Jonathan had seemingly forgotten all about his frustration with Steve by the time December came around. He'd spent nearly all of the Wheeler-Byers Thanksgiving dinner asking Nancy a million questions about her plans and about Steve, so when Joyce called to say that Will was coming home later that week, Nancy couldn't have been more thankful. Obviously, she was happy that Will was better, but she was relieved that Jonathan's attentions would be turned back to his brother.

In the past couple of weeks, due to the cold weather, she'd been able to successfully hide her growing baby bump underneath large sweaters. Nancy was surprised she'd been able to keep it a secret for this long. She was even more surprised that Mike had managed to keep his mouth shut up about the whole thing and not accidentally slip up. She'd never thought that he was one to keep secrets well, but then again, he'd kept Eleven in the basement for a week without anyone knowing.

That Sunday morning, Karen drove Mike, Lucas and Dustin over to the Byers' to go and see Will. Nancy had spent the night at her friend Stacy's, wanting a night away from her family and away from Steve. It wasn't like she was angry at Steve or anything, but since he'd started working at the hardware store, she'd become frustrated with him. He wasn't doing anything in particular, and if she wasn't as stubborn as she was, she'd probably attest her frustration to pregnancy hormones. She knew that Steve couldn't help not having time for her anymore and that it was in both of their best interests for him to be working, but still, she couldn't help missing him. And the fact that they weren't having sex anymore was embarrassingly pissing her off. She could almost hear the words "Keep it in your pants, Wheeler," in Barb's voice.

The one time she'd tried since she'd told Steve she was pregnant, he pulled her off of him gently and asked "Should we be doing this?"

It was so out of character for him that Nancy had thought it was a joke. She'd laughed and pulled him back in for a kiss, but he took her by the arms again and said "No."

She stared at him in disbelief.

"Well, I mean . . . it can't be good for the baby, right? I mean, won't like . . . okay, I know this is gonna sound gross, but won't my dick be like . . . you know . . .?"

It took every ounce of Nancy's strength not to punch him in the arm. She hadn't tried anything since then, too needlessly irritated with her boyfriend. Steve knew something was wrong, she could tell, but he hadn't asked her about it yet. Sometimes Nancy thought that Steve didn't know how to bring things up with her, and the thought made her uneasy. Was he not completely comfortable with her? They should be able to talk about anything.

But when Steve drives them over to the Byers' that Sunday morning, there was no awkwardness between them. Perhaps it was their shared excitement over seeing Will, but whatever it was, Nancy felt safe and happy. She hadn't seen Mike since he'd gotten back from the Byers' that morning, so as far as she knew, everything had gone just as her brother had hoped.

Steve opens the door for her and helps her out of the car as Nancy held the slight belly that was growing on her. She keeps her grip on his hand as they walk up to the front door, which Joyce opened almost instantly.

She looked completely exhausted and worn out, and Nancy couldn't blame her. Still, Joyce smiles and wraps her arms around both of them. "Steve, Nancy, thanks for coming over,"

All of a sudden, Nancy felt awkward. She didn't know what she was supposed to say and Joyce was so kind, so good, and she deserved to hear something nice.

Steve takes the woman's hands in his and squeezes them once. "We're really happy that Will's home. He's such a good kid, and I know everyone's missed him,"

Joyce smiles, but it was clearly forced. She looks down at the ground like she was trying to hold back tears and moved away, to let them inside. Jonathan and Will were sitting on the living room couch, looking at pictures that Nancy assumed Will had drawn. While Jonathan was glancing up at them, Will's eyes were locked onto the papers. He looked so skinny and small, and Nancy wondered if he'd always been that tiny or if it was a new development. Most likely the ladder, considering how distressed Jonathan looked.

"Will, sweetie, look who's here to see you," says Joyce, making her way over to sit next to him. She rubs his back gently and her touch makes Will look up, coming face to face with Steve and Nancy.

"Hey, buddy," Steve chuckles, lifting his hand up for a high five. He's always so good at putting on an act, Nancy thinks, because she knows he's nervous. Will ignores him, his eyes now firmly on Nancy's stomach. The back of her neck begins to sweat because he looks so god damn creepy, like the fucking little girl from Poltergeist.

Steve puts his hand back down. "We're so glad you're home, dude. Things were like crazy depressing around here without you. I mean, Jonathan bitching in my ear, constantly? And even more than usual? God, it's good to have you back,"

"Baby," It was barely above a whisper, and no one but Nancy seemed to hear it.

"What, sweetie?" asks Joyce.

"Baby," Will says louder.

Jonathan and Joyce both turn to Nancy. Nancy's heart is in her throat.

"Baby," he repeats. "Bad."

"N-no," says Steve, furrowing his brow. "Babies are . . . babies are good,"

Nancy doesn't even care to tell him off for not denying it, because honestly, there's no point. Jonathan knows and Joyce knowing would only be a positive. It's Will right now that's her main concern.

"Bad," says Will. Nancy's skin is tingling and she takes a step back as Will stands up from the couch.

Just as he stands, he begins to scream. He holds both sides of his head and falls back down, his whole body shaking. Steve steps in front of Nancy and puts his arm out in front of her. Joyce and Jonathan are grabbing onto his arms, asking him what's wrong, asking what they can do.

"BAD! BAD! BAD!" Will screams over and over again. Nancy wants to lunge forward and help, but she knows that she can't. It's her. She's the problem.

"Get out!" Joyce yells at her. It's not malicious, and Nancy knows that she isn't angry with her, but it still hurts. All she wants is to be able to talk to Joyce right now about the baby and ask her a million questions, but the world they live in isn't normal enough for that.

Steve grabs her by the hand and pulls her out of the house as fast as he can. Nancy can still hear Will's shrieks and she starts to pray that he stops, and that all of his pain goes away. Will is such a good boy – why did he deserve this? Why the fuck would God put all this on the shoulders of a person who deserved nothing but good things?

Once they're both inside the car, Steve drives away faster than Nancy would've thought. She's so shaken and taken aback, she doesn't know what to say or do. Baby. Bad.

"What the fuck was that?" Steve asks loudly. "How the shit did he know you were pregnant? You're not showing, I mean, what the fuck?"

"Obviously it's some supernatural reason," Nancy states, trying not to roll her eyes. What other reason could there be?

"The Upside Down lets him detect people's pregnancies? Does he have powers now? Like Eleven?!"

"I don't know, Steve,"

"And 'bad?' What the fuck? Do you think the baby's in danger? You know what, the baby's in danger. We're going to see Saperstein right fucking now," Steve pushes harder on the gas.

"No, Steve, c'mon –"

"He has powers! The baby's in danger! You're in danger! Fuck, fuck, fuck."

Steve always knows what to say when they're not in a crisis. When a crisis happens, that's when the coward in him comes out. Nancy had learned that a while ago. It's frustrating, but she knows better than to get mad at him for it. It's just the way that he is and while she might not like it, you can't change somebody. Still, he's starting to freak her out even more than she already was. She needs for him to tell her that everything is okay right now.

"Okay, I know you're freaked out, but can we just pull over? Think for a minute?" she tries to hide how exasperated she is.

"No, no, Nance, we have to get to Pawnee now. Wait, should we go to the hospital first?"

"Steve –"

"Fuck, how do you get to the hospital again?" he bangs his hand on the wheel multiple times, a crazed look in his eyes.

"Steve!" Nancy turned to him entirely, grabbing his arm with both of her hands. Steve stops moving and looks over at her, his eyes wide and his lips trembling. It was maybe the most vulnerable she'd ever seen him, and if they weren't driving, she would've kissed him right there. Within a few seconds, Steve's expression softens.

"Okay," he mutters. They pull over to the side of the road and when Steve puts the car in park, Nancy unbuckles and wraps her arms around his neck. He leans his head against hers, like he's too drained to do anything else.

"I don't know what that was back there," says Nancy. "But we can't freak out,"

"It was some – some fucking Upside Down, shit, that's what it was. Didn't you see Will? He looked possessed,"

Nancy lifts her head from his shoulder but keeps her arms in place. "We don't know that,"

"Well, then how did he know you were pregnant?"

"I don't know . . . maybe Jonathan told him?"

Steve looks at her like she's crazy. "He wouldn't do that,"

Nancy was trying to remain neutral and logical. She wanted to believe that everything that had gone down was over with, even though she knew in her heart that it wasn't. "We don't know that,"

"I do. He wouldn't do that to us," he pauses for a brief moment. "And Mike wouldn't tell him either. Maybe he's got powers like Eleven, you know? Like X-Ray vision,"

"I don't think Eleven had X-Ray vision,"

"How are you being so calm?" Steve barks out an obviously fake laugh. "We could be like – you and the baby could be in danger,"

"Because we don't know what's going on just yet. We shouldn't make assumptions,"

"I just – I just don't anything bad to happen to you," It sounds like he's holding back tears, and Nancy can't help but run her hand through his hair. It's just so Steve to feel legitimate pain for her well being, and while she's stressed out for numerous different reasons, her love for him outweighs all of that.

"Nothing bad is gonna happen," Nancy whispers.

"You don't know that,"

"Look at me," she puts her finger on his chin and pulls his face towards her. "I'm strong, okay? Do you not think I can handle whatever happens?"

"No, Nancy, I – I know you can. I just . . . I don't think that I can,"

"What do you mean?"

Steve exhales deeply and pulls her legs onto his lap. Nancy gets the message and scoots her butt on top of him. She's self-conscious that in a couple of months, they probably won't be able to sit like this. Steve rubs her waist and puts his head on her chest so that she's resting her chin on his forehead. "If anything happened to the baby, I don't think I could deal. I can barely deal with anything, I mean like, if something bad happens, I just lose it. And that's over shit that doesn't even really matter in the scheme of things. And you? I mean, it's like you said, you're so strong. And brave and resilient. No matter what happens, I know that you'll be okay. All I've got to live for is you, and now this kid, and I just . . . I don't know. It's dumb. I'm sorry,"

Nancy has never been able to understand Steve. Sometimes, she thought that she did, but then there were times like this. He had so much going for him, he was so effortlessly charming, he was athletic and hardworking. And yet, he didn't see any of it. Hearing him say 'All I've got to live for is you' made Nancy uneasy in a weird way. She didn't want to be someone's reason for living. It sounded selfish, maybe, but she didn't want that pressure. Nancy didn't trust herself not to disappoint people. She didn't think that she was too good for Steve or that Steve was too good for her – it was always an equal balance of power in her eyes, but it clearly wasn't for Steve.

"If I tell you that everything's going to be okay will that calm you down?" it's all she can think to say.

She knows that he's regretting even saying anything at all. He bites the inside of his mouth and nods, "Yeah, it would,"

"Everything's going to be okay," she says, even though they both know that it's a lie.

Mike, Lucas and Dustin clearly hadn't gotten the reaction they'd wanted from Will either. They were all still just as depressed as usual, although Lucas and Dustin hid it better than Mike did. The only thing that seemed to cheer Mike up nowadays was the idea of having a nephew or niece. Nancy had told him time and time again that she wasn't sure if they were keeping it yet, but he ignored her. He was reading all of Karen's old parenting books in his spare time and going on about how he was going to be the best Uncle ever.

He'd gotten his heart broken too many times for someone so young and kind. It broke Nancy's heart to even think about how upset he would be if she chose to give the baby up.

As if the draining feeling of being a disappointment to everyone wasn't enough, Jonathan was ignoring her. She suspected that he was embarrassed about how things with Will had gone down, although part of her feared that maybe he thought Will was right. Maybe he too thought that there was something wrong with her beautiful, beautiful baby.

One person who wasn't avoiding her was Max. Ever since they'd gone to the diner, Max seemed to always be hanging around the Wheeler house and it was always when she and Steve were trying to be alone. She'd bang on Nancy's door and ask a million rude, personal questions. Mike didn't like her all that much either and only tolerated her presence for Dustin and Lucas's sake, and Nancy could understand why. She didn't want to say that she disliked a little girl, but she sure was annoying as all fuck.

The day the schools let out for holiday break, Mike and Max came racing through the front door. Mike was giggling loudly, holding a notebook above his head where Max couldn't reach and Max was chasing after him, threatening him with bodily harm. Nancy had been trying to take a nap on the couch, but Max's screaming alerted her and she jumped right up. Mike slammed right into her and she lost her balance for a moment.

"Nance, are you okay?!" asks Mike, grabbing onto her hand to keep her steady. Max seizes the opportunity to grab the notebook from him, but Mike is still way taller than she is.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Mike, just give her back whatever that is,"

"No way! I finally got dirt on her!"

"Fuck you, Wheeler!" Max proclaims, shaking her head. Nancy's honestly surprised she hasn't kicked him in the shins or something yet.

"If I were you, I'd be a little nicer to me. Unless you want me to tell Nancy all about your little journal,"

"You have her journal?!" Nancy shakes her head. She has to help Max! Reading a girl's journal is the ultimate betrayal and violation of privacy. Nancy snatches the thing back from Mike but before she can hand it to Max, she sees that it's been flipped open to one specific entry. In bold red marker, the words Mrs. Steve Harrington have been written. Seeing Steve's name catches Nancy off guard and she looks at the thing. Max groans and turns away in shame, knowing that there's no point in grabbing it back from her now.

She's drawn a big heart in the center of the page and inside, in cursive, reads Max + Steve. Next to each of their names are two crudely drawn figures – Max, her red hair down to her waist, wearing a pretty pink dress, and Steve, wearing a tuxedo. Surrounding the heart are different versions of herself and Steve's names, a lot of them surrounded by smaller hearts. Nancy's heart swells because this has to be the absolute cutest thing she's ever seen.

"Aren't you jealous, Nancy? She's gonna steal your boyfriend!" Mike laughs crudely and Nancy hits his arm. Max furiously grabs her notebook from Nancy and storms down to the basement, flipping Mike off.

"You suck, dick breath!" she yells behind her.

"What is your problem?" Nancy demands the second she's gone.

Mike is still smiling. "Oh, c'mon, Nance. She's been horrible to me all year! Let me have this!"

"No! You can't just – why would you even read her journal? It's private!"

He ignores her question. "Who cares? She sucks. It's what she deserves,"

"Mike, no. You never humiliate a girl, especially when it involves someone they have a crush on!"

Mike is still taking some pleasure from this, which irritates Nancy. "You don't think it's like a little funny that she wants to steal your boyfriend?"

"No. Now fuck off, I'm trying to rest. And lay off Max while you're at it,"

She knows that he's going to listen to her even though he doesn't want to. Mike shrugs her off and joins Max in the basement and Nancy can't help but wonder what the girl is even doing here. She clearly hates Mike and yeah, she could be here to see Steve, but she'd seen he wasn't here. And Mike was such a dick to her! Why would she want to be anywhere near him?

It kept Nancy thinking for the couple of hours that Max was over. So much so that when Max announced she was going to walk home, Nancy offered her a ride. The small girl gave her a dirty look, but stood there with her arms crossed as Nancy grabbed the keys. She couldn't figure out why Max would want to go anywhere with her after being humiliated like she was, but then again, it was December. Maybe she just didn't want to walk home in the freezing cold.

Max doesn't say a single word after giving Nancy her address. She sits with her head against the car window, her hand on her cheek, her usual pissed off expression apparent. After a minute or so, Nancy spoke. "So . . . Christmas. It's a pretty great time of year, right?"

"Cut to the chase, big Wheeler," she scoffs. "We both know why you wanted to drive me so just ahead and say whatever it is you wanted to say,"

Nancy did her best not to roll her eyes. "Mike can be a jerk sometimes. I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for what he did, even if he's not,"

"I don't want your pity," Her stubbornness reminds Nancy oddly of Mike and she wonders why they don't get along.

"I'm not pitying you. I just . . . I'm not gonna say anything, in case you thought I was going to,"

Max looks at her for the first time. Nancy can't decide what the redhead is feeling. "Why not?"

She raises an eyebrow. "Why would I do something like that?"

"Why not?" Max repeats.

"Girls don't do that to other girls," Nancy explains. "We have to stick together,"

Max's expression softens, but only somewhat. She still seems wary of Nancy's intentions. "I thought you'd be mad," Max states in a soft tone that sounds nothing like her regular voice.

A small smile breaks out on Nancy's face. "Well, I guess I'm gonna have some tough competition but I'm glad it's someone that I respect,"

It's almost shocking that Max actually chuckles a little bit at that. She doesn't say anything else, but Nancy sees her grinning out of the corner of her eye. Maybe this was all Max needed to soften up – some genuine kindness that came without being condescending. She made a note to advise Mike of that for later occasions, but he probably wouldn't care much.

Max's calm disappeared once Nancy pulled up at the appropriate address. It was a smaller house than her own, and sitting outside on the front porch smoking a cigarette, was a boy she knew from school. Billy, she thought his name was. She knew he kind of had a bad boy reputation, and not in the way that Steve did. His rep was dangerous. Nancy heard rumors from her girlfriends that he'd actually killed a guy in his old town. Upon seeing how nervous Max was to go inside, it suddenly seemed believable.

"Is that your brother?" she asks.

"Step brother," Max insists. She stares down at her hands in her lap and Nancy tentatively turns to her, her hand still on the steering wheel.

"Are you okay?"

She doesn't look up.

Nancy now knows why Max hangs out at her house despite disliking Mike. She's scared of her step-brother, she's scared of being at home. That must've been why she was so mean all the time – as a defense mechanism. As if in an instant, all of her irritation at the young girl disappeared.

"You know," Nancy begins, somewhat awkwardly. "If you want to stay over at my house tonight, I'm sure that would be okay,"

Max doesn't move her head but her eyes are on Nancy now. She considers for a moment and then says, "No. I'll um . . . thanks for the ride,"

She steps out of the car and walks up her driveway cautiously. Billy stands up from the steps to greet her, blowing cigarette smoke in her face. Nancy almost unbuckles to say something until she feels a harsh pain in her stomach. It's like what she imagines getting stabbed to be like, except it subsides within a few seconds. She stays still, trying to see if it happens again. When it does, she fears that it could be cramps and something bad could be going on. She doesn't feel anything between her legs, no blood, so maybe everything was okay? Everything's okay, everything's okay, everything's okay, she repeated it to herself over and over again and still, it didn't calm her down. It only made things worse because she hadn't meant it when she'd said it to Steve, so she probably didn't mean it now either.

Billy's eyes were still on her and his stare made her extremely uncomfortable. It was like he was undressing her with his eyes and there was nothing about it that made her feel sexy or special. It made her feel dirty. Once he followed Max into the house after giving her a wink, Nancy let herself hold onto her stomach and cry out in pain. The cramps were subsiding, but the aftershocks were still prominent and making her small frame shake. She wished that her mother was there and that she could tell her about everything. All Nancy wanted in that moment was to be a little girl again and for her mom to hold in her arms and comfort her.

She was going to have to tell her eventually. Pregnancy wasn't exactly something that you could hide for too long. But Nancy knew her mom, and she knew that she was going to ask a million questions that would come off as judgmental, even if she didn't mean for them to be. The shitty thing was that she couldn't really tell anybody. She'd only told Mike because it was a weak moment for her and she hadn't even told Steve yet, and he was the closest thing she had to someone she could trust. And yeah, Jonathan knew, but he had been weird about the whole thing and was acting like he had some authority over what happened to the baby. Will knowing was a nightmare because he hadn't been in control of himself for months now and could let it to slip to literally everyone. And as much as it hurt Nancy to say, she didn't even think that she could've told Barb if she was here. She'd hated Steve and Nancy could practically hear her calling the child "devil spawn."

Everything sucked so fucking bad and for that moment in time, it didn't feel like anything would ever get better.

After a few minutes of crying, Nancy managed to pull herself together enough to drive home. She wasn't in pain anymore, at least physically, and sitting outside of Max's house for any longer would be borderline creepy. It was somewhat lame of her to even be concerned with how she looked right now, but she couldn't help it. Caring about what others think of you is something that never goes away, and it was a large part of the reason why the baby was a secret in the first place.

That wouldn't be the case for much longer.

Three days before Christmas, Nancy had another appointment with Dr. Saperstein. Everything had weighing on her heavily lately, and she needed to hear her doctor tell her everything looked normal. She knew that it was a long shot for him to be able to tell if anything supernatural was happening, but having the baby checked out would be at least a little comforting.

She hadn't told Steve about the cramps the other day. It was lame of her to care about his feelings about her body, but she did. She loved him, how could she not? And why would she want to upset him?

Still, there was another talk they needed to have.

"Steve?" she asks as he bops his head along to Michael Jackson.

He stops singing along only to mutter "Yeah?" and then go back to what he was doing.

"What are we going to do with the baby?" she questions loudly.

Steve turns to her and then shuts the radio off. "What do you want to do?"

"I'm asking you," she states. "I mean, I know what I want, but I want to know what you want before I tell you what I want,"

"So, this is like a quiz?" he raises an eyebrow. Nancy does her best not to groan. "Uh . . . I mean . . . it doesn't really matter what I want. You just tell me what you want, and we'll do it,"

She's suddenly reminded of why it is that she loves him so much. If they weren't driving, she would've kissed them right there. "I think . . . I think I want to keep it," says Nancy, feeling a bit afraid. "Like, I know that's dumb because I want to go to college and this isn't the life I wanted for myself or for you and I'm sorry that I feel the way I do but –"

"I want to keep it too," Steve was smiling so brightly, he resembled an angel. The sun was shining through the window and reflecting off of his head to form a halo.

"Are you just saying that?"

"No, I was hoping that you were gonna want to keep it," What he didn't say was what he was really thinking. He'd never planned for a future outside of Nancy (he definitely wasn't going to college) and to him, raising a family with her was the perfect endgame.

"I'm so glad you think so," Nancy lights up. "Because I don't think I could give my baby away. And I still want to go to school, but maybe we could work something out, you know? Like I can take a year off and then when I do go, Mike and Jonathan can babysit for us. We can make it work, right?"

Steve nods and takes her hand from her lap, bringing it to his lips. "Of course, babe. We always do, right?"

Fuck, she loves him so much. There is no one better than Steve Harrington in the whole world and Nancy Wheeler is positive of it. He is the saving grace of the male gender, hell, he's the saving grace of the human race. It's fucked up, but she hopes that wherever Barb is she feels like shit for being so wrong about this perfect man.

They're still holding hands and giggling when they're sat inside of Saperstein's office. Nothing in the world could break what either of them are feeling in this moment, not even Will's threat looming on both of their shoulders.

That is, until Saperstein enters the room, his brows furrowed. He isn't wearing his usual carefree expression. Nancy doesn't notice this at first, but Steve does. "Whoa, what's up, Doc?" he asks.

"Long day, is all,"

It should've been a sign of what was to come. "Let's get to it, shall we?" he asks and Nancy nods. Steve lifts her onto the examination table and this time, she kisses his hand. Saperstein goes through the routine, rubbing the cold gel onto her stomach and booting up the tiny machine. "Looks like you've gained an inch or so, Nancy," he says in regards to her weight.

"Yep! That means the baby's nice and healthy, right?"

"It's always a good sign," he confirms.

"Little girl's gonna be just as chubby as you were as a baby, Nance," Steve chuckles, ruffling her hair.

"You think it's a girl?" asks Saperstein.

"He wants it to be," Nancy explains. "He doesn't want a boy,"

"It's not that I don't one. It's just that he's gonna be just like me, and I'm a pain in the ass," Nancy and Saperstein don't dispute his point.

Saperstein places the transducer on Nancy's stomach and she feels the same excitement that she did a month ago. Steve's attention is pointed to the screen, squinting his eyes to try and see any new details.

The doctor is being awfully quiet and more attentive than he normally is. He also won't take his eyes off the screen as he rubs the transducer around Nancy's stomach. "It's so beautiful," Nancy whispers to Steve.

Saperstein places the transducer on the table and rubs at his forehead. "Uh, yeah . . . I think I missed something last time,"

"What do you mean? Is the baby okay?"

"Yeah, no. Everything looks great. It's just that . . . it, uh, it looks like you're having twins,"

The whole world stops.

Steve looks at Nancy for her reaction, but she doesn't have one. "I'm sorry, can you repeat that?" she asks.

"You're having twins,"

"How did you – how did you miss this?" Steve sounds concerned. He's trying to mask it, but Nancy knows him well enough to know how he is.

Saperstein puts the transducer back on Nancy and points out two blobs, distinct now that they're being pointed out. "You just miss things sometimes, it's normal,"

Nancy's heart is beating fast in her chest. One baby is one thing, but two? God, she didn't even like dealing with Mike and Holly together sometimes and they were years apart. Twins was a whole other story. Steve seemed to be less panicked than her though, focusing on just asking all of his questions.

"Can you – can you tell what they are? Like boys and girls or -?"

Saperstein squinted again and ran the transducer sideways. "It looks like you're having a boy and a girl," he states and then motions up to the monitor. "See? There's the penis on this one, but not on the other,"

Nancy's grip on Steve's hand tightens. He can feel how nervous she is and forces a smile. "Well, a little Steve and a little Nancy. At least the Nancy can get Steve Jr. to chill out if he gets too annoying,"

She smiles slightly, but still says nothing. Saperstein takes note of her discomfort. "You know, Nancy, adoption is still an option. And abortions at this stage aren't unheard of-"

"No, no," she shakes her head. "No, I'll uh . . . I'm gonna carry them to term,"

He shrugs.

"They're already so beautiful," Steve states.

"Did you two want to keep looking or should we move on to the check up?"

Steve looks to Nancy once more. She glances up at him, oddly unsure of the whole thing. She suddenly has no idea what to do about anything and she needs Steve to make this decision for her.

"Uh, we can move on. Thank you," Steve says.

Nancy is quiet for the days following the appointment. Steve barely hears from her until Christmas night, when he shows up at the Wheelers'. Karen kisses his cheeks and Holly jumps into his arms. Being with the Wheelers is the only time Steve has really felt like he's a part of a family. That same morning, his own mother had just given him a hug and left him with his presents. His father was nowhere to be found. Steve couldn't wait for the twins to be born, for when he would really be an official Wheeler.

Of course, Karen and Ted still didn't know and he felt guilty about that. They'd been so good to him and here he was, lying. But Nancy's feelings were more important to him and keeping her happy was all that mattered. She'd tell them in her own time.

Having twins excited him. And a boy and a girl, too? Jesus, they were going to be the perfect suburban family. Steve would work so fucking hard and they'd never have to worry about anything. Nancy would be the successful scientist that she wanted to be and at the end of the day, they'd come home and have dinner together. The twins would help each other out the way siblings were supposed to. Nancy was already so god damn perfect, and with this fucking perfect family, he'd start to seem like he was too.

"How's Will, man?" he asks Mike after supper, intent on brotherly bonding whether Mike wanted it or not.

"Fucked up," Mike says bluntly.

Steve rubs his shoulder. "I want to say some 'everything's gonna be okay' bullshit, but I don't know if it will be,"

"Me neither,"

"Nancy and I got your back, though. Remember that,"

Mike nods. "Yeah, I know. I got you guys too,"

It warms his heart more than it probably should, but he knows now that Mike actually does care for him. Or at least he's starting to. Or maybe it's just that he loves Nancy and is just choosing to put up with Steve. Whatever it is, Steve pulls Mike in for a side hug and the kid actually lets him.

"I'm gonna go check on Nance," Steve says when he pulls away and stands.

"Yeah, you better. She's been in a pissy mood,"

That's expected.

And she sure looks like she's in one when Steve finds her sitting in the basement, away from all the commotion upstairs. Her legs are crossed and she's sitting on the couch, playing with a Rubik's cube absentmindedly. "Hey," he says.

She looks at him for a moment, but then looks back down at her hands. "Hey,"

"You mind if I sit with you?"

She shakes her head. He sits down beside her and brings her head to his lips. "You know you can change your mind," he says, just above a whisper. "We can give 'em up, if that's what you want. I wouldn't . . . I wouldn't hold it against you,"

Nancy is silent for a moment, but then she looks at him. "So you wouldn't leave?"

"If you decided you didn't want them?"

"Yeah,"

"No. Nothing could ever make me leave you. Real question is – you gonna leave me?"

Nancy raises her eyebrows like the question is a shock to her. "Everybody always leaves," he explains. He doesn't have to say who he's talking about because they both know. His parents have never been there, Tommy, Carol, every single one of his friends when he decided to better himself, every girlfriend he'd ever had when he fucked up. His response makes Nancy wrap her arms around his neck and kiss his cheek.

"I won't," she responds.

"I'd never force you to do anything, but I – I think we'd have a really great family. You're a great sister, so you know, you'd be a great mother. And I – I can try. I'll be better than my dad. I know you think that . . . I know you think I'll turn out like him, and I know you won't say it out loud but we both know it's true," Steve pauses and brushes some stray hair out of her eyes. "I'm not my father. I won't be him. I'll always take care of you, I promise,"

Nancy opens her mouth to speak and then closes it again. Steve is well aware of every flaw that he has, and if Nancy wants to blame not wanting twins on him, it's okay. She's allowed to do that. But what she says surprises him. "When . . . when I first met you, I knew you'd be trouble. But I liked that. I craved that if I'm being honest with myself. And I'm not going to act like you proved me completely wrong, because you're still that impulsive shit you were back then. But . . . you're not just an impulsive shit. You're funny, and sweet, and kind. You care about everything too much. And I think you've got the biggest heart of anyone I've ever met. And that impulsivity, it could also just be bravery in most situations, because God, you're really fucking brave. And I do trust you, Steve, I do. You've proven yourself to me so many times. I know that you're not your dad. I know that now. So you're not the problem here. I am,"

It's Steve who's surprised this time. Nancy's words had made him feel like he was walking on clouds, like he was the best guy in the world. It was almost funny the kind of power she had over his emotions. "You're – you're perfect, what the fuck are you talking about?"

"No, I'm not," she insists. "You just think that I am because you love me. I never have any fucking idea what I'm doing. And I'm not a good sister. I'm a pretty shitty one actually. And I know it's dumb but all I keep thinking about is how disappointed Barb would be about how my life turned out,"

Steve always felt uncomfortable when Barb got brought up, mostly because he still felt like the whole thing was all his fault. She also had clearly despised him, and Steve knew that Nancy's "Barb would be disappointed" was about their relationship. And he couldn't do anything to fix that, because it wasn't like Steve planned on their relationship ending. Still, he had to at least try to be supportive.

"Maybe you should give her a little more credit?" he suggests. "I mean, she was your best friend. Maybe she'd be happy for you,"

"No," Nancy whispers. "But then again, you know, she wasn't always right about everything. She was wrong about you,"

Yeah, right, Steve thinks to himself.

"Alright then – then fuck whatever she'd think. You don't always have to agree with the people you love. I mean, Christ, Jonathan and I disagree on everything. Just – you know, stay true to yourself and all that corny shit,"

Nancy kisses his cheek. "Tell me what you think we should do. Like . . . twins is a lot of responsibility. Way more than just one kid,"

Steve inhales deeply. "It's like I said, you're my whole world. Having a kid with you is like a dream come true – two is like, you know, two times that. But yeah, I know that it'll be hard. So if you don't want to . . . we can . . . whatever. I just want to make you happy. But if you let me, I promise I'll take care of you guys. I'll work my fucking ass off 24/7 so that you can go to school and you can be the kickass scientist you want to be. Or I'll stay home with the babies and you can work. Whatever you want. I'll do anything and everything to give you everything that you deserve. And more. You just have to let me,"

She hadn't been lying when she said that she trusted Steve more than anyone. She just didn't know if anyone could handle a responsibility this big. Because seriously, who the fuck even has twins? Nobody! If there was a God, he was really playing a joke on them.

Nancy places her hand on top of Steve's. "I want to keep them, of course I do. They're mine. I just . . . I'm scared,"

"I am too. But we're in this together, right? We'll figure it out together. We will, I promise,"

"Even if whatever Will said does turn out to be true?"

Steve takes a deep breath. "Yeah, especially then,"

Nancy turns to look him in the eye and that dumb voice in the back of her head wanted to jump his bones, as lame as that was. The rational, non hormonal part of her thought about what he was offering her: a life. A lifetime together (although a proposal was unspoken, it was clearly there). Their own family. Breaking away from the Wheeler clan and forming their own Wheeler-Harrington clan. And the strange thing was that Nancy didn't actually mind it. Spending forever with Steve sounded . . . nice. She could still get the future that she'd wanted, couldn't she? She could still be a scientist. She could still have the successful future she wanted. And no, Jonathan, she didn't have to be just like her mom. Karen Wheeler had never had anything like this offered to her. After all, Ted was no Steve. The thought made Nancy bite back a smile.

"I love you," she says. "I . . . I want to do this. Together,"

Steve eyes welled up with tears nearly instantly and he pulls apart from Nancy, placing his hands on her arms. "Really?"

"Really," she nods.

He kisses her square on the mouth and then brings her in for a hug. "I love you so much. So, so much."