𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐰𝐨

𝐉𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲

I didn't sleep a wink last night, my mind reeling and spinning as I thought about the possibilities. Could I actually be pregnant? It was as bizarre as it was terrifying. I wasn't ready to be a mom yet. I wanted to go back to school, get an education, do something with my life. 

But I suppose Paul and I were kind of asking for it. How had we been so stupid... since getting together, we hadn't used condoms at all. I didn't think about it and, apparently, neither did he. We were so caught up in this blissful happiness that we hadn't thought about what can happen when you have unprotected sex. 

It was stupid. 

It was beyond dumb. 

And if I am pregnant, my dad is going to kill us. 

As soon as the sun rose, I was out the door, not saying much of anything to my dad or Jake as I left. I drove all the way to Forks to go to the pharmacy; there was no way I was risking someone at the res store knowing my business. Rumors like that spread like wildfire around here. 

My palms were sweaty as I pulled up to the pharmacy. I wondered the store for ten minutes, grabbing random items to look like I was shopping before I hid the pink test under them and walked up to the registered. 

I didn't make eye contact with the worker as she scanned my items, and my hands shook as I quickly paid and took the plastic bag from her. 

After that, the drive home felt like forever. My mind was reeling, my thoughts spinning. I didn't know what to do or think. All I could do was breathe. 

By the time I got home, my heart was pounding so hard it echoed in my ears.

The house was quiet. My dad was napping on the living room couch, and Jake's music was playing faintly from the garage. I could see Bella's truck outside, they were working on those bikes again, I suppose. 

As soon as I was inside the house, I made a beeline for the bathroom, the crinkle of the plastic bag feeling impossibly loud in my hand and I cursed it, worried I'd wake my dad and then have to explain why I went to the store to buy a protein bar and a fucking pregnancy test-- odd combination, I know, but I couldn't think straight and needed something else in my basket. 

I locked myself in the bathroom, my breathing uneven as I set the bag on the counter, pulling the box out slowly, like it might explode if I moved too fast. I looked down at the box and then looked up at my reflection. 

I looked pale, my blue eyes wide and scared. I looked too young to be in this situation at all but, here we are. I wet my chapped lips, giving myself a nod of encouragement. 

"This is just to make sure," I whispered to myself. "Just to get it out of your head." I'm not pregnant. I repeated in my head for the nth time since yesterday. But that nagging doubt was screaming louder than ever and it was pissing me off.

Better to just get this over with then. 

My hands trembled slightly as I opened the box and read the instructions three times, even though it was pretty self-explanatory. I hesitated for a long moment, the little stick cold in my hand, before finally exhaling and doing what I needed to do.

Then came the longest two minute wait of my life.

I paced the small bathroom, taking deep breaths and mumbling empty reassurances to myself. It would be fine. It had to be fine. I wasn't pregnant, my cycle was just late this month. I'm worrying over nothing.

But the reassurances didn't do much and I ended up sitting down on the edge of the bathtub, and wrapping my arms around myself. My heart was pounding so loudly I was sure someone in the next room could hear it. My stomach twisted and I didn't know if it was the nerves or something else.

I didn't want to look. I really didn't want to look.

But the timer was going off and I wasn't going to relax until I knew for sure one way or another. With a shaky breath, I forced myself to stand. 

With another breath, I flipped the test over.

And in an instant, my whole world tilted. 

Two lines clear as day stared back at me. My lips parted in shock and I felt my head swim with dizziness. This couldn't be happening... 

I blinked, trying to clear my eyes as I pulled the test closer, wondering if I was seeing double or...

Nope. They were there. Two lines staring back at me, mocking me, telling me what I already suspected. 

My stomach twisted with nausea and I took a deep breath, looking up at the ceiling.

"Okay," I whispered. "Okay."

I wasn't crying. I wasn't angry. I wasn't... anything, really. There was just this quiet kind of shock buzzing under my skin, creating a fog in my mind. Like my body was still catching up to what my eyes had already seen.

I sat back down on the tubs edge, the plastic stick still clutched in my hand like it held the answer to everything. I blinked again. Nope. Still two lines.

There was a weird calm starting to settle into me, like my brain had hit some sort of emergency override switch. I was pregnant. That was... that was a fact now. That was real.

But how?

I mean—obviously, I knew how, but still. This was something that happened to girls in movies or books, something that happened to people other than me. This wasn't supposed to happen to me. I was smart, I was... I was careful in almost every aspect of my life. How could I be so stupid? 

I rubbed at my forehead and leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees. I wasn't even eighteen yet. Paul was... well, he was honestly perfect in every way but, he was so busy with the pack stuff and how would he react to this? We'd never talked about kids or anything like that. Hell, we'd just gotten together a month ago... 

We had nothing figured out. I can't even cook for goodness sake and now I was supposed to have a baby? How was I supposed to feed it if I nearly burned down the house every time I got near a stove?

A baby? Now?

The thought didn't spark dread exactly. It was just... huge. And heavy. Like it had its own gravity, pulling every other thought out of orbit until all I could think about was a thousand different scenarios of how I was going to royally fuck this up. 

I looked down at the test again.

"I'm pregnant," I said out loud, whispering it, just to see how it felt. The words sounded strange in my voice—like they belonged to someone else. But they were mine.

Somewhere, in the back of my mind, a new thought began to surface—soft, quiet, and terrifyingly gentle: What now?

And beneath all the disbelief and the nerves and the fear that was swirling through the thoughts I couldn't quite untangle yet, something warm and unspoken nestled just below the surface. It wasn't anger or upset. It wasn't regret... it was something else. Something new and real and... and so very big I didn't know what to do with it. 

I took a deep breath, staring at the two pink lines again. I wasn't sure what to do or what to think. 

The only thing I knew for certain? I needed to talk with Paul. And sooner rather than later. 

I had the test tucked away in the back pocket of my jeans as I left my house. I wasn't sure why I brought it. For proof? Evidence? I'm not sure, but it felt like a safety net, a way to say that I was sure about it. 

I didn't say anything to my dad or Jake or Bella as I left. I just walked out. My mind was only able to focus on one thing: I needed to talk to Paul, now. He was on patrol, but I knew Embry and Sam were at Sam's working on control and Sam could get Paul to me. Hell, I could probably get Paul to me if I yelled loud enough, but I really didn't want to worry him like that. No, it would go a lot better if Sam called Paul back and then we could talk. 

My boots crunched against the gravel as I made my way down the familiar trail toward Sam and Emily's. 

Before I even had the chance to knock on the door, Emily was pulling it open. She looked me over, her expression shifting to one of concern and I briefly wondered how I looked. Pale? Most likely. Like my world had just been tipped upside down? Definitely. 

"You okay?" she asked gently, brows drawn.

"I need Sam," I said, and I hated how hoarse my voice sounded. I cleared my thoat, trying to ease it, but it did nothing for the tight worry encasing my voice. "I need him to get Paul. Please."

Her eyes searched mine for a moment before she nodded and disappeared inside, calling Sam's name quietly. A minute later, he stepped out onto the porch, wiping his hands on a dish towel. He looked me over with that same concerned look Emily had worn. 

"Olivia, is everything alright?" he asked.

I opened my mouth to say yes, but the word caught in my throat. "Can you call Paul back?" I said instead. "I just... I need to talk to him."

Sam studied me in that unsettling alpha way he had, like he could make me tell him anything with a simple look, then gave a single nod. His eyes slipped out of focus for a second and then back again. I knew he'd used the pack link to tell Paul to come back.

"He's on his way," he said quietly. "Won't take long."

I nodded, barely hearing him as I turned and dropped down to sit on the porch steps, watching the tree line for Paul. I felt a hand on my shoulder, Emily's gentle touch, "I'll be inside if you need me, okay?" 

I didn't respond, I was too focused on waiting for Paul, my anxiety nearly suffocating me. I knew it wouldn't get better until Paul was here. Thankfully, Sam was right, and I didn't have to wait long.

The moment I felt that familiar pull in my chest — the subtle thrum of the imprint bond— I knew he was close. My heart kicked up, and I stood onto my shaky legs, taking a deep breath as I searched the tree line, knowing he was close. 

And then I saw him — Paul, stepping out of the trees, barefoot and shirtless, his eyes locked on me.

I barely heard him say my name before I was moving, running toward him like I couldn't get there fast enough.

He caught me instantly, arms wrapping around me as I crashed into his chest, burying my face against his skin. My breath hitched and I let out a sound somewhere between a sob and a sigh, all that tension in my body unraveling the second I was in his arms. 

Paul always made everything better. 

"You're okay," he murmured, hand stroking the back of my head. "I've got you, baby. What's going on?"

I nodded or tried to. "I needed to see you," I whispered. "I didn't know what else to do."

"I'm here, I'll always be there when you need me," he said softly, pressing a kiss to my temple. "Always."

I clung to him for a few more seconds before I finally pulled back, just enough to look up at him. I bit my lip as I felt my hands tremble slightly against his chest.

"I need to tell you something," I said, voice quiet but steady now that he was here. "It's kind of... it's kind of big."

Paul's brows drew together, but he didn't say anything — just waited. 

"I, uh... I haven't been feeling well lately," I explained the obvious. He and everyone else had noticed something was off with me. "So I, uh... I took a-a test this morning." I swallowed the lump in my throat as I reached for my back pocket, for the test that was burning a hole there. "A pregnancy test."

Paul's eyes flicked to my hand as I pulled it out and offered it to him. "Um... it's positive." I breathed nervously, my eyes glancing down to see the two pink lines that were still there. 

He didn't say anything right away. He looked at the test, then at me.

And then, slowly, something shifted in his face. Not panic. Not fear. Just this deep, quiet intensity as he took me back into his arms, holding me close to his chest.

"You're really...?" he asked against my hair.

"I think so," I whispered, still not entirely convinced this wasn't some weird dream or a hallucination or something. "I don't know what it means or what we're supposed to do or—"

Paul pulled back just far enough to look at me again, his hands on either side of my face, pulling my focus to him and only him. "We figure it out," he said, voice low but certain. "Together."

I blinked, and for the first time since yesterday, the knot in my chest loosened and unraveled until I could breathe. "I'm scared," I admitted, looking between his eyes, looking to him for all the answers. Something told me he'd have them or, if he didn't, he'd figure it out for me. 

He brushed his thumb along my cheek, the action soothing and grounding. "Me too. But not of this. Not with you."

And I believed him. Because with Paul, I didn't have to hold the world up on my own.

And just like that, in a single moment, the earth didn't feel like it was falling apart anymore. Because I had him and I would always have him. 

A/N: A little bit of a shorter chapter, but what do we think???