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He read in silence, emotions twitching at his features occasionally to react to certain parts of it.

Horror at her attack, outrage at her betrayal by someone she'd trusted, sympathy at her being told she could never have children, something unplaceable at the three babies she'd lost.

Zhane understood why it was she shielded him from her past -- because it was not a happy one. And if it was unpleasant for him to read, he could only imagine what it must have been like to live it. It had made his life of wandering in the woods and arguing with his father seem, by comparison, a blissful existence.

When he was finished reading the passage she'd asked him to, he made himself stop, closing the journal in his lap and laying it aside. As she spoke, he listened, and then when her thought trailed off, he completed it for her. "....that this would never be something we'd need to worry about?" he tried.

He didn't sound angry, or betrayed by the fact she'd kept it from him. He sounded, instead, weary. This was a lot to take in....and quite a mental leap to have to go from the idea he was going to be a father, to the idea that it was a very real possibility it wouldn't happen after all.

He furrowed his brow as she went on, his lips tightening into a thin line. "Nani....Nani, listen." he said, trying to calm her as she rambled about all the things she would and would not do while pacing.

As she knelt to ask her question, he blinked at her, and then reached out to smooth a hand through her hair. "No, it doesn't change anything." he assured her, just getting that out of the way right off the bat. "Not how I feel about you, not the fact I want to marry you, okay...?"

She seemed to be bordering on some sort of panic attack, which would not be good for anybody involved, least of all her.

"But you shouldn't just hang up your life, either." he told her. "I mean, take it a little easier, sure, I'll help with whatever I need to to make it more comfortable for you, but don't stop doing everything you like."

He nodded, moving to hug her. "It makes sense. And if anybody's entitled to relax, you are." he said with a single, dry chuckle. His mind had felt overloaded as it was with wedding plans chasing around in it, now other preparations were coming to mind on top of them.

They'd need to go shopping. They'd need to decide on a name. They'd need to make doctor appointments. They'd need a nursery. They'd need--

He forcefully got himself off of that train of thought before it could go careening out of control. If he made himself catatonic thinking of all the things they'd need to do, he'd be no good to any of them.

He watched where her hands had settled, and then placed one of his own on top of them. It was still a hard pill to swallow -- the idea that under their hands lurked the beginnings of a baby.

"Scared?" he repeated, watching as she stood to stretch. "I don't think so, should I be?" the statement came with a smile, that was only a little uncertain. To be honest, he wasn't sure how he felt at the moment.

She was happy, and he found it catching for right now, if a bit dizzying. He imagined that the gravity of the whole thing hadn't quite sunk in for him yet. It was one thing to be presented with a small child that needed you and to make the decision to call them family. It was quite another, though, to fathom that you had helped to create a new life from nothing.

The smile lingered as she linked her arms about his neck and spoke soothing words. The anger gone from her features, and the pallor of sickness, for the moment, not enveloping her face, he was allowed an up-close view of something that hadn't been there before...

...something barely-there, but there all the same. A glow about her that made her, somehow, even more beautiful.

At length, he gave her a gentle tug forward, sitting her in his lap to hold her for a long moment.

He reached up to trace the curve of her jaw with the backs of his fingers. "I think, for now, we should take it as it comes." he told her, kissing her under her chin. "Just tell me what you need me to do, and I'll do my best."

It was heartening to see her discuss this with optimism, given the grim track record she'd, apparently, had with this delicate matter in the past. Thinking about it even now, it was a shock that would take him a bit to recover from.

And if this one becomes a fourth statistic? What then? The thought was biting and made him inwardly wince. He didn't want to think of that, despite the fact it might well be a possibility. He wanted to focus moreso on Nani being happy, and share in the good feeling she had about this time.

At the sounds of the occupants of the household beginning to return, it almost felt as if someone had flipped a switch over from 'Weird' back to 'Normal' again.

"That might be for the best." he said, giving her a smile that was a little more genuine.

And relieved.

"We can get what flavors of frosting you'd like on the cake squared away first, before we decide whether to use the lambs or the duckies on the nursery wallpaper."

At the sounds of the children playing a few rooms over, he flicked his eyes in the direction of the noise before looking back to her once more.

"Are we going to tell them?" he inquired. "Or do you want to wait awhile first?"

He jolted a bit at the knock, and then looked toward the door. "Way ahead of you, Rose." he called to the feline on the other side before returning his attention back to her.

"Understood." he whispered. That, likewise, was preferable. After just having broken the news to others that they were planning a wedding, it seemed....a bit overkill to get them all stirred up again about a baby. Especially when things were still deeply uncertain in that regard.

It wasn't that he worried they would look down on them for it....his own parents, he was well-aware, had gotten married ONLY because they'd found out he'd been on the way. He'd had every intention of marrying Tinania before this. And still did.

On a whim, he leaned in to give her a gentle, lingering kiss, which he broke slowly. "Whatever happens, Nani, I'm not going anywhere." Taking a deep breath, he let it out slowly. "I love you."