Kieran delighted in sticking around with Tegan, in being with her. He made the days and nights… interesting. Added a whole level of longing that made Tegan seriously enjoy ending her shifts at work, so she could return home to whatever surprise Kieran had in store.
The pregnancy test resulted in the very thing she suspected, and dreaded.
Pregnant. No doubts whatsoever. Pregnant, with the baby of a dragon shifter. Sure, she wanted kids at some point, but that was meant to be, like, far off into the future. Far off enough so that she didn’t have to reflect on it for a while yet.
Damnit. This wasn’t supposed to happen so soon. She wanted to make something of herself. Take time to settle into her career, the one she still plotted for. Not exhaust herself looking after a child, and especially looking after one single, because she doubted that Kieran would want to rush into a family. They were still testing the waters with one another, unsure whether to take things further or just keep dancing, leave things casual, and never worry about plunging into the true depths of their feelings.
She thought of her allotment, of the plants straining to grow, the drinks fermenting in their barrels, and the bar she wanted to run one day. She thought of all of that decaying, turning to dust, and leaving her with a squalling, ravenous baby in her arms. Maybe one with scales, and inhuman eyes, exhaling smoke through their nostrils. She thought of herself struggling to make enough money to keep them both afloat, people mocking her, saying they always thought she’d end up like this. Never believing for a second that she’d make it anywhere. After all, who seriously thought mixology was a worthwhile cause and career for a woman to pursue?
Fuck.
She paced up and down like some feral, caged animal, feeling nothing but bars around her, and claustrophobic. What should I do? What the hell should I do? She wanted to freak out, smash a chair or something. Her hands itched to make something as well, but with a start, she realized she’d have to be careful sampling alcohol when mixing, or just stick to tried and true results rather than experiment. Tegan took a moment to lie on her bed, breathing heavily, dealing poorly with the swirl of emotions.
At one point, she cried, and exhausted herself with the crying, until all the energy drained out.
I have to tell him. Of course, there was always the chance of miscarriage. Maybe she should wait longer, until certain that it had a high chance of being born, and then drop the news? Also seemed equally shitty. Ugh.
What was the responsible, adult thing to do here? Tegan debated for a moment, and then called all of her friends. She’d helped them enough. Time for them to help her for a change.
In a flash, Katie, Bianca, and Emory all agreed to meet up. Tegan wasn’t sure if Katie and Bianca would react kindly to Emory—she’d always been the one friend they slightly turned their noses up at. Didn’t matter—Emory was her oldest friend, even if she did a lot of questionable shit in her teenage years.
Usually, people liked to gather at Tegan’s house because she did the mixing, but since Kieran was due back within the next hour or so, Tegan preferred meeting elsewhere. Bianca offered her neat, clean house, and they all crawled over there within the next half hour.
Bianca was your blonde, confident type, and Katie more polite and teeth-gritting, something you needed to be if you had an older sister like hers. Pretty much everyone in Whitefall Creek knew about the older sister, Rachel, and her debacle of a wedding. How could they not? Any kind of wedding or funeral event became the talk of the town. Rachel went ahead, burned all bridges, and launched herself headfirst into a feud with her former best friend and sister.
Absolute madness. Tegan could’ve sworn Rachel was normal, once upon a time.
At Bianca’s house, she insisted on getting them drinks. Emory was last inside, and Katie and Bianca gave her rather cool looks. Emory had chosen to dye her hair an acid pink, matching it with a wad of bubblegum that she now blew out of her mouth into a miniature sphere.
“What do you do for pleasure nowadays, Emory?” Katie said, attempting to make polite, small talk.
“Do you actually care?”
Katie hesitated. “Not really, but that’s standard to ask someone.”
“If you’re interested talking to me, sure. If you’re not, don’t bother.”
Tegan smiled to herself. “Okay, let’s not butt heads. I need to tell you all about a… problem. I’m not sure what to do about it, I mean, frankly, I can’t think very straight, so I need intervention from people I care about.”
Emory straightened up as Tegan said this. “What is it?”
After hesitating for a moment, Tegan spilled out the situation, along with her fear of the future, of the allotment she wanted to grow and make as a part of her business. All potentially stoppered by a dragon shifter’s child.
“Adopt,” Katie said, and Tegan stared at her. “If you don’t want to go for abortion—not that I’d blame you—but you don’t want to keep the child either, then you can always put it up for adoption.”
“No abortion,” Tegan said. “Only if I or the child would be in severe danger. Then I would. But this is my mistake, so…”
“Well, you need a check-up then, see if it’s ectopic,” Bianca said. “Make sure there’s nothing wrong. Don’t delay it.”
“Aren’t you supposed to have your first appointment at like 8 weeks or something?”
“God, no,” Bianca answered Emory. “Early as you can make it. Do you plan to tell the father, Tegan?”
“I don’t know. He’s looking for a relationship, but this is just a trial. Not sure he’d take kindly to a pregnancy bomb being dropped on his head before he figures out if he actually wants me or not.”
“Tell him,” Katie advised. “It’s not good for something like that to be sat on. Who knows—maybe he’d want to adopt the child. Definitely don’t hide that.”
“Shouldn’t I wait at least a few weeks?” Tegan said, now feeling slightly desperate, though she didn’t know why. “Like, what if something goes wrong?”
“He should still know.” Katie was adamant on that. “Even if something goes wrong, he should still know there was something happening. That’s not fair otherwise. This isn’t something you should keep a secret.”
“Whoa,” Emory said. “Didn’t realize you were this assertive. You were pretty shy back in school.”
“She has morals,” Bianca stated. “Something I believe you’re unfamiliar with?”
“Ha. You know literally fuck-all about me.”
“Ladies, please… play nice.” Tegan lifted up her hands in a placating gesture. “Please don’t insult each other. This isn’t why I brought you here.”
Emory had the grace to look contrite. “Sorry.”
After a moment, Bianca apologized as well.
“Will you tell him?” Katie asked. “Or keep it quiet?”
“Oh, fine. I’ll tell him.” As soon as Tegan finished that statement, the fear rose up in her again, squirming like an eel in her stomach.
“It won’t ruin your future,” Bianca said softly. “You mustn’t think of it like that. Okay? This is an opportunity for something great to happen.”