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“Roman, I’m pregnant.”
Even as Jennifer managed to actually speak, there was something about her that felt like she was changing the world just saying this.
She half-expected him to scoff. To blow her off. After all, Roman had been a good one-night, but the idea of him actually being a good father? Would he be a good father?
And why was she even thinking that?
Roman’s eyes widened. Behind his glasses, he looked positively owlish, Jennifer thought. Then, “How…?”
Jennifer rolled her eyes. “We had sex, Roman. The condom must have broken."
“The rubber broke…” Roman seemed to be comprehending it all. Then, “Look, Jen, you don’t have to keep it…”
”I think I’m gonna.”
She didn’t miss how the pieces seemed to click together for Roman. And then, “I can help you. You don’t have to raise the baby alone, Jen.”
(Of course, Roman broke that promise the moment he lived and Jennifer didn’t. The moment that their daughter was the only one to live)
(But that hadn’t happened yet)
Jennifer spoke. “Roman, you don’t have to…”
”My parents weren’t around for me,” Roman said. “Besides…I always wanted a family.”
Jennifer didn’t deny that. She too wanted a family. Her parents and her hadn’t spoken in a year. They had been the sort of parents that weren’t abusive, but even mistakes could leave invisible scars.
And Roman…she knew that he had been an orphan abused in the foster system. They weren’t the same, but Jennifer could relate to the idea of two strangers just wanting some degree of comfort. Maybe that was one reason she’d had sex with Roman in the first place.
”So do I." Jennifer said.
***
”What do we do now?” Jennifer said.
”Well, we can find a way to work it into the plot or hide it,” Roman said. “I mean, directors have done it in the past. We could, say, suggest that your character’s pregnant.”
”Might as well get it out of the way,” Jennifer said. It was tempting to start smoking, but she wouldn’t. She had a lifeform inside her to take care of now. “God, I don’t know if my castmates are going to support me or freak…"
“We’ll see. I support you." Roman squeezed her shoulder.
It suppressed the urge to jump into his arms, at least.
“And what about names?” Jennifer said. “I was thinking Parker. After an old friend of mine.”
"Parker Jolie? Parker Bridger? Definitely has a ring to it.”
Whether the baby was a boy or a girl, it fit.
Whether the baby was a boy or a girl, Jennifer would take care of it with all she had. She wouldn’t be like her parents. She knew that.
It was almost exciting. She got to have a family. She got to actually have company. Not be alone. She was going to be a mother, Roman was going to be a father, and they’d be happy.
She hoped that the kid was everything like her, nothing like her.
And Jennifer Jolie…she hoped for many things.