Early Christmas Gift? [Brennan]

[niki]

24th November 2008

Niki was excited. She had been with Brennan for over a week, they had been living together for over a week, and they were still gloriously happy together. She was also going to get Micah back. She had been in touch with DL's mother and explained that she was in a better place now and much more capable of looking after him. She had seemed a little reluctant at allowing Micah to leave, but when she put Micah on the phone, Niki could feel the love from her son radiating through the phone. Of course her own love for her son was radiating right back to him.

She hadn't felt this happy in such a long time. Now with the end of November approaching and December looming nearer, the only thing which seemed to be on Niki's mind was that she didn't have to spend Christmas by herself, which only a couple of weeks ago she thought that's exactly what she would have had to do.

It had been a daunting prospect. There would have been no Micah and no Brennan, it actually hurt Niki to think about it. The idea now of spending Christmas by herself really hurt her. She knew, now that she had time to think about it, she didn't want to be alone at Christmas, in fact, she never wanted to be alone again. Ever. Now Niki was looking out the Christmas decorations. Yes, alright, so it was just a little bit early, but she wanted to be able to get them all up for the first December and because Niki not only liked the inside of the house decorated but also the outside, there was a lot to do. Which meant a lot of decorations to find and sort through.

Now she had finally rooted out all the boxes of decorations she could find, she sat them on the kitchen dining table and began to look through them all. Sorting them into two piles. One for keeping, and one for throwing. Then she would sort them into another two piles, one for inside and one for outside.

However, as she got through the first box, she began to feel a bit shaky, in fact, she was feeling quite nauseous. She got up and quickly ran to the bathroom and the nauseous feeling turned into being physically sick. After about five minutes, she came strolling out of the bathroom and leaned up against the wall, feeling really shaky.

"Brennan?!" she shouted, a little weakly, but hopefully loud enough for him to hear her. "Brennan?!" she shouted again, and then began to walk from the bathroom, carefully down the stairs to the living room.

"Brennan I don't feel so goooo...." she couldn't get it finished as she collapsed and fell forward.

[brennan]

That morning Brennan had celebrated the one-week anniversary to their love. ‘Their,’ what a funny term.; funny, but entirely true. He no longer thought of ‘them’ as just Niki and Brennan. They were so in love with each other, so meant for each other, that it felt as if she and he had been together—and married—for years. Both of them had, however, said they wanted to wait a bit before getting married. Brennan had done so for Niki even if he was ready to get married any time, but Niki… he figured Niki was waiting for another sign from DL.

Brennan had made Niki breakfast in bed that morning. He had made her coffee and pancakes, and shared in with the pancakes while not the pancakes. He spent a little time in bed with her, watching her eat, and then got up. He had no work yet, but had started to look for a job—a full-time job. But today he was going to fix things around the house, their house (though technically it was still only Niki’s), starting with the dratted television. Three times this past week the image had shifted away from view, had fuzzed up. He would not allow Niki back on the roof. He didn’t want Niki to fall when he wasn’t there to catch her.

Now he was up on the roof jiggling the stupid antenna. He growled as he realized that Niki had super-glued it to the roof too many times. He pried it loose, and lost his footing and fell off the roof. He hoped no neighbors were watching as he quickly righted himself and settled back onto the roof. Then he took the drill and drilled the antenna into the roof, making sure Niki would never have to come up and super-glue it anymore. He turned it and looked at the small TV he had set on the roof behind him. It was connected to a plug by a long line of extension cables. The image wavered, came into focus, and then swam away again. Brennan scowled, and then moved the antenna gain. This time the image stayed in focus.

Brennan laughed triumphantly and picked up the mini-television, and then floated softly down to Earth. He turned off the TV (he realized later that he should have turned it off before floating down, but it had done no harm), and unhooked it. The first job of the day done, Brennan felt like a nice drink of cool water. He headed to the kitchen, pulled out a glass cup, and poured water from the tap in it. He drank a few swallows then refilled the cup. Brown cardboard caught his eye. Niki had strewn boxes all over the kitchen table, and the contents of one box were sorted into two piles. Was that Christmas stuff? What was Niki thinking?

Niki wasn’t sitting there, or else he would have asked. Instead, he walked to the two piles and looked at them. There were obviously some trashy things in one pile, so he guessed Niki was organizing her boxes. Was she really serious? It was weeks before Christmas, but maybe she did this every year. Brennan shrugged. Even though he was now ‘living’ in her house, he was still a guest.

“Brennan?” That was Niki’s voice. She sounded nervous, possibly perplexed, sick. Brennan looked up to see her hand gripping the railing to the stairs. Could the hand be white? She had been so healthy this morning. What was wrong? She turned the corner into the living room, obviously not seeing Brennan in the kitchen, and Brennan felt a pang in his chest. She was so pale! What had happened?

“Brennan I don’t feel so goo—” Niki started, but fell forward. If it wasn’t for Brennan already started to walk toward her, Niki would have fallen on the floor. The cup fell to the ground and smashed, glass and water flying everywhere. But Brennan had eyes only for his love. He caught her in his arms and gently caressed her too-pale face. “Oh, dear angel! What’s wrong? Please tell me, Niki! Are you sick? What happened?” He asked anxiously, still caressing her face.

[niki]

Niki was sure Brennan would think she'd lost the plot having the Christmas decorations out so early. But she wanted to make sure she had the best of them sorted for hanging up on the first of December, and for some reason Niki was also very excited about the prospect. Especially if they were going to have Micah back for Christmas day which was the plan.

Now after having been sorting the boxes out for about an hour she had begun to feel ill and had to go to the bathroom, and the next thing she knew she'd been sick and was feeling dizzy. She had made her way down the stairs to get to Brennan. She had shouted on him a couple of times, but she hadn't seen him approaching her, nor did she hear him say her name.

For Niki had passed out, and the last thing she remembered was falling toward the floor from the last couple of the stairs. However, Brennan had noticed she was falling and had come and caught her. Now he was talking to her, asking her what was wrong. Niki had fainted, but she wasn't unconscious, and now she could hear his voice asking a couple of questions. She didn't even know the answer to.

She finally came back around to the land of the living, as she slowly opened her eyes and looked up into her guardian angel's sweet face, she formed a small smile, as she began to feel a little better, but still feeling shaky. "I...I...don't know" she began, "I was fine and then I just began to shake and feel sick" she explained, and then a shock of realisation began to dawn on her as she thought back to the day when she found out she was pregnant with Micah.

Still in Brennan's strong arms, her jaw dropped slightly as she thought about it. Could it be possible? Could she be pregnant again? So soon into their relationship? Could this be another sign from DL? A sign telling her that it was time she completely moved on with her life? If it was another sign, she wished his signs were a lot easier to follow.

She didn't want to tell Brennan she thought she might be pregnant though, because for one, she didn't know how he'd react, and for two, she wanted to make sure she had the signs right, so wanted it confirmed by a doctor. She would need to get Brennan to take her to the doctor, because she was still feeling a little dizzy and she knew she wouldn't be able to trust herself to go alone.

The good thing was, when she was pregnant with Micah, the sickness and dizziness didn't last for too long, only about a week, and usually it wore off after a couple of hours every day. "Will you be able to take me to the doctor?" she asked him slowly.

"I'm not sick, sick, just, I don't, I think I know what the problem might be, but I'd just rather go to the doctor first" Niki said giving him a weak smile. What if Brennan didn't want any children with her? What would she do then? Although he seemed to love her, really love her, she couldn't imagine him not wanting any. But at the same time, she couldn't take it for granted.

[brennan]

Brennan didn’t know what to do. He was having a hard time trying not to do anything hurtful toward anything. He had promised himself that first night that if Niki got hurt then the person who hurt her would pay. Unfortunately, Niki had hurt herself, and Brennan could not hurt her. Or maybe it was him that had hurt her. He knew that she had made love with other people before, so it couldn’t have been the aftereffects of that. Besides, it had been a week since that, because Brennan had been doing other things and had not had time to get together with Niki again like he had then.

Brennan just held Niki limply. She had regained consciousness, but she was babbling. What was Niki talking about, wanting suddenly to go to the doctor? She just had a common cold, probably, or the flu! Why did she need to go to the doctor if the flu was so easily combated by over-the-counter drugs? Brennan looked closer at her, and studied her words a little harder.

“You’re not sick.” He said after a moment. “But you threw up.” His brows furrowed, and his head soared through the different things he had learned about in Health class when he was growing up. Too bad he failed that class (okay, a C is not failing, but he thought it was. His favorite class in school was science, he liked all the labs). “You’re not sick.” He repeated slowly. “But you want me to take you to the doctor.” Brennan frowned, and his brows seemed to furrow farther.

Then he sat back away from her with surprise and barely concealed happiness. “You’re pregnant!” It had taken him a while, and that was the only other thought that came into his brain. “Wait, pregnant?” His smile faltered, “Are you going to go to the doctor to see if you can get rid of it, or keep it?” He wanted her to keep the child. If it was his, then he would love it forever and ever. He smiled and kissed her on the head. Her head was clammy, but he didn’t care. “Please choose to keep it.”

Then he picked her up gently in his arms like he had that first night. This time she seemed lighter, probably from her momentary sickness. “I’m going to fly to the doctors. Just hold on, and if you feel the urge to throw up, please throw up away from me. I don’t want to have chunks in the air, it dries and doesn’t feel good.” He kissed her again, warmly, as he walked out the back door.

Then he sprang into the sky and headed toward the hospital. This was much better than driving… not as much traffic.

[niki]

Niki wasn't sure how much to tell Brennan. She was certain she was pregnant, it was the exact same initial feelings she had when she'd been pregnant with Micah, but they were only barely into their relationship, yes she knew she was in love and vice versa, but were they really ready to add to the family so soon? She certainly hadn't banked on falling pregnant the one and only time they had been so close since they had officially became a couple.

But Niki had definitely taken it as a sign that it was time to move on with her life. No more living in the past, it was time to embrace the present and look forward to the future with Brennan, that's exactly what Niki was planning to do, and she was going to grab a hold of it with both hands. They would have a perfect life together. Brennan, Micah, the new baby and herself, they would be the perfect little family.

Of course it had taken Brennan a short while to grasp what she had been trying to tell him about not being sick. When realisation dawned on him, he seemed to be quite excited, especially when he asked her to keep the baby. Well she wasn't going to get rid of it, she could never have done that. She was just glad he was happy about it. "So, you're happy about this news?" she asked slowly, looking into his eyes, as she tried desperately not to get dizzy again. Well he had just asked her to keep the baby, of course he was happy about the news.

"I want to go to the doctor to get it confirmed, I just think I might be, it's the same feelings I had with Micah, and no, I don't want to get rid of the baby, I'm just glad you're happy about it" Niki said softly, her eyes piercing into his. Personally she couldn't think of anything better, than to bring a life into the world which was a part of her and Brennan. They would have their own little superman or supergirl, what with her strength and Brennan's flight. Niki had to give a gentle laugh to herself for thinking that.

"Okay then pilot" Niki said with a grin, when he said he was going to fly her to the doctor. "The sickness never lasts for long, I feel a little better already" she said with a warmer smile, "but I promise not to be sick over you" she added, as she began to laugh. Yes she was feeling a little better, and now she knew Brennan was happy about what hopefully was their first child together, Niki began to enjoy the feeling more. Life just seemed to get more and more perfect for Niki Sanders.

She kissed him back, and she wrapped her arms around his neck tightly as he sprang into the air, and headed toward the hospital. What a way to get taken anywhere she thought, it was exhilarating. Within a few minutes they were at the doctor. Niki smiled at Brennan as they made their landing, and then she entered the surgery. The receptionist told them to take a seat and someone would be with them shortly.

"Niki Sanders? If you just want to follow me" the doctor said, and she looked at Brennan and smiled, "Ready?" she asked him, as she began to follow the doctor. "I'm not going in alone, it concerns you too, so you should come in too" she added with a grin, as she followed the doctor into the room.

[brennan]

It didn’t take long to get to the hospital. Brennan had been there more than once, and for reasons he’d better not tell anyone right now. Unfortunately, he never dreamed that he would have to take his love to the hospital—even if taking her was good for her. Brennan didn’t pause to wonder over the cloud formations like he would have if this were some leisurely flight. This was, however, no leisurely flight. And Brennan really didn’t want to pause and wonder over the clouds. Niki was hurting, that much he knew. If she was really pregnant then Brennan would be a father. If she wasn’t pregnant, then she must be hurting terribly from something that Brennan couldn’t save her from.

The damn hospital was going to kill him. Brennan hated hospitals, they were too uniform, they were too sterilized, they were too death-filled. Brennan shuddered as he touched down outside the hospital. No one noticed that he had been flying, and why should they—they were too wrapped up in their own world. He set Niki down, and was worried that she’d get sick again. How was he supposed to know about a female and her hormones, much less a female when she’s pregnant? He was just going to be the worried father-to-be, not knowing what to do and just following Niki around.

He sat down on a too-used seat. The cushion was practically nonexistent, and he wondered if chairs ever retired. He waited for Niki to come back, and when she did, he anxiously put her hand in his. He didn’t like hospitals. The doctors looked at everyone like they were Gods, haughty and self-conscience. He wanted someone to come in and hit that look right off of them, but it couldn’t be him. He had Niki to worry about, and he’d be dead if he forgot about her. Instead, he just sat by her side, squeezing her hand like a stupid person. He didn’t know what else to do.

When the doctor finally came (and looked down at the papers he held in his hand and called condescendingly, “Niki Sanders?”), Brennan breathed a sigh of relief. He didn’t know he’d been holding his breath. He assumed it was all okay now, seeing as Niki was getting up. He felt her hand slip out of his grasp. He looked up at her, and was plenty ready to stay seated where he was. In fact, he really didn’t want to do anything other than sit here. News of Niki being pregnant was weighing in on him terribly. Was she really pregnant? He would be outstandingly happy if that were to be true, but could it really be true? They’d only just gotten together. This must be a sign from DL. Brennan smiled.

Then Niki turned and told him that she wasn’t going in there alone. Would that doctor, the stupid self-conscious, always thinking about himself, doctor let him go with her? The doctor didn’t stop her from telling him he was going with her. He took that as a good sign. Nevertheless, he did feel awkward, and when he walked over to her, he felt his knees semi-buckle. What was wrong with him? They were only going to figure out if she was, in fact, pregnant. Maybe that was it; maybe he was so weak-kneed because of this, because he wasn’t ready to become a father. Or maybe because he was ready to become a father. Maybe he was just psyching himself out.

As he followed Niki and the doctor into the room, he had no qualms about kissing her gently on the cheek. “Let’s go and see if we’re going to have a baby.” He said, not knowing if that sentence had come out right.

[niki]

Niki had a so many thoughts going through her mind as Brennan flew her to the surgery at the hospital she didn't know whether she was coming or going. Yes Brennan had seemed happy enough that she might be pregnant, but was he really ready for such a dramatic step into their relationship so soon? Was she ready? Would Micah be ready to have a brother or sister by another man who wasn't his father so soon? She was certain she was pregnant though, the exact same feelings this time as last time. Niki herself wasn't even too sure if she was happy or not about the situation. But one thing she knew for sure, if she was pregnant, she was keeping it regardless.

She wished she could read what Brennan was really thinking about the situation, but then he was probably wishing he could read what Niki was thinking of the situation. Their romance had been very quick to start. Not on Brennan's side of course since he'd obviously loved her for a long time from afar, but the initial getting together had happened so quickly, but it also felt natural. So surely having a baby was just the next natural progression in their relationship, and what did it matter if it had happened so quickly? After all their relationship once Niki was aware of Brennan had happened quickly, so why shouldn't every other aspect of their relationship happen quickly also.

As they sat waiting for Niki to be seen in their typical silence they often had, the perfect silence, Niki felt herself squeezing Brennan's hand, maybe more than she realised at times as she waited to be seen. When the doctor finally came out and called her name and she had looked to Brennan asking him to come in with her, she smiled as she waited to see if he would. Relief washed over her as she was glad to see he stood up and followed her to go into the room. She leaned in to him as he kissed her on the cheek.

"Well I think we are" Niki said, giving him a look of love, because already she was beginning to feel a lot better and the dizziness had finally worn off. It was exactly like it was when she was pregnant with Micah, also it had only lasted a couple of weeks, which was great in Niki's opinion, hopefully it would only last a couple of weeks this time also, or with a bit of luck, maybe less.

The doctor smile at them both as she sat down opposite him and then he started asking the usual typical questions.

"Miss Sanders, when was your last period" Niki blushed slightly, because obviously it would maybe be a question which might make Brennan feel a little uncomfortable, but it was a part of life, and it was a part of Niki being a female, and Brennan was bound to understand that much.

Niki shrugged slightly, not sure exactly when, because the past few weeks had been a blur for her. But when she thought about it, she probably should have come on by that point. So it was probably about five or six weeks ago, she wasn't quite sure.

"I'm not sure, five, six weeks ago possibly" she answered as truthfully as she could. Giving Brennan a side ways look and smiling at him again.

"Okay, and what made you come here to find out if you were pregnant Miss Sanders?" he asked her.

"I was sick earlier and I was feeling a little dizzy, it's exactly how I was feeling when I was pregnant with my son Micah, I'm sure I am, I just want it confirmed" Niki explained as she continued to squeeze Brennan's hand which she hadn't let go off since they walked into the doctor's room.

"Okay, I need you to give me a urine sample, can you do that just now?" the doctor asked handing over the typical medical objects for such a procedure. She smiled taking them from him. "Of course" she said as she let go of Brennan's hand and stood up, kissing him on the cheek.

"I wont be long" she said to him and left the room. She was back within a couple of minutes and handed the sample over to the doctor. She sat back down and once again grabbed Brennan's hand as she waited for the doctor to do what he needed to do. The doctor got up from his desk and went to the other side of his room and after a couple of minutes, he turned around to Niki and Brennan with a huge smile on his face.

"Well you were right Miss Sanders, you are indeed pregnant, I believe this to be good news?" he said looking at Niki and his eyes darting from her to Brennan.

"I think so" Niki said as she began to laugh slightly but also started to cry with happiness. Yes she was definitely happy, she couldn't think of anything she'd rather have than to carry Brennan's child inside of her. She squeezed his hand ever tighter and looked into his face, into his eyes, to see if she could read anything from his expression at all.

"Looks like we're going to be parents" she said through her happy tears and laughter. Niki was free she thought. DL had sent her Brennan, and now he had sent her the most precious gift in the world, a child, he had allowed Niki to move on with her life, by sending her Brennan her guardian angel and by allowing her to get pregnant by her guardian angel. Life for Niki couldn't be any more perfect.

"Okay Miss Sanders" the doctor began handing her over a card, "This is so you can keep a track of ante-natal classes, we'll look forward to seeing you attend, and the date is marked on the card for your first scan. Please take care of yourself and if you have any problems don't hesitate to make an appointment with me" the doctor said as he stood up opened the door and allowed Niki and Brennan to leave.

Once outside, Niki looked at Brennan, with love, complete love and grinned at him through her tears, "I'm so happy" she said, as she put her hand across her stomach and instinctively grabbed Brennan's hand and held across her stomach also with her own on top of it.

"We're having a baby" she said as she continued to cry and laugh and smile and shake all at the same time. "Now if you could be so kind as to take us back home pilot?" she asked him giving him a slight wink.

[brennan]

Brennan wondered if he looked the part of the anxious father-to-be instead of the nervous man he really was inside. He was nervous, yes, but why? Maybe he was nervous for Niki. Maybe he was nervous for himself. Maybe he was nervous for both Niki and himself. Maybe he was nervous for the baby. Maybe he was nervous for Micah, wondering what Micah would think about becoming an older brother. Maybe he was nervous because of all of the above.

Or maybe he was nervous for a whole different point entirely.

Brennan waited impatiently while Niki, for lack of better words, peed into a cup. Then he waited impatiently while the doctor went and did doctor crap. Brennan hated doctors, if it wasn’t already apparent. Maybe the doctor was wishing that he and Niki weren’t pregnant. Maybe the doctor was just annoyed with all the people who thought they were pregnant and really weren’t, or were, didn’t matter. The doctor looked insane, maybe he was insane. You had to be insane to work at a hospital near dead people and sick people all the time. Or maybe he worked here because he was perverted and liked to see women… naked probably. The pervert.

Brennan hated hospitals. He had braved the hospital thus far, and then only for Niki. It made sense for him and Niki to be separated for any amount of time. It was as if the doctors, the hospital, probably, were quizzing him. Well, he hated this quiz. He sat staunchly in his chair, hardly daring to breathe much less move. He was here for Niki, he reminded himself, solely for Niki, and once she figured out if she really was pregnant or not, he would leave. He would take Niki and leave the hospital the way he came: through the front door.

The whole time Niki was peeing in the cup, the doctor was staring at Brennan. Maybe the doctor had mind powers (telepathy, maybe?) and could read his mind. He started shouting insults at the doctor through his mind. Then, after a brief smile, he stopped, and said—in his mind of course, ‘sorry doc, never did like the death house you work for.’ The doctor just kept looking at him. Then the doctor’s smile turned genuine, as if he were no longer forcing it. Had good ol’ doc read his mind, or was he reveling in some sort of crappy hospital memory?

“First time?” The doctor asked.

“Huh, what?” Brennan said, and sat straighter in his chair. Had the doctor just asked him a question? It was unheard of, why would the doctor ask him a question!?

“This your first time as a father?” The doctor repeated, emphasizing his point.

Brennan growled, but decided to answer. “I’ve only just become a father to her son. So, no, technically this is not my first time. But it is my first time with a baby.”

The doctor nodded in understanding. “You two look like you would look after each other even after the world fell. I deeply hope your wife is pregnant.”

Brennan caught the doctor’s word of ‘wife.’ He knew Niki no longer wore her and DL’s wedding rings, why would the doctor have said that? Unless the doctor could see into the future, but then he wouldn’t say ‘I hope,’ he would say ‘your son or daughter’ blah blah. Unless he didn’t know what Niki could do, what Brennan could do, and he sure as hell didn’t know what Micah could do. Brennan smiled, and realized something. “We’re not husband and wife yet, but don’t tell her this: I’m going to propose to her today, regardless if she is pregnant or not.”

The doctor’s face lit up. Before either man could speak, though, Niki came back in. She gave the cup to the doctor –disgusting—and sat down promptly. Brennan’s hand found hers and gripped it tight. He barely noticed that she was doing the same thing. The doctor came back barely a moment later—or was it an hour later?—with the news. "Well you were right Miss Sanders, you are indeed pregnant, I believe this to be good news?" He looked at Brennan longer than he looked at Niki. Brennan was bursting inside.

“This is very good news, regardless.” Brennan said, and the doctor winked at him inconspicuously before assaulting Niki with baby rubbage. Brennan liked that he wasn’t a female, he would hate having to go to the doctors that much. But Niki would probably drag him with her anyway. He suddenly didn’t care, if it was for Niki and the baby—they were having a baby!—then he would fly to the moon and back if she wanted. On second thought, he’d fly to NASA first, get a spacesuit, and then fly to the moon.

Brennan and Niki walked out of the room after the doctor had finished his technical mumbo-jumbo. Brennan had tuned him out. The hospital suddenly didn’t seem so bad anymore. He felt something change inside him… not for the hospital but for Niki. She was pregnant. Brennan felt giddy, no, not giddy so much as extremely happy. All of the nervousness melted into one big pot of happiness. He would have plenty of time to be nervous later, say nine months later when Niki was due to birth and Brennan had to endure her pain for just a few hours. But a few hours was all he would allow himself to be nervous.

When they were outside the not-so-wretched-anymore hospital, Niki started to cry. At first Brennan thought the doctor had done something to her, but then he realized that, no, nothing had happened. Niki was happy, and so was Brennan. She took his hand and placed it on her stomach. He knew the gesture, as he was sure almost all females did it when they got pregnant. He could feel nothing but her smooth, ultra-lean and muscled stomach, but he knew that in a couple months she would start to show, and then, when the baby started to kick, he’d be just as surprised as her. He’d be happy to put his hand over her stomach then, just as he was happy to put his hand on her stomach now. He used the hand on her stomach to gently turn her to face him.

In plain sight he kissed her squarely on the mouth. His kiss was gentle, but love-filled. Then he swung her over his back and jumped into the sky. He didn’t care if anyone saw them; news was sure to get out that there were people who had abilities anyway. He smiled slyly, and said, “Hold on!”

All that could be seen of the two was a cloud of smoke as Brennan sped back to their home. When he arrived there, he set Niki down. Then, from his back pocket—he’d been wondering how to show her all morning—he produced a small black box. The box was covered in faux velvet, but Brennan didn’t care about the outside of the box; what was important was not on the inside of the box, either. He knelt on one knee and looked up at Niki.

“This is so cliché I don’t know what else to do.” Brennan began, but his smile stopped him. He was positively beaming all of his love out to her. “I was going to propose to you even if you hadn’t become pregnant, my angel. But now, with a baby and all, I think it is the correct time to do so.”

After a moment, in which he spent the whole time scrutinizing what Niki would do, Brennan grinned and opened the box. Inside was a ring that had been in his family for generations. It could be dated back to before the Civil War, and how it lasted that long, Brennan didn’t know. Twice over the years the diamonds had fallen out, and he had spent most of his money on the ring to get it worked back into wearing shape. He had also had new diamonds placed in it and the diamond holders tightened. He was pretty sure that this ring could survive anything.

Brennan Sands smiled happily and said, “Niki Sanders, will you marry me?”

[niki]

Niki noticed how quiet Brennan was while they were in the doctor's room, not that it was exactly the right moment for him to be saying very much, after all, it was Niki who was here, not Brennan. Brennan was just there for moral support and of course because if Niki's assumptions were right he was there because he was about to hear he was going to be a father.

Niki hadn't been gone for long when she had to get a urine sample for the doctor but the whole time she was away she wondered what thoughts had been running through Brennan's mind. She wondered if he would be truly happy to become a father. After all they'd only been together just over a week, he hadn't even met Micah yet, they were still to collect him from his grandmother's something Niki was hoping to do later that day. She would ask Brennan to fly her to get Micah. Where she would introduce the two of them officially and hopefully Micah would be happy for his mother to have found someone else special in her life.

When Niki finally came back into the room only a few moments later, she caught a little look between the doctor and Brennan and she wondered if they had been talking about anything in particular. However Niki decided she was not going to pry about this, maybe the doctor was just asking Brennan about pending fatherhood which would only be a natural thing for any doctor to ask a man who seemed to be going into fatherhood for the first time. Although technically he already was a father in a way, to Micah, well at least he would be more so when they were all back together again.

Niki was glad that it seemed to be good news to Brennan, she'd have been terribly upset otherwise. "I'm pleased to hear it" Niki said to Brennan softly when she heard him say it was good news regardless. Even if she wasn't sure what he meant by the regardless.

Once they were outside of the hospital, and Niki was crying her happy tears of joy and she had Brennan's hand pressed against her stomach, even though there was nothing to feel yet, Niki felt like she was going to burst. She was just so happy. She had met a new love who would become her new soul mate without a doubt and she had Micah, and now she was pregnant. It would seem to Niki now, her life was complete. She quite possibly couldn't feel any happier, or could she?

Brennan had gently turned her to face him as he had kept his hand on her stomach and kissed her full on the mouth not caring about who saw and at that moment neither did Niki. She was as happy as any woman could be at this moment, and kissing Brennan just seemed natural, no matter who was looking on and quite honestly Niki was so happy and so in love she didn't care who was watching them. It was a love filled soft kiss and Niki knew in that moment just how happy Brennan was to be with her and to become a father. Then he swung her over onto his back and took off into the sky again.

Niki couldn't help but laugh. It was like who cared who saw them, and at that point Niki didn't care who saw either. "Oh, I'm holding" Niki said with a grin, as she wrapped her arms around his neck, not too tight of course, but enough so as not to fall off. Soon they were back at their home and he gently landed on the ground outside her door. Then he began to take a small box out of his pocket and got down on one knee looking up at her. Niki knew exactly what that meant, because it had only happened one time before in her life, and that was when DL had proposed to her.

She immediately put her hand up to her mouth, not sure what to say, she was in complete shock, even though he hadn't even asked the words yet. She just kept looking at him. The tears of joy from earlier had dispersed, but more were coming. She felt a lump rise in her throat, and her eyes began to tear up again. She didn't think she could have been more happier than she was, but now she was so happy she thought she would burst.

As he spoke about going to propose to her anyway but now that they had a baby on the way it was even more of the right time to do so, Niki was just completely speechless, she was powerless to put any sort of words into a phrase. How could she say anything when she had a lump in her throat the size of a golf ball, she was finding it difficult enough to even breathe, never mind speak. However, she could smile, and that's exactly what she was doing, she was smiling the biggest smile ever, of that she was positive, as she tucked some hair behind her ear as she looked in awe at the ring in the box after he had opened it.

The ring was simply gorgeous. It looked like it was an old family ring too which touched Niki's heart, and her hand moved from her mouth to her heart as she continued to look at Brennan with complete love in her eyes. When he finally asked the important question, Niki still could hardly breathe for the lump in her throat, but she did miraculously find the words to give him the answer she knew he would want. The answer she wanted to give. And now she truly was the happiest woman alive at this precise moment.

Holding her hand out for him to take, grinning, because the smile hadn't disappeared from the moment they had left the hospital, and she almost jumped up and down as she gave Brennan her answer.

"YES!" she said and laughed, and cried all at the same time, "Yes Brennan Sands, I will marry you, of course I will marry you, yes, yes, yes and a thousand times yes" Niki said as she bent down to his level and put her arms around his neck and whispered into his ear.

"I love you Brennan Sands"

Niki was quite simply the happiest she had ever been in a very long, long time.

[brennan]

Brennan didn’t know how to drop the question. He was thinking about it throughout their short fly home. He was thinking about it in the doctor’s office. Hell, he had been thinking about it ever since he had met her all those long months ago. She didn’t know who he was, but he knew exactly who she was. He had stalked her for months, and she had not even realized what was happening. He had stolen a shirt from her wardrobe just because he could not sleep without her scent near him at night. He had kept silent vigil over her house both day and night, even when she didn’t come home. He never wanted anyone to steal things when she wasn’t at her house. He didn’t want anything wrong to come to her.

Now he was making sure nothing would. The problem was Brennan didn’t know how to phrase the question. Brennan wasn’t even sure if he wanted to ask the question. Maybe he wanted to do something creative and make her search for the darned ring. Then, when she found it, he’d propose to her. No, Niki’d already had too much excitement for one day. Searching for a ring would probably wear her out. Brennan didn’t want her worn out when he proposed to her. And Brennan didn’t want to have to think very much about what he would do to surprise her. Better just get it done the old fashioned way. With everything progressing into the future, some things still stayed the same. Women still got pregnant, even if the ways they did were changing. And men still couldn’t get pregnant, though transsexuals were trying to make it so.

Why, males were still the main ones to propose to females. And weddings were still the most boring things around. Not to mention funerals. Don’t get Brennan started on funerals. Trips to the hospital usually precede funerals, and Brennan hated hospitals. He wasn’t even going to get into the hospital topic again. But funerals… they were boring, and who really wanted to see a person after they’ve died? He liked cremations, ‘cause then you didn’t have to see the person, just his or her ashes. People buried and cremated people long before America was made, so funerals hadn’t changed much, either.

Proposing is quite possibly the hardest thing for a man to ever do. Actually, it was true. The man was plagued with all of the possibilities of the woman. Would the woman say yes, she would like to marry him? Would the woman say no politely, ‘maybe later, some other time?’ Or would the woman just flat out say no, ‘we’re not ready to progress this far, yet.’ Did the woman know how hard a man took it when she said no? Did she realize that he took it harshly and he probably wouldn’t ever propose to her again? Brennan promised himself resolutely that it was his fault if Niki said no. He had sprung it on to her too quickly, they’d only been together a week. He wouldn’t care—okay, yes he would, but who cared?—if she said no.

When he asked the vital question he was shaking so hard on the inside that it was hard to keep his face straight for her on the outside. He was so nervous that if he hadn’t schooled his expression it would have been twisted in the most hilarious expression anyone has ever seen. He could feel the sweat make its way down his back, and wanted to reach behind him and stop it. It was starting to itch. This happened in the course of a couple seconds, but it was enough time for Brennan to feel completely lost.

“Yes.” Niki said. Her words did not register in Brennan’s mind. Brennan had gone completely still. He had frozen. He was an icicle… a very warm, very alive, but also very frozen in one respect of the word, icicle. His heart kept beating, yes, but his brain had just exploded. He had heard the word that he was absolutely not dreading to hear, and it had, unfortunately, frozen him. He wasn’t thawed until Niki leaned in and told him she loved him.

“I love you Brennan Sands.” Niki’s voice came through the frozen wasteland that was his brain. It was, pardon the reference, like Aslan breathing life into Narnia. Brennan liked those books, and he could think of many references between those books and what was happening now. The Chronicles of Narnia had never failed him before.

“Y-you said yes.” Brennan said. He was unsure of what to do at this point in time. He was confused; they had been together for only a week. He had been betting himself that his angel would say no. His other half won the bet, which made him even more confused.

Elation struck Brennan Sands like a hot knife slicing through his skin. “Oh God.” Brennan said, and his stomach made thousands of flips as he realized what Niki had said. “Oh God, Niki. Niki, my angel, my love, my one and only Niki, you said yes!” He realized he might want to shut up now before he started babbling out Narnia references to the world. He caught her in his arms and embraced her, pulling her close to him as he kissed her and hugged her as much as he could. He was hers, and she was his angel.

Then, pulling away, which was extremely hard to do, Brennan pulled the ring delicately out of its carrier and smiled. “Niki Sanders.” He said, and then frowned. “No, I suppose soon it’ll be Niki Sands.” He slipped the ring on her finger and hugged her again. “I love the sound of that.”

[niki]

Niki knew she'd given the right answer, and she was almost certain it was the answer Brennan had hoped to hear but possibly feared he wouldn't. Because there was this silence again. Not awkward exactly, but given the moment surrounding said silence, Niki felt it just ever so slightly uncomfortable this time. Just ever so slightly. However, she still couldn't keep the smile from her face the whole time from when she said yes to the moment Brennan seemed to spring back to life again.

He had to be happy at her response to his question, because if he hadn't wanted her to say yes, he'd not have proposed in the first place, right? So why did she feel uncomfortable while he seemed to take in her response to his question? She had no idea. For a few brief seconds she looked up to the sky, knowing he was up there somewhere. Not even thinking of his name this time, just knowing he was there. As she did so, she saw the biggest and brightest star twinkle down at her and that was when she heard Brennan speak.

Well, sort of speak. It was like he was in shock over the fact she'd actually said yes. Maybe he was in shock, however Niki wasn't in shock from saying yes, but she was still in shock from the proposal. Just over a week into their relationship and he had proposed, it was magical. Everything about their love was magical, everything about Brennan was magical and everything about the way they had met was magical. The fact they were now having a baby was magical. Okay was Niki thinking the word magical a bit too much?

"Yes, I said yes" Niki said laughing and crying at the same time again. What other answer had he expected from her? Well no of course, stupid Niki thought to herself, but how could she have ever said no to the most wonderful man who had entered her life since, well since Micah actually. Since technically Micah was the last man (okay so he's really a boy, but anyway) to enter her life when she gave birth to him twelve years ago. Niki found it very difficult to say no to Micah as well. Apart from when it was something she really did have to say no to of course, but that wasn't for this time.

All Niki wanted to think about right at this moment was her pending new life with Brennan. Correction. With Brennan, Micah and the new baby. A new family. A new life. A new start. As her answer finally sank into Brennan Niki still continued to laugh happy tears. It was for the time being, the newest happiest day of her life. Again she confirmed her answer to him. "Yes my guardian angel, I said yes, because I know I love you, I loved you from the moment you caught me, and I want my guardian angel to protect me for the rest of my life. I don't think I could live without you Brennan Sands" Niki said as he then embraced her in as many hugs and kisses as he could give her. She of course hugged and kissed him back just as much. She would be his for eternity.

Then he carefully broke out of the embrace and she watched as he carefully took the ring out of the box and slipped it on her finger. She waved her hand from side to side, staring at it with the biggest smile on her face. "It's beautiful, it's perfect, you're perfect" she said, her words coming easily because it was easy to tell the truth. When he said her name. No not Niki Sanders, when he said Niki Sands she grinned from ear to ear. Not like she hadn't already been smiling of course, but this was a proper love filled, grin of pure elation.

"I like that too" she said softly, "Niki Sands, not much different, but still different, it's a lovely sound Niki Sands" she said it over and over in her head, and then repeated it over and over, "Niki Sands, Niki Sands, Niki Sands" and kept grinning, and following it with laughter, as well as the happy tears she was still crying.

Of course she hugged him back. Niki Sands she thought again as she smiled, her manic laughter dying down and beginning to feel less like a silly school girl. Taking the time to kiss both his cheeks, his forehead and his nose and then his mouth, she said between each kiss, "Why" kiss, "don't" kiss, "we go" kiss, "inside and" kiss, "put up the decorations for Thanksgiving?" kiss, the last kiss being on the mouth, which she held for much longer, and added some passion to.

[brennan]

Somewhere it was raining. Somewhere the thunder rolled and the lightning crackled. Somewhere it was hailing. Somewhere the hail fell, big as golf balls, to terrorize the world below. Somewhere there was a war. Somewhere a bomb was being dropped and someone was dying. Somewhere there was an accident. Somewhere a car crashed into another and rolled down the highway, crashing in an intersection ablaze. Somewhere a volcano was erupting. Somewhere the lava from that volcano was advancing on a small town in the middle of the night to eat everything living and dead. Somewhere there was an earthquake. Somewhere the earthquake registered a 6 on the ritcher scale and it decimated houses and buildings alike.

Somewhere, however, was not here.

Here was much better than the vague somewhere. Hell, somewhere a girl named Dorothy could be singing about birds and rainbows in her black and white farmhouse. She could be whisked away by a rogue tornado, and did Brennan care? Of course not. He only cared about the here and now, even if he wasn’t even sure if the here and now was the time period he was in. He assumed he was always in this state of mind, this ‘here and now’ that everyone talked about, but now time seemed to slow so much that the ‘here and now’ became the ‘present and never the future.’ But wasn’t that what always happened? One could always know what was happening at the present, but not even the people with the ability to transport through time could accurately guess the future. If he moved his hand a certain way now, but he had moved his hand in a certain way in an alternate universe, the course of future could change forever.

Which was why Brennan wondered if the ‘here and now’ was the same ‘here and now’ as it would have been if he hadn’t done some critically important things. The first and foremost was when he had saved Niki from death only a week ago. If he had not been around, in an alternate life Niki would have been dead. The second was when he and she had sex. If his sperm had not reached the egg, then he would not be a father-to-be and she would not be an expectant mother. Similarly, if Niki had hated him from the beginning, she and he would not be here in this wondrous moment. And if she had not said yes, said no instead, then he would not have been so gloriously happy about this.

It was that reason entirely why Brennan started to think about the relative term of ‘present.’ As it was, only a second had passed since Niki had started murmuring her new name. Niki Sands: so much different than Niki Sanders and yet so much the same. A whole two letters off, and yet those two letters meant a world of difference. Before she had been Sanders, single mother to child Micah. Now she would be Niki Sands, wife of Brennan Sands, mother to child Micah and either Jane or John Sands. The names were generalized because Brennan didn’t know what gender the child was yet or if the child would even survive past the first three months.

Another second had passed. Had it only been a second? Niki started to laugh. She sounded like a banshee, but she was his banshee, and that’s all that mattered. Brennan loved Niki more than he had really ever loved anyone else in the world. Then Niki started to kiss him. She kissed him manically, like she had transformed into a banshee herself. But Brennan just knew she was happy, just like he was happy. Brennan smiled as he pieced together what she had said, which was hard because her kisses distracted him. Then, hugging her again, he pushed her hair behind her ears and said, “But angel, you got the Christmas decorations out. I thought you wanted to decorate for Christmas, not Thanksgiving!”

Not bothering to answer, Brennan swiped his fiancé up in his arms and, still smiling absurdly, kissed her on the neck. He was happy he could carry her weight, but he didn’t think he’d be able to do things like this much longer, seeing as Niki was pregnant. Of course, she probably wouldn’t start showing for a while yet, but it didn’t matter, he had to be careful. He loved Niki and he didn’t want anything bad to happen to her or the unborn child. He made his way into the house and pulled a chair out with his foot. Then he set her down on the chair, smiling happily, still. “Well, my wonderful angel. Tell me what you need and I will get it.”

[niki]

[ooc: if my post isn't to its usual standard I apologise. Obviously I still want Niki & Brennan together, but I seem to have lost my descriptive muse - I'll see how I go, just apologising first off in case it's a poor post]

Niki was gloriously happy, was it really possible for her to be this happy and to have nothing somewhere which was going to break that happiness? For the amount of happiness she was feeling there had to be somebody somewhere who was extremely upset to give a balance. This tugged at Niki's heart, she couldn't bare to think of someone being so upset while she was deliriously happy.

However at the same time, she couldn't think about others too much, she had a baby to think about. She had to give it care and attention, because she didn't want to lose this child. She was pregnant with an angel's baby, she had to take care of it. She had to protect it and she would protect it, she'd protect it with her life if necessary.

Now she was a happy pregnant and engaged woman, when only just over a week ago, she was lonely and fighting to get over the removal of Jessica and trying desperately to build her life back up again. Now looking at her, you'd never think she had ever had a bad moment in her life. How many other people had an angel sent to them from heaven to make their life instantly better? Had she been the only one? Or were there other women across the world who had been just as lonely and sad as she had been and they had an angel sent to them too? So many questions she didn't have the answer to. But she didn't care, because she had her angel and that was all that mattered right now.

"Well, I was putting the decorations up for Christmas as well as Thanksgiving, I only managed to get them sorted out, we need to decorate the house, it would be good to have it all done for Micah coming back tomorrow" Niki tried to explain her reasons for wanting to get the decorations out.

Next thing she knew she was being lifted up into his arms as he kissed her neck and then carried her into the house, before gently placing her on a chair. She certainly liked being treated like this, and it wasn't something Niki wanted to give up on easily. She had Brennan and she would have him forever. Niki was never going to let him go, and hopefully he would never let her go either. They had the rest of the lives together.

"Well the decorations are already out on the kitchen table, I never got the chance to get the Christmas tree, maybe you could get them from the loft please sweetheart?" she asked him kindly, she would get it herself, but she had a feeling he wouldn't allow her to go climbing up to the loft to get anything anyway, even if she had suggested getting the tree herself. She smiled warmly at him.

It was definitely good to have a man in the house again, at least now, she could go back to her womanly duties and let Brennan take care of all the things a man should take care of.

[brennan]

Brennan laughed, “I don’t think Christmas and Thanksgiving really match in decorations. Thanksgiving has cornucopias, and I have yet to see a Christmas anything decorated with such stuff. Unless, of course, you decorate differently. I’m not complaining, angel, it’s your house.” He kissed her swiftly on her forehead and then smiled his lopsided smile, “Christmas tree? You mean you use a plastic tree?” His grin grew even more lopsided as he thought for a moment. “Neither of you are allergic to evergreen trees, right? How about pine trees? I don’t think you are; I’ve never seen either of you sick from that sort of stuff. This year, angel, this year you’re going to do Christmas like it’s supposed to be done.” He fingered her hair as he thought yet again. Another lopsided smile was placed upon his face when he declared triumphantly, “This year I’m going to go out and find the best Christmas tree you’ve ever seen. But I’m also going to bring this plastic tree down if you want to decorate it like many women feel the urge to decorate.”

It was true; his mother had always had to have a tree all to herself. She had OCD, and always had to have the ornaments in the correct spots in order for her OCD-ness to be satisfied. She had always scorned what his father had called the ‘family tree’ because it did not have the exact number of ornaments and had colored lights instead of bright white lights. Brennan had taken her side with the popcorn strings, though; he always thought popcorn was better left eaten and not put on trees like decoration. However, he thought teepeeing trees was just fine; he teepeed trees in his past, and thought it a very fun past-time.

The Christmas tree was not very hard to handle, being neatly placed in a corner of the attic-space. He expertly lifted the tree and hovered down the stairs. He didn’t feel like tripping on stairs like he had the first night he and Niki were together. Plus, he really didn’t want Niki worrying about him. Carrying the tree down by hovering his way down was a much better way to make everyone happy. He wondered what Niki was going to do with this tree, and wondered doubly if he should get a real tree with or without Niki and Micah. Sure it’d be a lot easier carrying the tree, but he’d much rather get the tree at nighttime where at least people wouldn’t see a huge flying mass and mistake him for a UFO. His great-granddad had been wearing a super-reflective shirt when he went flying one day. Darned people thought he was some object from space.

He set the tree down carefully at the other end of the kitchen table, saying sheepishly, “I don’t know where you want me to put it.” Then he walked over her and, despite his better judgment, he pulled Niki onto her feet and hugged her. “I just can’t get enough of you. You’re wonderful, Niki; you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met, and when I proposed to you I knew we would be wonderful together.” He inhaled her scent, which had lulled him to sleep many nights. This time, though, her scent was real, it was the smell of—with no better words to put it—Niki. “Why don’t we go and get a tree together. I don’t know your tastes, angel, but if you were there, too, I think we could get the perfect tree.” In his mind he thought, ‘even though nothing is more perfect than you, I want this Christmas to be one we can both remember.’

Absentmindedly, he pushed her slightly away from him so he could settle a hand on her stomach. He could swear he felt something there, but he knew it was just his imagination: women’s stomachs usually didn’t begin to distend until later in their second month (sometimes not really until as late as their fifth), and even then not by much. He was self-conscious, though, like if he hugged Niki too much or too passionately he would hurt the baby. He didn’t want to hurt the baby; he didn’t want to hurt Niki; he didn’t want to hurt the both of them. “This will be the perfect Christmas.” Brennan told Niki, his hand still on her stomach. “You, me, Micah, and the baby; the perfect family. All we need now is a dog named Fido.”

[niki]

Niki just looked into his eyes and tried to refrain herself from laughing too much as he went on about Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations being different and talking about cornu whats its. Niki never really thought about decorating the house any different for Thanksgiving and Christmas, she just basically decorated for Christmas early to include Thanksgiving Day.

"Never really thought about it, I've just always decorated for Christmas early to include Thanksgiving Day that's all" Niki said grinning. Then Brennan kissed her on the forehead and began to talk about the Christmas tree. Niki had never bothered to get a pine tree because it had always seemed like too much trouble, artificial seemed like less of a headache to her. However, listening to Brennan talk about a pine tree made her think how lovely it would be to have a real tree this year. Especially since she was basically starting a whole new life.

"No, not allergic to pine trees, just always felt it easier to have an artificial tree, that's all, but I think it's time to change that. Technically starting a new right? Might as well start it completely new, so yes, let's get a pine tree" Niki said enthusiastically nodding her head. When he mentioned about bringing the artificial one down she didn't stop him, because that one could be decorated and placed in the hallway while the pine tree would be situated at the window in the living room. "Sounds good to me, the pine tree can go by the window in the living room and the artificial one can sit in the hallway" Niki replied with a smile.

This was going to be the best Christmas ever thought Niki. She pretty much had everything she could ever want and when she gave birth to their baby, she'd feel like their family was complete. Not that they couldn't have more children of course, they could, but just having Brennan's baby in her arms along with Brennan and Micah it would be magical. A few moments later Brennan had arrived with the artificial tree from the loft and placed it on the kitchen table saying he didn't know where to put it.

"It's fine there" she said with a smile, "I'll move it out to the hall later, sit on a chair and decorate it" she added with a grin before he came over to her pulled her up into a hug. Niki of course hugged him back as he did so. She loved being held in his arms. She could take in his scent when he was holding her close and she loved it. She could also always hear his heart beat which was just a wonderful sound. Niki blushed slightly as he began to compliment her. Niki didn't think she had ever been complimented or told such kind words so often before. Brennan just always seemed to shower her with kind words and affection, he made her feel like a princess never mind an angel.

"I can't get enough of you either Brennan" she said breathing hot air against his cheek as he hugged her close. "You're wonderful too, you're one of the most handsome men I've ever met" Niki couldn't help but compliment him back. It just seemed fitting to do so. Really anybody listening to them would probably ask for a sick bucket to be passed, but if you were romantic, you'd probably think it was the most wonderful thing you'd ever witnessed.

"Oh, I think there is someone more perfect than me" Niki said, looking into his eyes with much love and affection. "Yes, I'd like that, we shall go together, I've never gone for a pine tree before and going for one with the new man in my life just seems like a perfect idea" Niki said grinning, and kissing him on the nose before kissing him on the lips. "Somehow I think it will definitely be a Christmas we will both remember" Niki added with a grin.

When he gently pushed her away from him and put his hand on her stomach she instinctively put her on on top of his holding it in place. "Just feels good to know we have created a life together" Niki said softly, even though she knew there was nothing to be felt right at that moment. There probably wouldn't be anything to feel for a few months yet, when the baby started kicking. That would be when the real fun would begin. "I'm not made of china though, I wont break, so you can still hug me" she said to him softly, as if she thought the reason why he had gently pushed her away from him was because he thought he might hurt her.

"We will have the perfect Christmas, I agree, and I don't know about the name Fido, but maybe a dog wouldn't be such a bad idea" Niki said grinning. Then they really would have the perfect little family.