AN: This is dedicated to the lovely Elena for her birthday...partly because she loves Demily and my writing and partly because I failed to mail her gift in time for it to arrive on time. Oh well. I hope this makes up for it! Oh and it's not finished yet, so she'll probably have to inspire me to finish it...so, it's a gift she has to help make lol.

Emily was often glad that Derek's mother was out of the house a lot, working odd hours and late shifts at her multiple jobs, but she was especially glad that day. She had no desire to have his mother – or anyone, really – walk in on this particular moment.

She was sat on the bathroom counter, chewing her nails to shreds while Derek paced endlessly, both of them on the edge of hysteria but trying to hide it for the other's sake. "Has it been five minutes yet?" she asked quietly, half hoping that five minutes would never pass, so she could remain blissfully ignorant forever. Except that no part of the last week and a half – the vomiting and the exhaustion and the anxiety – had been blissful.

Derek looked at his watch. "Thirty more seconds." He met her eyes and gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile, but was actually more of a grimace. It hadn't exactly been blissful for him either.

She couldn't help but smile softly back because even in the face of the biggest crisis they'd ever faced, he was still trying to make her happy. She wanted to say something – about how much she appreciated him, how much she loved him – but at that moment, the timer went off.

"You read it," they both said at the same time. Emily giggled a little, mostly out of nerves.

He smiled tenderly – even now, she was adorable. She was always adorable, which he supposed, was why they were in this situation in the first place: she was adorable and he was unable to resist her. He kissed her forehead fondly, then reached for the test.

"Wait!" she cried, suddenly gripped with anxiety and not sure why. She wiped her sweating palms on her jeans a few times for something to do with her hands.

"What?" he asked, concern creasing his brow.

"I don't know, I just..." She paused, sighed, sunk her teeth into her bottom lip. "What are we gonna do?"

"How about we read it first, then decide what comes next?" he suggested.

"Right," she said, shrugging her shoulders up near her ears, smiling sheepishly.

"Hey," he said gently, brushing the hair away from her face. He knew her well enough to know where her hesitation was coming from. "You know that no matter what happens, I'm not going anywhere, right?"

She gave him a hopeful smile, tears she was desperately trying to hold back shining in her eyes. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," he promised, reaching for the test again.

"Wait," she said again, softer this time, less urgently.

"What now?" he asked, raising a brow in mock annoyance, smile playing about his lips.

"You know I love you, right?" she pressed. She needed him to know.

"Of course." That was like saying the sky was blue or water was wet. He kissed her quickly. "Almost as much as I love you. Can I read it now?" He reached for the test a third time.

She let out a slow measured breath and nodded. It took her all of about five seconds to read the answer on his face and she knew their lives were going to change forever.

He flipped it around so she could see the two pink lines, even though he knew his expression, no matter how hard he tried to keep it neutral, was more than enough indication. "Now what?" he asked gently. As much as they'd both been sure of the outcome, neither of them had truly been prepared to see it spelled out.

She shook her head slowly, words failing her. She could feel herself closing in on hysteria, no matter how hard she tried to keep herself calm. She was normally much better at controlling her emotions – it had been one lesson her mother had deeply engrained in her from childhood...but she supposed this wasn't exactly a situation her mother had intended for her to wind up in.

"Okay, I'll tell you what we're going to do," he said, sensing her panic. He squeezed her hands tightly to anchor her to reality. "We're going to watch X-Men and not think about this. And I think Mama made a batch of brownies that we're going to eat half of. And tomorrow, we'll make some tough decisions."

"Yeah?" she asked, choking out a watery laugh.

"Yeah." He pulled her in for a soft kiss.

"You know your mom is never going to leave us alone again after we tell her, right?" she murmured against his lips.

He burst out laughing. "Probably true." He tugged her off the counter and spun her around and into his arms as if they were dancing. "We'd better make good use of the time we've got..." he said, waggling his brows mischievously, pulling her down onto the couch and into his lap.

"I thought we were going to watch X-Men?" she said pointedly, teasingly, even as she leaned into his chest.

"To be fair, you've seen them all about seven hundred times..."

"And how many times have I kissed you?" she teased, pouting dramatically as if disappointed about the movie.

He pressed a kiss to her pouting lips. "Not nearly enough. Never enough. Just one more?" he wheedled.

"One more, then X-Men," she bargained.

He rolled his eyes, but conceded, never able to deny her anything, including her love for nerdy movies.

As they lay cuddled up on the couch, Emily watching the movie (and mouthing along with the words), Derek watching her with a tender smile, it was almost easy to forget the test still sitting on the bathroom counter. At least, until Emily spoke up, almost apropos of nothing, "What about Xavier?"

"What about him?" he asked, prodding her in the ribs where she was ticklish.

"As a name," she prompted. "For a boy..."

"A little nerdy, isn't it?" he teased.

"I'm a little nerdy and you like me," she countered, pouting dramatically once again.

"More than you know," he vowed, kissing the top of her head.