The next evening, Laura put him in his best suit for the news.

"I'm so nervous," he said as she tied his tie.

She pursed her lips and swallowed hard. She was too. Despite the conversation they'd had last night that went a long way toward healing her childhood trauma, she still didn't like him getting all this attention for something so dangerous. Even though she trusted him to never break a promise, she feared that all this was doing was encouraging him. "Don't be," she said eventually. "It's just a little interview. You're going to do a million more of these for all the incredible scientific advancements you're going to make, and those will be way more important than this one. This is a fluff piece."

Steve frowned. "Gee. Tell me how you really feel," he replied sarcastically.

Laura frowned back. "I'm sorry, Steve. That was maybe a little too honest." She finished with his tie and patted his chest.

Steve held her hands to his chest. "No. It's ok. There's no such thing as too honest in this marriage."

"I'm just trying to say, you are going to do incredible things, and I am certain that people are going to notice. This is the first of many interviews like this. Don't get stressed out."

Steve nodded. He smiled at her. "You think I'm gonna do incredible things in science?"

"Yes," she grinned. "Of course, I do. You already have. You're brilliant and creative and hard-working. You are going to change the world and win a dozen Nobel prizes and make Quinn and me so incredibly proud."

"You know, no single person has ever won more than two, but thank you. That's all I wanna do, make you two proud of me."

"No, it's not." She stroked his cheeks. "You, my love, are in it for even better reasons. You want to make a real difference. Making us proud is a wonderful side effect, but you're in it to make the world a better place."

"It's a really, really, really wonderful side effect."

She nodded. "It is, but I'm glad you're in it for the right reasons. It just makes me prouder."

Steve leaned close and kissed her. Then there was a knock at the door. "Am I ready?" he asked, stepping back and posing as confidently as he could.

Laura nodded and picked Quinn up. She sat down on their bed. "You're ready. We'll be up here if you need anything."

"You sure you don't wanna watch?"

"If she cries, she'll mess up the live broadcast. That's a lot of pressure to put on her."

Steve nodded. "Ok. I understand."

"Good luck, baby," Laura called as he sadly turned to the door.

"Thanks, babycakes." He blew her a kiss as he exited.

Laura pulled Quinley in closer and turned on the tv in their bedroom. "Just a couple hours, baby, and then we'll be past this," she promised, kissing her cheek and cuddling her close, more so to ease her pounding heart than Quinley's.

————————————————————

Steve took a deep breath before he opened the door. "Hi there!" he greeted the camera crew who were already rolling.

"Hi, Steve, thank you for having us," Aleida said, shaking his hand.

"My pleasure. Thank you for inviting me onto your show," he said, gesturing dramatically toward the cameraman. "Come on in." He walked them over to their living room set and sat on the couch, just like they'd practiced.

"Now, Steve, why don't you tell us a little bit about what happened that day?"

————————————————————

As Laura watched from upstairs, she was captivated by her husband. He was so confident and charming. He was still himself, but Laura could see his growth more clearly than she had in a while. When she looked at him, she still saw the sweet boy he always was. When she looked at him holding her baby, she just saw a more mature version of that same little boy who wanted to be loved. She saw that same boy lit up with the joy of having built the family he had never had growing up. When she saw him on the news, however, she saw him through the eyes of thousands of strangers. Sure, he had an odd voice and an even odder laugh, but there was something about him that was compelling. Steve had always been confident, confident beyond reason, but he never sold that façade when they were younger, at least not to her because all she had to do was look at him to completely melt him into a puddle. His confidence when they were younger always seemed like a front. Yes, he was smart, and he knew it. Yes, he was funny, and he knew it. Yes, he was a good kid, and he knew it. But he wasn't whole. It didn't take much time for anyone to see the cracks in his shield, whether that was someone like her who tried to step over the cracks, tried to lessen the damage as much as possible, or someone like his many, many schoolyard bullies, which she knew had occasionally included her, who looked for those cracks to deal the deepest, most painful blow possible. Now, as she watched this grown man on the news with a shrill voice and a weird laugh, he was obviously different. He was still confident, but he was finally, finally whole. He wasn't masking anything. He just… was, and Steve Urkel was… extraordinary. He always had been, but now she knew no one could miss it.

————————————————————

"Well, Steve, we have a surprise for you," Aleida said as the end of the interview drew nearer.

"You do?" he questioned.

"Yes," she replied. "Why don't you go open your back door?"

Steve leapt out of his seat immediately. "Is it the mayor?! I've always wanted a key to the city. Mostly so I could sneak in there and pay all my taxes early. I just hate having them hanging over my head!" he announced as he sauntered over to the door. He opened it wide. "Hope!" he exclaimed. "Keisha! What are you two doing here?" he asked, waving them inside. The cameraman followed him from the door and back to the couch where he and Keisha settled beside each other.

————————————————————

The interviewer continued to ask questions about Keisha's experience, allowing her to do some of the heavy lifting of calling Steve a hero, which he absolutely was despite being far too modest to admit it on television. Laura, however, heard very little of the actual content of the interview because she was so taken aback by the sight of Keisha and Hope with Steve. They looked like a happy family of three. She immediately regretted sitting the interview out when she saw the way the news team was trying to frame their story. "Man Saves Woman and Child… The Way It's Supposed to Be and Has Always Been. Any Alternative Telling From Some Cranky Wife Is Surely Wrong and Stupid and Unamerican."

————————————————————

When Steve had finished the interview and let the news crew out, he turned back to Keisha and Hope.

"Well, I guess we should get going too," she said as she picked up her purse.

"Oh, no," Steve said. "Please, stay for dinner. I want you to meet my family."

"Are you sure? I wouldn't want to impose."

"I'm sure," he said. He took a few steps to the bottom of the stairs and called up, "Laura? We're all set down here. They're gone." He turned back to Keisha.

"Why didn't your wife want to be down here during the interview? I just assumed she wasn't home."

"She was worried about the baby crying during the broadcast," he shrugged.

Laura entered the kitchen and was surprised to see Keisha was still here. She had assumed "they" had included her. She forced a smile and extended her hand. "Oh, hi, Keisha. I'm Laura."

"Hi," she replied. "Nice to meet you."

"Laura, I invited Keisha and Hope to stay for dinner."

"Oh," Laura said, trying not to sound deeply upset by that. "Great. Great idea, Steve."

Steve frowned and looked at her sideways. He noticed she immediately looked away. He knew now that he had definitely made the wrong choice by inviting dinner guests tonight, but it was too late to back out now. He stepped toward her and placed a gentle hand on his back. "Don't worry about dinner though, my love. This is my idea, so you can just sit and relax."

"Ok," she agreed, still avoiding his eyes.

————————————————————

"So, Laura," Keisha began over dinner, "have you always known Steve was this brave? Or are you like totally surprised?"

Laura took a deep breath. "I've always known how brave Steve is. He's put himself in danger to save me a bunch of times."

"I would do anything to protect you," Steve said softly. "You know that." He placed a hand on her thigh under the table.

"That is so sweet," Keisha said. "I wish I could find a guy like that. I mean, my ex-boyfriend didn't even wanna get tied down with Hope and me and risk his basketball scholarship, let alone risk his life for us."

Laura looked back at her, her eyes softening. She was just a kid. She didn't know how much this strained Laura's relationship with Steve, and she definitely couldn't understand why. How Laura was feeling was certainly not her fault. "There aren't a lot of Steves in the world, unfortunately. I'm sorry that happened to you."

She shook her head and shrugged. "No. It's not a big deal. I just… You're really lucky."

"I am," Laura agreed, looking back at Steve and smiling softly.

————————————————————

When Keisha and Hope left very late in the evening, Laura had already stepped away to put the baby down. Steve tiptoed up the stairs and found her in the nursery, watching the baby sleep. He waved silently as he entered. She looked up at him and smiled weakly. Then she stood and followed him out the door.

"Hey, baby," she said softly as she closed the nursery door. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his lips. Then she buried her face in his neck.

"Hello, light of my life," he whispered. He hugged her back even tighter. "I have to admit, this isn't the kind of greeting I was expecting."

"Why's that?" she asked, pulling back slightly.

"Well, I kind of thought you were mad at me for inviting Keisha and Hope to stay for dinner."

Laura sighed heavily. "Honestly? I really wasn't in the mood, but I'm relieved this is all over." She hesitated. "This is all past us, right? No more interviews, no more reminiscing with your fellow hostages? We can just move on now, right?"

"Right," he agreed.

"And you remember your promise to me?"

"Absolutely, my little worrywart."

"Then I'm not mad. I'm glad this is over, and I'm so incredibly happy to have my husband safe and sound in my arms."

"I waited a long, long time for you to wrap me in your arms like this. I'm not going to let go for anything, baby. You know that."

"I do," she smiled, relaxing a little. He had learned his lesson. She was sure of that. Finally, things could go back to normal.

Reluctantly, he released her as she pulled away from him. "Where are you going?" he demanded.

"I'm taking you into the bedroom, so I can scream your name without waking the baby," she purred, looking back at him over her shoulder.

He melted in response. "Oh, Laura Lee Winslow…"

————————————————————

The next weekend, Steve woke up on Saturday morning and was surprised to wake up to the sun shining through his windows, instead of to the baby crying. He climbed out of bed and made it carefully. He bounced a quarter off of it for good measure. He wrapped his robe around his body and headed out the bedroom door. He walked down the steps and was shocked to see the breakfast spread laid out on the island and the fancy table setting on their tiny table.

"Good morning, lover," Laura purred as she saw him. She was cradling the baby close to her breast and sitting on the couch.

"Good morning, goddess," he replied, smiling brightly. "What is all this?"

"I made us a nice breakfast to start the weekend since we never get our breakfasts in bed anymore."

"That's more of a Sunday tradition, isn't it?"

Laura nodded and looked down at the baby. "It is, but I want us to go to church tomorrow. We've missed a few in a row recently because of new parent exhaustion, which I think is fine, but I… Um. I did a lot praying this week, and I just think I need to go give thanks for all my blessings."

Steve sat in the armchair next to her. "Of course," he agreed. "We are so very blessed. I absolutely want to check in with God and thank him for you and for Quinley."

Laura rolled her eyes. "And for your life, Steve! You almost died!" she snapped, trying to keep her temper under control so as not to disturb the nursing baby.

"I didn't almost die," he said firmly. "I had a minor hand injury."

"And I need to thank God that that's all it was, and I need you to too."

"Ok," he agreed, if only to set her at ease as the baby started to grow fussy. "Ok. I hear you. I'm glad to be home and safe with my perfect, little family. I will absolutely thank God for that."

"Thank you," she said, exhaling heavily.

He stood and sat on the arm of their couch. He stroked her hair gently. "Thank you for breakfast, Sweetums."

"You're welcome," she replied softly. "We can eat as soon as Quinn's done."

————————————————————

Laura held Quinley on her lap as Steve served their breakfast. She was slow to start as he began to shovel food into his mouth. Laura rolled a sausage link back and forth on her plate. She cleared her throat. "Um. Baby?"

Steve stopped eating and looked up at her, his mouth full and slightly overflowing back onto his plate. He chewed quickly and held a finger up to her. Before he had fully chewed everything, he swallowed hard, urgently trying to get ready to talk. "Yes, sweetheart?" he said eventually, his voice thick with food.

"There's something I've been meaning to talk to you about."

"What's that?" he asked, cocking his head at her.

"You can't freak out."

Steve's brow furrowed deeply.

"We have to talk about it for real this time. We have a baby now. We need to be prepared."

"You mean…"

Laura nodded.

————————————————————

At the time, Laura hadn't known she was dropping a bomb on their weekend. They were newlyweds, and they were spending a Sunday morning in bed as they so often did. Steve had made her breakfast in bed, and they had cleaned up the mess. They had returned to bed to make love, and by noon, Steve was holding her close with the crossword in hand. She was incredibly focused on the puzzles, and he was trying to focus on the puzzles while still occasionally marveling at the fact that her breasts were so casually exposed before him. They were still completely nude, and he loved that they had reached a point where she didn't feel embarrassed about that, but he hadn't quite reached a point where he could be indifferent to it.

"Eight across. Six letters. 'A dramatic high point, whether in the bedroom or on stage,'" Steve read.

"Climax," Laura answered simply.

"Laura Lee," Steve scolded.

"What? That's the answer."

"How did you get to it so fast? Your mind is in the gutter, young lady."

"My mind is in the gutter?" she questioned. "You're the one who can't stop staring at my boobs."

Steve blushed. "I'm not staring."

"Yeah, you are," Laura said firmly, leaning in to kiss him.

"Well, why don't you cover up then, since I clearly can't control myself?"

"Why would I do that? I like it when you stare at them."

Steve laughed and snorted. He looked down at her breasts more obviously this time. He threw the crossword down and cupped them in his hands. "See? Your mind's in the gutter," he teased, massaging her gently.

"What's the next clue?" she asked.

"Who knows?"

Laura laughed as he continued to touch her. She picked up the crossword herself along with his pen and leaned back against him. "When you were a kid, and you used to imagine us doing the crossword together on the weekends, is this how you pictured it?"

Steve laughed and snorted, rubbing his thumbs against her nipples. "No way. I pictured us doing the crossword together like my parents and I did when I was a kid. We'd each have our own copy, and we'd start a stopwatch, and then we'd race to see who finished first. Then the loser would be bitter for the rest of the weekend."

Laura frowned. "Oh. That's not as cute as I was imagining it would be."

"Nothing about my childhood was cute, except for my neighbor." He leaned into her neck and kissed it gently.

"I like our way of doing the crossword better."

"Me too."

"You aren't even doing the crossword!" she complained.

Steve released her breasts and lowered his hands back to her waist. He wrapped his arms around her tightly. "Ok. I'm focused now. What's the next clue?"

"Ok. Seven letters. 'Once a partner in life, now alone with memories—he's not quite a bachelor.'"

Steve pulled back from her. "You know, let's not do this anymore. I don't know why I thought this would be nice. We should never have tried to imitate anything from my parents' marriage. That was a mistake," he said firmly. He slid out from behind her and climbed to the edge of the bed.

Laura was surprised to be so suddenly displaced. She lay back against the headboard as he was no longer behind her, holding her up. "What? Steve, what are you talking about? We were having a nice time."

"No," Steve said firmly, "this is a sign. We should have gone to church today with your parents."

"What is a sign?"

"That clue."

"What?" She looked back down at the paper. Seven letters. Starts with a W. "Oh," she said softly. "Steve, honey, no. This clue is not a sign. It's just a word."

"It's not just a word," Steve said, moving to the closet and opening the door. He began dressing quickly.

"Widower is just a word."

"Please don't say that word, angel," he said, yanking up his pants and buttoning them. His face dropped as he reconsidered that pet name. "I mean… Not angel. I mean darling, honey knees, Sweetums. Anything but angel." He stared at her helplessly, his dress shirt wrinkling in his clenched fist.

She patted the bed beside her. "Come back to bed. Come sit by me."

He sat on the edge of the bed, facing away from her. She slid over to his side of the bed and kneeled behind him. She wrapped her arms over his shoulders and pressed her breasts against his bare back. "What's on your mind, honey?" she whispered softly. "Don't sit with this alone. Talk to me."

He shook his head. "I can't talk about that."

She kissed his shoulder. "Yes, you can," she said firmly. "We can talk about anything."

"Not this."

"We should though. Someday."

"Someday," Steve agreed. "Fine, someday, but not now. Maybe when we're 80, but not now."

"Steve, we probably shouldn't put it off that long. When we have kids someday, we should probably make sure we have a plan for them."

Steve was silent for a long time. "I can't imagine losing you, Laura." He sniffled. "Please don't make me. I've been madly in love with you since I was five years old, and I waited for you for so many years. I don't want to have to think about this yet. It's not fair."

Laura kissed his cheek. "Ok," she said softly, hugging him again. "Not today. Not for a long, long time."

"Thank you," he sniffled.

"But," she began firmly. She felt his body tense immediately. "But when I tell you it's time, it's time. I'll let you put this off as long as I can, but when I tell you that we have to talk about it, that means we have to talk about it."

"But what if–?"

"Baby, I'm serious. Eventually, we're going to have to, and you're going to be too uncomfortable to figure out when we reach that point, so just tell me you'll do it when I tell you we're there."

Steve thought for a long moment before he agreed. "Ok. When you say it's time, it's time."

"Thank you, my love," she said softly, kissing his cheek.

————————————————————

"We have to talk about it now, Steve. We have important decisions to make, and we need to write a will. Think about Quinn."

Steve looked at his perfect baby in the arms of his perfect wife. How could she ask him to think about being apart from either one of them… forever?