Hey babes! Back again with a new chapter of this little story for ya. I'm getting closer to being done writing the sequel, and I can't wait for you guys to read it once this story is done. :) But first, a moment that I'm sure you've all been waiting for. Let's see who was right. :)

Enjoy!

"You're nervous."

He lifts his head from where he'd been staring at the floor, thinking about nothing and everything, to find Abby fiddling with some of the medical equipment in the area of the lab they're using.

"Is it that obvious?" he asks her.

She glances up at him. "Dear, you've been staring at that floor from the moment you got here. Half an hour early, I might add."

He sighs. "I know. I just don't want to screw things up any more than I have already. I don't want Skye to think that I don't care. Because I do. And I always have."

"I know. And I'm sure she knows it too."

"I hope she does." He looks back down at the floor, hitting the toe of his shoe against the linoleum, letting his thoughts overtake him again. The last thing he wants is for Skye to think that he doesn't care about her or their baby. He's out of Vault D because he cares. He's here at this appointment because he cares. He's enduring everything she's putting him through because he cares.

She may not care too much about him at the moment, not that he can blame her, but he'd be completely lying if he said that he didn't care about her at all. He is always going to care about her. No matter what happens between them, he's always going to care.

"How are things going with your therapy?"

His head shoots up to Abby and he furrows his brows. "How do you know about that?"

"When you're my age, sweetie, people tend to not think before they talk when they're around you. I've heard things about certain agents around here that'll make even a grown man like yourself blush." She laughs to herself.

He nods. "Right. And uh, therapy's fine. We haven't gotten very far."

"Is that because you don't like talking about what you've been through?"

"Are you sure you shouldn't be helping me instead?" he asks her with a small smile.

"Oh, sweetie, I am definitely not qualified for that kind of work. And I'm afraid I'd get much too emotionally invested in my patients and whatever problems they have. No, your doctor is perfectly qualified, I'm sure."

He shrugs. "I guess. It's just...weird talking about my personal thoughts with a complete stranger."

"I'm sure it will get easier the more you talk to her."

"Maybe. I asked her when we would be done for good, but she said that we'll never really be done for good. I just won't have to see her as much in the future as I start to get a handle on everything I've been through."

"Well, that's good."

He shrugs. "I guess." He focuses back on the floor, his brows knitting together at the thought of being an old man and still having to go to therapy for whatever reason might pop up. That is the last thing he wants to do. He doesn't want his kid to know about him going to therapy, doesn't want him or her to think of him as broken. He doesn't want his child to constantly be worried about saying or doing the wrong thing around him. That isn't how things should be.

"Ward. You're here."

He lifts his head to look at her, standing in the doorway with a surprised expression on her face as she watches him.

He gives her a small, one-shouldered shrug. "I told you I would be."

She nods. "Yes, you did. I uh, I just meant that you're here before me."

"I didn't want to risk being late and missing anything," he tells her. A total lie. He showed up early because he was nervous out of his mind. Nervous about so many things.

"Right. Well, I'm glad you kept your word and showed up." She moves further into the room and that's when he sees Trip stepping in after her.

His fists clench involuntarily at his sides and his body tenses up, his jaw hardening. He has nothing against the man, nothing at all. Except for the fact that he's here right now. "What's he doing here?" he asks, his eyes never leaving Trip. He tried not to be too aggressive in his question, he really hopes that came across.

"I asked him to be here," Skye tells him as she pulls herself onto the examination table with some help from Abby. "This is my appointment and I can invite whoever I want. And I want Trip to be here."

He forces his hands to uncurl. "I know. I just wasn't expecting it is all."

"Well deal with it, because he's not leaving. Now, do you want to see your baby or not?"

Her question draws him out of his anger and he breathes in deeply, taking a few steps toward the table so he can see the display screen. This is it, the moment he's been waiting and hoping for since he first found out.

"Alright, are you both ready to see your baby?" Abby asks, glancing between him and Skye with a small smile.

He nods his head, looking down at Skye to see her watching the screen intently. Sure, they're both excited about possibly finding out if they're having a boy or a girl, but he's probably way more excited than Skye is. This is his first time actually seeing the baby on an ultrasound in real time.

He takes a small step closer to the bed, being sure not to get too close and make Skye uncomfortable. He casts a sideways glance at Trip as he does. He likes the man, even respects him a little, but he still doesn't understand why this other man has to encroach on the appointment. Even if they're not together, this is supposed to be something for him and Skye to experience together, alone, with no one else.

A small thumping reverberates in his ears and his breath catches, his eyes darting back to the screen. "Is that…?"

Abby nods. "That would be the baby's heartbeat, yes."

He breathes out. "Wow."

"Pretty cool, right?" Skye speaks up, looking up at him.

He nods, tears building in his eyes. "Yeah. It's...it's amazing. Wow. That's really our baby's heartbeat."

"To add to that amazing sound, I'm happy to report that your little one is still very healthy," Abby tells them and he relaxes his shoulders. His baby is healthy. That's good, really good. "Would you like to know what you're having?"

"Yes," he replies without hesitation. He shrinks back a little when Skye looks at him with slightly furrowed brows, but he recovers quickly and stands up taller.

They wait in silence as Abby moves the wand around Skye's stomach again, working to get a clearer picture on the screen.

He watches the screen carefully, admiring the fuzzy black and white image as it moves. He's still in awe that it's actually his baby on the screen. It's obviously not fully developed yet, but he can clear as day tell that it's a baby, his baby. That's a real human being that's half of him and he still can't quite believe that it's all really happening.

"So, what is it?" Skye asks eagerly. "Is it a boy or a girl?"

"Well," Abby starts, squinting her eyes a little to look closer at the screen, "if my eyes are still as good as they used to be, then I do believe that you're having a little boy."

Grant's beaming and he knows his eyes are watering when everything gets blurry. "A boy?" he manages to get out. "I'm having a son?" He looks down to see Skye looking up at him with a matching smile and teary eyes.

She grabs his hand tightly in hers. "We're having a boy. A beautiful baby boy."

He nods, laughing through his tears. "Yeah, we are." He steps closer to her, instinctively leaning down to kiss her forehead but he stops himself. When she scoots over the tiniest bit on the bed it validates his split-second decision to not kiss her forehead.

Even though they're sharing a happy moment together, he knows that physical contact is something she's still not comfortable with. She's still holding onto his hand, but he's pretty sure that's as far as it's going to go.

Gently releasing her hand, he takes a small step back, breathing in deeply and wiping at his eyes to get rid of the tears. "So, uh, so he's really okay? He's fine? No weird...abnormalities or anything? Not that I wouldn't love him if he did, I just...I just want to know that he's okay, that he's healthy."

"He is perfectly healthy," Abby reassures him with a small nod. "Everything is progressing just as it should. Can I assume that you want printouts again?" she asks, directed at Skye.

She nods. "Yes, please."

"Alright, it'll be just a moment." Abby turns toward the machine behind her and presses a few buttons. It's only a few seconds before it spits out a few copies of the ultrasound. "There you are," she says, handing the photos over to Skye.

She smiles down at the image before looking up at him and holding out one of the copies. "Here. This one's yours."

"Really?" he asks, slowly reaching out to take the photo from her.

She nods. "Yeah. That's your son, Grant, you should have a photo too."

He nods, staring down at the photo. "Right, yeah." He continues staring at the photo as Skye discusses a few things with Abby, possible names for their baby already running through his head. Now that he knows it's going to be a boy, it narrows down all the names he'd already been thinking of.

Since the moment he found out he was going to be a dad he started thinking of names. Unfortunately, not many names came to his mind, and he wants his son to have the most perfect name that he can possibly have. He hasn't said anything to Skye about it, though, not wanting to overstep whatever boundaries there are between them. He knows that it's their child together, but he doesn't want to risk not be able to see his baby because of something so small.

"Ward? Ward."

"Sorry. What?"

"The appointment's over," Skye tells him. She's standing in front of him now, Trip just behind her and Abby nowhere to be found.

"Oh, right, sorry." He lets out a huffed laugh. "Guess I just got lost in my head a little. I still can't believe this is actually happening," he says, holding up the ultrasound photo.

"Well, believe it," she says back. "In a few months, you're going to be a dad. And there's still a lot left to do."

"Yes there is," he says, his mind wandering to all the details they need to discuss, on what to do with different aspects of the baby arriving. But he figures that can all wait until later. They just found out they're having a son, she probably needs some time to let it all sink in before he approaches her with other decisions that need to be made.

"I'm uh, I have a few things I need to go do," Skye says, pulling him out of his head.

"Oh, uh, yeah, I uh, I have some things to do as well. I'll see you around?" he asks, a small hint of hope in his voice.

She nods. "Yeah."

"Great."

He gives her a small smile and then makes his way out of the med bay, holding tightly to the ultrasound photo in his hand. He stares down at it, the wonder and amazement still encompassing him, as he passes through the halls toward his room. He manages to avoid running into any agents, skillfully dodging their bodies as he walks.

Entering his room, he closes the door tightly behind him and moves over to his bed, sitting down on the edge of it and continuing to stare at the photo in his hands.

"I'm going to do everything I can to protect you," he says to the image. "You're my son, and I won't let you down."

Turning around, he tears a piece of tape off the dispenser he managed to get a hold of and tacks the photo onto his wall, right next to the one Skye gave him when she told him she was pregnant.

Sitting back, he admires the two photos on the otherwise blank wall. Those two images are the only things giving any life or personality to his room.

And soon enough, his son will actually be here in the world, and not just in a photo on his wall. He can't wait.