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Chapter 24 - There She Blow

CHAPTER 24

CARLY

It couldn't be that, could it? I couldn't possibly be pregnant.

We were careful; we always used protection and I even got on the pill two weeks ago as an extra precaution.

No, I wasn't pregnant. I had the flu.

When John came back with groceries an hour later, I was in one of my obsessively-clean-the-kitchen-until-you-can-eat-off-the-floors kind of moods. He looked at me for a moment as I scrubbed away with my yellow gloves, a low chuckle leaving his lips as he dropped the bags on the island counter.

"Did Maisy come by with an antidote or somethin'?" he asked with a playful smile.

I heard him speak, but the words he said didn't quite register. Silently, I started unloading the groceries.

"Hey, woa, babe, what's wrong?" he said suddenly, crossing the short space between us in two easy strides and taking my face in his hands, his thumbs wiping at stray tears I didn't know were falling down my cheeks. Shit, shit, shit...

I sniffed, wiping at my tears, taking a step back from his embrace to look at his face. How was I supposed to tell him? How was he going to react? I could very well be making a big deal out of nothing.

"You're scarin' me, Carly," he pressed.

"It might not be anythin'," I began slowly, running my fingers through my hair. I had to tell him, even if it did turn out to be nothing. "I'm late," I said, fresh tears falling down my face again. I blinked and cleared the lump in my throat.

JOHN

"I'm late," Carly said, tears running down her face.

I didn't react, I didn't speak. My face remained a mask of confusion, not quite sure what she meant. I glanced at the neon numbers on the microwave, letting me know it was almost four o'clock in the afternoon. Dumbly, my initial thought was to ask her what she was late for.

"My period, I'm late," she said again when I didn't say anything.

Still I didn't speak; actually, I was pretty sure I wasn't breathing either. The confusion on my face turned into shock and fear.

"John, please just... please say somethin'," she sobbed, reaching for my hand.

"How late are you?" I choked out.

"Almost a week... five days," she answered softly, bowing her head in shame, tears still falling steadily down her face. "Please don't be mad at me, I didn't mean for... It could be nothin' at all... or..." she trailed off.

"Or we could be havin' a baby," I finished for her.

"Yeah," she whispered.

"Sweetheart, I'm not mad at you, don't you for one second think that I'm mad at you," I told her urgently, reaching for her, tipping her chin back so that she was forced to look at me. Tears were streaming down my face too. "If this is happenin'... then okay, it's happenin'. We'll figure it out," I told her.

She let out a sob and I took her in my arms, kissing the top of her head.

"This is too fast... I mean, we just– it's too soon... we're not ready... We never talked about this sort of thing... about the future... about... a lot of things," she said against my chest, clinging onto me.