Pregnancy Rules: Part I

An R.L. Mathewson Chronicle

Many Years Ago…

Our story picks up where the Honeymoon from Hell ended, and in case you haven’t had the chance to read it yet, here’s the ending:

“Did everyone study last night?” Jason asked, glancing up from his desk to catch every student in his class nodding enthusiastically.

“So, you’re ready for a pop quiz?” he asked, biting back a smile as their eager expressions turned horrified.

“Yes?” came the collective answer that had him chuckling.

“Liars,” Jason said, smiling as he stood up and made his way to the chalkboard.

“Why don’t we go over last night’s assignment to make sure that everyone understands the material?” he suggested, shaking his head with a chuckle when he caught their relieved sighs. “Let’s start with the-”

“Excuse me,” Haley said, drawing his attention to the back of the room to find his adorable wife peeking around the door that connected their classrooms. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I was wondering if you had a minute?”

“We were just about to have a review,” Jason said, glancing at the clock. There was only twenty minutes of class left and his students desperately needed this review if they had any hopes of passing the pop quiz that he had planned for tomorrow. “Can this wait until after class?”

“Of course,” Haley said, pushing her glasses up her nose with one of those adorable smiles that he loved.

“I’ll see you in twenty minutes, sweetheart,” Jason said, ignoring the snickers from the jocks in the back row.

“Okay, twenty minutes,” Haley said, nodding absently as she moved to leave only to pause, open her mouth to say something only to close it, swallow hard, and stare helplessly at him.

“Is everything okay?” Jason asked, frowning as he watched his wife slowly exhale.

“Everything’s fine,” Haley said, nodding as she slowly exhaled and once again moved to leave.

“Okay,” Jason said softly with what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “Then, I’ll see you in twenty minutes.”

“Twenty minutes,” Haley murmured absently.

“Are you sure that everything’s okay?” Jason asked, gesturing for his students to turn around and face the front of the class.

“Everything’s fine,” Haley repeated with a smile that instantly calmed him.

“Good,” Jason said, moving to return his attention to the chalkboard when her next words made him pause.

“It’s just that…” Haley started to say, only to let her words trail off.

“It’s just that, what?” he asked, moving to step around his desk.

“It can wait until later,” Haley said, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth, and with that, she turned around and headed for the door. Not really sure what to make of her visit, Jason turned around and-

“It’s just that I’m pregnant and I wanted to tell you.”

-tripped over his own feet and was forced to slap his hands against the edge of his desk or fall flat on his ass as his mind raced to make sense of what she just said.

“What?” Jason asked hollowly as his legs threatened to give out and drop him on his ass.

“I just wanted to let you know that I was pregnant and to let you know that we needed to stop at a store on the way home tonight and pick up milk,” Haley said brightly while the class stared at her in shock as Jason stood there, struggling to catch his breath.

He felt himself nod, not really sure why he was doing it, but he felt that he should be doing something.

“Okay, I’ll see you after class!” Haley said brightly, and with that, she finally left just as his legs finally gave out. He held onto the desk for dear life, still struggling to comprehend the words that came out of his wife’s mouth.

Pregnant?

Haley was pregnant.

They were having a baby.

A baby, they were having a baby because Haley was pregnant.

He’d gotten Haley pregnant.

She was having his baby.

They were-

“Are you alright, Mr. Bradford?” someone asked, he had no idea who, but he knew that he was definitely not okay.

“Do you need anything, Mr. Bradford?” someone else asked.

The response was instant, years of Bradford survival taking over in that moment.

“Food. I need food.”

*-*-*-*

Oh, she definitely screwed up, Haley thought, started to swallow hard only to rethink that decision when her husband narrowed his eyes on the move. Slowly, ever so slowly, she reached over to open her door only to go still when Jason’s gaze followed the move. 

When he slowly looked up and met her panicked gaze, she decided that perhaps it would be in her best interest to stay where she was. For several long minutes, she sat there, staring helplessly at her husband while he…

Well, she wasn’t sure what he was doing.

Besides having a nervous breakdown, that is.

She probably should have waited until they were home to tell him that she was pregnant and she’d planned on doing just that, but in her defense, she didn’t think that he was going to react quite like this. She’d expected a smile, a look of disbelief, perhaps a hug, but what she hadn’t expected was for Jason to stumble into her classroom, mumbling incoherently about food to himself, and move to throw her over his shoulder only to rethink the move, gesture for her to sit down on the chair, glare at her until she complied, and then, roll her into the hallway, past the front office, and out to the parking lot where he picked her up and carefully placed her in his truck.

When she moved to buckle herself in, he glared at her until she dropped her hands away, carefully buckled her in, double-checked her seatbelt, and then carefully closed her door before making his way around the truck and climbed in.

And now…

Now, she’d really like it if he said something.

When he sent her one last glare before he climbed out of the truck, Haley considered making a run for it, but something, mostly that crazed look in his eye, told her that probably wouldn’t end well for her. So, she forced herself to sit there, watching as he made his way around the truck, opened her door, and unbuckled her seatbelt before he scooped her up in his arms.

“I can walk,” Haley pointed out, only to once again decide that it was in her best interest to keep her mouth shut when he narrowed his eyes on her.

Biting back a sigh, mostly because he was still glaring at her, Haley didn’t say another word as he carried her inside the house and straight to their room, where he carefully placed her down in the middle of her bed. She definitely preferred the glaring, Haley decided when his expression turned determined and she watched as he stormed off into the bathroom and-

-herself wondering what he was planning on doing with that thermometer.