"Are we almost there?"

Elizabeth glanced toward the backseat. Harrison had his arm out, petting Simba who was lying down beside his carseat. "We still have about an hour left."

"But I'm hungry!" he whined.

"If you ask nicely, mommy might have a snack for you."

"Mommy, can I please have a snack?" he asked sweetly.

She pulled a granola bar from her bag, reaching back to hand it to Harrison.

"Thank you."

"Are you excited to go camping?"

"Uh huh," he mumbled around a mouthful of his snack. "Daddy said we can go fishing. I hope I catch a big one!"

Jack chuckled. "I hope so, too, bud."

"Mommy? Can we bring my brother camping?"

"We'll see how big the baby is by next summer, but definitely in a couple of years."

"Okay." He took another bite of the granola bar. "Can he share my sleeping bag?"

"When he's little, he'll have to sleep in a crib."

"Even camping?"

Elizabeth nodded. "Even camping."

"Oh. How much longer now?"

"A little less than an hour."

He groaned. "We gotta go camping closer next time."

"We won't be camping in the mountains, then. All the mountains are pretty far from our house."

"We could go on a plane," he suggested.

"Maybe. We have lots of time to decide, though, since it'll be next summer at the earliest."

...

Elizabeth and Jack sat side by side next to the fire, Harrison sitting in Jack's lap and Simba curled up at their feet.

Harrison leaned his head against Jack's chest, his eyelids heavy.

"Are you ready to go to bed, Sonny boy? Your Lion King sleeping bag is all ready for you."

He shook his head. "I'm not sleepy."

Jack chuckled. "I think you are. Come on. Let's get you in your PJs, and I'll read you a story."

"Not yet, daddy." He yawned, his eyes slipping shut.

Jack let out a soft laugh. "I'll be right back," he said quietly to Elizabeth before carrying their little boy into the tent.

"What do you think, Simba?" She reached down to scratch the dog's head. "Do you like camping so far?"

He looked up at her briefly, then laid his head back down on his paws.

She leaned back in her chair, looking up at the stars with a contented sigh. The night was clear, and the stars seemed brighter than usual above the mountains.

"So much for not being tired. He was asleep before his head hit the pillow," Jack stated as he sank back into his chair. "How are you feeling, Beth? That drive up here didn't make you too sick, did it?"

She looked over at him with a smile. "The drive was pretty rough, but I'm feeling great right now. This fresh mountain air is wonderful."

He took her hand. "I'm glad we decided to do this. I always loved going camping when Tom and I were young. We used to race through the trees and have competitions to see who could catch the most fish." He chuckled. "One time, Tom didn't realize he'd snagged dad's shirt with his hook, and he thought he'd caught the biggest fish in the river."

She put her free hand on her stomach. "I'm so glad Harrison will get to create memories with his little brother or sister. I don't know about you, but some of my favorite memories are from when my sisters and I would play together, or come up with some show to perform for the family, things like that."

Jack nodded. "There were definitely times when I was younger that I wished I was an only child, but most of the time, I'm just very grateful to have my brother." He squeezed her hand. "And I'm very grateful to have the chance to give Harrison a sibling, all thanks to you."

"Hey, as I recall, you had a part in making this baby, too."

He laughed. "I played a very small role in all of this. You're the one doing all the hard work."

She shook her head. "I couldn't do any of this without you."

He smiled. "I love you."

"I love you." She reached up to cover her mouth as she yawned. "I think maybe it's time for me to go to bed, too."

He stood, helping her out of her chair. He leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to her lips. "I'm right behind you."

...

"Keep your hand right here." Jack moved Harrison's hand to grip the fishing pole, keeping his hands on top as he showed him how to cast the line into the river in front of them.

"What do I do now?"

"You wait until you get a bite. Keep an eye on your bobber." Jack crouched down beside his son, pointing at the red and white ball floating in the middle of the river. "If it goes under the water, that means you got a bite."

"What do I do when I get a bite?"

"That's when you'll reel the fish in, but I'll show you how to do that when it happens."

He furrowed his brow. "So I just stand here?"

Jack chuckled. "Pretty much, bud. Fishing is mostly just standing around while you wait for the fish to bite. I heard there are a lot of fish around here, though, so hopefully we don't have to wait too long."

"What if I don't catch one?"

"Well, we can always try again tomorrow. And mommy and I made sure to pack some extra food for dinner in case we don't have any fish to cook."

"Oh. Okay." He turned his attention back to the fishing pole, staring intently at the bobber.

Elizabeth smiled as she watched the whole interaction, snapping a picture of the two of them standing side by side on the bank.

She thought back to the year before, when her relationship with Jack was still new, but she dreamed of the day they would be a family. She never imagined it would happen so quickly, or that they would be well on their way to growing that family.

She found her hand drawn to her stomach again, feeling the bump that seemed to be a little bigger every day.

Jack turned to look at her, smiling when he saw her speaking quietly to the baby. He could see them in the future, Elizabeth watching as he and Harrison taught their little girl to fish.

He couldn't explain why, but he still imagined that their unborn child was a daughter, despite Harrison's insistence that it was a boy. In just a few short weeks, they would finally know whether or not Harrison was going to get his baby brother, and they were all counting down the days.

"Daddy!" Harrison exclaimed. "I got one! It moved! The thingy went underwater!"

Jack showed Harrison how to reel in the fish, reminding him not to go too quickly. The little boy jumped up and down as the trout flopped around in front of him.

"Look at that!" Elizabeth praised him as she approached. "You caught one!"

"I did it, mommy!"

"Have daddy help you hold it up, and I'll take a picture."

He looked at the fish with uncertainty, and Jack chuckled.

"How about I hold it, and you can just hold up your fishing pole?"

"Okay."

Jack grabbed the squirming fish by the mouth, and Harrison stood as close as he dared, holding his rod up beside him.

Elizabeth held up her phone, aiming the camera at them. "Smile, and say 'cheese'."

"CHEEEEESE!" Harrison repeated, smiling so wide his eyes closed.

She smiled, turning the phone so they could see the picture. "That's so cute. I think I should send that to all your grandparents."

"Can we catch more?"

"Sure." Jack ruffled his hair. "Just let me get this one off the hook."

...

"Mommy?" Harrison crawled up onto the easy chair with Elizabeth. "Can I see the pictures from camping again?"

"Sure." She pulled out her phone, opening the photos app and scrolling through the photos from their recent trip: Harrison with sticky marshmallow smeared on his cheeks, he and Jack standing with all the fish they caught, Simba curled up in the tent beside Harrison's sleeping bag. She stopped on a photo of the three of them. She had one hand on her stomach while Jack had one arm around her, Harrison beaming as he stood between them. "I think this one is my favorite."

"Your belly is getting big," Harrison observed, glancing between her stomach and the picture.

"That's because the baby is getting big."

He snuggled into her side. "How big is my brother now?"

"Let's see what my app says. I have a little calendar on my phone that tells me how big the baby is every week." She switched over to another app. "This is week seventeen, so the baby is about the size of a pear." She passed her phone to him. "There's a little drawing of what the baby looks like right now."

"That's inside you?"

"Mhmm." She lifted her shirt slightly, showing him her growing bump. "The baby started out really really tiny, so tiny that you couldn't even see it, but it'll be about seven pounds when it's born."

"How's he grow so fast?"

She shrugged. "That's just what babies do. Pretty cool, huh?"

He looked at the image on the phone for a few moments. "How did daddy get the baby to put him in you?"

Elizabeth looked up at Jack, grateful that he had walked in the door at that moment. "Dr. Thornton, care to take this one?"

He set down his bag and took a seat on the sofa, inviting Harrison to sit with him. "Remember when I told you about genes and how you'll be the baby's half-brother?"

"Yeah." He climbed up beside his dad, listening intently.

"So your genes are inside something called a cell. Cells are basically like really tiny balls that stick together to make your muscles and your hair and your eyes and everything else. Boys and girls have special cells that can make babies, but you have to have one of the cells from a daddy and one from a mommy. So I didn't technically put the whole baby in mommy. Just the special cell, and that mixed together with one of mommy's special cells to make another kind of cell called a zygote. And that zygote just keeps splitting into more and more cells until it's a whole baby. Does that make sense?"

He furrowed his brow. "Not really."

Jack chuckled. "It's a pretty complicated process. It'll make a little more sense when you get older. Sometimes it still confuses me, and I'm a doctor."

"We did get that picture book that might help explain it," Elizabeth suggested.

"Oh, that's right. Maybe that can be our bedtime story tonight."

"Oh man," Harrison whined. "I wanted Rainbow Fish."

"How about this? I'll go change out of my scrubs, and we can read the baby book now, and Rainbow Fish before bed."

"Okay, daddy."

...

Elizabeth took out her phone as they approached their car, chuckling as she glanced down at the screen.

Jack opened the passenger door for her. "What's so funny?"

She turned the phone toward him, showing him all the unread messages. "I have texts from Julie, my mom, Elaine, and Clara, all asking if we're done with the ultrasound yet."

He smiled, shaking his head. "Everyone's just so curious. I got texts from my mom and Rosemary wanting to know."

"I can't believe we finally know now." She sat down, pulling the ultrasound photos from her purse and handing one to Jack.

"Our daughter." Jack beamed, looking at the picture. "We're having a baby girl."

"I take it you're happy about this?"

"I'm thrilled." He leaned down to kiss her. "Now we just have to figure out how to break the news to Harrison, because he's going to be less than thrilled."

"I think we should just tell him. You know he's going to ask as soon as we pick him up."

"I just hope we can convince him to be okay with a sister before she's born."

She put her hands on her stomach. "It might take time, but I have faith that he'll get there." She shrugged. "It may even take until the baby is here, but I have a feeling that once he sees her, he'll fall in love with her."

"He'll be such a good brother."

She nodded. "I agree. I'm so glad our little girl is going to have him to look up to."

"Our little girl," he repeated, letting out an incredulous laugh. "I still can't believe it."

"You were right." She took his hand. "And now we can really start thinking of names, and get more clothes, and start decorating the nursery."

"One step at a time. First, we need to go tell Harrison the news." He kissed her again. "Let's do this."

...

Harrison grinned when the door opened. "Hi, daddy."

"Hi, Sonny boy." Jack lifted him from the ground. "Did you have fun with Nana?"

"Uh huh. We made cookies, and Nana put some in my backpack so I can share with you and mommy. Did you get pictures of my brother?"

He chuckled. "We did get pictures of the baby. Mommy has them in the car."

"I wanna see!"

"Okay. Say bye to Nana first."

Harrison waved at Charlotte. "Bye, Nana."

"Bye, Sonny boy." Charlotte patted his back. "I'll see you soon."

"Thanks for watching him." Jack kissed his mom on the cheek. "I'll call you later with the news."

"Not too much later! I'm impatient, too."

He laughed. "Okay, ma. I'll call you as soon as we get home."

"You'd better!" she called out as he walked away.

"Hi, bud," Elizabeth greeted Harrison as he opened the car door.

"Hi, mommy. Where are the pictures?" he questioned as he climbed into his seat.

"Buckle up, and I'll show you." Elizabeth turned in her seat, waiting until he was secured with his seatbelt before she handed him one of the ultrasound pictures.

Jack backed out of the driveway, heading toward their house. "What do you think, bud?"

"That's his head?"

"Well, that's her head. You're getting a baby sister."

He dropped the picture to the floor of the car, a look of dejection coming across his face. "But I want a brother."

"We know you do, but we didn't have a choice. I promise you'll love her."

"But I dreamed it was a brother." He stuck his bottom lip out, his eyes filling with tears. "It's not fair! James is getting a brother."

"Hey, Harrison. I know you're upset, and that's okay. You've been asking for a brother for a long time."

"I don't want a sister!" he cried. "Keep her in your belly forever! I don't want her!"

"Harrison…"

Jack glanced over at Elizabeth and gave her a sympathetic smile. "It'll be okay," he mouthed.

...

As soon as Harrison got out of the car, he ran into the house and to his room, shutting the door a little too hard behind him.

Jack put a hand on Elizabeth's shoulder. "I'll go talk to him."

"Good luck." She kissed his cheek, nudging him toward their son's room.

Jack knocked softly on the door before opening it a crack. "Harrison."

"Go away."

"We need to talk, buddy." Jack entered the room, taking a seat on the edge of the bed.

Harrison was lying on his stomach, arms crossed on his pillow. "Don't wanna talk. I'm mad."

"That's okay. I'll just talk, then." Jack put a hand on his leg. "I understand that you're upset that the baby is a girl. I want you to know that it's okay to be mad about it."

He rolled onto his back. "It's your fault, daddy."

"Harrison David," Jack said sternly before catching himself, taking a deep breath to calm down. "Mommy and I didn't get to choose if the baby is a boy or a girl."

"Why not?"

"Remember when I told you that the baby is made when a cell from a daddy mixes with a cell from a mommy?"

"Uh huh." He nodded.

"Well, the cell from a daddy has the special genes that make someone a boy or a girl. You and I have the special gene that makes us boys, and your mommy and sister have the special genes that make them girls. When a mommy and daddy make a baby, they don't get to pick if the baby will get the cell with boy genes or girl genes. Just like we don't get to pick if the baby will have dark hair or light hair, or brown eyes or blue eyes."

"I still don't want a sister."

"I know, bud. But you know what? Maybe your baby sister will like dinosaurs and meerkats and playing with Legos, just like you."

He rolled onto his back, looking up at his dad. "But it's not a brother."

Jack ruffled his hair. "I know it's not. But maybe in a few years, after your sister is a little older, mommy and I will have another baby, and maybe that one will be a brother."

"No, 'cause it could be another sister," he grumbled.

"I'm really sorry that you aren't getting your brother this time. Mommy and I are very happy about your little sister, though. And now that we know you're getting a sister, we get to do all the fun things like picking her name and decorating her room and buying her toys and clothes."

"I guess."

"Come here." Jack patted his lap, inviting Harrison into his arms.

He reluctantly crawled over, accepting his father's embrace.

"I love you, Harrison." He tightened his arms around the little boy, kissing the top of his head. "No matter what."

"To the Kuiper Belt and back?"

Jack chuckled. "To the Kuiper Belt and back."