"I absolutely fucking hate this," Laurie groaned, not for the first time. "I'd really, really like to be able to eat something and keep it down. You know? I think that'd be a nice change of pace."

Dan made a sympathetic noise, shaking his head. There wasn't much he could do for her, but he knew that she was having a rough time. They were awoken each morning to the sound of her vomiting, and though she always had an appetite and was always enthusiastic to eat some weird something or other, keeping it down was another matter entirely.

She was well into her first trimester, and things were going great for her, aside from the side effects getting to her. The baby was growing at a healthy rate and everything seemed to be normal. The doctor was thrown by the nature of their relationship but didn't make much comment, and there were no health concerns whatsoever.

He and Walter were doing their best to adjust to the situation, doing what they could for Laurie when they could and putting up with how much crabbier she was than usual. Whether it was the hormones or just her irritation at throwing up all the goddamn time, they couldn't tell yet.

~X~

"When does it get better for her?" Walter asked him later on. Laurie was asleep, finding that she needed a lot more rest than she had before, and the two talked quietly while she napped.

"Usually this part doesn't last for too long. Eventually, she should be over the sickness part of things," Dan replied. "And that's when the real fun starts. Once the baby is bigger and we know more about him or her and can start planning and getting their room ready."

He nodded, not making eye contact. "It's difficult," he said. "Things are going too fast."

"Do you think so? Sometimes I think that," said Dan, " other times I think it's not going fast enough. I'm so excited to meet our baby that sometimes I'm not sure how I'll manage to wait."

"Too nervous," Walter replied. "I know, with both of you, things won't be as difficult, but...I worry."

"What do you have to worry about?"

"Being a good parent." His face darkened a bit; Dan and Laurie knew a little bit, but they did not know all of the details. They knew, at least, that Walter had not had the best upbringing, and it made sense that he would be concerned about raising his own child better than he had been raised.

"You will be," Dan argued. "There's absolutely nothing for you to worry about. I know you and Laurie knows you, and neither one of us doubt that you'll be the best father you can be. You know that we wouldn't all want to have a child together if any of us weren't good for it."

"It's hard not to be nervous."

"I'm nervous as hell," he confessed, "and I know it's hard not to be. You still can be. I'm sure even Laurie gets like that a lot, but in the end, we gotta remember that all of us are in this together. We've all got something we're afraid of doing wrong, but it's our experiences that gave us those fears that are gonna end up making us better parents. You know?"

Walter nodded and didn't say anything else, and Dan knew that he was at least feeling a little better if he wasn't arguing. It was when he was comfortable that he tended to go quiet like this, whereas when he had a problem, he tried to make it known, at least to them. He was likely still worried, but Dan hoped that his words had managed to give Walter some temporary comfort and that he would feel just a little bit better about their child.

~X~

To say that she was displeased would be an understatement. Laurie was absolutely furious that her mother was trying this, and had made that known several times, but Sally had told her over and over again that she needed to at least give this a try. He had already missed on seeing his daughter grow up; the least she could do was let him get to see his grandchild.

"If that means I have to be his friend or whatever, then I'm not interested," she had argued.

"Well, there's more to life than what you want, sugar," her mother had replied.

It had taken a lot more convincing from Sally, and some advice from Dan- who agreed that, while Eddie wasn't the best man in his past, he clearly wanted to make up for that and should be given the chance- but Laurie finally agreed to spend some time with him and try to get to know him better. She wasn't sure how she felt about him getting to see her baby, but she couldn't help but agree that maybe even someone like him deserved a chance.

The three of them had met up a few times for lunch, but no progress had really been made. It had always ended up being long stretches of silence while Laurie wouldn't make eye contact and Eddie would try to break the ice with bad jokes that Sally would laugh all too hard at. Eventually, the food would be eaten and the bill would be paid and there would be no more reason for them to try to force it, and Laurie would go home, no closer to her father than before.

So she was a little irritated, to say the least, that Sally was still trying to keep this up. It was clearly a lost cause and she had better things to do than sit through awkward meals with a man she hardly knew and had never thought much of, just because her mother wanted to feel better about her failed relationship.

"How are things at home?" Eddie asked her, as if small talk would do any good. He had yet to say anything judgmental about her odd living situation, which she supposed she could appreciate, but she was always waiting for him to slip up and do just that.

"Same as always," she replied vaguely, shrugging, and then they fell into the silence that had become too familiar. She let her eyes wander over the other people in the restaurant, preferring to pay attention to anything other than her own table, and that was when she saw a man tripping over absolutely nothing. The floor was, as far as she could tell, empty and smooth, and his shoes didn't even have laces, but he nearly face-planted and before she could stop herself, she was laughing.

"Did you see that?" Eddie asked, and she realized that he had been looking in the same direction as her and that he was laughing too. And she wanted to stop laughing, she really did, but instead she only laughed harder.

"Yeah, I did," she barely managed to say through her fit of giggles. "Just walking along and then-"

"Timber!"

And then she was laughing so hard that she could not breathe and her stomach hurt, and she gripped the edge of the table for support while he beat a fist against his thigh. The two of them were in hysterics while Sally just watched them, chuckling to herself, not because she was particularly amused by the situation- though she had let out a sharp, rude laugh when she first saw it happen- but because the two of them finally seemed to be getting on, whether Laurie realized it- or wanted it- or not.

When Laurie managed to regain her composure, she wiped tears from her eyes and looked up, smile fading quickly. She had lost herself in the humor of the situation and forgotten that she was laughing right alongside the man she was bound and determined to despise. She had let her guard down for too long and she reminded herself that having a thing or two in common did not excuse anything.

For the rest of the meal, she had to fight back laughter whenever she happened to remember the tripping man, and when she accidentally caught Eddie's eye and he mouthed 'timber', she did laugh, just a little bit. Neither of them noticed Sally grinning like an idiot the entire time.