Hey guys, thank you so much for the comments you've been leaving. Every review means a lot to me, even the ones that are only 1 word long! ;) Hope you enjoy this next chap.

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In the morning Emily comes down the stairs and goes into the kitchen. She reaches for the coffee can in the cabinet but then stops herself, the memory of her doctor's visit coming to her suddeny. The memory, and the sound of her child's heartbeat.

She throws the coffee can away and instead reaches for the bottle of folic acid Nolan left on her counter.

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There are things around the house she keeps finding without meaning to. Things he'd left lying around to be picked up again. His razor and toothbrush she'd found right away. Other items took more time to show up.

Emily finds his green tank while cleaning under her bed. It instantly brings up the memory of their last morning together, the last time she'd pulled that tank over his head, the last time she'd told him she loved him.

She finds a note partly crumpled in her bureau. She can't read the writing, which is how she knows he's written it. She isn't going to kid herself into thinking it's a love note or anything like that. Probably just some info he had to scrawl quickly. But still, she can't bring herself to throw it away. When she finds something of his she puts it into a box.

She's put everything into the box except for the black t-shirt she wears to bed. She holds it in her hand now. She want to keep wearing it but she knows can't, and not only because it's becoming too tight.

"I've been looking for that shirt."

She turns, shocked to see Aiden in the doorway of her bedroom. "Aiden!" It's more of a gasp than a name the way she says it. "You're here."

"Of course I am," he says. "Where else would I be?"

"I thought you were gone."

He comes over to her and gathers her in his arms and it feels so good. Better than anything Emily's felt in months. "I'd never leave you, Amanda."

She lets herself be held and smiles into his chest. She never wants to let go.

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At first Nolan was worried. He woke up at 2 in the morning to his phone ringing and Emily's name on the caller ID. He forgot about sleep instantly and sat bolt up. "What's wrong?" he'd answered.

Now, standing in front of Emily's door, he's not so much worried but kind of weirdly giddy. For the first time in a long time Emily is the one to call him instead of the other way around.

It isn't an emergency, she'd assured him, just a middle-of-the-night craving, but emergency or not Nolan is at the ready. And when Emily opens the door he raises the plastic bag in his hand and smiles. "I come bearing gifts."

It's not a smile on her face—not exactly, not yet—bit it's really close and it makes Nolan's heart soar. He knew that trip to the doctor last month would be the thing to turn things around. So Emily almost smiles and takes the bag and peeks inside. "You found it?"

"It took three trips but I finally found an all-night drug store. Luckily they had the flavor you requested."

"Thank you, Nolan."

He shrugs, faux-modest-like. "Anytime."

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Emily sits at the head of the bed eating from one bowl while Nolan sits at the foot of the bed, eating from another. Pistachio ice cream isn't really his thing but he'll eat a gallon of it if it means getting Emily to open up again. Glimpsing her like this is a rare thing. No makeup, hair up in a messy bun, worn t-shirt and sweat pants. Aiden probably got to see her like this all the time but Nolan rarely did. "Pregnancy looks good on you, Ems."

She rolls her eyes, just as he'd expected her to, but he had to say it. "I mean it. You make it work."

"I'm huge."

"Well that's an overstatement if I ever heard one."

At six months pregnant, Emily is the most beautiful Nolan has ever seen her.

"If you want we can go shopping for clothes. At a time like this, acquiring an entirely new wardrobe is not only acceptable, but expected. Maybe we can start with… new PJs?"

Emily looks down at her black tee. Nolan knows she doesn't own any mens-size shirts. He knows who it belonged to.

"I'm not getting rid of his shirt."

"I'm not proposing you do. But pretty soon you won't be comfortable sleeping in that anymore." It isn't completely stretched out yet, but soon it will be too small for her.

"I need it to sleep," Emily says.

Nolan scrunches an eyebrow. "Are you having trouble sleeping?"

Emily peers into her ice cream bowl, her shoulders sagging slightly. "I've been having these dreams."

"What kind of dreams?"

"Where Aiden isn't gone and… I feel so relieved," she says in her whispered voice. "And then I wake up."

Nolan sets his bowl down in between his crossed legs. The excitement of a quasi slumber party with his best friend gets pushed aside for a much more sobering feeling.

"It's okay," Emily says. "I'm not really surprised. The same thing happened after my dad was taken away. I kept dreaming that he was back and everything was normal again."

Nolan knows he's doing all he can for Emily but sometimes he doesn't think it's enough. He knows that she's the strongest person he's ever known and that she doesn't need anyone to save her and that she can take care of herself. But he also knows that there isn't a person alive who doesn't want to feel taken care of sometimes. That was part of the role that Aiden filled in her life. He was her protector when no one else could be. He was there when Emily needed a strong pair of arms to fall into. Nolan didn't fully grasp that until Aiden was gone.

"The dreams will go away eventually," Emily says, "After enough time has passed."

Nolan nods.

"The thing is, I don't know if I want them to." She's smiling—something Nolan has been waiting to see for months—but it's a sad smile; the kind of timid, closed-lip thing that twists your heartstrings and makes you want to offer a hug. It didn't count. "I know that's pretty pathetic."

"No . Of course it isn't." Nolan says. "Maybe Aiden really is coming to you in your dreams. Maybe he's trying to tell you that he's still with you."

Emily's gaze finds her ice cream bowl again, and her smile is sad again, and all Nolan wants to do is protect her in the way that he knows she deserves to be.

"Yeah, maybe," she says.