Alex-

"Can I ask you something?" I asked Brook.

We were sitting in the backseat of a taxi headed towards the doctor's office Matt found for us. Thankfully it was only about twenty minutes from the hotel.

"You just did," Brook replied, a playful smirk on her face.

I smiled and kissed her softly. It warmed my heart to see her having a somewhat lighthearted attitude considering her borderline bat-shit-crazy meltdown last night.

We hasn't discussed the whole thing much since before she fell asleep the night before which is why I still had some questions.

"Can I ask you another question?"

"You just did," she repeated, this time with a giggle.

"Smartass," I shook my head. "I'm just going to ask you then."

"Be my guest."

I took a deep breath, realizing I was going to quickly change the mood right now with one question.

"Was having babies part of your plan?" I asked.

"What plan?"

"You know... Your plan. The future."

"Oh," she shrugged. "I'm not sure. Growing up I always figured I would have some but also figured I would get married."

I nodded slowly. "Okay..."

"I guess once I ruled out the idea of getting married, I never really thought about having a baby. Marriage and babies always seemed like sort of a packaged deal."

I nodded again. "So, say we leave the doctor today and we're told you are not pregnant, years down the line, you wouldn't want to try again? For real?"

She looked at me, her eyebrow arched in question.

"I told you; I haven't thought about it. Why? Have you thought about having babies in the future?"

I was a little nervous to answer this honestly, but I went for it anyway.

"Of course," I said and her eyes were glued to me. "I know I don't exactly seem like the type, but I would love to be a dad one day. I don't know how good I'll be at it, but I'd like to give it a shot."

She looked incredibly surprised, as if she never expected to hear those words from me.

"I had no idea," she finally said.

"Well, of course you didn't. We never talked about it before now."

She nodded. "You're right."

I shrugged. "But I guess after today that will be something we discuss at a later date."

I would never think of mentioning this to Brook, ever, but given the choice between having a baby now versus possibly never, I would chose now. The thought alone sort of made me see how much my relationship with Brook truly matured me.

Brook was quiet for a few blocks before she asked me another question.

"Do you have a preference? Like all boys?"

I smiled a little. "Ultimately, I just want healthy babies. But if I had it my way, there would be a boy first and then a girl. That way the boy can be the man of the house when I can't be there."

I expected this information to freak Brook out but surprisingly she had quite a goofy smile on her face. "You've given this some thought, huh? You have names picked out too, don't you?"

"Well, yeah. I do. But that's only because of this lame pact Jack and I made back when we were kids."

"And what pact was that?" she asked.

"We have to name our first born child after one another. Luckily both our names can be easily translated if one of us has a girl first."

"That is adorable," Brook smiled.

I laughed. "Yeah. So one day there could be a little Jack Thomas Gaskarth or Jacklyn Olivia Gaskarth running around."

I was happy to see that Brook still had a smile on her face as this conversation went on.

"Okay so, I understand why the middle name Thomas, but why Olivia?"

"Promise not to laugh?"

She nodded. "Promise."

"When I was younger I had a huge crush on Olivia Newton John," I confessed.

"On my God," Brook gasped. "You're kidding," she laughed.

"No," I shook my head. "I'm totally serious and you promised not to laugh.

"I'm sorry," she said, clearing her throat to stifle her giggles. "That was just too cute," she added, leaning her head on my shoulder.

I smiled, leaning over and kissing the top of her head. "It's okay. I don't mind hearing you laugh."

She smiled up at me at me and gave my knee a squeeze. "I still can't believe we are doing this right now," she said quietly.

"I know," I nodded. "But we got this. Whatever the outcome ends up, we got this."

Brook looked up at me again, a smile on her face. "Thank you."

I nodded. "You're welcome."

She leaned up and kissed me lightly. "I love you," she whispered.

"I love you, too," I kissed her back just as the taxi pulled over and the driver announced that we had arrived to our destination.

I opened the door and stepped out of the car and extended my hand to help Brook out. "Ready to do this?

She squeezed my hand tightly and nodded. "Let's do it."

Brook-

Once we stepped into the office, I put on a brave face. I knew that Alex wasn't exactly telling me how nervous he was about all of this and the last thing I should have been doing was flipping out and making it worse for him.

I signed in at the front desk and a nurse handed me a clipboard with six forms that I needed to fill out. About twenty minutes later, I was finished and a nurse brought me to a room. I could tell Alex wasn't sure if he was supposed to come with or not, but once the nurse started moving down the hall, I grabbed Alex's hand and dragged him with me, not giving him much of a choice.

The nurse took my vitals, which included a tube of blood and a urine sample and wrote some notes about my situation in my chart before telling us the doctor would be in soon.

"You okay?" Alex asked, standing next to me as I sat on the exam table, my knee nervously bouncing up and down.

I nodded. "I just wish this process wasn't so drawn out."

Alex smiled sympathetically at me before kissing the top of my head and squeezing my bouncing knee.

"I know. I'm getting a little anxious now too."

"Hey," I said, making him look up at me. "Thanks for coming in here with me. I definitely couldn't handle this part on my own."

He smiled, linking his fingers through mine and holding our hands up. " We're kind of a package deal now, babe."

I opened my mouth to say something but quickly snapped it shut when the door creaked open and an older gentleman came in and introduced himself as Doctor Burke. He asked us a little about ourselves, mostly because this was our first time in his office and we were so far from home.

"Now I know you are here to find out if you're pregnant and the nurse is processing your urine sample in the lab now so while we wait why don't you tell me what pregnancy symptoms you're having."

I told the doctor about the antibiotics and the new birth control. I told him how Alex and I may have stopped using condoms too early. I told him how I've been living on a bus for the passed month and lastly how my period was almost two weeks late and I had some wicked mood swings, not to mention the one at home pregnancy test that came back positive.

The doctor nodded while he jotted some things down on the chart and Alex never once let go of my hand. He's squeeze it reassuringly every so often.

"I take it by the thick tension in the room that you guys aren't looking for a positive result today, huh?"

I shook my head. "We're just not ready yet."

"Well, I don't want to give you any false hope but while most if what you told me could prove you are pregnant, it could also prove you're not." The doctor explained.

"I'm sorry?" I questioned, confused.

"Taking any strong medication could cause your cycle to fluctuate. Changing the brand of pill you use could also cause fluctuation. A drastic change in lifestyle. Immense stress. These are all contributions to a late or missed period."

Alex nodded slowly and spoke up for the first time really since the doctor came in. "Can you repeat that last one real quick?" he asked.

I raised and eyebrow as the doctor repeated the word stress. Alex swung his head around to face me.

"If that's true, you must be off every month," Alex said to me.

"Do you stress out easily?" the doctor asked me.

"Too easily," Alex answered for me. "That's why I made her come on the road with me..." he said trailing off toward the end. "Oh my God. It's my fault. I brought you out here and made you sick. Brook, I'm so sorry," he panicked.

The doctor shook his head, quickly cutting Alex off. "Clearly emotions are running very high right now. And before we get too crazy, lets see what the tests results say."

Alex and I nodded and the doctor gave us a reassuring smile. "I will leave you two alone for a few moments while I go check on your lab results."

"What are you doing?" I asked Alex as soon as the doctor left the room.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I'm trying my best to hold it together but if you snap like that again I am going to completely lose it."

"I'm sorry," he mumbled. "Momentarily lapse in sanity. It won't happen again. I promise."

"I'm not stressed out being here," I said after a few moments of silence. "I already told you how amazing it's been for me."

He shrugged. "Maybe you're lying for my benefit.

I pulled on his hand until he was standing directly in front of me. "Look me in the eye, Alex. I'm not lying. I promise."

"Okay," he nodded. "I believe you."

I gave him a shaky smile before pressing my face into his chest and wrapping my arms around his waist. He immediately wrapped his arms around my back. It was lame to say, but I felt so incredibly safe in Alex 's arms, that even this whole thing felt better.

Alex kissed the back of my head before both his hands were grasping my face so we were making eye contact. "I just want you to remember that no matter what happens when that doctor comes back in here, I love you and we will get through this."

I nodded as he kissed me lightly. "I love you, too."

"I mean it Brook. If it turns out that we have to do this, I'm ready. It's going to be hard and scary and probably the most challenging thing either of us could have to do right now but I know that we can do it. I know it."

I smiled, kissing him. "Keep talking. You might actually convince me we can."

"We can," Alex repeated, kissing me gently, pulling back a second later when the door opened slowly and Doctor Burke walked in.

I could see a white sheet of paper on top of the folder that he held in his hand. That piece of paper dictated pretty much the course of the rest of our lives.

"How are you guys doing?" the doctor asked, Alex moving to stand next to me, his hand tightly clutched to mine.

"Nervous," I answered flatly, not appreciating the fact that he was delaying sharing my results.

The doctor nodded, glancing down at the paper. "Well, you can calm down. Ms. Monteverdi. The results were negative. You are not pregnant."
*****

When Alex and I got back to the hotel, it was almost immediate that I changed back into my pajamas and crawled into bed and fell asleep. Knowing that I was not having a baby literally made me feel like a different person.

I wasn't sure how long I was asleep before Alex was lightly pecking kisses over my face and pulling me from my slumber.

"Hey," he smiled.

"Hi," I smiled back.

"Zack just called me. Everyone is going to grab some dinner in a little bit. Do you want to go?"

I shook my head, yawning. "You go ahead. I'm not really in the mood to go out. But you go. You deserve it."

Alex shook his head. "I'm not going without you," he said, kissing my forehead before grabbing his phone to what I assume was text Zack.

I sat up and rubbed my eyes. "You can go," I said again and Alex kissed me, ignoring my comment.

"Can I tell you a secret?" he asked when he pulled back from the kiss.

"Of course."

"There was a super, teeny, tiny, minuscule, microscopic part of me that was disappointed when the doctor said you weren't pregnant."

I looked up at him, blinking a few times. "Um... What?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I just figured this might be my only shot to have a baby with you. So I figured I'd rather do it now than risk never doing it later."

"Wow." I said slowly.

"How else are little Jack Thomas and Jaclyn Olivia supposed to come into the world?"

"When you spoke of them, you imagined me as their mom?"

"Of course." Alex nodded.

"Wow," I said again.

"It probably would be weird for you if I made you raise children with me that I went off and made with someone else."

"You've really thought about our future, huh?"

Alex nodded with a smile on his face. "You've done the impossible, my dear. You've made a guy like me, the one with a never grow up, Peter Pan complex, think about the future and responsibility and everything."

"So," I started, moving so I was straddling Alex's legs. "Does that make me Wendy or something?"

Alex laughed, his hands resting on my waist. "That's exactly right."

"Can I tell you a secret now?"

Alex nodded excitedly. "Yes, please."

"I love you," I said, pressing my lips to his.

He laughed as I kissed him again. "That's not a secret," he pointed out and this time I laughed.

"I wasn't done," I said and Alex nodded. "I love you and I think it would be pretty great to have a baby with you some day."

"Really?" Alex was beaming. "But I thought you said that marriage and babies were a package deal?"

"Well, for some people who want to get married, they are a package deal. But for someone like me, having a wonderful guy whom I love very much and a baby is a new, better package deal."

"Damn," Alex sighed, tucking a piece of hair behind me ear and kissing the tip of my nose. "When can we start?" he joked, grasping my hips and flipping us over so my back was against the mattress.

"Down boy," I laughed, wrapping my arms around his neck. "Just know that when I say some day I mean some day way, way, way in the future."


"That's fine with me," Alex said; his smile still managed to grow as he leaned down and pressed a kiss to my lips. "Because as far as I'm concerned, you are my future."

Over the course of the night, the butterflies in my stomach had been going into overdrive with each and every incredibly sweet comment Alex said to me. By the time he told me I was his future, I was floating.

I tightened my arms around Alex's neck and leaned up to press a hard kiss to his lips.

"If the idea of sex wasn't currently terrifying to me, you would so be getting laid right now."

Notes

Story Title: Taylor Swift - Sparks Fly
Chapter Title: Yellowcard - With You Around


Sooo... She's not pregnant! :)

Are you disappointed? Relived? Let me know in the comments! <3 :)