When Hancock came back into the infirmary, he was very quiet. He looked strange, being so serious. He hadn't had time to think about how he felt about this yet; just enough time to get just high enough to ease his completely frayed nerves. Talia was laying with her vault suit zipped open and her stomach exposed. Doctor Forsythe was pouring some kind of goop on to her belly, and she looked extremely uncomfortable. She gave Hancock a nervous look and twitched her hand. She didn't hold it out; she knew he was just as nervous and confused as she was. She wasn't willing to make him any more uncomfortable than he was already. Regardless, he walked over to her and held her hand tightly.

Half of him was hoping that it was all a mistake, that this wasn't really happening. That this was all one really bizarre, really bad jet flashback. The other half... The other half wasn't exactly happy, but it wasn't upset either. He was curious, as terrible as this whole situation was making him feel. He watched carefully as the Doctor rubbed the pile of goo around Talia's stomach, spreading it around with a wand connected to a machine with a long wire. On the machine was a monitor, showing static black and white. But after a moment of moving the wand around, the Doctor looked back up and at the machine, pressing a few buttons. An image appeared; an oddly shaped blob, pulsating slowly.

"What the fuck is that?", he finally said, breaking his silence.

"That", began Doctor Forsythe,"is your baby. Your... remarkably healthy baby. See that big blob right there? That's it's head. This is it's body. This... This is astonishing! I can't see any anomalies at all! Of course, it's still in very early development, but so far this little child right here," he gestured to Talia's stomach,"is a perfectly healthy human baby!"

"...Huh", was all Hancock said. He felt a warm glow in his heart, and not the kind you get from being irradiated. The kind he felt when he and Talia first admitted feelings for each other. On their first night together. When they made things exclusive. It was a sensation that was quickly spreading throughout his body, tingling sensation flowing through him. One moment he was terrified; the next, he was ecstatic. He glanced at Talia, who was staring intently at the scree, a smile spreading across her lips.

"John... This is ours. Our baby. God... We're going to have a baby. A little you. A little me. A little us!", she said with a quiet breath.

"Let's hope he doesn't come out lookin' too much like me.", Hancock replied, gripping Talia's hand even tighter.

"I don't know about that...", Talia trailed off.

"That he'll look like me?!"

"That it'll be a he. This doesn't feel the way Shaun felt. I bet it's a girl!"

"We'll see in two months. For now, I'd think it's best if you stay in the vault for your pregnancy-or at least nearby, anyway."

Talia's head snapped back to look at the doctor with an expression of total shock.

"That's just not going to happen, Doctor! I've got way too many places to go, and way too many people to help!"

"Yes, and I'm sure that a little light lead poisoning will most definitely help the odds of your baby living to term", Forsythe replied harshly.

Talias lips pressed together tightly. She really couldn't argue against that. But staying in one single place for 8 months... That seemed absolutely unbearable.

"What if... What if we could come to a compromise? I stay somewhere else, somewhere with a good doctor. I come back in a few months for another checkup, or you come visit that place, and that's that. What'd'ya say?"

Doctor Forsythe had a sinking feeling as to where she was referring, and was loathe to confirm it.

"Where exactly where you thinking?", he asked with a sigh.

"Goodneighbor", Talia and Hancock said at the same time.

The Doctor looked at them like they were both crazy.

"Hear us out, Doc", Hancock added quickly.

"For starters, considering all the enemies I've made, I need to be somewhere I know is absolutely safe for me. I can only think of one other place, but I'm not staying somewhere where my- wait. What are you to me, anyway? My boyfriend? Husband?", Talia said with a furrowed brow.

Hancock shrugged. "For lack of a better word, let's go with Partner. The first one's too weird at my age, and the second one's... scary."

"Partner, then, isn't welcome for the whole damn 6 months I've got left!"

"Perhaps you could come to some sort of agreement with the Mayor?", Forsythe asked, exasperated.

Talia and Hancock shared an uncomfortable glance.

"That's... Uh... Particularly unlikely. Once he finds out whose kid this is... Things'll go south real fast. If he doesn't already guess I mean. In any case, in Goodneighbor, it's pretty much assured that no-one is gonna fuck with Talia. Even the real stupid ones aren't that stupid. They know that if she doesn't gut em' right then and there, far worse things will happen when I find out."

The Doctor rubbed his temples with an even louder, more obnoxious sigh. "If I don't comply, you two are just going to sneak out of here and go any damn place you like anyway. Fine. But I expect you back here in no less than three months. I doubt that the road between will be a problem for the two of you, so don't try coming here any later than a few days with anything less than time itself slowing down. Do you understand?"

"Crystal, Doctor Forsythe.", Talia answered as Hancock helped her sit up on the table. She zipped herself up and the Doctor gave her a list of things to avoid doing at all costs. She looked through it and knew that most of these she would be breaking at least twice in the next week alone. Maybe when she was bigger she'd worry about these, but for now... Then there was the issue of how sick she was getting. Forsythe gave her a few vials of anti-nausea medication, but told her to use it as sparingly as possible. He said some of the nausea would subside within the next few months, but she was certain that it wasn't going to let her alone that easily. This was all happening so suddenly, so fast; she couldn't help be feel a little dissociated. Like she was looking at all these events through a picture in a storybook.

She was elated, but so very confused. Just like Hancock, the absolute impossibility of it all was enough to make everything around them feel unreal. So, until she could really feel anything again, she'd be going through all of this with a numb fluidity. Taking it in stride, but without really noticing. It'd be almost three days, a few moments after walking in to Goodneighbor and being asked how they were by Daisy that they began to grasp the reality of their predicament. Talia's mouth went dry as she groped through her mind for the right things to say. Should she tell her? Should she make an excuse? It didn't matter; Hancock seemed to panic at the question.

"Pregnant.", he practically shouted in a voice that sounded like he had been holding his breath for entire uncomfortable thirty seconds that had passed since Daisy had asked.

Daisy's eyes went wide and her smile dropped from her face.

"Whaaaat?!"

There weren't a whole lot of people milling about, even though it was the middle of the day by then, but those who were within earshot (and that wasn't a small range) pretty much entirely stopped what they were doing and swarmed over.

"What do you mean "pregnant"?!"

"Are you serious?!"

"Talia I can't believe you!"

"What the hell's going on?"

"You probably shouldn't have done that, love...", Talia leaned over and whispered to the shaking Hancock. It was his turn to stand mouth agape and dry. She elbowed him in the ribs, and he seemed to snap out of his initial panic.

Though he was still pretty fuzzy on what he was supposed to do now, he managed to get ahold of himself outwardly and enough to give a statement.

"Alright, alright! Now listen up, 'cause I'm only gonna say this once! Let's start with the obvious: Talia did not go wandering. This kid is definitely mine, no matter how crazy this is sounding. That said, we know just as much about how the hell it happened as you; nothing. We don't know anything, and I doubt we're gonna get any real answers. And it goes without saying that everyone better be doing their best to make this easy on Talia. No badgering her about this, no going out of your way to make any little piece of this puzzle harder than it needs to be. I don't give a fuck about any rumors that might go around, but if I hear about anyone harassing her about this, I'm gonna make things nice and simple for them; they're gonna wish they'd never even heard of me.", he shouted to the crowd in the most charming and most menacing voice he could muster.

A few murmurs shot through the still gathering crowd of people. Even KLEO had joined the masses. Daisy was the first to step forward.

"I, uh... Congratulations, Talia. Hancock.", she said, sounding like she was trying to convince herself that there was nothing to wonder about. It took her a moment, but Daisy soon came to realize what a wonderful thing it was. She was a good friend to them over the years, and it took her less time than any of the other people there to assure herself that Talia really hadn't been fooling around. Her face lit up, and she stepped even closer and grasped Talia's hands in her own.

"You know what? I really mean it. I'm so happy for you both. This couldn't have happened to a better couple.", she smiled. She lowered her head and bent toward Hancock. "Don't fuck it up, kid.", she muttered and merrily walked back to her shop, leaving a confused Hancock and a giggling Talia to the rest of the people of Goodneighbor. The next few people were similar in their congratulations. Two walked away from the crowd shaking their heads, and one immediately ran to the Third Rail to spread the word. They weren't sure what was going to come of this; Talia wasn't even showing yet and here they were announcing a pregnancy that was almost assured to end badly. When they got back to the Old State House a few hours later, they were exhausted.

Talia sat on the bed after a wave of nausea and injected a bit of the medicine the Doctor had given her. She was still nauseous, but she stopped vomiting at least. She was quiet, looking down at her feet with a flushed face. Hancock looked at her with a lot of concern. This was going to be really tough on her, wasn't it?

"Hey.", he said gently as he knelt in front of her and held on to her arms. "No matter what happens next... I want you to know that this is the best thing that could ever have happened to me. You and that kid... This is more than I've ever deserved. Whatever road this takes us on, we will always have this point in our lives. This happened, despite overwhelming odds, and nothing can take that away." He pulled her into a tight hug and she wrapped her arms around him instinctively.

"I love you.", was all she could say.

"I love you too."