Surprisingly, it took a full two days and forty-seven purposefully 'missed' calls from Sebastian's parents before Logan eyed the phone vibrating its heart out on the coffee table and asked, "Aren't you going to answer that?"

"Why start now?" Sebastian said airily, leaning his head on Logan's shoulder and batting his eyes at the father of his child.

"Does your mom know where you are?" Logan asked, eyebrow raised. That was the worst part of having known Logan for so long. He never wanted to let Sebastian spin out his bullshit, cutting right to the heart of the matter every time.

"Obviously." Sebastian rolled his eyes. "She's just mad about it."

"Does she know why you're here?" Logan's expression was just slightly smug, which seemed unfair when he kept putting his finger directly on Sebastian's sore spots.

"For the oodles of fabulous sex with the father of my child?" Sebastian said. "No, I prefer my mom to not have eight heart attacks all at once, thanks."

"I meant the father bit," Logan said, completely ignoring Sebastian's dramatics and refusing to be distracted.

Sebastian scowled. "She would already have turned up here with either a shotgun or wedding planner, so, no, I haven't."

"You're just going to ignore her forever?" Logan curled his arm around Sebastian's waist and squeezed gently.

"Not forever," Sebastian said. "But if she's going to lecture me forever when I get home, I want it to be worth it."

"You don't have to put up with that shit, you know," Logan said softly. Sebastian stifled a groan. He knew that Logan was trying to be kind, but they'd had this conversation a million times. It had been comforting once, but now it felt like Logan was trying to derail his carefully made plans for the future.

"It's just until I graduate," Sebastian said with a sigh, for what felt like the millionth time. "Don't sweat it."

"Well, let me know when you're ready to be lectured," Logan said. "I'll give you a ride."

Sebastian leaned up and kissed his cheek. "That's more like it."

It all sounded very reasonable and didn't explain how Logan ended up walking into Sebastian's parents' house with him, shaking hands with Sebastian's mother, sitting down for a conversation that Sebastian could hardly hear over the rushing of blood to his head, and walking out with most of Sebastian's stuff in a couple of big duffel bags.

"Of course we'll come back for the baby clothes when we have the nursery set up," Logan assured Sebastian's mom over his shoulder as they walked out the door to the sound of no yelling whatsoever.

"What the fuck?" Sebastian said when they were safely in the car.

Logan made a vague noise, his attention on the difficulties of reversing out of the driveway with all of Sebastian's possession's piled on the back seat.

"No, really." Sebastian stared at him, awed and confused. "How the fuck did you do that?"

"Get in, hit 'em hard, get out," Logan said, grinning. "It's just like Call of Duty, man."

"Talking to my mom is zero percent like Call of Duty," Sebastian informed him.

"She wasn't expecting it." Logan shrugged, looking ahead as they sped away down the street. "That's all. She didn't have time to work herself up into a fit."

Sebastian made a strangled noise.

"Also, she's afraid that if she says anything, I won't marry you, and the baby will be born out of wedlock," Logan added.

"The baby is definitely going to be born out of wedlock," Sebastian said immediately. "Just to spite her."

"Okay." Logan laughed. "But maybe if she believes otherwise, it'll keep her off our backs."

"Just don't blame me when you find yourself signed up for wedding planning sessions," Sebastian said, trying not to let his worries ruin the lightness of his tone. The relief of not having to go back to his parents' house felt like cool water, but Sebastian couldn't help worrying that Logan was only letting him stay to keep him away from his mom. Logan had offered to do as much in the past, long before Sebastian's heat and the baby-related aftermath. Not in such a permanent way, of course, but did it matter that there were no limits this time around if the intent was the same?

Sebastian wanted this baby. His shock had turned itself into warmth over the last few months, and he was ready to hold his child – their child – in his arms. Did Logan feel the same? Or was his motivation merely pity: pity for both unloved Sebastian and the fatherless child inside him?

Having the question wasn't the same as wanting to know. The relief that had been cool water in the desert slid away, leaving Sebastian cold and aching. If he asked Logan now, what was he going to do if the answer wasn't what he wanted to hear? Sebastian had stayed in his parents' house to keep from burning that bridge until he was well away, but now the bridge seemed to be well and truly gone. His parents had reacted poorly enough to the idea that he didn't know who the Alpha was who had fathered his child: he couldn't imagine how deeply disappointed they would be if he returned home to announce that he'd found his child's father and then left him for a second time.

If his mother was hoping that Logan would marry him, then Sebastian knew she was pinning all of her hopes on that. He'd destroyed her hopes once. He didn't know if she could deal with having them ruined a second time.

"You seem a million miles away," Logan said gently as the car turned down his street.

Sebastian shrugged, a touch embarrassed. "I guess I was."

"Things are happening pretty quickly," Logan said. "But we have all the time in the world." A pretty statement, but Sebastian knew it wasn't true. He felt like he was brooding on it, but Logan was busy reversing into his driveway and didn't seem to notice.

Sebastian hopped quickly out of the passenger's seat as the car came to a halt. He opened the rear door of the car, and looked up, startled, when Logan made a disgruntled noise.

"Shoo, shoo," Logan said, waving him off. "I've got it. Go inside."

"It's my stuff," Sebastian pointed out.

"And I've got it," Logan said. "You shouldn't be carrying heavy bags in your condition."

"I'm not at nine months yet," Sebastian said. "I can lift a thing or two."

"I just want you to be careful," Logan said, looking at Sebastian with such brain-melting affection that Sebastian's worries almost vanished. Almost. He hoisted a bag onto his shoulder. "I've got it. Shoo."

Sebastian allowed himself to be shooed. Inside, toeing off his shoes and leaning against the wall, he was surprised at how much this felt like returning home

Honestly, what with Logan going off to work in the morning and leaving Sebastian to sleep in until his 10:30 class, it wasn't just home-like, it was practically domestic and only got more so as the days went by.

Now that all of his things were here and he could scatter his notebooks all over the living room, it was easier for Sebastian to get his schoolwork done than he had thought possible. Things with Logan had put him behind on his final project – a fact that Moira and Brandon were being increasingly overtly patient about – but all he needed was maybe another six hours of straight staring at this computer screen.

"What about sleep?" Logan said from the kitchen as Sebastian explained this in a loud and slightly crazed voice, his gaze never once leaving the spreadsheet open on his laptop.

"No sleep." Sebastian squinted at the screen, clicked over to his notepad file, fixed a bracket, clicked back.

"Baby needs sleep," Logan said, sing-song.

"The baby is already sleeping," Sebastian pointed out. "The baby gets to sleep all day. I, on the other hand, have deadlines."

"You know that's not how that works," Logan called back.

"Hey, who's the pregnant one here?" Sebastian looked up from his laptop to glare at the empty kitchen doorway. As he lifted his head, the smell of the stir-fry that Logan was making hit his nose and made his mouth water. "What do you know?"

"I'm not wrong though," Logan shouted back, his voice awash with smugness.

"You can't make me," Sebastian called cheerfully, his mood lifted by the prospect of food. How long had he been staring at his screen without eating? He wasn't sure, but it might have been too long. His stomach rumbled.

"Can so." Logan popped his head around the doorway and pointed at Sebastian. "You watch it, bucko. I can lift you right up and take you away from all that nasty programming."

Sebastian snorted. "I'd like to see you try."

Logan raised an eyebrow. "My dude. Remember last night?"

"No," Sebastian lied, his face flushing red with the memory, his mouth fighting the urge to curl up into a grin.

"Guess I'll have to remind you," Logan said, laughing. He winked theatrically and disappeared back into the kitchen to the sound of oil frizzling in the pan.

"You better not be toying with a pregnant man's heart," Sebastian called after him, returning to his work with a smile on his face. If this was domesticity, he could probably learn to live with it.