Disclaimer: I own nothing whatsoever. Everything is property of Joss Whedon and all those other people who help him. And because I love the characters so much, I will borrow them without permission, which is in no way stealing unless you have some sort of twisted dictionary
Chapter Five
Lindsey's mouth dropped open in shock as he gaped at Cordelia. "Can you repeat that?" he asked curiously for he thought he might have heard her wrong.
Oh god, Cordelia thought as she let out a mental groan. He's freaked. I should have known. Things are just moving too fast. "Um, the movie part's narrowed down to me and Jennifer Aniston?" she began uncertainly with a weak smile.
"I know that part," Lindsey began in a monotone voice. "And it's great, I really am proud of you, sweetie, but you said something after that." He moved in closer towards her on the couch and wrapped his hand around her shoulders. "What is it?"
Cordelia swallowed nervously as she tried to gather up the courage to tell Lindsey what was going on. On one hand, he might have just misheard her and would be thrilled that they were going to be starting a family. But on the other hand, he might have heard her correctly and was just too afraid to face the truth.
"Cordelia," Lindsey began in a warning tone of voice as he picked up her frightened brunette head so he could look her in the eyes.
"Um, I'm pregnant with your child?" Cordelia said with the same amount of uncertainty as her previous statement. She then glanced up at Lindsey, trying to see if his facial expression gave any intimation of what he was truly thinking and feeling at the moment. "Are you freaked out?" she asked tentatively.
Lindsey started slowly shaking his head back and forth as he pulled Cordelia in closer to him and placed her on his lap, her head resting against his muscular torso. "I'm not freaked out," he assured her as he tilted his head down and kissed her lips gently. "You just kind of surprised me with the news, that's all," he added for clarification.
"Promise?" she asked as she looked up at him. "You don't think this is a little fast? You think we can handle this?" she continued as the fear began making its way out of her body.
"Shh, shh," Lindsey said gently as he began rubbing Cordelia's back soothingly. "Cordelia, this is what I signed on for when I asked you to marry me. You and me living together for the rest of our life and starting a family. Whatever you need me to do, I'll be more than willing to do for you. It may be a little fast, but we'll make it through. I can promise you that," he said confidently as he enveloped her into a comforting hug.
"You're the best boyfriend a girl could ever ask for," Cordelia declared before letting out a long and exasperated sigh.
"And don't you forget it," Lindsey said with a slight chuckle as he glanced down at his tired fiancŽe. "You ok, sweetie?" he asked a moment later, hints of concern filling his voice.
"Just tired, I guess," Cordelia answered honestly. "Between having to deal with Nev before taking a shower, the audition, and the morning sickness that can't tell time, I'm not sure how much longer I can remain awake."
Lindsey nodded sympathetically. "If you're feeling tired, you really should get some sleep," he pointed out with the simplest amount of logic he had ever used with Cordelia. "I'll be fine."
"You sure?" Cordelia asked as she began to sit up a little straighter within Lindsey's arms.
Lindsey nodded once more. "If it'll help you and our family, my fun can wait," he assured her. "You sure the child is real right?" he asked a moment later.
"The pregnancy test is in the bathroom trashcan if you'd really like to check, but that's quite disgusting," Cordelia pointed out with a slight smile as she arose from the couch. "Good night," she added a moment later as she began walking over towards the bedroom.
"Sweet dreams, promise?"
Cordelia nodded. "Sweet as sugar," she promised as she closed the door behind her and crawled into the suddenly very inviting bed.
"You look like hell," Lilah proclaimed as she saw her co-worker walking in through the main doors of Wolfram and Hart, a statement that while being rude was not far exaggerated. Lindsey's unkempt appearance consisted of his unwashed hair going in at least fifty if not sixty different directions at once as well as large circles under his eyes.
"Save it, Lilah," Lindsey muttered bitterly as he brushed right by the other lawyer and began heading towards his office so that he could get a decent cup of coffee. "It was a rough night."
"No kidding," Lilah said softly under her breath. "I never knew Cordelia could be that rough with you though," she mused as she quickly caught up with Lindsey. "Even when the two of you were doing it like little sex bunnies almost around the clock, you never looked this bad at work."
"Lilah," Lindsey began in annoyance as he abruptly turned around, "get any images of me and Cordelia out of your head. It was nothing like that."
"You wait until you're engaged to start cheating on her?" Lilah asked in amazement. "I've got to say, even considering all the stupid things you've done, cheating on one of NBC's best comedy stars has got to be the stupidest."
"Nothing like that either," Lindsey said angrily as he tried to get past Lilah. "Before you can say anything else, I'll have you know that she was getting up every twenty minutes or so and getting sick."
"Ew," Lilah said as she took a large step back from Lindsey. "Better not pass whatever she's got along to me or I'll kill you for it."
Lindsey groaned as he finally approached his office. "Don't worry, pregnancy's not contagious. First you'd need to find a guy willing to sleep with you," he yelled in hopes to shut his co-worker up as he walked in his office and slammed the door closed behind him.
"I'd be willing to sleep with her," Gavin Park perked up from inside Lindsey's.
"What?" Lindsey asked as he fumbled his way over towards his coffee pot. "What are you even doing in here?" he added in annoyance as he glared at the man in his office. "Aren't you supposed to be Lilah's assistant?"
"Just delivering papers," Gavin stated as he placed a small stack of white paper on Lindsey's desk before making his way over towards the door. "And might I suggest that you clean up before the liaisons to the Senior Partners find out," he added with a raised eyebrow as he opened the door. "Especially Eve. She's got her eye on you," he warned as he slipped out.
It was well past noon before Cordelia could finally bring herself out of bed enough to stand up and take a quick shower. She had already arranged for Carol to drive her in to the studio that afternoon. All she needed to do was make herself semi-presentable. Luckily, they were not scheduled to do filming that day but rather just break some plot ideas and start going over the script for the next episode.
She smiled slightly as she pulled herself out of the shower and tossed on some clothes. As she finished drying her hair, she heard the pounding from the front door. "Just a second, Carol," she called weakly as she pulled her hair up into a serviceable ponytail.
"So what's up?" Carol asked as Cordelia opened the door for her, allowing Carol to step inside. "You sounded so desperate and tired on the phone."
"Long night," Cordelia began as she was half telling the truth. "Come on," she said in hopes to distract her friend. "You know how finicky Joss gets about tardiness."
Carol smiled as she pulled her keys out from her black sweatpants and began heading out towards her car. "You got that right," she pointed out as she unlocked the doors and climbed into the driver's seat. "Now, are you really feeling alright?" Carol asked as Cordelia as her co-star crawled into the passenger's seat. "I mean with canceling lunch yesterday and the desperate sounding phone call"
"Ok," Cordelia began as she drew in a deep breath. "You cannot tell anyone what I'm about to tell you, especially Joss and David since they will surely freak out if they don't hear it from me first."
"You're leaving the show!?" Carol exclaimed in shock as she tilted her head towards Cordelia.
"No!" Cordelia exclaimed loudly. "And please, Carol, keep your eyes on the road. Just because someone has a license in Los Angeles does not mean that they can drive well."
"Point taken," Carol began as she returned her eyes back to the roads. "Now tell me what's up with you or I'm pulling over."
Cordelia nodded. "Alright, as my friend and co-star, you deserve to know."
"You want to end the show!?" Carol exclaimed in shock.
Cordelia shook her head back and forth emphatically. "I'm not ending the show and I'm not leaving the show," she affirmed. "But you know how close Lindsey and I have been within the past years, right?"
"Oh my god, he dumped you," Carol began as she tossed Cordelia a pack of tissues that were kept behind the steering wheel.
"No!" Cordelia exclaimed loudly. "Carol, he proposed only three days ago," she pointed out gently.
"Oh, right," Carol began. "Sorry."
Cordelia shook it off. "It's fine," she said with a slight smile. "But back to what I was saying before--"
"Of course!" Carol exclaimed. "Sorry again. Cordelia, just say it or I'm bound to interrupt you again."
Cordelia smiled slightly as she glanced out the window, just to make sure there were no people or cars within a few feet of Carol's car. Although she loved Carol as a friend very much, she was still a little hesitant about her co-star's driving skills. There was no need to add her element of surprise to the dangers of Carol's driving. Cordelia let a sigh of relief out as Carol parked her car in the studio lot.
"Cordelia, you can't escape this," Carol said as she pulled the keys out of the ignition. "I'm not letting you out until you tell me what's going on."
"Right," Cordelia began. "Um, Lindsey and I are going to be parents. I'm pregnant."
"Wow!" Carol let out in amazement. "That's great Cordy," she said as she leaned across the front seat and hugged Cordelia in a friendly manner. "How far are you?"
Cordelia shrugged slightly as the two of them pulled apart and began getting out of the car. "I'm not exactly sure, but I know it can't be that far," she said honestly.
"The place where they're filming the movie?" Nev asked curiously as the two women entered the studio.
"Movie!" Carol gasped. "How'd the audition go?" she asked as she turned to Cordelia.
"Pretty good," Cordelia said with a small smile. "I've got a fifty-fifty chance at the part right now, but I'm not sure if I'm going to take it."
"Not take it?!" Nev blurted out in anger. He frowned, taking a deep breath to calm down. "Why? Do you not like the movie? Were you put off by the lousy actress who thinks she can compete with you for the part?"
Cordelia raised an eyebrow at Nev. "First off, Jennifer Aniston is not exactly a lousy actress. And I have nothing against the movie's plot. It actually sounds quite interesting and definitely has the potential to be something really great. And lastly, there's another reason, a more personal reason," she said with a quick glance over at Carol, "but I'd prefer to tell everyone at once, with all the writing staff there."
"Then you're just in time," Nev announced as he began ushering Cordelia and Carol back into one of the writing rooms. "Everyone else is already here."
"Cordelia, nice of you to join us," one of the writers, Cordelia thought his name was Stephen, said without looking up from his papers. "Now, in terms of the season's progression--"
"I need to talk to you all about that," Cordelia interrupted as she glanced around the room at everyone. The writers, the directors, the producers, her fellow co-stars. All of them had their eyes focused on Cordelia.
"Don't worry," Carol injected as she took her usual seat between Gregory and one of the directors, Kevin. "She doesn't want to end the show."
"What is it?" Stephen asked curiously.
Cordelia swallowed hard before speaking. "It won't really start to matter for a few months, but last night I found out that I'm pregnant with Lindsey's child. I can't possibly have been pregnant for more than a month, so it'll be a little while before I begin showing and all that, but I thought I should give you a heads up on all that."
"Well," David began as his eyebrows began wrinkling in slight frustration, "this is a bit of a tangle and we weren't exactly planning on it to happen--"
"Which in a way makes it a little more fun," Stephen interrupted as his face began filling with excitement. His excitement diminished slightly a moment later. "But who would be the father of the child on the show?" he asked.
Gregory coughed slightly and gestured at himself with one hand. "We're getting kinda close," he pointed out with a smile. "On the show, I mean. I brought roses and everything."
"I like it!" David exclaimed with a smile. "But we need a little more, so there should be something about Jack being jealous since he also is in love with Cordy."
"That is something I can do," another writer, Jane, said with a huge smile as she began scribbling the idea out onto her notepad. "Please let me write the first episode with the love triangle! Please!" she begged.
"Fine," David said quickly, mostly as a way to shut his writer up. "So that's where we'll go with that. But now we need to talk specifics of next week's show."