Laura and Steve visited the Winslows the day before they were supposed to leave for Russia. While Laura was fielding all kinds of questions about how she was feeling from Harriette and Estelle, which she was growing used to, Carl led Steve down to the basement.

"What's up, Big Guy?" Steve asked as he followed him down the stairs.

Carl pulled the string to turn on the light and led him over to a few boxes stacked in a corner. "I was down here looking through some of our old keepsakes to see if there was anything that might be ok to pull out for our grandbaby. You know, anything not covered in lead paint and not a major choking hazard, and I found something I wanted to give to you."

"To me? Not to Laura?"

"Well, it's for both of you, but she and I discussed it, and she agreed I could give it to you." He lifted a blanket out of one of the boxes and turned back to Steve. It was a handmade quilt, and it was very small.

Steve unfolded it carefully. "A baby blanket?"

"Yes. This was one of Eddie's baby blankets. My mother made us several."

"Shouldn't you be giving this to Eddie?" Steve squeaked, nervous he was being given something far too important.

"I'm gonna give one to him when he has a baby, too. Relax. I've even got one set aside for 3J, but I hope it's a long, long time before he gets to use it. I'm even keeping a couple for me."

"I really think you and Eddie should get to keep all of his old baby blankets."

"Steve, listen. My mother made me a set of baby blankets when we found out Harriette was pregnant. I was 19 when my dad died. I was only 21 when Eddie was born. I was barely getting used to not having my dad around, and suddenly, I had to be a dad. It was terrifying."

Steve looked at Carl seriously. "It was?"

"Completely."

"Carl, I have no idea how to be a good dad. My dad was horrible to me growing up. I don't wanna be anything like him, and I'm so afraid my baby is gonna grow up to hate me."

Carl took a deep breath. He flipped over two old crates and sat on one. He waited for Steve to sit on the other. "My mother gave me that quilt and told me that it was made from my dad's old clothes. Even though he wouldn't be there to help me, he would always be there with me. Even though he'd never meet my son, he would be there to keep him warm."

"That's beautiful, Big Guy. I desperately wish I had memories like that of my father," he whimpered.

"I know," Carl said, "which is why I want you to have this. Laura told us why you're going to see your parents, and I just want you to remember that, no matter what happens, your baby has a long line of fathers looking out for him."

Steve nodded. "Thank you, Carl. I appreciate that. I can't tell you how proud I am that my baby will be part of the Winslow family line." He looked down at the quilt and traced the lines.

"Not just that, Steve. You are part of the Winslow family line. No matter what happens with your parents this week, your baby will still have two wonderful parents, and at least two wonderful grandparents, and a couple of uncles, and an aunt, and a great-aunt, and great-grandparents, and some cousins. Your baby will never be lonely the way you were."

Steve felt tears sting his eyes. He looked away from Carl in embarrassment. "My baby will have a wonderful mother. I don't know about wonderful parents," he sniffled.

Carl patted his back. "C'mon, Steve. You don't really think that, do you?"

"Carl, it must have been terrifying to figure out fatherhood without your dad there to help you, but… at least you had memories of him. Good memories. I can't exactly work from my father's example, and I'm terrified that I will anyway. That my instincts might just be broken like his clearly are."

"Steve, you can work from my example. Just because your father wasn't everything you needed him to be, doesn't mean you didn't have a father figure in your life."

Steve wiped his tears and finally looked back at Carl. "Big Guy, I know. I'm so incredibly grateful for everything you did for me when I was a kid. You and your family are the only reason I grew up to be someone… almost good enough for your daughter."

"No one is good enough," Carl and Steve both agreed in unison.

"I will absolutely do everything I can to be just like you, but I'm not just like you. I can't… throw a ball with my kids or keep them safe if someone breaks in or take them fishing or teach them a valuable life lesson every week with a beautifully worded heart to heart without sticking my foot in my mouth! I want to be you, but I'm afraid I'm going to be just like him!" Steve exploded, standing to pace and work out his nervous energy.

Carl stood and grabbed his shoulders to hold him in place. "You are nothing like him, and you know it."

"I am, though, Carl. He's brilliant and passionate about his work. When he starts something, he is obsessive about it. He has no self-confidence, or he had no self-confidence before the transformation chamber."

"But Steve, you have tons of unearned self-confidence! What are you talking about?"

"Carl, what if I'm just like him? What if I get too lost in my work to spend time with my kids? What if my kid ruins one of my inventions, and I yell at him the way he used to yell at me? What if my kid is smarter than me, and I know it, and I can't stand it? What if–?"

"Steve!" Carl interrupted. "None of that is gonna happen. First of all, because that's not who you are, but also, because Laura would never let that happen."

Steve bit his lip. "What if she sees him in me for the first time? What if she sees that part of me, and she stops loving me?"

"There is no part of you that Laura doesn't love. She sees the broken parts, Steve. We all do. There is no part of you that she doesn't see. There is no part of you that's as rotten as he was."

Steve sat down again and rested his face in his hands.

Carl sat beside him. "Should I have done something?"

"What?" Steve mumbled into his hands.

"Did I misread what was happening over there? Should I have called CPS when I heard them yelling at you or when they left you home alone?"

Steve took a deep breath. "No," he said. "Maybe. I don't know. I was just a kid, Carl. I don't know what was normal about my childhood and what wasn't. They didn't… They didn't yell at me any differently than you did."

"Oh," Carl said softly, immediately disappointed in himself.

"And because I don't know what was normal, I don't trust myself to raise my own kids."

Carl cleared his throat, trying to refocus after that hurtful and well-deserved comment. "Then trust Laura," he suggested.

"I don't want to be a burden on her. I want her to be able to trust me, and I want to know that she's right to trust me."

"She does trust you, and she is right to trust you. You've wanted this for so long, and you are going to love that baby so much. You could never, ever do anything that would hurt him."

"Carl, my parents have always been so clueless. They didn't know they were messing me up when they were doing it. They were doing their best. My best isn't good enough in so, so many situations, what makes you think my best will be good enough for your grandkids?"

Carl took a deep breath and exhaled. "Because I'm a really, really good dad," he answered.

Steve looked at up at him and quirked an eyebrow. "What?"

"Oh, yeah. One of the all-time best. Cliff Huxtable, James Evans Sr., Mike Brady, Philip Banks, Carl Winslow. I can see the list now," he said, gazing off into space.

Steve laughed and snorted. "Big Guy, I agree that you belong in the Sitcom Dad Hall of Fame, but what the heck are you talkin' about?"

"I have been your only full-time dad since you were 17, and I was putting in some overtime for six years before that, and I fathered the heck out of you, kid. Now, any ordinary dad might not have been able to fix you in under a decade, but I'm no ordinary dad. I'm one of the greats."

Steve shook his head at him. He took a deep breath and sighed, still smiling. "Will you give me some one-on-one dad lessons? Before the big day?"

"How about lunch the week after next? After you get back? You can buy, and in exchange, I'll let you bring a notebook full of questions to ask me."

"I'd like that… Dad." Carl smiled and hugged Steve. Steve hugged him back even tighter. "Thanks for this, Carl," he said, gesturing with the blanket in his hand. "And for everything."

"You're welcome, son," he replied, patting him on the back as they stood. Carl turned to head back upstairs, and Steve followed behind. "You're gonna name him after me, right?" Carl asked as they walked back up, loudly enough for Laura to hear from the kitchen.

———————————————————————

Steve was nearly vibrating in the window seat as the plane started to take off. Laura grabbed his hand and squeezed it. He squeezed back and looked at her gratefully. "Distract me, Sweetums. At least for a little while. This is a long flight, and I have to get to sleep eventually."

Laura nodded. She raised the arm rest between them so she could cuddle a little closer to him. "Do you have any good memories of your parents?"

Steve's brow furrowed. "How is that supposed to distract me?"

"It's not," she admitted. "I've just been curious."

Steve sighed softly. "I understand why you'd be curious. My childhood was soooo different than yours. I was curious about yours, too. That's why I was always there observing."

Laura pouted and looked up at him. "Not just because of that. Because of me, too, right?"

"Of course," he answered immediately. He kissed her softly.

She rested her head against him. "Do you think we'd be together if you had a better relationship with your parents?"

He hesitated, keeping his eyes trained in front of him. "I don't know," he admitted. "It's not unreasonable to think that, if my parents had treated me differently, I might've had too much self-respect to chase you for as long as I did."

Laura bit her lip nervously. "I think so too."

Steve rubbed her arm gently. "Of course, you also may have found a healthier version of me more attractive from the get-go."

"Steve?"

"Hm?"

"Can I say something terrible?"

"You can say whatever you want," he answered.

She lifted her head to look at him again. "I love you," she began.

"That is the meanest thing you've ever said to me," he teased.

Laura laughed. "No, I mean, I love you. Just the way you are."

"Still not hearing the terrible."

"And I wish you had had a better childhood, but I'm also glad you're you. I want you. I love you. It's scary to me to think that it's your trauma that brought us together or makes this work."

"It's not, Laura. I don't really believe that. You and I are soul mates. You know that."

"I know," she nodded.

"And frankly, Laura, God must have had some reason to make me and give me to my parents. I have no idea what that could be, but I know he gave me you to save me from them. Don't think about it like you have been. Don't think about it like we never could have happened if I'd been a happier kid. For some reason, that I'll never understand, I wasn't given a family like you were, and I was blessed with you so that we could give our kids a family as wonderful as yours."

"I love you," she said again, "and I'm so glad I get to be your wife and I get to have your babies."

"So am I," he agreed.

"Thank you for waiting for me. Whatever the reason. Thank you."

"Laura Lee, now I'm still a little bit broken, so maybe I'm just too broken to see how crazy this is, but I would do it all over again. 1000 times. To end up here with you."

"I love you so much," she whispered, grabbing his face and kissing him firmly.

As their lips stayed locked together passionately, Steve placed a hand on her barely rounded stomach and rubbed it gently.

———————————————————————

It was early Monday morning when Steve and Laura climbed onto Herb and Roberta's porch steps. Steve carefully helped Laura stabilize herself on the icy path and held her close for warmth in the freezing Russian air. Steve rang the doorbell and looked at Laura. "This is where it gets dicey. They might try to sneak out the back, or they might let us in, head off to work, and not come back for a month!"

"Steve," Laura scoffed, "they're not gonna do that."

"Both of those things have happened to me," Steve explained.

"Oh," she cringed just as the door opened.

It was Roberta. "Steven," she gasped.

Laura was taken aback by the look of desperation in her eye. She placed a hand on her stomach and rubbed it gently. She could feel that look deep in her womb. She was certain Roberta wouldn't be running away.

"Laura," Roberta continued. "I'm sorry. I'm just a little surprised. Come inside. Get out of the cold." She stepped aside and held the door open for them. Laura stepped inside and Steve followed behind her with their luggage. "Let me take your coats," she continued.

Laura had carefully layered her look to conceal her pregnancy. She wanted Steve to be able to announce it when he felt ready, if he ever felt ready.

After Roberta had hung up their coats, she looked at Steve. "Steven, I'm so happy to see you," she said softly. She opened her arms for a hug.

Steve looked at her nervously and melted quickly into her arms. "I've missed you, Mama," he whispered.

"I've missed you, too," she whispered back. As he eventually released her, she turned to Laura. "Laura," she began, "I know we didn't leave things in a good place the last time we spoke, but I'm glad to see you, too."

Laura stepped forward. It was probably the hormones, but she couldn't help herself. She leaned in, carefully angling her belly away, and hugged Roberta. "Me too, Roberta," she said.

Roberta was tearing up as she looked at both of them again.

"Where's Pop?" Steve asked eventually, shattering the silence that had overtaken the room.

"He's already at work. He should be just starting an 18-hour surgery right now."

Steve nodded. "Are you gonna tell him I'm here?"

Roberta paused uncomfortably. "Probably not. He'll be tense and tired from the surgery. I think we're better off surprising him."

Steve nodded. "Yeah," he agreed.

Roberta glanced at the clock. "Speaking of, I really need to get to work."

"You can't call in sick?" Steve proposed desperately.

"Steven, when cardiothoracic surgeons play hooky…"

"People die," they both finished.

Steve nodded and looked away. "Yeah, I remember."

Roberta froze and looked at him. Then she looked at Laura who was looking back at her sternly. There was a clear challenge in her eyes. Roberta swallowed hard. "I have a transplant this morning. It has to be now because the organ is only available now, obviously. That should take about six hours, so I should be done around three. I was scheduled for some consultations, but I can bump those, and I was supposed to be on-call, but I can find someone to cover. Does that sound ok?"

Laura nodded encouragingly.

Steve looked back at her again, the shock clear on his face. "Yes, of course. That sounds… unbelievable. I can't wait to spend the early evening with you," he beamed. Steve couldn't think of a single time in his life that his mother had changed her work schedule for him. Even when he was too young to be left alone, they just found sitters from all kinds of questionable places. In a pinch, he would come to work with them if he was sick or had a snow day, and he would be stuck in the lounge with their dumbest intern all day. The idea of her taking time off of work to spend with him was unthinkable, but here it was, happening right in front of him.

Roberta smiled brightly. "Ok. Then I'll see you at about 5:00."

"Ok," Steve agreed, hugging her tightly again. "See you then. Have a good day."

She nodded. "Steve, you know where the guest room is. Show Laura. Make yourselves at home."

"We will," Steve beamed.

Roberta leaned in and kissed his cheek. Then she grabbed her briefcase and rushed out the door.

Steve turned back to Laura. "She's taking time off for me," he smiled nervously.

"I heard," Laura smiled.

"Let's go upstairs and get settled," he suggested, picking up their bags.

"Ok," she agreed.

———————————————————————

Laura and Steve lay down for another couple of hours to try to catch up on the sleep they missed on the plane. Steve moved his pillow low in the bed and curled up around her. He lay his head right by her slightly rounded belly and stroked it gently. They forced themselves to get out of bed again at 10 A.M. to begin their journey adjusting to the time difference in Moscow, but that still left them with a long, nervous day to wait through.

———————————————————————

When Roberta arrived home at 4:55, Steve and Laura were both busy in the kitchen.

"Mama, you're early!" Steve announced excitedly.

Roberta nodded. "What are you two doing?"

"We wanted you to come home to a nice, cold meal, so we've been preparing an opossum-based borscht," he explained.

"Thank you, Steven. That's very sweet."

Steve smiled bashfully. "It will be ready in 20 minutes. It's almost done cooling. Why don't you go get changed?"

She nodded. "I'll be right back," she agreed.

Steve placed his arms around Laura lovingly as she wiped down the last counter. He rubbed her belly gently.

He pulled away as his mother returned to the kitchen in a more casual outfit. She still looked fabulous though. He still wasn't used to her new fashion sense since her trip through the transformation chamber. He missed when she used to wear sweaters with cats with googly eyes on them.

Steve and Laura served their dinner, and Roberta was surprised to see Laura dig in excitedly. "Laura, since when do you like opossum-based soups?"

Laura swallowed her first big bite and glanced nervously at Steve. "Oh, well, Steve has taught me to like a number of… unusual foods over the years."

"Really?"

"Yup," Steve agreed uncomfortably, having never been good with lying. "The little lass is a newly adventurous eater."

Roberta chuckled. "Wow. You know, I didn't really adjust to the Urkel palet until I was pregnant."

Laura and Steve glanced at each other, trying to conceal the surprise on their faces.

They were interrupted by a door opening forcefully behind them. Herb walked into the kitchen and paused as his eyes locked on Steve and Laura. Steve and Laura looked back at him.

Roberta turned back to him, placing a hand out toward Steve to keep him in his seat. "Herb, honey, the kids made us dinner," she said gently.

Herb stared at them for a minute, completely silently. Then he mumbled something none of them could hear, waved them off, and stormed toward the staircase. They all sat silently at the kitchen table as they heard him stomp up the stairs and slam his bedroom door like a teenager.

Roberta looked apologetically at Steve and noticeably avoided Laura's judgemental eyes. "I'm sorry, Steven. You know how he is when he comes home early."

"I do," he agreed, the childlike pout of his bottom lip ripping Laura's heart in half.

"What?" Laura exclaimed. "What kind of sense does that make? He's grumpy when he comes home early?"

"Laura," Roberta explained, "he finished an 18-hour surgery in under 12 hours."

"Good for him?" she shrugged in exasperation.

"Sweetums, his patient died on the table. That's the only reason he'd be done this early," Steve explained more gently.

Laura was humbled immediately. "Oh," she breathed.

"Even the best surgeons lose patients all the time," Roberta continued. "It never gets any easier." She stood. "I'm sorry, Steven. I have to go talk to him. I'm sorry to ruin dinner."

Steve nodded. "No, that's ok. I want you to talk to him. We'll keep the borscht cold."

"Thank you," she smiled softly as she walked out of the kitchen.

Laura turned to Steve as Roberta exited. "What can I do?" she asked urgently.

"Nothing, baby. It's ok. I've been here before," he shrugged.

"But things were going so well!"

"I know," he nodded, taking another spoonful into his mouth. He slurped a piece of tail into his mouth and Laura cringed as she heard the crunch. "It was going too well. I knew the other shoe had to drop."

"What can I do?" she demanded again, leaning in closer and resting her face against his cheek.

Steve set his spoon down and wrapped his arms around her. "Nothing, Laura Lee. I'm ok. Really. All I need you to do is feed our baby."

Laura sat up straight and shushed him gently. "I thought you weren't ready to tell them yet," she scolded, picking up her spoon and taking another bite.

"I'm not, but I want to make sure you're still taking good care of our little peanut even while you're stressing out about me. All I need is for you to stay focused on that."

———————————————————————

Neither Roberta nor Herb came down the stairs for hours. Laura and Steve sat on the couch in front of a roaring fire waiting for them. Sometimes talking about Steve's childhood, sometimes saying nothing at all.

"What did you used to do when they lost a patient when you were a kid? I assume they were just as grumpy and distant."

"Oh, yeah," Steve agreed, rubbing her swollen feet. "Worse. Way worse."

"So what did you do?"

"Usually, I'd go over to your house and bother anyone I could find. If no one was home, sometimes I'd hang out there anyway. Distance was important."

"So not a good time to work in your lab."

"Oh, no. I couldn't take the risk of something going wrong and making them angrier."

Laura nodded and sat in silence for a while.

"How long have you wanted to ask me this stuff?"

"What do you mean?"

"You just… You have so many questions. I assume it's not all coming to you today for the first time."

Laura nodded. "I'd like to say I've been wondering about your relationship with your parents as long as we've known each other, but really, it's just been since we've been married. I know we eventually found out why they missed our wedding, and I guess their reasoning wasn't as callous as it first appeared, but I was just so shocked when you told me they weren't coming. Then, as soon as I learned they weren't coming, I was distracted by you going to Houston and going to space. It wasn't until our wedding day that I really started to think about them again. So yeah, there's sort of a list of questions in my head."

"Why haven't you asked before?"

"You don't like it when I focus on your past, so I try not to, but we're basically living your past right now, so I thought it was ok to ask. Is it?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "It's fine."

"When you were a little boy, and you used to think about our future, did you realize how different your life was from what you wanted for your kids?"

"Of course," he answered immediately. "Obviously, the good parts of my childhood made it into those fantasies too. I imagined taking our kids into my work and showing them my lab, and I imagined…" He paused as he trailed off. "Actually, that might be it."

Laura whimpered softly.

He smiled calmly and switched to her other foot. "Mostly, I pictured all the stuff that I didn't have in my life that I wanted to do for my kids."

"Like what?"

"Like actually showing them a happy, healthy, loving marriage."

"We can definitely do that," Laura smiled.

"And teaching them how to walk and ride a bike and swim and drive and all those things that your dad had to teach me."

"My dad didn't teach you how to walk."

"Oh, yeah. I taught myself that one. That's why I'm so bad at walking in a straight line," he teased with a laugh and snort. Laura giggled. "I love making you laugh," he said softly. "That's another thing. There wasn't a lot of laughter in my house when I was a kid. I want our house to be full of laughter."

Laura nodded. "Me too," she agreed as they finally heard footsteps on the stairs.

As Roberta landed in the living room, Laura wrapped her sweater around her to conceal her baby bump. "Oh, kids," she said in surprise. "You're still up."

"Is Pop ok?" Steve asked immediately.

Roberta turned and walked over to them, diverging from her clearly intended path to the kitchen. She tied her robe around her and sat in the armchair beside them. "He will be. You know how he gets, Steven. How we both get."

He nodded. "I do." He turned to Laura. "Sometimes it takes weeks for him to get out of a funk like this."

"Weeks?" Laura repeated.

"I'm sure it won't be quite that bad this time," Roberta said, standing again. "I just came down for a glass of water. Can I get you two anything?"

"No," Steve answered. "We should head to bed."

"You should," she agreed as she walked off into the kitchen.

Steve stood from the couch and offered Laura a hand. She accepted it silently and followed him up the stairs.

———————————————————————

Steve locked the door behind them once he'd pulled her in the room. He slipped her sweater off, revealing her belly in her form-fitting tank top. He got on his knees in front of her and kissed her navel. "Hi, baby," he whispered, his lips pressed firmly against her.

Laura looked down at him and smiled. "That's not why I thought you were undressing me," she teased, reaching down to play with his hair.

Steve kissed her again and looked up at her. "I just missed her. That's all."

Laura pulled away from him and moved toward her suitcase on the bed. "Well, let's change into our pajamas, and then you can cuddle with her or him… or… you know… you could cuddle with me," she suggested with a shake of her head.

Steve pursed his lips. "I'm sorry. I'm doing it again, aren't I?"

"Doing what?" she asked, pouting slightly, but she knew what.

"Treating you like an incubator," he admitted.

"Only a little," she shrugged, starting to dig through her suitcase. "I know you don't like hiding it, and I know you feel better when you can touch my belly and talk to the baby all the time. Sometimes, I start to feel a little invisible, but considering what you're going through right now, I'm going to ignore that feeling." She pulled out her pajamas and turned to head to the en-suite, but he grabbed her hand as she passed him. He pulled her back into his arms and kissed her.

"I'm sorry, my love. I never want you to feel that way."

"It's ok," she replied softly.

"No, it's not," he whispered. He cupped her cheeks with his large hands and stroked her smooth skin with a gentle thumb. "I wanna cuddle with you and the baby. Both of you, but… I don't think I'm up for any… adult cuddling tonight. I'm a little tense, and I just wanna hold you."

"Ok, baby," she agreed immediately. "That's totally fine. Whatever you need."

"Thank you." He kissed her passionately and pulled back slowly.

Laura pouted at him as he pulled away. "Steve Urkel, please don't tease me like that. You know my hormones are going crazy right now."

He smirked at her. "I know, beautiful. I'm sorry."

"I'm gonna go change in the bathroom," she announced.

"That's probably a good idea."

———————————————————————

When she came back out, he was already in his pajamas and in bed. She climbed into bed beside him and lay back as he turned into her side. He placed a hand on her swelling belly and rubbed it gently, but he stayed close to her face and looked her in the eye. "Thank you for carrying my baby, baby," he whispered.

She reached up and stroked his face. "Thank you for making it so easy," she whispered back.

"Thank you for making this so easy, my love. I was so scared to see them again, but it hasn't been that bad so far. Thanks to you."

"I'm glad it's been better than you expected. I don't think I've really done anything, but I'm glad."

"You've done more for me than you'll ever know," he promised. He stared at her in silence for a long moment. "I think I wanna tell them tomorrow. I wanted to wait until I was sure things were going to be better between us, but I don't wanna hide it anymore. It's too hard. Besides, maybe raising the stakes for them a little bit will be a good thing."

"Whatever you wanna do, baby," she yawned.

He smiled at her tired eyes and continued to rub her belly gently. "This whole trip has really disrupted your goddess rest."

Laura laughed softly. "It has."

"You should get some sleep, turtle toes," he whispered.

Laura nodded. "Goodnight, baby. I love you."

"I love you, too, Sweetums," he purred, kissing her gently. "Goodnight."