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Jack convinces Nathan that he won’t survive another round of injuries. That’s the only reason Nathan let him go into the chamber. As Jack dematerializes Nathan swears he’s going to get him back.
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He swears.
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He almost forgets he has a daughter with how much time he spends working on getting Jack back.
Jenna ends up spending more nights with Allison than she does with Nathan.
She cries a lot.
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It’s been months and Nathan still doesn’t know how to get Jack back.
He begins to lose hope.
That just means he works through every night instead of only some.
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Nathan is 32 weeks along when everything starts to fall apart.
Allison thinks this has gone on long enough and has been threatening to put him on bed rest.
He knows the stress isn’t good for the babies. He can’t stop himself.
He’s out of time.
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He’s preeclamptic now. Any minute Allison is gonna come barging into his lab and force him into bed rest.
It’s now or never.
He fires up the machine.
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Jack wakes up alone.
He knows a few things right off the bat.
He’s alive, for one. Something he honestly hadn’t expected.
Second, he’s in GD’s infirmary.
Lastly, his ribs hurt like a son-of-a-bitch, and he can’t sit up.
Looks like he’s trapped here for the foreseeable future.
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Nathan was nowhere in sight
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(What he doesn’t know is that Nathan is actually only a handful of yards away, in an infirmary bed himself.)
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When Jack wakes us next, he manages to ask about Nathan.
They look to the left, and Jack follows their gaze.
Nathan is asleep in the bed next to him.
Nathan is also very pregnant.
Just how long was he gone for?
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Nathan wakes up sometime later. Jack is still staring at him.
They make eye contact.
Neither of them says a word.
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He learns it’s twins. Boys.
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Jack ends up being able to get up before Nathan can.
Nathan is still preeclamptic. And it’s not getting better with Jack back.
They end up inducing the babies the day before Halloween.
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The boys are born silent.
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Jack cries when he finally hears them scream.
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The steroids they gave Nathan mean the boys are well developed for how far along they were. They still need constant monitoring, but with the help of new GD tech, the boys are able to go home in only a few weeks.
Nothing and no one is ready for them.
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Jack is perhaps, surprisingly, the most prepared. He gets the guest room converted into a nursery within the first week.
The treadmill that had been lingering there ends up in the trash.
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Suddenly, it’s been a month and a half and it is the twin's actual due date.
Nothing is said about it aside from a soft “oh.” from Nathan when Jack brings it up.
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It’s Christmas.
Jack watches the boys look up at the twinkling lights on the tree.
He can’t help but think of the small velvet box hiding in his sock drawer.
It doesn’t feel like the right time.
He aches with the wanting.
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Nathan was folding laundry at the coffee table.
Jack came in and sat down, watching him.
“You could help, you know,” Nathan said.
Jack sat on the floor beside him and began folding a onesie. He paused after they finished and looked at Nathan.
“Do you wanna get married?”
Nathan froze. Then, with great hast, he stood, placing all the folded garments into the basket. He grabbed the basket and began to make his way up the stairs.
“Nathan?”
Nathan paused. “Not when you put it like that.” He continued up the stairs.
Jack followed after him.
He caught up when Nathan was in the twin’s room, putting away their clothes. They spoke in harsh whispers, so as not to wake the babies.
“What do you mean by that,” Jack said.
Nathan scowled, shoving something deep into a drawer. “Try to make it sound less like a duty to you.”
“That’s not how I meant it.”
“Could have fooled me.”
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It was spring.
They were out at the park. Jenna was off playing with some other kids her age, and the twins were on their backs on a blanket staring up at the sky. They seemed to almost glow under the mid-afternoon sun.
Nathan had lost his job as director when he became consumed by researching how to get Jack back. Now he had a lot of time on his hands.
Jack came back from checking on Jenna’s boo-boo. He sat on the blanket beside Nathan.
Without any warning, Jack grabbed Nathan’s chin and tilted it towards him. He kissed Nathan. Deeply. With tongue.
When it broke, Jack didn’t move away.
“What was that for?”
Jack smiled. “Maybe I just like you.”
Just . Nathan’s heart sunk.
Nathan frowned. He turned to the twins before Jack could see.
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They were having sex.
Jack wasn’t letting him come. He kept changing things as soon as Nathan was about to.
“ Jack -” Nathan panted.
Jack thrust deeper, and Nathan gasped. He was so close.
When he went to reach down, Jack grabbed his hands, pinning them above Nathan’s head and pressing him into the mattress.
Jack shifts, and then gasps. His head falls to Nathan’s shoulder. He starts to mutter.
Nathan can feel Jack’s knot starting to form. It’s popping in and out of him.
He groans.
He finally registers what Jack has been muttering.
“Marry me. Marrymemarrymemarryme.”
His orgasm hits him like a freight train. He doesn’t even notice Jack knotting him until it is done.
Jack doesn’t lift his head. He pants into Nathan’s neck.
“Did you mean it?” Nathan whispers.
Jack lifts his head to look Nathan in the eyes. He squeezes Nathan’s hands.
“I want everything with you.”
“Everything?”
Jack chuckles. “Mate you. Marry you. Stuff you full.” He kneads his knot into Nathan’s walls.
Nathan gasps again.
“What do you say?”
Nathan, still a little punch drunk from the sensation of Jack's knot replies: “Thank you?”
Jack snorts.
“Nathan-”
“Oh. Yes. Yes .”
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They marry in the summer.
Neither saw much point in waiting.
When Nathan finds himself pregnant again a few months later, he tells Jack immediately.
They welcome a little girl into the world on their wedding anniversary.
Jack couldn’t be more pleased.