I sit alone in my trailer before the next shoot of the day. My phone rings. It's the doctor's office. I had a few tests done three weeks ago because I had been having issues with my monthly cycle. I have had numerous issues in the past and I figure that this is just another occurrence of whacked out hormone levels or stress.
"Hello," I answer.
"Hi Naya, this is Dr. Hunt ."
"Hi, Dr. Hunt," I reply.
"I'm calling about the tests that we did a few weeks ago. It appears we missed something on the charts. It looks like you are pregnant. You need to stop taking the supplements we gave you last week immediately because they could be harmful to the baby," Dr. Hunt explains. I sit in shock. I can't believe what he's just told me. This can't be happening. Gabe and I really only slept together a few times and we were careful every single time. I feel the room start spinning and suddenly feel short of breath.
"Uh…Miss Rivera? Are you still on the line?" Dr. Hunt says bringing me back to earth.
"Y-y-yes, I'm here," I say as I feel the tears start to well up in my eyes.
"We can schedule an appointment for you to come in later this week. Are you free on Friday?" Dr. Hunt says.
I quickly pull out my calendar and look at Friday. I cross off everything else for the day and decide that this is way more important. I see a tear stain appear on the page as I look down, not realizing I've started crying.
"Yes," I choke out.
"Okay, 11 AM is open. Call if there are any changes in your schedule. I know this is probably a shock for you and I apologize we didn't let you know sooner," Dr. Hunt says. "See you on Friday."
"Okay, see you then." I end the call and wipe the tears from my eyes trying to stay strong. I don't know if I'm crying because I'm sad or happy or scared half to death. Maybe it's a little bit of everything. I pick up my phone and text Heather that I need her to come to my trailer. She replies saying she'll be right over. I sit on the couch, trying to compose myself but it's hopeless. I can't stop crying, stupid hormones. Now I know why I've felt so crappy and emotional the past couple days at least. I hear the knock and quickly wipe away any remaining tearleft on my cheek. I open the door. I can tell that she immediately knows something is wrong.
"Baby what's wrong?" she says as she comes inside and embraces me. I start crying harder into her shoulder as we stand there holding each other. I figure this might be the last time she talks to me once she finds out about everything. She is going to be devastated. I let several minutes pass before I move, taking in every second with her. How she smells, how her arms feel when they are around my body, how her heart beats in the same rhythm as mine. I take a deep breath and pull back. She leads me over to the pull out bed in the back of the trailer and pulls me into her arms as she leans back against the wall. I bury my head in her chest and wrap my arms around her waist as I continue to cry.
"Shhh," she says softly as she kisses my head and strokes my arm lightly with her fingertips. I calm myself enough to muster up the courage to tell her.
"I have something to tell you," I begin shakily.
"You can tell me anything," she whispers as she continues to run her fingers through my hair to comfort me.
"I went to the doctor a few weeks ago because I've been skipping months on my period again. I just thought it was stress or a hormonal imbalance because that's what has triggered it in the past. I just got a call today and they told me I'm pregnant."
Her hand stops stroking my hair. I can barely keep the tears at bay as I look into her eyes to gauge her reaction. Things were finally starting to go the right way. Now, this would ruin everything I have with Heather, my job, and maybe even my family.
I can see the tears starting to form as our eyes meet. She puts her hand on the back of my neck and pulls me closer to her. She kisses me softly and leans her forehead against mine.
"Everything is going to be fine," she whispers.
"I'm so scared that it won't be," I reply as tears start falling down my cheeks.
"I know. But it's gonna be fine. I'm not going anywhere and I'll help you through this Nay," Heather says calmly as she wipes away the tears and pulls me into her shoulder. I kiss her again. I don't understand how she can be so calm. If the roles were reversed I'd probably kick the crap out of Taylor for knocking up my girl. We sit in silence like this for several minutes.
"Will you come with me to the doctor's on Friday?" I ask, breaking the silence.
"Of course," she says as she wipes a tear from my cheek with her thumb. "But first I have to murder Gabe."
I chuckle. She always knows how to make me laugh even when I'm at my lowest point. It's something I love about her.
"You are going to tell him, right?" she asks.
"I have to. But I'm not going to go back to him if that's what you're thinking. I only want to be with you if you are willing to be with a cranky fat pregnant girl," I say trying to lighten the mood.
"Of course I want you. I want us to be together no matter what happens. I know this isn't what you planned," Heather replies softly. I smile and kiss her again.
"I hate to leave you, but I have to get back to set. I'll come check on you in a little while okay? And this weekend we will leave town for a little while to figure things out," Heather says.
"Okay. Thank you babe," I reply as I kiss her goodbye.
As soon as she leaves I find myself drifting off to sleep. I wake up to the feeling of someone cuddling up to me and open my eyes to find Heather lying next to me.
"Hey sleepyhead," she says with a smile. She cuddles up next to me and she moves her hand to the hem of my shirt and hesitates for a moment before she pulls it up to reveal the lower part of my stomach. She gently rests her hand against the barely noticeable bump that was flat less than three weeks ago. She says nothing and everything with this simple gesture. I know deep down she may not be okay with this, but I know in that moment she isn't going anywhere.
I wait patiently in the waiting room of the doctor's office for my name to be called. Heather is there with me and I look down at our interlocked fingers and find my knuckles have turned white from how tight I'm squeezing her hand.
"Sorry," I say as I loosen my grip and try to regulate my breathing back to a normal pace.
"It's perfectly okay. This is big. It's okay to be nervous," she says softly. I feel comforted just knowing she's near. I even hear a hint of excitement in her voice. "You don't have to death grip me though. I'm not going anywhere," she remarks with a smile.
My name is called and I can't seem to let go of her hand as we walk back to the exam room and the nurse takes my vitals.
"Your blood pressure is a little high hon," the nurse says as she puts a thermometer in my mouth and takes my temperature. I nod in reply and feel Heather place her hand on my back. She writes down my vitals and walks out the door. The nurse shuts the door behind her and we sit in silence waiting for the doctor to arrive.
Heather gets up from the chair next to the bed so she can hug me.
"Try to calm down baby," she says as she plants a kiss on my lips.
"I'm trying. It's easier with you here. If I was alone I'd be a mess," I admit. I flash her a smile helping to reassure her that I'm okay as I kiss her again. There is knock on the door and the doctor enters the room.
"Hello, Ms. Rivera. How are you feeling?" Dr. Hunt begins.
"Nervous," I reply. Heather continues to keep a tight grip on my hand.
"No reason to be nervous. I'm not going to be poking and prodding you too much today. We are just going to talk," Dr. Hunt replies. "So, it looks like you are about eight weeks along, which explains why you've been late the past two months. I'm honestly not sure how we missed your HGH levels being so high. The first readout didn't show the levels but it was probably just way too early for us to see it when you came in the first month. It was much clearer after the tests we did a couple weeks ago."
"Will the pills I was on hurt the baby?" I ask worriedly. I can see worry in Heather's eyes too.
"It's very unlikely. I mean, we caught it soon enough since you had only been taking them for about a week before. But we are going to keep a close eye on everything to make sure the baby is healthy. We can run a few tests to ease your mind," Dr. Hunt explains.
"I think you should," Heather says as she looks over at me. I'm stunned to her hear even wanting to have input on the situation.
"I think I should too," I say in reply, still taken aback at her response. She is really shocking me today, in a good way.
"Okay, well let's set up the ultrasound and we will do that first. Then we can set you up for an appointment next week to run the tests," Dr. Hunt says. She flips on the ultrasound machine.
"Okay, go ahead and lay back for me Naya." I comply and lay back. The doctor lifts my shirt and covers my stomach in jelly. She starts moving the ultrasound device across my stomach and I can see a mass of gray on the screen. I hear the sound of a heartbeat and smile. She focuses in on one area and I make out the shape of a tiny baby.
"You hear that? It's the heartbeat and if you look over here, here's the head and you can see the little feet and hands," Dr. Hunt says with a smile. It all seems too real as I admire the sight in front of me. I wipe away the tears that are around falling from my eyes. I'm at a loss for words as Heather reaches up and wipes a tear from my cheek and smiles at me as tears start forming in her own eyes.
"He or she is perfect," I say softly through the tears.
"Everything looks good from what I can tell. I'll print this out for you and I'll go set up an appointment for you for next week," Dr. Hunt says as she freezes the machine and prints the picture. She leaves the room for a moment to go set the appointment up.
Heather kisses me as soon as Dr. Hunt leaves. She pulls back and wipes away her own tears.
"Baby, you aren't supposed to cry too," I say with a laugh as wipe way the remaining tears on my cheek.
"I know. But the little hands and feet and the heartbeat, and then you crying, it just got to me," she replies.
"Naya, I have to break something to you though," she begins and I feel like she is going to take this opportunity to walk out the door. "I think your baby is gonna be in black and white! Did you see that pic?" Heather says playfully in her best Brittany voice as she wipes away my tears. I laugh and take her hands in mine. I breathe a sigh of relief that she didn't say what I thought she was going to.
"Oh no, how will people know it's my kid?" I say with a smirk.
"Ooh I know, if you hear a kid that ends every word with an extra s and says things like wantz, dzown, snix juice, and wanky, we will be certain that is your child," Heather says as she laughs.
"Or Santana and Brittany's love child," I say with a laugh.
"Ah, exactly how Ryan should incorporate it into the show!" she says playfully making me laugh.
"I love you," I say.
"I love you too," she replies as she kisses me again.
I sit in my apartment and wait for the knock on the door to come. Heather holds my hand and comforts me as we wait for Gabe to arrive. I hear the knock and get up to answer the door.
"Hi," he says softly. He embraces me in a hug.
"Hi," I reply. "Come in." He walks in and I shut the door behind him.
"Hi Heather," he says politely.
"Hi Gabe," she replies. "I'm gonna go to your room for a bit. Call me down if you need me." She kisses me on the cheek and heads to my bedroom.
"Do you want a drink or something?" I ask trying to stall the conversation.
"No, I'm fine," he says as he sits in the armchair across from the couch. "So, what did you want to talk to me about."
"This is really hard to say. Do you remember me telling you that I went to the doctor because I was having some lady issues?" I ask.
"Yes. But I thought they gave you some medication for it," he replies.
"Well, yeah, they sort of messed up. You see, the reason I was having issues was not because of a hormone imbalance. It's because…I'm pregnant," I explain. He sits in silence for a few seconds then gets up from the chair. It looks like he is about to leave but instead he walks over in front of me and gets down on the floor so he is at eye level with me. He takes both of his hands in mine.
"I know that we aren't together. But I still want to be a part of this baby's life. I want you to know that I still care about you and I'll do everything I can for you and the baby," he says softly. A tear falls down his cheek. It's moments like this that I wish I could love him as much as he does me, for the simple fact that I know he is heartbroken right now. I know how I feel about Heather, and if she didn't love me back I don't know if I could bare it. I smile at him and embrace him in a hug as my tears fall into his shoulder.
"Thank you for being so amazing," I whisper. We talk for a few more minutes before he has to leave for work. I walk back to the bedroom and open the door. Heather is leaning against the headboard and on her computer.
"How'd it go?" she asks as she closes the laptop and sets it aside.
"Really well. He is going to try and help out however he can. He didn't try to talk me into being with him or to get us to break up. He just said that he wanted to be there for me if I would let him," I reply.
"At least there is one decent man in the world, even if he knocked you up," Heather says with a laugh, "Are you okay?"
I nod as I walk over to her and plant a kiss on her lips. She pulls me into a deeper kiss.
"I love you. Everything is gonna be okay," she says as she pulls out of the kiss.
"I love you too," I reply with a smile.
She lifts the bottom of my shirt and I watch as she starts to talk to the bump in my stomach. "And I love you too munchkin." She kisses my stomach gently and smiles back up at me.
"Are you sure you are okay with all this Heather? I mean, I know this is a lot to deal with. You are being amazing about it, but you can tell me if this is too much for you," I say as I sit down next to her and take her hands in mine.
"It's not like you knew all of this was going to happen. I'm not gonna lie. I wish we were together for a little bit longer and we had planned all of this but I'm happy with this right now. I mean, I love you so much and anything that is a part of you already has my heart," Heather replies.
"Even if it's black and white?" I say with a smile.
"That baby could come out purple and I'd still be wrapped around its little fuschia fingers," she replies.
AN: Thanks so much for the story alerts/favorites! Any feedback is welcome!