A soft knocking woke him up. "Danny? Are you sleeping?"
Danny sighed. "Yes."

He could almost see Joe frowning through the door. "You don't. Can I come in?"

"Sure." He sat up on his bed and lit the lamp on his desk so Joe wouldn't fall over his schoolbooks, lying where he had let them drop in the afternoon.

Joe took the mess in with astonishment. "That looks like after a hurricane!" Obviously not tired at all, he examined the room closely, crawling under the bed to collect some pencils Danny might have lost. Which he hadn't.

"Joe, it's nearly midnight! What's wrong?"

Slowly, Joe got up, worry in his eyes. "It's soon gonna be here. The baby, I mean." Danny nodded. "Yeah, nine weeks left. But we're prepared, aren't we? C'mon." He patted the blanket beside him and Joe climbed onto the bed. He was very earnest. "Are we?" His forehead was wrinkled with worry. "I'm not sure we are. I'm not."

"You're not? Well maybe you should get some sleep and tomorrow you will be ready." Danny, already regretting to have let Joe onto his bed, extinguished the lamp. Silvery moonlight flecked the floor.

"No!" Determined, Joe shook his head. "That won't do." He had caught that phrase from grandpa.

Danny rubbed his eyes and yawned. He was tired. School almost killed him and Erin wasn't too easy to handle, either. Not that she ever had been, but recently she really went crazy.

"What's wrong, Joe?" Joe bit his lips. His glance wandered through the room as he murmured, "we're never going to be the same."

"The same?" Danny tried to get a look into his younger brother's eyes, but he seemed caught up in the shadows on the floor.

"Okay, Joe, I'm awake, now what is wrong?" That was a lie, since he still was tired, but Joe was always the happy one of the Reagan children – they needed him to be the happy child, since neither Erin nor Danny were good at charming and flattering elders.

Joe shrugged. "I just think that… when the baby's here, we're gonna have to do something with it. We're gonna have to play with it and listen to it and help it doing homework…" "That'll take time, trust me!"

"But we're gonna!" Joe scowled. "I like it now, with just the three of us, why do we need another baby?"

"Cause we already have you?" Gently Danny pulled his little brother closer. "Joe, we've got a wonderful family, don't we?" "Yes!" "And you know mommy and daddy and grandma and grandpa and Erin and I love you? You know that?"

Joe's face went red, and Danny smiled. In any other situation it would be him to be embarrassed by the words he was saying – but deep in the night, with only black and silver to see, it was Joe who hedged at speaking, while he suddenly felt very mature. Holding Joe close he continued, "we all love you and we all love the rest of our family – right, given, Erin's a pest sometimes, but we love her still, don't we?" He waited for Joe to nod. "And now we're gonna have another family member. That's good, Joe! That means there's one more who will love you." Joe frowned. "It's a baby. It doesn't love, it just cries!" "Really? Cause you cried too, at the beginning, you cried and cried and I couldn't even stand being in the same room as you were." Danny winked as he confessed that, but he felt uneasy. What if Joe would feel unwanted now? He was so sensitive sometimes. More sensitive even than Erin. "What I want to say, Joe, is that I believe you love me though you cried at me for three months. Is that true?"

Joe blushed again, but he managed to nod and Danny laughed. "I love you too. And I tell you something: the baby's gonna love you too. You're joining the big brother force now, Joe. You'll always be my and Erin's first little brother but to the baby you'll be a big brother. Don't tell me you don't like that."

Joe's forehead wrinkled as he thought about it for a long time. "No", he said eventually, "But do I really have to love it back? What if I hate it?"

Danny shrugged. "You won't. Trust me, you won't." He wanted to say something more, but he didn't know what. He never really had had the chance to be jealous of one of his siblings – he hadn't felt how it was to be the only child, and being the oldest, he had never been the baby, either. He was used to share his position – as long as he got his own room. Joe wasn't.

"And when I don't hate it…when I love it…will you be more my big brother or his?" Joe asked shyly. "There's no being more or less big brother, Joe. But I tell you something, you are in any case more than I. I've never been a little brother, I've always been the big one. You'll be both of it. And that's great!" Joe nodded obediently.

"See? And now go and sleep, big brother, or I'll have to kick you out!" Danny yawned again. "Old man!", Joe grinned as he slipped down the bed. There was still sorrow written on his face, and Danny hated to see it. But what could he do? The baby was about to change their world.

"Good night, Danny." "Night, Joe."

"Uhm… Danny?" "What is it, kid?" "I… I love you too."

"Danny, Erin, can I have a word with you?" Frank smiled as he called his children, but his eyes remained earnest. With a questioningly glance – what have you done this time? – they followed him into the kitchen. Mary sat at the desk, hands on her swollen belly. She was much better now, and her smile calmed Danny. Erin, however, was still alarmed: "Everything okay with the baby?" Mary nodded. "Yes, darling, we're good. But we need to talk to you both about it." She looked at Frank who had gently placed a hand over hers. He smiled, too, but the smile faded at the task before him. "Danny, Erin, I will make this short. And I trust in your understanding." The kids stared at him, bewildered, and Mary shook her head, sighing. "What your father wants to say is that you will have to share a room. Joe needs his space and you…"

"You want us to do what?" Erin's voice was shrill with bewilderment. "Dad, you can't put us together, that's not fair!"

"She's right, dad, I didn't do anything! You can't do this! Why can't I go together with Joe? Erin's gonna drive me crazy!"

"You already are crazy, you idiot!"

"Just because I'm living in the same house as you! You make everyone going crazy, you stupid…"

"You're such a bastard!" Erin was close to tears.

"Screw you, Erin!"

"Screw you, Danny!"

"Enough!", Frank bellowed. His eyes shot missiles of disappointment that were more lethal than any bullet. Danny bowed his head in shame. He had promised to be a good son. But then again – one room with Erin? For as long as the baby would live in the house?

"I can't do this, dad. And neither can Danny!" Erin's voice was stifled by her tears, but there was an earnest in it that convinced everyone. Always. For a moment, Danny admired her for her ability of looking into their father's eyes – sad but proud, and determined. "Dad, I can sleep on the sofa in our living room, but I won't live in the same room as this frowsy, disgusting, stupid…"

"Erin!" Mary's voice was even sterner than her husband's had been. She looked tired now. "You know, being pregnant is not that easy. I have already made some sacrifices for this baby, and your father has as well. Is it too much asked for you to do the same?"

Now it was Erin whose head went red and down. Danny couldn't help thinking about Joe's words three weeks before: "I like it now, with just the three of us, why do we need another baby?" He swallowed down an answer and waited. Erin looked at him shyly, and he shook his head. It wouldn't work. It simply wouldn't work. "Dad" Danny tried to sound reasonable, "please. Erin's right." "We will make sacrifices", Erin promised, "and we'll be good siblings, but we can't live in the same room, daddy, please!"

Frank sighed. "Alright. We will talk about this another time." He looked at his children. "Go upstairs. As far as I remember there's a Latin test tomorrow, son, and I expect more than a C from that."

Erin punched her brother as they went upstairs. "You're so pathetic, Danny!" "Really, Erin, screw you!"

"We can't put them together, Frank"; Mary sighed. She closed her eyes, and Frank gently pulled her into his arms and kissed her. "There's a good point in it after all", he said, "they had the same opinion. Just for two minutes, but they had it." Mary laughed softly. "So what are we going to do now?" "I think we need a bigger house."