Do I Know You?

Chapter Twenty-two

*one month later*
  Today is the day, I got Andy to drive me to Ben's apartment. They had a break from their tour and I called Denis and explained to him what was going on. He said that he made sure that Ben went to his apartment. Andy helped me out of his car and I hugged him.
    "I'm so scared."
I said, biting my lip.
  He gently hugged me back.
    "Everything is going to be okay."
He said.
  I took a deep breath and made my way to Ben's apartment. I knocked gently on his door. He opened it and his eyes took me in. When the made it to my belly his eyes widen. He stumbled back and fell into the table.
    "How- but- what?"
He rasped out.
  I made my way into his apartment. I helped him up and took his hand and placed it where the baby was kicking.
    "This Ben Bruce is your son."
I whispered, my voice cracking.
  When I said that, it made him kick more. Ben looked at me with tears running down his face.
    "You never told me."
He whispered.
    "The day I was going to tell you, you cheated on me. I thought you didn't want me anymore. So I left. I asked the guys not to tell you. Then I told Bex and she gave me the choice to tell you or she would and I felt like it would be a little easier if it came from me because you could hear my reasoning. I was going to wait until after he was born to tell you, your mom, Bex, and your step dad but someone convinced me otherwise."
I said.
    "Where have you been staying?"
He asks.
    "I have my own apartment. Its a two bedroom one about two blocks from Andy. He's been basically taking care of me through this entire thing because I can't exactly see my feet. He done the grocery shopping and such for me because my ankles swell like something terrible."
I said with a small laugh.
  I checked the time. I had thirty-five minutes until my next appointment.
    "Do you want to come to my doctor's appointment today with the little munchkin? This could be one of the last check-ups before I have him."
I say.
    "When are you due?"
Ben asks.
    "November first or second, but they said he could come early. He was ready to come out last month, but he didn't thank goodness."
I said, lovingly rubbing my belly.
  Ben then crouched down so that his face was level with my stomach. He pulled my top up and placed a gentle kiss on it.
    "Hey there baby boy. Daddy's here now and he isn't going to go away anytime soon."
He whispered, kissing it gently again.
  The baby was kicking like crazy. I winced slightly. My phone buzzed from my pocket. I pulled it out. It was a text from Andy.
    'Andy:  Everything okay in there?'
    'Me:  Yeah, you can head on home. Ben is going to take me to my doctors appointment today. He reacted better than I thought he would.'
    'Andy:  Okay. You know my number if anything happens.'
    'Me:  Yep.'
  Ben was gently rubbing my stomach. He then stood up.
    "I can't believe that in less than three months I am going to be a father."
He says.
  I smiled. He tangled our fingers together and we walked to his car. He drove to the clinic. I signed in and got seated. We sat there and Ben kept playing with my stomach. He kept poking and rubbing it, making the baby move around in my stomach.
    "Ms. Jacey McCardy."
The doctor called.
  Me and Ben walked hand in hand to the room. He helped me onto the table and I lifted my shirt to wear it was supposed to be. She got the goo and squeezed some out on my stomach. I giggled like I do every time. Ben held onto my hand his eyes glued to the monitor. She turned on the machine and grabbed the wand. She pressed it on my belly and mine and Ben's creation appeared. Ben squeezed my hand lightly. I looked up and tears were racing down his cheeks. He didn't bother to wipe them away.
    "So who is this? I notice your friend did not come with you today."
The doctor points out.
  I looked up at Ben and smiled and squeezed his hand.
    "This is the father of the baby. He is finally able to be here."
I said.
  Then she flipped the switch and the baby's heartbeat filled the room. More tears fell from Ben's eyes. He snapped a pic of the machine thing and my belly. I knew he would post it later because right now he was to absorbed in the emotions that I was in when I saw the baby on the screen for the first time. Ben kissed my head.
    "I love you."
He whispered.
  I smiled and squeezed his hand gently.
    "I love you too, Ben."
I say.
  He grins. Thats when I knew that our little accident wasn't a mistake. It was going to bring us closer together. The doctor switched off the machine and then handed me a napkin. I tried to wipe all of the goo from my belly but eventually gave up and handed the napkin to Ben. He chuckled and finished wiping the goo from my belly. He then helped me pull my top down and then down from the table. Ben thanked the doctor and we went and got checked out. My stomach growled as soon as we got into Ben's car. He chuckled.
    "What do you usually do after your appointment?"
He asks.
    "I usually go and get something to eat and today this baby is craving chicken."
  He laughs.
    "Off to Chick-Fil-A it is."
He says.
  I giggled and pull my seat belt across my belly. I sigh and draw little circles around where the baby is kicking. Ben noticed my look of discomfort.
    "You okay?"
He asks.
    "He's kicking an extra lot today."
I say.
  Ben reaches over with one of his hands and replaces mine and gently rubs over my belly. He finally soothed down to where he was only barely moving instead of kicking me.
    "I have to tell the fans. We are going to have to cancel the tour. I have to spend time with you after he is born. I can't just leave. Just until he's old enough to come with us."
He says.
    "Ben, I couldn't ask you to do that. I can handle him until he's old enough to come to the tour. Your fans and playing mean the world to you."
I say.
  He pulls into Chick-Fil-A and Parks. He then turns to me. He places both hands on my belly.
    "Jacey, I would quit all of it right now if you asked me to. You and this baby mean the world to me, and I'm going to work as hard as I can to keep you guys."
  He then takes our promise rings from his pocket. He looks me in the eyes.
    "Can we please start wearing them again? Just go back to the way we were before? I can promise you there is going to be no more booze, no more girls, none of that. Its your call."
He say, his voice wavering.
  I bit my lip. This was his last and only chance. I pick up his promise ring. He grins. He then picks up mine. We slide it onto each other's fingers. He gets out and comes over to my side. He opens the door and helps me out. He then tangles our fingers together. We walk inside and he makes me sit down and he orders our food. He knows what I usually get here. He comes back with our drinks and sits down beside me. He wraps his arms around me and rests his chin on my head.
    "Thank you so much for taking me back. You have really made my life ten times better."
He whispers.
  I smile and lean up and kiss his jaw.
    "Ben, to be honest if you would have called me four months ago I probably would have forgiven you then. With me being pregnant, my emotions are all over the place. I didn't bother to stay long enough to let you talk to me. I simply told the guys and left. I didn't even let you defend yourself."
I say, looking down.
  He sighed and gently pecked my lips before going to get our food. He came back and handed me mine. I ate and pushed my tray away from me. I yawned. Ben chuckled and shook his head.
    "So should we talk baby names?"
He asks.
    "I have a few picked out, but if you want you can change them."
I say.
    "Well, let's hear them."
He says.
    "Well, there's Caleb Paul, Mason James, and Caleb Lee."
I say.
  He smiles.
    "They are all perfect. How are we going to chose? Is he going to have my last name?"
He asks.
  He was scared that I didn't want our child to have his last name even though we are back together.
    "Of course he is going to bare your last name. You are his father and you are in his life. I wouldn't want it any other way."
I say.
  He grins, and eats another fry.
    "Is it okay if I stay with you tonight? I didn't realize how lonely the apartment was until I was there completely alone. I'll call the tour manager and explain to him what is going on and get the tour pushed back a bit. Then we can go and make a video for YouTube and explain to the fans what is going on and what not."
He says.
    "Ben, you can stay but what are you going to do about your apartment when the baby comes? Its not big enough for all of us to be a family."
I say.
    "I'll talk to the manager and explain what is going on and see if he can find someone who would be willing to take over the rest of my contract and what not. Then, if it's okay with you I guess I'll move into your apartment when the baby is born."
He says.
    "Ben, I want us to be a family so of course I want you to move in when the baby is born."
I say.
  He grins and pecks me on the lips. We leave the restaurant and go back to Ben's car. He unlocks the doors and helps me inside. He then gently closes the door. I tell him the directions to my apartment. We walked to my apartment and I unlocked the door. He walks inside.
    "This is a really nice apartment."
He says.
    "Yeah, it's got some things here and there, but overall it's nice. Do you want to see the nursery?"
I ask.
  He nods. I lace our fingers together and lead him to the nursery. He takes it all in, leaning against the door frame.
    "This is all surreal."
He says.
    "You could only imagine how I felt when I found out. They told me that I wasn't going to ever be able to have children ever. When I found out, I cried for hours."
I say.
  He hugs me from behind and places his hands on my stomach.
    "I wish you would have told me and I would have been there sooner."
He says.
  I sighed and looked down.
    "I was scared, Ben. I didn't want to get your hopes up and then me lose the baby. When I calculated that I was around two months I thought it would be a good time to tell you, and then that happened and I told the guys and begged them not to tell you and I left. I almost had a panic attack on the way to your apartment this morning."
I say.
  He gently rubs my belly.
    "I wouldn't have pushed you away. You have no idea how long I've wanted this."
He whispered.
  His phone rings. He sighs and pulls away from me. He pulls it out.
    "I'll be right back, it's the tour manager. I texted him to call me."
He says.
  He walks down the hall. I could only hear his muffled voice, I couldn't understand what he was saying. He came back a few minutes later with a huge grin on his face.
    "We are going to push the tour back for six months and during that time we are going to work on our next album. Then you guys get to come with us. They are going to rebuild one of the extra bunks into a kid's bunk so he can come."
Ben said, a grin gracing his features.
  I smiled.
    "Thats amazing, my love."
I say, throwing my arms around his neck.
  He placed his hands on my waist and pressed his forehead into mine.
    "This is literally a dream come true."
He says.
    "It is for me to. I've always wanted kids and when they told me that I might not be able to, it killed me."
I say.
  We then went and got my video camera and tripod. Ben, of course not letting me carry anything. He set everything up and got it recording after making sure I was confortablely sitting me on the couch. He then sat down beside me.
    "Okay, guys. We have some very exciting news. As you can tell me and Jacey are back together and we have huge news."
  He helped me up and turned us towards the camera his hands on my stomach.
    "We are expecting the first Asking Alexandria baby. He is expected to be here the end of October or the beginning of November. I'm hoping that you guys can except that we are back together and we are having a baby. I'm sure everyone has heard the reason that we broke up and it's Jacey choice whether or not she forgives me or not and she did. That part of it is not really anyone's business but ours. We hope you can respect our choices."
He says.
  He then places his hand over the camera and ending the video. We upload it to my laptop and Ben tweeks it a bit and then logs into his YouTube account. He uploads the video. He then tweets about the video and tells everyone to watch it. He wraps his arms around me.
    "I kind of want to go and get some couple pictures made. Do you know somewhere we can go?"
He asks.
    "Yes actually. My job. I mean, I'm on maternity leave right now, but my best friend can do it."
I say.
  I change from my sweatpants and a T-shirt into a coral halter neck maternity top and a pair of my maternity shorts. It was only slightly cool outside. I straightened my hair and lightly curled it. I then added a bit of BB cream to my face and light blush and some sparkly white eye shadow with eyeliner on top and bottom and masacara. I then got Ben to put on my converse because I can't put on any other shoes than TOMS and flip-flops. We walked out to Ben's car and I told him the address and he drove there.
    "I never knew this place was here."
He says.
    "Its fairly local. A lot of celebrities come in and get their pictures taken. Thats how Jinxx found out about our little munchkin."
I say.
  We walk inside, holding hands. When Jay sees me, she immediately rushes over. She pulls away.
    "Girl, you are absolutely glowing!"
She exclaims.
  I giggle.
    "Well, I only have about two months with this little rascal in here. He's ready to come out."
I say.
    "So what did you come in here for today?"
She asks as we head to the studio.
    "Well, me and my boyfriend want to get couple pictures before the baby is born."
I say.
  She then notices Ben behind me. Her eyes widened.
    "Is that?"
She asked.
    "Yes, Jay. This is Ben. The father of my baby."
  Ben gently squeezed my fingers. Jay smiles and go to get her camera. She decides for a plain white backdrop. She had Ben and I pose in several different ways.
    "Do you guys want to see your pictures before I sent them off?"
She asks.
  Ben immediately nods. We walk over to her computer. I have to say my favorite ones were the ones where Ben is crouched down kissing my belly, one where we are sitting and I am between his legs and his hands are on my belly and we are looking into each other's eyes, one where we are mock dancing, and one where our hands are forming a heart over my exposed belly. Jay smiled.
    "You two are so cute together."
She says.
  Ben pays for the appointment and we got back to his apartment for him to talk to the manager. He does and he comes back with a suit of clothes for tomorrow. He smiles.
    "Looks like I'm finding some people to help me move. The manager said I lucked up because someone just came in looking for an apartment."
He says.
  I grin. We go back to my apartment and go to the bedroom. We cuddled, Ben's hands rubbing on my sore back. I let out a sigh and leaned my forehead on his chest.
    "Whats wrong?"
He asks.
    "My back is killing me and that feels amazing."
I say.
  He chuckles and continues to do it until he has lulled me to sleep.