Disclaimer: I don't own Ned's Declasified.

Author's Notes: I've been sitting so long on this I feel like it's been forever.. and you readers have reminded me that it's been forever. I haven't wanted to finish this because, well there's only this chapter and the epilogue and..this is over. I've been working on this story and the two that came before it for so long I almost don't want to let go of it. I hope you like it.

From the Notebook of Ned Bigby

I'm torn. Ever since Cookie brought up me and Moze moving back to California, I can't get it off my mind. Ideally, yes, I would love to have our girls grow up together, and for Moze, Cookie, Lisa and I to grow old watching them play on the grass as we sit on lounge chairs.

I know Moze wouldn't fight me. In fact, she'd probably be the one packing the suitcases.

But...I've gotten used to my rhythm here. The crabby cab drivers, the quirky coffee shops, the tall buildings, my messy apartment.

Nothing has to be decided right now.

It is, however a distraction from actually having to start that book of mine.

-db-

"Shoudn't you be like.. writing a book or something?" Moze's voice drifts over to the kitchen from her position on the couch with her feet propped up on the coffee table.

"Shouldn't you be like..popping out a baby?" Ned dryly retorts as he takes a sip out of his water glass. "Sheesh, you've been pregnant for like 10 years now"

"The doctor says it's nothing to be concerned about" Moze rubs her round belly with a grin. "I'd rather be like this forever"

"I can handle you having the boobs forever" Ned smirks at her as he walks over to the couch to lay a soft kiss on Moze's forehead. She closes her eyes then smacks him sharply in the ear.

"Hey.. I hear ringing" Ned says as he clasps his ear. "I think you ruined me"

"Idiot, that's the phone ringing" Moze lifts the cordless phone off the pile of magazines on the table. She tosses it to him "It's Jo."

"H'lo?" Ned hacks into the phone.

"Hey baby bro" Jo says with a drawl. "Any baby yet?"

"Don't you think I would have told you?" Ned chuckles. "Aunt Jo"

"Uh, no. I want to be the cool aunt without any titles" recites Johanna. "Anyways, you don't tell me anything. We've never been the touchy feely sibling duo, you know"

"Maybe it's time we started" Ned suggests.

"Um. I thought it was Moze who was going through hormonal fluctuations" Jo teases. "Where is all of this sentimentality coming from?"

"I don't know..." Ned says dreamily.

"Whatever...Just remember, I'm not Auntie Jo, I'm Jo"

"Jojo?"

"JO!"

"Jojo. Right.. like the monkey. Talk to you later, sis" Ned presses the end button on the phone and lets out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.

"What's up with your sister?" Moze lazily drawls "Is she thinking of adding to the Bigby clan?"

"Moze, you know better than that" Ned sits down next to her "Aaron's not smart enough to spawn. She just wanted to know how you're doing." He rubs her bump gently. "Lia, you can come whenever you're ready"

Moze shifts over so she's leaning on Ned's chest. "Ned?"

"Mmm?" Ned murmers into her ear as he gets sucked into the Psych episode Moze has been watching.

"Are we staying here?" Moze ventures. "We've never discussed this but..."

"I want to" Ned says carefully. "I'm so adjusted to being here.."

"I like it here" Moze ponders. "I really..I have no job or apartment keeping me in California. All I have is my stuff in storage in Cookie and Lisa's house, and a stack of rejection letters"

"You might not have to work, if I could finish this book" Ned sighs in frustration.

"Ned, don't worry." Moze squeezes his hand reassuringly. "You just need a spark of inspiration. You're lucky. Things work out in the end."

"Liss won't be happy if we don't let her play with her friend" Ned quips.

"What's she really going to do with Lia anyway at this age?" Moze says "Lia won't be able to even hold up her head..."

"How about we stay here for now. Figure things out along the way. Stay home with Lia until you decide whether or not to work, and...its okay." Ned offers.

"That's how we get along" Moze smiles at Ned. The cordless phone from where Ned left it trills again.

"Well. We're popular today,aren't you?" Ned regards the phone suspiciously.

"No rest for the weary" Moze hands Ned the phone again and curls up on the couch.

"Hey...Cookie.. what's up?" Ned pats her head as he walks through the apartment.

"Guess what just happened?"

"I dunno, Lissy threw up in a priceless vase at your parent's house?" Ned quirks a smile.

"That was last week that's old news" Cookie grins. "Guess whose about to be a parent?"

"Suzie?" Ned ventures.

"No, why would you say that?" Cookie's expression folds into a confused face. "Did she say she wanted a baby?"

"Not in so many words but..." Ned gesticulates. "Yes..."

"Lisa and I!" Cookie yells into the phone. Lisa walks up to him and whacks him in the ear.

"I just put Lissy down for a nap and you have to start being loud?" She affectionately teases Cookie with a hint of a smile. "Just keep it down, okay? I know you're excited!"

"You.. are a parent" Ned drolly says. "Unless you borrow Lissy whenever we come to town"

"I know, I'm just so excited." Cookie says gleefully. "I think Lissy's grown up enough that we could handle two..."

"Hold on a second" Ned covers the mouthpiece to the phone. "Moze! Cookie and Lisa are having another baby!"

"What? Moze sits up so her head pokes over the back of the couch. "Give me the phone! Get me Lisa!"

"Oh-kay" Ned nods. "Cookie can you give Lisa the phone for a moment? They want to have girl time..and I guess I should be trying to work on my book a little more"

"Yeah no problem" Cookie hands the phone over to Lisa. Moze squeals into the phone

"What the hell! Lisa, you didn't even tell me you were trying!" Moze shrieks as Ned walks further into the back of the apartment to his office.

Ned sits down in his office and stares out of the window. Now there really is a reason to go back to California. The new baby and Lia will be almost the same age...Give or take nine months.

He fiddles with the blinds.

"When did I become an adult and how can I make it stop?" Ned thinks aloud as he sits in his rolling chair and pushes himself back and forth off of the edge of the desk so he rolls back and forth.

He exhales sharply and pushes himself harder off of the desk. He rolls away so fast he slams into the wall. Woozily he clutches his head. The chair tips backwards, sending him sprawling to the floor with a crash.

"I gotta go, Lisa.." He distantly hears Moze say. "I think Ned has somehow hurt himself again..." He hears the squeak of the couch springs as she stands up. "I don't know how I'm ever going to trust him with a baby."

As she gets closer, he can hear the faintest murmer of Lisa's reply. "Yeah I know, I should have thought of that before I married him."

"I'll let you go, I have to help him off of the floor" Moze hits end and puts the phone down on Ned's desk. "Ned?"

"I'm fine" Ned winces. "Head hurts a little"

"Let's get dinner. That'll make you feel better" She extends an arm out to him and he accepts.

"Is it embarassing to you too that even practically ten months pregnant you can wrench me off the floor?" Ned asks.

"Not at all" Moze says. "It's part of your charm."

-db-

"Ned?" Moze whispers very softly. It is now nighttime, with the moonlight shining through the window. Ned has fallen asleep but wakes up at her voice.

"What, are you cold? Do you need another blanket?" Ned grabs a light blue blanket out of the hamper that is sitting on the floor. "I know it's drafty here..."

"Ned."

"Decaf tea?" He runs into the kitchen then runs back with a lukewarm cup of water.

"Ned." Moze stands up, a line of clear fluid trickling down her flannel pajama pants. "I think.. my water broke".

"Oh." Ned pauses for a moment. "Just get your shoes on. We're going to the hospital"

Moze waddles around the apartment "I can't remember where I left them." She moans. Ned throws a pair of Crocs at her feet.

"Just wear these.. it's three o'clock in the morning, do you think anyone cares what's on your feet?"

"Get a cab. Please" She winces and walks off to get her overnight bag.

"Can you believe this?" Ned comes up behind her. "God, I couldn't have pictured this a year ago"

I dreamed of this, the first time Moze thinks to herself. But this time, it's actually working out.

"I think we've had enough surprises" Ned grins. "I..."

"Shhhh" Moze hushes him "Sweetie.. stop babbling, you're worrying me"

"Okay. I'm just nervous is all" Ned takes a deep breath.

"You're not the one who has to push out a human being out of your butt" Moze grouchily retorts as she steps carefully into the elevator.

"I'm pretty sure it doesnt go like that." Ned ponders. "Do you want me to call Cookie and Lisa? Suzie?"

"Ned." Moze steps outside into the street. "How did you...?"

"I didn't." Ned stares in bewilderment at the taxi idling before them. "Who cares. Jump in"

"Whereya heading to?" The cab driver grunts out.

"Nearest hospital, please...my wife is having a baby" Ned proudly says.

"You in a hurry?" He asks as they pull into the street.

"YES WE'RE IN A HURRY" Moze bellows as they drive off.

"Sheesh, ya don't have to be so cranky" The cab driver grouses.

"I wouldn't mess with her." Ned advises "She's really fearsome, you know."

-db-

"We rush getting here, and she's nowhere to be found." Moze mutters as she lies in the hospital bed, Ned at her side and many beeping machines.

"We're not in a hurry." Ned says as a response.

"Weare not having contractions. I am" Moze points out

"It's nothing to worry about just yet" The doctor checking Moze out says with a slight smile.

"I am soooooo tired of hearing that" Moze adds with a drawl. "You have no idea"

"Just sit and be patient." The doctor turns quickly on her heel. "It'll happen when it happens"

"Ned?" Moze looks up at him wearily. "Will you kill him for me?"

"Sweetie. I would. Any other time. But there's going to be blood everywhere in a little bit, and I know how you hate dealing with tough laundry stains." Ned says with a drawl.

"Funny. Real funny" The doctor murmers. "Dad, you're going to have to wait outside since she's a high risk."

"A high risk of what?" Ned's eyes widen.

"It's too soon to tell for right now, everything might be okay.. Can you just wait outside in the Dad's room down the hall for a little while just for me to make sure?" The doctor says gently but firmly. "It's the last door before you reach the elevators."

"Fine." Ned sighs. He kisses Moze softly on the forehead and leaves the room albeit reluctantly.

When he gets to the "Dad's Room"; a blue painted room filled with pacing fathers to be and family members patiently awaiting the arrivals of their new additions.

I don't belong here. Ned thinks to himself as he alternates between pacing in a circle and staring out of the . I belong there in that room. Moze and I do enough leaving each other...

But the thing is... Ned looks down the hall both ways. Who can stop me? I'm the one paying the bills. It's MY kid there.

Ned's phone rings again and he mutters an explicitive under his breath. "Cookieee.. Hey..."

"Hey. I need to ask you something kinnnnnda important" Cookie trails off.

"Can it wait? I'm going to break into Moze's room."

"...Is that code for something, buddy?"

"No, they won't let me in there"

"Ned..." Cookie says after a long pause. "You go in there and do what you have to do."

"I knew you'd understand." Ned whispers as he shimmies toward the door while the other fathers are distracted by a hockey game being shown on ESPN. He carefully unlatches the door, taking great caution to make sure that he make no sound as he creeps through, then closes the door.

Don't lie, you've always loved pretending to be a spy his inner voice chortles as he pretends to be walking casually down the hallway. A nurse wearing bright purple scrubs briskly strides down the hallway. Ned recognizes her from Moze's room and quickly ducks into a storage closet to avoid being spotted. He spies an abandoned coat that says Jacob Litman, Registered Dietician. Ned ponders it for a few moments, then steps out the door, swaggering in his disguise to Moze's room.

When he gets there, he breathes a sigh of relief and leans against the door. I can't believe that actually worke... Whoever is on the other side of the door opened it, causing Ned to stumble and fall through the door.

"Oh hello, Mr. Bigby. I was going to just come and get you" The doctor quizzically stares at Ned's attire. "Everything is fine, the baby's nearly here." He squeezes Ned's shoulder and exits the room for a moment. Ned returns to the room and lays a hand on Moze's head.

"Hey."

"I see you escaped." Moze wheezes out as another contraction hits her in a wave. "I think it's almost here. Are you ready to meet your daughter?"

"Ever since you told me."

"Are you ready to be a dad?" She says with a slightly joking tone.

"I'm going to do the best I can with what I can. And if she's anything like her mom, she's going to be an ass kicking hell raiser who can reduce me to a puddle of goo"

"Thanks sweetie" Moze drowsily says. She grips his hands as she suffers through more pain. Ned's fingers turn first a whitish color, then blue.

"You're almost almost there!" The nurse cheerily encourages Moze. Moze lets out a screech that Ned could have sworn was impossible for humans to make. Then there is nothing but complete silence for a moment, then Ned hears a loud cry.

"Congratulations, it's a baby boy!" announces the doctor. "Dad, do you want to cut the..."

Then he notices that Ned is passed out on the floor.

"Does he do this often?" He inquiries to Moze.

"Unfortunately." Moze manages to stammer out. "Usually I manage to get a pillow so he doesnt hurt his head"

I hope it lived up to what everyone wanted... Read and Review!