A/N: I was all set to go right back to social services, but that's not these prompts. (And where was I, that I'm a little behind? Fixing flight reservations that shouldn't have needed to BE fixed in the first place.)

Week 12 - UDC 1

56. good

Back inside the house, Pete froze at the sight of the near-empty table. "Where did-"

"Pete," Nick interrupted, motioning to Noah behind him. "You're not going to be focusing on school work right now and we have to set the table anyway. Right, Mr. Finney?"

"Right," Noah agreed and Pete looked back at him with a frown. "Unless you want me to help you with it? We could do that."

"Hadn't thought of it that way," Pete admitted.

"Hmmm... Nick, was the tour good or bad?"

Nick shrugged. "Depends on if Pete having a tame but active flashback is good or bad." Noah frowned at him. "The F-14's caused him to get stuck for a minute there."

"Oh."

"And then I got to help with Pre-flight!" Pete enthused.

"You did, huh?" Chelsea asked as she set Maggie down. Maggie immediately hugged her calf. "That's good."

Helen, behind Chelsea, frowned at him. "And when were you going to tell me about the flashback?"

"Later. It was a good one."

"And I'm fine," Pete added, smiling. "Hate when that happens, though."

57. evil

Chelsea looked at Pete, and then pointed to the couch, and he frowned at her. "We didn't get a chance to talk, really, because we overwhelmed you. Couch."

"But we're gonna set the table-"

Helen had set Nicky down, and this time it was the toddler who interrupted him. "Couch, Pete. Go on."

Noah leaned closer to her as Pete pried Nicky off his leg and then led Chelsea, Maggie, and Nicky to the couch. "That was slightly evil."

"Worked, didn't it?"

She had him there. He glanced out the still-open door in time to see Walt pull up in the driveway. "Do we tell Walt now that he had a good flashback, or let Nick?"

Helen frowned and beckoned Nick to her. "When you say good..."

Nick sighed. "I didn't notice that he'd gotten distracted when Tech Sergeant Whittington was in the middle of explaining flight operations on the tarmac, Ma. When I got back to him after Whittington noticed we were short a person, he was staring at the planes, and then he asked what they were. And then he kept repeating 'test flying' until I got him to tell us where he was in his head."

Helen nodded. "And?"

Nick peered into the living room, shook his head. "He said he was in Beth Page, on the tarmac with his mother, watching his father do test flights. Taking off and landing."

"So when you say good, that isn't an exaggeration," Noah said after a moment.

"Nope. Not at all." Nick shrugged. "We know a little more?"

"We do?" Walt asked, coming in the house.

"Yes, Dad. We do. Pete's going to want to tell us all about it, but I think Miss Lowell is doing her own assessment of him right now, with added toddler cuteness."

Walt studied his son for a moment, then looked at Helen. "I got home in the middle of a thing, didn't I?"

58. dream

Chelsea watched as Pete led Nicky and Maggie through the alphabet song, smiling at how well he was doing with them. It was moments like this where she wished it had been different, that they'd been able to keep him without Harry ultimately making the decision when they had been a tired mess. Pete glanced at her knowingly and shook his head before returning his attention to the twins, and she froze. What was that supposed to mean? "Flying dreams."

Pete broke off from singing, and both Nicky and Maggie looked at her in confusion. "What about flying dreams?"

"You didn't have those as often as the ones where you'd get disoriented, but it's nice to know the reason you did."

"Oh."

"I just wish we'd been able to figure out-"

"No," Pete said suddenly, startling her. "I don't blame you or Noah for that. I never did. I might not have understood why Harry did it, but..." He shook his head and bit his lip for a moment or two. "I had you two. Those months." He reached over and tousled Nicky's hair. "And then... can I call you family?"

"Yes." After all of this, she would not be the one to tell him no. There was family by blood, and family one chooses. This was the latter, not the former.

"And then my family got bigger, Chelsea, even if I didn't get to see you for three years." He glanced downward, frowning, and then blinked. "Wait a minute. Does Noah know?"

She followed his gaze to her ankles, suddenly realizing that of course Pete would figure it out, even if she wasn't showing yet. "Not yet. I didn't know until today. It's early." Chelsea chanced a glance toward the entryway and sure enough, three sets of eyes were watching them. Had Noah heard that?

"Momma?" Maggie wondered. "Talking about?"

"Big person things, sweetie," Chelsea told her as Noah frowned. Sighing, she motioned all of them into the living room. "I was going to wait a week or so, but... Noah, honey? How do you feel about another?"

"Pete noticed your ankles, didn't he?" Noah asked with a touch of humor. "I thought I was imagining it, didn't want to say anything." He turned to look at Nick, Helen, and Walt. "This wasn't supposed to be about us tonight, but..."

Walt smiled at him. "It's about family tonight, Noah. Even better that there's a little one, or maybe two," at that, Chelsea glared at him, "...on the way. Pete, why don't you come into the kitchen with me and I'll show you what I was wanting to do with the cube steak. I think these two need a minute. Nick? Table."

59. nightmare

In the kitchen, Pete watched studiously as Walt prepared meat in a way he'd not seen before, with the crackers and the eggs. "So this is what you wanted to do with the cube steak?"

Walt chuckled. "Yes. I wasn't sure if you'd had it before, and it's always good to try something different. We call this Country Fried Steak. You'll love it."

"The Quiche was good," Pete told him after a minute, watching as Walt fried the meat. "And... you keep telling me to tell you, but... it'll sound bad."

Walt nodded. "You always seem to be cold, Pete." He blinked up at him, startled. "That first night here? I'm not sure Nick noticed or not, because he didn't say anything, but..."

"I was cold. Always am."

"Which ties in with being hungry all the time," Walt explained. "I keep saying to tell us when you're hungry because your body is telling you things, you just have to be able to interpret what it's telling you."

"Oh."

"It might seem like it's too much, to tell us when you're hungry, but it's not too much. Understood?"

"I think so?" Pete glanced over at Nick, who was watching them with a smile while setting the table. "You noticed, didn't you?"

"I just thought you had naturally cold hands."

60. truth

Later, listening to Pete explain the F-14 testing he remembered and the way the Aviators had allowed him to join in on a pre-flight inspection, Walt was glad they had allowed him to go on the tour, and doubly glad Nick had been there to re-orient him when he'd gotten lost in his own head. They'd have to tell Alan, of course, because flashbacks of any kind, even positive ones, were still an incident, but this... this was an answer to Noah's trying to ask the Navy for more details and them being touchy about his asking.