"Just get comfortable and we'll start, Ms Snow." The doctor said smoothly, giving me a moment to wriggle around and close my eyes. Ah, serenity.
"Caitlin!" Julian came barging through the door, looking pissed. I snapped my eyes open, looking towards him in shock. How the hell did he know I was here? "Did you really think you'd go through this without me?!"
I looked over anxiously at the doctor sitting next to me, sending her an awkward smile. "This is the father, Julian."
The doctor nodded, turning her head slowly away from the commotion and returning to the screen in front of her. I shot Julian a questioning look as I cocked my head at him, silently telling him to leave it for now.
But no, he couldn't wait.
"I cannot believe you didn't tell me about this." He said, spinning around in annoyance and lightly kicking a stool.
"Julian now's not the best time. I'd like to discuss this when my legs aren't up in the air and I have pants on." I tried to control the situation, ignoring the feeling of guilt that was rising in the pit of my stomach. The guilt was soon layered by a gooey, cold sensation on my skin.
"Alright, lets get this ultrasound started, shall we?" The doctor asked, trying to brush over the tension in the room.
Julian folded his arms, looking at the monitor and not making eye contact with me. I don't know why I didn't tell about this appointment, something inside of me said it was too risky to do so. I still didn't have the tests back that my mother had done on whether or not the baby had the Meta human gene, so maybe I was waiting for that before he got too attached. I don't know...
I poked him, waiting for him to look at me. "Would you at least sit down for this?"
Julian reached behind him and got the stool, sitting down a safe distance away from me. I should have told him earlier.
The heartbeat instantly took over the entire room, wiping away all other feelings of tension I had. Judging by the way Julian slipped his hand into mine, it took away his too. "Wow." He let out, looking down at me with a soft smile.
"I know." I replied, smiling back at him with ease. "Its pretty wow."
The doctor pointed to the monitor and said happily, "There's your baby."
Julian beamed, tearing up slightly as he stared at the screen. "I can't believe that's ours."
I started tearing up too, squeezing his hand as I watched the screen move around. Even though I'd seen this before, it was a whole new experience seeing Julian so overjoyed. "That's ours."
Julian let out a somewhat shaky breath, completely transfixed by the picture on the screen. "Yeah."
"Would you two like to know the sex?" The doctor asked.
I turned my head to Julian, really not minding either way. "It's up to you."
"...I'd like to know. Is that alright with you?" Julian asked, holding my hand with both of his.
"Of course." I smiled, suddenly excited. "What is it?"
The nurse smiled and spun around in her stool. "I'm pleased to tell you that in 4 months you'll be having a little baby girl."
A girl. We were having a girl.
"That's absolutely... incredible." Julian was grinning like a mad man as I watched him attempt to hold back his tears. Meanwhile, I was definitely balling my eyes out at this point. Julian chuckled as he saw this, kissing me on the forehead and wiping away my tears.
"We're going to have a girl." I whispered, somehow not believing it.
"Yeah," Julian said breathlessly with a grin. "Our baby girl."
It was an odd few months between Julian and I.
Whilst we've always been very comfortable with each other, it was a whole new experience starting a relationship up again when I was pregnant. This baby for us was like we'd skipped past multiple hurdles and run for the finish line in our relationship. Whilst the situation was unorthodox and a little crazy, things between us never felt rushed. Everything that was happening between us... it was... okay.
No evil villains (currently), no alter egos (also, currently), no ex-boyfriends-who-had-alter-egos-in-which-also-turned-out-to-be-evil either (surely we were done with that?). Everything was just normal.
I'd almost forgotten what that felt like.
It was somewhere around the end of my 7th month of pregnancy when it happened.
A bump. Then something more powerful. I sat up in my bed, unsure if what just happened was what I thought it was. A kick. The baby just kicked.
I somehow rolled over in my bed, reaching blindly in the dark for my phone. I dialled Julian's number on impulse, practically jumping around in bed.
"Caitlin you better hope your apartment is on fire cause if you're waking me at 3 in the morning for banana muffins again I swear-" A deep groan was heard from the other end of the line. Clearly he was not amused.
"Come over now." I said urgently, not wasting any time.
"What, are you okay?" Julian replied frantically. From my end of the line I could hear two loud bangs, one of which I'm assuming was Julian's feet hitting the floor and the other his leg hitting the side post of his bed.
"Are you okay?" I asked, hearing him wince momentarily before moving around again.
"Yes," Another groan, "Caitlin, are you? Is the baby okay?"
"Yes. Just come over now! The baby is kicking!" I practically yelled, feeling another kick.
Not another second went by before a loud crash was heard and the line went dead.
Julian arrived approximately 20 minutes later in plaid pyjamas, which could be considered impressive seeing as how he lived a 30-minute drive away. Or it could be seen as stupid, which it most definitely was. I was too excited though when I opened my door to question him about it though.
Plus as soon as I did he came barrelling in, handing me a 4 pack of large banana muffins, "Let me feel."
"Hello to you too." I laughed, leading him over to the couch and setting the muffins aside. "You have to wait a minute, she's stopped now."
I placed Julian's hand on the left side of my bulging stomach, the place where she'd last moved. "Did you have banana muffins ready to go or something?"
"I had a feeling you'd call." Julian grinned, leaning up to kiss me as if he'd just remembered he hadn't yet. "I just didn't realise it'd be in regards to this though."
"Have I told you how much I love you lately?" I reached over and grabbed a muffin, munching away as we waited for the babies movement.
"I don't think I even want to know if you're talking to me or the muffin." Julian rolled his eyes, focusing his attention back to my stomach.
A minute passed with still no movement.
"Maybe she doesn't like me." Julian said sadly in his hyper active, sleep deprived state.
"Patience." I told him, placing my hand over his.
"She doesn't like m-" The baby kicked, causing Julian to take his hand off of me in surprise. "Oh my lord." He said, raising his eyebrows and smiling. "That's amazing."
"Isn't it?" I giggled, feeling the baby stir again. "I have a feeling she's going to keep me up every night like this for a while."
"Sorry that I worked so late tonight. I was going to come here but I didn't want to wake you, so I just decided to go home." Julian said apologetically once the baby had stopped again.
"It would have been okay, I was awake until an hour ago anyway." I said, pushing myself up off the couch.
Julian led me to my room, lying down next to me on the left side of the bed that he'd claimed as his side. Tonight would have been the first night in two months where he wasn't sleeping beside me at my house, had the baby not been kicking. It felt so much better knowing he was here. He pulled me into him, wrapping his arms around me as I leant my head against his chest. "I don't know how much longer we'll be able to sleep like this if the baby keeps getting bigger."
He chuckled softly as he said this, kissing my hair as I closed my eyes.
A silent moment passed before I felt the need to speak a random thought I had. "I want our house to have archways."
"Archways?" Julian repeated, his tone of voice low. We hadn't spoken about moving in together yet, even though it seemed like he already had. Half his clothes were at my house, not to mention his toothbrush, phone charger and laptop that he left at mine most of the time anyway. One day he'd even brought over his toaster, claiming that mine was the worst and he couldn't stand to live in a place that only produced burnt toast.
"And two ovens." I murmured, feeling the fatigue overcoming me now. "For the banana muffins."
"I'd like two ovens." Julian agreed sleepily, "A big backyard would be nice for the kids."
"Kids?" I clarified, unsure of whether or not he meant to make it plural.
"Yes, I've been thinking about uh... do you want more than one?" He asked, seemingly more awake now.
I smiled at his awkwardness. "I'd like that."
Another moment went by as I felt Julian's muscles relax a little more. "I'd like that too."
"Julian?"
"Yeah?"
"I love you." I turned my head up to give him a long, slow kiss, feeling that happy, bubbly sensation running through me as I did.
"I love you too." He replied, kissing me again before I returned my head back to his chest. "So tomorrow?"
"What about it?" I asked.
"We go find our house. With the archways... and banana muffins."
"It's a date." A smile remained on my face as I began to drift off to sleep.
"...Caitlin?" I heard Julian say in his tired voice.
"...Mhmm?"
"...Will you marry me?"
I smiled at his laid back way of proposing, with both of us half out of our minds as we drifted off into a calm, warm sleep. It was perfect. "Yes."
"Okay." Julian said drowsily. "I love you... you and the little one. Night Cait, goodnight bean."
8 houses, 4 suburbs, and 3 banana muffins later and we were starting to get tired of this house hunting business. I wasn't so delusional as to think that we would find the perfect house on the first try, but I so desperately wanted to.
"Maybe we should just go home or to STAR Labs and try again another day." Julian offered, wrapping his arm around my waist as we walked out of another dud house.
"Yeah, I guess. My feet are a little sore." I commented, looking down at my swollen feet. Jesus Christ they were huge.
"Don't worry," Julian kissed the side of my head before he let go. "We'll get there. The right house is waiting for us."
"Absolutely." Our real estate agent (Darren; a young preppy blonde boy who was definitely about to get fired due to his lack of brain cells) nodded his head in agreement. "These things take time."
Julian opened the car door and helped me in. "You know it doesn't have to be today."
"I know." I said sadly, looking down at my belly. "I just don't know how much moving we would be able to do with a newborn."
Julian hopped in the other side and took my hand in his. "We'll get there." He repeated, bringing my hand up to his mouth to kiss it.
The car ride back to the real estate office was silent and felt like an eternity. The whole time I stared out the window, feeling myself becoming jealous and irritated at all the homes that families had already found. Lucky bastards.
When we'd gotten back to the office Darren handed us his card (which we'd be throwing out asap), we then said our pleasantries to our idiot real estate agent before heading towards his car.
"Is it just me or was that boy utterly useless?" Julian commented under his breath as soon as he'd shut the car door behind him.
For some reason, all I could do in that moment was burst into tears. And not pretty small tears either. I was sobbing, hard. Julian seemed surprised at this turn of events, reaching over and holding me.
"It's okay, consider him fired." He said as he stroked my hair, making me laugh as I cried.
"No, no. Well yes fire him. God he was awful." I said in between sobs. "We're just... I want a home Julian. I want our home."
"You have one. We have a home already." Julian replied, wiping away my tears.
"No we don't. We have a small apartment that doesn't even have a guest bedroom." I wailed, starting to feel even sorrier for myself. "I can barely fit my fat feet in the door."
"Caitlin," Julian said softly, lifting my chin up to look at him. "I'm trying my best not to laugh at that fat feet comment alright. You're still beautiful, you always have been and always will be to me."
I rolled my eyes, trying to hide the smile on my face.
"Besides, my home is with you, it doesn't matter the location. You're home to me." He kissed my forehead, making me sob quietly again. "Now, pull yourself together because while that ass hat was talking I found a house on my phone I'd like to look at."
There was no roof, the windows were missing and the front porch only had one step.
"It's not finished." I murmured, standing out the front and feeling a little disappointed.
"Its due to be done in 1 months time." Julian replied, taking my hand and leading me across the lawn.
"That's pushing it pretty close." I placed my other hand on my stomach subconsciously, feeling a little more concerned.
"It will be... very close... but I have a good feeling about this one." He said, helping my up to the porch. "Do you trust me?"
"I have no choice but to trust you."
"Good." Julian smirked, opening the front door.
As soon as we walked in, all I could see was the bare walls and dust covered stairs. "I think I'm going to start crying again."
"No Caitlin," Julian squeezed my hand, shaking his head and laughing a little. "This is good, we get to have our house the way we want it. I mean half the houses we looked at we'd have to paint anyway. Filthy things."
"That's true." I commented, noticing the hard wood floors. "These are pretty."
"According to this," Julian looked down at his phone, "there's 5 bedrooms, all with walk in robes, 3 and a half baths, a home office, and a butlers pantry. Alright well, where should we start, upstairs or down?"
"This level first." I decided. We walked off to the left into a large room with a fireplace.
"This is the theatre room." Julian said, showing me the layout on his phone. "I believe they are putting doors here."
"Okay. Well, it is big. It definitely could fit a whole family... or a circus in here." I joked.
"An army perhaps." Julian added, leading me to the room opposite. "This is the home office. Slightly small, but really we don't need much beside a desk and a cabinet right?"
"Right. We can always switch out a guest room if we need?"
Julian nodded. The next room was the laundry, which had a door out to the side of the house, and then there was the guest suite.
"Holy shit, this is a guest suite?" I said, taking a look into the walk in robe. "This is huge."
"No kidding, wow." Julian muttered, peeking his head into the bathroom. "They haven't finished the tiling in here. But still, come look at this."
"Wow. How are we to afford this?" I asked.
"It's a newer area a little farther away from the city so it's a lot cheaper." Julian replied, leading me out to the kitchen. "This is the only room that's finished it seems."
The cabinets were all white with a marble bench top, there was overhead cabinets and best of all: two ovens. "I'm sold."
Julian laughed, taking my hand once again. "I think I am too."
"This open planned layout is gorgeous. We can have your round table there and my kitchen stools right here." I pointed around the room, feeling myself get excited. This was what I was waiting for all day. "And then we can have my couch over there."
"Your couch? Please." Julian teased. "We're throwing that out."
"We are not." I replied playfully. "It's staying with us. I don't care how uncomfortable you find it."
Julian rolled his eyes, taking me to the pantry. "What ever you say love. Holy, there's another oven, sink and dishwasher in the butlers pantry. And a space for a full size fridge. Nice, and a wine rack."
"Is this even necessary?" I asked, peering in.
"For holidays and parties it will be." Julian said practically. "This connects through to the dining room. It's pretty average. I guess we have to buy a dining table now."
"I'll add it to the list of things to get. Finally, the master bedroom." The first thing to see was the big window alone the side and double doors going into the wardrobe. "And I thought the guest room was huge... wow."
"Okay, this is slightly ridiculous. Once furniture is put in it'll be fuller." Julian said, looking down at the end wall. He stood behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, talking lowly into my ear, "Imagine the naughty things we could get up to in here."
Once he started kissing my neck I couldn't help but giggle. "Julian! You need to calm down. We haven't even bought the house yet. And there's no bed."
"Imagine a bed. Imagine you and me at night, maybe bottle of wine between us-"
"I miss wine." I said, causing Julian to chuckle. He turned me around and kissed my nose.
"Close your eyes and imagine all the wine you could have in this house."
"Ooo I like that." I said, closing my eyes to appease him. "This is it, isn't it?"
"We still have a lot to see." Julian kissed my lips quickly, taking my hand once again. I opened my eyes as we walked to the wardrobe to see the his and her closets that stood beside each other on each side of the wall, with a centre island to bring it all together. Beyond that was the master bathroom, which had a toilet off to the side, his and her sinks, a double shower, and a large spa bath in the corner.
"You're joking." I said.
"This is amazing." Julian agreed.
Upstairs led to a family room and a smaller hallway with a built in desk, which then led to another spare room on the layout. The last part of upstairs was the two bedrooms, which were both connected by one bathroom. Whilst upstairs didn't have much of a roof yet, the rooms looked amazing.
"This... this is the babies room, isn't it?" Julian said, sounding a little emotional.
"Yeah." I wrapped my arms around his, holding him close and leaning my head on his shoulder. "Are we painting it pink?"
"Pink and yellow." Julian replied without thinking. I couldn't help but smile at him.
"So... this is the one?" I asked again, just to convince myself that this was really happening.
"Yeah," Julian kissed the top of my head as I heard him sniffle. "This is our home."
A/N
Hey y'all. Alot happened in this chapter! Julian proposed, they bought a house, they found out the sex of the baby, its just all happening for them!
Sadly, this fic won't be lasting much longer, so I'd like to say thankyou thankyou thankyou to everyone who has read/favourited/followed/reviewed my story or any combination of the 4! I so greatly appreciate it and hope you all will be excited for the next installment of infected, which will be coming very soon after the end of this story. I'll reveal a little bit more of the plot in the epilogue of this story!
Thankyou so much everyone for all the love!