Both of the tests were negative.

Michael didn't want to say it out loud, but he was secretly happy that Melissa wasn't pregnant. Don't get him wrong, he would absolutely love to have a baby with her in the future, but neither of them were very ready now. They'd only been dating for about 6 months and Michael was still struggling financially, a baby would make things very complicated for everyone.

But Michael promised himself and Melissa too that once he got a good job and they got more of a handle on their lives they could really try for a baby. He was excited because he really did want to start a family with Melissa, he just knew now that this wasn't a good time for either of them.

Melissa didn't have the same reaction that Michael did. When she saw that the tests were both negative she started crying and she didn't stop until later that night. She didn't say anything to Michael, they just sat down on the bathroom floor and she crawled into his lap and cried until she couldn't cry anymore.

It broke Michael's heart to see that Melissa was so sad over this, but Michael wasn't sure what else to do. He'd never gone through something like this before and he was also afraid that if he started talking he'd just accidentally blurt out that he didn't really want this baby anyway.

They slipped into a routine that was pretty boring. Every morning Michael would wake up and take the kids to school, then come home and either cuddle with Melissa on the couch or on the bed, pick the kids up from school, make dinner and let them play around for a while, then everyone went to bed. It was boring, but it worked for now.

Katie's mom was either on a trip or she didn't care that Melissa and Katie were staying at Michael's apartment, so they hadn't gone back home in a while. Which was perfectly fine, but Melissa hardly even talked to Michael now, and if she began a conversation she'd end up crying about it. Michael was even more worried about her than he was before, because Melissa was in worse state now than when she actually thought she was pregnant.

Michael was woken up in the middle of the night again, but instead of it being from Melissa watching the TV, it was Parker.

"Daddy?" He whispered, shaking Michael awake.

"Yeah, bud, what's wrong?" Michael asked. In the last few weeks he'd become very used to being woken up in the middle of the night, whether it was from Melissa or Parker or even Katie.

"I can't sleep." Parker said softly, sitting up on his knees so he could see Michael. "It hurts again."

"What hurts?" Michael sat up quickly. He noticed that Melissa wasn't in bed again, which wasn't unusual anymore. She was most likely in the living room.

"Here." Parker said, pointing to his chest.

"Did you take your medicine before you went to bed?" Michael asked. Sometimes he forgot to give Parker his medicine and of course everything ended up being okay, but Michael still got a little worried.

"I don't remember." Parker shrugged innocently.

"I don't think you did. Let's go take it now." Michael said, picking up Parker and carrying him out of the room. They walked down the hall and into the bathroom, where Michael set Parker down on the counter and got out his medicine.

"You should remind me if I ever forget to give you your medicine, buddy, I know you don't like it but it's good for you, it's helping." Michael said as he poured and handed the little cup of medicine to Parker.

"It tastes gross." Parker cringed, crinkling up his nose as he drank it.

"I know, if I could do anything to make it taste better I promise I would." Michael said. He took the cup back from Parker and put the medicine away, picking up Parker again. "Do you want to watch some TV with me for a while?"

"Really?" Parker questioned, looking up at Michael with a surprised look on his face. It wasn't normal for Michael to ask Parker if he wanted to get up in the middle of the night and watch TV.

"Yeah, we can hang out for a little while." Michael nodded. He felt really bad for not spending a lot of time with Parker lately, he'd been so preoccupied with Melissa that he'd had trouble finding time to just hang around with Parker like they used to.

"Okay." Parker nodded quickly, getting excited.

Michael carried Parker down the hall and into the living room, where he knew Melissa already was. She had the TV on but the volume was too low for anyone to even hear it and she was either asleep already or about to be.

Michael set Parker down on the other side of the couch and told him to be quiet while he talked to Melissa.

"Mel, babe, why don't you go back to bed?" Michael said, gently shaking her by the shoulders.

"I'm not tired." Melissa sat up and shook her head, wiping under her eyes.

"Yes you are, come on." Michael said, taking her hand and helping her up from the couch. "I'll be back in a second, Parker."

"Okay, Daddy." Parker nodded, already grabbing the remote from the coffee table and changing the channel on the TV.

"Michael, I'm not even tired." Melissa whined, following slowly after Michael as he led her back to their room.

"Yes you are." Michael said quietly, stopping when they reached the bedroom door.

"Are you going to stay up with Parker for a while?" Melissa sighed, deciding not to try and argue with Michael any more.

"Yeah, probably." Michael nodded. "He woke up because I forgot to give him his medicine and I don't think he'll be able to fall asleep again for a while."

"Okay." Melissa said quietly, grabbing both of Michael's hands in hers and pulling him closer. She wrapped her arms around Michael's waist, resting her head against his chest.

"Are you feeling alright?" Michael asked, even though he already knew the answer to his own question.

"Yeah, I'm okay." Melissa said, her voice in a soft whisper. "I'm the same as I've been for the past couple weeks."

"I'm sorry, Mel." Michael whispered, kissing the top of her head.

"It's okay, you don't need to apologize." Melissa said, sniffing once. "It's not your fault."

"And it's not your fault either." Michael said, cupping the sides of Melissa's face and making her look up at him. "It's no ones fault."

"I know, I don't know why I'm so upset about this." Melissa said, shaking her head. Michael wiped away few tears that fallen from her eyes and then pulled her forward again, hugging her tightly.

"You should get some sleep now." Michael whispered. He rubbed Melissa's back, trying to comfort her as she began to cry softly into his chest. "Don't cry again, Mel, please don't cry."

"I'm sorry." She mumbled into Michael's chest, hugging him tighter.

"It's okay, babe. Just go to bed, we can talk some more in the morning." Michael whispered, realizing that this was the most they'd spoken in the last few weeks.

"Alright." Melissa pulled away from Michael and wiped under her eyes one more time. "I love you, goodnight."

"Goodnight, I love you too." Michael said, moving some hair out of Melissa's eyes. She nodded again and turned around, going into their room and closing the door behind her.

Michael let out another big sigh and made his way back into the living room, where Parker had already turned on some cartoon show that he always watched.

"Hey, Pac-Man." Michael said and sat down next to Parker, pulling him onto his lap.

"Hi, Daddy." Parker giggled, finding himself a comfortable position on Michael's lap.

"Are you feeling better? Does your chest still hurt?" Michael questioned. He knew that the medicine wasn't going to work right away, but it usually didn't take long for Parker to feel better after having it.

"Just a little." Parker shrugged.

"That's good, just tell me if it starts to hurt again." Michael said, even though he'd probably already told Parker the same thing millions of times.

"I will." Parker nodded, returning his attention back to the TV for a moment. "I like staying up late and watching TV with you."

"Yeah, I like it too." Michael nodded. This wasn't the first time he had let Parker get out of bed in the middle of the night and watch TV. Sometimes Michael seemed to forget that Parker was only four and he wasn't really supposed to let him stay up late like this.

"But I won't tell Mommy about it." Parker giggled, covering his mouth with his hands. "Don't worry, Daddy."

"Thanks, Park." Michael said, letting out a small laugh. He secretly liked how Parker sometimes acted like he disliked Beth as much as Michael did.

(Of course Michael didn't really dislike Beth, he was just mad at her at the moment because of what she said about Michael being irresponsible. He knew that deep down he could never really hate Beth, no matter what she did to him).

"Mommy's new house is cool." Parker mumbled, picking up the remote off of the couch and playing around with it while he spoke.

"Is it? I haven't seen it yet." Michael shrugged. He really wasn't interested in seeing Beth's new house either, mostly because he knew that her dumb boyfriend (or fiancé) would just be there too.

"It's really big." Parker shrugged.

"Yeah, that's what you told me a few days ago, remember? You told me all about the new house." Michael said quietly. "You said you got a cool new room and everything."

"Uh huh, I have two rooms. One for me to sleep in and one for all of my toys." Parker said, sounding excited. "But I still really want a puppy."

"I wish we could get a puppy, Park." Michael sighed. Parker had been going on about getting a puppy for the longest time, and Michael really wished that he could get him one. "In a little while we'll move into a big new house and we can get a puppy, okay?"

"Okay, I'd like that a lot." Parker nodded happily.

"Yeah, so would I." Michael nodded as well. "I think it's time for us to get out of this little apartment."

"Daddy..." Parker trailed off, pausing for a moment. "Mommy told me that she's going to get married."

"Oh, did she?" Michael asked. He knew that Parker had gone over to Beth's house the weekend before but he didn't know that she'd told him about her getting married. She'd barely told him about it, and Michael was still waiting for some more details.

"Yes, she's getting married to Jason. He's nice sometimes." Parker nodded. "I guess that's okay."

"Are you sure, Park? Because, you know, a lot of things might change when Mommy gets married." Michael said, wanting to make sure that Parker knew that he could come to Michael if he had any questions. He didn't know what questions Parker could possibly have, he was only four and probably didn't care much.

"I'm sure." Parker nodded. "I wanted you and Mommy to get married, but now I want you to get married to Melly instead."

"I think I would like getting married to Melly a lot more than getting married to Mommy." Michael laughed, crinkling up his nose at the thought of him and Beth getting married.

They both laughed, although Parker probably didn't even know what he was laughing at. Their laughs quietly faded and then both boys fell into a comfortable silence, staring at the TV in front of them.

"Daddy, I have a question." Parker said after a few moments of silence.

"Yeah, what is it?" Michael asked. He knew that Parker could ask many different questions and Michael could come up with many different answers.

"Why is Melly so sad?" Parker asked, turning around so he was now facing Michael.

"Oh, well, uh, it's kind of hard to explain, Park." Michael sighed, not knowing what he was supposed to tell Parker.

"She was crying again today." Parker said, "I don't like seeing her sad."

"Yeah, I know, Park, it's not fun seeing her so upset like that." Michael nodded. Even though this wasn't a good situation, Michael was glad to see that Parker cared about Melissa enough to ask if she was okay or not.

"Do you know why she's so sad?" Parker asked again. Michael knew that Parker wasn't going to stop asking until he found out what was going on, so Michael tried to think of something to say.

"Well, she really wants something that she can't have." Michael blurted out, not sure of what else he was supposed to say.

"Oh." Parker nodded slowly, trying to understand. "Does she want a new toy? Sometimes I get sad when I can't get a new toy."

"No, Park, it's not really a toy." Michael chuckled softly. "It's a lot better than a toy."

"Does it cost a lot of money?" Parker questioned.

"Yeah, it does." Michael nodded. A baby would cost a lot of money, and that's another reason why Michael was okay with them not having a kid right now.

"Well, I have some money." Parker said, giving Michael a small shrug. "I can buy Melly's toy for her."

"No, I don't think you can." Michael laughed, because while Parker's offer was sweet, it was impossible.

"I just don't want her to be sad anymore." Parker pouted, folding his arms across his chest.

"It's okay, Park, she'll be happy again soon." Michael promised him. He was sure that after a while Melissa would eventually return back to her normal self, she just needed some time. "She's going to be okay, you don't have to worry."

"I don't like when Melly's sad, I like when she's happy and makes cookies with me." Parker said, still looking upset about this. "When will she be happy again?"

"I'm not really sure, but you don't have to worry about it, Parker, she'll be okay." Michael assured him again, brushing some hair off of Parker's forehead.

"I think we're all sad when Melly's sad." Parker sighed, leaning back again so he was resting against Michael's chest and facing the TV.

"Yeah." Michael nodded, sighing again. "I think you're right."

*•*•*

"Michael?" Melissa said softly as she walked into the room. It was later that afternoon and Michael had dropped the kids off at school a couple hours before. He was in their room now, sittng on the edge of his bed and texting Ashton.

He'd told Ashton about what was going on with Melissa, only because Ashton had gone through something similar with his wife. Before Emily got pregnant she really wanted a baby, just like Melissa, and Michael remembered Ashton saying something about Emily acting just like Melissa was.

"Hey!" Michael gave her a big smile, setting his phone down next to him so his full attention was on Melissa.

"Hi, are you busy?" She asked, walking over to Michael and standing in front of him.

"No, not at all. What's up?" Michael said, holding his arms out and inviting Melissa to come sit on his lap.

"Nothing, I just wanted to talk." Melissa said quietly. She sat down on Michael's lap and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer to her.

"Talk about what?" Michael questioned. He ws open to talking about pretty much anything with her, Michael and Melissa hadn't really talked in a while and he missed that.

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for the way I've acted lately." Melissa sighed. "I've been acting really immature about this whole thing."

"Mel, don't apologize about this. You're not acting immature at all, it's totally fine for you to be upset about this." Michael said quickly. He felt bad that Melissa was blaming herself for this when really it wasn't her fault at all.

"I am acting immature. I completely shut down and made you take care of the kids and everything else and I feel so awful about it." Melissa said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "I mean, I don't even know why I'm so upset about this."

"It's perfectly okay for you to be upset about something like this." Michael sighed, not knowing what else say to her. He didn't want it to accidentally let it slip that he didn't want a baby as much as Melissa did.

"I just - I didn't want a baby at first but then when you left to go get the pregnancy tests I thought I really was pregnant and I started to get relly excited. I realized that I really do want a baby. Like, right now." Melissa said, and for once she actually looked happy about what she was talking about, and not like she was going to cry at any second.

"Mel, I really want a baby too, but I don't think that now is the best time for us." Michael sighed, not wanting to upset her. Melissa finally seemed happy and Michael didn't want to ruin that. "We should wait for just a little while, just until we both get our lives together."

"Yeah, I know, you don't want a baby." Melissa mumbled, looking away from Michael.

"No, no, I do want a baby! I just said that I want a baby!" Michael defended himself.

"I can tell that you don't." Melissa sighed. "And it's okay, if I was in your position I wouldn't want a baby either."

"I just want to get a job first, and maybe we can move nto a bigger place, or get married! I love you, Mel, and I want to start a family but just not right now." Michael said softly, trying to calm Melissa down.

"I just don't understand how I'm not pregnant." Melissa said, getting off of Michael's lap. She began to pace around the room, now too worked up to just have a calm conversation. "I have all of the symptoms. I've missed my period twice and - "

"What? You think the tests were wrong?" Michael questioned. "You took two of them, I don't think it's possible for them both to be wrong."

"I just don't understand, Michael." Melissa stomped her foot on the ground. Now she was acting immature. "I think I really am pregnant. I've been acting like I'm pregnant, I've googled pregnancy symptoms millions of times and I have all of them - "

"You think both pregnancy tests were wrong? Mel, they were both negative, I don't think that's a coincidence." Michael said calmly, standing up and walking over to Melissa. He grabbed her by the shoulders, trying to get her to stop pacing.

"Well I think it is." Melissa said, glaring up at Michael. "I don't know what else it would be."

"I don't know, Melissa, I'm not a doctor so I can really tell you what's going on with you." Michael said sarcastically, kind of wishing that she would just drop this. She wasn't pregnant, and she had the right to be upset about that, but Michael didn't see why she was fighting this.

"You're just saying this because you don't want a baby." Melissa looked down at the floor and pouted, folding her arms over her chest.

"No, I'm saying that because it makes more sense than two pregnancy tests both coming out negative and both being wrong." Michael tried to say in the nicest way possible, even though he knew that at this point everything he said seemed to come out wrong.

"Why do you have to be so mean about this?" Melissa whined, and now she looked like she was about to cry again.

"Mel, baby, I'm not being mean." Michael said, ignoring the way Melissa tensed up when Michael called her baby.

"You are being mean. You don't believe me." Melissa said, blinking back tears. She might not have been pregnant, but she was definitely still having a hard time controlling her emotions.

"Mel, I saw the pregnancy tests. Both of them said negative, both of them were saying that you aren't pregnant. Okay?" Michael said, moving some of Melissa's hair away from her face. "I'm not trying to being mean, I just don't understand why you're insisting that you're pregnant when we know that you aren't."

"It just feels like I am." Melissa insisted.

"Well, why don't we schedule a doctor appointment for you? We can go together and they'll tell you for sure if you're pregnant or not." Michael suggested. Melissa seemed to like this idea and nodded, finally calming down again.

"So what if I actually was pregnant? What would you do then?" Melissa asked, pulling away from Michael.

"I-I don't know, Melissa, I haven't had a lot of time to think about it!" Michael groaned. "You didn't even give me much of a warning about it, either!"

"Would you want it?" Melissa questioned.

"Yes, of course I would want it! We've already talked about this, haven't we?" Michael asked, not understanding why Melissa had to carry on about this. "I want to have a baby, but I think we need to wait just a little longer!"

Melissa let out a big sigh, calming herself down. "I know, I know." She sniffed, "I just didn't realize how much I wanted a baby until I thought I was actually going to have one."

"I want a baby too, I really want a baby, Mel." Michael said, taking Melissa's hand and leading her over to the bed again, sitting her down on the edge of it. "It's just better if we wait."

"Okay." Melissa nodded.

"I'm going to get a new job soon, okay? And then we can move into a nice big house and maybe we'll get married or maybe we won't, it really doesn't matter, and then we can have a baby." Michael explained. "Does that sound good?"

"Yes, Michael, that sounds good." Melissa said quietly, crawling over the bed and sitting on Michael's lap again. This time she sat with a leg on either side of his body, her arms wrapped loosely around his neck.

"I love you so much. You know that, right?" Michael whispered, leaning in

"I know." Melissa nodded, coming forward and kissing Michael on the lips for the first time in what felt like forever. "I love you." She mumbled against his lips.

"I'm sorry if I made you upset about this." Michael said softly, pulling away from Melissa for a moment.

"It's okay, I was acting stupid." Melissa mumbled to herself, leaving another short kiss on Michael's lips.

"No you weren't, I'm sure anyone would have acted the way you did." Michael spoke softly. "I didn't mean to be a jerk, I was just scared. I'm not ready to have another baby."

"I know, and I should have thought about that." Melissa said, letting out another sigh. "We both need to focus on the lives we have now before we start to think about the future."

"Yeah, that's a good idea." Michael nodded. She was right, they should just work on taking care of the kids they had now instead of trying to take care of a new one.

Michael also knew that he needed to find a steady job before they could think about having a baby, and once he did he was sure this would all be a lot easier.

"We're going to have a family one day, baby, don't worry." Michael whispered before leaning in and kissing Melissa again, falling backwards onto the bed and pulling her with him.

-

I WROTE THIS ALL IN ONE DAY IDK ABOUT YOU BUT IM PRETTY PROUD OF MYSELF

I have a plan don't worry I know what I'm doing