Lovetta watched the door of the building as flames began to lick the roof. Her heart was pounding, and she struggled against Neil's grip to get closer.

"Mom and Daddy are in there!" she screamed.

"And they want you safe out here!" Neil told her, gripping her shoulders and looking her in the eye. "You can't go in, Vet. Your mom and dad are the strongest people I know. They'll make it out."

As if to punctuate this point, the door flew open. Nikki came out, supporting an unconscious Max on her shoulder as she coughed from the smoke.

"They're out!" Neil yelled, catching the attention of the authorities present.

"Is there an ambulance?!" Ered called. Lovetta broke away from Neil and saw her mother whisper something to her father.

"Mom! Daddy!" Lovetta ran for them, Neil trying to grab her arm and pull her back as the paramedics approached Max and Nikki.

"Give him to us, ma'am," the lead paramedic stated.

"I'm riding with you," Nikki insisted as they put Max on a gurney and wheeled him towards the ambulances.

"He's severely injured. We need as much space as we can get to work on him."

Nikki relented and Lovetta ran over to her mom. They were both crying, relieved that it was all over. Firefighters moved them farther away from the fire.

Then came the gunshot.

Lovetta stared up at her mother, who had a look of shock and pain on her face. Horrified, the little girl looked towards the building, where she could see Vihaan swaying, holding a gun.

"That's what you get, you stupid slutty bitch!" he cackled before collapsing. He was rushed to a car, but Lovetta didn't care. She got a glimpse of her mother's back and saw a bullet-hole in the sweater Nikki was wearing. Blood was soaking the area around it. Lovetta glanced over at the ambulance, where she could see her father struggling against the paramedics. He'd evidently woken up just in time to see Nikki be shot.

"NIKKI! NO! LET ME GO! FUCK YOU! SHE NEEDS ME!"

One of them took out a syringe and jabbed it into Max's neck, making him slump over. Nikki collapsed next to her daughter and was also put on a gurney.

"Mom?!" Lovetta whimpered, tears in her eyes as Neil picked her up.

"She's gonna be fine, Lovetta," he whispered. "Let's go to the hospital and wait."

She felt like she was a toddler again as she clung to Neil like a vine to a tree and let him carry her to his car. In one day, she'd been kidnapped, hurt, rescued, and watched both her parents go down within five minutes of each other. It was a lot for anybody, much less a ten-year-old girl.

"Are Mom and Daddy gonna die?" she asked in a quiet voice as Neil drove towards Sleepy Peak General.

"I'm not going to sugarcoat it, Vet. There's a definite possibility that they could die. But that's statistics talking." He gave her a gentle smile. "Your parents are two of the most stubborn fucking people I've ever met. They hate following statistics, so it's more likely that they'll both pull through. Especially your mom. She's the toughest person I know."

"And Daddy?"

"Since when do you call him Dad?"

"That's not important."

"You've spent the last couple months calling him Max."

"I realized he was everything I needed a dad to be when he came in to rescue me. So… now I call him Daddy."

They pulled up to the hospital and headed inside, where they were told both Max and Nikki were in surgery. David, Gwen, and Lizzie showed up a few minutes later, all just as concerned about the well-being of the couple. They were told that Nikki was fine once the bullet was removed, since it hadn't hit anything vital, but it would leave a scar where it had hit. Lovetta ran for her mother's room immediately.

"Mom!" she squealed.

"Hey, Lovey!" Nikki greeted her, bandages cris-crossing her back. "How are you?"

"I'm fine. They said you're gonna have a scar?"

"I have a bunch of little scars. This is gonna be a big one. And you know what? I think I might get a tattoo."

"A tattoo?"

"Yep. A tattoo over the scar, once it heals enough. Or maybe I'll just leave it."

"It's proof you're a cool mom."

"I'm always a cool mom, sweetie. It's my job." Nikki knit her eyebrows together. "Where's your dad?"

"The doctors said he won't wake up for a little while longer—something about his injuries causing smoke inhalation to be more severe."

"Well, we'll be right here waiting for him when he comes to."

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The all-too-familiar whir of an EKG was the first thing Max heard. He blinked his eyes open, his entire body feeling numb to sensation. He could, however, feel a weight on the end of his bed. Sitting up as much as his current state would allow, he could see a very familiar little girl of mixed race curled up at his feet. David was asleep in a chair nearby. Max swore the EKG stopped for a moment along with his heart.

Where the hell is Nikki?

His memories were a bit fuzzy. He could remember getting into a fight with his birth father, running through a fire with Nikki… her supporting him. He guessed it was after that he'd lost consciousness.

Only to wake up long enough to see Vihaan shoot Nikki in the back.

He remembered screaming her name, then one of the paramedics injecting something into his neck. That was the last thing he could remember.

"Lovetta," he whispered, moving his foot slightly. It was a little painful to even do that, but it got his daughter's attention. She raised her head up, looking at him with exhaustion on her face before her eyes lit up.

"Daddy, you're awake!"

Holy shit, she actually calls me Daddy now. That's so fucking cute…

David shot up in his chair.

"Lovetta, what happened?!" he yelped, grabbing the chair as a weapon.

"Calm down, Dad," Max sighed. David dropped the chair with a clatter.

"Oh, you're awake!" He ran over and embraced his adopted son.

"Yeah, I'm awake. Where's Nikki?"

"She's with the doctor right now," David informed him. "She's fine, Max."

"She got shot in the fucking back, Dad. That hurts like a bitch."

"Language! There is a ten-year-old in the room!"

"I was using worse than that when I was ten and you know it."

"Yes, she did get shot in the back, but they were able to remove the bullet."

"Doesn't mean it didn't hurt." The three looked towards the door to see Nikki, wearing a red-and-yellow-striped sweater. "Lovey, David, could you give us a minute alone?"

"But I wanna spend time with you and Daddy!" Lovetta protested. Nikki laughed.

"And you can, but I haven't spent any time alone with him since he was in the hospital."

"Okay…" Lovetta and David left, Nikki closing the door behind them before sitting on the end of Max's bed.

"I'm sorry."

"What?" She faced him, confused.

"You got shot because of me. And in the back, too. That hurts like a motherfucking bitch."

"Yeah, but it wasn't so bad once the bullet was out. He didn't hit anything vital."

"So, what happened to Old Son of a Bitch?"

"The Millers told me he's going to maximum security at Super Guantanamo. They caught Daniel and Jen, too—they'll be in the psych ward there."

"Thank God." He leaned back and she grabbed the little remote that tilted his bed up and down. She tilted it up so that she and Max could talk face to face.

"I haven't talked to you in almost two weeks. Let me have this."

"I've been out for two weeks?!"

"Your body gave out due to smoke inhalation and how badly you were hurt. If you hadn't been in the fight, they said you would've been fine."

"I'm a fucking mess."

"You're a sexy mess."

"Nikki!"

"What?"

"Our daughter is right outside this room! Not to mention my adoptive father!"

"Oh, shut up." She pulled her legs onto the bed and sat with them crossed.

"So, why were you talking to the doctor earlier?"

"Well, after they brought me in and got the bullet out, they found something else that they were concerned about."

"Oh, Jesus Christ. Don't tell me you have fucking cancer."

"Nope." She leaned over and gave him a kiss. "It's good news. I haven't told anybody else yet, but—"

The door opened as the doctor came in. Nikki pouted.

"Ah, Mr. Greene. You're finally awake. Good."

"So, what's the diagnosis?" Max asked, annoyed.

"A couple more weeks of rest combined with some physical therapy and you'll be right as rain."

"Is that all you needed to say?"

"Yep. Get well soon."

The doctor left them alone again and Max rolled his eyes.

"Nikki, what's the good news that you haven't told anybody else yet?" he asked.

"Well…" She gave him another quick kiss. "I'm pregnant."

His reaction was involuntary. He sat straight up and stared at her, not quite believing it.

"You are? How far along?" he croaked.

"About two months." Her smirk told him something—they'd, once again, conceived a baby on the basement couch. More specifically, he'd gotten her pregnant their first time having sex in eleven years.

"Oh my God." He was a little in shock.

"You're not happy."

"No, I'm thrilled! It's just… I could've lost both of you, and it was my fault you were in there in the first place."

"Max, you might be my boyfriend, but that doesn't mean you control my decisions. I was the one who ran in after you and antagonized your birth father."

"Let's agree to never go after gangsters like that again, okay?"

"Okay." She smiled gently. "I love you, Max."

"I love you, too."

"Welcome home!"

Max smiled a genuine smile as he came through the front door. Lizzie, Lovetta, and Gwen had set up a big welcome-home display for him while Nikki and David picked him up at the hospital. Neil was holding a camera and snapping pictures.

"Thanks, guys," he said. Nikki was holding onto him in case he fell (which the doctor had said was likely due to the fact that he still had therapy to go through).

"Lizzie and I made a cake!" Lovetta chirped happily, grabbing her father's hand.

"Aw, sweet!" Max replied, following his daughter through the kitchen door. Nikki smiled.

He might not have been here for baby number one, but he's gonna do a great job with baby number two.

"So, when are you going to drop the news about the baby to the rest of us?" Neil asked. David, Lizzie, and Gwen were also in the kitchen, so Nikki was alone with her brother.

"How do you know about that?!" she hissed, making sure she couldn't be overheard by everybody else.

"I work at the hospital, Nikki. And I have a friend in the prenatal ward. She's the one who did the ultrasound to make sure the baby was okay, and she let me know you were pregnant." Nikki stared at the floor. "Does Max know yet?"

"I told him the day he woke up. I figured he should be the first to know."

"I'm impressed he hasn't run yet."

"He promised me he wasn't going to leave me like that again, so shut your damn mouth, Neil."

"Nik, are you gonna eat this cake?" Max called, poking his head out of the kitchen. Nikki smiled and ran over. Max noticed Neil's glare, then excused himself to go talk to one of his oldest friends. "If we're gonna do this, let's do it out back."

"Fine." The two headed onto the back porch, making sure they weren't in view of the kitchen window.

"Let me guess: you're expecting me to run again."

"I just keep thinking back to when she was pregnant with Lovetta. She got into a screaming match with Candy the day she found out and I remember her crying for days. The hormones certainly didn't help."

"I can promise you right now that I'm not leaving again. If something happens, I want to be able to protect Nikki and the kids."

"How far along is Nikki, just out of curiosity?"

"Two and a half months."

"…you've been back in town for three and a half months."

"And I slept with her at the beginning of December, after the whole thing with Jason went down."

"Son of a bitch. You didn't—"

"She came to me, and one thing led to another. Look, like I said, I'm not leaving. I missed all of Lovetta's big milestones, and I'm not missing this kid's."

"Well, you didn't miss all her milestones. There's still stuff like her first kiss—"

"Yeah, that's not happening until she's in college, minimum."

"You're not going to be able to control that."

"Doesn't mean I'm not going to try."

"Max? Neil?"

Nikki came out of the house, balancing three plates with cake on them.

"You know, in a few months, I'll be able to do this on my belly," she giggled, handing a plate to each of the guys. She sat down between them and they looked out at the yard. The beginnings of the nearby forest lined the edges of the yard, reminding her of when they were kids, before all this bullshit happened.

"Nikki, what's wrong?" Max asked.

"Nothing. It's just… remember your eleventh birthday? The three of us sat here like this, eating cake and looking at the forest while we were waiting for Candy and Carl to pick me and Neil up."

"I'd forgotten about that," Neil admitted. "The three of us used to be so close. What the fuck happened?"

"We grew up," Max replied with a sigh. "I got dragged into a world I didn't want to be involved in, Nikki became a mom, and you… you were just always more mature than we were."

"I wouldn't say that. I did plenty of stupid shit with you guys."

"Remember the day I got my first period?" Nikki laughed. "You freaked out so much!"

"I thought I'd poisoned you! At least I wasn't apathic like Max!"

"And I told you guys that she wasn't dying," Max chuckled.

"It was close, though," Nikki pointed out. "I found out that periods are basically a woman's body punishing her for not getting pregnant and they stop when she's actually pregnant."

"So you won't be having any for a while?"

"Not until after baby number two gets here."

The three sat there, feeling the chill of February with the promise of spring on the horizon.

"Has it seriously only been three and a half months since I came back?" Max asked. Nikki nodded.

"DAAAADDY!"

The back door opened and a blur of dark green came outside, tackling Max. He managed to grab his cake and hold it above his head.

"Hey, Vet. What's up?"

"Nothing! I just wanted to hang out with you!" She had a little smile on her face as she hugged him. But he wasn't stupid; he followed his daughter's gaze to the cake.

"How much cake have you had?"

"Only two pieces!"

"Yeah, that's enough sugar for you."

"Aw…"

"Besides, I've been eating nothing but hospital food for the past two weeks. Let me have something that actually tastes decent."

"Get used to it until it's Nikki's turn to cook," joked Neil. Nikki punched him in the shoulder, smiling.

"Mom's cooking is better than yours!" Lovetta snapped. Max smirked.

"Well, Vet, I know how to cook, too."

"Hopefully it's better than Neil's."

"Hey!" Neil protested.

"Anything's better than Neil's," Max snickered. Neil crossed his arms.

"What's going on out here?" David asked, coming outside. Gwen and Lizzie were right behind him.

"We're just talking," Nikki replied. "Oh, and… we have an announcement to make."

"What kind of announcement?" Lizzie wondered aloud, sitting on the porch swing David had built after Lovetta was born.

"Well…" She glanced at Max, who nodded. "I'm pregnant again."

Lizzie fell off the swing as Lovetta's eyes became the size of dinner plates.

"You're having a baby, Mom?!" she gasped, bouncing a little.

"Yep." Nikki put her hand on her belly. "I'm about two and a half months along, according to the doctor." David was crying tears of joy, while Gwen looked apprehensive.

"Not to put a damper on things, but where are we going to put a baby? We don't have room."

"Oh, damn," Nikki murmured.

"I might have a solution," Max spoke up. "While I was in the hospital, the Millers came by and told me that they were giving me pay for going undercover for almost eleven years. It was a decent paycheck—enough to put a down payment on a house for a family of four. Not to mention they're inspecting Vihaan's assets and anything legally earned will go to me. He didn't have a will, and I'm his only living relative."

"That's… awesome, actually," Neil commented.

"It's the only good thing that bastard ever gave me."

"Besides life," Nikki corrected.

"We're gonna miss you guys," David sighed. "It won't be as lively without you around."

"I'm going to college next year," Lizzie reminded him.

"Oh, that's right…"

"Hey, if we ever need a babysitter, you're first on the list," Max told him.

They had one big family group hug.

WHOO OKAY

That happened. Yes, Max and Nikki are fine. I'm not a heartless monster.

Oh, and Lovetta's getting a little brother or sister.

AND I LIED WHEN I SAID THIS WAS GONNA BE SHORT! I REALIZED I HAVE A LOOSE END TO TIE UP STILL SO THIS IS GONNA KEEP GOING!

So long and thanks for all the fish!