Thank you all for the wonderful comments on the last chapter - I enjoyed reading each and every single one.

Happy reading =)

"There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots; the other, wings." – W. Hodding Carter

"Declan!" Emily says with a happy smile spreading on her face. "Hey." She opens up her arms and immediately wraps them around me in a tight hug.

I smile as I feel that old familiar feeling wash over me. It's comfort, support, and unconditional love all rolled into one. I suspect it's the type of feeling only a mother's embrace can give you. And the fact that it's only ever Emily that can give me that feeling reinforces her role in my life. She may not have given birth to me, but it couldn't matter any less. She's my mother.

How else would you describe the woman who saved your life, gave you a chance to live as your own person, sacrificed everything to make sure you stayed safe, and literally died protecting you?

I feel her hold me that little bit longer than usual – no doubt a result of us not having seen each other for a few months. Generally we do our best to stay in touch and meet up once a month for lunch, but our recent schedules had left us playing phone tag and exchanging text messages instead. Although, if I'm honest with myself, I may have been avoiding her lately.

"How are you? You look stressed," she says as we break apart.

I offer a half-hearted smirk. Yep. Definitely my mother. "I'm fine, Emily." She scrutinizes me with narrowed eyes. "Honest."

"Oh, now I know you're lying," she says, a frown forming on her face.

"Jeez! We haven't even gotten to our table yet and you're already profiling me."

She shrugs. "It's my prerogative."

"Oh it is, is it?"

"Yes," she answers simply.

"Well, can we at least continue on with your analysis through lunch then? I'm hungry."

She laughs lightly and I let out a breath of relief. "I suppose we can do that."

We sit down at a table and peruse the menu as we wait for someone to come and take our order. After a few minutes of hemming and hawing, we both decide on our meals and put in our order.

"So, how are you?" she asks immediately after our waiter has disappeared.

"I'm good," I answer honestly.

"Yeah?" she replies, looking for genuine confirmation. I suppose it's the profiler in her. Or maybe the mother. Or maybe both.

"Yeah," I agree. "I'm good. How are you?" I ask, flipping the focus onto her. As much as she's probably missed me, I've missed her too. And I feel a little guilty that we haven't had a chance to chat in a bit.

"I'm good," she says with a smile.

"How're the little monsters?" I ask, referring to the twins.

"Giving me grey hairs at an alarming rate," she quips.

"Surely they're not that bad."

"Matthew jumped out of a tree last week and broke his arm," she explains, giving me a look.

"Seriously?"

"Yep."

"Why'd he jump out of a tree?"

"Oh, that would be thanks to Derek," she says, her jaw tensing. Those two love each other more than any other couple I know, but man can they fight, so I can only imagine things have been a little strained in their house lately.

"What'd he do?"

"Told him a story about how he jumped out of a tree when he was a kid."

"Ah, and Matt wanted to be just like his Dad?"

"Yep. Now he's stuck with a cast for the next 6-8 weeks, and no soccer."

"Ouch. He must be bummed out big time with no soccer."

"You're telling me. I almost wish it had happened during the school year rather than the summer. At least if it was during the school year he'd have somewhere to be during the day. Now he just whines about how he can't play and how itchy his arm is."

"Did you show him the coat hanger trick?"

"No."

"What? Come on, I know for a fact you've had your fair share of casts over the years…surely you must've learned that trick."

"I didn't say I wasn't aware of it, I said I hadn't shown him. And you won't either," she says, pointing a slightly menacing finger toward me. "I've already made Derek swear not to."

I hold up my hands in surrender. "I won't, I swear."

"Good. The last thing that boy needs is to be armed with a sharp piece of metal," she says, a heavy sigh escaping after her words.

"And what about Tegan? She still got her nose stuck in those books?"

"Yes, and she asked me to thank you for the ones you sent over for her birthday. She's been reading them non-stop. I've caught her a few times in the middle of the night with a flashlight underneath her covers, reading."

"Well that's adorable," I say with a grin, somewhat glad to have contributed to the rule-breaking. I grin even wider as I remember the times Emily had caught me as a young boy doing the same.

"Until she's grumpy as hell the next morning," Emily says with a chuckle. "She takes after me in that regard."

"Well she is your mini-me," I point out. It's true. The similarities between the two of them are downright scary at times.

"Maybe so, but trust me when I say our household has enough grumpy females in the morning. We definitely don't need another one."

I laugh, knowing all about the grumpiness of Emily in the mornings if you try to speak to her before her coffee. I'd learned that the hard way as a kid. I'd run into her room early one day while Ian was away on business and excitedly asked if we could play. All I'd received in the way of replies was a groan, so I persisted. She'd turned over and blinked sleepily as she looked at me before frowning and pulling the covers over her head and pointedly ignoring me. It had been rather heart-breaking at the time.

But while I'd been chipper and energetic all those years ago, now I find it tough to get going in the mornings. And more than once I've caught myself covering my head with my blankets because I'm not yet ready to face the world.

"Being a morning person is so overrated anyway," I say. "And anybody who is a morning person is just downright irritating. I'll never be able to be that awake and perky that early in the morning."

"Trust me, you get real good at functioning that early in the morning when you have kids," she quips, a smile tugging at her lips.

"Really?" I echo disbelievingly, but consider her words carefully.

"Even me, self-professed night owl and murderer of all that is cheery in the mornings managed it."

"I suppose it can be done then," I say with a half-smile. Her gaze narrows and I can tell instantly my words aren't fooling her.

"Declan," she says firmly. "Quit giving me the runaround. What's up?"

I take a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to summon the courage. This is big. Really big. And as much as I try to ignore it, Emily's acceptance of it is very important to me. Just as important as Dad's.

"Kathleen's pregnant," I say finally.

I watch her face carefully, trying to take a page out of her book and glean a hint of her true feelings from her expression. I look for the signs of disappointment, or anger, or disapproval. But I find none. Instead I find widened eyes – which I suppose is to be expected – and the tiniest of smiles.

"Declan- That's- Wow," she says, her thoughts apparently disjointed. "Congratulations," she finally settles on, her smile growing wider by the second. She gets up quickly from her chair and gestures for me to do the same as she steps closer and opens her arms once more. I oblige her request and feel her squeeze me tightly.

I feel my worry and anxiety leave my body as I let out a sigh of relief. Maybe I'm making it out to be more important than it actually is, but her approval means a lot to me. And it finally feels real to me now that she knows. I'm gonna be a father.

"How far along is she?" Emily asks, bringing my attention back to the present.

"12 weeks," I say as I sit back down and take a long drink from my water.

"Well that explains why you've been avoiding me for weeks."

"No, I wasn't-" She arches an eyebrow and shoots me a look. "Okay," I concede. "I knew you'd get it outta me, and I wasn't supposed to tell anyone."

She chuckles. "That's true. You're a terrible liar."

"Yeah," I agree with a smile. I can't help it. I'm terrified, and scared shitless, yes, but I'm also beyond ecstatic. I'm gonna be a dad.

"How is she feeling?"

"Exhausted, but over the moon."

"And what about you?"

"I think it's finally sunk in."

"Just now?"

I shrug. "Yeah."

"I take it this wasn't planned?" she says carefully. I know she isn't judging, just making a comment.

"Nope. Well, yes. Well…kind of." She chuckles and I smile sheepishly. "We'd talked about having kids down the line, but this came as a bit of surprise," I admit.

"How do you feel about it?"

"Terrified."

She places a hand on my arm and squeezes gently. "I remember that feeling."

"Does it ever go away?"

"Nope."

"No?" I echo, my eyebrows rising in surprise, and slight worry.

"Raising a kid is a big deal. It's not something to be taken lightly," she says meaningfully.

"No kidding," I say sarcastically, shooting her a look.

"I mean it, Dec. It's a big thing for two people to do," she says, her tone and look deadly serious.

"I know," I answer quietly as I drop my gaze to my hands. I can sense the tone of the conversation shifting. I breathe in deeply and let it out slowly. Here it comes.

"Hey," she says softly, slipping her hands around mine. "You're going to be an amazing father."

I blink in surprise and look up.

She smiles encouragingly. "I don't mean to scare you – it's also wonderful and fulfilling and full of amazing moments. I just don't want you to take this lightly. Being a parent is a lot more than just having a kid, you know?"

I nod. "Good thing I had two amazing, albeit slightly crazy, parents to learn from then."

She smiles and I swear I see moisture forming in her eyes. "Now then, what did my parental counterpart have to say about becoming a grandpa?"

I laugh. "Oh, he was ecstatic. He's already devising the different ways he can corrupt the kid."

"That's Tom for ya," she says with a shake of her head and a light laugh. "Oh," she says as a thought occurs to her. "Do you know what you're having?"

"A baby," I tease. "At least, that's what Kathleen tells me. You're the one who reads science-fiction though, so you tell me if I should be worried."

"Very funny," she says with a roll of her eyes. "Seriously though. Do you know?"

"No, Kathleen wants to be surprised."

"Does she want a girl or a boy?"

"You know, I'm not quite sure. I think a little girl though."

"And you?"

"I just want a healthy kid," I answer truthfully. As much as I'm terrified about not being a good father, or having any idea how to raise a kid, I'm more terrified that there'll be something wrong.

Emily tilts her head and shoots me a look of sympathy. "I've been there. Don't let that anxiety consume you. You're both young, and healthy."

"Yeah, but I don't have any idea what kind of genetics are on my side."

She looks thoughtful for a moment before answering. "Ian didn't have anything notable in his family."

I frown. How did she know that? It doesn't seem like the type of topic they'd have discussed. "You're sure?"

She nods. "We- Um, discussed it once." I raise an eyebrow. "It wasn't long after he told me about you. He expressed an interest in expanding his family, and I had to stall him, so I asked him about his family history."

"Oh. Good to know. But I don't know anything about-"

"Leave it with me – I'll get Garcia on it."

I smile, knowing if there's anything to find, she'll find it. That woman is downright scary when it comes to all things digital. "Thanks."

"No problem. Now, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Are you going to marry Kathleen?"

"I don't want to marry her just because she's pregnant," I defend immediately.

"I'm not saying you should. I just want to make sure you're going to-"

"Take responsibility? Be a man? Step up?"

"Yeah," she says with an exhale, a sad look in her eyes. "But I-"

"I'm hurt you think so little of me," I say honestly. It did sting a little. Did she really think that poorly of me?

"It's not that," she says quickly with a shake of her head. "I didn't mean that at all. I know you're a good man. I just…these situations have a way of making people make poor decisions."

The look in her eyes is a little startling. Derek had been over the moon when she got pregnant, so clearly it isn't that. What could possibly have her looking so sad?

"Well, I love her, Emily. And there's a ring sitting in a closet at my place, where it's been for a few months now. I've known I wanted to marry her for a long time. I was just…you know…working up to it."

She smiles. "Well, you're on a bit of a timeline now, aren't you?"

"I guess so. You think I should ask her now?"

"I think you should ask her when you think you should."

"Gee, thanks for clearing that up, Confucius," I say with a shake of my head.

She chuckles. "Don't let the pregnancy change whatever plans you had cooking. We women love a good romantic proposal."

"How'd Derek propose?"

I swear I see a tinge of red on her cheeks as she answers. "We were curled up together one night and he just asked."

"Talk about spontaneous."

"Yep. But don't worry, I'm sure you'll think of something."

"Here's hoping."

"And Declan?"

"Yeah?"

"I meant what I said. You're gonna be a great dad."

"You think?"

"I know," she counters. "And you better believe I'm so proud of you."

"Thanks," I mumble with a smile. "You better believe I'm proud to have you as my kid's grandmother."

Her eyes widen. "I don't feel old enough to be a grandmother."

"Well you've got a few months to get used to the idea," I tease.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, smart ass. Oh! Here comes our food. Good, I'm famished."

I shake my head and chuckle. Yeah, my kid's gonna have the most awesome grandparents ever.

So...Declan gives Emily an 'unofficial' grandchild...adorable, or what? Amused by the banter? Love the little details? Chuckle at her story of Derek's foolish words to his son? Let me know!