The Man Clad in Black: Book Two

A Surprise - Chapter 20

It was more than just the fact that you felt violated - the moment you had gotten out of the bar, which was buzzing with life after the entire situation, you felt like you were going to throw up. It didn't help that you ran into Peter right afterward.

"[Y/N]," he exclaimed. Considering how fast you were running out of there, and how worried of a look you on your face, it was evident that there was something wrong. All of the voices humming from inside of the bar indicated that something had gone down. "What happened in there?"

You stared up at Peter for a moment. Almost impossibly, you paled even further, and you hardly took a moment before you brushed past him. You weren't normally this impolite - however, you just needed to get a grip on what exactly you had just gotten yourself into.

Peter understood... Well, enough to know that he shouldn't have gone after you. He knew that your pale face either meant that you were facing some terrible news or that you had fallen ill.. And that was never fun to deal with. Besides - the little breakout of voices from inside of the bar seemed to be more concerning than anything else, as that's were a sickly-looking you emerged out from.

You were rushing up to your room as fast as you possibly could, but due to your fatigue and lightheadedness, that made you have to lean up against the wall for support. You even found yourself falling against the wall to take a break. It was like you had just been hiking up mountains ten times as big as the opera house, and as your chest rose and fell, you found yourself sweating profusely. You were worried.

You let your eyes shut for a moment. You didn't want to push yourself off of the wall quite yet, so you simply stood there, catching your breath and wiping your hair from out of your face.

You jumped when you felt a hand on your shoulder.

"Sorry," a petite voice spoke. There was a delicate, though quite supporting touch on your arm.

Meg.

"I have something to tell you," she said. While you were pale for several reasons, which included how embarrassed you were about being called a whore and how awkward things had to be between you and Matthew, Meg seemed quite disturbed, too... She couldn't look up to your eyes or give you a smile. You didn't question her, though - it didn't matter when the two of you were both helping each other down the hall.

You and Meg found yourselves inside of your room soon enough.

"I'll get the door," she offered quickly She could barely look up to meet your eyes as she made her way over to the door, and carefully, she locked it behind her as she brushed her hands off on her skirt.

It took all of your willpower to keep from collapsing on the bed... After all, Meg would have left you in your room if she didn't have something quite important to say. There she was anyway, standing there with that hesitant and quite worried look in her eye. She held that identical nervousness that you had just a few moments ago. The moment that her hands shakily locked the door, she turned around and nearly burst into tears.

Your exhausted persona seemed to leave almost immediately. It was quick to be replaced by a maternal instinct, as you jolted up to your feet and held your arms out to her. It was almost like she would pass out if she didn't hug you. The moment that your arms were around her, she was sniffling and sobbing, almost literally rattling with cries.

"My God... Meg, what happened?" you asked, holding her quite close to you. "What's wrong?"

Instead of saying anything, Meg nearly collided with you and buried her face right into your shoulder. Sure, she was probably getting makeup all over your nightgown, although you didn't exactly care too much at the moment - you'd rather get a sleeve-full of foundation than to see your best friend suffer.

"I'm sorry!" she hiccuped with a sniffle. She fisted of your gown while you carefully stroked her hair, feeling horrible that you couldn't have done anything else to help her... so you simply rocked her back and forth for a few moments. "Please, you can't let my mother know I'm here. She'll kill me!"

Aside from somewhat guilty and horribly worried, hundreds of confused thoughts fluttered through your mind all at once.

"Now... don't say that," you whispered. Meg drew in a few more deep breaths, and as you carefully rubbed her back, she shook her head. She seemed to be legitimately afraid. "I'm sure she won't kill you..."

She was quick to shake her head. She gulped and, after briefly pulling away from your hug, she wiped her eyes and quickly shook her head.

"No, she really will!" she gulped, a few more tears dripping from her chin. "If she finds out what I did, she'll... she'll..." Just at the mention of that, she began to cry even more, and you were quick to wrap her into another quick hug.

"Why don't I grab you some water, Meg?" you asked softly. "I can bring it back up here, and then we can discuss whatever's on your mind."

Meg looked as if she were about to protest, although after waiting for a few moments, she carefully nodded before finding a spot on your bed.

"Please hurry," she squeaked... in reality, however, she wanted you to take as much time as you possibly could. The news she had was far too severe to just blurt aloud.

"Of course - I'll be right back," you said with a soft smile.

It seemed like any ill feelings you had right before had dissipated. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that you had to take care of Little Meg, or maybe it was because you subconsciously pretended to feel better for Meg's sake... either way, you were well enough to walk down to the kitchen and fill up two glasses of water. Going all the way to the bar was much less safe... and besides. You didn't want Erik to come in and save you all over again - he was already on thin ice.

You carefully balanced the glasses in your arms as you made your way back up to your room... and thankfully, there was no one there to question why you brought two glasses with you. If they had, you could have given one of two answers - both of which would taint either your own or Meg's reputation even further: say that Meg was in there or say that you were hooking up with someone again... and thankfully, you didn't have to give either of those excuses.

You gave a gentle knock on the door, and of course, Meg moved to open it up for you. Her eyes were puffy and her breathing hitched, and while there were no longer visible tears streaking her face, it was still clear that she had been crying after you had left.

"Thanks," Meg said. She gently grabbed onto one of the water glasses before moving out of the way, just so you could get back into your room and close the door all over again.

Sure enough, the two of you were sitting on the bed again, still in your quite uncomfortable dresses. Neither one of you wanted to change out just yet... While you two would sometimes laugh about how uncomfortable you were (you had done so during many of the practices during Don Juan, as the corsets that you wore clenched your waists so tight that it nearly left marks), now was not one of those times.

"Meg... what is it that you wanted to tell me?" you asked, your eyebrows furrowing in the slightest as you took a small sip of your water.

Meg paused for a moment. Her mouth had just left the glass (with a bright red lipstick stain to go along with it), and after a few more sniffles, she gulped and finally let the words slip from her mouth.

You would never have thought that these words could have escaped Meg's mouth:

"[Y/N]... I'm pregnant."

A/N: DUN DUN DUNNN!!! Who would've thought? That was a TOTAL turn of events! And for everyone who wants to see Erik, don't worry, haha! You'll see more of him soon enough! Anyway... thanks for reading! Vote and comment and all of that good stuff!

Also, here's a question (that hopefully at least one person will answer!): What do you think about Matthew? Lol, I'll answer that next chapter, but I would LOVE to see what you all think!

Love you all, and see you next update! 💖