Note: Their home described in this chapter is meant to be the one in the epilogue of Uncharted 4, or at least where I imagine it would be! Thank you for the positive feedback and follows/favorites ;) I haven't quite decided if I want to keep it going for long, or keep it short with some snippets of baby/parenting life - any input would be welcome in a review!

The original plan had been for Elena and Nate to finish up in Germany during the next two weeks, regardless of their findings, and head home to their newly purchased home on the island of Ibiza. They would've traveled across Europe by train, since Elena would not be cleared to fly, and then ferry from Spain to Ibiza.

Compared to some of the lavish homes on the island, theirs was modest, right on the beach with space to spare. Nate planned on eventually building a smaller cabin style building next door, to keep their work and many collected items separate from their new family home.

They had bought the house several months ago, after many weeks of deliberating on where. Nate's time in Columbia as a youth had left him with a natural talent for Spanish, and Elena's own travels had made her comfortable with the language as well. And since they were always somehow finding themselves on islands anyways, one off the coast of Spain seemed an easy choice.

Since the purchase, they had visited only several times to furnish and store things for the upcoming baby. Nate's proclivity towards not thinking ahead was surprisingly absent when it came to preparing himself for the new addition. He had read every baby book he could get his hands on in his spare time between jobs and while traveling. "Did you know that…?" became a dreaded phrase for Elena, as Nate would blurt out either disgusting or disturbing facts about her pregnancy and newborns constantly. She began to miss the treasure rants.

Now, sitting in the hospital bed, Elena wondered why they ever bothered to plan anything. Their life together had always gone anything but planned. Today she had been cleared for discharge, and was just waiting for Nate to get back with clothes from their townhouse. Unfortunately, the baby would have to stay a little longer. In the past week and half since her traumatic birth, she had gained several ounces, and the new parents were finally able to experience the joy of holding her outside of the incubator and to be able to feed her.

Elena smiled to herself, thinking of yesterday morning when she got to witness Nate feeding Cassandra for the first time. He had held her like she would shatter at any moment, barely even breathing for fear of breaking her. She had thought he would turn purple if it weren't for the assisting nurse assuring him that newborns were sturdier than they looked. Bottle in hand, he was fully concentrated on his task. He had looked up briefly to Elena, smiling broadly, echoing her own expression of pride and awe.

The baby had stopped nursing suddenly and jerked her head away from the bottle. Nate's eyes had widened as he exclaimed, "Oh God, I broke her!"

"The cloth-" the nurse had began to interject, just as the baby promptly spit up all over her surprised father.

Elena had tried to stifle her laugh, it didn't help her stitches any, but Nate's horrified expression was too much not to enjoy. His only reply to his wife was a snarky scowl as he mouthed 'ha-ha' while the nurse and he began to clean up after his daughter's little incident.

"And what are you chuckling about?" Nate's voice at the door brought her back to present as he walked in the door bag in one hand, and something fuzzy and grey in the other.

"Oh, just thinking about your adventures with baby puke. What's that?" She nodded towards the hand without the bag of clothes.

"Cute. I'm pretty sure I still smell like sour milk, thank you very much. I'll let you handle that job next time. And, oh," he held up a stuffed animal, a miniature lemur, "a gift for Cassie from Sam. He thinks he's so clever."

She laughed, taking the little stuffed lemur. Nate had loved the lemurs in Madagascar, and had unsuccessfully tried to convince Elena that they would make a good pet.

"What, are you mad that its not for you, cowboy?"

"Absolutely, why should the baby get all the good stuff?" He gave her a sly smile, putting the bag of clothes on the edge of her bed and offering a hand to help her out of bed. Slowly, he helped her change into a comfortable tee shirt and soft sweatpants. She sat back down on the edge of the bed to put her shoes on, noting that this was the first time in a few months that she remembered putting on shoes with ease. She would miss her big, round belly, but was glad to have the tiny, kicking human out.

"I hate that we have to leave her here alone," Elena said quietly as she edged off the bed and stepped towards him, wrapping her arms tight around his middle and hiding her face in his chest.

Nate let out a long breath and wrapped his arms around her in response, "Me, too. But we can visit everyday. Three times a day, if you want. The doctors said only a couple more days, and she gains a few more ounces."

"I know. Even when she comes home, we don't even have a crib here in Germany, though!"

"I hadn't thought that far a-"

"-ahead." Elena finished for him, lamenting sarcastically "Oh, I know, Nathan Drake. It's a comfort to know that some things won't change, even with a baby."

She leaned back out of his chest, looking into his face. His only reply was a sheepish smile and a shrug.

"C'mon. Let's go down and see her before we go," she said dropping her arms from his waist and gingerly headed for the door.

"Just wait a minute," he chided, sidling by her, blocking her exit and pulling out a wheelchair from next to the doorway. "One last ride, Cleopatra."

Elena was about to argue, but the motion of walking still hurt her incision. She rolled her eyes in the little defiance she felt like giving and took a seat in the proffered chair.

"Okay, Nate, let's go."

"Aye, captain." He laughed, grabbing the bag and the lemur, placing them in her lap.

"God, she's gorgeous," Nate thought as he watched the scene before him. Elena was getting to nurse Cassie for the first time, and her smile couldn't be matched. His attention was seized when a doctor tapped him on the shoulder, motioning with a clipboard of more paperwork. He glanced back at his wife, clearly having a crowning achievement in motherhood, and decided that she would be okay having this moment by herself for a few minutes.

As he signed off on a few more documents, the doctor updated him on Cassie's progress, and that if she made it through two more nights without any sleep apnea episodes, she was clear to go home. Nate felt both relief and anxiety at the new timeline for their baby's homecoming. He and Elena had always been a team, both extremely capable of being independent, but able to lean on each other during trying times. Now he had a healing wife and a helpless baby to take charge over. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't slightly terrified.

"No, Nate! I can go to the bathroom by myself!" Elena shouted through the door, exasperated. It was nice to be in the comfort of their own space instead of the unfamiliar sterility of the hospital, but Nate was beginning to drive her up the wall. They had been home all of 12 hours. She was scared to even blow her nose for fear of him asking to assist her in some way.

Nate huffed, walking back down the hall and sitting on the edge their bed. He knew he was hovering, knew that he was driving her crazy. This whole ordeal had reminded him so much of the time in Shambala and Flynn's grenade that he just could not help but feel the need to be close, to be helpful to Elena.

Once again, rest orders meant nothing to his wife. Instead of healing up and watching some TV, Elena shuffled through the house, pulling out the random baby things that they had collected in the last few weeks and planned to bring to the new house before the baby would be born. "This is why I never think ahead," he thought as he looked around the room, a onesie with a German flag that Elena had picked up at a tourist shop was hung over a chair along with several other random baby items, "Since when has anything ever gone as planned for us?"

Next up, baby comes home!