A/N: This was inspired by the conversation between Krabappel and Skinner in episode 10x19, when they're in the hardware store. There's a seemingly throwaway line there, and it seemed like a potential story ark that was completely dropped. This AU takes place a little after that conversation, after they're engaged but before My Big Fat Geek Wedding.

Edna stared at the kitchen timer above the oven in her apartment, waiting impatiently for the lasagna to finish. And it wasn't a Stouffer's frozen lasagna for once, this was the real deal. She pushed away from the counter top she was leaning against and moved to check inside the oven. The lasagna didn't look like the picture in the magazine. Edna swore under her breath. She followed the recipe exactly but the cheese on top looked brown and black instead of a warm golden color. She grabbed an oven mitt and pulled the tray out of the oven, coughing at the smoke that emitted from the burnt pasta. She set the tray on the cold stovetop and leaned against the sink, wiping her brow.

She left work right after the students in order to get this dinner ready. Normally she and Seymour drove together if they had plans to spend the night with each other, but she'd sent him a note earlier in the day that she was leaving early to start dinner. He was supposed to arrive at her place greeted by a heaping plate of warm pasta, cheese, and homemade sauce. How could they have a mature conversation about their future if she couldn't even cook an edible meal?

There was a tell-tale click of a key in a lock, followed by the front door opening and Seymour calling out to her to let her know he'd let himself in. Edna flinched, wishing she had more time to cover this up. She slipped off the oven mitt and turned to face her fiance.

"Hello Edna," he said, stepping toward her and giving her a quick peck on the cheek. His voice sounded tired. Maybe it was stress at work; she'd sent Bart Simpson to his office today, which usually led to a headache.

"Rough day?" she asked.

"You could say that," he said, taking off his suit jacket and slumping into one of her kitchen chairs, "The Simpson boy weaseled his way out of his punishment by bribing Willie, and then Superintendent Chalmers came by in the afternoon to give me a stern talking to about the budget."

"Oh god, let me guess, we're facing more cuts aren't we?" Edna scoffed, "Chalmers is out of his mind if he thinks we can stretch the budget any further. We're already using donated textbooks from 1953!"

"I've told him as much, but he doesn't seem to care…"

They both remained quiet for a moment, stewing over the state of the public education system, before Seymour glanced up again.

"Something smells good," he ventured, but she could tell by the way he wrinkled his nose that he was just trying to be nice.

"It was supposed to be lasagna, but something went wrong," Edna sighed, "We can eat the salad though and then I'll order a pizza."

"That's fine by me. Mother never wants to order pizza on weeknights."

Edna rolled her eyes and turned to get the two salad plates out of the fridge. She set them down on her kitchen table and sat across from Seymour, studying him as she went. He looked tired but his eyes were focused and his posture was as straight as ever. Her heart softened as he smiled genuinely at her. She took a deep breath and said,

"Seymour, there's something I want to say to you."

His expression changed instantly at that, panic flashing in his eyes. These types of conversations never went well.

"Is something bothering you?"

"Not at the moment, but there's something we need to discuss," she said, trying to sound casual, "Remember a little while ago, I told you I was interested in having children?"

"Yes, I remember. We were in the pool supply aisle and we both agreed we wanted kids in the future," he said, frowning in confusion.

"Well, what if that future was now?"

"Oh Edna, now is not the right time."

She narrowed her eyes, "That's exactly what you said last time. It could be the right time if-"

"My feelings remain the same," he said, holding up a hand, "I don't want to jump into anything on a whim."

"But don't you want to have a baby with me?" she asked, feeling hot tears start to fill her eyes, "You said that you didn't mind the idea of having a kid or two. What are we waiting for?"

"For one, we're not even married yet-"

"Oh Seymour please, it's not the 1940s! I'm not getting any younger and neither are you."

"I see your point, but why don't we focus on one thing at a time? We've already agreed to get married, so let's do that first, then we can talk about it again."

"Fine," Edha crossed her arms and stared him down, "Let's finally pick a date for the wedding. Right now."

Seymour paled, "Whoa there, let's not rush into things without thinking…"

"We're not rushing into anything! Let me get this straight- you're not ready to get married, you don't want to have a baby with me," she said, counting off on her fingers, "Why are we even in a relationship?"

He had the gall to look truly hurt by her remark, "Because I love you!"

"Sometimes it doesn't feel that way," Edna replied, shaking her head, "A lot of the time it feels like you put everyone and everything before our relationship. Your mother. The school. Money. Do you know how much it hurts me every time you shoot down an idea for our wedding because it's too expensive?"

"I'm sorry Edna, I didn't know you felt so strongly about it. Of course I care about our relationship, but things are going well right now, why rush into anything else? What's wrong with a long engagement?"

"I don't want to wait anymore, I want to officially start our lives together, Seymour! You need to figure out what you want. I love you but I'm turning 40 this year and I won't waste the last years of my prime with someone who doesn't really want to be with me."

Seymour clamped his mouth shut, unsure of what to say to that. Edna shook her head and sighed, trying to blink the tears out of her eyes. She stood and pointed toward the door of her apartment.

"Please leave. I don't want to look at you right now."

Seymour hung his head sadly but he didn't argue. He picked up his suit jacket and slowly walked toward the door. Edna refused to look at him as he shut the door, knowing that he'd give her the sad puppy dog face that usually made her forgive him instantly.

She wouldn't be so quick to forgive this time. They'd started arguing before she'd even had the chance to tell him what she really needed to. Edna didn't want to keep it a secret, but she was too furious to share the news with him for the foreseeable future. After all, it was a long term secret. She still had a little less than nine months to tell him.

A few weeks later, Seymour Skinner was on his way back to his office after berating Willie for leaving the tool shed open and allowing the children to commandeer the lawn mower during recess. He opened the office door and found Bart Simpson standing on his office chair and rifling through his filing cabinet.

"What is the meaning of this!"

Bart jumped and looked over at the angry principal in the doorway.

"Sorry Skinrash, I thought you might be out sick today, so I was just looking for a certificate I misplaced."

Seymour marched over to Bart and picked him up, placing him in front of his desk. "I don't know what prank you need a certificate for, young man, but it won't be happening today. And why would you think I was sick? I'm never sick."

Bart glared at him and crossed his little arms.

"Mrs. K. has had some kind of stomach bug for the past couple weeks. She keeps leaving class in the morning to upchuck in the girls bathroom. Terri caught her last week. I just assumed you had the same thing, since you're a couple and all."

"She's been sick?"

Bart raised his eyebrows, "You didn't know?"

"We haven't had a lot of time to see each other recently," Seymour said, looking down and fiddling with a paper on his desk.

"Well that explains why I saw her crying in her car after school yesterday. Now that I think about it, Mrs. K. has been upset a lot recently. If you're the cause of it, you better fix it man! She could do a lot better than a wiener like you, you know."

It was rare for Bart to stick up for his teacher, but not totally unheard of. It usually only happened when they were on the same side against Skinner, for whatever reason. If the child delinquent was giving him relationship advice, Seymour knew things must be really bad.

"I'm afraid you're right, Simpson. I think I really messed up this time."

"If I were you, I'd go beg for her forgiveness. It always seems to work when my Dad screws up, which happens a lot. But he's always back on Mom's good side by the next day!"

"Yes, it's worth a shot," Seymour rubbed his chin, already thinking about how he could apologize to Edna, "Now get out of my office Bart, and don't let me catch you snooping in here again!"

"No promises!" Bart shouted over his shoulder as he ran out the door.

Now that he had some peace and quiet, Seymour leaned back in his chair to think about where his relationship had gone off the rails. He thought back to their last argument. Edna was angry with him for not committing and for not wanting to have a baby with her. But both things were the opposite of the truth! The truth was, he was just scared. He'd never been in love with anyone before Edna, and sometimes the strength of his feelings scared him. He had no model for what a marriage should look like and he was terrified he'd mess it up and she'd leave him. But now it looked like he was going to lose her anyway if he didn't at least try.

Suddenly he was back in her apartment for a moment, looking at her from across the kitchen table. Her crestfallen face blazed in his memory and his chest tightened as he remembered the tears in her eyes and the sound of her heartbroken voice. Seymour knew it wasn't real but it still broke his heart to re-live the pain of their last fight. He was no stranger to handling flashbacks thanks to the war though. He controlled his breathing until his office returned and he was back in the present.

He knew he had to talk to her right away. Seymour quickly collected his things and rushed to his car. The first thing he was going to do was drive to Edna's and beg for her forgiveness. Actually maybe he should stop by the store first and pick up some ginger ale and medicine, since she was feeling ill. He was about to turn down the road toward the Kwik-E-Mart when a new thought hit him like a truck. Something the Simpson boy said was finally ringing a bell and suddenly the pieces of the puzzle fell into place and the whole picture was there. They argued about having a baby, and now she was getting sick and crying all the time.

Oh dear lord... He was such a buffoon!

Edna was reading on her couch when she was startled by several loud knocks on the front door. She opened the door to find Seymour standing in the entryway, his tie loose and his hands full of bags from the Kwik-E-Mart. She stepped back as he pushed his way inside and dropped the bags by the door.

"Edna, I'm sorry! I've been acting like a fool, I realize that now, and I don't want to lose you."

He stepped towards her and took her in his arms, kissing her on the lips passionately. Unable to help herself, she moaned and kissed him back, allowing her hands to embrace him and run through his hair. She let herself give in to the wonderful feeling of being kissed for another moment, before she pulled away and stepped out of their embrace.

"Seymour, you can't just burst into my apartment and kiss me, and think that makes everything okay between us!"

"I know that, I came over here to talk to you but I couldn't help myself."

Edna watched him as he shoved his hands in his pockets and stared at the ground. He looked so bashful, like a kicked puppy. She clucked her tongue and took his hand. She pulled him over to the couch and sat down next to him. She could tell that he wanted to reach out and take her hands because his eyes kept darting over towards her, but he kept his hands folded on his lap.

"Firstly, I want to apologize for my behavior. I've been avoiding some deep conversations about our relationship, but I realize now that we need to talk about them, even if I'm uncomfortable."

"Yes we do," Edna replied, taking pity on him and reaching for his hands. She gave them a squeeze and nodded for him to continue.

"You know that I like plans and I like order, and I think it's time that I admit that I'm afraid of change. I did well in the army because everything was planned and calculated, and there were always orders to follow. Sometimes I miss having that structure. I love being with you, but I'm afraid we'll get off course and I was scared to mess up the good thing we had. But I'm done being a coward. I want to be with you and I'm ready to move forward, even if it means jumping into the unknown."

"Oh Seymour, I've waited so long to hear you say that!" she exclaimed, leaning forward to kiss him. They kissed happily for another moment before Seymour pulled back. He looked at her carefully and brushed a stray lock of brown hair behind her ear.

"There's something else I wanted to talk about. Someone told me you were getting sick at school… are you okay?"

Edna could tell by his tone that he'd already figured it out. She felt guilty that she was so nervous to talk about this with him, but her fear that he would leave her was keeping her mute. She was so worried that his fear of commitment would win out in the end, even though he claimed he was ready to take a leap forward. They stared at each other in silence for a moment, each waiting for the other person to say what they both already knew.

"I'm okay…" she admitted, trying to ignore the feeling of her heart racing rapidly in her chest, "In fact, I'm better than okay. Seymour, I'm pregnant."

"I suspected as much," Seymour said, nodding, "But why didn't you tell me when you found out? What were you going to do, not say anything until I asked if you ate one too many chocolate puddings from the cafeteria?"

Edna rolled her eyes, "No, I just didn't want to share the news while we were fighting. It's supposed to be a happy occasion."

"You're right," he agreed, a grin finally spreading across his face, "And I am happy. A little shocked, but happy."

"Really?"

"Of course! I know I sounded pessimistic when we discussed it last time, but I like the idea of having a child with you, Edna. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous but there's no one I'd rather co-parent with than you."

A huge smile broke out across her face as he finally confirmed that he was happy to start a family with her. She leaned forward to kiss him again and he pulled her flush against his body. It felt so good to finally be on the same page. It also felt good to have his hands rubbing her back and squeezing her waist again. Three weeks suddenly felt like a long time to be apart. Too soon for Edna's liking, she felt Seymour pull back again.

"We do have some logistics to figure out though."

"Way to ruin the mood," she grumbled, pulling back a little but allowing his arms to remain around her waist.

"It's not going to look good. An unmarried pregnant teacher could be considered a bad example-"

"I know you're not placing the blame solely on me for this," Edna cut in, raising one brow dangerously.

"No, of course not! I'm just saying that everyone will know I'm the father, and since we know the town didn't love the idea of a principal and teacher casually canoodling-"

"Get to the point Seymour, what are you saying?"

"I'm saying... Edna will you marry me?"

"You've already asked me that and I already said yes!"

"You didn't let me finish. Edna, will you do me the honor of marrying me next Sunday?"

Happy tears sprang to Edna's eyes as she covered her mouth in shock. She nodded quickly and pulled him into a tight hug.

"I'd love to marry you on Sunday!"

"Good, because I've already started making the arrangements," he said sheepishly.

"I've got to say, all this spontaneity is quite the turn on," she said, batting her eyes, "We can plan more tomorrow, now take me to bed."

Without hesitating, Seymour bent over and scooped her off the couch. Edna giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck, smiling up at him. He grinned back at her as he carried her to the bedroom.

"Might as well practice the bridal carry now!"

Some time later, the satisfied couple was lying in bed. Seymour has his arms around Edna, who was cuddled up to his side, her head resting on his shoulder and one arm draped across his chest. She felt more content than she had in ages. At one point during their lovemaking, he'd moved from kissing her neck down to her stomach and gently kissed the skin next to her bellybutton. She wasn't showing yet but her heart had warmed at the gesture. She felt more secure with the knowledge that he wanted to start a family with her now.

She lightly traced the scar on his shoulder, a reminder of the trials he'd faced as a young man that still affected him today. Seymour took note and glanced over at her.

"I know I'm a little worse for wear. I hope I can still coach his or her sports team someday, I've always wanted to do that."

"I think you'd be great at it," she told him, smiling at the thought.

"Even if I'm the oldest parent there? You think we can keep up?"

Edna shrugged, "It just means we have more life experience to share. Besides, you're 45, that's not that old. I've met older parents before."

"I know we're licensed educators, but do you think we have what it takes to be good parents?"

"I think we'll be pretty good if we have the shared goal of making sure our kid doesn't turn out like Bart Simpson," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Actually, you just reminded me that I need to thank that boy. He was the one who told me you were getting sick at school. I'm sure I would have figured it out eventually, but he moved things along."

"That's sweet, in an odd way," she conceded, "I guess we both still owe him a thank you. He may be a nuisance most days, but our relationship may have been over before it even really started if it wasn't for him."

"I suppose he has helped us out on a few occasions…"

The couple was quiet for a moment, before Edna snuggled closer in Seymour's arms and whispered,

"Well... maybe it's okay if they turn out a little like Bart…"