Love to Hate You: Three's a Crowd

Chapter nine - Lost Cause?

The double date – which was not a proper date for either couple, on account of Xander and Amy were merely having a baby together, Tobias was merely looking to prove Mattie wrong, and Darcie was... quite frankly, bored – saw Xander questioning what parallel universe he had fallen into. A few brief months ago, he'd travelled to dinner alongside Amy, flirting and smiling, playing things cool and dancing a well-rehearsed dance which inevitably led to satisfying, care-free sex. Now, his journey to the restaurant saw Amy regaling him of the booking-in appointment she'd had with the community midwife the day before.

'She just went through the booklet with me, really. Told me not to eat pâté or shellfish, to avoid unpasteurised cheese, and prove that I'm actually pregnant by providing another urine sample.' She turned to him and smiled; taking her eyes off the road (she was driving, on account of being pregnant, and therefore unable to drink). 'Do you think many women fake it? Go to the doctors, arrange the visit and then trip-up with the urine sample?' She was smiling as she said it, but Xander didn't find it funny.

'You'd be surprised,' he said, recalling Rachel a few years ago; the nurse who had worked with Rudy. The nurse who had faked a pregnancy to stop him getting involved with Vicky. Amy looked at him sharply; the bitter tone to his voice making it clear that he was thinking about something specifically and not just abstractly.

'There's a story there,' she mused.

'Yes. Not my story, either. But someone... close to me – two people, really – were nearly kept apart – nearly had their lives ruined – by a woman who faked a pregnancy. She did it to try and force a man to be with her.' He frowned in thought, before turning to Amy and looking at her side-profile. He'd trusted her completely. He hadn't asked for an early scan or a pregnancy test. Not even after Rachel. He wondered why.

'You're staring at me,' she said, not taking her eyes off the road. 'I hope you're not thinking –' But he knew what she was going to say so he cut her short.

'No!' he insisted. 'But I'm wondering why I've never thought that.' He shrugged. 'I'm usually not very trusting, but...'

'Maybe you've just got a good gut instinct?' she said, her tone a little brighter now that she knew she wasn't being accused. 'Maybe you can sense the baby, seeing as it's yours.' Which was nonsense. The thing was microscopic. He possessed no prophetic capabilities, and even if he could tell, without being told, that she was pregnant, he'd have no way of knowing that the child was his without a DNA test. Should I ask for a DNA test? he wondered. He knew it risky to get one done in-utero, but was it rude to ask for one after the birth? He suspected that it was, and decided that he'd wait and see how attractive the child was. If it was stunningly beautiful, he'd know that it was his. At Xander's silence, Amy decided to change the subject to something more... solid.

'It was a bit awkward, actually; the pregnancy test. Because I had to do a urine sample, but I needed a poo, and the midwife was late. I'd have gone to the bathroom beforehand, but I was worried that if I did a poo, I'd end up weeing, too.' She shook her head at herself. 'I honestly couldn't remember if it was possible to poo without weeing when you have a full bladder. I've tried since and it is. It's completely fine. All that discomfort for nothing.' At his continued silence, she glanced at him, only to see him staring at her with a look of consternation. 'What?' she asked.

'Nothing,' he told her, horrified.

'This is nice, isn't it?' Darcie said, glancing around the tapas bar. It wasn't surprising that she liked the place though, seeing as she was the one who had chosen it.