You didn’t plan for it to mean anything.

It was supposed to be one night—quiet, soft, almost accidental. Jesse had looked tired, worn down by council meetings and patrol schedules, and you’d been lonely in a way that sat deep in your chest. Touch was hard for you, always had been. You didn’t let just anyone close. But with Jesse, it felt safe. Familiar. Like you could breathe.

So when it happened, it wasn’t reckless. It was trusting.

A few days later, he was back with Dina.

Just like that.

You didn’t hear it from him. You heard it from someone else, offhand, like it wasn’t something that could shatter you. Jesse and Dina, back together. People smiling. Happy for them.

And then came the nausea. The exhaustion. The way your body felt wrong in a way you couldn’t explain away.

Maria was the first to notice. Ellie was the second.

They didn’t say anything at first—just exchanged looks, the kind that made your stomach twist even before the truth landed. When Maria gently suggested the test, your hands shook so badly Ellie had to hold the cup for you.

Positive.

Your world went very quiet.

“I can’t tell him,” you said immediately, panic rushing in hot and fast. “I can’t. He’s with her. I’ll ruin everything.”

Ellie crouched in front of you, eyes fierce. “You won’t ruin anything. He made choices too.”

You shook your head. “You don’t get it. I can’t compete with Dina. I never could.”

The words you’d been holding back finally spilled out, broken and ugly. You told Ellie what Dina had said about you—how she’d called you stupid, how she’d used that word, the one that still echoed in your head late at night. How she’d said Jesse deserved better.

Ellie’s face went cold.

“She said that because she’s scared,” Ellie said, voice tight. “And because she’s wrong.”

You laughed once, hollow. “I’m autistic in the middle of the apocalypse. I struggle with noise, with people, with touch. Jesse’s on the council. Everyone respects him. He deserves someone easy.”

Maria spoke softly from the doorway. “You are not a burden. And this child deserves the truth.”

That night, alone in your room, you curled in on yourself, arms wrapped protectively around your stomach. You hadn’t even had time to process loving Jesse before losing him. Now there was this—this life growing inside you, tying you to a man who had already chosen someone else.

What hurt the most wasn’t just that he went back to Dina.

It was that it made you feel used. Like the one night you let your guard down, let someone touch you when touch was hard, had been something he could walk away from.

You loved him. You really did.

And now you were terrified that telling him would make him look at you with regret instead of care.

But Ellie was right. Maria was right.

Sooner or later, Jesse would have to know.

And whatever happened after that—anger, guilt, silence—you would face it. Not because you were trying to take something from him.

But because you and this baby mattered too.