It took almost a week of intensive testing, endless scans and long meetings with doctors before Patrick Drake could decisively say that Nadine hadn't suffered any brain damage. Still, Nikolas had refused to accept his first opinion and had called in a pair of specialists from New York City. While Patrick would have been somewhat offended that Nikolas didn't trust his expertise under ordinary circumstances, he felt it was important that everyone be as educated as possible when it came to Nadine's health. The entire hospital staff had been apart of working her case, wanting the best possible outcome for their fellow coworker. Finally, when the two neurosurgeons had confirmed each of Patrick's diagnoses, the hospital was satisfied enough to move Nadine out of the Intensive Care Unit and into a private suite in the long-term recovery wing.

Nikolas had been at Nadine's side every step of the way, playing the doting fiancée and supportive confidant. He listened to everything that Patrick had to say and repeated it back to her later when she was too tired to pay attention. He helped feed her meals when she was too stubborn to choke down a few bites because of the nausea brought on her pain medications. He held her hand while she slept and told her stories when she couldn't sleep and sat with her in silence when she didn't know she felt. He allowed her time alone when the girls came by to visit and brought her fresh flowers every morning when he returned from Wyndamere and decorated the wall next to her bed with the countless cards Spencer made for her. He was doing everything he could to keep it together and keep her going. It was tiresome to just go through the motion but until he was able to bring her home, this was what he had to do.

Today was the first time he had been able to bring Spencer to the hospital to see her, and they were all three anxious to say the least. Until this point, no one knew that Nikolas had officially asked Nadine to marry him and that she had accepted. There were people who knew that he was going to ask, but no one knew that she had already given him his answer. She was insistent that she didn't want the fact that she was in the hospital to put a damper on what should be a very happy occasion. He had wanted to shout it from the rooftops and share it with everyone they knew. However, it was more important that she was happy, and it was kind of nice to have a little secret just between the two of them. However, with Spencer's visit to the hospital, he had every intention of expanding their inner circle to three.

"Daddy, I want to see Nadine. Can we go in, please? Can we, can we, can we?" Nikolas smiled down at his little boy, who was bouncing excitedly on his heels as he tried to look up into the window in anticipation. He wasn't quite tall enough to see into her room, so he couldn't see that Patrick was still in there going over her latest round of vital signs.

Nikolas reached down and scooped Spencer into his arms so that he could see through the window. "There she is," he murmured as they looked into the room. Nadine was smiling brightly, completely oblivious of their presence, as she listened to Patrick and Robin tell her something. Nikolas glanced at his little boy's smile and felt his heart swell even more. "You know that Nadine can't wait to see you, Buddy. You're all she had been talking about all week."

"I've missed her," he admitted as he pressed his head tiredly against his father's shoulder. He had woken up before the sun was even up in anticipation of seeing Nadine. It was rare that the little boy didn't have to be dragged out of bed, and the only time he actually managed to get up early was on Christmas morning. "When do you think she will get to come back home? Winter is almost here. She has to be home in time to ride horses with us when it snows."

"I'm not sure when she is going to get to come home, but I know that she is going to do everything she can to get back to us as soon as she can," he assured the little boy as Robin came out into the hallway. She was nearly ready to give birth and was in her last days before her scheduled delivery. He could see all the emotions of an expectant mother shining in her eyes as she looked at Spencer. "Hey, Robin, you're looking absolutely radiant. How are you feeling?"

"Ready," she smiled kindly, reaching up to ruffle Spencer's hair affectionately. The little boy grinned at her toothily before burying his face in his father's shoulder. "You can go in as soon as Patrick is finished. Nadine is doing great."

Nikolas nodded at her gratefully before she waddled down the hallway. He was still watching after his friend when he felt his son yanking at his shirt sleeve. "Look, Daddy, Nadine sees us!" he exclaimed, pointing to the window. He peered inside to see Nadine waving excitedly at them to come in. He grinned at her and was about to push the door open when Spencer wiggled out of his arms. He sprinted after the rambunctious toddler into the room, barely missing Patrick as Spencer lunged himself onto the bed. "Nadine!"

"Sweetie!" she murmured excitedly as she wrapped her arms around the little boy. She carefully maneuvered his body away from her tubes and monitors so that she could hold him more comfortably. "I have missed you so much, Spence. I'm really glad you got to come see me."

"Daddy told me that you were sick and that if I came to see you, you might get better faster. Do you think it's working already?" he asked innocently, peering up at her with those same glimmering chocolate eyes that had captured her the first time Nikolas had held her gaze across a room. Nadine nodded thoughtfully as Nikolas came over to the bed and bent down to kiss her forehead. She caught him by the collar just as he was about to pull away and brought his mouth back to hers in a real kiss. "Ew, Daddy!"

"Oh, you're just jealous because I'm not paying attention to you, my love," Nadine teased as she smothered Spencer little face with kisses. He giggled and tried to squirm away from her. The three of them were so wrapped up in their own little world that they didn't even notice when Patrick slipped out of the room. Nikolas finally managed to pull Spencer off the bed and settled him in his lap as he took the chair next to the bed. "So, Spencer, what have you been doing while I've been gone? Your daddy has been bringing me all your cards."

Spencer looked up at the wall of his artwork proudly. "Daddy is letting me take art lessons," he told her. "Aunt Elizabeth is taking Cam and me to the school where they have classes. There are lots of kids my age."

Nadine smiled at Nikolas approvingly. They had talked a lot about the need to socialize Spencer with children other than his family, especially kids that may not be quite up to his social standing. He had been reluctant at first, apprehensive that people would tease him for being different. However, when Elizabeth had suggested the art classes that Cameron had been taking, he had jumped at the chance to let his son actually be a normal kid. "Maybe I can come with you some time when I get home."

"Yeah, that would be fun!" he grinned. "When are you going to get home? Daddy said it would be a long time. How long is a long time?"

"We're not sure yet, Buddy," Nikolas answered for her, looking at her sadly over Spencer's head. He was just as anxious as his son was for her to come home. It was lonely spending nights in his bed without her. He missed being able to just hold her like he wanted to. "We're just going to have to be patient and let Nadine's body heal like it's supposed to."

"In the mean time, I think we have something that we want to talk to you about," Nadine told him. She had been thinking about how she was going to approach this for awhile, and rather than plan it all out in her head, she decided just to jump right in the middle of it. "Your daddy and I have made a big decision that we're very happy about, but we want you to know that you are the most important part of it."

Spencer looked up at his father in confusion. Nikolas adjusted his son in his lap so that he could look into Spencer's eyes. He knew that this was perplexing for the little boy, especially when he didn't always understand it. "If you are okay with it, Nadine and I would like to get married, Buddy," he explained. "We would like the three of us to really be a family."

He looked over at Nadine first and then up at Nikolas and then back to Nadine. "But we're already a family," he shrugged. "I don't understand."

"This would just be more permanent, Spence," Nadine attempted to explain to him. She reached out her arms so that the little boy could crawl up on the bed next to her. "Your daddy and I love each other, but we love you even more. It's important that we get married so that everyone can see how much we all mean to each other. Does that make more sense?"

"Not really, but will there be cake?" he asked. Nikolas laughed and nodded. "Well, Nadine always says that you can't go wrong with cake! It sounds like a good idea to me."

Nikolas came over to sit on the foot of the bed with his fiancée and son. "There's actually a little bit more. Like Nadine said, we both love you very much," he reminded his son. "Well, I was wondering what you would think about Nadine adopting you. I'm not sure if you know what that means, but that means she would be like your mom."

Spencer looked down at his little hands and frowned for the first time all day. As much as he loved Nadine, he wasn't sure how that made him feel. "What about Mommy?" he asked innocently. "And Emily? If Nadine is my mommy, do I have to stop loving them?"

"Oh, Buddy, of course not," Nikolas murmured as he brought Spencer into his arms for a tight hug. It broke his heart to hear that question. "Your mommy loved you very much, just like Emily did. They would want you to be taken care of and loved. Just because you love Nadine, it doesn't mean that you have to stop loving them. No one could ever take their place in your heart or in mine. Thankfully, our hearts are big enough for Nadine to have a place all of her own."

"Listen, Spence, I don't want to replace your mom or Emily. I know how much they mean to you and your dad," she said as she took Nikolas' hand. "I just want the chance to raise you with your dad. I love you just like you're my son already, so why not make it official?"

He thought about this for a moment before looking up. "Okay!" he decided before being smashed in the middle of a hug from both Nikolas and Nadine. "Ow, Daddy, you're squishing me."

"Sorry," Nikolas giggled as he pulled back. There was a knock on the door, and the new Cassadine family turned to look at their unexpected visitor. Elizabeth came in, freshly changed from her shift, with Cameron and Jake in toe. "Well, well, well, look who's here."

"We were just going to go over to Kelly's for some ice cream with Lucky, and Cameron heard from Aunt Bobbie that Spencer was here. We thought we'd see if he wanted to come with us," Elizabeth offered. "I know how boring it can be to be stuck in the hospital. What do you say?"

Spencer leapt off the bed and raced over to play with Cam and Jake. "Sure, I think that would be a good idea," Nikolas agreed as he stood up to greet his longtime friend with a hug. He whispered his thanks in her ear before going over to hug his son. "Tell Nadine bye."

"Bye, Nadine!" he called from the corner before chasing Cameron out into the hallway. Jake followed, eliciting an exhausted sigh from Elizabeth. She shrugged at her friends before sprinting into the corridor after the kids. Nikolas could hear their laughter fading down the hallway, bringing a peaceful smile to his face. He finally had everything he wanted.

Once Spencer was gone, Nikolas shifted up in the bed so that he could hold Nadine in his arms. She nestled against him instinctively as she tucked her head into the hallow of his shoulder. "Nik, there is something else I need to tell you."

He looked down at her worriedly. He knew that Patrick had been in there with her for a long time, so it was possible that she had gotten some bad news. "Whatever it is, Nadine, you know that you can tell me," he assured her as he brushed a kiss over the top of her head. "It's like we were telling Spencer earlier. You and I are a family now. Whatever happens, we're in it together. You're not ever going to have to go through anything alone ever again as long as I'm around."

With everything going on right now, Nadine really needed to hear that news. The last thing she had expected when Patrick showed up at her room today with the results of her latest tests was what he had told her. His ominous news changed everything. "Patrick ran a few tests on me this morning after they spotted some irregularities in one of my scans yesterday. They're not really sure why they didn't catch it when they ran one when I was admitted to the hospital the night of the crash."

Nikolas felt his heart sink to the bottom of his feet and his clutch on Nadine tightened. Tears were sparkling in her baby blue eyes, and he could tell that she was genuinely terrified of whatever she was going to tell him. "Baby, it's okay," he murmured as he stroked her back soothingly. "Please, whatever it is, you just need to tell me."

"Well, they wanted to go back into do some repair work on my lung. I mean, I have been healing pretty well, so they thought that I might be strong enough to have surgery now," she told him. "So, that's what tests they were running, I guess. They just needed to know if my body was capable of enduring the stress of going under the knife. It was just this ordinary protocol of tests that I've probably ran thousands of times. They checked my heart, my blood pressure, you know, the normal things."

He knew that her heart had undergone a lot the night of the accident and that the doctors had been closely monitoring her. They had been worried about her having a stroke in those first twenty-four hours after she had woken up. "Is it your heart then?"

She shook her head while Nikolas wiped away the tears. She reached up and covered his hands with her own as he cradled her face. "Not exactly," she managed through the tears. "Nikolas, I'm pregnant."

Time seemed to stand still as Nadine finally told him what she had been trying to tell him. He had only heard those words once, and the result of that was his beautiful son. "Wait, what? How? Why didn't they catch it?"

"They're really not sure," she answered. "I'm not sure if there was a mix-up in the lab or if it was still too early to tell. I'm only three weeks along, not very far. If Patrick hadn't run the test one more time just as a precaution, I'm not sure when we would have found out."

Nikolas raked his fingers through his hair before covering his mouth. He wasn't sure what to say or what to do. The last thing he had expected was to find out that he was going to be a father again. He had come in here thinking that they were going to plan their new life together, and now, she had thrown him a curveball that told him his future was going to include expanding their happy family of three to four. "Wow, we're having a baby," he said finally before leaning down to kiss her. He took her lips unapologetically, wanting to kiss her so that every ounce of doubt in her melted away. "I love you so much."

"But we didn't plan this," she worried. "I mean, Nikolas, I don't want you to think I did this on purpose. We were so careful. I never meant for this to happen. It's not that I haven't thought about having kids with you, I just thought that it would be someday in the future. Way in the future, you know, after we got married at least and maybe after Spencer was a little bit older and I was further along in my career. Don't think that I am just going to live off your money either. I promise that I am going to go back to work as soon as I can, pregnant or not. Oh, my gosh! What are people going to say when they find out that we're engaged?!? They're going to think that you only proposed because I got knocked up! We're going to be that couple. This is not how I wanted to start our future…"

He stopped her in mid-rant with another reassuringly soulful kiss. "I don't care what anyone thinks about this other than you and me," he professed as he pulled away. He looked down at her with reassuring love in his unwavering gaze. "Maybe this isn't what we planned, but I don't think that we really planned on ending up in the first place. Nadine, I'm so incredibly in love with you, and I knew that we would have children together some day. So what if it is going to happen sooner than we planned? I want this baby. I already love this baby."

"You do?" she whimpered through her tears. Nikolas nodded silently as he tucked hair behind her ear. "Nikolas, I was so scared that you would be upset. I know what this looks like. You're always telling me that appearances matter to the Cassadines."

"Not anymore. This is what matters," he emphasized as he took her hand and placed it over her flat abdomen. "Our new family is what matters."