Numb, and silent Natalie and Henry walked out of the lab. Their eyes were both glued on the ground, in a state of shock. Their faces were frozen and unreadable. They stopped on the sidewalk outside.

Natalie crossed her arms and looked up at Henry.

He looked even more exhausted than when they walked in, his sparkly brown eyes looked dry and still. He barely blinked, merely glared at the ground.

Natalie could hear her heart pounding, she couldn't believe what had just happened. Something she had wondered for 4 years, she finally knew now.

Now she knew.

Neither of them knew what to say. What do you say?

In a pathetic attempt to make a joke, Natalie murmured,

"Well….congratulations…. 'Daddy'."

Henry looked up at her, his face still unreadable, emotionally.

"Thanks." He whispered.

"Aren't you…aren't you happy?" Natalie asked, confused. It looked like the Henry who was begging to never have Jessica taken away from him, and who wanted her to be his daughter was just…totally unreadable.

"Are you?" Henry asked. Natalie nodded.

"I may have run away from you, and I may have gotten pregnant in college. But I'd rather have gotten pregnant who I had a plan with, who I could have had a future with, and with someone who I loved than with some guy at a party. I've always felt guilty about it. And I would be so disgusted with myself…."

"It doesn't matter, right?" Henry interrupted. "Because she's mine. So, let's not even go there."

"So are you happy?" Natalie asked.

"Of course."

"You don't look it."

"I'm just…surprised. It hasn't totally clicked yet." Natalie nodded.

"Want to grab some food? I think we have a lot to talk about." Henry said.

"Yeah. Let's go."

They drove to a local restaurant and sat down in silence, and ordered their food and then sat silently.

"So…." Henry began. "What do we do now?" He asked. Natalie sighed deeply.

"We need to talk about, custody and…all that stuff."

"Child support?" Henry asked and Natalie looked up at him and shook her head.

"We're doing fine, you don't need to pay…."

"Of course I do." Henry interrupted her. "She's my daughter, of course I owe child support – starting now and for the past 4 years."

"But…no…you don't!" Natalie argued, she didn't want to take his money.

"Natalie, my God just swallow your pride and let me take responsibility!" Henry said angrily.

"I don't need it." Natalie replied bitterly. "You didn't even know about her…"

"Well I do now, and I owe you something for the past 4 years."

"3 years." Natalie argued. "I lived with my parents, they took care of a lot of things."

"Fine, I owe you 3 years of child support." Henry answered. Natalie rolled her eyes. "How much?" He asked.

"No clue."

"Four hundred a month."

"That's too much.."

"Three hundred."

"One hundred." Natalie argued.

"Really? Are you kidding me, Nat? Three hundred."

"Two hundred."

"Two fifty." By now both of them were on the brim of giggling.

"Fine. Two fifty." Natalie agreed.

"It should be more." Henry told her.

"That's it." She said firmly. Henry sighed, sort of pissed off that Natalie was acting the way that she was.

"But, if there's anything big that you need money for just let me…."

"I won't." Natalie cut him off. "Need money..but thanks." She murmured.

"What about like, seeing her?" Henry asked. Natalie shrugged,

"How often do you want to see her?" She asked. Henry shrugged.

"I don't know. What do people usually do?"

"No clue." Natalie replied.

"Are you okay, Nat?" Henry asked.

"Yes."

"You just seem…odd. Like, if something's wrong…if you want..just tell me what's up." Henry told her gently.

"Just takes some getting used to."

"Right."

"How about…every other weekend? She can stay with you."

"Whoa." Henry murmured. "She's gonna like sleep at my place and stuff?"

"If you're okay with that. I thought you'd like…I mean people do that." Natalie said, giggling a bit at their cluelessness.

"Oh, yeah. Well, yeah that's, that'd be awesome." Henry replied, smiling.

"And then she can come, and hang out with you at your place, once a week?" Henry grinned.

"I get to see her that much?"

"What did you think I was giving you like a once a month deal?" Natalie asked, laughing.

"I don't know. I'm still in shock about all of it."

"Me too."

"So, I'll get the child support to you. And this weekend can stay yours. Give me a chance to stock up the apartment, child proof it…" Natalie laughed at Henry. "And, um does Wednesday's work for her coming over?"

"Sounds good." Natalie replied.

"Okey dokey." They got their food and ate awkwardly.

Henry was a little upset that Natalie was acting so not like herself, he hoped things wouldn't stay this way.

"Nat?"

"Mhm?"

"When do we tell her?"

"That's the hard part." Natalie whispered. "I can take care of it, if you want…"

"No..no..I want to be there." Henry said.

"How about Wednesday morning? Come over for breakfast before she goes to pre-school."

"Really?"

"Yup."

"Awesome!" They got up and drove home.

"Hey, Nat." Henry said as she began getting out of the car.

"I know this is going to be a tough time, and it's gonna be hard adjusting to stuff, and it's going to be different. But, uh…we can still be friends, right? We can be like we were. I don't like this..awkward shit." Natalie giggled.

"Me either. Once I'm out of this..shocked state we can go back to being buds." She joked.

"Awesome." Henry murmured, and held out a fist. Natalie bumped fists with him and they both laughed.

"I'll see you later, bud." He said.

"Bye." Natalie leaned back in the car to quickly hug Henry goodbye and then headed inside.

Boring chapter! I know, I'm sorry. Please review anyway :D

I love reviews, they make me so very happy :D

Thanks for all the great ones so far!