Teamwork

Julia takes a day to try and absorb the idea, which translates to laying in bed staring at the ceiling without eating or sleeping at all. Melissa tries not to hover too much, to give her some space, but also make it known that she's being supportive. Tom had seemed disappointed when she told him through text that she starting feeling unwell and couldn't make it to the game, but he does text her the next day when the team plane touches down safely in Montreal. She can't find it in herself to talk to him much longer after that so she turns her phone on silent and guiltily hides it under her pillow for the rest of the day.

Once she's done wallowing, she does the responsible thing and schedules an appointment with her doctor. Melissa can't take off work to go with her and she hasn't told anyone else so she goes alone, scared shitless and still carefully avoiding mostly everyone. Seing Tom's picture pop up on her screen while she's sitting in the waiting room surrounded by posters of fetuses and models of reproductive systems makes her feel like she's going to be sick and she hits the ignore button without a second glance before shoving her phone into the pocket of her hoodie and slouching down in her uncomfortable vinyl chair.

After an initial checkup, tons of questions, and an invasive exam, she sits there on the crinkly paper covering the table, holding an ultrasound photo in one hand and covering her mouth to keep her sobs quiet with the other. The doctor leaves to let her have her mental breakdown in private and she stays in there for another twenty minutes before she finally changes from the paper gown back into her clothes and tries to make herself not look like she's been crying for two days straight. The nurse gives her about ten different pamphlets and a bag full of prenatal vitamins on her way out, along with scheduling her next appointment a few weeks from now, and then she's in her car, trying to take deep breaths and gripping the steering wheel so hard her knuckles are turning white. She just sits there in the parking lot for awhile; it's like now that she has those little black and white photos, this is all suddenly becoming real. Her family is going to be so disappointed and she's worried about all their reactions but that's not even the scariest part of this. Her phone vibrates in the cup holder and one quick glance at it tells her she has a new text from Tom.

Dr. Skye estimated her at nine to ten weeks. She'd used her phone calendar to count backwards while she was waiting for the vitamins and of course that just so happened to fall right around the time she stopped sleeping with Mike. There's no way for her to know right now whether he or Tom is the father and that's going to be the final nail in the coffin for all that could have happened with her and Tom. It's not enough that the girl he's seeing is now knocked up, but the fact that it may not even be his baby, could possibly be his best friend's, is going to be the deal breaker of all deal breakers.

Melissa calls her worried when she gets home and Julia isn't back and that's when Julia realizes she's been sitting there for almost two hours. She starts her car then and heads back to her apartment and Melissa has already ordered them some takeout by the time she gets back. "Let me see it," is the first thing out of Melissa's mouth when she walks in the door and Julia sighs, handing over the photos, while her roommate loses her shit over a blurry little blob. She says "Oh my God" and "Fuck I can't believe it" probably a hundred times before she finally calms enough to sit down on the sofa next to her roommate and she hands the photos back, letting Julia have another turn of staring at them.

"So what's next?" she asks softly, resting her head on her friend's shoulder.

Julia takes a deep breath, looking at the little white blob for a long moment, before she sets it down on her thigh and leans her head against Melissa's. "I have to tell them."



Luckily they're on a road trip so she doesn't have to drop the bomb on them right away. She doesn't want them to be too suspicious of her behavior though so she tries to snap out of it a little bit and at least start responding to their texts regularly again. Another thing she's decided to do is go ahead and tell her mother because she knows if she doesn't, she won't be able to act normal around her at Easter dinner and she can't tell her at Easter dinner with the whole family there. If she tells Angela now, then Angela will tell the rest of the family so Julia doesn't have to. Still, the prospect of it is beyond intimidating.

Dragging herself out of bed isn't easy when she thinks about what she actually has to do. Her body is so tired and her head feels foggy the whole time she's showering and drying her hair but when she heads back into her bedroom to get dressed, she pauses midway to the closet, catching a glimpse of her reflection in her full length mirror. She just stands there, frozen, for a few moments before she slowly turns to the side to examine herself, running her hand over her stomach. There's nothing there yet but somehow she still feels like she can tell, and that her mom will be able to tell too.

She quickly dresses in some jeans and the baggiest sweater she can find that's clean then brushes through her hair one more time, forgoing makeup completely because it's pretty useless at this point and she feels like she's probably going to end up crying again at some point today. Melissa has already headed home to Philadelphia to spend the holiday with her family, which is kind of a bummer because if she was still home, Julia would've forced her to tag along for emotional support. As it is now, she has to do this alone; she has to face Angela one on one and tell her the news that she knows is going to break her mother's heart.

Julia gets to the restaurant first and she tries to use the brief time that she has to compose herself and mentally prepare for her mother's reaction to the news. Angela is only a few minutes behind her though and as soon as she sits down at the table, she's launching into a story about her conversation with a local bakery about a wedding cake but after the waiter comes to take their orders, her story is forgotten as she looks across the table at her daughter, suspicious.

"Okay, what's wrong?"

"What do you mean?"

"You had nothing to say about that bitch from the bakery and that's highly unlike you."

"Why do you automatically assume something's wrong from that?"

"Because you also look like someone just killed your puppy. Tell Momma what's going on, come on."

Julia lets out a heavy sigh, looking down from her mother's gaze. This is it, the moment she's been dreading since she first saw those tests on her bathroom counter were positive. "Promise you won't scream at me since we're in public."

Angela's whole face changes and becomes suddenly very serious. "Julia Rose, you better spit it out right now."

She stares down at her hands for a few moments where they're folded in her lap before she takes a deep breath to brace herself. The ultrasound photo has been burning a hole in her back pocket since she put it there this morning and as soon as she places it down on the table and slides it over, her chest already feels lighter, free from the burden of the secret.

"Oh my God," her mother whispers as she hesitantly reaches out to pick up the blurry black and white photo. Julia nervously chews on her bottom lip as she watches her mother scrutinize it for the most agonizing ten seconds ever before she finally looks up at her again. "Is this for real?"

Julia can tell she's disappointed by the tone of voice and her eyes instantly well up with guilty tears. "I'm sorry, Mom," she croaks, her throat feeling bone dry. "It's my fault. I got busy at school and let my shot lapse. I didn't think it was that big of a deal since we were still using protection..."

Hearing that is like a light bulb going off over her mother's head and she looks up with widened eyes. "Have you told Tom yet?"

"Um, that part's a little complicated," she confesses quietly. They've always had a completely open relationship and she knows that she can tell her mother anything but this is still going to be embarrassing and painful. "I, um-....I'm not sure it's him."

"What?!" her mother gasps. "Julia, how is that possible?"

"Do I really have to tell you how that's possible?"

"But I thought you two were exclusive."

"We weren't then."

Angela just gapes at her before glancing down at the photo again. "Well, who else could it be? How are you going to tell them?"

Julia frowns, forgoing admitting that in addition to sleeping with Tom regularly, she was also sleeping with his roommate and best friend. "I've been thinking maybe-....maybe I shouldn't say anything. Ya know, it's likely they-...they might not even believe me anyway, considering...."

"So, what, you're going to have a baby by yourself? I mean, you are-....are you going to have it?"

"Of course I'm gonna have it," Julia scoffs. "If I weren't, I wouldn't have even gone for an ultrasound and I sure as hell wouldn't have put myself through this humiliation to tell you about it."

"Are you going to keep it?"

Julia doesn't answer immediately but when she finally nods, her mother sighs in relief. "I want to. I don't-....I don't know how I'm gonna make it work though. I mean, I won't be able to quit my job but I'm not gonna be able to afford daycare."

"Sweetheart, you know Rick and I'll always help you in any way we can. I could keep the baby during the day while you're at work."

"Mom, you're about to get married and start a new life with Rick. You're not going to want to have to take care of an infant when you could be traveling with him."

"Well, we can help with daycare then. And what about your father? I bet he'd like to help too."

"Yeah, right. Mom, I hardly know the man. I mean, I've only seen him like twice in the past ten years."

"He wasn't there for you growing up, Julia. That's why he's spent all these years trying to make it up to you. I can't imagine that he wouldn't want to be involved in his grandchild's life." She pauses, her own words hitting her like a ton of bricks, and her eyes widen. "Holy shit, I'm going to be a grandmother. At thirty-nine!"

Julia can't help the giggle that spills from her lips and pretty soon they're both laughing so hard that their faces have gone red and tears are leaking down their cheeks. Luckily, her mother takes the news better than she could have imagined but Julia knows that this is just the start of telling people and/or having people find out and this is probably as easy as it's going to get from here on out.