Friday, August 25, 2017

Molly took a deep breath. She was three days late. Instinct told her the result would be positive, but she had waited the extra days to be more certain. Her breasts were feeling a little tender and she knew that was often one of the earliest symptoms of pregnancy, besides the missed period, of course.

During her lunch break the previous day, Molly had stopped at a chemist to buy the pregnancy test. Sherlock had already been urging her to take the test, because he was anxious to know. It had not even been two weeks since they had returned from their honeymoon. Could it really be this easy? If so, it was a true blessing, because it was something they both wanted, and wanted soon, given their ages.

Now it was her lunch break again and Molly had gone into the toilet cubicle with the pregnancy stick, emerging a couple minutes later. For the next three minutes she paced restlessly. Then she decided to wait one extra minute, just to be certain the results would be in no doubt, one way or another.

The toilet was unoccupied save for herself, which was a relief. The little stick on the counter was a dead giveaway as to what she was doing, and she really didn't want anyone to know before Sherlock if the result was positive.

Please God, let it be positive, she prayed silently. Nothing was certain of course until she viewed the indicator.

Finally, hesitatingly, Molly picked up the stick and nearly whooped for joy. Two pink lines, It was positive. Pulling out her phone, she took a photo of the stick with the two pink lines and sent a text to Sherlock with the picture and a smiley face.

Less than thirty seconds later, her phone rang.

There was a note of awe in Sherlock's voice as he said, "Molly, didn't I tell you?" Then his voice choked up as he said, "A baby, Molly, we really made a baby!"

The sound of his voice made tears form in Molly's eyes too. "Yes, sweetheart, we did! I'm going to get Kaitlyn to take some blood to make certain, but these things are pretty accurate these days. If I can get the bloodwork done immediately, we might be able to have the results by the end of the day."

"Okay, love," he responded. "I love you."

"Love you too."

Molly pocketed her phone, exited the toilets and headed to the lab, where her best friend, Kaitlyn, was just putting on her lab coat to get back to work after her own lunch break.

"Hey Kaitlyn, I need a favour," Molly said to her friend.

"Sure, What do you need?" asked Kaitlyn, looking up after she had finished buttoning up her white coat.

Molly gave her a mysterious smile. "I need you to draw some blood from me."

Kaitlyn's eyes twinkled at her friend. "I'll bet I know why. You're pregnant, aren't you?" She gave Molly a wide smile. "So you did get pregnant on your honeymoon then? I remember you telling me the timing would be right for it."

Molly blushed. "Well, the pregnancy test was positive, but I want the bloodwork to verify it. You have to promise not to breathe a word to anyone though."

"I'll keep your secret," promised Kaitlyn. Then she added cheekily, "You guys certainly didn't waste any time in trying to make sure it happened. You must have been very busy on your honeymoon."

Molly pursed her lips at her outrageous friend. "Isn't that rather the point of a honeymoon, Kaitlyn?"

Kaitlyn laughed and nudged her playfully. "I guess, especially for the two of you, seeing as you were so precious in the way you waited to have sex until your wedding night. Was he fabulous in bed, then? I'll bet he researched it, didn't he?"

Molly rolled her eyes. Kaitlyn could be so embarrassing. "I'm not going to dignify that with a response, except to say I am highly satisfied. Plus," here, she lowered her voice a little, to make sure nobody else would overhear if they unexpectedly entered the lab, "he read me romantic sonnets from Shakespeare during a picnic."

Kaitlyn's mouth opened in astonishment. "I knew he had changed, but to read poetry to you as well? My God, Molly. He really has turned into the romantic hero you always wanted him to be, hasn't he?"

Molly couldn't suppress a grin. "You don't know the half of it, Kaitlyn. But please, Sherlock doesn't want people to know what he is like in private life. He only reluctantly gave me permission to tell you about the poetry because I begged him. I wanted someone to know how romantic he truly is."

Kaitlyn giggled. "Well, I'm honoured. I'll keep your secret, but you know I'm going to have to tease him a little about it - but only if there is nobody else around."

Molly frowned. "He'll kill me if you do that to him." Then she added, "Actually he won't, he knows what you are like already. Oh, and don't forget you still own me that twenty pounds from our bet."

Kaitlyn nodded. "Ah, yes, the chastity belt, I mean - bet. Remind me later when I can get to my locker and pull out some money from my purse."

Trust Kaitlyn to come up with a name for the bet, Molly thought, amused. She didn't need to know on how many occasions Molly and Sherlock had been in danger of losing that bet. If it hadn't been for several timely interruptions...

Her thoughts were interrupted by Kaitlyn waving a hand in front of her face. "Earth to Molly. Do you want me to draw this blood or what?"

Molly blinked and focussed on her friend's words. "Oh, yes, of course. Do you think we can put a rush on it?"

"I'm sure we can figure something out," responded Kaitlyn with a smirk. "I'll bet Sherlock is especially anxious to find out if he's going to be a daddy in nine months time." Then she shook her head. "I can't believe it, the thought of Sherlock being a father. But I guess with you as a mother, the baby should turn out relatively normal."

Molly swatted at her friend playfully and rolled up her sleeve.

Ten minutes later, the blood had been drawn and sent for analysis to determine the hormones related to early pregnancy.

For the rest of the day, Molly found it hard to concentrate on her work. She was hoping, praying the test had been correct.

The results were available on the computer just before Molly finished work for the day. Blood analysis confirmed it positively that she was indeed pregnant. She couldn't help the huge grin that spread over her face after she read the welcome words, which of course Kaitlyn noticed.

"Let me be the first to congratulate you, my friend," said Kaitlyn, giving Molly a big hug.

While Molly was finishing up a quick inspection of the lab to make sure everything had been put away properly, Kaitlyn left the lab and returned a couple of minutes later. She handed a twenty pound note to Moly before departing with a wave.

A few minutes after that, Molly was hanging up her coat, getting her things to leave, when a very familiar face showed itself in her locker mirror, as had happened on more than one occasion.

She whirled around. Her husband stood there with a bouquet of two dozen red roses in his hand. She flew into his arms, almost knocking the flowers to the floor in her excitement. "The blood work confirmed it, Sherlock!" she told him exultantly, as his one arm held her, while the other still held the bouquet.

He gave her a long, lingering kiss, before saying, "I'm so glad, sweetheart." He handed her the beautiful bouquet and she inhaled its fragrance.

"I wasn't expecting you to come here," she told him, nonetheless smiling brightly.

"How could I not?" he responded. "My wife told me we are having a baby. I think we need to celebrate it, don't you agree?"

Molly looked a little doubtfully at the roses. "People will talk, wondering why I'm carrying a big bouquet of roses. Maybe they will guess why you gave them to me."

"Hardly," Sherlock responded with a chuckle. "We just came back from our honeymoon. I think it is completely logical that I would be bringing my new wife flowers. After all, we are still in the newlywed phase."

Molly gave him a coquettish look. "Well, if this is the newlywed phase, I hope it lasts for a long time."

"If I have anything to say about it," responded Sherlock in his deep voice that always sent thrilling tingles running up and down her spine, "it will last a lifetime." He took the flowers from Molly and set them on the locker room bench. Then he proceeded to thoroughly kiss her again before they made their way out of the hospital arm in arm for a romantic, celebratory dinner at Angelo's before heading back to their home in Baker Street.

Even as they exited the hospital, Molly looked up at her husband and said, "Kaitlyn gave me the twenty quid she owed me for our bet. You're gonna laugh when I tell you how she referred to it - she called it the chastity bet."

And indeed he did.

Author's note: This story is going to be one I don't update often, because I want to keep it timed with the continuing Diary Journey story. My intent is to show Sherlock and Molly at the various stages of her pregnancy as they have their antenatal visits and ultrasound scans. As the reader, I hope you will enjoy the glimpse into their joy as they experience things pertaining to the pregnancy.

If you are an American reader, this will (I hope) give you an accurate view of the way things are done in England, and believe me, it is quite different than it is done here. If you are an English reader and think I am not doing something correctly, let me know. I have been using UK resources to research things and I hope it all comes out correctly. I pride myself on being thorough with my research and want to be as accurate as possible in my commitment to writing realistic fiction.

If you are from another country, I'd love to know how things are done in your country, so please share your experiences!

In the meantime, I'd love to see follows/favourites and feedback on whether the premise of this story interests you. I still have a long way to go in writing the entire pregnancy story and if it doesn't seem to resonate with readers, I'll just shorten it to omit the later antenatal visits.