Professor Cumberbatch

Part 24

Benedict's POV

It was nearly Christmas now. Only three more days to go. I had finished marking all of my papers and had completed everything for my courses for the semester.

Amelia and I had hardly talked since she left, but I figured she was trying to give me time to mark (since I kept pushing it back to spend time with her) and that she was busy catching up with her family. I didn't mind at all.

Speaking of families, I was busy packing to go visit mine for the holidays now that I was finished with everything. I was leaving later in the day and I only had a few things left to pack.

After throwing in some socks, all I had left was my razor and my toothbrush. I went into the bathroom and grabbed them, then tucked them away and zipped closed my suitcase.

"Perfect. And with plenty of time to spare." I yawned and stretched, and even though I wanted to take a nap, I decided to do some more cleaning so I didn't have to do it when I came back.

After putting on one of my favorite records and turning it up to full volume, I wiped down all of the counters in my kitchen and vacuumed the floors. Then I started collecting the rubbish, leaving the bathroom bin for last.

I dumped the bathroom bin into the larger bin and froze when I saw what was sitting on top.

It was a pregnancy test. And it was positive.

"Oh my god," I whispered, grabbing a piece of tissue paper before reaching down to pick up the test with it. "Holy shit."

My heart was beating loud and fast. In fact, it was all I could hear because the record had stopped playing as it needed turned. I stood there with the test in my hand, staring at it. "When was this from? Obviously it was Amelia's, but how long ago did she take it?"

I started pacing around my room, taking deep breaths. "You're gonna be a dad..." I said to myself. "Bloody hell, you're gonna be a dad."

"Why didn't she tell me? I understand if she was scared, but this is something I deserve to know. I would've comforted her."

Sitting down on my bed, I reached for my mobile. "Call her," I thought to myself, dialing her number. But I couldn't click call. My finger just hovered over the button, but I couldn't do it. "Fucking coward."

I shook my head and set the phone down, then went to pour myself a drink. After pouring it, however, I decided to make tea instead. I had to leave in a few hours, and I already knew one drink would turn to two and so on.

The tea definitely calmed me down, enough so that I felt I could actually call her now. I pressed the call button and waited for her to pick up her phone, but she didn't. It kept ringing and eventually went to voicemail. I tried again, but it did the same thing.

"C'mon Amelia, pick up the damn phone," I muttered, trying one more time. Thankfully, she answered on the last ring this time.

"Sorry, Benedict! I was in the bath and couldn't get to the phone in time. Babe, how are you?"

Hearing her voice instantly made my nerves settle. "Missing you. All I had to do was finish marking, but other than that, I've been lonely without you."

She had a bit of a delayed response, and I could tell that something was bothering her. It had to be the thing. "I miss you, too. Mum's been working a lot so I've really just been having some bonding time with Zoe."

"And how's that going?"

"I know I haven't seen my little sister in months, but being with her every day is getting a bit annoying. I wish my dad was here..." She sighed into the phone. "Anyway, are you at your parent's house yet?"

"No, I don't leave for another two hours," I responded, knowing I had to ask her the question.

"Oh well, I should probably let you get back to packing then. I don't want to make you late."

"I'm finished packing. I've actually been doing some much-needed cleaning..." This was it.

"Cleaning, huh? You must be really lonely," she chuckled softly.

"Yeah, especially since I found your pregnancy test... Your positive pregnancy test. When were you going to tell me?" I asked, my voice cracking a little bit.

There was only silence on the other end.

"Amelia, I'm not mad. I'm just a bit hurt, that's all. That's a pretty big thing to not tell someone, especially the father."

"Benedict, I..." I could tell she was crying and now I felt bad for suddenly springing that on her. "I only found out the morning I was leaving. I was in such shock, I didn't know how to tell you. It's not like I didn't want to tell you, but I was, and I'm still processing everything. And I didn't want to distract you when I knew you had marking to finish."

"Darling, I'm so sorry. I figured you'd known for a while, but I see that I was wrong. I shouldn't have jumped to any conclusions. I'm sorry," I apologized.

"I forgive you." She whispered softly before sniffling. "I should let you know that I had my first appointment last night. The doctor said that I'm right at two months, and that we're both perfectly healthy. She also said that if I want to end this pregnancy, I should decide in the next couple of weeks."

We both went quiet after that. Of course the thought of her getting an abortion had never crossed my mind. I'm at the age where I should be thinking about starting a family, and honestly, the idea of me becoming a father actually excited me. But I wasn't going to tell her that because I knew that while it was a great time for me, the timing wasn't so good for her. Besides, neither of our families knew about us, as we had obviously discussed before she left.

"Amelia, I don't want you to feel like you have to go through with this. If you want an abortion, then I fully support you. If you want to keep it, then I'll be there for you every step of the way. I don't get to make the decision because I'm not the one carrying the child."

"I've been thinking a lot about it, but it's just such a hard decision, Benedict," she sobbed.

"Hey, hey, don't cry. Look, we have plenty of time until you have to make the decision. Why don't we discuss this together after you get back? I don't feel like this is an appropriate decision to make over the phone."

"I agree. I'll keep thinking about it, and we can talk about it then."

I looked up at the clock and saw that time had flown by. "Amelia, darling, I have to get going. Call me or text me whenever you want to talk. I don't care how many times a day it is. I promise that I'll be here for you."

"I love you Benedict. Please be safe. Text me when you get to your parent's house."

"I will. And I love you too. Take care of yourself, my love."

END OF CHAPTER