Who: Peeta Mellark and Caroline Forbes What: Caroline dreams about being pregnant and makes Peeta buy a test Where: Peeta's apartment When: This morning Rating: Low Status: Complete!
This dreaming the future and present was getting seriously annoying. Although she had a few dreams since the last time she dreamt of the future but now she finally was again and of course she was held hostage and made to give Stefan a message on broadcast television. But that wasn’t the alarming part, even though she hadn’t seen it she somehow knew who her fiance was. She was engaged to Alaric. What. The. Fuck? Her old history teacher? Elena and Jeremy’s guardian. What even?
And yet that wasn’t even the biggest shocker. Back in the present Valerie, who just happened to be her dream boyfriend’s psycho ex girlfriend, had informed she that she was pregnant with Alaric’s and his dead wife Jo’s twin babies. Jo’s coven had done some sort of spell to put the babies in Caroline’s womb when Jo was dying. What. The. Fuck?
Caroline’s eyes shot open. Her head was spinning. How was all this even possible? Could the pregnancy carry over from the dreams? Her vampirism had and her and Peeta did have a lot of unprotected sex. Could it be a combination of both? No. She couldn’t be pregnant. Right? That was just insane. But this was Orange County. Stranger things had happened.
It didn’t even register that she was in Peeta’s apartment. She didn’t remember anything from the night before, all she remembered was her dreams. She jumped out of his bed and began pacing, all the thoughts and questions running through her mind.
From years in the service Peeta had turned into a light sleeper because you had to be ready at a moment’s notice. Which wasn’t very helpful when one’s girlfriend decided to toss and turn and leave the bed. He was okay with that part of it and he could sleep through it, but then she began to pace. The sound of her bare feet padding along on the carpet of the bedroom was quite loud to him and he eventually rolled over onto his back and looked over in her direction.
“What in the world are you doing, Care?” his voice was thick with sleep as he mumbled towards her. He didn’t know what was causing her to do this, but he also hoped that it wasn’t something he did. He tried to think back and he didn’t think anything had gone south in the past day, so it couldn’t be him, right?
Peeta’s voice startled her. She had pretty much completely forgotten he was there, even with her vampire senses she jumped when he spoke and then went right back to her pacing. Instead of trying to think of an excuse or explain things Caroline just blurted out what was going on. “I’m pregnant.”
Well, that was definitely getting to the point. He blinked a couple times before he fully sat up in bed and ran a hand through his hair as he regarded her with a confused expression on his face. “Wait -- what? Pregnant? Is that even possible?” He thought they didn’t have to worry about things like that because she was a vampire, but if this was some Twilight shit then he was going to have to worrying a little bit more.
“No!” Caroline exclaimed. “It’s not supposed to be possible. Who ever heard of a pregnant vampire? I mean Klaus got Hayley pregnant but she was a werewolf and ugh.” She was still pacing and getting off topic. “I don’t want to have Alaric’s and his dead wife’s babies! I don’t want to marry Alaric!” Poor Peeta Caroline was just rambling and probably not even making any sense but her dreams were still so fresh in her mind.
The conversation was completely hard to follow especially since he had just woken up, but he recognized a few names from when she talked about her dreams. Wait, okay, this was a dream thing. A sigh of relief came and he looked back over at her as she seemed to be more worked up than she was before. He reached a hand out and patted the mattress to get her to sit down, “Okay, what? You need to slow down. You’re pregnant and getting married to some dude in your dreams? How did you end up with babies? Especially a dead person’s babies…”
How the hell was Peeta so calm about all this? She was pregnant with gemini coven twins! Oh right he knew nothing about that. And you know he hadn’t just dreamt any of the insanity she had. She continued to pace but slowed down, she wasn’t ready to crawl back in bed or sit just yet. “Yes,” she confirmed answering his questions finally able to form some coherent thoughts.
“In the future I’m engaged to Alaric. Which gross. He used to be my history teacher. In the present I’m dating Stefan but pregnant with Alaric and Jo’s babies. Her coven did some spell to put them in my womb while Jo was dying.” Once the explanation was done hopefully well enough for Peeta to understand her pacing sped up again. Because seriously what the fuck was any of that bull shit. “Vampires aren’t supposed to get pregnant!” she protested. “And like what if I am here? What if it somehow transferred over? I became a vampire from these stupid dreams. We had sex last night! What if that with the dreams made me pregnant?!”
“And i thought my dreams were awful,” Peeta commented with a small smile as he flopped back onto the bed. This was incredibly confusing and her dreams were hard to follow now that she was flip flopping on the time aspect. “Okay, so your womb is a magical place to keep babies alive. That’s really weird. I was hoping your dreams wouldn’t be like Twilight where the vampire can impregnate someone. And does this kind of thing really bleed over?”
That part was what worried him and he turned onto his side to watch her with a concerned look. It wasn’t that he didn’t want a family, but he certainly wasn’t ready for one right now. “I don’t think you’re pregnant Caroline, but if you want me to go down to the store and grab you a pregnancy test I will. I know this isn’t something you’re at all prepared for and I wouldn’t make you do that on your own.” His brow only furrowed deeper as he tried to sort this all out in his mind.
Peeta’s dreams were definitely awful. Caroline’s well yeah they were pretty bad sometimes, but this was mostly just insanity. “I don’t know,” she sighed finally sitting down on the bed. “I mean everything else seems to bleed over from the dreams. Why wouldn’t a magical pregnancy?” she really had no clue what the guidelines for dream bleed over were. Orange County was way too fucking strange.
“Oh my god!” she exclaimed as it suddenly occurred to her. “I dreamt about the spell like two months ago. Do you think I could have been pregnant since then?” But then Peeta was saying he didn’t think she was at all. Maybe he was right. He was probably right. She couldn’t be pregnant. She was a vampire. She was just being paranoid. Too worked up from the dreams or something. But still, knowing for sure did sound pretty damn appealing. “Could you?” she asked honestly ready to take him up on his offer to buy a pregnancy test.
“Oh god, I don’t think you’ve been pregnant that long. Your body seems the same as it’s been. Wouldn’t you have morning sickness or something?” Peeta’s eyebrows raised when she brought that point up. It couldn’t actually be happening, right? That seemed too strange even for this place and he refused to believe that vampires could be pregnant. But, if she wanted to test if it was happening or not then he was fully supportive of anything that would set her mind at ease.
“Yeah, I definitely can. I just need to put some clothes on first,” he studied her for a moment before moving so that he could kiss her, “You know that I’m here no matter what. Even if it’s some weird magical spell and you’re carrying the babies of two people we don’t even know. Which sounds even stranger when you say it aloud.”
Caroline had no idea how long it took for pregnancy symptoms to start. It wasn’t something she thought she would ever have to worry about. But Peeta was right, she probably would have started showing or gotten sick or something by now. Still she would feel a lot better once she knew for sure she wasn’t pregnant.
She returned his kiss then attempted a small smile. She wasn’t expecting Peeta to say all that. Well she hadn’t been expecting to dream about being pregnant either. It had already been a whirlwind of emotions and she had only been awake ten minutes. “I wouldn’t expect that of you,” Caroline finally said giving him another kiss. “But we probably don’t even have to worry about it. I just need to make sure.” And she didn’t want to wait either. She wanted this taken care of now. “So as hot as you look right now hurry up and get dressed.” She’d offer to go with him but she was a bit too anxious for that.
“Goodness, you’re lucky I think you’re cute when you’re bossy,” Peeta teased as he got out of the bed after returning the kiss and dug around in his drawers to find some clothes. Simple outfit of jeans and a tshirt would have to suffice and he would not be combing his hair. At least he could chew some gum before he went because he would be taking a shower and all that after this errand was completed. He grabbed his wallet and gave her a salute, “Alright, captain, I’m off to the store, be back in a flash.”
Thankfully there was a drugstore within walking distance and the cashiers didn’t question him too much when he bought a couple of pregnancy tests. He may have spent a little too long looking over his options, but that’s how it went. So, with the bag in hand he made his way back to his apartment so he could set Caroline’s mind at ease.
The longer Peeta was gone the more anxious Caroline got. This whole thing was insane. Part of her knew she was being crazy as well but she just had to be sure. The last thing she wanted was to carry some dead woman’s babies who as far as she knew didn’t even exist in this world.
By the time Peeta got back Caroline was wearing one of his shirts, as usual but really what was the point in putting on pants when she was just going to be peeing on a stick? And she was back to pacing. “What took you so long?” she asked the second he walked in. The second the words were out of her mouth though she realized she was being a bit unfair to him, he had just gone out and bought her a pregnancy test when he was still probably half asleep. He didn’t exactly deserve her irrational behavior. “I mean, thanks,” she added walking over to him and kissing his cheek before snatching the bag from him. Then it was off to the bathroom, shutting the door behind her because really Peeta didn’t need to watch.
“Woah there,” he commented with his hands held up and the bag in his hand. He didn’t expect that kind of reaction, so he was a little thrown off. When she fixed her comment he gave her a small smile and then tried to explain to her as she snatched the bag. The door was shut in his face and he wandered over to it and leaned against the jamb as he talked to the door. “Alright, well, I had to figure out what kind to get. Did you know there’s about six different kinds? Hopefully this one works because it says early detection.” He just hoped that it would work and he was also kind of hoping that it was a negative. Yes, kids would be nice in the future, but not some weird magic coming from a dream.
Caroline was somewhat aware of the fact that her actions towards Peeta this whole morning weren’t the best. She’d make up for it later. Once she was sure she wasn’t pregnant. And if she was pregnant? Well she didn’t want to think about that right now. “Sorry,” Caroline replied through the door as ripped the test out of the package, tossing the box aside. “I know you weren’t expecting to ever have to do this with me,” she added before sitting down to take the test. Once she was done she set the stick down next to the sink and washed her hands because gross. She’d clean the spot where she put it later. Then finally she opened the door to let Peeta in. This minute was going to take forever. “I can’t look. Is it done yet?”
“It’s not a big deal. I mean, it is, but honestly, just making sure that I’m here for you is the most important thing. I wouldn’t want you to ever be alone for something like this. The dreams make this place a million times more strange than we ever expected,” he still didn’t know how he ended up being here and having these kind of things happen to him, but he was at least happy that some good came out of it. He had good friends and a great girlfriend and as long as those people were there for him then he would be able to survive this place and whatever it threw at him. When the door opened he stepped inside and wrapped his arms around her, “Did you set a timer or do you just want me to stare at it and see if something forms in front of my eyes?”
Caroline honestly had no idea how she ended up with such a great boyfriend. Here she was panicking over possibly being pregnant from dreams and he was out buying a test and just being there for her. For babies that probably wouldn’t even be his own if she was pregnant. Or her own. The fact that the was remaining so calm and supportive during this whole thing, it was helping.
Once he wrapped his arms around her Caroline buried her face in his chest. “No,” she replied her voice muffled by his shirt. Caroline, the girl who was usually always organized. Who thought ahead, planned things out, hadn’t thought to bring a timer into the bathroom with her. Ugh. Panicking was so not suiting her. “I was just focused on taking the test,” she added looking up at him now. “So I guess just stare? How long can a minute really take?” or maybe it was like the whole a watched pot never boils thing.
When she buried her face in his shirt he gently ran his hands soothingly over her lower back and made some soothing noises in an attempt to calm her. He was freaking out a little on the inside, but he knew that they both couldn’t be panicking. It was almost like being back in the military and you knew you had to put a brave face on when you were around other soldiers. He would allow her to have her time to process her emotions and he would be the stoic rock to bring her back to normal when she was ready. “It’s totally fine, don’t worry about it. Just stay here and I’ll keep an eye on it,” he commented with a soft chuckle in his voice. He was more than happy to watch it as long as he needed to, “Did you destroy the box? I should probably know what I’m looking for.”
“I threw it somewhere,” she hadn’t really paid much attention. Being frantic was definitely not her thing. She was making a mess of everything. Even though Peeta told her to stay put she pulled away slightly to look around for the box. But of course the pregnancy test caught her eye the second her face was no longer buried in his chest. “There’s something on the screen,” she couldn’t help but look closer at it. Not Pregnant. She sighed in relief and was glad Peeta got one of the ones that clearly stated it instead of having to deal with lines or a plus and minus sign or whatever.
Peeta didn’t even realize that he had purchased a test that read that easily. Well, at least they knew and he walked over to stare down at it once he heard her sigh of relief. “There we go. Thankfully the dreams are not being mean to you. But I did mean it when I said I would be around for you if anything did happen, so just remember that,” he was not going to let her run off that easily and be by herself if the dreams did decide to make this a real thing. There was a lot of relief that they wouldn’t have to cross that bridge today, but he wanted to make sure things would be okay if they ever had to, “Now, would you like to have a drink for breakfast? I think I might need one.”
“I know,” she replied softly. And she did, it was a new feeling, trusting that a guy would be there for her no matter what. But she liked it. “Same goes for you. If you ever end up pregnant I’ll stick by you,” she teased but really who knew? If vampires could get pregnant she wasn’t ruling anything out.
“Yes please,” and for the first time that morning a genuine smile formed on her face. “It’s like you read my mind,” she added giving him a quick kiss before walking to the kitchen with him. After that she’d get to showing him just how much she appreciated his support. No way was she going to class today.