Oh, Baby

Upon hearing a knock on his door, Aiden looked up from some paperwork he was doing at work.

Hope smiled at him in the open doorway. "Knock, knock," she said. "I hope you don't mind me stopping by."

Aiden smirked. "Mind? Baby, I never mind when you come by to see me." He stood up and walked over to her. He then embracing and kissed her.

Hope moaned as she hungrily kissed him back.

"So, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" Aiden asked, breaking a kiss, then walking over to the door and shutting it. He turned back around to face Hope.

Hope nervously bit her bottom lip. "Actually, aside from missing you, I have something I need to tell you."

Aiden raised an eyebrow. "Oh? A good something or a bad something?"

Hope sighed. "Well, it depends on how you look at it I guess."

"Should I sit down or this?" Aiden asked, both sounding and looking a little worried.

Hope nodded. "You might want to," she said, her tone serious.

Aiden sat down in his chair.

Hope sat on the corner of his desk and faced him. "You know that even when I was sleeping with you, I was still sleeping with Rafe before I officially broke it off with him."

Aiden nodded. "Don't remind me." His eyes then got wide. "Oh my gosh! That idiot didn't give you an STD did he?"

"What?" Hope couldn't help but laugh. "No, Silly! Where would he even get one from?"

Aiden shrugged. "Where does anyone get them from?"

"Well, he wasn't cheating on me. I was the one cheating on him," Hope reminded Aiden.

"I didn't give you anything! I'm clean and I've always been clean!" Aiden said.

Hope couldn't help but laugh again. "Aiden, stop! No one has an STD. At least no one I know of."

"Then why do I need to know that you were still sleeping with Rafe a month and a half ago?" Aiden asked. His face paled as it suddenly dawned on him what Hope could be getting at. "Unless… No. Please don't tell me you're pregnant."

Hope looked away, then looked at Aiden. "I didn't want to tell you until I was sure."

"Are you sure the baby isn't mine?" Aiden asked. "I mean let's be real. You and I have had a lot more sex than you probably had with him! How do you know for sure it's Rafe's?"

Hope sighed. "Kayla said the baby was conceived in the end of January. You and I didn't make love until Valentine's Day."

"How long have you known you were pregnant for?" Aiden asked.

"I just found out today before coming over here," Hope admitted.

Aiden raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "How could you be pregnant for over two months and not know it?"

Hope shrugged. "Not all women get pregnancy symptoms right away. It's different for everyone. Women are sometimes known to have easier pregnancies after having had babies once or twice before."

"What about your…monthly cycle. Didn't you wonder why you weren't having it?" Aiden pressed.

Hope shook her head. "Let's face it, at my age, menopause isn't far off if it hasn't already arrived. I just figured I was going through menopause. I wasn't exactly eager to get straight to the doctor to confirm it. I didn't want confirmation that I was getting old. However, I finally broke down and got checked out today just in case it was something more serious. Low and behold, it was. I came right over here after finding out," Hope explained.

"Have you told Rafe yet?" Aiden asked.

Hope shook her head. "Like I said, I came right over here after finding out." She smirked. "It's nothing I can just text him about or talk to him on the phone about."

Aiden sighed. "Now you're tied to him forever." He massaged his forehead.

"I'm sorry Aiden. If you don't want to be with me because of this, I understand," Hope said, her voice wavering a bit.

Aiden looked up at her. "You're kidding me, right, Baby? Hope, I love you with every fiber of my being. True it's not ideal that Rafe is the father. I should be the father. But this baby is still a part of you. I may not like Rafe—at all—but I love you, and anything and anyone that is a part of you, I will love." He got up from his desk and walked over to Hope. He put his hand over her stomach. "I promise to love this little baby growing inside of you as if he or she were my own."

Hope started to get tears in her eyes. "There's something else you might not like."

Aiden sighed. "Twins? Not that I wouldn't love them both, but it will sting a whole lot more if he got you pregnant twice in one go."

Hope shook her head. "You're really bad at guessing, you know that?" She mussed up his hair and stuck her tongue out at him.

Aiden smiled weakly. "If it's not twins, then what is it that I won't like?"

"Well…" Hope bit her bottom lip. "I think Rafe should move in with me. I'm sure he's going to want to be part of this baby's life. It will be harder for him to do so if we live separately."

"I don't even live with you," Aiden grumbled.

"I know, but this is a special circumstance," Hope stated. "I assure you, nothing would be going on between Rafe and me other than being here for our baby."

"But nothing was supposed to go on between you and me when you were with Rafe and it did," Aiden reminded her.

Hope nodded. "True." She gently ran the back of her head down Aiden's cheek. "But you're forgetting that my love for you is stronger and truer than what I felt for Rafe. Plus, you and I have history together."

Aiden was still worried. "But what if you change your mind this time around? What if you decide you do love Rafe more than you thought? After all, you kind of have history with him too now—not to mention a future baby."

Hope continued to stroke his cheek. "Not as much history as I have with you, my Love. Aiden, trust me, you're my future; not Rafe. I'm not going to change my mind. I love you and only you and that's never going to change. Don't you trust me?"

Aiden nodded. "Of course I trust you, Baby." His eyes narrowed. "It's him I don't trust."

"He won't get out of hand. Look. I promise if he shows any sign of getting out of hand, to quote Victor, 'I'll throw him out on his ass'—baby or no baby," Hope assured him.

Aiden smirked. "I kind of hope he does try to hit on you now just so I can see that!"

Hope grinned, and playfully swatted him. "Oh, stop! So you're okay with him staying? I promise it will only be for the first six months. Anyway, I haven't even asked him yet. He might say no."

Aiden sighed. "Trust me he won't say no. And I'm never going to be okay with it, but I'll tolerate it if it's really what you feel you and your baby need."

"I'd ask you to move in too, but I don't think Ciara's quite ready for that. She's barely gotten used to you and I being together," Hope said.

Aiden nodded. "I understand. You do whatever you need to do for you and the baby. I'll support you one hundred percent."

Hope stroked his cheek again, tears from being so touched forming in her eyes again as well. "There's one last thing," she said quietly.

Aiden sighed. "I don't know how many more things I can take."

Hope winced. "I'm gonna just say it and get it over with—just like ripping off a Band-Aid." She raised an eyebrow. "But first, any guesses as to what it might be?"

Aiden shook his head. "You said yourself I'm a bad guesser. You might as well just say it."

Hope nodded. "Right! Okay, well, the truth is…" She cleaned close to Aiden's ear and purred, "April Fools!"

Aiden's eyes got wide. He looked at the calendar on his wall, then back at Hope. "About him moving in with you, or about the baby?"

"About both!" She playfully swatted his shoulder. "I'm not pregnant, silly! Even if I were pregnant with his baby, I certainly wouldn't have him move in with me. That would be super inappropriate no matter what the circumstances. I would never do that to you besides."

Aiden scowled. "How can you even think about playing a joke like that on me? Seriously? After all we've been through you're going to joke around about a pregnancy with Rafe? Talk about inappropriate!"

Hope's mouth dropped slightly open in surprise. "Aiden, relax, it's just a joke."

Aiden shook his head. "Well excuse me if I don't find pranks about you being pregnant with your ex-lover's baby funny! Hope, you know how much I detest Rafe!"

"Aiden, you're totally over reacting!" Hope accused, her arms crossed over her chest.

Aiden raised an eyebrow. "Am I? Or is this just some sick way of telling me that deep down you kind of wish you were pregnant with Rafe's baby? After all, what would make you even think of playing a prank like that?"

Hope shook her head, tears pricking her eyes. Only this time they weren't happy tears. "Aiden, no! I do not have feelings for Rafe, nor do I want to have his baby! Why are you being like this?"

Aiden shot her a look. "You know what? I can't even look at you right now. I need some air." He got up and headed for the door.

"Aiden! Aiden, wait. Aiden!" Hope called out after him.

Aiden ignored her. He left his office, slamming the door behind him.

Hope sighed as she looked at the now closed office door, wondering how a prank could have gone so badly.

Suddenly, the door opened, and Aiden popped his head in. "And another thing!" he said angrily. He then grinned. "April Fool's back at ya!" He winked at her.

Hope gasped. "Aiden!"

Aiden laughed, and came back into the room, shutting the door behind him. "I may have forgotten it was April Fool's Day, but that doesn't mean I can't still get you back for your little prank that you played on me."

Hope draped her arms over his shoulders. "It wouldn't have worked on me if you didn't always used to storm off angrily over stupid things when we first started dating. Heck scratch that. It was starting from when we first met!" Hope teased.

Aiden smirked, and raised an eyebrow. "Where do you think I got my inspiration for this prank so late notice from?" He winked at her.

They both laughed, then kissed.

Hope took his hands in her own. "I love you so much for saying you would love the baby even if it's Rafe because it's a part of me."

Aiden kissed her hands. "I meant every word."

"And for you to be okay with Rafe moving in with me for my sake and the baby's… You're amazing," Hope said.

"I'd do anything for you, Hope." Aiden kissed her hands again. "You know that."

Hope kissed his hands as well. "I know that now. That joke served more than one purpose." He kissed Aiden softly on the lips, and he hungrily kissed her back.

"Mm when do you get off work? I wanna reward you for all your good answers today," Hope purred.

Aiden moaned. "I get off work in a few hours."

"Mm… Not soon enough, but all right." Hope kissed him softly on the lips again. "I'll see you tonight. We can do dinner together as a family, and then dessert together just you and I at your place. How's that sound?" she purred.

"Mm, sounds perfect," Aiden murmured.

They kissed some more, then before leaving, Hope promised in his ear of all the things she was going to reward him with back at his place that night.

"That better not be an April fool's joke," he said.

"No April Fool's joke. Just me loving you," she purred.

They kissed once more.

"I promise you, you're going to get so pampered tonight," he promised.

She grinned. "I'm gonna hold you to that!" She then left.

Aiden smiled at her until he could no longer see her, then he went back to work, very eager for that evening to arrive.

That night in the bedroom…

"Are you ready for me?" Aiden asked Hope from the bathroom.

Hope nodded. "Come out here and make love to me, Mr. Jennings!"

Aiden came out in his silk robe with a package in his hand.

"What's that?" Hope asked. "And why aren't you naked?" She pouted.

Aiden got closer to her and held up the package for her to see.

Hope looked at the package and raised an eyebrow. "Diapers?"

Aiden smirked. "I told you were going to get so pampered tonight." He grinned big and shook the package of Pampers at her.

Hope crossed her arms over her chest. "You, Mr. Jennings, are an ass."

Aiden laughed, and tossed the diapers aside. "Hey, you pranked about a baby, so I pranked about diapers."

"Fair enough," Hope said, though she was still pouting with her arms crossed over her chest.

Aiden dropped his robe, revealing nothing on underneath. He then clicked off the light and climbed into bed with Hope.

Hope instantly took him in her arms and began kissing him.

Aiden moaned, as eager as she seemed to be to get started.

She slowly ran her hands down his chest, then kissed a trail down his stomach toward her goal.

"Hope…" Aiden moaned, seeing where this was going.

She looked up at him once she reached the end of his stomach. "Do you want me?" she asked, doing her best to sound as seductive as she could.

"You know I do," he purred.

She grinned at him then slowly moved her mouth down.

Aiden moaned, and tangled his fingers in her hair.

However, right before Hope's lips were about to reach their destination, she stopped. She then climbed back up his body. "April Fool's!"

Aiden gasped. "Hope! That was just cruel."

Hope smirked and faced him, her head propped up by her hand. "Now we're even. Two pranks for two pranks."

Aiden sighed. "All right, fine. We're even. So now, what do you say we stop with the jokes and get down to the loving? Hm?" he asked as he took her in is arms and began kissing a trail up her neck.

Hope smiled, and wrapped her arms around him. "You're lucky I'm too in the mood to say no," she murmured.

Aiden moaned. "Exactly the way I like you."

She shook her head but smiled. "Shut up and kiss me, Mr. Jennings." She kissed his lips then brushed her lips against his ear. "And then make love to me," she purred.

Aiden moaned, then did exactly as ordered, and soon, it was both their moans that filled the room. And that, was no joke.

*The End*