So I know that most of the chapters have been pretty short (Or short compared to some other ones I've read) but 'm trying to make them a bit longer. I'm running out of ideas though so if any of you have any interesting ones then review or PM me and I'll try my best to incorporate them. I have one chapter already written but it's for later in the story so I need a few others in between there. Thanks for all the support on this story!


Chapter 8: Keeping Appointments

The waiting room was full of women. All women everywhere. Of course, there were guys too, boyfriends and husbands and Jules was pretty sure she saw a brother in there too, but it was mostly women. Sam hadn't been able to make it to the appointment. Or, she didn't tell him, at least. She knew he would insist on coming and he shouldn't have been missing work when she wasn't even sure that she was pregnant.

"Julianna Braddock?" the doctor called from the doorway. This was it. The moment of truth. She stood up and walked towards her, trying not to make her legs look like they were shaking. She didn't know why she was so afraid this time. She had done this before. She wasn't quite a pro, but pretty close. The doctor smiled and led her down the hall to an exam room. "How are you feeling today, Jules?" she asked. Jules? How did she - it was Doctor McCarthy. Of course. She was her OB when she was pregnant with Sadie. "I'm good, thanks." she replied. The doctor pulled a stool out from under the small desk in the corner. "So, I'll get you to just take a seat on the table for me." She gestured with her pen to the metal bed on the side of the room. "Didn't bring Sam with you?" she asked. Jules shook her head. "No, he had to work today."

"Oh, that's too bad. How's Sadie doing? She's, what, three now?"

"Almost. Four more months."

She couldn't believe that it had been three years since she had last been pregnant. What if she had forgotten everything? What if she had hurt her baby when she didn't even know that it was there? Wait - what? She didn't even know if she was pregnant yet. Calm down, Jules.

"So I'm just going to guess you're here because you're pregnant?" Dr. McCarthy asked with a smile. Jules nodded. "I think so. I took a test a while ago but it was negative, and then I took another one a week ago and that was positive." she explained.

After a blood test, she knew that she was pregnant. Now she could start to worry. Dr. McCarthy rolled the ultrasound machine into the middle of the room. "I'll do a quick ultrasound to make sure that everything's alright, if that's okay." Jules nodded quickly and rolled her shirt up above her stomach. The fuzzy black and white image popped up on the screen and they both watched for the baby. "One minute, just let me look a bit more." the doctor told her. Jules continued to watch the screen, but nothing was appearing. "Why can't you see it?" she asked. The doctor frowned. "It could just be that the baby is small, so it's harder to find. I'll find it though, don't worry." A loud thumping filled the room and Jules smiled. "There's the heart. That's your baby." She pointed to a grey and white blob on the screen. "I'd say by the looks of things, you're about thirteen weeks along, so we'll need to get you started on some prenatal vitamins pretty soon. Would you like to know the gender?" Jules was still in shock from her first sentence. "Thirteen weeks? Are you serious?" she asked in disbelief. Dr. McCarthy nodded and passed her a Kleenex to wipe the gel off her stomach. "Yes, but it's not uncommon for women to discover their pregnant later than usual. In this case the negative you got at first could have contributed to that. But your baby is still pretty small, so I'd say you won't be showing fully until about 16 or 17 weeks."

"Isn't it too early for the gender?" she asked

"Well," she said. "It depends. I can check if you want but we can't always see right away. Sometimes we can tell earlier than others. I could take a look if you'd like." It made sense, she and Sam had only found out that Sadie was a girl when she was 5 months along. But she wasn't sure what she wanted yet. Maybe it would be better to just wait for Sam to be with her. They had never actually sat down and talked about having another kid. It was always more of a conversation in passing. Not exactly dinner table conversation when you had a very smart almost 3 year old in your presence. "Yeah. Okay. Let's hear it."

The doctor paused for a moment and stared at the screen. "It looks like you're having a baby boy. Congratulations. I'll write you a prescription for the vitamins and you can pick up your prints at the front desk."

And that was when it really sunk in.


"Yeah Dad, I'll think about it." Sam repeated into the phone. "But you gotta know I can't just ditch Jules and Sadie. They're my family. I'd have to talk to Jules about it first. No, I know what you're offering. I'm TL Dad, so even if I left it would take some time. There aren't many people on my team that could fill in on short notice." He raked his fingers through his hair and opened up the fridge in search of something to drink. He had been chasing Sadie all day until she finally wore herself out and fell asleep on the grass, and as soon as he sat down, his father called and offered him some prestigious position on his old team. "But after what happened with Matt, I don't know - Yeah, I know that." He pushed the fridge door closed again and put the lock back on. Jules had bought it when Sadie started walking so she couldn't open it whenever she felt like it.

"And I know that. But it's a lot you're asking. Another tour, I just don't know. That's a year and a half away. If Jules said okay, then yeah, but not right now. Okay dad, I'll think about it."

He hung up the phone and placed it on the counter before grabbing a glass and putting some water in it. He chugged the glass and pushed the fridge door shut for the second time.

"You forgot to lock it." He almost dropped the glass at the sound of her voice. "What?" he asked, surprised. Her shaky hand reached out and pointed to the fridge. "The door. You have to lock it." He reached back and smacked it so the lock pushed into place, but his eyes never left hers.

"Were you listening?" It was a stupid question, really, because by the look of her face he knew the answer right away.

"How much did you hear?"

"Enough." He rested his elbows on the counter and folded his hands. His relationship was about to go to hell. She crossed her arms protectively over her chest, exposing the piece of paper hidden in her hand. He would know it anywhere.

She was holding a sonogram.


Oh hot damn. . .