I woke up in still in Kevin’s arms, and I couldn’t help closing my eyes again, snuggling further into his chest, a small smile curling up the edges of my lips. I was surprised, however, when he carded his fingers through my hair and pressed a kiss to my forehead.

“Finally awake?” he murmured.

I pulled back to look up at his face. “Oh. I thought you were still sleeping.”

He hummed. “I’ve been up for a while. I was just acting a bit lazy, and I didn’t want to leave you, either.”

“Then can we go back to sleep?” I said and yawned, my eyes closing as I buried my face in his chest. “I’m not ready to get up yet.”

Kevin heaved a heavy sigh. “I’d love to, but I think we should get up now. We’ve been asleep for more than twelve hours, at least.”

I frowned. It must have been pretty late already when we fell asleep last night.

“What time is it, right now?”

His body shifted as he reached out with his hand, probably for his phone.

“It’s afternoon already. We’ve skipped breakfast, and we’ll miss lunch if we’re not up soon.”

At the possibility of missing two meals, I pulled away from Kevin, sitting up abruptly. I moved a little too fast, though, and had to wait for the slight dizziness to go away. Then I was sliding out of bed. I looked around the floor and noticed my clothes weren’t on the floor where we’d tossed them last night. Neither were his.

“Kevin, my clothes,” I said, practically bouncing on my toes in anxiety.

He slid out of bed, scratching at his hair, his mouth stretching in a yawn. He gave me a curious look, then walked toward his closet. Her was entirely naked and didn’t even seem conscious of it, but as soon as I saw him, then myself, I could feel my face warm up in a blush.

Why is this suddenly so much more embarrassing than it should be? I thought. I got used to seeing him naked a while ago…

I’d gotten used to being naked in his presence, too. But we’d been apart for weeks. And, I knew my body would start to change. Nothing was showing yet, though I was slowly gaining back the weight I’d lost when I damn near starved myself. Pretty soon, I’d gain way more than that, and my stomach would start rounding to show off the pregnancy.

“I got up some time at night and cleaned the place up.” He threw a grin at me over his shoulder. “I even wiped you down, too. I tried to get you to get up so I could do it properly, but you were dead tired.”

I looked down at myself in realization. He’d come in me last night, and I didn’t feel his stuff coming out when I got up.

“I hope you got it all last night,” I said with a grimace. “It’s pretty disgusting.”

Kevin just laughed.

He threw me some of his clothes, getting out a set for himself.

“I washed your clothes last night and left them in the dryer. I figured you’d want to eat first before I got them for you. Unless you’d like to go back home now…?”

Right, food.

“I can stay for a little bit,” I reassure him, my movements fast as I threw on his clothes. “Let’s go eat.”

He was barely finished dressing, but I caught his hand in mine and dragged him down to the kitchen. Then I went through his fridge and cupboards, randomly pulling out ingredients. I didn’t wait for him, just started up the cooker, and put a frying pan over the fire.

“Whoa,” he murmured. “Someone’s in a hurry.”

I just hummed. I’d researched the best foods to eat in my current condition. I’d found some eggs and pork bacon, and I added liberal amounts of both. I added some pancakes on the side. There was some whole-grain bread, and I made toast with that. It was, technically, lunch time, but cooking breakfast was way easier, and I wanted to get something in me fast. Even though I’d gone without food for so long that I’d stopped feeling hunger pangs, I’d been trying to eat on a schedule, and I’d already broken it.

When we sat down to eat, I’d piled most of the eggs and bacon on my plate, with a side of plain toast, and a glass of milk. Kevin mostly got the pancakes. There was no way he’d fail to notice the difference.

“Why don’t I get any bacon?” he complained. “And I thought you liked pancakes?”

“Just eat,” I growled at him, digging into my food.

And Kevin stared some more as I practically ate like I’d been starving. Which I realized I had been when I took the first bite. I wasn’t acting like myself at all so I couldn’t blame him.

He’s going to find out. Eventually, I thought, so I might as well tell him now.

I waited until I was done first, though. Kevin had barely touched his pancakes.

“Is there anything wrong with them?” I asked, worried.

He shook his head rapidly, quickly cutting off a piece and stuffing it in his mouth.

“It’s delicious,” he reassured. Then he gave me a strange look. “But is there something you want to tell me…?”

I sighed. It was a bit abrupt, but I couldn’t think of a way to lead him up to it.

“Kevin, I’m pregnant,” I blurted.

He froze. His mouth stopped chewing, his eyes widened. I had a feeling if he didn’t have food in his mouth, he might have dropped his jaw, too. Then he chewed quickly and swallowed prematurely, almost choking himself. I poured some of the juice I’d set out for it and gave it to him to drink.

“What?” he hissed, chest still heaving. He wasn’t angry, though, still surprised and confused.

“I said, I’m pregnant. It happened that last time we had sex. When…” I paused to take in a deep breath, releasing it slowly. “The morning that Rod…died. Or around that time, so the doctor said, and we hadn't fucked for more than a week before that. You’d get me off with your mouth, and I’d give you a blowjob…”

“You already went to a doctor?” he asked, incredulous, ignoring most of what I said.

I nodded. “Remember my friend, Amanda? She was with me at the funeral. I’d called her before that, and she slept over the night before and stuck around a few days after that. She was there when I realized I might be pregnant. We got a pregnancy test after the funeral. But I wanted to be sure before I brought the news to you, so she went with me to the hospital, and I saw a doctor.”

“The funeral was more than a week ago,” he muttered. “Why did you take so long…”

“I tried to tell you,” I said quietly. “I called you, but…”

“But I didn’t want to listen,” he finished, sounding a little angry. The anger looked to be aimed at himself more than me, though.

Again, I nodded. “I didn’t want to stress you out if it turned out to be nothing, so I wanted to be sure before I told you.”

Kevin winced. “I should have fucking been there with you. You were stressing over this, and I was just here, alone and moping…”

“You’re allowed to mope, Kevin. I got my time, too, remember? I didn’t mind if you thought you needed—”

“No,” he said quickly. He got off his seat then went down on one knee in front of me, taking my hand in his. He opened his mouth, only to freeze, his expression going slack. Then he shook his head and looked up at me with determination.

“Look,” he said. “This is not something I’m going to let you deal with on your own.” He frowned. “Have…you thought about what you’re going to do?”

“I can't do anything other than keep it,” I said firmly. “It’s a child, Kevin. Our child. The only options I’ve been considering are whether and when to tell our parents…”

“Tell them the truth. Lying has done too much fucking damage to both our families. We’re telling them as soon as possible, Stacey.”

I looked at his flattened lips. He was ready to be firm in this, as well. All I could do was smile, though, because I agreed with him completely.

“Definitely,” I murmured, sliding off the seat and into his arms.

We were on the kitchen floor, and his leftover pancakes were getting cold, but neither of us cared.