"How have things been?" Dr. Johns asked Thea and Roy as they sat down for Thea's 24 week appointment, which would also be when her second ultrasound would take place. Three weeks had passed since the night Roy had been stabbed, and he had almost fully healed, only a mostly healed scar to add to Roy's collection being left over from that night. Sara had taken out the stitches last week, although Oliver had yet to decide when Roy would return to active duty. For the moment Roy had been forced to occupy himself by training with his bow and with whatever other weapons Oliver and Sara thought practical, as well as light hand to hand combat with Diggle.
His forced absence due to the stabbing, however, had meant that Roy had lost his newly acquired job, which had greatly bothered Roy, until Oliver had offered him a job working with Diggle on security. Of course, Roy had been acting as Thea's bodyguard for ages, so it wasn't a particularly significant change. The only difference was that now Queen Consolidated was paying him to do it. Roy had been hesitant at first, not wanting to be taking Oliver and Thea's money from them, but Oliver had reasoned that the cost of paying for the Queen's security actually had nothing to do with their respective trust funds, and came out of Queen Consolidated money. As it was, with everything that had happened lately, they were a little light on when it came to security guards, so it had actually been a good outcome for everyone involved.
Thea, for her part, was glad to have Roy with her so much. She trusted Diggle, and Oliver of course, but Roy was the one who made her feel the safest, and as the weeks progressed and Thea's back began to ache with the increased weight of her growing bump Thea was becoming gradually more aware of her own vulnerability.
"OK, I think. They're really active," Thea found herself answering Dr. Johns' question, and she forced herself to focus on what was happening in the present time, here in Dr Johns' office.
Dr. Johns smiled, "I'm glad. I've got your blood tests back from your last appointment and everything is looking ok. I'm going to prescribe some prenatal vitamins, just to make sure you're getting everything you and the twins need, but otherwise everything looks ok. Your iron levels are great, so that's not going to become an issue any time soon as long as that continues to stay good. You're doing fabulously Thea."
Relief flooded Thea's system, and she smiled at Roy, who was holding her hand and beaming at the news.
"Now, I understand we're going to have a look today. I noted at your first ultrasound that you didn't want to know gender, is that still correct?'
Thea nodded, "A nice surprise when they're born will be good."
"Ok…just giving you a heads up then that it might be obvious. Sometimes parents with no medical training can tell what they're having from their scans at this point…and I've had couples who haven't wanted to know, only for relatives who work in medicine to spoil it."
"Ok," Thea nodded.
"I can't picture that being an issue," Roy chuckled, "Oliver and our friends know how to keep a secret."
"That's good, I'm just warning you," Dr. Johns smiled, before she began to set up the equipment.
"I usually like to do three scans during a pregnancy," she told them as she worked, "one per trimester. If anything unusual happens then of course we'll do extras, but so far I don't see any reason at the moment why we'll stick with three for you, Thea, unless you want to do more."
"Three sounds fine," Thea nodded.
"That's good. The last scan I usually like to do at about the 34 week mark, which will work out to be…mid January…Does that work for you?"
"Yeah," Thea nodded, running her hand over her bump, smiling as she felt one of the twins kick in response. It was starting to hurt when they kicked, especially when they tried to play soccer with her kidneys, but Thea was genuinely to happy about the prospect of having children to complain about a little discomfort…for the moment. When they got bigger and the kicking became stronger it might be a different story.
"You okay?" Roy asked, putting his arm around Thea's shoulders. Thea leaned into Roy's chest comfortably.
"I couldn't be better," she told him, "I'm in love with a wonderful man, we're expecting twins who so far appear to be healthy, and everything is going well."
Roy beamed and watched as Thea made herself comfortable on the examination table as Dr. John's put gel on her stomach, before she placed the ultrasound wand on Thea's bump and switching the monitors on. Immediately the sound of the twins' heartbeats filled the room and Roy swallowed crossing over to Thea and taking her hand again.
"I'm never going to get over that," he told her honestly, and Thea laughed.
"You're such a sap."
"It's you and our babies…I don't care," Roy replied as they both looked at the screen.
"Is…is one of them sucking their thumb?" Thea asked in amazement.
Dr. Johns nodded, "Yeah…Which side do you notice the most kicking on?"
"Left, definitely," Thea replied, "although I'm noticing more and more on my right too."
"That's good. As you can see, baby on the right is the one being adorable and sucking their thumb. Probably the only reason you haven't felt them move as much as baby on the left is because baby on the left is a little bigger."
"Is that normal?" Roy asked as the baby on the left moved on the screen so that they were in a different position.
"The moving, or the size difference?" Dr. Johns asked to clarify
"Size difference…moving is normal…isn't it?" Roy replied,
"Yeah…moving is normal," Dr Johns laughed, "We don't usually see a size difference at this stage between fraternal twins, although it does happen sometimes. It's far more common in identical twins sharing a placenta, as one twin usually gets a bit greedy, but from what I can see on the scan there isn't enough of a difference at the moment to raise concern. We can clearly hear both their heartbeats, which are at a good rate, and they're both moving around actively. They both look like they're within the size range that I expected for twins at this stage of the pregnancy. We'll continue to monitor it, but there is little else we can do at this point. I, however, think that an extra ultrasound in a month will be a good idea, just to make sure everything is still going well and that they're both still growing."
Thea rapidly nodded, watching the screen, biting her lip as she prayed that everything would turn out okay, while Roy rubbed his thumb over her knuckles.
"They'll be okay," He told her, "They'll be fine, you'll see."
"Roy's right. I'm not hugely worried at this point; it is nothing to get distressed about."
"They'll both be okay?" Thea asked, her voice cracking with emotions.
Dr. Johns nodded reassuringly, "They are at no greater risk than any other pair of twins at this stage of the pregnancy. You just keep doing what you have been doing. Listen to your body, and if you get worried about something you call my office or the hospital and we'll check it out."
Thea nodded, relaxing a little, as she focused on the screen once again, smiling as she watched them float around within her, safe and sound, for the time being.
They were past the half way point now, and Thea knew the remaining few months of her pregnancy would just fly by.