Sorry I've almost gone a week without updating this one! Working 11pm-7am at Job One and 12pm-6pm at job two for two weeks straight makes you very tired. Who knew.


Paige could tell by the look on Ralph's face when he entered her room that the visit with Brianna could have gone better. "Oh hon," she said. "I'm sorry. We'll get it figured out."

Ralph's eyes met hers for only a moment before they adjusted down to Amber. "Can I hold her?" He asked.

"She's your sister, of course you can hold her," Paige said with a smile, adjusting her hand position on Amber so she could hand her off safely. Ralph gathered her close, and Paige smiled, a rush of warmth in her chest as she watched her son hold her daughter.

"She looks like a little Walter," Ralph said. "She doesn't have his butt chin, though, thank God."

"Aw, I think that's cute."

He looked at her with an eyebrow cocked. "You have to. You married him."

"Maybe that's why I married him."

"Mom," Ralph said in a stage whisper, "he isn't here. You don't have to pretend."

Paige chuckled. "So is it weird that you're not an only child anymore?"

"Yes," Ralph said. "But you know…" he looked down at Amber, an affectionate smile on his face. "I like it."

"Good."

Ralph looked so peaceful holding his baby sister, but the mood didn't last. Paige watched as his face fell and he looked up at her solemnly. "Mom, things are really bad down the hall."

Paige took Amber back and set her in the bassinet. "Talk to me."

"She doesn't want the baby, Mom." Ralph pushed his hand up over his forehead and into his hair. "She told me. She said if we aren't going to be together, she doesn't want anything to do with me at all, and that includes the baby."

Paige set her jaw and blinked. "What?"

"I…" he shook his head. "I'm so angry. I'm so angry." He looked away, shaking his head. "At least I was up front about my feelings about this whole thing. She didn't even think about the baby, just wanted to try and keep me under her control."

"That bitch," Paige said under her breath. "That bitch, I'll kill her."

"Mom, easy," Ralph said, putting his hand on her arm.

Paige sighed. Of course he had to know she wasn't really going to take Brianna out, but she hadn't given someone a good yelling in a while, and her son's ex was certainly giving her good ammunition. "Do you have any idea of what you're going to do?"

Ralph shrugged. "I mean, I'm not taking him, she doesn't want him. Adoption seems like the only option."

"Well," Paige said. "It does say 'option' right in the word, there."

Ralph gave a small smile. "That it does."

"Is that what she's gonna do?"

"I don't know." He shrugged. "That's my guess. I guess."

Paige felt the sudden urge to hug him. She was pleased when he didn't protest. "Oh, baby," she whispered. "I know you're an adult now, but I still wish I could make this all work out for you."

"Thanks," he said, putting his hand up to rest on one of her wrists. "Honestly, I wish you could too," he added with a little laugh. "But like you said." He sighed. "I'm an adult now."

"You are. But you'll always be my baby, you know that? Because I'll always be your mom."


Happy was struggling to keep her annoyance to a low simmer as Ralph explained the new situation, sitting on the edge of the coffee table because for some reason they were still hanging out in the hospital.

Okay. That wasn't fair. They all had agreed to stay, wanted to stay, didn't want to abandon anyone else in their cyclone and leave them to face whatever might come. Ralph was the youngest of the adult members, and his parents were understandably not able to focus on his predicament. Plus, Ellie was sound asleep and waking her up would make her scream, and Tad was off with Aimee and Allie and Cabe, so it wasn't like they were in a position to go back home.

But this chair hurt and she was tired of cafeteria food and while she knew Paige was doing her job as a mother to try to guide and support her son through a complicated situation, none of these people knew the struggles of being a surrendered child as much as she did. "Right," she said in response to Ralph's explanation that Brianna was probably going to give the baby up, "because adoption is just a magic, kumbaya solution to everything."

"Babe," Toby said, putting a hand on her arm in warning. "Brianna was the one who decided to keep the pregnancy, not Ralph."

"I'm frustrated at the situation, not at Ralph," Happy said shortly. She looked at Ralph. "Seriously, kid. Just in being annoyed about this you already care more about the kid than she does. I just hate when people act like adoption is some magic, happy solution. You know that only about thirteen percent of kids in foster care get adopted? You know that the average time spent in foster care is three years? Three. Years. And that number is skewed because some kids only spend a few weeks while a parent gets a home situation figured out." She pressed her lips together and shook her head. "It's expensive to adopt, and not as many people are looking to as others seem to think." Happy could feel her heart beating faster, as if fighting against the invisible fist that was closing around it. "I aged out of the system. Sometimes kids spend all eighteen years in it. It's lonely. It's depressing. Abuse is everywhere." She paused, not wanting her voice to crack. "It was never ending fear that no one would ever care about me. And for the longest time, no one did. I'm happy for the lucky ones. But I wouldn't wish the fate of the unlucky on my worst enemy."

"Maybe he will get lucky," Toby said, clearly trying to be helpful. "After all, people love adopting babies. Especially chubby, smiley white babies."

"Are you bringing up the racism inherent in the system to make me feel better?"

"In this situation specifically."

"I just wish I could know where he ends up," Ralph said. "I don't want any contact. I know where Bri is coming from in the sense of looking at him or hearing about him reminding her of me. Every time I see him, I would think of her, and she makes me so…"

"You were hospitalized," Toby said when the boy trailed off, "you don't need to find a word for us to get it."

"But like…I don't want to just throw him out into the world. But if he stays with her, then he's going to grow up..." Ralph put his head in his hands. "At least if he's adopted out he can fantasize. Maybe his mom had to give him up, maybe she wanted him but was in a bad situation, maybe she just couldn't take care of him...he grows up around her and he will know she doesn't care. She's horrible at hiding that sort of thing."

Happy reached out and patted his knee. "We'll figure something out, Ralph. There's enough of us. Our combined I.Q. is over one thousand. Not a lot of people can say that."

"This isn't the stuff we're good at," Ralph said. He sighed, his voice low, almost inaudible. "How'd I ever get myself in this mess?"

"You picked a bad one," Toby said. "We've all done that."

"Yeah," Ralph said, sounding dejected. "My mom's bad one was my father. But there's no My Mom in this scenario."

"There's no Paige Dineen in most scenarios," Happy said. "I'd have given anything to have my mom in my life, and if she was a tenth as wonderful of a parent as yours…there would have been a lot less pain in my life." She realized as she spoke the words that she may have ended up on a drastically different path had her parents raised her together. "Although," she suddenly felt the need to add, resting her hand on top of Toby's, "less happiness too, I'm sure." She bit her lip. "If only there was some way to ensure this little boy goes somewhere where he will be as loved as I grew up wanting to be."

"As loved as much as Tad is," Ralph said. "I may not love him myself, but I know he deserves to be loved like that."


You know," Sylvester said, pulling his shirt back over his head, "I have snuck into high security administration buildings and into the offices of foreign leaders and into rooms filled with engineered diseases, and I don't think any of that is as crazy as what we just did."

"Nah," Florence said, "there is nothing less risky than getting it on in a hospital room. It's the cleanest place I can think of. Where the hell are my pants?"

"Uh…" Sylvester glanced around. "I…threw them…somewhere."

"Really helpful, Dodd. The longer we're in here, the greater our chances of getting caught."

"This was your idea."

Florence gave an incredulous laugh. "No, it wasn't!"

"Yes!" He pointed at her in a mock accusatory way. "Yes, yes it was!"

"No," she said, adjusting her bra, "I said I was glad I was no longer menstruating and mentioned how crazy it was that two people we know had babies within a day of each other and then you jumped me."

"I did not jump you. I kissed you in the heat of the moment."

"And considering what you are defining the moment was us discussing the fact that I'm no longer bleeding out my genitals and that Paige just pushed a human out of hers, two decidedly unsexy things, you were the one coming on to me."

Sylvester rolled his eyes. "Then explain why you took off…your pants!"

"Kinda hard to desecrate a hospital room like we did if I don't take off my pants."

"No, I mean…" he trailed off, holding up the clothing that he'd missed earlier. "I found your pants."

"Oh. Excellent." Florence took them, sliding off of the bed to pull them back up over her hips. "You know what's great?" She asked.

"Hmmm?"

"This isn't even a bed you're supposed to do that on, I haven't slept much in the past few days…"

"You're not aching or tired?"

She grinned. "Exactly. I feel incredible. Maybe I'm just about completely better."

"Well, uh…" Sylvester suddenly looked uncomfortable. "Then…then we might have a decision to make."

Florence cocked her head. "What do you mean?"

"You haven't taken your pill since the bomb, right?"

Florence stared. "Ohhh."

They held the eye contact, standing completely still just a few feet apart. Florence spoke first. "Well, I have a day or two to get…"

"Yeah. You have time. If you – "

"If I want to take it," she finished.

More silence. More staring.

Then, quickly and almost out of nowhere, Florence took a step closer to him. "I don't want to take it."

He nodded slowly."Do…do you want, do you think…"

"I don't know. But I know that my heart did the…" he made a fluttering motion with his hand, "did the thing when you said you didn't want to."

"So are we…"

"I don't think we should. We shouldn't try yet. But if this…by some chance…"

He nodded, quickly this time. "If by some chance."

"We can't tell the team. Someone will suggest if we're open to becoming parents now we should just adopt the boy."

He wrinkled his nose. "Who would suggest that?"

"I don't know. Cabe. Toby. Walter. Someone who likes things wrapped up neatly." She checked the room. It appeared, relatively, as they had found it. Sylvester held the door for her as they slipped out into the hall.

"I don't want Brianna Schultz's baby," Sylvester said. "I almost lost the woman I love because of her."

"I like how you're talking to me and decided to describe me instead of just saying you," Florence said. "I get it. And I don't want to subject Ralph to the anxiety of having him around all the time. Anxiety is a demon I didn't fully understand until I knew you, and I can still only imagine what it must be like, but…"

"I just wonder how any of us are going to be able to guarantee he goes somewhere good."

"Actually…"

Florence and Sylvester turned in unison toward the voice. Allie walked toward them, a smile on her face. "I couldn't help but overhear. Okay, I was eavesdropping. But anyway, I think I may have a solution."