The trailer door creaked open sometime after 10 p.m., a gust of cold night air swirling in with Eddie as he stumbled inside. His hair was a little wild from the ride, his Hellfire binders tucked under one arm, a half-drained Coke in the other.

He stopped dead in the doorway.

“…The hell?”

The living room — normally a minefield of laundry, snack wrappers, guitar picks, and various “Eddie-isms” — looked like someone had pressed a reset button on reality. Counters were wiped. Floors were visible. The blanket on the couch was even folded.

Folded.

“Babe?” he called out cautiously, like the mess might jump back out at him if he spoke too loud.

He moved through the trailer on careful feet, eyes scanning every overly-clean surface with growing confusion. When he reached his room, he found her sitting on the edge of his bed, hands folded stiffly in her lap, staring straight ahead like she was trying very hard not to glitch out of existence.

“You cleaned…” he said, halfway between impressed and deeply, deeply alarmed.

Her head snapped up. “I—yeah, I—okay, look, I need to tell you something and you’re probably gonna freak out because I’m freaking out and I cleaned because you weren’t back yet and I can’t focus and—”

“Hey.” Eddie instantly crossed the room, dropping his binder on the floor and taking her hands in both of his, his thumbs rubbing gentle circles over her knuckles. His face softened, all the silliness falling away. “Sweetheart. What’s wrong?”

Her chest tightened. Her throat felt too small for words. She met his gaze, took a breath that barely made it halfway down her lungs, and—

“I’m pregnant.”

Silence.

Eddie froze. Literally froze. Like someone hit pause on him.

His eyes dropped to their joined hands. Then lifted again. Then dropped again, like his brain was flipping through different reaction options and hadn’t chosen one yet.

Then—

A grin. A slow-growing, full-faced, utterly stunned grin.

“Okay,” he whispered, breathless.

She blinked at him. “…Okay?”

He nodded, as if reassuring himself. “Okay.”

Another beat.

Then his face lit up like someone plugged him into a wall socket.

“You’re pregnant.” It came out with this amazed little laugh, like it was the coolest plot twist the universe had ever given him.

She swallowed. “Yeah…”

He stood so fast the bed bounced. “We’re gonna be such good parents.”

Before she could even figure out how to respond, Eddie had pulled her up with him, arms wrapping around her, lifting her effortlessly. She felt the world spin — literally — as he spun her in a full circle, laughter bubbling out of him in disbelief and joy.

Her hands gripped his shoulders, clinging on. His hair brushed her cheek, warm and familiar. For a moment the panic quieted, replaced by the steady beating of his heart against hers.

When he finally set her down, his forehead pressed to hers, breath warm as he whispered:

“I’ve got you. We’ve got this. You and me and… our kid.”

And somehow, for the first time all day, she believed it.