Chapter 61~1 Month Later~
"Please be negative, please be negative, please be negative," Toni repeatedly said as she sat down on the toilet with the test in her hand. She held her breath for a few seconds as she saw it turn exactly opposite of what she wanted. Positive. She was pregnant, just like she thought she was. She felt tears well up in her eyes not knowing if they were for joy or sadness. After crying for about ten minutes Toni finally realized that they were tears of both joy and sadness. She wanted a baby with Nick more than anything else in their marriage but she remembered what Nick told AJ when Kristen was pregnant about his theory on marriages going downhill once there were kids in the house. She wiped her eyes free of tears and walked out of the bathroom running right into Nick.
"What's wrong?" Nick asked since it was obvious Toni had been crying.
"Nothing, my contacts were just bothering my eyes," Toni lied.
"You don’t wear contacts."
"I went and bought some to change the color of my eyes but they hurt my eyes too much so I took them out," she continued to lie.
"Um sure," Nick said giving her a weird look trying to figure out what she was really hiding.
"I’m going to go over to Kristen and AJ’s so I’ll see you in a little bit," Toni said giving Nick a peck on the lips then grabbing her car keys to her prowler and walking out the door. Nick just stood there confused for a second then decided to not worry about why Toni was acting weird and went to mess around in the studio.
"Hey Toni how’s it going?" AJ asked answering the door fifteen minutes later giving Toni a hug.
"I have a little problem so is Kristen here?"
"No, Mariah has a cold and she spazed out and took her to the doctor," AJ said letting her in and closing the door behind her.
"I hate to see the way she acts when Mariah gets a bruise or something," Toni said sarcastically.
"Well I’m sure if you had a baby you’d be the same way," AJ said and Toni looked at him really fast as her eyes got all big. "What?"
"Nothing, it’s just funny you said that."
"Why? Are you hiding a baby that nobody knows about?"
"I guess you could put it that way. But I would rather talk to Kristen about it so I’m just going to leave and have her call me when she gets home."
"I don’t think so," AJ said grabbing her arm and pulling her back when she went to walk out the door. He pulled her over to the couch and made her sit down so they were facing each other. "I’m guessing that you’re hiding a baby in your stomach. Am I right?"
"AJ I told you I would rather talk to Kristen about it."
"Well Kristen isn’t home so now you have to spill the beans to me. What did Nick say about it?" AJ asked and Toni just stared at him. "Okay…when do you plan on telling Nick?"
"I don’t know."
"You know I don’t really get women. I don’t understand why they always hide the fact they are pregnant from the father of the baby. Do you think that we don’t care or something?"
"Okay this is nothing like the situation with Kristen. She hid it from you for the fact that she was just plain fucked up in the head. I actually have a reason I haven’t told Nick but I do plan on telling him," Toni said getting all defensive about it.
"Well then if you have a reason let’s hear it."
"Just think about what Nick told you AJ."
"I guess you do have a reason for being afraid to tell Nick," AJ said after he sat there and thought for a few seconds. "But Toni I really don’t think he would be upset about it."
"You were though and you’re a lot smarter than Nick yet you still believed what he had to say."
"Yeah I know I believed him but I’m sure he learned from it all that what happens is exactly opposite of what he believed."
"But what if he didn’t learn?"
"Then I’ll come over and beat the shit out of him until some sense gets knocked into him by my fists."
"But do you actually think Nick is ready to be a father?"
"He won’t have a choice of whether or not he’s ready. He has to be."
"Thanks AJ," Toni said giving him a hug. "Have Kristen give me a call when she gets home," she said then left to go back home.
"That was fast. I didn’t think you’d be home for a couple more hours," Nick said coming down the stairs when Toni got home.
"Yeah well Kristen wasn’t at home so I talked to AJ for a few minutes."
"About what?" Nick asked and Toni stared at him for a second but when she went to speak Nick interrupted her. "About this?" he asked holding up the pregnancy test.
"Nick…"
"So are you pregnant or should I call AJ up and ask him?" Nick asked angry with Toni. Toni went to answer when the doorbell started ringing like crazy. Nick walked past Toni and opened the door to have Mariah shoved in his arms as Kristen ran into the house.
"Here you need the practice," she said giving her to him then hugging Toni. "Congrats girl!" she yelled. "Now I’ll get to see a baby Nick or Toni! Hopefully a baby Toni cause we already have one too many Nicks."
"How did you know?"
"AJ called me on my cell phone and I had to come over. I’m so happy for you!"
"Well Kristen this isn’t exactly a good time," Toni said looking over at Nick. Kristen followed her gaze and saw Nick with a pissed off look on his face.
"Oh hell no!" Kristen yelled at Nick. "You have no right to be pissed off about her being pregnant!"
"Kristen, I think you need to go home," Nick said and Kristen looked at Toni who agreed with him.
"Alright, call me later babe," Kristen said hugging Toni then taking Mariah from Nick and walking out the door.
"I guess I can take that as a yes. I can’t believe you lied to me."
"Nick I never lied to you about anything."
"You lied to me by not even telling me that you thought you were pregnant so you bought a pregnancy test. Then when you find out you are, you go talk to AJ about it instead of me. That is what I don’t understand."
"I was scared shitless Nick! I didn’t know how you would react! You say all this shit to AJ about how babies ruin it all so you shouldn’t have them for a long time down the road. We’ve only been married a month so I figured you wouldn’t exactly be too thrilled about it and I needed to talk to someone other than you about it!" Toni yelled with tears coming out of her eyes. Nick then began to feel bad and he wrapped his arms around Toni and held her.
"I’m sorry baby," he said kissing her on top of the head.
"So are you mad about it?"
"No, I’m not. Anything that is a part of you I’m glad to have in my life."
"Really?" Toni asked looking up at him as he nodded his head. "You do know that it’s a part of you too right?"
"Yeah, that’s what scares me," Nick said causing Toni to laugh. "You have to help me out a little from now on. Whatever I can do to help you while your pregnant just let me know and when the baby is born I’ll be completely clueless so I’ll really need your help."
"It’s a deal," Toni said reaching up and kissing him.
