Sarah Beth~
"This is really messy. Who thought this was a good idea?" Rufus scrunched his nose as I handed him a freshly-urinated-on muggle pregnancy test. This was the seventh one I had taken, thirteenth if you counted the six other wizarding ones I had taken prier. I was sitting on the toilet in Rufus's small bathroom, pants around my ankles and empty gallon carton of orange juice at my feet. Rufus was standing with his back to me, putting the test on the counter, next to the others. I shook my head.
"I don't know. Muggles, I guess. Hand me the next one." I reached my hand out to him.
"Don't you think that's enough. This will make fourteen." He reached a vial half filled with clear liquid to me. I quickly put it between my legs, and did what I needed, all most filling it to the top. I put the cork in, shook it up, and handed it to Rufus.
"I just want to make sure." I replied, and completely finished before wiping, standing up, and pulling up my pants. "Besides, I'm finished now. Move over." I pushed him out of the way, so I could wash my hand. "So, what does-" I began but stopped when I had looked over to grab a towel to dry my hands, but instead saw the fourteen different tests, lined up in a neat line: Muggle tests to the right, Wizarding tests to the left. And all of them had the same result.
I covered my mouth. I was looking at seven rose-red vials and seven little pink plus signs.
"Oh, my. Oh my Merlin! I...I..." I closed my eyes tight, feeling tears coming to them. Suddenly everything made so much sense.
I knew I had been late, that's what led me to take the tests, but there were other things that now had explanations. I had been sick lately, mostly in the mornings, but also sometimes late at night. I had been so tired recently, and so, so hungry. I mean, I was usually hungry, but this had been more than usual. And hungry for strange food, at that. Just that morning I had eaten a chocolate chip bagel with garden vegetable cream cheese with a side of sauerkraut. All of which I threw up an hour later. And these cravings were very odd, since I am usually a very picky eater.
"Sarah Beth, are you okay?" Rufus put a hand on my shoulder. I forcefully shook my head no before turning around, throwing my arms around him. I pressed my face into the nook of his shoulder, bursting into tears. "Are you upset?...Frecky?" He tried to hold me tighter, but I pulled away, shaking my head and grabbing for the toilet paper. I finally succeeded and tore off a nice sized piece, and used it to wipe the tears flowing down my face. Then, I put the toilet seat down, sat on it, and continued to cry. "Frecky?" Rufus squatted in front of me, so that we could be eye to eye. He put a hand on my knee.
"I'm going to be a mum..." I cried, putting my hand on top of his. A smile was on my face despite the sobs. "Merlin, Rufus, I'm going to be a mum...I'm finally going to be a mummy... I'm having a baby! I've... this is all I've ever wanted, Rufus!" I laughed through my tears. "I'm going to have a family!" I stood up, and began jumping up and down. "I'm going to have a baby! I'm having a baby! A baby!" I continued to squeal until Rufus touched my hand, then grabbed it.
"You're going to be a great Mum." Rufus smiled back at me. I grinned, let out another sob, and covered my mouth.
.................................
When the initial shock and rush of euphoria wore off, Rufus lead me to the sitting room and made me a cup of tea. I carefully sipped it, still feeling giddy and constantly smiling. He sat on the sofa beside me, drinking a cup of tea as well.
"When are you going to tell him?" He asked me, referring to Ashley. I shifted, and put the cup down on the coffee table.
"I'm not sure. I want to tell him as soon as possible, but I also want to make it special."
"Isn't telling him he's going to be a father special any way you do it?"
"But I want to do it in a cute way. You know what I mean?"
"I guess."
"But I need time to prepare. I need a couple days. I don't know if I can keep it in that long, though. I'm ready to burst now! And I don't want anyone to know until then, so please don't tell anyone!"
"Who am I going to tell?" He asked.
"Well, Mr. Cornelius, for one."
"I'm not going to tell my uncle."
"Good, because I want to be the one to tell him he's going to be a grandfather."
"But he's not-"
"He's close enough." I interrupted. Rufus shrugged.
"I guess you're right."
.......................................
I avoided Ashley for the next three days. In the morning I would rush him out the door for work, and stay in my bedroom when ever he came home from work. I encouraged him to call rehearsals in for Technical Success. I encouraged him to run errand for me. Anything that could get him out of the house in order for me to keep the for-now secret in. It wasn't until the fourth night that I had everything ready.
I had decided after I returned from Rufus's how I was going to tell Ashley, and it took me four days to get the stuff together. Then, I had to wait for him to get back from work. It was a busy day, so he got home later than usual, which drove me a little crazy. I had been holding this secret in for so long, that I didn't if I could do it much longer. But he finally arrived around six thirty in the afternoon, an hour later than he would usually be home, and I was about to burst at the seams.
"Hey, Sarah Beth, sorry I was late, I-"
"Yeah, yeah, you're forgiven! Sit down!" Before he could even finish I lead him to the dinning table and sat him down. The salad was already on the table, as well as a tall glass of milk."It's time for dinner!"
"Oh, wow, okay. What are we having?" He asked. I picked up the tongs and began putting what would be his portion of salad into it.
"Well, this is salad. It has baby spinach in it, and baby corn, and baby carrots, baby celery, and baby tear drop tomatoes. Here, do you want some dressing? I can get you some dressing?" I began to quickly make my way to the kitchen. He called after me, but didn't follow.
"But Sarah Beth, you don't eat salad!"
"What was that?" I called back, getting the thousand island dressing from the fridge, and also fixing us both a plate for our entrees. I used my wand to bring it all back to the table.
"Sarah Beth, are you okay-"
"Here, here are our entrees. Look!" I put a plate in front of him, and one at a space for myself. "I made baby shrimp and baby brussle sprouts and baby lima beans."
"You only like one out of three of those things, Sarah Beth." He simply stated, beginning to put the dressing on the vegetables. He picked his fork up and began to take a bite. I picked up the salad bowl before he could take another bite.
"Wow, that was good wasn't it. Do you want dessert? It's time for dessert! I'll get the dessert!"
"What ever you say, dear..." He didn't even fight it. I knew he now knew something was up, but I didn't care. I had spend so much time not to spoil the surprise, that I had to hurry up and get it over with before I let the cat out of the bag. I quickly got the slice of cake that was just for him off the counter and brought it back in with me. I knocked the plate he had retrieved and began eating from into the floor and put the cake in its place.
"Here, eat it. I just made it today!" I giggled, and handed him my fork, since his had been slung into the floor. He eyed me for a moment, then put the fork in. I grabbed onto his forearm and squeezed, excitement practically gushing out of me. "How is it?" I grinned. He smiled back.
"It's very good."
"Have another bite." I encouraged. I watched in excitement at he stuck his fork back into it, but stopped when ever it hit something inside the cake. He looked up at me.
"What is it?"
"I don't know. You tell me." I squeezed tighter. He began to dig into the cake with the fork, using it much like a shovel. Eventually he uncovered what was inside, picked it up, and wiped it off with a napkin. It took him a couple moments to realize what he was looking at.
"Sarah Beth I don't... Is this a pregnancy test?!"
"Uh huh!" I excitedly shook my head up and down.
"But... I ate some of that cake!"
"Uh huh!"
"Sarah Beth, you peed on this!"
"Uh huuuh!"
"And I ate some of it!"
"Uh huh! But look at it! Ashley! Look!" I pointed to the test. "Look!"
He finally looked down at it. He studied it for a few seconds, no doubt looking at the tiny pink plus sign I had starred at four days prier. After a few more seconds, he looked up at me.
"You are pregnant." He put it down and looked up at me. I covered my mouth, feeling tears come back once again as joy spread all over.
"Uh huh..." I answered, still nodded. He shot up from his chair, and put his arms around me.
"You're pregnant! I'm going to be a daddy!"
"And I'm going to be a mummy!" I uncovered my mouth and threw my arms around him as well. We embraced, and I looked up, pressing my lips against him. "I love you. I love you so much!" I pressed my face against his shoulder, much as I had Rufus's earlier that week. Ashley kissed the top of my head. "We're going to be parents, Ashley... I'm going to have a baby!"
"We're going to have a baby." He clarified, and we kissed again.