Listen (Patrick Stump / Fall Out Boy Fanfic)

Chapter 21 - Where Did the Party Go?

It took me a moment to catch my breath. I clutched onto Aria as she sobbed loudly against my shoulder, but my eyes were trained on Pete. He hadn't known about our visit to the doctor because Aria wanted to keep our business a secret, but something about Aria's test results had led to her telling him all about it. Pete was watching me with a cautious hesitance, as if he was unsure if he should tell me. I finally swallowed the lump in my throat, and ran my fingers through Aria's hair. "How did she take the call?" I asked.

"It was a video call," Pete explained, "The doctor wanted to talk to Aria face-to-face, and when the doctor couldn't use sign language, Aria came to get you. I was just getting out of bed at the time, and offered to help so she wouldn't have to wake you. She didn't want to tell me, but she agreed that you needed sleep for the show tonight. So, I took the call for her, and relayed the message as well as I could.

I nodded, taking it all in and trying not to draw my own conclusions. I was still petting Aria, running my hands through her golden hair over and over as if it would calm her down. "Well?" I asked, looking up at Pete. "Is she...?"

Pete hesitated, then looked down at the floor, slowly nodding his head. My heart sunk for a moment, but then it thundered in my chest. She's pregnant. We're going to have a baby. We weren't ready for this. Not at all, despite everything we said to each other before, despite how much we both wanted it, we weren't ready. We can't raise a baby on the road, much less, give birth to one while we're on tour.

While my mind reeled, Pete moved past me and left the room, closing the door behind him. Aria pressed her face almost painfully into my chest and sobbed, her hands pulling desperately at my shirt. I held her tight, running my fingers through her hair like it would help calm her, even though I knew it wouldn't. Eventually, I managed to move us to the couch, gently guiding Aria to sit beside me. Her head was still pressed against, my shoulder, so I cupped her face between my hands and made her look up at me. Just looking at her made tears spring to my own eyes, and as they slid down my cheeks, I quickly pulled Aria into a kiss.

It was rough, sloppy, and in no way comforting, but it helped. Aria stopped crying and instead, knotted her hand in my hair. I moved my hands to her hips, wondering if this was in any way, a healthy reaction to the news we'd just received. Aria gasped in pleasure and suddenly climbed onto my lap, just as I pushed her backward onto the couch and hovered over her. I moved to kiss her neck, still aware of the tears sliding down my cheeks, and I continued over her chest. I kissed over her t-shirt, down between her breasts, and then suddenly stopped at her abdomen. I rested my forehead gently against her, and took a deep, slow breath. Her hands moved gently through my hair, but they were shaking now. I lifted my head slightly, not looking up at her, and began to roll her shirt up. I exposed her still flat belly, and rested my hands on her bare sides.

I leaned down and pressed my lips to her skin. The moment I touched her, a sob shook her body, making me hold her a little more firmly as I pressed another kiss to her belly. I kissed her over and over again, covering her skin with my lips, until she finally stopped crying. I opened my eyes for a moment and just stared at her, knowing my baby was in there. I was terrified, and I knew we were nowhere near ready for this, but I'll be damned if I wasn't going to give this baby my all.

When I finally looked up at Aria's face, I found that she had propped herself up on her elbows and was staring at me. The tears had dried in streaks across her face, but her mouth was still frozen in a frown. Her blue eyes, however, betrayed the small amount of delight she had taken in watching me practically worship her belly. I bowed my head down for one more kiss, just above her bellybutton, and then I sat up, pulling her up beside me. "We're going to get through this," I signed to her, "Whatever it takes, I'll do it."