Like You Did Before

Leaning over to pick her shoes up off of the floor, Matilda exhaled a quiet sigh, her eyes focussing on the half closed door which led into her and Iker’s bedroom. She had taken her time. After Arthur had left her in the cafe, she had sat back down to try and get her head around the way the night had gone, but almost an hour later, she was no closer to figuring out what she was going to say to Iker when she presented him with the bag of pregnancy tests she clutched in her other hand.

She knew that she had to take them. The longer she had sat in the cafe, thinking it over, the more she realised that she had probably been experiencing symptoms for a little while, and putting them down to other things, but she didn’t quite know what she was going to say when Iker inevitably asked what had caused her to decide to take a test. She didn’t know how he would feel about the fact that it’d been Arthur and his knowledge of her first pregnancy that had caused her to realise that there was a chance she was expecting again.

Closing her eyes for a few moments, she took a deep breath to compose herself before she moved forwards, carefully nudging the door open. Padding across the threshold, she closed it quietly behind herself before she turned towards the bed, her worried expression softening when she took in the sight of Iker laid back against his pillow, his soft snores filling the otherwise quiet bedroom. He had clearly tried to wait up, just in case she called him. A pair of his shoes were lined up against the bed, and the lamp on the bedside table was still on, and it made Matilda smile slightly, even if it did mean that she had to wait until the morning to talk to him about what had happened. She couldn’t find it in herself to wake him.

After a couple of seconds of watching him, Matilda moved towards her wardrobe, placing her shoes down into the bottom of it before she pulled a drawer open, looking for a set of pyjamas.

“Mattie?”

Matilda placed the pharmacy bag into the open drawer before she turned around, offering Iker a small smile. “Did I wake you?” she asked.

“I was listening out for you” Iker replied “I didn’t know if you’d call” he added, tucking an arm behind his head as he sat up slightly.

“And risk disturbing Lola?” Matilda retorted, playfully arching an eyebrow.

Iker’s laugh was rough with sleep and lingered in the air for a moment before the quiet settled in. “It’s pretty late” he said.

Matilda nodded her head wordlessly.

“Does that mean I was right?” Iker quipped boyishly “Were things not as bad as you were expecting?” he prodded.

Matilda stared at the floor for a beat before she shook her head, glancing at Iker through her eyelashes. “The party was...it was fine” she said “You were right about that” she added.

Iker’s forehead furrowed. He could tell, just from looking at her, that there was something she wasn’t saying. “Mattie?” he prodded.

Matilda was quiet for a few long seconds before she let out a soft sigh, her fingers fiddling with the bottom of her dress to keep her from looking over at Iker. “I have a couple of things I need to tell you” she admitted quietly “And I don’t know how you’re going to react to them. I’m pretty scared that after I tell you one thing, you’re not going to hear the other, and it’s going to get lost in the first thing, and I don’t want that to happen, because the second thing...it’s the most important thing” she babbled.

Iker stared at her for a moment before he shuffled to the foot of the bed, holding his hand out towards her.

Matilda hesitated for a split second before she tentatively placed her hand in his, allowing him to guide her to stand in front of him. Letting her hand go, he settled his hands on her waist, smiling up at her encouragingly. “Take a breath” he said softly.

Matilda followed his instructions, taking in a deep breath before she exhaled it.

“Now” Iker said “What’s going on?” he asked.

Matilda’s eyes searched his face, admiring the gentle smile he wore, before she shook her head. “I...I got coffee with Art” she admitted “I tried to leave the party early. Mimi and Micah tried to make it so it wasn’t awkward, but after a while, it got to me, and I just...I wanted to get out of there. Art...He followed me and he...I let him get to me too easily. He said he wanted to talk, and I...I guess I wanted that, too” she added.

Iker’s thumb gently brushed up and down her side. “Mattie” he murmured, leaning forwards to press a gentle kiss against her stomach.

Matilda made a soft noise, her hand gently cupping the back of his head.

“You’re allowed to miss him” Iker murmured, scattering kisses over her stomach “I know that he and I never got along, and I don’t love the idea of you spending time with him again, especially since we both know how he feels about you, but I know how important he was to you, and I am not going to be upset with you for missing him, Mattie. Please, don’t be afraid to tell me things because of that. If you need someone to talk to, about anything and everything, I’d like it if it were me. We've gotten a lot better at talking about this sort of thing, haven’t we?” he added, tilting his head back so that he could meet her eyes.

He knew that she wasn’t expecting his reaction. Her eyes were wide, and her jaw hung a little slack, but he knew that it was what needed to be said. They had had a lot of fights, and Iker knew better than to fall into the same trap and get annoyed about Arthur. He didn’t like it. Arthur's feelings for Matilda weren’t a secret any more, and he worried that the other man was going to try and worm his way back between him and Matilda, but he knew that that wasn’t the only thing that Matilda needed to hear. She needed to hear that he understood that it couldn't have been easy to lose her friend from her life like she had.

Matilda held his stare, her fingers softly toying with the hair at the back of his neck. “I...I like to think so” she said “And I do miss him. But I...I know that going to coffee with him was a mistake. Things can’t be like they were, and even though we were together for less than an hour, it feels like I might have been giving him the wrong idea. That’s not fair, not to him, not to you and not to me” she added.

Iker dipped forwards again, placing a kiss just below her chest.

Matilda’s breathing stuttered slightly. “There’s something else” she whispered.

“Can it wait until the morning?” Iker asked, a slightly crooked smile pulling up one corner of his mouth.

Matilda wanted to nod, but forced herself to shake her head. “I don’t think so” she said before she gently broke out of his embrace, returning to the drawer that she had left open.

Iker watched her curiously, shifting to try and get a look at what she was doing, before Matilda slowly turned around, something clasped in her hands. She hesitated for a moment, shifting her grasp on whatever it was a couple of times before she closed the distance between them, leaning down to place it into Iker’s hands.

Iker watched her put it in his hands before he looked down, his head snapping up again almost immediately. “A...A pregnancy test?” he spluttered.

Matilda’s answering smile was tremulous. “Want to do it?” she asked.