Chapter 14
A/N: You guys left so many sweet messages on the last chapter! Thank you so much. So it seems like a lot of you like that there isn't a ton of drama which is how I imagined this story in the first place so that makes me happy! I do, however, have some things planned. It won't be super crazy I don't think but I'm just going to wing it like I did with my last idea and hope that you will stick with it!
P.S.: I skipped the whole surgery with Catherine, Richard, and April because I wasn't loving the dialogue I was coming up with. Sorry! That doesn't mean there won't be more Catherine scenes in the future ;).
A few weeks had passed since Callie woke up and she was still staying in the hospital. She was able to get out of her bed and walk around; it was part of her physical therapy. She was getting frustrated at having to stay in the hospital with all the progress she had made but Addison reminded her that she had to stay until her baby was born. Because of the trauma Callie had undergone with the baby inside her Addison wanted to be able to monitor her and the baby every day just to make sure there were no unexpected complications.
Mark and Arizona entered Callie's room and held up paint swatches. Mark held a pale peachy pink shade and an emerald green shade while Arizona held a sky blue and pastel yellow. They both had goofy grins on their faces which caused a confused look to appear on Callie's.
"What are those?" Callie asked.
"These are paint swatches." Mark answered plainly to which Callie rolled her eyes at.
"I can see that, but what are they for?" She adjusted in her bed.
"For the nursery, silly. We thought we could pick out some colors to get an idea and let you choose your favorite." Arizona explained and brought them over to her. "Since we are supposed to find out the sex today we thought this would be a good way to help you out of your slump and get excited for the news."
"Arizona picked an option for a boy, I picked for a girl, and we each picked our favorite gender neutral shade to give you more options." Mark told her and handed over his own swatches.
Callie accepted the swatches. "And you guys actually agreed on this?" She was surprised.
"I assure you it was all very civil." Mark replied. "Once we find out today we can call the painters to get the room ready so it will have plenty of time to air out before we decorate and actually put a baby in there."
"So what do you think?" Arizona asked anxiously. These days you could never know how Callie would react to anything. Being stuck in the hospital was making her stir crazy and the whole accident just put a damper on the pregnancy for her.
"Think about what?" Addison asked as she walked in the room ready to do the ultrasound.
"The color for the nursery. We brought paint swatches." Arizona told her and Callie held up the options for her to see.
"Oh, very nice. I love that you have some gender neutral colors mixed in there besides the typical pink and blue.
"I like the pink and blue shades you chose and I love the idea of gender neutral but how about this. Why don't we do pink with yellow accents for a girl or blue with green accents for a boy?" Callie responded with a smile creeping onto her face. She was so tired of being on bed rest. She loved being pregnant, but not when she unable to do her job or go home. But little things like painting the nursery reminded her that in the end it would all be worth it because the three of them were going to be perfect parents to a precious baby.
"I like the way you think, Torres." Mark smiled at her happily.
"That sounds perfect!" Arizona cheered and took the swatches back from her so Addison could prepare her for the ultrasound.
"Okay, Callie. You know that you typically find out the sex of the baby at 18 weeks. I understand you had previously decided not to know the sex and then the accident happened so you are now at 34 weeks. Because of the accident and the surgery you are at risk for premature labor which is why you are being kept on bed rest. Are you ready to see how this little peanut is doing?" Addison informed them and began running the ultrasound with the screen moved so they couldn't see it until they asked. Whenever Addison had a doctor as a patient she liked to make sure they couldn't see because they may misinterpret something and freak out before it's necessary.
Callie nodded. "Yes, I am ready. Can you please keep the screen turned though? I don't want to be my own doctor right now and I know that's what will happen if I look at the screen before you print out the pictures." She requested.
"Of course. So I see ten fingers and ten toes, the heartbeat is steady and strong and all features and characteristics are coming along as they should be." Addison told them as she kept her eyes steady on the monitor.
"I hope it's a girl." Mark said out of nowhere. They all turned to look at him. "I wasn't going to say anything, but I couldn't help it. I see the way you two are. You are both such strong women and I can't help but picture holding a little baby Callie in my arms." Mark let his soft and fuzzy side show and the three women awed at him sweetly.
"Well, Addison?" Callie turned to her expectantly.
"I'm happy to tell you that you are carrying a perfectly healthy baby girl." Addison smiled and rolled her chair back a little to let them share this moment as a family.
Callie instantly started crying happy tears and Arizona beamed at her. She was so happy to see Callie enjoying this moment of pregnancy. This was the type of joy she should have been feeling this whole time. Mark had tears of happiness rolling down his cheeks and he leaned in the hug Callie and then Arizona.
"We're having a girl!" Mark repeated excitedly.
"Pink and yellow it is then." Arizona said and held up the paint swatches in confirmation.
Addison came back to her post and continued informing them about the health of the baby for a few more minutes before cleaning Callie up and gathering her things.
"Congratulations, you guys. You really deserve all the happiness." Addison said before leaving them alone.
They sat and discussed the nursery decorations and such until they heard a knock on the door. Jackson opened the door slightly and poked his head in. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything." He said politely.
"Nonsense! Can I tell Jackson the good news?" Mark asked to make sure it was okay for people to know. Callie nodded in approval.
"What news?" Jackson opened the door and leaned again the frame.
"It's a girl!" Mark told him excitedly.
"That's awesome! Congratulations! I know that's what you were hoping for. I guess the nurses really do know best around here." Jackson remembered guessing the sex during their very short double date.
"Ha. Who would've guessed?" Callie laughed a bit.
"So, Avery, was there something you needed?" Mark asked noticing the folder he was holding in his hands.
"Oh, right! I need you for a consult if you have time." He said and Mark got up from his seat.
"Duty calls girls. I'll come back by later before I leave to check in." Mark said his goodbyes before leaving with Jackson. "Thank you for getting me out of there." He said as soon as the door was closed behind them.
"It looked like you were enjoying your time together?" Jackson questioned.
"I mean I am happy about finding out and even happier that Callie is finally smiling again, but there's only so much estrogen I can handle at once." He told him.
Jackson laughed and handed him the folder, "Well then the pleasure was all mine."
He accepted the folder and opened it up. "Tell me about this case."
"So did you hear? You guessed wrong." Jackson told April later that night as they were getting ready for bed.
"Guessed wrong about what?" She was really confused.
"The baby. Turns out the nurses know more than we thought. Callie is having a girl." He told her as he slid into the bed.
"Oh my gosh that's so great! Mark must be really excited I know that he was hoping for a girl." April smiled at the thought. She was really happy for her friends. They had been through so much and they deserved this good news.
"Yeah, he really is. He even picked out paint swatches for the nursery with Arizona. I could never see Mark as a dad until these past months. He has really stepped up." Jackson pondered.
April slipped into the bed next to him and they snuggled into their typical positions. They had been sleeping together like this pretty much every night. Or at least every night they were home together when they weren't on call. April's room was pretty only used for closet space anymore. Sometimes when they would lay together at night she would think about the future and wonder if they would get their own place together. She loved her roommates but sometimes she just wished they weren't there so she and Jackson could have a little more privacy. And with the talk about the baby she thought it would be a good night to talk to Jackson about some of these ideas.
"Jackson?" She said softly to grab his attention.
"Yeah, babe?"
"Do you ever think about the future for us?" She asked.
"All the time." He answered her. "Why are you asking?" He turned to look at her.
"I was just thinking about it like I sometimes do at night when we're like this. Do you think we should find a place of our own?" She was nervous to ask him but she was too curious not to.
"I think about this too. Especially after those couple of times when Alex almost walked in on us. I definitely think that would be the next step to take in our relationship." He answered her with a small smile.
"I think we should. I just don't want it to be too early and mess anything up." April worried out loud.
"I don't think that's anything to be worried about at all. I mean we are already living together. We spend every night together already and nothing has gone wrong yet. The only thing wrong here is that we share the house with Lexie and Alex who also are in relationships. The house gets crowded and I don't hate it but I think we would do well on our own and it would be a good thing for our relationship." He responded thoughtfully before kissing her cheek.
"You're right. We pretty much are living the life we would be living just with extra people to cook and clean for. Should we do it then? Or should we hold off a little longer?" April couldn't help all the questions she had.
"Yeah, I think we can start looking at places to get an idea of what we want and what our budget is."
"We should make a list of things we want so when we look we can see what is realistic and what we may need to live without for now. Probably an apartment is what will fit our budget best at the moment if we can get a lease so down the road we can get a house-." April was talking fast and going with all the ideas swirling around in her head and Jackson had to cut her off.
He chuckled. "Slow down there. We don't have to do it all right this second. Our next day off together we can see if there are any open houses. Right now, though, I have some other ideas." Jackson said quietly as he began kissing her neck.
April's eyes darkened with lust when she felt his lips against her skin. "Oh do you now?"
"Mhm." He moaned against her lips before smashing them together. Before she knew their clothes were off and he was on top of her.
They spent the next few hours switching positions and getting each other off until they were both panting and too tired to move. They snuggled back into each other and were soon peacefully asleep.
A/N: Okay, so not much to this chapter but it will help move their relationship along. Some twists are lying ahead for the couple as well so look forward to that in upcoming chapters!
I am thinking about making updates just once or twice a week instead of everyday like I have been doing. This will give me more time to write and get your feedback from the previous chapter before uploading the next one. What do you guys think about that? I was thinking if it's only once a week I could upload either Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday. But I'll let you guys decide! Tell me what do of the week you'd prefer I update and whatever days gets the most love I will make it then! Thanks for your dedication to the story. I'm so happy you are enjoying it! I have a lot of ideas again so hopefully it won't feel boring anymore!