Elena laughed as Sam & Chloe continued to argue. She couldn't deny it, there were some sparks flying there. Sully made eye contact with her from across the table, wiggling his eyebrows towards the two of them. Yup, he could see it too.

Who would have thought it would have been this simple, she thought, sipping her mint lemonade through a straw, gazing at Nate out on the porch.

(One month ago)

"Pregnant?" Nate repeated, for the third time, staring at her blankly.

"Yes, Nate, pregnant. Don't tell me you weren't aware of the consequences of our actions, or did they not teach you that at the convent?" Elena chortled, forcing laughter over her anxiety, as she looked down at the tiny plus sign on the stick.

The silence from her husband made her twist to look at him incredulously, "Wait, you mean-"

"No, I'm aware, thank you," Nate mumbled, the words coming out a bit too sharply for her taste.

Elena felt cold seeping through her body. He did not look pleased. He looked confused, as if he figured this never would happen.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he bounced off the bed suddenly.

"Where are you going?" Elena squeaked, struggling to keep down another wave of nausea.

Nathan turned to face her with excitement, "I'm getting my keys. We need to visit a doctor!"

Elena let out an anxious laugh. Hearing it, he froze. Turning around again, he looked at her with a sheepish expression on his face, "That is what you do when you get pregnant, right?"

At this, the tension that Elena was feeling all but disappeared. She laughed as she got up and looped her arm through her husband's, "As if I've done this before. But it's a good place to start."

Nate was pretty much silent the entire car ride home. He pulled up into their garage and parked the car, but made no move to get out. Elena, taking the hint, sat in the passenger seat and waited.

Finally, he spoke, "Why didn't you tell me if you knew about it already?"

Elena sighed, "I didn't know for sure."

"But you had an idea."

She shifted guiltily, "I did."

Nate already knew why she hadn't told him. It killed him a little to know that she put up with nausea, headaches and fatigues just to get out of telling him. She thought he would run.

His hand shot out, gripping hers tightly. Looking into her eyes, he spoke clearly, but the words sounded hollow even to himself, "I'm always going to be there, Elena."

"I know."

Nate leaned against the railing, beer in hand, staring out to the street outside. He had left the living room almost twenty minutes ago to answer a call, but hadn't gone back. Raucous voices carried through the slightly open door. He could hear Sam regaling Elena was stories from his latest escapade – until suddenly the voices grew louder and then disappeared with the click of the door closing.

"Penny for your thoughts, Drake?" Chloe drawled, leaning against the railing next to him.

Nate gave her a perfunctory smile. Another life…

Without pausing, she went on, "Would you look at all of this. First the house, then the white picket fence, now a baby," she snorted, "I really had pegged you down as a different guy."

Nate chuckled, "Maybe I'm just tired of people shooting at me."

Chloe grinned, "Maybe. Hey, are you okay? This is a lot to take it."

A lot to take in was right. Here he was, an idiot boy – mother committed suicide, dad dumped him in an orphanage. He begged, borrowed, stole his way through life. How the hell could he be a dad. And how the hell could he say this to Chloe. So instead he shrugged and gave her a trademark Drake smirk, "Yeah, but in the end, maybe I always was the picket fence type."

Chloe rolled her eyes, picking up her backpack, and walking down the porch, "Well then, best of luck to that life. I think you'll need it. More than when people were shooting at you."

Nate smiled at her retreating figure. His smile contorted into a groan when she called out, "and pass my number over to that brother of yours!"

Four hours later, Elena was dozing upstairs. Nate and Sully broke out a bottle of whiskey in the living room. Sam had to make a short trip into town to meet a contact, and Nate couldn't help feeling said "contact" was a dark-skinned brunette who had vacated the house some time earlier.

"So," Sully said, pouring himself a glass, "I'm a goddamn granddad now."

"Yeah," Nate sighed, "Well – not yet."

"Finally something that I'm not to old to be doing, But none of that diaper changing duties, mind you."

Nate started at Sully from over his glass.

"What?"

"I didn't know you knew the head of a baby from its ass. Since when were you even aware of the existence of diapers?"

Sully smiled, "Well, I won't deny that I've been doing a bit of reading since you kids called me and told me the news."

Nate grunted, downing his drink in a gulp, and pouring himself a second.

"For what its worth, kid, I think you'll make a great dad."