Every single meeting Denise attended turned out to be a huge success; with each meeting came a better offer. After much consideration, Denise chose Sony Pictures. Their head of production, Emilia Morse was the only person who showed interest in her before she got herself an agent and she was grateful. If this first job launched her career, she wanted to be able to thank Emilia by saying "Sony Pictures is the reason I'm where I am today." Sony Pictures also offered Chris a job; the job to direct Denise's script. While it would've been a dream come true for them to work together, he declined. It wasn't a straight 'no', Chris and Denise spent more time discussing that than they'd discussed which company she should've signed with.

They talked amongst themselves, then asked for the opinions of Sebastian and Luca, as well as their parents and siblings. Because with Denise working and Jack on his way, it was going to be difficult if they were both needed on a set. At least now, if Denise had to be at work then Chris could stay at home. He didn't choose to go on a career hiatus to be with his arriving newborn only to dive right back in with the first offer he'd been given, even if it was an amazing one. So he chose to decline with great faith that he'd work together with his wife on another project when Jack was much older, one that would hopefully win them an Oscar or two.

With all the meetings Chris and Denise have had to attend, all the big decisions they have had to make in the last couple of weeks- today was going to be a vacation for them. Today, their day had been claimed by the soon-to-be husband and wife: Sebastian Stan and Luca Safford. They'd flown in from New York to complete a few wedding tasks as Denise couldn't fly over. Denise felt terrible for inconveniencing the bride and groom, but they'd assured her they already had plans to fly over. Sebastian had a shoot and Luca had gotten a few things from Los Angeles for the wedding as well as her baby. There was a stroller they wanted and the only one left was in a shop in Los Angeles which Sebastian and Denise were going to pick up while Chris took Luca to the bridal shop 'All Things White' to pick up the heels she'd ordered without changing the pickup location from Los Angeles to New York.

They'd decided to swap partners for the day because Denise, too, wanted to go to the baby store for what felt like the first time since she found out she was pregnant; Chris also had an errand to run in Beverly Hills. They all figured it would've been easier that way and after, they could just meet up for dinner at the steakhouse the four of them loved going to when they were all in Los Angeles at the same time.

Sebastian went to speak to the retailer as soon as he and Denise arrived at the store while she wandered over to the boys clothing section. Denise ran her hand along the rack, fingers getting a sense of the soft cotton material of all the onesies she'd passed. Everything was so cute, yet she couldn't bring a smile to her face. All she could think about was how busy she'd been and how busy she was going to be. She feared she'd have no time for any baby related things, like baby classes and first outings. Was she going to be there to see Jack's first smile, or hear his first laugh? Was she going to be able to rock him to sleep, or was she going to arrive home too tired to even bother? Would Jack realized she was his mom if all he saw were Chris and Dodger? These were some of the thoughts she'd been having since she started dedicating her time to being a screen writer and her best friend's 'Maid of Honor'. It also didn't help that she hadn't been sleeping or eating properly the last few days. She tried for the baby's sake, but she couldn't; her back ached and her stomach just wouldn't hold food down.

"That is adorable," Sebastian's voice briefly pulled Denise away from her angst. "Can you imagine, Denise?" He reached over her shoulder for the Winnie the Pooh and Tigger onesies sitting side by side on the rack. "Our boys wearing these, that would make such a cute photo."

"Mm hm." Denise nodded with a forced smile. She'd much rather have her husband around while she was on the verge of breaking down, but she was still glad she had Sebastian. She'd rather have him with her than be on her own.

"Denise, hey," Sebastian's eyes narrowed slightly when Denise turned around and he saw how pale her face looked. "Hey, are you okay?" He wrapped his hand around her elbow and steadied his stance, preparing to catch her if she fainted. Because from where he was standing, she was moments away from it.

"I'm fine," she swallowed then took deep breathes. "I'm um-" She felt her eyes water and she forced a chuckle from her throat to prevent herself from crying. "Did you get the stroller in red?" She asked him, trying to pull her arm from his grip. "Luca said it had to be in red, so if..." She trailed off, feeling breathless.

"Okay, Denise," he started to lead her over to a chair, "you need to sit down."

"I don't need to sit down," she yanked her arm from his grip and he turned around. "I need to go to the hospital." She placed a hand on her belly, starting to cry. "I need to go to the hospital now, Seb." She told him and he frowned in confusion. "Something's wrong, something's wrong with Jack," she rambled. "I can feel it, he's hurt. Jack's hurt," she started to sob, attracting the attention from the other patrons. "I hurt him." She cried when he hugged her, shielding her from the camera phones of those who'd recognized them.

"Let's go to the hospital, okay?" He obliged even though he knew nothing was wrong. It was the pressure she was under, she had too much on her plate and her stress was affecting her judgement. He made a mental note to tell Luca to pass on some of her wedding responsibilities to the other bridesmaids so she wouldn't be so overwhelmed. "Keep your head down, Nise," he told her, frowning at the camera phones. There were brutal realities of being in the limelight, but this was simply too much. He couldn't believe how heartless people were. However, there were a few, pregnant moms too, that looked genuinely concerned which restored his faith in humanity. "Let's go to the hospital." He wrapped an arm around Denise, taking her to the car.

• • • • • • • •

When Chris got the call from Sebastian and heard Denise was at the hospital, he was on his way back to 'All Things White' to pick Luca up. But upon picking up the call where Sebastian said, "she asked me to take her here. She was fine and then she started freaking out, saying she hurt the baby, that she thinks the baby's hurt and- I don't know, man. She's with Dr. McCullough at the moment, you need to come to the hospital right now." He called Luca, telling her he needed to go to the hospital so Sebastian was coming to pick her up instead. She told him she'd be fine and that he needed to call her as soon as he knew her best friend was too.

Denise sat in the examination room with her gynecologist, Dr. Amanda McCullough, tracing her baby's shape on the sonogram with her finger. She'd calmed down after she was told her baby was fine, but the news didn't stop the horrible feeling sitting in her stomach and at the back of her throat. Dr. McCullough could tell her patient was still uneasy; it was understandable at her young age of twenty-two. She'd been with Chris and Denise since the start of their pregnancy, which was why she was used to Denise's sudden fits of paranoia. The constant everyone had noticed with Denise was how she had not had a lot of time to prepare herself for the pregnancy, or the idea of becoming a parent- unlike Chris who'd had decades. He'd been wanting to be a parent for as long as anyone could remember, whereas Denise had just come to terms with the idea of having children. It wasn't said but it was widely known that if Denise didn't end up with Chris, she'd never know the joys of parenthood.

"Sweetheart, the baby's fine." Dr. McCullough assured Denise with a kind smile. "You are perfectly healthy, as is your baby." The doctor took her hand in hers and gave it a light squeeze. "You are very young and very fit, the chances of anything going wrong in your pregnancy are zero to one. Trust me, everything is going to be okay."

"But I'm not sleeping or eating properly," Denise argued.

"It's normal at this stage for you to have trouble sleeping because of your back pains," Dr. McCullough informed her. "As for the nausea, you're not the first pregnant lady to come in here at twenty-eight weeks complaining about throwing up right after you eat. Your baby is taking up a fair amount of space in your stomach, which is why you're not holding foods down as well as you used to. You just need to eat small amounts throughout the day, rather than a big meal."

"Dr. McCullough, sorry to disturb." A nurse poked her head in the door and they both turned to her. "Her husband is here." She told Dr. McCullough and Denise released a sigh of relief. "I'll let him in?" She asked and Dr. McCullough nodded. The nurse opened the door, gesturing Chris inside. "Just in here, Mr. Evans."

"Baby, hey." Chris rushed towards Denise and hugged her tightly, pressing her head against his chest. Dr. McCullough patted Denise's knee then exited the room to give the couple some privacy. "It's okay, I've got you." That sentence made Denise break down again; her body trembled in his arms as she sobbed, hands grabbing fistfuls of his shirt. "Oh sweetheart, you're shaking." He tightened his arms around her. "It's okay, you're fine and the baby's fine. You're both fine, right?" He asked, pulling away to take her face in his hands. The tightness in his chest loosened when he saw her nod. "What happened, Denise? Why did you think you hurt the baby?"

"I've b-been so pre-preoccupied with work, C-Chris," she choked out and he sighed, transferring his touch from her face to her hands as he sat down on Dr. McCullough's chair. "I'm n-not sleeping properly, I'm not e-eating prop-properly." She tried to stop her voice from shaking, but she couldn't because she was terrified. "W-what i-if my pursuit for s-success i-is h-hurting the b-baby?"

"Denise-" Chris tried to interject but she didn't give him a chance.

"No, what if I-I'm not meant t-to be a m-mom?" Her anxiety kept her rambling on. "What if I can't do this?" Chris licked his dry lips and tried not to sigh, it hurt him to see her doubting herself the way she was. "Wh-what if I don't know how to be a m-mom? I've barely had time for J-Jack a-and he's in-inside me." She started to hyperventilate. "I just- I don't know if I-I can- Oh God, Chris. What if I-I can't d-do this?"

"Stop," he squeezed her hands with furrowed brows. "You're going to stop talking and you're going to focus on getting your breathing back to normal, okay?" He instructed and she nodded, attempting to both slow her breathing and stop her voice from shaking. "Now you're going to listen to me, okay? Because I am real sick of you thinking you're doing wrong by Jack when you're not." A fresh set of tears escaped her tear ducts. "Being busy doesn't make you a bad mom, Denise. Things are chaotic at the moment because Jack was a surprise. We both know this wasn't how we were meant to experience our first child, you were meant to accomplish what you wanted to before we started our family. Our plan has been disrupted, so of course we're a little lost."

"But you're not lost at all."

"That's because I'm thirty-eight, sweetheart," he chuckled. "I've done majority of what I wanted to do, I've been waiting to be a dad for years now. It's new for me too, but it's something I've wrapped my head around. You haven't but that's okay because you will. Just cut yourself some slack until that happens. Things will come together," he promised. "Once the wedding is over and you hand off your script to the director, things will slow down and you'll be fine." Denise sniffled, pulling a hand from his to wipe her tears. "You are going to make a great mom." He assured her and she wanted to start crying again.

"How do you know?"

"I know from the way you take care of everyone around you," he answered. "Look at how you're handling things for Sebastian and Luca. Look at how you take care of your family, and my family, and Dodger? I mean-" he squeezed her hand, "look at how you take care of me. I'm the biggest kid you know, right?" She managed a light laugh. "You're going to be fine because you are stronger than I know I'll ever be, than you know you'll ever be. Additionally, you've got me. We're a team." He kissed the back of her hand. "And we're going to nail parenthood in the ass."

"I love you," she squeezed his hand.

"I love you too," he got to his feet and kissed her forehead.