When Steve woke up the next morning, he was all alone. He sat up in bed and stretched. He looked around for any sign of Laura but saw none. He stood and walked into the bathroom, expecting to find her in the shower or doing her hair or makeup. She wasn't there either. Steve relieved himself quickly and then pulled his robe out of his suitcase. His pregnant wife was missing, and as low as the stakes may have seemed to some people, he didn't like to be away from her for long when she was in such a delicate condition. He headed out into the hallway and heard her melodious laugh from the kitchen. What shocked him was that he also heard his parents laughing. Steve rushed down the stairs and paused in the dining room, in the doorway to the kitchen. He stared at the scene in front of him in surprise. If he didn't know any better, these three people would have looked to him like a happy, healthy family. Laura and his father were hard at work chopping vegetables and cracking eggs. His mom was setting the table. He stayed silent for a long moment as he took in the scene.

"Good morning, Steven," Roberta said when she saw him.

Laura looked up from the green pepper she was chopping and smiled when her eyes met his. "Morning, baby," she cooed.

Herb set down the egg he was about to crack and wiped his hands on his apron. He walked over to Steve and stuck out his hand. Steve shook it cautiously. "It's good to see you, son. I'm sorry I wasn't around yesterday. I had had a bad loss on my table. I hope you understand."

Steve nodded, his mouth still hanging open. "O' course, Pop. I understand."

"I'm glad you're here."

"Me too," Steve replied softly. He looked at Laura. She smiled back at him, her eyes crinkling a bit as she did. He couldn't help but finally allow himself to smile brightly. This wasn't all a dream. He cleared his throat as the hustle and bustle in the kitchen continued. "So what's for breakfast?" he asked, taking a seat on a stool opposite where Laura was working at the island.

"Omelets," Laura answered.

"Ooooooo," he cooed, wiggling in his seat with delight. "With green peppers," he added, looking at what she was slicing. "Gouda," he continued, pointing at the cheese his father was grating.

"And alligator," his mother continued.

"Yummers!" he exclaimed. His brow furrowed. "Where do you get alligator around Moscow?"

"We have to have it flown in," Herb replied.

He looked back at Laura and smirked. "Sounds good, doesn't it, honey knees?"

Laura widened her eyes and chuckled to herself. "It does. It somehow… does."

———————————————————————

When their breakfast was finished, Steve was the first to move to clear the table. "You guys made this delicious feast. I can clean," he insisted.

"Lemme help you, honey," Laura said, standing with him.

"No way, goddess," he said pointedly. "Sit down and rest. Please."

Laura rolled her eyes and nodded. When she sat back down, Steve gave her a quick peck and got to work.

"So, Steven," Roberta began.

"Yes, Mama?"

"Your father and I were talking last night, and we were wondering if you would maybe want a tour of our hospital, maybe play in the skills lab for a bit?"

"Sure, Mama. That sounds fun. Do you guys have a lot of work to do?"

"No," Herb answered for her. "We both took the rest of the week off."

Steve immediately dropped the stack of plates he was carrying to the ground.

"Steve!" Laura exclaimed, jumping up and into action. "Steve, what happened?" She ran to his side and helped him step out of the shattered ceramic surrounding him.

"I just… slipped," he answered softly. "I'll… I'll clean it up."

"I'll get a broom," Roberta said.

Laura looked at Steve, who still wasn't moving. "Honey, are you ok? You're kinda freaking me out."

Steve took a deep shaky breath. "I'm fine, my pet," he answered softly. "Sit back down and relax. I'll clean this up."

Laura took a seat on the stool at the island so she wasn't far from him as he started to sweep up his mess and his mother helped him pick up the largest pieces. No one said anything for a long time.

"So…" his mother said as they picked up and tossed the last piece. "The skills lab?"

"Actually, Mom, if neither of you has to work, maybe we could go somewhere else? Do something… not work related? What do you say?"

Herb and Roberta exchanged a glance. "Sure, Steven," Herb nodded. "Whatever you wanna do."

Steve glanced nervously at Laura, who didn't know what was going on well enough to know why everyone was so nervous. "Ok. Let's head out around 11. That should be enough time for us all to get ready, right?"

———————————————————————

When Laura got out of the shower, Steve was waiting for her on their bed. "Hey, there's my squeaky clean beauty queen," he cooed, standing as she came into the room.

Laura giggled. "Hi," she laughed.

"You were up awfully early today, baby mama. You feeling ok?"

"I had a little morning sickness this morning," she pouted.

"That's what I was afraid of. You should've woken me up. This is the first time in your second trimester. I thought we were done with that part."

"Apparently not," she shrugged.

"Are you all better now?" he asked as she dug an outfit out of her suitcase.

"I think so, but you know it usually comes back around lunch."

"I'll distract everybody if you start hurling," he promised.

"Thank you," she laughed. She dropped her towel to the ground, and he watched her dress. "Aren't you supposed to be getting in the shower now that I'm out?"

"Yes," he agreed, "but then I'd miss the show."

Laura rolled her eyes. "Get in the shower," she scolded.

"I will. I just…"

Laura slid her jeans on and buttoned them. They still buttoned, but it was definitely a little harder than it used to be. She looked at Steve, still standing there in her bra, which had definitely changed sizes. "What's wrong?"

Steve swallowed hard. "They're just… being so nice to me?"

Laura smiled sympathetically. "Isn't that what we wanted to happen?"

Steve nodded. "Yeah, of course. I'm just still waiting for the other shoe to drop, and I'm afraid it's gonna clock me right on the head when it does."

Laura stepped closer to him and cupped his cheeks in her hands. "I really, really hope that doesn't happen, but if it does, you know I'll be there for you, right?"

Steve leaned forward and rested his face in her cleavage, which was deeper than it had once been. "I know," he agreed.

Laura stroked the back of his head. "Were you just putting on those puppy dog eyes so you could end up right here, you bad boy?"

Steve laughed and snorted. "No, I'm just lucky," he answered, not moving his face. "Very, very lucky." He motorboated her suddenly.

She laughed as she pushed him away. "Go get in the shower!"

———————————————————————

They started their day with Moscow's major tourist attractions, like Red Square, and then they visited an art museum. It was after lunch that Laura took the reins. Having spotted a flier in the window of the restaurant, which was thankfully trying to attract tourists so the major info on it was printed in multiple languages, she suggested they visit The Museum of Cosmonautics. Steve was embarrassed at first, but Laura was happy to put him in a place where he was nearly forced to brag about himself.

"Ohhhh," Laura cooed, "look at the little doggie space suit!"

"Adorable!" Steve agreed.

As they walked through the exhibits, Steve shared parts of his time in space where it was most relevant. His parents nodded along and smiled but seemed strangely quiet.

Laura had every intention of calling them out for that but got distracted as a little Russian boy approached them and pointed right at Steve.

"ботаник в космосе," he exclaimed. "ботаник в космосе!"

"What is he yelling at you?" Laura asked.

"I'm not sure," Steve hesitated. "Something in space?"

"Do you think it's a slur?" she cringed.

"I hope not!"

"It's, um, Nerd in Space," Roberta answered, speaking for the first time in a while. "It's what all the newspapers were saying when you made it home."

The little boy dragged his mom over to them. She held her camera up to them. "Picture?" she asked.

Steve couldn't help but smile. "да," he agreed. He placed his hand gently on the boy's back and knelt down to his level. Laura slipped behind the mother and took her own picture of this precious moment. The boy stepped back toward his mom and whispered something in her ear. She looked nervously back at Steve. "You… like space?"

Steve replied in Russian, immediately losing Laura but relaxing the mother as they returned to her native language. Laura watched her husband in awe of his incredible brain. She could tell he was stumbling over his words a bit. She knew his Russian wasn't as strong as his German, his Japanese, or even his French, but she could also tell that this woman and this little boy were understanding him and that they were having a real conversation. She glanced at Roberta and Herb, wondering what they were thinking of their son now. Their faces were inscrutable, but they didn't look as happy as they did over breakfast this morning. That much was certain.

Steve returned to them and smiled meekly. "He wants to be an astronaut when he grows up."

Laura reached out and stroked Steve's arm affectionately. "He must've thought it was so cool. To see a real astronaut at the museum."

"He did," Steve shrugged.

"Kids," Roberta interrupted, "could you give us a minute? Your father and I need to find a pay phone. Just a quick work call."

Steve's face fell, and Laura's fell immediately after. "Sure," he agreed. "No problem."

When they stepped away, Laura reached out and rubbed Steve's back.

"They've been so weird since we got here."

"I noticed. I'm sorry, baby. I thought this would be a good idea."

"It was, my sweet. It really was. I wanted to share this with them, but we were doing so well. I thought they'd at least be able to fake being proud of me."

Laura leaned into him and kissed his cheek. "I'm proud of you. I'm so, so proud of you," she promised.

Steve pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly. He kissed the top of her head. "What would I do without you?" he whispered. Steve waited for a sweet response, but instead, she pushed him away hard and made a break for it. He chased after her, right to the restroom. He was grateful it was a single and followed her in. He locked the door as she threw herself down to the ground and vomited into the toilet. He got behind her and grabbed her short hair to keep it out of her face. When she was done, she sat up and wiped her mouth. "Thank you, angel."

Laura smiled softly. As gross as she felt, he always thanked her when she threw up, and she appreciated that. It had weirded her out at first, but she had learned to expect his unending gratitude in exchange for every hardship this pregnancy put her body through. He offered her a hand to help her stand. She reached into her bag and took out a piece of gum. She wouldn't really feel better until she got to brush her teeth.

They held hands as they went to return to the middle of the museum where they had abandoned his parents, but they ran into them almost immediately as they exited the bathroom. The payphone was nearby.

"Wow," Herb called from behind them. "You two do everything together," he said as they stopped and turned back to meet them.

Laura's face flushed, and she looked at Steve to guide her response. He had said he wanted to tell them today.

"Laura wasn't sure she'd be able to find the women's restroom without me. Turned out it was a single and written in Russian and English, so…" he chuckled uncomfortably.

Herb nodded. "Listen, kids, we wanted to make you a special dinner since you made us dinner yesterday. We were gonna head to the market to grab some stuff. Could we put you in a cab back to the house?"

"Oh," Steve frowned, "well, we could come with you to the market."

"No, we want it to be a surprise," Roberta insisted.

Steve swallowed hard and nodded. "Of course. Then… Sure."

Laura squeezed his hand tightly as they followed his parents back out to the street.

———————————————————————

When they got back to his parents' house, they headed up to their room. Steve immediately collapsed onto the bed. Laura looked at him desperately and lay down beside him. "Honey, it's gonna get better again. You'll see. They're going to make you something you really love, something they know you love, and it's going to stop feeling so awkward. I don't know why they hated that stupid museum so much, but that's what it was. We were doing fine before that, and we'll be doing fine again soon. We just needed a break from each other. That's ok."

Steve sighed and nodded. "You're right. It was the museum."

"You wanna rub my baby bump for a minute until you feel better?" she offered softly.

Steve smiled. "You know I do," he said, sitting up excitedly.

Laura sat up and took off her sweater. Then she took off her tee shirt. Then she took off her tank top. Excessive layering was helpful in concealing her bump, even though it was still small enough to be mistaken for weight gain. She lay back on the bed and unbuttoned her high-waisted jeans. She slipped them down her legs slightly, under her butt. Steve lay down beside her and put his hand on her bump. He kissed her softly and then slid lower in the bed. He kissed her navel. "Hi, Baby Urkel," he whispered. "It's Dr. Steven Quincy Urkel." Laura giggled, and he glanced up at her. "I mean, it's Daddy. Mama's here too. We're just checking in. Mama was feeling a little queasy today. Was that you? Or did that local gem my parents took us to give her food poisoning?" He paused as if he were actually waiting for a response. "Yeah, I bet it was you. Go easy on her, would ya? You have no idea how much convincing it took to get her this far. If you make this whole thing too hard on her, you just might end up an only-child. Trust me, you don't want that. I would've killed for a brother or sister when my parents were being…" He was silent for a moment. He felt Laura's hand land on his cheek. She stroked it gently. "Anyway," he continued, clearing his throat, "just don't make this any harder on her than you have to."