Fated (A Chris Evans Series)

Little Blue Lines

February 14th, 2023; 9:28PM

Instead of spending their Valentine's Day at a romantic dinner for two, Chris and Denise spent it sat on the floor of their bathroom with a pregnancy test stick in-between them. They were impatiently waiting for the two minute timer on Denise's phone to go off, to see if she was pregnant after fifty-four days of non-stop attempts to conceive. It was strange how easily she had gotten pregnant when they weren't trying, yet now when they were- things were taking an unfortunate amount of time. They realized fifty-four days was nothing compared to the couples who had to spend years trying, but every time they remembered how young and fertile Denise was- it spurred on their irrational impatience. In fact, they had plans to FaceTime Dr. McCullough for some medical advice if the test came back negative today.

Bing bing bing, bing bing bing, bing bing bing.

Both flinched at the sound of the alarm as it went off. Chris grabbed Denise's phone and turned it off, a quiet breath released as he rested it back onto the floor. He looked over at Denise, nervously chewing his bottom lip as she picked the stick up. With her hand wrapped around the results, Denise looked over at Chris. "I don't know if I want to look," she admitted then swallowed the lump in her throat. "What if I'm not pregnant again, Chris?"

"Then we'll keep trying," he answered with a reassuring smile. "It's not the end of the world, Denise. We've only been at it for less than two months, these things take time." He reasoned despite how upset and disappointed he knew he was going to be if she wasn't pregnant again. "C'mon," he beckoned his head at the test grasped in her hand, "let's just bite the bullet and look at the results." She daintily chewed on her fingernails as she stared at the test, unable to turn it over and reveal the results. "Sweetheart," he wrapped a comforting arm around her. "If we're meant to have a second child, we'll have a second child."

"Okay," she nodded then turned her hand over. Hesitantly, she loosened her fingers and unveiled the test stick. Both leaned in to peer at the little screen, lips parting when they saw the two blue lines. Denise felt her heart skip a beat and she stuttered breathlessly, "is that- that is- are we?" She turned to Chris when he grabbed the stick to get a closer look. Her shaky hand flew to her mouth as she let out a nervous, but excited chuckle, "I don't believe it." Tears welled in her eyes when she saw a big smile form on Chris' lips. "I'm pregnant!" She cheered as she got to her feet, bouncing excitedly. "We're having another baby!"

It took Chris a moment, but he, too, rose to his feet cheering. "You're pregnant!" He swept her into his arms, lifting her off the ground as he hugged her tightly. "We're having another baby!" Denise laughed as she wrapped her arms tight around her husband's neck. Her grin was so wide, it was starting to hurt her face. It finally happened, she was officially pregnant with their second child. "Oh my God, baby. I am so happy right now," Chris murmured into the crook of her neck when he buried his face in her hair. "So, so happy."

"Me too." She started to cry, out of pure joy. "We're having another baby," she repeated their findings, hugging onto him as tightly as humanly possible. "I can't believe it's finally happened, I was so worried it was going to be negative again," she admitted and he chuckled, tightening his arms around her as he pressed a kiss onto her cheek.

Minutes must've passed as they remained encircled in each others' arms, reveling in the moment, too consumed to let go. It didn't seem that long ago that they'd started trying to conceive, yet it felt like they'd waited an eternity to get the news they'd just received. They couldn't wait to tell everyone, to let their parents know that another grandchild was on the way. Since Jack turned two, this seemed to be the news that everyone had been waiting for. The question "when are you having another child?" finally had an answer.