Someone Like Us | Completed ✓

Chapter Seven: The Announcement

A/N: I'm going to start getting kind of pro-life, so if you don't agree with this, please do not post any hurtful comments. Thanks! 

Also, what gender do you think the baby will be? That chapter's coming up fast!!

love, bluey

Week 7: May 22

When Joan and Ace's parents went into Ace's bedroom, they found Joan sitting on Ace's lap backwards facing him with her shirt pulled up while Ace sat at his desk. Ace was kissing Joan's stomach and murmuring things they couldn't make out. From what the parents could gather, Ace had been gaming on his computer with Joan on his lap, when he stopping gaming for some reason to rave about her pregnant belly, which he'd been doing quite often recently.

As they went further into the room, Ellis was about to speak when they heard Ace. "I love you, little Jellybean," Ace was saying. "Everything will be worth it. Once you're born, I won't even care." Joan smiled at him. "You're right," she whispered. "As always." "I'm not right all the time," Ace disagreed. "A lot of the time, though," Joan said. Ace gave up arguing, knowing he would never win, and kissed Joan's belly again.

"Awww," Lilly said, her eyes getting teary. Ace and Joan's head snapped up. Joan hurriedly pulled down her shirt and Ace put his computer to sleep. "Mom!" Joan exclaimed. "Dad! You scared us!" "You don't need to be embarrassed," said Emily. "We were just wondering if you're ready to do the announcement." "Oh," Joan whispered. "Well..." She turned to Ace. He shrugged. "I'm only ready it if you're ready," he said. "You're the one carrying the kid."

"I guess we're ready," Joan slowly said to their parents. "Great!" Emily said. Lilly got out her phone. "Where do you want to do this?" Wesley asked. "How about in the living room?" Joan suggested.

The group moved into the living room, where Nick was sitting on the couch watching TV. "Honey, can you shut off the TV and move, please?" said Emily. "We're going to do the announcement video for Ace and Joan's Instagram." Nick huffed, turned the TV off and got up. Ace and Joan sat down in his spot and Ellis yelled upstairs., "Kyle, do you want to be present?"

"YES," Kyle yelled back. "Wait for me!" He bounded down the stairs and stood next to Emily, both smiling.

Lilly crouched in front of where Ace and Joan were sitting. "Ready? Do know what you're going to say?" Ace and Joan looked at each other, seeming to communicate telepathically. Finally they turned back to Lilly. "Yes," Joan said. "We're ready."

"Alright," Lilly said. "I'm going to go live in 3... 2... 1..."

She gave a thumbs up. "Hi, everybody," Joan said with a smile that was slightly forced. "We have some really big news for everyone," Ace said. His smile was forced, too, but that was because he was nervous. "It happened about a month ago, but we didn't want to tell anybody until we knew for sure. "There have been some rumors going around our school, all of which are entirely wrong," Joan said. "So we want to put them to rest now that we're certain." She looked at Ace.

Ace gulped. "Well... the night of March 31st, I was sleeping over at Joan's house," he said. "I... you know... kind of wanted to sleep with her. Not do any crap, just sleep with her. But I told her that I wouldn't unless she was totally comfortable with it," he said quickly. "I said I was on birth control, so I thought I was safe and so I said we could," Joan piped in. She sighed. "I know now that birth control isn't perfect and I was being silly. It was my mistake and nobody else's. But I told him that it was okay, so we slept together." "I didn't pressure her," Ace said. "I promise. I know as well as anybody that Jo treasures her purity, and anybody who does pressure their partner to do something they don't is... disgusting."

They paused, glancing at each other, their muscles tense. "So..." Joan said, "The next Saturday, I skipped my period. I knew that was odd, especially since I was having these super bad cramps, which made it even weirder since I, like, never get cramps. Ever." She squirmed awkwardly. "So on the way home from school on Friday, I stopped at the drug store and got some at-home pregnancy tests. The next day I took three of them, and..." She sighed, then shrugged. "They... were all positive."

There was a tense silence. "The very next thing she did, after telling her parents, was go over to my house and tell me, because she knew that I was literally the only guy that could be the father," said Ace. "She told me, and the next week she and her mom went to the hospital so we were absolutely certain. They did an ultrasound and... you know. The rest is history." He forced a smile again.

"We have the tests and the ultrasound picture," Joan burst. She reached into her bag and pulled out the three pregnancy tests and the picture. She held them up to the camera. "There you go!" she said. She sat back down and looked at Ace. "So... I guess we're pregnant, babe!" Ace chuckled. "Oh, no, you're pregnant, Jo. You do all the work. I'll just help." Everyone off-camera laughed.

"If you have any questions, you can message us, and family and close friends can text or e-mail us," said Ace. "We'll try our best to answer your questions, unless we feel uncomfortable or feel that it's kind of private."

"Thanks for watching," said Joan. "Hopefully we'll have more news for you soon." They waved at the camera with more forced smiles, and Lilly stopped the stream.

Once Ace knew that they weren't in front of the whole internet, he let out a breath and slouched on the couch. "That was stressful as heck," he sighed. "Tell me about it," Joan mumbled.

"You know you didn't have to do that," said Nick. "You don't have to do this at all, remember? You can just skip down to the abortion clinic and go on with life."

Ace and Joan looked at each other. Nick had reminded them why they had chosen to do this.

"Nick, this baby is a real, living person," Ace said, putting a hand on Joan's belly. "If you kill this baby, he or she will never have a life, never love, never see the world—"

"And, in case this never occurred to you, this is my child, Nick," Joan said. "This is me and Ace's son or daughter, Kyle's niece or nephew, and my mom and dad's grandson or granddaughter. Do realize what we'd be doing if we killed this baby?"

Nick didn't say anything for a minute. "Okay," he said after a minute. "You guys do you. Give birth to the kid and raise him or her. But don't come crying to me if you get stereotyped and labeled and judged." With that, he turned on his heel and briskly walked away.