The Night That Changed It All

Finding Out

*Niall's POV* 

 As I looked at my doctor in pure shock, I thought of how everyone would react: Liam, the lads, our families, management, the fans. This wasn't even supposed to be possible, yet here I was; sitting in Dr O'Mara's office, staring at him open-mouthed as he looked back at me with the world's best poker face.

"What do you mean I'm pregnant?! That's not even possible: I'm a man!" I exclaimed, jumping up quickly as if I'd just received an electric shock from the chair I'd been sitting on.

"I know that, Mr. Horan, but the ultrasound doesn't lie. There is a small percentage of the male population that can get pregnant because of a defect at birth. I'd say you're about five weeks along." Dr. O'Mara replied calmly, as if he hadn't just sent my world crashing down around me.

"But....surely they could have realized this from the beginning and warned me. Maybe then I would have taken better.....precautions......" I sighed, sinking back down into my seat as I looked up at Dr. O'Mara. "What am I supposed to do?"

"Of course they could have, but this kind of thing wasn't as widely known at the time: they wouldn't have thought to check." Dr. O'Mara explained, completely ignoring my last question.

"What about later? When it was more widely known? Could they not have asked people to come in to have it checked? Or realized later? Shouldn't I have had a.....period or something?" I questioned with an exasperated sigh.

"They didn't want to worry people and unless they were looking for it specifically, they wouldn't have noticed. You would have only started ovulating when you became sexually active with another man, so no; you would have only had a 'period' if the fertilization didn't take, which, clearly, it did." Dr. O'Mara explained, raising his eyebrow slightly. "Do you know who the father is?"

"Of course I know who- Oh God! What am I gonna tell him?! I can't just.....drop this on the poor guy!" I sighed, burying my face in my hands and coming quite close to tears.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Horan, but I have to tend to my other patients. Here's a brochure that should be very helpful to you. I'll make an appointment for you and call with the details. Would you like a copy of the ultrasound?" Dr. O'Mara said, handing me a brochure with a raised eyebrow.

I just tucked it into my coat pocket, nodded mechanically and thanked the doctor before leaving with the ultrasound tucked in with the brochure and the over-whelming news that I was going to be a parent weighing heavy on my thoughts.

How was I going to raise a child? Would I even keep it? How could I tell Liam that he was going to be a father? What about everyone else? How was I going to hide this from our fans? When did my life become so difficult?

"Hey Niall, how'd the appointment go? Was the doctor able to tell you what's wrong?" Liam asked from his spot on the couch once I got back to our apartment. The others were there as well, so I guess now is as good a time as any to tell them my news.

"Uh.....yeah; he was. I told him all my symptoms and he did some tests, but he couldn't find anything the matter, so he did an ultrasound to make sure it wasn't a tumor. You see......there's a small percentage of the male population that can.....get pregnant, b-because of a.....uh.....defect at birth. I'm-I'm part of that percentage......" I explained, leaving the rest for them to fill in.

"You mean......you mean you're pregnant? Whose is it?" Louis asked, glancing down at my stomach as if he could see my bump already. I let my eyes trail to Liam, who was looking down at his hands with a slight frown on his face.

Last month we'd all gone out and after a few too many, me and Liam had stumbled back to our hotel and had a bit of a one night stand. Neither of us remembered that much of it and we'd agreed to forget about it  for the sake of our friendship and the sake of the band.