Never the Right Time

Chapter 15 Mark POV

It was the day of Rebecca's appointment. I drove up the hour up to Providence. I felt nauseous the entire time. I had no idea what to expect. I could only imagine how anxious she must be feeling if I was this bad.

When I pulled into the parking lot she was waiting on a bench outside the office. Her blonde hair hung loose around her face and she was hunched over as if she was trying to get into fetal position. She looked exhausted as I walked up to her.

"Hey Becs" I said as I walked up to her.

"Hey Mark, perfect timing. I was just about to head in. The fresh air helps my nausea so I was staying out here for as long as possible. I wasn't sure if you were serious about coming."

I pulled her up by her hand. "I wouldn't miss it. Even though we aren't together. I'm here to support you and our baby with whatever you will need."

She stretched as she stood up, "Thanks Mark. I really appreciate it." She said sadly.

She got signed into the office and we waited for the doctor to call her. When she was finally called back, I waited while she peed in a cup and had a few too many vials of blood drawn. She was a champ through all of it. We had finally gotten to a patient room. The nurse asked a million questions and then the doctor came in.

"Rebecca, nice to meet you, I'm Dr. Pietro." She looked over at me "and you must be the father?" She asked

"Yes, Mark. Nice to meet you" I said.

Alright lets see how you're doing Rebecca. So you've taken a couple pregnancy test?"

"Yes, like 4."

"OK good, Lets see if we can see the baby or at the very least hear the heartbeat. I'm just going to step out to let you change into the gown and we will get started"

Rebecca nodded and the doctor stepped out. I gave her privacy as she got changed and then the doctor stepped back in.

"Alright let see! According to your last period, you should be about 8 weeks along. If we are lucky, you will get to see your baby."

Rebecca and I just nodded.

She started up the ultrasound machine and put the wand on Rebecca.

"Alright, looks like we are lucky, right there is your baby." The doctor said as she pointed to a little blip on the screen. Let's see if we can hear the heartbeat."

She moved the wand around some more and pressed a couple buttons and all of a sudden, we heard something similar to a horse trotting.

"That's a steady heartbeat. Sounds strong. And looks like the baby is measuring a little bigger. It's looks to be around 10 weeks along."

"Oh!" Rebecca sounded surprised and she squeezed my hand.

"Well, everything looks good. Here are some ultrasound pictures and a couple pamphlets about what things to stay away from. I will see you in a month for your next appointment."

"Ok sounds good. Thank you doctor" Rebecca said softly.

A few minutes later we stepped out of the office.

"Want to get some coffee and we can figure out how to tell our parents and how we want to do everything?" I asked

"Yea that sounds good"

I followed her to a coffee shop down the street. We just sat there for a while. It was clear that we were both processing how real this all got.

"I guess we should tell our parents this weekend?" I said hesitantly

"It's probably for the best to just rip the bandaid off." She said nodding.

"I know its super early to talk about this, but what should we do about after the baby is born? I want to be as involved as possible, but I don't know if us getting back together is the best option. It would all be easier if we didn't add a relationship in the mix, knowing that we crashed and failed the last time we tried it."

She just nodded and I could see the tears starting to roll down her face

"Becs, we are much better as just friends, I was honestly shocked for how long we lasted in the first place. I wasn't fully in and I got the feeling that you were the same. Let's think about what's best for the baby and that's having parents who can get along instead of ones the neglect each other or aren't fully into each other."

"You're right, its just hard to hear."

I grabbed her hand across the table, "I'm sorry. It really is for the best and I want whats best for this baby even if it means we aren't together. We will figure it out."

As she nodded tears streamers slowly down her face. Fuck this was so hard. I want to comfort her more, but I don't want her to get the wrong idea.

"So who's parents first?"

"Ugh neither" she groaned "I can't handle it. Mine might kill you and yours might disown you."

"How about I get disowned first? It might soften the blow when your dad kills me." I joked half heartedly.

"Sounds good. I'll meet you at your house in the morning and we can drive to their houses together." She decided.

"Sure that works. I guess I will see you in the morning. I need to get back and try to get some work done before this weekend's shit show."

She nodded, "See you tomorrow"

I walked out feeling a little better, but absolutely dreading the next day.

On the way home I called Sophia.

"Mark!" She answered sounding out of breathe.

"Whoa, are you ok? You sound out of breathe" I asked

"I'm fine, I was just struggling to get my phone out of my pocket."

I couldn't help but laugh a little at envisioning her wrestling with her pocket.

"How are you? How was today?" She asked

I groaned, "well it's a real baby"

"Well at least its not an alien or a tiny monster. That would be a real downer." She joked.

I couldn't help but laugh at this. She is such a goof. I wish we weren't here joking about me having a real baby with someone else though "This is true. I'm so fucked though."

" no it'll all work itself out. You're pretty resourceful." She said reassuringly

"Ugh, thanks Soph. This is not what I envisioned we would be talking about ever." Admitting to her.

"Me either. You know we will be ok. I mean its not the type of relationship that we had hoped for, but its better than nothing. And who knows we might have been the worst couple if we dated."

What she said caught me off guard. I couldn't let her ever think that we wouldn't have been amazing. It's all I can think about lately, how much I had fucked up the best thing to ever happen to me before it even started.

"we both know we would've been amazing together" I said with a gravely voice. I believed that with 1000 percent certainy and needed to make sure she knew that.

"Well I have to tell myself something to make myself feel better." She said just barely audible.

Thank god she doesn't truly believe that.

"I should get back to Hannah or she will eat the rest of the queso. I'll talk to you later. Drive safe" she said.

"Bye Soph" I whispered as I hung up.

I hated every bit of this. I was so thankful for her, but I knew this was painful and every day I only hurt her more.