, because Laurie still had absolutely no idea that Eddie was her father.

It had been a year of her tolerating his presence, a year of her going from absolutely despising him to begrudgingly accepting that he was a part of her group of friends whether she liked it or not. He had been friends with Dan before any of this had started, and Walter was Dan's closest friend and therefore one of hers, and it had also been a year since Eddie and Walter had found themselves in bed together and decided to see where things went from there.

Things went, from their first date to the time they let their relationship be known to Dan and Laurie, to everything after that. At some point along the line, after about a week of being strangely distant, Walter plucked up the nerve to ask if they were actually a couple, and Eddie could have laughed about how nervous Walter was if he hadn't been wondering the same thing and had never gotten the courage himself.

So they finally admitted to each other that they were "official", whatever that meant and as if they really needed to say it. Since they had begun seeing each other, they spent as much time together as they could and it got to the point where neither had to ask; they just knew that, if they were both free, they would end up together. It was a while before Walter was comfortable enough in the relationship to be intimate again, but Eddie couldn't say he minded.

Being with another man was still something he knew next to nothing about, and it took him a while to even get over his embarrassment about needing to seek out information on it, much less actually learn something. But once the younger man was ready, he knew a thing or two and was able to make their first time sober (or almost sober, in his case) very, very nice.

After a few months, when it became clear that this was something that, as unbelievable as it seemed, was going to last, Eddie began to consider the living situation. Walter worked hard and often just to afford the small apartment he lived in, while Eddie didn't struggle much at all and lived fairly comfortably. If Dan and Laurie were doing fine living together after moving in so soon, surely a couple that took time to get to know each other first would do fine as well.

At first, Walter wasn't sure about moving in with him, but wouldn't say why. It took a lot of prodding to find out that he was afraid of taking advantage of the relationship, which Eddie had a good laugh at before insisting that that wasn't the case and that it would be better for both of them if they lived together. Eddie also insisted on covering most of the living expenses since he had always been able to do it before, but Walter took on a few bills and was able to cut down to only one job.

Things were going well for them too, even if the relationship had been an unusual step for the both of them. Neither of them were particularly good at the whole 'domestic' thing, but they made it work and Eddie was the happiest he could ever remember being, like everything was finally working out in his favor.

Then Laurie announced that she and Dan were engaged and he was forced to remember his fling with Sally, the first time he had thought he loved someone and lost them, and the daughter that he had always wanted but could never really have. She was getting married and he would be lucky if he was even invited to the wedding, but it was the father's job to give the daughter away, and he wanted to do that more than anything. It was the last thing he could do for her as a father.

He would be seeing Sally again, he was sure. She would be around for the wedding and if he were invited, he would have to see her then. And if he were going to be seeing Sally anyway, maybe he would have a chance to finally talk to her about all of this and about potentially letting the secret out. But before any of that happened, he knew he had to finally explain to Walter how complicated the situation was and what might be happening in the future.

"A lotta this is gonna sound really weird, so I just need ya to stay with me until the end," he said. Walter nodded, allowing him to go on. "A long time ago, you asked me why I was nice to Laurie even though she never kept it a secret that she couldn't stand me. I said it was cos she reminded me of her mother, said there were things she didn't know about the past. It's...more complicated than that.

"There was more between me an' her mom than what she's told everyone. We...had a thing for a little while, but she was married to someone. She got pregnant an' we both knew the baby was mine, but she tried to stay in her marriage instead. I never got to know her and only saw her once when she was a baby, but Laurie's...my daughter."

Walter didn't respond, but his eyes widened just a bit. He looked like he was trying to keep a straight face, and Eddie continued, "Sorry I never said anything before. It's not somethin' that's easy to talk about it and it sounds pretty damn unbelievable. And I wanted to be able to tell her before I told anyone else, but with how things are going, I think I'm gonna have to talk to her mother about this soon. I didn't wanna start talkin' with her again without you knowin' why. I'm sorry that you're just now findin' out about it."

Finally, he replied, "It makes sense. Wasn't any of my business and you told me now. She does resemble you, now that you mention it."

He hadn't expected Walter to blow up at him or have a huge response of any sort, given how soft spoken he was, but he was glad that he was taking it so well despite it being a pretty big bomb to be dropped. The younger man was taking it so well, in fact, that Eddie didn't even feel weird asking about what to do.

"I want to give her away at the wedding, but even if I told her the truth, she'd still probably hate me," he said. "It's a hell of a lot to take in and there's no tellin' if she'd ever get used to the idea, much less in time for the wedding. But I still feel like I should tell her, and I guess I'd have to ask Sally about that first. I'm sure she doesn't wanna hear from me, but...I dunno. Just not sure what to do."

"If you think you need to tell Laurie, you should tell her and if you think you should ask her mother first, you should ask her," replied Walter simply. He sounded almost disinterested. "It's not something I can give a good opinion on."

Eddie sighed but gave a smile anyway. He should have known that Walter wouldn't be able to give him much advice, but there wasn't anyone he could ask without also telling them first, and he wasn't going to tell anyone else before he told Laurie. He supposed he would have to think on it more himself.