CHAPTER 10

It was now a few days before the wedding and Calleigh felt sick to her stomach. Not just the usual 'nerves talking' sickness which one would usually get as the big day approaches, but one that had a familiarly to Calleigh. At first, she shrugged it off, thinking it was nerves or at least something bad that she ate. It wasn't until the third morning this week that she had to run into the bathroom at work and throw up that she felt it could be something else. She walked over to the sink to wash her face. She started thinking over what it could be before it dawned on her.

Calleigh looked at herself in the mirror as she spoke in a near whisper. "I can't be…no. I'm on the pill."

She pulled up her shirt, exposing her stomach. She placed her hand on her stomach, gently rubbing it. She didn't feel sore anywhere else, nor did it look like she was gaining weight. She didn't feel like she did the last time.

"It has to be something else." She muttered as she left the bathroom. She made a mental note to stop by the pharmacy after work to buy a pregnancy kit just to prove that her suspicions were uncalled for. Calleigh headed over to trace just as Ryan walked out with his kit, almost colliding with her.

"Oh!" Calleigh quickly moved out of the way, running into the wall.

Ryan dropped his kit. "Are you ok?" He reached out to her.

"I'm fine."

"Sorry about that. I was in a hurry and I didn't look as I came out."

"What are you in a hurry for?"

"Eric and I got a call about some potential evidence in the McMurray case. We need to get out to the beach before it gets washed away."

Ryan leaned down to quickly kiss her. That's when he noticed that Calleigh's face looked slightly ashen. "Are you sure you're ok? In fact, you've been looking a little pale the last couple of days."

"I said I was fine." Calleigh waved her hand at Ryan. "I think my body's not agreeing with the sushi I ate." She quickly kissed him. "Now go. I don't want to hear from Eric that you kept him waiting too long."

"Ok." Ryan picked up his kit. "Alexx and Valera still taking you out tonight?"

"Yes. Even though I told them I didn't want a bachelorette party, they insisted at least they take me to a strip club for a final 'girls night out' while I was still single."

"I would have worked at a strip club, but I would have gotten hurt from all the quarters that women would have thrown at me." Ryan cracked, causing Calleigh to laugh. She shoved him.

"Go. Get out of here."

Ryan started walking down the hallway. "Don't forget that after work, I'm picking Christine and Heather up at the airport and taking them to dinner."

"I know. I got the second room ready."

"Thanks, Cal." Ryan disappeared around the corner. Calleigh rubbed her stomach again before letting out a small sigh and started walking back to ballistics.

-that evening-

Calleigh sat in her bathroom at the apartment waiting for the results of her test. Alexx and Valera would be over at any moment to pick her up, so she started pacing, hoping that she would get the answer that would hopefully calm her fears and prove her wrong. She walked back over and looked at the test kit. As she picked it up, there was a knock at the door.

Without any hesitation, Calleigh picked up the box the test came in and buried them both in the kitchen trash before answering the door. She didn't want Ryan to by chance find the used kit in the bathroom trash. She opened the door to see Alexx and Valera there.

"Are you ready honey?"

"Sure, Alexx. Let me just grab my purse."

"I hope you're ready to get good and drunk," Valera said with a hint of naughtiness in her voice. "I brought enough ones for you to keep busy with the dancers between shots."

"Oh, that's great." Calleigh answered sarcastically.

"You're lucky that it's Saturday tomorrow," Valera continued. "Because when I'm done with you, you'll need the weekend to sleep it off."

Calleigh let out a little chuckle. "Let's go."

The three of them sat down near the stage, cheering on the near-naked men strutting their stuff before them. Valera was standing on her chair, obviously enjoying the action a little more than Calleigh and Alexx were, due to the fact that she already had four shots in her on top of the beer she started off with. Alexx was nursing a beer, given that she was the designated driver for the evening. Calleigh also had a beer in front of her that she barely touched, only taking a small sip because Valera was goading her for not keeping up with her side of the drinking. Valera had started herself and Calleigh off with a shot, and downed her first one while Calleigh left hers alone. Valera kept ordering shots while Calleigh sat there and tried to enjoy the evening. As much as she hooted and hollered at the men, Calleigh couldn't take her mind off of the events at her apartment.

Valera sat back down in her chair and looked at Calleigh's shot. "Well, if you're not gonna drink that." She grabbed the shot and tucked it back.

Alexx looked at her. "Girl, you better watch it. I don't need to be carrying you out of here."

"Whatever, mom." Valera slurred, before sticking her tongue out at Alexx.

Alexx laughed and shook her head. "Having fun, Cal?"

"I'm having a great time." The tone of her voice convinced Alexx otherwise.

Valera was too out of it to care. She stood up and grabbed a pile of one dollar bills. "If you will excuse me, I'm going to use my friend George Washington here to get friendly with a pair of briefs. Cal, come join me." She shuffled her feet over to one of the stages.

"I'll be there in a moment." Calleigh yelled out to her.

Alexx moved closer to Calleigh. "What's wrong, honey?"

"Nothing, really."

"There must be something wrong, dear. You look unhappy and you've hardly touched your first drink."

"I can't drink."

"Why not?"

"Because, I…" Calleigh didn't want to finish the sentence. Almost as if she didn't say it, it wouldn't be true. Without thinking about it, she reached down and rubbed her stomach.

Alexx's eyes went wide. "Oh, my god! You're pregnant?"

"I think so. The test came back positive."

"Oh, I'm so happy for you!" Alexx pulled Calleigh into a tight embrace. She let her go and looked at Calleigh, noticing that she still wasn't happy. "Wait…was this planned?"

"No, it wasn't." Calleigh signed. "Despite being on the pill, I still got pregnant."

Alexx put her arm around her. "Sweetheart, you know that birth control is not one hundred percent effective."

"I know."

"Does Ryan know about it?"

"No, I just found out today. I don't even know how far along I am. I just recently became sick."

"You should have told us before we came here. We wouldn't have dragged you out to a strip club."

"I didn't want to ruin the evening." Calleigh looked over at Valera who was shoving money down a stripper's underwear. "Besides, I was hoping that it would take my mind off it for a while."

Alexx turned and looked at Valera herself before turning back to Calleigh. "Honey, you're not ruining anything."

Valera came back over to the table and dropped herself down. "Hey, Cal…I have a few more dollars left if you want to go over there and stuff the turkey." And with that, she let out a slight snort and passed out.

"I told the poor thing to pace herself. I'm not carrying her out of here." Alexx motioned for a attendant to come over. "How about we get 'Sleeping Beauty' back home and I'll take you out somewhere quiet so we can have a cup of coffee and talk. Are you up for that?"

"I would like that." Calleigh and Alexx along with the attendant stirred Valera enough to get her to her feet. All four walked out to Alexx's car.

It was well after midnight by the time Alexx dropped Calleigh off at home. Alexx and Calleigh had talked for a few hours and the talk convinced Calleigh that the sooner she told Ryan, the better. Calleigh walked in to see Christine making herself a snack in the kitchen. "Hi, Chris."

"Calleigh!" Christine walked over and hugged Calleigh. "How you doing, girl?"

"I'm doing fine. How was your evening?"

"It was great. The three of us had a great time. Heather wanted to finally meet you, but she turned in early. She still can't get used to American time."

"American time?"

"She's from England. Been here about a year now and still can't reset her internal clock."

"You and Ryan never told me that she was from England."

"Really? Strange…it must've slipped our minds." Christine shrugged her shoulders.

"Did Ryan go to bed already, too?"

"No. He's in the bedroom checking on the computer to make sure that your family's flight is still going to be on time tomorrow." Christine smiled. "I still can't believe that you're getting married to my Ry-Ry!"

Calleigh laughed. Only Christine got away with calling Ryan by that nickname, even to his face. It would amuse Calleigh when his face would turn red from Christine calling him that in front of other people. She thought it was cute.

Christine covered her mouth as she yawned. "I need to turn in for the evening myself." She picked up her plate. "Nice seeing you again, Cal. I'll talk to you in the morning."

"Goodnight, Chris." Calleigh waited until Christine went to bed before shutting off the lights to the kitchen and living room. Walking in the dark towards her bedroom, she could hear Ryan tapping away at the computer. She opened the door.

He looked over her shoulder. "Hey sweetie. Have a fun time tonight?"

"Yes I did." Calleigh started to undress as Ryan looked back at the computer.

"I'm almost done. I'm just verifying the hotel rooms for your family."

Calleigh walked over to Ryan and placed a hand on each shoulder and let out a deep sigh. "Honey, we need to talk."

The tone of her voice caused him to stop working on the computer. He spun the chair around and looked at Calleigh, her face showing signs of worry.

"Baby, what's wrong?"

Ryan got up as Calleigh sat down on the bed. He joined her and took her hands into his. All of a sudden, Calleigh looked like she changed her mind and didn't want to talk. Ryan pressed on.

"C'mon…you just can't close up like that. You should know by now that I'm here for you. If something is bothering you, you know that you can talk to me about anything." He paused. "Are you trying to tell me that you don't want to get married?"

Calleigh looked at him. "Heavens, no. I want to be your wife. It's just…remember how we talked about starting a family?"

"Yes, yes I do." Ryan answered. He studied the look on her face. Suddenly, he thought of something. "Are you trying to tell me that you can't have children?"

Calleigh was caught off guard from Ryan's question. She wasn't expecting him to ask her that. She swallowed hard. "No, actually it's the opposite. I, um…I just found out today that I might be pregnant."

Ryan let go of her hands and looked down at the bed. The room was unbearably quiet for a few seconds as he absorbed the information before he spoke. "A-are you sure?"

"Well, I haven't been feeling well the last few days. You can attest to that. You saw how I looked this morning."

"Did you know then?"

"No. I thought that I was truly sick. It wasn't until I took a home pregnancy test earlier this evening that it came up positive."

"The test could have given a false reading."

"That is true. I think I'll have some blood drawn at the lab to confirm it, but these kits are very accurate. I don't think it gave me a false reading."

Ryan looked up at Calleigh. "Did you go off the pill?"

"No. I think that unfortunately, it happened during the one time it wasn't effective." Calleigh picked up one of Ryan's hands and held it. "What do you want to do? If I am pregnant, do you want me to terminate-"

"Don't even think that!" Ryan snapped at Calleigh, which caused her to flinch. He composed himself. "Look, I'm sorry. It's just hard for me to really let it sink in like this. I want to be a father, I really do. There is nothing that would make me happier than to start a family with you…I was just hoping to wait a few years before we made that happen."

"I know, honey." Calleigh reached up and stroked the side of Ryan's face. "But things happen. I just want to know if we can be ready for this."

"Are you?"

"If it turns out that I am expecting, then yes, I think so." She answered.

Ryan thought again for a moment and then pulled Calleigh close to him. "I think I am ready. I can only hope that I can be the best father that there is for this child." He laid back onto the bed, pulling Calleigh down with him.

Calleigh tugged at his chin. "I always thought that you would make a great father."

"I hope so," Ryan answered. "Does anyone else know?"

"Just Alexx. I haven't told anyone else."

"That's good. The last thing I need is everybody to think that we're having a 'shotgun wedding'."

Calleigh laughed. "I don't think I'll be telling my mother yet. She'll get ultra-paranoid and tell me to stay in bed for 9 months. I don't need her freaking out before the wedding."

"Like I'm not freaking out myself, Cal."

"You seem to be taking the news well." Calleigh reached over to her side of the bed and turned out the light before snuggling back up to Ryan. He was quiet, staring at the ceiling.

She lifted her head. "What's wrong?"

"I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight."

"Well you can try to, if you would just turn off your light."

"I feel too tense right now." Ryan let out a little sigh.

"Is it because of the pregnancy?"

"Part of it. I'm just stressed out mostly over making sure all goes well for the wedding and everything goes to plan."

"So you just need to let off a little steam to relax? Calleigh asked.

"Yeah, I guess I do. I'm not sure what I can do to feel more relaxed. Maybe take a long bath or have a glass of milk."

Calleigh chuckled at Ryan's rambling. "I can do something for you to help you relax."

"What's that?"

Calleigh sat up and took off her shirt. "Why don't you turn off the light and find out."

(click)

to be continued…