12Author's Note: So this takes place in the More Than Friends Universe but very much in the future, maybe 6 or 7 years.
Emma was happily curled into Clay's side on their couch watching TV. She hadn't expected him home today from his latest spin up, so when he arrived home early this evening she had been delighted. She had just been debating what to do about dinner when he walked in the kitchen door.
Dinner was completely forgotten as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him for a kiss. He definitely needed a shower and she told him so, at which point he suggested that as his wife she should come with him and make sure he got clean. She didn't need much convincing, and they headed upstairs for a welcome home celebration.
After that they both were hungry and thinking about dinner, so they came back downstairs and ordered pizza from their favorite place. Once the pizza arrived, they settled on the couch in the living room and ate while watching TV.
They were watching some movie that Emma had completely lost interest in, but she didn't actually care. She was tired again and was perfectly happy to lie there with Clay just relaxing.
Just as she thought she might doze off a commercial came on that was so adorable. There was a little puppy that got lost and then got saved from a wolf. It was so sweet. She got a little teary at the end.
"Em, are you crying?" Clay asked incredulously, looking down at her where she was leaning against his side.
"Um, yeah," she said, quickly rubbing under her eyes to catch any tears. "But look how cute the little dog is. And he was lost…"
"Really?" Clay said, looking at her skeptically. "Em, was everything okay while I was gone? Did anything happen?"
"Everything was fine," she assured him. "Why would you think anything happened?"
"Em, you just cried at a TV commercial," he said gently. "That's not like you."
"Damn hormones," Emma muttered
"It's okay to tell me if, wait what did you say?" Clay asked suspiciously.
"I, um, damn hormones?" She repeated.
"What hormones?" Clay asked. "What are you talking about?"
"I, well, I think, I mean, I'm not sure exactly, but maybe," she rambled. She hadn't planned on saying anything until she was sure, but she hadn't planned on crying for a damn TV commercial either. "It's possible, that um, I'm pregnant," she finished in a rush.
She sat up and looked at Clay to gage his reaction. He seemed surprised. She wasn't sure why he would be so surprised. They had decided together over six months ago that she'd stop taking her birth control pills.
"Babe?" She asked.
He blinked, then focused on her. "Possible?" He questioned. "But you're not sure?"
"No," she answered. "I only realized earlier this evening that I was late. I was thinking about going out to buy one of those tests, but then you came home and distracted me." She gave him a little grin as she remembered how distractinghe had been. "The Walgreens is closed now."
Clay nodded and they both sat there a moment, the droning of the TV forgotten in the background.
"Isn't the Walgreens on Virginia Beach Boulevard open twenty-four hours?" He asked.
"Oh, yeah," Emma replied. "I think it is."
They looked at each other for a moment. Then Clay grabbed her hand, stood, and pulled her off the couch. They went out through the kitchen with Clay stopping to grab his wallet. They paused in the mud room, where Clay shoved his feet into his boots while Emma grabbed a pair of sneakers and pushed her feet into them. Then they headed out the door off the mudroom for Clay's truck.
The drive to Walgreens was faster than Emma expected, but then there wasn't much traffic at this time of night. As they approached their destination, she became nervous. She wanted to know, but she didn't. That's why she hadn't immediately run out to get a test when she realized earlier that she might be pregnant.
She wanted to have a baby. She wanted to have Clay's baby. She did. When they decided six months ago that it was time to start trying, she was ready. She really was. But now that she possibly was pregnant, she wasn't so sure. What if she wasn't any good at being someone's mother? She didn't even have a mother to help her with this.
She started to feel a little teary again. Stupid, damn hormones, she thought.
Clay parked the truck in the Walgreens lot and hopped out. He walked around to Emma's side of the truck and opened her door. She didn't make any move to get out.
"Em?" He asked gently, holding his hand out to her.
She took a deep breath and reached out and grasped his hand. He guided her out of the truck and across the parking lot. As they reached the door, he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her in close to his side. She leaned into him for support and he pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
They entered the store and headed straight for the family planning aisle. Halfway up the aisle there was a display of pregnancy tests, a large display. The sheer variety of tests overwhelmed them.
"Which one do you think we should get?" Clay asked desperately.
"I have no idea," Emma replied a little in awe of the selection. "Who knew there were so many?"
"I figured you'd know which one," he explained.
"Yes, of course I do," Emma agreed sarcastically, "considering my experience with that pregnancy scare with the other guy I slept with."
Clay's head snapped around to look at Emma. She tilted her head and raised an eyebrow at him.
"Right, sorry," he said, "I wasn't thinking."
"No, I'm sorry," she replied. "I'm a little nervous." She leaned forward to look closer at some of the packaging. "Let's get this one, this one and this one."
"Three?" He asked.
"Yeah," she answered. "In case we screw one up or the directions are complicated or something."
"How complicated could it be?" Clay asked. "Don't you just pee on the stick?"
"There you go," Emma said, "you're obviously the expert here."
Clay laughed quietly. "I don't think so."
They walked to the front to pay. As they passed the candy display, Emma grabbed a bag of miniature Reese's cups. Clay looked at her in surprise.
"What?" She asked defensively. "Your baby wants them."
He grinned at her. "Is that how this is going to be?"
Emma placed the test packages on the counter along with the candy. The pimply guy behind the counter gave them a knowing look as he rang up the purchases. Clay paid, and Emma snatched the bag out of the guy's hand, giving him such a hard glare that he stepped back.
They walked out of the store and headed for the truck. "I think you put the fear of God into him, Em," Clay commented.
"Yeah," she agreed. "Nothing like the patented Jason Hayes stare of death to do that."
He nodded, having been the recipient of that look from the man himself. "Can't disagree with you there."
The drive home was just as quick. Neither of them spoke, but about halfway home Clay reached over and took Emma's hand in his. She held his hand tightly.
Once they arrived back at the house, they left their shoes in the mudroom and headed upstairs to the bathroom attached to their bedroom. Emma dumped the bag on the counter by her sink and dug out one of the test packages. She tore the box open and pulled out the directions.
"Okay," she said, "it seems pretty straightforward. Pee on the stick, wait three minutes and if it's blue, you're pregnant. If it's red, you're not."
Emma sighed and pulled down her leggings and underwear and sat on the toilet. She pulled the test out of its wrapper.
"I'll give you minute," Clay said and went back in their bedroom to sit on the bed.
She laughed silently to herself at Clay's squeamishness, then awkwardly peed on the stick. Obviously designed by men, she thought.
Finished with taking the test, she placed it on the counter and washed her hands. She went into the bedroom, grabbed her phone and set a three-minute timer on it. Then she sat down next to Clay on the bed.
"Em," Clay said softly, breaking the silence between them, "do you not want to be pregnant?"
"Oh, no, that's not it at all," she replied. "It's just, when we decided we were ready to do this it seemed like exactly what I wanted, but now that it looks like I really am pregnant, it's scary." Emma looked up at Clay. "I'm scared, Clay. I don't know how to be someone's mother. I don't even have my mom to help." Her eyes started to tear up again.
Clay wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. "Em, you're going to be a great mom. I know you are. It's me you should worry about. Look at what I had for parents."
"No, you're going to be a great father," Emma assured him. "Look at how much Jameelah and RJ love you. And you had your grandparents."
"And you had your parents, who were pretty great," Clay responded. "And your Dad and Mikey and the guys and Naima and Hannah and her mom and Anna are all going to be here to help."
"Yeah," Emma agreed, "but I think Anna might be the bad influence aunt more than anything."
Clay laughed. "Hmmm, Sonny will probably be the bad influence uncle."
"Oh yeah," Emma snorted. "If we want our kid to get a sugar high, he's the one to do it. He's a sucker for the trembling lip, second ice cream cone every time."
"That sounds like the voice of experience," Clay stated.
"Yup," Emma laughed.
The alarm on her phone sounded. The three minutes were up.
Clay took her hand in his own and stood, pulling her up off the bed with him. They went into the bathroom and Emma picked up the stick. They looked at each other and then Emma turned the test so they could see what color it had turned. Neither of them said anything for moment.
"What does purple mean?" Clay asked in confusion.
Emma grabbed the direction sheet and checked it. "Nothing. It just says blue pregnant, red not pregnant." Emma huffed out a frustrated breath and looked at the stick again. It was definitely purple.
Clay pulled another test out of the bag. "Here. This one actually says pregnant or not pregnant. How about we try this one?"
"We?" She asked with a laugh.
"You know what I mean," Clay said.
Emma sighed. "If I had realized this is what I'd be doing tonight, I would have drunk a lot more fluids today."
Clay laughed. "Sorry, baby, you think you can take another for the team?"
"Maybe," she said. "I'll give it a shot. Go Team Spenser."
Clay smiled and gave her a kiss on the forehead. Emma peeled down her leggings and underwear again and sat on the toilet. Clay handed her the unwrapped test and she did her best, but nothing happened.
"Hold on," Clay said and reached over and turned on the water faucet on the nearest sink. "Does that help?"
"Really?" Emma laughed.
"Hey, they say hearing running water makes you want to pee," Clay explained.
He looked so serious that Emma couldn't help but start laughing uncontrollably, which took care of her problem.
"See, it worked," Clay said triumphantly.
She shook her head. Sometimes, she had learned, for the sake of your marriage you just agreed.
"Good work, babe," she said with a chuckle.
She put the test on the counter and pulled her underwear and leggings back up. "How long do we have to wait for this one?" She asked as she washed her hands.
Clay looked at the directions for this test. "Three minutes."
Emma grabbed the miniature Reese's cups and went back into the bedroom. Clay followed her and sat on the bed as she set a three-minute timer on her phone. She settled down next to him and leaned into his side.
"Besides being late, have you noticed any other signs you're pregnant?" Clay asked.
"Mmm, kind of," Emma replied thoughtfully. "I've been really tired since last week, but I've been getting a good amount of sleep. I even took a nap yesterday."
Clay nodded and watched as Emma unwrapped and ate five mini Reese's cups in succession.
"Oh, also," she continued, "the other day when Naima was making tuna fish for a sandwich for RJ the smell made me seriously nauseous. The smell of tuna has never bothered me before."
They sat quietly while they continued to wait. At this point Emma was pretty sure she was pregnant. She thought about how their lives were about to change.
"Do you care if it's a boy or a girl?" She asked curiously.
"No, either is fine with me," Clay replied.
"You don't care about continuing the Spenser name?" She questioned.
"Please," he said dryly, "as if there's so much to be proud of there."
"Well, I think you have a lot to be proud of," Emma said firmly.
"Maybe," Clay said, "but I don't suppose it matters. You use your maiden name professionally, so our daughter could do the same."
"That's true," she agreed.
Emma's phone chimed as the three minutes were up. They looked at each other.
"Ready?" Emma asked.
"Yeah," he said, nudging her to get up.
She stood and turned to pull him up with her. They went back into the bathroom together, and Clay picked the test up off the counter. Emma took a deep breath as he flipped the test around so they could both read the result.
The little window had the word pregnant in it.
Emma felt a little lightheaded. She had pretty much figured she was pregnant but seeing it there in writing on the test made it real.
Clay put the test back on the counter and turned to Emma. He had the hugest smile on his face. The last time she had seen him smile like that was the day they were married.
"We're having a baby, Em!" He wrapped his arms around her, lifting her off the floor, and spun her in a tight circle.
She giggled and kissed him. "We are," she whispered.
He set her down gently on the floor again and leaned his forehead to hers. They just stood there wrapped in each other's arms smiling at each other.
Eventually Clay lifted his head and stroked her cheek. "Ready for bed?" He asked. "It's late. You need your sleep."
"Yeah," she answered.
They let go of each other and started getting ready for bed. Emma washed up and brushed her teeth and went back into the bedroom. She went to her bureau and pulled out a nightgown to sleep in. She changed and crawled into bed, ready to sleep.
As she started to doze off Clay came into the room, turned out the lights and slipped into bed next to her. He spooned up behind her and slid his arm around her waist. After a minute she felt his hand move to slide underneath her nightgown. His hand came to rest low on her stomach, and then she felt it gently caress her belly where their baby was.
Emma became a little teary again. She knew Clay would be a great dad. She expected that over the next nine months, well she guessed it was eight now, he would probably start to drive her crazy. She knew he was going to begin trying to get her to have kale in her smoothies again. And at some point, she was going to have to ban him from reading books about what to do when you're pregnant because he would continually be quoting facts and suggestions from them. Even so, there was no one else she would want to be her baby's father.
Clay laid in bed stroking Emma's belly. He could hardly believe that their baby was right there under his hand. He wondered how big it was right now. Maybe tomorrow they would have time to get one of those books that tells you about the baby's development and what was happening each month. He considered whether or not he'd be able to convince Emma to start having the frozen berry mix with kale in her smoothie in the morning. Maybe if he could find something in the book about how good it would be for the baby; he could persuade her.
He thought he couldn't be happier than he was on his wedding day, but right now, this moment came pretty close. It made him question his parents' actions even more, because he couldn't imagine feeling like this and then just abandoning his kid later. He hadn't even seen his child yet, but he couldn't envision dumping him or her on someone else. He assumed his parents mustn't have felt like this when they found out they were having him.
Emma's breathing had evened out and he knew she had fallen asleep. He lifted his head off the pillow and looked down at her. She looked so young while she was sleeping, hardly old enough be having a baby. He leaned down and gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek.
"Thank you," he whispered to her, and then settled down, holding her close, to go to sleep.