Chapter Text
Love Song
Bill keyed himself in to the front door of Hillary’s brownstone. He placed the bag of takeout and the bottle of wine down on the entry table and slid off his blazer. “Hillary?” he placed his blazer on the coatrack. “Where are you, baby?”
When he didn’t get a response, he made his way into the living room. He could make out the shape of her laying on the sofa in the darkening room. “Hillary?” he knelt down next to her, gently touching her face. “Wake up, darlin’ I brought dinner.”
She groaned and rolled to face him. “Mmm.” she sighed. “What time is it?”
“Almost seven.” he replied. “How long have you been asleep?”
“I left work early.” she answered. “I got here around four o’clock.”
He swept his hand over her forehead. “You feeling okay?”
“Yeah.” she replied. “All these long hours recently have just caught up with me.”
“You’re a little feverish.” he announced. “Are you hungry?”
“For Chinese?” she asked. “Always.”
“How did you know it was Chinese?”
“Because I can smell it.”
Bill looked at her skeptically. Something was definitely off. He just wasn’t sure what yet. “Come on, let’s eat.”
“Okay.” she pushed herself up off the sofa. “Just let me go to the bathroom first.”
“I’ll set the table for us.”
As Hillary disappeared down the hallway Bill grabbed the bag and the wine from the foyer and then made his way into the kitchen. He busied himself getting the table set and their dinner plated up. He uncorked the wine and began to fill both glasses. Something was off with Hillary, he just didn’t know what.
“Smells amazing.” she said as she entered the kitchen. “I hope you got egg rolls.”
“You hate egg rolls.”
Hillary shrugged as she reached for the full glass of wine. “I don’t hate them, they’re just not my favorite.” she told him. “They sound really good right now though.” she raised her glass to her lips to take a sip when Bill roughly grabbed it from her hand. “Hey!”
He sat the glass back down on the counter next to his. “I want to ask you something.”
“Okay.” she said, slowly. “What’s so important?”
“When was your last period?”
Hillary arched an eyebrow. “I don’t know off the top of my head.” she replied. “Last month.”
“Are you sure?”
She sighed, heavily. “Yes.”
He had been adding everything up in his head, cataloging it and when it finally hit him suddenly it all made sense. He placed his hands on her shoulders, his eyes blue eyes locking with hers. “Do you see where I’m going with this?”
“Not really, no.”
“Hillary, I think you’re pregnant.”
Silence fell between them. Finally, she shook her head. “How did you come to that conclusion?”
“You’ve been complaining about being tired the past couple of week even though you get at least seven hours a night. You get up at least three times a night to go to the bathroom. You could smell Chinese food in a bag, inside a container, from a room away. And I don’t think you’ve had a period since after our fight at the gala.” he told her. “So, I put everything together and pregnancy is what I came up with.”
“Oh, Bill.” she sighed. “You’re overreacting. We’ve used a condom every single time.”
“Except for the morning I came over here to apologize after what happened at the gala.” he reminded her. “That was at least six weeks ago.”
“Oh, shit!” she whispered more to herself than him. “How are you so calm? Why aren’t you freaking out?”
Bill shrugged. “There’s nothing to freak out about.” he replied. “If you’re pregnant then we’ll deal with it.”
“Deal with it?” she couldn’t stop the panic from flooding her voice.
“Yes, darlin’.” he told her. “There’s nothing to stress about.”
Hillary’s eyebrows knitted together. She was still in shock about the situation, not being able to completely wrap her head around it. Bill watched the uncertainty play across her face. “Are you okay?” he asked, his eyes searching hers. “It’s okay if you’re not.”
“I don’t know.” she replied, honestly. “I’m not sure what I feel. I just want to see my doctor first. Are you okay with that?”
Bill nodded. “Yeah, absolutely.” he replied. “I know this wasn’t exactly planned.”
Hillary closed her eyes and tried counting to ten but she couldn’t calm herself. The tears she was holding back fell down her cheeks. He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I’m going to be here with you.” he told her. “I promise.” he pulled back. “Let’s dry those tears.”
“I’ll make an appointment tomorrow.”
“You want me to go with you?”
“I’d like that.” she told him. “Thank you.”
“Come on, let’s eat.” he told her. “I’ll pour you a glass of…water?”
Hillary smiled slightly and nodded. Her mind was racing. It had never occurred to her that she could be pregnant. They had sex without using a condom in the past, especially that first month, and everything had worked out fine. In fact, she had never had a pregnancy scare. And now make up sex just once may have left her pregnant.
/////
Joe was in the den, launching darts at the dartboard. He caught Bill’s reflection out of the corner of his eye. “I didn’t expect to see you back this morning.”
He made his way into the room and sat down at the bar. “I came back to get a change of clothes.” he told him. “Do you think you could cover for me at the meeting this afternoon?”
“Sure.” he threw another dart. “Are you going to be late or you skipping altogether?”
“I’m not sure yet.” he replied. “Hillary and I have to be somewhere and I’m not sure how long it’s going to take.”
Joe nodded. “Is everything alright?”
Bill ran his hands over his face and through his hair. “She’s pregnant.” he said, softly. “At least we’re pretty sure she is.”
He nodded, trying to gauge the situation. “I see.”
“I don’t think she’s thrilled with the idea.”
“And you?”
Tears sprung forward in his eyes. “I love her and I want to do whatever is best for her. It’s her decision, ultimately.”
“That’s not what I asked you.”
Bill wiped at his eyes. “I love the idea of being a dad.” he confessed. “I love the idea of having a family with her.”
“Have you told her that?”
He shook his head. “She’s scared and she doesn’t really want to talk about it until after we find out for sure.”
“Maybe she’s afraid to get attached to the idea incase she’s not pregnant.” he suggested. “Things will be different after the appointment, I promise you."
/////
Geraldine sat across from Hillary in the conference room watching as she turned several shades of green. As she lifted the cup of coffee to her lips she fought the urge to gag, her stomach blanched, and she sat it back down on the table. A case of mind over matter. The cup was pushed away and she picked her pen back up to take notes.
After a few moments, Geraldine reached across the table for the mug and pushed her own glass of water over toward her. “Drink it slowly.”
Hillary picked up the glass and took a few sips. “Thank you.”
She eyed her suspiciously. “Are you okay?”
“Fine.” she lied.
Geraldine arched an eyebrow. “Come on, Hillary, what’s going on?”
Hillary took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “I think I’m pregnant.”
“Have you made an appointment?”
“Yes, it’s this afternoon.” she said. “Bill is coming with me.”
She sat back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest. “Well, I can’t say I’m surprised.” she admitted. “You’ve been going at it like rabbits for months. I’m actually surprised it’s taken this long.”
Hillary groaned and buried her face in her hands. “We were careful, Gerry.”
“Always?”
“Mostly.”
Geraldine laughed. “Well ‘mostly’ gets you pregnant, dear.” she told her. “You can’t say you’re shocked. I mean you can be surprised, but not shocked.”
“Bill is much calmer than I am.” she confessed. “I just can’t…not until I know for sure.”
tbc….