A/N: Flashbacks are in italics! This chapter is Ian-centric. As always, favorite/follow and review! I love reading your comments and suggestions.

As Ian starts to awake the next morning, he immediately feels the presence of another body next to him. It had been years since he had woken up next to anyone, and surprisingly, the last woman that he had woken up next to was the same woman who was next to him now.

It was funny in a way; he remembered the last morning that he had woken up with her next to him like it was yesterday.


The younger woman was splayed across her side of the bed, lying on her stomach with one arm lying across her pillow. He glanced over at her, watching her as she slept. The bare-backed brunette was sleeping so peacefully, her breathing sound as he wondered what she was dreaming about. The woman was a mystery, that was for sure. But he loved her nonetheless.

The Irishman watched her sleep for what felt like ages before she awoke. He could probably watch her sleep for hours and not get bored of it. He was a warrior, a man who had a very questionable conscience, but he was soft when it came to her, when it came to their family. He would go to the ends of the earth to protect her and Declan, to make sure that they were safe. It was like he was two different people; the Ian Doyle he was with Liam, with anyone in the arms business, was a completely different Ian Doyle than the one he was with Lauren and Declan. There was something about Lauren that made him drop his guard, that made him put all of his trust in to her.

The brunette's eyes flutter as she awakes, and her lips immediately form a smile as she catches Ian's eyes on her. "Good morning." She whispers as she lifts her head to kiss him.

He would've never guessed that that would be his last morning waking up next to her. He would've never guessed that in just a few hours, she would be ripped out of his life, and he would be thrown in a North Korean prison as a result of her, of her lies.


He reaches out toward her, resting his hand on her shoulder while his eyes focus on her belly. He still couldn't believe that she was pregnant, that she was carrying their child. Ian watches intently as he notices the smallest shift in her stomach, and he focuses hard as he watches their child move. Emily shifts when she feels the baby move, and she opens her eyes to see Ian with his eyes locked on her swollen stomach.

"She's up early." Emily mumbles as she sits up slightly, blinking a few times to try and wake up. Ian immediately raises an eyebrow, looking at the younger woman next to him.

"She?"

The pregnant brunette nods her head. "She. It's a girl."

Ian's lips form a smile, and his hand trails from her shoulder to her stomach. He feels a small kick against his hand, his daughter's reaction to the sudden pressure against her temporary home. "Sorry, love." He speaks to Emily's belly. "Daddy's just excited."

He hadn't gotten to experience this before. With Declan's mom, she was disgusted about the thought of being pregnant with Ian's child. She wanted nothing less than to birth the Irishman's child, to have to carry it for nine months. She had tried to kill herself, to "take care of" the baby, but Ian had caught her in the process. He had chained the woman up for the remaining 7 months of her pregnancy, keeping her a prisoner until the day that she had went in to labor with Declan.


"Bloody fuck!" The dark-haired woman screamed as another contraction hit her, and she tensed up at the pain, her wrists pulling at the shackles that were attached to the posts at the top of the bed. Louise was seated in a chair at the side of the bed, prepared to help deliver the baby when it was finally time. "Doyle, I'm going to fucking kill you!" She screams.

Ian walks in the room as soon as he hears a small cry come from the newborn. Louise cuts the cord, wrapping the baby in a blanket before handing the infant to Ian. "It's a boy." She tells him as she focuses on delivering the placenta, and getting Chloe cleaned up. The Irishman barely hears her, his attention focused on the tiny baby in his arms. He smiles as he carries the little boy out of the woman, away from his birthgiver. "Hi Declan," he whispers as he admires the little boy's features. He had had this name picked out for his boy since the moment that he discovered that Chloe was pregnant. "I'm your dad."

Within hours, one of Doyle's men is transporting Chloe to the airport. The exhausted woman is toting a suitcase, full of cash that Ian had given her "for her troubles". She swears that if it's the last thing she does, she will get revenge on that man for the torture that he had put her through. Why couldn't he have just let her die?


"Have you come up with any names yet?" Ian asks as he rubs her belly, feeling occasional small kicks against his calloused hand.

Emily shakes her head as she watches the older man dote over her stomach, and the fetus currently inhabiting her uterus. She had never imagined this situation, but she has to admit, it's kind of cute. "Not yet. I haven't really had much time to come up with baby names."

"Understood." He notes as he sits up. "We still have some time. Maybe we can come up with something that goes with Declan."

"Delaney." Emily suggests. She lied, she had spent some time browsing baby name books. Especially after finding out that her and Ian were going to be raising this child together, she tried to come up with some baby names that she knew he'd like. She knew for a fact that the name had to be Irish, but she wasn't very sure of any of Ian's other parameters when it came to a name.

He chuckles, earning an odd look from the woman in bed next to him. "You do know the Gaelic meaning of that name is 'a child of dark defiance', right?"

Emily rolls her eyes, a smile on her face. "Of course it is. That should fit your child perfectly."

Out of all of the names in the world, she had suggested Delaney. That was his name choice for Declan if he had been a girl. He couldn't help but smile as he pictured their little girl. He wasn't sure who she'd look more like, or whose genes would be more dominant. Would she be a dark-haired, dark-eyed beauty like her mother? Or would she have fierce copper hair and emerald green eyes, much like his own mother?

"Delaney Doyle." He mumbles to himself. He knows damn well that she won't go by Doyle, but the name sounds perfect to him nonetheless.

Emily smiles as she rubs her lower belly. "It's perfect." She tells him as their bedroom door creaks open, and she pulls the sheet up over her chest as the tall blonde 11-year old makes his way in to the room.

"I thought I heard you, Emily." He smiles as he lays eyes on the woman lying next to his father. "When did you get here?"

The carbon copy of Ian Doyle makes his way to the bed, sitting at the edge as he watches his father dote over the baby. "Late last night." Emily tells him as she sits up straighter. "I didn't know you'd be here. Your father hadn't told me that."

"I got here a few days ago."

The brunette nods, and she notices a look in Declan's eyes that makes her frown. "We'll talk later." She tells him, knowing that he has to be consumed with emotions and confusion at the predicament that he is currently in. "Do you want to go make some breakfast? Hopefully your father had someone go grocery shopping."

"I did, love." Ian tells her as he crawls out of bed, grabbing a shirt off the top of the dresser and pulling it over his head. He tosses Emily a t-shirt, and looks at his son. "Why don't you go pick something out for breakfast, son?"

Declan nods and stands up, leaving the room. Emily takes the t-shirt, putting it on over her bra before getting up and finding a pair of yoga pants in one of her bags. Ian walks up behind her, wrapping his arms around her. "It's good to see you." He tells her, his attention finally on her, and not just on the baby that she is carrying. "I wasn't sure if you were actually going to come."

"I debated it a few times." She admits. "But this is what I want. I want you. And Declan and Delaney." The brunette turns around to face him, and tilts her head back slightly as she softly kisses his lips, something that she hadn't done in 7 months, since the night that they had conceived their daughter. "I don't know what kind of life we're going to have. I just know that I want you in mine." She whispers, and Ian smiles at the use of the phrase.

"We'll figure it out."