"Shaun, I'm serious," Rebecca said, "just have him take them all and if they're negative, then we've got something bigger on our hands." She handed the Englishman the box of tests.

"Rebecca Anne Crane," he snapped, "he is a man, there is no possibility of this being the case!"

"He's showing every sign, Shaun," Lucy interjected, "he's even putting on the weight int he right areas."

"Moodswings, morning sickness, cravings, sensitive nipples-"

"How the hell did you know that?" Desmond gaped at the engineer, "about my uhm.."

"You were complaining about it for a week, mate." Shaun said softly.

"Anyway, his face got a little chubbier and his stomach is bloated lightly above his pantline," Lucy said, "he walked around topless, if you're wondering about that."

"Just give me the tests," Desmond said, "it can't hurt, I'm sure it happens but not commonly."

The three of them waited outside the bathroom as the assassin pissed on each little stick as well as he could. He had to shake just to get the last drops to come out and onto the final test. The tanned man exited the room with the tests in hand and the foursome of assassins all waited.

Desmond laid down on the table, Rebecca's homemade ultrasound humming quietly as she turned it on.

"Is this thing safe?"

"It should be," she replied, "I was a nurse before I started this."

Lucy just gave a sigh, handing over the gel to Rebecca who promptly spread it over Desmond's grown middle. He was approximately six months gone by now. They'd discovered about three months ago and were currently getting ready for the baby.

Shaun was silent for the most part, sorting through his muddled thoughts. He gave no indication of what he wanted for them or for the baby. He sat by and watched as the machine began to show images of the life inside.

"Good profile," Rebecca commented, "let me check the heart and then we'll get to the juicy stuff." She brought the transducer over to the heart, the baby was facing to the side, curled up tight. The engineer pointed at the screen with a smile. "That's the heart, it's beating strong."

"Look at the little feet," Lucy said in wonder as the dark-haired woman moved the monitor down to the bottom of Desmond's swell. The assassin smiled, his own heart beating excitedly as he watched the flickering images on the screen.

"And the sex," Rebecca said, as though she wanted a drumroll, "it's a girl!"

"Babe," Desmond called, rolling onto his other side to look at Shaun, "come back to bed."

"I've got too much on my mind."

"Come talk to me then," he offered, patting the still-warm side of the bed that the historian had been occupying a bit ago. Said historian gave in and joined his partner back in bed, pulling their mint green comforter up to his waist.

"It's about the baby, Des," he admitted, "I don't know if we should keep her here."

"What do you mean?"

"We're assassins," Shaun said, "this is a baby, we're talking about. Those Templars could come in and snatch her away or she could be caught up in some fight and bloody well die."

"We can protect her." The American defended.

"Yeah, sure we can," he replied, but switched topics, "and what about proper nutrition, schooling or just the regular routines a child needs? What about a social life, or toys for God's sake!"

"We can figure it out," he said quickly, "start buying baby supplies like diapers, formula, blankets, wipes and shit."

"And her education?" Shaun snapped, "we aren't teachers!"

"You're a historian, Bec's an engineer, Lucy was going to school to be a teacher before all this and I've picked up some stuff along the way!"

"I don't think we can keep her," the Brit said softly, "I mean, what about the birth even? None of us know what to do in case of an emergency. It's not like we can head to a hospital safely!"

"So you want me to have her, this baby that we created," Desmond spat, "and then pawn her off to total strangers? Shaun, this is a part of us, a part of you and me!" The ex-bartender's voice cracked as he tried to hold back his tears. "I love her, Shaun," he started to cry, "I love this baby so much already. I feel her move every day and she likes to hear your voice and...and.." he couldn't finish as sobs smothered him.

"Des..."Shaun murmured heavily, "darling, I'm just trying to think of what's best for her."

The two sat in relative silence, aside from Desmond's occassional hiccups. The englishman pulled the American into his chest, rocking him back and forth comfortingly.

"We can keep her, Shaun," Desmond insisted softly, "we can give her everything she needs, even Lucy is coming around to it." He added, "I'm still able to go into the Animus with her here and because of her, I'm not bounding around trying to kill everyone as Altair or trying to fuck anything that moves as Ezio."

"Drop it," Shaun replied, "we'll worry about this when the time comes, if we can't keep her here, I'll send her off to England to live with my mum."

"Do you even want to keep her?" Desmond asked sharply.

"Of course I do, love," he snapped, but then softened, "I just don't want anything to happen to her. I love her with all my heart, Des."

"I like Nirvana," Desmond said, "it means heaven to the Buddhists."

"We aren't Buddhist," Shaun said, "how about Madelin?"

"No way," Desmond shot, looking down at his eight-month-belly, "way too common."

"So, you're hipsters now?" Rebecca sniggered from her seat.

"Shut up," Shaun countered, looking back down at his book, "Hailee?"

"Uh, no," Desmond deadpanned, "I went to school with a girl like that, I wanted to break her backwards over my kneecap."

"What did she do to get on your bad side?" Lucy asked.

"My girlfriend cheated on me with her."

"Stupid whore," Shaun grumbled, "what about...Larissa?"

"I don't like it," the assassin replied, looking through his own book. "What about...Maria?"

"Too many of those already," the historian answered, "Ezio's mother, Altair's wife."

"I thought...I thought Altair was gay." Desmond stared at him.

"Oh, he was, but he also wanted children."

"Let's try again later, alright?" Lucy said, "she won't care for another three weeks."

"Way to wait, guys."

"Sod off, Rebecca."

Desmond clutched at Shaun's hand as the pain of contractions and the pain of pushing collided. He let out a yell of pain as he felt the baby's shoulders pass through an opening he'd recieved between his legs. (Which Shaun had dubbed his mangina, promptly making fun of him.)

"You're doing great, Desmond," Rebecca cooed, "the hard part is over with,just a few more pushes."

The assassin let out a sob as he pushed the expelled the baby from his body, hearing it's first gasp for air himself. Desmond began to cry happily as his child screamed her presence to all that was in the room. Rebecca's eyes welled with tears and she cut the cord, wrapping the little miracle in a light pink receiving blanket.

The engineer handed the screaming child over to her mother, the assassin's tired arms snuggling her close as he cried.

"She's perfect, Desmond," Shaun whispered to him, leaning in closer to admire his daughter.

Finally, after about twenty minutes of crying, kissing and snuggling, Desmond relinquished his hold on the newborn to push out the afterbirth and to sleep.

As Desmond slept, Shaun cradled the newly-bathed infant to his chest and began to count fingers and toes for reasons he couldn't quite place. He grinned as he realized how naturally pale she was and prided himself in overriding Desmond's natural tan.

"Still gotta give you a name, love." The englishman chuckled, gently rubbing his thumb along her soft cheek. She was soft everywhere, her skin so smooth and flawless. She was so new, he realized. Nothing had marred her yet, she was maybe two hours old now.

The couple lay side by side in their shared bed, the new mommy sitting up to cradle the child. He looked over at his boyfriend to catch his attention.

"Shaun?"

"Yeah, Des?" He sat up too.

"We really need to name her."

"No shit, mate." the Historian replied with a soft laugh.

"I've actually been sitting on this one for a while," Desmond said as he cradled the nameless child, "Lyric."

"Lyric, like in a song?" Shaun asked.

"Yeah," he replied, "I really like the name."

"Well, it's better than any of my ideas," the brit chuckled, "I like it too."

"Lyric Rose Hastings," Desmond concluded softly, "I like it better than Lyric Rose Miles."

"It's beautiful," Shaun agreed, wrapping his arms around Desmond. "Just like her."