Chapter Two
Nick drummed his fingers on the armrest of the first class seat of the airplane. This four hour flight was killing him. It had been days since Zak had called him to tell him about the test. Neither one of them knew how to react. His suitcase had five more pregnancy tests in it that his wife had bought. He had extended the joke to her, saying he wanted to bring them to Zak and maybe it would get the point across for him to change his moods. But as he zipped them up in his suitcase, his hands started shaking. There were so many different things that this meant for them.
Finally in Vegas, Nick stood outside of the terminal with his luggage, waiting for Zak to pick him up. He looked out over the desert. This had been his home for so long. The reason they had moved was to give his daughter a better life, one away from Sin City. Now, it looked like he may be meant to raise a family here.
Zak pulled up in his Jeep, stopping directly in front of where Nick stood. Slowly, he got out of the car, coming to face Nick, hands in his pockets. Nick smiled at him, mimicking his stance. "Hello," Zak said formally.
Nick smiled, reaching out to touch his stomach. Zak jumped back and looked around quickly. "Dude, not here. Throw your bag in the back and let's go."
"You're not going to grab my bag?" Nick quipped.
Zak grinned at him as he climbed in the driver's seat. "Can't lift heavy objects. Learned that from my sister's pregnancy."
"It's not thatheavy," Nick mumbled, throwing it in the back of the Jeep before climbing in the passenger side.
The ride back to Zak's house was quiet. Eerily quiet. "I brought more tests," Nick said, just in an effort to break the awkward silence. Zak just nodded, still staring ahead at the road, refusing to say a word.
Back at the house, Zak rolled Nick's luggage into the bedroom. Laying down on the bed, Nick pulled Zak on top of him. "I missed you," he said.
Zak buried his face into the strong chest beneath him, wrapping his arms tight around him. "What's going on, Nick?"
Sighing, he had to answer honestly. "I don't know. Do you want to take those tests?"
Zak shook his head, standing up. He went into the bathroom and came back with a trash bag setting it down on the bed. Nick sat up, looking at him curiously. "That's 20 home pregnancy tests. They're all positive."
Opening the bag, Nick saw a bunch of pink lines in the sea of white plastic. "Damn, Zak."
"I think I'm pregnant, Nick."
Nick tied the bag shut and tossed it to the floor, pulling him back on the bed to straddle his hips. Carefully he rested his hands against the strong stomach, trying to imagine what it will look like in just a few months. "Nick…," Zak whispered. "We can't have this baby. I don't want to have this baby. I don't want to be a freak! I don't wantkids! You're the one that wants kids. Your damn super sperm all wanting to father babies. Doesn't it know the difference between a man and a woman?"
"But Zak," Nick said, his hands and eyes still focused on his stomach. "This is a miracle. It's not just my sperm. It's a part of the both of us. I mean, how the helldid this happen? Where is it growing?"
"How the hell should I know? If it's growing in my ass, I'm going to be so pissed at you."
Nick snorted. "Pissed at me? You're the one that tied me to the bed."
Zak sighed, laying down on Nick's chest, tucking his head underneath his chin. Nick wrapped his arms tight around the strong body. "Do you want this baby?"
Nick sighed. "I want to say yes. But you know it's a huge change in our lives."
"What about your wife? Annabelle? The show? The fans? This literally changes everything. There are so many questions."
"Yeah, like when did you get a sex change without telling me."
Zak pinched a nipple through his tshirt. "I did notget a sex change."
Nick laughed softly. "Well, how else do you explain this?" They laid in silence for a few minutes, deep in their own thoughts. Nick's hand soothingly rubbed along Zak's back. He pondered how many hours he had sat there like this with his wife when she was pregnant with Annabelle, just rubbing her back. His thoughts changed to how in the hell Zak is carrying this baby. Where wouldit be? A thought flashed through his mind. "Oh my God, Zak are you a hermaphrodite?"
Zak sat straight up, staring down at his lover. "The fuck? No, Nick. I would think you would have noticed that my balls dropped."
Nick smiled slightly and shrugged. "I'm just trying to figure this out."
Zak grumbled and stood up. "There's nothing to figure out, Nick, except for how to make this go away. The guys are supposed to be here in a few hours. Why don't you shower and unpack?"
Nick nodded, crestfallen. Zak left the room as he picked his suitcase up off the floor and set it on the bed. He pulled out the five pregnancy tests first. This whole situation was just blowing his mind. When Roni got pregnant they had almost the same discussion about keeping the baby. With his schedule, it would be as though she was a single parent, which spawned their move back east. Now, Nick faced an entirely different scenario and he had no idea what the hell to make of it, but for some reason he wanted this baby. It was a part of him and his love for Zak. He should at least get fifty percent of the say in this. Dumping his clothes into his drawer in the dresser, he grabbed some track pants and headed into the bathroom.
Zak stood in his living room, quietly listening to Nick move around in the bedroom. He couldn't help but feel complete now that he was here, as cliché as that sounded. It seemed like Nick wanted this baby, but Zak just didn't know how he could do that. Where the hell was it in his body? Was he going to have some giant bump in some odd place? Or did he really have… No, he didn't have ovaries. That was impossible. He'd been on a thousand doctor visits over the years, surely someone would have said something. Regardless though… He grabbed a pillow and fluffed it in his hands. Carefully, he pulled the bottom of his shirt out, trying to stuff it up underneath. He forced the tight tshirt down over the pillow, bunching it into what he figured resembled a baby bump. With his hands under the pillow, he looked down. Huffing, Zak wiggled his toes, but he still couldn't see them. One thing he did not want to be was fat. That would destroy his career. A lot of what he had become was built around his muscle and he couldn't risk losing that. Ripping the pillow out from under his shirt he threw it back on the couch as he heard the shower start in the master bathroom. He placed his hands on his stomach, as Nick had. He did carry a piece of Nick with him now. This was theirs. In a world that didn't accept them, a world that could never really be shared, this baby was theirs. There was something to that…
Nick stood under the stream of hot water, the thought of Zak being pregnant still rolling through his brain. How do you explain to your wife that your boyfriend that you've been seeing on the side is pregnant? He didn't think he could Google an answer for that one. It sounded like a perfect setup for the Jerry Springer show. Annabelle would be thrilled to have a little brother or sister, he was sure. And she wasn't old enough to ask questions about how Uncle Zak is carrying a baby- he hoped. His wife though would certainly want answers. Maybe a divorce. Fuck.Nick punched the wall hard. If they kept this baby everything he had built for himself would crash down around him. What would he do anyways? Split time between two families? He already felt guilty enough leaving Roni and Annabelle. Now he'd be leaving one family to go to another either way he went. Turning off the water and stepping out onto the mat, he wondered if there was some kind of cheating support group he could join.
When Nick walked out of the bedroom, shirtless and in track pants, he found Zak sitting on the couch with his laptop. He plopped down next to him, resting his head on his shoulder, glancing at the computer screen. "The Baby Center?" Nick asked.
"Yeah…," Zak said quietly. "They tell you what's going on inside your body and when. They'll send you weekly emails during your pregnancy."
"So… you're keeping it?" he asked, raising his head off his shoulder.
Zak shrugged. "I don't know yet. This website says you can get an abortion up to three months in and you don't really start to show until your fourth month I guess. I figured I… we… had some time to figure it out."
Nick smiled, gently taking Zak's chin in his hand and pulling it towards him, kissing him softly. "We'll figure it out."
Zak sighed, looking back at the computer screen and the "One Month In" webpage. "Yeah, I hope so."
"You know those prenatal vitamins that Billy got you? You should take those."
Zak nodded.
"And you shouldn't drink any more alcohol."
Zak nodded again, scrolling down on the website.
"And you shouldn't-"
"Nick. I got it."
Nick nodded, but watched Zak as he intently read the information on the website. When he was determined to do something, nothing was going to stop him. Now, Nick really did have to figure out what the hell he was going to do about his family and their friends. He tried to think back on Roni when she was two months pregnant. She was moody as hell with all of those hormones raging. Nick raised an eyebrow, side eyeing Zak. The man was already moody. He couldn't possibly get more moody…at least, he hoped he couldn't. Though he did throw Aaron and Billy out of his house that night, that was a change. Nick sighed. This pregnancy was going to be hell.