I Can't Do It Alone

Jocelyn sat in her living room going over prospective advertising for the Steelers. She heard the doorbell ring, and she called out, “Come on in, Max. The door’s open.”

Max slowly opened the door, peering inside. He saw Jocelyn sitting at the table, and he walked over to her. “How did you know it was me?” he asked her. “Tia’s got some crazy person giving her gifts, and you’re just letting people randomly walk into your apartment!” he exclaimed. “For all you knew, I could have been Tia’s stalker.”

“Max,” Jocelyn began, looking up from the advertisements. “There are four people that come over here, and no one else,” she told him calmly. “I knew it wasn’t a crazy stalker.”

“Okay, Miss Know-It-All, then how did you know it was me?” he questioned, sitting down across from her and looking at her ads.

“Well, I knew it wasn’t going to be Sid because he’s still being a jackass about that job offer,” she began, and Max laughed at her bluntness. “And, I knew it wasn’t going to be Kris or Tia because Tia’s over at Kris’s place right now. She told me last night she was going over there today since it was both their day off,” she continued. “So, who does that leave?” she asked him.

“Me,” Max said, nodding, understanding what she was hinting at.

“Ding ding ding, we have a winner!” Jocelyn sang.

Max glared at her. “You know, I think I liked you better when I first started dating Brook. You were always so quiet. And, now, not so much.”

“Aw, Max, you know you love me,” Jocelyn smiled.

“Yeah,” Max sighed. “I don’t know why, though,” he joked, standing up. “Where’s Brooklyn?” he asked her.

“Oh, I think she’s still in bed. She was up a couple of times last night,” Jocelyn explained.

“She’s still sick?” Max asked.

“Yeah, you might want to go back and talk to her,” Jocelyn told him, trying not to reveal too much.

“Okay,” Max said nodding his head. “Thanks.” He walked back towards Brooklyn’s bedroom, and, seeing that the door was partially open, he pushed it open the rest of the way. He walked over to the bed where Brooklyn was sleeping soundly. He carefully sat down on the bed, trying not to disturb her, but he didn’t succeed.

“Max?” Brooklyn asked, stirring awake.

“Hey, babe,” he said, giving her a kiss as she sat up, leaning against her headboard. “Jocelyn said you were sick again last night?” he asked, and she nodded her head. “Are you feeling any better?”

“Yeah, I’m fine right now, but…” she began.

“Good,” Max said, cutting her off with his lips on hers. Brooklyn immediately wrapped her arms around Max’s neck, as things began to heat up.

Before she knew it, she was lying down with Max hovering above her, his lips trailing down her neck. His hands slipped underneath her shirt, and she suddenly pulled away.

“Are you okay?” Max asked, concerned.

“I need to talk to you,” Brooklyn announced.

“Okay?” Max said, confused. “What’s wrong?” he asked as he sat down on the edge of the bed next to her, grabbing her hand in his.

“Um, I don’t know how to say this,” Brooklyn began.

“Just say it,” Max told her. “Whatever it is, I can handle it,” he assured her.

“I’m pregnant,” she blurted out.

Max’s eyes went wide. “Wh-what?” he asked. “You-you’re pregnant?” he stuttered. Brooklyn nodded her head. “Are you sure?” he asked. “Because we’ve been careful.”

“I know,” Brooklyn interrupted him. “But, after I was sick for a week, Tia and Jocelyn thought that I should go see a doctor, and she confirmed it. I’m pregnant,” she repeated.

“No,” Max said shaking his head. “You can’t be pregnant.”

“I am,” Brooklyn assured him. “They did a blood test, and it said I’m pregnant. I know how you feel, Max,” she said, squeezing his hand. “I couldn’t believe it either, but it’s really happening.”

“I don’t understand how this happened,” Max told her.

“Well, when a man and a woman love each other very much…” Brooklyn joked.

“Brook!” Max exclaimed. “This is not the time to be joking around. We’ve got a kid on the way!”

“I know,” Brooklyn told him. “And, to answer your question, apparently the condom either didn’t work or was defective. Either way, we’re having a baby, and there’s nothing we can do to change that.”

“But, we talked about this,” Max argued. “We told each other that we weren’t going to even try to have kids until after I retired from playing.”

“I know, and after we got married,” she added.

“That’s what this is all about, isn’t it?” Max suddenly asked.

“What?” Brooklyn asked confused.

“This is your way of getting me to propose, isn’t it?” he questioned.

“Max!” Brooklyn cried. “You know I would never do that!”

“Brooklyn, you’ve been dropping hints to me about proposing for I don’t know how long, and I haven’t done it yet, so you thought you’d take it into your own hands. You got pregnant on purpose!” Max accused.

“Max, you know that’s not true!” Brooklyn yelled. “I would never get pregnant on purpose. Like you just said we talked about this, and we decided that we were going to wait until after you were retired and we were married.”

“Again with the marriage thing,” Max yelled. “That’s what you want, isn’t it? You want to get married now since you’re pregnant.”

“Max, I’m not going to lie. Yeah, I’d like it if we were married for the child,” Brooklyn admitted.

Max stared at her for a moment. “You did do this on purpose, didn’t you?”

“Max, I just told you I didn’t!” Brooklyn screamed.

“Well, we’re not getting married!” Max told her, ignoring what Brooklyn had just said. “So, you can kiss that dream goodbye. You’re not going to trap me into a marriage because you went and got pregnant,” he said, storming out of her bedroom and out of the apartment.

Jocelyn watched as Max slammed the door behind him, and she rushed back to Brooklyn’s bedroom to find her sister lying against the headboard, sobbing. “I’m guessing it didn’t go as well as we hoped?” Jocelyn asked, sitting down next to her.

“He thinks I got pregnant on purpose to trap him into a marriage,” Brooklyn said in between her tears.

“What?” Jocelyn cried. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard! Did you tell him it’s his fault that you’re pregnant? That it was his damn sperm that got you pregnant?” she asked.

“No,” Brooklyn said, shaking her head.

“So, he thought you got pregnant on purpose?” Jocelyn asked.

“Yeah. He said that we’re not getting married, and then he left,” Brooklyn cried.

“Seriously, are all the Penguins complete dicks or just our boyfriends?” Jocelyn asked.

“I don’t know,” Brooklyn said quietly, a new batch of fresh tears rolling down her face.

“Hey, Brook, don’t cry,” Jocelyn told her. “Max is going to realize what an idiot he was, and he’s going to come crawling back, begging for your forgiveness. You just wait and see,” she promised.