"Come on, come on."
Courtney stopped pacing and sunk down to sit on the toilet seat, checking her watch one more time. The waiting was killing her, it was always the worst part, and she had done this more times then she would like to remember. The house was silent for once, Duncan was still at work, but he would be home within the next several hours. Placing her head in her hands with a sigh, Courtney unwillingly began reminiscing about the past two years of her life and marriage.
It's common knowledge that the first year of marriage is the most difficult, but that is usually because there are a lot of necessary transitions that need to be dealt with and not every couple deals with them well. Duncan and Courtney had adapted to married life just fine; they had already been living together, so all they had needed to take care of was consolidating some of their funds.
For all intents and purposes they were believed to be the perfect couple. They were friendly and helpful neighbors, always offering up babysitting services or a ladder. They both had respectable jobs and were never shy in putting together parties for family and friends. It seemed that the only thing that could make them even more perfect was to have an addition to their family.
Right after their honeymoon was the first time Courtney found out she was pregnant. The couple had been ecstatic and so had their family and friends. They were excited to be able to start expanding their family, to be able to dote on a child, their child. During their first doctor's appointment though, they were given horrible news. The doctor was unable to find a heartbeat, which so early in a pregnancy isn't completely unnatural, but there was no sign of a baby. Courtney had had a miscarriage.
The doctor explained to the devastated couple that things like this happened and unfortunately, as was the case for Courtney, there wasn't usually an explanation. Courtney and Duncan were told that this 'setback' shouldn't stop them from trying again in a few months because both were young and healthy.
Taking the doctors advice the two tried again months later, only to be met again with the same cruel fate and this time Courtney's life had nearly been lost too. Their relationship became strained. Duncan worked longer and more hours and tended to walk on pins and needles around his wife. Courtney had retreated into herself, placing all of the blame of the two miscarriages on her shoulders solely. The situation took its toll on her physically, mentally, and emotionally. She lost weight, became depressed, and Duncan was usually woken up at night by her crying in her sleep. Both knew that something had to be done in order to save their marriage and themselves.
The pair decided to stop trying to start a family and attempt to get things back to the way they were before. And so that's what they had been doing for the past year and a half and slowly they had regained some sort of normalcy. But no false cheeriness could make either of them forget…
Checking her watch again, Courtney shakily stood up. She brought the stick up to her closed eyes, took a deep breath, and cracked an eye open. She sighed and sunk to the floor when she read the results.
Duncan groaned as the front door slammed shut behind him. It had been a long, long, day and he was thrilled to be home. Recently his job as a counselor at the local juvenile detention center had been leaving him exhausted. He just wanted to have dinner, preferably with some type of alcoholic beverage he wasn't going to be picky, take a hot shower, and be able to sleep for a month. His mood faltered slightly knowing his last wish was impossible, but he would take what he could get.
"Honey, I'm home!"
He put his stuff in the hall closet and made his way to the living room were Courtney was aimlessly flipping channels. He collapsed next to her, rubbing his eyes tiredly.
Not removing her eyes from the television Courtney said, "I ordered a pizza, it's on the kitchen table. You can have however much you want, I'm not hungry."
"My day was great sweetie, thanks for asking. How was yours?" Duncan questioned sarcastically.
"I need to show you something."
Courtney grabbed Duncan's arm, ignoring his protests, and pulled him into the bathroom, flipping on the light almost harshly. She pointed to the sink counter before sitting precariously on the edge of the tub.
"Are those…," Duncan trailed off.
He stoically walked over to the counter taking in the pregnancy tests, all five of them, and carefully studied the results. Before he had the opportunity to comment on the results, Courtney let out a strangled sob.
Duncan turned towards her and knelt between her legs, grasping her hands and soothingly running his fingers over her knuckles.
"Court…"
"Don't. Just don't."
Courtney took in a shuddery breath, leaning forward to touch her forehead to Duncan's before continuing in a broken whisper.
"I don't know if I, if we, can handle it if something were to happen again."
"Baby, you can't think like that," Duncan stated, wiping away stray tears from her cheeks.
"If something happens, God forbid, we will get through it, I promise you."
"Yeah, I know," Courtney snorted. "It's silly; I thought you might actually be mad at me."
"That's beyond silly, it's stupid. 'Sides if I remember correctly we had a very goodtime making the little bugger."
Courtney laughed and smiled genuinely.
"So, you okay now?"
"No, but I'm getting better."
Courtney fell into Duncan's open arms and captured his lips in a gentle kiss. He pulled her up off the side of the tub and spun her around, letting out a "Whoop!" to mix with her surprised shriek.
"We're gonna have a baby!"
A/N: This is the sequel to "Wedding Bells" and it's for all those fantastic reviewers I had for that story who wanted a sequel! As a heads up, it won't be heavy on extra characters (although you will see some), the main focus will be on Courtney and Duncan. So, let me know what you think!
