Heartbeats Away From Disaster

"Craigery, go get me some brownies," Mitzi whined, "I'm craving brownies."

In response, I raised an eyebrow and then gave her a strange look. "Mitzi, babe, it's fucking two-thirty in the morning." I exclaimed. "Where the fuck am I going to find a bakery that's open at this hour?"

Pouting slightly, she shrugged her shoulders then leaned over, kissing my lips lovingly. "Go to Safeway and see if they have those little bite size brownies that are already made." She suggested. Seeing the reluctant look on my face, she added. "Please? I'm craving them like nothin' else."

"Mitzi, I'm already in my pj's though." I said stubbornly.

"Your jammies are just your boxers, Craigery." She pointed out, "just throw on a shirt and then pull some pants on."

"Mitzi Lynn." I sighed.

"You've been calling me that a lot lately." She said. "Why?"

"I only call you that when you start pushing my buttons." I mumbled. "You've been nagging me a lot lately."

Mitzi frowned slightly as she studied me with her hazel eyes. "I don't mean to." She whispered sadly. "I'm sorry."

"Shh, it's fine." I assured her. "Don't get all emotional about it." I added with a smile. "Come on, get a sweatshirt on; we'll both go to Safeway and do some late night grocery shopping."

With that, we both got up, Mitzi heading to the closet while I went into the bedroom to quickly get dressed. By the time I got back to the living room, Mitzi was curled up on the couch, wearing one of my sweatshirts while she peered at the scary movie we were watching on Sci-Fi over the top of her pillow. Smiling softly, I held my hand out to her and helped her to her feet.

"Come on, babe," I grinned, "before this movie ends up giving you nightmares."

"It won't." She said defensively as she held tightly onto my hand.

Smirking slightly, I grabbed my wallet from the coffee table as well as the keys to Mitzi's car, and then led Mitzi outside. Within a few minutes, Mitzi and I were wandering through the empty aisles of Safeway, grabbing the things we needed, as well as the things we didn't.

After a little while, Mitzi tugged lightly on my arm, causing me to turn my gaze in her direction. "Pack me." She insisted. "My feet hurt."

"Sweetheart, I'm not going to pack you." I replied, shaking my head. "I have to push the cart."

"Well, let me sit on the cart then."

Knowing better than to argue with her, I held my tongue and instead placed my hands on her hips, lifting her up with ease and set her on top of the cart where normally little kids would sit. However, because Mitzi was a full grown woman, there was no way she was going to fit, so she had to make due with sitting down on the handlebar of the cart.

"Mitzi," I sighed, "you're giving me a hell of a time tonight, babe." I pointed out.

"I haven't been feeling good lately," she admitted, "you're supposed to cater to my every wish." She said, and then wrapped her legs around my waist, pulling me closer to her.

I growled lowly as I placed my hands on the handlebar on either side of her. "You're lucky I can't live without you." I sighed as I pushed the cart, continuing our trek through the store.

As we wandered throughout the store, Mitzi kept pulling random items off of the shelves, dumping them into the cart behind her. Glancing around her, I frowned when I saw the growing pile of junk food in our cart.

"Mitzi, we're supposed to be getting just the things we need." I sighed. "You've been getting nothing but junk."

"We're getting stuff we need too." She said, motioning to the bag of spaghetti noodles she just pulled from the shelf.

Rolling my eyes slightly, a grabbed a few more things that we needed and added them to the cart before we went into the frozen foods section. There, we finished up getting whatever else we needed and then went to the check out stand. I helped Mitzi down off of the cart and then we started putting our groceries onto the little conveyer belt so that the cashier to ring everything up for us.

When we had finished putting our groceries up, Mitzi's eyes widened slightly. "My brownies." She mumbled to herself before she took off, heading toward the bakery section. She returned about a minute later, packing three plastic containers of bite sized brownies, and then handed them to the cashier so he could ring them up as well.

"You're in that stage where you're craving brownies, huh?" The teenage boy grinned.

"Yeah." Mitzi sighed, "I've been craving them like crazy."

"How far along are you?" He asked, catching both Mitzi and I in surprise.

Mitzi eyed the boy for a few seconds before her eyes narrowed in anger. "I'm not pregnant," she snapped. "Why would you think that?"

The boy was quick to apologize as his cheeks flushed a deep shade of red. "I'm sorry," he said hurriedly, "I-I just assumed that you were."

"Why? Do you think I'm fat or something?" Mitzi demanded. "I outta have my boyfriend kick your ass for calling me fat." She threatened.

"No, no, I don't think you're fat." He blushed. "It's just ... you have all this random junk food and I just assumed that you were getting weird cravings from being pregnant." He explained. "I'm sorry, I feel like such a jerk now."

"Well you should." Mitzi growled.

With that, Mitzi grabbed her brownies that had already been bagged and then stormed out of the store, leaving me alone with the scandalized cashier. He gazed after Mitzi, giving her an apologetic look, before he turned to me sheepishly.

"I'm sorry about that." I mumbled. "She's been acting ... odd lately."

"I feel like a jerk." He repeated.

I shook my head. "It's not your fault." I sighed. "She's been known to have her temper problems every now and then. It's late; I think she's just tired."

The cashier nodded his head, and then finished ringing up the total before he bagged everything for me. Once he was done, I ran my credit card through the slot and then signed it before the cashier printed out my receipt.

"Thanks," I mumbled as I shoved my credit card back into my pocket and then pushed the cart outside to the car.

Mitzi was already sitting in the passenger seat, one container opened in her lap. She eyed me momentarily as I approached, and then turned her attention back to her brownies. As I began to load the groceries into the backseat, Mitzi set her brownies on the dashboard and got out, dusting her hands off of her pants before she turned her eyes to me.

"I forgot something." She mumbled. "Do you have any money?"

"How much do you need?" I asked.

She shrugged her shoulders. "Twenty bucks."

I frowned as I pulled out my credit card and handed it to her. "I only have a ten on me." I said as she took the card.

"I'll be right back." She whispered and then made her way back inside the store.

She was back before I was even done putting the groceries in the car, holding tightly to a paper bag. When she handed my card back to me, I nodded to the bag. "What's in there?" I asked.

"Nothing." She muttered before she got into the car, and shut the door.

Sighing softly, I finished loading the groceries and put the cart back. The ride back to the house was silent, save for the soft music coming quietly from the speakers. When we got home, Mitzi went straight into the house, packing only her paper bag and her brownies, leaving me to pack in the rest of the groceries.

It took me several trips to finish bringing in the groceries, and on the last time I realized that I hadn't seen Mitzi at all. Frowning to myself, I closed and locked the front door before I went into the kitchen to start putting things away. I cast aside my plans, though, when I saw that Mitzi's paper bag she had been carrying had been left abandoned on the countertop.

Being nosey, I grabbed the bag and looked inside, but found it to be empty with only the receipt left. Grabbing the receipt, I pulled it out only to feel my heart skip a beat or two when I saw what she had bought. I raced through the house and went straight to the master bathroom, where I found the light to be on, and the door locked.

"Mitzi?" I called, banging on the door harder than a meant to. "Baby, open the door."

"Craig, go away." She mumbled from inside.

"Mitzi, open the door damn it." I demanded. "I know you bought a pregnancy test, now open the door."

"Go away." She repeated.

"Mitzi Lynn Carter, open the door." I begged, trying my hardest not to let my nerves show in my voice. "Baby, please, open the door."

Mitzi was silent for a few seconds before I heard the lock click, and then the door opened. Mitzi peaked out at me through the crack, an unreadable expression on her face.

"I didn't realize that it was a possibility until that boy at the store pointed it out." She mumbled. "When I went out to the car, I counted through the past month and realized that I'm late."

Gently, I pushed the door opened wider so that I could get a full view of Mitzi. "Did you take the test already?" I asked softly.

She nodded her head. "A couple more minutes before it's done." She whispered.

Taking a deep breath, I let it out slowly before I took Mitzi into my arms, picking her up bridal style. As she clung onto me, I saw that the pregnancy test was sitting on the edge of the counter nearest to the toilet. Walking into the bathroom, I readjusted Mitzi in my arms and then closed the lid on the toilet before I sat down.

The entire time I sat there, I couldn't take my eyes off of the pregnancy test. Millions upon millions of thoughts were running through my mind. First and foremost was the thought of the possibility of me being a father. That thought scared me to death; I wasn't anywhere near ready to be a father yet. I could barely take care of myself, I could barely take care of Mitzi, I wouldn't even know where to begin when it came to taking care of a child.

In my arms, I felt Mitzi start to tremble, and I knew that she was feeling somewhere along the same lines as I. She was no doubt scared to death as well. I did my best to whisper words of comfort into her ear, but nothing I said could control the trembles that would move involuntarily throughout her body.

Before I knew it, the pregnancy test began to beep, indicating that it was done. Taking a deep breath, I watched as Mitzi reached over and hesitantly took it into her hand. Biting my lip, I looked to the screen and felt a sense of uneasiness settle in the pit of my stomach.

"You're pregnant." I whispered, somewhat in disbelief. "Oh shit, I ... We're going to be parents." I mumbled.

"I'll make an appointment tomorrow at the doctor's office." She whispered back, still staring at the positive pregnancy test in her hands. "Just to make sure its right."

Running my fingers through her hair with one hand, I used the other to take the pregnancy test from her and then threw it into the garbage. "I'll go with you." I said.

Mitzi sniffed slightly as she turned her eyes up to me. "What if I really am pregnant?" She asked. "Are you going to leave me?"

"No, of course not Mitzi." I said, shaking my head. "If you really are pregnant, we're going to have to grow up and raise our child the best way we know how to. I would never dream of leaving you, sweetheart."

"Craigery, I'm scared." She whispered as a single tear fell from her eye.

"Shh," I cooed as I wiped the tear away.

There was no way that I had the courage to admit aloud that I was scared to death as well.