LUCY
"You want me....to WHAT?"
I stare at him as if he's mad and believe me....anyone seeing him right now will think the same.
Norman is still looking pretty feral, with his long unwashed hair pointing in every direction and scruffy beard. His skin is still sallow and eyes remain puffy.
Yet they're crinkling up now. Thanks to the huge smile plastered all over his face.
"You just do your business and I'll duck the cup under" He ordered.
And he did it so matter-of-factly to boot. As he crouched in front of me and spread my knees....eager to dive his hand in.
"Whoa, mister. You just go and hold your horses there. I can't simply pee on demand you know. And having you hovering over me like a seagull eyeing off a chip? You're giving me performance anxiety, Reedus!"
My throat is croaky from repeatedly saying hello to Ralph. Only now it's rising in pitch....as he bounces on his haunches in....anticipation?
"Why would a pharmacist want a urine sample? I mean, if it's Giardia or something, surely I'll be doing more than throwing up and feeling off-colour? What exactly did they say when you told them? Wouldn't a doctor want me to do this instead?"
I'm hell confused.
"So you can't pee then, Lu?"
When I shake my head....no....he stood. Swept me up in his arms before sitting on the toilet seat with me snuggled in his lap.
"Ok, I can wait a bit."
"Norman Reedus! You're starting to scare the shit out of me. What on earth did...." He cut me off and simply held me tight, while kissing me on the head.
"Luce....how long have you been throwing up? With the bug that is?"
"Ummmm, on and off. A couple of weeks or so maybe? It's not really bad, mightn't even be a bug at all. Probably stress and not sleeping much. It just hits....with a lot of nausea for a while. Then it goes."
"I was feeling a bit funky when I woke. Then....I think it was maybe the smell of bacon? What did the pharmacist say? Did they give you something for me to take?"
I peer up at his face, only to see him smiling gently at me now. Surely if I'm really sick and he's worried....he wouldn't be looking at me like he is?
"The only other time I ever saw you sick? Well....that was self-inflicted. Eight weeks ago?" He asked.
"Self-inflicted my ass, Norman! You and Greg got me legless. Just so you could have your wicked way with me later."
"Hmmmm, very wicked way indeed....you're one hell of an accomplished pole dancer. I'll have to get one installed in our bedroom soon as we get home. When did you have your last period, Lu?"
His sudden change of subject threw me right off and I pull out from his grip a bit so I can look him properly in the face. As my forehead started to crease.
"What the? Ummmm....ummmm...."
I'm really having to think on it and that's not at all like me. Cos I'm usually regular as clockwork, can almost memorise the dates it'll happen on for each year.
I remember the one just before making love with Norman for the first time. Then....a week after I got here? Well it was just a couple of spots really, so that one doesn't count I s'pose. Again, I put it down to stress.
And since then....?
I did the math....and it added up to roughly ten weeks since a proper period?
No. That can't be right? Even with the bug and being so upset it....no....Oh....Oh....
OHMYGOD!
"Bingo!" Norman announced softly as I stared back in shock at his loving face.
Can feel my mouth open and close while I keep shaking my head in denial.
"But....the pill....?" I whispered.
"Tequila? Up-chucks?" He whispered back before giving me a soft kiss, lifting me to my feet.
"But we won't know for sure, Lu. Not until we do the test. That's what I bought. Some nausea tablets and the test kit."
"When the pharmacy guy asked me a load of questions, I guess I kinda already knew? It was more because of the look on your face. When you came into the kitchen....smelt the food."
It's all beginning to make perfect sense now.
Being sick? It always happens in the mornings. And mostly because of a smell....like food or something.
I remember being in town one day. And having to rush to a public toilet after I passed by the coffee shop.
"Oh, fuck me!" I whispered and Norman burst into peals of delighted laughter.
"You know I'm always up for that! And I think we now have definitive proof of that little fact. But how about we do the test first and then....Lu? Hey, Baby....are you....?"
His face dropped when he looked at my mine. Right now, I'm an open book and so conflicted.
"You don't seem too happy about it, Lucy?" I clearly hear the upset in his voice and see the hurt in his eyes.
Not the look I'm suddenly so afraid of seeing.
"I'm sorry. So sorry, Norman. I got scared, that you might be....? We made plans and I was worried you might be angry. That it's way too soon....and that I got careless."
"If I'm pregnant now? Then the baby will be due right when you're filming again."
He grabbed hold once more and held me so tight.
"No, Lucy....no. How could I ever be angry? Having you back with me and a baby too? Sweetheart, I can't be happier....swear to God!"
"And if I could do it all over? I woulda knocked you up the night we first met!"
He's holding my face, kissing me and crying. His own face is full of such pure joy that I burst into tears as well.
We stood there in the tiny bathroom and cried together.
*
"Think I can pee now" I eventually snuffle into the hairs on his chest.
"But I can probably hold the cup myself."
I sat back on the toilet and he handed it to me. Turned his back and lay the rest of the kit out on the vanity. There seems to be an awful lot of paraphernalia?
Nearly wet myself regardless, in laughter. Once I realise....he's bought three of them. Pregnancy tests I mean. To be sure....to be sure? 🤣
Once I finished he unwrapped the small syringes and placed a few drops of wee on each of the test sticks. His hand is shaking so much, but the look on his face?
I haven't seen such anticipation since the day he raced home from work. The day we first made love.
"Ten minutes. These are super-duper sensitive ones and the guy said to just let them do their job. Leave them be, not stand and watch. Go do something else otherwise, we'll go crazy."
He took my hand and led me back to our makeshift bed. Lying down, we just looked at each other in wonder.
"So, you think it was that night then? The night of the party?"
He's looking pretty smug.
"More than likely. Though it could've been any one of the hundred or so other times when...."
I shut him up with a cushion over his head. He ripped it off and planted his lips on mine.
"So, Reedus. Maybe we have to rethink our plans a little bit?"
He had it all mapped out before, but now? Well....our lives might just be in chaos....again.
"Nothing to rethink. I love you, Lu. I'm gonna marry you and we're gonna have our first baby together. Can life get any better?"
Norman ran his hands over my still flat tummy and bent over it before whispering.
"Hey, kiddo? I know you're in there....don't need a line on a stick to tell me that. It's your old man here. Your Mom has been and always will be beautiful. But now she's gonna be even more fucking gorgeous and sexy with you in her tummy."
"Don't you keep on giving her shit, you hear me? Otherwise, Daddy will have to have some more words with you."
He kept whispering. Stopping every now and then to wipe his eyes, reach up and give me a kiss.
I've never seen anything so beautiful in all my life.
"Your big brother is gonna teach you how to play games and take you to the ballpark. Feed you hot dogs and get you into trouble."
"And Daddy is gonna take you for bike rides and take lots of photos of you and teach you how to paint and....and....and...."
Norman has so many 'ands' this kid is going to be thirty by the time their father is done with them?
🥰
"And your Mom is gonna love you like she loves me. Kiss you better when you hurt. Teach you how to laugh and tease your old Dad. So you listen to her, kiddo and give her a break. Ok?"
He kissed my tummy all over until we're both shivering.
"Hold that thought" I told him as his fingers start creeping up towards my breasts.
"We have one minute to go....and I want you inside me for a whole lot longer than that."
He rubbed my nose with his before rising and pulling me to him. Wrapping me up in the blanket again.
*
I stopped Norman just before he opened the bathroom door.
"I love you. You're already the best Dad in the world and....well...." I can't go on.
"I know, Lu. Its Ok. I'm almost a hundred percent sure. But if not this time? Then we try and try again. Practice makes perfect. And you know how I luuuurv to practice" My love winked as his hand twisted the door knob.
"Ready?"