Professor Cumberbatch

Part 27

"Good morning darling," Benedict hummed as he answered my FaceTime call on the second ring. "How are you doing today?"

I pushed myself up in bed so that my back was propped against my pillow and I gave him a warm smile. "I feel much better now that I've had my morning sickness. I felt absolutely dreadful when I woke up."

Benedict frowned slightly, scratching at the stubble on his chin as he hadn't yet shaved. He had just woken up and was in the process of making his breakfast when I had called him. He was just now sitting down at the kitchen table to eat and had leant his phone against a stack of books. "Well I wish I was there with you to hold your hair back during it. It's the least I could do."

"That's actually why I'm calling you. I've been thinking a lot lately and I know that we weren't going to decide until I came back, but I think I've made up my mind, Benedict."

He froze mid-bite and looked at me, gently setting his fork down on his plate. "And what have you decided?"

"I've decided a few things, actually." I nervously chuckled and readjusted my back. There was a moment of awkward silence before I spoke again. "The first thing is simply that I want to keep this baby. I know that this might not be the best idea, but I don't care. Each day that goes by, the excitement quite literally grows inside of me that I could be a mother. And you could be a father. That's what you've always wanted."

"I don't think you should base this decision on what I've always wanted, Amelia. It's not about me," he said whilst shaking his head. "This is about you. It's about what you want."

"I do want this though. I've always wanted to be a mum, to have children of my own. Maybe not this early, but if I've learned one thing in the last year and a half, it's that life is short. Anything can happen. Starting a family right now isn't necessarily ideal, but we can do it. Why wait? We might not have this chance again. Besides, when have we ever been conventional?"

Benedict let out a small laugh at the end and then smiled at me. "Well you're not wrong. We've never been conventional. But what about your schooling?"

Biting my lip, I said, "It'll take a lot of extra work, but I can do it. I can graduate on time. I'll finish this term strong, give birth during the summer break, and return the next term. We'll work together to come up with a schedule that fits our needs and then go from there."

"You really have thought this through, haven't you?" Benedict scratched his chin again and zoned out for a minute. I could tell he was thinking things through on his own.

"I have thought over it all. Many times. I know that I want this baby if you do too."

He thought some more and eventually started nodding. "I told you that if you wanted to keep it, then I'd be there for you every step of the way. And that's what I'm going to do. We both want this baby and once it's here, it'll grow up in a loving home. I promise you that."

I smiled and touched my stomach, feeling butterflies. "We're going to be parents."

"We are," Benedict responded whilst smiling. "Now what was the other thing you decided?"

My smile disappeared slowly as I thought about my other decision. "Um... Well... I've decided that since we're going to keep the baby, we're going to have to tell our families at some point. I want to do it together, so I was thinking that you could come here this week and we could tell my mum."

Benedict bit his lip out of nervousness. "This week? That soon?"

I nodded. "University starts back up in just over three weeks. I figured that we could tell my mum sometime this week, and regardless of how it goes, I could come live with you until then. We could use some alone time."

He let out a deep sigh and furrowed his eyebrows. "God, your mum is going to kill me. If it's not the fact that we're together, it'll be the fact that I've gotten you pregnant."

"She can say whatever she wants, Benedict, but it won't change anything. I love you and I'm going to have your baby. If she can't accept that, then I don't think I want her to be in my life anymore."

Benedict looked at me, frowning at that last bit. "Please don't say that. You've already lost one parent, and I was there to see how much pain you went through. I don't want you having to go through that again."

A few tears formed in my eyes as I started thinking about it again. "Well let's hope that she can accept us then. We're telling her this week, and that's final. What day works best for you?"

"It's Saturday now, so how about Wednesday? You'll have a few days to pack and we can work out exactly how we're going to tell her," he said softly.

I nodded in agreement. "That works just fine for me." I looked around my room at all of my belongings and sighed. "I'll get started packing and we can talk about the rest later."

"Okay darling. Please take care of yourself. I love you."

"I love you too," I whispered before hanging up. As soon as the call ended, I threw my phone across the room and started sobbing. I was happy that Benedict and I were going to start a family of our own, but knowing that it meant I was going to lose the family I already had hurt me.

END OF CHAPTER