'He's probably asleep,' Hannah thought when Kasperi didn't reply right away. She put her phone down and tried to get some work done.

Twenty minutes later, when she'd almost forgotten about it, she got a message from him.

"I'll do the paternity test."

That was all it said, and he didn't say anymore for a few days despite Hannah and Olli's texts. Two days before prospect camp, she finally got a text from him.

"Can I still stay with you guys this week?"

"Yeah, of course!"

"Cool. Can't wait to see your new house."

Hannah found Olli upstairs in their bedroom packing his clothes into a suitcase. "So, I finally heard back from Kasperi."

"Really? What'd he say?"

"He'll be here in a day or two."

"Here?" Olli stopped folding a shirt and let it fall into his suitcase. "Why can't he stay at the apartment in town?"

"I don't know, he said he wants to see the house. I guess I'll put him in the guest bedroom at the end of the hall."

"Why? This one's more set up, it at least has curtains and painted walls, unlike that one," he gestured toward the room next door.

Hannah raised her eyebrows. "You really want him sleeping in the room next to me, while you're in Finland for a few weeks?"

"He won't be here very long, and actually, I'm happy you won't be here alone. Besides, he has a girlfriend, I don't think he's going to try to grope you in your sleep."

"Okay, as long as you're fine with it," Hannah called after Olli as she left the room.

Olli was not fine with it, but he had no reason to worry about Kasperi. He couldn't seem to shake the feeling of uncertainty that stuck with him as Hannah drove him to the airport the next day. She had been so distracted lately, and Olli knew it wasn't just the scripts she was reading over. Hannah felt a growing sense of responsibility for Kasperi's situation, and the guilt was starting to wear on her. She had convinced herself that Kasperi wasn't the father, but when she saw the baby, she knew it had to be his. It was obvious, and now that she realized she was wrong, the guilt was eating her up.

Olli had tried to ask her how the wedding planning was going, and she snapped at him. "I can't think about that right now. We should just do it next year so we can properly plan it."

Olli agreed; that made sense to wait until they could sit down and plan it together. He was going to be in Finland for a while for part of his military obligation and would be busy most of the summer anyway. Besides, they were in no hurry. Olli knew he'd have to explain this to his mother when he got to Finland, but he was sure she'd understand. He put these thoughts out of his mind and tried to fall asleep on the long flight.

After picking up a few things the next day for the guest bedroom, Hannah went back to the airport to pick up another Finn. She didn't know what to expect when she saw Kasperi, but she certainly didn't think he'd be smiling and relaxed.

"Hey!" He said and leaned in to give her a hug, which she awkwardly returned. "So Olli's gone to Finland, right as I'm coming to Pittsburgh...I'm sure that's a coincidence." He teased and winked to show he was joking and climbed into her tiny car.

"He's doing part of his mandatory military stuff and visiting his family." She answered and started driving.

"And you're not going with him?"

"I..." Hannah's mind was not keeping up with her words. "I have to help Beth, with, you know, Kasperi Jr." She hadn't meant to bring up the baby so soon, or even at all, but Kasperi didn't seem to care.

"How's Beth doing with him?"

"It's tough. I think Beth is realizing that being a mom is a lot harder than she thought. I think it really means a lot to her that you're taking the paternity test, even though she's already sure it's yours."

"Yeah, well..." He paused and it seemed to hit him a little more this time. "I think it's time I step up and take responsibility." Kasperi did not mention his parents were about to get involved, possibly with a lawsuit, if he didn't take matters into his own hands. "Wow, you guys really live out in the suburbs, don't you," he teased as they turned into Sewickley.

"Yeah, I thought this was the right place for Olli and I to settle down." Hannah grimaced; she hated the term 'settle down,' especially when it applied to her.

"So you guys are really doing it? You're getting married, and having kids?"

"Yeah, we're getting married. We haven't set a date yet, this summer has been too crazy to plan a wedding, so probably next year, or whenever. We're not really in a hurry."

"So this isn't a shotgun wedding?" He asked with another teasing wink, and Hannah was starting to see a little of the 'Old Kasperi' showing through; the annoying 18 year, cocky, kid who had tried to kiss her last winter at Brandon's.

Hannah laughed unexpectedly, and he raised a curious eyebrow.

"Remember when you kissed me last year?" She almost giggled. "That seems so long ago now."

He shook his head, his smiling fading. "I was so stupid back then. And look where it got me..."

"No, this isn't your fault. If anything, I should be taking the blame."

"You? Why?" He turned to face her, which was difficult in the cramped conditions of Hannah's antique mini.

"If I hadn't invited Beth to stay with us last fall, none of this would have happened."

"Yeah, but she's your sister, you were just being nice and letting her stay with you...."

"I wish it was as simple as that...." Hannah left it at that as they pulled into the driveway and Kasperi got distracted by their new house. She gave him a quick tour of the mostly unfurnished house, ending in his room where she deposited his suitcases.

"Shit, I forgot to make the bed," Hannah swore under her breath and rushed to find the sheets she had just bought for his bed. He watched with an amused smile as she tried to get them out of the package and onto the bed, but she just couldn't reach across the mattress far enough.

"Do you want a hand?"

"Usually Olli helps me with this," she said as she handed him one end of the sheets and they pulled it over the bed. Between the two of them, they got the bed made well enough. It wasn't as fancy as a hotel bed, but it was good enough. Kasperi fell back on to the bed and sighed.

"This bed is pretty comfortable."

"Is it? It's new, I've never tried it." Hannah leaned on the bed to test the firmness.

"Want to try it?" Before she could answer, Kasperi pulled her on to the bed, and she wound up half on top of him, half on the bed. Cussing like a sailor, she fought her way out of his grasp.

"Kasperi-whatever your middle name is-Kapanen!!" She screamed when she'd righted herself. He lay on the bed, still laughing. "You see, it's shit like this. This is why I invited my imbecile sister to stay with us last fall, just to mess with you and put you in your place!"

"What?" he sat up and stopped laughing.

"You were annoying the hell out of me, and I thought it would be funny if Beth kind of did the same to you. I never once thought it would end the way it did," she slumped down on the bed next to him and hung her head, her anger turning into self pity. Before she could stop herself, and put up that wall she always hid her emotions behind, a hiccup of a sob escaped. She sniffled, and a tear slipped from the corner of her eye. "And now I've ruined your lives."

He moved closer and put his arm comfortingly around her shoulders. "I have never once blamed you for any of this. You never forced me to have unprotected sex with Beth, and you certainly didn't know she was way behind on her birth control treatments. The only two people to blame are Beth and I, and trust me, I think we're feeling it."

Hannah blinked away the last few tears and lifted her head to look him in the eye. "I was so sure it wasn't you. And then I saw him....there was no doubt you were his father. God I hate it when she's right."

Kasperi chuckled, "It's funny, I never really got to know her. But does one really get to know Beth? Is there much to know?"

Hannah thought about it for a second before smiling and shaking her head. "No, pretty much what you see is what you get. There isn't anything 'deep' or 'hidden' about Beth."

"Has she, umm... Do you know if she wants to see me, or anything...?" Kasperi said after a pause.

"I told her you were visiting, and she said 'okay'. I'm not really sure what that means. But if you want, you can sign the birth certificate, so you'll officially be his father, but you should still do the paternity test first. Just in case."

"Right." He replayed the image in his head of baby Kasperi, and a few of the last remaining shreds of doubt that he was the father were erased. It was slowly settling in, and either it wasn't as scary as he thought it would be, or it hadn't quite hit him yet.

"I'll leave you to get settled in," Hannah said as she stood up. "You've got a big week ahead of you."

And boy was she right. Prospect camp was only the half of it. It wasn't hard to impress the Penguin's coaches and GM, he just did what he did best. It was nice to see some old friends from last year, and potential new teammates. By the end of prospect camp, Kasperi was confident he was going to make the team this year, despite his poor performance last year. He had proved himself worthy of a spot on a top NHL team, and this time he wasn't going to ruin it.

Kasperi and Hannah actually had a nice week together. They had breakfast together every morning, and she was getting much better at making waffles. By the end of the week, she was used to having him as a housemate, and almost considered asking him to stay there with her and Olli during the season. If he made the team, that is.

But just as things were winding down, Beth had to stir things up. The night before Kasperi was supposed to leave, Hannah got a text from her saying 'they'd be there tomorrow morning.'

"They? She and the baby? Or Deryck? Who is 'they?!'" Hannah freaked out when she read it, and couldn't get any more information out of Beth except 'they' would be in at 8:30. Kasperi felt the anxiety hit him like a truck. It had finally caught up with him, and within half a day, he was going to meet what was probably his son. There really is nothing you can do to prepare for that kind of thing, so he went to bed and hoped for the best of it.

After a restless night of fitful sleep, he woke up to the smell of waffles, something he'd gotten used to over the last week. Looking at the time on his phone, he swore and scrambled out of bed. He threw on some shorts and a somewhat decent looking polo before checking himself in the mirror.

'Wtf am I doing?' He thought and stopped trying to fix his hair. 'He doesn't care what you look like.'

He stood at the top of the steps giving himself a mental pep talk before taking a deep breath and heading towards the kitchen. He heard the two sisters chattering like any normal siblings would over breakfast, and started to calm down a little.

He rounded the corner into the kitchen and was not met with the shock of seeing his child in the arms of his former 'lover' like he thought he would.

Hannah was still in her pajamas, as usual. Beth was standing just outside the French doors that led to the backyard from the kitchen. To Kasperi's surprise, she was smoking. She looked too thin for someone who'd just had a baby, and like she was trying really hard to keep it together. Seated at the table was an older guy in a suit eating some of Hannah's waffles.

Beth turned when she heard him approach and shot him one of the coldest stares he'd ever seen. 'I guess that runs in the family,' he thought, and shot a quick glance at Hannah. She shrugged, but looked a little stressed, and put a plate of waffles on the table for him.

"Not so fast," the guy at the table stood up and held his hand out as if to stop Kasperi from touching the waffles. "Have you brushed your teeth this morning?"

"I, uh, no?" He was confused. Was this their family dentist or something?

"Perfect." The guy in the suit came around the table and pulled something in a plastic bag out of his briefcase. "Open your mouth." Kasperi did as he was asked. "I'm Dr. Rothstein by the way," he explained before shoving a long cotton swab into Kasperi's mouth and rubbing it on his cheek. He pulled the swab out and secured it in a plastic tube, wrote 'Kapanen' on it (after asking how to spell it), and stuck it back in the bag. "You can eat your waffles now. They're fantastic, by the way. You're lucky to have a girlfriend who makes you breakfast like this every morning!" Dr. Rothstein laughed and tucked his napkin back into his shirt before digging into another waffle.

"Oh, she's not my girlfriend, we're..." Kasperi looked up at Hannah, who was holding back a laugh.

"Good, because for a while there, I was worried you'd knocked up your girlfriend's sister," Dr. Rothstein laughed. "I've seen it before, I see all sorts of things in my line of work, but it's never fun when a man impregnates his girlfriend's sister."

Beth sulked into the kitchen, followed by a guy Kasperi hadn't noticed before. He was small, wearing tight, dark pants, and a graphic tee with something obscure on the front. He took off his hat and tucked his brightly colored sunglasses into the neck of his shirt before gently wrapping his arm around Beth's waist, almost like she was something gross he didn't really want to touch.

"Oh hey," she said when she noticed Kasperi. "This is my boyfriend Deryck. I see you've met Dr. Rothstein..." She limply gestured toward the man in the suit, and almost glanced at Kasperi, but couldn't seem to make eye contact with anyone.

"Yes, he was an excellent specimen. I always say, the best patient is an unsuspecting patient: if you don't know what's coming, you won't be scared or ask questions," the doctor said between mouthfuls, and stopped to check his watch. "And, if I leave now, I can get this into the lab on time to have to get the results back a day sooner than if we wait another half hour. So, Ms. Eldridge, Mr. Perkins, we should be off now," he said to Beth and Deryck as he stood up. "Ms. Eldridge," he nodded to Hannah, "Thank you for your hospitality, and Mr. Kapanen, it was nice to make your acquaintance." He put on his hat, grabbed his briefcase, and walked briskly out the door. Beth and Deryck followed slowly, mumbling a goodbye to Hannah and Kasperi.

The two sat in the kitchen in silence for a minute before they both burst out laughing.

"What the hell was that?" Kasperi said while Hannah giggled. "Was he even a real doctor?"

"Oh yes. Someone Beth found in LA. I guess he specializes in this kind of thing."

"So, he's like Maury Povich, MD," he added with a grin, still slightly bemused.

"Pretty much! They arrived this morning in a black car, at 8:30 like they said they would, and now they're out of here in less than an hour. That man is punctual. But he get's results, fast and accurate."

"And here I was, thinking I was going to meet my child today..." Kasperi mumbled and pushed his food around his plate, not really feeling like eating.

"Do you want to meet him?" Hannah sounded surprised.

"I mean, I don't know. I guess. If he's mine, I probably should, right?" He looked at Hannah, but she just shrugged.

"It's up to you. But for now, let's just wait for the results of the paternity test, okay?"

"Okay."

But Kasperi didn't need the results of Dr. Rothstein's test to know that Kasperi Jr. was his son. Now he just had to figure out what he was going to do with that information....

A/N: Want to keep reading? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00Z7DW6JS?*Version*=1&*entries*=0 

The corresponding chapter in my kasperi fic:  http://www.mibba.com/Stories/Read/586711/Just-You-and-Me-Kid/6/