TheDarkestShinobi: I didn't really ship John and Mary at any point during the show, but I told myself that I'd try to write different pairings for most of the prompts, kind of making this a double challenge [the Rare Ship Bingo] and when the prompt stomach came up so did the thought of pregnancy. I thought of Molly/Lestrade at first but then I decided to try and write Mary and John, so here it is!
Prompt: Stomach
Pairing: John/Mary
"You're pregnant." Mary stops washing the dishes to look at John. He's sitting at the table looking at his dog tags and not her, she can't even be sure he's speaking to her and not just out loud but he did say 'you're'. She dries her hands and moves to sit across from him at the table. He doesn't look up to her immediately. She looks to his dog tags and wonders if he's thinking about their own mortality.
"John?" She places her hands on top of his and he looks towards her. She can see that he is so tired.
He seemed to forget all about Sherlock's pregnancy announcement as soon as Sherlock left the wedding, choosing to focus on their wedding, then their honeymoon, finally they unpacked and Mary declined any drinks, just in case, and bought a pregnancy test she still hasn't convinced herself to take yet. She was waiting for her period to end all the rumor but it hasn't happened, John has noticed it too by , it appears, John remembers what Sherlock has mistakenly revealed to them almost a month ago. John swallows.
"I'm not a father, Mary."
"Not yet, you're not." She smiles before squeezing his hands and getting serious. "You're not your father, John." She brings each of his hands to her lips to kiss his rough knuckles once. "You have hands that protect the country." John likes that she views it as protection and not murder. "Hands that heal the sick and a heart that cares enough to bring those it can't save with it. You have a heart so big that is also wants to chase murders and protect the people. All the people." She stands and moves around the table so that John's head is right next to her stomach, her stomach that shows no signs of having a baby. He looks to it before up to her. His hands flex on the table.
"So I know that you would do everything in your power to love this baby, to protect her from harm and show her the best of the world. You will be her rock and the wind beneath her wings John Watson, so don't let yourself think anything else."
"Her. You've already gendered our unknown child?" She knows John chose to focus on that on purpose so she takes off her shirt to reveal her bare stomach before pressing John's head to it.
"If there is a person in here, you will love it more than you love me, more than you love Sherlock from the minute they open their eyes." John closes his eyes and his hands grip her pants tightly.
"So tell me, John Watson, how could you ever treat them poorly?"
"Mary,"
"You put strangers above yourself, and family on the highest pedestal. Now, we can have our own."
"I'm not ready." He speaks to her stomach, whether to her of the potential baby she's not sure. "What if I do wrong by her?" Mary smiles.
"Then you will do right by her even more the next time." She runs her hands through his hair. "No parents are perfect John." She feels him exhale against her. "No one is perfect."
"No." He disagrees and she pauses. "Our baby would be."
The next time she is in the bathroom she checks for blood, after that she lets out a deep breath and reaches in the cabinet for the pregnancy test she's hid very well. She takes a deep breath and almost cries but it could still go either way right now. Its shaking so badly in her hands she's surprised she doesn't drop it. She washes her hands slowly, and even cleans the small drops of soap on the sink but the results said three minutes, not one. She waits and waits for the results on the top of the toilet lid nervously before moving to the edge of the bathtub.
What if Johns right? What if they aren't ready? What if the two of them are already so messed up that they won't make it with the child, or mess the child up the same way their parents scared them? She sits for so long her thighs begin to go numb. Sherlock was not right, taking care of a man that acts like a child is very different from a child. What if Johns temper is too much? What if hers is? What if she handles pregnancy so poorly that the baby comes out wrong? When John knocks on the door and opens it, he sees the test in her hand and the box in the trash. His throat closes up as he stands firm, falling back into old habits. He waits with her as she doesn't take her eyes off of it for minutes.
"Mary." He speaks softly, realizing that she is not the strong one right now. "What does it say?" He found himself terrified before, but he's eager now, anxious. He and Mary could have a family. Sherlock could teach the boy how to be a genius while he and Mary taught him how to use that for the worlds betterment. She could learn to waltz and play the violin from Sherlock while John taught her how to throw a punch to knock someone out and Mary taught her about boys. He blinks, already finding himself in love with imaginary children that may or may not be growing inside of his wife.
"John, what do you want it to say?" Mary asks as she stares at the results.
"I want it to say yes."
"Good," she breathes a sigh of relief as she shifts her glance from it to him. "John, I'm pregnant." She stands and moves to the edge of the bathroom to show it to him in the doorway and he smiles before bringing his hands to her stomach. He moves them to her waist to lift her and spin her and she's laughing and giggling before he puts her down to kiss her.