I hate being sick.

I fucking hate being sick.

I… excuse me I have to throw up again…

Have I mentioned I hate being sick?

I’ve been laid up in bed for well over a week and it’s starting to really bug the shit out of me. Thankfully I haven’t constantly been vomiting, but even when I’m not, I feel like shit.

Justin’s been amazing. He’s been right there every time I’d sprint off to the porcelain god, he’s had the cold wash cloth ready for me when I was finished, he brought me blankets when I was cold and fans when I was hot. He even got me a bell for when he would leave the room. I haven’t used it, but it was a cute gesture.

I only have Hadley to thank for all of this too.

They decided to stay in Vegas for two weeks, then they jetted off to Cancun for another couple of weeks. She came back sick as a dog. We thought it was just morning sickness at first, but she was laid out flat for a week. I, of course being the amazing friend I am, stayed with her to make sure she was ok. And this is how she thanked me. She gave me the goddamned thing.

Oh, it’s not her fault, I know, but I have to blame someone for this shit.

“How’s she feeling?” I hear Hadley whisper to Justin in the doorway.

“She’s been better.” He whispers back.

“She’d be better if her best friend hadn’t given her whatever this thing is.” I say, making them both jump.

“You should be sleeping, Maddy.” Justin says almost fatherly like.

“It’s the flu, but it’s a pretty bad form of it. I just got back from the doctors.” She says walking into the room.

“How are you and the little one doing?” Justin asks, taking a seat on the edge of the bed.

“Me and baby are fine, thankfully.” She says smiling. She turns towards me, “I have something to tell you.” She whispers.

I nod, noting the serious look on her face.

“Justin can you make me some soup? I can’t tell if I’m going to be sick or if I’m hungry.”

He chuckles, patting my foot, “I’ll be right back.”

“Take your time.” I say, giving him a look and he nods.

I turn to Hadley after he closes the door, “What’s up?”

She sighs, “You need to go to the doctor. Today.”

I look at her nervously, “Is this thing serious?”

“It can be, especially for a baby.”

“Had, I’m not a baby.”

“No, but your carrying one.” She says and I freeze, staring at her.

“Wha… What? What the hell?” I stutter confusedly.

“Maddy, those tests we took in Vegas…” She pauses looking back at the door then back to me, “I wasn’t the pregnant one.”

I shake my head, “What? You just told Justin you and the baby were fine.”

“We are.”

“Then how could you not be the pregnant one if you’re pregnant?” I ask, sitting up against the head board.

“Because I’m only three weeks pregnant.” She says with a sigh. “Maddy the positive test was yours, not mine. I didn’t get pregnant until a week later.”

“How… how can you be sure? I mean it’s only a week, how can they be certain it’s only three weeks?”

“I got my period the day you guys left. I went to the doctors in Vegas and he told me I wasn’t pregnant.” She sighs, “I was scared to tell Trace so I kept quiet until we got to Cancun. He didn’t believe me when I told him, so he made me take another test and it came out positive.” She sighs again, “I wasn’t pregnant in Vegas when we took the tests, Maddy. You were.”

“I-I-I-I can’t be.”

“You need to go see a doctor, because you might be.”

“She might be what?” Justin asks, walking in with my soup that is not going to take this nauseous feeling away.

“Really sick. I think she should go see a doctor today.” Hadley says quickly.

And that’s when the day started to get really bad. He helped me get cleaned up and rushed me to the hospital to get checked out. I’m happy to inform you that I did not have that dreaded swine flu… oh wait we can’t call it that… what was it? The H1N1? Whatever, I didn’t have that anyways.

What I did have was a baby, that much was made certain with one little blood test.

I wanted to crawl into a hole and die. It’s not that I wasn’t happy that I’m pregnant, it’s the fact I’ve been so sick and I haven’t been taking care of this little baby growing inside me. I felt like a horrible mother, and I’ve only known for a good half hour.

Justin is going to pass out when I tell him.

I’m not sure he’ll even believe me when I tell him, with what happened in Vegas and all.

I asked the doctor not to mention it to him until I had a chance to talk to him alone. I haven’t had a moment alone with the man since I found out and I want to scream for everyone to get out so I can get this off my chest before I lose the nerve.

“I’m glad you don’t haven anything too horrible.” Trace says, keeping his distance from me.

“No, just a plain ‘ol flu. Doesn’t take away the fact that I feel and look like shit and would love to spend the rest of this wonderful time at home in bed and not here in this very uncomfortable thing they pass off as a bed.” I say, glancing at Justin.

“I’ll see if you can leave.” he says, walking out the door to catch the doctor.

“So?” Hadley asks, raising an eyebrow in a silent question. Not that Trace doesn’t already know, because Hadley has one of the biggest mouths I’ve ever seen.

I sigh, “I’m sick Hadley, that’s all.”

“Are you sure?” She asks, confused.

“The nurse is putting together your discharge papers, so you can get dressed. She said the doctor is going to want to talk to you about some things before you leave though. Is that bad?” Justin asks, walking into the room.

“No, I’m sure it’s just, take care of yourself, drink lots of fluids, you know stuff like that.” I say with a shrug. “Why don’t you guys go get the car and I’ll meet you down there when I’m done here.”

“I’m not leaving you.” Justin says, shaking his head at me like that was one of the dumbest things he’s ever heard.

“We’ll see you guys back at the house.” Trace says, pulling Hadley out the room with a quick wave to the both of us.

“Why don’t you get dressed, Baby.”

I nod, turning to get out of the bed, pausing at the edge.

“Do you need help?” He asks, walking back over towards me.

I shake my head.

“Are you going to be sick?”

I shake my head again.

“What’s the matter?” he asks kneeling down in front of me, taking my hands in his.

“Remember in Vegas when we had the whole… test thing?”

He chuckled, “When you said you were pregnant, but it was Hadley that was pregnant?”

I sigh, “Yeah that.”

“I vaguely remember something like that happening. Why?”

“It turns out that Hadley wasn’t pregnant that day.”

“Huh?”

“She got pregnant in Vegas, but wasn’t pregnant when we took the test.”

“I’m confused.”

I sigh, “That positive test wasn’t hers.”

“It wasn’t yours either?” He asks, just not getting any of this at all.

“I’m pregnant Justin. I was the pregnant one that day, but we thought it was her. It turns out she got pregnant after the fact, but it doesn’t change the fact that I’m pregnant now and I was then too. I’m about three months pregnant.”

He stares at me for a few minutes silently before taking a deep breath, “For real this time or is this some sick joke again?”

I shake my head, the tears I was holding back spilling over the edge, “No joke.”

It took him a few seconds for it to register before a grin pulled out on his face, “We’re having a baby.”

I smile, “We’re having a baby.”

“I’d hug and kiss you, but I think I’ll wait until your healthy first.”

I laugh, “I’ll hold you to it.”

************************************************************************

Boy am I ever glad that is over.

It took another week, but I’m finally able to get out of bed and feel normal. We’ll as normal as a pregnant woman can feel I guess.

I’m so milking this thing. I’m three months along and don’t feel different in the least, but I’m using this to my advantage. If I want something and don’t feel like getting up, I use the pregnant card. Hadley has picked up on this and is using it to her advantage too.

The boys are going to kill us before we even have the kids.

Currently we’re jetting off to Tennessee. It’s only two weeks until Thanksgiving and Trace’s birthday is right after, so we’re going home with our boys.

I’ve never seen Hadley more nervous than she is right now. From the look on Trace’s face right now, it must be what I looked like when I first made the trip out to Tennessee to meet the family.

She’s shitting bricks right now.

The plane touched down and the first stop we made was to the bathroom. Hadley blamed it on morning sickness, but it’s nerves, I can almost guarantee it.

Trace’s little brother, that I found out was far from little, standing at 6’1, picked us up from the airport. Where Trace got his shortness from is boggling my mind. I met his father last time we were out here and he was at least a foot taller than Trace.

Poor kid, he’s probably the paper boy’s child. He’s like a family of brunettes suddenly having a redhead brought into the mix. It just doesn’t fit quite right, but no one says anything about it. I’m sure that’s not the case, it’s probably something he got from his mother’s side.

But I digress.

Trace’s brother, Juan III, dropped Justin and I off at his parent’s house. This trip has already been very informative so far, finding out Trace’s real name was Juan topped the cake so far. I wonder what else I’ll find out about him on this trip.

Neither one of their parents know about the two of us being pregnant. Reason number one for our impromptu trip out here so early. Hopefully everyone will take the news well. The last thing anyone needs is a out of control parent.

I’d hate to be Hadley at the moment more than me though. She has to tell Trace’s parents not only is she pregnant, but they recently got married. In Vegas of all places.

Hell, I’m her best friend and I’m still pissed off about it. I can’t imagine what Trace, or Juan’s, parents are going to do. Her parents were so thrilled she settled down, they didn’t care about the whole eloping thing. They’ve always been really free spirited and pretty much let her do whatever she wanted within reason.

“Are you going to stand in the front yard all afternoon or are you two coming inside?” Lynn says from the doorway.

I laugh, shaking my head pulling my suitcase behind me, stopping at the bottom of the stairs.

“It’s so good to see you.” Lynn says pulling me in for a hug.

“How’s my son been treating you?” She asks, pulling away to grab Justin for a hug.

I laugh, sneaking a glance at Justin.

“You better say good or I’ll beat you when we get home.” He joked, kissing his mother on the cheek.

I laugh, “He’s been alright.”

He scoffs, “Who cleaned up after your sick ass the last two weeks?”

“Justin!” Lynn yells, smacking his shoulder, “Don’t talk to her like that.”

“You’ve been amazing, I was only joking.” I say kissing his cheek and walking into the house with Lynn.

“Oh, I’ll get the bags, don’t worry about it.” He yells after us.

Lynn and I laughed, walking through the house to the back yard. We sat down by the pool with a perfect view of Paul on top of the shed redoing the roofing.

“Why’s he on the roof?” Justin asks, sitting down beside his mother watching Paul with a concerned eye.

“He’s fixing the leak.”

“On the roof?”

I laugh, “That’s normally where the leak starts.”

He growled at me, “Ok, smartass, that’s enough out of you.”

“Why don’t you get up there and help him, that way it will get finished faster.”

“Yeah, sweetie, why don’t you get up there on that roof and get to fixing that leak.”

He glared at me, shaking his head, “I’m not getting on that roof.”

“Go help your father.”

“You better cry at my funeral.” He says, shaking his head the whole way over to the shed.

I laugh, “He’s such a baby.”

Lynn nods slowly, “So, how are you doing?”

I smile, “I’m doing really well actually. Everything with my dad’s estate is all figured out. I’m all moved in at casa de Timberlake. Victoria hasn’t tried to contact me since my dad’s will reading. I have two out of three of the clinics open. I should have the one in LA open within the next month.”

“That’s incredible.” She says with a smile, “But I asked how you were doing, not what you were doing.”

“I’m tired.” I answer honestly. “Everything has come and gone so fast lately, I haven’t been able to just sit and let it all set in. I mean I’ve had a few nights where all I could do was cry or stare at the ceiling just thinking about everything that’s happened.”

“I’m feeling a lot better about Matty and my dad’s deaths which is huge for me, but now I have this whole Hadley and Trace thing hanging over my head and I just don’t know how to deal with it.”

“What Hadley and Trace thing?”

I sigh, “I probably shouldn’t be the one to tell you about it.”

She smiles, “I’m going to find out eventually.”

I laugh, “Oh I know, I just think Trace would like to be the one to tell you, that’s all.”

She laughs, “What? Did he knock her up and now he’s going to marry her?”

I stare at her a little shocked, “You got it a little twisted.”

Her smile fades, “What do you mean?”

“They got married in Vegas a few weeks ago and she’s pregnant.”

Her eyes bulge out of her head, “They did what?”

“It was a shock to Justin and I too.”

“He didn’t even invite Justin?”

I shake my head, “I know it’s killing him, but he wont say anything about it to me. I don’t know what to do. I’m dying, knowing my best friend go married and I wasn’t there. I can’t imagine how Justin feels. I mean they’ve known each other since they were babies.”

“He has to be devastated.” She says sadly.

“I think he is, but he wont talk about it with me.”

She sighs deeply, “I can’t believe he’d do that.”

“I can’t believe she would. It’s not like them to just do it. I don’t know what got into them.”

“Sex.” Lynn says and I choke out a laugh.

“Don’t go corrupting the poor child, Lynn.” Paul says, walking up behind my chair.

I laugh, standing to hug him, “It’s good to see you. Roof all fixed?

“Yes, no thanks to piss and moan over here.”

I laugh, “Heights to much for you sweetie?”

“If you weren’t so cute…” He says, shaking his head at me,

I laugh, “You love me.”

He smiles, “That I do.” He pulls me against his side, whispering in my ear, “Can we tell them?”

I nod, thinking, isn’t that why we came?

“Hey, we have something we need to tell you guys.” Justin says, sitting down, pulling me on his lap.

I hope this goes well…