Katherine Kelly was definitely not doing well. She had gotten out of bed feeling sore, nauseous, and tired, and despite her body's complaints, and Jacks protests, had dragged herself to work. Now she was bent over the toilet in the ladies room upchucking the entirety of her breakfast.

"Damn." She whispered to herself when she heard a knock on the bathroom door. She hadn't known that she had been in here so long. If she didn't get back into the office someone was going to come looking for her, then they would find out she was sick and tell her husband and it would be all over. He'd have her chained to the bed before she could get the first 'I'm fine!' out of her mouth.

She gathered her skirts and tried her best to clean up a little with the sink. After a moment of inspection in the mirror she decided that although she was pale and looked tired, she could pass as decent. Katherine didn't plan on waiting around for her coworkers to inspect her though, she was getting out of here and heading home. Despite the fact that she had been puking her guts out for the past twenty minutes she still didn't feel completely stable, and she found herself suddenly grateful that their apartment was less than a ten minute walk from The Sun's offices where they both still worked, her as a reporter, Jack as an illustrator.

Now the challenge would be to escape the building without someone noticing her leaving. She wasn't as worried about explaining her absence, she doubted anyone cared enough to realize that she wasn't there.

She lifter her dress around her ankles and exited the bathroom, cursing, not for the first time, the current women's fashions.

The woman waiting outside the door, a secretary Katherine barely recognized, seemed startled at Katherines sudden departure, but Katherine really couldn't care less. Not when she was feeling this bad.

She walked as fast as she could without tripping in her heels or drawing too much attention to herself, but her attempts were pointless. Of course she ran into the one person she was desperate to avoid. Jack.

"Hullo Ace, how are you feelin'?"

"Fine, I just have to run home and pick up some notes I forgot to bring." His eyebrows rose skeptically. She never forgot her notes.

"You ain't looking too good, you sure you're not sick?" He sounded exasperated and skeptical, but she could detect the undercurrent of worry and fear that laced it. It made her heart squirm with guilt for lying to him. It was all she could do to nod.

"Alright. I was gonna stop by and see the boys before comin' home, but if you ain't feeling good then I'll see 'em tomorrow." Katherine just nodded and repeated her assurances that she was fine. She could feel her stomach clench uneasily and knew that if she kept standing here she wasn't going to make it home before she got sick again.

She gave Jack a quick peck on the cheek and pushed past him, shooting a quick "See you later!" back at his shocked face. Katherine hurried out the door, slamming the door and bolting, giving up on her pretense of being okay.

Quite a few people stopped to stare at her running down the street, but she was too focused on keeping the rest of her stomach contents from coming up to notice or care.

Finally she slid through the door to the small apartment and kneeled over the toilet once again.

Katherine crawled over to the kitchen in search of a glass of water and it was only after her eyes caught on the calendar they kept pinned to the wall that a new feeling started to bubble through her, turning her limbs to lead.

She was late. Very late.

She had been so caught up in the new article she was writing about the treatment of factory workers that she hadn't realized the significance of the date, May sixteenth, 1909. She was more than three weeks late. Katherine was suddenly feeling sick in a whole new way.

It wasn't that she was really adverse to having kids, but now was definitely not the best time. Even though they both worked they didn't have the money to pay for anything more than the necessities for comfort. Their apartment was small. The heater was always breaking. They both had all day jobs. Neither of them had grown up with good parents, if any. What if the kid needed more medical attention? What if he, or she, wanted a pet? What if the kid was unhealthy? What if she didn't know how to be a mother? What if Jack didn't want children? What if...? What if...? Now that she might be pregnant all she could think about was all the things that could go wrong, all the reasons not to have kids.

All logic flew out of her brain and she scrambled to the phone, a brand new appliance that had been a wedding gift from her father almost two years ago, and dialed the doctors number. It was almost noon and Jack would be home at around five, if he went to visit the boys. She had five hours to figure out what she was going to say to him.

The line connected and the receptionist greeted Katherine with a slightly impatient hello, asking what she needed.

"Um... Is there a chance you have an open appointment sometime today? Before four?" That would give her an hour to find out what was up and get home in time to meet Jack.

"Yes, we have an availability at three. Will that be okay?" Katherine quickly assured her that that would be perfect.

"What are you coming in for today, ma'am?"

"I think I might be pregnant..." She couldn't bring herself to say it louder than a small whisper, and she heard an unkind chuckle from the other end of the line before the woman hung up.

Katherine spent the next few hours in a state of constant movement and panic. She tried sleeping, but found that she was too winded up and nervous to do more than close her eyes. She tried typing, but once again found that it was impossible for her to sit still. She kept herself occupied by cleaning the dishes from breakfast and rearranging the dishes, organizing and reorganizing anything she could get her hands on.

Finally the clock struck two thirty and Katherine hurried out the door, so nervous that she almost forgot to lock the door behind her. As she walked she realized that she didn't feel very nauseous at all anymore, just more support that what she was going through morning sickness.

She arrived at her destination right in time to make her appointment and she didn't have to wait long before she was called back into the examination room.

The doctor that walked through the door was old and gray haired with a slight stoop and a twinkle in his eyes. He asked her a few questions, looking very relieved when she assured him that she was married, and quickly checked her over.

"Well Mrs. Kelly.." She froze, unsure of what she wanted him to diagnose her with.

"Your suspicions were correct. You seem to be pregnant, almost two months along." He went through a long list of what to do or not do, what she should be eating, when her due date was, other symptoms she might expect, but she was too far gone to hear him. To have it all confirmed was both a miracle and a disaster all at once and she had no idea what she was feeling.

A mother. Katherine Kelly was going to be a mother. She was pregnant.

How was she going to tell Jack? How would he take it? How were they going to provide for a child? How would her father take it? She was so caught up in her own thoughts that she barely remembered to hand the receptionist a few dollars for the appointment.

She was suddenly standing outside the apartment building, and she slowly pushed the door open, completely unsure of what to do now. It was almost four thirty. What was she going to do?

...

Jack Kelly was worried. Despite her reassurances that she was fine, he knew his wife better than that. She hadn't been feeling very well this morning and when he had bumped into her in the hallway she had looked pale and weak. And her hasty goodbye, what had that been all about?! She was definitely acting strange, and even the antics of Crutchie and Race, or Davies frequent eye rolls hadn't been enough to make him feel better.

He had kept his visit short, just patting them all on the back quickly and checking in with them about their current jobs and relationships, before making his excuses and starting in the direction of home.

Katherine was even more stubborn than he was and he knew that getting her to stay at home and rest, if she really was sick, would be almost impossible. He was persistent though, and was determined to find out what was wrong with her.

When he finally arrived at their apartment Jack found Katherine bustling about, rearranging furniture, tapping a few keys on her typewriter, moving his easel. She didn't notice him at first, but when he closed the door behind her she turned with a start, nervously putting down the potted plant she was in the middle of relocating.

He took in her wild eyes and slightly shaking hands and he felt a stone sink into his stomach. The last time she had been this nervous it was when she had requested his permission to spend ten days undercover at a nuthouse for a story she was writing.

That had not been a good day.

"What ya been up too, huh? I wasn't aware that the apartmen' was scheduled to be reconstructed." She glared at him, but at least she looked a little more comfortable than she had a few seconds ago.

"Nothing! I was just reorganizing a little bit..."

"I can tell." Jack moved farther into the small room, hanging his bag on the hook and slipping out of his shoes, but he left his trademark hat perched atop his curly hair.

He wrapped her in a tight embrace and kissed her like he had wanted to earlier in the day. She seemed a little more desperate than normal, clinging to him as if this was the last time she would get the chance to. He pulled back just enough to look down at her, still keeping her in his arms.

"You sure you're okay? You ain't looking so good."

"I'm fine, Jack, I promise."

"Mmm Hmm" He rolled his eyes at her obvious lie.

Katherine pulled away to go sit at the desk, tapping out a few things on her paper before ripping that sheet out and replacing it with a new one.

"How's the article goin'?" He had grabbed his pencils and headed to sit across from her, sketching out a few different ideas for a cartoon about the rising tensions in Europe.

The woman across from him was a bundle of constant movement. She was tapping her foot and her fingers, running her hands through her hair and over the table. He didn't bring it up.

After a few hours of sketching for him, and tapping for her, he got up to make dinner. She protested weakly, as she did every night, but it was more for show than anything else. They both knew that Jack was the better cook, and neither had any desire to taste another one of Katherines failed meals.

She joined him in the kitchen, setting the table, and helping Jack serve the pasta and bread.

He noticed that while they were eating she would suddenly go silent, as if deep in thought, before looking back as if she had forgotten that he was there. If she wasn't better by tomorrow morning he was going to tie her down and demand some answers, but he didn't know what he could do about it now. She had already gone into work, before promptly leaving, which was strange in and of itself.

After dinner, at her request, he left her to do the dishes, taking a quick shower before climbing into bed where she soon joined him. Jack pulled her close to him, wrapping his arms around her and squeezing her tight. He went out like a light.

Jack woke to a cold and empty bed, and at first he was slightly discombobulated, his brain tricking him into believing that he was still sleeping on the cold hard mattresses at the Lodging House, but then he caught sight of her, silhouetted in the window, the moonlight giving her an ethereal glow.

He quietly slipped out of the covers and approached her, hugging her from behind. She leaned against his chest, his nose pressed into her sweet smelling hair.

In that moment everything was perfect.

"I'm so glad I stayed in New York." Jack whispered into her ear. She turned to him and took a deep breath. She seemed to be preparing for something and Jack suddenly felt slightly ill with nerves.

She hesitated a moment before whispering something so low that he had to lean in to hear it, and even then he was sure that he had misunderstood her.

"I'm pregnant." The words caused his heart to flutter with hope and excitement at the same time that he felt his eyes grow wide.

"For sure?" He questioned her quietly, the familiar phrase dancing off his tongue.

"For sure." She confirmed, a hesitant and nervous expression on her face, although she smiled a little at the reminder.

They may not have been trying for children, but suddenly all Jack could do was let out a whoop in joy before gathering her close to him and kissing her, portraying every bit how happy he was.

When they broke away both of their faces were spread in large grins, and all the fears both had were washed away by the knowledge that, no matter what happened, they would face it together.

"I'm gonna be a father." He said softly, his eyes sparkling with unshed tears. She laughed freely, tears dripping down her own face, before nodding and reaching up to kiss him again.

Loved it? Hated it? Wish there was more? Wish it didn't exist? Let me know in a review! If you have any requests, I LOVE writing for this fandom… ;)

readingsloth