Oh my god finally Layla. Good one. Been a while, you suck. Whatever, I've been at school concentrating on my academia. That's good right? I'll stop rambling, read on, next chapters about half done already.

The crackling of bacon echoed against the frying pan, but only the thick burning scent was noticed for all of the noise in Jack and Katherine's kitchen. The 12 seated oak table had been filled out by newsies and those who didn't fit opted to stand around with plates in hand, waiting for the contents of Katherine's pan to be distributed between them. Since moving into the large house, her and Jack had been making it a tradition to invite everyone over from the lodge house for Sunday morning breakfast.

"Race would'ya get ya feet off the table?" Jack scowled and whacked the back of his friend's head as he swept by with Les's empty plate.

"Wait Jack!" Called Les who tailed behind him. "Don't wash my plate I want more!"

Jack chuckled and knelt to hand over the thin porcelain. "Here ya go ya big guts. Now go to Kathy and ask nicely-"

"Kathy I want more bacon!" Les hollered and Jack just shook his head. The kitchen was chaos with so many people. Why did he ever think this was a good idea in the first place?

"That's your third plate Les, I swear you ate the majority of the whole pig." Katherine giggled over the stove but shovelled two rashers onto the boy's plate never the less. He hurried back to the table where David and the other older boys sat and tucked in quickly.

"How's your stomach feelin?" She felt Jack whisper into her ear from behind her, leaning against the bench on one hand and the other placed firmly over her navel. He was obviously referring to her new found morning sickness. As of the last few days, she had become more sensitive to smells, which usually brought on a frequent trip to the toilet bowl.

"I'm ok." She smiled, however feeling slightly queasy at the scent of meat and eggs and buttered toast she had in front of her. She didn't want to say anything though, there were so many people there who didn't know.

He nodded, kissed her shoulder and went to go fill another pitcher with orange juice.

"Hey Plums!" Called Race after everyone had their hands over achingly full bellies. "What's with the decent spread?"

Specs second on his statement. "Yeah, usually you and Jack skimp out on us now you's all married and everythin'."

"I wouldn't call last week's pancake stack out skimpin' out Specs." Shot Albert, finding himself glassy eyed in reflection of the fluffy flat cakes that Katherine and Clara had flipped so well that it seemed to have somersaulted into his belly barely touching the plate. Across the room, longing groans echoed in agreement.

"I don't know." Katherine shrugged towards Race. "I feel like you guys need some mothering sometimes." She thought to herself that it wouldn't be bad to practice mothering herself too.

"Well sign me up mom." He chuckled. "If it means eating like this every week."

"I don't know if there's gonna be enough room in this place soon for you to eat here every week." Jack smirked quietly to himself. However, he wasn't as quiet as he thought as Katherine shot him an alarmed look.

"Whad'ya mean by that Jackie?" Finch squinted.

"I ah-"

Romeo caught him up. "Yeah, whad'ya mean not enough room? Don't make no sense to me."

"Ah-"

"Maybe Kathy's parents are movin in."

"No-"

"Her sisters?"

"What? No-"

"You's are both gettin a dog."

"Nobody is movin in and nobody is gettin a damn dog!" Jack yelled finally and the flame of hysteria died down to a small ember of confusion.

"Then what's goin on?" Asked Elmer.

Jack looked for Katherine's gaze to seek help and she just sighed and shook her head. There was a small smile on her satin sheened lips and she set her back against the counter. "I'm pregnant." She said. "Jack and I are expecting a baby."

The room fell silent for a moment, before a wave of cheering replaced it.

"Jack why didn't ya tell us earlier?" Laughed Crutchie.

He grinned. "We were gonna wait, but I guess that fell through."

Crutchie turned to Katherine. "Lemme guess. Ya dad has no idea."

"Correct." She frowned. "I don't know what war he'll start if he finds out from someone else though. God, what am I going to do?"

"Well y'know seeing as Jack is the father of this kid, maybe he can go with ya to Pulitzer's office and ya can both talk it out."

"Oh, no I ain't." Jack said flatly. "The kid ain't gonna have a father if I'm there to break it to him."

"Oh don't be stupid Jack. We're married adults. There's nothing he can do but congratulate us." Katherine scowled. "Besides, you have to, it's half your fault I'm pregnant in the first place."

There were sniggers and chuckles dotted around the room from the boys, causing Jack to rub his face in his hands. He groaned, "alright, alright. You'd better get dressed quick though if we wanna leave now. I wanna get this out of the way as fast as possible."

After the boys had left, Jack and Katherine had left quickly to visit the Pulitzer mansion on the other side of town. It was a Sunday and the only day her father left his office fully at the World.

After waiting at the front door, hands clutched in one another, it finally swung open to reveal Marie Pulitzer, grinning from ear to ear.

"Katherine! Jack! What are you two doing here?"

"Hello mother," Katherine smiled and gave her a warm embrace. "We were in the neighbourhood and-" she would have finished if Jack hadn't snorted behind her. "What's wrong with you?" She turned and narrowed her eyes at her husband.

"Oh sorry, I'm just laughin' because we specifically left the house quickly to be in this particular neighbourhood at this particular moment in time."

She rolled her eyes and turned back to her mother. "Don't listen to him, he's being smart. We did come to you for a reason."

"It's about the baby isn't it?"

Her daughter nodded. "I think it's time we told father."

Marie bit her lip, and gently placed her slender fingers over Katherine's still flat belly. "He's in his study. You've come at the wrong time though, he's been in a sour mood all morning."

"How has he been lately though? With his heart I mean."

There was a stiff silence again before Marie ushered them both inside and lead them to the living room.

"It's just deteriorating him." She sighed, once sitting down with them both on the pale blue velvet sofa. "He can barely have a conversation with me with out looking like he's going to collapse."

"Katherine, maybe we's should come back another day." Jack said softly.

"No, I think it's best you tell him today." Marie replied.

Katherine took hold of Jack's hand and readied herself to stand. "Come on Jack, let's go to his study."

"What?" Pulitzer said briskly from behind a stack of papers as Jack rapped a fist on the door, Katherine close under his raised arm.

"Father?" Katherine said quietly. "Are you busy?"

"Oh, it's just you." He barely looked up above his gold wired spectacles. He did however nod his head towards them. "Jack."

"Mr. Pulitzer sir."

"Can I help you two?"

Katherine stepped into the room and pulled out the two mahogany arm chairs from the front of his desk. They were seated when she sighed and pushed a stray piece of auburn hair out of her eyes. "Father we need to talk to you," she glanced at Jack. "Both of us."

"Go on then."

"This is something I need you to hear me out on. Please just take a few breaths-"

Pulitzer had his head raised now. "Katherine just spit it out."

She felt Jack squeeze her hand and she started to panic. Maybe he could do more than just congratulate them. Feeling her father's intense gaze embed itself onto her, she shifted herself in her chair and cleared her throat. "Father, I'm pregnant."

Jack noticed her father's knuckles turn white around his pen, and his stare moving from Katherine towards him. "Pregnant?" His tone was cool, but he felt it could easily tip over into a flaming rage with any slight movement, so he and Katherine remained perfectly still.

"Yes, I'm six weeks along." She gently confirmed.

He didn't say anything in return but still lingered his eyes on Jack, whom he must have believed was the main culprit of this sudden news.

Katherine, sensing the rising tension, continued hastily. "We would have told you sooner, but we were so shocked ourselves and we were so busy getting the house in order and work-"

"You were shocked? So this wasn't planned I assume?"

"Well, no-"

"Did you think about how this will affect both of your lives at all? In nine months time I can assure you Katherine that you'll be too busy to be working. Jack, you know that you can't support my daughter on just your salary."

"In all due respect sir, we'll get by. I'm earnin twice the amount I started off with now that I'm commissioning double the strips for the Sun. Besides I don't think Katherine has to give up her career. Dana's offerin her maternity leave for a while after the kid's born and after that she's able to work from home." It was the most Jack had said in a long time, and it looked like it had struck a nerve with Pulitzer.

"You think that just because you married her, you have become some kind of adult. You're merely eighteen and she's only a year behind, you're both still children yourselves. I'd understand if you were doing this in a few years or so, but you only just wedded. Do you know the damage your causing to our family's reputation?"

"I don't care about our family's reputation!" Katherine snapped. "I'm a married, grown woman and you are in no obligation to tell me what I can or can't do. I'm having this baby father, and I'm asking you once and only once now for your support."

He milled over what she said for what seemed like eternity. His expression had softened and he had released his grip of his desk. "This is big news Katherine." He said slowly.

"I know, and we want you to be part of it. Please father."

He sighed, and finally raised a small flicker of a smile. "Congratulations you two."