A/N: I know the last chapter was really mushy but the next few chapters are not going to be like that. So enjoy.
Mark and Maddy decided they didn't want to tell anyone, besides who already knew, for a few weeks. Apparently Elisabeth hadn't told Jim because he seemed fine and hadn't even hinted that he knew. Which was fine with Mark, he wanted things to stay like they are, him and Jim have been getting along really well lately and he feared that all the progress they have made would be ruined when he found out about Maddy being pregnant. Maddy on the other hand thought her dad would be a little upset but excited, either way they had agreed to keep it a secret for a little while longer.
Mark was starting to be able to understand why when some of his friend's wives got pregnant that they wanted to hang out more or have more work time. Maddy was definitely one of the moody pregnant women, she would be totally fine one minute and the next she would be yelling at him about something so small and then burst into tears. Mark hated seeing her cry so he just sat there and let her yell at him hoping when she was done she would stop crying. He was worried and he couldn't talk to anyone but Elisabeth, when all he wanted was to just talk to a guy. So he decided to talk to Maddy one more time about telling her dad.
"Maddy," Mark yelled through his house, "can you come here? I want to talk to you about something." A few seconds later she emerged from their room with a bowl of ice cream and a pickle with some sort of peanut butter on it. Since she had started gaining a little weight all she wore anymore was sweatpants or Mark's running shorts and one of his shirts. "Yeah, what do you need?" She asked sitting down on the couch. "Well I think it's time we told your dad." Mark responded hesitantly. "My dad? Why?" his wife questioned.
"Well I just figure he should know. I mean he is your father and the baby's grandfather. And Elisabeth knows so why can't he? Also I just want someone to be able to talk to." he answered. "Mom knows because she's a doctor and she done the test. And why can't you just talk to my mom or, even better, me since I am the one carrying your baby?" Maddy said starting to get upset. "I have been talking to you and your mom, but I need a guy to talk to. You have Lizzie, she's a woman and she's been through this before so she can help you. I need a man that's been through it before to help me." "Mark I just don't understand you sometimes! I mean this is our child, we should go through this together. I want you here so we can help each other through it, but I guess you can't do that-" Maddy was beginning to cry when Mark cut her off. "Maddy I am here it's ju-" "No Mark. You know what, if you need someone else to talk to how about you just go tell my father all by yourself. And while you're at it you can stay the night over there too."
Maddy stormed off back into the bedroom and slammed the door shut, while Mark sat on the couch trying to figure out what just happened. He got up and walked toward their room when he heard the door open a little and out came some of his clothes and a bag, then slammed shut again and then lock. He knocked softly on the bedroom door and leaned against the wall, "Mads come on open the door." "Mark go away. I'm serious." "Do you really want me to go and stay with your parents? You are seriously kicking me out right now? It's like midnight Maddy." "Mark my mother won't care, call her and she will send my dad over to pick you up and you can sleep in my old room or on the couch I don't really care just leave." "Madd-" "Mark. Go." He already knew he was defeated so all he said as he picked up his clothes and walked over to the phone was, "Ok. I'll see you tomorrow. Good night, I love you." He heard a muffled "Good night" and picked up the phone.
After a few rings an obviously tired Elisabeth answered, "Hello?" "Hi Lizzie." "Mark, honey, what's wrong? Is Maddy ok?" "Yes. Maddy is fine. She got mad at me and told me to go stay with you for the night, that she just wanted me to go away." "Oh Mark. I'm sorry. It's very common for women to get moody during pregnancy. I'll wake Jim up and he will be there in a minute to get you." "Thanks." "No problem sweetheart." Elisabeth said hanging up the phone. A few minutes later Jim was knocking on the front door.
"Mark, Liz told me that I needed to come get you and to not ask any questions. Just get you and bring you back to our house." Jim said as Mark locked the door to his home and walked toward the awaiting rover. "Yeah. Thanks for coming. Sorry for it being so late." Mark said apologetically. "It's fine son. But you know I have to ask, what happened?" Jim asked as they spun off into the night. "Maddy just got mad and kicked me out for the night, or at least I hope it's just for tonight." Mark stated and Jim just nodded. "Mark is there something else? You seem like there's something else on your mind." Mark froze not knowing what to say. "Umm yes sir. There is actually." he stopped. "Mark you're going to have to keep talking if there's something else you want to say." "Well sir, Maddy is...is, umm, pregnant." Jim laughed at how Mark said the sentence. "Oh son. I know," Jim was laughing almost hysterically now, "I have been through this before. I know when someone is pregnant especially when that person is my daughter."
Mark looked really confused. "How?" "Well let's see. Lately she has been extremely moody, eats the weirdest things, and, the dead give away, all she wears anymore is baggy clothes." Mark chuckled a little. "So what did you do to make her snap?" Jim asked very curious. "Well I told her that maybe we should tell you, because you have the right to know and that I wanted someone to talk to that's been through it before. Also that she has Elisabeth to help her thrpugh it and I need a guy that's been through it before to help me." "Wow. Yeah you really need help from someone that's been through it before. Rule number one:Never and I mean NEVER tell a pregnant woman you need someone else to talk to." "Yeah, kind of already got that one." Jim and Mark both laughed at that. "Look son, you two will be fine. She will be over this by morning. Take it from someone who was kicked out almost every other night when Elisabeth was pregnant with Josh and Maddy." "Why not with Zoe?" Mark asked.
"Well I would go stay with my friends, and when they saw me knocking on their door in the middle of the night they knew why. And Zoe was our third child, remember 'Four Is A Family' in 2149, so noone could know about Elisabeth being pregnant again. So when she would get mad at me I would be kicked out to Josh's room for the night." Jim recalled with a smile. "Does it get better?" Mark was worried and Jim could tell. "It'll get better in a few weeks, a month tops. She just has a lot going through her mind right now and when she gets it all sorted out she will be able to control her moods better and easier." Jim told his young son-in-law, with a pat on the shoulder, as the rover came to a skidded stop.
Eilsabeth was making the couch into a bed when they walked in. When she saw them walk through the door she went straight for Mark, wrapping him in a hug. Mark wrapped his arms aroung her and squeezed. "I made you a bed on the couch. It's not much but it should do for the night. We are having a family breakfast in the morning so hopefully Maddy will feel like coming over and you two can go home." Elisabeth said pulling away and backing up, putting her hands on her hips. "So what did you get in a fight about?" "Apparently telling me." Jim spoke up. Elisabeth automatically understood and glanced around Mark to her husband then back to Mark, who simply nodded. Dr. Shannon let out a laugh as she started walking back toward the couch. "Thank you for letting me stay the night." Mark said following her and laying down on the couch. "Anytime. Good night Mark." Elisabeth said covering Mark up like he was a child and kissing his cheek. "Good night Lizzie...Jim." "Good night son." Jim said. And with that said Mark turned over and fell asleep quickly.
The next morning Mark woke up to a pain in his stomach. When he opened his eyes he found Zoe sitting on him, watching him. "Hey Z." Mark said, "Morning Mark!" Zoe was always excited to see him, "Why are you here? Where's Maddy?" Mark sighed remembering what happened the night before. Zoe saw this and shook her head saying, "Nevermind. Are you hungry? Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes." "Starving." Mark told her picking her up and setting her on the floor before leaning up himself.
"Zoe go to your room and play while I talk with Mark." Elisabeth said from the kitchen. Without any questions Zoe walked off and disappeared into her room. "Morning Lizzie." Mark said getting up and walking to sit on one of the chairs by the counter. "Morning Mark. I called Maddy earlier and she said she would be here in a little while. She wanted to take a shower before she came over." "Of course she did." Mark said and they both laughed. "She asked about you." Elisabeth told him breaking the silence. "She did?" "Yeah. I told her that you were fine and was here asleep on the couch. She didn't believe me so I had to take a picture and send it to her. She was quite worried and she felt really bad for last night especially after I told her Jim already knew about her pregnancy."
"What did she say?" Mark asked curiously. "That she had been stupid and shouldn't have went off like that on you." "She wasn't stupid, it's not like she can help it. It's not her fault." "That's what I told her, but this is Maddy we are talking about so she was mad at herself anyways." "Well-" Mark said, then there was a knock on the door. "I'll get it" he said standing up and walking to the door. "Oh Skye. Morning." Mark said stepping aside for Skye to come in. "Morning Mark. Don't sound so happy to see me. Where's Mad?" she asked hugging him. "Umm long story. And I'm sorry, I am happy to see you." Mark told her. "Another mood swing?" Skye knew exactly what had happened, since Skye had been there when Elisabeth did the test on Maddy. Mark nodded. "Yeah she called this morning asking if I've seen you." "Did she not think I would come over here, where she told me to go?" Mark asked looking toward Elisabeth. "I guess not. Maybe she thought you would have went to the barracks or something. I always thought Jim would go to the police station but he always winded up at his friend's house." Elisabeth said reassuringly.
"That's because I knew if I went back to work I would get yelled at more." Jim said coming up behind his wife and kissing her on the cheek. "Morning Skye." Jim said to his son's fiance. "Morning Mr. Shannon..I mean Jim." she corrected when he gave her a look. "Morning Mark. How was your first night in the doghouse?" Jim asked with a smirk to his son-in-law, but he got a slap from Elisabeth instead. "Ow! I was just asking!" he told his wife. "It was fine I guess. Didn't get much sleep though." Mark answered the question, yawning. "Yeah you never do." Jim said. Mark just huffed and looked toward the roof, he couldn't handle much more of this. "I'm going to go wake Josh up." Skye said walking away from everyone into Josh's room.
About 15 minutes later Josh and Skye emerged from his room. Josh stopped and did a dounle take when he saw Mark standing in the kitchen, then looked aroung for his sister. "Morning bro. Where's Maddy?" Skye hit him. "Ow! What did I do?" Mark and Jim laughed noticing how similar all the women in their lives were. "Morning Josh, and she will be here in a little while." Mark said as he walked back over to the couch to lay back down and get away from everyone. "Breakfast is done." Elisabeth and Skye yelled to Jim, Josh, and Mark who were all in the living room, and Zoe who ccame running out of her room. Knock knock! Everyone's head jerked toward the door, that could only be one person and they all knew who. Zoe was closest to the door so she ran over and opened it.
There stood Maddy with some of Mark's running shorts on and an old t-shirt. "Morning Zo." "Morning Mad." Zoe said walking away to go get a drink. Maddy closed the door behind her as she looked around the house, her whole family was there she noticed. "Shannon's come on and dig in before it gets cold." Elisabeth yelled one more time. They didn't need to be told again all the guys were up in a heartbeat running to the kitchen. Maddy had a small smirk on her face as she stepped in front of them with her hand up. "Hey ladies first guys." she said but turning to Skye, her mother, and Zoe as they reached for their plates to start getting food. "Wait, I wasn't finished. Ladies...with child first." The smirk on her face getting bigger as coffee was spit across the room from Josh. Zoe just stood there staring at her sister. Elisabeth, Jim, and Skye just smiled at the reactions. But the reaction that caught everyone's eye was Mark's. He froze in time and his jaw fell open, not believing what his wife had just done.