Tony woke the next morning to the sound of Abby in the bathroom retching. He got her a washcloth for her face and some water to rinse her mouth out. Then getting her settled back in bed with the plastic trash can from the bathroom at the bedside just in case, he called Ducky and filled him in on Abby's current state.
Promising to stop by in the early afternoon, Ducky advised Tony to keep Abby hydrated as best he could.
Tony made himself some coffee and was standing there staring at, but not really seeing, the coffee pot as his mind whirled and he tried not to worry about Abby.
The past two months had been incredible. He and Abby just... clicked. They had the same energy level and the same sometimes childish enthusiasm for things and yet both were serious professionals when it came to their jobs. They were good for each other. They were both very independent people, neither of which could tolerate a clingy significant other, and neither of of them were looking for someone to "take care" of them. They just wanted to be with someone that cared about them for who they were, all of who they were.
Tony would be the first to admit that he didn't know how to really do the relationship thing. He could do the dating thing, the boyfriend thing, the going out to dinner and winding up in bed thing, but the real relationship thing was a whole new ballgame. He had learned a few things in his fiasco with Jeanne, about himself and about relationships, but it was different with Abby.
Abby made him feel ten-feet tall and bullet proof. She could laugh away his insecurities and boost his ego without even trying, and he found himself wanting to protect her. Well, he had always protected her as a friend, but now he wanted to protect her from the rest of the world. He wanted to protect her from all the ugliness and darkness that they both saw every day even though he couldn't, and he wanted to protect her from any of a thousand slights because of her appearance that she pretended not to hear, even though he knew she did.
More recently he wanted to protect her from the things that go bump in the night. He found himself envisioning himself as the dad in the movies that goes prowling around the house with a baseball bat after his wife hears a noise in the house. The daydreams of living with Abby in that kind of suburban utopia with the house with the white picket fence and a family of their own kept getting more vivid. It was something he had never, except for the briefest moment when he had burned Jeanne's note, realized that he wanted.
But he did, and if the past couple of months were any indication, he and Abby had that future. They would get there eventually he had no doubt, but they had both had things go badly in the past and they were taking things slowly and letting their relationship grow as it would.
The coffee pot gurgled and Tony grabbed a mug out of the cupboard. He heard Abby retching again in the other room and sighed, he felt useless and helpless. He wanted to wave a magic wand and make her feel better in a flash, but he couldn't. He took a quick sip of the scalding coffee and left the mug on the counter, thinking that the smell wouldn't be good for Abby's stomach, and went to go hold her hair and her hand and at least be in the room with her as he was being useless.
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Finally about lunchtime, Abby's stomach finally settled down enough for her to attempt some chicken broth and saltines and she and Tony were both nestled in their favorite corners of the couch watching a movie when Ducky arrived.
Ducky knew that Tony was indeed a caring person, a gentle soul at heart, even though his comic fraternity boy demeanor at the office hid it well. It really was all a show, a facade Tony could hide behind, something to mask all his own insecurities and feelings of inadequacy. He also knew that eventually the right woman would find a way to sneak behind that facade and steal Tony's heart when he wasn't looking. Although Ducky knew that Abby and Tony were very close, he never expected that the woman to finally win Tony's true affection would have been Abby, but he had seen it in the younger man's eyes as he silently held Abby's hand when she fainted. He loved her, and she him, and Ducky was happy for them both. He had a sneaking suspicion about something, however, that he prayed wouldn't tear his two dear friends asunder.
When Ducky tried to shoo Tony out of the living room so he could examine and talk to Abby, she wouldn't hear of it. "Ducky, it's fine. I'm going to tell him everything anyway so he might as well hear it first hand."
He took her blood pressure and listened to her heart and lungs, all of which were normal, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with her, she wasn't even queasy at the moment. Ducky was a man of words, and could talk the paint off the walls if he tried hard enough, but he was stumbling over the right words to tell them what he suspected the cause of Abby's symptoms to be.
"So what do you think, Duck? Food poisoning or stomach flu or something?" Tony asked standing next to the couch near Abby.
Ducky sighed. "I actually suspect it is the "or something", Tony." He said and paused before starting to speak and pausing again.
Abby was getting nervous. "What is it, Ducky? Just tell us. Please."
Ducky took a deep breath. "Look, you are both old enough that I'm not going to give you the lecture about the effectiveness of the various methods of birth control," he said as he reached into his bag and pulled out a little box, "So I will just come right out and say that I suspect that Abigail's condition is perfectly normal for a pregnant woman."
You could have heard a pin drop in the room as all three of them stared at the pregnancy test box in Ducky's hands. Ever so slowly Abby and Tony's eyes met, and what happened next couldn't possibly have surprised Ducky any more than it did. They both said simultaneously, "The Great Condom Incident."
Their faces weren't giving away any emotion one way or another though, and it concerned Ducky. Abby's hand found Tony's and they both squeezed.
Tony's mind was a whirlwind, and he closed his eyes for a moment to try and process. A baby, his baby. At that thought the corners of his mouth curled up of their own accord and as he opened his eyes and refocused his attention on Abby's face he realized she was nervously biting her bottom lip waiting to see his reaction. His smile broadened as he looked at her and he said softly, "A baby. Us. Wow."
He could feel the relief course through Abby and he felt bad, did she really think he would have run for the hills? He made a mental note that they really needed to talk about that, but the enormous smile she gave him a moment later pushed the thought out of his head as she said, "Yeah. Wow."
Ducky cleared his throat. "Not to put a damper on things, but you should use this pregnancy test first thing tomorrow morning to confirm my suspicion. There is a nasty stomach virus making the rounds but since Abby feels better later in the day I am leaning more towards morning sickness being the culprit rather than that virus. If it is positive, Abby, you should make an appointment with your regular physician as soon as possible. And might I add that you both seem to be taking this news far better than I had anticipated."
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A little later after Ducky had left they were sitting on the couch, Tony had his feet up on the coffee table and Abby was lounging on him and using him as a pillow. They both kept staring at the little box on the coffee table.
Tony's active imagination was flipping through a photo album of pictures yet to come in his mind. He could see a very pregnant Abby, he could see the two of them holding a newborn in the hospital, he could see them with a toddler in a stroller, he could see himself coaching t-ball, he could just see it all. They would be a family, a real family, and somehow the thought of a baby just completed all of his previous imaginings of his goth-inspired suburban utopia.
He stroked Abby's arm absently, not realizing that even his slightest touch made her feel safe and cherished and said, "You know I've been thinking about the future a lot lately."
Abby tensed a little, half afraid of what he was going to say, she had been really quiet since Ducky left, and insecure, both of which where very un-Abby like. She knew they both loved each other, but sometimes love wasn't enough in a relationship. "Would I like what you've been thinking?"
He chuckled, "I hope so. I just keep seeing us, together, and I really want that. And now we might be having a baby, and I want that too. I want us to be a family, Abs. I love you and I don't want to lose you."
She sat up and took his chin in her hand and made his eyes meet hers, "You mean that?"
"Yeah, I do. But what about you?"
"I want what we have. I didn't tell you how I felt till last night because I was afraid I'd scare you away. I scare everybody away." She dropped her eyes and he could see her bottom lip almost quivering.
He pulled her in and squeezed her tightly and whispered into her hair, "Hey, I'm not going anywhere. I love you, Miss Scuito. I think you're stuck with me."
She replied quietly, "You're really okay with it if I'm pregnant?"
"Are you kidding? I can't stop thinking about it. I haven't been able to decide if I'd want a boy or a girl though. I keep picturing a little girl with your eyes and your pigtails and smart as anything but then I'll picture a little boy with my devilish good looks who's captain of the little league team. I'll be honest, the thought of being someone's father sort freaks me out, I don't have a whole lot of positive experiences to draw from, but I figured that loving 'em would be a good place to start right?"
Abby pulled back and looked at Tony and just before she kissed him said, "The best place to start."
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tbc...
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