DISCLAIMER: I own nothing
A/N: So a lot of you were happy with that last line... let's see if this sates your happiness =)
Enjoy and thanks!
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- To Love and Lose -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
"We're going to have a baby," Penelope said absentmindedly as they sat down in the park together. She felt Derek's hand slip into hers and she turned to face him, her face so full of fear. "Everything's going to be okay right? This baby will be okay won't it?"
"I don't want to make promises that I can't guarantee on keeping, Baby," He confided immediately and watched her expression. "You know if I could I would make it so it would be okay."
"I know," She whispered. "I'm scared," She admitted lowly and looked down.
Slipping his hand into hers, Derek squeezed it in a sign of comfort, of strength. "We need to go see the doctor," Derek spoke up, still in shock that he and Penelope might just be getting a second chance at this. He watched her nod at him and try to be brave, "This isn't like last time, Baby Girl." He turned to face her, "Just because it happened once, doesn't mean it's going to happen again, Penelope. I can't promise you that, but in my gut I know this isn't going to go wrong for us this time."
Penelope smiled at him. He had dashed around the shop, going straight for the pregnancy orientated parts along one of the aisles. She had giggled as she had just watched him as she approached casually and put her hand on the kit she had gotten before. She had told him it dated it, and with it he grabbed a handful of every other pregnancy tests. After getting home, and getting over a dozen confirmations, Penelope had wanted air and he had taken her to the local park to relax and hatch a plan.
He was her strength then and here he was now being it.
"Fifteen pregnancy tests cannot be wrong, Handsome," Penelope mentioned and took a deep breath, "And if it's right and I'm eight weeks, then we're nearly at the same point I lost the last baby."
Derek could almost feel Penelope's nervous energy as it radiated off of her. He could feel it penetrating his body and taking over his senses quickly. He needed to curb this rush of bad feelings and get Penelope to acknowledge that this was not going to be the past repeating itself on them. They weren't that unlucky, if anything he had deemed them the luckiest two people he knew.
They had a second chance where some people had lost out on one.
"There's only one thing for it now," Derek said and looked at her seriously, "We go to the hospital."
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- To Love and Lose -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Penelope sat in the doctor's room with Derek, she hadn't moved off of the table since the doctor had drawn blood and she was almost scared to do so. She wanted a second confirmation so she could panic over what was to come after this.
The doctor came back in with her file and small serious look on his face. Placing the file down he looked at Penelope and smiled, "You're pregnant," He confirmed happily. "All of the symptoms you expressed show you're in your first trimester and your hormone level would indicate roughly about eight or nine weeks."
Penelope bite her lip at that date. Nine weeks. If it were that, then this was the time she miscarried hers and Derek's first baby.
"I see from your file you've had a previous miscarriage not even a year ago," The doctor pointed out and he saw Penelope's face ignite with terror, and Derek's hand tighten its grip on hers. "There is nothing to say it won't happen, but the chances of it happening aren't very high. How far gone were you?"
"Just over nine weeks we think," Penelope replied nervously. "Is there anything that can prevent that happening again?" She asked, she wanted ideas, she needed advice and if it was to lock herself away from civilisation to reduce stress she would welcome it.
"Just take it easy and listen to your body. There's no preventatives, just precautions. If you're beginning to get stressed with something, take a break; reduce the stress levels before proceeding. If you get tired, take a nap. If you're hungry, eat. Whatever you feel your body asking you to do, just do it."
"It's that simple?" Penelope asked cautiously.
The doctor smiled at her, "It's that simple."
Penelope looked at Derek and back at the doctor, "What about the fact I haven't missed a period this month? The pregnancy test I did told me I was eight weeks. Surely I should have stopped?"
The doctor pulled chair over and sat opposite her, "It is common for bleeding in the early stages of pregnancies. We call it breakthrough bleeding. It happens when the hormones that control your menstrual cycle break through the pregnancy hormones that are flooding your body. We'll keep an eye on it, just to lessen the worry, but I'm pretty sure after this one you won't be bleeding again."
Feeling a little better about things Penelope felt herself finally begin to relax some, "I'm just being stupid."
"Not stupid, P," Derek soothed in disagreement.
"Penelope, it's better to be cautious than throw everything to wind. It's a good thing you mentioned the bleeding, it just means we can keep an eye on it on your next scan," He concluded and took in Penelope's unmoved expression and he smiled comfortingly. "Is it heavy at all?" He asked and Penelope shook her head, "Then it's not a period," He gave her a smile. "I understand your apprehension at this pregnancy, Penelope, but really I see no problem with you carrying to full term. You have no hormone abnormalities that would indicate such a problem, or any withstanding conditions."
He stood up then and put the chair back by the desk.
"I'll arrange for a twelve week scan, and we can get an actual date on the pregnancy and give you a due date while we're at it, but just go with this Penelope. Relax and enjoy being pregnant."
Derek stood then and smirked at Penelope, "You heard the man, Baby Girl. Let's go and relax and enjoy this for once."
"The forms should be sorted by now, but I guess we'll see you in a couple of weeks," He told them and opened the door for them, congratulating them as they went. "Oh, and Penelope, if you have any concerns, don't hesitate to ring."
Penelope nodded and then walked to the desk with Derek, her arm linked onto his. She was still stunned into silence. She heard Derek sorting things out, but she was in her own little world for the moment.
This time as she thought about the baby growing inside of her, the small child that she would hold and love, she could feel her emotions were completely different than before. She didn't want to sink into the corner of the bathroom scared, she didn't want to cry over how broken she was at this news, she didn't want to shy away from embracing the fact that she was going to be a mom. She wanted to scream it from the rooftops, she wanted to go and rub it in Kevin's face once more at how happy she was, she wanted to kiss her husband and thank him for everything that she still felt she needed to. She couldn't deny her happiness this time.
She guessed that that was where she had gone wrong all that time again. She had lost her happiness before and with it, she had lost her way.
Now, the only thing she was lost in was her happiness.
"I don't want to tell anyone until the twelve week scan, Handsome," Penelope said as they walked away from the nurses' desk at long last. "I want to get passed nine weeks first and then see our baby. Is that okay?"
"Anything you want, Mamma," Derek agreed and couldn't remove the smile from his face. "It's usual to wait until then anyway, and really I expected nothing less."
Pausing as they stood by the entrance to the clinic, Penelope looked up at him. "We're pregnant, Derek." Penelope admitted in a whisper, her happiness silencing her at that moment.
Derek picked her up and spun her around in a circle, kissing her as he went, "Yes we are!" He almost shouted with excitement and elation. He just couldn't contain his happiness. Their minor moment of keeping this on the down low was completely abolished as they revelled for a minute or two.
"You won't be able to do that when I'm like a house," Penelope replied with a bright, wide smile. She couldn't wait to experience everything she had missed out on once before.
Defiant as ever, Derek taped her nose and smirked, "I'll find a way."
Penelope knew this time was going to be a stranger of last time.
Now she forgot her fears.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- To Love and Lose -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-