"It's a boy."

Cas beamed at her blonde friend before turning to grin at Ellis. "See," she said, "I told you so."

Four months had passed since their 'family' had come to live in the LA survival community. Four months had passed since Cas found out about her pregnancy. Today, with her friend working the ultrasound machine, she found out the gender of her baby.

"What'r we gon' name 'im?" Ellis asked.

Sophie quickly intervened. "Alrighty, you two love birds. We can all talk about names over dinner. For now, Cas needs to get cleaned up, you both need to get back to work, and I need to see my next patient."

The three departed, leaving Sophie to do her job, Ellis going back to the garage, and Cas back to her cubical. It wasn't a very exciting life (not at all, actually), but you could find none of them complaining about it. After the five got out of the apocalypse, they would all tell you the same thing.

The deserved this little bit of peace.

Coach beamed at his team. Falling back into his regular routine and occupation had been a cinch for him. He got to teach health and phys-ed at the community high school, and he got to coach two of the greatest sports teams in the world.

Football and Baseball.

Life was good. He had a job, a home, a warm cooked meal to come home to every night, projects to keep himself occupied with, and a family who, despite not being related by blood (or related at all, for that matter) loved him. He missed his family, that was for sure, but he wasn`t going to ignore a good thing if he had it.

Life was good.

Nick grumbled from behind his desk at the radio operations centre. Just as Coach predicted, he had gotten fired from his first job in a matter of weeks. Thankfully, they were able to relocate him in a position much more 'suited to his personality.'

Picking up distress calls from remaining survivors.

He had no idea how it suited his personality.

There hadn't been any sign of life out there for weeks now—nearing a month. The rescue was almost finished, he reckoned. He glanced at the clock; only two more hours before he could go home.

Despite his previous preferences, Nick found himself enjoying 'domestic' life. It gave him something to do, kept him out of trouble, and kept him comfortable. Oh, he was comfortable alright. He had a home, a 'family' of sorts, and a pretty little wife to keep him well fed (she was one hell of a cook), well loved (affectionate when prompted), and highly entertained (for hours and hours).

This was the good life.

Sophie sorted away the last of the files, shooing away her last patient, who had come in only for a check-up. It wasn't what she had expected when she signed up for 'medic,' but it was better than a lot of the other jobs offered. She had become a family doctor of sorts.

She got home after Coach, the same time as Cas, but earlier than Ellis and Nick, as was usual. Everyone would be home soon, so she took to her mother-hen duties. She fixed dinner, ordered Cas to set the table, and flopped onto the couch to wait up on everyone else.

This was as good as it was gonna get.

Cas couldn't complain about the position the group had landed in. Even though she had never expected things to turn out this way, she knew things could be worse. A lot worse. She at least had a good job doing what she enjoyed and she was surrounded by people that she cared for. After the apocalypse, Cas and Sophie were closer than ever, and her other friends were just around the corner. Then there was Coach and Nick who (with a bit of reasoning) she could consider a father and brother of sorts. Of course she couldn't forget about her fiancé, whom she was carrying the son of. She was quick to accept the news of their child (deal and move on had been what she told herself) and the hick's proposal made it that much better.
She did, however, find the need to complain about chores. She had never enjoyed them and the additional luggage made it that much harder. But when push came to shove, they had it easy.
It was a comfortable life.

Ellis couldn't be happier. He had everything he had ever wanted, plus some. After the apocalypse (hell, during the apocalypse) he started slowly getting the things him and his mama had always wanted for him in life. He had great friends (he could call them family, really), a home, his best friend, Keith, and a fiancée who would soon be the mother of his child.

"And after she rubbed that jelly stuff on Cas' belly, she told us it was gon' be a boy. A boy, Keith! Can you believe it?"

"Congrats, brother! You'n Cas are gon' be happy together."

When he got home from work, he walked into his house, kissed his fiancée, ate a good home cooked meal, and bunkered down for the night with the woman of his dreams and their to-be child in his arms.

This was the life.

Sophie rubbed the fuzziness from her eyes. Glancing at the clock, she groaned out loud. Only 2:43 in the morning. Her insomnia had been acting up again. Once her body adjusted to a full nights sleep after the sporadic patterns in the panic, it came out of the routine again.

She tried to get back to sleep, but after lying in bed for an hour beside a restful Nick (whom she resented right now), she decided it was perhaps better to wander. Taking her shoes and slipping on her robe, she headed for the front door. Leaving it cracked open to allow for circulation (as nice as the houses were, the circulation was terrible), she headed out for a walk around the neighborhood.

It wasn't like the area was new to her; she had memorized the community front and back by now. It was safe; full of young people—families mostly. You wouldn't believe what whole families would go through to stay together. She completed a circuit and by the end of an hour she was standing on her front porch again.

Walking back into the house and slipping off her shoes, she could hear a muffled crying from the living room.

"Cas," she whispered to herself.

Even though everyone was enjoying the life, being pregnant really messed with her friend. Sometimes Sophie would wake up to her friend's sniffles or angry shouts from another room. It seems this time she decided to take her tears downstairs.

Without turning on the lights, Sophie set the kettle and grabbed a mug for tea. A cup of chamomile was just the trick to get the pregnant lady to calm down and go back to bed. She grabbed the cup of steaming liquid and quietly padded into the living room.

"Cas, I—"

The figure gasped and growled at her. Her eyes widening a little bit, Sophie quickly backed up out of the room and flattened herself against a wall. When the aggravated growling turned back into sobs Sophie put down the mug and went back upstairs.

Nick was still sleeping peacefully when she tip-toed in. Sitting on the edge of the bed, she grabbed his shoulder and gently shook him.

"Nick," she whispered loudly, "Nick, get up."

Shaking his head, he looked at her with bleary eyes. Rubbing them, he looked her over to make sure she was okay. "I'm up," he announced, sitting. "Are you alright? Couldn't sleep?"

"Nick."

"Sophie."

"There's a witch in our living room."

"Then deal with her. Give her some tea like you did last time; didn't that work?"

She sat still, her eyes fixed on his.

"Nick."

"Sophie."

"There's a witch in our living room."

He glared into her eyes, making sure she wasn't just pulling his leg. As she didn't look away, he could be pretty sure that she was telling the truth. Springing from his spot, he pulled out the rifle from under their bed.

"Wake everyone up," he instructed. "Tell them what's happening."

At this moment a roar was heard from outside. A moment later, Cas and Ellis burst through their door.

"Guys!" cried Ellis, "There's a tank outside!"