A Moment's Surprise--Chapter 7
Whether it’s called an accident or the fates of the universe, you and Calum find yourselves taking on the next level of your relationship: parenthood.
Reader (Gender Neutral) X Calum. Multi-chapter Series.
Series Note: Across this series, pregnancy is discussed thoroughly. While I have made this series specifically a reader insert and have done my best to avoid coding for cis women, I am taking this moment to acknowledge that this content may not be suitable for every reader. I want to acknowledge even if I’ve been careful some things (like uteri) are still mentioned and if that causes you discomfort please DO NOT read this. You may keep scrolling (as there is a read more) / skip this as necessary.
Series Masterlist | Calum Hood Masterlist | Main Masterlist
Chapter 7
Calum brings your hand to his lips, pressing kisses along your knuckles. Distracted by your own magazine, you look over and then gently pinch at his cheeks. He grins and pauses with his thumb hovering over the two Google documents that you shared with them yesterday. You two wound up getting on the road late—even though the bags were packed after lunch, Calum still wanted just a bit longer with you. While never one to consistently delve into every desire that plagued him, Calum knew the second you mentioned that you’d be changing quickly before the drive that he wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity. You didn’t object to his advances and it delayed your departure by an additional hour and a half. But it was worth it. Now, in the doctor’s office, Calum figures he can use the time that they have to wait to catch up.
“That is my cheek,” he teases.
You only shrug in response and go back to flipping through the magazine. He plants one last kiss on your hand and then turns his attention first to the invitations. He spots a card with swans at the top and laughs mostly to himself. You’re dead set on a swan or duck theme for the baby’s room. Calum only playfully resists you.
As he continues down, he pauses at one that has a cute drawing of a dumpling. “Okay, but the fact that it says, ‘Their little dumpling is on the way.’ We can’t not have these as the invites,” Calum says holding his phone in your direction.
“If it said Pumpkin I would’ve just ordered them without hesitation,” you say.
“Don’t do that as we don’t have a venue quite yet. But this is my top choice.”
“Consider it done. Or as close to done as it can be.”
“So you’re not going to fight for your little swans?”
“Dumplings are cuter,” you counter.
“Oh my god, you’re sick. What have you done with my partner?” Calum untangles his hands to press the back of his hand to your forehead.
“Oh goodness, behave,” you chide. Your attempts to swat at his hands are mostly done in jest.
But Calum presses on and you grab onto his wrist. The action does not thwart him. “Hmm, no, no fever. Is this a Scooby-Doo kind of situation?”
“Part of me currently wishes it was.”
“If you turn out to be some ghoul hiding in a flesh suit, I will be disappointed but not mad.”
A soft tuft of laughter catches his attention and he looks up to see the nurse. Their scrubs are decorated in soft pink flowers. They lean up against the door that divides the patient rooms and wing from the waiting area. “I mean this is the most entertainment I’ve gotten all day, so please, let’s see how this episode plays out,” they grin.
“Well, this is a little awkward. Tell me you heard everything but that last line.” It’s not so bad that the two of you got caught. But that’s not the confession he’d want anyone else to hear.
“Hmm, I could say that, but it would be a lie.”
“Damn,” he sighs and then stands to help you up.
“I think we should start a swear jar now and you should just cash in a couple thousand right now,” you joke.
“I’m-I’m not that bad!” Calum follows behind you and the nurse. To his right, he catches the small glimpse of a seashell painting. Though Calum’s only been around for a handful of appointments, there is something comforting about the painting. The more comforting thing is to see you taking things in stride. Some of your energy is back, but the movement now wakes you in the night, or catches you off guard and it’s clear that it’s not always pleasant. Nothing stops you from having your small moments of joy. As much as you and Calum did worry about all that is to come--for all the right reasons--he hopes that your small getaway is a reminder enough to take in the small moments as they come.
In the lull between the nurse leaving and the technician coming in, Calum traces the lengths of your lingers. He wants to commit to memory every centimeter, but he knows it’s a faulty desire. His memory will never do you justice. “I could go for french toast right now,” you whisper to yourself.
“Do you want to go after this?”
“For dinner tonight?” you ask. “I do have a meeting for work.”
“Dinner sounds good. I can text Mum and see if she wants to tag along.”
You nod. “That sounds good.”
It doesn’t take long to send off the text and by the time it shows that it was delivered there’s a faint knock on the door. Calum’s quick to get his phone put away. Before this moment, Calum was excited to know the sex of his baby. Now it makes his stomach flip just a little. Maybe it was the name debate still lingering in the back of his mind. He still hadn’t looked over the list. He still hadn’t quite gotten comfortable with the idea that everything he was being told now could be wrong. His little one still had every right to say that boy or girl wasn’t correct.
What would he say? Would it be the wrong thing? Would he mean well and still land flat on his face? Would they still look at him the same?
It’s all theoretical.
It’s all practical.
It’s all in the future.
It’s all right now as the monitor fills with his tiny baby still growing in the womb. “Oh, they’re in a good position for us to reveal the gender. I’m going to snap these pictures and then have the doctor assess and give you the exciting news.”
It’s all right now.
The technician leaves. In the time Calum takes to blink, to look at you, eyes catching the mid morning light, there’s a knock at the door. The doctor peeks in, all smiles.
It’s all right now.
“I’m happy to give you two the good news. Baby is doing well, hitting all the percentiles for weight. And the even better news,” the doctor says, slotting herself onto the chair, “is that you two are having a baby boy.”
It is all…right now.
_______________________________
“A boy?” Joy asks, setting her glass of water down onto the table. Her smile is bright even if her tone and cadence are even.
The sound--the utterance of the syllable ‘boy’-- still causes Calum’s breath to catch. “Yeah,” he exhales.
You squeeze his hand underneath the table for a brief moment. “I think he’s still in shock.”
“I-Well, I’m processing,” Calum defends.
“Oh, I’m so excited,” Joy laughs. “I’m sure, Calum, you’ll be tieing up cleats in no time.”
Would his boy like soccer? Would it be a different sport? Calum’s not sure he really cares what it is, he just knows he wants to be on the sidelines, at the games, or performances cheering his heart out. He wants to be there in every essence of the phrase.
“A boy,” Joy sighs. “Ah, makes my heart full. How was everything else though? I know the last time you went to the doctor, they were a little concerned about your blood pressure.”
“It’s all good this time. We think it was just stress. Keeping an eye on it and hoping that now we have a lot more planned before then things stay where they’re at.”
Calum knows the two of you are talking, but he’s still thinking about the basketball games, or maybe the art shows, or maybe dance. Maybe even American football. He doesn’t know much, but your uncles are deep into it. He should ask them. Maybe it’ll be ceramics. Or maybe it’ll be music.
“A boy,” he whispers mostly to himself, staring down at the menu. The pictures don’t register in his eyes. All he keeps picturing are all the possibilities with his child--stages, fields, practices, proms and school dances.
When the three of you return home that night, Calum excuses himself to the music room for just a moment. He stares down at the text he’s had drafted since he dropped you off at work. The group chat’s been mostly silent since they’ve all returned home. Most of them no doubt are absorbing as much as they can of their worlds before they go back on tour. But Calum did promise he would update them once he got any news about the baby.
We’re having a boy!
It’s a fact. It’s complete. But it does not feel whole. So Calum deletes the text and then taps on the ‘i’ in the top right corner. He starts a group FaceTime call, plopping down in his office chair and waits as the lines ring. A boy, Calum tries to process the news and somehow it still feels like he’s dreaming. Calum really didn’t have a preference either way--he just wanted a happy baby. But the pride swells now at the thought that he could tote his little man along with him. Calum could teach him about rugby. They could match in outfits, granted you might have some thoughts about what was appropriate to match and what was not. But still, the possibilities, which were already new, feel newer. They feel limitless.
“Brother, what’s up?” Ashton grins as he answers.
“Hey, Ash.”
“Oh, you’re grinning hard, mate. Good news? How’s everyone doing?”
“We’re all good,” Calum exhales. “Good news on our front.”
“Looks like a party in here,” Luke says as his screen loads.
“Hey, Luke,” Calum greets.
“Where are you, Luke?” Ashton asks. Around Luke is a lot of blue but there’s no structures that make it clear where Luke is exactly. Ashton, Calum guesses, is at home in the office space that’s never really been an office.
“Backyard,” Luke returns, showing off Petunia laying on the deck next to him.
“Howdy, howdy,” Michael chimes in. “What’s happening?”
“Cal’s got good news, or so he says,” Ashton chuckles.
“Like baby news?” Michael questions, a smile crossing his lips. “I swear, Crystal and I are ready to go shopping. And maybe I jumped the gun and bought socks. But they’re cute socks too!” Michael disappears for a second, the sound of rustling in a plastic bag cuts through the speakers. He unveils a trio of red, navy, and white socks. Two of them have bear faces designed into them.
“Michael, you’re buying clothes and they haven’t even told us the gender!” Ashton reprimands. “Well, sex, I mean. Sorry, Cal. Little Hood can be whatever they are, you know.”
Calum shakes his head, trying to take a decent screenshot for you of the socks. “No worries. Where did you get those socks, Michael?”
“Target. Went to get another mouse pad for just normal use, not a gaming one. Passed by the baby section on the way there and got suckered in. You said the registry is complete, right?”
“It’s done, yeah,” Calum answers with a nod.
“I’m going to need it. For scientific purposes only. You know, educate myself on what one needs for a baby and subsequent baby showers that we are going to have.”
It’s clear as Michael prattles on, the clear indication that he’s excited for the baby, that Calum couldn’t have been blessed with better people in his life. They cared--deeply and unabashedly about Calum and his family that was growing.
“While Michael preaches the good word of education, I’d like to actually hear this good news Calum supposedly has,” Ashton interjects.
“Oh, good news. We love good news!” Luke grins.
“I was going to text the group but it felt too lame, my text. But, today, we found out the sex. We-I’m still processing this by the way. It’s absolutely blown my mind. I don’t think I’ve been the same since I found out if I’m honest. We’re having a boy,” Calum concludes.
His friends cheer from the phone screen. Ashton falls back in his chair, his phone camera only capturing the ceiling and the failing limbs that managed to cross over into the front facing camera’s view. Luke pops out of his chair. The shake of his screen indicates the movement of what Calum only assumes is a dance. Michael flies out of his gaming chair and starts running through his house. His cheers and cries for Crystal echo just slightly over the other’s laughter.
“Our boy is having a baby boy!” Ashton shouts through a string of laughter. “Congrats, man! That’s so exciting.”
“They’re having a boy!” Michael hollers. “Shit, oh my god. At Target, there’s this onesie. It’s really cute! He needs it. I don’t care if you hate it Calum or if they hate it, baby Hood needs that damn onesie.”
Luke’s all smiles before part of his screen fills with Sierra. She passes along her congratulations, most of her attention stays on Luke as she laughs at Luke’s dance moves to celebrate the news. It’s utter chaos Calum is sure to anyone not in the room, watching as the rest of the boys holler in their excitement. But Calum wouldn’t want it any other way.
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