five minutes

It had to be a mistake. She must have simply marked it down wrong on the calendar. Anyone could do it.

Except she never did.

Ever since she had gotten her first period, she’d kept careful track. As she got older, her cycle became like clockwork, but she still placed a tiny checkmark in her day planner out of habit.

Now, she sat on her bed, staring at the planner in her lap. It was telling her she was late.

How could she not have noticed? Sure, they were smack dab in the middle of the season, but she’d had a few days off to relax here and there. She wasn’t stressed. In fact, she was happier than she could ever remember. Being with Mike these past months had been amazing, and she honestly believed they would make it.

But what if I’m pregnant? she thought.

No, it couldn’t be. She was on the pill!

Except for that weekend trip you took two weeks ago! a little voice screamed.

She jumped to her feet, her day planner landing on the floor. Mike had surprised her with a trip to Seattle, and in the excitement, she’d forgotten to grab her birth control pills.

“Oh my God,” she whispered, wrapping her arms around herself. “Get a grip, Allie. Breathe!”

She inhaled and exhaled, but too fast, and that made her dizzy. She sank to the floor, pulling the phone off the nightstand as she went. She had to call Mike. But first she had to remember where he was. She flipped over her fallen day planner and checked.

Saturday – 1:30pm Hockey with Tom

She dialed his cell phone. It was almost 3:30, so they should be about done.

“Pick up, pick up,” she muttered, twisting the cord around her wrist.

His voicemail picked up and she almost screamed in frustration. Halfway through the message, it clicked off, and she was greeted with, “Allison! What’s up, babe?”

He sounded breathless and happy and Allison burst into tears.

“Whoa, what’s going on? Are you hurt?” he asked, his voice becoming softer and slightly worried. “Where are you?”

“I’m, I’m at home,” she hiccupped. “Mike, I’m late.”

“For what? Is something wrong with your car?”

Allison wanted to laugh, but instead she wailed harder.

“Allie, what are you late for?” A pause. Then, “Oh. Oh, um. You’re late.”

“Yes.”

She heard him tell Tom to hang on for a minute, then she heard him drop his hockey stick and sit down, probably in one of the penalty boxes.

“Have you done a test yet?” he asked.

“No. I just...I wanted to tell you first.”

“All right, that’s good. We’re done here, so uh, Tom drove us. I can have him bring me right over.”

“I don’t have a test,” Allison sniffled.

“Don’t worry. I’ll get one. Then we’ll see what’s what.”

“Are you mad at me?” she asked softly.

“What? God, of course not! Don’t ever think like that. I love you.”

She gave a huge sigh of relief and cradled the phone close to her.

“Give me a half hour,” Mike said. “Will you be okay?”

“Yeah. I’ll see you soon.”

“I love you, Allie.”

“I love you, too.”

She hung up feeling a lot better, but still nervous.

~*~*~

Mike flipped his phone shut just as Tom skated up. He reached out and grabbed the wall for support.

“I’m never going to get this,” he said. Then he took in Mike’s puzzled expression. “What’s that look about?”

Mike blinked. “We gotta go. Can you take me to Allison’s?”

“Sure. Something wrong?”

“Not exactly. But we need to stop at a drugstore.”

Tom said nothing as Mike began gathering their things. Within minutes, they were in Tom’s truck, heading for the nearest drugstore.

“Is she sick?” Tom asked.

“No. I need to get, um, we need...”

“Condoms?” Tom supplied with a grin.

“A pregnancy test.”

Tom’s eyes widened. “Oh.”

He parked and Mike paused before opening his door.

“I can’t go in there and buy a pregnancy test,” he said.

“Why not?”

“What if I’m recognized? It’ll be all over the Internet in ten minutes.” He turned to Tom. “Will you do it?”

“Huh?”

“You. You go in there.”

“What if I’m recognized?”

Mike shrugged. “Big deal. You’re married. It’s kind of expected at some point.”

“So my reputation isn’t as important as yours?”

“Not mine, dumbass. Allison’s. We haven’t exactly made it public that we’re together. If anyone sees me getting a pregnancy test, speculation will start about who I’m seeing, and it’ll go from there.”

Tom sighed and put on some sunglasses. “You owe me.”

Mike waited in the truck. After ten minutes, he was about to go in when Tom came hurrying out. He started the truck and threw a paper sack at Mike.

“I don’t need ten, Welling,” Mike said, peering inside.

“Well, what the hell do I know about pregnancy tests?” Tom asked, annoyed. “I didn’t know there were so many different brands, so I just grabbed.”

“If this were anyone but us, I’d laugh,” Mike said, shaking his head.

Tom pulled into Allison’s driveway and Mike hopped out. “Thanks, man, for getting these,” he said, holding up the bag.

“You can make it up to me by naming me an honorary uncle. If, you know, it’s positive,” he added quickly.

Mike nodded and waved as Tom drove off. Then he turned to look at the house. Squaring his shoulders and taking a deep breath, he went inside.

Allison was in the kitchen, scrubbing the oven. She looked up when he entered the room, and he had to smile.

A bandanna kept her hair away from her face, but a few stray strands had managed to escape. There was a streak of grease across her left cheek, and she was wearing ridiculously huge yellow gloves.

“Keeping busy, I see,” Mike said.

She stood up and pulled off the gloves. Mike reached out and wiped away the grease. She took the bag and frowned.

“Either pregnancy tests have gotten more complicated, or there’s more than one in here,” she said.

“Thank Tom for that. He panicked and got ten.”

“Tom?”

“I sent him in for them. I didn’t want anyone to see me and make assumptions and start digging around. We’re a private couple,” he said, kissing her.

“We’ll have to go public if this turns out positive,” she said. “No way could I keep it a secret.”

“Let’s take things one at a time.”

They went into the bedroom and Allison emptied the bag on the bed. They stared at the selection for a moment.

“Uh, which do I use?” she asked.

“Close your eyes and pick, I don’t have a clue.”

Allison did just that. “All right. So I have to pee on the stick, ew, and then we wait five minutes for the results.”

Mike gaped. “Five minutes? Are you serious? There’s gotta be one that takes less time.” He checked out each box, tossing them aside one by one. “Well, shit. They all take five minutes.”

Allison tapped the box she held against her thigh. “That’s not the only problem.”

“What?”

“I don’t have to pee right now.”

Mike slapped both hands to his forehead, then dashed from the room. He returned a moment later with a big glass of water.

“Chugalug,” he said.

Allison gulped down the water and set the empty glass on the nightstand. Mike pointed to the bathroom.

“Now go pee.”

“It doesn’t work that fast!” Allison exclaimed.

“Should I go get another glass? Some coffee or tea?”

She took his hand and pulled him down to sit next to her on the bed. “We just have to wait a bit, that’s all.”

“But I’m impatient.”

“Don’t I know it.”

Allison leaned back and read the instructions to the pregnancy test. Mike made a pyramid out of the remaining boxes.

After awhile, Allison said she was ready.

“Do you need help?” Mike asked.

She raised a brow at him.

“Huh, yeah, guess not,” he said.

She went into the adjoining bathroom and closed the door. Mike went to the kitchen and found a timer, which he brought back to the bedroom. Allison came out of the bathroom, pulling the door shut behind her.

“Where is it?” Mike asked.

“Sitting on the counter. Set the timer,” she said, pointing to it in his hands.

He started the timer and placed it on the dresser. It ticked quietly.

“This is going to take forever,” he groaned.

“Don’t think about it.”

“Yeah, right.”

He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tight.

“Okay, so what if it’s positive?” he asked after ten seconds of keeping quiet.

Allison shook her head. “I don’t know. It wasn’t really planned.”

“Most pregnancies aren’t. But we could make it work.”

“With our jobs?”

Mike nodded. “Sure, happens all the time on tv shows. The woman is just filmed from the chest up, that’s all, or with big props in front of her.”

“Big props? Chest up? That sounds really stupid.”

“It works though. I mean, for the storyline at least. Most people know she’s pregnant anyway.”

Allison raised her head to look at him. “Aren’t you the least big scared?”

“Terrified. But not for the reasons you think. I’m not scared of the cost or raising a kid, or the responsibility of being a father, in fact, that’s something I’ve always wanted. And with you?” He grinned. “Well, that would be just perfect. I’m scared that I won’t be a good father.”

“How can you say that? I’ve seen you with kids, you’re perfect. They adore you. And you know why? Because you treat them like people, not just objects to lug around. I have no fears about your parenting abilities.”

Mike kissed her nose. “Would you want a boy or a girl?”

“Either. I could see you with both. A little girl that you’d protect fiercely–”

“With your snark and wit,” Mike threw in. “And perfect blond curls and an impish grin.”

“Or a little boy that you’d teach to ice skate and play hockey. He’d have your humor and knack for imitating people, and he’d probably give his teachers a hard time.”

“Hey, I’d teach our girl to skate, too. No reason she shouldn’t be allowed to tumble with the boys.”

“But most importantly, they’d be ours. Yours and mine.”

Mike pondered this. “Yours and mine. I like the sound of that.”

Allison smiled at him. “You’d still love me, right? I’d get big all over; I’d be irritable and cranky.”

“Big all over?” Mike asked, dropping his gaze to the low neckline of her shirt.

“Yes, even there.”

“Yowza,” he said.

She laughed and poked his chest. “But you’d gain weight too, out of sympathy, right?”

“How could I ever turn down a dill pickle and marshmallow crème sandwich?”

“Eww. I hope I wouldn’t get that gross of cravings.”

“Honey, you just wait.”

They stood there and just held each other while the timer kept going.

“Above all though, Allie,” Mike said, “I’ll always love you. And whatever color that stick turns, I’ll be right here for you. Don’t ever doubt it.”

Allison felt tears welling up in her eyes. “I know, and I don’t doubt it. You’re an amazing man, Michael Rosenbaum. Even though your Walken impression during sex is so not funny.”

Mike burst out laughing and kissed her hard.

The timer dinged, and they jumped. Allison took a deep breath.

“Ready?” Mike asked. She nodded.

Together, they went to read the results.

~end