Chapter Text
Beth, Ruby, and Annie had been in each other’s lives since forever.
Ruby and Beth had been best friends since they were teenagers, and together they’d helped raise a young, wild Annie. They’d been through everything marriages, kids, heartbreak, late-night crises their friendship was the one constant in the chaos.
They worked together, laughed together, occasionally cried together. They were so in sync they even got their periods at the same time. PMS, hormones, and mood swings multiplied by three.
Rio, Mick, and Stan? Strong men, but those three women could break a saint. And they were about to need every ounce of that strength, because things were about to get real.
It started with a stomach bug.
Every household was hit: kids, chaos, tissues, Pedialyte, the works. The kids bounced back fast, but the ladies… not so much.
Ruby was the first to suspect something else was going on. Six weeks ago, there’d been wine, laughter, and some not-so-subtle flirting with Stan. Now she was staring down a pregnancy test, the word PREGNANT flashing back at her like a neon sign from the universe.
Her heart stopped. Then she grabbed her phone.
Ruby (text): 911. Emergency meeting. Now.
Minutes later, they were huddled in Beth’s kitchen messy buns, sweatpants, and faces pale with nerves.
Ruby opened her mouth to speak, but Annie blurted out, “Okay, don’t freak out. I have something to say.”
Instantly, Beth and Ruby froze.
“Annie,” Beth said slowly, “why do I feel like I am about to freak out?”
Annie took a breath. “I’m pregnant.”
Silence.
Ruby’s eyes went wide. She froze for half a second then blurted out, “ME TOO!”
“What?!” Annie squealed, and the two of them threw their arms around each other, half-laughing, half-crying. “Two babies! Oh my God!”
Then they turned to Beth.
Beth hadn’t said a word. She just sat there with this look part shock, part nausea, part something else entirely.
“Beth?” Ruby asked carefully. “Why are you looking like that?”
Beth stood abruptly, disappeared into the bathroom, and came back holding her own pregnancy test.
Positive.
And then she threw up in the sink.
After cleanup and a lot of stunned silence, the three of them sat around the kitchen island.
Three best friends.
Three positive tests.
Three unplanned pregnancies.
They stared at each other, then burst into laughter.
Ruby wiped her eyes. “We’re a damn pregnancy cult.”
“At least we’ll have each other,” Annie said, still giggling.
“Yeah,” Beth murmured. “God help everyone else.”
When they finally broke the news to the men, the reactions were instant classics.
Stan fainted.
Mick sat down hard, smiling like a fool.
And Rio?
Rio just leaned back in his chair, a slow, smug grin spreading across his face.
He reached for Beth’s hand, voice low and pleased. “Guess everyone’s about to know you’re mine, Elizabeth.”
Beth rolled her eyes, but her cheeks flushed.
And for once, chaos never looked so beautiful.