“Hurry up!” I whined, wriggling around on the bed like an impatient child. I was all ready to go, I even had my coat and boots on although I rarely wore shoes inside the house. I prefer to go barefoot when I have the chance.

Justin, on the other hand, wasn't even properly dressed, and yet he was still fiddling around with his stupid hair. He met my eyes in the mirror and smirked, clearly enjoying how much his delaying tactics were annoying me.

The ass.

“Just give me a minute,” he mumbled, averting his attention back to his curls. I don't know what he thought he was going to achieve, his hair already looked okay to me. It always did.

“You've had a minute,” I continued to complain. “You've had five... ten minutes. Hurry up!”

The smirk returned. “Excited, much?”

I wanted to roll my eyes at that. “Of course I'm excited,” I said.

He chuckled and then turned around to face me, his arms by his sides, his hands on his hips. “Why?”

“Because this is a huge moment. You should be excited, too.” I spotted my own reflection in the mirror and even I could see the spark of anticipation in my eyes. In fact, it was a little embarrassing how eager I looked, and I made a mental note to tone it down a notch. I was twenty-seven, and probably should start acting it.

He shrugged. “I don't see why.”

“Come on, Justin. You have to be. I know you are deep down, but you just don't want to admit it.”

Another smirk. “You think you know me that well?”

“I know I know you that well.” I flashed him a shit-eating grin right back. Two could play that game. “Admit it. You're excited.”

“I'm not excited, I'm just...” he trailed off, obviously trying and failing to find the right words. Impatient me couldn't wait that long. I interrupted.

“Yes?”

“I just...”

I sat there expectantly with both eyebrows raised, even leaning forward a little in my eagerness. “Yeah...?”

He held eye contact for several sweet moments before his gaze broke and he abruptly turned back to the mirror and, you guessed it, his hair.

“I dunno,” he said, letting out a huff as he surveyed his reflection, his brow crinkling as he lifted his eyebrows to better inspect his hairline. He was silent for a few minutes before his eyes flicked back to me in the mirror. “You can go wait in the car if you like. I won't be long.”

I snorted at that. I had to, it was a joke after all. “No thanks, I'm good here.”

“I said, I won't be long.”

“Yeah, you say a lot of stuff. Doesn't mean it's true.”

He let out a weary sigh. “Just go wait in the car. The incentive of knowing you might drive off without me will hurry me along.”

I laughed. He had a point.

“Five minutes,” I warned, even going so far as to point a domineering finger at his reflection. “Any more and I will go without you. Consider yourself warned.”

~~~~~*~~~~~

“You've got the gift, right?” he asked, glancing sideways at me with that look... the one that said he was half expecting me to suck in a gasp and rush back into the house for whatever I'd forgotten.

I had his number on that one, and flashed him a smug smirk as I lifted the aforementioned gift bag, decorated in colourful cartoon elephants, – why elephants are considered especially appropriate for newborns is beyond me. Almost every gift bag I found in the children's section of the gift store seemed to contain at least one pachyderm - from where I'd hidden it in the foot-well of the passenger's seat.

I knew he'd ask.

“And the card?”

“The card is inside the bag.”

He was silent for a few minutes as he pulled out of the driveway. I reached out and flipped on the radio, turning the volume down low so it was merely background noise. His eyes flicked to me and a soft smile appeared on his lips. Before I had a chance to smile back, he reached out and brushed the back of his fingers against my cheek. His arm, once lowered, settled around the back of my shoulder and he let out a contented sigh.

“Who do ya' think the kid'll look like?” he asked after a comfortable pause. I turned to glance at him, a smile playing at the corner of my lips but he avoided my gaze. He must've known I'd have found his question, or rather the fact he'd asked it, amusing.

“Her,” I said with confidence, although I had absolutely no idea. The kid was golden whether it looked like one or either of its parents. You couldn't really go wrong when you were playing with those kind of genes. “I think it's a given it'll have blue eyes.”

I chuckled at my little joke, and glanced at him to see his reaction. His brow furrowed as he thought about what I'd said.

“Why? He has brown eyes...”

I snorted a laugh and shook my head playfully. “You really don't know anything about babies, do you?”

He narrowed his eyes and quipped, “er... no.”

“All babies have blue eyes,” I said with authority, although I didn't know much more about human offspring than he did. Not that I was about to let him know that. I'd heard some stuff... seem some episodes of Teen Mom when he'd been out of town.

“Geez, I didn't realise I was dating the baby whisperer.”

I allowed him that and chose not to bite back. It was possible I'd been a little smug with my last comment and I probably deserved his sarcasm. I sucked in a breath and let it out slowly as he pulled out onto the highway.

“You think it'll have his nose?” I asked as I gazed unseeingly out of the passenger side window. I barely noticed the L.A scenery passing by, nor the speed we were travelling at - Justin speed i.e. way over the speed limit. To be fair to him, he always drove such comfortable cars that you could hardly feel how fast you were travelling. Not that that was an excuse.

He looked momentarily perplexed by my question and snorted a laugh. Sometimes my wacky train of thought caught him by surprise and he needed a minute to catch up.

“What's wrong with his nose?” he asked, sounding a little bemused.

I shrugged. “Nothing really,” I said. “Just people always talk about babies having his or her nose, like you either have one or the other. I wondered which you thought it'd be.”

“If that's true then you better hope our kids get your nose and not mine.”

I rolled my eyes. He was almost as bad about his nose as he was his hair. “Stop. You've got a great nose.”

“A great big nose, yeah.”

Then it hit me. Our kids. I turned to look at him, my eyes practically bugging out of my head. Five years together and he'd never... not ever... mentioned anything about kids. He hadn't mentioned much about marriage, either, but I was refusing to dwell on that. We'd get there one day. But kids...

I tried to keep my voice casual and not let on how much those few words affected me.

“Our kids, huh?”

He chuckled and met my gaze, his head tilting to the side to regard me with amused eyes.

“Wow... that took nearly six seconds. I was thinking it'd be more like three.”

I stared at him, probably looking like someone had pulled the rug out from under me. That's certainly how I felt. His eyes flicked back to the road but the playful grin remained on his lips.

“You want kids someday, right?”

I continued to stare. Who was this stranger?

“Um... yeah.” It seemed a good time to be honest.

His smile grew.

“You want kids with me?”

My heart skipped a beat and I felt my palms begin to sweat. Now? He was doing this now? On the way to the hospital to meet his friend's new baby for the first time? Now?

“I...”

His blue eyes darted to meet mine, and for a second I saw a glimpse of fear flash through those beautiful baby blues. He wasn't nearly as cocky as he was pretending to be, and it was that fact alone that helped me let out the breath I'd been holding in a slightly noisy gasp. This was an epic moment for both of us.

He didn't rush me, and although his eyes flicked back to the road, probably just in time before he veered into oncoming traffic, I could tell he was alert and anticipating my answer. I could practically see his ears pricking to attention – if that's possible.

I didn't know what to think or say, so I said the first thing that came into my mind without cross-examining my thought processes. I knew it came directly from my heart as my hands stopped shaking the moment the words were out of my mouth.

“Yes. I do.”

He nodded as though he'd been expecting it all along. “Great.”

~~~~~*~~~~~

He was handed the baby almost as soon as he was in the room, which amused me no end. His expression was a picture, too. It was clear he was trying to act as one should when handed a newborn baby – Delighted? Awestruck? Emotional? Instead he managed an altogether different emotion – terror.

His wide, uneasy eyes glanced up to meet mine as he tried his best not to hold the baby like a football. I snorted a laugh and he sneered ever so slightly before his eyes dropped down to the newborn in his arms.

Turns out I was right. The baby had both blue eyes and Chris' nose.

I watched Justin as he swayed side to side, the tension in his jaw telling me he wasn't nearly as comfortable as he was pretending to be, and, I have to admit, I felt a little bit gooey inside when a smile began to form in the corners of his mouth. It was clear he was softening to this new person in his life.

“See, natural dad. What did I tell ya?” It was Chris, and the question was aimed at me. It seemed a bit mean to snigger, so instead I flashed him a tense smile.

To say he was giddy would be an understatement. He had that look about him that all new parents seemed to get. Like they had in on some kind of secret that was so wonderful and pure it was practically oozing out of their pores. It made me feel uneasy, and a little insecure.

I glanced back at Justin and found him staring at me. Not just staring, but willing me to come over with his eyes. I couldn't deny that look. I never could.

Seeing him with a baby in his arms did funny things to me. Not those kind of things. A new kind. A few minutes and his face had completely changed, and all because of this small person who was staring up into his face as though he were the most important person in the world. Which to me, he was.

I smiled and broke away from his gaze to look into the face of my new little niece, who, it had to be said, was the most beautiful baby I'd ever seen. I hadn't been wrong about the genes thing. I glanced up at Justin and he was grinning, too. Not just a happy grin, but one that spoke of promises and dreams and things to look forward to. The same grin that had assured me all those years ago that I should accept his invitation to dinner. That with him I was in safe hands.

For a moment it felt as though we were looking into our future.

And then Chris opened his mouth.

“There's a restroom down the hall if you wanna... you know.”

Chris. He never failed to take a perfect moment and ruin it with his attempts at humour.

“Nicely handled, dude,” Justin said as he avoided my eyes and took several steps forward to return the newborn to her rightful parents. I could feel my cheeks burning and I glanced down at my hands, unable to meet anyone's eyeline. Mortified would accurately describe how I was feeling.

“I'm just saying...”

“Yeah, yeah. I think we all understand what you're saying.”

Surprisingly, Justin returned to my side and reached out for my hand, lacing his fingers through mine and giving them a squeeze, even though I could tell he was feeling just as embarrassed as I. He didn't show it as easily as I did – my face was like an open book, and my cheeks flushed at the most minor and ridiculous of things, whereas you really had to know Justin to spot the signs. Nevertheless, they were definitely there.

“Well...” he said, clearing his throat and glancing down to meet my eyes. “Congratulations, guys.”

“Yeah,” I muttered. “Congratulations.”

“Thanks,” Chris said, smiling as he glanced down at his new daughter who was now fast asleep in his wife's arms. “It's been quite a wait, but I think she'll be worth it.”

I swallowed, unsure what to say, but Chris wasn't done. He looked at Justin with eyes warm but serious. “Seriously though, you should think about getting one of these...”

I heard a snort and looked up in time to see Chris' wife rolling her eyes. She smirked at me and I knew we were thinking exactly the same thing - nine months of discomfort, a potential eight hours of pain and he made it sound like picking up something from the store. As. If.

I felt Justin's eyes on my face and I glanced up to find him staring at me, the dreamy look back in his eyes. The corner of his mouth pulled up on one side and he leaned forward to place a soft kiss on my lips. I'd never been a great one for P.D.A, but in that moment, in that place, it felt surprisingly right.

I felt jitters in the pit of my stomach at the thought that one day – maybe sooner than I thought – I'd be back in this very place cradling a newborn of my own.

“Yeah,” he said, his eyes never leaving mine. “I think we might just go home and talk about that.”