A Baby By Bestie

8: A Bear and a Deal

"He hates me, Sam." I found myself sulking with a jar of peanut butter, curled up in my bed and the phone pressed between my ears and shoulder. "I told him I just want a baby and now he hates me."

"No, he doesn't. Rick adores you."  She sounded like she just woke up and was deciding if she should take a bath or climb back into bed. "He's probably just trying to think of what to tell you."

I sniffled and a sneeze escaped me. Somehow, I came down with the flu and decided I am now working from home to protect my staff. "For a whole week?"

"You mean he hasn't spoken to you at all?"

I shook my head, then remembered she couldn't see me. "Only Monday, but it was all business and then he left."

Silence.

"You see? He hates me. Maybe I should just give up on this whole thing. I should try adoption or surrogacy." I think, by this time, it's safe to call me desperate.

I started to hate the space I've been living in for the past nine years. It was big enough for four people to live in comfortably, but I'm the only occupant. I had a hamster name Coco once, but I've lost so many pets in my childhood that after Coco, I decided to leave the poor animals alone. I'll be better at taking care of a baby, and I'll have my mom and Samantha for help too. Though, I haven't seen my mom in a while, she'd be thrilled to finally have a grandchild to raise.

"That makes you sad, doesn't it?" Sam's soft voice drifted back into my ears as I reached for another spoonful of peanut butter.

"No." Came my automatic response. "I feel fine about it. I don't care."

"You don't care if your bestie hates you." She said flatly, unconvinced.

"I've done great without him for a long time. I don't need Rick McNeil. I don't! If he won't help me, I'll find someone else who will." I'm a boss. I can deal with shits. I'll figure things out and I will get pregnant somehow.

"Denial, I see."

I rolled my eyes, "I'm not i-"

"Does he know that you're sick?"

"Why would he?" I didn't tell him.

Samantha sighed in frustration. I think I'm wearing her out. I should stop this, she doesn't deserve it. "Even if I told him, he'd probably just send me a Get Well card and some flowers."

"Why don't you get some rest, sweetie. Then later you can start your work." Sam says softly as if talking to her two girls, Joy and Suzanne.

I nodded anyway, my body seemed to have been yearning for those very words. "Okay. I'll let Gregory know and set an alarm."

"Sure, dear. I'll check on you later."

I let the phone hang up as I settled among my pillows and comforter. I drifted off to sleep within seconds, clutching the opened jar of peanut butter to my chest.

.....

Some time later I woke up with a start to the sound of my alarm clock and my doorbell. I slowly crawled out of bed, grabbed my comfort food from my tangled sheets and went to the door feeling like I haven't eaten in years and it's taking a toll on my movement. I found Rick standing on my welcome mat with a small brown teddy bear and a paper bag of something.

"Hey, I heard you weren't feeling well." He said, smiling charmingly at me.

I sniffled and let him in. "I'm fine."

"I know, you say that all the time." He handed me the bear and headed straight for the kitchen. "This is for you. I brought food as well."

I wanted to ask him what he wants but I wasn't sure how to without sounding rude. "Thanks." I watched him uncover a bowl of chicken soup for me and Chinese takeout for himself until I couldn't take it anymore. "What do you want?"

He sighed and sat himself down on the same stool that he was on the last time he was here. "Can we talk?"

"There's nothing to talk about."

He flashed me a vaguely familiar stern expression before he smiled again. "Look, a week ago you basically asked me to impregnate you and then leave you the hell alone. And I don't want to do that. I don't want to leave you. Not again. I mean, not that I wanted to before... The point is, I came here to talk about this and I am not going to do it with Ariadne The Difficult."

I blinked rapidly in surprise, feeling a bit like I was being scolded. I kind of liked it. I'm a very sick person. "Okay. Talk then."

His eyebrows shot up in shock at my reply and then he sort of relaxed a bit. "Really?"

I shrugged, "and I didn't necessarily mean you should leave me alone."

"What exactly do you want?"

I played with the food before me, not feeling hungry anymore. "All I'm sure about is the baby. And I'm glad that you're back. I missed my best friend, but it'll be okay if you decide to leave again." It will always be okay.

"I understand," he said. "I missed you too. More than you know. And I'll do anything to make up for what I've done. That's why I have a deal to propose."

"Okay, shoot." Maybe things won't go too bad after all.

"I'll help you have the baby. I can see that this is what you really want and I prefer to be the one to give it to you, because something tells me that you'll just find someone else if I don't." He takes a deep breath. "I want to see you happy, Ari. And I want to be around you even if it means we'll stay just friends."

"I smell a but." I couldn't stop the glee that spread through my body as I listened to him, but I also know that a deal comes with something. It has to.

His sternness returned and he seemed to have toughened up a bit. "I want to be apart of my child's life. The baby is not going to be just yours. He or she will be mine too."

I nodded in agreement. "Okay. I guess that's fair enough."

"And, I'm moving in until I find me a place more permanent." He added with a grin.

"That wasn't a question." I noted.

"I know."

"So that means you're staying." I was slowly starting to wrap my mind around his little deal and look at it in a more long term kind of way.

"Yes, dear."

"Oh, cool." I can handle that. Right? Of course. We'd be friends and parents and we won't end up feeling again.