Disclaimer: Delbert and Amelia and future offspring belong to Disney

Chapter Two: The "Bump" in Life's Twisted Road.

The windows to the bedroom were open and the cross draft of the spring air on her face felt amazingly cool against her flush face. The light blue sky had spermatic puffy white clouds floating like they didn't have a care in the world or have anywhere important to be. The outside air was so clean and the white cotton sheets were so cool and fresh it was lulling her to sleep. The noon sun sent the light in the room at just the right angle that even the dark colors seemed to light up. The dark oak wood seemed to glow and the deep red paint of the walls appeared to catch on fire. She closed her eyes and pretended she was in the middle of a grass field lying on a blanket with the one person she loved the most. It helped to calm her churning stomach. The sunshine, the coolness of the sheets and the wind, and cleanness of the air helped the blood rush back out of her face.

Throwing up had become a regular thing the last couple of weeks. This wasn't the first time this has happened to her though. Three times, in fact, she's had this issue. Usually there is a tremendous amount of stress involved. The first time she captained her ship, the first time she had been put in charge of a war fleet, right before her wedding. The wedding had been two months ago so she reasoned that this wasn't connected. It was strange that it had lasted so long, other times the throwing up had only lasted about three or four days. This time it happened too many times to count. Plus, there wasn't anything to be stressing over so it had to be for another reason. And she knew it was another reason because she was almost certain she knew what it was.

She wasn't sure after throwing up every morning for a week strait, or when she started having weird food cravings, or when she missed her period three weeks ago, or when she couldn't concentrate, or even after the first two pregnancy tests. After the third one though, she found it hard to deny all of the evidence. Still, she wanted more stable, medical proof. She hated doctors, but they were far more reliable than a piece of plastic. The vomiting had lasted longer today than usual so both her and her husband were still in their pajamas. She was in a pair of blue soccer shorts that she used as pajama bottoms because she liked the silky feel and had put on a black hoodie because it gave her a sense of security. Her husband, in black sweats, a white shirt and his maroon robe, had went down stairs to get the mail. She hadn't told him that she had gotten blood work done or event that there was a ninety-eight percent chance that he was going to become the father of her child. She looked over to the door when her name calling out to her had cut through her thoughts.

"Amelia, are you feeling any better?"

"Yes, love. I think my stomach has settled for now. Did we have any mail?"

"Yes, bills, mostly I think. Plus, a letter for you from your parents and a letter for me from the Astrophysics department and the University."

"What are the bills, first, before my parent's letter?"

"Um; water; electric; no phone, I paid that a week ago; and one medical bill. That last one has your name on it. Strange, you never went to the doctor's office, did you?"

Her heart started racing. The blood work. She didn't know what was more terrifying, seeing solid results or having to tell Delbert. "Yes, actually, I did, about a week ago. I went to a clinic to have blood work done. That's not a bill, it's the results."

"You went on your own free will?" he stated only half joking.

Amelia shot him a dirty look. "Yes, I did, because even I can't pass off throwing up for three weeks as just a virus that will pass."

"Well then, you should probably open it up and find out what the problem is." He handed her the letter.

Normally his care free manner about the situation would concern her because he's normally very serious when something might be wrong with her, but she pushed it aside because she was more focused on the letter and what it would most likely tell her. She opened it slowly and took out the paper. She silently read through the results and then had to reread them three more times for it to finally sink in. Amelia didn't know if it was his voice of the paper being pulled out of her hands that brought her out of her shocked state, but it did it just in time because she was suddenly queasy again. "Bloody hell, I'm going to be sick." Delbert watched her run to the bathroom before looking at the results of her blood test and read it word for word while pocketing something hidden in his nightstand.

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She had puked about three times before she felt Delbert enter the bathroom behind her. She didn't know what sort of reaction to expect from him but perfectly calm wasn't it. Yet, here he was, reacting just like that, calm. He had pulled up in a stool from the bedroom and sat down behind her, pulling her into his lap and then pulling her hair back with his hands. Again, he was acting strange and she would question him about it as soon as her stomach settled again. After about ten minutes she stopped throwing up and rinsed and brushed her teeth.

She leaned against the sink, shaking, and on the verge of crying. Then Delbert's left arm went around her waist and his right hand began to stroke her hair while resting his head on her shoulder. She stifled a sob before calming herself. "I guess we have something we need to talk about."

"Yep," he stated softly.

Panic, disarray, shock, stuttering in an attempt to speak, all things Amelia had expected him from him when he found out. She remembered a conversation once that involved the two of them and her father when he had visited while her mother was away taking care of her sick sister. The question had caught them off guard because they hadn't even thought about the subject.

"So, any possibility I might become a grandfather?"

Amelia and Delbert gave each other looks of 'where did that come from?' and then shifted their glances back at William.

"Dad, we're not even married yet."

"You will be in a month."

"But we're not now."

"Close enough."

"You're not going to drop this subject until you have an answer, are you?" she sighed.

"Well, if you don't want to talk about, we won't"

Too late, Amelia thought. You already brought the elephant into the room. It was probably your plan to begin with. She glared at him and he gave her an innocent 'what' look right back.

Delbert, sensing the tension that was suddenly building in the atmosphere, spoke up. "To be honest we haven't actually talked about it yet."

"Oh, so you don't know yet. I hoped it would be a possibility?" he said with a hint of hope in his voice. "Out of all of my children and their spouses, I think you two are the only children who should have kids."

"Dad!"

"What? Your brothers are far too immature. I would be afraid for any child that came with twenty feet of them and I don't even want to think of what would happen if any of them were responsible for one. And Cecily, I love her but, she can be rather…violent when things don't go her way. Plus, kids just seem to have a knack for knowing how to rub her wrong."

"Well, they're a classic example of a spoiled rich kid."

"Exactly, and you're not." He turned to Delbert. "And you, my boy, are smart level headed and never flaunt your wealth. You, both of you do your jobs for the love of space, not to show off or for the money. If you can love your jobs and each other as much as you do, you can love a child easily, and that's really all they need."

The conversation had ended at that until later when it was just the two of them. They had come to the conclusion that they weren't ready for kids, nor did either of them see themselves becoming parents. This is why she found the way Delbert was acting was far from normal. He was as calm as a breezeless ocean.

"I hadn't expected you to be so calm about this."

"What were you expecting?"

"More panic or less calmness anyway."

"And you've had time to worry and plan out my reaction with having life changing news thrown in your face, rushing to the bathroom to lose the rest of your breakfast, while trying your hardest not to have an emotional breakdown all in ten minutes? Impressive."

Uh oh. She hadn't realized her slip up until he worded it like that. Now she was going to have to explain to him that she's known for the better part of two weeks and didn't tell him until now. Actually, she hadn't told him, he read it for himself while she was bent over the toilet. She gave a defeated sigh and looked at him for the first time sense finding out the results. She was about to speak when he spoke up first.

"If you were expecting me to have some sort of surprise reaction then you should have done a better job of keeping it a secret."

She gave him a puzzled look.

"Aren't you always telling new cadets that the most important part of any secret mission to cover all of your tracks so the enemy doesn't catch you?" he stated while pulling something out from his robe pocket. It was the box to the third pregnancy test she took. He then flipped open the lid and carefully dumped the used test onto the counter so that the blue part could be seen. "You didn't do a good job of covering your tracks. Oh, and the box says that blue is positive. The other two were also blue."

Amelia was now the one that was shocked. She had meant to discard of them better but her mind wasn't functionally properly at the time. He had known the whole time, that's why he was calm.

"Why didn't you say something to me when you took this? Telling me about it would have saved you the trouble of hiding it."

She took a jagged breath still struggling with the tears that threaten to spill.

"I-I don't know."

"You don't know?" he looked at her and his eyes shown that he didn't believe her answer.

"I didn't want to say anything until I received the blood test results so I knew for sure."

"Why not say that you think you might be pregnant. You didn't have to go through that agonizing waiting process feeling alone, that's why I'm here."

Now she was crying. She could tell by the tone of his voice that she hadn't just made it worse for her but she had hurt him in the process by holding back on information that he had a right to here from her from the get go.

"I should have said something. I didn't because if I did then I wouldn't be able to deny it anymore." Her words came between sobs and labored breaths.

"Deny it for what reason? Are you upset that it happened. Does the idea of having kids upset you so much that you want to deny it?" In their time together Amelia had learned to read between the lines and she knew what he was thinking. What he was thinking was 'Is it such a terrible idea of having kids with me?'

"I can't believe you would even think that, and know what you're really thinking."

"Well, what other reason is there for you to deny it them?" he practically yelled.

"Because I'm terrified!"

Dumbfounded doesn't even begin to cover the look that went across his face. Everything he had though she considered the situation just had a major hammer smashed through it. He looked at her to continue because he didn't know what to make of it anymore.

"I have been through raids, invasions, and battles from both pirate vessels to full on war fleets. I have been damn near close to death and almost dead on many occasions and I have never been more terrified in my entire life than I am right now." She moved away from his arms and went back into the bedroom. She sat down on the bed and put her head in her hands and her elbows on her knees. She stayed silent until she felt his presence next to her on the bed. His arms went around her waist and pulled her close.

"I'm an idiot and completely insensitive. Sorry doesn't even begin to cover it." Things became quiet again giving time for reasonable thoughts to be collected.

"I haven't the slightest idea what I'm so scared of. Well, there is a lot about this that I'm afraid but nothing that justifies my actions for not telling you when the thought first crossed my mind. When I first started seeing the signs it was all I could think about. And then it became completely obvious I simply couldn't think."

He pulled away from her before scooting back to lie in the middle of the bed inclined on two pillows. He sat up and motioned for her to sit on his lap and she gladly accepted wanting nothing more than to be close to him at the moment. Once she was in his lap they laid back together.

"Maybe it was a combination of all of the things that were scaring you on top of the unbalanced hormones. Tell me what exactly it is that you're afraid and maybe I can help ease the fear."

"First, I still want to know why you're so calm. I may have not been a complete surprise but that just means that your fears have had almost two weeks to grow."

"I think it's because I spent most of the time wondering why you were trying to hide it from me and the rest of the time trying to figure out if something was wrong. When I concluded that something wasn't wrong I…jumped to conclusions, which you've already discovered."

She accepted his answer with a small nod and entwining her fingers with his so that both of their hands were resting on her stomach.

"Do you want the small fears first or the big ones?"

"Let's work our way up."

"Okay. Giving birth doesn't sound like fun."

"I don't think it's supposed to be."

"It should be," she grumbled, "getting the baby in was fun, why does getting it out have to be so painful?"

"That sort of sounded like a joke. Talking about this is obviously doing some good. Besides, you've been shot, stabbed, practically sliced open, and even tortured once; how bad could giving child birth be comparatively."

"Bad, now that you've jinxed it."

"Sorry, what else is worrying you?"

"Both of our jobs require us to be in a number of different places, for varying amounts of time, on a schedule that constantly changes on a moment's notice. How in the bloody hell are we going to be able to work that around a baby?"

"Doesn't the Navy give something like a year off for maternity leave? Plus, I can always decline any future long distance trips that I'm asked to take and work from here later on. We have plenty of time to work this out."

She turned her head slightly so that she was nuzzling his neck and then ran her hand through his hair.

"Thanks."

"For what?

"For helping to ease some of my fears."

"Rationality would have won you over eventually; you're a quite level-headed."

"Eventually; but now is better."

They became quiet after that and just laid there enjoying each other's warmth. Finally Delbert spoke up.

"There's still something scaring you, care to share?"

"I don't know anything about children; I'm better at dealing with rough, bad mouthing sailors. I have never had any sort of interaction with kids. That and I'm not ready for something like this. I don't know if I can do this."

"Maybe not, but we can. We have to deal with it now. Part of its obvious, cloths, food, material items. Beyond that there is really only loving it. That sounds scary to me. I think once it's here though neither you nor I will be able to let go."

"What else sounds freighting to you?"

"Changing diapers, lack of sleep." It earned him a chuckle and even a smile from Amelia.

"You do love to sleep, waking you up is difficult."

"I think we'll be fine."

"Well, I still can't see myself with a kid."

"I can, now anyways."

"Yeah," she stated lazily, "what do you see?"

"I see us lying here in the bed exactly like we are now only your holding the baby in the crook of your left arm."

"A boy or a girl?" she mumbled sounding like she was going to fall asleep.

"A girl, but I would be just as happy if we had a boy. You had just been released from the hospital. The baby is sleeping and you can't take your eyes off of her."

She closed her eyes and could see the image he painted perfectly and for the first time she was truly calm about becoming a mother.

"Speaking of sleep, I would like to get some right now, if you feel better about this, that is."

"I feel better, and yes sleep sounds wonderful, as long as I don't have to move."

"I wouldn't want you to."

After a few minutes, Delbert chucked to himself but it didn't do unnoticed by his sleeping companion."

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing."

"What?"

"What if you're pregnant with twins?"

"That isn't funny!"

Hope you liked this chapter. I like feedback so RXR PLEASE. She's in for a surprise when she finds out it's actually quadruplets. This was a long chapter for me.