This chapter picks up immediately where the first one left off.

Ralph smiled up at Walter, seemingly unaware of the conflict twisting its way around the older genius' gut. Walter squeezed the boy's hand, offering him a smile. "Well, I should get back and see how your mom is doing. I just wanted to let you know that it's almost time."

"Thank you, Dad," Ralph said, his smile morphing into a grin that took up his entire face.

"Ah, my boys."

Walter turned to see Paige standing in the doorway, a smile on her face. "Hey Ralphie."

"Hi Mom. How are you feeling?"

"Fine." Paige ran her hands over her stomach. "Pretty uncomfortable, but fine."

"How far apart are your contractions?"

"Seven to ten minutes. But they're mild. It'll be a while yet if you did want to go back to sleep."

"No." Ralph shook his head. "I'm fine." He sat up. "Do you want to watch more of the movies?"

Paige laughed. "Honestly part of me never wants to watch another movie again." Ralph and Walter both smirked. "But you know, this whole process is stressful for the baby, too. Maybe some Disney movie or something with fun music. It'll relax him."

"Brother Bear," Ralph said. Paige beamed at him. The baby had always seemed to relax when they were watching that movie. As Paige didn't know what Ralph and Walter had been talking about, it was clear that she thought that this was just a happy big brother paying attention to what his brother responded to, even before he was born. Walter felt awkward watching Paige smile at her older child that way.

"Paige, let me go help you use the bathroom before we sit down to the movie. Ralph, you want to boot it up?"

"This was a good idea," Paige said as the boy rushed past them and she and Walter began to walk down to the bathroom. "I didn't realize how much I had to pee before you said that."

"Yeah, uh..." Walter scratched the back of his neck. "So. So...uh..." He cleared his throat, shutting the bathroom door behind them. "You know...there's something we didn't...discuss...about this whole..." she reached for his hands for balance as she lowered herself onto the toilet, and he grabbed them as his mind raced, searching for a way to phrase what he wanted to say. "Uh, about this whole thing."

Paige looked up at him. "It's a bit late in the process to realize we forgot to talk about something, isn't it?" She asked with a smirk.

"I mean...Ralph." He saw her raise her eyebrows. "His father abandoned him. Don't you think that he might feel a little jealous of this baby?"

"Walter," Paige said with a smile he knew was meant to put him at ease, "we did talk about this. We told him that we are going to love him just as much as we always have, and that this child being biologically yours doesn't mean that you're going to stop caring for him like you do now. And Toby was there – he said that Ralph was telling the truth when he said he believed us. "

Walter remembered this conversation. Ralph had said he thought that the three of them extending their family would make them stronger. Trust me, I don't doubt that Ralph thinks that. He's relying on it. "I don't...I mean..." He cleared his throat. "How do you think blood and water weigh against each other?"

"You mean like, if your relationship with your blood is stronger than the relationship with your friends?"

"Actually, the full quote is blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb," Walter said. "So it says that relationships that you choose to be in are stronger than ones that have nothing but biology in common."

Paige was silent. "I don't..." Walter said quickly, "I don't mean that biological relationships aren't...aren't worth it. You and Ralph...myself and Megan...us and this child," he said in a low voice as he helped her stand up. "It just means that if you're really close with someone you're not related to, you're not automatically closer to someone you're biologically related to because of biology. But...do you think that having a biological relationship with a person can strengthen your relationship with someone else?"

She frowned. "What are you talking about?"

He bit his lip. She was his go to. When something was bothering him, he told her, that's how it had been for a long, long time. But this...was this the time to bring this up? He didn't want to upset her. And he wasn't even sure he was making sense.

He wasn't even sure how he felt. Was he more upset that Ralph didn't really want his little brother? Or was the fact that Ralph thought that anything shy of this meant he could someday lose Walter.

He was never going to lose Walter, no matter what happened between the older genius and Paige. Walter would move mountains if that's what it ever took to stay in that boy's life.

Paige smoothed her shirt over her stomach, taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out. Walter stepped closer to her, waiting if she needed to hang on to him. She stayed relatively still for twenty five, thirty, thirty five, nearly forty seconds, then shook her head.

Walter ran his hand up and down her back. "You okay?"

"The'yre still not very painful," Paige said. "Whew. Leaving me a little out of breath, though."

"Let's go sit." Walter suggested. "I'm sure Ralph has the movie up by now. Hey," he said, grabbing her hand as she started to move down the hall. She stopped, turning to face him with a curious smile on her face. Walter stepped as close as he could to her, leaning forward to brush his lips gently across hers. "I love you."

Ralph's head was resting against Paige's upper arm, and one of his hands was stretched over her, fingers splayed over her belly. Walter hated that the warm, fuzzy feeling he had been getting from that identical image for months was gone now.

I wish you hadn't told me about how you feel, Ralph.

He instantly felt guilty. Parents were supposed to want their children to be honest with them, even if it hurt. If he couldn't react properly to Ralph – who he knew as well as anyone, who was so like him – how was he supposed to be a good parent to this new baby? He shifted uncomfortably.

"Oh, will you cut it out?"

He looked at Paige. She was side eyeing him, one eyebrow raised. "What...what did I do?"

"I keep shifting my weight and you keep mimicking me." Her tone sounded playful.

Walter was glad she wasn't mad – especially since "that's not what I was doing," he said. "I'm just...thinking." He scanned her body. "You're sitting oddly."

"I'm uncomfortable," she said. "I swear, nothing that I've tried has made it any better."

"The contractions still not painful?" He looked at the DVD player. They were forty five minutes into the movie. Can things move along a little, please?

"Nope. I mean, they're not intense. They're more tiring than anything else."

"It's probably fatigue from the past few days setting in," Walter said. "You've been at this for a while."

"Yeah. But early labor doesn't really tire you out. And I've been sleeping well, until today." She stretched. "Oh, leg cramp."

"I got it," Walter said, squeezing between the couch and the coffee table to massage her calf. She smiled down at him.

Ralph scooted closer. "Do you still think it will be today, Mom?"

"Probably," she said. "They weren't regular the first couple of days. They're still not intense, but they're getting closer together and they're more consistent. Those are all signs that active labor will start soon. Then we can go to the hospital and really get things started." She slid the arm he'd been leaning on around him and grinned as she cuddled him closer. "I'm so excited, baby."

"Me too."

"Ow!" Paige jerked her leg away from Walter.

He realized he'd applied too much pressure to the knot. "Sorry!"

She smiled. "I can't be mad at you today. But for the record you don't get to remind me about saying that when I'm in the delivery room cursing you for doing this to me," she added with a wink.

"Hey now. You were the one who initially suggested we go it without protection."

"Guys."

"Sorry, Ralph," Walter and Paige chorused in unison.