SAM & QUINN: FINDING ENCHANTMENT
CHAPTER TEN~SPILT
SETTING: Sam and Quinn's house, hospital, Finn and Rachel's house, Target
WHO: Sam and Quinn Evans
WHEN: Early to mid October 2012
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing related to Glee or any other song/product mentioned below.
Quinn just looked exhausted after work the next Monday. Sam felt bad for her when she got home and ate a quick light supper, saying she felt queasy, and then started in on the calculus homework. She managed to get it done and something for the college intro class and went to bed.
The next day, he was sitting on the couch trying to read that poli sci text while his mother messed with laundry and kept talking to him, making him have to read paragraphs over and over again. He glanced at the time; Quinn should be home soon. It hadn't crossed his mind that she probably would not be interested in the BLTs they had had for supper. That is, until she came running downstairs, straight to the bathroom, barfing up her lunch.
In her rush to the bathroom, she didn't see Sam's mother in the laundry room. Quinn walked out of the bathroom after wiping her face off with a cold wet washcloth and brushing her teeth, saying, "This morning sickness at night is just wrong! Baby is so grounded!"
Oh shit, Sam thought, looking up from his book. Quinn was standing in the main room, looking at Sam, wondering why he was just looking back at her and not responding, when she heard the voice behind her.
"Did I hear someone mention morning sickness? Baby?" his mother asked, more intrigued than upset it seemed.
Oh shit, Quinn thought before turning around. Quickly, she counted the days in her head...11 weeks 2 days...close enough to 12 weeks...I'm going for it...
"It was me...uh, mom..." she glanced at Sam "...we're having a baby!" Quinn said, excitedly, hugging her. Since the Evans' had lived with her, Quinn had taken to calling Sam's mom 'mom', usually without even realizing it.
Holy shit, Sam sat on the couch stunned. He figured he'd better get up and share in the joy, at least his mom's joy, not so sure what his dad's reaction was going to be.
His mother was surprised but not really shocked by the news, probably more surprised that she found out by accident. She hugged Sam as he came over to Quinn and asked if this was true, were they sure? Sam pulled the small photo album out of hiding, the one holding the ultrasound pictures, and showed her.
"We're definitely sure...Q's almost 12 weeks now...we were going to tell you and dad soon," he said.
His mom looked at the pictures, wiping away a few stray tears.
"How long have you known?" she asked them.
"Since the day I broke my wrist..." Quinn told her. "We found out by accident."
"You've known that long? And you're just now telling me?" Now his mother sounded hurt.
"We just wanted to be sure everything was okay, you know...don't be mad at us, mom, please..." Sam said. "We've heard the heart beat..."
"The heart beat?" she asked, somewhat astounded. Snapping back to reality, she said, "You need to tell your father."
"Not yet...he'll be pissed..." Sam said.
"Your language, Sam, dear god! And no, he won't be angry or upset; he would rather you not keep him in the dark about something as important as this," she told him.
"He'll be mad because we're not through school yet...that was the deal..."
"No, the deal was you two finish high school and college...there was no time limit and no one said you couldn't start a family while going to school," his mother told him. "Samuel, he will be so excited and happy for you two!"
Sam looked at Quinn. He knew that since now his mom knew he would have to tell his dad.
"Send him down here later, okay?" Sam asked his mom. "I'll tell him then."
A couple hours later, his mom and dad returned to their love nest, his father somewhat apprehensively.
"Your mother said you wanted to see me..." he told Sam. He and Quinn were on the couch still trying to wrap their heads around political science. I think I'd rather tell my dad that I knocked up Quinn than read about public policies, Sam thought, looking up from the book.
"Uh, yeah, hey dad," Sam started and stood up from the couch. "First of all, I just wanted to tell you both that this was not an accident or a mistake; we thought this through and talked about it and decided it's what we wanted now..." Sam took a deep breath "...Quinn's pregnant."
"Oh my god..." his father began to say but Sam cut him off.
"She's having the baby at the end of this school year and will have the summer to recuperate and then go back in the fall, so she won't miss any school," Sam told them.
His father paused a moment, looking at Sara, thinking about this news.
"Congratulations to you both," he said, genuinely happy it seemed, not that he was thrilled about being a grandfather but the thought of his son having a child did make him happy in a way.
"Thanks dad," Sam said, going to hug him. "That means a lot to me," he said quietly. It did mean a lot to Sam; he did not expect this meeting to go well at all, did not expect his dad to accept the news so easily, actually expected yelling and cussing. Quinn hugged his father too and asked if he wanted to see the ultrasound pictures they had.
"We'll tell Stevie and Stacey, if that's okay," Quinn asked her in-laws.
"What about childcare? When you go back to school?" his dad asked them.
They looked at one another. They hadn't really thought that plan through yet.
"These are the ultrasound pictures from 6 weeks and 8 weeks..." Quinn said, handing them to Seth. Thoughts of childcare were forgotten when he saw the tiny white blob in the scans. Sara pulled Quinn aside to ask how she'd been feeling and to let them know if they needed anything.
"I just need to figure out how to tell my mom now," Quinn said. Telling Sam's mom had actually been easy since it was accidental.
While Quinn and Sara were talking, Seth asked Sam if they planned on staying in the basement after the baby came.
"I have no idea, I suppose so, we haven't really talked about it yet..." Sam said, wondering if his father was kicking them out now.
"I think when your baby is born you and Quinn and the baby should stay upstairs for awhile...I'm sure the basement is fine but we'd feel more comfortable having you closer," his father said. Sam was floored.
"I'll talk to Q about it...the baby's due April 22nd," Sam told him.
"I am happy for you, son...this is a big step for you and Quinn," his dad said. Sam smiled. "Although I am a little queasy at the thought of being a grampa..."
Sam had never considered that his baby would make his parents grandparents. With that thought, he then felt older than his 18 years.
Much later that evening, in bed, Sam pressed up against Quinn, his arm draped over her hip, his hand resting on the small swell of her belly. Her warmth against his groin was getting to him; she kept squirming against his dick. He eventually was erect, pushing into her ass. He whispered behind her ear, "Can we?" Her response was to wiggle out of her panties. He pushed his briefs down, rubbing his penis against the smooth skin of her bare ass. He aligned his cock with her opening, bringing her hips up to him. He pushed only the tip of his dick in the wet heat for a moment before completely sliding in, closing his eyes and allowing himself to enjoy that pleasurable sensation. She moved her hips back to him, forcing him to enter her; he did slowly, for a moment wondered if she had been made just for him. He fit in her perfectly; she molded around his penis exactly right. His hand moved down past her belly, through the small patch of soft pubic hair (he had finally got her to admit that once a month in the summer she did get a bikini wax), to her clit. Her moan told him he was doing something right. His lips found her shoulder and he nipped her there gently, then started sucking a hickey. She reached behind her with her good arm and grabbed his naked hip, her nails pressing into his butt, helping him move in and out of her. He heard her whisper his name in quick succession, then high-pitched moans, then his cock was wetter after he felt the contractions tighten around him. He loved the feeling he had right before he came undone, before he released himself into her. He was hot and tingly and couldn't concentrate, could only focus on his penis in her and the semen he needed to expel. His words were usually jumbled, unable to stop himself from vocalizing the unearthly pleasure coursing through his veins. Sometimes when he came inside her, she could feel it, feel his cock jerk, sometimes feel the hot ejaculate spill over inside her. Sometimes she just knew from how he reacted that he had reached his orgasm. It was always a very intimate joining together between them, wherever and whenever it occurred. She loved that she was the one who caused him to lose control in such a way and that she would be the only one to be witness to it from now until eternity and that it was his seed that made her pregnant. A tiny part of him and a tiny part of her combined and the baby was growing in her belly. She thanked god for that every day.
On Wednesday, she was exhausted again by the time she got home that night. She chose to go straight to bed. On Thursday, she felt a lot better with the extra sleep. She went to water aerobics in the morning and worked the rest of the day. She was making one of her many trips to the bathroom that night when she found bright red blood in her underwear. She yelled for Sam from the bathroom.
"Sam! Go get your mom...quick!" He was sitting on the couch in his boxers in the middle of an online COD game with Mike and by the tone of her voice he dropped the controller and went to the bathroom first, finding her standing next to the toilet, her sweats and panties around her knees and blood.
"Your mom...I need your mom!"
"What's wrong? Is something wrong?" He was petrified.
"I'm bleeding Sam...get your mom...hurry!"
He took off upstairs to hunt down his mother, grabbing her and dragging her back downstairs to the bathroom. Quinn was standing by the sink there, crying.
"Quinn, calm down...how bad is it?" he asked, seeing only a small amount of blood in the toilet. It had mostly been in her panties.
"Just bright red...what are we gonna do?" He was speechless; he didn't know what to do. Wait...maybe he did. He pushed past his mother and found Quinn's purse where she left it by their bed. He sat down on the bed and found her wallet, then found the card he needed. He called the number on the card.
"When did it start?" his mother asked her.
"I just noticed it..."
"Okay, there's not that much...maybe Sam should take you to the emergency room..."
Sam returned, his phone to his ear. "Here, the nurse wants to talk to you..." He shoved the phone at Quinn and returned to her dresser, pulling out a pair of clean panties and sweats, taking them back to her.
She explained to the nurse the bleeding, how pregnant she was, no pain. She hung up Sam's phone and said the nurse was calling Dr. Shields and he'd call them back to let them know what to do. She changed her clothes while waiting on the call.
"I just need to sit down..." she said. He wrapped an arm around her waist and got her to the couch. The phone rang; it was the doctor. He instructed her to go to the hospital and at the front desk tell them she needed to be taken to labor and delivery where the nurses could do an ultrasound and pelvic exam. He told her he was connected to the labor and delivery floor at home electronically and would be able to see the ultrasound to see if anything was wrong. He asked how much bleeding; she said just a little, it was bright red, and painless. She hung up and relayed the information to Sam and his mother.
He realized he was still standing there in his underwear and rushed to throw on some clothes to drive them to the hospital. She went to the bathroom again and returned telling them the bleeding seemed to have stopped. Sam felt he could breathe a little then but was still worried, probably more worried than he'd ever been in his life. His mind was reeling, what had they read in the book about bleeding? He knew they had read things about it but could not make his mind work to bring up the causes. He drove quickly through town to the hospital, parking by the front doors and walking her inside.
At the desk, she told them what Dr. Shields had told her to tell them. They retrieved a wheelchair ("just policy, ma'am," when she questioned it, saying she could walk) and rolled her to the labor and delivery floor. Sam at least was familiar with this department of the hospital, having attended Rachel's birth. At the nurse's station on labor and delivery, Quinn told them she was a patient of Dr. Shields and he was to have called about having her evaluated. They actually had her information from him and moved her into an exam room, asking her questions about the bleeding, was she having pain, had she felt the baby move yet, how far along was she. She had to change into a gown for the nurse to do a gentle pelvic exam. She said she was checking her cervix for dilation. Quinn wanted to die. She knew what that meant; if she was dilating she was miscarrying. She glanced at Sam, sitting next to the table, all the color drained from his face, trembling. He realized she was staring at him so he stood up and took her hand, whispering it'll be okay.
"Okay, Mrs. Evans, there's no dilation, the cervix is thick and closed but it's irritated, which is probably where the blood came from. Just that quick check made it bleed. We're going to do an ultrasound for the doctor to check at home," the nurse told her.
"Q, is that good? I don't know what all that meant…is everything okay?" Sam asked Quinn quietly.
"God, I hope so, Sam…I'm just so scared," she said, her voice breaking a little.
The nurse was fiddling with the ultrasound equipment and told them another cause of bright red bleeding in the first trimester could be placenta previa, where the placenta has moved down over the cervix inside the uterus due to the growth of the uterus. "But, your cervix was friable, meaning it bled easily as soon as I touched it. Have you had intercourse recently?"
"Umm, two nights ago…"
"That might have caused the irritation, pregnancy itself irritates the cervix, vigorous activity…" the nurse went on.
"I've been doing a water aerobics class this week, not that vigorous but exercise…" Quinn said, starting to calm down.
"That could be the cause also. You did the right thing by calling Dr. Shields. Okay, this goop might be a little cold…" She squirted the cold gel on Quinn's belly.
They heard the fast heart beat first. "Great, baby's heart is beating at 154 beats per minute."
Sam felt his knees go weak. Then, he realized what he was looking at on the ultrasound monitor. Something that actually looked like a baby. There was a head, a belly, maybe a leg? As she moved around Quinn's belly, she stopped on what appeared to be a spine. She was labeling things as she moved around, a leg, the heart, a foot, the spine.
While the nurse performed the ultrasound, Quinn tried her best to watch the images on the screen though she was teary about the whole ordeal. What she saw was no longer a tiny white blob but something that actually resembled a baby. Sometimes, the nurse would stop and mark two places on the screen taking measurements. Then, Quinn could make out a profile of the baby or see a leg outstretched or the vertebrae of the baby's spine. She saw the baby moving though she couldn't feel it but the baby appeared to be very active. Once she thought she saw a hand and the tiniest fingers. She could feel Sam squeezing her left hand as he watched; she was afraid to take her eyes away from the screen to look at him because then she'd be full-on bawling.
"Okay, Mr. and Mrs. Evans, Dr. Shields has access to these images so he'll review them and call in to let us know his impression. I'll let him know your pelvic exam findings. I've printed off some images for you; I know how important those are to expectant parents. When is your next appointment with Dr. Shields?" She handed the ultrasound scans to Quinn. The pictures the nurse printed out for them showed the baby's profile, the leg because the femur bone was so pronounced, and the baby's back showing the spine.
"Next Tuesday…" Quinn sniffed.
"Okay, I'll be at the nurse's station; here's the call light if you need me. We're just waiting on Dr. Shields to call," the nurse said cheerfully, handing her a button attached to a cord. She left the room, leaving Sam and Quinn alone.
He put his face next to hers, kissing her cheek. "I was so scared, Quinn, I've never been more scared…"
"So was I, Sam…I didn't know what was happening…I'm so sorry…" She started crying again.
"Don't be sorry, Q…I didn't know how to help you…I didn't know what I was doing…" He was softly crying into her shoulder. "Oh my god, Quinn, I thought it was over…"
She sat up to hug him. "No Sam, you did everything right…I thought it was over, too." She could barely eke out the last statement.
She had been terrified, not knowing what to do, but he had stepped up and took care of the situation, calling Dr. Shields' after-hours number, helping her get cleaned up at home, and getting her to the hospital even though he had been as scared as her. She had not had any scares such as this when pregnant with Beth; everything just seemed to go smoothly even though she only saw a doctor once or twice. She didn't even recall worrying that something would happen beyond her control. This time, she felt the weight of importance of having a healthy pregnancy and tried hard to push the worries to the back of her mind every day.
They stayed that way until the nurse returned, him standing next to the table she sat on, in an embrace.
The nurse said that Dr. Shields had reviewed the ultrasound images from home and everything looked fine. He agreed with the nurse's findings on pelvic exam about the cervix being irritated, not a cause for concern. Quinn was to keep her appointment for the following Tuesday unless she had more bleeding or other concerns. Also, no intercourse for at least a week. Upon hearing that news, Quinn just wanted to get dressed and be home in her own bed. Sam helped her get her clothes back on, and they were allowed to leave.
Sam's mom called him while they were waiting on the okay to leave. He assured her that Quinn and the baby were fine; he really didn't want to go into detail about the irritated cervix causing the bleeding because that kind of discussion still made him feel totally awkward. He figured Quinn could explain it better anyway. He did tell her that they had pictures from the ultrasound and that he and Quinn had watched baby moving.
Once back at home, resting in their bed, Sam holding Quinn close, he asked her if she thought it was him that had caused the issue, from the sex a couple nights before, because he blamed himself. She told him that of course she didn't think that was it...if so, she probably would've started bleeding right after they were together, not two days later. She wondered if she had pushed it too hard in her water aerobics class. He said he thought that was safe for pregnant ladies; she agreed and said the workout really had not been that strenuous.
"Maybe you ought to just take it easy until you see Dr. Shields again," he said.
"I can't...I've got class tomorrow and work this weekend," she replied, sighing.
He was quiet next to her. "Just don't overdo it, Q..."
She rolled toward him and kissed him. "Talk to baby..." she whispered.
He kissed her back and said, "I love you Quinn...I did the best I could tonight for you and baby..."
"You were perfect tonight, Samuel..."
He moved down next to her to be close to her belly, running his hand gently over the slight fullness there, then kissed her just under her bellybutton. He took a deep breath to collect his thoughts and began speaking.
"Hi baby...so mom had a little bit of a scare tonight and we went to the hospital and we took a peek at you to make sure all was okay. Turns out you were fine and you now look like a tiny person, which is amazing. We saw you move and saw your heart beat and don't think for a minute I didn't see you wave at me and mom. I felt like a father for the first time tonight, baby, doing something to help you. Your mom's doing most of the work right now but tonight I was a part of it." He paused then and Quinn heard the tremble in his voice when he spoke again. "I'm pretty sure I wouldn't know what to do without you, baby." He kissed her belly again, leaving tears on her skin.
When he moved back to Quinn, she held him close to her. "Your words are so full of love, Sam."
They fell asleep finally, exhausted from the events of the evening.
In the morning, Quinn was extremely happy to find the bleeding had ceased. She told Sam and he felt a weight had been lifted off him. They got through their classes that day and decided to spend the evening hanging around the house. They picked up their pottery pieces at Color Me Mine that afternoon, impressed with how they turned out. In their love nest, Quinn put them on her bookshelf with the other Sam stuff to await baby's arrival. Quinn was actually feeling better in terms of the morning sickness, but, like Sam had asked her, she decided to take it easy that night. They decided to watch a movie with Stevie and Stacey and tell them the news of the new baby on the way. Stevie had complained that all they watched were "girly" movies so Sam chose Cars that night. They popped popcorn and spent quality time with his siblings since they had been so busy lately.
After the movie ended, Sam told his siblings, "Hey guys, Quinn and I have some pretty neat news to share with you..."
"You're getting a new game for your PS3?" Stevie asked.
"Um, no..." Sam answered.
"You're taking me to get my ears pierced?" Stacey asked.
"Not quite..." Quinn replied.
"What would you guys think about a new baby in the house soon?" Sam asked them. This grossed Stevie out but excited Stacey to no end.
"Like a doll but real? Alive?" she asked Quinn.
"Don't babies cry a lot? And barf a lot? And poop a lot?" Stevie asked Sam.
"A very real baby, Stace, and yes Stevie real babies do all that, you did when you were a baby," Quinn answered both questions.
Sam looked at Quinn smiling. "Quinn is going to have a baby in a few months..." Both kids stared at Quinn.
"You have a baby in your stomach right now?" Stacey asked Quinn in complete awe.
"I do! I'm going to be a mom and Sammy's going to be a dad," Quinn said, smiling at her.
"You're still skinny though," Stevie said.
"It takes time to grow a baby...and I'm not as skinny as you think," Quinn said, standing up and smoothing down her top over her tiny baby bump. Stacey immediately touched Quinn's belly.
"How much longer 'til we can meet the baby?" she asked.
"Sometime in April...a few months away..." Sam told them. "You'll be Uncle Steven and Aunt Stacey."
"I like the name Ruby if it's a girl!" Stacey told them. She loved the Max and Ruby cartoons.
"And I bet you like Max for a boy?" Sam asked, laughing.
"How'd you know, Sammy?" she asked.
"Lucky guess, Stace," he replied, smiling. "Quinn and I haven't picked out names because we don't know if it's going to be a girl or a boy yet."
"When will you know?" she asked.
"When the baby is born," Quinn said.
"Come downstairs, guys, we have pictures..." Sam said, getting up and leading them to the basement.
"Pictures of the baby?" Stevie asked incredulously.
"Yep..."
Sam and Quinn showed them the ultrasound photos, the most recent ones being the most interesting to Stevie and Stacey. Stevie seemed uninterested, thinking they were going to be in color and actually look like a baby; Stacey loved them though.
"I can't wait to hold the baby!" she said, happily.
"Me either Stace..." Quinn said, smiling at Sam.
For the rest of the weekend, other than working, Quinn did try to relax, watching TV, catching up their laundry, doing homework, reading. Rachel called her Saturday to see if she wanted to hang out with her and Arielle since Finn was going to Mike's for some "epic video game tournament," which Sam was attending as well. Sam dropped her off at Rachel's, telling her he'd text when he was on his way to pick her up, pecking her on the cheek. He didn't plan on staying long at Mike's since they were getting up early in the morning for church and then work.
Arielle was now a bit over 3 months old. It had been a week or so since Quinn had visited and Arielle had grown into a happy chubby baby; Quinn's life had been busy since classes started and fitting work into that schedule was nearly overwhelming coupled with handling the early stages of her pregnancy.
Quinn and Rachel sat on the floor playing with Arielle who was lying on her belly on a blanket holding her head up and smiling and cooing at them.
"She is going to be so gorgeous, Rach...her eyes are deep and her eyelashes go on for miles, her hair is beautiful, her skin is perfect, her lips are rosy. You and Finn created one fantabulousbaby!" Quinn gushed compliments about the baby, causing Rachel to blush. "You'll have to beat the boys off with a stick!" They both laughed at that since it came out sounding a bit risqué.
"How have you been feeling? The last time you were here you were sicko. Is your tummy better?" Rachel asked her.
"I still get a little queasy every once in a while. It's starting to calm down though, I think," Quinn said, her attention focused on Arielle.
"I thought it was just something you ate that day?" Rachel said, looking at her funny.
"Oh, uh, yeah," Quinn said. Dammit, I did it again! Eff it, I'm telling her, she thought.
They played with Arielle for awhile longer and then Quinn turned to Rachel.
"I have something I need to tell you," she said. Rachel looked at her, concerned. Quinn's tone of voice made it sound like bad news. Maybe she's breaking up our friendship? Rachel thought. It's probably weird for her to be around Finn still.
"Sam and I are pregnant!" Quinn said, breaking out in a huge smile.
Rachel squealed in excitement, scaring Arielle into crying. She was also secretly thinking thank god Quinn isn't breaking up with us! She scooped up Arielle to calm her and then they both hugged Quinn and the usual questions began.
"I am so happy for you, Quinn! I know how badly you wanted this. What about school?" Rachel asked her,
"Since the baby is due toward the end of the school year, I'll have the summer to get things back to normal and should be able to pick up classes in the fall...we're gonna need childcare though," Quinn said.
"Look no further! I'll watch your baby for you!"
"You have Arielle to take care of...I couldn't leave you with twobabies under the age of 2!" Quinn said, chuckling.
"Your baby would only be, what, 5 months old? Ari might be walking but I should be able to handle it. You could drop off the baby in the morning and Sam could pick up the baby in the afternoon. Let me check with Finn and you check with Sam and we'll go from there, okay?"
Quinn thought that sounded like a great idea, actually. "Okay, I'll run it by Sam later...you're gonna have to help me with the stuff I need, like tell me what you had when you brought Ari home. I guess we need a crib? Diapers? I'm clueless here!" A lot of people thought erroneously that since Quinn had had a baby in the past, this stuff should come to her like second nature. She definitely knew that was false; she felt like she was learning everything anew as she progressed with this pregnancy.
"They don't need much those first few weeks...let's go look at Ari's nursery for ideas..." Rachel stood up and picked up Arielle.
"Nursery?"
"Yeah, the baby's room..."
Quinn thought of her and Sam's love nest and how there was no room for a separate nursery. Right now, there was barely enough room for them two. Arielle had a completely separate room as her own. There was a crib, a bassinet, dresser, rocker, table, changing table, toys galore already, something that looked like a small playpen. Quinn saw the baby monitor, which looked almost like a webcam.
"Is that a camera on the monitor?" she asked Rachel.
"Yeah...uses wireless technology. Very helpful in the middle of the night," Rachel told her, setting Arielle in her crib and going to the closet.
"This is her wardrobe, you know, for when she's older." She then went to the changing table. "We keep all the burp cloths, towels, diapers, baby wipes, lotions, powder, that kind of stuff in here. All the clothes she wears now are in the dresser."
Quinn was stunned. "This is so much...stuff..."
Everything was done in a Disney princess theme, the bedding, the drapes, rugs on the floor, stencils and pictures on the walls. Quinn wanted to cry. All they had for their baby was a cheap diaper bag full of freebies and their Color Me Mine pottery. The self-pity moment was brief; she sucked it up, telling herself she was only 3 months along basically...they had 6 more months to get ready. Her phone played a familiar ringtone; Sam was on his way to pick her up.
"Sam's on his way over, Rach...I'll try to get over more often..." Quinn said, hugging Rachel, whom she now considered a friend.
Sam honked outside but Quinn was already on her way out to the car.
"Hey honey...did you girls have fun?" he asked, taking her hand, giving her a quick kiss before heading home.
"Yeah, it was a nice visit...Ari is getting so big...hey Sam?" she asked, still mulling over Arielle's nursery.
"Yep?"
"What are we going to get for baby? Like a crib and a monitor and a changing table and a nursery and diapers and burp cloths and clothes and..." she said, getting more worried with every item she listed.
"Whoa! Hold on a second...where'd this come from? We'll get what baby needs...what'd you and Rach talk about?" he asked, surprised about this topic suddenly cropping up.
"Not so much what we talked about...she showed me Ari's nursery...a whole room full of baby stuff for Ari..."
"Quinn, our baby will have what he or she needs. We'll figure it out; we have some time. How about tomorrow night when you get off work, pick me up and we'll go to Target and just look at baby stuff, if you feel up to it. Then, we'll have an idea of what we need like right at the beginning. You cool with that?" he asked.
In the darkness, she beamed. "Totally down with that. Did you boys have fun?"
He laughed. "It was like hanging out with married men, Q! All Finn could talk about was baby Ari, Artie wouldn't shut up about him and Betsy and how hot she is in bed, and Mike kept going on about proposing to...shit..." Out of his peripheral vision, he saw Quinn's head whip around, eyeballing him.
"Mike proposing to...?" she asked. He stayed quiet; he wasn't going to spill any other details. "OH MY GOD!"
"God Q, you absolutely cannot tell Tina...seriously! It stays between me and you..."
"When? When? When?" she asked excitedly.
"Not for a long, long, very long time so don't be asking me a ton of questions about it...god, Mike is gonna have my balls..."
"I freakin' pinky promise you that I absolutely will not tell a soul, Samuel Aaron! I trusted you with Rachel's secret; you can trust me with Mike's secret. Please please please!" He looked over at her, clearly excited for her friend, and recalled how she did trust him with Rachel's secret. He sighed.
"Okay, the god's honest truth, all I know is before the end of this year. I swear to you, that's all I know. I trust you will not tell a single soul a peep of this information!"
She clapped and maybe squealed a little in the passenger seat. He looked at her, smiling.
The next night when she got off work, she picked Sam up and they headed to Target to check out baby accessories. Sam was definitely keeping her away from the meat section of the grocery area of the store after what happened during their last trip to Target. She was focused on one area of the store that night and that was the baby department.
And then she was stunned. She thought what she saw in Arielle's nursery was a lot; there was so much more that even Finn and Rachel didn't have.
They split up to wander around the section of the store. Sam stayed in the aisles with small things, baby-sized washcloths and towels, bulb syringes (what do you use that for? he thought), pacifier clips, fingernail clippers, nipples and bags for bottles, a thing to warm up baby wipes, burp cloths (wait…aren't those just towels too?), all sorts of infant and toddler medicines, lotions, creams, powders, remedies for all sorts of ailments. He turned a corner and saw newborn clothes hanging there. He picked up a pair of infant socks and couldn't believe how tiny they were in his hands. Farther down the aisle, he saw tiny gowns and things called onesies and baby t-shirts. He turned another corner and ran right into nursing bras; he made a quick retreat from that aisle. He saw a whole section of books about pregnancy and raising kids and a whole section of brightly colored infant toys. We can do this, he thought, catching up to Quinn who was looking at things like strollers and cribs and car seats.
"I think this is the way to go, Sam," she said, pointing to a stroller with a detachable car seat.
"Yeah, makes sense to get a….holy shit!" He saw the price, nearly $200.
"A good stroller alone will cost $150 on the low end and a decent car seat alone is at least $70," she said.
"Wow…what about cribs?" he asked. They moved down a little ways to look at those.
"To begin with, we probably just need a bassinet, later on a crib," she said. Good thing, he thought, because the cribs he was passing were nearing $200 apiece, the bassinets more like $80. He actually liked the bassinets, small enough to put next to their bed in the love nest. Then, he remembered his father's offer.
"My dad told me we could move upstairs when the baby is born if we wanted, so we'd be closer to them, I guess if we needed anything," he told her and kind of shrugged. "I'm not sure how I feel about that."
"I'm not sure either…we'll have to talk about it, I guess…do you think the basement is too cold for a baby?" she asked him.
"I don't think so but I'm not a baby…well, most of the time…" he laughed. That got her tickled and she had to run off to the bathroom.
While she was gone, he looked at other big ticket items, motorized swings, high chairs, play pens, changing tables, back to the cribs. He noticed over one crib a mobile that caught his eye. He found the switch on it to turn it on and it played It's a Small World. The sun and moon were in the center and the other planets circled around them. He found one in the box; it was $20. He was buying it.
Quinn returned finding Sam excited, holding a box.
"I'm buying this for baby…it's awesome!" He held up the box so she could see and then grabbed her hand and pulled her over to the one on display and switched it on.
"I love it Sam!" she said, squeezing his arm. "Maybe baby will love space like you." He smiled at her.
"You pick something out too…" he said, wanting her to choose something special for their baby.
She looked around a bit and finally wound up in front of a bin of super soft infant stuffed animals. She picked up one that looked like an insect, oddly enough. A lightning bug.
"This one, Sam," she said.
He made an odd face, curious as to why she chose a lightning bug over a rabbit, lamb, kitten, puppy. "Why this one?" he asked.
"It's different and…" she paused, wondering if she should tell him about the fluttering. "I think I felt the baby move and it felt like a lightning bug fluttering around in there."
They were walking toward the front of the store and he stopped her abruptly.
"You felt the baby move? Is it moving now? Can I feel it?" He was practically shouting at her. He couldn't help it. Nothing she could have said would have shocked him more.
She pulled him closer to her, noticing that other customers were staring at them due to his outburst.
"No, it's not moving now…I was laying on my side in bed and there was this fluttering and all I could think was a lightning bug is in there," she said, quietly.
She hated seeing the disappointment cross his face, but he quickly smiled, kissing her on the forehead.
"I love you Quinn, you're perfect…" he said to her and they continued to the register.
At the register, they found out the mobile was a clearance item and was on sale for 50% off. He was happy; they were buying the first things for their child, a solar system mobile and a stuffed lightning bug. Even though they had the ultrasound pictures, had heard the baby's hear beat, and Quinn was even showing a little bit, for some reason those two things he bought that night made it seem very real to him. They were bringing a baby into the world.
A/N: My apologies to any dudes reading this and the whole scene about bleeding. Unfortunately, it happens during pregnancy and sometimes the outcome is not as good as Sam and Quinn's in this story. It is a scary situation to find yourself in, so I was curious how Sam and Quinn would handle it. Also, my apologies for taking forever to update! I've been busy behind-the-scenes though! Saw Chord Overstreet at the Glee 3D Concert Movie premiere last evening so that was kind of sad, his last Glee appearance. :( Thank goodness Fabrevans is alive and well here!