Happy one-year anniversary of this story! Thanks so much for sticking with me!
Thank you so much for all the reviews, and I'm sorry that I haven't replied to your reviews, but just now that I cherish them! You are all so amazing! I've been in and out of doctor's offices and the hospital, so thank you for being patient with me!
"I love you so much, and I can't wait until you are back home with gold medals on your neck and a baby in your arms."
"Now that sounds like a truly amazing day."
Emily had been training extra hard for the Olympic Trials for the past week, meaning that Spencer had rarely seen her. Between her trying to make all the plans for her Architectural Firm and Emily always swimming, the only real time they had spent together in the past week was when they slept.
It was now 8pm and Spencer was spread out along the couch, going through some of her finished sketches, when she heard the front door open.
"Em?" She asked, hoping that it was her wife getting back from practice, instead of one of the other multitudes of people who had their house key.
"It's me, babe." She answered, dropping her sports bag and keys on the chair near the front door.
The tanned swimmer was in sweatpants, her hair still damp from spending the day in the pool, and from having a shower before coming home. Spencer sat up on the couch and waited for Emily to walk over to her.
Emily smiled shyly, clearly exhausted. She slowly made her way to the couch and lay down and placed her head in Spencer's lap.
"Long day?" The brunette asked compassionately, getting only a nod out of her wife. "Did you already eat?"
"Yeah. I grabbed something on the way home."
"Okay, good." She answered, starting to massage Emily's scalp and play with her hair.
Emily's eyes closed quickly and she unintentionally scooted into Spencer even more, her face now resting gently against her belly.
"Before you fall asleep, remember that we have the doctor's appointment tomorrow. We get to find out the sex!"
"I couldn't forget." Emily mumbled sleepily. "I think it's a girl."
"Me too, Em. Me too." Since Spencer's belly got in the way of her leaning over to kiss Emily's forehead, she settled for grabbing Emily's hand and kissing it gently before running her hands through Emily's hair again.
Spencer zoned out for 10 minutes before she looked down at Emily, who was peacefully sleeping, with her head in Spencer's lap.
"Em, honey, get up. Let's get you into our comfortable bed." She suggested, only getting a grumble from her.
Emily cracked one eye open sleepily and took one of Spencer's hands before Spencer led them upstairs, to their bedroom. Spencer helped get Emily into her pajamas before lifting up the covers and watching her wife slide into them.
She couldn't wait to join her in their bed and get some well-needed rest, but first, she went back downstairs and locked all the doors and turned off the lights. Once she got back upstairs, she brushed her teeth and slid into bed, smiling when Emily automatically scooted over to where she was.
The next morning, a Friday, Emily and Spencer got up and made breakfast together, enjoying a morning together for the first time in a week.
Spencer was in the middle of a crossword puzzle when she looked at her watch.
"Em, we should go."
"Okay. I'll drive." She added, standing up and following Spencer to the front door. She opened both the front door and the car door for her wife, who smiled and pecked her cheek in thanks.
They arrived at Dr. Byer's office for their 9am appointment, and were seen almost right away. Once the nurse asked Spencer all of the usual questions, Dr. Byer walked in with a big smile on his face.
"Well if it isn't my favorite patient. How are you doing, Spencer?" He asked kindly.
"I'm well, thanks. Excited about today. How are you?"
"I'm good. Now are you two ready to see your baby?"
"Definitely." Emily answered for the two of them.
Dr. Byer took a few minutes to measure the baby and make sure everything was in good shape before turning back to the Hastings.
"Well everything looks great. The baby is a good size and growing normally, with a really strong heart rate. Are you ready to know the sex?"
The two women nodded eagerly, with giant smiles on their faces, and their hands linked together.
"Congratulations, ladies. It's a girl." He said happily as he handed Spencer two print outs of the ultrasound.
"We're having a girl!" Emily said excitedly as she pulled Spencer into a strong hug, neither noticing that Dr. Byer had left to give them some alone time.
"I can't believe that we are actually having a sweet little girl. This is amazing!"
"You're amazing, Spencer." Emily responded genuinely, with unshed tears in her eyes.
"I love you, and our daughter. Gosh, that feels so good."
"We're having a daughter!" Emily squealed again before pulling her wife in for yet another hug.
Finally, Friday morning rolled around. Emily had triple checked everything the night before and made sure that Hanna knew the game plan before she went back to Spencer's hospital room.
"I can't believe that you're leaving in a few short hours. I'm so proud of you, Emily. You are going to rock the 2020 Olympics, I know it." Spencer said proudly on Thursday night while they were getting their cuddling time in before Emily had to leave.
"Thank you for always having faith in me, you'll never know how much that means to me. I just have to ask one last time though-"
"Emily, honey. Stop worrying. Your daughter and I will be perfectly fine, okay? We are both just so happy that you are going to go make your mark in the Olympic world. You just go to Rome and kick some butt, and when you get back, Quinn and I will still be in this hospital bed waiting for you. Absolutely nothing will happen to either of us. There will be no surprise early arrivals, nothing." Spencer was adamant.
"It would kill me to miss our daughter being born. Please, promise me that if you go into labor, you'll call me. I don't care if I'm in the water, on the winner's podium, or in an interview, I'll be catching the first flight out of there."
"I promise. You won't miss anything."
"Okay, I love you so, so much! Please be careful and take care of yourself while I'm gone. Don't drive Aria too crazy." Emily joked, with tears in her eyes, which she was desperately trying to control.
"I promise I'll behave. And Quinn and I love you so much; we'll miss you. But you go to Rome and show them what being a Hastings is about. I don't want you to come back without a medal, got it?"
"Got it. At least one medal for our daughter to bring to show and tell." Emily joked, remembering their conversation about the baby touching her gold medal.
"I wrote you a letter, but don't read it until you're on the plane, at least." Spencer added, now getting tears in her eyes, herself.
They had never spent two days, let alone two weeks away from each other since they had gotten married, so they were both going to miss the other immensely and had been attached at the hip for the past week, trying to stock up on time before she had to leave.
"Great minds think alike." Emily added as she pulled an envelope out of her back pocket and gave it to Spencer, who, in turn, gave her an envelope.
"They sure do. You better get going, babe. I love you so much, and I will be watching everything, all of your interviews and your races, everything. Call me whenever you want or need to, day or night. I'll be here." Spencer finally managed to get out, slow tears now making their way down her face.
"I love you so much, take care of yourself and our daughter. I will see you in two weeks, or less if you need anything or if something happens. Open your letter after you see me in my first interview." She stopped to give Spencer a searing kiss and only pulled back so she could leave a small kiss on her baby bump.
"You be good for your mommy, Quinn. I love you, and I'll talk to you when I'm in Rome." And with that, Emily squeezed Spencer's hand one last time, grabbed her purse and walked out of the hospital room, not looking back otherwise she would never leave.
Once Emily picked Hanna up from her and Caleb's house, they took off for the airport; both excited to be going to the Olympics in Rome.
As they checked their bags and made their way through security, they received funny looks from people who had recognized Emily from the newspapers, commercials, and interviews on TV. They both shared knowing looks and chuckles at times, and only a handful of people had run up Emily to get her autograph.
Both Hanna and Emily had spent the time waiting for their plane to take off by texting their significant others from their first class seats.
Once the plane was pushing back, they turned off their phones and Emily pulled Spencer's letter out of her purse and set it on her lap.
"What's that, Em?" The blonde asked as she pulled out her iPod.
"Spencer wrote me a letter, she told me that I couldn't read it until we got on the plane."
"That's really sweet, and romantic. I'm so jealous of you guys sometimes." Hanna admitted.
"Why? You and Caleb are so sweet together."
"I know, he's amazing, I just wish things could be different sometimes. Don't get me wrong, I love him so much, I just wish we could be a little more romantic at times. You know?"
"I know what you mean, but I think that Caleb will surprise you."
"It would be nice to come home to a romantic meal, but we'll see." Hanna added, wordlessly putting in her headphones and shutting her eyes.
Emily leaned back in her seat and made a mental note to email Caleb to suggest that he make or take Hanna out for a romantic meal when they got home. Emily thought that Caleb was great, and she was always willing to help one of her best friends be happier.
Once looking back over at Hanna, Emily decided she had fallen asleep again, so she took a deep breath and opened the envelope from Spencer.
Emily,
I knew that from the moment I met you that we would be friends forever, though at the time I didn't know just how close we would be. We were friends for years before I finally admitted to myself that I wanted to be more than just friends with you. I had always known that you were so incredibly special. Your will and drive to be successful, your shyness, confidence, and passion for life and your friends always astounded me and made me love you even more. Your ability to make me smile, even on the worst of days, is incredible; especially since you and our daughter are the only ones who have that kind of power over me.
I've never told you, but after we kissed for the first time, I knew that we would be together forever. I know that's cheesy, but it's also true. I can't explain it; it's just a feeling that I got. You are the most amazing person that I've ever met, and I can only hope that our daughter has half of your compassion and willingness to love, because if she does, it'll be more than what the average person has.
You have continued to make the happiest person in the world, for the past six and a half years. From the day that we first kissed, moved in together, had our biggest fight, got married, graduated from college, decided to have a baby, and when you made it into the Olympics. Every single day that I spend with you by my side, is fantastic. Even on the days when we fight, I'm still the happiest person in the world, because I am fighting with you. I was in our home, with the woman that I love, fighting about some stupid thing, like who was taking the car to get the oil changed. Then all would be forgiven, and I would still be with you, loving you like crazy.
Anyways, I know how hard you've worked for this opportunity, and how much you deserve it. So, when you are in the water, I just want you to think about winning, and know that Quinn, Aria, and I will be cheering you on from my room. Everyone is so proud of you and I can't wait until you come back home and I get to take a picture with you, our daughter, and those gold medals.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I've been way too sappy for the past 30 minutes. And I do need to keep my badass cred. Just know that I am so immensely proud of you, and happy for you, you deserve everything in the world. I love you, and I'll miss you. Make me even more proud than you already do!
Forever yours,
Spencer
P.S. Sorry about the novel I just wrote you, but words cannot express how much I love you.
P.P.S. I had the ultrasound technician come back yesterday while you were practicing because I wanted you to have the most recent picture of Quinn.
Emily sat on the plane, with tears streaming down her face as she read the letter for the third time and then looked at the ultrasound picture of their daughter. She smiled and wiped the tears off her face as she looked at the ultrasound and the picture of Spencer that she had taken out of her bag.
The picture was of Spencer from the sidelines at the Olympic Trials; Pam had taken it right after Emily won her first race. Spencer was on her feet, clapping loudly, with the biggest smile on her face. Her chestnut hair cascaded down her shoulders, and she looked absolutely radiant in her pregnant body.
And Emily was ready to make her and their daughter proud.