A/N: When I first started writing this, it was supposed to be like 3 or 4 chapters. My judgement's a little off. Oh well!

Chapter 7

Kuki jumped up and down around Rachel. "Can we open the gifts now, please, Rachel? Please, please, pretty please. I just simply can't wait to see Nigel's face when he opens ours!"

The blonde woman grinned uneasily. She had the whole party planned out (she actually had a list, not that she was going to let anyone know that) and presents came after dinner. She saw Abby shake her head at the childish younger woman. "I don't know. Maybe we should wait until after dinner," Rachel explained.

"Dinner-shminner!" Kuki cried. She pursed her lips into a pout and widened her eyes.

"Oh, god," Abby moaned from her spot at the table. "Girl, you ain't as cute as you used to be. That don't work anymore."

Well, it didn't work for Abby maybe, but under Kuki's 'pity me' look, Rachel could feel herself cracking. "Fine!" She threw her hands up in the air. "Why don't we just let the party run itself for all I care!"

Kuki giggled. "A party can't run! Don't be silly, Rachel!"

Abby groaned before following the bouncing, Asian woman from the room. Rachel reluctantly trailed behind. They followed Kuki into the living room, where all the men and Fanny were watching the game. "Guess what?" Kuki shrieked, setting herself on Wally's lap.

"What?" he responded, slight annoyance tainting the word.

"We're opening presents!"

Fanny turned around to stare at Rachel. "Presents? But I thought dinner was supposed to come next. That's what that list-"

Rachel cut off her red-headed friend. "Yep, presents. Presents sounds great to me."

"Well, alright," she replied, unsure. "Patton, where is our present?" Fanny turned expectedly to her husband.

Patton just stared at her. "Present? I was I supposed to have that?" He realized his mistake as his wife's face slowly started to turn the shade of red that always meant trouble.

Fanny stood up from the couch, grabbed the beer from Patton's hand, placed it on the coffee table, and dragged her husband from the room. "Excuse us, for one second, won't you?"

Rachel looked at the oblivious girl sitting in Wally's lap accusingly. This was exactly why you always make a list. "Well, Abby's gonna sit down until this storm blows over." Hoagie patted the spot next to him on the couch. Rachel all but picked Kuki off of Wally's lap and dragged her off in pursuit of Patton and Fanny.

"What do you mean you forgot the gift? God damn it, Patton! Do you know how bad this makes us look? You stupid boy!" Patton flinched. Fanny hadn't called him that in years.

"Relax, Fanny. I'll just run home and get it. No harm done."

"Don't you dare tell me to relax! And not everything can be fixed so easily, Drilovsky." She was really going at it, her face beat red to match her hair. Patton glanced around at Rachel's kitchen; he knew Fanny would be embarrassed about causing this scene after the fact.

The large man grabbed his wife by her wrists and pulled her over to the table. He kneeled in front of her and looked into her eyes. Was she honest to God crying over this? "Fan, what's up with you today? This isn't a big deal."

Fanny took a huge raspy breath trying to calm her tears, but looking into his baby blue eyes only seemed to make her cry harder. She turned her face away. "It's stupid."

"Ok, don't tell me. I'll just be going to grab Nigel's present now." He pressed a kiss into her curly hair. Patton started to walk out of the room.

"Fine! If you're going to make me feel so guilty I'll tell you!" Patton turned back to face her with a smirk. That always worked.

"What did you want to tell me, dear?" He asked with mock sincerity.

She mumbled something incoherent.

"What was that?"

She looked up at him angrily. "I said I'm pregnant, moron!"

Patton froze. There were tons of possible explanations for her behavior that he had tossed around in his head that day. This was not one of them. They hadn't really talked about it, to be honest. He wanted kids; he always had. But it had taken Fanny so long to get used to the idea of being married to Patton that he didn't want to send her packing with such a sticky topic.

"I know what you're thinking," Fanny whispered. She wiped a shaking hand under her eyes. The make-up smudged.

He crossed the room in three long strides, kneeling in front of her yet again. Fanny had no idea what he was thinking. In all honesty, he had never been happier in his life (apart from the day she had showed up on his doorstep waving a figurative white flag). Fanny raised her head to meet his gaze. She had raccoon-like eyes from the smudged make-up, oh how he loved this woman. "You don't know what I am thinking, Fulbright. I know what you're thinking though. You're scared."

"I am not scared," Fanny said, suddenly standing up from the chair.

"You've never been more terrified in your life," he responded simply, pushing some nearly black hair out of his face. Her face was taking on that red-ish hue again. "And I've never been happier in mine."

Patton had never seen someone's face change color that quickly. Red to sheet white in a matter of seconds. "H-happy? Why are you happy? I don't even know what to do, how to act. I'm awful with other people's kids. In what universe would this be a happy occasion?" Those tears came back with a vengeance and her accent was especially thick through the tears. Patton had never seen his wife cry.

"Baby," he said, taking her freckled face in his hands. "I'm happy because it's you and me and I know that you'll know exactly what to do." He enveloped her with his arms, hugging her thin body close. "You are so beautiful." She sniffled into his t-shirt. Patton stepped out of the embrace and held Fanny at arm's length. He moved his hands along the length of her body, stopping at either hip. "A girl," he decided, "who is exactly like you in every way possible. Your hair, your eyes, your temper…"

A small almost giggle left her mouth. He smiled. "Whatever, Drilovsky."

Patton shook his head. "You are a force to be reckoned with, baby." Fanny pushed Patton away, an unwanted blush covering her freckled cheeks.

The door to the kitchen burst open and in it stood a petite, Asian woman. "Alright, love birds, let's face it. Rachel and I just eavesdropped on your whole conversation."

"Kuki!" Rachel said through clenched teeth.

"And I for one," Kuki paused, glancing at Fanny and then at Patton, "am so I excited I don't know how I possibly kept quiet for that long! A baby! For you two! Ah, I could die!"

"What?" the pregnant red-head screamed. "My word! Hasn't anyone heard of privacy around here?" She left the kitchen, each step emphasized greatly by her boots. Patton smiled at his wife's retreating form.

"Patton, I don't know how you could possibly want a child with that temper." Kuki shook her head, her long, dark hair swayed.

Patton grinned slightly and soon the three friends were laughing. This laughter was interrupted by a shout from the other room. "What should you have said? Gee, I don't know! Maybe, 'Hey, honey, I'm going into labor!'?"

A/N: Duh duh duhhhhhhh!