A/N: There's no way Katie and Ned had the smoothest relationship before marriage... here's a possible bump in the road :) Enjoy xx Mariah
Two months went by and things had fallen into a routine. Ned worked early mornings for patrol, until about six most days. While Katie worked as an assistant at Professor Payne's office and helped out at her mom's store whenever she could.
Things were going great. Student teaching was starting soon for Katie and she couldn't wait to see what this year would bring into her life with Ned. Those were words she never thought would be a reality for her. Being with Ned was always a far fetched dream for her and now she was making dinner for him.
"Honey, I'm home," Ned said as he walked through their apartment door, it looked like he grinned wider as he saw her. "God, I love saying that."
"You're such a dork," she laughed and wiped her hands off quickly, meeting him with a kiss.
"This smells great, babe." He said, wrapping his arms around her waist. He pressed his lips to the crook of her neck. "What is it?"
"No peeking," she laughed, pushing him toward the hallway. "You go get out of uniform and into comfy clothes. Dinner is a surprise and almost done."
Katie was just like her mother, always wanting her dinners to be a surprise. She could cook mean chicken dumplings and her chili was phenomenal. She also could make these little cookies that were bite-sized pieces of heaven, but she always kept whatever she was making that night a secret until it was on the table for him to see.
Tonight was a cheesy broccoli soup recipe she'd found online. It had smelled so good at first and she couldn't wait to taste it again, but then it was like something in her stomach churned and she just couldn't smell it again.
"Nevermind. Can you stir this?" She asked and handed him the ladle before running past him and into the bathroom. "It's going to make me sick."
She closed the door from the floor of the bathroom, her guts spilling into the toilet. She almost wished she had locked it because she did not want Ned to see her like this. Katie grasped the porcelain, the sick taste in her mouth making it worse than the cramps in her stomach.
Her stomach had been churning since this morning, and even though she had managed to keep everything down since then, she knew that she was going to throw up again sooner or later. She would probably throw up as soon as she looked back at their dinner.
"You okay?" Ned asked from outside the door. He knocked lightly before the door opened a little. "Can I come in?"
She took a deep breath and slowly opened her eyes as she sat before the toilet. She felt her stomach churn in the familiar get to the nearest toilet sort of way. She breathed and then the contents of her stomach spilled out of her mouth again.
Ned knocked again as he slightly came inside because she didn't answer, but could hear her well enough to sit down behind her, holding back her hair and rubbing his hand on her back. After she was sure she was done, she sat back and wiped her hand across her mouth.
"I'm sorry," she muttered, leaning back into him. "I didn't want you to see me like this."
Ned moved and grabbed a washcloth from under the sit, wetting it before he kneeled and brought it to her face. "Don't apologize. I'm sorry you feel so rotten." He whispered and she touched his hands, taking it from him. He went and got her a glass of water, sitting back on the floor. "How are you feeling now?"
"You tried the soup didn't you?" She asked as she wiped her chin before spying a yellow drop on his chin.
"Maybe," he grinned, handing her the water before he looked at her. "It was delicious."
"I'm glad someone can eat it," she whispered before turning back to the toilet.
After Ned left for his morning patrol shift the next morning, Katie facetimed her best friend Hannah immediately.
"Hey, Han, it's me. I really need to talk." She sighed, placing her phone on her bed after she finally answered. She stepped back, grabbing her jeans.
"Hey, Katie." Katie pulled on her jeans, grabbing her sweater. "That's a cute outfit."
"Thanks," she sighed, fixing her hair as she grabbed her phone. "I need to tell you something that needs to stay a secret, and not a secret that you can tell my mom."
"Are you okay?" Hannah asked, concerned. "What's up?"
Katie smiled, trying to force her blue jeans to button as she sat on the bed. They were a little tight, but they fit. "Everything's fine. You don't need to worry. I just have a theory and need it to be between us only. Not even Brando can know." She sighed, fixing her hair.
"Okay," Hannah stared at her, wanting answers. "Continue."
"I think I'm pregnant." She sighed, closing her eyes to avoid whatever facial expression Hannah made.
"I thought I heard a struggle with those jeans and I noticed the sports bra," Hannah sighed. "Did you get a test?"
"I am about to go get one right now," she said immediately grabbing her keys from her nightstand. "What if I am?"
"Then you'll manage. You always do. Just let me know how everything goes, okay?" Hannah smiled, trying to be positive. "I'm here for you, one hundred percent."
"Of course," she said, standing up and walking out of her bedroom. "We'll talk tonight. Love you."
"Love you too," Hannah blew a kiss and her phone screen went dark and she tucked it in her back pocket.
She just kept thinking about how she could be pregnant. She did not want to be pregnant right now.
Katie could easily admit that she was surprised at the thought that crossed her mind when she walked down the aisle in the drug store that men avoided like the plague. She didn't walk into the store thinking it, but she definitely started thinking it when she stopped in front of a shelf she'd never looked at seriously before.
PREGNANCY TESTS
She didn't know why her hand when to her stomach and a smile crossed her lips, but it did on both accounts.
Yes, she was a sentimental woman and she loved children, but the thought of trying to pick out a test or two that would change her life, one way or another, made her a little emotional. She wondered how many women had felt like that in this exact place
She wondered if Hannah had during their freshman year when Hannah had thought she might be pregnant. If her mother had felt as nervous as she did when she found out about her, and then she thought about how many men were shooed from their homes when their emotional significant other thought she was pregnant and made him come to get it.
Her smile grew at the mental image of her father standing here trying to do that or Ned. She laughed and let the scene play out in her mind for a moment just because she thought it was funny, but the line of thought didn't last long. She was on a tight deadline and needed to get home before anyone saw her and asked questions. Or told her mother. The second option was almost proved to be worse.
Katie quickly turned and headed down an aisle, stopping at the tampons. When she remembered she had a full, unopened box at home, she withdrew the hand that was reaching for her usual brand. When she did that, her mind started to count days and weeks those tampons sat in that unopened box. She turned back to the other side of the aisle where the previous objects of her attention sat in neat little rows.
Pulling her bottom lip between her teeth, she slowly crept back to the shelves of pregnancy tests as she did the math again and again. She realized that if she was still counting after so many times that she should probably just pick one up and take it. Two even. Just to be safe and if she was wrong, it was only ten dollars.
She stared a moment longer, not knowing if she was actually ready to pick the object up off the shelf and took a couple of deep breaths.
It wasn't as if she didn't want a family with Ned. She did, one day, but they were only just getting starting in life. They had just moved in together. A baby was not even a thought yet. Hell, a wedding was supposed to come first, but this was possibly a baby and she knew they would both have adjusted as necessary because it would be their baby.
She wasn't sure if she felt guilty for wondering if now was the right time for one. Every woman thought that, didn't they? They hemmed and hawed and thought of themselves, their career, their significant other, right? She knew couldn't be alone in this line of thinking.
Her hand moved back to her stomach as she stared at the plethora of tests in front of her. She wondered if there was one better than the other. The one her hand hovered over had caught her eye from the start and its name was very encouraging for someone who wasn't positive what the result was going to be once the test was taken. And she needed to know for sure.
She couldn't handle it if she went home, took the tests and didn't have a definitive answer. Maybe it would be smarter for her to just go home and make an appointment with her gynecologist. Sure, she'd only been there four months ago, but this was something of an emergency. Right?
Did she really want to wait any longer to find out if she and Ned were going to have a baby?
Her decision was made when she grabbed two boxes and put it in her basket, nonchalantly adding some deodorant for Ned and some razors for her before heading up to the checkout. She grabbed Ned a Snickers and herself a Reese's respectively and tried really hard not to blush when the teenager behind the counter looked from Katie to the pregnancy test and back at her again.
She paid and got out quickly, thanking goodness that she and Ned's apartment wasn't too far away from the CVS she'd gone to. When she entered their apartment, she wished Ned was there and that she'd told him at dinner like she'd wanted to.
Instead, she walked to the bathroom alone, unzipping her jeans and opened one box before she sat on the toilet. She did as the instructions told her to and went to wash her hands. She placed a couple of tissues down and then laid out the two tests. She set the timer on her cell phone and leaned back against the wall with her Reese's in hand.
It felt like the longest two minutes of her life.
She had too much time to think. She was scared and excited and picturing her boyfriend holding a baby and hearing endless screams at three in the morning and she could feel herself clenching her fists because she didn't know which emotions were okay and which made her a bad potential mother. She did not want to be a bad mother.
When her phone beeped, she didn't look at the tests right away like she'd planned too. Instead, she turned to the wall and calmed herself. She briefly wondered if everything would be okay, though.
Were she and Ned ready for the responsibility that came with having a child? Was she ready to possibly grow three times her normal size? Was she ready to have strange cravings, intense mood swings, cramps in her legs and a complete lack of control of her bodily functions?
Just as important as that, was Ned ready? Was he ready for her to call him crying in the middle of the night because she couldn't see her toes? Was he ready for two am food runs because she was craving something ridiculous that they didn't have at home? Was he ready for even less sleep that he got now?
She decided that even if they weren't ready, they would be able to get ready. They would have nine months, give or take, to get ready.
"Okay. Time to look." She breathed, rubbing her face before she turned. Her eyes were still closed. "Katie, go look and then call your mother because she always knows what to do. You know you shouldn't have kept this from her."
She opened her eyes leaned over them.
Both tests said the same thing, both had crystal clear results. Two solid pink lines. That meant she was pregnant. She grabbed the next box and did the next two just as she did the others, reaching for her phone dialing her mother's number as they started to show their results.
"Hello?" Melinda whispered.
"Mom, hi. Can you come over like now?" She said quickly, her hand shaking as she looked at the next two tests.
"Katie⦠is this urgent?" Melinda asked.
"Kind of," she whispered, biting her lip. She needed to just rip the bandaid off. "Mom, I think I'm pregnant." She said, looking at the two pink lines on the test she had in her hand as she felt tears roll down her cheeks. She was starting to give into the emotional breakdown that was coming as her breathing became more labored. "I'm freaking out and I need you."
"I'm walking out of the store now. I'm on my way," Melinda replied and hung up.
Her heart was pounding and her head was spinning. She had no idea what the rest of her was doing because the last few moments had not gone as she had expected. When she got up this morning, she'd expected a day of relaxing. A trip to the pharmacy, a late night pizza delivery and probably sex with Ned when he got home from his patrol in the wee hours of the morning. As usual.
That last one was the whole reason she was in this damn mess.
She didn't expect to bring home a pregnancy test, take it and get results like this. It was supposed to be an easy, drama free day.
