I can never thank you guys enough for all the support you've given me throughout this story! From the deepest pit of my heart and soul, thank you, thank you, thank you all sooooo much to everyone who favorited, reviewed and subscribed to this story! Y'all will never know how much each and every little notification means to me! I love you all so much, more than y'all can imagine!

Biggest freaking abrazos ever!

Maybe this chapter will make up for last week's!

Chapter 13: More Problems & Plans Ahead

Everything was just so surreal for him at that moment. One moment he was sure he was going to defeat the man threatening his and his unborn baby's life; and then the next he was on his back, literally staring death in the face. Then he heard two shots fired and the air became thick and cloudy. For a moment, he was sure that Noir had succeeded in taking the life of him and his child. But the bells and whistles of the city made it evident to Dave that he was still very much part of this world.

Dave coughed as he slowly sat up in the still currently smoke covered alley where both he and his baby could have very well just lost their lives. He looked down at his visibly shaking, bloody hands and feared the worse.

'Oh God...No!' Dave's mind screamed as he instinctively ran his shaking hands over his belly, desperately looking for any harm that may have befallen on his precious unborn child.

When he couldn't find so much as a scratch on his stomach, and the pain on his cheek became evident, he sighed with relief when he realized the blood on his hands were just from his wounded cheek.

As the smoke began to clear in the alley, Dave jerked his head up at the sound of two voices hysterically screaming his name. It sounded like...

He looked towards both ends of the alley and through the remaining remaining smoke, he saw both his bro and Jane running as fast as they could towards him.

Dirk made it there first.

He collapsed to the ground and flung his strong arms around his brother and engulfed him in a massive hug. Jane made it immediately after and threw her arms around both brothers.

"Oh my God, Dave!" both adults cried as they smothered his head in kisses.

Dave couldn't contain the tears that were now flowing freely from his eyes and returned returned their hugs the best be could at the moment.

"Oh Dave," Dirk took his brother's head in his hands and looked him in the eyes, or shades should I say, and continued to burst into river of tears.

If he and Jane hadn't have made it when they did, Dirk couldn't bring himself to think of what this moment would be like.

"Don't you EVER scare me like that again!" Dirk cried as he cradled his precious brother's head, "Do you have any idea how scared I was? I thought I was going to loose you, both of you!"

When Dave first stepped out their apartment door, he had no idea his rebellious actions would lead to this. He had no idea that it almost cost him not only his life, but the life he swore he would love and protect no matter what. He just wanted to prove to his brother that he would be fine and could handle himself without him right up under him.

"I'm sorry Bro, I'm so sorry!" Dave sobbed into his brother's chest.

"No, no I'm the one who's sorry Little Man," Dirk sobbed, rubbing his brother's head, "If I hadn't had been so stupid, then none of this would have happened," Dirk began to sob up again, "I never meant for any of this to happen. Please, PLEASE forgive me!"

'It, it is true. Noir was telling the truth!'

"Is it true Bro? Did you tell Noir that, about the baby?" even though Dave already knew the answer, he wanted to hear it from his bro.

"I'm so, so sorry Little Man," Dirk lowered his head in shameful admittion, "That night at the hospital, when we found out, I was so angry. I was angrier than I have ever been in my life, and I wanted vengeance. After everyone left, I went and took that vengeance out on Noir. After, after I was done, I swear I don't know what came over me. I told him 'If you ever draw breath near my brother or his baby; the pain you are feeling now, will be nothing in comparison'."

"I swear to you, Little Man, I wasn't thinking. I wasn't thinking of the consequences. I was only thinking of my selfish thirst for vengeance. I never ever meant to put you and baby at risk! I'd kill myself if I let anything happen to you two!"

Normally, Dave would be mad as hell at his brother if he were to go and do something so stupid as that. But for reason beyond his understanding, Dave couldn't find it in his heart to be angry at his bro.

That night at the hospital was a very emotional roller coaster for all of them. He had every right to be angry at Noir, and Dave was sure that if he were in his bro's shoes that he would've done the same thing; going and beating the crap out of his sibling's child's father that is. And Dave knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that his brother would never do anything to intentionally put him, or his baby, in harms way. Dave couldn't find a reason not to forgive his bro, no matter how stupid he may have been.

I mean this is Dirk Strider we're talking about here. Not forgiving him for doing something ridiculously stupid is just like being mad at a dog for barking in the middle of the night. He's bound to do it again sometime, so you might as well get over it.

"I forgive you," Dave said.

"What?" Dirk looked down at him surprisingly.

"I forgive you. You didn't mean for this to happen anymore that I did," Dave said, "He knows now anyway, so there's no point in being mad at ya."

Dirk couldn't help the smile that was easing its way onto his face. His Little Man had grown up, matured, so much these past couple of months. He now had a way of seeing things that most kids his age were blind to. Sure, he still had a very evident teenaged rebellion side; but all in all, he's wised up a good bit. Parenthood will do that to ya.

"I'm so proud of you Little Man," Dirk said with pride swelling in his chest, "You stood up to Noir and protected not only yourself, but the baby as well. That takes alot of balls and alot of courage. Not many people wouldn't have been able to do that Little Man," Dirk tightened his embrace, "You will never know how proud I am of you."

Like Dirk, Dave tightened his grip around his bro. Dave done the best he could protecting himself and his baby with what he had. But he made some very crucial mistakes that could have, and would have, cost him dearly. Had it not been for his bro and Jane. He couldn't allow himself to make those same mistakes again.

"I'd rather die than let anything happen to my baby," Dave quietly said.

Both Dirk and Jane heard this and smiled as Dirk planted a kiss right in the middle of Dave's forehead.

"We both are," Jane said, running a hand through Dave's messy blond mop.

When Dave turned his head to face her, she noticed the two inch slash across his cheek was still bleeding alittle.

"Hold still honey," Jane said getting a better look at it, "Let me see."

"How's it look Janey?" Dirk asked.

"It's a little deep, but not enough to need stitches," Jane told the two, "We need to hurry up and get him inside."

"Right," Dirk said picking up his precious cargo and carried him the rest of the way back towards the apartment.

"OW!" Dave screamed as the alcohol soaked rag made contact with his injured flesh.

"Dave honey, you have to hold still," Jane said, trying to keep Dave from jumping off the counter, "I know it hurts, but it'll only sting for just a second."

"A second my ass," Dave retorted, screaming inside.

"It's for your own good Little Man," Dirk said, leaning up against the counter beside them, "You don't want that to get infected. Remember that episode of 1000 ways to become a corpse? You know the one where the lady gets infected by a razor and half her face rots off."

"Okay Bro, I get it," Dave said, trying to push that mental image from his mind.

That was another 'added addition' to being pregnant. Just the sight or thought of anything gory made Dave's stomach do summersaults. That was one of the reasons why he kept throwing up so bad was because while he was puking his guts out; he wouldn't keep his eyes closed sometimes, and the sight of his own insides made him sicker.

And to think, before he could watch all the Saw movies without so much as flinch. Irony at its finest.

"Okay, that's taken care of," Jane said as she finished put their homemade bandage on left side of Dave's face.

"Okay, now lift up your shirt," Jane instructed Dave.

Dave done as he was told and lifted up his oversized shirt that Dirk put on him since they made it back to the apartment.

"I don't see any cuts or bruises, that's good," Jane reported, "I don't think the baby was hurt at all."

Dave breathed a few sighs of relief, they all did.

"As long as the baby's alright, that's all that matters," Dave said, placing a hand over his belly.

"What matters is that you're both safe," Jane told him.

"And we're going to keep it like that," Dirk said as he lifting Dave up off the counter and carried him into his bedroom.

It was now getting pretty late, and Dave was pretty beat. Kicking the father of your baby's ass with a lead pipe is pretty tiring, you know? So before he fell off the counter, Dirk carried him to his room and tucked him in.

"Night Little Man, love you," Dirk said, planting another kiss on Dave's forehead.

"Love you too Bro, night," Dave said sleepily.

In a matter of moments, he was out of it.

Dirk quietly slipped out of the room and walked back to the kitchen.

"He asleep?"

"Out like a light," Dirk said taking a seat at the table next to Jane.

"Good," Jane said, "Poor thing's had a rough day. We all have."

"Yeah."

A moment of silence overcame the room for a moment.

"Look, we gotta talk," Dirk finally addressed the elephant in the room.

"I agree," Jane said, "We've got to do something differently than what we're doing. We can't just keep him locked up in here for seven more months until the baby is born. We've done it for two and look what almost happened today."

"I know Janey, I know," Dirk said removing his hat and running a hand through his hair, "But it's because of what happened today that we can not let him out of our sight."

"What if we hadn't gotten there in time Janey, he could have been..."

"I know, I know," Jane said putting her head in her hands, trying not to relive all the what-ifs that were playing over and over in her head.

"We can't keep him cooped up in here the rest of the time. The more we do, the harder he is going to push back. Trust me, I've seen this before," Jane told Dirk.

Dirk knew she was right; but after what just happened today, there was no way he was letting his Little Man anywhere out from under his sight. It's not that he didn't trust Dave, he had to admit that Dave handled himself pretty well today, but it was the fact that Noir could pop up anywhere at anytime. Hell, for all Dirk knew, Noir could have hired a sniper to stake out their apartment to shoot him on sight.

Of course Dirk knew literally the possibilities of that happening were next to damn-near impossible. But that's what he thought about Noir finding Dave too.

And what Dirk feared the most was Noir popping up, and and he wouldn't be able to do a thing to stop him.

That almost happened today, and Dirk would be damned before he let it happen again.

"Let's see," Jane began," We can't keep him locked up in here; but we can't let him out of our sight, not with that lunatic running around."

"Well, I know how we can solve that problem Janey," Dirk said.

He leaned back in his chair and pulled out the gun that was tucked in his pants. He pulled put the magazine and checked how many bullets he had left.

He loaded the magazine back in and cocked it back.

Dirk then got up from his seat and walked towards the door.

"Watch Little Man for me will ya, I'm gone go..."

"Dirk Strider, sit your ass back down. It's games like that that got us in this mess to begin with," Jane said in a stern voice.

"Just an idea," Dirk said returning to his seat.

As bad and unprofessional as it was, that was one idea of Dirk's that Jane really wanted to side on.

If it wasn't for the fear of Noir popping up at any given moment, they wouldn't have to be looking over their shoulder at nearly every person or shadow that they passed by.

Even coming to and going home from work, both Dirk and Jane were on their toes, in fear of someone following or watching them.

And it was really beginning to take it's toll on both of them. Dirk swore have his head was now grey and Jane wasn't far behind him.

They both had to come up with something, some sort of solution, without resorting to murder, soon.

And it came in the sound of a knock on the door, or so they thought.

"Oh hell," Dirk said as he peered through the peep hole to see who it was.

"What is it?" Jane jumped up.

"Dave's social worker. What the hell is she doing here this early in the month?" Dirk said taking his time opening the door.

The Wicked Witch of the West, I mean Ms. Ava, the woman Dirk knew and hated all too well; stopped by for their monthly period, I mean visit.

"Why Ms. Vicky, is it that time already?" Dirk said sarcastically as he opened the door.

"Oh Mr. Strider, how your sarcasm ceases to amuse me," Ms. Ava said, letting herself into the apartment, "I'm here to ask you a few questions regarding your choices in David's education."

"Why did you pull David out of school?"

This really caught Dirk by surprise, he thought he got everything cleared away with that stuff when he had Dave enrolled in the homeschool program. And Dirk really wasn't good at surprise questions.

"Uh, well because of, um..."

"Because Ms. Ava, Dave had been really sick since the earlier part of the semester. And since he had already missed a considerable amount of days, we thought it would be best it we could pull him out of school and was looking to keep him out atleast until the next school year, for medical purposes," Jane said, quick on her feet.

All those years of interrogating criminals in the FBI had paid off. She is now an expert on handling quick, hard questions.

"I see, and what program have you enrolled David in?"

"We enrolled him in this program that our friend has her daughter in. She says it is really great, and she's had her daughter enrolled in it since the 2nd grade. I believe it's called Keysford Academy."

"I'll check into that," Ms. Ava said, writing something down on a clipboard, "Have David's grades improved since he started this program?"

"Yes ma'am, his grades are now averaging A-B, where it was in the Cs if I believe correctly," Jane said rushing to get his report card to prove it, "Here is his report card from his last tests."

Ms. Ava just smirked, not really seeming to care, "I always knew homeschooling far surpassed the wretched public school system."

Ms. Ava seemed to accept Jane's explanation. With Dave's health record a mile long, she was honestly surprised that the boy wasn't continually hospitalized for all the diseases and bacteria that he was exposed to in the public school system. And with Dave's grades increasing, it seems like they made the right choice in homeschooling him. She was honestly surprised as to why they hadn't done it sooner.

After jotting down a few more things on her clipboard, Ms. Ava had one more question to ask.

"And where is David now. I would like to see him."

"I'm sorry Ms. Ava, I'm afraid that's non-optional," Jane said.

"And why is that?"

"Because," Dirk finally spoke up, playing it as cool as possible, "The doctor had instructed that he be put on bed rest and that no one disturbs him, in fear of further contamination."

Dirk really hoped she believed him, he couldn't have her finding out about Dave's pregnancy. If she found out, they all were officially screwed.

Ms. Ava looked at Dirk and Jane suspiciously as if they were hiding a deep, dark secret. But she really had no reason not to believe them. The last time she was over here, Dave was puking his guts up; and if he still had whatever he had, Ms. Ava was sure she neither wanted or needed to be around him.

"Alright, far enough. But keep in mind if he doesn't show considerable improvement by next month, I will have to call your guardianship into question Mr. Strider," Ms. Ava informed the two.

"You can expect another visit later next month, good day Mr. Strider," Ms. Ava said, letting herself out of the apartment.

"We're screwed, we're screwed, we're so screwed," Dirk kept pacing in the kitchen, saying over and over again, "All this time we were worried about Noir, and we have another problem on our hands. How on earth are we going to pull this off? We can't just keep Dave in his room everytime she comes over and expect her to buy the same lie over and over. We've got to do something, think of something, and soon!"

"Don't freak out Dirk, we have a bit of time. We'll think of something," Jane tried to reassure both him and herself.

This was one problem they had not anticipated, at least not this early. They both knew they had to deal with the social worker sometime, they just didn't think they'd have to do it this soon.

'Come on Jane, ya gotta think of something.'

'Come on Strider, there's gotta be something that you are over looking."

'Hold on, what if...,' Jane began to think.

'Yeah! That's it!' Dirk stopped pacing.

In order to keep both Dave and their secret safe, both Dirk and Jane thought of the same idea, to escape both Noir and the Social Worker.

"We have to move."

Don't worry my darlings, I have a whole deck of cards up my sleeve:)

And congratulations to HomestuckVS on passing your class!:D