Cullen woke up to noise. It took him a moment to blink past the sleep still tugging at him and realize that Finley was pacing back and forth at the foot of his bed, clinging to herself as though she feared that she might fall apart otherwise. The only thing she was wearing was one of his shirts and seeing her slender legs as she paced did nothing to focus his attention.

Even as a small part of his consciousness registered that she was distraught and that the noise was her talking and that he should be paying closer attention to that, she stopped pacing. "I just…" She shrugged her shoulders up and then down. "I just don't want to hurt the baby."

As she spoke, she happened to look his way and stilled when she saw that he was watching her, like she'd somehow expected him to not be, after all that ruckus. Before he could think of what to say to that, she abruptly vaulted onto the bed beside him, making the mattress shake rather unpleasantly.

Either oblivious to any discomfort she might cause him or just not caring, she stared at him intently. "You're…awake."

Somehow, that seemed to distress her more than…what was bothering her?

A…baby?

Mind coming together a little better, Cullen reached out and ran his fingers down her arm in what he hoped was a soothing gesture. When it seemed to work, he narrowed his eyes slightly. "What baby?"

At that, Finley's eyes widened further than he thought he'd ever seen them go as she donned that all too familiar trapped animal look.

Cullen hated that look.

And that shook the last remnants of sleep from him. "Finley."

"I should not have woken you." She picked at her hair, and Cullen reached out and caught her hands, clasping his around hers and drawing them to his lips so that he could kiss them.

There was a momentary silence before Cullen let his gaze wander up to meet hers. Shifting a little uncomfortably, he tried not to look down at her stomach. "Are you pregnant?"

"What? Why would I be—" Finley jerked her hands away, splaying her fingers across her stomach. "What's wrong with you? Where would you even come up with that?"

"You're the one talking about children at odd hours in the night," Cullen protested, feeling even more lost than when they'd started this conversation. As he struggled to defend himself, he added, "And we're not exactly…careful."

At that moment, it really hit him. They weren't careful. At all.

Maker, it was a miracle that she wasn't pregnant. Even as that registered, a small, quiet part of him asked if that would be so bad. That part quickly lost out to reminders that Corypheus was still out there, that there were rifts to be closed, demons to be fought.

Maybe after everything was over…would he want a responsibility like that? A new life in his hands?

He looked up at her, trying to quell the panic at the mere idea before it could settle in. "What baby are you worried about hurting?"

"It's nothing. Go back to sleep," Finley insisted, lightly pushing on his shoulders as though he might simply fall back into the covers and forget everything.

That would not be happening any time soon. "Finley…" he murmured her name, reaching out and pulling her closer to him. "Is someone we know having a baby?"

When she didn't answer, he narrowed his eyes, letting his gaze drop without really focusing on anything, his mind a whir. That she would be talking to him about it as though he already knew—he assumed that had been what she was doing, though why she'd be ranting to him when he was asleep was beyond his comprehension at this hour—meant that it was someone they both knew.

If she expected that he would be in this person's confidence…

"Is Cassandra pregnant?"

"What?" That damned look was back. "Where are you coming up with this? That's…that would be ridiculous. Cassandra has too much to do and…" She trailed off, obviously not sure where she was going with that line of thought.

Cullen watched her closely, trying to figure out where this had come from and failing miserably. Quite abruptly, Finley leaned forward and kissed him. That blanked his mind for a few seconds as her hands wandered across his bare chest, the touch of her fingers sending shivers through him.

He was almost caught up in the moment, though as she moved to trail kisses down his neck, his mind snapped back to the oddity of the evening. "Are you trying to make me forget what happened by seducing me?"

Finley stilled, lips still pressed against his throat.

A muffled 'no' answered him finally before she rocked back a little, appraising him with a disapproving light in her eyes. "This is why you have so few nice things. You cannot let things go."

"You're not going to tell me."

She flopped back down in bed.

"If I stop asking who is having the baby, will you explain why it had you so worked up that you were pacing around in the middle of the night?"

"Children are small and easily breakable," Finley mumbled into her pillow—no, that was his. She'd stolen his pillow. "I don't want to break them."

Letting himself slump down on top of her so that his head was on her shoulder, he curled his arm around her, tugging her a little closer. "I would think you'd be good with children, being a healer and as…aware of everything going on around you, as you are."

Finley scoffed. "Hardly. I avoid them as much as I can." She shifted a little, snuggling closer. "They are too little and frail…"

"But you don't think you can just avoid this one?" When all she did was grumble incoherently into his pillow, he brushed her tangled hair back and kissed the nape of her neck. "I think you'll be fine. After all, with all that you do, you won't really have time to spend with children, anyway, so avoiding one won't be too hard."

"What if I heal their mother wrong and mess them up somehow?" Her voice was faint, distant. Like she was remembering something.

It made him want to ask so many questions, but he'd learned by now to take things slowly. Instead, he squeezed her a little. "You won't."

"But—"

"You." He kissed her ear. "Won't."

"I'm blaming you if something goes wrong."

"I'll take the blame, then," he offered. When he felt some of the tension leave her shoulders, he sat up a little straighter. "So then…are you giving me my pillow back or am I using you for the night?"