19th August 2012 – 16:00 Marignane, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France
Aaron was making cheese omelettes in the kitchen when he heard his mum bolt out of the lounge and into the bathroom, where she threw up loudly. He frowned and took the pan off the heat, recent events starting to become clearer by the second. He took her a glass of water and found her sat on the floor by the toilet. She looked green.
"Here" he said passing her the water, "good job you had a nosy round the flat earlier or you might have ended up puking in my wardrobe" he joked.
She tried to laugh, but ended up kneeling over the bowl and throwing up again. Convinced she had nothing more to throw up, she wiped her mouth with some tissue and flushed the toilet before taking a sip of her water. "Sorry about that" she said shakily.
"I'm assuming it's Cameron's?" Aaron asked, shocking Chas with his bluntness. She didn't think he'd jump to the right conclusion so quickly. But now he'd put it out there, all she could do was face his candour with her own.
"You assume correctly" she replied, too wrung out to even cry.
"You gonna hurl again or shall we continue this in a more ambient environment?" Aaron joked, offering her a hand. She smiled and took it gratefully, letting him haul her to her feet. "Jesus, you can tell, you've already put on a few pounds" he joked, earning himself a slap on the back of his head from Chas.
"Cheeky beggar, I have not" she laughed. It was strange being able to be so honest about it, to even be joking about it, with Aaron, of all people.
When they went into the lounge, Chas smelt the cooked cheese in the omelettes and balked again. She stepped back out into the hallway. "Sorry love, it's the cheese I think" she said as she waved her hand in front of her face to try to stop herself feeling so queasy.
"Go and sit in your room and I'll be in in a minute" Aaron told her, opening all the windows in the kitchen and lounge, throwing the omelettes in the bin and then putting the bin bag straight outside.
He went into the guest room – his mum's room – and found her sat on the bed with her arms hugging her knees. She still looked a bit green around the gills and he wondered if there was more to it than being pregnant.
"Are you okay? Do you need a doctor?" he asked as he perched on the end of the bed.
"Nah, I'm fine ta kid, it's just morning sickness"
"It's four in the afternoon" he replied and she laughed.
"One of the many lies they feed you about pregnancy. Morning sickness strikes any time, morning, noon and night. Another lie is that it only lasts the first few weeks. I was chucking my guts up right up to eight and a half months with you" she told him.
"Bummer" he replied, smiling at hearing her talk about the past – he'd never heard her speak about that time of her life before, not that he'd ever asked her to.
"Yeah, bummer" she agreed, "should've known you were gonna be trouble" she smiled.
"What are you gonna do?" Aaron asked her.
There was no hesitation, "I'm keeping it. I've made up my mind and I'm not throwing this chance away, I might never get another, and I think I'm ready now, I think I could be a good mum. Not like…"
"Hey, you're a good mum to me now aren't ya?" Aaron reassured her, seeing her falter.
"No. Look what I've done, brought trouble to your door" she replied, "you don't need any of this. And if anyone finds out…"
"They're not going to, not from me. I promise. But what about Cameron?"
"What about him? He chose Debs, that's fine, I understand, but it means he doesn't get to know about this. It's too dangerous, he's too soft, never knowing what he wants and I'm not letting him have a say in my life ever again. I need to stay safe now, that's the only reason I've done this, to make sure if it all kicks off, this little one doesn't get caught in the crossfire".
Aaron nodded in understanding, he was so proud of her for being so brave and doing what was right for his little brother or sister. "Wow" he exclaimed as that penny dropped.
"What?"
"I'm gonna be a big brother" he grinned and Chas followed suit, relieved that this had gone so well. The French lifestyle must really have had an effect on Aaron as he was so much more chilled out over there. Or perhaps it was his new fella, mused Chas. Either way, she was glad he had been so understanding.
Aaron told her she could stay as long as she wanted, even encouraged her to stay long term until the baby was born, but she said she wasn't going to make any decisions until she'd had at least a week to think things through.