Family Ties

Part Three

The bathroom door opens then shuts. I could hear two pairs of shoes shuffling across the floor towards the stall I'm in.

"Nova?" JJ called out.

I unlatched the door and pushed it open. JJ and Penelope stood silent, eyeing my undressed lower half. I was holding the pants in my hands, nervously laughing.

"Umm...so.. funny story.."

"Honey, we both know what went on here. Details later, stitching now. Put them on and I'll stitch you into them." Penni says digging into her bag.

Without hesitation, I slip back into the pants and pull the waistband together as Penelope pins it together. I pull my head up and make eye contact with Jenni, who has been trying to cover her smirk and muffled laughter.

"It feels like high school all over again except this time Roslyn isn't lecturing me while she fixes my skirt" I laughed.

All three of us nearly doubled over laughing. During our high school days Penelope, Jennifer and I would sneak out to a frat party almost every weekend. Most of those nights would end in drunken laughter, torn skirts and messy mascara. We would retreat back to JJs where her sister would give us coffee, hem our skirts and clean us up.

"Ugh I miss those days. She's flying in tomorrow for the wedding!" Jennifer mentions.

"Oh that reminds me! My parents will be here tonight. They are staying with Kevin and I until the wedding! They wanted to have dinner with all of us." Penelope says.

"I think I can squeeze them in tonight. I let Spence know." I said.

"All finished!"

I took a step back and checked out my pants in the mirror. I ran my hand along the seam admiring the stitching.

"Wow Penni you've come a long way since high school!"

"Well when you become an aunt every 4 years you learn a thing or two." Penni smiled.

I brushed my hands off on my pants and we all headed back towards the conference room.

"Everything okay, sugar?" Derek asked.

My eyes darted over to Spencer who was looking straight back at me.

"She's fine just a bit of hormones." JJ piped up.

" Yep all good, thank you Derek" I said pulling him into an embrace.

I walked over towards Spencer and grabbed his hand, pulling myself closer towards him. I don't know what it was but just being next to him made me feel nearly invincible as if nothing could ever harm me. I put my free hand on my stomach and shut my eyes.

God, please let this baby live and allow me to live long enough to raise it.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and it startled me back into place. I looked up to see two big, beautiful brown eyes staring back down at me.

"Hey, are you okay?" Spence questioned.

"Mhm"

After a little while longer, we said our goodbyes and headed to the parking lot. Spence grabbed my hand and led the way.

"Oh by the way, tonight Mr. and Mrs. Garcia want to have dinner with us JJ and Will."

"Sounds good to me" Spence smiled.

We made it to the car and he opened my door. I gave him a kiss on the cheek before climbing in. On the way home, I kept playing over and over in my head how I would tell him the news from the doctor. It took everything in me to keep my legs from shaking.

What if he doesn't want the baby now? What if he doesn't want to get married? What if he leaves me?

My heart started racing and my legs were shaking involuntarily. I felt as if I was being choked out. I grabbed my throat trying to get myself to breathe. My chest was so heavy it felt as if it was caving in. Tears were rolling down my cheeks feeling as if they were burning through my flesh. I must've blacked out because when I came to I was on the couch in our apartment with my head laying in Spencer's lap. I jolted up in a panic.

"Hey, Hey Nova it's okay! It's okay"

"What...what happened?"

"You went into a panic attack in the car on the way home and blacked out."

I sat speechless for a moment.

"I just can't wrap my head around what caused you to go into a panic attack"

I swallowed my tears and spoke.

"This morning at the doctors office Jenni went with me because I couldn't stop shaking and was in shock."

"Okay I wouldn't want it any different if I wasn't here?"

"The doctor said that because my scar tissue isn't fully healed that as the baby grows it can put strain on my body and rip open. I could bleed internally or worse it could rip open while I'm giving birth from pushing or even contractions.."

The room was painfully silent. I was shaking so bad. I put my feet on the floor to stop my knees from knocking together.

"She gave me pamphlets of decisions we can make.." I said shakily placing them on the coffee table.

Spence grabbed them and read them over before placing them back onto the table. He stood up and began pacing. The only other time he did this was when his mom was sick. I pulled my knees to my chest following him with my eyes as he went.
After what seemed like hours, I started to doze off.

I woke up in bed and took a moment to look around. Spencer was asleep with his head laid across my stomach. I smiled and started to tear up. I grabbed my phone and snapped a picture. I opened my photos and sent it to Jenni.

                         JenniBear❤️

                                                📷 1 attachment(s)

JB: How cute!! Did you
        end up telling him
        yet?!

                                                 I did last night..😭

JB: Didn't go well I'm
         guessing??

                                     He did the Diana pacing

JB: yikes! Kids are up
       so call me later❣️

I put my phone down on the bed and stared at him for a while.

I never would have thought a year ago that I'd be married to this fine specimen.