FicWad

Pepper adjusted the strap on her messenger bag as she sat next to Nick in the waiting room of the clinic that her friend, Chris, worked at. Poor Nick was glancing in every direction and his legs were both bouncing as he looked at all the posters of expecting women. When he felt a hand on his leg, he stopped bouncing both of them and looked down, and then to Pepper, who smiled warmly at him, making his heart skip a beat. "Sorry, nerves," he whispered.

Pepper shook her head with the smile still intact. "It's okay Nick, Chris is safe."

"Spring Thomas?"

Pepper patted Nick's leg when her name was called as she stood with him, leading him as she followed the nurse to an exam room. When her and Nick were alone, Pepper took Nick's hand into her own and rubbed the back of it with her other hand.

"I don't get it," he whispered, confusion lacing his tone. "I hurt you. I broke your heart, and here you are, helping me. I still can't get it..."

"Nick, you were forgiven when I stopped hurting," she answered with a shrug of her shoulders. "When I stopped hurting I realized we were both young, stupid, and your Mother had your head fucked." She squeezed his hand. "I don't hold a grudge over what happened."

Nick opened his mouth to respond, but stopped when the door opened and a man around their age walked in, shooting Pepper a worried look. "Tell me you're not actually pregnant, Peppy love!" He exclaimed after he had shut the door.

Pepper laughed as se stood up and hugged the man. "Nice to see you too, Chris," she smiled. "I need to talk to you hon, it's pretty serious." She pulled away from the hug and looked at her confused friend. "I have a very delicate, very special case for you, but I need you to FULLY adhere to the doctor, patient confidentiality agreement. No matter what. I'm even willing to sway your decision."

Chris eyed her suspiciously with his light brown eyes. "What kind of sway are we talking, love?" He questioned, leaning against the patient's table.

"Free supplies for a month, with a starting payment of a pound up front," she answered, getting a curious look from Nick, and an excited look from Chris. "As I said, this is very special."

"I want to hear the case," he said, "then I'll tell you if we have a deal or not. I want to know what I'm getting myself into."

"I'm not pregnant, Chris, but he might be," Pepper explained as she motioned to Nick, who had started fidgeting again. "He says that six tests came up positive, and has been showing pregnancy symptoms. He's fully male, and straight, so we have no clue as to how it happened."

Chris stared at the two while he slowly processed the information he had been given, before he scratched the back of his head. "This isn't a joke?" He questioned as he looked at the man behind Pepper, trying to figure out where he knew him from. "If he is pregnant, he'll need a caregiver, then what?"

"The full pound payment up front, and every month, until the baby is born, if you'll be the caregiver, I'll give you a half pound. Does that sound fair to you?" When Chris nodded quickly, his eyes wide with excitement, Pepper reached into her messenger bag and produced the pound she had spoken of, secured in a gallon freezer bag. She handed it over to Chris and smiled at Nick, who could only stare in shock at the freezer bag full of marijuana. "Either come over or call when you're ready for your next payment," she said as she looked to Chris, who was practically drooling over the green substance.

He nodded and tucked the bag away in a cabinet, using a key from his key ring to lock it, making sure his weed was safe. "Alright, let's get your friend on the table," he said as he faced Pepper and Nick. "What is your name anyway?"

"His name is Andrew Hazel," Pepper answered.

"Nice to meet you, Andrew," Chris said as he shook Nick's hand. "Hop up on the table for me and lift your shirt to the bottom of your...um...huh. I guess in your situation, since you're lacking breasts, I'm going to have to say your breast plate."

Nick managed a weak smile as he got up on the bed and laid down, lifting up his shirt as instructed. He sent a pleading look to Pepper, who moved to the other side of the table and ran her fingers over the short, black buzz cut he was sporting as a disguise. He mouthed a thank you to her as Chris turned on the ultrasound machine.

"Since we have no idea as to how far along you MIGHT be, this might not show us anything," Chris explained as he spread some cold jelly-like substance on Nick's belly, chuckling softly when Nick jumped. "Sorry, I forgot to warn you it would be cold. Now, if this doesn't show us a fetus, or signs of a spot one could be, we might have to run some tests to find out what could be making you show signs of being pregnant."

Turning his attention to the monitor, Chris went quiet as he slowly moved the transducer over Nick's belly, watching the monitor closely. He wasn't sure what he was looking for, only since this was a male, and they had no idea how far along he might be, but he still looked for what he normally would if this were a female. Any spot where a fetus could be, or for a fetus itself.

Nick looked up at Pepper, who was also watching the monitor as well. When she felt his eyes on her, she looked down at him and gave him a comforting smile. He didn't know why, but it meant the world to him that she was there with him, and was willing to do so much to help him. Staring up into her blue-green eyes, he forgot where he was and what was going on. All he could focus on was her hands on his shoulder and on his short hair, soothing away his stress. A small click, followed by a strange sound brought Nick out of his stupor and made him look at the monitor, where a blurry form made his heart seem to stop. "Is... Is that?"

Chris let out a slow, heavy exhale as the three of them stared at the fetus and listened to the heartbeat. "It is..." He finally answered. "You ARE pregnant."

"Can you tell how far along he is, Chris?" Pepper questioned, surprising herself that she could make her vocal chords work.

Chris shook his head to clear himself from his daze. "Uh, yeah...Kind of." He cleared his throat. "He's somewhere between three to four months," he explained. "He isn't near twenty weeks yet, otherwise we wouldn't need the Doppler amplification to hear the fetus' heartbeat. With how visible the fetus is, the baby is at least three months so far..." He printed out the picture and turned off the machine, looking at Nick, who was staring down at the picture. He held the sonogram out to Nick, who took it and looked at it while Chris cleaned the gel off of his stomach.

"How am I going to have this baby?" Nick questioned, unable to take his eyes off of his child.

"Well, if you manage to carry the baby to full term, a cesarean would be the only way," Chris answered. "With you being a man, this pregnancy is going to be considered a high risk pregnancy. Your body might need help producing what it needs to help sustain your baby's life." He looked at Pepper, who was also looking at Nick's sonogram, her eyes staring with wonder. "Pepper, can I put the medication in your name? It will make all of this easier."

Pepper looked up at her friend. "Yes, of course," she answered with a nod before her eyes shifted to the picture in Nick's hands. "Thank you so much Chris, Andrew and I really do appreciate this."

[Author's Note: Just a heads up, I'm about to posting more chapters to this since I made more progress on it and I want you guys to get caught up to where everyone else is =) Have a good night! I might throw out 3 or 4 more chapters but I would like to see some insight from those of you reading this story. =) Much appreciated! Love you all!]