"Maybe you should reconsider. You're so young. What if the man you're with now decided in a few years that he wants kids? Asexuality is usually just a phase for most people," the doctor said.

Tori groaned loudly and rolled her eyes.

This will be the sixth doctor that suggested that she shouldn't get her tubes tied.

She gets up and grabs her purse. She doesn't respond to the doctor's goodbye and walks out of the hospital.

Tori drives home in silence and in anger as she sped down the road like a racer.

She opens the door to her flat. Michael is sat on the couch opening some mail.

"How was the doctor's visit?" he asked.

"Fuck off!" screamed Tori before she stomped off to the room.

She plops on the bed and buries her face inside one of her pillows.

Michael cracks open the door and looks at her. "A bit rude, don't you think?" he chuckled.

Tori rolled over and looked at Michael with a pouting look on her face.

He sits on the side of the bed. "Now, tell me why I should fuck me again?"

Tori did a big inhale and exhale before speaking. "Sorry. Another doctor told me no," she said breathlessly while holding a pillow close to her chest.

"Aw, I'm sorry. "

"Eh. It's not like it's your fault."

Tori's phone interrupts their conversation. She sits up and picks up her phone. The caller ID reads Bald Headed Leach. Tori rolls her eyes and answers the phone.

"What is it now, Oli?"

"Good afternoon to you too," Oliver laughed. "Anyways, I was wondering if you could come get me for the dinner tonight?"

"What!? What happened to your car?"

"It's in shop. Please sis? It's not like I'm that many miles away from your flat."

Tori groaned. "Whatever. But if you're not standing outside when I call you ahead, I'm driving off without you."

"Thank you!"

Before she can say 'you're welcome', Oliver hangs up the phone.

"We have to leave a bit early for the dinner. Oliver needs a ride."

"Fine by me," Michael shrugs. He grabs his towel and slings it over his arm. "I'm gonna go shower first."

"Alright."

Tori lays back down on the bed for a bit to ponder on what happened at the doctor's office. Yeah... she's asexual and not having sex like that... but still, things could happen and the fact that they valued Michael's opinion over hers angered her even more. Her body does not belong to Michael and whether she decided to have kids with him or not is nobody's business.

She finally gets up and picks out an outfit for the dinner. The blazer she bought a few weeks ago would go perfect for the occasion she thought.

It's a quarter after 6 when her and Michael are ready. Knowing Nick and Charlie, they'll probably arrive late anyway.

As Tori predicted, Nick and Charlie are late. Their excuse this time, parking.

The night starts of okay. Small talk here and there about random things.

When Charlie goes off to the bathroom is when everyone has something to say. Shooting off apologies, advice, and anything else regarding Nick and Charlie's failed adoption interview.

When Charlie gets back with Tao is when the tone of the dinner suddenly takes a sharp left.

Charlie decides he wants to do rounds.

Tori cringes at the thought as she knows how sloppy Charlie can get when he drinks.

Thank God for Sahar, as she put a stop to it when it was getting out of hand.

The gang decide to leave after saying quick goodbyes to each other.

"He drank himself in his feelings," Tori says.

"I know it's not a good thing, but I honestly don't blame him. Charlie's probably a bit sad and stressed out," Michael said.

"I understand that, but that doesn't mean drink yourself half to death. I wish there was something I could do to make him feel better."

The car is silent, until Oliver decides to break it. He leans over and asks, "Hey, Tor... why don't you have Nick and Charlie's baby?"

It takes a while before Tori's brain registers what Oliver just said to her. When it's finally processed, Tori slams on her brakes.

"Woah, Tori!" Michael said while holding on to his belt.

Tori whipped her head around to face her baby brother. "WHAT?"

Oliver then said it again. "Why don't you have Nick and Charlie's baby?"

Tori was stuck. She didn't know what to say in the moment, so she decided to continue driving.

The silent ride continues until Michael speaks up. "Yeah Tor... Oliver's suggestion isn't that bad."

Tori feels her face getting hotter and hotter.

Oliver then leans over between Michael and Tori. "Yeah, this baby will practically be the mix of them since Tori will be having it."

"Wait now! Who says-"

Michael gasp. "Yes! And imagine the dimples on it!"

"And it'll probably be so husky like a bear!" Oliver squeaked out.

"Ugh! And the curly, fluffy, golden locks of hair it'll probably have!" Michael gushed.

The two young men continue while Tori kept her eyes straight on the road, practically speeding so this embarrassing conversation can come to an end.

They finally reach Oliver's school.

"Text me when you guys get home okay?"

Tori nods at Oliver before he closes the door and makes his way to his dormitory.

Tori lays awake staring at the ceiling still processing Oliver's idea over and over and over.

Her. Victoria Spring. The number one fan of child free living having a baby? I mean, it wouldn't be HER baby since she'll be giving it to Charlie, but ya' know, that baby will still be hers, and could she live her life with a sonphew or daughtiece running around calling her auntie, tete, or whatever name children make up for their aunts when she's their biological mom.

Tori sighs and Michael sits up.

"Can't sleep?" Tori asked.

Michael laughed. "I should be asking you that," He adjusts his pillow so it can comfortably support his back. "And who can sleep with all the sighing you're doing?"

"I'm sorry."

"What's going on?"

Tori looks back at the ceiling. "I'm starting to give what Oliver said earlier some thought."

Michael was more interested than he was before. "Really?"

"Yeah. I think it'll be a good idea, but would I be mentally able to do it is the question. I mean, it'll put Charlie at ease, I can finally make him a parent, but..." Tori drifted off.

Michael smiled at her. He leans over and kisses Tori on the forehead. "Why don't you sleep on it? Think long and hard about it, and when you have your answer, stick with it."

It was Tori's turn to stay silent.

Michael pulls her close and wraps his arms around her. "You won't be able to sleep on it while wide awake now, would you?" He begins to pull the covers over both of them.

Tori chuckled. "Cornball."

Four Days Later

Charlie looks up at the mirror as he switches between ties.

"I think you should go no tie."

Charlie turns around and sees Nick leaning in the doorway.

"Good morning," Charlie smiled.

Nick walks in the bathroom and wraps his arms around Charlie's waist.

"Where are you going?"

"Back to work. Ugh, I just know Josiah is gonna make me have it once he sees me," Charlie groaned.

Nick turns him around and kisses him on the cheek. "You'll be okay."

Charlie smiled softly but nervously. "I hope so."

Nick was happy to see Charlie trying his best to take on the day. He could still see he wasn't a hundred percent there, but A for effort.

"You're going so early," Nick noticed.

"I have two and a half weeks of editing to work on for like what, how many books? It's best I leave now."

"I made coffee if you want to take any."

"Thank you. God knows I need it."

Charlie gives Nick a quick peck. "I'll do my best to get here in the afternoon." He threw on his trench coat

Nick crawls back in bed. "'Kay. I love you."

"Love you too," Charlie said as he picked up his satchel from a random corner of the room.

He makes himself a quick coffee before heading off to work.

While Nick was reading up on the latest news, his phone dinged. To his surprise, it was a message from Tori.

Can we talk?

When it was lunch time, Nick quickly made his way out of the news station and drove to the restaurant that him and Tori agreed to meet at.

When he gets there, he looks around and sees Tori at a booth sipping on an iced tea.

Nick approaches her. "Hey Tori!"

His voice pulls Tori from her thoughts. "Hey Nick."

Nick sits down in the booth.

A waiter asks them for their order and leaves.

They chat for a bit while eating, talking about work, their partners and other things before Nick finally decides to get down to business.

"So, what is it that you wanted to talk about?"

Tori stops sipping her drink and does a huge inhale. "So... Ugh, if it's a no please don't tell Charlie."

Nick looked at her a bit confused. "That depends on what the topic is."

Tori started taking quick breaths, then, she spat it out. "What if I had you and Charlie's baby?"

Nick stared at his sister-in-law with a stunned look. The silence dragging out for however long.

"WHAT!?" Nick yelled out.

"Keep your voice down!" Tori yelled back.

A few customers nearby looked over at them with a mix of confused and annoyed looks on their face.

Nick and Tori give them apologetic looks before going back to their conversation.

"Have me and Charlie's baby? Do you fucking know what you're saying?"

"Look," Tori says with her hand raised, "It was Oliver's idea."

Nick raised an eyebrow at her.

"But, it had me thinking. I mean, pros of it are that you and Charlie will finally have a baby without having to go through that whole process over and over again, you and Charlie know me, so you won't have to worry about you surrogate being a druggy or anything, and it'll be a directly blood related to you two. It'll practically be the perfect blend of you and Charlie," Tori stated.

Nick's thoughts rushed from every area of his brain. Tori having their baby doesn't sound too bad on paper, but could they really ask that of her?

"Nick. Please say something."

Nick took a bit of his meal before he started. " But there's still cons, right?"

Tori just stared at Nick.

"Tori, would you really be able to go that far for Charlie and I?"

"Yes Nick," she hesitates a bit." I thought about this for days and yeah, I'll be honored to have your baby."

Nick inhaled and looked out the glass window beside them. "Let me talk to Charlie."

"Yes, of course."

Nick calls the waiter over and asks for the bill.

"It's okay Nick, I'll pay."

"No, let me take care of it."

After he pays, he stands up from the booth. "I'll keep you updated. Also... thanks."

Tori nods while giving him a small smile.

Nick smiles back and leaves.

Nick was in the kitchen cooking a steak dinner for him and Charlie.

Daisy runs in and rubs herself on Nick's leg.

"No girl, this is human food!"

Daisy looked up at him with big eyes and began to cry.

Nick couldn't resist. "Okay, Daisy," Nick laughed while cutting off a piece on one of the steaks. "But don't tell your dad, okay?" Nick tosses her a piece and Daisy catches it and runs off.

He begins to hear keys jingling. Charlie's here. Nick quickly picks up their food and sits it at the table. He reaches for the bucket that held a chilled bottle of wine and sits it in the center.

Charlie makes his way around the corner while sliding his satchel off his shoulder. "Wow, something smells amazing." His eyes widen when he sees the amazing dinner that Nick had prepared.

"What's all this?" Charlie chuckled.

Nick comes from around the table, wraps his arms around Charlie's waist and kisses him. "Can't I just do something nice for you out of the blue?"

Charlie hummed for a bit. "Usually when you cook this good, you're going to ask me something crazy. What is it this time?"

Nick pulled away from Charlie and pulls out a chair for him. "Let's eat first."

Though it's going fast, time feels like it is moving slow for the two of them. They reminisce on things from their past like the Paris trip, their "break up" and talk shit about Ben and Harry.

Charlie sits his wine glass down. "So, what's going on Nick?"

Nick choked on his wine a bit. "What?"

"Like I said earlier honey, you don't usually cook us a dinner this good unless you want something."

"Well-"

"If it's the crazy idea about moving to New York again, forget about it."

"It's not that, I swear."

"Then what is it?"

Nick grumbled a bit while sitting his wine glass down. "Well... hold on!" He picks up the wine bottle that was sitting in the ice and begins to chug it.

"Nick! Is it really that serious?!"

Nick slams the empty bottle on the table. He then walks up to Charlie, falls to his knees and wraps his arms around Charlie and the chair tightly.

"Nick, you're acting strange."

Nick looks up at him. "I know, but I just know you're going to look at me crazy when I tell you."

"Okay?"

"And keep in mind, it was Oliver's idea."

"Oliver? Nick, just tell me."

Nick takes a deep breath. "Okay, so today I saw Tori."

"Tori?" Charlie asked. An odd duo to just meet up out of the blue, he'll admit, but he quickly lets it go. "Okay."

"And she purposed an idea to me, and it sounds like a good one."

"You mean Oliver gave her a good idea and she proposed the idea to you," Charlie laughed.

"Yeah whatever, and-"

"Nick, just spit it out! It can't be that shocking," Charlie says picking his drink back up and starts sipping it.

Nick looked up at Charlie. "Tori offered to have our baby."

Charlie spat out his wine across the room. He looked down at Nick.

"Honey say something," Nick asked.

Charlie quickly stood up. "What type of sick joke was that?" he asked, looking down at Nick.

"Joke?"

Charlie cleared the table. He began washing the dishes irately while Nick stood up from the floor.

"Char, I'm not joking."

"Why would Tori offer something so crazy? Victoria Spring having our baby? There's no way she was serious."

"It seemed like she was at the restaurant. You can call her yourself. And to be honest," Nicks liquid courage kicks in. "I don't think having Tori as our surrogate is such a bad idea," he said crossing his arms.

Charlie's thoughts rushed through his mind. The idea teetered on a fence leaning very deep into the good idea side and the bad idea side.

Charlie slams the washrag into the sink. "I'm going to sit outside for a bit." Charlie walks out while Nick called out for him.

Charlie sits on the swing bench as his thoughts continued to run wild. He finally pulled his phone from his pocket and called Tori. On the second ring, Tori answered.

"Hello?"

"Please don't rush into things so carelessly. My answer is no," he said coldly.

"Wait! Char-"

Charlie hangs up.

He was not going to entertain that idea before it got to the point that it was out of hand. Tori being the surrogate is convenient, but he could never ask that of her or put a loved one at risk of dying during child labor. Also, at this point, he took what Nick said into consideration that night. He's willing to wait.

Tori stared at her phone. She was astonished. How dare Charlie say she wasn't a hundred percent on board. She's sure of this discission... right?

She pulled on her jacket and grabbed her car keys before storming out of her flat. During her car ride, she couldn't help but feel a bit riled up at her brother's coldness on the phone. How dare he not take her seriously.

Tori pulls up to their house and storms to the front. She knocks at the door. Each knock more powerful than the next.

Charlie opened the door. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm not rushing into anything!" Tori shouted.

Charlie shut the door behind him so Nick couldn't hear the discussion. "Yes, you are Tori. This thing you're doing all because I'm a little upset needs to stop. I'm grown up now, not that teenager that was going through the motions in secondary. Stay out of my business and stop trying to protect me!"

Tori's face tightened in even more anger. "I'm not rushing into anything!" she repeated.

"Stop it, Tori," Charlie said in a low voice. "I can't ask that of you."

"But you didn't ask. I'm offering my body to help you. Who else can be the perfect surrogate than me, your sister?"

Charlie does a deep inhale. "I'm sorry Tori, I know you think you mean well, but my answer is no."

"Come on, Charlie-"

"Drop it, Tori!"

"No!"

The two sibling stared at each other with strong stone-cold expressions. The silence so thick that the only thing they could hear were their hearts pumping and the cool spring wind whistling through the air.

"My answer's still no."

Tori tightened her lips together. She quickly faces her back towards Charlie and makes her way back to her car. When the car starts, she speeds off so fast that she left the smell of burning rubber behind.

Charlie stares in the direction his sister went in for a bit before going back inside. He sighs as he leans on the door and slides down it, putting his face in his hands when he's sat on the floor.

Charlie sat at his laptop feverishly typing away. He sends the documents back to one of the authors he's working for and slams his laptop closed.

"Fuckin' finally…" He whispered to himself as he picked up his phone.

First thing he notices, the text notification number from Tori has gone up. Charlie shuts off his phone and goes to watch TV.

It has been three days since his nasty argument with Tori. Since then, she has been messaging him nonstop. It's a shame that she is messaging one of the top players of the ghosting game.

His phone goes off again, but he continues to ignore it. It then starts to ping over and over. Charlie looks at his phone and sees the last message left from Tori:

I'm outside. Open your door.

Charlie gives his phone screen a bewildered look before he jolts up and storms towards the front door.

He quickly opens the door before Tori could knock it as she already had her fist in the air.

"Will you stop pestering me?" Charlie asked a bit irritated. "My answer is still no."

"Stop being so stubborn, Charlie," Tori said, trying to keep her anger out of her tone. "And plus, this isn't only about you. Think of Nick's opinions and feeling as well."

"Keep my husband out of this."

"But he's part of it, Charlie! Your husband is a hundred percent on board with this plan, why aren't you?"

"'Cause I know who you are," Charlie said, leaning out the door a bit. "Be so for real, Victoria. You can't do this, and if I was all smiles, you wouldn't be at my doorstep like you are now."

Tori looked at Charlie like he caught her in a shameful act. "Th-that's not true."

"Give it up."

The sound of thunder begins to roll through.

"It looks like it might rain," Charlie said peaking up at the sky. "Get home before you get caught in it."

Charlie begins to close the door, when suddenly, Tori shoves her foot in the way.

"Let me speak to Nick."

"He's not here."

"I can wait."

Tori pushes past Charlie and plops herself on one of the couches in the living room. Charlie sits in the one furthest from her.

Hours pass in silence, till there is a sound of jingling keys.

Nick turns the corner into the living room and is shocked to see Tori sitting on his couch.

"I thought you two weren't talking," Nick asked.

"We aren't," spat out Charlie.

Tori gave Charlie a dirty look before focusing her attention on Nick. "Tell your husband he's being ridiculous and that I'm sure of my decision to help you two."

"Uhm-"

"Nick! Tell Tori she's crazy and that we don't need her to do this," Charlie interrupted.

Nick sighs in frustration and rubs his temples with his fingers. "Okay… Charlie? I know we said we'll wait, but can you?"

"Yes!"

"No, I want you to really think about it. Can you?"

Charlie leans back deeper into the couch and crosses his arms.

"And Tori, could you really put up with nine months of pregnancy? Nausea, back pain, not drinking, and the actual childbirth part? Could you really do that?"

Tori stared at Nick blankly.

"I'm fine with whatever…if you guys are wondering by the way," Nick spoke up.

"Really?" Tori and Charlie asked in unison.

"Of course," Nick smiled. He faces Tori. "Tori, I appreciate that you want to help me and Charlie, but I don't want to force you into anything you're not all the way for just 'cause we are going through this rough patch. If Charlie says no, I'm okay with that." He then turns to Charlie. "And Charlie, like I said that night, I'm okay with waiting if your answer to Tori is still no, but if you can't wait and are okay with Tori being the surrogate, I'm okay with that as well."

Tori and Charlie face each other but stay silent.

"Do you really want to help us, and can you really do it?" Charlie asked.

Tori nodded. She gets up to sit next to her brother and held his hands tightly in hers. "I'm… I'm okay with this if it's okay with you. I promise. Michael's okay with it too."

Charlie raised an eyebrow at her.

"I went into overdrive on research and supposedly my partner had to be okay with it and it's this whole thing- Whatever! Michael's completely on board with the idea. Him and Oliver were acting like complete morons in the car that night when the idea came about, and I've told him before not to encourage Oliver when he starts talking crazy, but he just does it and-"

Charlie couldn't help but laugh at his sister being all flustered.

Tori blushed in anger. "Don't laugh at me, asshole!"

"I'm sorry," Charlie laughed as he wiped away his tears. He looked at Tori with a warm smile and she mirrored the smile back. "Okay."

Tori's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Wha-?"

"I let you be the surrogate for me and Nick."

Tori quickly stood up. "Really?!" she squealed in excitement with her hands raised and balled up.

Charlie stood up. "Yes Tori."

Tori hugged her brother tightly. "I won't let you two down I swear." She pulled away. "I'm going to be very fertile soon, so we have to quickly get everything in order."

"You're so right!" Charlie exclaimed. "I don't want any issues when my daughter is here."

"Daughter?" Nick asked. "What if it's a boy?"

"I'll love 'em either way, but I would really like a girl!"

Nick smiled as Charlie continued the conversation with Tori. It was almost like Charlie was back to his old self. He was brighter than he was a few weeks ago and his grin was ear to ear.

"I meet like three out of five of those requirements so I think everything will be okay," Tori said. "Maybe they'll be lenient if we tell 'em a sob story."

"We're not going to lie, Tori," Charlie chuckled while crossing his arms. "Are you free next week?"

"Yeah, perks of having your own business I guess," Tori said as she walked towards the front door and Charlie and Nick followed close behind her. She throughs on her coat. "We'll meet Wednesday, okay?"

"Yeah."

Tori squeezed her brother tightly. Charlie squeezed back.

"I'll text you when I get home."

"Be safe," Charlie says as he closes the door behind her.

"Nick-" Charlie starts as he turns around, but before he could finish what he was going to say next, Nick wrapped him into a tight bear hug.

"What's all this?" Charlie asked as he let out a chuckle and returned the hug.

"I'm so happy right now, you don't even know," Nick said at barely a whisper. He brushed his fingers through Charlie's hair. "We're going to have our baby."

'Tori, you can do it! Push harder!' Charlie screamed.

Tori yelled at the top of her lungs as she clamped harder on to her brother's hand. The monitor began to beep uncontrollably and the nurses in the room began to move around quickly trying to help Tori with the complications.

'I see the head!' called out the doctor. 'Mrs. Spring, you can do it! Push!'

Tori let out a blood curdling scream as she arched her back and pushed harder. She then collapsed back on the bed. Her breathing slowed down, becoming unstudied and long pauses between them until it completely stopped.

The monitor let out an exaggerated beep.

'Tori?' Charlie whispered.

A voice began to call for Tori. It grew louder and louder as it came closer. Michael appeared and crouched at Tori's bedside.

'Tori!' Michael screamed. He picked up her lifeless body and held it close to him as he cried into the crook of her neck.

'Michael-'

'THIS IS YOUR FAULT!' Michael shouted. 'I SHOULD HAVE NEVER ALLOWED HER TO HAVE THAT BABY FOR YOU!'

Charlie was taken aback, not knowing what to say next.

The doctor then walked up to Charlie with a bloody white blanket. 'I'm sorry Mr. Spring Nelson. We did all that we could.'

Charlie took the white blanket and looked down at it. An array of organs laid inside it while the heart was still beating. His eyes widened at the sight of it.

He then slowly turned around and looked at Nick, who was standing silently in the corner of the room. He had his face in his hands and was shaking.

'Nick?'

Nick looked up at Charlie with tears stained on his face and a look of disgust. 'This is just too much. My brother was right. I should've never married someone like you.'

'Nick?' Charlie reached out to rub his tears away, but Nick slapped his hand away.

'Don't fucking touch me!'

Charlie stared in shock. Unable to move his body.

'I wish I never met you. You've ruined my life,' Nick said.

The wall behind Nick opened into a bright white light. Nick turned around and began to walk into it.

Charlie slowly began to let go of the blanket of organs. It splattered on the floor, making the whole room red.

'Nick! Nick!' he yelled as he began to chase after him. Though he's running with all his might, it felt like he was running in place as Nick went further and further into the light as Charlie was engulfed in the blood flooding the room.

Charlie jumped out of his sleep. He groaned and began to rub his forehead with his hand.

"Coffee…" was all he was able to muster out.

Everything seemed to be going fine so far with the surrogacy. As soon as they got the go ahead, Nick gave his sperm sample to the clinic that same week. The process was going smoothly, too smoothly to be exact, and this should be making Charlie happy, but why wasn't it? And what the hell was the meaning of the crazy dream?

Charlie stood in front of the living room window while holding his cup of coffee. Nick sneaks up behind him and snakes his arms around his waist. His beard tickled Charlie's neck a bit.

"What's on your mind?" Nick asked.

"It's nothing."

"How is it nothing? I can feel you shaking babe."

Charlie used his free hand to squeeze on one of Nick's arms. "I'm just overthinking."

"What wrong?"

Charlie let out a deep sigh. "You're going to be angry with me."

Nick pulls away and turns Charlie around. "What is it?"

"I… I'm starting to have second thoughts about Tori."

"Charlie!" Nick shouted with a flabbergasted look on his face.

"I know and I'm sorry Nick!"

"Why are you saying this so late? The doctor has already inseminated her!" Nick collapsed on the couch and buried his face in his hands. He looked back up at Charlie. "Why'd you even say yes then? If you were having all these little doubts, why say yes?"

Charlie stayed silent.

Nick got up and walked towards the front door. Charlie sat his cup down on the table and followed behind him.

"Where are you going?" Charlie asked.

"I'm going to tell Tori that it's off," Nick said as he through on his jacket. "Better now than never, I guess."

"Nick, I'm sorry."

Nick looked at him with furrowed eyebrows. "You want to come with me?"

Charlie nodded. He grabbed one of his jumpers as Nick opened the front door.

Before they could set foot outside, Tori was standing before them, gasping for air.

"Tori, what are you doing here?" Charlie asked.

"Charlie…I'm pregnant."