Hi! Thank you so much for all of the responses, as well as to those of you who read my one-shot "Baby Steps". Sorry for taking so long getting this out, but the suspense is over, lol! Look for another chapter soon . . . Enjoy!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Betty slowly opened her eyes. Everything was fuzzy at first - she heard a constant beeping sound and smelled a combination of cafeteria food, antiseptics and cleaning fluid. She couldn't feel the warm, soft comfort of Daniel's sweater – only a thin, stiff piece of cotton covering her body along with what seemed to be blankets. She saw stark white walls and an auburn-haired, middle-aged woman with a stethoscope standing over her, adjusting her IV.
"How are you feeling, Ms. Suarez?" she inquired. "My throat's dry. Umm . . . what am I doing here?" Betty asked, disoriented. "That's to be expected. You were a bit dehydrated. I'll fetch you some juice and let the doctor explain everything to you. Might I bring you anything else?" the nurse replied.
"Daniel . . . where's Daniel?" Betty wasn't sure what was going on, but she knew she needed him just in case it was something serious. "You mean that strapping young man with the entrancing blue eyes, who's set to wear a hole in the floor and a bare spot on his head from fretting up a storm?" the woman asked. Betty mused - that was definitely Daniel. She smiled and nodded.
"If you don't mind me saying, I'd hold onto that one if I were you – he seems like a keeper . . . I'm Aubrey, by the way," the woman introduced herself. "Betty – and he really is," Betty grinned. "Be back in a bit," Aubrey winked and left the room, while Betty rested her eyes.
Aubrey came back a few minutes later with a container of juice and a beleaguered-looking Daniel trailing close behind, a vase of pink and yellow gerbera daisies in his hand. "Hey," Daniel quietly said as he timidly walked into her room, setting the flowers on her nightstand. "I'll leave you two lovebirds alone – fetching gem, by the way," Aubrey commented, observing Betty's ring as she took the juice from her.
"Thank you," Betty smiled and then lovingly gazed at Daniel. "The doctor will be in shortly," Aubrey added and left. "Are you okay? The doctor only told me that you were stable and nothing else – something about patient confidentiality . . ." he worriedly asked, lightly pecking her lips. "I don't know – you probably know more than I do, since I don't remember how I got here. Thank you for the flowers, they're beautiful," Betty answered.
"I know they're you're favorite," he said and smiled. What he didn't say to her was that getting them at the gift shop was all that kept him from knocking a wall in while he waited for the doctors to give him any ounce of information. "I found you passed out in the bathroom, and you'd thrown up. You didn't wake up, so I called an ambulance. I've never been more terrified in my life – it was like Molly all over again only worse, because I had no idea what I was facing . . ." Daniel confessed.
"Oh, baby . . . I'm so sorry I scared you like that – I don't know what's wrong with me," she squeezed his hand. "I went to turn on the water for the shower and felt sick to my stomach. While I was rinsing out my mouth, I got that weak, dizzy feeling again . . . then I woke up here," Betty recalled. She knew what Molly's illness had put him through and hoped nothing that horrible was wrong with her – for both of their sakes.
"It's okay – whatever it is, we'll get through it – I promise," Daniel assured her, kissing her hand. They heard a knock at the door as the doctor came in. "Ms. Suarez? I'm Dr. Andrews," the brunette-haired woman in her mid-forties introduced herself.
"It's Betty – and this is my fiancé, Daniel Meade," she replied as they all greeted one another. Fiancé . . . wow . . . it was the first time she'd said it out loud and it felt . . . strange . . . and exciting at the same time. "Betty?" Daniel put his hand on her arm, jolting her out of her thoughts. "Oh. Sorry! What were you saying?" she apologized.
"I was just telling Daniel, here, that my son works for London's MODE branch. He's an assistant to their editor in chief," Dr. Andrews told Betty. "Wow! That was actually my first job at MODE in New York," she commented. "This really is a coincidence. However, I suppose we should get down to the reason you're here," the doctor began. Betty took a deep breath. Daniel held onto Betty's hand in support.
"Now, I must ask before I go on, would you like some privacy while I tell you?" Dr. Andrews looked at Daniel. "I can leave, if you want?" Daniel offered. "No – stay . . . I need you here," Betty looked at him desperately, placing her other hand on top of his. Daniel smiled and nodded.
"Anything you have to say to me, you can say to Daniel," she nervously smiled at the doctor. "Very well, then. The reason why you collapsed was partially due to dehydration and lack of anything to eat. What has your lifestyle been like recently?" the doctor inquired.
"Not that great, actually. I've been under some stress the past few weeks and was basically just eating a ton of junk food and ended up throwing it up. I wasn't sleeping that well either. Last night or yesterday – I just got to London early this morning - I had stayed up the night before, in New York, and haven't had anything to eat but some pretzels and ginger ale on the plane," Betty confessed, embarrassed.
"I suggest you start taking better care of yourself, because you're now supporting a little one, as well," Dr. Andrews advised Betty. Betty looked at Daniel in shock. "What? I – I'm pregnant? But - but that's impossible – how can you tell that fast?" she protested, assuming it was from their marathon that morning. "You're three weeks along," Dr. Andrews confirmed.
"But – but we only slept together that one time?" Betty looked at Daniel again, who was still trying to process everything. "We broke up after that . . . We haven't been together since last night – or this morning – or whatever – and we've always used protection," she recalled the events.
Daniel's head was spinning from overload and shock – pregnant . . . baby . . . father . . . Betty okay . . . he blinked himself back to reality. "Yes, well contraceptives aren't one-hundred percent effective, as I assume you both already know. Did you perhaps have any other partners around the time you and Daniel had your spat?" the doctor asked.
Betty and Daniel simultaneously snapped their wide-eyes toward each other. It had never crossed Daniel's mind that Betty was ever that type of girl, but he had hurt her and left her to believe there was no going back. He knew all the stupid things he had done when he was hurt in the past . . . "No!" Betty adamantly exclaimed. "God, no! I swear – it's always been you," she assured Daniel. "For me, too," he assured back, relieved.
"Very well, it appears you two are the parents of a new little baby. Of course there are other options, as I believe you're aware of, but I'll leave you some pamphlets in case you have any questions," she handed Betty and Daniel a few folded pieces of paper regarding everything to do with pregnancy alternatives.
"In the meantime, I'll write you a prescription for some pre-natal vitamins and schedule a tentative appointment for an ultrasound in six weeks. I'd like to keep you here overnight for observation, but it seems as though you will be perfectly fine with some rest and a healthy diet," Dr. Andrews replied. "Thank you," Betty and Daniel both managed to get out as the doctor left them to absorb everything.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
For minutes they sat in silence, unable to comprehend what the doctor had told them. Betty was so relieved not to have a life-threatening disease, but pregnant? With her new, even more demanding job and her fresh start with Daniel – including planning a wedding - a baby was the last thing she needed.
On the other hand, she couldn't even consider the alternative. Just the thought of it made her shudder. She wasn't brought up that way. Plus, she remembered Hilda's words about Justin - how even though she regretted not being able to do certain things because of him, he was still the best thing that had happened to her. Betty also recalled Hilda losing her baby with Bobby, that even though Hilda was skeptical of having another baby as a single mother, she was devastated when she lost it.
And when Betty thought about it, this wasn't like her own scare with Matt, where her feelings for him she could now admit weren't as strong as his were for her. While Matt was very supportive and happy about it – was all for raising a child with her - she was just relieved that she turned out not to be pregnant.
A part of it was probably because deep down she wasn't sure whether Matt was the right guy for her. Now, she really was with the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. But what if Daniel didn't want it? What if this scared him off? They had barely had time to be together as couple. Throw a child into the mix along with the rest of their busy lives and there went any time for romance.
It's not that she didn't want children, but she thought they had at least a year or two to settle down into their new lives and surroundings before adding to the chaos that was bound to ensue. And sure, Daniel had just mentioned about having children that morning. But she didn't think he meant he wanted an instantaneous family the second he proposed.
She didn't know if she could face raising a child on her own – as independent as she liked to think she was. Hilda did it, although technically she had had immense help from their family – not an option for herself unless she wanted to give up her job and move back home. Wait – she was getting ahead of herself. She didn't even know how Daniel felt yet.
Daniel still couldn't believe it – Betty – pregnant? A baby? How the hell did this happen? Well he knew how – he knew exactly how and when and where and how many times . . . he wouldn't trade that for anything. But a baby – now? Without question, he wanted kids. Ever since DJ came into his life, his views about having children had changed. And it wasn't like he was getting any younger either.
Only shouldn't they have some time to enjoy just being them? To adjust to living together, living in London, getting married, being married . . . That wasn't even counting their careers – not that he had one anymore . . . but he had planned on getting a new one . . . and Betty did have one.
And he refused to work late meetings, attend stuffy galas, stumble home at two in the morning to read drunken versions of fairytales, miss birthdays to go on cruises to Maui or the Virgin Islands, hire interior designers to decorate a tree for the holidays that would eventually get knocked over from having too much thoroughly-spiked eggnog, and eventually ship them off to boarding school because they needed to "man-up" or more to the point were too much to handle anymore.
He refused to know and care less about his children than their nanny did. He refused to be . . . well, his parents. He wanted more for them than that. He wanted them to have what he never had – a semi-normal, non-traumatizing childhood.
Why was he even going there? Betty hadn't really expressed her opinion on the current situation . . . maybe she didn't want . . . God! He couldn't think about it. While he had always claimed he believed in a woman's right to choose, not wanting to seem like a male chauvinist pig, secretly he wasn't too keen about it.
After all, it was half the guy's too, right? And he couldn't lose another child – it was hard enough making the transition from father to uncle with DJ. But, he digressed. He'd cross that bridge if and when he came to it . . . speaking of which, it had been pretty quiet for a while now. He was so lost in his own world, he hadn't even checked to see if Betty was still okay – or ask her what she thought they should do.
"Betty I –" "Daniel -" they laughed, both speaking at the same time. "Soo . . . what are you thinking? Are you happy . . . upset?" Daniel began. "I . . . I'm kinda both . . . I mean this is huge . . . but I haven't even started my new job yet . . . and we're going to have a wedding to plan – that is if you still want to . . ." Betty answered, unsure.
"Oh Betty, of course I do. Why would you think any different?" Daniel assured her. "I don't know . . . because this was all so fast and even though life will be a mess, I want to keep it – I have to keep it . . . it's not in me to not . . . you said you wanted a family, but I know you didn't mean right away . . ." she confessed, her voice wavering. "Hey . . . Hey . . . Listen to me," he lifted her chin.
"I am not going anywhere - I love you. And I know it's crazy, but I already love this baby. I know it's going to be tough and it's not what we planned, but we're a team - we can make it work. And I can't think of anything better than a having a tiny someone who's a little bit me and a lot you," he sincerely professed, tenderly kissing her forehead. "I can't either. I'm so glad you're okay with this . . . I don't know what I'd do if you weren't. I love you so much," Betty admitted, relieved.
"So we're doing this?" Daniel asked, cupping her face. "We're doing this," she confirmed, bringing his forehead to meet hers. They both grinned. Daniel lovingly looked down at Betty's stomach and kissed it, then captured her lips with his. "We're going to be a family," he smiled. Betty put her arms around him, holding him tight.