It was immediate.

Talia let out a gasp of both surprise and pain as she doubled over and clutched her abdomen, feeling the tears of shock spring to her eyes just as Chase and Foreman skidded into the room. The pain shot up into her senses - and then the panic settled in. Talia could barely hear anything but white noise, then eventually her hearing came back.

It was bedlam.

"What the hell?! WE NEED A BED OVER HERE!" Foreman yelped, noticing that Dibala was now struggling against people that didn't exist. "He's hallucinating!" But Chase didn't care - he rushed straight over to his wife and gathered her trembling body in his arms.

"F*ck. What happened, T?" he asked her loudly.

"H-he…h-h-hit me in my stomach," Talia panted sharply. Chase's entire body went rigid and he and Foreman exchanged brief looks of horror. "S-sedate him. I-it's d-d-delusions."

"We will, but baby, listen to me, are you bleeding?" Chase questioned her clearly as he helped her up. But Talia wasn't saying a word, she was in too much pain, which worsened Chase's anxiety. "Talia, talk to me, is our baby okay?!"

"Chase, get me to a damn ward and we can find out," Talia whispered shakily.

"Go, Chase. I got this," Foreman told him firmly, nodding to imply it was fine whilst some nurses helped Talia onto a stretcher. Chase shot the sedated Dibala one last look of pure loathing before running out after his wife.

As Talia lay there in the bed and Chase powered up the machine himself, she made sure to hold in her tears. She was trying to stay positive for her husband's sake - but it was hard.

"T," Chase suddenly spoke, snapping her out of her silent nerves. He had the ultrasound wand in his hand and was about to place it on her stomach, but he was stopping himself as if he couldn't bear to do it - and Talia understood. She looked dead into his eyes and sniffed. "I'm so, f*cking scared," Chase admitted with a hoarse whisper.

"Me too, babe," Talia muttered back. She placed a hand on his so that they were both holding the wand instead. "J-just do it. If something's gone wrong then we need to know now so that we can…" She trailed off and gulped, feeling the tears finally spring into her eyes. It felt far too familiar now. Regardless, Chase nodded and squirted the cold gel onto the her slightly rounded stomach. Talia bit her bottom lip and held her breath. Her palms were sweating. Her heart was racing. Something deep within her told her that this wasn't going to end well.

But just like before - their baby wasn't about to give up without a fight.

Chase's eyes shamelessly welled up with tears as the strong heartbeat ricocheted off the walls and Talia burst into sobs of relief. It was like the most beautiful music to their ears.

"The baby…is stable," Chase croaked out, turning the monitor round so Talia could see. "Strong heartbeat, they're growing healthily - everything looks good, T. Our baby looks g-good."

"God. What a strong little angel we have," Talia breathed as she clamped her trembling hand onto her sweaty forehead. "Oh god, Robert. I…was f*cking terrified." But now that Chase knew his child was okay, he faded from worried - to extremely pissed off.

"Did that bastard…did he know you were pregnant?" he asked her angrily, edging his way over to her and stroking her hair away from her face. "We need to file a report, no?"

"No," Talia began with a sigh. "I mean yeah, he knew, but I genuinely don't think he meant to do it. He was hallucinating-"

"Talia, he could've killed our baby," Chase hissed. His eyes were still tearful but full of rage, and it broke Talia's heart. She raised her hand to cup his face, feeling his jaw tremble slightly under her touch.

"Baby, please calm down. I…I kinda pushed him there," she admitted quietly, chewing her cheek in regret. "I was meant to do a patient analysis but I ended up challenging him on his policies-"

"Everyone challenges him on his damn policies. Still doesn't give him an excuse to lash out at you, that's insane," Chase stated plain and simply. He was clearly beyond the point of talking round. "I don't give a sh*t who he is, if something had happened to our baby-"

"Then we'd deal with it accordingly, Rob - but our baby is fine," Talia whispered. "Please. I'm trying to just take each day as it comes. Our baby is staying strong, now we have to be, too. For me, honey - please. Just drop it." Chase let a tearful sniff and nodded reluctantly.

"I'm…I think you should grab Rue from the creche, go home and take tomorrow off, if not the rest of the week," he murmured, finally dropping his gaze. Talia nodded in agreement, not trying to upset him further by arguing that she wanted to stay on the case.

Because she really did.

…

The next morning was a rather dismal one. It was raining and the skies were a ghastly grey - which was, of course, a perfect day to stay home. Talia leaned up against the kitchen counter as her morning lemon and ginger tea stewed away. Her hands were running up and down her little bump, aware that she was growing slight bruising at the base of her navel, but keeping positive regardless.

Then, before she knew it, Rue came traipsing out with her stuffed animal clutched to her chest. "Good morning, Aunty Tali," she yawned, rubbing her eyes tiredly.

"Morning sweetheart," Talia smiled as she opened her arms for a hug. "How was your sleep?"

"Good," Rue nodded as she hugged her back. After a few seconds she let go and galloped over to the sofa and slammed herself into it. "Uncle Rob said you weren't going to work today?" Talia glanced up from where she was preparing Rue's breakfast.

"You spoke to him?"

"Just before he left," Rue nodded, drawing her knees to her chest. "I promised I'd look after you." Talia let out a giggle.

"Well that's very sweet of you." Just as Talia continued to make the breakfast whilst Rue clicked on the TV huddled in a blanket, her phone suddenly rang. She popped the bread into the toaster and reached over to see who was calling - and then she gasped.

It was the extension line to House's office - which can't have been a good thing.

"Hello?" she blurted out.

"Wh- House, is that Talia?!" came Foreman's annoyed voice in the distance almost immediately.

"House, hang up!" came Chase's shouts. "I MEAN IT! NOW."

"She can still be part of the damn differentials!" House scoffed in boredom. "She's at home, completely safe from the tyrant-"

"He punched her pregnant stomach. She has no obligation to be on the case," Foreman hissed back angrily. Talia rolled her eyes and leant herself up against the countertop.

"Foreman? What's going on?" she spoke loudly, causing everyone to fall quiet.

"Told you!" she heard House hiss.

"House thinks it's Lassa fever," came Cameron's sigh. "And how are you feeling?"

"I'm fine - and it could be Lassa fever. Fits the all symptoms," Talia contemplated as the toast popped up and she started to butter it.

"There is no Lassa in his country and before you ask, House - he hasn't travelled to a country where it exists in the past two years. Definitely not Lassa fever - let it go," Foreman interrupted abruptly, making Talia sigh. "I think that it's-"

"One of the places he travelled to was for an African Union Meeting, which could mean that he'd come into contact with others carrying all sorts of diseases. He's a personable man who likes to get under people's skin - fair to say that you can't do that from a safe Lassa-free distance," Talia commented.

"Plus! One of the first ministers of Liberia was infamously carrying Lassa fever as was publicised last year," House piped up brightly. "Huuuuge scandal." There was a small silence, only broken by Foreman grumbling that he'd start the treatment. "This is why we include her, by the way," House whispered loudly. "Bye now, Junior!" He hung up before Talia could talk again and she put down her phone with a long groan. Rue poked her head up from the sofa.

"Are you okay, Aunty Tali?" she called out worriedly.

"I'm fine, sweetheart," Talia nodded back with a reassuring smile. "C'mon, breakfast is ready."

That evening, Talia and Rue were eating a delicious meal of spaghetti and meatballs, giggling away with each other. As they were in the middle of baby names, the front door opened and Chase shuffled his way through. But he looked shaken - and that freaked Talia out immediately. "Oh my god, Rob?" she frowned, standing up from the table and rushing over. "What happened?!"

"There was an…there was an assassination attempt," Chase muttered thickly, feeling so shaken even as Talia held his face in her hands.

"On Dibala?" Talia clarified in horror. "Oh god, a-are you hurt?!"

"I'm fine, everyone's fine," Chase assured her as he pulled her into a tight hug, mostly for his own comfort, whilst being of her stomach. "The guy wasn't gonna hurt me. I…I actually knew him from the clinic rooms earlier. He posed as a doctor in an attempt to go into Dibala's room and…finish the job."

"He's Sibiti?" Talia frowned. "And he flew all the way over here?"

"Just to get his hands on the guy, yeah. I yelled…told him to stop," Chase sniffed, letting go of Talia. She raised her dark eyebrows and twisted her mouth to the side intriguingly.

"Did he miss or did your warning stop him?"

"Bit of both. Dibala's men punched the hell out of the guy and cracked his skull. We're treating him now." Talia ran her tongue over her teeth and shook her head.

"Alright, I'm going back in tomorrow," she decided, walking straight into their bedroom to find an outfit. Chase froze solid for a few moments before following her.

"Did you not hear what I said?"

"I heard ya, Rob," Talia sighed back, turning around to look at him and crossing her arms defensively. "But this is a big deal, and Cuddy already told me about a Sibiti woman that they've also dragged there to donate her blood to Dibala under duress. So yes, I'm returning. Patient care - I literally need to care for the patients and I can't do that here-"

"Talia, you are pregnant and the bastard could've seriously hurt our baby-"

"Yes, so you keep reminding me," Talia muttered under her breath, suddenly tearing her gaze from his.

Chase's face fell.

"T, I know you don't like to think about it, but we really got off luckily," he told her weakly.

"You're telling me? I was the one that got punched - and I almost wish the assassination was successful - so yeah, I know. I'm not trying to be headstrong on purpose," Talia hissed, suddenly edging her way closer to him. Chase's eyebrows knitted together in a deepest frown. "But our job is more than that, Rob. We're doctors, meaning there are always other people riding on us and it's them I'm going back for. So please, do me a favour and let me go do it?" She pecked his lips one last time before going to figure out what to wear, leaving Chase stood there angry, worried and ultimately, confused.

…

It was fair to say that the team were shocked to see Talia back. "I heard the patient has a bloody eye?" she sighed as she swept her way into House's office after dropping Rue off at the creche. Immediately, Foreman's eyebrows shot up and Cameron's face was completely soaked with concern.

"Should you be up and walking again so soon?" was her first question as she leapt up from her seat to rush over.

"I've been up and walking for a while now, Al," Talia frowned back at her, holding her arms comfortingly. "Stop panicking - I wouldn't be back at work if it was a genuine danger to my child. Trust me on that one." Cameron's face only marginally relaxed as Talia craned her neck to the team apprehensively seated round the table. "So what caused the bloody eye?" she pressed on.

"An enlarged lymph node behind the retina," Foreman answered helpfully. He was secretly grateful to have her back, to be honest. She seemed to be the balance that House needed to think properly.

"So heart, lungs, rising fever and lymph nodes," Talia hummed, sitting herself down beside a rigidly seated Chase. She glanced over at House. "What do you think it is?"

But he didn't speak, much to Talia's amazement. He just widened his eyes and shrugged.

"He's sulking - ignore him," Foreman brushed him off with his hand. "I think it points to sarcoidosis."

"You do?" Talia hummed back. She craned her neck to study the X Ray's. "I don't know…to me it looks-"

"With a lack of hilar-radenopathy? Can't be that, surely?" Chase murmured as he squinted up too.

"His fever is nowhere near high enough to be staph aureus either," Cameron observed.

"Lymphoma!" Talia suddenly gasped, leaping up to her feet.

"The symptoms fit…aside from the fact that the LDH is normal?" Cameron frowned.

"Not necessarily. The good liver function might be throwing us off the scent," Talia explained to them all again. "It sounds like a long shot but…it's what best fits his symptoms."

"True…LDH levels might be being masked. If we biopsy the lymph node we can see what we're really working with," Foreman nodded at Chase and Cameron affirmatively.

"Excellent work, kiddos!" House suddenly nodded, getting up to leave too. "Hey, Junior - could you close the blinds? It's way too bright."

"Uh…sure?" Talia frowned back. She quickly manoeuvred her way to the blinds and pulled them shut - revealing the words 'LYMPHOMA! TA DA!' sprayed on them. The team's shoulders slumped. "Heyyyyy! That was my intro to you all," Talia frowned sulkily. "And I did it better-"

"Talia, are you sure you should be back? The man who assaulted you is literally down the hall," Foreman pointed out as Chase swept straight out of the room without another word and Talia rolled her eyes.

"I know. I feel like everyone's forgotten that I treated my own abuser here too. But, as I told my very upset with me husband, I'm not here for him. I'm more-so here for Ama, the woman that they dragged over here to give Dibala her blood. This guy…isn't my business," she told both Foreman and Cameron with a brief smile before sweeping straight out of the office too.

…

The first thing Talia noticed when she tiptoed into Ama's hospital room, was how many armed soldiers were posted around her bed - almost as if they were worried to give her any privacy. But Talia couldn't afford to show weakness again - so she let out a shaky breath and composed herself as best she could before making her presence known. "Are you Dr. Talia?" Ama asked timidly once she saw her.

"I am," Talia beamed back at her comfortingly. She glanced at the soldiers. "Gentlemen, may I have a moment with Ama alone?"

"We'd rather you not," the soldier on the left replied roughly. Talia's eyebrows shot up in disbelief.

"Confidentiality," she explained bluntly. "Unfortunately-"

"She's one of our people, therefore we are responsible for her," the soldier argued back. Ama looked so petrified that it just propelled Talia to fight back even more - but she remembered what happened last time.

So she had to take a different route. She was clever.

"Last time I was in a room with your leader alone, he punched me in my pregnant stomach, knowing full well that I'd lost my first baby in the womb. Shows he had intent. It's a wonder I haven't bothered pressing charges or going to the press - so I hardly think that I'd risk myself to lock myself in this room with the patient alone if it wasn't absolutely necessary," she mentioned smoothly.

The soldiers gave each other similar glances before nodding.

"Ten minutes," the one on the right muttered before they both marched out. Talia waited for the doors to slide shut before both she and Ama let out matching sighs of relief.

"What would you like to know, doctor? I'll tell you anything," Ama hissed. Talia straightened herself up and cleared her throat.

"Well…I've been informed that you have a case of osteomyelitis in your pelvis," she began, keeping her eyes on Ama's. "Its a bone marrow infection typically contracted through open wounds. It also means-"

"That I cannot give President Dibala my blood," Ama finished off lowly

"It also means we'll have to treat you here for a few days," Talia explained quietly. "Its chronic osteomyelitis…so if we try and send you back home now, there's a chance you won't make the whole flight."

"I understand," Ama nodded sombrely. But her beautiful light brown eyes were filling with fear. "How long do I have till I must return?"

"Well you'll need to have a good week for recovery, providing that everything goes well," Talia answered slowly. But Ama's mind was elsewhere and Talia could see. "Do you have family back home waiting for you?" Naturally, Ama said nothing. "Ama, we can contact them for you-"

"I have no family, doctor. Not anymore, thanks to that man that you are all trying to heal," Ama murmured, her accent growing thicker the more she appeared to panic. Her eyes speedily welled up with tears of desperation. "I cannot…I cannot return. What that man…what that beast did to you…the way that he lashed out?" she spat, "yes, that's how he is to everyone. All women who fear him. All men who question him. All children that look at him the wrong way. It is hell." Before Ama could continue, Talia stood up and reached across to fiddle with the back of the BP monitor before sitting back down again. "Doctor? What did you do?" Ama asked nervously.

"Turned up the frequency on the monitor. The white noise will interfere with any other sources in case they've bugged the room," Talia muttered back quickly. "I doubt they have, but you can never be too sure. Ama, do you want to seek asylum in the U.S.? There are officials just out there that can at least try and take care of that for you-" Ama let out a dry laugh and shook her head, as the tears slowly started to dribble down her scarred cheeks.

"And if Dibala's men find out? They will surely kill me-"

"Then we make sure they don't find out," Talia stated as if it were obvious. "I can make sure that your recovery time extends Dibala's. He'll go back home and you'll stay here on doctor's orders. Please don't cry, Ama. We'll take care of you-"

"I want you all to be safe, too. He can be a wicked man, Doctor," Ama sobbed as quietly as she could, reaching out for Talia's hand.

"So I've heard."

"No, I mean what the media reports is nowhere near half of what we go through," Ama hissed. "He and his people slaughter us, massacre us, rape us. In all of five years, we as a people may cease to exist and nobody will know. Even if I do go back, Doctor - my story must be told. Please allow it to be told."

Talia's face went pale and she took a deep breath before nodding briskly.

"I'm going to schedule your surgery," she murmured, standing up again and fiddling with the BP monitor once more. "I think you are very brave for wanting to donate your blood to your president, and I understand you're disappointed that you can't." Ama stared at her in a state of tearful confusion - until it quickly sank in. Talia was providing a covering statement in case the room was bugged, a quick few words that would imply that Ama was still loyal to Dibala. "I'll be back later," Talia whispered, giving her shoulder a light squeeze before scurrying out. She stopped in front of the stood soldiers with a small grimace. "I regret to inform you that Ama's going to need extensive surgery. She has a rather serious bone-"

"Will she be able to transfer blood should this happen again, yes or no?" the abrasive soldier snapped.

"Should what happen again?" Talia frowned confusedly. Her eyes darted between the two of them. "It's not Lassa fever - we're testing him for lymphoma now." The soldiers looked at each other in uncertainty. "Did…wait, were you guys not told?"

"We were told it was Lassa fever a few minutes ago," the calmer one frowned.

"By who?" Talia blinked.

"President Dibala."

…

"Foreman!" Talia called out as she entered House's office again. "Dibala's getting worse. He now has short term memory loss, his brain is literally dying."

"Plus, he tested negative for lymphoma," Chase added in bluntly from where he was stood in front of Foreman's desk. Talia stole a glance over at him and quickly noticed that he looked even worse than before. He was paler, he looked increasingly uncomfortable, and it was making her feel uneasy.

"House is now insisting that its scleroderma," Cameron filled Talia in as she handed her the recent test results. "And, as you can see, we just tested his blood again and it's positive for anti-centromere antibodies."

"So then…it is scleroderma," Talia stated obviously. Her eyes flew back over to Foreman. "Please tell me that you're one step ahead and you've already swapped the antifungals for steroids?"

"Nope. Cos I don't think this proves scleroderma. It just points to it," Foreman told her firmly.

Talia could feel the agitation build up in the sigh that Cameron released.

"So what do you suppose this is?" Talia blinked, folding her arms. Chase internally rolled his eyes and tapped out - he could already tell how this was going to end.

"Blastomycosis. The patient now has nodules on his fingers - new symptom and it fits," Foreman responded as he mirrored her actions by crossing his arms too. Talia silently stared him out as she thought about it.

"Foreman, you can't just ignore the damn test!" Cameron jumped in after hearing Talia's unusual silence. "We have literal evidence-"

"Sorry but I've made my decision. I'm not budging," Foreman stated stubbornly. Talia threw her head back with a grunt.

"God, Foreman. I can't wait for House to get his licence back!" she exclaimed, surprising pretty much everyone in the office. "Seriously do you even have any basic reasoning as to why we should ignore the test results in front of us? Or are we just gonna go on a hunch?"

"Doesn't House go on a hunch?" Foreman shot back.

"NO! House says something slick, sprinkles a metaphor and launches into an explanation! And I thought you didn't want to be House?" Talia hissed challengingly.

That's when Foreman fell silent and Cameron stepped forward.

"Foreman. If you wanna mess up your personal life, that's up to you," she started boldly. "And I'm not gonna try and stop that-"

"Think she's referring to that loving girlfriend of yours who you fired, BTW," Talia whispered loudly, in a very House-like fashion. Foreman clenched his jaw.

"But if you mess up this job, people are at risk of dying. That is when I step in," Cameron put it simply.

"One of these guys you can get back with flowers and chocolates, the other one you'll be sending flowers and chocolates to their relatives with your condolences," Talia murmured quietly, dropping her shoulders to get rid of some of the floating tension. Foreman stared them out before rolling his eyes.

"Take him off the anti-fungals."

Chase and Cameron went do as they were told without another word - whereas Talia stayed put.

But of course, Foreman wasn't even the mood for it anymore.

"Talia," he began tiredly. "If you're gonna continue chastising me-"

"I'm disappointed," Talia frowned, uncrossing her arms in defeat.

"Excuse me?!"

"You backed out way quicker than usual. I kinda expected a bit more of a fight, ya know?" Talia shrugged, pulling up a chair and sitting down opposite him.

"But you just said-"

"I know! But as I said to you the other day, I do the same thing to House and he shuts me down on a regular basis, especially when he feels that strongly about his decision!"

"Talia," Foreman sighed with his hands hooked behind his head, "I'm not in the mood for your mind games."

"My point is you're a sick doctor - and sick means good in British slang, by the way," Talia insisted, "and for this past week I've enjoyed working against you because I knew you could handle it. I know you don't want to be House but you're closer to him than you think, and I just wanted to see how far you could go before you finally told me to shut the f*ck up. You wanted to be a boss - a boss comes with stubborn and very irritating employees, right? I'm not usually one of them but this time I wanted to play one - and it was fun. I see why Allison sticks to it so tightly." Foreman's face crumpled as if she had just punched him directly in the gut.

"So…so this was all some kinda test?"

"Er…definitely not, no," Talia winced, squeezing an eye shut. "I genuinely was challenging you all that time. But I do think that what you say holds merit and if you were my real boss, I'd listen about 90% of the time. I just wanted to test out that little 10% - especially once I knew that House was returning and you wouldn't hate me forever for it." Foreman shot her a small smile as he shook his head, and she returned it. "It's not too late for me to page the others to tell them to continue your treatment, if that's what you really want?"

"No," Foreman sighed as he tapped his pen on the desk. "Even House wouldn't flip flop like that. I made my decision and I'll have to live with it - whatever the outcome may be." Talia nodded in support and let out a little sigh of her own. "You know, you're gonna raise a really strong kid," Foreman commented quietly. Talia's surprised eyes fluttered up at him and she couldn't help but smile with her cheeks all flushed.

"You really think that?"

"Well, other than the fact that the kid has endured a lot in their first five months of being in the womb alone - you give a pretty compelling 'you can do it' kinda talk," Foreman shrugged. "Whereas Chase is probably gonna tell the kid, 'if you can believe you can achieve - just make sure you ask your mom', you know?"

"Ahhh yup, that's my boy," Talia started to giggle - before both their pagers went off simultaneously.

And then chaos ensued.

…

Talia could barely believe it. As she stood there and stared at Dibala's freshly bloodied corpse, a chilling shiver ran over her. She was trying to process the fact that an evil dictator was now dead on the hospital's hands, and was also trying to figure out how it could've happened - and how she and the team missed it.

But as much as that was all on her mind, the first thing she had to do was go and get Ama sorted.

"Sir," Talia began to one of the American agents, named Bass, who was stood outside the room. "There's a woman in one of the wards, from the Sibiti tribe. She needs to seek asylum out of fear of what awaits her back home. Dibala might be dead but his soldiers live on, you know?" Agent Bass sighed and gave her a short nod.

"Fine. I'll see what I can do…but no promises."

"Thanks, just you trying is more than enough," Talia breathed gratefully.

"Did you wanna press charges for the assault that happened in that ward?" Agent Bass asked abruptly. Talia was caught so off guard that her next words literally dissolved into nothing on her tongue.

"I….w-wh-" She gulped to recompose herself, noticing Agent Bass' relentless stare begin to increase. "I don't…I mean…he's…dead."

"Ya! I've noticed," Agent Bass replied obviously, "but when he was alive, I overheard his soldiers talking about paying you off to never blab about it to the press. Now that he's dead, naturally, they have bigger things to worry about - but we could still do something. An apology or compensation…legal compensation, of course."

"But legal compensation would lead to media coverage," Talia frowned.

"Naturally."

"Yeaaah see, I don't think any of us coming out and openly talking about about this guys' his evilness is a good idea," Talia winced, crossing her arms and tearing her eyes back to the covered corpse again. "I already don't get how he died as it is. I can imagine how odd it would look if we suddenly blurt out all the evil he did whilst in our care, don't you?" She glanced up Agent Bass again, seeing that he was no longer looking at her, but at the covered corpse. "Is this…is this meant to be your way of making things right after you witnessed his men beat the sh*t out of the Sibiti man for the assassination attempt?"

"He just kept going!" Agent Bass groaned automatically, as if he had been dying to talk about it. "I mean I've seen a lot of things in my time… but nothin' like that, you know?"

"I do know," Talia muttered discreetly. "It's a minor teeny tiny reflection of what happened in his country without anyone else knowing. He was rehearsing mass genocide and we would've all just sat back and been completely oblivious to it all."

…

That evening, Talia was sat in hers and Chase's apartment alone. Juliette had come back for Rue a few days early as emergency peace talks had to take place in the same conference centres, due to Dibala's death. The news had spread quickly and Talia had to physically turn off the TV to escape it.

One thing she wished is that she didn't see that bloodstained corpse, because she couldn't get the sight of it out of her brain.

Other than the shock, Talia didn't know whether that feeling within her was relief or something else, something deeper. And the fact that they weren't even allowed to do the autopsy on the guy meant that she wouldn't even know what killed him - and she knew that the suspense would be killing House, too.

Either way, she fell asleep after eating her dinner of cold leftover spaghetti, and had a rather pleasant snooze considering all that had happened that day - until the quiet click of the bedroom lamp suddenly startled her awake again. She cracked an eye open and peered across the dimly lit bedroom until her eyes fell onto her husband. "Oh. Hey you," she yawned, before peacefully shutting her eyes again. Chase glanced over at her and took a few steps towards the bed.

"Oh, did I wake you, bub?" he winced apologetically.

"Nope," Talia lied quietly. Then she sighed. "Kinda. But I'm fine. You okay? It's super late, I can't believe you only just got in!" Chase tried to reply as he ripped off his tie, but the words got lodged dead in his throat.

In fact, now he could barely breathe-

"Rob?" Talia suddenly gasped, quickly propping herself up with one hand and using the other to fly onto her stomach as her eyes shot open. Chase's head jerked up.

"What's wrong?!"

"The baby," Talia breathed. She waved him over quickly before impatiently pulling his hand to her stomach and resting it there. Chase looked up with wide eyes, unable to contain the look of adoration growing on his face. He felt his baby gently kick against Talia's belly, the first bit of contact they had made. "Our baby is finally kicking," Talia giggled as she felt a pleased tear dribble down her cheek.

She'd been waiting for his moment for so long.

"That…is insane," Chase breathed in awe. He pressed his lips up against Talia's belly. "Hey kiddo. It's your dad. I…I love you. I love you so much, and I will love you forever." Talia smiled down at him tiredly, running her fingers through his shortened hair as he watched him talk before drifting off back to a blissful sleep. For the first time in this pregnancy, she was actually happy. Everything was perfect in her eyes.

But of course, everything was only getting worse in Chase's.