Day 347

Yesterday really was just a regular Tuesday.

I mean regular other than the fact I had not only convinced Walter to go with me to get sushi from my favorite place for lunch, but I had also gotten his promise to eat it without making faces or lecturing me on the hidden dangers of eating incorrectly prepared, raw seafood of unknown provenance.

So in that sense, it was the lunch date of the century. But what ended up making it memorable happened later.

I had barely entered the sushi shop and the smell of the fish hit my nose. Nope. I turned around and vomited in the trash can next to the door. Walter stood a few feet away, concerned, but distant.

"You didn't even eat anything. This must be a psychosomatic response to understanding the dangers of raw seafood."

"Maybe," I replied, "I'm not sure how that would work."

"Maybe let's try a burger place?" Walter asked hopefully.

I took a swig from the water bottle that I fortunately carried with me everywhere and spit it out on the sidewalk, trying to wash the remains of whatever that were lurking in my mouth.

We walked back to the car. I took another healthy sip, this time able to swallow it. "Sounds okay to me, love. I just want to make a quick stop on the way."

"Sure," Walter was more than happy to make concessions for me now that he was getting to eat at his preferred restaurant.

I hadn't done much better at the burger place, everything just smelled off and I had only managed to eat a few french fries before giving up and decided that abstinence was the better part of valor. To mix a metaphor.

After we left the restaurant, Walter had to stop the car on the side of the road and let me retch once more.

"Paige, I don't know what's going on with you, but I think you should consider seeing a medical professional."

"I don't think that's necessary, but if it doesn't turn out to be what I suspect, I promise I will let you take me to the doctor."

"I-I will make an appointment for you, but going to the doctor with you, when this," he gestured to the roadside I had just finished 'redecorating', "is happening regularly. I don't think I would be the right person to accompany you."

I am well aware of Walter's aversion to the expulsion of bodily fluids and solids, so I wasn't particularly surprised at his reaction.

Walter suggested that instead of returning to the Garage, I might be more comfortable at home for the rest of the afternoon and I heartily agreed with him.

We returned home and I took my shopping bag from the store with my little 'secret' purchase from our little side errand with me into the bathroom. I opened the packaging and removed the contents, used as directed by the instructions on the side of the box, and set the timer on my phone.

As I waited, I stood holding the test in my hands as I looked at myself in the mirror. I wasn't entirely sure what result I was hoping for.

But one thing I did know is that this time was going to be different in any number of ways.

The timer sounded and I looked at the pregnancy test.

Two pink lines.

Pregnant.

Let me try that again…

PREGNANT!

I stared at the result for a few moments, processing both the results and my feelings about said results. Finally, I smiled, my heart filling with joy and excitement at the prospect of a new baby. Of Walter as the dad of a baby boy… or girl. I rushed out of the bathroom, "Walter!"

This morning I woke up to see Walter lying in the bed next to me looking at me with an intensity that made my heart flutter.

He always woke before me, but he was never still in bed. He was either busily typing at his computer or working a problem on his whiteboard in his home office that adjoined our bedroom.

I think the last time he had laid in bed awake with me, had been on our honeymoon.

Last night, he had been a bit uncertain, I'm sure his genius brain was running probabilities and scenarios that took up all his mind's bandwidth, including his EQ. But in this moment seeing him watching me in bed, I knew that he was excited about this pregnancy as I was.

I reached up and ran my finger down the side of his face, just enjoying feeling the texture of his skin under my touch. He smiled softly and leaned toward me, his lips gently brushing mine.

"Oh, Walter–" I jumped out of bed and just made it to the toilet before my stomach emptied itself.

I felt Walter enter the bathroom, he stood still for a moment, then out of the corner of my eye, I saw him take a washcloth and run water over it, placing it carefully on the edge of the counter within easy reach of the toilet bowl.

Then he moved behind me and knelt behind me, and, as I continued to heave, he smoothed my hair back from my face, lightly rubbing my back.

Once I had finally finished and my stomach settled into something at least resembling calm for the moment, Walter reached over to flush the toilet, he handed me a cup of cool water that I hadn't even realized that he had procured.

I took a sip, swished it around my mouth, and spit it into the toilet. I collapsed into a sitting position on the cold tile floor and Walter watched me, love and concern written all over his face.

Once I was more or less settled, he gently wiped the beads of sweat from my forehead with the cool cloth he had wet in the sink, then wiped the rest of my face, even trailing the cloth down the sides of my neck.

It felt so good, not just the cool cloth in his hand cooling down my overheated skin, but also that it was Walter's ministrations. I knew how he felt about some of the more human aspects of the human body.

And the fact that he was willing to be here with me touching me, comforting me, made me feel more loved, more seen once than I ever had with a normal human.

I took another sip of water and grinned weakly at him, determined to get the words out as the next wave of nausea threatened to rise. "Buckle up, Nerd. This is going to be a ride you'll never forget."