A/N: Here's a smidge of angst to balance out all the fluff. This one's actually long enough to be classified as a oneshot, rather than a drabble. This week's farmer is Aliyah: Married to Shane. Stubborn and practical, but also sensitive. Understands the nature of depression, as she suffered from it before moving to the valley. Straightforward and blunt. Loves animals.


Shane thought his life was pretty okay. Actually, it was downright fantastic if you compared it to what it was like before he met Aliyah. Sure, he had bad days where his dark thoughts kept him bound to the couch in front of the tv and he dipped back into old habits, but his wife was always there to "shake him back out again." Her words, not his. She let him have his moods, his needs, his flaws, but she always let him know if he ever went too far. He didn't have to worry about becoming a burden to her. She liked taking care of him, and he liked being taken care of, so all in all, their relationship was a good one. He couldn't think of anything he'd change about it, or about the life they led together.

Unfortunately for him, change isn't always something you invite willingly into your life.

Aliyah stood in front of him, her demeanor strong and self-assured, while he felt his knees turning to jelly.

"You're... You're what?" he gasped, reaching for the kitchen counter to support himself.

"I'm pregnant," she said again. There was no levity in her voice, no indication that this was a joke. Then again, Shane knew his wife well enough to know that she couldn't make a joke about anything, let alone something this serious. Not unless she was severely intoxicated.

"Oh Yoba," Shane breathed, leaning heavily against the counter. He ran his hand down the front of his face. "Oh, Yoba this is..." He trailed off, glancing back up at Aliyah. She was still looking at him with that stern expectation he had come to know so well. She didn't give him that look too often, but he both loved and hated it when she did. It meant she was counting on him to man up and do the right thing.

"This is fine," Aliyah told him when it became clear that he could not finish his sentence. "This is normal. Most couples our age have already had a child by now."

"Yeah, but we're not most couples!" Shane burst out. "One of us is a full-time farmer who barely has time to eat, and the other is a complete mess. We can't take care of a baby!" He regretted the words the moment they were out of his mouth. Aliyah's eyes flashed with hurt, before hardening into resolution.

"Well, we are," she told him bluntly. "Whether you like it or not." Shane winced. She had said you, not we. She already knew how she felt. She wanted this baby. And after everything she'd done for him, he had no right to demand that she give it up.

"I...I need some air," he mumbled. He stumbled out of the kitchen, grabbing his jacket from the back of the couch, and bolted out the front door. He found himself treading the familiar path to Cindersap Forest, where he stopped by the river. He stared at his reflection in the water, a disheveled, unshaven wreck, and felt like he was going to be sick. He couldn't be a father. He couldn't even control his own life. If it weren't for that woman back on the farm, he might be dead. How was he supposed to take responsibility for the life of an innocent child? He would ruin them. That was just who he was. He messed everything up, and the only reason he had found even a sliver of happiness was because he had a wife who was strong enough to get it for the both of them.

He hated that he felt this way. Any husband who was even half worthy of such an amazing woman would have scooped her up and shouted with joy, would have promised his time and support. But Shane didn't do that. He did the first thing that came naturally to him, and that was running away. Yoba, he was so disgusting, it was a marvel that nobody cringed at the sight of him.

"Shane?" The sound of his name pulled him from his musings, and he whirled around, terrified of finding his wife standing there, preparing to tell him the words he had been hearing in his nightmares ever since he married her. But it was only Marnie, a bag of groceries under her arm and a look of motherly concern on her face. "What are you doing out here?"

"Th-thinking," he stammered. "I was just thinking." Marnie's brow furrowed.

"Is something wrong?" she asked slowly. Everything, he wanted to say. Everything about me is wrong.

"Aliyah's pregnant," he blurted before he could stop himself. There was a brief flash of joy on Marnie's face, but it quickly melted back into concern.

"I see," she said quietly.

"I don't... I don't know what to do," Shane continued. He wasn't normally this up front about his problems, but he was just so scared, and Marnie had the disadvantage of being one of the few people he could count on to put up with him. "She wants to keep it, but I can't... There's no way I can be a father. I can't be the husband she needs. Or deserves..." He trailed off miserably.

"Shane, it's not a question of whether you deserve her or not. She chose you. Out of all the eligible young men in the valley, she chose you. She sees something in you that you can't. She believes in you. And I know Aliyah. She doesn't believe in things unless she's seen proof. If she thinks you can do it, then I know you can."

Shane took a deep breath, mulling over Marnie's words in the silence that stretched between them. He didn't believe in much, but he did believe in Aliyah. Everything she'd told him he could do, he had done. He'd gone sober, gone to therapy, started a flourishing egg business. He'd never believed he could do any of that before Aliyah told him he could. And now she was telling him he was going to be a father. Well, he didn't really have any evidence to suggest she was lying to him. And past experience had shown that Aliyah only ever believed what was true. He knew he couldn't trust himself, but he could trust her. If she saw father material in him, then it must be there, even if he couldn't see it. He finally looked up at his aunt and gave her a tremorous smile.

"Thanks. I needed to hear that." Marnie smiled back.

"You know, it's okay to doubt yourself," she said. "But you shouldn't wallow in it. You should tell Aliyah how you feel. I'm sure that together, you can work it all out."

"Yeah...Okay. I'll...I'll head back now." He turned to leave, then stopped as something occurred to him. "Oh, um...Sorry to ask this, but could you maybe keep this between us? Just until Aliyah's ready to tell everyone?"

"My lips are sealed," Marnie promised. Shane sent her a grateful grin, then trudged back up the path towards the farm.


"Aliyah?" Shane crept into the farmhouse quietly, his voice little more than a whisper. There was no response. His heart sank into his stomach. Aliyah could have gone anywhere, and there was no telling when...if she would be back. He shook the thought from his mind at once. She would be back. She always came back. She told him he could believe that. He closed the door behind him with a sigh and slipped his jacket off, throwing it over the back of the couch. He was about to collapse onto the sofa when he heard a shuffling in the bedroom. Heart rising back to its proper place in his chest, he went to investigate, finding Aliyah curled up on their messy bed, her back to the door. She was sniffling. His heart dropped right back down into his gut again with a crash.

"H-hey, Aliyah," he called softly. She froze, but didn't turn to acknowledge him. "Listen, I'm sorry." He walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed, resting his hand on her shoulder. "I didn't mean to run out on you like that. You just...kind of startled me, that's all. But I'm here now, so we can... We can talk about it, if you want." There was a long moment during which she gave no indication that she had heard him. Finally, with a sigh, she sat up and turned to face him. His heart twisted where it was lying in his stomach at the sight of her wet cheeks and red-rimmed eyes. Aliyah never cried, no matter how hard things got. He never wanted to be the reason she did.

"I'm listening," she said calmly, though her voice was rough and nasally.

"Right..." Shane gulped. Gingerly, he took her hand in his. "Okay, here's the deal. You know me. You know how I see myself. When you told me I was going to have to be a father I... I got scared, because I didn't think I could be one. But I love you, and I trust you, and if you tell me that I'm going to raise a child with you, then that's what I'm going to do. I don't believe in myself, but I do believe in you. In us. I know if we're together, I can do this. If... If you still want me to." Aliyah sniffled again and rubbed her cheek.

"Of course I do," she choked, falling into him gracelessly. "I wouldn't want to do this with anyone else." Shane breathed a sigh of relief and wrapped his arms around her, burying his nose in her dark, spicy-smelling hair. "I know it's going to be hard," she continued. "But I truly believe we can do this." Shane exhaled slowly and held her tighter.

"Then I do, too," he murmured.