Nash

She got up and showered, then grabbed her bag as he was rolling out of bed. She gave him a smile, even though her heart was breaking a little. "Lock up when you leave, k?" was all she said before shutting the door and hurrying to her car ro go to class.

She told herself it was for the best. If he stayed, he would distract her and she would skip classes to be with him. She would totally screw up her last few weeks of school and she couldn't do that. Not when she was this close.

Still, she moped through all of her classes and kept looking at her phone to see if her mom or Hank texted. Gavin would have texted Hank when he left and her mom would surely be checking on her to see how she was. Right?

Maybe Gavin stopped in there before going back to Illinois. That's why her mom wasn't texting her.

She went up to her apartment after her last class and was shocked to find the door unlocked. He hadn't locked up!

Pushing the door open, she stared at Gavin in the little kitchenette in nothing but a pair of jeans. He looked at her and grinned. "Your oven cooks uneven," he told her.

"Uhh... yeah," she answered, stunned. She closed the door and dropped her bag, still staring.

"Went to the store and got the fixin's for chicken pot pie, but your oven doesn't heat up as quick as mine and..."

"Yeah... the gauge is off. If you want 350, you have to put it on 425."

"Well shit," he chuckled, turning the dial up.

"Yeah... I don't use the oven much."

"I could tell."

"I... why are you still here? Don't you have to go home?"

He shrugged a shoulder, looking at the oven like it was important he watched what was inside. "Everything I want is right here," he finally answered, his voice barely audible. "I figure I can wait here long enough for what I want to realize I'm what they want too. Till school is out."

"What about your beans?"

"Darren already said he could handle it. Figure I'd let him, since he'll be doin' it himself this time next year. Good practice and all that. And plenty of people there to help him. I ain't use to eating out as much as you, though, so I thought I would cook dinner tonight."

"I beg to differ," she laughed, moving around to sit at the island.

"What?" he asked, grinning.

"You are way more used to eating out than I am."

He snorted a laugh and rolled his eyes ostentatiously. "You joke but you love it as much as I do."

"Never said I didn't," she agreed, blushing.

"So, as I figure it, you have until May 17th to decide you want to marry me and go back with me. If you ain't decided by then, well, on the 18th I will just haul you over my shoulder and take you back with me till you figure it out."

"What if I want to stay here?" she asked softly.

"You don't. This place holds nothing for you in your heart. I watched you all day when you showed me around, there's nothing special to you here. It's just a place to you, not a home."

"What about my job?"

"They have places near home that need people who do what you do. My dad said they needed them local, putting the new navigation systems and ground sensors in the tractors and combines and everything."

Nash hugged herself and went to look out the window, feeling a little overwhelmed. She still hadn't told him she was pregnant, or even decided what she wanted to do yet. It all seemed like too much.

She wished she could talk to her mother right then, without Gavin or Hank or anyone else around. Just to talk to her and be able to lay it all out out loud.

"Well this still has a good 45 minutes," Gavin laughed, catching hold of Nash from behind and picking her up. "I know how I want to fill that time."

Nash giggled as she threw her arms around his neck and he carried her to the bed. Her body was so hypersensitive the past couple days, it took hardly anything for her to come and she didn't know why.

Gavin came up with a growl as she came the second time in less than ten minutes, her body shaking uncontrollably. His smirk as he kissed her hip made her laugh shakily.

"I think you get excited as soon as I put hands on you," he accused, moving up and kissing her higher on her hip, and then her belly and her ribs as he slid his hand up.

"Maybe," she laughed, sliding her hands into his hair as he hugged her, his head on her ribs. His hand slid over her belly again, then again and she felt him go still. His hand spread over her belly and he held it there and she could feel the tiny lump his hand was pressing against inside of her.

"Nash?" he asked softly, his voice shaky now.

"Yeah?" she asked, half panicked. There was no way he could know! She wasn't really showing yet, she just looked a little thicker!

"I... think maybe I should run to the store."

"What for?"

"Uhh... when Jerry got married, he told me about how when she got pregnant, she was super sensitive. She could come if you blew on her the wrong way. All the time... I... think maybe I should get you a test? Do you feel that?" he asked, looking up at her as his palm rolled over the tiny knot in her belly.

Nash stared at him, her eyes wide, then she blushed and looked away. "I... was waiting to tell you," she whispered.

He sat up, looking down at her in shock. "You are? You KNOW you are? How far along?"

"I haven't been to the doctor, but... it happened around Christmas."

He looked down at her belly in wonder, then dropped back down as his hand ever so gently slid over her stomach. "We're going to have a baby?" he asked, his face full of joy.

Nash didn't have it in her to say she wasn't sure what she was going to do yet.

"I'll have to build on to the house!" he said excitedly, going up to his knees. "My folks still have all kinds of baby stuff and we keep a whole storage barn full of nothing but baby stuff out at Grams. People just come and get what they need and put it back when they don't need it anymore! Have you thought of any names? When is it due do you think? Do you think it's a boy? What does your mom think?"

"I... you're the first person I have told," she answered, still half paralyzed with fear. When was he going to figure out that she'd had no intention on telling him until she figured out what she was going to do?

He smiled, his face lit up as he went to an elbow beside her. Kissing her gently, he stroked her face. "We can tell her together. My folks too. Hank will be so excited! Outside of you saying yes, this is the best news I could imagine getting, Nash," he breathed, pulling her close to hold in his arms.

Nash hugged him back, but she felt like a fraud.

He pulled back. "Let's invite'm up this weekend! I'll make dinner and we can tell them!"

Nash managed a smile and a nod, but she felt a little sick. She'd wanted to tell her mom alone and talk to her.

Still grinning, Gavin grabbed up his phone and started texting Hank. Nash rolled out of bed and picked up her phone, but slipped into the bathroom just holding it. Setting it down, she got in the shower so that Gavin wouldn't know she was in there crying, she just felt so lost suddenly.

He found her there, two minutes later, hugging her knees in the bathtub as the shower streamed down on her.

"Babe? Oh, hey, now," he coaxed, getting in with her in his jeans and pulling her into his lap. "Babe, it's ok. I know how it is, all emotional and you're all fragile feelings right now. I'll be here for every minute of it, I promise you. We'll do this together. I been around pregnant women my entire life, I've seen every different reaction there's ever been! High emotions is normal. Come here, I have you," he comforted her, stroking her hair back as he leaned back against the wall.

Nash laid her head on his bare chest and sobbed until she had no more tears, then just held on to him until the hot water started giving out. He kicked the water off with his foot, then lifted her out of the tub and wrapped her in a towel before peeling his own wet pants off and drying off. He carried her to the couch in the towel before hurrying to the oven and turning it off, pulling the dish out.

It smelled slightly burned.

He ignored it after setting it on the stove and hurried back to Nash, pulling her back into his lap to hold her and kiss her head over and over again.

She fell asleep right there in his arms like that and didn't wake up until he was laying her in bed.

When her alarm went off in the morning, she ignored it, turning and hiding her eyes from the light against his arm.

"Hey babe," he rumbled, hugging her. "You feelin' ok?"

"Headache."

"You cried yourself to sleep, I'm guessing a headache is normal with that. Feelin better otherwise?"

"Still a little lost," she admitted, saying more than she had planned to, to him.

"I know you are. I'm here. I'll help you find the way... even if it's not my way. I'll still be here."

Nash felt a relief wash over her. He wasn't going to use this to try and force her to be with him. She held her breath a moment to try and build up the courage for the next part. "I... I'm not sure if I want to keep it."

He went still, his whole body going rigid. His hand slowly began stroking her arm. "Alright," he told her gently. "That's your choice to make, Nash... I'll be here for that too. If... if you don't want me and you don't want the baby but still plan to have it..."

"I'm not sure I want to have it," she said quickly. "I haven't had much time to think about it or decide."

He went still again. "I wasn't supposed to know, was I?"

"No," she admitted. "I was going to tell my mom and talk to her."

"Alright," he answered slowly. "So... how about this weekend, we go there. To your moms. Me and Hank will find something to do Saturday and you can spend the day with your mom. Talking and deciding and all that. You can let me know what you decide Sunday. Will that work?"

"Thanks, Gavin," she whispered, then hugged him back just as tightly when he hugged her close.

"Alright. You have a class this morning, go get ready and I will make you breakfast and coffee and get you something for your headache."

"I was going to skip..."

"The hell you will," he smiled. "You aren't allowed to skip classes while I'm here, I won't let you. You're going to finish college on a damned high note and be proud of it. Come on, up. Get dressed," he demanded, helping her up and getting up himself.

Nash managed a smile as she got dressed.

To her shock, her mother and Hank were both there when she got out of class. She gave them and Gavin an alarmed smile.

"Hey," Gavin smiled brightly. "I saw there was this art show down the street when I went for groceries. I thought you and your mom would like to go see it. Me and Hank can just hang here and catch up," he said quickly. Too quickly.

She grinned at him, thankful for him. He'd known she wouldn't be able to make it until the weekend, she needed to talk to her mother now.

"That sounds amazing," she told him, then went to hug her mom.

They left the apartment an hour later to walk down to the little street fair art show. Her mother looked at her and gave her a small smile. "How far along are you?" she asked without preamble.

Nash smiled faintly. "Christmas?"

"He knows, I assume."

"Yeah... he noticed last night."

Her mother snorted a laugh. "I noticed the second you walked in the door. Tiny as you are, you're already showing. So he knows it's his... is he pressuring you to marry him again?"

Nash looked down, then told her mom what was going on and the issues she was having about not knowing what to do. Whether she should keep it or try to get her life on track first.

Her mother was quiet for a long time as they walked through the art show. Finally, she spoke. "It's easy in this day and age to say 'not now, maybe later' and not think about what that means. You know me, Nash, I am an advocate for women's rights and your body your choice... but I want you to really think about what it is you're asking. Discarding a life because you don't know if you are ready yet. No one is ever ready for a child, Nash. It happens and you learn as you go. I am not saying you shouldn't weigh your options... I am just saying that this doesn't sound like you at all. The Nash I know would never do something like this because it's inconvenient. What's really wrong? Is it Gavin? Because he's so intense and his emotions are so epic? Hank is the same, but the difference is, I adored it, still do. His heart is so big, so open, he has no fears of jumping all in. Neither did I. You are more like your father, so reserved and careful, double thinking every move you make. It's harder for you to understand someone who gives so much of themself so quickly, you keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, to see what is going to go wrong. You're too afraid to let it happen, to trust that he is genuine. I have no doubt at all that he is, Nash Ella. So if you feel for him at all what he feels for you, then don't be afraid. Let him in and let yourself be happy. This pregnancy too. You don't have to be afraid of not making the right choice. Trust yourself. Trust that he loves you without reserve. Trust your feelings for him and know that no matter what, I will be here for you. So will I and so will Hank."

"You know they aren't normal, right?" Nash asked her mom, confused.

"I am well aware and I am so happy they aren't. Their whole family is just... completely and unabashedly romantic and close. They are raised to see it as a gift and not something to hide or be ashamed of. I love it about them."

Nash looked over at her mom and the winsome smile on her face, then back at a hideous tar painting. "You want to go there, don't you?" she asked her mom softly.

"I was considering it," he mom admitted. "If you really decided not to come home after college. To live alone in your apartment. Now I don't think it will be an issue," her mother smiled. "I have seen the way you two look at each other. Hank told me he had already seen it, but I hadn't. Not until you walked in today. When you walked in the door, his world walked in the door, his face said it all. And when you looked at him, the way your face lit up like you were so happy he was still there. Almost like you were afraid he might not be, but he was and you were so relieved and happy. You love him, a blind man could see that."

"But he's so..."

"I know. So's Hank," her mother laughed. "You get used to it. It's hard sometimes, to find ways to spoil him when he is always working so hard to spoil me. I think it's just ingrained into them, all of them, to spoil each other and always wear their hearts not just on their sleeves, but in their hands to hand over. It's both amazing and infuriating when you want to do something for them, only for them to turn it on you and make it about you."

"Does it ever ease up?"

"I hope not," her mother laughed "Hank and I will be coming up on a year and he is still coming at me like the day we met. So handsome and perfect standing there at my table, all charming and full of joy. So many people want to tell you about sad things in their life or bad things that have happened to them... not him. He is so full of joy and happiness and it's so refreshing. They are all like that. What did you and Gavin talk about when you met?"

Nash blushed and looked away quickly, not wanting to admit that they hadn't talked much at all.

Her mother gave her a wicked chuckle. "They may have that in common too. Insatiable. I don't mind that one bit either!"

"Mom!" Nash hissed, horrified.

Her mom only laughed and hooked her arm through her daughters as they walked back to Nash's apartment.

The men met them at the door, Gavin grinning. "Saw you walking back. We were thinking a sit down place for dinner? Since you only have two stools and a couch here to sit on?"

"Works for me," Nash shrugged, blushing again.

She slid her hand into Gavin's and he smiled down at her, pleased as they got in the back of Hank's car. She spent the evening looking over Gavin objectively and thinking about him objectively. Putting what her mom told her in with everything she knew about him and what Hank had said, as well as how his family reacted to him. She put it together like a grid, lining everything up and putting intersections in where she knew things to be true. She added in the idea of having a child with him and saw it all in her mind's eye and weighed her options.

After the waiter came and asked them if they wanted desert, she finally sat up and turned to Hank. Taking hold of Gavin's hand on the table, she leaned up.

"So... dad. I guess Gavin and I have something to tell you. How ready are you to be a grandpa?"

Hank sat up so hard he toppled his water as he laughed joyously, leaning to clap a hand on Gavin's shoulder.

Gavin yanked Nash out of her seat to hug her, smiling so hard he had tears in his eyes. "Thank you," he whispered in her ear before kissing her temple. "Thank you!"

She hugged him closer and buried her face in his neck. "Guess I should ask you how ready you are to be a dad? And a husband?"

Gavin let out a whoop, jumping up and spinning her around before standing her on the chair to kiss her. He stood up straight and turned to face the whole restaurant. "SHE SAID YES!" he yelled joyously, then turned and kissed her again.

There was laughter and light clapping, as well as a few cheers as Hank and her mother stood up to hug them as well.

Nash found herself crying as well, her own tears of joy.