At the end of the third unsuccessful cycle, they had an appointment booked at the clinic to start looking at other options. The initial step would be to double the dose of fertility drugs for another couple of cycles then they spent the remainder of the appointment discussing the stats of IUI vs. IVF. Dr Churchill gave them a bunch of literature to take home and read through before they came to a decision.
"I never expected this to be easy, but I didn't realise it would be quite this difficult" Neil said on his way back to the car.
"I know" she agreed. "Maybe it would have been better if they had diagnosed something as opposed to it being 'unexplained' issues."
"True" he agreed. "At least if you know what's wrong you can take steps to fix it" he said with a sigh.
"Let's go for dinner tonight" she said. "Let's go out, eat crap and have fun."
"I like the sound of that" he said. "It's a date."
X
That evening they headed to their favourite restaurant, ate their favourite dinner and danced until the early hours of the morning. They didn't talk doctors appointments, or baby talk the whole time.
As the night went on, they had a few more drinks and were very merry by the time they stumbled through the front door around 2am.
She tried to concentrate and lock the front door, but all she could feel was his assault on her neck and his hands wandering, finding the gaps in her clothing and removing layers as he went. He pinned her against the wall in the hall, and it was his turn to groan as she started to pull at his belt.
He lifted her and she wrapped her legs around his waist so they were touching in all the right places. His head dropped to her shoulder as they joined and their coupling was hot and frantic.
They collapsed to the floor in a heap afterwards smiling at each other like idiots.
"That was hot" Audrey said trying to catch her breath. "I forgot just how good we were at this."
He grinned at her. "Please don't think I'm not enjoying the scheduled sex. But that was something else. We need to do more of that!"
"I absolutely agree" she replied. "I'm too old to be sleeping here though, let's go to bed."
"Lead the way" he said as he got to his feet, pulling her up with him.
X
Next morning, they woke groaning at the light flooding their bedroom. She put her cold feet on his legs to encourage him to get up and pull the drapes.
"Cruel woman" he mumbled.
"Put the coffee on while your up, love" she said pulling the comforter right around her. "Decaf remember. Back on the wagon today" she smiled.
"Yes ma'am" he said with a mock salute as he pulled on some pants and headed downstairs.
He set the pot to go and stood flicking the pages of the literature they had been given yesterday. He sighed, it was turning into quite the journey.
With two mugs of steaming coffee, he made his way to the stairs grinning to himself as he saw their jackets still on the floor where they were thrown last night.
Audrey was still tucked under the blankets as he returned with the drinks. She peeped out and looked at his smiling face.
"What's made you this happy?"
"You" he replied. "Last night."
She smiled back. "It was definitely fun. We should do it more."
"Which part?" He asked feigning innocence.
"All of it, but especially the last part" she replied.
"I'm sure we can figure something out."
X
A few weeks went by and they were due at the clinic for Audrey to get some routine blood tests. They were leaving directly from the hospital and Audrey was stood waiting for Neil in the lobby and pacing back and forth. He was late.
She called his cell, there was no reply, same with his office line. She sighed and marched to the elevators and hit the button for the surgical floor. She knew exactly where he was going to be.
He was in OR2, getting stressed about the time passing but trying his hardest to stay focused. He sensed her watching from the gallery above, he looked up at her and shrugged. She could see in his eyes how sorry he was so she smiled back down at him and waved that she would go.
She headed out via his office and left him a note. Her picked it up an hour later and smiled as he read it. 'It's just blood tests, I'll be fine by myself. See you at home x'
She just about arrived in time for her appointment. And before she could even sit, she heard her name being called. She followed the nurse along the corridor, and was directed into a small room where her bloods were taken.
After a short wait in the seating area, she was called into see Dr Churchill and run through the results. They were looking to see that she was actually ovulating when she was meant to be and checking her hormone levels and having a quick chat about the next steps.
She left the appointment with a spring in her step. The results showed everything she needed to know.
X
"All go ok today" Neil asked. "So sorry I missed it."
"Absolutely fine. It was just routine, don't worry about it. Not like you could have just left in the middle of a surgery" she said smiling.
"I won't be missing another one don't worry. We're in this together remember" he said.
""I know, it was just blood tests and a new prescription. Nothing I couldn't handle" she replied.
X
They were scheduled to be off together that weekend and were looking forward to spending a couple of days together
He stood by the stove cooking breakfast as Audrey sat at the breakfast bar. She was still deliberating how to bring up a subject that had been nagging at her all week. And then, the perfect opportunity presented itself.
Neil asked "How do you want your eggs this morning Aud?"
"Over hard would be great please" she said.
"Really?"
"Yes, really. Apparently pregnant women shouldn't eat eggs with runny yolks."
"No worries" he replied casually. Then he stopped. "Pardon?"
"What?"
"Say that again, about the eggs."
"Over hard please"
"Why"
"Because pregnant women shouldn't eat..."
She didn't get a chance to finish her sentence. He dropped the egg he was holding, covered the space between them in two strides and swept her up in his arms kissing her senseless.