Chapter Text
——+l|l+——
A young woman walks through the streets of Los Angeles, a baby wrapped up on her chest and head over her shoulder. She looks tired, and has her phone in hand, receiving texts from her college friend she's about to meet up with.
She's been so tired since becoming a mom she's pretty much isolated herself from anything but work, and it wasn't like accountancy was the most social of jobs. She had to not lose it. It buzzes.
“Hey! Are you close? I’m here so I’m gonna get us a table.”
She made her way in to the familiar Thai restaurant they always went to in college and finally pulled her little Gracie away from her to sit her in the booster seat.
A bloodcurdling scream could be heard from the street outside.
——+l|l+——
"9-1-1, what's the nature of your emergency?" May answered.
"My- My Baby! Her face is all swollen up and I don't know what I did- I didn't do anything!"
Her fingers flew across the keyboard on instinct, but she had to blink a few times to zone in on the screen, "Do you know when the swelling started?"
"No! I- she was swaddled on my chest I couldn't see her face! Oh my god I killed her! I should've looked!"
"It's going to be okay ma'am, what's your location?"
"Beyond Thai on Atlantic Avenue."
“Can you see the kitchen?”
The woman looked to her left, sniffing to pull herself together. She was a mom now she doesn’t get to lose it, “Uh, yeah that— that’s why we used to go here it’s fun to watch!”
“Ma’am it sounds like your daughter might be having an allergic reaction to something in the kitchen.”
She hopped channels, "Dispatch to... 118 you're the closest. 118 we have an infant appearing to go through some kind of swelling reaction, possibly allergic, at Beyond Thai in Atlantic Avenue, not to be confused with Thai House on Atlantic Boulevard."
The Captain muttered to himself, "who designs a city like this?" before clicking his radio. "Copy dispatch this is 118 responding, be there in… 3 minutes." He turned to Hen, "make sure to prep the—"
"Already got it."
"Alright hold on!" He called as they pulled a u-turn in the four lane intersection, sirens blaring.
"Okay ma'am your child might be having an allergic reaction I think it would help if you wait outside for the ambulance with her, give her some fresh air. Try not to panic, they'll be there soon."
"Stupid doctor said there was no reason for a full allergy panel yet!"
"How old is your daughter?"
"She's only 4 months old, she's had most of her shots but— oh my god she's so tiny! I can't lose her!"
"You aren't going to lose her, is she breathing at all? Hand in front of her n—"
"I'm her mom, I check her breathing all the time," she shakily raised a hand to the front of her nose. "A little bit… but it's really hard for her."
May winced at the terrified whine she let out, several sobs trailing after, "Do you hear a wheezing or a gurgling?"
"Wheezing."
"Good, that's a good sign it means she's getting some air. What are both of your names?"
"Tricia Lunten and my- my daughter's name is Grace."
"Thanks Tricia, do you know what could've brought this on?"
"My brother.. he— he has a really severe peanut allergy, that's why I wanted to get the panel done so early."
May nodded, Thai restaurant and a severe peanut allergy probably aren't the sweetest couple. She started to feel a bit of heartburn just from remembering the peanut oil in the takeout she got a few nights ago. Must disagreeing with her a few days late.
Wait.
She swallowed down the burn and rising panic and focused on the call. "Okay, good, you might want to take a few steps away from the door, if it was airborne oil triggering the reaction it should help to not make it worse." She heard the sirens pull up in the call and sighed happily.
"I see help! Thank you!"
And just like that the line went dead. Sometimes she's able to get a glimpse at what's going on, and she always liked to hear her stepdad in the field. At least the woman thanked her, that was a rarity. Now to find some tums and investigate the real reason her stomach was twisting.
She wasn't the only one with their stomach in knots. Buck hadn't been talking much in the cabin of the truck, just focusing on swallowing all of the saliva and heartburn down, the u-turn making it detrimentally worse.
It started as the hangover to end all hangovers and then just kept going. He was pissed. He'd been feeling sick all week, but never enough to justify calling off, which is the worst kind of sick. He’d been feeling out of it for a while now that he’s thinking on it, but he shrugged it off as the effects from his anxiety about Eddie’s general everything.
When the truck lurched to a stop Buck nearly puked all over the floor but kept his jaw pressed shut with his fist. He was the first to scramble out, the side opposite of the caller so he could have a moment to collect himself.
By the time he walked around Hen had already given the Epipen shot. Buck let out a relieved sigh as the wheezing turned to more open cries. Lucy shot him a suspicious look.
The mom began to cry too as she heard her lungs open up, "She'll be okay, right? I-I can't believe it was a bee sting." She ran a finger near the red bump on her shoulder as Hen used the tweezers to remove the stinger.
"Looks like it," Eddie answered, looking down at the slightly less swollen baby face and unable to help but wiggle his fingers in front of her face and silently coo at the reaction, "seems responsive too."
"Oh thank god," she looked down to her screaming daughter and began talking in baby voice, "we're gonna find a less shitty doctor aren't we? Aren't we?"
"Well we're going to take you both to the hospital just to be safe," Hen said, "Eddie, can you prepare the pediatric gurney?" She turned around, he hadn't moved a muscle. "Eddie!" Finally he seemed to break from his trance of staring at the cute baby. "Prep the gurney for our little patient."
He blinked rapidly, "right, right," he hopped in the back of the ambulance, getting everything ready.
Buck walked into the action to at least make himself known, offering a packet of tissues from his jacket, “Here.”
“Oh, thank you,” Tricia smiled and took one, waving it. “God… I guess I’ll have to cancel on Jenn. Again…” she sighed, “It’s so hard to maintain friendships at this stage.”
”Really?” He asked, soft and quiet. It’s not that Buck doubted her, he’d just never thought about that part of the baby equation before, and even the slightest ideas of woe were triggering tears as of late. (Any calls with a death had him sequestered in the bunks for at least half an hour.)
“Well my friends either have no kids or kids too old for her, it’s hard. But we’ll make it through,” she turned to the baby and cooed, “won’t we?” Gracie was still being fussy so she shifted her weight, “Oh, do you think you could hold her for a minute?”
“O-oh! Yeah sure!” Buck smiled, but it was a little hesitant. He was rarely if ever hesitant around kids and adorable babies, but his knees nearly fell out from under him less than two minutes ago.
Eddie picked the wrong moment to look out of the ambulance, or maybe the right moment. Jesus it’s like those arms were built for holding babies.
Okay, so, maybe he'd been with Buck for a while now and he was maybe starting to get a little baby feverish.
All it took was an injured teacher asking if he had any children, and after a brief moment of wishing he could confirm the plural, it kicked his brain down a very particular path, that turned into a very long winding staircase.
Under normal circumstances he would’ve shut it down immediately, scoffed ugly and mean at himself for daring to believe he could be a father again and not fuck it up. But Eddie Diaz, fist clenched, was determined to get better and stop repressing.
Even so, it was at best, totally embarrassing. For all his friend’s knew him as, that wasn’t really standard Eddie Diaz behavior, but after his breakdown everything just got… unlocked. Like Eddie had found a key to a zoo called Life’s Desires, and now that he’s let himself peak inside a little bit, all the animals came leaping out at once.
He wasn’t able to keep his emotions on a low background hum anymore, and Frank encouraged him to indulge in the thoughts that made him happy, and the idea of a baby, his baby and Chris together, their children (eeeee!!) was currently doing the trick at keeping him sane his first month back.
He'd never felt this with any girlfriend before, even the one he actually had a kid with. He figured it had something to do with a biological clock reminding him that now was the age people typically had kids.
But it was so much more than that, it was Buck. He’d never want it with anyone else. It was the way Buck talked with kids, especially Chris, the way he loved Chris, fully and openly, the way he lit up when Jee-Yun was back and insisted on babysitting as soon as possible, his little I got you’s anytime he held a baby and his beaming smile.
Plus he just knew their kid would be so damn cute, okay? And for once it wasn’t just his brain doing the ‘well this is what normal people do so you should do that’ thing it did, he found himself actually really wanting it.
Buck had told him it was possible when they started hooking up, as a warning, and he hadn't thought much about it aside from needing protection and some more options in the bedroom. Recently though, he feels like he's receiving a lot of universal… coincidences. That’s what they were, coincidences, but they didn’t have to be so damn… coincidental!!
There were so many baby calls! Maybe just because it was finally spring, and love was in the air after Hen's wedding part two, but three rescued babies, a dozen deliveries, a box of kittens, and an angry mama duck all in one week felt like a lot. He tried to shrug it off. Not think too much on it. It wasn’t signs. Signs were bullshit. It was just his brain paying more attention to those cases because they were relevant, right?
But another part of his brain, the part that secretly still believed in a god, was wondering if He was saying now was the time. It shouldn’t be, really, they’ve all gone through hell this year.
On the other hand, their whole family was back again, he had regained most of his sanity, so Buck would have a good support system outside of work, and maybe they needed good news to outweigh all the chaos.
But… hell, he could never ask him to do that. He knows Buck loves his job too much, and he physically wouldn't be able to sit on the back burner for a full year. Maybe they could adopt or foster like Hen and Karen, but their schedules were crazy, they’d never get approved unless one of them quits.
Or maybe it just wasn't the right time after all, or right for them. He’d just had a total mental break after all, so he probably wasn’t in a state to handle becoming a father again. They had Christopher, and he was all they needed.
That didn't mean he wasn't still enthralled with every baby or kid they help or deliver, imagining their own. It was an indulgence, not really a plan.
But the universe is funny like that.
Hen and Eddie were in the ambulance, Eddie in the back cooing over the baby, and since it was Chim's day off that meant it was just Bobby, Lucy and Buck in the truck headed back to the station. He knew he couldn't keep his flipping stomach under the radar for that long with all the potholes on this street.
“Buck?” Lucy whispered, nudging his arm.
Bobby noticed his eyes close in the rear view, "What's going on? You okay?" He asked, looking back at Buck who nodded, but there was cold sweat like a dew on his face, he was pale, and he still wasn't opening his eyes. "Hey!" Bobby got a little more tense, "Are you responsive?" Lucy shook his shoulder.
Buck growled in frustration and rolled his eyes under his lids, "Yes I'm fine just—" can't talk. His Adam's apple bounced and he pressed his hand over this mouth, his head lurching with every unsuccessful gag.
Bobby tapped the engineer and he pulled over so fast it might’ve been the final straw for his stomach. He swung out of his seat while Lucy reached over to throw open Buck's door, Buck just leaning over and throwing up onto the street, not having the time to get fully out.
"So...rry..." Another retch.
"That's alright, let it out... what's going on?" It was impressive how fast Bobby could switch from genuinely comforting to inquisitive.
Buck was sick, exhausted and now he had to think up a convincing lie, absolute nightmare. "Thought I'd try my hand at grocery store sushi roulette last night. Guess I lost." He added his signature open mouthed cocky smile to sell it.
Ugh what a shitty lie. He can’t even remember the last time he had sushi, even if it used to be one of his favorites— the rolls from the grocery store in particular. Thank god Eddie wasn’t here. Or the nice man at the grocery store behind the impeccable crunchy rolls. He didn’t deserve this slander. Oh shit, no more tears Buckley I swear to god.
Bobby dared himself to take a look at the sidewalk vomit and did not see any signs of sushi, mostly bagels. Makes sense, he watched the kid house 3 of them that morning. He watched Lucy observe too, meeting his eyes with the same skepticism. He didn't call him on it, but he'd be keeping a strict eye on him. "You sure that's all this is?"
"Yeah, what else would it be? Not every symptom is some deep dark illness Cap, sometimes you just have to throw up." Buck rolled his eyes to himself. He was fine, it's not like he was dying or—
Or. His eyes snapped open wide, and thankfully Bobby's head was turned away. Was he? It definitely aligned with everything else he’d been feeling, and yeah, shit, he was late wasn’t he?
"Alright, you ready to go? Is it all out?"
Buck's heart was about to leap out of his throat, "yeah, yeah I'm good." Oh fuck.
——
Later on the Captain pulled Eddie in for a sidebar, unable to shake the feeling that something was going on in his house without him realizing it. "Hey, has Buck been alright at home?" He asked while he was alone at the bench press.
Eddie shot up like a spring, "Heh? In what way? Did something happen?"
Bobby scratched his brow, maybe he was overthinking it, "I had to pull over the ladder truck today so he could lean over and throw up. I'm just wondering if this is more than a one time thing."
"Well he had the hangover from hell on Sunday, he was throwing up from like 5 am until breakfast. According to him he just thinks it's lingering."
He squinted at the phrasing, "And you? What do you think?"
Eddie released a long sigh, shaking his head, what he thought it was was wishful thinking, "I think it's Buck and we won't know what's wrong with him until he's coughing up blood, but... I dunno. Could be isolated. He's been kind of tired, but who isn't? There's not enough there to say."
He had noticed something was up, of course he did, but because of where his head is at he can't help but interpret it as pregnancy symptoms, and he knew it was likely a million other things before that; That he could be missing or ignoring symptoms that don't line up with his hopeful diagnosis. "I dunno Cap I can't really look at it with objective eyes, but if something gets serious I won't let him come in, promise."
Bobby nodded, trying to be satisfied with that answer.
——
He got home shortly after their talk, trying to shake off the weird feeling from today. He was sure Buck was fine, he had to stop being so overprotective— He turned a corner in the house and May was on the couch, face in his hands, sobbing. Maybe he was just being overprotective of the wrong person. "Hey— hey.…”
”H-Hey, how was work? Was the um.. anaphylaxis baby alright?”
“Yeah they were okay, just minor bee sting, alert and responsive when we took them to the hospital.”
”A bee sting?” May’s face crumbled, falling back into her hands. She should’ve caught that, her head’s just been so jumbled, because… because…
“May, hey, what's going on?" He sat next to her and rested a hand on her shoulder.
She was silent for a minute, weighing her options of how this would go, and she figured it’d probably go better than talking with Mom, at least until she had it sorted. "You really, really, really can't tell mom," was all she said for an answer, leaning against him when he sat down next to her and hugging his arm tight.
"Depends... if it's something illegal your mom would already know about that."
May released a long shaky sigh, trying to build up the courage to verbalize it, "I think I'm pregnant." She closed her eyes. She didn't feel him pull away like she'd expect.
Bobby took a deep breath. Right. This was a stage of life too. One that he'd never gotten to on his own, with his former life and family. Stay Calm. Stay open minded. "Okay... did you get some tests? How are you feeling?"
"I did, and one was positive and the other was negative. I've just been kind of nauseous and I'm late. Maybe it's all in my head but that positive one is scaring the hell out of me."
Bobby nodded, it did feel pretty up in the air. "Well I'm sure you can make an appointment with your—"
"No I can't because then it'll show up on Mom’s health insurance and then she'll ask why I was there and—"
"Hey.. hey, it'll be fine. If you really don't want her to know, I can always take you to planned parenthood."
May groaned and hid her face back into her hands, "I just don't want her to know if it turns out to be nothing. Obviously if I need an..." her eyes bounced over to Bobby, she forgot he was Catholic.
Sure her family used to go to Church, and Baptists definitely weren’t the most chill, but she’d always been under the impression Catholics were even less so. "You're not going to like, freak out if I... don't go through with it right? I know you're kinda religious." She hadn't even considered that.
Bobby shook his head, patting her back, "My religion is just for me, I don't enjoy pushy people. In general."
May furrowed her brows, "You married Mom."
"Your mom isn't pushy, she's stubborn."
"Not the unstoppable force but the immovable object."
"Exactly."
May chuckled and sniffled, nodding, "Okay.. can we go tomorrow? I can call off, Josh definitely noticed how freaked out I was today so he'll let me."
"I have work tomorrow, but we could go tonight. It's only a little after 6, and your mom’s working all night, I know that the sooner it's answered the better you'll feel. We can tell your mom we got late night ice cream or something if she's back before us."
May smiled in relief, leaning over to hug him, "Thank you. You know me very well."
"Well I know your mom pretty well, and you share a lot of things, including anxious impatience. Now c'mon. Want anything to eat before we go?"
"I don't think I could if I wanted to. Maybe just a handful of tums, it’s the only thing that can settle my stomach right now.”
Buck was in the same boat, or rather the same chair, shaking his leg in the waiting room of the Planned Parenthood, trying not to think about ironic the name was for him right now. He told Eddie it was physical therapy and he felt like an asshole. Who doesn't tell their partner of two years they might be having a kid?
Maybe because the operative word was Might. If it turns out to be nothing, he doesn't want to stress Eddie out or get his hopes up. He'll tell him tonight, as soon as he finds out. When his name was called he hopped up, a bundle of nerves.
"So, why are you here to see us today Mr. Buckley? STI test?" The nurse asked, not getting many men on their own in here.
He blushed, trying not to feel offended that that was the first assumption, did he still give off 1.0 energy? "I think I'm pregnant," he answered, the nurse stopping and double checking her clipboard, changing course to another room.
"Oh, are you trans or a carrier?"
Buck swallowed, "second one." God he hated that word. Technically it meant a gene carrier, but all those shitty doctors in white coats knew what they were doing.
"You know conception is pretty rare with that condition right?"
"I know, that's why I'm here, where all the thorough tests happen.” He tried not to grit his teeth in annoyance, “Couldn't trust the drug store ones."
"Fair enough, this will be your room, another nurse will be around to take your vitals, and this," she pulled out a cup from one of the drawers, "is for your urine sample. Bathroom is down the hall and you just place the sample inside the metal sliding door on the wall." Buck nodded and did as told, even getting some blood drawn by the nurse when she came around to his room.
He felt like he'd been sitting there forever, enough to have to text Eddie and lie that PT was just going long. He's not sure he's ever been this anxiety ridden in his life. He's been more scared, like when Maddie was kidnapped and Eddie was shot, and more miserable, like when Maddie left and during the lawsuit, but never quite so straight up nervous.
He couldn't sit still on the bed, pacing and spinning on the doctors chair, looking through the drawers and cabinets to see what kind of stuff was even stored in an office like this. He was using a q tip to clean the speakers of his phone when finally someone in a white coat came in.
Buck smiled nervously at being caught going through the stuff, but the doctor just chuckled, "Sorry, I know it can get a little boring, waiting around." She smiled and walked over to her chair and computer.
Buck took a deep breath and sat back down on the bed, rubbing his sweaty palms on his jeans. It was probably nothing, he was just paranoid. "Well, Mr. Buckley—"
"Am I pregnant or not?" He blurted out, just needing to get this over with.
"The test came back positive, but we need to do a more thorough exam to confirm, can you change into this?" She handed over a paper dress that went unreceived.
Everything after Positive went unheard. Buck was frozen, breathing on autopilot as tears built up a blurry layer in front of him. He felt lightheaded, almost drunk, he couldn't take in his surroundings even if he wanted to and he really doesn't. "Fuck," was all he could really say, and that was more of a whisper. "I... I can't— I.." Everyone had just climbed out of such a dark hole. Everything was in such a precarious balance— like everyone was holding their breath, waiting for the next horrible world-axis shifting thing to happen.
He guessed this must be it. At least he could exhale now.
"I know this is big news, it always is. But you're in the right place if you don't think you can go through with it."
Buck blinked a few times to clear the tears, "No— I mean maybe, I have to talk it over with my boyfriend." The only thing that might make Eddie more mad and stressed than him being pregnant is him terminating it without saying anything. His mental health took priority, as scared and terrified as Buck was. And even if it didn’t feel like it now, it’d surely help his own mental health in the long run. He took a shuddering breath, "how... how... pregnant am I?" The word alone was making him nauseous.
"Well, seems to be pretty early based on the hCg levels, maybe six to eight weeks?"
Buck sat up on the edge of the bed, "Eight weeks! That's like- uh.. what, two months?"
The doctor smiled patiently, "we add two to four weeks for your cycle, so you likely conceived just a few weeks ago. We can get a better idea if you put this on and we can conduct the internal ultrasound."
Buck nodded slowly, "Internal?"
"Well this early on it would be too small to read on the classic gel on the belly style sonogram you've probably seen in movies. When they're this small we have to get a reading a little closer, from your cervix," she explained calmly, pulling out the tool from the machine that looked more like a vibrator than any piece of modern medical equipment.
Buck blushed, now really wishing Eddie was here. The doctor stepped out of the room to let him change and came back in a few minutes later.
He'd only been to an OBGYN for 3 things in the last decade: get an IUD, get a cancer screening, and get the IUD taken out so it wouldn't rip him up in the MRI machine when he got his leg crushed. The last one he wasn't even conscious for. His parents had never taken him, wanting to pretend that part of him didn't exist.
He wasn't used to people poking around down there, is what he's trying to get across, but he knows he's going to have to. He placed his legs in the stirrups and moved all the way down. He tried to keep his mind off of anything sexual as it was inserted, which was pretty hard to do, until the screen turned on.
"Looks like they're sitting right here," the doctor pressed against the left side of his lower abdomen, right next to the line of his abs which would be gone soon enough. "Looks like a singleton," she paused the screen and took out the device, taking the measurements on her computer. "Well, it looks like you're about 9 weeks, maybe 8 if they're a little on the bigger side. Do you have any idea of when it could've been? A more exact conception date?"
Buck felt his face go red, "we uh... we have a lot of sex. Not- not trying to brag I just— I have no clue." It started after the horse therapy and hadn’t really stopped.
"Alright well, assuming you're at 9 weeks.... That'd put your due date right around the holidays…" She took a moment to do some more advanced pregnancy math. "Yup, December 16th."
Buck nodded, staring at the ceiling, still crying. The countdown made it feel so much more real. He turned to the ultrasound screen, trying to imagine that little blob growing bigger and bigger. Inside of him. "These photos are for you, and here's your paperwork. You should make a follow up appointment with your primary care physician, or here if you don't have health insurance."
"Uh, thanks again Dr..?"
"Wendyl. Now there's some pamphlets outside too about what to avoid, what vitamins to take, all of the fun stuff. Are you going to be alright?"
He nodded, "I think so."
"Alright, you can get changed and head out."
Buck was doing his best to keep himself from going into total shock, quickly putting on all his clothes and rushing out.
——
"So, we never talked about who the hypothetical father would be..." Bobby asked casually after they'd been sat for a few minutes.
There was another beat of silence, May picking at her cuticles, resisting the urge to chew on a hang nail. She didn't want to admit it was Darius. Her parents liked Darius and they would stop liking him very quickly. "It was some guy at a party, I know it's stupid, that I was being stupid, but we used protection."
Bobby sighed and nodded, "Well some guy at a party doesn't sound like the most present father in the world. These things happen, and you're doing the responsible thing by getting checked out."
"Yeah... hey your shoes untied."
"Ope..."
May tried to relax but when she turned to the door she saw.. Buck?
He made his way to the waiting room when he stopped cold. May and... Cap? He locked eyes with May and thankfully Bobby was tying his shoes. He put a finger to his lips and turned heel and ran all the way back to his car. He wasn't ready to tell anyone yet, he could barely process it himself.
May blinked, did she really just see Buck? What the hell was he here for?
He slid into the Jeep and finally collapsed under the weight of it. He cried the whole way until he pulled in front of Eddie's. He knows he should think of it as their place, but right now his mind was throwing every scenario that was not a happy ending at him, and he felt like a stranger, an intruder into a family that was perfectly fine before he got there.
Eddie was doing so good, and he didn’t want to throw a wrecking ball into all that progress. After the year they’ve had, he’s sure the last thing he could possibly want or need is another thing to stress over.
So he couldn't tell him, not tonight at least. He’s not hiding it, he’s just exhausted, he wouldn't be able to be present for the many conversations that followed those two words. Maybe tomorrow, when his head was clear. Buck quietly came in the house, and heard Eddie in the kitchen.
"Hey, how was it? Your knee feeling better?"
Buck nodded, swinging his scarred up leg back and forth for effect. "Not right now but it should. How was dinner?"
Eddie walked up and gave him a kiss on the cheek, "Good, I saved you a plate.” He squinted, taking in the up close detail. Glistening lashes, ruddy cheeks. “Everything alright? You look like you've been crying."
"Yeah just from allergies though, doesn’t help that I've been rubbing my eyes all day because I'm exhausted. Honestly, I think I'm gonna turn in early." Buck wasn't sure he could stomach much of anything right now, and he just wanted to sleep for days.
"Alright well... I'll keep your plate in here in case you change your mind. I'll join you in a bit once I make sure Chris is in bed." Eddie squinted, observing him as he left the room. He was a horrible liar, but what was the lie?
Rule number 1 to taking care of Buck is to pick up on the small things, because he'll never say it directly. He's been sleeping more during shifts and over sleeping his alarm recently... maybe he really was— No. It couldn't be. It was wishful thinking. Maybe he was simply depressed about something. He'd try and ask about it tomorrow.
Bobby held her shoulder as they walked out of the building, "So all clear?"
May smiled and nodded, beyond relieved, "all clear. Just a scare." But now that her problem was solved, or never really existed to begin with, her investigative nature turned it's focus to Buck.
"And those are going to happen, but I'm glad you felt you could come to me about it."
"Of course, you're a lot more calm in a minor crisis than either of my parents."
"Well I still think this is something you need to talk to your mom about, but I'm happy I could be here for you. Now, cover story ice cream?"
"Sounds great."