It's eight weeks later when things all start to go wrong.
It never usually catches her off guard but when they have their first proper disagreement since becoming a sort-of couple, Hayes can't help but lie awake at night wondering just how she managed to screw this one up. She can't help it when members of her team have a crisis, a crisis which requires hours of talking, hours of sitting.
She definitely can't help it when she's sworn to secrecy. Being first daughter of the United States had taught her many life lessons, useless things like how to escape from a personal detail, how to appropriately greet members of allied nations, how to Hotwire a car, but also important things.
The most important lesson being the first daughter of the United States taught her was the importance of secrets. Keeping someones secrets meant keeping trust.
So when she ends up completely missing a dinner Connor had planned weeks in advance with no good explanation other than she was busy with a case, it causes a few problems. He knows that there is no case, he's her boss after all, and by the smell of bourbon on her clothes he jumps to a conclusion, the wrong one of course.
She doesn't tell him that she smells of alcohol because she'd taken it from Maxine, dropping the glass all over herself in the progress. Secrets are important. She shrugs it off in usual Hayes style, a smart comment, walking out the door and ending up in her brother's apartment.
Jackson's not there and for a while, Hayes wonders about calling him, but she doesn't and instead ends up sleeping all through the night, until precisely 7.46am, when she rolls out of bed and ends up with her head in the toilet.
"Shit", she moans as the vomiting continues. She carries on heaving until there's nothing but bile, her stomach aching, her throat sore, and when she finally gathers the strength to stand there urge to vomit is replaced by a dizziness that she just can't shake off. Her day is only made worse when she sees the time, it's past 9 and she's late.
When she finally makes it to the CIU, her team are all sat around waiting for her and Connor Wallace is leaning on a table, arms crossed, face unhappy. He takes one look at her, hair not styled, red eyed and pale and shakes his head. "Nice of you to join us Hayes, late night?"
She swallows, partly to choke down the vomit in her throat but also to stop herself from saying anything without thinking. "I wasn't feeling too great this morning, I assume you've all got a case to pitch to me?"
Wallace makes a sound of disappointment and starts to leave, "I was telling the team that I was going away for a few days before you got here in case you were interested, I won't be back until Friday so please try and not piss off anyone with authority whilst I'm gone." It's a low blow. They've been living together for the best part of 8 weeks and now he's going away for a few days at a moments notice. If she hadn't turned up when she did it would have been second hand news. It hurts more than he could ever understand but Hayes figures he'd just had enough of her, after all, she'd broken his heart more than a few times so instead of a scathing comment, she just smiles sadly, "Have a great trip."
...
That was days ago and when she finally manages to stop retching into the toilet for more than 5 seconds she looks up at the mounted wall clock. It's 8.55am and Friday, meaning Connors' plane has already landed and he's probably one his way to the office, the office that she's going to be late to for the 6th day in a row. In fact, the office she hadn't made it to since Wednesday.
After days of being sick her stomach is completely empty and her throat raw. So raw that when she looks down into the toilet bowl she sees red, spots of blood from tears in her oesophagus. She hasn't eaten in days, nothing more substantial than a dry biscuit. Her head is pounding and whether that's from constant sickness or the lack of food for the past week she can't quite figure out. God she wishes Connor was here to look after her, or at least take her to a doctor or something. She rang him once, after not even making it into work the previous day and it went to voicemail. She didn't leave a message. Sam text to tell her they'd worked the case out Wednesday evening and since then she suspects they think she's taking a long weekend. After all, she's their boss.
Hayes laughs, or tries to, because it's laughable to think this is any kind of enjoyable weekend. She finally manages to crawl back into bed, telling herself that this would pass. It had been on three days ago when she had this awful feeling that maybe she had forgotten to take her birth control a few times and three pregnancy tests later confirmed this suspicion. That explained the sickness and a quick google later informed her that she is one of the few women who experiencesevere morning sickness during pregnancy. What luck.
...
Across town, Connor Wallace strides across from the elevator and into the team office at the CIU. It takes him all but a second to notice Hayes is missing.
"Where's Hayes?" He asks Sam. He knows he'll get an honest answer from him.
Sam laughs, "Not here, she hasn't been for the past two days. Someone's taking full advantage of your trip if you ask me, probably getting her hair done somewhere."
Connor swears, out loud or not, he's not sure. Why can't she just do as she's told, go to work like a normal person, Jesus Christ.
He turns to Sam again, "I'm going to go and sort some things out, you need to find the next case, get to it."
With that, he storms out of the office and to his car. He pulls his key to Jackson's apartment out from the glove compartment and drives.
...
She's drifting off into sleep or is half passed out when she hears a door slamming and footsteps. "Hayes!"
It's Connor and he's furious. She feels the air whoosh as her bedroom door is flung open and in walks her boss and boyfriend. "What the hell are you doing Hayes, I go away for 6 days and suddenly you think you can decide whether or not to work depending on what you've been drinking the night before?"
It's then that his footsteps stop and she smell him he's so close. She's in her work clothes from an unsuccessful attempt to get up the previous day. "Hayes?"
Her eyes finally open, blood vessels burst from the vomiting, and she sees his whole expression change. "I tried to get to work but I just didn't feel too good, I'm sorry."
Her voice sounds hollow from days without much more than a glass of water and when Connor hears her speak the anger shadowing his blue eyes is replaced by concern, his brow furrowing as he sets himself down on the edge of the bed. He's confused more than anything because Hayes looks terrible. Not in the drank the bar dry the night before type of terrible but a needing a hospital type way. She's ghostly pale, shaking and when he reaches for her hand, he realises that she's lost weight. His mind goes back 6 days to her arriving at the office late after they'd had a disagreement, she'd been pale them and he'd assumed the wrong thing, hell he'd even ignored her calls for days.
He rubs the back of her hand as she pulls her other up to her stomach, groaning.
"Tell me what's going on Hayes, please, you look awful."
It's true, she does look like complete and utter death and probably should be in hospital right now but she doesn't want to show that weakness. But the part of her that loves Connor Wallace tells her that he deserves to know the truth, deserves to know that she's pregnant with his baby.
"I keep getting sick, so I took a test."
Oh, he thinks. "And?"
It's a pointless question because why else would she even mention taking a test. "I took three, all positive."
He wants to yell at her more than anything at that moment, wants to scream at her for being so careless but he takes another look at her face and just can't. She looks more upset than he is. She looks distraught and very very sick.
"When was the last time you ate something?" He asks gently, completely moving away from the pregnancy revelation.
It takes her a few seconds. "Wednesday maybe, I don't remember."
Wallace just nods, completely unsure of what to say or what to do. Does she need a hospital? Does she even want him here after he ignored her calls? He does the only thing he knows how to do and hugs her close, only breaking away when she groans in discomfort. "What is it?" He asks, immediately concerned.
She shakes her head, the head that is still buried in his chest, "Everything just hurts when I sit up."
He hums quietly in response to her comment and leaves it. It's almost an hour later that they finally make any sort of move. She tells him she feels much better, tells him she's going to change, get a shower. He cleans the bathroom as she showers, puts clean sheets on the bed and acts like Hayes hasn't just told him she's pregnant with his child. When she finally makes it out of the shower, into clean clothes he looks at her with her damp hair and make up free face wondering just how he could ever be angry with her in the first place. He makes her some toast, a cup of tea and just sits and watches as she eats it all. By the time her plate is cleared she's no longer shaking or so pale.
"You need to see a doctor, they can give you some medication to stop the nausea a little."
Hayes nods, "I have a friend who works privately stopping by to give me the tablets. We had a Skype consultation yesterday. She said she'd take bloods whilst she's here to make sure there's nothing serious going on other than the puking my stomach lining up every five minutes."
His eyebrows come together in confusion because the Hayes Wallace knows would not be acting so calmly to all this, wouldn't be calling doctors for advice or telling him the truth without some sarcastic comment thrown in for good measure. She most certainly wouldn't have let him stroke her hand or hold her after he'd ignored her calls for a week. She's changed and it's confusing to say the least. They spend the day just talking, or rather Wallace asks Hayes a question about what the hell they were going to do now and she replies, only with the occasional scathing comment. She takes the medicine, has her blood drawn and by the time she makes it to bed at 11.30 that night she feels much better. Wallace stays with her and it's only when she's lying away from him in bed on the cusp of sleep does he finally work up the courage to say what he'd been meaning to the second he found out she was pregnant. "I'm sorry Hayes, I should have answered your calls, God I should have never left you for a week in the first place."
That's all she needs to hear for her to turn over to her left and face Connor Wallace. "I forgive you, this isn't your fault, I'm the screw up here, remember?"
"No Hayes, I might not have majored in biology at college but I know that you don't just get yourself pregnant, this is on me too."
It makes her smile, eyes lighting up for the first time in days. They light up even more when she realises something else. Her mother is going to freak out. Her only daughter pregnant after being in a relationship for 2 months with her boss, the same boss who got her off cocaine possession charges. She wraps her arms around Wallace's chest, still smiling. "You get to tell my mother." She finally whispers.
They both laugh and somehow everything about that day ends up being ok.
.