Work Text:
Usually, Buck doesn't think three minutes is a very long time. In fact, when you're parenting six kids on the regular, with ages ranging from 15 to 2, three minutes is barely enough time to prepare a lunch bag, listen to a ramble about their last heartbreak, or change a diaper.
And yet, right now, sitting in Maddie's bathroom (thankfully Chim has taken Jee and Kevin to the movies) and waiting for a pregnancy test that has yet to display a result, three minutes seem like forever. He stares at the floor tiles, then at his watch, then back at the test even though he knows it's too soon. His heart is racing like it does on a call, and he almost wishes he was walking into a fire; it feels less scary than the possibility he is facing right now.
"Buck? Are you okay in there?" Maddie's voice comes from the hallway, and Buck flinches; he hasn't exactly told his sister that he came to the house for the privacy he wouldn't get at his very full house, so of course she's finding his delay in the bathroom a bit worrying.
"Yeah, I'll be out in a bit!" he promises her, and then the timer he's set up in his cellphone bleeps.
Buck looks back at the test as if he was approaching a wild animal. And when he finally turns it up (he had turned it upside down for luck; no, he doesn't know if luck meant negative or positive), there's an unmistakable second line staring right back at him.
"Fuck!", he yells before he can stop himself.
"Evan, what happened?!" Maddie's worried voice is a lot closer now, as if she's standing right outside the door. "Are you okay?! You didn't drop your cellphone in the toilet again, did you?"
Buck doesn't answer. His throat is too tight, his thoughts too scrambled. Instead, he wordlessly opens the door and holds the little stick so she can very clearly see it. Maddie looks from his hand to his face, her eyes widened.
"…Fuck"
Tommy is folding some laundry, the TV on in a mindless reality show just as background noise, because he's not very used to silence anymore.
He's put Harper to bed half an hour ago, and Milo and Noah have just gone down after begging for two more stories. Lara is working on her homework (she always does it in the evenings on Thursdays because she has lacrosse practice), and Theo and Iris are, for once, playing together in her bedroom without having one of their twin spats.
With the chaos settled, Tommy can't help but notice it's been almost an hour since Evan texted to let him know he'd pass by Maddie to pick up the Switch control that Milo had forgotten at his play date with Kevin last week. Sure, he knows his husband can get caught up when gossiping with his sister, but Evan loathes missing bedtime with the little ones. He's trying not to worry, but isn't exactly succeeding.
Just as Tommy's about to reach for his phone, though, he hears the garage door opening and closing very soon after, followed by the backdoor and Evan's heavy steps crossing the kitchen.
The fact Evan doesn't enter home yelling 'Where are my hugs?!' (which makes all six invariably rush to him, even Lara, though she comes rolling her eyes) is worrying in and of itself, but his expression when he joins Tommy in the living room has Tommy dropping the laundry basket.
Evan's eyes are widened, and he's fidgeting with the strings of his hoodie in a way he only does when he's very nervous. His shoulders are hunched as if he's bracing for impact, and Tommy's heart skips a beat.
"Evan, what's wrong?" He asks urgently, taking Evan's hand from his hoodie and holding it close. The other one is firmly buried in his pocket. "Is Maddie okay? Did something happen to her, Howie, or the kids?"
"N-no, they're all fine", Evan says, and his voice sounds distant and heavy, which doesn't ease Tommy's concern in the slightest.
"Okay, so what's wrong? Are you okay? Talk to me, sweetheart", Tommy asks, and Evan looks deeply into his eyes with his tear-filled ones.
Without a single word, he removes his hand from his pocket, closed in a fist. When he opens it, it's to show Tommy a pregnancy test. A positive pregnancy test.
"Oh, my God", he says, in awe, and his reaction seems to break something in Evan.
"I know!", he exclaims, and starts to pace around the living room. "Seven, Tommy! Seven kids! We're gonna be like that family from that movie that Chim likes to pretend he doesn't cry when he watches, and our car can't fit another kid, and oh my God, the twins were just asking for a dog and we said yes!…"
"Evan, you're freaking out", Tommy points out, quite unnecessarily, he realizes way too late when Evan stops pacing to glare at him.
"Gee, Tommy, thanks for noticing. Now join me, will you?!", he snaps.
And Tommy could. Objectively, there's a lot to freak out about. But he doesn't.
"No", he says gently, and crosses the living room to wrap Evan into his arms. "I'm not joining you, I'm getting you out of it. We'll be fine, Evan. We've been fine with six, why won't we be fine with seven?"
"It just… It wasn't the plan", Evan says, his face pressed against Tommy's chest, and Tommy chuckles, pressing a kiss to his hair.
"Sweetheart, do you remember what our original plan was? When we visited that group home six years ago?", he asks gently, and Evan nods, finally taking his head off Tommy's chest so he can look at him.
"To… To adopt a baby. One baby.", he recalls, and Tommy nods.
"Yeah. And we left with Lara and Noah, two siblings who had been through hell and back with foster families, because we fell in love with them. And they were 9 and 2, so, no baby," Tommy says, and Evan smiles fondly, probably also remembering the day they met their first two kids.
"And then, a year later, when we decided to go for a baby again, we met the twins, and they were 5, and nobody wanted them because of Iris' autism and Theo's ADHD", Evan continues to remember, and Tommy thinks he's seen what Tommy's point is.
"Exactly. And then we decided we were done having kids, remember? Four was enough", Tommy says, and Evan chuckles.
"But then someone left Harper at the 118", he completes. "And then we decided we were done because we finally had the baby we originally planned for"
"Yup. But then there was that fire this year that orphaned Milo, and we couldn't let him go, could we?" Tommy asks, and Evan sighs, taking his hand and giving it a light squeeze.
"No, we couldn't. And then we said we were done" He says, and then gives a nervous chuckle, placing Tommy's hand over his belly. "But clearly the Universe had different plans"
"That's what I'm trying to say", Tommy says gently. "And the Universe has gifted us with the six best children we could have asked for. I'm sure our lucky number seven will be no different"
"But still, Tommy. I'll be pregnant with six children to care for. That… that will be no easy task", he says, and Tommy realizes that, more than anything else, Evan seems scared. And that, he won't allow.
"I'm sure it won't", Tommy reassures him, because he knows Evan's feelings are valid and reasonable. "But Evan, baby. You won't be alone, okay? Not even for a second. And we'll figure it out. As we have figured everything else out so far."
Evan nods, as if Tommy's words are finally sinking in, and then he looks back at him, a small smile forming on his face.
"Seven, huh?"
"Seven", Tommy says, and he's smiling too. "We're gonna need a bigger van."
Evan gives out a surprised chuckle, and then hugs Tommy tightly, pressing a soft kiss to his lips, then another to his cheek.
"Thank you. For not freaking out. For keeping me sane. I'm going to need it." He says, almost like a confession, and Tommy rubs gentle circles on his back, holding him close.
"That's what I'm here for, Evan", he reassures him. "I love you."
"I love you too, Tommy."
They stay like that, holding each other close for a while, their seventh baby a small promise between them, for a couple of minutes. But then, there's the sound of a door opening and the patter of socked feet down the hall, and they both know it's Theo and Iris, who are done with their game and coming down for their nightly cuddle before bed. Tommy and Evan break apart from each other, but Tommy is relieved to see his husband doesn't look so nervous anymore. In fact, there's a giddy smile on his face.
"Tommy", he says excitedly. "Tomorrow, we get to tell them."