I have a bunch of these written out already, so I apologize for posting more than one today. I was unsure at first if I wanted these to be set in 1920 or modern day. I guess the first one could be set whenever you wanted it to be, but this one is definitely set now.


Second trimester

There had been a lot of moments, especially in the last few months of his life, where it felt like time would cease for a while. That day in October had been one of those times.

It was an eventless day up until that afternoon. They had both slept until the alarm went off, Sybil groggy and cranky from sleep as she chided him for stealing the duvet throughout the night. He mumbled an apology and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. The room was still dark at six-something in the morning, too dark for either of them to open their eyes fully. Instead, he blindly pulled her to him to rest his arm loosely around her shoulders.

Just like everyday, he dropped a kiss onto the top of her hair, whispering Morning in the deepest voice; everyday she hummed a wordless greeting back, squeezing the hand hanging off of her shoulders. It was such a routine, one they would barely remember as the workday stretched on.

And that's the way September 14th had started. It rained outside in that ugly, biting way it did in the later part of autumn. The car was making a weird noise that made them both groan on their way to work – him dropping her off at the hospital, before making his way to the newspaper where he now worked.

But all of that was about as far away as it could get. He couldn't comprehend it being a time by the clock, it was just now in his mind, one of the days they'd been waiting for, for months. Her hand gripped his. As he looked down, he watched his skin blanch red and white as her hand moved against his own, tugging and pulling silently.

As excited as he was (and what a stale word that was for this situation), he was in a frozen state. He eyes were just focusing, without the thought to crack a smile; Sybil looked the same way when they looked at each other.

The room was cold and silver and bright, just like they both had pictured it. Just like the other rooms they had been in before. It always seemed too sterile for happy memories to happen in.

When the muffled sound filled the room, Sybil's hand tightened around his and he moved closer to her with shuffling feet. He saw Sybil's chest float in relief as he licked his lips.

The tech smiled. "I guess you both know what that is," she said quietly, noticing their reactions. "That's your baby's heartbeat. It's a good one. Strong, healthy…"

Sybil had briefly mentioned her fear about an ultrasound appointment, the possibility of missing that pounding noise and leaving empty. She had a lot of fears, terrible dreams about bad things happening to the baby; the doctor had told them it was common and promised her that many women go through this. She'd wave them away with her hand while she explained them to him. He did his best to reassure her, but the only cure was that beautiful sound, so loud, that they heard. Her shoulders sank considerably and he felt like he should sit down.

"Yep, that's a good beat. Good heart."

He held onto her hand as he slowly lowered himself into the plastic seat next to her. She turned her head to him briefly, flashing him a smile with those happy, damp eyes. He loved her like that, the first glimpse of a mother, with her t-shirt rolled up and her belly exposed and the faintest sign of a bump beginning to develop.

He smiled back, willing himself to man up. Just because she's beautiful, and you're about to have your world turned upside down and your life is fecking perfect, that doesn't mean you have to start falling apart.

"There you go, guys, there's your baby," the woman said, her fingernails clicking against the screen and sweeping across to trace the blurry figure.

His thoughts fell away from him when Sybil sucked in a loud breath, drawing the back of her hand over her mouth. She tightened her grip on Tom's hand, squeezing twice and holding firm. He squinted, in awe while dropping his chin to her shoulder and watching the screen. He opened his mouth to say something, but was at a loss for words.

"And you wanted to know the sex, you said..."

"Yeah," they both choked together. Sybil's voice was clogged with tears, unsurprisingly, but his own voice shocked him. Man up. They laughed a little at themselves, anxiously looking at each other and back to the woman next to the screen.

She worked the wand over Sybil and smiled brightly, tapping the screen.

She opened her mouth, "Right there —"

"Girl," Tom said out loud, almost jumping as he startled himself. He laughed nervously, eyes darting between Sybil and the screen.

"Girl?" Sybil asked. She sat up on her elbows and tried to wipe away her eyes, looking at Tom then back to the screen. The woman laughed lightly as she re-positioned the wand.

Tom swallowed. Man. Up. "Girl, right?"

She laughed again, drawing a little circle over the outline of the baby. "Yep. You have a very active little girl. Congratulations, you guys."

Yeah, time was nothing that day. The last of his concerns.

The woman was saying something else, but Tom was trying to figure out the best way to maneuver himself from the chair to hugging his wife and never letting her go. The tech's words were muffled in their ears as Tom leaned forward and held her face with his hand; elbow bent on her chest, and pulled her to him. He could hear her, that laugh that shed tears; it was the same noise the day they found out about their baby. Their daughter. Their little girl.

The tech patted Sybil's knee before quietly removing herself from the room. He barely noticed. He was laughing, kind of, or maybe just breathing with a big smile on his face. His nose pressed into the skin of her cheek, feeling her tears on his face.

His eyes burned. It was bound to happen.

"Sybil," he croaked against her hair, his fingers tangling in her curls and pulling her close.

"I know, I know," she said, edging back to cradle his face in her hand, the other wrapped around the wrist that held her. Her eyes were absolutely awash with tears and she sniffed loudly. He laughed; she did, too. "You were right."

"Yeah," Tom said, his voice cracking into a sigh. "Little girl."

She nodded, her fingers spreading back into the hair behind his ears and scratching lightly. Only a few months ago, it was just the two of them.

"You're officially outnumbered," she whispered, as he touched his forehead to hers.

They both looked down and chuckled breathlessly.

"That's okay," he said with a smile.