CHAPTER 11

Two weeks later, Andie storms through the front door of Charlotte and Cooper's house carrying baby Michael Nikolas on her hip. Cooper's sitting on the couch watching 'Good Morning America'. Andie hands baby Michael to her father. "Where's momma?" She demands.

"Well, hello to you too." Cooper raises his eyebrows up at Andie. "Nice greeting." He says, sarcastically, before kissing baby Michael Nikolas on the nose. "Char!" Cooper yells out. "We have company!"

Charlotte saunters down the stairs, still wearing her robe. "Hi, Sweet Pea. What are you doing here so early?"

"I dropped Harper off at school and Charley off at his pre-school. You need to come with me now for an amniocentesis while daddy watches Michael Nikolas." Andie tells her momma.

"Where's Nicky?" Charlotte asks.

"Working at his studio."

"I meant why isn't he going with you for the amnio?" Charlotte walks over to Michael to give him a kiss on his chubby little cheek.

"He doesn't know I'm having it done."

"Why not?" Charlotte narrows her eyes.

"He doesn't want me to have it." Andie takes Michael's blue binky out of the diaper bag and hands it to him. The ten month old shoves it into his mouth for a second before pulling it out and trying to put it into Cooper's mouth.

Cooper snickers. "That's not my binky. That's your binky." Cooper looks at Andie now. "I thought you and Nicky agreed not to have an amnio this time because the other kids are all healthy?"

"This baby isn't healthy. It has Tetralogy of Fallot. It's a heart...-"

"We know what it is." Cooper looks surpsised. "When did you find out?"

"Two weeks ago when I had the ultrasound."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Charlotte looks into her daughters eyes. She knows she's hurting.

"I don't know." Andie shrugs. "The kids don't know there's anything wrong with the baby yet so please don't say anything around them."

"We won't." Charlotte confims before giving Andie a hug.

"The neonatologist recommended I have an amnio to check for any other defects."

"Why is Nicky against having an amnio then?" Charlotte asks.

"He says there's nothing that we can do even if they found something else wrong so we might as well wait until the baby's born to find out." Andie sighs.

"He has a point." Cooper playfully bounces Michael on his lap.

"It's better to be prepared." Charlotte advices. "What time's your appointment?"

Andie pulls out her phone to look at the time. "In half an hour."

Charlotte turns to head up the stairs. "Give me a few minutes to change and I'll be right there."

Cooper raises his eyes watching Andie.

"What?" Andie ask him.

He shakes his head. "Doing it without telling Nicky? I don't like it."

"I already told you Nicky doesn't approve of the amnio. I'm not in the mood to fight with him over it."

"When are you going to be in the mood to tell him about it?"

"Daddy, please, I don't need this right now. Things are stressful enough that the baby has this heart problem."

"Fine," Cooper nods. "I'll shut up but I don't agree with what you're doing."

"The amnio?"

"No, not the amnio. I don't agree with doing it behind Nicky's back."

Andie lets out a deep sigh while she waits for Charlotte to get dressed. "I gotta do what I gotta do."

Michelle walks into Chase's office. "I had my last dress fitting this morning. I can't believe the wedding is only a month away." It's been seven and a half months now since Chase and Michelle first got together after Tess found them screwing in his office.

"I know." Chase nods. "Lucas is planning a wild night out for my bachelor party."

"Not too wild, I hope." Michelle warns.

"Ha, ha." Chase laughs. "You know Lucas. His idea of a wild time is going out to a club and being back home before midnight."

"That's because he's married with a kid."

"I wonder why Lucas and Danielle only have one kid." Chase pulls Michelle in close and steals a kiss. "Rosie's almost six, it's time they had another one."

"He's your friend, ask him." Michelle wraps her arms around him.

"I thought that would be rude. What if they're having problems conceiving a second child?"

"Or." Michelle sits on Chase's desk facing him now. "They're busy people, both doctors; maybe one child is enough for them." Michelle runs her hands through his hair.

"Not for me." Chase moves his hand under her skirt. His fingers trail up the inside of her thigh.

"Me either." Michelle opens her blouse.

"I want lots of kids." Chase opens his pants and shoves them down with one hand. He tugs Michelle's panties down with the other.

"Lots and lots." Michelle wraps her legs around his hips.

"Hundreds." Chase licks her lips with his tongue.

"Millions." She breathes out between kisses as he pumps into her on his desk. They moan and groan without saying anything until they climax. Afterward she says. "I'm so lucky I found you. You're the perfect guy, my mister right."

"Ditto." He says as he climbs off of her to pull his pants back up. "I have a patient coming in five minutes."

"That was close." Michelle buttons up her blouse quick and pulls her panties back on. She straightens out her skirt while Chase tucks his pants in.

"We probably shouldn't do that when we're working." Chase chuckles while he straightens out his desk.

There's a knock on his office door.

"I'm leaving now." Michelle opens the door. "Oh, Lucas, we thought you were a patient."

"It's just me. I wanted to tell Chase I set everything up for his bachelor party next Friday night."

Michelle winks at Chase as she walks out of his office. "You don't need a bachelor party, you've got me." She smiles as she walks out the door.

Lucas shakes his head after she leaves. "She's hot and beautiful but I can't believe you're marrying her."

"Why?" Chase chuckles. "Aren't I hot and beautiful enough to be with a woman like that?"

"You belong with Tess Powers, dude. You guys were so good together."

Chase shrugs. "Things change."

"Do you still think about her?" Lucas asks.

Chase nods. "Every day."

"Really?" Lucas points out. "If you're gonna marry Michelle next month, you shouldn't still be thinking about Tess."

"I can't stop. I spent half of my life with her." Chase tells him. "I think about if she's dating anyone. I wonder if she found a good job. I wonder if she still thinks about me."

"Why don't you call her?" Lucas asks.

"Nothing's gonna change. She doesn't want the same things as me. I want a big family. Tess is more concerned about her career moving forward. Michelle wants four kids. She wants to start trying as soon as we get married. Michelle has the same life goals as me."

Lucas tries to explain. "Danielle and I have one child and we're satisfied, after you have your first child you'll see that it's enough to fulfill you. You don't need four kids to lead a fulfilling life." Lucas advices.

"I always thought the more the merrier." Chase chuckles. "Besides, my parents had four kids and I always wanted a family like I grew up in."

"Whatever floats your boat." Lucas tells him as he walks out of his office. "Don't forget your bachelor party next Friday night."

After Lucas leaves, Chase unlocks the top drawer of his desk. He pulls out a folder all the way in the back of the drawer. He stares at the picture of him and Tess taken on their engagement day. "God, I miss you." He says to the picture. There's a knock on the door. He quickly shoves the folder back in the drawer and closes it. He locks the drawer and calls his next patient in.

Meanwhile in Georgia

"It's a boy!" The doctor announces.

"Can I see him?" Tess asks.

The nurses clean the baby up before handing him to Tess.

"Congratulations! He's gorgeous." Tess's grandmother hugs her.

"He looks just like his father." Tess tells her grandmother. She looks fondly at the dark haired newborn in her arms. "He looks like Chase." Tess hasn't seen Chase in seven and a half months since she caught him with Michelle that day in his office.

"You should call him, dear." Tess's grandmother advices her. "Tell him he has a son."

"Chase is getting married to the woman he cheated on me with, grandma. I'm not calling him." Tess kisses her newborn son on the top of his head.

"He should know." The grandmother tells her.

"I'm sure he'll have children soon with his bimbo. This sweet little fella is all mine." Tess gazes at her baby.

Andie's grips her momma's hand while the doctor finishes up the amniocentesis. "We should have the results for you in one week." The doctor tells them.

Charlotte studies the image on the 4-D ultrasound that Andie's still hooked up to. She points something out to the doctor. "Do you see that?"

"Yes." The doctor nods. "I was going to talk to you about it after I finished the procedure."

"What is it?" Andie asks. "What's wrong now?"

The doctor answers. "The baby had a cleft lip and palate. You can see it right here on the ultrasound." The doctor points to the mouth on the baby.

"What does that mean?" Andie asks.

Charlotte answers. "It means the hard palate or the roof of the baby's mouth hasn't closed. It has a cleft or opening in it."

"Can they fix it?" Andie worries.

"Yes. The baby will need an oral surgeon to close the cleft palate and Jolie's a plastic surgeon. She can repair the lip. Jolie's done hundreds of those surgeries. Her patients barely have a scar." Charlote reassures Andie.

"The baby needs to have two operations on its heart. Now it needs surgery on it's mouth and then it's lip? That makes four surgeries this baby needs that we know of already and it's not even born yet." Andie stresses.

"It's okay, Sweet Pea. All of these problems can be corrected with surgery." Charlotte tries to calm Andie.

The doctor adds. "Some of the surgeries can be done at the same time so the baby doesn't have to go under anesthesia four times."

"That's right." Charlotte agrees. "We can schedule the cleft palate and the heart surgery for the same day."

"Do you think you'll find any more problems when the amniocentesis comes back?" Andie asks the doctor.

"I can't know that until I read the results." The doctor tells her. "I'll call you in one week." The doctor leaves the room.

"What am I gonna do, momma? I'm busy enough with Harper, Charley and Michael, how am I going to take care of a sick baby that needs all this surgery?"

"Lucky you." Charlotte tries her best to cheer Andie up. She hates seeing her baby girl so worried. "You have two doctors for parents." Charlotte assures her. "Your father and I will help you, your dad needs to keep his mind sharp now that he's retired."

"Should I tell Nicky about this?" Andie worries. "You know, about the cleft lip and palate?"

Charlotte furrows her brow. "You have to tell him, he's the baby's father."

"He's going to be so mad at me for having the amniocentesis behind his back."

"If there's one lesson I learned the hard way it's... not to keep important matters from the person you love, nothing good comes out of keeping secrets."

"Then you might as well keep the kids at your house tonight." Andie tells Charlotte.

"Why?"

"Because my house is gonna be a war zone tonight after I tell Nicky about this." Andie tells her momma. Charlotte shakes her head, she's well aware her son in law has a hot temper.