Non Sequitur

Corey had just left for early morning skate, and Autumn laid in bed in his vacated spot. She wasn't feeling good, not even wanting her normal morning coffee. Corey had been concerned when he left after she had turned down the cup he had brought her. She had assured him that she was fine, that she probably was just sick from the meal she had eaten at the restaurant the night before.

But, Autumn wasn't thoroughly convinced of that reason herself. The sickness she felt was familiar, and her thoughts were making her more sick. She needed to get to the pharmacy quick and figure out if she was right or not.

She wasn't on the schedule to work today, so she was sure that her coworkers would laugh when she walked in on her day off. But, that was the least of her concerns right now. She got dressed, not worrying about her hair, instead putting it up into a bun on the top of her head, and then she left to make her way to the pharmacy.

She got in and out quickly without anyone even knowing she was there except for the person at the front register, who was some college student that didn't really know who Autumn was. She was grateful for that as she made her way back to her car and back home.

She went straight to the bathroom and opened up the pregnancy test box, not needing to read the instructions, having done the test before when she was waiting to see if she was pregnant from the surrogacy. She quickly peed on the stick and then set it on the edge of the bathroom sink and waited the two minutes.

When she had gotten sick last week, she hadn't really thought anything of it. But, when it happened again in the middle of the night the night before, she knew it wasn't a coincidence. She'd had the same symptoms when she'd been pregnant with Harper, and that terrified her. She and Corey were engaged and not getting married until June. She couldn't be pregnant yet. That wasn't how things were supposed to go. She was supposed to be married first, and then they'd have a baby. Not the other way around.

She fearfully looked at the test, and she had her suspicions confirmed when she saw that it was positive. She sat down on the floor in the bathroom up against the bathtub, unable to believe she was pregnant again. She had just given birth six months ago. She hadn't even started to get her pre-pregnancy body back. And now she was already pregnant again. She couldn't believe it.

Now she needed to figure out how to tell Corey. They certainly weren't planning on getting pregnant just yet. Sure, she knew Corey wanted to have babies with her, but was he ready right now? She had no idea how he would react to the news. She had a couple of hours to figure out how exactly to tell him before he got home from morning skate.

She spent those hours sitting in the living room, watching How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, and it was just finishing when the front door opened and Corey came walking inside. "Hey, how was practice?" she asked him, feeling out his mood before she dropped this bomb on him.

"It was good, I think we're ready to take on the Sharks tonight," he told her. Autumn had halfway checked out of the conversation, and he looked over at her. "Autumn, everything alright?" he asked.

"Oh…uh…" she said, snapping back to reality. "I've got something to tell you, Core."

He walked around the couch to sit down next to her. "What's wrong?"

She had thought about giving him a big speech, but when the time came, she couldn't do anything but blurt it out. "I'm pregnant."

Corey's jaw dropped and he stared at her, trying to wrap his mind around what she had just told him. "You're pregnant. Like…with our baby?" he asked, hearing how stupid the words were as they were coming out of his mouth.

She nodded her head as she chuckled. "Yeah, with our baby. I took the pregnancy test this morning while you were gone," she told him. "It's in the bathroom trash if you'd like to look at it."

She waited to see what he was going to say, and she couldn't have been happier when a big grin spread across his face. "We're going to have a baby!" he said excitedly. She nodded her head as he wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug.

"You're happy?" she asked him.

He pulled away to look down in her eyes. "Of course I'm happy!" he assured her. "You didn't think I'd be?" he asked.

She shrugged her shoulders. "I wasn't sure how you'd react, honestly. I mean, I know you want kids, but Core, we're not even married. We're not even close to being married yet. And, oh my God…" she trailed off, realization hitting her. "The wedding is in June," she stated slowly.

Corey looked at her with a confused expression on his face. "Yeah…so?"

"What if…we can't…this baby…" she kept beginning unfinished sentences. "We can't have the wedding in June," she finally stated.

"What?" Corey questioned loudly. "What are you talking about?"

"The baby is probably due around then! I'm not having a baby and a wedding at the same time!" she exclaimed.

"What are you saying?" Corey asked, completely oblivious to what she was implying.

"I'm saying we're not having the wedding in June. We can't," she told him, shaking her head for emphasis.

"Do you want to move the wedding up?" Corey asked, suddenly getting excited. He wanted to be married to Autumn, and he'd be more than happy to elope with her whenever she wanted.

She shook her head. "No, no, we can't move it up," she said, and Corey sighed, realizing where this conversation was heading. "I couldn't plan a wedding any sooner than June. But, I'm also not having the baby at the same time as the wedding. First, we need to go to the doctor and see if we can get an actual time frame for this baby. But, we've got to move the wedding back. Maybe a few months or so," she thought aloud.

"A few months?!" Corey screeched. "Why are we moving it back a few months? Why not move it ahead a few months? Or if you have to move it back, move it back a couple weeks?" he asked.

"I'm not going to try to buy a wedding dress for a couple of weeks after I have a baby! And, we can't plan it in time for a few months from now. Not the wedding that I want," she explained.

Corey couldn't argue with that. He wanted her to have the wedding of her dreams, and he wasn't going to take that away from her. And, he definitely wasn't going to try to argue with a pregnant woman. He'd learned that from before. It was better on both fronts to just agree with whatever she wanted when it came to the wedding, even if it wasn't what Corey wanted himself. "Okay, we'll move it later," he agreed.

"We can still do it in the offseason. We can just do it like late August instead," she said, and Corey calculated in his head that that was an added two months onto their original date. "God, I can't believe I'm pregnant," she muttered, changing subjects.

Corey looked over at her. "Are you not happy about it?" he asked cautiously.

"No!" she exclaimed. "I'm happy, I am!" she assured him. "We just weren't planning on this now, you know? We were supposed to get married and then get pregnant, not the other way around. We're just doing things out of order," she explained what she was thinking. "We wanted kids, just further along down the road. But, I am happy," she told him once again.

"We don't really do anything in order, do we?" Corey laughed, wrapping his arm around her and pulling her into his side as he kissed the top of her head. "Hell, you were pregnant when I first asked you out," he recalled.

"And now I'm pregnant again as we're planning our wedding," she said.

"At least this time the baby's mine…it is my baby this time, isn't it?" he joked.

She lightly hit his chest with the back of her hand. "Shut up. You know you put this baby in here," she told him.

He put his hand gently on her stomach. "Yes, I did," he said proudly.

Autumn looked over at Corey. "Are you happy?" she asked him, already knowing the answer, but still wanting to hear him say it.

"More than happy," he assured her, leaning down and kissing her. "Very happy," he said with another kiss. "Ecstatic." Kiss. "Overjoyed." Kiss. "Euphoric." This kiss was more intense as he leaned her back against the arm of the couch, her giggling underneath him. "I love you," he told her before starting to pull at the hem of her shirt, pulling it up and over her head, getting ready to celebrate the fact they were about to have a baby.



Autumn had invited Katherine, Cade, and Harper to go to the Hawks game with her that evening. Katherine had agreed, bringing along Harper, but Cade had declined in order to sleep instead, something that Autumn couldn't blame him for.

Corey had gotten them access to a suite so that Harper didn't have to be out in the crowd, and they had invited Brianna and Ryan, along with Abby Sharp and her two daughters. Autumn planned on telling Katherine that she was pregnant tonight, and she knew that her best friend would be more than excited.

They got settled into the suite with plenty of time before the game started. The others hadn't arrived just yet, and Autumn looked over at Katherine. "So, I've got some news," Autumn said casually.

Katherine was playing with Harper in her lap and didn't even look over at Autumn when she said, "Hmm?"

"I'm going to be having one of those," Autumn told her.

"One of what?" Katherine asked as she bounced Harper gently up and down, making the little girl smile and giggle.

Autumn reached over and grabbed one of Harper's tiny hands in her own. "One of these," Autumn replied.

"One of--" Katherine began before her head snapped up. "Oh my God!" she exclaimed, her eyes wide. "You're pregnant?" she asked excitedly, a big grin on her face. Autumn nodded her head, and Katherine shrieked with excitement. "I'm so happy for you!" she said, leaning over and giving Autumn as good of a hug as she could manage with Harper in her lap. "When did you find out? When are you due?" she shot out the questions.

"I took the home pregnancy test today," Autumn answered. "No idea when I'm due," she added.

"This is so exciting!" Katherine gushed. "You and Corey are going to be amazing parents!"

"Are you pregnant?" they heard Brianna ask from behind them, and Autumn turned around to see the brunette walking towards them with her son in her arms. "Did I hear that right?"

"You did," Autumn confirmed. She hadn't planned on letting everyone know about her pregnancy tonight. She had really just wanted to tell Katherine. But, she and Brianna were so close now that she didn't mind if she knew as well. "Corey and I aren't really saying anything yet, I don't think," Autumn told them, not having talked specifics with Corey just yet. "I just took the EPT today, but according to it, I am pregnant," she explained.

Brianna gave Autumn a hug after setting Ryan down. "Congratulations!" she told her. "I bet Corey is just over the moon at this point!" she said, knowing that Corey wanted children.

Autumn nodded her head. "He is. He's very happy," she smiled.

"You're not?" Katherine inquired.

"I am, too," she assured her friends. "I just didn't think we'd be doing everything out of order. I thought we'd be married before kids, but it's going to be the exact opposite," she shrugged her shoulders.

"Or at the same time," Katherine joked. "Just have the wedding at the hospital during labor. I mean you propose while giving birth, you could exchange vows while giving birth," she laughed.

"No, I already told Corey I want to move the wedding back a couple months. I think we're going to have it at the end of August now so that it's a little ways after the baby is born, whenever that may be," she said.

Brianna looked over at her. "I'm sure Corey's just thrilled about that," she said sarcastically.

"Not the happiest, but he understood," Autumn explained.

"Well, no matter what, I am so happy for you. You're going to be an amazing mother! Just look at all you've already done for this little girl," Katherine smiled, handing Harper over to her godmother. "I can just imagine what you'll do with one of your own," she said.

Autumn took Harper in her arms and smiled at the little girl. She may not have planned on having a baby right now, but she would happily take the one that was growing inside her.