23: Sick: Gwen and Duncan

Duncan knew for a long time that Gwen was the girl for him. He may act dumb sometimes, like in high school or around his dad when he was questioning him like a perp, but he knew one thing for sure. If he found a girl who he could act stupid around, who didn't care if he walked the line between good or bad guy, who loved him in spite of himself, he shouldn't give her up. And he didn't. That's why he proposed. He wanted to wait till Christmas, he was trying his hardest, but when doing laundry, Gwen shook out his jeans and the ring box fell out. He really should have hidden that better.

The news exploded on Facebook and it honestly terrified Duncan for a good day. All his family congratulated him, as did hers, and the calls they got from their friends! God, it felt like a never ending sea of well-wishing and nit-picking. Thankfully, after a few days, it ended and things were back to normal. Gwen had this perma-grin going on that she couldn't seem to get rid of, even when he tried to kiss it off her, but that just made it worse, not that he minded. He may not be following the path that his father would have preferred for him, but he was doing things his own way, with Gwen, and that was all that mattered.

Only one family member, his eldest brother, commented on Courtney. "Maybe putting the photo up wasn't the smartest. What if she saw?" Jack was always a bit of a softy, even when causing havoc with his younger brothers. Duncan didn't see the problem though. Courtney was not the girl he was going to spend the rest of his life with, so what did it matter if she knew of the engagement? Duncan was always a cut-and-dry, black-and-white kind of guy. That logic had lasted him this long, and it would carry him through the rest of his life, however long that was. Anyway, the uptight princess didn't matter anymore. That ship had sailed and Duncan was finally really happy with the way his life was going.

His parents liked Gwen more anyway, well his mom did. His dad was indifferent to his youngest son's behaviour, as always, not that Duncan cared. He'd grown used to the man's hatred towards Duncan and just accepted the lack of a father in his life. His mom, though, loved Gwen. She was honestly the daughter the woman never had and she was getting a little too invested in the wedding plans. She wanted to go wedding dress shopping with Gwen, help choose the cakes, all that. Duncan wanted to tell her to back off, but Gwen stopped him.

"She doesn't have any daughters Dunc, it's different. Besides, I like having her along for the ride. She kinda mellows out my mom," she explained with a grin. See, that right there was why Duncan loved Gwen. She was sensible, but not to the point where she zapped the fun out of everything.

When they weren't being swallowed up by wedding plans and relatives, Duncan and Gwen discussed their apartment. Were they going to keep it or move to a small townhouse instead? To be honest, he doubted they could afford it. Sure, the store gave him a decent pay check, as did her photography, but that didn't mean they could suddenly move to the Upper East Side and call it a day. If they wanted a place, it would have to be in Brooklyn, which they both preferred anyhow.

"Why don't we just wait till after the wedding? Then we can assess our finances and see where to go from there. It's not like we're running out of space anyhow," Duncan pointed out. Gwen agreed and the two put thoughts of moving on hold, until one morning when Duncan woke up to an empty bed. It was a week or two before Christmas, maybe a few days, he wasn't sure, and he rolled onto his stomach, trying to bring Gwen closer to him, only to discover she wasn't there. He sat up and ran a hand through his 'hawk, looking around for his fiancé. His ears tuned into the sound of someone vomiting and he got up to the bathroom down the hall. He pulled on a pair of boxers on the way.

When he got to the door, he knocked on it lightly. "Gwen, you alright?"

All he got in response was the sound of dry heaves. He opened the door to find Gwen hunched over the toilet in one of his shirts, praying to the porcelain god. Duncan knelt down beside her and rubbed her back as the heaves quieted.

It took a minute, but eventually she pulled away from the toilet and leaned against the yellow bathtub. She grabbed a roll of toilet paper and wiped her mouth. He looked her over, making sure she was alright, besides the vomiting. She seemed perfectly healthy.

"Flu bug?" he questioned.

Gwen shook her head sadly, as if she wished it was the flu. "No I . . . Duncan . . . I think . . ." she looked up at him with fear in her eyes. "I think I'm pregnant."

Duncan's eyes widened. Pregnant? But they always used protection . . . 'Wait. There was that one time after Geoff's house party . . .' Damn it.

The thought of being a father terrified him. Duncan did not under any circumstances want to turn out to be his father. What if he did? He'd totally screw up his kid, Gwen would hate him, and their marriage (if there was one) would fall apart. 'God, why can't I keep it in my pants sometimes?' he mentally groaned.

He looked at his girl and saw how scared she was. She must have known for at least a week or so if she was this sure. Why hadn't she told him before? 'She probably thinks I'm going to leave. We never talked about kids.' When he saw how upset she was, he reached out and pulled her onto his lap. They sat there on the ugly, 70s tiled floor and held each other tightly. He felt tears soak his shoulder but didn't comment on them. He ran his hand down her back and told her everything would be okay.

"No it won't Duncan! I know you don't want kids. We never talked about this sort of thing. We're supposed to get married and—and move into a nice neighborhood first. This wasn't supposed to happen!" she cried.

Duncan brought her head away from his shoulder. He pressed his forehead against hers, forcing her to look at him as he spoke. "I don't want to turn into my father, that's what I don't want. I've always wanted to have a family with you, because I know you'd make a great mom. Okay, so things are happening out of order, big deal. We've never been the ones to follow the conventional path anyway. We'll get married in the spring, move to a town house by summer, and when the kid comes, we'll raise the little guy or girl as best we can." He placed a hand on her flat stomach and continued to stare at her. "I don't want to lose you, or the kid. We're going to make this work, okay?"

Gwen slowly nodded her head and gave him a small smile. "Okay."

He nodded. "Okay." Duncan stood up and placed Gwen on her own two feet. "You feeling alright?"

"Yeah, after the morning I'm usually fine the rest of the day."

"How long as this been going on?"

"About a week or so, not much longer."

Duncan nodded then went to the bedroom where he pulled on a pair of pants and a t-shirt. "Where are you going?" she called.

"Well, first things first, we gotta know if we really are knocked up, right? So I'm gonna grab a pregnancy test while I get us some breakfast. We'll be able to figure things out better once we're sure." He came back into the bathroom as he pulled on his boots. "You sure you're alright?"

"I'll be fine. I'll go make coffee while you're gone." She kissed his cheek and sent him on his way.

A few hours later, Duncan updated his status with a photo of a positive pregnancy test. "Guess who's having a baby!" If he thought the reaction to the wedding announcement was bad, he was about to be surprised by the wave that followed this status update.