Disclaimer – Drake belongs to Pixelberry, Cassie is my OC. Fics are ’just for fun & I don’t make any money off them.
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Drake ran his large fingers gently through Cassie’s soft dark hair. They were supposed to be watching a movie, but she’d fallen asleep against his chest little more than forty minutes into it. His girl was exhausted. She had just finished the final exams of the first year in her Masters. Drake was permanently in awe of Cassie: she was working full time at the hospital, studying at night-and acing every assessment and exam she tackled-as well as helping her dad out… Drake was as proud as hell of her. When she’d said she wanted to do the Masters, he’d been concerned she was taking on too much, but realising that she really wanted to take it on to further her nursing career, he offered his full support. Drake had taken to do with helping Cassie’s dad out with a lot of the bits and pieces that she normally would have looked after, and honestly he’d enjoyed it. Building a close friendship, with the man who he knew would be his father-in-law eventually had been a nice added bonus to taking some of the pressure off Cassie. Now she had a whole eight weeks before the second year of her course began and Drake intended to make sure they made the most of their free time while she had a well-earned break from studying. Drake had planned everything from evenings at the cinema and bowling with their friends, to a spending a couple of nights camping by the lake, and he couldn’t wait to spend some real quality time with his favourite person. He placed a gentle kiss into her hair as he flipped the TV off using the remote and stood scooping her into his arms to carry her to bed. He chuckled and rolled his eyes as her sleepy little voice groaned out, arms wrapping around his neck, nuzzling into him,
“Hey… I was watching that…”
—-
By the time they were a few of weeks into Cassie’s study break, the couple had completely de-stressed. In the evenings, as Cassie had moved onto permanent day shift at the hospital to accommodate her studies, they would either go out somewhere to eat, or Drake would spark up the fire pit and they’d sit snuggled together for hours, or they’d simply make love for hours, which Drake had no shame in admitting was his favourite pastime with Cassie. The break was wonderful for both of them, a real chance to enjoy each other’s company, just the way they had before Cassie started her studies.
On the way to Cassie’s Dads place for Sunday lunch, she was unusually quiet as she stared out the window. She looked like she was totally lost in thought. Drake reached across the centre console, squeezing her denim-clad knee gently,
“You ok baby?”
Cassie quickly pulled a big smile onto her face and exclaimed in an unconvincing voice that sounded just a little too over-done,
“Me?? I’m great!!”
Drake raised an eyebrow at her, quickly looking over, taking his eyes off the country road,
“You sure?”
Cassie looked him in the eye, biting her lip, she couldn’t fool him. Her eyes started filling up,
“Drake…”
Drake’s mouth fell open and his eyes widened, ‘What in the hell…??’ He spotted a layby up ahead quickly indicated, manoeuvring the vehicle into it, pulling up the handbrake.
Cass wasn’t a crier, if she was upset, something was wrong, ‘Maybe her Dad’s heart got worse? Is she not happy with me? Oh God!’ Drake tipped Cassie’s chin up gently to look at him, as she blinked back her tears,
“Cassie what is it? What’s wrong? Please talk to me?”
Cassie blurted out,
“I think I might be pregnant.”
Drake’s jaw nearly hit the floor as he swallowed hard,
“Preg..? How? I don’t mean ‘how’, I know ‘how’, oh you know what I mean?”
Cassie squeezed her big green eyes tight shut as she let out a shaky breath,
“I don’t know Drake. I’ve been taking my Pill like normal, but I’m late…”
Drake nodded, a little sideswiped – he wasn’t expecting ‘this’… He smiled, stroking her hair, trying to soothe her,
“Ok, so you’re late. A couple of days late, or late-late?”
Cassie sniffled a little as she linked fingers with her love,
“I wouldn’t have said anything if I was only a couple of days late Drake… I’d decided if still nothing had ‘happened’ by today, I’d tell you…”
Drake shook his head,
“Of course. Sorry Cass.”
She whispered as she chewed on her bottom lip anxiously,
“Don’t be sorry… Are you upset with me?”
Drake gawped at her,
“Good God, no Cassie! Heh, it takes two to tango…”
Despite herself she started to laugh, that was like something her Dad would say! They’d been hanging around together too much, she decided. Drake looked deep into her pretty eyes as he started to chuckle at her laughing, reaching up and cupping her smooth cheek he asked,
“Have you taken a test?”
Cassie shook her head firmly, a fearful look in her eyes,
“No. I’m scared to see what it says Drake… How can we have a baby? I’ve got at least another year of my course to go, everything’s so crazy, it’s only during this break we’ve had any time together recently, how can we do all that with a baby…? How would we manage? Your mom’s in America, my dad isn’t well enough to help out…”
Drake exhaled a long breath as he rubbed the back of his neck, shaking his head,
“I don’t know Cassie-bear. Honestly, I don’t know. The timing isn’t great, and this might all still be a moot point, but if there is a tiny baby in there – our baby – I love you more than anything and we’ll find a way to make it work…”
Cassie burst into tears as she pulled her handsome man closer to her, her fingers running through his shaggy dark locks, his stubble ticking her chin as she pressed loving kisses into his tanned skin.
Drake enveloped her in his muscular arms as his mind raced; he loved Cassie and he wanted to spend his life with her, and he wanted to be a dad – eventually… This was all a bit faster than he’d anticipated, and it certainly wasn’t planned, but a kid? A family of his own? With Cassie? He felt his heart swell with love as he thought about it. He grinned widely at his petite partner as she dried her eyes with the sleeve of her pretty green sweater. She smiled at him shakily,
“I guess we should maybe buy a test on the way back from Dad’s?”
—
After the longest Sunday lunch in history, they were back in Drake’s truck, heading home, via the nearest pharmacy… Cassie was still quiet as they drove, she was utterly conflicted. After seeing how Drake reacted when she told him her suspicions, she had watched him closely during the rest of the drive and then at her Dad’s place, he was beaming, he looked like he’d won the lottery. She’d initially been so worried about a pregnancy disrupting her Masters, and her job, and helping her dad, and how lousy the timing was, that she hadn’t really thought about the fact that she and Drake Walker, the love of her life, the only man for her, might be having a gorgeous little baby… Her heart soared as she pictured them with a tiny, soft, snuggly, bundle of joy, like a beautiful chubby cherub, fast asleep, smelling like talcum powder, cuddled up on Drake’s chest as his arm draped lazily around her shoulder… A tiny little person with Drake’s big brown eyes fixed on her as she nursed him or her, quietly singing lullabies in a rocking chair in a lovely cosy nursery in their home that they would decorate together… She wanted all of that, so much… But God, the timing was awful.
—
Drake held Cassie’s hand as they sat nervously together on the edge of their bed waiting to turn over the test. Drake was reading the back of the packet, a straight line for negative and cross if it was positive. When the three minutes had passed, he nodded solemnly to Cassie: this was life changing,
“Time’s up baby.”
Cassie sucked in a deep breath and closed her eyes as she flipped the test over,
“You read it. What does it say Drake?”
Her eyes sprung open as she felt him squeeze her hand gently, his voice hoarse,
“I guess you were worried about nothing Cass, maybe you’ve just been stressed with your exams?”
Cassie’s mouth dropped open, unable to get any words to come out. ‘Negative?’, her head swam as her eyes filled up. Eventually, she was able to give Drake a nudge with her shoulder as the remained side by side, whispering,
“I suppose that’s good, right? The timing wasn’t ideal…”
He turned, wrapping his arms around her, feeling truly deflated as he pressed a kiss into her neck before his chin rested on her shoulder,
“Yeah, it’d have been a lot Cass. A baby…”
Drake pulled back to look at Cassie, concerned, a few moments later when he felt a loud sob wrack though her slight frame,
“I’m sorry Drake, I’ve got no right to be crying…”
Drake tenderly pushed her dark hair back from her face, a sad smile turning his lips up at the corners,
“You’re relieved Cass, I get it, your Masters and-”
Cassie cut him short,
“No, you don’t get it Drake, I was so worried about all of that, and then when you were so amazing about it and how happy you looked today… And then when I started to think about it, what it would be like to start a beautiful little family with you, I got so carried away and I fell so deep in love with our baby, we’d have worked it out somehow, other people do… Now I feel… I feel like I’ve lost something that I never even had to start off with… I’m sitting here crying over a baby that never existed in the first place… How ridiculous and stupid am I?”
Drake reached out and cupped Cassie’s heart-shaped face in his large hands, gently smoothing her tears away with his thumbs as he smiled at her kindly, his own dark eyes threatening to fill with tears,
“You’re not stupid or ridiculous. For that couple of hours, I really liked the idea of being a dad… Me and you with a family of our own, it made me happy.”
Drake took Cassie’s hand in his, placing it over his heart,
“I never really gave it a lot of thought before, I always supposed we’d maybe start a family some day, but it was something that was way out in the future… But today… I realised there is nothing I want more in this life than for you to be my wife and to carry my children Cass… I want it all with you baby, everything life has to offer.”
Cassie, overwhelmed with the sentiment of Drake’s words, half-smiled at the love of her life as a fresh flood of tears burst free,
“I love you more than anything, and I can’t wait to marry you and have our babies Drake.”
He pulled her body closer to his, whispering in her ear,
“I promise you, we’ll have it all when the timing is right Cass…”
—
End – VP 💖
