A/N: Meowser here. A lot of stress in my life lately helped write this chapter. I'm not anywhere near a situation like Mack's, but I just feel closer to her than I originally did, since she's learned so clearly lately that the world is not as it should be. That people disappoint you.

I wish I had a Scott. Don't worry, I make do.

Mack woke up the morning of her twenty four week exam with flutters in her stomach.

She heard a knock at her door; a moment later Melinda poked her head in. "Hey, baby," she said. "You up? We've got an appointment at ten with Dr. Kimberly."

"I know," Mackenzie sighed, rolling over and carefully sitting up; her mother darted forward but Mack was already standing before she made it over to help.

"How are you feeling?" Melinda asked, rubbing her back anyway. "I know that month six with you started with back aches."

"Thanks, mom," Mackenzie laughed. "No, I feel fine. I'm nervous, I guess."

"About the exam?" Melinda wondered, concern knitting her brow. "Do you think something is wrong?"

"No," Mackenzie said. "And if I did, I'd have been in you and dad's room interrupting your early morning love fest to tell him and ask him to drive me to the ER."

"There wasn't a love fest this morning," Melinda said a bit haughtily, but Mack could see the flush on her mother's cheeks; though Jim and Melinda had always been open, and especially the fact that Katie and Ned never even stopped having sex helped to open the conversation, she knew that her mother still sometimes felt awkward when it was so transparent to her children every time their parents had sex. "Your dad left early."

"Then I would have called him," Mackenzie said.

Her mother reached out and straightened the collar on Mack's flannel shirt; rather, Scott's. "You haven't washed this yet, have you?"

"I've been holding off on wearing it too much," Mackenzie slowly admitted, not quite looking at her mother as she said the words. "I didn't...don't want it to stop smelling like him."

"Oh, baby," Melinda whispered and pulled Mack into her arms, tight and strong.

God, Mack loved her mother's hugs. They were second only to her father's hugs. And her father's hugs were second only to both of her parents hugging her at once. And that wasn't second to anything.

Except Scott's hugs.

The thought burst into Mack's mind and she blushed bright red, dismissing the thought. Scott was...well, Scott was Scott. Things could never go anywhere in that relationship.

She looked down at her stomach, rubbing it thoughtfully, and Melinda's tiny hands covered her own, and they both just rested on Mack's stomach.

"What are you thinking about?" Melinda asked, splaying her hand over her daughter's stomach, feeling the swollen roundness.

"It doesn't matter," Mack said, hearing the smile in her voice. And it didn't. Maybe she and Scott never would be a thing, but he still made her smile. And maybe that was honestly enough right now.

As Melinda backed out of her driveway, a showered and freshly dressed Mackenzie in the front seat, wet hair in a tight braid, she reflected on how odd this was, how it was never something she'd anticipated doing for her daughters.

And yet she wouldn't trade anything. Well, maybe some of the hurt.

She reached over and took Mack's hand in her own for a brief moment, squeezing tight. Mack's hand was much bigger than hers; strong, long fingered. It was like the female version of Jim's incredible hands.

Speaking of Jim, he'd had the four a.m. shift, and she only just remembered him waking her before he left; usually that would mean waking at three-thirty for twenty minutes to say goodbye and kiss for awhile, but today she just remembered the bed dipping and him whispering goodbye right as he left.

Which meant that something was wrong.

God, this worried her. It was probably just stress. She wanted to believe that it was just stress, but Jim had always, always worked out stress in two ways: working out and making out with her.

And he was doing neither of those things.

So what was up?

They reached Dr. Kimberly's office; it wasn't far, and Melinda hurried around the car to open her daughter's door for her, helping Mack out; Mackenzie wasn't actually so far along as to actually require help but it was like she knew that it was actually helping Melinda to give into her mother's incessant need to make things easier for her children.

"You can go in with me again, right, mom?" Mack whispered as she took the forms from the nurse and started to fill them out.

"Yeah, of course," Melinda said. "I've come in every time before now, haven't I?"

"Yeah," Mack said, a smile on her face. "You and dad."

"I bet your dad would take off work if you wanted him to be here," Melinda told her daughter.

"I know," Mack said. "I just meant that you guys have been here every step of the way. And thank you for that."

"No problem," Melinda told her daughter, just as her cell phone rang. "Sorry, let me get this."

"I've got about ten pages of this darn thing left, so go ahead and step outside," Mack said, smiling and tucking some hair behind her ear.

Melinda nodded and hurried out the door, picking up. "What's up, Lana?"

"I just heard it from Tammy," Lana said. "In English class. You know that her dad is a janitor at the hospital."

"What did you hear?" Melinda wondered, mildly confused, wondering if this was the part of the show where she should get worried.

"He said that all the doctors on the fourth floor were talking about one thing and one thing only," Lana said. "That Jim Clancy took his first sick day in about ten years and went home looking like he was about to faint."

"Oh my god," Melinda said.

"Exactly, and I was hoping that he called you and it's all crap and rumors," Lana said.

"I'm at the doctor's with Kenz and I haven't heard a thing from him," Melinda said.

There was a moment of silence between mother and daughter before Melinda growled, a sound that made Lana on the other end startle. "Mom, was that you?"

"This is so like your father," she said. "Taking the weight of the world on his shoulders and never letting on that he needs a day off until that day has come. I'm going home to check on him; Lan, don't worry, I'm sure he's fine. Just stubborn as hell."

"Okay," Lana said. "Sorry if I worried you, I just…"

"It's fine, Lan," Melinda sighed. "It's fine. I'm glad you told me. Love you."

"Love you too," Lana replied. "You'll let me know how he is?"

"Yeah," Melinda said and hurried back inside, seeing Mackenzie seated so patiently in one of the chairs.

God, she hated doing this, disappointing one of her daughters. But when she weighed the options...god, she had to go make sure Jim was alright.

And she'd hurry right back to Mack's side, she promised herself, jogging forward to tell Mack.

Right back.

It was already ten a.m., and yet Ned was still yawning where he sat at the wheel.

"Should I take over on driving?" Scott asked quizzically, wondering what was keeping his partner up at nights, and why Ned wasn't drinking coffee to compensate.

"Maybe that's a good idea," Ned yawned, pulling over.

"What's up?" Scott asked. "Are you and Katie doing okay?"

Ned's eyes widened as he took a drink of tea, almost choking on the liquid. "Um, yeah, we're doing okay," he rasped, taking another gulp.

Still not getting it, and momentarily forgetting what sex maniacs the Banks were, Scott tipped his head thoughtfully, trying to think of reasons.

"It's just that you've been going home so early and yet you're acting like you've been on the graveyard shift these past few days from how you're yawning," Scott said. "And what's with giving up on the caffeine?"

Scott himself typically avoided coffee and caffeine but he knew for a fact that that had never been one of Ned's hangups.

"Same reason for both, actually," Ned said, a quiet smile playing at his lips. "Katie and I are, uh, trying again."

He met his partner's eyes; and Scott could see how freaking much this meant to Ned, remembering back in January and how heartbreaking that had been.

"Oh my god," he said. "I should have seen it."

"Yeah, you're slipping, dude," Ned said, realizing what Scott wasn't saying, smiling wide and hopping out of the car as they switched seats.

The world was alive with birdsong, Scott reflected, squinting a little in the bright sunshine, realizing he'd left his sunglasses in the car, jogging a little and looking up at the horizon, seeing Dr. Thomas's office on the corner; and a blonde figure stepping from it.

He felt like his world slowly paused, and he inhaled; though his breathing had been normal, he suddenly felt like he hadn't breathed properly in the weeks since he'd seen Mackenzie Clancy.

Oh my god, ran his thought process. You are in deep, dude. So deep.

"What are you doing?" Ned asked in confusion, rolling down his window to call the words as Scott jogged off.

"Be right back," Scott tossed over his shoulder, and kept running, eyes on the goal.

Melinda felt guilty all the way home, remembering how startled Mack had been when Melinda had told her that she was leaving—and how horrified when she knew why.

"Is dad okay?"

Thing was, until Melinda knew that, she couldn't fucking concentrate on anything else.

She spun into the driveway, noting Jim's telltale truck, the signal that he was most definitely actually home, slamming the car door shut and running in a panic into the house.

He wasn't in the kitchen, something told her that, and she charged up the steps two at a time.

"Jim!" She called, throwing the bedroom door open and stopping short.

He was lying on the bed; he did look awful, pale and she could almost see from his posture how he lacked strength to do, well, anything.

"Mel," he rasped, his eyes opening slowly. "What are you doing here?"

"I've been trying to stay calm," she exclaimed, seeing him wince at the noise, trying to quiet down but unable to do so.

"Mel," he said. "What are you doing here?"

"Trying to not tear your head off for stressing us all so much," Melinda said.

"What do you mean?" He asked. "I didn't feel well, I went home and didn't send you a message because it wasn't really a big deal, and besides that, I was trying not to stress you." He rolled onto his back as Melinda angrily sat on the bed beside him, her hip in line with his stomach. "I was going to text you later, I just knew that you'd be busy."

"Well, honey, next time can you just tell me first?" She asked, anger wilting away when she saw what misery he was in; how he hated taking days off and she could just imagine him standing in the middle of the ward, head spinning from how dizzy he was, and yet so reluctant to go home. "Before I hear it from Lana who heard it from Tammy who heard it from her father who's a janitor who heard from all the other doctors."

"What?" Jim asked, brow crinkling. "Okay, my bad, I had no idea news of my being sick traveled so fast."

She sighed, leaning over him, hair serving as a curtain for their faces. "Oh, god, Jim, you're like superman to most residents here, of course news travels fast."

"Don't kiss me, I might be contagious," Jim said, but his words trailed off when her lips hit his, and her arms slowly snaked around his neck; she was slowly but surely climbing onto him, straddling his flat stomach and lying on top of him, their lips connected, and Jim was slowly but surely coming alive, until their positions were reversed and she was the one beneath him, reveling in the weight of him, how fucking solid he always, always was. Even when on death's door as he was now claiming to be.

"What do you have?" She whispered, as his lips slipped away to press kisses to her neck.

"Mm, ear infection," Jim said. "They're all clogged up and I'm dizzy, and I think I have a fever too."

"Well, I'll believe the fever," Melinda murmured. "You're burning up."

"Believe me," Jim sighed against her neck. "I'm more than fine now."

"See?" She whispered, holding her husband close. "You need nursing too."

"Yeah," he agreed, and then they stayed quiet, their bodies saying everything their minds and hearts could think of.

Mack left Dr. Kimberly's in a bit of a fog; everything was fine with the baby, but she was so worried about her father she couldn't think of much else, and she knew that worry wasn't good, and there was the other minor (major) fact that her mother's car wasn't anywhere in sight and that Mack hadn't actually brought her phone today; she'd left it at the house to charge since her mother was driving.

So was she supposed to walk home now?

She tucked her arms over herself, the world suddenly too big again. She definitely understood her mother going to her father's side in what had the potential to be an emergency but being forgotten in any form was not a comfortable feeling; and if it was an emergency, surely they could have sent Katie to go and get her.

Damn it.

And then, out of the blue sky seemingly, was a shout.

"Mackenzie?"

She whirled on the spot, her heart jumping at the sound, immediately identifying to whom it belonged.

"Scott?" She exclaimed, and he was hurrying up, looking, well, amazing in his uniform; damn, his arms were nice, no wonder he gave such good hugs.

"Hey, what's up?" He said. "I was just patrolling and saw you and…" His words trailed off; she glanced down at herself, seeing what he saw; the loose maxi dress for easy accessibility. "And I couldn't help stopping."

"Oh," Mackenzie said. "Well, I'm glad you did."

"Oh?" He wondered, folding his arms even as she unfolded hers.

"My mom drove home to check on my dad; I guess he's not feeling well, and, well, she isn't back yet," Mackenzie said, laughing a little uncomfortably. "I'm feeling just a tad stranded and forgotten."

"That's not a good feeling," Scott said, voice intense. "Ever."

"No, it isn't," she murmured, glancing up at him, wondering how Scott seemed to always understand exactly how she felt and what she was going through.

"Listen," Scott said. "I mean, I have a car. You'd have to sit in the back, since I don't think Ned would approve otherwise, but I can give you a ride home."

"That would be nice," Mackenzie said. "Thanks."

"What's up with your dad?" He asked, glancing down at her as they started towards the squad car; his hand shot out to cup her elbow as they stepped over the curb; a move she only thought her dad did anymore.

"I don't know, Lana called mom to say that people were talking about him not feeling well," Mack said. "And she just tore out of here. Which I definitely understand. I kind of wanted to go with her."

"I might too, your dad getting sick is kind of weird," Scott said. "Considering how...superhuman he usually is."

"Exactly," Mack said, her laughter pealing out; Ned was getting out of the passenger seat and looking at them quizzically.

"Hey, Kenz," he greeted; Mack wondered if she imagined the quick glance Scott shot at Mackenzie when Ned chose the lesser used nickname for his sister-in-law. "What's happening?"

She explained the situation quickly, feeling Scott's eyes on her throughout all of it, feeling warmed because of it. Because it wasn't jealousy, he wasn't glaring at her for talking to another man, it was more like...it was like he was just basking in her presence, soaking her up, loving being near her no matter who she talked to.

It warmed her heart.

It really, really did. And she honestly had no freaking idea what she and Scott even were; if they even counted as a thing.

But did it matter?

Ned leaned over as Scott got out of the car, about to help Mack out. "I'll, uh, patrol a few times," he said. "You and Mack can take your time saying goodbye."

"Screw you," Scott said, feeling a flush on his cheek.

"What?" Mack wondered.

"Nothing," both men replied and Scott quickly opened Mack's door, fighting back an urge to help her, and then throwing that away, reaching to take her arms and carefully help her up, feeling her stomach briefly brush his; he couldn't breathe in that moment.

Ned was hopping out, making good on his promise and Scott rolled his eyes, unconsciously holding Mack a little closer as Ned made a lame excuse about needing to run to the station and peeling out of the driveway, leaving them standing there.

He dropped his hands from her shoulders, shoving them back into his pockets, walking slowly across the lawn with her.

"He's so obvious," Mack chuckled, and Scott's heart seized, worried that she'd seen through Ned's matchmaking. "Him and Katie are trying again, in case you haven't realized that yet, and oh my god, it's her fifteen minute break soon and I just bet he goes straight there."

Scott burst out laughing, not only because he hadn't been caught, but because of how damn true it was. Who knew, maybe that was the reason had left, not to help Scott out.

He wouldn't be surprised.

"That wouldn't be weird at all, considering it's them," Scott said.

"I'm glad," Mackenzie said. "In a weird way. It's...nice to see people like my mom and dad and Katie and Ned still having healthy…" She licked her lips, flushing a little and not quite looking at him. "Sex lives. To know that for most people it's...a really good thing."

She looked up at him, blonde hair and blue eyes incredibly beguiling; the sunshine was hitting her just right and he felt a little short of breath.

"It's a good testament," he agreed.

She nodded. "So both of my parents' cars are here," she said, looking towards the driveway. "I wonder what that means. I have a feeling I already know."

Scott laughed again, and she briefly leaned into him as they walked, her arm pressing against his; he found his hand seeking hers out, holding tight and then they just paused on their way across the lawn.

"Do I even dare enter the Clancy household?" Scott teased, looking down at her, feeling her hand in his; she had such long, graceful fingers; strong hands.

"I bet my mom didn't even remember to text Lana once she got home and saw dad in bed," Mack said, rolling her eyes, before flushing. "I didn't mean that the way it came out."

"I've met your parents," Scott said. "I know exactly how you meant it."

As they watched, the front door opened, and Melinda was hurrying out, looking down, and then jumping almost a foot in the air when she saw them standing there. "Mackenzie! Oh my god, I am so sorry, I was just texting you to tell you that I was going to be late."

"Scott gave me a ride home," Mack hurriedly explained; Scott watched the interaction with amusement; Mack had so many of her mother's characteristics; they barely looked a thing alike and yet somehow when they stood side by side, there was no doubt that they were mother and daughter. "And actually, I left my phone at home so it wouldn't have mattered. Did you at least text Lana?"

"Oh my god," Melinda said, her face bright red. "I'm a terrible mother."

"You're a good wife, though," Scott said lightly, and she reddened even farther to again realize that he was still there.

"Thank you, Scott, for bringing her home," she said.

"Anytime," he said.

"I need to call your sister," she apologized, walking across the lawn.

Scott took Mack's arm in his, daring more, leading her the rest of the way across the lawn and onto her porch, remembering the last time they'd been here, and she seemed to be remembering the same thing; they were drifting closer and suddenly the door was opening and Jim was coming out.

"Mel, I can hear her phone—Mack," he said, startled. "Scott."

And, well, Scott was just thankful that Jim wasn't at death's door, or he might have been severely frustrated by the man's horrible timing.

"Jim," Scott said, pulling back, and Mack was flushing, gravitating closer to her father; Jim as if without thinking pulled his daughter in for a hug and a press of his lips to her forehead.

"Don't blame your mom," he said, voice warm. "It was completely my fault."

Melinda was hurrying back over. "Well, Lana is told so we're all good," she sighed. "What are you doing up, Jim? You're burning up, get back inside."

"Nice to see you, Scott," Jim said with a tired smile before Melinda shooed him back in, rather stubbornly closing the door behind them, leaving Mack and Scott on the porch again. Alone.

"Thank you," she said slowly, as the patrol car pulled back up.

"He might just go again if I don't leave right now," Scott said. "Which I wouldn't mind but I can't guarantee when he'll be back."

Mackenzie burst out laughing, and god, how his heart warmed to hear it. "Stay close," she said. "It's been too long since I've seen you."

"Yeah," Scott agreed.

"I was watching a movie the other day and I thought to myself, I wonder if he'd laugh at this line," she said, blue eyes clear. "And how other people wouldn't but you might, and I do. That we might find the same things funny."

Ned in the car put his hand on the horn, startling them.

"I have to go," Scott said.

"Come by for a movie," Mackenzie said.

He tossed not only a smile but a promise over his shoulder. "I will."