Milestones: Commitment

Sitting in the waiting room of the doctor's office a few days later, Michelle held Brian's hand in hers. Her stomach was a tangle of nerves, and the fact that her apparent morning sickness hadn't gone away didn't help. She still didn't know how she felt about this pregnancy. Brian had initially seemed thrilled that he was going to be a father, but what if he changed his mind down the road? If she was going to do this, Michelle knew she couldn't do it alone. She refused to do it alone. She didn't plan on ever being a single mother. She didn't want her child to grow up knowing that Daddy didn't love them enough to stick around.

"Are you okay?" Brian asked quietly, watching Michelle out of the corner of his eye. He gave her hand a gently squeeze to get her attention.

Looking up, Michelle sighed, nodding her head a little. "Yeah," she said, but when she looked back on her previous thoughts, she frowned. "I don't know..."

"What's wrong?" Brian asked, his features etched into a look of concern.

Taking a deep breath, Michelle looked him dead in the eyes. "Are you sure you're okay with this? With me being pregnant?" she asked, keeping her voice low.

Smiling gently at her apparent and unnecessary insecurities, Brian kissed her forehead. "Baby, I'm positive. I know this is sudden and...sooner than I had planned, and a little out of order of how I had wanted things to happen, but I promise you, Michelle. I don't think I could be more thrilled about this. I want to have a family. With you," he whispered, and Michelle smiled to herself, looking down at her lap.

"I'm just so afraid that you're going to change your mind and leave me." Feeling almost ashamed for thinking Brian would do something like that, she looked up at him, afraid that he might be upset. But seeing the gaze of love and adoration in his dark brown eyes immediately quelled her thoughts.

"I will never leave you. Ever," he said, and he kissed her quickly, remembering that they had just showed such an emotional moment in a public place.

"DiBenedetto?" a nurse called out from the door leading to the examination rooms, getting both Michelle and Brian's attention. Smiling as the couple approached her, the nurse led them back to a room that had 'Phlebotomy' on a plaque on the door.

"One of the technicians will come get a blood sample in a moment and will then run some tests, and it shouldn't take too long to get the results," the nurse said, and Michelle sat down in the only chair in the small room, dread filling her. She didn't like having her blood drawn.

Having been moved to an examination room after having her blood drawn, Michelle sat up on the large, tissue-paper covered bench, feet dangling over the edge as she waited to find out the results. In a matter of moments, she would know whether or not she and Brian were really expecting. Brian was sitting in the chair facing Michelle in the corner of the small room, elbows on his knees and head down as he also waited for the doctor to come in. After only a few minutes, the door opened and the doctor stepped in, a smile on her face.

"Good morning," she greeted, taking a seat on the spinning stool next to the counter. "So the tests have been run, and you are indeed pregnant. Just about six weeks along or so." Hearing this, Michelle took a deep breath, glancing at Brian who was trying to fight a smile. Seeing the not-so-happy look on Michelle's face, Dr. Pendell's eyebrows rose. "...The expression you've got tells me that wasn't the result you wanted to hear," she said, almost cautiously.

"It's not that I'm not happy or anything, I'm just really nervous about this," Michelle said quietly, catching the reassuring look Brian sent her way.

"Oh, everything will be fine. Raising children isn't the easiest thing to do, but it won't kill you. Trust me, soon your motherly instincts will kick in, and you'll know you're ready," Dr. Pendell said with a calm smile, her eyes shining bright. "Now, I have to ask you some questions. Are you currently using an oral contraceptive such as the pill?"

"I was, but I stopped taking them after the home pregnancy test read positive," Michelle answered, still wondering how she could have been in that one percent of women who still got pregnant even after being on the pill.

"Very good. Do either of you smoke?"

"Yeah, we both do," Michelle answered once more, and Brian felt a twinge of fear grow inside him that the doctor might make him quit as well.

"Well, you definitely will want to quit as soon as possible to cause minimal damage to the embryo. The most important organs are developed in the beginning of the pregnancy. And you," Dr. Pendell said, turning to face Brian. "I expect you're Daddy?" Brian nodded in response. "It would probably be in the baby's best interests if you smoked only outside, so there's no secondhand smoke inhalation."

"I can do that," Brian answered, nodding, and the doctor turned to Michelle again.

"Now, I can't make you stop smoking or drinking during your pregnancy. I'm just telling you that to ensure your child is as healthy as possible with no abnormalities or defects, you might want to abstain from both." Going over to a drawer in the counter, she pulled out a pad of prescription slips, scribbling something down before tearing the top sheet off the stack and handing it to Michelle. "These are prenatal vitamins that I would like you to take to promote healthy growth, and I guess I'll see you back in a few weeks for a checkup," Dr. Pendell said before bidding both Brian and Michelle goodbye, telling them they could either make an appointment at the front desk or over the phone.

Once they were out in the car and on their way back home, Michelle's cell phone began to ring.

"Hello?"

"Hi, sweetie," came her mother's voice, though Michelle already knew it was her from the Caller ID.

"Hey mom, what's up?" she asked, wondering if she should go ahead and tell Debbie right then and there that she was going to be a grandma.

"I just wanted to call to remind you that we're having a dinner here for your father's birthday tonight. Matt will be joining us so you can bring Brian if you'd like," Debbie explained.

"Oh, okay. What time do you want us to be there?" Michelle asked, almost forgetting it was her father's birthday until her mother said something about it.

"If you could be here a little before seven, that'd be great."

"Alright, we'll be there then," Michelle said, and she and her mother said their goodbyes before hanging up.

"What am I being dragged to even if I don't want to go?" Brian asked with a smile to show he was clearly joking.

"It's my dad's birthday, so we're going over there for dinner a little before seven tonight. Which works out because we've gotta tell our parents about Junior sometime," Michelle answered, leaning back into the front seat after putting her phone away.

"Speaking of parents, then, why don't we stop by mine right now and tell them the good news?" Brian suggested, and Michelle nodded, wondering how Brian's parents and hers would take to the idea that she was pregnant.

Sitting around the dinner table that had been expanded due to the extra guests, the DiBenedettos along with Brian and Matt were getting their plates filled with food from what was placed out on the table. Michelle and Brian were seated across from Val and Matt on the side while Debbie and Nick each took up the ends of the table.

"So, Daddy," Val said as she stared into her mashed potatoes," do you feel old yet?" Smiling despite his teasing daughter, Nick nodded regrettably.

"Of course I feel old! My two little girls are all grown up now, and soon you're going to move out and your mother and I will finally have the house to ourselves after over twenty years of you kids," he joked back. But despite the friendly banter being exchanged between her father and sister that she'd normally take part in, Michelle stayed very quiet, slowly biting into her salad.

She didn't know how to bring up the subject of her pregnancy to her family, and was worried how they would react to the news. On the other hand, Brian's parents, Brian Sr. and Suzy, had taken the news quite well, congratulating the both of them and offering them help whenever it was needed. They actually seemed very excited that Brian was going to be a Daddy and their excitement had actually made Michelle feel a bit better about the entire situation. She just hoped her parents weren't the opposite.

"Michelle?"

Snapping out of her head, Michelle looked to her right at her mother who was glancing at her expectantly.

"Hmm?"

"Are you alright? You looked like you left us there for a moment..." Debbie said with a chuckle.

"I'm alright," Michelle answered, looking down at her half empty salad bowl, stabbing a leaf of lettuce with her fork.

"Sweetie, are you sure you're okay? You've been awfully quiet..." Nick said, also feeling concerned. Sighing as Brian slipped his hand into hers under the table, Michelle looked up, gazing back and forth between her parents before looking down at the table.

"...Do you want me to tell them?" Brian asked quietly, and she shook her head.

"Tell us what?" Val spoke up, wondering why her sister was acting so weird.

"I'm pregnant," Michelle finally spat out, and Matt choked on the water he was swallowing, eyes going wide as he heard the news.

"Honey, that's great! When did you find out?" Debbie said with a smile.

"I took a test a few days ago at home, but I had actually just gotten out of my appointment to find out officially when you had called me," Michelle answered, wondering why everyone else was taking the news so well - everyone else but her.

"Well, now I really feel old," Nick said, and Michelle was grateful to see that he was grinning.

"What are you going to do about school?" Val asked, still in shock that her own sister was pregnant.

"Well, classes start up in the end of August, and I can live off campus. I'm about six weeks right now, so I figure the baby won't be here until mid-March or so. And if I have to, I can just take a break during the Spring semester to have the baby and then go back to classes in the fall," Michelle explained, still stabbing the same piece of lettuce in her salad.

"Well this is all very exciting. Do your parents know, Brian?" Debbie asked, and he nodded.

"We told them earlier today, and they're excited," he answered, and as the conversation continued on about the baby and the oncoming months, Michelle felt an immense sense of relief finally wash over her that everyone was okay with it. She just couldn't shake the feeling that only she seemed to have.