Katherine stared at the doctor in disbelief.

"You're quite sure?"

He nodded, removing his gloves and making a note in her file. "Yes. We can schedule you to get an ultrasound if you'd like to see for yourself, but I'm sure. Congratulations."

"Thank you," she said, feeling very far away. "I... Can you call to schedule the appointment later? I think I'd like to go tell my husband," she said, the word 'husband' rolling off her tongue with as much false ease as her excitement. She and Jack weren't technically married yet, but she had a feeling this would throw a wrench in their plans.

Her doctor smiled warmly, oblivious to her upset. "Of course. Let me get you some paperwork about foods to avoid, places to prepare, labor classes, that sort of thing. I'll be back in a moment."

She nodded and smiled, dropping her head to her hands when he left the room.

"Oh, God," she murmured, shaking her head and feeling her stomach clench. "What am I going to do?"

~•~•~•~•~•

Katherine paced the floor, waiting impatiently for Jack to come home. He'd called, apologetic, to say he'd be running a little late, and that she should eat if she was hungry instead of waiting for him.

She was too nervous to eat. What was Jack going to say? He'd spent his entire life taking care of someone, and appeared to be enjoying the freedom of their comfortable life together. He'd been in no rush to get married; they still hadn't really talked about it, actually. He loved her, she knew that, and he was hopelessly devoted to making her happy, but a baby? It was a lot to spring on someone, and she didn't know how he'd take it.

Katherine couldn't tell what would be worse: Jack leaving or Jack staying and slowly falling out of love with her.

The sound of Jack's key scraping in the lock startled her, and she nervously smoothed her hands over her hair and scurried into the kitchen so she wouldn't be the first thing he saw when he came inside.

Jack was whistling cheerfully. Katherine thought she might throw up.

"Hiya, Ace," he called loudly as he stepped in. "M'home!"

"In the kitchen," she called back, desperately schooling her expression into something normal.

"Hi, beautiful," Jack said with a bright smile, crossing the kitchen in three long strides and kissing her. Jack always smelled like strong coffee and paint, and despite her nerves, Katherine relaxed into his familiar strong embrace and kissed him back.

He pulled away and tucked a stray curl behind her ear. "You have a good day, doll?"

She nodded. "Busy but fine," she said, leaning her face into his hand. "Are you hungry?"

Jack laughed a little. "Always. You didn't have to wait dinner on me."

"I don't like eating alone, and I wasn't terribly hungry when you called," Katherine said, trying to keep her voice level. "Let's eat."

The air in the apartment was comfortable while they ate, Jack regaling her with some wild antics he'd gotten wrapped up in at Medda's theater when he'd stopped by to help with a new set of backdrops.

When Katherine stood to clear the table, Jack beat her to it, taking her plate and dropping a kiss to the top of her head. "Sit down, baby, I got it."

"Thanks," she said, standing and going into their bedroom and through to their bathroom. She splashed water on her face and dried off with a towel, mascara smudging under her eyes. She gave herself a long hard look in the mirror.

"You are pregnant," she whispered, almost inaudible. "You are going to have a baby, and it's Jack's baby too, and you need to tell him."

One hand drifted down to her stomach. She almost expected it to be visible already, but it was still flat. There was no sign of life, no kicking, no heartbeat.

Just the knowledge that there would be soon.

Outside the bathroom door, the bedsprings creaked as Jack presumably sat on the edge of the bed. She quickly flushed the toilet and ran the tap for a few seconds, trying to pretend everything was normal.

Jack, stretched out on his side lazily, smiled at her when she opened the door. Some of her internal struggle must have shown on her face, because Jack's smile was replaced by an expression of concern. He sat up.

"Katherine," he said quietly, "Are you okay?"

She sat down on the edge of the bed beside him. "I have to tell you something."

He pressed a soft kiss to her temple. "Anything, sweetheart, you know that."

She looked at her hands in her lap, closing her eyes when Jack's darker one covered both of hers in a warm, familiar gesture.

"I went to the doctor today."

Jack's grip on her hands tightened momentarily. "You alright?"

Her voice was a whisper. "I'm pregnant."

Jack made a strange noise that was half gasp, half sigh. His weight left the bed next to her, and Katherine squeezed her eyes shut. He was leaving, she knew it, she knew it, she knew it.

Then gentle hands cupped her face, and she opened her eyes. Jack was on his knees before her, looking up into her face. She wanted to preserve his expression forever. His eyes were wide, his mouth slightly open and already curving into a smile. He was lit up from within with an excitement and a happiness so profound, so clear across every line of his body, that Katherine momentarily forgot she'd ever doubted him.

One of his hands rested reverently against her stomach. "Pregnant," he breathed, voice gone. "You're... We're... I... Wow."

"You're not upset?" She said quietly.

Jack looked at her incredulously. "Upset? Why would I be upset?"

"Well, we haven't exactly talked about kids. We aren't even married, Jack-"

He cut her off by stretching upwards and kissing her, hand still gently splayed over where their baby would be.

"I'll marry you tomorrow, if that's what you want," he said, eyes bright. "I have my mom's ring for you, we'll go down to City Hall and get hitched, or you take all the time you want and plan whatever ceremony you want. I don't care which, long as I get to be your husband." He bent and kissed her stomach, then her hands he now held in his own, then her cheeks. "And now you're telling me I get to wake up next to you and that soon I'll get to hold our baby..."Jack trailed off and swallowed hard. "Kath, I think I'm going to cry."

She sniffed hard. "One step ahead of you there."

Jack laughed, resting his head on her knee and looking up at her. "I ain't ever heard better news in my life, Katherine. Pregnant," he said with a smile and a shake of his head. "You're going to have a baby."

"No," she said, pulling him to his feet and hugging him tightly. "We are going to have a baby."

"You and me for forever, Ace, I promise," he murmured into her hair, rubbing lazy circles into her back. "I'll be there every step of the way."

"Even when I'm moody and sore and can barely walk?"

"Especially then," he said. "You won't even need to walk. You'll just stay in bed and I'll wait on the two of you hand and foot."

Katherine shivered at hearing Jack already refer to her and the baby so easily. "You're more excited than I thought you'd be," she said, sitting back down on the edge of the bed and tugging Jack into lying down with her.

He propped himself up on one elbow and pressed a series of soft kisses from her stomach up to her throat. "You have made a domestic man of me, Katherine Plumber," he teased. "And I can think of nothing I want more than to change diapers and clean spit-up with you, even if it's at three o'clock in the damn morning. I love you."

"I love you too," Katherine said, running her fingers through his hair. "Do you want to get married?"

Jack's face lit up again. "I meant what I said, darlin'," he whispered. "Anytime, anyplace, long as I have you."

"Soon, then," she said with a definitive nod. Jack reached over her to the drawer of the nightstand and pulled out a black velvet box.

"Let's do this proper, then," he said with a smile, laying next to her in bed with his hair mussed and looking like the most beautiful thing Katherine had ever seen. He opened the box. A simple, elegant ring shone there, set with smaller stones and one beautiful diamond glittering at the center of a looping silver band. She looked at him, speechless.

"I know it ain't much," Jack said softly, "But it was my mom's ring. My old man saved for it from the time they were outta high school until the time he popped the question. I... she'd want you to have it. Katherine, will you make me the luckiest man in the world and marry me?"

"It's beautiful," she said, extending her hand and tearing up as Jack slid it onto her finger and kissed her knuckles. "Yes, I will marry you."

He smiled, setting the box aside and kissing her. "I love you, Kath."

"I love you, Jack."

He leaned down and kissed her stomach. "I love you, baby."

Katherine felt her love for him swell so much she thought her heart might burst at the sight of Jack's unruly hair bent over her stomach, talking to their baby with so much love in his voice.

She fell asleep tangled up with Jack, hands entwined and ring shining on her finger.