Allison sure was taking her sweet time having the baby. Bender, Andy, and Liz stayed in the hospital well into the early morning hours waiting to hear news, good, bad, or both. It was coming on 1 AM, and the maternity wing was quieter than before. Women and children were sleeping, and the night-nurses were watching late-night talk shows to pass the time on their coffee breaks. Allison might have been the only woman on the floor still up and in active labor, which meant she got more attention from the nurses. Hospital policy only allowed one person into Allison's room other than the on-duty nurse at a time, so Bender spent more time in there than the others, but Andy and Liz were permitted turns. Liz usually gave Andy her shifts because she'd either found a new Cosmo article or had gotten into another lengthy conversation with the receptionist over how "that new artist Madonna" wasn't going to last very long. She knew Andy needed them more than she did anyways.

But right now, Bender was helping Allison through another set of contractions. A nurse had told the four of them that Allison had moved into "stage two" of labor (whatever that was), and that she wouldn't be more than two more hours now. Andy and Liz decided to let Bender stay with her all the time while they waited in the nearby nurses' lounge for news. There really wasn't much to do to ease the worry for either of them. Liz, who wasn't completely worried to begin with, was stretched out on a sofa, trying to do her toenails in a new color she'd picked up at the drugstore across the road from the hospital. Andy was passing the slow time watching a sports commentary on TV and tapping his fingers on the arm of the chair, his eyes never leaving the clock. Both of them sat in silence. For a while, at least.

"Aw, crap!" Liz hollered.

"What?" Andy asked, looking over in her direction. Liz leaned over her feet and began scratching at a cuticle.

"Do you think people'll notice? I mean, it'll be conspicuous in my silver open-toed sandals," Liz moaned, rolling her eyes, gesturing at a smear in her deep-red nail polish. Andy was silent, at least until he sighed.

"Liz, can I ask you something?"

"No."

"Why are you bothering to stay here? I mean, Allison's not gonna die or anything," Andy said with a shaky voice.

"Because I damn well feel like it, happy?" asked Liz.

"Not really," Andy smiled. She was certainly a handful. Andy felt sorry for Allison at that point for putting up with her.

"You know, Andy, I'm actually surprised you're here."

"Huh?"

"Don't 'huh' me, Sporto," Liz said. "Allison told me that John told her you were going to bail on her, so don't play innocent!" Liz raised an eyebrow. "What was going through your head?" Liz smiled as she saw the smirk drop right off his face.

Andy looked at his feet. "The abandoning Allison part, or the coming back part?"

"Both."

Andy sunk back in his chair. Liz wiggled her toes and set them on the floor. Andy looked a little sullen. "Well, after all that's happened in the last eight months—"

"—they WERE a little crazy, weren't they?" Liz remarked.

"Hell yes," Andy said, winking at Liz. Liz looked at the floor, unfazed by it. "Um, after impregnating Allison, moving far away, getting the news that I was going to be a father, coming back, being rejected by the one I loved, and all that in between, being rejected seemed like it'd all been for nothing. I kept thinking about how my dad would've probably told me to fight for Allison and fight to make the child mine. But…when I thought about it, the more I knew how happy Allison was without me. And that even if she wasn't with me, the baby would always have a part of me in his DNA, you know?"

"I don't know. You sound like a Harlequin Romance Novel exploded," Liz replied.

"I don't want Allison to be with me if its not gonna make her happy," Andy continued. "So I thought to myself, if she wasn't happy with me, then I didn't have to stay. Bender, jackass he is, could take care of her for me, and I could come down to see the baby on weekends. Then, I thought, what about the baby? I'd be abandoning him. Just like my dad abandoned me."

"Bullshit," called Liz. "Your dad didn't abandon you."

"He did. He's always been trying to make me into a winning machine. He's been trying so hard to make me into him and my brother Adam, that I think somewhere back there, I kinda lost who I was," said Andy. "The real me wouldn't have thought twice about Allison and the baby. I know the real me would've stayed with him and watched him grow from right next door. So…I guess, my father made me leave, and I made me come back."

"Third floor," Liz said.

"What?"

"The psych ward," Liz said. "Third floor. Go get yourself hooked up on a Thorazine drip and call back when you're in your own mind."

"You think I'm being dramatic?" Andy asked.

"Yes I do," said Liz. "What you just recited was basically 'I was scared then felt guilty about running.' Been there, done that," she smirked. Andy looked at Liz. She was right.

"Fine, forget it, Miss Pity-Me," said Andy.

"What the fuck do you mean by that?" Liz asked back.

"Everyone knows you pity yourself and no one ever gives you any sympathy," said Andy. "You come off as Little-Miss-Perfect in school, yet you only have two friends and no social life, and you know it."

Liz was quiet.

"You're a shell. And you know that a shell wasn't good enough, so you tried shoving some cheap filler inside it so you wouldn't look so two-dimensional," said Andy. "And it didn't work."

"So?"

Andy leaned forward in his chair. "So? Liz, you proved tonight that you don't need that shell you've been hiding under! You got Allison to the hospital without even thinking of yourself for one second. If you really were who you made yourself off to be, you would've been home and in bed hours ago—"

Liz gave Andy a blank stare before shrugging off his comment and continued examining her toenails. Andy hid another sly smile. Lucky for her, a nurse came into the room.

"Mr. Clark?"

Andy stood up. Maybe Allison was close to delivering…

"You're father's on the phone."

"Damn," Andy muttered under his breath. Andy walked out into the hallway and up to the receptionists' desk, where the phone was waiting. Andy picked it up regretfully. "Pop?"

"Andrew, where the hell are you?"

Andy rolled his eyes. "At the hospital in Chicago," he answered in monotone.

"You sick?"

" No."

"Then what the hell's happening? You've got an interview with the coach from Stanford tomorrow evening and you know how much is riding on this, What the hell are you in a hospital for anyways?"

Bender suddenly appeared in the doorway. Liz was catching up to him from behind…or rather, shuffling up to him with her wet toenails.

"She'd almost ready," he informed. "Thought you'd like to know. Dr. Wilson said in about 15 minutes." Bender looked almost happy to be talking to Andy. Andy felt a surge of electricity rush through him. His baby was about to come into the world.

"Andrew, who was that I heard? ANDREW, are you there?"

"Sorry dad, I have to go," Andy said.

"What the hell? Why?!"

Andy smiled and tapped his fingers on the table. He felt something rise in his throat.

"My baby is about to be born, that's why," he said before hanging up the phone. What he felt in his throat rising up to his mouth was expelled in the form of a laugh. A real belly laugh. Bender and Liz looked at Andy like he was possessed. But he laughed his hard, true laugh.

And he'd almost forgotten how those kinds of laughs worked.

Allison felt ready to explode. She really couldn't take much more. It was 1:24 AM on April 26th, 1985 when Dr. Wilson announced that it was almost over, and that she should expect to hear a baby crying before the hour changed. Good. It was about FREAKING time.

Bender left her side for only a few moments to tell the others to stand by. He came back within 2 minutes to hold her hand with his (unbroken) hand. Even when she wasn't enduring a contraction, Allison was so damn tense that it hurt anyways. Her body, thought not as frail as before, was still weak and tired from the hours and hours of pain. At least Bender was right beside her, and Andy was right outside her door at that moment.

Allison looked around her. God, so much had happened over the past year. Heck, 13 months ago, she'd just MET Andy and John, along with Brian and Claire. Now here she was, wanting to wring Andy's neck for knocking her up and at the same time wanting to push this baby out of her before she needed a straitjacket. This was the real thing. Motherhood. It was real, and it was time. And Allison, for the first time in 13 months, knew she was ready. She was grown up.

And her heart was still here with her. Her heart hadn't died like she thought it would. She'd witness so many hearts die within the past year, and yet she'd witnessed so many rebirths too. Death and rebirth. It was a huge cycle, like what it talked about in her grandmother's old Buddhism, Wicca, and Hinduism books.

"We're going to push on this next contraction, okay, Allison?" informed Dr. Wilson, bringing Allison out of her little netherworld of thought. "It's coming up," he warned, looking at the clock above the doorway. A nurse positioned herself at the end of the bed. Allison instinctively sat up and took a deep breath, tightening her grip on Bender's hand. Bender gritted his teeth. This was it.

Allison suddenly uttered a pitiful high scream as it hit. She began grunting as she pushed down. Dr. Wilson nodded. "Good girl. Good girl, push!"

"ARGGGHHHHH!" Allison replied. The pain seemed to be splitting her in two as she continued to push down.

"I see the head," said the nurse.

"Push!" continued Dr. Wilson excitedly.

Andy and Liz both paced outside Allison's room. The screams in there were loud and made them cringe with both excitement and fear. There was definitely something going on in there. It was as if time stood still and that the distance they were pacing was the length of a racetrack. The screaming was so unpleasant, it was obvious that Allison was NOT having any fun in there.

Suddenly, the screams stopped so suddenly that Andy's and Liz's ears rang. As quickly as the screams ended, the sounds of crying began. Andy smiled. Liz stood up straight. They looked at each other. Liz sighed and extended a hand.

"Congrats," she said. Andy shoved her hand aside and took Liz in a tight, enthusiastic embrace, which took Liz completely by surprise.

But she didn't resist.

Allison couldn't believe what she was holding in her arms. A baby. HER baby. HER baby boy.

The child was a wrinkly, bloody mess, but, of course, Allison didn't care. As it writhed and cried in her arms Allison couldn't help but cry a little herself. She was overwhelmed, physically, emotionally, and mentally in every way possible.

And she loved it.

Her child, her baby, was here. Living, breathing, existing. What a poor kid. Born to a teenage mom in such a brutal world such as this one. If Allison learned anything in the past year, it was that the world wasn't a fun place for children to grow up in. Allison could barely feel the shivers go up and down her spine. Her ecstasy and joy easily numbed it.

She looked at Bender, who was still standing beside her beet red in the face and a little uncomfortable being there. Allison smiled. He had no right not to be a bit uneasy.

Allison turned to Dr. Wilson. "Can he come in, now?" she asked. Dr. Wilson nodded.

He opened a door and motioned. Andy popped his head inside.

His face said it all. Allison beamed and held out the infant to him. Andy looked at it and shrugged. Bender rolled his eyes.

"Just hold your kid, Sporto. He can't deck you until I teach him how to!" he said. Allison winked at Andy. Andy scooped the baby in his arm and chuckled.

"He looks absolutely nothing like me," Andy said.

"Lucky kid," Bender muttered. Allison giggled.

The three of them remained quiet for a moment. The baby's cries were the only sound that filled the room for nearly a whole minute.

"What are we going to name him?" asked Andy, breaking the (somewhat) silent room. Bender and Andy both looked at Allison. She shook her head.

"Let's worry about that later. I need some sleep."