By your side (Rúben Dias)

Chapter Four

Finding an apartment wasn't as easy as Maddie first thought. But she at least had help from her parents and her friends during the process. The one who helped the most was, of course, Rúben. Things had been casual between them for about five minutes. And as much as Maddie felt like she wasn't ready for something serious, she not so secretly loved how obvious Rúben was in his intentions. After being cheated on, it felt great to be desired like that. It had been a while.

"You ok, miss?", asked her the lady who was showing them another apartment. This was one of her favourites so far.

"Yeah, it's just my stomach. I haven't been feeling too well today".

"We could come back another time", said Rúben, already worried.

"No, Rúben. It's fine. Let's keep seeing the place".

Because the truth was that Maddie hadn't been feeling well all week. She sometimes got really extreme PMS symptoms but this was something else. And they were also lasting for more than the usual two or three days.

As much as she tried to finish the tour and be strong, the urge to vomit was too much.

"Can I use the bathroom?"

"Of course, do you need...".

But the lady had no time to finish the sentence before Maddie ran to the bathroom to completely empty her stomach. She closed her eyes and sighed.

Before she had time to get up from the floor, Rúben was already there to help her.

"Do you need to go to the hospital?"

"No, Rúben", she told him, smiling. "It's just a stomachache. I'll survive".

"Maybe you got food poisoning or something".

"I'm already feeling great".

She wasn't. But she was feeling better. So they finished seeing the apartment, which she loved even more than when she saw it on the website.

"We'll stay in contact", she said to the lady who showed them the place and who, thankfully, didn't run away after the vomit incident.

"We will. I'm glad you liked the place. It has a lot of space for...you know".

"I don't know", laughed Maddie, confused.

"I have two kids. I can spot morning sickness when I see it. But I guess you don't want to tell your partner yet so I didn't say anything in front of him".

"I'm not...".

Noticing her mistake, the woman paled, fearing being seen as unprofessional. "I'm so sorry. I thought you knew...".

"No, I didn't but...I guess it can make sense".

"Sorry again. We'll talk about the apartment soon, ok?"

Maddie nodded and was soon joined by Rúben again, who drove them back to his apartment. But Maddie couldn't stop thinking about the possibility of her being pregnant. And when Rúben left her alone for a second to go to his room, she checked her period tracker app and...

"What should we do? I wanted to take you out for dinner but with your stomach ache, maybe it's better we stay home. So movie night?"

There was no point in delaying this further. Rúben would understand. Maybe Rob wouldn't have but Rúben surely would.

"I don't want to scare you but...I'm a couple of days late".

"For?"

"My period, Rúben".

"Oh", his face changed and Maddie feared the worst. "Should we get a test?"

She sighed and nodded. He wasn't running away. He wasn't accusing her of anything. That was good, right?

Maddie didn't want Rúben to go to the store to get the tests, knowing the drama it could cause if he was seen doing that. But it was nerve-wracking.

"Hi. I'll take this, please".

Of course, there was a very young boy at the checkout when she had to buy pregnancy tests. He almost seemed scared of touching them to put them in her bag.

"Good luck".

"I'm sorry?"

"I don't know if you want to be pregnant or not", he said. "But I hope you get the result you want".

"Thank you".

As nice as those words were, they left Maddie more confused. She didn't know what she wanted. Because she knew the nuances of her possibly being pregnant. But also...she didn't hate the idea. Her mind was a confused mess at that moment.

"Did you get them?"

Maddie nodded and got the boxes out of the bag. "Two. To be even more sure of the result".

"Shouldn't it be three?"

"What?"

"So there's no tie", explained Rúben and then regretted his words when he saw Maddie was about to cry.

"I can't even do this right but I might be about to become a mother".

"Maddie...Madison! It was a stupid comment, sorry. Two is fine. And if the results are inconclusive, we go to the doctors. No need to worry, ok?"

Feeling slightly better, she took the tests and locked herself in the bathroom. Knowing Rúben, he would have volunteered to hold the sticks while she peed or something. So better to not even give him the option to say anything.

"Where are the instructions?", he asked when she came out of the bathroom and found him looking at the tests' boxes.

"It's not one with lines, Rúben. It just says pregnant or not pregnant. Dummy proof".

"Ok. How long do we have to wait?"

"About five minutes. Can you just...hold me? While we wait?"

Rúben didn't answer because there was no need for it. He just put his arms around Madison, holding her as close to him as humanly possible. She could be carrying his baby and the thought of it was overwhelming. Because he wanted her to be pregnant.

Their situation wasn't ideal. She just came out of another relationship that ended in such a dramatic way that Rúben feared she would be scared of starting another one soon. But she was finally opening up to the idea of them being together. However, a baby could make everything better or worse. It could make her realise she needed Rúben by her side or make her want to be away from him. And what if she didn't want to keep the baby?

"It should be ready now".

Maddie took his hand and they went back to the bathroom, where the tests were waiting for them to see the news.

Pregnant 4-5 weeks

What Maddie feared came true.