N/A: English is not my first language. I'm still learning, so please forgive my mistakes and please review!
Blessed
By Incantevolle
It was still dark when the phone rang. Instantly the answering machine picked up the call, as it should at this late hour.
"Danny, are you there?" Her voice filled the bedroom.
A murmur came from the bed and a red-haired man lifted his head from the pillow, looking at the phone.
"Well, my flight was cancelled and I will not make it to California in the morning." She said, sounding drained and a little exasperated.
Danny was sitting in the bed by the time she finished. He heard her sigh in the other end of the line.
"I'm so tired…" She continued. "I… I don't know what I am still doing here… 30 days is too much for-"
Danny picked up the phone.
"I know, honey. I miss you too." Danny said in a groggy voice.
"Oh, did I wake you?"
"No, no. It's okay. But there is nothing you could do? Frank, maybe…"
"No." She answered in a way that Danny thought she'd start to cry. "It's the weather. No plane is allowed to take off for the next hours."
They stayed in silence for a minute. Danny could picture her, alone in some foreigner airport, bag in hand. He felt his chest tighten. He missed her so much. The thought that she was not arriving as he expect was too hard to bear.
"CJ?" He called.
"Yes?" She sniffed and he knew she was crying.
"Oh, honey, please… Don't cry." His own eyes now filling with tears.
"I'm being ridiculous… I know I'll be home soon, but… I don't know what is happening to me!" She said, exasperated. "I must be tired, that's all." She took a deep breath.
Danny didn't know why, but he remembered instantly of his sister Catherine, a few years ago, when he was visiting her in Michigan. Danny was playing baseball with his nephew on the backyard when his sister stormed out of the house, crying because "she was a dreadful mother". Between sobs, Catherine told him that she was unable to even bake a cake properly and that she should not be allowed to have kids. When he looked to his nephew, searching for some kind of clue of what was going on, the 8-year-old boy shrugged his shoulders and said "Dad said it's hormones".
"Danny? Danny, are you there?"
Danny rubbed his beard. It's true that both of them were not younger anymore but she couldn't… no, she probably aren't…
"Danny?" She called again.
"CJ… you don't suppose…"
"What?"
"Well… Maybe you… You could…"
"Danny, I'm getting old here. What is it?"
"…are you pregnant?"
CJ became silent. Danny knew that she is still there because he could hear the airport noise in the background.
"CJ? Didn't you thought about the possibility?" He asked, holding back a laugh.
"Danny, don't be ridiculous."
"Why? Is not like we don't have enough sex."
"Danny, this is not possible."
"Well, I don't understand why."
"Because I'm old!" She spat. Some people around stopped to look at her.
Danny laughed. She cried and became angry in a minute. Definitely pregnant.
"Stop laughing, you bastard. I'm not pregnant. I'm just tired. I worked too much, and all this sun… I mean… It's not like California sun, it's hotter than hell here and… I… I miss you… And, and…" She choked on her own words "Oh my God…"
"What?"
"I can't believe I may be pregnant!"
Danny smiled. "Yeah."
"Danny, how could we get ourselves in this? I mean… Aren't we too old for this? After all we went through to get together we finally have time to be, you know, us, and now a baby? Oh my God. What are we going to do? I don't know anything about babies. Do you know how to raise a child? What if this baby doesn't like me and-" CJ was starting to freak-out.
"CJ, calm down. We don't even know if you are pregnant yet." Danny heard she breath out in the other end of the line. "And even if you are, we can deal with it. You know we can. And if you don't want a baby, I will support your decision. I want you to be happy."
"It's easy for you to say, you are not carrying the child."
"CJ, you don't even know if you are pregnant yet."
She took a deep breath. Danny knew that this was not the time or place to have that kind of discussion, but CJ was still CJ and the marriage didn't changed her so much. She still had certain difficulties concerning her emotions and speaking freely of them. Now that she's talking, Danny didn't want to miss the chance.
"Do you want a child?" CJ finally asked in a small voice.
"CJ…"
"Please, tell me the truth."
He breathed heavily before answering the question. "I like children. But everything is perfect right now without them too."
"So you don't want children." She said, sounding a little disappointed.
"I didn't say that. I guess what I was trying to say is that you already made me a complete man."
"Ok, Jerry Maguire. But do you realize you didn't answer my question?" Was more a statement than a question.
"I know, I'm getting there."
"You were better in getting to the point when you were a White House reporter."
"CJ, how am I supposed to-"
"Okay."
"So, what I'm trying to say is that I would love to have children. But only if you want them too. I don't want you to feel obligated to it because of me. All I wanted in my life I already have." He smiled. "The question is: do you want another redhead annoying you for eternity?"
She started to laugh.
"Danny, you know… when you talk like that, making me imagine how it would feel like… I want so much to kill you!"
It was Danny's time to laugh.
"And the kid will obviously like you, CJ. Don't worry about that. What's not to like?"
"Good point." She was much more calm now. "Yeah. I'm likeable."
"You are." He smiled. "So, why don't you go to a pharmacy and buy a test? I will be right here by the phone waiting for your call."
"Yeah, I should do that."
Danny could hear her breathing through the phone and knew that she wanted to say something more before the phone call reached the end. So he waited.
"CJ?" He asked after a while. "Are you there?"
"Yes, I just…" She closed her eyes. "If I am in fact pregnant, I mean, let just imagine for a minute. If we are in this scenario, in the realm of possibilities-"
"CJ, in the pace you're going it's possible that you'll go into labor and we'll be still in this long-distance call."
"I just… I would never…" She paused. "If this was someone else's child, I would consider it but… not yours, Danny." Her voice was small, almost a whisper. "Not ours."
Danny couldn't find his voice. His throat was tightened by emotion. CJ amazed him everyday and his life with her was more wonderful than he could have imagined when they met all those years ago.
"Well, I gotta go. I call you back." She said and Danny heard the click of the line disconnecting.
He stayed there, sitting in the edge of the bed, holding the phone for a while before putting it down in the bedside table. A baby. Danny didn't know what to think of it, except that will be an amazing adventure and he was very happy to have CJ as a companion.
Danny lay down again, smelling her scent in the pillow next to him and waiting for her call.