tratie one shots, vol. i

[ surprise ]

surprise, another short one! see a pattern here?

words: 712

. . .

Katie had it planned since the moment she found out. 

She had the weekend off. Travis would come home from work and she'd already have dinner cooked and on the table. Baby carrots, baby corn, baby red potatoes, and dry-rub baby back ribs. She'd finish off the meal by saying she had a gift for him (at this point, he would still be clueless, because Travis was a bit slow on the intake). It would be a box of baby clothes and supplies. If he didn't get it by then, she didn't know what.

She was excited. 

However, her day didn't go how she expected. Her boss called her in at noon, and she stayed until five, which only left her an hour and a half until Travis got off work. She was so frantic in rushing home that she forgot to swing by the farmer's market to get the potatoes and corn. Her ribs were still in the freezer, leaving no time to defrost them. Lastly, Travis called on the way home saying that Connor was coming over with Miranda to hang for a while after dinner.

Of course.

When Travis came through the door, he recognized her bawling in the kitchen. Katie was always in her element in the kitchen - she was one of the best cooks he knew - so why was she crying? He threw his things down and found her on the floor in tears, leaning against the cabinet and cradling her head in her hands. 

She cursed under her breath. Stupid pregnancies. 

Trying to pull herself together, she stood up and gave him an unconvincing peck on the cheek. "Hey."

"No." Travis yanked her into him, his arms nearly crushing her. "Don't act like that. I literally just saw you crying on the floor.  What's wrong?"

And the floodgates opened for more tears to stain his shirt while her head was on his shoulder. She welcomed the affection and comfort, but she still felt terrible. "I was... was going to t-tell you. Today. B-but I couldn't, an... and now I'm sitting here..."

"It's okay, it's okay," he soothed, brushing hair from her face and examining it. "What were you going to tell me? You still can, you know."

"It was gonna be... perfect. Perfect. I c-can't now," she tumbled, burrowing her head back into his neck. 

He tightened his grip on her. He didn't care what it was that had her so broken, but he didn't want her to dwell on it because of him. "Never mind. I'll call Connor and tell him to come another time." For the first time, he noticed the dishes and haphazard food scattered across the counter. "Do you want to go out somewhere to eat? Get a drink?"

"I can't." Defeated, Katie slumped against him and released a final sob. "I-I can't get a drink."

He scrunched up his eyebrows, scrambling for any sort of explanation for anything. "And why's that?"

"Travis, I'm pregnant."

"What?" 

She sniffled, not bothering to hold herself up as he was basically doing it for her. "Surprise. I was going to tell you... tonight. I had this whole dinner planned a-and I have this stupid box of stuff and..."

"You're pregnant?"

"Yes, that's what I'm trying to-"

He shut her up effectively by kissing her, laughing and squeezing her so hard she thought she might've popped. His grin was infectious, soon spreading to Katie's mouth hesitantly. The kitchen was no longer in ruins but a glowing mess of happy tears and gushing emotions. Katie collapsed on the floor again, only this time to be joined by Travis in a heaping ball of giggles. The mood swing brought on a night of leaving the disaster in the kitchen for another day and ordering pizza, playing Battleship, and watching at least three cheesy 80s comedies. Every once in a while, Travis would rest his hand on top of Katie's stomach, smiling warmly and kissing her forehead. 

They fell asleep at 2 AM while The Princess Bride was halfway through; in each other's arms, they were cuddled on the couch until one woke the other midday. The first words out of Travis' mouth was, "Can we name it Godzilla?"

Katie decided it wasn't so bad that her plan didn't work out.