Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 36th cycle. Now cycle 37!
"Step Nine, Remember What It's About"
Kurt, Brittany, Santana, Brittana
Paper Heart #10 (following 'Step Eight...')
The secret had come out that morning. It was meant to be a good day for them, and then it had all gone to hell, riding on one act of kindness.
She had to drop by the secretary to get the slip she'd hand her teacher that afternoon, so she could leave early. The woman already knew about her, from her last absence, and when Brittany had told her about needing the slip, she had made an 'understanding' face and made some off-hand comment about being better off missing that biology class anyway, as she'd heard they would be dissecting something, and then she'd put on a face like 'that would be bad, in your condition.' Brittany had just blinked, smiled and nodded, taking the slip and turning to leave. When she did, she caught the eye of a girl she couldn't quite place, like they probably had a class together but she couldn't tell which one. She was sitting outside Figgins' office, waiting to see him. Brittany wasn't sure she liked the way she was looking at her… Did she know? What if she…
She left the secretary's office with a quickness in her steps, needing to find Santana, or Kurt… The further she went, the more she became convinced that something bad was about to happen. She had tunneled her way down the hall, refusing to take in whatever was going on around her so she could locate one of two people who could help her climb down from the freak out she was ascending to. It was probably just as well, or she would have seen the first rumblings, first eyes turning to her…
"Brittany!" she heard Santana's voice, and before she could turn to find her, she'd appeared at her side, taking one of her arms, and Kurt was on the other side, taking the other, and they were speeding her along, into the empty choir room.
"What's going on?" she asked, confused. They let her go and came to stand in front of her.
"They know about you," Kurt didn't tiptoe around it, "About the baby." Brittany's breath went right out of her. She'd wondered how it would feel when this happened, and now she knew: it was terrifying.
"Look, we don't know how it happened," Santana continued, giving the blonde's arm a squeeze. "How they found out, or…"
"I think I know," Brittany cut in, her voice small. There was a pause, no one spoke, moved… "How long do you think it'll be before it's everywhere?" Their silence was enough of an answer. "It's… it's okay," she slowly nodded. "It can't be that bad, right?"
"Don't worry about it, okay?" Santana shook her head.
"Well she might want to worry a little," Kurt muttered to her.
"Not if I have anything to say about it," Santana glared. He was about to reply, but then there was a whimper.
"I can't do this…" Brittany's voice was falling apart. "Can't go out there," she shook her head, an inch from freaking out. Kurt and Santana shared a look before wrapping their arms around her, secure.
"You can do this, Britt," Kurt told her. "You've been so strong."
"Always been," Santana pitched in. "Remember what I told you, last week?"
"That you'd kick their ass if they talked smack about me?" she whimpered.
"Yeah, but the other part," Santana rubbed her back.
"Remember what it's about…" Brittany corrected herself.
It took a few more minutes for her to gather up the courage to go back into that hall, but her shoulders and her head were raised again, with Santana and Kurt on either side of her, and so they went. Her resolve was shaky at best, dreading the unknown. She got looks – now she saw them – heard whispers, and other words not so low. She turned her head away from them, kept going, even if her heart was tripping over itself it beat so fast. Making it to her first class, that was the first hurdle. If she made it there, then things didn't have to be so bad… She wouldn't be alone, she knew… But it was hard to focus on them when she'd become McKinley's new hot gossip. By the time she got up in the middle of biology class and moved to hand over her slip from the secretary and leave, it was like… critical mass. She left the class, head turned away even if she could hear Mike – who'd been in class with her – telling the others to shut up. She had to get out.
She met Kurt at the door – he'd just gotten out of class, too. When he saw her coming, he could feel how the day had drained her. "Hey," he put his arm around her shoulders, walking out with her. "Day's over now, so is the worst of it. Now comes the good part," he gave her a smile, hoping it would get her excited again, like she had been before.
It had been tough at first, they couldn't deny that. But the last few weeks, once they realized maybe it wasn't the end of the world, that they'd get through it, it had been better. He hated that this revelation had to happen now, but at least now that it had happened they could get through it. He wouldn't think about it today, he wouldn't. It was like he'd told her: now came the good part.
They got to the doctor's office, sitting quietly in the waiting room. "I didn't tell them, you know?" she spoke up after a moment. He looked at her, and she looked back. "About you."
"But you can though, remember?" he gave her a nod, and she smiled.
"I remember." They were called into the office, finally. Both their parents had offered to come along, so had Mr. Schuester, and most of the Glee Club. But they'd decided it would be just them that day; on that day, they were the parents. The doctor would come in shortly, and in the silence, their breathing resonated. "You're nervous, too?"
"Yeah…" he gave a shuddering chuckle. She took up his hand, gave a comforting nod. "I thought that was my job today," he bowed his head. She smiled.
"If one's not scared, the other one doesn't have to be, right?" she recalled what he'd told her the day they'd found out they were having this baby, and that she brought it up now did make him feel better.
"You're right," he agreed. "Is it okay if I still hold on?"
"Don't you dare let go," she laughed and he relaxed. They were okay; she'd earned this moment today, they both had. The doctor arrived, and it was time. Lying back, shirt up, a cold squirt… Kurt looked to Brittany, leaned in.
"You know we might not hear it, right?" he whispered to her. "It depends…"
But there it was. His head turned back to the screen, eyes widening, which only made the tears come sooner and closer to spill over as his jaw slacked. Brittany was already looking, on the verge of crying, too, but more amazed than shocked. "Kurt, do you see?"
"I do…" he promised, sniffling back.
"Remember what it's about…" she whispered to herself; she got it now. She kept staring. She wasn't scared, not anymore, not for what people had made her feel on that day. She could still be scared about things in this process, and she should… but it wasn't going to be for the ones who would belittle it.
They'd gotten the DVD, which Kurt had handed to her – they'd share it, and they started out of the office. "They told me what it was going to be like," he was still a bit in awe, "But I had no idea."
"He looked like an alien," Brittany commented, then smiled, "But a cute alien," she promised.
"'He?' Britt, you know they said they couldn't tell yet."
"I know I saw it," she shook her head. "I'm telling you," she gave him a confident nod. "It's going to be a boy," she affirmed.
"What if you're wrong and it's a girl?" he couldn't help but smirk. She thought about this for a moment.
"Then… nothing," she shrugged. "Still love her… or him. I don't like saying 'it.' We saw, we heard…"
"… him," he finished for her, and she smiled. "Guess a pronoun's as good as any for now. If we're wrong though, we might want to keep it to ourselves," he suggested. She was just shaking her head.
"We're not wrong. You'll see."
THE END
A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.
In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are
always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!