Chapter 295: Carla

And remember, this is for posterity, so be honest. How do you feel?

~Count Rugen in The Princess Bride

She'd gone and done it. She'd told him. She couldn't take the words back. She couldn't flee the country and raise the baby on her own. She couldn't pretend that it wasn't real any longer.

She'd told him the truth.

His arms, so warm and welcoming around her just a moment before, went stiff. His whole body went stiff. He wasn't breathing. He wasn't moving.

She was being held by a statue.

"I'm...I'm pregnant," she said again, because it'd been horrible enough to say the first time, so why not repeat it? "I'm about three-and-a-half months along, from what I can tell. I'll be going in to see a doctor to get my first check-up, but..."

"Pregnant," he breathed.

Good. He was still alive. That was good.

"Yes. With a baby. Christian, we're going to have a baby...?" She hadn't meant for it to come out as a question, but it did anyway.