Sorry about the long wait. I graduated from college about two weeks ago, and have since been scrambling around to other graduations and trying to start my masters program (while working at two part time jobs and trying to keep my family happy). In the meantime, I lost my flash drive, along with a good chunk of my writing (including this story). Now that I'm done mourning the loss of all that writing, I'm just going to have to try and reproduce it. Again, sorry for the long wait. But I promise I'm not dropping any of my stories – they will be completed. Thanks so much for all of the encouraging reviews! Hope you enjoy this next chapter.

Chapter 22 Ready or Not

Before opening his eyes, Lucas came to the horrific realization that it was the first day of spring midterms. He wasn't ready. He attempted to roll back over and fall asleep, but he realized with a groan that his wife had already vacated the bed. Standing up and stretching, he looked around their bedroom to find it empty. "Peyton?" He called in a sleepy voice before beginning to trudge toward the hall. Any remnants of sleep and bleary thought were shaken when he neared the bathroom and heard her gagging inside. "Peyton?" He knocked softly on the bathroom door, running his other hand through his sleep-tousled hair. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," she answered back dryly. He tried the doorknob but found it, predictably, locked.

"Open the door, Pey—"

"Luke, I'm fine. Go away."

"You don't sound fine."

"Go away," she groaned again.

"Open the door," he insisted. There was a moment of silence before he heard the lock click. Opening the door, he found her sitting on the bathroom carpet, her head resting on the now-closed toilet seat. As gently as possibly, he picked her up and started back toward their bedroom.

"Bad fish," she said weakly.

"It looks like," he agreed. "I'm sorry."

"You didn't make the fish."

"But I still don't want you to be sick," he said gently as he laid her back under the covers. Dropping a soft kiss on her forehead, he went to turn out the bedroom light. An hour later, she was sleeping again and he was looking up her class schedule and attempting to find out which professors needed to be contacted concerning the coming day. At first he considered leaving her alone long enough to take his midterms but just as he was about to leave, she began throwing up once more. She insisted that he leave but he ignored her weak protests and held her hair back while she emptied the meager contents of her stomach.

Twenty minutes before his British Literature midterm was about to begin, Lucas got in touch with Nathan, who was just coming out of a calculus exam.

"Hey," he said as he picked up his cell phone. "What's up?"

"Nathan! Where have you been?"

"Failing a calc midterm. What's the matter?"

"I'm supposed to be taking a midterm in twenty minutes but Peyton's sick. I tried to call Hales—"

"She's in a Biology midterm. It's a lab, she'll be there all day," Nathan interrupted. "I'll come over."

"I can probably just make up the test if I explain—"

"Luke, I can help."

"Okay," Lucas relented uncertainly. "See you in a few." He hung up the phone and his eyes drifted back toward his wife, who was currently curled up in a ball in the middle of their bed. She looked liked she was sleeping more comfortably at that point, so Lucas pulled the quilt over her shoulders and attempted to straighten the multitude of blankets. Lucas blew out the door as soon as Nathan arrived, planning to take his midterms as quickly as possible and return. He trusted his brother, truly he did. But he found it difficult even trusting his mother with Peyton. There was something about her that fell chiefly to Lucas's responsibility.

Lucas left the class realizing that he had probably just failed his first class but not particularly caring. His professor must have noticed something a bit odd because she stopped Lucas outside the lecture hall door, leaving her assistants to proctor the test. "Lucas!"

"Hey, Dr. Baldwin," Lucas said with the best smile he could muster.

"You look a little rushed. Everything okay? I noticed you were late for the test this morning."

"Sorry about that. My wife is sick and I didn't want to leave her so I had to wait for my brother to get back from his class—"

"I didn't realize you were married," she said with a gentle smile. She had always liked Lucas, always thought of him as one of the more responsible freshmen she had ever met. Now she had a slight indication as to the reason for his respectable behavior.

"Yeah, over Christmas break. I normally wouldn't let it interfere with class work, but she was sick, so—"

"I'll take that into consideration," Dr. Baldwin said with a nod. "Have a good weekend Lucas."

"Thanks. You too." He took off, running almost the entire distance to the subway where he jumped on the first train and made it back to his apartment in record time. Nathan was playing some mind-numbing game on the computer while Peyton sat, wrapping in a blanket, on the living room sofa.

"Hey," Lucas greeted her gently.

"Hey." She didn't say anymore, but glanced almost nervously at Nathan. Lucas got the idea and went about kicking his brother out. He couldn't feel too bad about it; Haley would be out of class shortly, giving him someone else to pester. As soon as Nathan was gone, Peyton stood and crossed the room to Lucas. He noticed that her color had returned to normal and she looked completely healthy; much different from earlier that morning.

"We need to talk," Peyton said ominously.

"What's up?"

"Let's sit down."

"Peyton, what's going on? Are you feeling better? You look much better—"

"I kind of wish I were still sick."

"Okay—" Lucas said as he sat down next to her on the sofa, shifting so they were sitting next to one another. "That's a little different."

"I think I know what happened this morning." She closed her eyes for a minute and Lucas began to wonder if she was going to pick the conversation back up. "I-think-I'm-pregnant," she said in one continuous breath before looking away, averting Lucas's surprised expression.

"Oh."

"Oh?"

"I'm not sure what else to say right now. This is big."

"Actually, it's quite small."

"Not funny."

"I know. Lucas, I'm a lot freaked out right now. Could you try not to be?"

"I could try. But I don't see that working right now. Are you sure?"

"I'm always regular and I'm over a month late. I took one of those home tests earlier today. I think it's pretty reliable."

"Wow."

"Yeah," She said with a soft sigh. She bit her lip, not sure whether to cry or become angry. This was not the reception she had accepted from the man she had come to love over the past few crazy and angst-filled years.

"We're gonna have a baby?" His voice was still monotone and completely without feeling, leaving Peyton with a feeling of utter defeat.

"Looks like," she said, the tears already starting to fill her hazel eyes.

"I'm gonna be a dad," he said softly. She was praying to sink into a black hole in the atmosphere so she missed the moment when his blue eyes began to sparkle. It was difficult to miss, however, the one quick movement he made that swung her joyfully into the air and around the room.

"Lucas!"

"We're having a baby," he said with a charming Scott grin.

"You said that already," she said with a laugh.

"It's a little hard to believe."

"Are you happy?"

"Of course. It's a little unexpected in the timing, but of course I want us to start a family. And I guess we have," he said as he kissed her and then dropped a kiss on her flat stomach.

The chapter title comes from Phil Vasser's Song "In a Real Love."