A/N: Thanks for the reviews/follows/favorites, everyone!
I apologize for the delay. I just started my summer job, so that's taking up a lot of my time. I'll still try to update twice a week, but if it's only once a week for a while, that's why.
Three Weeks Later
Maya sat in the waiting room at the OB-GYN's office, anxiously waiting for Zay to get there. If she'd known he was going to be a no-show, she would've taken her mom up on her offer to take the day off and go with her. She hadn't let on to anyone that she was nervous about seeing the baby for the first time, but she couldn't help but be. She didn't have the first idea of what to expect.
Her phone vibrated, and she let out a sigh of relief when she saw that it was a text message from Zay. But then she read it.
You'll thank me later.
"What?" She started to text him back to ask him what he was talking about and where he was, but it didn't take her long to figure out what was going on.
"Maya?"
She looked up to find Josh standing in front of her, giving her a small smile. "Hope you don't mind. Zay asked me to come up here so you wouldn't be alone," he said, sitting down in the chair beside her. "I'm sure he's told you about his accident with the dishwasher."
"Right," Maya replied, still surprised. "But you didn't have to come. I mean, I'm sure I could get Riley up here in a heartbeat."
"Yeah, I told Zay that. He said Riley's supposed to be helping with some decorations for your mom's wedding, and he told me very clearly not to bother her. And I guess he thought it would be too weird if he asked Lucas. Are they even talking to each other?"
"Not really," she admitted. "But I have a feeling they'll be good again soon."
Just as soon as she could bring herself to tell Josh the truth. It wasn't like she hadn't been trying for the past few weeks. She'd been dropping hints all over the place, not that he was catching on to any of them. It was clear that he still wasn't interested in the idea of having kids in the near future, so she'd given up on that and had just been trying to force the necessary words out. But then someone would interrupt their conversation, or Josh would say something to make her decide to wait just a little bit longer. So as annoyed as she was, she understood why Zay did this. There wasn't going to be a better time for her to break the news.
"Maya Hart."
After hearing her name, she looked at Josh.
"I can just stay out here if you want," he offered.
She shook her head. "I want you to come with me."
Maya had been warned. Both her mom and Riley's mom had told her—it's one thing to know you're pregnant, but it's completely different once you see that baby inside of you.
They were right.
She wasn't the least bit prepared for the emotions that swept through her when that image appeared on the screen. It was tiny and just now beginning to really resemble a baby, but the love that she felt when she looked at it was unlike any love that she had ever experienced before.
"That's really my baby?" Maya asked, in awe.
"It is," the obstetrician confirmed. "It's pretty amazing, isn't it?"
"Really amazing," Josh agreed.
Maya tore her eyes away from the screen long enough to glance back at him. His gaze was still focused on the image. She wondered if there was some part of him that knew, way deep down, that he was looking at his son or daughter.
Probably not. That would make it way too easy.
"Well, I'm happy to report that everything looks completely normal with your little one," the obstetrician said. "Do you have any questions for me?"
Maya nodded. "When do we find out if it's a boy or a girl?"
"I would say we have a good chance of knowing that in five to nine weeks, assuming the baby wants to cooperate."
"I think it's a boy," Josh commented.
The obstetrician chuckled. "Fathers usually do."
"Oh, no, I'm just a friend," he said, correcting her assumption with an easy smile.
Maya decided that it wasn't the right time to inform him that he was actually the one in the wrong, so she waited until a few minutes later when they had made their way out of the building.
She then stopped walking and took a shaky breath. "Josh, I need to talk to you about something."
He looked back at her. "Yeah, what is it?"
"You're gonna need to sit down first," she said, motioning to a nearby bench. He looked a little confused, but he complied with her wishes.
"Okay. What's up?"
As Maya looked at him, her mind went blank. She had rehearsed this plenty of times in her head, and even acted it out a few times with Zay. But at the moment, she didn't think she was capable of doing more than blurting out, "You're my baby's father." And that was probably not the best way to start this.
"Maya?" Josh said, frowning.
At that moment, his phone started to ring.
"Take it," she said, quickly.
"It can wait."
"So can this. Take your call."
Josh sighed and answered the phone. "Hey, Liam. Look, I'm kind of busy right now."
Silence.
"Yeah. I'll be ready to leave by six. But please remember to tell your relatives that I've got to be back by Saturday. You know I've got a wedding to go to."
More silence.
"Okay. Sounds good. See you tomorrow."
Maya watched him as he hung up the phone. "You're going somewhere?" she asked.
"New Orleans," Josh replied. "A friend of mine has family that he's been wanting to go see. They didn't want him making the drive by himself, so I told him I'd go. Plus, it gives me an excuse to hang out down there for a few days."
"Sounds like fun," she said, looking down.
"Hopefully. But back to you now. You wanted to tell me something?"
She shook her head. "It can wait."
"Maya…"
"I said it can wait, Josh," she said, cutting off his attempt to protest. "You'll be back for my mom's wedding, so we'll just talk after it's over. Go have fun while you still can."
She then stood up and began to walk away, leaving a very confused Josh behind.
Maya later met up with Zay in a back booth of a nearby sandwich shop, even though she knew exactly what his reaction was going to be when she told him about what happened. And it was pretty much what she expected.
"What do I need to do?" he wondered. "Get a teleprompter and pre-write a speech for you? Because I'm starting to get the feeling that it's my only hope of getting you to tell him. I mean, this was the perfect opportunity."
"Look, it's just a few extra days. I'm going to pull him aside and tell him after the wedding. You can even stand there and watch if you want."
"As much as I would love to be a fly on the wall for that conversation, I think I'm the last person Shawn wants at his wedding."
Maya sighed. "I'll tell him, Zay. I promise."
"We'll see," Zay replied, without much optimism. "So where are the pictures? I want to see the baby."
She pulled the sonogram picture out of her purse and handed it over to him.
Zay shook his head as he looked at it. "Wow. It must be so weird, knowing you got this whole other person inside you."
"Weirder than you could possibly imagine," Maya admitted. "But at least the morning sickness isn't so bad anymore. Now I just have to deal with the cravings and the fact that I'm gonna be as big as a house. Oh, and let's not forget childbirth. So much to look forward to."
"You know what you're gonna name it yet?"
She shrugged. "I'll worry about that once I find out what it is."
When Maya noticed an upset-looking Riley walking towards them, she gave Zay a kick under the table—warning him not to say anything else. He turned around for a second and then looked back at Maya.
"I was wondering why she wanted to know where I was," he remarked.
"Honey, what's wrong?" Maya asked as Riley approached them and slid into the booth next to her.
"I could've gone to your ultrasound with you," she said, clearly disappointed. "Zay, why would you tell Josh I'm busy when I wasn't? I'm Maya's best friend! If you couldn't be there, and her mom was working, shouldn't I be next in line? Or Lucas? Why would you pick my uncle of all people?"
"I just thought you might be busy doing something for the wedding," Zay said, casually. "And I couldn't ask Lucas. He's barely speaking to me."
Riley crossed her arms. "Your wrist looks fine to me. I thought you sprained it when you were unloading the dishwasher."
Maya sent Zay a disbelieving look. She'd been sure that he had come up with some lame story, but she thought it at least would've been more convincing than that.
Zay looked at his wrist. "Yeah, well, it ended up not being as bad as I thought."
"Something is going on here," Riley said, looking from him to Maya. "What are you guys not telling me?"
Maya reached across the table for her sonogram photo and handed it to Riley.
"This is my baby," she said, watching as Riley looked at the picture for a few seconds.
"Maya, this is so crazy," she finally breathed.
Maya glanced at Zay, who gave her an encouraging nod. Then she took a deep breath and turned her gaze back onto her best friend.
"Riley…that's your cousin."
A few minutes later, they were all out in the empty portion of the parking lot, where Riley was still having trouble comprehending what Maya had just told her.
"So you're having my uncle's baby?" Riley asked, slowly. Her voice reflected how shocked she still was. She couldn't even begin to wrap her head around the idea.
Maya sighed. "Riles, that's the seventh time you've asked me that. The answer's not going to change."
"But…But how?" the brunette demanded.
"Josh was upset and drunk. I was upset and stupid. It didn't seem like a terrible idea at the time…" Maya said, fumbling for an explanation. "But then he didn't remember what happened, and I didn't want to freak him out by telling him. But then I found out I was pregnant…"
Zay nodded. "And I was with her when she found out, so that's how I got sucked into all this."
"I didn't know how to tell Josh," Maya went on. "I was still trying to figure it out when everybody found out about the baby. Then Lucas thought it was Zay's, and then everybody else thought it was Zay's. So I talked him into going along with it until I could sort out this whole mess. Which, obviously, I haven't done yet."
Riley just stared at them with her wide, stunned brown eyes.
"So you two…nothing ever happened?" There was a hint of relief in her voice.
Maya shook her head. "It was just meant to buy me a little more time, and yes, I'm starting to see that it probably wasn't my brightest idea. But it won't last much longer, because I'm gonna tell Josh the truth. As soon as he gets back from his trip."
"Maya, you need to tell him right now," Riley urged. "I can promise you that he won't be going on any trip once he finds out about this."
"Exactly. So I'm letting him have a few more carefree days before I blow up his life."
"See, this kind of thing right here," Zay said, motioning to Maya. "This is what I've been dealing with for the past month and a half. You know there was one point where she didn't want to tell Josh at all?"
"That was only because I didn't want to stick him with a baby he didn't want!" Maya insisted.
Riley sighed and put both of her hands on the blonde's shoulders. "Peaches. I need you to listen to me. No, Josh probably won't take this very well. But he will get used to the idea after a while. And once he does, trust me, he'll want to step up and be a good dad to this baby. So I know it's gonna be hard, but you have to tell him. Soon."
Maya nodded. "And I will. You have my word."
Riley could see the sincerity in Maya's eyes, so she decided not to push the issue further for the time being. She removed her hands from Maya's shoulders.
"Okay. But I have to ask. What is all this going to mean for you and Lucas?" she wondered.
"Well, when he finds out that nothing actually happened between me and Zay, I'm guessing he'll be pretty relieved. And they can go back to being best friends," Maya replied.
"A day that I am beyond ready for," Zay added.
Riley looked at them both and realized that they didn't see the potential issues that this sudden change in the baby's paternity could cause. But then again, she had no way of knowing what would happen either.
"I really hope it's that simple," she finally said.
Lucas came over to Maya's place that night, and the two of them were in her room watching a movie. At this point, Katy and even Shawn had stopped bothering to give them grief about it. After all, what was the worst that could possibly happen? Maya was already pregnant. Plus, Lucas had definitely earned their approval with the way he had handled everything thus far.
"That looks like entirely too much work," Maya noted as she nodded towards the TV. It was on a wedding scene in a huge cathedral that was filled to capacity.
Lucas smiled. "Aren't you glad your mom didn't want a wedding like that?"
"My mom couldn't afford a wedding like that. But yes. The fewer people that get to watch me do this maid of honor thing, the better."
"Hey, as long as I get to be one of those people. I'm sure you'll do great."
"You have to say that," Maya pointed out.
"I mean it," Lucas assured her, before pausing for a moment. "So, since I've been waiting for the past two hours for you to tell me, I'm just going to ask. How did the ultrasound go?"
She gave him a slightly surprised look. "I didn't think you'd really want to talk about that."
He sighed. "Maya, I might not be thrilled with the whole thing, but I do understand that you and this baby are a package deal. If I'm going to be with you, the baby's going to be a part of my life too. And it's kind of hard for me to get used to all the baby stuff when you're trying to keep me separate from it."
"I don't want it to scare you away," Maya said, quietly.
"I'm not easily scared, you know," Lucas reminded her. "I think me being here right now is proof of that."
She couldn't really argue with that point, so she got up and went to retrieve the sonogram from her desk. Then she came back and handed it to Lucas as she sat back down.
"Doc says everything's normal."
Lucas couldn't help but get a little wide-eyed from looking at the image. It was one thing to know the baby existed, but to actually see it?
Maya plucked the picture from his hand. "You see. That's the freaked out look I was trying to avoid."
"What? I'm not freaked out."
She crossed her arms, knowingly.
"Okay, maybe a little bit," he admitted. "But I'll be less freaked out the next time. And eventually, I won't be freaked out at all. See how this works now?"
Maya relinquished a small smile. "Yeah. I guess I see your point."
Lucas' cell phone buzzed, and she sighed, for she could guess what it was.
"Parents want you home?"
"Afraid so." He stood up and then leaned down to give her a quick kiss on the lips. "I love you."
"I love you too," she replied, and then she watched him leave the room. Less than a minute later, her mom walked in.
"Is it that obvious that I was waiting for him to leave?" Katy asked with a smile as she sat down next to Maya and picked up the sonogram that was lying on the bed. "As much as I've stared at this thing, I still can't believe it's my grandbaby."
Maya was glad to note that her mom had started to embrace her grandmother-to-be status as of late.
"Yep. So how's the wedding stuff coming along?"
"Oh, I think we're just about ready. I still have to pack for the honeymoon, but there's plenty of time for that. Now you are sure you'll be okay staying at Riley's for two weeks? You know I don't feel good about leaving you for that long."
"Mom, I'm pregnant, not sick. I'll be fine," Maya assured her. "Besides, I'm only a phone call away. You guys just go enjoy yourselves. You've waited a long time for this."
Katy smiled. "I can't wait to walk down that aisle. It's going to be amazing—just one of those days that you never forget."
Maya nodded, but all she could think about was what she had promised to do after the wedding was over.
Oh, yeah. It will definitely be an unforgettable day.
A/N: I promise the wait is about to be over. Next chapter IS the one where Josh finds out. And, yes, there will be fireworks.
