Cisco bounced into the cortex, beaming. "Iris!" he said. "Mazeltov."

She blinked sleepily over her coffee. "What?"

"Ohhhh," he said, flopping down next to her. "Am I premature? Oooh, maybe that's not a good word to use."

She narrowed her eyes. "You're being both mysterious and chirpy and I'm not caffeinated enough for either."

Across the cortex, Caitlin came out of her lab with a mug of tea. She stopped dead when she saw her boyfriend.

Cisco, focused on Iris, didn't notice. "Should you be drinking coffee right now? I mean, isn't that on the no-no list? I feel like it is."

"Would you just tell me what's going on?"

He leaned over, grinning. "I had a dream."

Iris narrowed her eyes. "So did Martin Luther King Jr. Get to the point."

"It wasn't just a dream. It was a vibe dream."

"Mhm," Iris said, twirling her hand in a "go on" sort of way. Caitlin hugged her mug to herself, watching wide-eyed.

Cisco made a little movie screen out of his hands, peering through it. "You and Barry," he said. "All dressed up in your Sunday best. Rocking hat, by the way, I approve."

Iris raised a brow.

With a giant grin and the air of someone delivering the pièce de résistance, Cisco said, "And - you were holding a baby."

Caitlin gasped.

Iris had just taken a sip of her coffee, and it went down the wrong tube. She coughed and spluttered and finally wheezed, "A what?"

"A baby! You know? Human, beta version?"

"I'm not pregnant," Iris said.

"You sure about that? Peed on a stick lately?"

"Cisco," Caitlin said in a tiny voice. Cisco didn't hear.

Neither did Iris. "No, but I'm still pretty sure," she told Cisco.

"Why?"

"Cisco," Caitlin said, louder.

Barry whooshed in. "Got it!" he said, handing Iris a bag from the nearest drugstore.

She pulled out a box of Tampax, a bottle of Midol, and a package of red velvet Oreos. "That's why."

"Uh," Cisco said. "Whoops."

"Like, I said, pretty sure."

"About what?" Barry asked.

"Cisco vibed us holding a baby last night," Iris said.

"What?" he said, hands frozen in the act of opening up the second package of Oreos. "Are you - "

She waved at the Tampax. "Pretty obviously not, babe. Hey! Those cookies are for me."

"That one's for you," Barry said, mouth full. "This one's so I don't eat out of yours."

Caitlin came over and grabbed Cisco's shoulder. "I need to talk to you."

He glanced up absently. "Hey, hi." He took her hand and gave it a squeeze. "Hang on a minute here."

To Iris and Barry, he said, "Look, this was a sure-thing vibe. I can tell that now. If it had shown lottery numbers, my fine ass would be down at the nearest gas station. So you're not pregnant now, but it'll happen soon. I mean, you crazy kids have been married a year and I'm pretty sure Caitlin explained the birds and the bees."

"The birds and the bees can go get stuffed," Iris said. "We're not ready for a baby."

Barry nodded. "Two years at least. We agreed."

"Babies happen when they happen, believe me," Cisco said. "And I'm so ready to be Uncle Cisco. You have no idea. I've already got a design for a super-reinforced bouncy chair. Even a baby speedster can't destroy it."

"Cisco!" Caitlin slapped her tea down on his desk.

He jumped back from the splash zone. "Whoa! What?"

"Iris isn't pregnant."

"Yet," he said, holding up one finger as if he was about to make a point, "but - "

"I am!"

His eyes widened. His finger stayed in the air.

Through a mouthful of Oreos, Barry said, "Wai', whuh?"

Iris gasped. "Caitlin! Oh my god!"

"I tried to tell you in private," Caitlin said to Cisco. He was still frozen, as if she'd hit him with one of her ice bombs instead of the biggest news of his life. "You weren't listening to me."

Barry swallowed and said, "Wow! That's amazing. You guys - "

Iris looked at Cisco, then at Caitlin, and then said, "Babe, I'm late to work. Let's go."

"But - "

"Let's go," Iris said, and dragged him out of the cortex.

Finally Cisco seemed to come alive. "You - you're - "

"Pregnant," she said. "My guess is two months." She bit her lip. "Say something."

"You're sure?"

"I ran the blood test just now. Twice."

He blinked slowly, then jumped up. "You need to sit down."

"Um," she said, and he grabbed her shoulders and thunked her into Iris's chair.

"I'm gonna get you something," he said, hovering. "Like, milk. Or prenatal vitamins. Or ginger ale. Are you barfy? Is it still early enough for morning sickness? I'll get you ginger ale anyway, just in case."

"Cisco! I don't need any of those things. I just want to know what you're thinking."

She gripped the chair, watching him. He ran a hand over his hair, looking down at her. Big eyes, pale face, mouth in an anxious line. He sat down slowly. "I - "

"Yes?"

"I'm - I'm trying to figure out how I got so lucky."

"Lucky," she said. "You're - happy?"

"Happy? I'm fucking blown away. Oh my god," he breathed, taking her hands. "Oh my god, Caitlin, we made a baby. That's amazing. How'd we do that?"

She gave him a watery smile. "Antibiotics disrupting my birth control and a two percent failure rate on condoms. It's very common. It happens every day."

He kissed her knuckles. "No," he said. "It doesn't, it can't, it's too miraculous." He leaned over and kissed her lips. She put her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder.

Their rolling chairs pulled together and bumped armrests as they held each other close.

"What about you?" he asked, in her ear. "Is this okay?" Caitlin wasn't a baby person, exactly, and the topic of what she thought about having any of her own had never really come up.

But she said, "Beyond okay."

He angled his head to look into her face, searching her expression. "Yeah?"

"I'm really happy. I am. I know we weren't planning. We haven't even been together a year. But you've been one of the most important people in my life for years before that, and besides that, I love you. And I want to do this with you. I really do."

"I love you too," he said, and kissed her again.

After some minutes, he pulled away again. "Whoa," he said. "I just figured it out."

"What?"

"My vibe. I assumed it was Iris and Barry's baby because they were holding it, but - godparents! Who else, right?"

"Oh!"

"Not that I'm assuming we're gonna baptize lil' bean here," he said quickly. "It just as well could've been a - is there a Jewish thing that's the same?"

"There is," she said. "We'll talk about it. But - yes. Barry and Iris, of course. Who else?"

He leaned his forehead against hers. "I - wow. This is not what I expected out of today."

"Me neither."

He tucked her hair behind her ears. "For reals, though, how are you feeling?"

"No morning sickness," she said. "A huge appetite. And I've been really tired. You know that."

"Yeah. You're, like, building a person. It's hard work." He looked down at her stomach. "Can I - ?"

"Of course you can."

He settled his hand lightly, gently over her stomach. "I've seen you, little bean," he whispered, and felt Caitlin press her cheek to his hair. "And you're beautiful."

FINIS