Her Home

Rebecca reveled in the way Vincent's hands felt on her body. The way his lips felt against hers. She had missed the way he could make her feel so alive. She didn't even know that she had been craving him until she had him again. They fit together so perfectly their bodies moving perfectly in sync.

He kept saying her name over and over. She loved the way it sounded on his lips. If she never heard another man say her name beside him again, she would be perfectly okay with that. How she had gone so long without him near her or speaking to her, she would never know. How she was going to walk away after this was a complete mystery.

ВЕЕР, ВЕЕР, ВЕЕР.

Rebecca shot up from her bed. The mixture of the beeping and her stomach turning waking her from her dream of her most recent time with Vincent. She rushed to the bathroom and released the contents of her stomach. Not that it was much she had barely eaten dinner because she hadn't felt good the night before.

Resting her head on the side of the toilet not caring at all how gross it may look to someone if they saw her that way, she sighed and rubbed her stomach. What the hell was going on with her? She was practically a doctor. Yet somehow hadn't noticed she was getting sick. She went through a checklist in her mind. Vomiting... Check. Headache...Check. Fatigue... Check. She didn't have a fever but her breasts had been swollen and she hadn't had her... Her own gasp stopped her thoughts. When had she had her last period? She jumped up and ran to her phone to check the calendar. One... Two... Three... Four... how was she over a month late and not noticed?

"Rebecca are you awake?" Joni called out. Rebecca heard her but she couldn't answer. She was in shock. What was she supposed to do?

"There you are," Joni said with a huff. "Why didn't you answer me? You know I hate climbing stairs."

Rebecca turned to her friend. She could tell the look of shock had not left her face though, by the way, Joni's eye widened. "What happened?" She asked with an edge of fear to her voice. Rebecca shook her head.

"I... I..." She couldn't even say it. Joni looked at the phone in Rebecca's hand and assumed she had gotten a text or call with bad news. She took the phone to see if she could figure out the problem while Rebecca continued to mutter words no one would be able to understand.

The calendar app was open and Joni couldn't figure out why. After a couple of minutes though she realized what was going on and let out a loud gasp that drug Rebecca out of her shock. "Are you? How can you? I will be right back," she stuttered out before she turned and rushed out of the apartment.

Rebecca threw herself on her bed. "This can't be happening," she said to herself into her pillow.

"Here!" Joni yelled through the apartment in a sing-song voice after she slammed the door closed behind her again. "Here," she said again when she reached the top of the stairs. She threw a box at Rebecca, "take it... Now." Rebecca sat up and grabbed the box with a groan but stood up and walked to the bathroom anyway. She locked herself in and took the test after reading the instructions. She may have gone to medical school but how to take a home test was not in the books and she had never done it before. As soon as she was done, she walked out of the bathroom and was met with Joni bouncing on her bed with a look of... Was it hope? Great leave it to her best friend to think that this was a good thing. "Joni, what am I going to do?"

"Have a baby... Maybe," Joni smiled wider and bounced more.

"Ugh." Rebecca threw herself back on the bed beside Joni. She could feel every bounce and it wasn't helping her stomach at all. "Stop bouncing." The bouncing stopped immediately.

"Look at that, you are already good at giving orders."

"This isn't funny," Rebecca turned and looked at her with a glare. "I'm not ready."

"Can I ask who the luckiest baby daddy in the world would be?" Joni said with hesitation. Rebecca knew the compliment was so she didn't bite her head off.

"Vince," Rebecca mumbled into the bed hoping she hadn't heard her.

"What?" Joni jumped off the bed. She heard. "How and when did that happen?"

Rebecca sat up and started picking at her nails. She couldn't make eye contact with Joni. She wasn't sure if it was because she felt bad for sleeping with Vincent again knowing there was no future for them or because she had done it and not told her best friend the gossip yet.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me as soon as it happened," She folded her arms and put on her best pouting face.

"I know. I'm sorry. I guess I just wanted to keep it to myself. For the memories, you know?" Rebecca shrugged and looked back at her hands. "How could I have been so stupid," she threw herself back on the bed for the third time. "I get that you want to be all sentimental but can I have some sort of details? Maybe at least a where and when?"

Sighing Rebecca sat back up. "Rosalina's engagement party." Joni's eyes widened. Rebecca winced when she realized her mistake too late.

"You lied to us. You said you weren't feeling good and you were heading home to go to bed," Joni gasped when she realized there had been a second lie. "And you were missing for an extra day and a half! You said you were working! That was a lie too?" Rebecca nodded.

"Not the last half just the extra day," she mumbled. She looked up at her friend to find her shaking her head with a look of disappointment. Then she watched as a smile slowly spread across her face. "What?"

"I told you that you two were meant to be."

"We are not. It was one night..."

"And another whole day," Joni interrupted.

"So what. We like having sex with each other that means nothing."

"Except that it's more than that and everyone knows it."

"It's not going to happen. His life is too dangerous," Rebecca paused her thoughts before saying, "oh no." She brought her hand to cover her mouth. "This baby will be a target."

Joni got up and started toward the bathroom, "why don't we check the test before we start worrying about that?" She suggested.

Rebecca nodded but couldn't stop thinking about what had gone down at the house all those months ago. She tried to picture all that happening while a baby was there and she couldn't. It wouldn't be safe. It wasn't how people that had babies lived their lives. Obviously, Vincent's parents had with him and his sisters but, it wasn't safe. Not to mention the baby would have to take over one day for Vincent. She pictured a baby holding a gun wearing an expensive suit. She knew it was a little overreach with the imagination but it was where her head went.

Shaking her head, she heard Joni calling her name. She looked up to see her holding the test out for her to take and read. Her face gave away nothing. "What does it say?" Joni shook her head.

"I didn't look. Do you want me to?" Rebecca nodded her head. She didn't think she could look and retain the information. Maybe if she heard the words. "Looks like I'm going to be an auntie," Joni squealed. If she hadn't gone into shock, Rebecca would have commented on the fact that her friend really needed to learn how to read a room.

Rebecca could hear Joni calling her again but her head was in a haze. She thought about taking another test to see if it was true but she knew that there were never false positives. She knew for her, there was only one option. It was the option that would add another person to her list of people to care for. Another person to worry about. It was the option that would make her a mother... Long before she had planned on becoming one.

"Bec's are you going to tell Vince?" Joni's voice finally broke through the hazy static that Rebecca had been hearing. She shrugged. Would she even be able to keep it from him? Maybe he wouldn't care. Maybe he would let them be. He had left her alone knowing she would be better off maybe he would do the same for their child.

"I don't know what I'm going to do. There was a really good reason we didn't stay together. It's not safe, Joni." Joni nodded her head.

"I know. But Vince would never let anything happen to his own child and they both have a right to know one another." Joni was a firm believer in parents being in their children's lives. They had watched a movie once where the dad ran off and showed up when the kid was an adult wanting to get to know him. She cursed at the actor for two hours and then she decided she hated the actor because "who would agree to play a character like that." Rebecca knew not to disagree or argue.

"I know. Just give me some time to wrap my head around it, please." Joni nodded her head before she looked at her phone.

"Shit. I have a meeting," she said as she turned to leave. Pausing at the top of the stairs, she turned to look back at Rebecca. "You going to be okay, Bec's?" Rebecca nodded.

"I'll be fine." She sent her a smile and waved her hand. She knew that her meeting was important so she wouldn't stop her.

"I'll check on you later, okay?"

Rebecca sat on her bed long after she heard her front door shut behind Joni. She heard her phone ringing but, ignored it. She wanted to just call the hospital and tell them she was vomiting and couldn't make it in for her shift later. She wouldn't be totally lying. The vomit had started the spiral that the day had turned into. But she knew that missing work was not a good idea right now. She would be missing plenty when she had to go on maternity leave.

She finally decided to get up because she couldn't ignore the hunger pains she was feeling anymore. She grabbed her phone on her way downstairs to make something to eat. Ignoring the missed calls from work, she was not going in early today, she found Tobin's name in her recent call log and pushed the call button before she put it on speaker and opened the refrigerator. He picked up after three rings.

"Hey, Bec's. Hang on," he answered. She could hear him shuffling papers around before he came back. "Sorry. You caught me in the middle of work." Tobin had taken over for his father just after Rebecca and Vincent parted ways. "Oh sorry. I can call you back later," Rebecca said. She hadn't thought about the fact that he was working. She did this a lot since he started working more, she was so used to him always being available for her to call.

"No. It's fine, Becs. I am allowed to take breaks," Tobin laughed.

"Right. Sorry, T."

"What's going on?"

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"What do you mean?"

"I can hear it in your voice." Rebecca cleared her throat. She was kind of hoping that he would tell her to call later so she had more time before she had to admit this news to someone. She knew though, that she had to rip the Band-Aid off and she figured Tobin knew Vincent the best out of all the people she felt comfortable telling.

Rebecca started to add condiments to the bread for the sandwich that she was making. "So... I have some news," she tried dragging it out as much as possible.

"Becs, I can take breaks but, the boss might not be too happy if I take the whole day off to talk to you on the phone."

Rebecca took a deep breath, "Right. Sorry." She took several deep breathes trying to psych herself up. "I have news and I need you to tell me what to do. I'm a little freaked out." "Okay. Just tell me what it is."

"I'm pregnant," She said it so quickly that the words blended together a little and it took Tobin a minute to figure out what she had said. "Tobin please say something." "What..., Who..., How?"

"Um, I'm with child, Vince and do you really not know how?" Rebecca took a bite of her sandwich and waited for Tobin to retain the information and hand out his life-changing advice. "What are you going to do?"

"Well, that's what I want you to tell me."

"You want me to tell you what to do about being pregnant? How the hell am I supposed to know?" He whisper yelled.

"Just give me advice. What do you think Vince will say? What will he do?"

"I don't know the answer to either question. All I know is you have to tell him. He deserves to know about his child, no matter how you feel about him." Rebecca could tell that Tobin had so much conviction in what he was saying. She knew Vincent deserved to know. There wasn't an ounce of her that thought Vincent was a bad guy. In fact, she was still in love with him but, his life was not safe.

"I know he does. I guess I'm just scared," she sighed finishing the last bite of her food and placing the plate in the sink. She walked to the couch and sat down. "I'll tell him soon I just need a little time."

"I understand and you know I will be there for you through the whole thing. I won't be in the delivery room though. I don't know if I would ever be able to look at you the same again," Tobin laughed.

"Ha. Ha. Ha. I wouldn't want you there anyway. You would probably be like those guys in the movies and pass out," Rebecca rolled her eyes. "Anyway, you should get back to work and I should get ready to do the same before I end up being late."

"Okay. Call me if you need to anytime. Love you," Tobin said. He waited for her to say her goodbye before hanging up. He turned to walk back into his office but found a very angry looking Vincent standing there.