Chapter Text
Alana took a deep breath, she could do this. She opened her eyes and looked down at the plastic stick in her hands. Positive.
She inhaled shakily, feeling her legs wobble underneath her. She grabbed the edge of the tub to steady herself. Positive. She was pregnant. After three months of hormone injections and IVF treatments, there was a baby growing inside her. Her baby. Margot’s baby.
She should call Margot. The other woman had been nothing but supportive. After the two previous failed treatments, Alana had been devastated, Margot had just kissed her, hugged her and stroked her hair while Alana cried. She had wiped Alana’s tears away and said that it wasn’t her fault. That these things took time and that if Alana wanted to try again, she’d be there for her.
Alana slowly slid down to the floor, fetching her phone from her pocket. She checked the time, 4 PM, Margot’s meeting would have been over by now. It was the perfect time to call. Still, her finger hovered above Margot’s name on the screen.
Did she really want to tell her girlfriend over the phone?
She hesitated, Margot deserved to know, she deserved to know now, but Alana couldn’t bring herself to share this amazing news with her over the phone. She wanted to see Margot’s face light up with one of her beautiful smiles. She wanted to hug and probably kiss her girlfriend afterwards.
No, she would not call Margot, she would wait until she got home, and then tell her face to face.
She put her phone away and leaned her head back against the cold tile of the tub. A baby. They were going to have a baby. She smiled, putting a hand on her completely flat stomach. Two weeks was way too early for any kind of symptoms, most of all a baby bump. Yet, she couldn’t stop herself from touching it.
Her hand still on her stomach, she started thinking about all this would entail. She was 37, past the prime age for pregnancy. There could be all sorts of complications, hell, with her completely fractured pelvis and lower back, there would most certainly be complications.
The last didn’t bother her as much, she could stand a bit of pain. She went through 8 months of gruelling physical therapy, she could do nine months of slight discomfort if it meant delivering a healthy baby into this world.
A healthy baby, that was what she was most concerned about. Yes, she was a little older than most mothers, but she was physically healthy. The sperm donor, she and Margot had both subconsciously decided that Mason didn’t deserve the honor of being called a “father”, had been physically healthy before his “accident” as well. Mentally less so.
Alana hoped that her genes and her and Margot’s combined parenting would be enough to even out any flaws Mason’s genes might generate. But with nature vs nurture still being an ongoing debate in the psychological community, she was a little worried.
She thought about Margot. Margot and Mason had been siblings, they shared most of their DNA and had a similar upbringing, and yet Margot was nothing like her brother.
She let out a sigh, her hand stroking up and down her stomach, there was no telling who the baby would take after. She did know, however, that she and Margot would do everything in their power to let their child know they were loved and happy.
The cold of the tiles was seeping into her skin and caused her to shiver. Instead of getting off of the floor, she just pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around them. The new position put a lot more strain on her lower back, but she didn’t care.
Her mind drifted back to the clump of cells that was slowly but steadily growing into a baby inside of her. It would be a boy, she was sure of it. She didn’t know how, but she was. She could see Margot holding him, cuddling him, and when he was a little older, sitting behind him on a horse, teaching him how to ride.
Her smile returned thinking of Margot and their baby. Theirs, and theirs alone. They should get married. The thought struck very suddenly. They had never discussed it before, but Alana didn’t think Margot would have any objections against it. She wanted to be married to the woman. Not only because it would be more practical as they would both legally be his mother, but also because it felt right. She loved Margot and wanted to be with her forever.
She got so lost in thoughts of Margot in a wedding dress and their smiling child, that she didn’t notice the cold, the growing pain in her back or Margot’s voice calling out to her from the foyer.
‘There you are,’ Margot said, relief evident in her voice, she had been concerned when Alana hadn’t responded when she called her name. Then she took in the picture of Alana on the ground and the concern returned full force.
In less than a second, she was kneeling besides Alana. ‘Are you okay? Did you fall?’ Margot asked, running the back of her hand over Alana’s forehead to check for a fever or anything else that would have her girlfriend sitting on the cold floor in the darkened bathroom.
Alana smiled warmly at her. Covering Margot’s hand with one of her own and bringing it down to rest on her lap. ‘I’m fine. What are you doing home so early?’
‘Early?’ Margot asked, eyebrows raised, ‘It’s almost six, I am actually late.’ She looked down concernedly at Alana, not convinced by her girlfriend’s earlier reassurance that she was fine.
Alana looked at her in surprise. ‘I had no idea it had gotten so late.’ She tried to get up but winced in pain and leaned back again, eyes closed, breathing through the pain. Two hours sitting on the cold, hard floor hadn’t done her back any favors.
‘So if you are okay,’ Margot said with a hint of scepticism in her voice, ‘what are you doing on the bathroom floor?’
‘I just got some news and needed to sit down,’ Alana said, smiling. Margot looked at her in confusion. Her girlfriend was smiling widely but the news she had gotten had required her to sit down. It didn’t make sense. She sat down next to Alana, back against the tub.
‘What news?’ she asked, pushing her warm hand up the back of Alana’s blouse, rubbing small circles on the small of her back. Warming the cramped muscles there.
Alana searched the floor next to her for something Margot couldn’t see. When Alana finally found what she was looking for, she handed it over with a wide smile on her face.
Margot looked down at the object, her mind trying to comprehend what exactly she was holding and why it had caused Alana to behave so strangely. Then it clicked. It was a pregnancy test. A positive pregnancy test.
Margot looked up at Alana, eyes wide and mouth open. ‘Is this..’ Real, she thought, but she didn’t have to say it, because Alana was nodding at her. The biggest smile Margot had ever seen on her face.
‘You’re pregnant?’ she asked breathlessly, just to make sure she was understanding this correctly.
‘Yes,’ Alana breathed into her ear. ‘We’re going to have a baby, Ms. Verger.’
Alana pulled back just enough to see the corners of Margot’s mouth turn up, before her girlfriend threw her arms around her neck and kissed her soundly on the mouth.
The kiss conveyed what they both felt: happiness, elation and just a hint of anxiety. When they finally broke apart for air, they were both still smiling.
They looked at each other for a long time, both at a loss for words. Alana shifted a little, and her smile turned into a grimace at the painful sensations shooting through her back.
Her wince wiped the smile of Margot’s face and returned the concerned look to her eyes. ‘How long have you been sitting here?’ she asked while gracefully getting to her feet, holding both hands out for Alana to take.
Alana took them gratefully and together they got her standing again. ‘Just an hour or two,’ she said, rubbing her hands over her painful back.
‘You have been sitting on the cold bathroom floor for two hours?’ Margot asked incredulously.
‘I was thinking about the baby.’ A wistful smile crossed Alana’s face. ‘We’re going to have a baby,’ she repeated softly.
‘Yes we are,’ Margot smiled, taking Alana’s hand and leading her back into the bedroom. ‘But before that, I need to take care of their mother. Because that idiot has been sitting on a cold floor for two hours, whilst already sporting a back injury.’ Her tone was teasing and the hands running up and down her sides made it hard for Alana to feel insulted.
‘Do you want me to draw you a bath?’ Margot asked, pulling Alana even closer, they were practically toe to toe.
‘Yes please,’ Alana sighed, resting her head on Margot’s shoulder, it was the perfect height for that. She always thought that they fit together perfectly. That reminded Alana of a thought she had had two hours earlier.
She pulled back a little, so she could look into Margot’s big, green eyes. ‘Before you do that, will you do me another favor?’
‘Anything,’ Margot said, tucking a strand of her behind Alana’s ear.
‘Marry me?’ Alana asked shyly.
Margot’s eyes went wide. She didn’t immediately say anything, making Alana nervously look down at her shoes. Then, a hand lifted her chin up, she was once again face to face with Margot, who had a smile plastered on her face and tears in her eyes.
‘It would be my pleasure,’ Margot smiled, pulling Alana closer and burying her face in the other woman’s hair.
‘Thank god,’ Alana said. ‘Because I really don’t think I could have gotten down on one knee to beg you to reconsider. My back is killing me.’ She stretched to emphasize the point.
Margot laughed, shaking her head. ‘Well, that kinda is your own fault for being an idiot, isn’t it?’
‘You still love me,’ Alana laughed.
‘I still love you.’