Charlie was undoubtedly torn about the direction her life was taking. All her life, all she had wanted to do was get out of Wisconsin and explore. She got that wish, even if it was the most gruesome way possible. After all that she had experienced and lost, she wanted a quiet life again. The grass wasn't always greener on the other side. She had been relieved when they settled into the house. However, after months of being in California, she wasn't even sure that was what she wanted either.

She would be the first to admit she had been distant from her family over the past few weeks. She and Jason spent most of their time two towns over, integrating themselves into a group of… she wasn't sure what the people were. They weren't friends, not yet. Secretly, on Charlie's part at least, she was partially doing this to stay out of the way of her family.

She had felt embarrassed after admitting to Nora that she felt alone and was terrified of starting a family of her own because the threat of losing them was too great. She had felt embarrassed when Miles made it known he was aware of her cynicism.

She was uncomfortable. She knew she shouldn't have been taking up space and time in their house while they were trying to build a family with Alex. Despite all their insistences that she was part of that family, it didn't feel like it. It was nothing on their part. If anything, Charlie felt immensely guilty that her aunt and uncle were putting out so much effort to keep her involved and show concern for her. She didn't want to get too attached. She was playing defense- allowing herself to remain in the mind frame that shit was about to go down at any minute and why make herself hurt any worse than she already was? She was also avoiding them because it was too hard to be around them. It had been easy while they were on the road. Any time those feelings came up, she was able to push them away because she had something else to focus on. Now, she had time to sit and mull over the fact that her immediate family was either dead or had deserted her. She allowed herself a few weeks of bliss but the same thought kept popping up - what was keeping Miles and Nora from having the exact same thing happen to them? If it didn't, she found herself facing a scenario she didn't quite know how to handle.

A year ago, she would have laughed if you told her the drunken bartender/former general and the bomb-making hunter could be acceptable parents. Neither seemed to care about anything but themselves. But after a while of traveling with them, it became evident that there was something that had made them that way. She saw the way Miles struggled to remain unaffected and detached from them, the way he had to curl his hands into fists to stop from touching Nora. She saw the quick glimpses of pain and sadness that crossed Nora's face numerous times, the evident concern she had for him. It wasn't until Alex's arrival that she put two and two together.

They had both been hurt, badly, and tried to hide that by shutting themselves out from each other and everyone else. Reuniting, however reluctantly it seemed at first, had been the best thing for them. Alex had only intensified that. It was easy, comical even, to see them morph into these people. Now, she could accept them as caring individuals and it made things difficult for her. She didn't want a new set of parents. She knew, logically, that they were never going to replace Ben and Maggie and she was at a point in her life that she didn't require parents. It was witnessing their actions that hurt. She never thought her father and her uncle were alike but there were certain things Miles did that reminded her of Ben. Nora was a sister and mom all rolled into one, and Charlie would admit that she had an easier time accepting Nora than she had Maggie. And Alex…

She focused her attention on the boy in front of her. He was staring at the checkerboard with intense concentration. He reminded her so much of Danny. They weren't physically similar and their personalities were different but there was something about him that was Danny. Maybe it was that bit of Matheson they all shared. Whatever it was, spending time with Alex was painful. It was only made worse by the fact that he wanted to be attached to her hip.

She never fully accepted her brother's death. It was easier to throw herself into something else than sit idle and ponder life. Something in the back of her head told her that that tactic would only last so long. After all, she partially witnessed her aunt and uncle do the same thing. She knew it was bad. The part of her head that pushed for her cynical ways whispered she would be able to handle it better than they had.

She knew it wasn't right and it wasn't fair to her family. She was growing all too familiar with Nora's disappointed gazes and Alex's crushed feelings when she brushed their requests aside. Today would have been the same had her uncle not put his foot down.

"We've got shit to do. You're staying here with him." His tone had made it seem final and they were gone before she had an attempt to protest.

It was frustrating to be so conflicted. She wanted to be with them but she couldn't. Either way, she was punishing herself.

"Where did Mom and Dad have to go?"

"I don't know. They didn't say." She shifted her position in the chair, crossing a leg under her butt. "Are you going to make a move any time soon?"

"I'm strategizing." Alex muttered. "How come you're never here?"

"I have things to do."

"Are you moving out?"

"Why?"

"I heard Mom and Dad talking about it the other night."

She frowned at his innocent statement and quickly moved one of her checkers after he finally took his turn. He leaned further into the table, inspecting the board like someone would a crime scene.

"What did they say?"

"I don't know. I was supposed to be sleeping but I heard a couple things. Dad thinks you and Jason are going to leave. Mom doesn't want you to. Is that why you're never here? Are you looking for somewhere to live?"

"No. We have friends we hang out with."

"How come they don't come here?"

"Why would they come here?"

"My friends come here. Mom has her friends come here." He shrugged as if it was the simplest thing in the world. She shook her head a little, trying to fight back a smile. Sometimes he would come out with statements she didn't think a seven year old could think up. Other times, he was too innocent.

"It's different."

"Are they bad?"

"No. I just don't think your parents would appreciate having a lot of people they don't know in the house."

"Do they know who we are?"

"No." she sighed quietly and tossed a checker to the side of the board. "Do you want to get out of here? We'll go to the park?"

"Yeah!"

"You okay?" Miles glanced over and noticed Nora's hand shaking as she filled out the paperwork on her lap. She gave a small nod and pushed her hair behind her ear.

"Just… nervous. I don't know what she's going to say. I don't even know her."

"You never liked doctors." He smirked a little as he slumped in his chair and stretched his legs further out.

"That's not true. I've dealt with plenty of them."

"Babe, you had the flu and refused to even let someone in to see you."

"You're one to talk."

"Sandy recommended her. Gina works here. I doubt she's that awful. If anything, the worst she can do is talk your ear off like the rest of them."

"That's not the worst she can do." She mumbled, sighing a little. She rubbed her left hand over her the side of her face and gave him a small smile.

"This isn't like last time." He plucked the pencil out of her hand and laced his fingers through hers. "You need to get yourself checked out. Make sure you're okay, that the baby's okay."

"I know. I know."

"If you don't like her, you don't have to see her again."

"It's not like we have a lot of options. I know it's going to be fine. I'm just nervous. It's not even like she's going to be able to do anything. It's just a basic exam."

"Exactly."

They lapsed into silence as she finished filling out what information she could, then stood up to hand the clipboard to Gina, who worked as a receptionist for the office.

"Thanks Evie. Vanessa is just finishing up with Lisa. Judith will be out in a minute to get you settled in an exam room."

"Thanks." She smiled and walked back to her seat. They were the only ones in the waiting room. It was brightly decorated and there was an obvious attempt to keep the office running through the Blackout. It was different than the Republic. An office like this would only have been found in one of the major cities. The towns in California were fully functioning, just as they were before the Blackout.

It was only another minute or so when the door to the exam rooms opened and an older woman stepped out. She was polite but not overly friendly. She led them down to a room on the left, gave Miles the stink eye, and handed a paper gown over to Nora.

"Change into that. I'll be back in a moment to take your vitals."

"Thanks." She made a face as the door shut and grimaced down at the folded square in her hands. "Fifteen years and these things still exist."

"I would imagine they wouldn't get used up so quickly. She's the only doctor around for a few towns, stock pile, low population. It's not entirely impossible." He caught her shirt as she tossed it at him and settled into the chair in the corner. It had only been a little over three weeks since they had come to their realization but she was already beginning to show. He was sure Charlie was aware but hadn't said anything. Sandy had been giving knowing looks anytime she happened to see them. Alex was oblivious.

"What are you looking at?" she balled up her jeans and flung them at his face. He lifted an eyebrow as the pants landed on his head and slowly peeled them away. She was holding the gown shut and sat down on the edge of the exam table.

"I was just thinking about how I never saw you like this. You weren't showing when we found out and then I was in Maine and by the time I got back, you looked hu- ah- you know,"

"No, I don't know." She tilted her head at him curiously and he rolled his eyes, knowing she was toying with him.

"I just, I felt like I missed a lot." He finished quietly. "So, it's ah- it's nice to be able to be here for you… completely."

"I didn't think you cared."

"I know. I took a lot of it for granted. That's why I told myself it would be different next time. It's next time."

She smiled softly at his quiet admission and ran a hand gently over the small swell of her stomach. Before anything else could be said, Judith returned to the room. She was quiet as she took Nora's weight, blood pressure, and temperature.

"Dr. Bradford will be in in a few minutes." She said as she slipped back out of the room.

"It's weird being here. I got so used to Hannigan making house calls."

"Well, we're regular folk now." He smirked at her as she chuckled. "I'm sure if you ask, she could do it."

"No, I know. It just feels like… before. I hated doctor's offices even then." She gave a sheepish smile. There was a quiet knock on the door, then it opened slightly. A tall brunette stood in the doorway with a kind smile on her face.

"Evie. It's nice to finally meet you. Sandy has told me so much about you." She entered the room and shut the door quietly behind her. "I wish we had met under different circumstances. I've just been so busy the past few weeks. I'm Vanessa Bradford."

She held out her hand in greeting, which Nora took.

"Nice to meet you. This is my husband Rick."

"Hi."

"Hi. Nice to meet you. Rick?" Vanessa raised an amused eyebrow. "Like in The Mummy movies."

"I'm sorry?"

"The… Mummy? The main characters. Rick and… Evie O'Connell?"

Nora gave a slight glare out the side of her eye but Miles seemed unfazed.

"Never seen it before. Sorry."

"Oh man. Definitely check it out. It's one of my favorites. I think it was the first thing I put on the TV when the power came back on." She laughed good-naturedly. "Anyway, let's get started."

"Thank you, by the way, for taking me in on such short notice." Nora interjected.

"Not a problem. It's my job."

The park was pretty empty for a Friday afternoon. Charlie chalked it up to the cooler weather they were experiencing. She snorted a little at the thought. Cooler weather here was low sixties. Wisconsin had gotten much, much colder. This was like an everlasting summer.

"Are you going to dress up for Halloween? It's on Sunday."

"I don't think so. Are you?"

"Yup. Dad and I are going to be pirates. We were going to be Jedi but we wouldn't couldn't find light sabers and you can't be a Jedi without a light saber. But Mrs. Callahan had a bunch of fake swords out at the store the other day. I wanted to use Dad's real ones-"

"Alex!" Charlie's voice turned sharp at his candidness. He reddened immediately, looking guilty. He glanced around but there was no one to hear him.

"-but Mom said that wouldn't be safe. She thinks I'd stab myself."

"You probably would."

"I'm not stupid!"

"I never said you were. They can be dangerous, even for people who know how to use them. Besides, I'm pretty sure she doesn't want the neighborhood to know we have swords in the house." Charlie muttered under her breath. Alex's head bobbed in agreement as they walked closer towards the swing set and jungle gym. She recognized a couple of the moms Nora hung out with while Alex sprinted towards the kids he recognized. She sat down on a bench by herself, not wanting to interact. She recognized Angie as one of the women and knew any encounter would be bad. The few times they had met after Sandy's barbecue had been just as awkward as the initial.

She lost track of time as she sat there, paying Alex close attention. Then, as soon as she turned her eyes away for one minute, it happened. One minute he was alone, his young friends having gone home, and the next, there was a man standing at the bottom of the ladder he had just climbed. Alex stood at the top of the platform, a smile on his face as he talked to the man.

Charlie tensed immediately and stood up. As she approached, she realized it was the same man from the night outside the pawn shop. He did not seem threatened in any way by her appearance. In fact, he seemed happy to meet her.

"You must be Emily. Alex talks about you all the time."

"He does?" she tilted her head at her cousin, who smiled slightly. "And who are you exactly?"

"Relax. There's no need to get defensive. I'm Patrick Clayton. I work at the school. Alex is in one of the classes I help in. I saw him as I walked by and thought I'd say hello."

The name caught her off guard and she didn't say anything for a moment, which he took to be nothing more than her skepticism.

"Mr. Pat teaches us about the United States." Alex supplied unhelpfully.

"Right. You've mentioned him a couple times." Charlie finally said. She forced a smile onto her face and hoped she seemed polite.

"Well, I just stopped by to say hi. It was nice to meet you Emily. Alex, have a good weekend. I'll see you on Monday." Patrick turned to walk back towards the entrance of the park. When he reached the sidewalk, he turned and said, "Oh. Please remind your aunt and uncle that the school will be having an open house on Wednesday. I'd love to see them there."

"From what you tell me, you're doing just fine." Vanessa smiled warmly as she set her pencil down. "And from what I can tell, the baby is right on track. Of course, I would want to be completely sure. I imagine your first pregnancy was tense, not having the proper technology to check things."

"It was hard." Nora admitted quietly. She had since changed back into her clothes, after Vanessa conducted a thorough exam. "Especially knowing the dangers and seeing how some people had problems."

"Absolutely. I want to keep you as calm and comfortable as possible. When the power came back on, we gained some of that technology back. Upstairs, on the next floor, was our imaging center. There are a few ultrasound machines left. I've used it a couple times since and things seem to be in order."

"Really?"

"Yes. If you'd like-"

"Yes." She quickly cut the older woman off. "Yes, absolutely."

"Okay." Vanessa gave a quiet laugh, nodding in understanding. "You can follow me."

They left the office together, then turned to enter the stairwell to the next floor.

"You said our imaging center." Nora said quietly.

"This whole building used to be a medical practice. My office was actually my father's. The group of doctors decided that instead of expanding more offices, having the different equipment to do MRIs, ultrasounds, and all that would be more effective for their patients. A lot of doctors didn't have that capability and sent them to other offices. I worked up here lab technician before I decided to go the distance and go for my MD. I was just starting my final year of med school when the Blackout happened. I learned the rest of what I knew from my father." Vanessa explained as she pulled out a key ring. She stopped in front of a frosted door with letters that had long since peeled away.

Nora looked hopefully up at Miles, who squeezed her hand in response. Her heart was pounding in her chest. Every day she had been pregnant with Alex, she had longed to be able to see him or hear his heartbeat and see him progress, know he was fully healthy. It hadn't been fair that she hadn't been able to experience that.

Vanessa got them settled in a room, then began to work on getting the machine set up.

"Most of the gel had gone bad," she explained as she grabbed a mason jar off the counter. "You can use anything really for the wand. It just needs to be able to conduct well enough. It's all natural I promise."

"I think at this point, you could put whatever you want on me, and I wouldn't care."

They shared a laugh as Vanessa gestured for Nora to roll up her shirt. She smeared the concoction over her stomach, then sat on a stool near the ultrasound.

"Ready?"

"I don't think so but go ahead." She gripped Miles's hand tightly in her own as her eyes locked on the small screen. He rubbed his thumb gently along her knuckles, eyes flitting between her nervous gaze and the screen. Vanessa worked quietly, moving the wand and tapping on the keyboard. The longer it took, the tighter Nora's hand became. "Is something wrong?"

"No. They're still small at this stage. It's normal. I- yep, here we go."

An odd, whooshing sound filled the room as Vanessa hit another key, then began pointing.

"It's still too early to tell the gender now but this is your baby. Heartbeat's strong."

"That- that's-"

"Mhmm. She's a good size. You were right with your suggestion. I'd say you're just at the twelve week mark. So the end of April is a good due date. Another month or two, we'll be able to tell the gender." She smiled at the expressions on their faces.

"And- and she's- he- it, everything looks normal?"

"Absolutely."

"How do you know?" Miles asked, one of the first questions he had uttered since they started the appointment. "I mean, you can't even see anything."

"Here, I'll show you," Vanessa laughed. She typed on the keyboard, making two markers. "Right between there is the baby. She's good, right on target. I'd say she's about two inches long right now."

There was a wet, thick sniffle as Nora was unable to contain herself any longer. Miles jumped into action immediately, pulling her against him as he mumbled quietly against her ear.

"I'm sorry!" she sounded embarrassed but the other woman waved her off.

"It's totally fine. Completely understandable. It's a big moment, especially this day and age. Plus, you're hormonal. I wouldn't expect anything less. I'll be right back. I'm going to see if I can find paper somewhere, print you out a picture." She tapped another key, left the image frozen on the screen, and exited the room. Suddenly alone, Nora began to bawl.

"Shh, baby," Miles swallowed back a laugh as he situated himself on the edge of the table and held her. "It's okay."

"That's our baby."

"I know."

"You can't even see it." she had an accusatory tone in her voice as she gave him a side glare.

"Like you knew what you were looking at." he responded with an eye roll and she fidgeted, unable to deny that.

"It doesn't matter! We heard her."

"I know." He slipped back and brushed her hair out of her eyes. They stared at each other a moment and she was glad to see the emotion in his eyes. "She's fine."

"We shouldn't say she. It might be a boy."

"No. I think she's a she."

"Wishful thinking?" she smiled at the thought, picturing him with a little girl.

"Maybe." the corner of his mouth lifted slightly as he gave a small shrug.

"It'd be nice." there was a challenging glint in her gaze that he recognized with a quiet laugh. "I still say boy."

"What do I get when I win?"

"I'll come up with something." she promised. She looked down at her stomach and he followed her gaze, gently placed his palm against her.

"I'm glad we got another chance at this." he admitted quietly. "The baby, Alex, us, just- everything, I guess."

"Me too."

"I know I haven't been the best lately but,"

"Stop. You've been fine."

"No,"

"I've been a crazy person."

"We've been through hell. I think we're allowed to be. I'm tired of putting us second. We'll do things right this time."

"I know." they shared a smile as they leaned towards each other for a kiss. They stayed in that embrace for a few moments, exchanging soft kisses, until she leaned back a little. He made a protesting noise and caught her mouth again with his. "We shouldn't be doing this. She could walk back in at any second."

"I'm pretty sure she knows how babies are made. If not, we have a serious problem."

"Shush," she laughed against his lips, pushing his chest gently. He got one more in before the door reopened and he settled back on his chair while Nora blushed deeply. Vanessa rounded the side of the table and smiled faintly.

"Sorry to keep you waiting so long. I wasn't able to find anything. I'll try to be better prepared next time. Alright, so any questions, comments, concerns?"

"Not right now."

"Didn't think so. You're pros at this by now, right?"

"Sometimes." Miles commented, making the doctor laugh quietly.

"That's what everyone thinks. Okay, next visit. We can do monthly visits or more if you want. Generally I like to see you once a month and once we get closer to the end, I'll up that to maybe twice a month."

"That's fine by me." Nora replied.

"Good. So, today is the 29th. I will see you a month from today. If anything comes up between now and then or you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. I'm always available. I want to make this as easy and safe as possible for you."

"I appreciate that."