Stuck In Your Head | Matthew Daddario

9.4

After a little over an hour of throwing around ideas with Phoebe, going off topic after a while and beginning to think of more and more outrageous and hilarious ways to spring upcoming parenthood on people, Beau ends the phone call feeling a lot less nervous than before and having decided that she's going to just sit Matt down and tell him the news. It's not elaborate, but after doing basically the exact same thing with Phoebe, she's decided that it works just fine - and if there happens to be a next time, she can do something a little more creative and elaborate then.

She drops her keys in the bowl by the front door when she arrives home, wandering further into the house to find out what Matt's been up to in her absence. She finds him sitting in the middle of the floor in the living room, playing with Eden and Oscar, the younger dog in his lap on her back as he plays with her legs and rubs her chest and belly while Oscar knaws on a tugger rope that Matt occasionally pulls on. She leans on the doorframe, watching him play with the pair they've affectionately labelled their fur babies, before smiling as he looks up and notices her, sending her a wide smile.

"So this is what you get up to when I'm not around?" She teases him as she stands straight again, entering the room and making her way closer to them.

"What can I say? I'm an animal lover above all else." He shrugs, waiting for her to join him on the floor with the dogs before leaning over to peck her on the lips. "How was your morning?"

Beau shrugs, reaching down and petting the squirming puppy in his lap. "Relaxing, I suppose. But kind of eventful too."

"Oh," He raises an eyebrow, stroking Oscar while Eden is getting affection from Beau so he doesn't feel left out. "What did you do?"

Beau shrugs, "I had a doctors appointment this morning, then I stopped for breakfast at that cafe we usually go to and phoned Phoebe for a catch-up while I was there."

"A doctors appointment?" Matt frowns, "For what? That other contraceptive thing? I thought that was next week."

Beau shakes her head, keeping her eyes on Eden so she doesn't catch his gaze. "No, that one was for next week. I made another one to talk about whether the stuff I've been going through - the tiredness, nausea and kind of mood swings - could be, like, withdrawal symptoms from the pills I had before or something else."

"Was? What do you mean by the appointment was next week?"

She shrugs again, biting back a smile as she thinks about how to word her answer to hint at her predicament without giving too much away. "I got my questions answered and ended up cancelling the appointment." She pauses before deciding to add, "It turns out I'm not going to need it after all."

She watches Matt frown down at his lap as he thinks over what she said. He turns to her after moving Eden to lay beside them, turning his full attention to her. She can tell by the look on his face that he's still confused and is probably studying her for some kind of sign to help him figure out the answer.

"I thought you wanted to try that other thing. The only reason they wouldn't want you to go to that appointment is if you were-" He cuts himself off, the hold he has on her hands tightening slightly as he freezes, his eyes widening as he meets her gaze. "Oh my- Are you pregnant?"

Beau keeps her face as blank as possible, not answering him for a moment, before nodding slowly as she smiles. "Yes, Matthew. I'm pregnant."

He's silent for a moment, her confirmation audibly knocking the breath out of him, before he grins and wraps his arms around her, gripping her into a tight hug which she returns as he mumbles about how happy he is and how this is the best news ever. Once he's calmed down a little, sitting back properly and wiping at his damp eyes - tears of extreme happiness having been shed - they continue their conversation.