“Don’t you roll your eyes at me, Izzy Reid!  Just give me a second to get up and I’m going to kick your ass.”  Dee tries to stand but then holds her hand over her mouth with wide eyes.

“I’m guessing this means she’s about to blow chunks all over the place?” I laugh.

Her eyes water with the effort it takes her to push aside her sickness.  And then she locks her hormonal-driven fury on me.  “Emmy!  Don’t even start with me.  I can’t wait for you to be throwing up every two seconds!”

Maddox goes solid next to me as he helps me walk into the house.  I look up and try to figure out what he’s thinking, but his face is completely void of emotion.  Whatever.  I’ll pick it out of him later.

“Don’t tell her that,” Chelcie scolds, walking into the room with Zac sleeping against her chest.  “It isn’t that bad.  Plus, it’s worth it.”  She smiles at Zac and sits down next to Dee.

The movement is obviously not what her stomach needed because she jumps up and runs to the bathroom.

Once we stop laughing, I move to my side and drop down onto the couch.  I wait for Maddox to sit next to me, but when I look over, he’s still standing where I left him.  His eyes are darting around the room with worry.

“Why don’t you head out to the backyard, Mad?” Melissa asks from the doorway.  “The guys doing that macho thing you all do when you stand around a grill and grunt.”  She laughs and gives him a quick hug.

He looks around the room for a second before making his way past the girls and outside.  I keep my eyes on them and wait to see when they notice.  None of them watch as he walks by even though his shorts give him no way to hide the one thing he feels shame over.  Well, this certainly is going better than I thought.  I know he was worried there would be some big gasp and fanfare, but he should have known our friends a little better than that.

“Hey!” a small voice screams from the kitchen.  “Look, Dilbert!  Maddox Locke is a transformer!  MOMMY!  I wanna be a transformer just like Maddox Locke!”  Cohen comes rushing into the room, crashing into the wall when his socks don’t let him stop.  Then he jumps off the floor with a big, toothy grin.  “Mommy, did you see?!  It’s soooo cool!”

I don’t breathe, afraid of how this is going to play out.  I want to rush to Maddox and make sure that he’s okay, but I know that wouldn’t help.  He needs to learn to get past this one all on his own.

“Yeah, Co, I saw,” she laughs.  “You can’t be a transformer though.”  His little face falls and she rushes on.  “Baby boy, you can’t just decide to be a transformer.  Only special people get that honor and only God can pick them.  But you know what?  That means that Maddox is an even bigger superhero.  He’s is a transformer because he saved people.”

My eyes prickle and I listen as Melissa gives a child version of why my big, strong man is a hero.

As they continue to talk about how ‘cool’ Maddox is, I use that time to look at the faces of the others in the room.  Dee still looks a little green, but like the others, she has a small smile on her face.

One thing lacking on all of their faces, though, is shock.

When Cohen leaves the room, I direct my question to the room at large.  “How long have you guys known?”

“Uh, maybe about a month after I met him,” Izzy starts.  “His jeans had gotten stuck and were folded in the back.”

“Took about six months for me.  He was sitting and had his leg crossed over… I guess it pushed the hem up.  I don’t know,” Melissa states indifferently.

“He fell—well, to be honest, I knocked his ass over—one day and saw it.  He knows that I know,” Dee states, trying to keep her sickness from taking over.  I watch her suck in a few deep breaths before she looks back at me with a shrug.

“I can’t remember when I found out.  I figured he didn’t want to talk about it since it wasn’t common knowledge,” Chelcie says with a smile.

“I can’t believe you guys never told me,” I fuss.

“Seriously, Em.  I think we all just figured, when he was ready, we would know.  Or whatever,” Dee says.

“Well you could have made my job a little easier!” I snap.

“What changed his mind?” Izzy asks with a frown.

“He was ready.  He just needed a little push.”  I cross my arms and smile brightly at my closest friends. “Now bring me a baby,” I demand.