"Barnabas! I-I-I, um…" Victoria stammered, but she couldn't figure out what to say.

"Why are you so worried?" Barnabas said calmly; he approached her and sat down next to her. "Do you not want children?"

"Well… yes, I do. But, but I…" She started; she sighed. "I don't know. I just don't know what to think. I want to have children, but I—"

"We were married not too long ago, were we not?"

"Well… yes. But what does that have to—?"

"Before I was cursed, families were started by couples only a few weeks after they were married."

"But that was the 1770's; this is the 1970's. People aren't the same as they were back then."

"Perhaps, but still. You and I are no different." He sat down next to her. "We are just like them. My parents were in their twenties when they had my brother and me."

"You had a brother?"

"Yes. His name was Atticus. He and his wife, Mercedes, had a baby of their own months after their wedding."

"Really?"

"Yes. They had their daughter, my niece, when they just turned thirty. I was still a child by then. Her name was Ophelia."

"That's a very beautiful name."

"Yes, but that is beside the point." He looked her in the eye. "The point is that I truly feel excited and ready to be a father, even if we… have a lot on our plate, as they say."

"A lot on our plate? Pfft, no kidding."

"Victoria, this is hardly the time for jokes. Answer my question, please. Are you pregnant or not?"

Victoria paused and looked at the pregnancy test in her hand before turning back to Barnabas. She reluctantly handed him the test; he gave her a confused look as she turned away.

"This shows it all. Two parallel lines mean 'positive'." She said.

Barnabas carefully read the test and saw the two lines. He looked at her. "So it is true?"

"…I guess it is. I-I mean it is. Yes, it's true." She nodded her head.

He cocked an eyebrow, but wrapped his arm around Victoria's shoulders; he set the test down. "Then why do you worry yourself?"

"I… I… I don't know." Victoria buried her pale face in her claw-like hands and shut her eyes. "I'm sorry, Barnabas. I really am. I guess… I guess I'm just afraid. I know I shouldn't be, but I can't help it. I do want children and I'm really excited that we're having a baby, but… there are so many awful things that could happen. What if I'm not a good mother? What if our baby doesn't love me? What if we lose the baby? What if something goes wrong? What if something happens to me? Or you? W-w-w-what if…?" A tear or two started to fall from her eyes.

"Victoria, calm yourself." Barnabas held his wife's face in his hands and looked her dead in the eye. He wiped a tear from her cheek with his thumb. "It will be alright. Nothing is going to happen to us."

"How could you possibly know that?"

"I don't. But we have already faced things far worse than this; not just you and me, but the rest of the family as well. We have done so many other things before, we can certainly do this. We have restored the original Collins family business, we have defeated a witch, and now we are building a school together. I do admit that it may be very hard work, but as long as we are together… we can do anything. We can get through, as long as we are together."

"Together?"

"Together."

He gave her a smile; she smiled back before wrapping her arms around him in a hug. "Thank you, Barnabas. I really needed to hear that."

"You are most welcome, my love." Barnabas whispered into her ear. They parted and looked at each other. "We must tell the others at once."

Victoria nodded. "You're right. Let's get back." They stood up and locked arms before walking back in the direction of the hotel. "They're probably wondering what happened to us by now."

0-0-0-0-0-0

"You're what?!" David exclaimed.

"That is right, Master David." Barnabas proudly said. "Victoria and I are having a child."

David turned to look at Carolyn, who gave him a nonchalant smirk.

"Told ya." She said.

Elizabeth remained quiet; she knew her suspicions were right. She smiled and nodded at Victoria, who gave her a shy smirk.

"That's great! When will the baby be here?" David asked.

"I don't know, David." Victoria said. "We're going to have to visit the doctor, probably tomorrow."

"You should visit Dr. Emily Banks." Elizabeth suggested. "She's fantastic."

"Doctor Emily Banks. We will be sure to keep that in mind, Elizabeth. Thank you." Barnabas said. "For now, all we can do is wait."

He pulled Victoria closer to him and kissed the side of her head; he placed a hand on her stomach.