Milkshake Hearts

Chapter 68: Stress Dream

A/N: As stated before the last chapter – some people may find some of this controversial, but this isn't the place for that kind of thing. It is the place for letting women, even fictional character-women, have complete agency over themselves, though!

On to the fic (also, this gets more fluffy than the A/N might suggest)

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"I... yeah," she starts, voice strained and choppy, "Accurate stress dream, I'm pregnant, got blood test confirmation."

She opens her eyes, but she can't make herself look up to meet his, instead examining the stitching at the collar of his shirt. One of his hands lets go of hers, but he quickly moves it to cup her chin and gently tilt her head up to look at him. His expression is full of care, and it settles her nerves ever so slightly.

"Okay, I'm... not surprised, I had a weird hunch about it," he admits, "it's why I wanted to come with you today, and I wish you'd let me – but it's okay, I'm here now, and I'm not going anywhere." His voice is reassuring as he gently shifts to wrap his arms around her, and she settles into his embrace.

"I know. I'm sorry I didn't ask you to come, I wish I had," she admits, softly.

"It's okay," he repeats, thumb rubbing soft patterns against the back of her shoulder, "what happens now? Is there a... more medical stuff, and do we need to talk about what you want to do? Do you know? It's okay if you don't."

His questions are disorganised, and she can hear a tinge of worry leaking into his own voice, although she kind of knows it's less worry about the actual pregnancy thing and more so about her.

"I... so like, on Friday, I have to have an ultrasound to confirm how far along it is, doctor was pretty sure it is very early given I have limited symptoms and we're kind of lucky we caught it so early," she explains, "and from there we have to decide what we do, I guess. And I kind of- I don't want this to happen, and I know it's up to both of us, I want it to be both of us deciding, but I kind of know what I want to do, because if it's as early as the doctor thinks I can just take a pill for a chemical abortion and then it's just like it never happened..."

"I appreciate you saying it's up to me too, and I guess to an extent yeah, family planning type stuff is for both of us but - it's your body, Court. I do not in any way want to pressure you to decide something in particular," he tells her softly, and she sighs.

"What do you think, though?" she pushes again, although she truly does appreciate his careful consideration of her view.

"I mean, yeah, I agree with you. I don't think it's the right time for us and I think since you caught it early, if you have the option to make it an easy fix then that seems like a good option to take," he tells her carefully, and she nods, letting herself press closer against him and finally meet his eyes.

"Okay. Thank you. That's what we'll do, then, and it's all fine. I'm sorry I didn't let you come today, can you on Friday?" She requests, and he nods, leaning down for a moment to press a soft kiss to her cheek.

"Of course, Court. And I mean, I... don't want to second guess how you feel about the whole abortion thing, I don't exactly have any experience with what it's like so like- I dunno. I just, I'm always here if you need me, but it's cool if it isn't a big deal to you, if that makes sense?" he explains, turning awkward again, and she nods in understanding.

"I mean, I know I've heard people being like... upset about it, even if they wanna do it. But I dunno, I feel fine about it, it's not really a big deal. It's not like there's our kid inside me yet, it's just a clump of cells that happens to include some of your DNA. And I mean, with the amount I find your hair all over this apartment and how much saliva swapping we do, I'm probably covered in your DNA..." she trails off, the abrupt topic change causing him to let out a surprised laugh.