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Hey Baby

Kelly had been back to work for a few weeks now, his neck completely healed. He was ecstatic to be back and Lacey was happy for him. There were still hard days, with Kelly still fighting his addiction, but slowly things were starting to get back to normal. That afternoon, Shay and Kelly had been on shift since the morning. Clarice was working from home now, the baby due any day. Lacey had been at work, but came home now after she wasn't feeling well during the day.

"Hey," Clarice greeted her when she came in. Lacey smiled politely, feeling a bit awkward. She liked Clarice all right, but she never spent any time with her without Shay or Kelly around. "You're home early."

"Nurse sent me home," Lacey laughed a little, going over to grab a glass of water. "I thought I was past that point in my life." Clarice laughed too. As she was laughing, she started wincing a little though, holding her stomach. "Is...everything ok?"

"I think it's something I ate," Clarice brushed it off, going back to her work. "I've been getting these cramps." Lacey just looked at her, remembering similar situations with Heather.

"Uh, Clarice?" Lacey said, getting her to look up from the table where she was busily writing out something. "When's your due date again?" Clarice's jaw dropped.

"Oh my God," she gasped.

Lacey drove Clarice to the hospital, getting her settled in before calling Shay at the firehouse. She was out on a call, but they said that they would tell her as soon as she got back. In the meantime, Lacey was sitting in the hospital room with Clarice, unsure of what to do. Sure, she had been at the hospital with Heather before, waiting on Andy to get there from his shift when Sean was born. But, that was different, she was close with Heather. Her and Clarice lived together, but they couldn't be more different, on different planets in terms of closeness.

"Shay's on a call," Lacey told her as she sat back down in the seat next to Clarice's bed. "They're going to tell her as soon as she gets back." Clarice nodded, breathing hard through another contraction.

"Could you," Clarice said, taking a deep breath. "Call..." The contraction was finally over, and she let her breath out slowly. "Daniel, please?" Lacey felt even more uncomfortable.

"Um," Lacey said with uncertainty. She was going to do what she had to for Clarice to be comfortable, she would do that out of her adoration for Shay. But, calling her ex husband to tell him she was currently in labor?

"I'm sorry," Clarice apologized. "That wasn't fair for me to ask you."

"You could have the doctor call," Lacey suggested. "Once the baby's born."

"Mhmm," Clarice nodded, wincing as another contraction came; Lacey bit her lip as she watched her agonize in labor pains, uncomfortable in more than one way. As of now, Lacey was three days late and had just spent the afternoon getting sick in the faculty bathroom.

"Hey!" Shay said as she came into the room, rushing over to hug and kiss Clarice, taking her hand right away. "How are you?"

"I'm ok," Clarice told her, breathing through the next contraction.

"Thanks so much Lacey," Shay told her, letting Clarice squeeze her hand. She looked the young brunette over, seeing the expression on her face; she looked like she was about to throw up. "Are you ok? You look like hell."

"I got sent home early from school," Lacey explained.

"Go home," Shay insisted. "I'll call you with anything here."

"Ok," Lacey said, somewhat grateful she didn't have to stay. The maternity ward wasn't exactly the place she wanted to be during her pregnancy scare.

Unfortunately as she left the hospital, that was all she saw. She saw pregnant women coming in and out of the hospital, either going into labor or just getting check ups by their doctor. As she left the maternity wing of the hospital, she could hear a woman screaming as she was having her baby. It made Lacey's stomach drop. She was only twenty five, she hadn't given much thought to having kids right now. That left out what Kelly might think about having a baby.

Going into the pharmacy on her way home, anything and everything to do with pregnancy was all she could see. There was what she felt to be an obnoxiously huge display advertising prenatal vitamins. There was a woman at the pharmacy counter asking what kind of cold medicine she could take while she was pregnant. She stood in the family planning aisle, the pregnancy tests practically staring at her. She almost thought it was cruel that the tampons were on the next shelf. Way to kick someone in a scare while they're down.

"Lacey?" she heard a voice saying behind her. She looked over and saw Hermann walking towards her, prescription bag in hand.

"Hi!" Lacey said, a bit quickly and over eagerly due to her nervousness. How could the first person to know about her scare be one of Kelly's co-workers and several of her students' father? "What, ah, what are you doing here? I thought you were on shift." Hermann eyed her suspiciously, her odd behavior noticeable to anyone within two aisles of them.

"I traded shifts," Hermann answered. "Cindy had a doctor's appointment today, so I went with her." He held up the bag. "Had to get her prescription now."

"Aw, that's nice," Lacey said. "She's not sick, is she?"

"She's pregnant again," Hermann answered, not sure if she heard the news yet.

"Of course she is," Lacey mumbled under her breath. How was everyone pregnant right now? And, if the women weren't pregnant, they were up to their elbows in small, screaming children.

"What?" Hermann asked curiously, not hearing her.

"Isn't that five now?" Lacey brushed it off and Hermann nodded. "Wow." She shifted nervously. "What's that like?" Right now in line at the pharmacy counter was some poor woman with twins in their toddler years. Lacey felt like she was going to throw up all over again.

"Ah, hectic," Hermann laughed. "So, what are you doing here?" Lacey forgot they were standing in the middle of family planning.

"Oh, ah," Lacey said, feeling herself turning red. She snatched the nearest box of tampons. "Ya know, girl stuff."

"Ah," Hermann nodded awkwardly.

"So, I should go," Lacey said, back to her quick, nervous talking. "But I'll see you later!"

Within the next week, Lacey only became later and later, unable to take a pregnancy test still. There was never a good time. Heather had been calling her a lot recently for help since Jack had started hockey practice again. If she wasn't with them, she was with Kelly, who she hadn't told yet. Not telling Kelly only added to her nerves. What was he going to do when he found out? On top of that, all hell had broken out in their apartment over the last few days.

Clarice was gone, off to New York with the baby after Daniel threatened to fight her for custody. Shay was a mess and understandably so. This was the second time that Clarice had broken her heart. After becoming so close with Shay, Lacey really hated Clarice right now; Kelly wasn't too happy with Clarice either. The next day, while Kelly went out to spend time with his dad, Shay was busy getting rid of the rest of Clarice's things from the apartment. She disappeared late in the afternoon, giving Lacey just enough time to run down the block to the nearest pharmacy, buying a pregnancy test without anymore awkward run ins.

Now that she bought it, she just stood in the bathroom and stared at the packaging. It just seemed to stare back at her. At this point, Lacey knew what the odds were. If being over a week late wasn't enough, the daily fits of morning sickness were. Finally taking the test, she sat on the bed and waited, leaving the test on the counter in the bathroom. It was the longest two minutes of her life. She sat on the edge of the bed, bouncing; she got up and paced. She stared at herself in the mirror above the dresser. Two minutes clicked past on the alarm clock on the nightstand, sending her back into the bathroom to look at the results.

Positive.

"Anyone home?!" Shay called from downstairs, making Lacey jump, her thoughts of motherhood and how to tell the father disrupted. She wiped her eyes, checking to make sure they weren't too red before going downstairs. She stopped at the door, going back to carefully hide the pregnancy test in the trash, hiding the box in the bottom of her purse.

"Hey," Shay greeted Lacey as she came downstairs. "Kelly still out?"

"With his dad," Lacey nodded, distracted. His dad. Now, Kelly was going to be a dad, Benny was going to be a grandfather. The nausea hit again.

"Well, that's just as well," Shay said, unpacking the grocery bags she had on the counter. She had various junk food, a large frozen pizza, and all the ingredients needed for margaritas.

"You're a better drinking partner," Shay smiled at her, going to get out the blender.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Lacey asked. She wasn't sure it was such a good way for Shay to deal with her break up with Clarice. And, in addition to that, Lacey couldn't drink.

"This is nothing," Shay laughed, brushing it off. The last few days, she was either extremely upset, or trying to act like she wasn't upset by plastering a smile on her face. "The last time me and Clarice broke up, I dragged Kelly with me to go get a tattoo."

"Did you-"

"No," Shay laughed, pouring margarita mix over the ice in the blender.

"Then maybe you shouldn't do this," Lacey reasoned as Shay grabbed the tequila now.

There was no way Lacey was up for explaining to Shay why she wasn't drinking. She was nervous enough about being pregnant, not even sure how she was going to tell Kelly, who should know first. Plus, it just seemed mean of the universe to do this to Shay. She was so excited for Clarice's baby, ready to be a step mom. And now, Clarice was gone and her roommate was about to become a parent? It was unfair.

"Like you've never drank after a break up," Shay scoffed, pouring the tequila into the blender now.

"I'm just saying..." She trailed off as Shay started the blender.

"It'll be fun," Shay told her once the blender was off, going over to the cupboard to grab the plastic margarita glasses they had left from some random "fiesta" they had thrown at the apartment once.

"Why are you being so weird?" Shay asked, pouring two drinks for them.

"I'm just not in the mood to drink," Lacey shrugged.

"You're my margarita buddy," Shay insisted, pouting for effect. "Please?"

"I..." Lacey didn't know what to do. "Can't."

"Why can't you..." Shay trailed off when she realized. "Oh. My-"

"Don't freak out," Lacey pleaded. The last thing she needed was for someone else to be flipping out about this.

"God!" Shay finished with a squeal, a smile on her face. "How did Kelly not tell me yet?" Lacey bit her lip. "Oh no..."

"I didn't want to tell you first," Lacey pointed out. Shay opened her mouth to say something, but the door to the apartment opened now, Kelly and Benny coming inside.

"Hey girls," Kelly said as they came over to the counter with them. "Did we interrupt a margarita night?" he laughed.

"Oh, these are both mine," Shay told him, picking up both glasses and Kelly raised his eye brows at her. "Do you want to start with me right now?"

"Nope," Kelly shook his head, letting his roommate be. She set one of the glasses on the counter, drinking from the other one.

"How are you Lacey?" Benny asked her, smiling. He thought she was sweet and knew her family well, having worked with her father previously. Before, he had only ever met one of Kelly's girlfriends, Renee. They had been engaged, but then she and Kelly broke up just before the wedding. Benny knew that Kelly must be serious about Lacey, based just on the fact that he got to meet her and spend time with her.

"I'm good," Lacey nodded, only giving a small smile back. She was so uncomfortable right now. Shay knew she was pregnant, before Kelly did. No matter how you looked at it, it wasn't good.

"You're not still sick, are you?" Kelly asked, moving his arm from around her shoulders so he could feel her head.

"Oh, I'm fine," Lacey assured him as he put his arm back around her, kissing her head.

"You're going to be able to make it to the dinner tomorrow, right?" Benny asked; Lacey nodded. The following night was the Academy Dinner. Kelly always went, being a lieutenant, and normally took Shay as his date. Now, he was taking Lacey with him. Since Benny was invited though, he had an extra ticket so Shay could go anyway.

"Are your parents going?" Benny asked.

"I don't think," Lacey shook her head. "They still have a hard time, um, with CFD events." Benny nodded in understanding. "I think Heather's going though."

"That's good," Benny nodded.

"Are you sure you're ok?" Kelly asked Lacey suspiciously.

"Oh yeah, I'm just tired," she promised him, kissing his cheek. "I think I'm going to go lay down."

Lacey wasn't sure what to do, when to tell Kelly. What would she even say? She only ever had the "I'm late" talk once with one of her college boyfriends, turning out obviously that she wasn't pregnant. Even though she wasn't pregnant, the talk didn't go well. She remembered the awful details, how Eric had been visiting Chicago for a few weeks that summer, walking out of her house when she told him about it. She had to go to Heather to get a test, afraid to go alone at the time since she was only twenty one. Of course, Heather told Andy. And, of course, when Eric showed up at the house to talk to Lacey later, Andy broke his nose.

It left a bad taste in her mouth for any future "I'm late" or "I'm pregnant" talks. If she was married or engaged it would be different. But, she and Kelly had only been together seven months. And, while they loved each other and lived together, she still didn't know what he was going to do. Was he going to be happy about having a baby? Just two weeks ago when Clarice had her baby, Kelly commented to Lacey how hard it was going to be to have kids, how he was glad it was Shay and Clarice having the babies for now. He certainly didn't seem like he was ready for parenthood.

"Do you have any earrings I can borrow?" Shay asked Lacey from the doorway. Shay was wearing a long, deep blue strapless dress; she looked gorgeous.

"Um, yeah," Lacey nodded over at the jewelry box on the dresser. Shay began to root through the box, though Lacey knew this wasn't about earrings. "Can you zip me?" Lacey's dress was also strapless, but it was black; her dress was shorter too, stopping at her knees.

"Sure," Shay nodded, zipping up the back of Lacey's dress before Lacey sat down to put on her heels. "You haven't talked to him yet, have you?" Shay finally asked.

"I can't," Lacey shook her head.

"I get that you're freaked out," Shay assured her. "But, it's Kelly we're talking about. He's not going to walk out, or whatever it is you're afraid of."

"I'll tell him when I tell him," Lacey said, putting her angel necklace back on, only ever taking it off when she slept or showered.

"Hey!" Kelly called up the stairs. "You girls ready yet?!" Benny had already gone, meeting up with some of his old friends at the dinner. Kelly was downstairs, dressed in his suit, waiting for the women of his life to come downstairs. Without talking about the baby anymore, Shay lead the way out of the room and downstairs.

"Damn," Kelly commented as Shay and Lacey came downstairs. "I'm going to have the best looking dates there!" He kissed Shay's cheek before taking Lacey's hand and pulling her close; he couldn't figure out why she was so stand offish lately.

"You look great," he told her.

"So do you," she smiled at him, straightening out his tie.

"All right," Kelly said once she was done. "So, rock, paper, scissors for DD?" They always did this when they went out and would be drinking.

"Well, you were DD last time," Shay said quickly, coming to Lacey's aid. "So, it's between me and Lace." With Kelly looking at Shay, Lacey mouthed out the word rock to Shay.

"Ready, go," Shay said. She did paper and Lacey did rock, Lacey losing and having to be designated driver. At least it gave her a good excuse for the night as to why she wasn't drinking.

One thing Lacey was grateful for at this event was no one brought any of their kids. There weren't any visibly pregnant women there either, so that kept her from freaking out. At least, she wasn't freaking out as much. Spotting Dawson, Shay excused herself to go say hi. Seeing Casey and Heather, though surprised they were together, Lacey and Kelly went over to say hi to them. Leaving the guys alone, Heather asked Lacey to come over to the bar with her to get a drink.

"What's with you?" Heather asked once they were alone, waiting at the bar while others finished ordering their drinks.

"Nothing," Lacey shook her head. "Just...still not used to these events." Heather nodded. There they were, Darden widow and Darden sister. All that was missing were the mourning parents. It didn't help that an any event they went to, people were always sorry or telling them how great Andy was.

"Drink to take the edge off?" Heather offered lightly, squeezing her sister in law's hand.

"I'm DD," Lacey shook it off. Heather eyed her curiously.

"There's something else with you," Heather said. After all, Heather had known Lacey since she was fourteen; she knew when something was up. Then, she recognized that look. That panic in her eye, like when she told Heather about Eric back in college. "Oh my God!" Heather gasped in a loud whisper. "Are you..."

"Shh!" Lacey pleaded, looking around to make sure no one else heard; they hadn't. "I just...I haven't..." Now this was two people to know before Kelly.

"Oh, Lace," Heather said sympathetically.

"What happened, when you told Andy about Jack?" Lacey asked. She never heard that story, she was just around whenever they told her parents and everyone was thrilled about the news.

"He was really excited," Heather told her. "But...we had been trying for awhile..."

"Ugh," Lacey groaned, looking over at Kelly who was talking with Casey and Chief Boden. Catching his eye, he smiled at her; she smiled back weakly.

"Tell him tonight," Heather told her. Lacey knew she was right. At this rate, all of Chicago was going to find out before the father did.

"Tonight was fun," Kelly commented once they were finally upstairs.

"Mhmm," Lacey nodded quietly, happy to be taking off her heels.

"Hey," Kelly stopped her. He was sitting on the edge of their bed and she stood by the dresser. "What's been going on with you?"

"Nothing," she shook her head. She still didn't have any words.

"C'mon Lacey," Kelly complained. He thought they were past this, but now it felt like the weeks after Andy's accident, when she shut him out completely.

"I don't want to talk about it," Lacey told him, confirming that something was wrong, even though Kelly had already known that.

"You know you can tell me," Kelly insisted. Lacey wouldn't look at him, staring down at her feet. "Baby, come on."

"Oh my God," Lacey involuntarily shuddered. "Please don't call me that." Kelly looked at her in confusion.

"I always call-"

"Kelly, I'm pregnant," Lacey finally snapped, unable to take it anymore. He didn't jump for joy, like Andy had over Jack and Sean. He didn't run out of the apartment, looking pissed off like Eric had when she was late. He didn't do anything.

He just stared at her.

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