A/N: Okay, here's a test of how well you were paying attention! I think I mentioned in the very first authors note of my very first story, that I personally reckon Book II and Juliet Janson had real chemistry in Area 7 and so, I'm going to take a couple of liberties with the canon and decide that they are in fact, a couple. I think Book II is actually my favourite character to write.

Also, boys/men can keep growing until their mid, even to late twenties. Seriously. Just keep that little fact in mind.

I think I'm far too fixated on practicalities. Like, did you know that when a person dies their body empties itself of any remaining "waste products?" So unless Schofield carries a spare change of underwear around with him everywhere, and I mean, everywhere, he's got himself into a rather messy situation twice now.

Also, I've never been in a situation that required me to wear a wetsuit (I have a medical condition that means I can't get cold or wet) so I wouldn't know what you wear underneath one but I'm guessing it's probably not your underwear. Which means logically that the whole gang were running around Ice station with no knickers on.

See, fixated.

One of the other things I'd always wondered about was what Schofield did with the engagement ring, presuming that is that he had bought one seeing as he was planning on proposing in under a month in Scarecrow. Obviously he didn't need it after that, so what did he do with it? And so this chapter was born…

For the wonderful Miss Green Eyed Sparrow!

Chapter 14

"Shane," Jack called out only a second before he appeared. Schofield decided he would be forever grateful that he didn't appendix a 'babe' or similar term of endearment to it.

Book looked up immediately. After all, he'd never heard either of them exchange a civil word. Hell, he didn't even realise Jack knew Schofield's first name.
And maybe he didn't want to get caught in the arms of a known homosexual.

As Book II hurriedly wiped away any trace of tears, Schofield was left standing stunned. Jack, thankfully, was faster on his feet and said, "I was thinking, maybe I could run the exercises tomorrow? Gotta start sometime."

"Yeah, sure thing," Schofield replied nonchalant, with one hand on the back of his neck.
"I'm all out of ideas anyway."

"Cool, well, I'll be going then," Jack said as he left the room as fast as he'd came, "phone calls to make and all."

Book II looked like he wanted to say something to him but he was already gone. So Schofield reached out one comforting hand to clasp his shoulder, wondering when it was that Book had become taller than him. He was about to ask what on earth the problem was but Book got his words out first.

"It's Juliet," he said falteringly, "She's pregnant."

It took him a moment to process the words and their significance.
"Pregnant?" He repeated, "As in a baby?"

"No," Book replied sourly, "As in an elephant."

"Hey," Shane managed to grab Book around the shoulders at arms-length. He was trying to get the other man to look at him but it wasn't really working, "Hey, That's good news. Great news!"

He immediately realised his potential mistake and backpedalled, asking the question every guy never wants to hear. If the answer is yes, you've messed up because you implied there was a chance the answer was no. You're screwed if the answer is yes and they want it to be no and you're doubly screwed if the answer is no and they want it to be yes.
"It is your baby?"

And Book snapped back instantly, "Of course it's my baby."

"So what's the problem?"

Book sunk into one of the battered chairs next to the kitchen Island, as Schofield, figuring he probably needed it, passed him a beer.
"I should be happy," he began to talk. "I should be excited. Lord knows she is but her family is real traditional. They're not going to be happy and I don't want them to make her unhappy too."

"We'll have to get married but I can't afford a wedding. Hell, I can't even afford a ring. How am I supposed to support a family? What have I done to my kid?"
He looked up at Schofield as though he somehow held the answers and Shane could see the fear etched in every line of his face. He took his sunglasses off and laid them on the table.

Then suddenly, it struck him.

"Wait here," he said as he disappeared upstairs to his room. Book II sipped his beer in silence until he came back with a small black box clutched tightly in his hand. Shane hadn't looked at this box in over a year now but he knew the time was right. He popped it open and Book II gazed in awe at the diamond solitaire ring that sparkled inside. It was elegant and beautiful and Shane said softly, "take it."

When Book looked up at him, his mouth was open and he was shaking his head vigorously.
"I can't," he said, seemingly lost for words.

Schofield just placed the box on the table and slid it across to him.
"I mean it," he said firmly, "Think of it as a wedding present. If her parents are that traditional, they'll probably want to pay for the wedding anyway and trust me when I tell you, that having lots of money does not, a good father, make."

"You do want to marry her, right?" He added questioningly after a moment of silence and Book II looked up sharply.

"Of course I do," he replied, "I love her and she's having my baby. What more of a miracle could I ask for?"

He broke off but Shane could tell there was something else just on the tip of his tongue if he would wait for it.

When he spoke, it was so quiet that Shane had to strain to hear it.
"I just wish my mom could be here."

At once, Schofield knew exactly the right thing to say, slowly and surely so that every word really hit.
"I bet they're looking down on you right now and I'm sure they're mighty proud. You're going to make a great dad."

It almost looked like Book was smiling now and he reached out to fiddle with the small black box still sitting between them.
"You were really going to ask her to marry you?" He said, "Why?"

Schofield took a deep breath before he answered that question.
"Because," he said thoughtfully, "I knew I could make her happy and I figured one of us deserved to be."

"I still can't take this," Book II replied, indicating the ring.

"God, please do," Shane said quickly and Book II could see the shards of pain still lingering in his eyes. The ring was the last shred of his old life and once it was gone, he could finally close that chapter and move on. Just because he didn't really want to sleep with her, didn't mean he hadn't loved her with every fibre of his being. It was still confusing and painful and he wanted to find some sense of closure. He thought she would have wanted him to as well, and if the ring was going to a good home, that was an added bonus. He really wanted Book II and Juliet and little Book III to have it.
"It's not like I can use anyway," he added as somewhat of an afterthought. "It wouldn't fit on-"

He came so damn close to finishing that sentence, semi lost in thought and Book's ears pricked up immediately. With a smile eerily reminiscent of Mother's, he said, "Wouldn't fit on who?"

Before Schofield could so much as move or regret exposing the once innocent Book II to all of Mother's whiles, of which he had obviously proven a quick but silent learner, he had one hand pulling at his neckline to get an eyeful of the supposed "bruise."

"Whoa," Book II exclaimed with a smile, "That is one hell of a fine bite. Whoever gave you that had serious intent."

"I told you, it's a bruise," Schofield replied a little too quickly, "I walked into another door."

"Well, unless your door has teeth…" Book shot back and Shane knew he was screwed, "I'd say you're lying. Who is he?" He waited expectantly for the plausible but fake explanation that he was sure he would produce but when Schofield didn't even try to deny it or defend himself, Book II couldn't help but laugh at the blush spreading across his cheeks. Poking his friend playfully in the ribs, he said "You can't even say he's nobody cause he ain't nobody to you."

Schofield just sat there and took it as Book II variously danced and poked and teased his way around him, with as many variations of 'You've got a boyfriend,' he could think of in a singsong voice.
The thought 'And he's going to have a child,' briefly crossed Schofield's mind. But at least he had managed to cheer Book up.

What he said aloud, as he stood up and tried to shepherd Book towards the door and slipped the box containing the ring into his pocket was "Come on, you have a pregnant girlfriend to get home to remember."

He finally managed to get the other man out the door when he suddenly turned back to him, face lit up like a kid at Christmas.
"I just realised," he said, "I know something Mother doesn't."

Shane just shook his head in affectionate exasperation.
"Good night Book," he said firmly but with a smile as he shut the door in his face.

He waited until he saw Book II's figure pass the window and out of the barracks before he bolted up the stairs, stopping in front of the door to Jack's room to hopefully recover his decorum. He pushed the door open gently but Jack, crashed out on his bed with his nose stuck in a book, didn't notice him.

'Going to have to work on observational skills, then,'he noted as he leant in the frame with his arms crossed and a smile playing across his face.
"Hey there handsome," he said after a moment and took great pleasure in watching the book fly out of his hands as the man in question sat suddenly bolt upright.

"Shit, you scared me," Jack replied, with a hand on his head and an easy, lopsided grin.

"Book's gone," he said simply but with the expression of a man plotting something, "but he might've worked it out."

"Not who," he added hastily, "just that I'm seeing someone. In which case, I thought it quite improper that I haven't actually taken you out yet. So get your civvies on and I'll meet you outside the front gates in ten minutes or so. I'm still starving."

And with that, he was gone. Unfortunately for Jack, who was already half asleep, his brain was having trouble keeping up but he couldn't deny he was really hungry. As though it could read his thoughts – if stomachs can read thoughts – his stomach chose to remind his of precisely how hungry it was by making a loud and very unflattering noise.
"Wait," he called out and Schofield's head reappeared around the door, "What?"

"I'm taking you out to dinner," Shane explained at a slightly more sedate pace so Jack could follow, "So get dressed and go to the front gates. I'll meet you there because I've got to pick up the car, assuming that you didn't bring one from Australia, and we can't walk together anyway."

"Ten minutes," he added with a smile and a flick of his eyebrows and was gone again.