Moira's text asking what Sebastian wanted her to order from the Chinese place was nothing special, except that he was currently sitting in his doctor's waiting room, at least a forty minute drive away from her apartment, and that wasn't even including the fact that his doctor was already half an hour late. Who knew how much longer he was going to be stuck here?

Aren't we meeting Thursday? he sent back, regretting it as soon as her reply popped up on his screen.

It is Thursday. Followed closely by Are you cancelling on us again?

It couldn't be Thursday! It was the nineteenth! His appointment was definitely for the nineteenth and the receptionist had been expecting him when he'd turned up, even if she'd been ignoring him for the last forty minutes. Sebastian checked his phone again. Wait, Thursday was the nineteenth. He paused, face contorted by confusion and annoyance. So....what month did he think it was?

Was this what having a baby did to you?

I might be a little late, he texted Moira.

Yeah, I figured, she sent back. You're supposed to be here in ten, and I bet that's not happening if you don't know what day it is.

I’m at a thing, Sebastian said, following it up with the most apologetic emojis he could find. I got mixed up with my dates.

Should we just cancel? she replied. No emojis, which meant she was probably kind of mad. We're running behind though. She didn't actively blame Sebastian for their delays, but he knew what she had to be thinking. He was the one who'd skipped the most meetings, or turned up with only the bare minimum of his assignment done. Which wasn't fair when he was definitely the person most desperate to be finished and to turn the damn thing in and get on with coping with the shambles that was his life.

I can totally be there in an hour, Sebastian lied. My section is done – that part was true – Assign me whatever now. We'll fight about it later.

Okay, Moira said. But if we eat all the take out, don't say we didn't warn you.

Thanks a million, Sebastian replied, and almost dropped his phone as the nurse suddenly appeared from behind him to instruct him to find room 1-A.

It only took another twenty minutes before he got to see the doctor, and then he was out of there, the doctor's lecture fully the shortest part of his appointment experience, and now completely blown out of his head by his worries over the group project.

Sebastian was later than he'd promised when he rang Moira's doorbell, but she opened the door with tolerant amusement and ushered him inside. "We ate all the food and decided that you were going to do the most boring parts of the assignment," she warned him, leaning against the wall as he shucked off his coat and boots.

"Perfectly fair," Sebastian said with the most disarming grin he could muster. She laughed, and disappeared into the living room as he bent over his backpack to grab his laptop.

Brandon looked up as Sebastian entered the room and waved at him, looking cheerful. "The takeout box on the table is for you," he said. "Eat up and I'll send you the retooled schedule we've been working on."

Moira stretched her leg out from the ottoman and kicked Brandon’s ankle gently. "You couldn't let him sweat for another thirty seconds?" she said, lifting an eyebrow.

"At least someone loves me," Sebastian said, grinning at her as he went to collect his dinner.

"Can we just work on the project?" Brandon sighed.

"Sure," Sebastian said, his fork already halfway to his mouth. "I'm super sorry, guys. Catch me up?"

Putting everyone's parts of the project together like this, they were further along than Sebastian had thought. On the other hand, he still had about a million hours of fiddling with algorithms to do, and the thought made him want to cry. A lot of things made him want to cry lately, which the doctor had explained was a normal hormonal reaction, but still made him feel like a time-wasting idiot. He wasn't going to die just because he had schoolwork to do, or another back-ache, or because Logan wasn't paying attention to him and still hadn't noticed that he was pregnant. He just had to get through it. There were a lot of things he had to get through, but on the other side, something better would come up.

Sebastian was certain of that.

He couldn't have survived much longer in his parents' house if he wasn't.

For now, he just had to agree to do whatever work Moira and Brandon assigned him, and things would get better. Guaranteed. The volume was a little daunting, and sometimes he wondered if he could offload some of it if he revealed his condition to his friends, but the idea felt strange in his chest, like a gnawing, unsatisfied worm.

There were other people he needed to tell first. And eventually that would come, he was sure of it. He just needed to find the right thing to say to make Logan understand what was happening. That nothing had to change, there was just going to be a baby now. All of Sebastian's other plans were going to stay exactly the same.

Admittedly, as time passed without Sebastian figuring out the words he wanted to use on his best friend, the possibility that Logan might figure it out on his own did rise sharply. Sebastian tried to pretend that that didn't hold a certain appeal. Logan would know what to say, he thought. Logan always knew what to say when Sebastian was bouncing all over the place announcing his plans for the future, or denouncing something his parents had said. He'd probably know what to say about a baby too.

Moira sighed as Brandon finished the overview of what was left to do, pushing herself to her feet and bringing Sebastian back to the moment. The three of them cleared away the empty take-out containers and prepared to head their separate ways.

"Next week, same time?" Sebastian said as he tucked his laptop back into his bag.

"Can you make it?" Moira said dryly. "If it'll make you turn up on time, you can start deciding when and where we meet."

"This was totally a one-time thing," Sebastian protested. "I'll be here early next week. Don't even worry about it."

"That's exactly the kind of thing that makes me worry," Moira said, running her hand through her long blond hair and flipping it away from her face. "But whatever you say."

"The work's getting done," Sebastian said, shrugging. "I just fucked it up this week. Next week will be totally different." And it would be, if he had to work himself to the bone to make it happen. Nothing was going to stand in the way of his plans. Every little setback just reaffirmed how important that was going to be.