Raghav woke up to Pallavi stroking his hair with her other hand.
"Pallavi, are you okay? What is wrong with you, did you forget to eat yesterday? Were you sick and you didn't tell me? If anything happens to you, I swear to god—"
"Shh shh, Raghav Rao, Don of Hyderabad, calm down. I am perfectly fine. I just—" Pallavi stopped in her tracks.
"What?" Raghav panicked again, "do you need water, should I call the doctor?"
"Is the baby okay?"
Raghav looked nonplussed, "what baby?"
Pallavi stared at him, "Our neighbor's baby, you know she's very cute" she started sarcastically, "our baby, stupid. I'm pregnant." She started to get up, "call the doctor, I need to talk to them."
Raghav stood by the bed, staring at Pallavi, completely speechless.
"Hello??? Raghav—" Pallavi was not a little annoyed with her husband.
"Pregnant. But, when? How?" Raghav sat back in the chair, unable to understand anything.
"If I have to explain to you 'how,' I don't think I'm going to be raising this baby with you for very long." Pallavi said.
Raghav looked at Pallavi, "last night, after Mandaar— your parents—" his eyes teared up, "I was sure that you would leave—leave me." His voice was breaking.
"Buddhu, it looks like Reddy doesn't put any almonds in your protein shakes. Didn't you ask me to promise you that I'd never leave you? Why do you think your wife is that stupid that she'd break a promise she made to The Raghav Rao?" Pallavi grinned at Raghav, tears in her eyes now as well.
Raghav pulled Pallavi close and hugged her like he had never hugged anyone before.
"Wait a second, Mrs. Rao, when were you going to tell me that you were pregnant?"
"Don't get mad at me, I had such a nice plan, I was going to tell you this weekend" Pallavi whined, "I had a little scavenger hunt made, and at the end you were going to find these cute little payals and the sonogram picture, but then I had to faint like an idiot, saara plan karat ho gaya." Pallavi tugged on her ears, "Maaf karoge?"
Raghav smiled and moved to hug his wife and never let go when the door opened.
In walked Aai, Baba, and Mandaar.
"Pallavi beta, are you okay?" Sharda started.
Raghav clenched the railing of the hospital bed, "what the hell are you people doing here? It's because of you and your stupid son's Rambo like anger, that my wife is in the hospital!" Raghav started to get up, he didn't give a damn if this Saanki Baap was old or if Mandaar had just gotten out of a coma, but Pallavi stopped him.
"Raghav no, calm down." Pallavi sat him back in the chair, and Raghav agreed reluctantly.
"Aai, Baba, main teek hoon." Pallavi said, deliberately not looking at her family, especially Mandaar.
"Pallavi, what I said last night. I was—" Mandaar didn't know where to begin. Nikhil had explained everything to Mandaar, from the beginning to the end, unlike Baba, Mandaar understood that Pallavi wouldn't have stayed with Raghav for this long if she wasn't happy. Even if it hurt him. "I was wrong, I should have never—"
Pallavi interrupted him, "Mandaar, you didn't make a mistake these past two years when you were in a coma. No one is blaming you, it was an accident. And I know that I made a promise to you, to take care of your family as my own, and I have done that. I will keep doing that. But—" Pallavi thought about the small life that was growing inside her right now, "but that doesn't change the fact that—I have moved on." She looked at Raghav and smiled, taking his hand.
"Now, enough crying and sad stuff, Aai Baba, I'll see you all soon, if you don't mind I'd like to spend some time with my husband."
The Deshmukhs left the room quietly, Baba taking one last look at his daughter, wishing he could do something to change her mind, but he knew she wouldn't.
When the doctor walked in a few minutes later, Raghav immediately pounced on him, his leftover anger that he couldn't use on the Deshmukhs had to come out somewhere.
"Duffer, where have you been, what kind of hospital is this?" Raghav shouted, "My wife, who fainted, and didn't regain consciousness until right now, is pregnant, and you—"
"Doctor, don't mind him, my husband likes to think of himself as one of those big Don types, he's harmless." Pallavi laughed.
Raghav's anger calmed a little seeing his wife so happy.
"I'm so sorry madam, I didn't know, we'll have to do an ultrasound right away."
As the doctor brought in the equipment, Pallavi was suddenly nervous. What if something had happened to the baby? She cursed herself for not telling Raghav sooner, if she had, maybe this wouldn't have happened.
"Hey, no." Raghav sat down next to her on the bed and took her hand, "I know you're giving yourself a lot of insults in your head right now, and while you definitely are crazy, and stupid, and stubborn" he smiled, "this isn't your fault. Everything will be fine."
And everything was. When the doctor pointed out the heartbeat on the ultrasound, Pallavi felt a warmth in her heart she had never felt before. Raghav, who had spent half his life fighting for a family he had almost lost, was overcome with the idea that his family would be growing.
END.
