Work Text:
Garrett:
Something’s been off with Wellsy all night. I could tell from the moment we all piled into the car to head to my former teammate’s holiday party at his Boston Penthouse. Instead of animatedly badgering Gigi and Wyatt about their crushes at school or trying to get info from them about their New Years’ plans, she was mostly quiet during the 25 minute drive. I figured maybe she was nervous or something about seeing all the old Bruins’ gang. Considering I had just publicly announced my planned retirement at the end of this season, maybe she wasn’t looking forward to fielding questions all night about our post NHL plans. At one point, I reached across the console taking her hand and bringing it to my lips, in an attempt to calm her, which of course brought comments from the peanut gallery in the backseat,
“Can you two respect the fact that I just ate?” Wyatt grumbles, always pretending to be uncomfortable with our PDA like a typical 15 year old boy.
I hear Gigi flick his head, “oh shut up. It’s nice” She’s usually less disgusted and more endeared by us.
Hannah looks over at me with a sweet but almost wistful expression that I can’t quite discern. Squeezing my hand back, she doesn't let go the rest of the drive but also doesn't offer up any indication of what’s bothering her. The itching feeling under my skin to know what the hell it is doesn't go away for the entirety of the three hour party as I watch her like a hawk.
She mingles politely with everyone, but I can tell her mind is elsewhere. When Logan offers to pour her a glass of wine along with the one he’s pouring for Grace, she declines. She tells him she’s already had enough to drink today and doesn't want to be hungover for Christmas Eve tomorrow. I know for a fact that’s a lie. She’s had nothing at all to drink today. But I keep my mouth shut, waiting for the inevitable bomb to go off of whatever this is when we get home. Hannah and I have learned from our past mistakes of how important it is to tell each other things. Now that we’ve been married for almost 15 years, our communication is better than most, if I were to brag. We keep nothing important from each other. Which is why I’m so anxious to learn what the fuck is going on inside her head right now.
“Alright you guys, it’s past midnight. Finish wrapping any gifts you have left for tomorrow and then straight to bed” Hannah instructs the kids once we get home. They’re both acting a little goofy since we let them have a glass of wine or two… or three (I sneaked Wyatt an extra when Hannah was looking away), at the party.
“We were gonna stay up and watch Krampus” Wyatt resists,
“Ew, that weird horror movie? No, I said I wanted to watch The Holiday” Gigi argues back,
Wyatt deadpans her, “I’m not watching a romcom with you”
Before this can escalate, I butt in, “You’re not watching anything. Do what your mother just told you to do and go get ready for bed. Do you want Santa to come or not?”
Wyatt turns his head towards me with a bemused look, “Dad,” he begins carefully, as if he thinks he’s actually about to deliver me some shocking news, “you do know we don’t believe in Santa anymore, right?”
The wine has fully hit him I see.
Of course I fucking know that but I tease them anyway, “SHHHH, don’t say that out loud! He’ll hear you!”
Wyatt rolls his eyes at me as Gigi and Hannah just laugh. Both kids finally trudge upstairs to change and Hannah and I saunter into the living room, throwing our coats over the couch. We stand there for a few moments in silence, staring at our huge, beautiful, Christmas tree that illuminates the whole living room and kitchen. Admiring the sentimental ornaments on it, from pictures of the twins as babies, their toddler hands printed on little sheets of paper made to look like turkeys, a picture of Hannah and I at our wedding with cake on our faces. The peaceful silence finally breaks,
“I have to tell you something” Hannah says so quietly it’s almost a whisper.
And there it is. The moment I’ve been waiting for. I knew she’d crumble eventually. I turn towards her, trying to relax myself a bit and not show her my nerves. I have absolutely no fucking clue what she could possibly be about to say to me, but I don’t want to seem on edge.
“Okay” I breathe out, “I could tell you were being a little weird at the party. What’s going on?”
She’s finally facing me, looking me in the eyes when she blurts out, “I think I might be pregnant"
Hannah:
As soon as I stupidly blurted out the news, Garrett’s entire face went slack. His mouth formed a little ‘o’ shape but nothing came out. I can tell that was probably the last thing he expected me to say, and I’m so scared of what he’s thinking right now. Lord knows he didn’t react great the first time I shared something like this. Though, I realize I probably could have handled that better as well, telling him earlier than I did. We both messed up that time, which is why now I chose to tell him as soon as I suspected it. I haven't even taken a test yet.
Finally, Garrett starts to speak, “I-”
Before he can really get anything out though, I start nervously rambling, “I’m not sure yet because I haven’t taken a test but my period’s late and I’ve just been feeling off and my boobs kinda hurt for some reason, so maybe it’s stupid of me to tell you before I even know but I just thought it would be better this way and-”
“Wellsy I-”
“I know this isn’t coming at a great time, we’re both forty for fucks sake, forty” I say with emphasis as if he needs reminding, “I figured we were done with the babies part of our life and you’re about to retire and we’re planning all these trips together, and who the fuck even knows if you can have a kid at forty-”
“Babe, just-”
“What if there’s something wrong with me, Garrett? What if I can’t carry it- well I suppose we can always just end the pregnancy, but I wasn’t sure if you’d want that, I don't even know if I’d want that, I’m pro choice and all but-”
“Wellsy, Wellsy, Wellsy,” Garrett finally interrupts my erratic monologue moment, repeating my name to stop me as he pulls me against him, wrapping his arms around me.
He rubs gentle circles along my back and kisses me on the head giving me a second to relax a little before he speaks again.
“Like you said, you haven’t taken a test yet. It could be nothing. It could just be stress. No use getting yourself all worked up like this when we don’t even know” He says sweetly, a lot calmer than I expected him to be. “Want me to go out and buy a test real quick?”
I nod against his chest, “please?”
“Of course” He kisses me on the head again.
As Garrett pulls away and starts getting his coat on again to head out I whisper, “what if it’s positive?” Even I can hear a bit of the fear in my own voice.
It takes Garrett a second to answer, but he simply shrugs and says, “Then I guess we’re havin’ a baby” quickly adding, “unless you don’t want to of course. That’s okay too”
“I don’t know what I want” I admit weakly.
“Just let me go grab the test, I’ll be back in like ten minutes. It’ll be okay, try not to panic again while I’m gone” He tightly hugs and kisses me goodbye before flying out the door.
—------------------
Garrett:
I wait patiently for Hannah to finish her business outside the bathroom where she’s currently peeing on two different sticks. I brought home 4 tests, cause fuck if I know the difference between those things. I wanted to make sure I picked a good one. She insisted on using two different brands so that we’d have a more definite answer. Apparently false positives and false negatives are a thing. I feel so out of my element with all this. Last time, Hannah just knew she was pregnant and I got told belatedly. Now I’m sitting in the uncertainty of ‘what ifs’. Despite all that, there’s a strange feeling of calm in my chest. Even though I know I should maybe be freaking out- like Wellsy is - somehow I’m not. It’s an odd contrast to when I learned about the twins.
Hannah steps out of the bathroom, “Okay. It’ll be about three minutes. I left the tests on the bathroom counter”
I nod, “I’ll set a timer”
She comes to sit next to me on our bed, leaning her head against my shoulder.
“How are you so chill this time?” She finally asks, not accusatory, just curious. “You don’t seem freaked out, or disappointed, or anything really. Just…composed”
I huff out a laugh, “Well someone had to be chill considering the rant you went on downstairs”
She picks her head up to glare at me and I can see a blush in her cheeks, “I’m kidding. You’re allowed to freak out”
“But why aren't you?” She probes me again, quirking a brow.
I sigh, “Honestly? I don’t know. I guess I’m not as scared about something like this as I was 15 years ago. Of course, it’s still up to you, what happens if it’s positive, I mean,”
She nods.
“...but if it is, and we keep it,” I try to choose my words carefully, “who says we couldn’t handle it? God knows we have plenty of income to afford it, we have all the help we could possibly need in our insanely large friend group” Hannah laughs a little at that, “I know we’re older now and it might be harder, but c’mon babe, we’re not that old. I mean, Dean and Allie practically just did it”
I refer to the fact that Dean and Allie’s youngest, Kate, was born only three years ago, in hopes to help Hannah see that it’s not all that crazy to have a kid a little later in life. Not that Dean and Allie are old or anything, but they’re the first ones in the group to have a kid in their late 30s.
“That’s true” Wellsy agrees, and I can see some of the tension leaving her features.
“It’ll be a challenge for sure but…could be fun too” I look over at her,
Hannah smiles, genuinely this time, “yeah. Could be.”
Just then, my timer goes off. I feel Wellsy tense a little next to me. “Want me to go look?”
“I’ll come with you, but you look first”
I chuckle walking into the bathroom with her, “Okay”
In order to not drag Hannah’s anxiety out any longer, I flip the two tests over immediately. One clearly says “Not Pregnant” and the other only has one line, which I know means the same thing.
“Negative” I breathe, yanking Hannah in as she practically collapses against me in relief.
After a beat, Hannah lifts her head, “I would have been happy about it I think, eventually.” She says quietly, “If it was positive. But it would’ve taken me a bit to get used to”
“That’s okay” I whisper, kissing her temple, “I would’ve been the same”
On a lighter note, Hannah’s lips then quirk in a mischievous smile, “How do you think the twins would’ve reacted?”
Oh God, I hadn’t even thought about that. “They’d probably start by sitting us down and giving us a powerpoint lecture on safe sex practices”
Hannah bursts out laughing, all the tension in the air finally gone.
“But I think they’d be excited then, after all the shock wore off. Gigi especially.”
“Yeah, me too. They’d rag on us for it but they’d come around…they’d have been great older siblings” She muses.
Suddenly, she changes the subject, “I wonder why my boobs have been sore lately then?”
I give her a devilish grin, “maybe they’re getting bigger”
Wellsy smacks me on the chest playfully, “you wish. I hope not, they’re a nuisance enough as is, they don’t need to be any bigger”
I kiss her deeply before agreeing with her, “You’re right, they’re perfect as they are.”
Our kisses deepen and soon enough I have her sitting on the bathroom counter with her legs wrapped around my waist. She pulls my shirt off and I do the same before scooping her up with one arm and carrying her back into the bedroom to continue this in our bed. When we finish, Hannah’s warm body lies next to me, her head on my chest and hand wrapped over my shoulder.
“Thanks for being so good about everything tonight” .
“Of course.” I give her a peck, “I hope I made up a little for how I reacted the first time” I say sheepishly.
“You certainly did” Hannah licks her reddened lips and her eyes start to darken with lust as they did before,
I grin, “Round two?”
“Yes please” Hannah’s laugh fills our room as I slip my arm around her bare lower back and toss her under me again. Thank God our kids are heavy sleepers and have their doors shut.