"What!?" Andrew exclaimed, jolting upright in bed. "Pregna—"
Before he could finish saying the word, Gloria's hand landed directly over his mouth. At the same time, she pressed the index finger of her other hand to her lips, fixing him with an intense stare.
"Shhh!" she ordered with authority.
Andrew nodded and raised his hands with his palms open in a gesture that said: 'Understood, I'll be quiet.'
Gloria held his gaze for another second before giving a slight nod and gently removing her hand.
"How many weeks?" Andrew asked in a whisper, already beginning to think quickly, searching through his memory.
In his previous life, he had watched Modern Family.
He had spent so many years living in this reality, so immersed in his obsession and dream of football, and in his day-to-day life, that the famous canon of the original series had slipped into the background.
He no longer cared much about future events. After all, they were family drama and comedy. It wasn't as if he needed to remember something critically important, some life-or-death event.
Now, with Gloria's revelation, a spark crossed his mind. He remembered the storyline of Gloria's pregnancy and the arrival of the next member of the Pritchett clan.
'What was his name again?' Andrew thought, slightly frustrated with his own memory as he realized the baby's name completely escaped him.
"Five weeks," Gloria replied, interrupting his thoughts.
Andrew nodded silently and instinctively lowered his gaze toward his grandmother's stomach. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Gloria's belly was still as flat as usual, which made sense.
The most common time for a woman to discover her pregnancy was between the fourth and eighth week of gestation.
Doing some quick calculations, Andrew deduced that it had all started in August and that the baby would be born sometime around April of 2013.
With football season ending in January with the postseason bowls and spring break approaching.
"What are the odds of a forty-year-old woman getting pregnant naturally...?" Andrew began, genuinely intrigued by how statistically difficult that was, but stopped dead when he noticed Gloria's expression change dramatically. Her eyes narrowed dangerously.
Andrew caught the red flag instantly: no woman, and especially not Gloria, liked being reminded of her age, particularly in a fertility-related context.
He changed the subject immediately, forced a smile, and clenched his fists in celebration.
"Still, that's amazing! Congratulations!" he said with sincere enthusiasm, keeping his voice low so no one else would hear.
Right afterward, he hugged Gloria. She relaxed instantly and accepted the gesture, returning the embrace with a radiant smile. The relief was obvious on her face. She had been nervous about receiving a reaction full of alarm, judgment, or medical concern, and Andrew's warmth was exactly what she needed.
When they pulled apart, Andrew raised an eyebrow.
"Does Grandpa know?" he asked, arching an eyebrow.
Gloria immediately shook her head and let out an exasperated sigh.
"Of course not. He already had enough stress all week because of your loss to Nebraska, and then finding out you ended up in the hospital because of a panic attack..."
Gloria was about to continue listing Jay's worries, but Andrew raised a hand, interrupting her mid-sentence. His face twisted into a look of confusion and disbelief.
"Wait, how do you know about the panic attack?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.
In his mind, he reviewed the past few days and couldn't find a single instance of telling Gloria that information.
Only three people knew about it: Rachel and his parents.
There was no way Rachel had told her. While she did have a bit of a gossip streak and loved being in the loop about everything, the reality was that she didn't have a close relationship with his parents.
Yes, Cam and Mitch had spent time around her in the stands, and they had probably talked to her knowing she was a new friend of both Haley and Andrew, but there wasn't that level of intimacy for Rachel to tell them something like that.
On the other hand, if Rachel had let it slip, Haley would have been the first to find out, and she would have passed the news along to Gloria and the rest of the family.
But he was certain that wasn't the case.
Over the past few days, including just moments ago in the living room, Haley hadn't shown a single sign of strange behavior or excessive concern.
If Haley had found out that he ended up in the hospital, she would have been somewhere between genuinely terrified and furious at him for hiding it from her. But no, she was perfectly normal, reading tweets and making fun of Barkley.
To Andrew, that panic attack had been nothing more than a small stumble, caused by the fact that he wasn't used to processing defeat, since he hadn't lost in years, combined with suffocating national media pressure and his own expectations of himself.
So how had that information reached Gloria?
There was only one answer: Cam.
Gloria fell silent for a second, lightly biting her lower lip as she realized she had accidentally let that detail slip.
But before she could come up with an excuse or awkwardly change the subject, Andrew spoke.
"It was him, wasn't it?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
There was no need to mention names. With the "him," it was more than obvious that he meant Cameron.
His father was dramatic, loose-lipped, and absolutely incapable of keeping a juicy secret, unlike Mitch, who was much more reserved about those kinds of things.
Besides, Cam shared a close bond and sense of complicity with Gloria.
Gloria nodded with a guilty smile.
"What else did he tell you?" Andrew asked, crossing his arms, though he didn't seem genuinely upset.
"That you're seeing a therapist," Gloria replied, gently taking his hand and looking him in the eyes with that characteristic maternal affection. "That was a very mature thing to do, Andrew. Honestly, I was extremely worried when I heard about the hospital, but I'm so happy to see that you're doing well now."
"Mm..." Andrew let out a vague murmur.
The truth was, he wasn't angry that Cam had told Gloria. They were family, and sooner or later he would have ended up telling everyone himself. He simply would have preferred to choose the right moment and do it on his own, without dramatic intermediaries.
Mentally, he made a note to repay that small betrayal from his father with a carefully planned prank on Halloween.
Fortunately, Gloria was being fairly calm and understanding, without creating the melodramatic scene he had been so eager to avoid.
"No wonder Grandpa was acting a little strange today..." Andrew muttered, connecting the dots under his breath.
After the agonizing victory over Oregon State, Jay had seemed genuinely happy. He was proud of the comeback against a ranked opponent and relieved to see Andrew bounce back from the blow of the previous week.
Jay was one of the people who had followed Andrew's career most intensely since the beginning, and once Andrew started showing flashes of greatness, they had developed a very close bond and talked about football constantly.
Jay was an old-fashioned, old-school man who tended to process and express his emotions in a very different way.
Andrew had noticed a few subtly odd behaviors from him during dinner.
Gloria, who had overheard him, nodded again with a sigh.
"Yes... I told Jay. I'm really sorry, I truly am, but I couldn't keep it to myself," she admitted. "He cares about you a lot, but knowing him, he's probably also a little angry and hurt because you weren't able to trust him enough to tell him directly."
"It only happened a week ago, and it's not that big of a deal," Andrew justified himself with a shrug.
In his mind, he genuinely felt that he hadn't had either the time or the need to report to every member of the family about an episode that, at the end of the day, had been nothing more than a simple spike of anxiety.
He didn't think Jay would be that angry about it. Maybe a little annoyed, but nothing more.
"Andrew, you ended up in the emergency room because you thought you were dying of a heart attack," Gloria said, looking at him with a steady gaze that dismantled any attempt to downplay it.
Andrew stared back at her without saying a single word. Seen from that perspective, he understood that the situation looked very different.
If you put yourself in his family's shoes, discovering that he had gone completely alone to a hospital believing he was having a heart attack, without calling anyone, was a hard thing to hear.
He had spent a considerable amount of time at the hospital and hadn't called anybody. Not even afterward, when he returned to his apartment. He would have spent the entire night in absolute solitude if it hadn't been for Rachel.
Andrew finally nodded without adding anything else on the subject. Knowing his grandfather's pride, that was another family issue he would have to resolve soon with a conversation.
But at that moment, the truly important matter was the one Gloria had dropped on him.
"Does anyone else know? And when are you planning to tell Grandpa?" Andrew asked, lowering his voice and focusing entirely on the pregnancy again.
"Only you. As for Jay, I still don't know when I'll tell him, but it has to be soon," Gloria replied.
Andrew felt a wave of happiness upon learning that he was the first person to hear such important news. It gave him great satisfaction that Gloria trusted him enough to tell him before anyone else in the family.
There were two main reasons why Gloria had decided to reveal her secret to him right after the game.
On one hand, the nerves and tension of the matchup had led Gloria to make a silent promise to herself: if Andrew managed to win the game, he would be the first person in the world to know.
On the other hand, and most importantly, it was because of the good relationship they shared.
Andrew had been the first to welcome her and Manny with open arms when they first joined the family. For years, Gloria had felt a great deal of affection and trust toward him.
They talked for a few more minutes, but decided to postpone the details until the following day.
Gloria explained that tomorrow afternoon Jay and Manny had plans to go out together, so that would be the perfect opportunity to sit down and discuss the matter calmly.
Andrew said goodbye with a gesture and quietly left the room to head back downstairs. Although Gloria hadn't said it outright, he was almost certain she was very worried about how Jay would react to the news.
Gloria was probably afraid that Jay wouldn't take the idea of going through the entire process of raising a baby again very well, especially considering his current age. It made sense that she wanted to know the opinion of Andrew, who had known his grandfather's personality for years.
'I have to leave in a few minutes,' Andrew thought, checking the time on his phone screen.
Before heading off to the gathering at Steve's house, he heard some activity coming from outside and decided to step into the backyard.
When he looked out, he saw Luke, Manny, Lily, and Phil running across the lawn after a ball, improvising a game of football.
Lily was participating more as an extra than as an actual player.
A few yards away, Jay watched the scene silently from the porch. Andrew walked over calmly and stopped beside him.
"How's the game going?" Andrew asked, looking toward Luke and the others.
"It's not a game. It's just Luke running with the ball and dodging the other three, who look like zombies," Jay said, nearly snorting as he shook his head.
On the lawn, Phil shouted supposedly threatening phrases while trying to tackle him, but the moment Luke slipped past him with an agile move, Phil instantly changed his tone and started shouting proud-father compliments at the top of his lungs.
Lily, meanwhile, just wanted to run after them for fun.
Manny was the only one genuinely focused on trying to take the ball away from Luke, but his efforts were useless. Every time he got close, he ended up hugging empty air, and he was already beginning to hyperventilate from the effort.
It was to be expected. Luke had trained in a brutal fashion all summer under the guidance of Andrew and Steve, improving his physique, speed, and endurance to adapt to the running back position.
At that very moment, alongside the college programs, Palisades High School had already begun its regular season. They had played two games and started with a perfect 2-0 record.
Luke wasn't a starter yet. He was only a freshman, and Palisades was no longer the mediocre team it used to be.
Thanks to the legacy Andrew, Steve, and the others had left behind, the program had managed to climb two CIF divisions in four years, turning the school into a competitive and state-respected program.
Even so, Luke's situation was quite good for someone who had only played two games. He had earned the role of second running back in the rotation and also the position of backup kicker.
His statistics through those first two games were far from bad considering the amount of playing time he had received.
He had accumulated two touchdowns, more than fifteen carries, and one hundred fifty rushing yards.
On top of that, the head coach, knowing that a good kicker was a rare and highly valued position in high school football, decided to test him in the second game once they had built a comfortable lead. Luke didn't waste the opportunity and converted three out of three extra points.
"He's good," Andrew said, crossing his arms with a slight smile of satisfaction as he watched Luke.
Part of it was the pride of seeing the results of his own work, considering that he had trained Luke and made him suffer through those summer workouts.
Right then, Luke made a quick cut on the grass and left Manny sprawled out on the ground.
For Phil and Claire, seeing Luke succeed on Palisades' football team and earn a place in the rotation was a source of pride.
Throughout his childhood, they had never seen him truly interested in anything.
He didn't excel academically like Alex, and he had never shown consistency in any sport, despite growing up watching Andrew play every Friday night for years.
Furthermore, Andrew really liked the attitude Luke had toward the whole situation. He was doing it simply because he enjoyed it.
During Palisades games, he didn't seem affected in the slightest by the weight of the legacy Andrew had left behind, nor by the fact that Andrew had been considered the greatest high school football player in the country's history.
Even though everyone at school knew Luke was his direct cousin, he felt no pressure. He played while laughing, seeking out physical contact, and embracing the chaos, completely true to himself.
Although, of course, what Luke truly hated with all his soul was training to failure and, above all, the strict healthy bulking diet that Andrew had forced on him during the summer.
Now that the regular season had started and Andrew could no longer pay as much attention to him, Luke no longer followed it to the letter. His love for junk food was far stronger.
"Mm," Jay grunted vaguely without adding another word.
Andrew looked at him, once again noticing that distant and strange behavior from his grandfather. Only now, thanks to Gloria's revelation, he knew exactly why.
Andrew stared at him, thinking about the baby who would soon enter all of their lives, especially Jay's.
Without a doubt, seeing his grandfather's reaction was going to be something entertaining to witness. The last thing the old grump expected at this stage of his life was to become a father again.
Though, from what he vaguely remembered from the show, Jay ended up taking it very well.
All those fears Gloria secretly carried, thinking her husband would reject the idea of going through the exhausting cycle of diapers and sleepless nights again, were unfounded.
In reality, although he would initially receive the shock of his life, he would eventually become genuinely happy and excited, showing that soft side he occasionally let slip out.
"Why are you staring at me so much?" Jay asked without turning his head, having noticed Andrew's gaze.
"Nothing, nothing..." Andrew replied immediately, looking away and focusing back on the yard.
A few seconds of silence passed before he added, "By the way, Gloria told me you already know about my therapist and the hospital situation."
This time, Jay turned his head completely and fixed him with a stare.
"You were just talking about that?" he asked.
Andrew nodded, "Yeah. She called me to her room so I could help her bring down some boxes from the closet that were too high up."
"I see," Jay said curtly. He added nothing else and turned his attention back toward the yard.
"I was going to tell you myself, but it's been an incredibly intense week," Andrew explained.
"Sure."
"Are we okay?" Andrew asked, trying to catch his eye.
"We've always been okay," Jay stated, maintaining his usual facade as though it didn't bother him that Andrew hadn't come to him under those circumstances.
Andrew sighed internally. Just as Gloria had warned him, Jay was visibly hurt in his pride for having learned about the situation through third parties instead of receiving a direct call from his favorite grandson.
Andrew knew this wasn't the right time to dive deeper into that conversation. He had to head over to Steve's place.
He said goodbye, and just as he was turning around to head inside and leave, Jay called out to him.
"Kid."
"Yeah, Grandpa?" Andrew asked, turning slightly to look at him.
"Next time, let me know about that kind of thing immediately," Jay said, fixing him with a serious look. "And I don't mean a few days later. I mean the exact moment you're being admitted to the hospital."
"Sure, but it was only an anxiety attack. I wasn't going to bother you that late at night over the phone. Besides, hopefully there won't be a next time," Andrew replied, trying to downplay the matter.
"An anxiety attack that you mistook for a heart attack," Jay stated.
Andrew made a slight grimace. Revealing that specific detail had definitely made things worse for him.
Viewed objectively, the fact that he had genuinely believed he was suffering a heart attack and still decided to handle everything completely alone without informing anyone in the family was very difficult to justify.
"Alright. Fine, next time I'll call you that very moment," Andrew conceded, giving in.
Jay took a couple of steps toward him and placed a firm hand on his shoulder, "Do it, if it's not too much trouble. I want you to trust me."
Andrew was momentarily surprised. For a reserved and tough man like Jay to use a phrase such as "if it's not too much trouble" was unusual enough on its own.
Accepting the warmth behind the gesture, Andrew lowered his gaze, adopting an unusually shy posture in front of Jay.
"I do trust you, Grandpa, I really do..." Andrew murmured, scratching the back of his neck. "It's just that an anxiety attack felt like something insignificant. I mean, you went to the Vietnam War. You went through truly serious and dangerous things. Mine felt like a ridiculous complaint in comparison."
Jay remained silent for a moment, tightening his grip on Andrew's shoulder, "Listen to me carefully," he said, forcing Andrew to look up.
"You have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. What I lived through in the war was a different time and a different reality, but the pressure you're carrying on your shoulders right now is no joke. With the eyes of the entire country on you, any other freshman your age would've already cracked under that kind of tension. They would've had three disastrous games and ended up riding the bench. Instead, you're out there going head-to-head with Geno Smith as the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy and putting UCLA in the top fifteen. So don't ever say it's ridiculous again."
Andrew nodded silently.
Jay, noticing that the moment was becoming a little too intimate and sentimental by their standards, cleared his throat lightly and decided to ease the mood.
He released Andrew's shoulder, slipped his hands into his pockets, and glanced toward the yard before focusing on him again.
"Well, that's enough serious talk for today," Jay said, returning to his usual tone. "Now go to that gathering with your friends. And try to find yourself a girl. I promise the playbook won't get jealous."
"Ha, ha. Very funny," Andrew replied sarcastically. "Don't start stealing Steve's jokes."
Steve had joked more than once that the playbook was Andrew's girlfriend because of all the time he spent studying it as if it might suddenly come to life or something.
"I'm just giving you some man-to-man advice. It won't kill you to meet a girl," Jay said with a slight smile, giving him one last farewell pat on the back.
"Alright, I'm heading out. Good night," Andrew said.
He turned around and headed inside the house at a brisk pace. He walked straight to the living room to grab his car keys and jacket.
Haley had managed to convince Claire to let Alex go. But first, Alex was going back to her apartment to change and pick up Rachel and Monica.
So Andrew would go on his own. After saying goodbye to everyone, he left the house, got into his car, and headed toward Steve's mother's house.
It didn't take him long to get there. The moment Steve opened the door, the clear murmur of conversations and background music spilled out from inside. His friend smiled broadly and spread his arms enthusiastically.
"There you are, man!" Steve exclaimed before wrapping him in an exuberant hug.
He gave Andrew several hard pats on the back, which Andrew accepted with a strange expression.
'Is he already drunk, or is he still just happy about the win?' he thought with amusement.
Steve had played a phenomenal game. While being WR3 sometimes made it difficult to pile up big highlight plays, become the player of the game, or compete for weekly awards, tonight had been his best performance.
Not only had Steve caught the touchdown pass that sealed the victory, but he had also led the team in receptions, surpassing Amari and Shaq, and had even been interviewed nationally by ESPN.
"Come in, come in! The guys are already inside," Steve said, inviting him in as they both walked deeper into the house.
Leonard and Howard were already there.
Amari, Thomas, Andrus, and the rest of UCLA's freshman group were there as well. The rest of the guests were, for the most part, former teammates of Steve's from his days at Palisades and Notre Dame, along with a few girls who appeared to be dating some of them.
Andrew went around greeting everyone and exchanging a few words with old acquaintances, feeling much more comfortable and private compared to the chaotic fraternity party he had attended after the opener against the Rice Owls.
On that occasion, his arrival had been greeted like the return of the university's absolute hero, forcing him to improvise a speech in front of more than five hundred eager people while everyone applauded him.
"Hey, where are the girls? This looks like an all-guys party," Howard said, sounding both offended and frustrated as he looked around.
The few women in the room already seemed to be in committed relationships. For someone like Howard, who now felt that he had proven dating skills and much more experience in the field, the current situation was not promising.
"First, it's not a party. And Sam will be here soon with her group of friends," Steve said, patting him on the shoulder.
"Oh, we're finally going to meet her in person. I'm already nervous," Leonard commented with a faint teasing smile.
"Me too. We're talking about the possible love of your life," Andrew added.
"Shut up," Steve said, shoving Andrew lightly. Then, adopting a more serious expression, he looked at him. "Sam's friends are pretty smart. Who knows, maybe you'll have chemistry with one of them."
"I don't know..." Andrew replied with genuine doubt.
"Oh, come on, man," Steve insisted, leaning slightly toward him. "You haven't dated anyone in months. You need to, you know, burn off some energy, if you know what I mean. A little action wouldn't hurt you."
"Steve, we always know exactly what you mean," Leonard interjected, somewhat amused by his friend's complete lack of subtlety.
Howard completely agreed with the argument and joined the attempt to persuade him, staring directly at Andrew, "He's right. Spending some quality time with a beautiful girl would do you good."
"Look, sex is great," Andrew said, "but honestly, I'd rather do it with a girl I've already built some chemistry with. I don't know, the idea of meeting someone for the first time at a party and ending up together that same night casually just isn't my thing."
Howard immediately rolled his eyes, while Leonard applauded with an expression of exaggerated respect.
"How romantic," Steve said with a slight smile.
"And besides, I texted Pippa and Willa and asked them to come. They already confirmed, so I'm not going to flirt with some random girl just to hook up if they're here..." Andrew said.
The silence that followed his words was immediate and absolute.
Steve, Leonard, and Howard all went completely speechless, exchanging looks.
None of the three had expected that combination of names in the same sentence. They were talking about his ex-girlfriend and the former best friend with whom things had ended rather tensely because of past jealousy issues.
Steve was the first to speak again, "Well... I guess there won't be a girl smarter than Pippa," Steve commented, scratching his cheek. "But, dude, how did—"
Before Steve could finish the sentence, or Howard and Leonard could start bombarding him with questions about how he had ended up inviting those two, the doorbell rang.
Steve reacted immediately, replacing his confused expression with a much more excited one.
"That must be Sam!" he announced, setting the subject aside for the moment. "Come on, guys, I'll introduce you to her officially."
He opened the door, and there she finally was in person: Sam, a girl with dark blonde hair and amber eyes, accompanied by a group of four other girls.
"She's nice. I thought we'd end up meeting a wei—" Howard murmured to Leonard and Andrew, but both immediately elbowed him to make him shut up.
The three of them had their doubts about Sam for various reasons.
In theory, Steve had been talking about her since before the first game on September 1st. Yet after three weeks, none of them had ever seen her.
According to Steve, it was because she was extremely studious, to the point of taking classes ahead of schedule during the summer. She didn't attend UCLA football games, which had become major events for the university ever since Andrew chose them, and she didn't go to parties.
They hadn't even seen pictures of her. So the fact that Steve was dating a girl like that, considering that one of the girls he had dated was Cat, had made Howard, Leonard, and Andrew curious about what she would be like.
But now they were looking at a girl who seemed like the girl next door: normal and pretty.
"Hi, Sam," Steve greeted her, giving her a quick kiss on the lips.
After pulling away, Steve began making introductions.
"These are my friends: Leonard, Howard, and I guess this one doesn't really need much introduction, Andrew."
Sam gave them a friendly smile and a general wave.
"Hey," Andrew, Howard, and Leonard murmured in unison, exchanging side glances.
'She seems really calm,' Howard thought. With the biggest sports phenomenon of the moment and his group standing right there, he had expected more nervousness or at least some slight awkwardness.
Then Sam began introducing her friends to Steve and the others.
"These are Chloe, Megan, Harper..."
The girls greeted them more timidly, visibly nervous because of Andrew's presence.
'Yeah, that's the reaction,' Howard thought, now nodding internally.
"And this is Paige," Sam finished the introductions.
Andrew, who had been looking at each of them one by one, fixed his gaze on the last girl.
She had lighter blonde hair, blue eyes, and a calm expression that bordered on boredom.
Neither Sam's tranquility at meeting the friends of the guy she was dating nor the nervousness of the other girls.
'She looks familiar...' Andrew thought, narrowing his eyes.
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