Counting down the seconds, Gwen couldn't have been more impatient for the last two minutes of a full five to pass.

Twenty seconds left.

Fifteen seconds left.

Ten... Nine... Eight...

Seven... Six... Five...

Four... Three... Two...

One second left.

Those five minutes were up. Opening her eyes, Gwen glanced down and swallowed hard as she saw what she'd been waiting for. She drew in a breath as her mind raced over a thousand different scenarios. She gave herself a minute to let the truth sink in; a truth that would either make them or break them. Down below in the kitchen, she could hear Peter pattering about, clearing everything away from Sunday night dinner and she was still curious to hear whatever it was that he'd wanted to tell her the other day before she'd fallen asleep. Deciding that it was the perfect time for them both to say what they'd wanted to say before anything else could distract them, she placed the object in her hands down on the counter top and exited the room, heading downstairs into the kitchen.

Busy loading up the dishwasher, Peter hadn't yet noticed her enter the room. Walking slowly over to him, she caught him by surprise as she wrapped her arms around his waist from behind. He put the glass down that was in his hands, and lifted his head with a smile.

"P- Peter..." Gwen began.

"Yes?" He questioned, placing his hands on hers.

"Remember the other day when we had things to say?" She asked.

"Of course..." He answered, wondering where she was taking the conversation.

"Well... Now I kinda have to say it, but I also really wanna know what you have to say. Do you think we could sit down to talk for a minute or two?" She requested.

"Absolutely." He agreed, wiping his wet hands on a tea towel and moving over to the kitchen table.

Once he'd sat down, she sat down herself and licked her lips as she tried to think of where to begin. "Well... Remember those days back before graduation where we would talk about the future and we would make all those plans..." She began.

"Those were some good times we had together back then... And hey, we managed to fulfill a few of those too." He said, feeling fond of the memories in question.

"Yeah, I guess we did. But what if, hypothetically speaking, something were to happen that wouldn't fit into those plans or wasn't exactly a part of them?" She questioned.

Feeling confused, Peter thought deeply about her question before providing his answer. "I'm sure that whatever life throws our way, that we can work around it and build new plans." He answered carefully. "But this is a hypothetical question, is it not?" He asked.

"Not exactly." She admitted.

"I tried to explain back in the truck but obviously that didn't work out, but what I'm trying to say is that-" Gwen broke off abruptly as a loud ringing that she quickly realized was coming from Peter's phone, wailed through the air.

"Can you take that later?" She pleaded.

"I'm sorry, but it's Aunt May and it might be something important." He protested.

"But this is important. Even more so now than it was a few days ago." She told him.

"I'm really sorry, I'll be five minutes." He promised, swiping the screen to answer and walking into the hall.

With a frustrated sigh, Gwen stood up from the chair and walked over to the sink, grabbing a nearby glass, filling it with water and downing it quickly. Every single time she tried, something always interrupted without fail. As she rinsed the glass out and put it back in the sink, Peter walked back in the room with a huge smile on his face.

"What's going on?" She asked.

"I finally convinced Aunt May to come over for dinner. She'll be here by six tonight." He beamed.

"That's great!... I guess now that the house is all finished, she finally wants to see it." Gwen commented.

"Yeah..." He sighed happily, then frowned. "What was it you wanted to say?" He asked.

"Uh... I don't think now is a great time anymore, I think that we should start preparing for dinner tonight. We only have... Like three hours to get everything done and prepare a nice dinner and it's already pushing four pm." She shrugged.

"You're right. Tell me later though?" He suggested, kissing the top of her head.

"Sure." She agreed, disguising her dismay at being unable to speak to him yet again.

"Right. With that settled, I'm going for a shower." He informed her, and headed out into the hall and up the stairs.

Thinking up a good dish to make, Gwen pattered around the kitchen to find all the ingredients ready for what she wanted to make.

Upstairs in the bathroom, Peter turned the taps on to get the shower started and waited for the water to warm up. While it was doing just that, he exited the bathroom and walked across the hall to a small closet, retrieving a towel before heading back into the bathroom. Placing it on top of the toilet seat lid, he shed his shirt and was about to remove his jeans when something besides the sink caught his eye. Leaning against the counter with one hand, he picked up the item in the other and stared at it long and hard. Throwing his t-shirt back on, he left the bathroom with the item still in his hand and hurried downstairs to the kitchen, stopping in the doorway and waiting for Gwen to notice him. When she didn't after a minute or so, he cleared his throat to catch her attention. With a saucepan in her hand, she gasped and spun around to face him.

"Damn! You scared me." She told him.

"I bet." He commented, making the item in his hand as visible to her as possible.

"I thought you were-" She began, then stopped as she saw what he was holding. "-taking a... A shower." She finished. "Peter, I..." She was about to explain but trailed off as she saw the blank expression on his face.

"This belong to you?" He questioned, waving the object in her face although he already knew the answer.

"Yes. But it's not- I mean... I tried... Ugh, damn it!" She cursed at being unable to finish her sentences.

"Is this a prank?" He quizzed.

"No!... It's for real." She told him.

"Say it. I want to hear it from you." He demanded.

"Peter, I'm pregnant." She admitted.

Silence filled the air, causing her heart to beat like there was no tomorrow. Minutes passed and neither of them said a word. Then, finally, he spoke.

"How long have you known?" He questioned.

"Well, I've suspected ever since our wedding day, but actually knowing... Only since this morning." She answered truthfully.

"All this time! All this time and you never thought to tell me!" He freaked.

"That's not fair! I've been trying to tell you all along but every time I do something always comes up and I never got the chance!" She defended.

"I- I'm sorry, Gwen. I need a minute." He apologized, then walked out the back door leaving her standing alone in the kitchen.

"I have to tell her!... No, no I can't tell her not now! She's pregnant, there's no way I can admit to lying now. She would hate me and it would upset her even more! You idiot, Peter, why did you leave it so long? You should have just been honest with her from the start!" He raged at himself.

Outside, the air was cold and bitter but it helped Peter to wake up a little and he realised what he'd unintentionally just done. She probably thought that he'd walked out because he was angry with her; he wasn't. He was only angry with himself. He should have told her when he'd had the chance to, back in that hospital room when she'd asked him to. Shaking off the thought of what he had wanted to tell her, he opened the door and headed back inside. He paused for a second when he saw the tears rolling down her cheeks, then marched up and wrapped his arms around her.

"I'm sorry, I should have told you." She whispered.

"No, it's okay. You have nothing to be sorry for. You've been trying to tell me this whole time and I've never bothered to make the time for you." He assured her. "I'm the one who should be sorry, I didn't mean to walk out like that." He added.

"I just need to know how you feel." She prompted, pulling back from the embrace to see his face.

"I mean, I'm surprised. It's the one thing that we've never discussed, but it's not a bad thing. I- I'm happy." He answered honestly.

"Really?" She questioned.

"Never been happier, and tonight after dinner with Aunt May, we'll go out for the evening to celebrate." He assured her.

"Crap! Dinner... We best start preparing." She remembered suddenly.

"Right... Do you need any help down here?" He asked.

"Well, maybe... But I thought you wanted a shower." She mentioned.

"Meh, it can wait. I don't want you to over-do it." He commented.

"Peter, really?" She questioned, rolling her eyes.

"What?" He asked innocently.

"I'm pregnant, not elderly." She laughed.

"But-" He began to protest, though was quickly interrupted.

"I'll be fine for now, so go and have a shower." She instructed.

"Alright." He agreed.

"And, take this with you." She requested, handing him the positive test that he'd brought down with him.

"You got it." He said, taking the test from her and heading back up the stairs.

Feeling a lot lighter now that she'd finally been able to say what she'd wanted to say, Gwen washed her hands thoroughly and began to unwrap the joint of beef, but stopped when a wave of nausea hit her as the smell wafted up her nose. She turned away from the meat and closed her eyes, taking deep breaths until the feeling had passed, then turned back to the meat, taking it out of the packaging and placing it in a glass dish before shoving it inside the oven and closing the door immediately. With the meat out of sight, she moved on to setting the table; first the cloth, then the plates and cups and finally the cutlery before she added a small centrepiece in the middle. Happy with her work, she moved on to preparing the rest of the meal.

Meanwhile, upstairs, having got dressed after getting out of the shower, Peter headed half way down the stairs when a familiar feeling hit him like a punch in the gut. As he got to the bottom step, he could hear the sound of a knife against a chopping board which caused the feeling to grow. Knowing that nothing good could follow if he didn't act quickly, he hurried himself into the kitchen where Gwen was cutting up a carrot. Without a word he marched up to her and took the knife from her hands, causing her to move aside as he began to take over the cutting.

"Peter, what are you doing?" She asked.

"Chopping food." He answered.

"Yeah, I can see that. But, why?" She questioned.

"Because I don't want you handling knives." He told her as he swiftly finished chopping up the remainder of the carrot and moved on to another.

"Come on, I'm not a child. I can handle slicing a few carrots." She protested.

"Yeah, and risk slicing your finger off with it? Nah ah, I don't think so." He stated stubbornly.

"Fine, then I'll just peel the potatoes." She stated.

Upon hearing her words, he immediately put down the cutting knife and rushed over to the potato peeler, grabbing it before she could get her hands on it. Gwen looked at him, crossing her arms with an unimpressed sigh.

"Seriously?" She questioned.

"A potato peeler is sharp too." He pointed out.

"Alright, fine. Then what can I do to help?" She asked.

"Hmm... You can go sit down and let me handle all the dinner preparations." He suggested.

"Mmm... Okay, but first, what are my other options?" She asked.

"Let me think... Watch TV, read a book, fold some nice, soft laundry, hang the washing out on the line... Wait, on second thoughts forget that last one, almost ninety-nine percent of hangings are caused by snapped washing lines." He listed, much to her annoyance.

"Yeah, not gonna happen." She told him. "I'm actually going to open a few windows to let some breeze in and then I'm going to carve the meat." She added.

"But-" He began to protest.

"Careful, Peter. If you stop me from carving the meat joint then I might just have to carve yours." She jokingly warned him with a smirk.

Wide eyed in surprise over her statement, Peter cleared his throat. "Nuhh- I was actually going to say, go for it." He chose his words carefully.

"Really?" She questioned in disbelief.

"Oh yeah, totally." He confirmed wearily. "Just... Be careful handling the knife." He added.

"I'll be fine... It's not like the knife can suddenly fly off the counter at me." She said, teasing him with the thought.

Gwen, seriously? Cut it out!" He huffed.

"Alright, alright. Chill dude! I'll be fine as long as I concentrate." She assured him.

Walking over to the windows, Gwen opened one on either side. Using the remaining time that was left for the beef to cook, she headed upstairs to change clothes after her usual jeans became uncomfortable. An hour later, May turned up right on cue as Gwen took the food out of the oven and shared it out in fair portions while Peter answered the door. Before sitting down to eat, Gwen gave May a smile and pulled Peter out into the hall, closing the kitchen door so that they couldn't be heard.

"Woah, what's the deal?" Peter asked, confused by her random act.

"Nothing, I just... Do you think that we can keep the thing between us for now? I'm just not ready to tell anyone else yet... Not until the first check up." She requested.

"Thing? What thing?" He questioned.

"You know! The P-R-E-G-N-A-N-C-Y." She spelled out in a whisper.

"Oh." He mouthed, finally understanding. "Sure, of course. If that's what you want." He agreed.

"Thank you." She breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's okay." He said, pulling her into a hug.

Moments later the two entered the kitchen together, not wanting to be gone for too long incase Aunt May got suspicious. Taking their seats on either side of their guest, everyone began to eat, conversing in between mouthfuls of food and catching up on the time spent since they'd last seen each other. Unbeknownst to Peter and Gwen, May looked back and forth between the two and smiled as she pretended that she hadn't heard them talking in the hallway.