They pass relatively calm. Erika and Walker were brought schoolwork to do, but there was not much of it and they spent their days playing games they found stowed away and hunting for dinosaurs in the woods surrounding the cabin. It felt like the four of them were an actual family for once. Idina and Aaron made plans to plan a cabin trip next summer, maybe up in Tremblant Quebec. They had heard it was beautiful up there no matter the season. And it was close to New York so they could take a flight down there and visit Idina's parents or just enjoy the city since the girls were New Yorkers through and through.

Idina was still plagued by morning sickness, however, it tended to fade by mid-afternoon and she rarely hurled after supper if she portioned the meal correctly. Then at night, she and Aaron would curl up on the couch and talk for hours. They would talk about anything and everything. Sometimes they were laying themselves bare and other times it was silly. Idina kept on insisting he had a feeding fetish, so he admitted to having a foot fetish to get her to stop. Now she dangled her toes in his face whenever they were alone, and it sent them both into fits of laughter.

Sometimes they would just lie on the couch, listening to each other breathe with Aaron's hand on her stomach. Those were Idina's favourite nights. She was not sure how many times she had just fallen asleep in his arms, but she was glad to be constantly near him. She was going to have separation anxiety when they got back to the real world, she was sure of it. Aaron told her he would too and that they would have to deal with it together. But that they would eventually get over it.

It was the morning of the OBGYN visit. Idina got up early, her stomach growling.

"Hungry, arentchya?" she whispered to the little thing in her belly.

She looked around. Aaron was still passed out on the bed. Walker had kicked all the covers off his, so she went over and covered him again, planting a kiss on his brow. He was being so brave. Erika's bed in the far corner was empty and made. She must have gotten up earlier then Idina.

Idina walked out of the room and Erika was in the kitchen, boiling an egg. Idina tried to make her steps louder so that she did not startle her.

"Good morning," Idina said.

"Mornin'," replied Erika.

Idina walked over to the kitchen.

"Do you want one?" Erika asked.

"Sure," replied Idina. "only if you don't mind, that is."

"I don't," she said, adding an extra egg into the pot. "One or two?"

"Just one," said Idina. She knew she needed to eat, but she did not want to push what she could keep down. She was already eating three meals a day plus snacks, though her meals were more like large snacks, the effects were already visible. Her face was fuller, her eyes less sunken and dark. She could stand by herself for long periods of time. She had not been cripplingly worried in days. She had one episode their third night, but her husband had dealt with it expertly and brought her around. Besides, the morning sickness would take over eventually. She was not really expecting to keep anything down until lunch.

She was still worried about what would happen when they went home, however she was determined to use this mindless time to get as better as possible. She owed it to everyone. And maybe even to herself.

Erika took the eggs out of the pots and put them on plates then handed one to Idina.

"Thank you," the actress replied.

Erika smiled at her response.

"How's the schoolwork going?" Idina asked as they sat down at opposite ends of the table.

"Okay," she said.

"Need help with anything?"

"No."

"What have you been working on?'

"Nothing much, just a composition for English and some worksheet in math and science and I've been looking over some plans for gym but there's not much more I can do there." She peeled her egg as she said so.

"What are your favourite classes so far?" asked Idina.

"Um, well, I like gym a lot. The teacher's nice, and um, English maybe." She picked at her food without looking up at Idina.

"What do you like about gym, other than the teacher?"

"We've been working on roller-skating," she said. "I think it's kind of fun."

Roller-skating is kind of fun, noted, thought Idina. "We could go to a roller-skating ring when this is all over."

"Oh, we don't have too. I don't like that much, it's fine," she backpedalled quickly.

They were definitely going to a roller-skating rink when this was over.

"It's fine Erika," Idina said softly, "we can do stuff you like too, alright? There's nothing wrong with liking something, okay?"

"Um, okay," she stammered.

"I'm being serious though. It is not a problem for me or for Aaron. You are not a burden to us, alright? I just want you to understand that."

"I'm trying," she said finally. This was not her snapping at Idina, not exactly, but it was close. She looked down at her plate.

Idina got up and walked over to her. She got down on her knees so that she was more level with Erika.

"Hey, Erika, it's okay alright? I know you're trying, and I know this is hard for you, okay?"

Erika nodded. A tear fell down her cheek. Idina wiped it away and pulled her into a hug.

"You're safe here," Idina repeated, "we care for you." She kissed the girl's hairline. "You are doing so well; I know this is an adjustment and I know I haven't been the best. Everyone is trying, there's nothing wrong with that."

"Okay," Erika said.

Idina pulled back. Erika was biting her thumb. Idina had soon learned to tell it was something she did when she was not sure how to process her emotions. Aaron said it was probably reminiscent of thumb-sucking for comfort, but as she had gotten older and more emotionally mature, it became her default for dealing with things she could not properly process. Just like when someone bit their nails because they were stressed out or played with a hair elastic around their wrist.

Idina just hoped she did not break the skin. Human bites, even from oneself, could get infected easily and there were so many germs and antibodies and other things in saliva that were good or the mouth but bad in your bloodstream. She was not keen on rushing her to the emergency room because she and Aaron had accidentally overloaded Erika with unprocessable emotions.

"You know Aaron and I are going to the doctors today?"

Erika nodded.

"Thank you so much for looking after Walker. We will try and be quick, 'kay?"

"'Kay," she replied.

"If anything happens, you know who to call?"

The girl nodded again.

"I really appreciate you looking after Walker," she repeated.

"I know," Erika said, making Idina smile. "Good luck."

"Thank you, Erika," she said.

Idina sat back down and they both finished their eggs as the boys got up. After the dishes were done, Idina and Aaron left the kids alone to go the visit Dr. Felicity Jackson.

~

Aaron had done his best to explain everything to Dr. Jackson. Informing her she needed to be careful of her language, telling her they do not want to see the child, no matter what. He asked to not even breach the subject. He begged her not to get their hopes up with anything that had a high likelihood of failing. He told her they would not be upset if there was nothing she could do. He just wanted Idina to be healthy and safe. It was his first priority until such a time as they knew there was hope for their child, then, despite everything in his bones told him not to, he would put the child before his wife because he knew that's what Idina would want him to do.

He spent the entire car ride rubbing her abdomen affectionately. How could he not? He was head over heels in love with this woman and she was carrying his child. Idina's hand was lazily over his own the entire time. Neither of them said anything but they did not have too. They had been spending their night in complete and utter honesty in a way that was new to both. They knew exactly what the other was thinking right now. There was no need to ask.

They made it to the clinic in one piece and were escorted directly into her office. All the monitors had been turned away from them. They introduced themselves, then the doctor had Idina lay down on the bed and pull up her shirt. The first thing she did was take an ultrasound. Aaron held Idina's hand the entire time and bit his tongue when the urge arose to look around at the screen. Then the doctor performed more tests and Aaron was there by her side the entire time, even through the more uncomfortable and invasive ones.

The doctor left to analyze the results and Idina put her pants back on and sat beside Aaron. She looked incredibly uncomfortable.

"You did great," Aaron said.

"I hated that," she admitted. "I felt like she was judging me the entire time."

"She wasn't," Aaron said. "She was just doing her job. You have an amazing body. I'm sure she's seen worse."

"Yeah, I know, but I feel like she is a woman right, so she has been through all of this and she maybe thinks I am stupid or weak or something for being, well, for everything. And then I think maybe we should have gone with a man 'cause they're not always like 'oh I'm a girl too I know what it's like get over it' but I don't think I could bear to have a different man poke around down there with you around. And especially with you not around."

"To be honest, I don't like the idea of anyone but me poking around down there," he said making Idina smile a bit.

"Me too. And I know it is silly because I have been to these types of appointments a million times and I know exactly what is going to happen. Like I said earlier I even saw some crystal healers. They practically suggested we do a threesome and paint fertility ruins on our bodies with ruby powder paint and some other stuff. I should be used to this."

"Did you actually have threesome covered in body paint?" Aaron asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No!" Idina exclaimed, her face turning red. "We might have tried the body pain though. What? I was desperate. We had Walker, maybe it worked."

"I'll paint fertility ruins on you if you want."

"You will not," said Idina.

"I have a very steady hand; I promise I won't mess them up." He gave her his best puppy dog eyes.

They both snorted.

"There was this one guy, I'm pretty sure he believed himself to be a vampire."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, I kept on waiting for him to sink his teeth into my neck or something."

"Why haven't I heard of any of this before?" Aaron asked with a laugh. "This is pure gold, Dee."

"because I never thought I'd need them as a pick-me-up. Not to mention I can't believe I was the one pushing for it. I must have been high or drunk or both. There were a few who were definitely burning drugs. I'm fairly sure I was high then."

"This isn't the point where to tell me you sacrificed a horse an ate its heart like in Game of Thrones, right?"

"Moo," Idina replied through giggles.

Aaron rolled his eyes. "From now on, my wife has officially done the Dothraki baby ritual. No wonder Walker is such a strong lad. Maybe you should do it again."

Idina full-on belly laughed. Aaron pulled her into his arms. They were so silly.

"This is going to be fine."

"I hope so," she replied.

They waited in relative silence for Dr. Jackson to come back.

"So," the doctor said, "I have some good news and some bad." Idina squeezed Aaron's hand so hard her arm was shaking at the word bad. "Well, it's all kind of mixed in together, so I'll just start." She put some papers down on her desk.

Idina felt like she was going to faint. Or vomit. Or both. The anticipation was killing her.