Dr. April S. Kepner

April blinked at the ceiling from where she lay at the foot of the bed. “No,” she grumbled, sighing deeply. “You can thank your hungry children for that.” 

“Auggie is more of a boob ninja than Ceci is. God, he’s only this loud when he’s nursing, not when he eats actually food. I mean, they may not biologically be mine but I guess they learned from their mommy because I am the boob master ninja.” Indie grinned.

She moved to kiss her wife’s cheek.

April chuckled, one hand on each of the twins’ backs as they lazed against her, on their way to falling back to sleep. 

“This doesn’t have anything to do with your belly,” Lexie said quietly, already feeling the tears pooling in her eyes. What were they going to do if she was right? What was she going to do if April was also pregnant? They couldn’t have two babies. That was insane. Lexie wasn’t even sure April wanted one baby.

She sat down on the bed and placed her hands over her small bump. Whatever happened, she knew she had to protect the baby. That had been the decision she had made in the ER a few weeks prior. No matter what, this was her baby, and what the rest of the world did or didn’t do wouldn’t enter in on her decisions.

Lexie glanced up feeling the energy in the room change. April’s face said everything she didn’t want to know. “Okay then,” she whispered.

“I... I...” April stammered, setting the test down on the dresser. She covered it with one hand, unable to look at the small ‘pregnant’ printed on the tiny screen anymore. “I don’t believe this.” 

She sat down on the bed and stared at her bare knees, then noticed they were trembling slightly. She capped a hand over both of them to try and stop it, but that only made her shoulders shake. 

When she worked up the courage to look at Lexie, a lump clogged her throat. 

“I should have noticed three weeks ago. You got sick from ice cream when it was the only thing I could eat,” Lexie said her voice low. She couldn’t even look at April. The other woman had sworn she had been careful. Almost holding that over Lexie for what felt like weeks.

She kept her arms wrapped tightly around herself. Her heart was already broken because she was positive that this was the truth. She swallowed the lump forming in her throat before pushing herself up and heading into the bathroom, where she herself became sick.

Lexie wiped her face and brushed her teeth before looking under the bathroom counter, finding the last pregnancy test she had purchased. She took the package back into the bedroom. “Pee on it. Tell me I’m wrong. Prove me wrong Apes.”

“Oh, my god,” April said, pulling up the oversized t-shirt Lexie had just given her. “Do you seriously think I’m pregnant? Look. Seriously?” 

She glanced at her stomach and skimmed a hand over it. It was bloated, yes. It had been bloated for a few days now. She was contradicting her own point. 

“You used to say my belly was cute,” she said. “Now, you think I’m pregnant. I can’t believe you’re asking me to pee on a damn stick, Lex. This is so crossing a line.” 

April blinked at the ceiling from where she lay at the foot of the bed. “No,” she grumbled, sighing deeply. “You can thank your hungry children for that.” 

Lexie shook her head and wrapped her arms tightly around herself when April asked her to lay down. Her heart was pounding. This was not happening. Not as they were starting to work through things. Not when April had finally referred to the baby as hers.

“You’re pregnant,” she whispered sitting down in the middle of the floor. How had she not noticed? Had she been so caught up in herself? But thinking back through the last few weeks, it was obvious.

April’s brow crinkled as she looked over her shoulder at Lexie, who was now sitting on the floor. “What’re you talking about?” she murmured, confused. 

When Lexie didn’t answer, April sat up and tied her hair into a loose bun. “I am not pregnant,” she said with an eyeroll. “Ha-ha. Very funny. Also, mean. You’re the one who made spaghetti tonight, of course I’m bloated.” 

“Mhm.” Indie made a noise of agreement, sinking in the hot water and pulling April to rest against her chest.

April pressed against her girlfriend, smiling contentedly as she felt Indie’s breasts against her shoulder blades. “I love you,” she murmured sweetly, resting the back of her head on Indie’s shoulder. 

Lexie returned to the bedroom with a glass of ginger ale and crackers. “Here you go. I’ll get you a shirt,” she offered highly doubting her girlfriend wanted to continue to sit there nearly naked.

“You aren’t dying. It could be a million things,” she said softly looking down. April’s nipples were darker and her breasts were larger. Lexie’s breath caught and she felt her own stomach turn. That’s how she had known she was pregnant. “No. No,” she whispered.

“Thanks, baby,” April said, slipping into the oversized t-shirt. She nibbled on the crackers and laid back down, turning onto her side while keeping an eye on Lexie, who had gone pale as a ghost.