Pregnant Pause [H.S]

Chapter 6

Ah, the glare that made it all worth it.

When they exchanged farewells at the door, Fitz and I waved to Claire over the back of the couch.

'Never guess where I just came from, I had sex/if I had to describe the feeling, it was the best...'

"Would you shut that off!" Niall cried in annoyance. Chuckling, I merely decreased the volume.

"... got to be going," Claire was saying. "I haven't done any meal plans for this week. The kids are going to starve if I don't get my shopping done."

Niall grunted in acknowledgement.

"If you have Thursday off, you could always take the train down for a visit," she suggested. "Play with the kids for a little while. That might be fun for you."

"Maybe," Niall replied, hesitant when it came to commitment.

"All right. Bye, sweetums. See you soon."

Fitz and I cringed at the sloppy sound of their kiss echoing throughout the flat. But the mention of kids reminded me of Niall's predicament, and I wondered if Claire had told him yet. Probably not. She probably wanted to assess his behavior around the kids at her childcare centre before informing him that he'd have one of his own before he knew it.

It had been long enough. He had to know.

With a sideways glance to Fitz, who sat up on the couch and appeared to be feeling better, I sensed we weren't thinking of the same thing. In fact, she didn't seem bothered at all.

Niall joined us in the common area, collapsing sideways on an armchair.

"Going to Bristol on Thursday, Niall?" Fitz teased him. "Play with the kiddies?"

He shook his head, not a trace of a smile in his grimacing expression. "I gotta get out of it," he said, almost pleadingly. "She thinks we do stuff now. Like, in the middle of the day... in the middle of the week... it's insanity."

"Yeah," I said, nodding without sympathy

"She's barking mad to get that idea after a year of hooking up."

"Right?!" Niall asked, failing to read my sarcasm. "It's got to end. No more."

Niall often swore off Claire only to call her up again the next time he wanted to get laid. Nobody took him seriously when he said it was the last time.

Except this time, I had to make sure that it really wasn't.

"Hey," I said to Niall, sitting up and changing the subject. "You up for the gym?"

He shrugged before nodding in agreement.

It was a place I could get him alone, a place where Fitz wouldn't follow us. So, after a peck on the lips, I left her the couch to herself and joined Niall with a reason for him to keep Claire around.

*

In retrospect, perhaps I picked the wrong time to tell Niall that he'd knocked up Claire.

Niall was on his back doing bench presses, and as soon as I said the word "pregnant," his arms turned to jelly. As his spotter, I rushed to lift the weight off his chest as he lay there lifelessly, choked and breathless.

"All right?" I asked as I heaved the bar to its resting place.

"All right?" he squeaked, the air stolen from his lungs. "How am I supposed to be all right?"

"Here. Sit up."

Nearly limp, Niall let me do most of the work of tugging him to a sitting position.