✔︎ 𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐖𝐎𝐎𝐃 [𝐆𝐓𝐀𝐕]

𝐶𝐻𝐴𝑃𝑇𝐸𝑅 𝑇𝐻𝑅𝐸𝐸 - 𝑃𝑂𝑆𝐼𝑇𝐼𝑉𝐸

Ludendorff, North Yankton, March of 1991

Amanda paced up and down the small space of her bathroom, her hands shaking with fear and her heart thumping out of her chest in anticipation. Her and Michael had returned from their honeymoon just 2 weeks ago, after an unnecessarily large wedding that they couldn't afford, and since then Amanda had not only missed her period, she had been experiencing constant mood swings and her back was in agony.

Yep, she's taken a pregnancy test.

Amanda had always been short tempered, it didn't take much for her to start raising her voice or huffing and puffing at Michael, maybe he was just an aggravating person, but last week she argued with him for forgetting to get milk from the shop. Milk. It wasn't even that big of a deal, any other time Amanda would've just rolled her eyes and gone to the shop herself, but for some reason she felt the need to scream at Michael, only to cry and apologise to him half an hour later. She knew her mother had experienced the same mood swings when she fell pregnant with Amanda's brother, and even though she was taking a test, the girl knew from the feeling in the pit of her stomach that she was pregnant.

She should be jumping for joy, right? She should be screaming from the rooftops that she's going to have a child with the love of her life. But, could she even provide for this child? She could barely provide for herself and Michael, much less a child which is very expensive to look after. She lived in a 1 bedroom apartment, with barely any furniture or room to move, and as Amanda paced, she wondered what she would do if she was pregnant.

Would she tell Michael straight away? Would she keep it a secret? Would they have to start working more hours so they could move house? Would Amanda finally start working at the meth lab after months of Trevor asking her? Would she put the baby up for adoption? Would she get an abortion?

No, she decided, she wanted to keep this child. Even if it meant having to work 100 different jobs, including the meth lab, she wanted to be able to give this baby the life it deserved. A childhood better than the one she experienced, with love and nurture and two parents who could sit in a room for more than 2 minutes without arguing with each other.

Finally, after the longest 5 minutes of her life, Amanda finally sat back down on the toilet and rubbed her face with her hands, her leg bouncing up and down anxiously. She stretched out her arm to reach for the test, and once she drew it back towards her she flipped it upside-down so she wouldn't have to see the results straightaway. Part of her wanted for it to stay this way, for her to go the rest of her life without knowing, but she knew that she was going to have to deal with it at some point. Before she could change her mind, she flipped the test over and her hand immediately flew to her face.

On the small stick, there was a very prominent red line and a very faint red line that went through it, a plus sign. She was pregnant.

Her eyes clouded with tears. She kind of already knew she was pregnant, but now that the truth was staring her in the face she knew she had to do something because now it was a problem she couldn't ignore. For a moment, she was scared of how Michael would react, if he would scream at her to abort the child or even worse, leave her. Above all, Michael leaving her was the thing she feared the most.

"Michael! Come here!" She shouted, slightly opening the bathroom door so that Michael could hear her.

"Coming, baby!" He responded, and Amanda couldn't help but smile at the pet name. After all the time they had been together, they were still as in love as they were when they first met.

Slowly but surely, Michael made his way up the stairs and pushed open the bathroom door, leaning against the doorframe. He was confused for a second, baffled as to why Amanda would shout him to the bathroom, but when he turned his head to her he saw her puffy red eyes and tear stained cheeks.

"Aw baby, don't cry," he soothed, kneeling in front of her and pulling her head to his shoulder, letting her cry onto his shirt, and stroking her hair as she did so.

"Hey, you're too beautiful to cry," Michael said, his voice barely above a whisper, when Amanda finally pulled away from him. He used his thumb to wipe away her tears, his heart swelling at the small smile that formed on Amanda's lips.

"How do you always know just what to say?" She sniffled, fiddling with the pregnancy test between her fingers. Michael's attention was drawn to it, and he gently pried it away from her fingers before she had the chance to protest. Amanda stopped breathing for a moment, anticipating a tempter tantrum from Michael, but it never came.

"What does a plus sign mean?" Michael asked.

Amanda sighed, "positive, Mikey."

"You're pregnant?"

"Yeah.." Amanda trailed off, once again waiting for Michael to get angry and start shouting. It wasn't that he was always like that, Amanda just never knew what to expect from him. He was a wild card.

After a long moment of silence, Michael's stone cold expression was broken by a beaming grin. He picked Amanda up and spun her around, peppering her in kisses and affection.

"You're pregnant! Oh my god, that's amazing!" He exclaimed, awe struck.

All Amanda could do was laugh and allow Michael to shower her in love, unaware of the fact that after the birth of their child, it was the last bit of love she'd receive from her husband for a very long time.