Ch. 11 Surprise!
A/N: Not my show. Not my characters. I don't make any money off this.
"Billie, wake up sweetheart." Van sang, trying to rouse her. She'd been asleep far long enough. In response, she pulled the covers over her head and curled up in a ball on her side. "Pay attention to me, dammit!" he whined, knowing that would get her attention. She quickly rolled over and glared at him. "Oh my god! What do you want?" She complained. "Happy birthday." He said sitting on the edge of the bed as he pulled a pink morning glory from behind his back. "Aw, thank you! It's beautiful!" She exclaimed sitting up and wrapping her arms around his neck for a hug. "You're welcome." He said, kissing her on the temple. "Okay, now let me go back to sleep." She said laying back down. "It's 12:30! Lunchtime!" Van gasped in shock. "What's your point?" Billie snidely replied. "My point, smart ass, is that I'm up, why aren't you?" Van jokingly shot back. "Because I'm tired. Someone wouldn't leave me alone last night, remember?" She guilt tripped. Van caught on quickly to what she was doing, but decided to not play into her hand. "Well I don't remember you telling me to leave you alone." Was his answer. "Leave me alone." She giggled as she got out of bed.
"Oh, you're real cute." Van quipped as he took her hand and led her into the dining room where the table was set and lunch was waiting for her. "Wow, the table looks nice." She said when she saw it. "Hey, I didn't want to break any dishes." He said in his defense when he heard the hint of sarcasm in her voice. "Thank you." She said and kissed his cheek. "What's for lunch?" She asked sitting down. "Mexican casserole, Caesar salad and surprise dessert." He answered. Van went and grabbed the casserole and salad to bring to the table. When Billie saw it, she laughed. "So, you didn't want to burn the apartment down either?" she said noting that the casserole had been made in the microwave and the salad was from a bag. "I made the dressing from scratch. Besides, I thought it was the thought that counts." He pouted sitting down and putting some food on her plate. "Well, yeah. If it doesn't kill me." She giggled and took a bite of the casserole. Surprisingly, it was good. "Hey!" Van snorted and crossed his arms over his chest in a pouting gesture. "By your own admission, you don't cook anything but eggs. Remember?" She reminded him remembering the conversation they'd had the first time she met Ray Ray. "Anyway, it's good." She decided to end with a compliment in hope he would forgive her so she could get lucky after lunch. At this, Van smiled and began to put some food on his own paper plate. He'd gotten the prettiest ones he could find. He'd run across a set of pink plates with a yellow flower design in the middle and decided to go with them. Next he'd had to get the napkins. Plain white wouldn't do, so he settled on light pink ones with a rainbow confetti design and the words "Happy birthday" scrawled across the center. Next came the plastic wine shaped glasses and the clear plastic forks. A fuchsia paper table cloth and a vase of yellow flowers completed the table. "This table certainly says metrosexual in a BIG way." Billie said with a smile. "Is that a good thing?" Van said. After the comment about the food not killing her, he figured she'd deserved it for him to fish a compliment out of her. "You'll see." She said mysteriously. "I just can't win with you can I?" He joked as he opened the bottle of chardonnay and poured them both a glass. "Like I said, You'll see." She was laughing now. Messing with his head like this was more fun now, than ever before.
"You ready for dessert?" Van asked as he stood to take his and her empty plates into the kitchen. "Yeah. What is it?" She asked handing him her plate. "You'll see." Van said with a wink. Damn, he'd used her own game against her. "I'll have to get even with you later." She commented with a wry smile tugging at her lips. With that, he scurried off to the kitchen. "Hey Van?" He heard her call, not ten seconds later. She'd found it. "Yeah?" He innocently asked taking the cake out of the box. "What's this?" She asked picking up the envelope. "Open it." Van said watching her from the kitchen. She did as he said and began reading the enclosed piece of paper. "What did you do?" She said with a smile. "I had the astrological society name a star after you." He said as he approached her with the cake and sat it in front of her. When she looked up from the paper to the cake, he heard a gasp. It was a beautiful cake. Chocolate with a dark chocolate butter crème icing on the outside. To finish it, there had been three yellow roses piped on in butter crème at the top and a ribbon of dark chocolate around the edge of the cake. In the center there were two lit candles. One was a number 2 and the other was a 9. On the cake in beautiful light green script was written the phrase, "Happy Birthday, Baby." Slowly Billie brought her hands up to her face, she was crying now. She'd never been so happy in her life. "It's beautiful." She whispered. Van just smiled down at her. He'd wanted to make this birthday special for her, and it looked like he was successful. "Well, make a wish and blow out the candles. " He said. She did as was tradition. Her wish was that she and Van would always be together and be this happy.
Billie stood up, still crying and wrapped her arms around his neck in a tight hug. She was happy, he could tell. "I'm glad you like it." He whispered as he stroked her hair and kissed the side of her head a couple times. After a minute he sat down and pulled her on his lap with him. Billie sat there, with one hand on his chest, the other arm draped around his neck and her head resting on his shoulder. She was truly content for the first time; probably ever. Or at least since her mom had died. With her still on his lap, Van unwrapped his arms from around her waist and picked up a plate and the cake cutter. He cut a slice big enough for them to share. He made sure to get a rose and some of the chocolaty border on it. He gathered up a forkful and took a bite. "Mm, that's good!" He commented. "Hey! I'm supposed to get the first piece!" She whined. She was almost better at whining than him, Van inwardly thought, but said, "Here, have a bite." He chopped of a piece and picked it up to feed to her. She took a bite and he made sure to take care enough to get a big glob of icing on her nose. "Hey!" She giggled. Slowly he kissed it off. "Better?" He asked, drawing away and placing an icing kiss on her lips. "Mmhmm." She said using her finger to wipe some excess icing of her lip and deposit it on his nose. Just as he'd done before, she kissed that off his nose. Their lips met in an intense kiss full of love, passion and tongue. Definitely lots of tongue. Van's hands slowly began to roam up her shirt. Just before they reached their intended target, the phone began to peal. "Dammit." They both said in unison as she pulled away and got up to answer it.
"Hello?" Billie said as she grabbed the ringing nuisance to shut it up and chew out the person who'd interrupted the beginning of her birthday sex marathon. She'd intended on going for three innings and was pissed that someone had interrupted the first of, hopefully, many innings. "Happy birthday Billie!" Came several voices over the phone. She could clearly pick out two of them: Bob Parish and Deaqon Hayes. "Hi Bob, Deaq." She replied a little more cheerfully. "We just wanted to wish you a happy birthday and tell you we're thinking of you." Bob said. "It was Deaq's idea to call on a conference. We couldn't find Van to get him to call in too. Have you heard from him today?" Her boss asked. "Yeah, I've…….heard from Van." She managed to get out without the shock of being caught off guard being present in her voice. "So it was Deaq's idea to call me?" She repeated, looking at Van who was desperately trying to stifle a laugh. After all, he'd known Van would be there. Probably his way of making sure they didn't get too dirty this early in the day. "Thanks Deaq." She muttered. "Well, we should probably let you get back to whatever the hell it is you do when you aren't working." Deaq commented the amusement in his voice bubbling over. "Good idea." She laughed. "See you tomorrow, Billie. Bye." Deaq said "Bye guys." She ended the conversation and hung up the phone. She leaned against the wall and looked at Van. "You okay, babe? You don't look so good." Van questioned, getting up when he noticed she'd turned a pasty whitish green color. "Yeah I'm…..oh god." She said and ran to the bathroom, making it just in time to deposit the contents of her stomach in the toilet.
"Oh yuck!" Van said as he stood behind her, holding her hair with one hand and rubbing her shoulder with the other. "You didn't eat THAT much, did you?" He said seeing what had just made a return trip from her digestive tract. Billie just stood up and glared at him through her reflection in the mirror. "The salad dressing did it." She commented dryly as she brushed her teeth and washed her face. "This is not my fault!" Van exclaimed. "Sure it is!" Billie chirped. Picking on Van was so much fun sometimes. Especially now since she had a responsibility to make it up to him afterwards. "And why would that be?" Van shot back. "Because I said so." She sweetly replied. "I could just strangle you sometimes." He growled. "Hey. That's a little too kinky…even for me." She chastised playfully. "Speaking of kinky…" Van said and spun her around to place a kiss on her lips and quickly began where he'd left off minutes earlier.
An hour later, Van and Billie were in the tub. The bubbles came up to about her shoulders, since she was leaning back against Van's chest. "A bubble bath, how girlie." Van snorted. "I know, I'm a girl. But, if you don't like it, I guess I don't have to act like one." She chided. That would get him and she knew it. "I know you're a girl. That's what I like about you." Van grumbled, knowing that was the end of that. All this year, he'd never known Billie was so feminine. Sure, she wore the typical girlie stuff: tight shirts and jeans; entirely too short skirts and revealing dresses. But she also did karate and kick boxing. Not to mention she liked cars, Steve McQueen and carried a gun. Yup, all that pretty much took her out of his understanding of the "girl realm". At his prolonged silence, Billie giggled. "You are such a typical guy. You don't know what the true function of a bra is or how a thong is to be worn, but you can take both of them off with one hand!" She teasingly commented. "Hey, not many guys can do that!" He argued. "All the ones I've been with can." Came her retort. "ALL of them?" He questioned to get a number out of her. "I'm not a nun Van." Was all she said. "Yeah? Prove it." He teased as he splashed a little water in her face. "Oh, you're gonna get it now." She said as she rolled around so that she was laying against his chest. "Oh I am?" Van said, but she cut him off with a gentle teasing kiss. "Van, shut up." She whispered as she pulled away. "Yes sir." He said. Sir was something he originally called her to bug her, but lately it had become his pet name for her. Van gazed into her clear blue eyes for a moment before capturing her lips in a hungry kiss. As they kissed, his hand roamed up her back and landed right below her shoulder blade; his thumb playing up and down the side of her firm breast. The touch of his hand sent a shiver up her spine, prompting her to let out a soft moan.
As the pair came down from their orgasms, Billie's legs, unwrapped from around his waist and she slid back in the now chilling water. Van lowered himself down in the water beside her. His arm draped over her waist as he rested his chin on her shoulder. The pair laid there, trying desperately to catch their breath as they came back to earth. As her breathing normalized, Van whispered sweet nothings into Billie's ear. Suddenly, he heard her breath hitch and she sat up. "Sweetie? You okay?" Van asked as she scrambled to get out of the tub and did so just in time to make a deposit in the porcelain bank. Billie spent the next three minutes dry heaving, puking and coughing into the toilet. When she was done, Van slowly gathered her off the floor and carried her to the bed. He put her down then climbed in with her. "Um, Van?" She nervously asked. "Yeah?" he calmly replied, even though he was ready to grab a pan for her to vomit in if she needed to again. "Today is October 21st, right?" She quizzically asked, as if she had not clue of the date. "Yeah. That's your birthday, right?" Van quipped. "Very funny." She snorted. "Seriously. I haven't had a period since late August." She quietly finished, waiting for him to react in horror. "So?" Van said, knowing what she was getting at, but hoping he was wrong at the same time. "What if I'm getting so sick and always so tired because I'm pregnant?" She asked as she looked up into his shining green eyes. "Then we'll deal with that as it happens. I'll get a test for you so we can know for sure." He calmly replied, hoping to relax her enough so she could get some much needed rest. "Alright." Billie sighed as he snuggled against his chest and closed her eyes. "I love you." She mumbled as she drifted off. "I love you too." Was the last thing she heard from Van before she was far off into dreamland.
Van waited a good hour until he was positive she was sound asleep and he could step out without waking her up. He wanted to get the pregnancy test before she woke back up, so that she could take it, then stop worrying when it came back negative; or so he hoped it would. Van made the ten minute drive to the corner drug store in three minutes flat. The way he drove, you'd think Billie was in the car with him about to give birth. That thought alone gave Van the creeps as he headed into the store, so he visibly shook it out of his mind as the store clerk greeted him. "Hello sir. Can I help you find anything today?" The clerk asked him. She was a young girl, maybe 17 years old, and that was being generous. "Um, yeah. I need a pregnancy test for my girlfriend." He answered, suddenly nervous and realizing he had no idea what else she needed beyond that. "Okay, do you want digital or not?" She questioned. "Um, what's the difference?" he asked not even bothering to hide the fact that this was the first time he'd ever knocked someone up. "Leave it to me that the first time this happens, it's my boss." He thought. "The digital is easier to read and can be used sooner after her missed period." The young blond replied. Van tried to pretend he didn't notice then hint of humor in her voice as she realized he hadn't ever done this before. "What if I don't quite know her last period was?" Van questioned, feeling like the whole store was staring at him and wanting to hide in a hole and die. "Then you'll want the digital twin pack." The girl replied unable to keep the amusement out of her voice. "That way she can test twice to be sure, if the first one is positive." The girl commented as she grabbed a twin pack digital pregnancy test off the shelf and carried it to the counter. Van pretended that he hadn't heard her insinuation that if the test was positive Billie would go in shock. He also pretended not to notice that the girl was calling him an incompetent oaf that couldn't take care of his girlfriend and a baby if he needed to. "Is that all?" She asked as she rang up the tests. "Um, I'll take one of these, and this…oh, and that." He said as he also handed the girl a Dove chocolate bar, two diet colas, and a Cosmo magazine to take home to Billie. He paid the bill, grabbed his bag of goodies and quickly headed out the door to his car.
Ten minutes later, Van slowly opened the door to what he now called his and Billie's apartment. He went into the bedroom, where he found Billie just starting to wake up. He took the candy and soda out of the bag and handed them to her. "Here, I thought you might like those. And this." He said as she took the items from him, with a smile and then he pulled out the magazine. "That's my favorite magazine." she commented as she read the cover. "I also got this." Van commented, taking the pregnancy tests out of the bag and handing them to her. "Oh." Was all she said. "Why don't you go take one while I set up the telescope outside so we can look at your star?" Van said. Billie silently agreed. Van got up to set up the telescope and she got up to find out if she was pregnant.
Fifteen minutes later, Van was outside setting up the telescope on the balcony when he heard her scream. "Billie?" he called as he walked into the apartment and headed towards the bathroom to see what the problem was. As he entered the bathroom, he saw her sitting on the toilet. She was sobbing, he could tell. "What's wrong?" He asked as he walked next to her. "My life is over!" She wailed. "I'll never be able to sleep again!" She continued to sob. "What?" Van asked, confused, when followed her gaze to the vanity. By the sink, sat two sticks. Both had been used and both had the same word written on them. In a digital print, both tests had the word "pregnant" in the test result window. Van rested his hand on her shoulder in an attempt to calm her down. "Honey, you're life isn't over. We're gonna have a baby." Van said, hoping it would calm her down if he sounded excited about it. "You don't understand!" She wailed just as upset as when he first entered the bathroom. "I can't have a baby! They said so!" She cried as she clung to Van's waist and cried into his blue shirt. "Sweetie, what are you talking about?" Van whispered in a soothing voice as he stroked her hair to calm her down. Billie realized that she needed to tell him. When she started to speak, Van didn't expect to hear her say what she did. "When I had the abortion nine years ago, there were complications." She began. "The procedure caused an infection and damaged my cervix. I can't carry a baby beyond the 23rd week." She said. "How do you know that?" Van asked. "I mean, wouldn't you have had to have gotten pregnant again and had a couple miscarriages to know that?" Van asked his voice thick with concern and sympathy for what Billie may tell him she's gone through. "Damn." She muttered. It was time to 'fess up; there was no way around it now. "I've had two miscarriages since the abortion." She confessed. After the last one, I was told Id never have a baby of my own. She said sadly. "Who were the fathers? " Van asked. "Father." She corrected. "Whatever. Who is he?" Van said mildly irritated that Billie was playing semantics to avoid telling him the truth. "Gavin West." She said as she looked at her feet so she didn't have to see the shock on his face when she said the name. Van's jaw dropped in shock. Had she just said what he thought she said? When Billie didn't look up at him after a minute of silence, Van knew she had. "When? Did he know?" Van asked. "The first time was in Mexico, while I did undercover narcotics work. The second time was about eight months after I got out of rehab. No he never knew." She said sadly. Billie fully expected Van to reject her now; maybe even tell her boss. He didn't though. "I'm so sorry you went through that." Was all he said as he gathered her up and headed to the balcony to see her star.
"See, there it is." Van said as he showed her the star he'd had named after her. "It's beautiful!" She gasped. "Not as beautiful as you are. Or as our baby will be." He said as he stroked her hair. "You mean you want this baby?" she asked. "Yeah. Do you?" he asked. "Well, yeah. I've always loved kids and have wanted of my own since as far back as I could remember." Was her answer. "Okay, then we'll have to find out what we can do to keep you pregnant with this baby as long as you need to be." Was all he said. Billie was ready to cry. Even after what she'd told him about her real relationship with Gavin West, he still wanted to be with her and raise their baby as a family. Billie smiled at him as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "Well mommy; if you're gonna have my baby, then you better get some sleep." He said as he led her inside. She knew there would be explanations to be made and questions to be answered. However, that could all wait til tomorrow. Tonight was the time to revel in her happiness about being in love with the most wonderful man on earth and think ahead to the birth of her first child.
Okay, there is the next installment! Sorry I haven't updated in awhile, holidays kind of snuck up on me. Oh well, maybe I'll get a few more chapters up by Christmas!
DKM: Glad you liked the last chapter! And this is where kinky has gotten her. What a kick in her ass, huh?
Unsigned: You guys rock! I hope you all will review one day! I love reviews!