Time for a Sign

A month later, the boys were a few weeks away from an overseas tour, lasting a week and a half before they were home for a couple of months and then embarking on a three week east coast tour. Now that they were all settling down, they decided that they'd split the US up into three parts and tour them all individually throughout the year. This meant that they would be home more often, tours wouldn't last as long, and they got to play smaller cities that used to miss out on shows.

Pat and I had been... busy. Not just baby-making, but also preparing him for tour. Overseas tours required a lot of preparation, making sure that everything was properly packed so it didn't move in their cargo, double checking the weight of each case and ensuring that everything obeyed quarantine laws. As well as getting Pat ready for tour, I had my own job to stress over and a promotion had just been put over my head. This meant I was forced to work longer and harder hours to prove that I wanted this new job.

I walked in the door and kicked my shoes off, flopping down on the couch and propping my feet up on Pat's lap.

"Big day?" he asked and I just groaned.

"If I didn't need this promotion I wouldn't even bother, but with the band slowing down and everything, we really need this extra money."

"Don't forget trying to start a family, kids are expensive too," Pat mused. I sighed, feeling even more tired now. Pat huffed and pushed my feet off his lap, standing to leave the room.

"What?" I asked him. He just huffed again and shrugged his shoulders.

"It just doesn't seem like you want to do this. This whole week you've pushed me away and you don't seem excited to want to start a family."

I sat up. "What the hell makes you think that? I've been working my ass off this last week so I can get this promotion so we can afford to start a family. I've pushed you away because I've been so drained of energy that I can't physically move most nights. So don't start putting shit on me because I want a family just as much as you."

I stood up from my seat and pushed past him to the bathroom, feeling tears springing to my eyes. I knew it was just my over-tired state talking, but how could he think that I didn't want to have a baby with him? I'd stuck with him when Eric was being an asshole about us being together, so he should know that I was in it for the long run.

I put my tears down to stress and ran myself a warm bath, adding a scented bath bomb to it because fuck it, my week had gone from one extreme to another and I deserved to pamper myself every once in a while. I dimmed the lights and got in the bath, sticking my earphones in and zoning out.

I was close to falling asleep when one of my earphones was pulled out of my ear. I glared up at Pat as I took the other one out, taking the stolen one from his hand.

"I'm sorry for snapping. I'm stressing out too, we haven't been overseas in a while and I really don't wanna be so far away from you. I know you're gonna be working hard and I really want to be here for you but I won't be able to." Pat took one of my feet that was hanging out of the bath and started massaging it, I closed my eyes at the relaxing feeling.

"It's not like you're gonna miss anything, all I'm going to be doing is going to work early, coming home late and sleeping. I haven't had time to do anything this week. Jessy thinks I'm ignoring her but I just haven't had time to call her or have lunch with her or anything."

"Tomorrow's Saturday, why don't you guys have a girls day?"

I pouted. "But I was gonna spend tomorrow with you."

Pat kissed my pouty lips. "You'll have me tomorrow night and all day Sunday. Go do some girly shit or something."

I giggled. "Like what?"

"I don't know, what do girls usually do when they hang out?"

I shrugged. "Get our nails done, get a facial, spend all our husbands' money..."

"You do that last one well enough without Jessy anyway."

I giggled again. "I love you."

"I love you too. Come on, I'm about to cook dinner. I'll get you a class of wine and you can sit down and relax."

The thought of wine began to make my stomach turn. "Maybe not wine."

"What about a cup of chamomile tea?"

"Sounds perfect."

I dried myself off and put on my fluffy robe, sitting on the couch in the joint living room-kitchen area while Pat made dinner. I fell asleep before he could finish though and I woke up with his arms around me, my head on his shoulder. He looked at me as I woke up.

"Have a good nap?"

I nodded. "What time is it?"

"Nearly nine. I put your dinner in the fridge to reheat, I figured you could use the sleep."

I kissed his cheek softly and went to the kitchen to heat up my dinner, my stomach growling. I ate quickly, still feeling tired, and returned to the living room to cuddle up to Pat again.

"I messaged Jessy and asked her to take you out tomorrow, she said she would make you both facial and nail appointments in the morning."

"Thank you."

"I'd do anything for you, you know."

"I know."

"Even if it meant quitting the band, I'd do it for you."

The Maine meant everything to Pat, he had been in it for years before we started dating. Knowing that he would quit the band for me if I needed him to made me realise that he was in this for the long haul, whether we could have kids or not.

* * * * *

I woke up the next morning to a set of hands stroking my back softly, stopping as soon as they noticed I was awake.

"Please don't stop doing that Pat."

"Well considering it wasn't Pat that was doing it, he's already stopped," came a female voice. I looked up from my pillow to see Jessy sitting on the side of my bed.

"When did you get in?"

"About twenty minutes ago. Pat's gone to rehearsal early so he can be home this afternoon and I'm taking you to breakfast before we go make you pretty."

My stomach rolled unpleasantly at the thought of food. "Can we just hold off on talking about food for a little while? I don't feel too great."

"You'll feel a lot better once you have a big plate of greasy bacon and eggs and toast-"

I pushed Jessy aside as I sprinted to my bathroom, just making it in time as I threw up last night's dinner. Jessy was behind me shortly, holding back my hair as I emptied my stomach.

"Shit, I'm sorry, I thought you were joking. I can cancel the appointments if you're not feeling good."

I shook my head. "It's okay, I'm fine. I could really use a cup of tea though."

"I'll go make you one and bring it in while you get ready."

I took a quick shower and was dressed by the time Jessy returned with my tea and a couple of crackers.

"The crackers will help settle your stomach and make sure you have something in it so you don't start feeling sick again."

I thanked her and did my hair while drinking my tea and eating. I slipped on a pair of sandals, grabbed my bag and left the house ten minutes later, feeling a little better.

An hour later we left the beauty salon with fresh faces and pink nails, Jessy's choice of colour of course.

"I'm kind of hungry, are you able to stomach anything now?" My stomach growled as Jessy asked me that question and she giggled. "I'm gonna take that as a yes. You ready for some breakfast?"

I pursed my lips. "I'm kind of craving something sugary sweet, like cake or donuts. I could really use a Krispy Kreme right now."

Jessy eyed me suspiciously. "Are you sure?"

I nodded. "Positive."

We bought our donuts and sat in her car to eat them. I had demolished mine before Jessy had even gotten through half of hers. She stared at me incredulously.

"Alecia, I don't mean to alarm you, but I'm beginning to think you might finally be pregnant. You've been hormonal, sick and hungry, you're showing all the signs."

My heart rose in my chest before sinking again. "I think my period is due soon, I feel like this basically every month."

"Are you sure? You're not usually as tired as you are."

"I've been working more hours this week, I have the possibility of a promotion hanging over my head so I need to prove that I want it."

"Oh." Jessy sounded as disappointed as I felt.

"But Pat and I are still trying, so it'll happen soon enough."

"I know, I just had a suspicion. I'm sorry if I got your hopes up."

"It's okay."

We sat in silence for a little while before Jessy spoke up.

"I have to get Connor from my mom's, did you wanna back with me and we can hang out?"

"Yeah sure."

We were still silent as we drove to her mom's house and we sat in the car for a minute after she killed the engine.

"Listen, Alecia, I feel really bad-"

"Jessy, don't. It's fine. Whatever happens, happens, and if it doesn't then that's fine too."

"I'm still sorry. I know how it feels to get your hopes up and have it all just fall away. Especially recently."

I frowned at Jessy. "What do you mean?"

She sighed. "We haven't told anyone, but a little while ago Garrett and I found out we were pregnant again, but the other week I miscarried."

My face softened. "Jessy, why didn't you tell me?"

"We hadn't told anyone that I was pregnant again in the first place, we didn't wanna announce anything until we were in the safe zone, but we didn't make it that far so we thought it would be best not to tell anyone."

"You know you can tell me anything, right?"

Jessy nodded. "I know. Come on, Connor will be excited to see you."

* * * * *

My last week at home with Pat was spent doing just that: being at home. Whatever I had caught on the weekend grew worse over the week and I couldn't do anything but spend all day in bed. So much for working hard for this promotion.

The only good thing was that it gave me more time at home with Pat before he left, which I was grateful for. He claimed he was "making up for the time he was going to miss" while he was overseas, but I knew that deep down he was worried about me.

On Friday night, the boys were planning a small going-away get together for the band, their respective girlfriends and wives, and a few close friends. I was still sick, but I insisted that Pat and I go.

"Alecia, we don't have to go. I'm perfectly fine with staying in bed with you and watching Audrey Hepburn movies."

I was already putting on makeup. "Pat, we can't skip out. This is your band and your friends we're talking about. Besides, I haven't left the house in a week and I'm starting to go a little stir-crazy." Not to mention my cousin was going to be there and he would be on my case if Pat and I didn't at least make an appearance.

We drove to John's place and walked into the kitchen to find his girlfriend Rebekah making a blender full of mojitos. She gave us a smile as we walked in and poured some of the mix into two glasses.

"I haven't seen you in so long Alecia! Here, have a drink," she said, handing me one of the glasses. I breathed in the scent of alcohol and set the drink back down on the counter.

"Sorry Bek, I'm gonna skip on the drinks tonight. I've been sick all week, I don't really wanna risk it. Besides, I'm driving tonight." I offered her a smile as she picked up the glass.

"That's alright, more for me," she said with a smirk. John entered the kitchen and took the second glass from her hand, taking a long sip before handing it back to her. He winced slightly.

"Maybe ease up on the lime next batch," he suggested before moving to the fridge and pulling out a packet of burgers, taking them outside and pulling Pat along with him.

Rebekah rolled her eyes at them. "So, how have you been? I feel like it's been months since we've caught up."

"I guess I've been better, I caught a bug this week so I'm trying to shake it off. But other than that I've been pretty good."

Jessy and Garrett entered the kitchen and we politely said hello to Garrett as he took a beer from his six-pack and headed outside, leaving Jessy behind with us.

Jessy and Rebekah were still a little tense with each other, but it was a vast improvement from when they first met. Jessy and John were still incredibly close, something which used to get to Rebekah when she first started dating him. Jessy also didn't trust Rebekah, especially after the whole Rachel fiasco, but the two had several talks and were now a lot more civil than they were.

"How're you doing, Alecia? Pat said you weren't feeling real good."

I nodded my head. "Still not feeling my best, but I'm better than I was at the start of the week. I've been sick ever since our girls day."

Rebekah frowned. "Wait, you guys had a girls day without me?"

"Alecia had a big week at work, Pat asked me to take her out and pamper her. It's nothing personal."

Rebekah made more mojitos and she and Jessy sipped on them while I poured a glass of water.

"Wait, you're not drinking tonight?" Jessy asked me. I shook my head.

"I don't wanna risk being sick again, I'd rather let Pat have fun before they go off around the world and not have to worry about me."

"You and Pat are both so selfless, I feel like you're just always trying to one-up each other. If it was me I wouldn't be caring about what Garrett thought, I'd get plastered if I wanted to."

"Amen to that," Rebekah said, raising her glass to clink with Jessy's. I rolled my eyes.

"I just care about him a lot, and I just want to see him happy. If he's happy then so am I."

* * * * *

It was now Wednesday and I was kind of thankful that Pat wasn't around, because I had never felt so sick in my life.

I woke up and sprinted to the bathroom at 6am, throwing up the little amount of food I had eaten the night before. I vowed to go to the doctor as soon as he was done with my pap smear.

I froze. I could have sworn that I had booked that appointment so it wouldn't coincide with my cycle, but I still hadn't gotten it.

I picked up my phone with shaky hands and scrolled through my contacts until I found Jessy's name. I waited for her to pick up.

"Alecia it's 6am, why are you calling me? I have a two year old that already acts as my alarm," Jessy grumbled in my ear, obviously woken up by my call.

"Can you come over? I need you to stop at the drugstore for me."