Glide With The Breeze

Alex remained quiet, his face expressionless as he stared at Cassie for a full minute. She tried hard not to let her brain get ahead of her, or him for that matter. But it was nearly impossible when he wouldn't say anything.

She couldn't help but feel like she'd made a mistake in telling him. Maybe she should have just terminated the pregnancy and been done with it. He would have been none the wiser. And it would have spared her these moments of wanting to curl up into a ball and cry her eyes out for being so stupid to think he would want to reconsider their previously very well thought out timeline for the journey they had chosen to embark on together.

Eye contact was finally broken when she let herself blink and it seemed to wake up whatever thoughts had been playing through Alex's own mind. "Pregnant?" he asked. A look of shock had come over his face. Whatever he might have thought she would tell him, it wasn't this.

She nodded and blinked again. Her eyes were moist and tears threatened to escape but she did her best to hold them back. "Yeah. Pregnant," she replied quietly.

"How long have you known?" he asked, the shock slowly fading from his expression.

"I took a test last week. The day I called you. And I took another one this morning, just to make sure." She paused. "But I guess I had a feeling since a day or so after you left. I just felt... different," she continued. "I tried to tell myself that it was because you had just left and it was a few days before I was supposed to start my period. You know how I get weirdly hormonal sometimes right before my period," she said. He nodded but remained quiet. In spite of herself, the moisture from her eyes started to escape and pooled just underneath her eyes. "I know we said we were going to wait. And I understand if you still want to. I wanted to tell you though. It didn't seem right just going and getting rid of it without you even knowing first." A tear slid down her cheek and she sighed. "But I will, you know, if you don't think the time is right."

Very carefully, Alex slid his hand out from underneath both of Cassie's and off of her stomach and reached up to wipe away the tear that had fallen, leaving his hand to rest on her face. "Cassandra. Shh. I could never ask you to do that," he said quietly.

She lifted her eyes to meet his again and another tear escaped only to run into his fingers. "You don't have to ask me to. I'm willing because we had this planned out. Just say the time isn't right and-"

Alex leaned forward and pressed his lips gently against hers, cutting her off mid sentence. "Now is the perfect time," he said when he pulled back. His face remained only centimeters from her own. "I love you, Cassandra. And I want us to keep this baby."

She nodded a little, showing she understood, but her expression read otherwise. "Are you sure?" she asked.

"That I love you?" he asked, "Of course I am."

In spite of herself, a smile broke across her face. "I know that," she said. "I meant the baby. Are you sure you want to keep it?" she asked, though she knew he knew what she'd meant.

"Positive," he said. "Do you want to keep it?" he asked and she nodded vigorously. "Okay then," he said, moving his hand back to her stomach while simultaneously shifting back to where he had laid before, propping himself up on his elbow once again. "We're agreed. We're going to have a baby."

Once again, she rested her hands on top of his. "I love you," she said and he smiled. He always knew she did but until that moment he hadn't realized how much he liked hearing her say it.

Cassie stared up the ceiling once again. Her thumb stroked Alex's hand as she thought about the decision they'd just made. Her smile grew at the thought of the little life growing inside of her. For so long she had wanted this and now she was finally getting it. A child. Her own family. A content sigh escaped her.

She could feel Alex studying the side of her face but it didn't bother her. He did this often when they would lay in bed together and she had grown used to it. In some ways, she found great comfort in knowing that he could do that for hours on end.

"Is it mine?" he asked suddenly.

His voice broke through her thoughts and her stomach suddenly twisted into a huge knot, the smile falling from her face. She turned her head toward him and her eyes snapped to his, ready to slap him for even thinking such a thing. But her stomach quickly untwisted and her body relaxed at the sight of the huge grin playing across his face.

"You jerk," she said, pushing his shoulder.

Alex rolled onto his back. "I had to ask," he said with a laugh as he reached for Cassie to pull her toward him. "I've been gone for a month. I don't know where you've been and what you've been doing." The grin never left his face as he spoke.

"Yes, you do," she said softly as she allowed him to pull her to his chest. His arms wrapped around her and she rested her head against his shoulder.

"Yes, I do," he agreed and planted a kiss on top of her head.

Another sigh escaped her and she closed her eyes, breathing in his scent. It never seemed to grow old. "Are you really sure about this?" she asked. Her leg slid over one of his and rested in the space between both his legs. "You think we're ready?"

Keeping one arm around her, he moved the other one and began to stroke her long hair. "To be honest, I'm not sure I'll ever be really ready. But I don't think waiting will help. I think it's one of those things you just have to do. You know? And I want to," he said. "I want to do this with you." She leaned her head back a little to look up at him and kissed his jaw. He smiled, looking down at her. When she didn't say anything, he continued. "I know you don't believe that everything happens for a reason, and I'm not necessarily sure I do either. But I think some things do. I mean, we've been so careful. There's no way this should have happened," he said. "But it did. And if this is the universe's way of telling us that this is meant to be, then who am I to argue with that?"

"I guess you're right," she agreed with a slight nod. But she didn't sound entirely convinced.

"Hey," he said quietly. She stared at the wall across the room and waited for him to continue. "Hey," he said again, gently taking hold of her arm to get her attention.

She tilted her head back again and looked at him. "What?" she asked.

"Remember eight months ago when I told you in front of a couple thousand people that I wanted to marry you and make babies with you and just be with you forever?" he asked.

Cassie nodded and propped herself up a little so she could look at him better. "Yeah," she said, "I remember."

"I meant that, Cassandra," he assured her. "And I haven't changed my mind. I still want babies and a life with you. Even though we didn't plan this first one. Life doesn't always go according to plan. We have to just take it as comes."