{"id":1086,"date":"2012-10-30T06:00:09","date_gmt":"2012-10-30T13:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/?p=1086"},"modified":"2012-10-29T17:11:07","modified_gmt":"2012-10-30T00:11:07","slug":"season-8-episode-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/?p=1086","title":{"rendered":"Season 8, Episode 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
\nMia perched uncomfortably on the edge of the bath. She had her eyes shut, trying to calm her mind by focusing on everything around her. The hard ceramic ledge she sat on. The cold tiles under her feet. Outside, a garbage truck doing the early morning rounds. A barking dog. A whoosh of air as a car drove past. The neighboring front gate opening and closing.<\/p>\n

The plastic stick clutched in her hand.<\/p>\n

She\u2019d had her eyes closed much longer than the requisite five minutes, but couldn\u2019t bring herself to look. She kept telling herself she\u2019d count to sixty and then open them. Once she reached three-hundred and sixty, she gave up on that. The sensible thing would be to treat it like a band-aid – just see the result. After all, not<\/em> looking wasn\u2019t going to change the outcome. Whatever it was.<\/p>\n

Down the hall, a bedroom door opened and she could hear footsteps padding towards the bathroom. A knock on the door.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah?\u201d Mia answered without opening her eyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou OK?\u201d It was Johnny.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, fine. I\u2019m fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou coming back to bed?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just about to have a shower.\u201d<\/p>\n

A pause. \u201cAll right.\u201d<\/p>\n

The footsteps went away, the bedroom door closing again. Mia took a deep breath. She couldn\u2019t stay in here forever. She opened her eyes. It took a moment for them to adjust to the light, but when they did she finally looked at the white plastic stick in her hand. Two pink lines. She scrambled for the box of instructions. Two lines. Pregnant.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t really a surprise, but she still felt as thought the breath had been knocked out of her. With certainty came responsibilities and questions. Questions she didn\u2019t have answers to.<\/p>\n

\u201cFuck.\u201d<\/p>\n

She wrapped the stick carefully in toilet paper and buried it down the bottom of the rubbish bin. She washed her hands and brushed her teeth, not able to look at herself in the mirror.<\/p>\n

Another knock on the door. This time Ana, needing the bathroom so she could get ready for another job interview.<\/p>\n

Mia pulled her robe tightly around her and opened the door. Ana flashed her a grateful smile hurried past, not noticing her friend\u2019s pale face and shaking hands.<\/p>\n

Mia paused outside her bedroom door, heavy dread settling over her like a mantle. Things had been going so wonderfully with Johnny. This was sure to change that. She fleetingly wondered how long could she keep this from him. A month? Maybe two? He wasn\u2019t an idiot though. He\u2019d figure it out sooner or later.<\/p>\n

She poked her head around the door. He had the duvet wrapped around him, his back to her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m making a herbal tea. You want one?\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnny rolled over, making a face. \u201cNot coffee?\u201d<\/p>\n

Mia shrugged. “I don’t feel like coffee. But I can make you one if you want.”<\/p>\n

Johnny grinned, his hair sticking up at funny angles. \u201cCan I drink it in bed? With you?\u201d<\/p>\n

Mia couldn\u2019t help but smile at him. \u201cYeah.\u201d<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got some wonderful news. We\u2019re having a baby.\u201d Mia poured water on top of her peppermint tea bag. \u201cJohnny, I\u2019m pregnant.\u201d She absently started at the stove-top espresso, waiting for it to gurgle. \u201cHey, funny story: Cecelia\u2019s not the only one pregnant with your child! You\u2019re going to have two kids!\u201d She groaned aloud, picking up the cups. The butterflies in her stomach erupted as she made the short journey back to their bedroom.<\/p>\n

She was surprised to see Johnny sitting upright in bed, looking at his phone. He didn’t notice her come in, only glancing up when she placed the tea next to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve just had the craziest email,\u201d he said slowly.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh yeah?\u201d Mia suspected it wasn\u2019t half as crazy as the news she was about to tell him.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah,\u201d Johnny said. \u201cIt\u2019 from Cecelia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cecelia. Mother of his nearly-born child in Australia. A woman who had never exactly been the bearer of glad tidings in Mia\u2019s opinion.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat does she want now?\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnny handed her his phone. \u201cRead it.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was an essay of an email and Mia skimmed it quickly, her mouth falling open the further she read.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut\u2026 I thought she said\u2026\u201d her voice trailed off and she looked at Johnny. \u201cWhat does this mean?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means I\u2019m not the father,\u201d Johnny said. \u201cShe was lying to me all along. She made me believe<\/em> I was the kid\u2019s father becuase she didn’t think the other guy would stick with her.\u201d He ran his hands through his hair and expelled a loud breath. \u201cWho does that shit, Mia? She was going to totally screw up my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cScrew up your life?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, yeah. Kids. They change things. I wouldn\u2019t have been able to stay here forever. I would have had to put so many things on hold. I would have had to put my – our<\/em> – <\/em>life on hold!\u201d<\/p>\n

Mia tried to blink back the tears that were starting to form in her eyes. Johnny saw them and pulled her into a hug, misreading them for tears of joy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsn\u2019t this the best news Mia? It means that I have no ties to her now. Nothing at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really great,\u201d Mia said. \u201cBut\u2026 you aren\u2019t a little bit\u2026 I don\u2019t know. Sad. Upset. I thought you wanted kids?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI do,\u201d Johnny said. \u201cOne day. Not now though. No way. I am so<\/em> not ready to have children. No thanks. I feel\u2026 relieved. Like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders.\u201d As if to demonstrate, he leaped out of bed and twirled around the room, collapsing back on the covers in a heap. Mia could only stand and watch, hoping that her face didn\u2019t betray her true feelings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought you\u2019d be happier,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am,\u201d said Mia. \u201cIt\u2019s just\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n

She sighed. Now was most definitely not the time. \u201cNothing. It\u2019s nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mia perched uncomfortably on the edge of the bath. She had her eyes shut, trying to calm her mind by focusing on everything around her. The hard ceramic ledge she sat on. The cold tiles under her feet. Outside, a garbage truck doing the early morning rounds. A barking dog. A whoosh of air as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[228],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1086"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1086"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1086\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1089,"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1086\/revisions\/1089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}