Chapter 44 - What's One More?

 

 

Monica smiles at him and says, "I'm late, but I don't know."  She waits, cringing a little bit, thinking he might get mad at her because they had been so careful.

"What do you mean that you don't know?" he questions, with his heart racing.  He's reminded of the pregnancy scare that he had with Liz and how that made him feel, he's not sure he can take another scare.

Monica, feeling bad for not telling him, admits, "I've taken four tests at home and 2 were positive and 2 were negative."

"Have you gone to the doctor?"  he shakes his head, "Why didn't you tell me this?"  He turns in the seat, facing her directly.

"I didn't want to say anything until I knew." she tells him, seeing that he's pretty pissed that she never mentioned it before now.  "I can't get into the doctor before we leave, so I guess I'll find out when we get home.

"When we get home???" he quickly replies.  "We can't leave without knowing."

"The doctor isn't open until Monday and we leave on Sunday." she says a little blasé.  She isn't letting herself get worked up over it, she can't let it consume her every thought, although it already has.  She hated not talking to Jon about it, but she too knew of the Liz scare and didn't want him to think she was doing the same thing.  Monica knows that her and Jon have something special and she knows that he's not thinking anything bad about the conversation that they are having.  She knows that he isn't thinking anything other than oh my God, I might be a dad. 

He's stunned.  He's shocked but most of all, he feels a little excited about it.  "A baby?" he gazes out the window and gets deep in thought.  He's trying to picture having a baby on the road, but quickly snaps out of the day dream.  "Wow."

"I'm sorry I didn't say anything to you.  I was going to wait until I found out and then tell you, if it was positive.  If it was negative, I was going to not say a word and just add more precaution,  Jon, I'm so sorry."  Monica slides into him, "Honey, I'm sorry."

"I'm glad you told me."  He kisses the side of her head, "We need to find out."

Monica rests her head on his shoulder and says, "I have an appointment the day after I get back."

"I'll make sure I'm here." he pulls her to him and holds her tight.  "We'll get through this"

"Who knows, I could start my period any second - this worry could all be for nothing."

"And it could be for something." he bumps heads with her. 

They finish eating their dinner and head back to her house.  She has stuff all over the place, getting prepared for her trip and Jon has a small pile in the corner.  Once they get in and take care of what they had bought, Jon walks up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist.  With small little kisses on her neck he whispers, "I love you."

Monica slowly turns around and smiles at him.  "I love you too."  She steps on her tippy toes and kisses his lips, "Do you think that I'm trying to trap you?  Do you think I'm doing what Liz did?"

His hands go on her shoulders and he sets her back a little bit, "Absolutely not.  I have not thought that at all."

"Are you sure?" she looks to him for maybe a hint that he may be fibbing, even it's a little bit.

"I look at it like this, if we are pregnant, we'll deal with it.  If we're not, we'll deal with that too.  But if we aren't going to know for sure until we get back, I just ask that you treat your body as if you are."

"What do you mean?" she asks, she's always taken care of herself.  He knows that.

Jon laughs, "I just don't want you drinking and partying until we find out.  Pretend that you're pregnant, until we find out either way - just to be on the safe side."

"Will you answer my question?" she winks at him.

Looking puzzled, he looks at her face and tried to remember what question she's talking about.  "What question?"

 

"I asked you if you want kids."  she takes a step away and sits down at the dining room table, that's covered by her new purchases.  "Do you want to be a daddy?"

 

"I have always wanted to have children.  I never pictured it this young, but if we're pregnant, we're pregnant."  he sits down next to her and follows that with, "I believe that what will be, will be."

 

They both are startled by a knock at the door and the sound of "Put some clothes on, I'm coming in."

 

They sat there and waited for Richie to enter the house.  When he seen them at the table, he grabbed a beer from the fridge, asking them if they wanted one.  Jon said, "I'll take one."

 

"Monica?"  she looks at Jon and smiles.

 

"No thanks Rich.  Come sit down with us."  Richie grabs two beers from the fridge and joins the love birds at the table.

 

"What have you guys been up to?" he asks his best friends. 

 

"Jon took me bathing suit shopping this afternoon, we went to A&W and now we're here.  What have you been up to?" she asks Richie, knowing that he has a busy social life and she can imagine that he's loving all that he can before the guys head overseas.

 

Richie sits back, and laughs.  "The ONLY thing I did today was buy a new guitar.  Oh wait, I had Jennifer this morning." he laughs at himself again.

 

The three of them hung out for a little while and when Richie had a good buzz going, he decided it was time to walk home.  When he gets up from the table, he walks over to Monica and hugs her goodbye.  When he releases her and stands back up, he looks to Jon and hit him on the shoulder, "If you hurt her, I will kill you - dead."

 

Jon laughs, "Man, you're drunk.  Go home."

 

"I'm serious Jon, if you hurt her in any way, I'll kill you.  This is the little sister that I never had and she means the world to me."

 

"She means the world to me too Rich.  I'm not going to hurt her." Jon stands and pats his buddy on the shoulder, "Do you want me to walk you home?"

 

Richie pushes Jon away, "I can get myself home."  Richie turns to walk to the door.  Stopping, he looks back at Monica and tells her, "I love you, Mon."

 

"I love you too, Richie.  Be careful."

 

"I will." and Richie takes his leave.

 

They sit there for a few more minutes while Jon finishes his beer.  Once he's done, they head to bed - stopping to take a shower first.