A/N: Haven isn't mine. It's all of ours.

Duke jumped up to follow Lexie to the bathroom, kneeling to hold her hair.

When she was done retching, he helped her up and she washed her face, brushing her teeth with the extra toothbrush he'd found for her the night before. Her face looked terrible, purple and blue dark as paint around her eye. She didn't bother looking at her chest.

Even with her stomach empty, every few seconds she would gag around the toothbrush. She finally rinsed, growling.

"I swear if one of those bastards gave me the flu my first day back, there will be blood."

Duke sighed, one hand on her back. "Let's go out to the living room. We need to talk."

She held his hand as they walked out to sit on the couch, still in nothing but Duke's shirt, leaning on him a little. She just stared at him, wondering what he wanted to say.

He brought her a glass of water, which she sipped gratefully. Finally, he took a deep breath.

"Lexie... Mara. I- shit I don't even know how to say this."

"It's okay, Duke. You can tell me anything. I'm a big girl."

"You don't have the flu, Lexie."

"What, food poisoning?"

"No, sweetheart. I'm... you said nobody ever made it into the Barn with you but me, right?"

"Only James, but he wasn't even really with me. I was kept solitary except for the simulations."

"And while we were there, six months passed here."

"Yes. Why?"

"Lexie. Mara. Audrey..."

"I told you one name at a time is fine, Duke." She was chuckling as she spoke.

"Sweetheart, you're not sick. You're pregnant."

She froze, laughter dying in her throat, not even breathing as she processed his words. Finally she asked, "Why do you think that, Duke?"

"I just... I knew when you threw up from Nate's pancakes. Then the little Aether-girl said so."

"She did not! She said..." her voice got quiet, remembering. "She said you had a question that she was answering."

"I was thinking you were pregnant. We... a couple of days for us, six months for here, and we weren't... uh...careful."

Her jaw dropped, uninjured eye going very wide. Her breathing sped up as she thought it through.

"Oh, dear Gods."

"I'm sorry, Lexie! I was so caught up in you, I didn't even think..."

"You're sorry? You're sorry? Oh my gods, oh my gods." She stood, pacing with her hands on her head as she talked faster and faster.

"You just barely asked me to move in. You're apologizing because I'm strapping you down with a baby! I don't know how to be a mother! Not one of my personalities has any decent frame of reference! My birth parents gave me to the Cause, I barely remember what they looked like! My last mother whored me out for drugs. Audrey never had a mother, just a string of horrendous foster homes. Lucy was raised by her dad! Sarah went from nannies to a boarding school!

"Oh gods, I'm going to be a terrible mother, and I've hurt you so much already. I'll be a constant disappointment. You won't be able to trust me alone for two minutes. I couldn't even have a dog, Duke!

"I thought maybe I'd have time to learn. I want to give you kids, but I know nothing! You'll end up hating me, she'll end up hating me. Two is going to kill me herself!" The tears were pouring from her eyes as she paced.

Her hands moved to her stomach, and suddenly she wasn't talking to Duke anymore.

"It's not you, I swear! I'm not sorry you're there, but I'm so sorry you're stuck with me. Your dad will be great, but I don't know anything! I've been pregnant twice. James ran away, thinking I tried to kill him, the other I did kill! To save my pathetic skin, because he was growing in the wrong place. Oh gods, what have I gotten you into?"

Duke was trying to get close, but her pacing had no rhyme or reason. Fine. Words. Words would at least slow her down.

"Lexie, you're having a panic attack."

Bingo! She stopped her manic pacing, repeating her words from the day before.

"I don't panic. Ever."

It was time enough for Duke to grab her, holding her against him.

"Then sit down and talk to me, please."

She was trembling as he led her to the sofa, pulling her into his lap. He kissed her temple.

"Lexie, yesterday you said you wanted kids."

"I do. I just don't want them stuck with a terrible, incompetent mother. I don't want you to hate me for being stupid and an abject failure of a parent. I didn't raise James, and he was a perfectly happy, well-adjusted man until he came looking for me!"

"Hey, that's enough." His sharp tone shut her up. Duke never used that tone on her. Even when she deserved it. "Are you ready to listen now?"

She jerked a quick nod, her lips pressed together.

"I had a crappy father. Do you think I'm going to be a crappy father?"

"No, Duke, of course not. You'll be the best father ever."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because I know you."

"In the Barn, you said nobody ever knew you as well as me. Is that still true?"

"Of course."

"Well I know that you'll be an excellent mom. Shit, me and Nate can't be any easier than a kid. And I don't ever want to hear you say you killed your baby. I swear, if you say that again I'll bring Dave down here. Even I know ectopic pregnancies aren't viable for mother or child. Please calm down."

Her hand was still against her belly, but it was stroking gently, unconsciously.

"Can you teach me?" She was whispering.

"Nope. But we can learn together. You said we could do anything together."

She pressed her face to his shoulder, trying to slow her heart and breathing.

"That's why you were acting so strange. Why you put non-alcoholic beer in my glass."

"Wait, you could tell?"

She rolled her eyes, shaking her head. "You find me a single decent bartender who can't tell real beer from non-alcoholic, Duke. Oldest trick in the book. You get a customer with a fake I.D. you give them fake beer. I just thought you were out of the real stuff."

He blushed. "I keep forgetting about the bartending. But I didn't want to say anything, especially not in front of Nate. Last thing I wanted was you jumping in front of another punch."

"That must be why I died. Because I can be resuscitated. Our bodies work differently where I'm from, they're designed to protect the fetus at all costs. All of my systems must have shut down to protect the baby until I could be revived."

"You died because of me?" Duke asked quietly, sounding strangled.

"No. My main systems shut down to protect the baby. We're designed that way. It's not your fault. And neither of us could have known. You restarted my cardiac and respiratory functions. I'm fine. But gods, I don't have the first clue how far along I am. Conception in the Void is... well, it's unheard of.

"If it had been the first time, I'd be what... maybe four or five months in. The last time, maybe a month, 6 weeks."

She was in thinking mode now, which at least distracted her enough to calm her down. Duke loved her brain, her ability to compartmentalize.

She leaned back more, stretching her torso to feel around her stomach.

"What are you doing, sweetheart?"

"Palpating. Feeling to see if I can narrow down the timeframe. Feel, do you feel a bump or is it my imagination?"

Duke spread his fingers over her abdomen, pressing gently. "There's a definite lump between your hip bones."

"So not the last time. I'll send the Aether to check, but... first guess, either the first time or on the bar. There was a lot of magic floating around that first time. That explains the female Aetherling. Girls tend to make morning sickness last longer. And the constant horniness. Second trimester is hormone central. Enjoy me while you can, Duke. I'm going to be a walrus soon."

"You will not. You'll be even more beautiful than you are now. If that's even possible."

She rested her head against him. "You honestly believe I won't be terrible?"

"I swear, I know you'll be fantastic."

"He's right. You'll be an amazing mom." Nathan's voice sounded from the shadows of the hallway.

Duke and Lexie froze. Duke hadn't even breathed since Nathan's voice sounded. Lexie had to get her head together, to take lead.

"Nathan, I-" He held his hand up to stop her, coming to sit in a chair across from them.

"No, please let me talk. I thought a lot last night. About everything. The past year- hell, the past decade- and about what the common denominator was. I realized it was me. Not my inability to feel, but my inability to process feelings. I chased you both away.

"I thought about what you said about Sarah, too. I don't know much about fate, but it was that newspaper picture about James, the picture of Lucy, that made Audrey stay. I don't want to run anymore. Numb inside to match my outsides. I don't want to stay distant from the people I love."

His voice was gruff, soft and sad; yet she could hear the faintest note of determination, too.

"If you meant what you said last night, I agree with you. If this changes that, I understand. But I'm in, if you want, and I think you'll be great parents.

"Duke, I have to say something, but don't let it change your decision. I never stopped loving you. Never. I hate the way I treated you- both of you- and I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for everything."

The room was silent enough that Lexie heard seagulls. Praying that Duke had been paying attention to her explanation, Lexie traced a heart and a question mark on Duke's skin, where her body would hide the signal. He traced a star and an exclamation point against Lexie, making her smile.

"Nathan, come here." Lexie tapped the seat next to them and he moved to sit with them.

"You're finally talking about your feelings, and I'm so proud of you for that. Can you still love us, like this? Can you deal with the gossip, the strain the town is going to put on us?"

"If I have you guys, I can deal with anything. I understand that now. I didn't know what I had until you were both gone. I don't want to lose you again. If that's as a partner, a lover- great. If it just means being a supportive friend and uncle, that's okay too."

He meant it, she could feel it. Every word rang with sincerity.

Lexie squeezed Duke's knee and reached out to take Nathan's hand. She focused on his fingers again, and pulled Duke's hand over too. Nathan's fingers wound around Duke's, fascinated by the feeling. Nathan brought his fingers up to touch Duke's face, and Duke pressed a kiss to the exploring fingers.

Lexie stood, her crazed anxiety- not panic, damnit- finally receding. She strode to pull Duke's knife out, turning back to the men.

"It's time, Duke."

"Lexie, you hardly slept, you haven't eaten. This could hurt you."

"No, Duke. You're the one who does most of the work. I can handle this. We need to talk, we need to explain the rest to Nathan. But right now, we have to do this."

She approached them, watching Nathan.

"The reason we didn't fix you first is because we needed to be sure it worked properly. Please don't think it was because we didn't want to. Just... can I do something first?"

Nathan nodded, fingers touching Duke's again. It was Audrey who put the knife down and knelt in front of Nathan, gazing into his eyes as she brought her hands to his jaw. She raised her face, pulling him in to kiss him.

Audrey had fantasized about kissing Nathan before. This was nothing like that.

His hands reached for her, pulling her up into his lap. He ran his fingers through her hair, wrapping a hand around the back of her neck to hold her as they kissed.

But the real difference between her daydreams and reality was the honesty. He had finally opened up to her and to Duke, and for once there were no fears or lies between them. Well, almost none. She rubbed her cheek against Nathan's, reaching to take one of Duke's hands.

"There's more to discuss, more you should know about both of us- about everything. But no more lies. I love Duke and I love you. I already know how much you love each other. If you commit to this, to us, your life will never be normal, Nathan. But we'll be here with you forever. We'll fix your Trouble either way, but if you want to be with us the way we want to be with you, it means taking us as we are. I'm not human, and Duke's only half. We have to un-Trouble the people, to fix them. We were born with jobs, and that will affect you. Do you still want us?"

"More than anything."

She kissed him again, her tongue stroking his, one arm around him, the other hand still gripping Duke's. That kiss could have lasted hours, and she felt Nathan harden under her. For a moment she desperately wanted to take him, while he could still feel only her. But a true partnership in the team needed them on equal footing.

She broke the kiss, panting. "When you make love to me, I don't want to be the only thing you can feel. Not just hunger for touch."

She reached out for the knife, staring at Duke until he nodded.

"I have to cut you, Nathan. Not much, but enough for a decent blood sample. Do you understand?"

He nodded, still staring at her with raw desire. She pressed her lips to his gently, before she took his hand, staring into his eyes as she sliced into his palm. She let the blood pool, bringing Duke's hand against Nathan's.

Duke's eyes shone silver, and suddenly he and Nathan were kissing- more than kissing. She could see what they were like as hormonal teenagers as they grappled, Duke overcome with the Aether, Nathan with the rush of sensation and both with the love that they'd missed so much.

Lexie was wiping at her own eyes when Duke's tears flew to her waiting hand. She carefully reformed the Aether to a dormant orb, holding it gently as she watched the men she loved. The men who loved her. She rubbed her stomach gently, secure in the knowledge that she couldn't be a terrible mother, not with them to lean on.