Tasha closed her eyes when the timer on her phone rang, continuing to grip Jane and Patterson's shoulders. "You ready?" Jane questioned.
"We're here for you no matter what," Patterson assured her, a sad smile on her face.
Nodding, Tasha gathered her courage and picked up the pregnancy test. Her breath caught in her throat at the two pink lines. "I'm pregnant." She went numb for a second, her vision blacking out, but she came back to herself less than a minute later. Everything slammed into her at once and she let out a sob but Patterson and Jane quickly pulled her in for a hug. The man she loved should be here to celebrate with her, but instead she was mourning him and knocked up while on the run.
"What do you want to do? We'll support you either way," Patterson murmured to Tasha, rubbing her back when her sobs died down minutes later.
"This baby is part Reade, the last piece of him I have left." Tears continued to drip down her face but she ignored it, her mind focused on this life-changing news she suspected for weeks but had been in denial about until her friends confronted her. He would have been so excited about this and probably amused that he got her pregnant on the first go. As absolutely terrified as she was about this situation, there were some positives. She couldn't think of them right now but knew they existed.
"We'll find a doctor, one that can be discreet, to get you checked out to make sure everything is fine. And then we'll just have to work harder at getting our names cleared." Jane flashed her an encouraging smile.
Tasha leaned into Patterson as she continued crying. "Thanks."
Patterson brushed the hair back from her face. "You don't have to thank us - we're family, and you can bet that we'll spoil the fuck out of this kid."
She chuckled, her whole body shaking. "Never change, Patterson."
Patterson winked at her. "I don't plan on it."
"You want to tell the guys? I think they're chomping at the bit to find out what we're hiding." Jane suspected Kurt knew but her husband hadn't said anything yet.
Tasha's whole body shuddered but she nodded. "Let's do this, get it out of the way." She stood up with Patterson and Jane's help, and then they rejoined the guys.
Kurt eyed her in concern. "Everything okay?"
Tasha inhaled and then blew out a breath, wanting to drop the bomb right away. She couldn't keep ignoring this. "I'm knocked up," she told the boys before barking out a laugh.
Everyone eyed her in concern but nobody said anything for about thirty seconds. Rich broke the silence first. "We're having a baby?" he asked excitedly.
She rolled her eyes. "It's not your baby," she grumbled good-naturedly.
Kurt wrapped her up into a hug. "Congratulations. I'm so happy for you." He kissed the crown of her head and then rejoined Jane.
"We're having a baby!" Rich repeated before also hugging her. He turned to Patterson. "We're going to make sure this kid is spoiled, right?"
She scoffed. "Of course."
"We got this. I just want you to get that through your head." Jane was determined to protect Tasha and the baby to the best of her ability - she wouldn't let anything else happen to them.
"I'll try." An overwhelming sense of dread coursed through her body but Tasha ignored for it now, happy to let her friends' love and support envelop her.
"What are we going to name the baby?" Rich clapped his hands and went to go look up baby names.
Tasha hoped the rest of this pregnancy wasn't spent on the run but she had to be realistic. And she'd make sure this baby would know about their father, about how he died a hero to protect her. And she was grateful for her friends' support later that night when she cried and mourned Reade's loss once more - wasn't the first time nor was it the last.
When Tasha gave birth to a son named Reade Elijah Zapata seven months later, her friends were by her side in the hospital (Patterson and Jane went into the delivery room with her, as planned). She missed the man she loved more than ever but this little boy, a big part of him, gave her hope for the future.