It's that moment when you actually feel alive

Mikey wiped his face childishly and nodded.

Butcher gently put Nils down, keeping an eye on him so he wouldn't crawl away. He put both of his hands on Mikey's stomach gently and palm down.

Nils headbutted the couch, giggling. Mikey stared at Butcher with wide eyes.

Butcher closed his eyes as he checked for the developing body parts to see if the egg was fine. He opened his eyes suddenly and frowned.

"What's wrong?" Mikey asked in a panicked voice. Tears filled his brown eyes again.

"Nothing's wrong," Butcher said in a small voice. "There's just more than one."

"M-more than one?" Mikey repeated, his eyes wide. "H-how many more?"

"I don't know," Butcher closed his eyes again to concentrate.

Mikey bit his lip to avoid any sound spilling out. Nils eventually realised he was going the wrong way and turned around.

Butcher opened his eyes and looked into Mikey's eyes anxiously, "Um..."

There were no tears in Mikey's eyes, just a strange fire that burned. "How many?"

"I counted..." Butcher's eyes dropped with the volume of his voice. "Six maybe seven."

"Se..." Mikey's eyes rolled back in his head. He slumped to the floor.

"Mikey?!" Butcher slipped down to tilt Mikey's head up, holding his lover gently.

Mikey's body was limp as he lay in Butcher's arms.

Butcher put his face in the place where Mikey's neck met his shoulder and whispered, "I'm sorry, Mikey."

Mikey's eyes fluttered open. "Please tell me I hallucinated that." He groaned.

"No," Butcher said quietly, moving his head up to look at Mikey.

"Oh." Mikey's mouth parted, as if he wanted to say more, but he changed his mind. He rested a hand on his stomach.

"I..." Butcher looked down at Mikey's hand, unsure of what to say. "I could be wrong..."

Dark eyes flicked up to look at him. "Do you think you are?"

"No," Butcher whispered, adverting his eyes. How are we going to do this? How are you going to do this?

Mikey covered his face again. "I want you to leave." He said in a quiet voice. "Just for tonight... I need to get my head around this."

"Okay, anything you need," Butcher leaned in to kiss Mikey chastely on the cheek before gently untangling himself from his lover.

"I love you." Mikey whispered, still hiding his face. Nils scrambled up to Butcher, headbutting his leg.