Understudy [ABO] [MxF] [18+]

F I F T E E N

The following few days, Ally was mostly bedridden. She had been throwing up every few hours and couldn't keep anything down. When she wasn't throwing up, she was curled up in her bed under a pile of blankets and pillows, crying until she didn't have any tears left. She knew Gabe was stressing out about her from how often he poked his head into her room, but he had no idea what was wrong. She refused to tell him.

There was no doubt that he could scent Elias on her again though. When she had gotten home that night, she hadn't missed the way his eyes flashed yellow and his scent took on a dangerous taste, but at her puffy eyes from crying the entire trip home he hadn't said a word. He had simply helped her get into her pyjamas and tucked her into bed, and promised to buy her favourite ice cream in the morning.

Ally had been ignoring the calls from her friends in favour of trying to sleep off the heartache and nausea, but they had finally had enough and wouldn't stop ringing her phone. After ignoring her phone ringing nonstop for ten minutes, she finally relented and answered.

"Fucking hell, Ally," Hana snapped over the phone. "We thought you were dead! Morgs had to message Gabe to find out what was up with you. What snacks do you want?"

"What?"

"I'm coming over to check on you. What snacks do you want?"

"No, you don't need to---"

"I'm. Coming. Over. So, what snacks do you want?"

Ally sighed and knew there would be no arguing with her. "Uh, I've been craving some choc mint ice cream lately?"

Hana was silent for a moment. "Seriously? Nasty."

"You asked!"

"Yeah, yeah, and I'll provide, don't worry. See you in an hour!"

Ally sat up and grimaced at the wave of nausea that hit her, and waited for it to pass before moving again. She took some of the nausea pills that gotten Gabe to get her the other day and realised she was getting low on them. How long had she been feeling sick for? It wasn't normal for a virus or food poisoning to last this long. She tried not to think too hard about it as she made her way to the bathroom to shower to energise herself a bit before Hana arrived.

By the time she got out of the shower and changed into some comfy lounging clothes, Hana had already let herself into the apartment and was stuffing armfuls of snacks into the fridge and pantry.

"I got a little carried away," Hana grinned, and glanced towards Ally. Her face immediately dropped, "Damn, Al, you look like shit."

"Gee, thanks," Ally rolled her eyes. "I feel it too."

Ally flopped down on the couch with a sigh and watched as Hana finished putting the snacks away, growing slower with each item until she finally stood still. She slowly turned around and made her way over to Ally, then leaned close and sniffed her. Ally tensed up ready to say something when Hana gasped and pulled away, covering her mouth.

"What?"

Hana's eyes went wide, "I... Ally, have you been near him again?"

Ally considered lying but thought better of it. "Yeah. Not by choice. We happened to meet completely by chance. Things got... a little out of hand."

"Yeah," Hana wrinkled her nose, "I can tell. When?"

"Maybe a few days ago? A week? I don't really know. I haven't left my room really until today. Gabe had been bringing everything to me."

Hana stared at her for a moment before walking towards where her room was. Even though Hana had been in her room plenty of times, Ally suddenly felt a surge of panic at the thought of someone outside family going in there.

"Hana, you can't---"

Before she could stop her, Hana threw open the door to the bedroom and stared in. She didn't even need to take a step in. She stayed there staring for a few moments before turning back to face Ally, a mixture of emotions on her face. "Allegra... when I asked before if you used protection, I really hoped you were right about the suppressants. But I think you need to take a pregnancy test."

Ally laughed, "Are you serious? Hana, no, there's no---"

"You're nesting," Hana said, voice soft. "You panicked when I went to go into your room, and your bed has been turned into a nest. That's a pregnant omega thing, Al. You've nauseous and throwing up for days on end. And most importantly, his scent from you is strong. Too strong. If I didn't know better, I would say he had marked you and bonded."

Ally felt her insides churn. The denial she had been in for the past few days began to bubble to the surface, and she could feel the tears pricking her eyes. Hana came over and wrapped her arms around her tightly, and Ally felt the tears spill over.

"Don't worry, I'll be here for you," Hana crooned and stroked Ally's hair as she began to cry. "Gabe will be here with you too, and Morgan, and Xanthe. We'll all support you no matter what, okay? It'll all be okay, I promise."

Ally wasn't sure how long she cried for, but eventually the tears stopped and Hana got up. "I'll be right back. There is a corner store just down the block that'll sell pregnancy tests, so I won't be longer than five minutes. There is a whole tub of ice-cream in the freezer with your name on it to keep you company in the mean time."

True to her word, Hana was back with the tests before Ally had even had a chance to dig into the ice cream. She took the bag of tests without a word and went to the bathroom to pee on them. Hana had bought a generous amount of all different brands, and Ally didn't hesitate to use every single one of them. She didn't want any doubts.

She set them all on the bathroom counter and waited. Hana came in with the tub of ice-cream and they sat on the floor eating it together while they waited.

"Not as bad as I thought it would taste," Hana chuckled as she took another spoonful of the minty ice-cream. "But I'll always be a bubblegum flavour gal."

Ally made a face, "Ew, no way! It's way too sweet. You can't eat a whole tub of bubblegum in one sitting like you can choc mint. This is the perfect balance of refreshing and sweet."

"I'm sorry that your tastebuds are broken."

"Hey!"

They laughed as Hana caught her up on what had been happening the last few days. Max had been asking about her. Ally tried not to feel guilty about it. She had briefly looked at her messages from him, but didn't have the energy to reply. Hana said that she had let him know she wasn't well, and that had only seemed to make him more anxious about her. She felt a small bit of comfort at the idea he was worried about her.

"Do you think it's been long enough?" Hana asked cautiously, glancing over at the bathroom counter.

"I think so," Ally's voice was so quiet she almost didn't make a sound.

Hana glanced at her and stood up, "Alright, I'll look."

Ally stood up at the same time and grabbed onto Hana's arm, "No, I need to."

"Sure."

Ally walked over to the counter slowly, heart pounding in her chest. She still wanted to see the confirmation, but in her heart, she knew already. Hana was right; the signs were clear. Not only that, but somehow instinctively, she knew as well. She just needed to see the positive result to chase away the final sliver of denial she still had.

She reached the counter and looked down.

Every single test had a positive result.

Ally turned around to face Hana, tears running down her cheeks again. "I'm pregnant. Fuck, I'm pregnant with Elias' baby."