Cooper's Children's Home - New Beginnings // BradGa

F O U R

"I can't believe you haven't called Bradley yet!" Cynthia complained. "I don't even know the man that got you pregnant! Isn't that weird to you? It is to me!"

"Mom, please." Stefani groaned, holding her head. "I have a headache."

"I don't care, Stefani Joanne! If you don't call Bradley right now I'll do it!" She handed her her cell phone. "You're almost three months pregnant, for gods sake!"

Stefani grabbed the phone and sighed. "You're right." She mumbled.

"Of course I am. He's going to be a father and keeping this from him isn't the right thing to do, especially since you're in the public eye and if anyone finds out before him, he'll be rightfully mad."

Stefani nodded. "I know, mom. Can you give me a bit of space now so I can call him? I really want to do this alone." She said, smiling when her mom pressed a kiss to her head and left her room.

Stefani's finger hovered over the green call button before she finally dialed his number and closed her eyes, waiting for him to pick up.

"Hello?" His deep voice rang through the phone hesitantly. It took him a good few seconds to pick up the phone when he saw her name flash at him on the screen. He missed her terribly and didn't know if talking to her now would help at all, since they hadn't spoken to each other since she left almost three months ago.

"Bradley." Stefani whispered, feeling the tears spring into her eyes at the mere sound of his voice coming from the other side of the line. "Hey." She said a little louder.

"Hey." He answered, not knowing what to say. He didn't want to say the wrong things.

"I'm sorry." She immediately broke down, sobbing into the phone. "I miss you." She confessed.

"I tried to call." Bradley simply said, even though all he wanted to do was hold her in his arms and comfort her. He hated it when she cried.

"I know." She paused. "I just couldn't do it, Bradley. Even hearing your voice now hurts because you're not here." She explained, sighing.

Bradley smiled a little. Knowing she missed him as much as he missed her felt relieving to him. "I miss you too." He said after a while, smiling a little.

Stefani smiled and wiped some tears off of her cheeks. "I called because I have to see you." She said, sighing. "I have to tell you something and I have to do that in person." She explained.

Bradley's eyebrows rose in curiosity as he sat down on the couch, silencing the screaming kids in the background. "Yeah, okay. Are you alright? Are you hurt?" He asked, worried about what she'd tell him.

"No, I'm more than healthy. Please, don't worry." She giggled a little, making him calm down immediately. "When can you meet me?"

"When are you free?" He joked. "I can call Dax and ask him to watch the kids any time, he works from home." He said.

Stefani nodded and shot her mom a look who walked into her room with a cup of tea and some food. "How about tomorrow? I'm free during the afternoon. Around 5?" She asked.

"Sounds good." He breathed out. It's been over three whole months since they've seen each other and he suddenly grew nervous. Would it still feel the same?

••••

Stefani buzzed the gate to her house open when Bradley texted her that he was here and nervously adjusted the pillows on the couch and the vase on her table while her mom shook her head and took a sip of her coffee.

"Would you calm down? You perform in front of thousands of people every night but a man makes you adjust the pillows on your couch that are covered in dust already?" She joked, making Stefani glare at her.

"Go back into your room, mom!" She complained, pushing her laughing mom upstairs.

"Stef?" Bradley asked when he walked into the living room. He clutched the flowers in his hands so tightly, he was sure he killed them once more.

"Hey." She said, appearing at the door to the hallway. When their eyes landed on each other, they immediately felt the familiar rush of love consume their bodies. She took a deep breath in before she ran into his arms.

Bradley wrapped his arms around her body and placed a kiss on top of her head, smiling a little. She still felt the same way, smelled like her signature shampoo. "Hey." He chuckled.

She hugged him tighter. "Hey." She teased, making Bradley laugh who pushed her away a bit to get a good look at her flushed face. She had a soft smile on her lips and her skin was glowing even more than usual.

"Why am I here? Not that I'm complaining, because I did miss you but we haven't spoken in three months, Stefani." He said, trying to understand what was going on.

Her smile slowly faded and was replaced with her chewing on the skin of her bottom lip, one of her many nervous habits. "You might want to sit down." She offered.

"You're starting to worry me." He said, sitting down anyway, he pulled her body towards his and smiled when she naturally found her favorite spot on his lap. "Stef, are you okay?"

She nodded and brushed her fingers through his hair, massaging his scalp to calm him and herself down a bit. "First of all: I'm sorry for not taking any of your calls or texting you. I didn't lie when I said that I was busy, because I was, but that's not the reason I didn't call." She said, fiddling with her fingers. "Ever since I was a kid I was really good at pushing people away and not showing any emotions because my dad was always gone and I saw how it affected my mom and little sister so I tried to be the sunshine of the family and make them happy." She shrugged. "I know what it's like to grow up, missing someone every second of your life and I never wanted to be that person for those kids, Bradley. I care about them. And I love you." She hid her face in the crook of his neck, letting him rub her back. "So I did what I learned to do: I kept you at a safe distance but the truth is that I can't do that anymore. I called Anna and offered to help her with her singing." She proudly smiled at him.

"You did? She didn't say you called." Bradley frowned.

"I know, I told her not to tell you because I wanted to talk to you first." She nodded. "Which is why you're here." She declared nervously. "So, we're talking. In my house, here." She let out a nervous giggle.

"Stef, you're being very weird." He chuckled.

"Remember that one time we had sex, the first time?" She blurted out.

Bradley nodded. "Yeah, how could I forget?" He chuckled.

She shook her head. "We didn't use a condom, right? And I told you it would be fine even though my mom always told me to use a condom and all of her talks about always using a condom were for nothing and-" She rambled, not even taking a breath in between.

"Stef, calm down. Where are you going with this?" He asked, grabbing her wildly moving hands in his to keep her still.

"Bradley, I'm pregnant." She said in a shaky voice. Her bottom lip shook when the tears started to fall.

Bradley's eyes widened in shock. A baby? She was pregnant?