"I'm pregnant."
The words fall into silence so complete I hear my own pulse thundering in my ears.
Lev doesn't move. Doesn't blink. Just stares at me with an expression that gives away nothing.
"Say something," I whisper when the silence becomes unbearable.
"How long have you known?" His voice is flat. Empty.
"Two weeks. Maybe a little more."
"Two weeks." He repeats it slowly. "You've known for two weeks and you're just telling me now."
"I was scared." The words tumble out. "Terrified, actually. Of your reaction. Of what it would do to you after everything you've lost. Of you thinking I did this on purpose to trap you or secure my place here or any of the hundred things you might think except the truth."
"Which is?"
"That I didn't plan this. That we were careful and it happened anyway. That I love you and I'm having your baby and I'm absolutely paralyzed by fear of how you'll respond."
He stands. Moves to the window with his back to me, hands clasped behind him so tightly his knuckles are white.
I wait. Watch his shoulders rise and fall with controlled breaths. See the tremor running through him that he's trying to hide.
"Lev, please say something. Anything. Even if it's that you hate me for this, just say it so I know where we stand."
"I need a moment."
The words hit like a physical blow. "What?"
"I need to think." His voice is still flat. Still empty. "I need time alone to process this. So, please leave. Now."
"But we should talk about this together—"
"No!" It explodes from him with a violence that makes me flinch. He spins to face me, and the expression on his face is devastating. Rage and pain and terror all mixed together.
Tears stream down my face as I walk out the door, down the hallway, into our bedroom, where I lock myself in and collapse against the wall, sobbing.
He's going to leave me. Going to reject us both. Going to decide this is too much, too dangerous, too reminiscent of everything he lost.
And I don't blame him.
I slide down to the floor and let myself fall apart completely. Cry until my throat is raw and my eyes are swollen, and there's nothing left but hollow aching emptiness.
Hours pass. No word from Lev. No knock on the door. Nothing.
Just me alone with my fear and the life growing inside me that might cost me everything.
My phone buzzes. Tash.
I answer on the third ring, voice wrecked from crying. "Hey."
"Val? What happened? You sound awful."
"I told him." The words come out broken. "About the baby. He told me to get out. Shouted at me to leave. And now it's been hours, and he hasn't come to find me, and I think I just destroyed everything."
"Oh, babe." Her voice is gentle. "Give him time. This is massive, especially with Patrick still out there hunting him and all that he loves. He's probably in shock."
"Or he's deciding how to tell me he can't do this. Can't risk loving another child he might lose. Can't handle the responsibility of protecting us when he already feels like he failed before."
