When they got out of the building, Herb stopped them all before they got back in the car. "Steve, I owe you an apology, one of many, but to get us started, I'm sorry we didn't spend more father-son time together when you were a kid. Throwing a ball around—not that either of us could have caught one then—fishing, that kind of thing. You deserved more of my one-on-one attention."

"Thanks, Pop."

"So what do you say we do something just the two of us this afternoon?"

"Well, that's a great idea, but I can't just leave Laura alone."

"Yes, you can," she said firmly. "I'll be fine."

"But, Sweetums…" He didn't want to say it outloud, but he didn't exactly feel comfortable leaving her alone in a foreign country, where neither of them had cell service, while she was pregnant.

"I'll be fine, Steve. Really. You should go."

"And actually, Steve," Roberta interrupted, "one of the things I'm sorry about is the way we never took your crush on Laura seriously. I'm sorry that we never got the chance to know her the way her parents got to know you before you two got together. I'd like to spend some one-on-one time with you, too, Laura, if you're all right with that."

Laura nodded. "Sure. What did you have in mind?"

"Let's leave the boys with the car and catch a cab. I have an idea."

"Ok," she nodded. She turned back to Steve. "Is that ok with you, baby?"

"Yes," he agreed. "Just be careful. Stay with my mom in case there's an emergency. She can call my dad, and I'll come running."

"Ok," she nodded, leaning up to kiss him goodbye.

"Jeez, Steve," Herb chuckled. "You're just leaving her with your mother for a few hours. It's not like you're headed off to war."

Steve pouted and kissed her goodbye again. "Love you," he said softly. "Be careful, goddess."

"I will," she agreed, "and I love you, too."

———————————————————————

"So do you come here often?" Steve asked Herb as they undressed, facing away from each other awkwardly.

"Your mother and I both do. Separately, of course. The surgeons that we work with come at least once a week. We probably go closer to once a month, but we like to go more when we can."

Steve nodded. "I don't have to be fully nude, do I?" He wrapped a towel around his waist.

"You don't have to be, but people will be in a bathhouse, so just be prepared."

Steve nodded. "So what do we do?"

"My usual routine is sauna, steam, cold plunge, sauna, lunch, sauna, steam, cold plunge, sauna, shower, and then I'm usually shot for the rest of the day."

"Sounds good," he agreed. "Lead the way."

———————————————————————

"This is GUM," Roberta said as they entered the grand building, "Russia's number one department store. It's really more of a mall, now, but it was a department store when the only vendor was the Soviet State."

"Oh, my God. It's beautiful. This mall looks like a museum. I might be in heaven," Laura said.

Roberta laughed. "C'mon. I'll take you to a map so you can pick your poison."

"Roberta, I'm not going to be able to afford anything here."

"Honey, I'm a heart surgeon, and I can't afford half of it. We'll do some window shopping, and we will have an amazing lunch, and we'll beat the boys home."

Laura nodded. "Ok."

———————————————————————

Steve and his father were the only English speakers in the banya that day, so they felt pretty comfortable that their conversation would remain private, even in public.

"So how are things with Laura?" his dad asked.

Steve smiled. "Amazing. She is everything to me."

Herb nodded. "I'm glad you're happy, son. She really is a lovely woman. I'm glad you have someone."

"Me too."

"And the sex?"

Steve swallowed hard. "Pop, not in front of the old naked Russian men," he scolded out the side of his mouth.

"You think they're not talking about sex?"

Steve rolled his eyes and sat up a little straighter. "It's good."

"And she's still satisfied?"

Steve smirked. "Completely," he promised.

"Atta boy," his father replied, averting his eyes and staring straight ahead.

———————————————————————

Laura and Roberta had visited a dozen luxury stores by the time they ended up in Dior. Laura looked longingly at a pair of earrings. Pearls facing outward, large, decorative backs facing inward. 500 dollars for earrings was definitely not in her budget. She could live with that. Steve took good care of her, and he had bought her plenty of jewelry even in just the four years they'd been married. They were deep in savings mode anyway, but these luxury marks always reminded her of Stefan. Steve was an excellent gift giver, but he would never understand fashion the way her fashion model ex did. He had had a number of misses, too.

"Those are beautiful," Roberta said over her shoulder. "Let me buy them for you."

"What?" Laura asked in surprise.

"Let me thank you for all you've done for Steve over the last few years."

Laura shook her head. "No. Absolutely not. I'm not gonna let you thank me for being a good wife. I don't do that in exchange for earrings. I'm a good wife because your son is an excellent husband. You don't get to thank me for that."

Roberta stepped back slightly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean…"

Laura's face relaxed slightly. "No. I'm sorry. That was maybe an overreaction."

"No, you're right. I shouldn't have tried to justify it that way. That's really not what I meant. I just meant… I have so much love for you in my heart, and I don't have a lot of ways to express it. I can't tell you how grateful I am that Steve has you. I know what you're saying. I know he deserves you, and he's good to you, and you don't need or want me to even stick my nose anywhere near your marriage. I know I don't have that right, but you just… You take such good care of my son, and I love you so much for that. I wanted to buy you the earrings because I love you, Laura, and I wanted to show it." Roberta reached up and wiped a tear from her eye.

Laura's brow furrowed. She stepped closer to her, almost reaching to hug her and quickly realizing that that would likely reveal her firm baby bump. She contemplated her possible reactions. She couldn't say it back. Not really. She certainly couldn't start calling her mom, but she was touched. More than that, she wanted to encourage this level of expressiveness in Roberta, in the hopes that she would continue opening up to Steve. Laura reached her hand out and squeezed hers for a moment. "Thank you, Roberta, but I really don't need them. I don't even really want them. There's a shallow part of me that is temporarily distracted by these outlandish price tags, but I learned a long time ago that those things don't make me happy. If you wanna buy me a pair of earrings, go to a normal mall and buy me a pair of earrings, a purse, and two pairs of boots. You'd spend less."

"Don't say that unless you mean it."

"You gonna buy me another suitcase to bring it all home in?" Laura joked.

"I would if you'd let me."

Laura shook her head. "Roberta, all I want from you is for you to be good to your son."

"I'm really trying," she whimpered.

"I know, and you're doing a good job. Just keep doing the hard work for me. Ok?"

"Ok."

———————————————————————

Steve and Herb panted as they exited the steam room and headed for the cold plunge.

"Why are we doing this again?" Steve demanded.

"It's relaxing, and the Russians swear it'll help your sperm count." Herb stepped into the cold pool and lowered himself quickly.

Steve grimaced. "That doesn't sound peer reviewed," he said as he stepped in more slowly and shivered powerfully. As he lowered his groin into the tub he squealed loudly, much like a pig. "Ooooooooo, boy! That's not helping anyone's sperm count!" he exploded. His teeth immediately started to chatter. "How long do we stay in here?"

"Just five minutes," Herb said, his teeth clenched together.

"FIVE MINUTES?!"

"Well, four now."

"This is crazy."

"People don't usually talk during this part, Steven. Because of the extreme discomfort."

"Noted."

———————————————————————

The Baby Dior section also caught Laura's eyes, as baby clothes often did now. She strolled over to the shelving holding onesie sets and plushies as casually as possible. She glanced at the price tag. "Good lord," she exclaimed.

Roberta chuckled over her shoulder. "Just what every baby needs: a cream-colored onesie they'll spit up on immediately that costs 400 dollars."

"Tell me how pearls and gold are only slightly more expensive than this onesie."

"Don't look at the price of that teddy bear. C'mon. Let's go find lunch."

"Good idea," Laura nodded.

———————————————————————

"Dad, can I ask you a question?" Steve asked over lunch.

"Of course, son."

"It might be kind of… sensitive."

Herb nodded and set his fork down. "Ok. What is it?"

Steve looked down at his porridge and swirled his spoon in it. "Well, Laura and I aren't there yet, but you know we want kids someday."

"Sure."

"I know you've been working on yourself, and I just wanted to know, what would you do differently with me if you could? What do I need to do differently with my kids?"

"Son, I could list things I did wrong with you when you were growing up for hours. You could probably keep going for hours after that. I wanna make amends for all that. I'm not saying it's not worth talking about, but when you and Laura are ready, you shouldn't be thinking like that. Your relationship with your kids isn't about me or your mother."

Steve swallowed hard. "Well, that's not exactly true," he grumbled. "The way people were raised influences how they raise their children. There are biological and environmental factors at play."

"You'll drive yourself crazy dissecting your childhood like that. I know I did."

Steve raised an eyebrow at him. "You did?" He was a little surprised his father had put much thought into his approach to child rearing at all, at least before he started therapy.

"I did. You know Papa Urkel was a hard man. Is," he corrected. "I can't believe that old crank is still alive."

Steve averted his eyes. He knew his father and his grandfather didn't have a good relationship, and he knew that it was because of how Herb was raised, but he didn't like to speak so callously about anyone's death.

"It was hard to figure out how to discipline you without taking off my belt. I never quite got that right, and anguishing about it didn't help me to figure how to do it better. Sometimes it felt like as long as I didn't smack you, I was doing well enough."

Steve felt a little jolt in his heart. His father had never hurt him, not physically anyway, but Steve had feared he would before. Herb had told Steve on more than one occasion how his grandfather would have handled a situation, and when he was very little, that had frightened him. Steve never wanted his kids to know that that was an option for any father, nor did he really want them to know that some dads yelled and some dads belittled and some dads neglected, all things Steve had actually experienced.

"I'm sorry," Herb said eventually. "I'm sure this isn't the conversation you were expecting to have when you brought this up."

"No," he admitted. "It's not."

"All I'm saying is that I hope you can learn more from what I'm doing now than what I did then."

Steve smiled softly. He didn't know where this trip would end, but he knew how it felt to learn that his father was trying to take ownership of his mistakes and thinking about him a lot. He knew how it felt that his father wanted to be a better dad for him. Those were indeed lessons he would be happy to apply to his own parenting.

———————————————————————

"Did Steve tell you what we talked about the last time we spoke before this trip?"

Laura pursed her lips. "The last time he was here?"

"Yes," she nodded.

"Yeah. We were in the middle of a pregnancy scare almost a year into our marriage, and it sounds like you really helped him see my perspective. Thank you for that."

"You're welcome, but to be completely honest, I didn't do it for you. I did it for him. I was worried he was going to lose you if he couldn't be a bit more flexible, and I didn't want him to be alone."

Laura nodded. "I'd like to think we would've gotten through it. Without him talking to you about it, without us finding out that we didn't actually have to make a decision, but it was really scary. I don't really know what would've happened."

"I only bring it up because he was flexible with you and patient, and I helped him get there, and I just wanna be sure that I didn't take something away from him."

"What do you mean?"

"He wants kids, Laura. Desperately. I know he says he only wants them with you, but I think, if he'd never won you over, his kids, no matter who he had them with, would still be his favorite thing in the world. He wants you, but he needs to have kids. Did I make a mistake by helping your marriage over that hurdle? Are you just going to string him along? Or do you share his vision for your future?"

Laura placed a hand over her baby bump and stroked it gently. She was a little hurt by this turn from Roberta as they had been having such a nice time before this. She knew there were parts of her concern that were fair. Steve did want children. Desperately. Just because Laura couldn't share with his mom that they were finally having a baby didn't mean that his mom couldn't read the writing on the wall and see that it was time. Roberta didn't know Laura. What she knew about Laura was that Laura and Steve were together. She wasn't around enough to know if Laura was treating him well and building a life with him or just taking advantage of him and building a life near him. Laura didn't appreciate the implication that she would be indifferent to her husband's needs, and Roberta was the last person who had any right to shame her for being inattentive to Steve, but maybe that made her exactly the right person to see where she was going wrong. Still, she knew the criticism was unfounded this time, as she rubbed her swelling womb. She still hadn't felt the baby move. She had read in all her books that it was about that time. She took a moment to wonder when that would happen before she responded. "Roberta, I promise you that Steve and I are going to have kids, but I need you to let us do it in our own time."

"Laura, I know I have no right to pressure you. I'm not trying to. Any timeline that's ok with Steve is ok with me. I just had to ask. I haven't seen you in years. You've been married a lot longer now. I just needed to know that nothing changed for you after that pregnancy scare."

Laura paused for a moment. She wanted to say this carefully. "Something did change." Her brow crinkled as she tiptoed around the secret she was concealing. "Myrtle had Beau when we were dealing with all that, and it made some things real for me. Steve hadn't held a baby since… Well, I'd never seen him hold a baby. I knew I wanted kids when we got married, but Myrtle was the first person my age who I'd seen go through that. It was scary, but it was exciting. Steve and I babysat for her all the time when they lived in our building. Talking about kids with Steve always freaked me out before that pregnancy scare, but it started to feel natural after that. I knew we weren't ready yet, but the weight of him waiting for me wasn't so heavy anymore. Now, things are so different for us. He has his PhD. I'm a practicing attorney. We're really… grown-up. I think you're going to be a grandmother sooner than you think," she admitted. She hoped Steve wouldn't be upset with her for getting so close to revealing her pregnancy. He had to be the one to do it, but she also didn't want to close herself off from Roberta when she was finally opening up.

Roberta suppressed a shy grin. "I'm really glad to hear that, Laura," she admitted. She cleared her throat. "So… how are your parents?" she asked.

Laura was grateful for the subject change, and she could tell Roberta was too, having heard all that she needed to hear.

———————————————————————

When Herb and Steve got to the house, he was relieved to see Roberta's car in the garage. That meant it wasn't turned over in a ditch somewhere off an icy road. He practically ran into the house to find his wife and baby. He found his mother first in the kitchen. "Roberta," he grinned. He leaned in and kissed her cheek. "Hi, Mama," he said softer.

"Hi, Steven," she replied, pinching his cheek. "Steve," she corrected.

"Did everything go ok today? I let you travel with my most precious cargo." He didn't reveal that that now included more than just Laura.

"Everything went fine," she said, "but Laura's not feeling so well, so she went upstairs to lie down."

Steve frowned deeply. He assumed it was her morning sickness, but he needed to be sure. "What's wrong?"

"Just a little nausea. Must have been something she ate." She took a deep breath like she was gearing up to add more detail or maybe change the subject.

"I have to go check on her," he said firmly and urgently. "Sorry. I'll come back down soon." He felt bad about leaving her mid-conversation, but not bad enough to not do it for Laura.

———————————————————————

He knocked softly on their door as he entered. He found her lying on the bed. "Greetings, Mrs. Urkel," he chirped, trying to bring some much needed pep into the room.

She turned her head and removed the washcloth she was holding to it. "Hey, baby," she rasped.

He frowned softly. He closed the door behind him and climbed onto the bed beside her. "I'm sorry you're not feeling well, sweetpotato."

"Don't mention food, Steve," she demanded urgently, repressing a gag in her throat.

"Sorry, lovebasket." He placed a hand on her belly and rubbed it gently. "Just morning sickness?"

"It's easy to say that when it's not happening to you," she complained.

He pursed his lips. "I hope you know I wasn't trying to minimize what you're feeling. I was just asking if you needed to go to the doctor."

Laura sighed deeply. "I know," she agreed. "I know you were. Sorry. I just feel… yucky."

"What can I do for you?"

"Nothing," she replied. "I just need to lie here for a minute. Why don't you go back down with you parents?"

Steve frowned. He didn't like that directive, but he wanted to make sure he gave her space when she requested it. It was an area of their marriage that he always needed to work on. "No sweat, my pet. Rest well. Call if you need anything." He kissed her sweaty forehead and stood up. He took a few steps toward the door and paused when he heard her soft objection.

"Wait."

He looked back at her. "Yes, goddess?"

"Did everything go ok with your dad? I don't wanna send you back into the lion's den alone if you need me."

"Everything was fine. Before you got sick, was everything ok with my mom?"

"Yeah," she replied. "Until she tried to feed me delicious, expensive, normal people food, we were having a good time."

"Good," he answered. He paused for a long moment. "I wanna tell them tonight, Sweetums. Especially since you're not feeling well. When you feel a little better, come on down, and we'll tell them."

"You can tell them now if you want. I don't have to be there."

"I would never do this without you," he said seriously. "So I'll head downstairs and let you rest, but I'm checking on you every twenty minutes. I won't wake you if you're asleep, but I'm poking my head in."

"You think you can enter a room without waking me?" Her voice was weak even as she teased him which really underlined how crummy she was feeling.

"No, but it will be good practice for when the baby is born," he smiled. He blew her a kiss. "I love you."

"Love you too."