AN: Here we are, the second/final chapter of this little story. (Of course, there will be more to come in the universe!)

I hope you enjoy! If you do, please do let me know!

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"This isn't funny, Seth," Jessica said. "This could be a real emergency."

Her words said one thing, but her laughter said that she didn't fully believe what she was saying.

"Seth, please…stop making me laugh!"

"I'm not doing anything, Jessica," Seth insisted, though he was laughing, even if he wasn't doing anything else. "I'm simply clearing the way. I told you that you should have stopped back on the trail."

"I'm not doing that," Jessica insisted. Seth wasn't ridiculing the fact that they were moving faster now, than they had been earlier, and the closer they got to Mara's the faster they seemed to move.

"Wouldn't be the first time, Woman. Those bushes have seen a lot. Just watch out for the poison ivy out there. Believe me—I've treated some very interesting cases of it."

She rolled her eyes at him, but he did earn a little more laughter from her, despite the fact that she insisted that the laughter made her feel like she was suffering a bit more than without it.

"I think I'm going to make it," she said.

"You'll make it," Seth agreed. "I'll order breakfast for you. I know you want pancakes. Coffee or…?"

"I can't think of that right now, Seth," Jessica insisted.

The urge to go to the restroom had hit her some distance back in their walk. She'd kept insisting that she could hold it. It had seemed like the moment that her brain became aware that there was a destination in mind, however, it became far more desperate for her to find a restroom at that location—and the sooner, the better.

"You can always order something else," Seth offered. "If you change your mind."

"Cold milk doesn't sound terrible," Jessica said.

It struck Seth. It wasn't a usual part of any of Jessica's orders, but he pushed it quickly out of his mind. Their baby had ideas about what Jessica should consume, and they were strong suggestions.

"I'll get you both, Woman," Seth said, reaching the door to Mara's and opening it so that she could pass inside. "Don't worry about anything, just go straight on through."

Seth laughed when Jessica practically darted through the diner. A few people tried to speak to her, but she quickly—and as politely as possible—made it clear that she couldn't stop to chat. Seth made a beeline for Mara, putting in the order for breakfast as quickly as he could. He would have insisted on ordering, anyway, and he was thankful that it had worked out this way so that he didn't have to come up with some reason to order Jessica's breakfast for her—and to order it away from their table.

Once the order was in, and he was sure that Jessica wasn't going to be fast enough to interrupt his ordering, Seth chose a table for them and sat. The coffee came before he could barely sit entirely in his seat, and he was just doctoring his up a bit when he heard someone address him.

"Doc!"

Seth smiled at William Ferguson as he approached the table. Seth offered a hand for a handshake.

"Haven't seen you around much lately," Seth said.

"Haven't been around much, lately," William said. "Maggie and I went out west to visit our son."

"Do any fishing?" Seth asked.

"Some," William said.

"How is Nathan?"

William beamed. Seth supposed that every father—or, at least those worth their salt—looked the same way when they talked about their children. The thought tugged at something inside of him.

"Doing good," William said. "Doing real good. He has a great job out there, and he just got engaged."

"Congratulations!" Seth said. "Anyone we know?"

William shook his head.

"She's a local girl," he said. "Already talking about starting a family. Speaking of which—I have to ask. I heard that you and Jessica…had some news?"

Seth smiled.

"Here's the woman of the hour, now," Seth offered, as Jessica approached the table. William moved out of the way to make room for her to sit. She sat down with a bit of a sigh. "Everything alright?" Seth asked.

She nodded, and then she put on a smile.

"William—it's so nice to see you!" She said.

"Jessica," he said, as a way of greeting her.

"William was just asking me if…the news he heard is true," Seth said. Jessica gave him a half-curious look, clearly not wanting to assume the news. Seth cleared his throat. "About—the new Hazlitt in town."

Jessica's smile grew sincerely, but she nodded her head, somewhat at Seth.

"I was just about to tell him that…we're very excited about our new little addition," Seth said. "Due at the end of the year."

"Excuse me, William," Mara said, arriving with the plates professionally balanced on one arm and a glass of milk in the other hand. William stepped quickly out of the way.

"Well, congratulations! Really! That's great…really great! Well…I won't keep you. I'll let you get on with your breakfast."

Both Jessica and Seth thanked him as he walked off and Mara arranged plates in front of them.

"Baby Hazlitt likes pancakes, huh?" She teased, smiling and winking at Jessica.

"And milk, apparently," Seth said. "Who knew? We learn something every day."

Mara wished them both a good meal, and then she left them to it.

"That look OK to you, Jess?" Seth asked. "I didn't know which meat you wanted, but protein's important for the baby. I got you sausage, but…I got bacon. That way you can have your choice." He turned his plate around to make it easily accessible to her. "You're welcome to all you want. You can have both, if you want it."

"This looks wonderful," Jessica said. "Only—strawberry pancakes, Seth?"

"A-yuh," Seth said. "It was that or blueberry."

Jessica hummed, already taking a rather large bite from the three pancakes she had on offer—stopping to gather up some of the strawberries from the heap that Seth had asked for, wanting to make sure that there was plenty of fruit. No matter what, he knew the baby liked just about any sort of produce.

"I normally get blueberry," Jessica said, as soon as she swallowed down the bite.

"Well—it was that or blueberry," Seth said. "But—I was thinking…I might just get, you know, what was the best choice to represent the baby."

Jessica put another bite in her mouth. She was looking at Seth in such a way that he could practically hear the gears in her brain turning. He couldn't even take a bite of his own food. He felt like his stomach couldn't handle it at the moment. Admittedly, it was so full of butterflies that he didn't feel like he had room for bacon and eggs.

"It's good," Jessica said.

Seth smiled.

"You like it?" He asked. "If you really wanted blueberry, Jess, but…I'm hoping you wanted strawberry. Or, at least…you can learn to be happy with strawberry."

She licked her lips. She was still clearly thinking, but he could tell that it was catching up with her.

"Seth—when you say…you picked the best pancakes to represent the baby, what you mean is that…you picked what you thought the baby would like?" Jessica asked.

Seth smiled at her.

"What I mean, Jessica, is just what I said. I picked the pancakes I thought best represented the baby. There was blueberry," he said, emphasizing "blue," "and there was strawberry. Jess—aren't those pretty strawberries? Pretty and red, but…really…they make the pancakes almost…pink…wouldn't you say? Jess?"

She paused, and Seth knew that it had come through for her. There was a good chance that it hadn't truly sank in yet, because it was a great deal to adjust to as part of their reality, but she was aware. He reached in his pocket and pulled out the handkerchief, just in case she needed it. Her eyes glided over to his hand that held the cloth.

Then, she turned those beautiful blue eyes up at him.

For now, they weren't full of tears, and Seth thought the shock—because there was bound to be at least a touch of that—might keep the tears at bay. They would likely come out later, when they both least expected it.

"Strawberries," Jessica said. Seth hummed and nodded. "Not—blueberries."

"No," Seth said, shaking his head. "Not blueberries."

Jessica held his eyes and nodded.

"Are the strawberries good, Jess? You—like strawberries?"

"I like…either," Jessica said. "As long as…"

"They're fresh?" Seth interrupted, so that she wouldn't say what he knew she was thinking. After all, they both know what she was thinking. Unfortunately, it was a thought that could never get too far from her mind—especially when it felt like she was practically holding her breath this week. Seth imagined that wasn't going to get better for a while, if it ever got better. Admittedly, he was somewhat holding his own breath, too. "A-yuh, I agree, Jess. Blueberries…strawberries…they're all good, as long as they're fresh. And…this is really, really fresh."

Jessica nodded.

"Are you sure you…didn't want blueberries?" She asked.

Seth smiled at her.

"I'm a fan of strawberries," he said. "I'm very happy with strawberries."

"Every man—most men—want blueberries," Jessica said. "For the name."

"She's getting my name either way, Jessica," Seth said. "Because she's mine, and that won't change."

Jessica drew in a breath and let it out. She laughed to herself.

"So—I was right. Strawberries mean…"

"I told you that I had a hunch from the start, Woman," Seth said.

"You couldn't have known," Jessica said.

"No," Seth agreed. "But—maybe I hoped enough to make it so. Did you ever think about that?"

She smiled. Seth's heart felt like it skipped a beat. The smile was sincere, and beautiful, and he loved seeing her wear that kind of smile as much as he loved seeing her wear anything—or nothing at all, for that matter.

His appetite came back, and he tasted his food. It seemed to remind her that the pancakes, though an indication that they would someday have a beautiful little baby girl, were also her brunch.

"In all honesty, if you want blueberry, Jess, I don't mind if you order more," Seth said.

"I really do like the strawberry," Jessica insisted.

"Me too," he offered with a wink. "Did…did…uh…Frank…?"

"We'd have been happy either way, I think," Jessica said, still calm for the time being. "But—Frank was a bit old fashioned. We—uh—didn't know before, but…"

"The first?" Seth asked, picking up on her meaning. She nodded.

"And the second," she said. "Both were…blueberries. When we…with the first…we…"

"You don't have to," Seth said. It was always what he told her, when she started to talk about the children they'd lost. She knew it, by now, but he always wanted to reiterate to her that he had no expectation that she would share beyond what she wanted to share, or even thought she could, at any given time.

She seemed, however, to like to share with him, and he was willing to listen to anything she wanted to say, whenever she wanted or needed to say it.

"I'm fine," she said. He believed her. Her voice was steady, and he put the handkerchief back in his pocket as a show to her that he believed her. He patted his pocket as a reminder, however, that, either way, he wasn't judging her and he had it ready for her, if she should decide that she needed it. "Thank you, Seth," she said softly.

"Whatever you need," he said. "You were saying?"

"After the first," Jessica said, leaning toward him to keep her voice as low as possible, "we…didn't think there would be another chance. We hoped, of course, but…we wanted to be realistic. It didn't matter to anyone else, of course, so we thought…naturally…it would have been Frank."

"Of course," Seth agreed, even though he wasn't entirely sold on the whole practice of naming sons after their fathers. It wasn't uncommon for something to be passed down, even in the case where "Junior" wasn't desired, but he didn't really know that it appealed to him. Of course, it didn't really matter, since they were having strawberries and not blueberries, so there was no need to bring up a whole discussion about what Frank might have wanted.

"When there was another chance," Jessica said, "we…did ask."

"Did you…pick anything?" Seth asked.

Jessica shook her head.

"I told Frank that, since nobody knew, anyway, it was fine to use Frank," Jessica said. "We didn't want to explain, anyway, and…"

"Makes sense," Seth said, getting the feeling that she needed him to rescue her from the need to finish the statement. "So—you decided on Frank again?"

"We never decided," Jessica said. "We were still talking about it, and then it just didn't matter." She shook her head. "I didn't have the heart to talk about it after that. I couldn't even bring myself to think about it."

"If it helps you now," Seth offered, "just for us to know…you can pick whatever you like, Jess. Part of the whole—grieving process and all. Even lost babies can have names, if you want them to. It helps make it real. It can help with the grief to say their names when you're talking about them and thinking about them."

She shushed him, glancing around. He remembered that they were in the diner. Still, he thought that they'd kept their voices down, for the most part, and most of what they had said was cryptic enough that he doubted too many people would have wanted to pay close enough attention to decipher it—even if it might have given them something to talk about for a day or two.

"My apologies, Jess," Seth offered.

"It's fine. It really doesn't matter," Jessica said.

"Just know—if you want, I'll support it," Seth said.

"I appreciate that," Jessica said. "I really do." Seth smiled at her and nodded his acknowledgement.

"Gotta say—I wouldn't mind—buying a little something pink. What do you say? I know you're fond of that blanket. Maybe we—have a pink one, too?"

Jessica's cheeks burned a little red. Seth had bought a few baby items, and she seemed to have formed an emotional attachment with the receiving blanket. They didn't talk about it, really, but Seth had noticed that she liked having it somewhat close to her for comfort, especially at times when it seemed she was feeling particularly anxious or emotional about the baby.

"We'll talk about it," Jessica said.

Seth laughed to himself.

"Fine by me," he said. "You just let me know when you're ready. We should start talking about names, too. When you're ready, I mean."

"I thought you were partial to Sethlina?" Jessica teased.

"It's not off the table, Woman," Seth said. "Besides the obvious, I just have one big hope for her."

"What is that?" Jessica asked, already knowing, of course, what would be the obvious hope that both of them would hold for the baby. Their greatest hope for her would be that they would bring her home—healthy, whole, and happy—for all of them to enjoy their lives together as a family.

"I hope she looks just like her mother," Seth said.