A/N: Sorry that this took me so long to update. But here's the next chapter, as always please read and review, they are appreciated.

Chapter Four: Nervous, who me?

Summer had left and fall moved in. Abby was starting to feel like the stay puff marshmallow man with the way she was blowing up. It was the middle of November now, holiday plans having been made and she had just scheduled her ultrasound for baby, which was going to be done at 28 weeks on the 18th of December.

Carter was a bundle of nerves, he wanted that day to get there and had to suffer the entire time slowly marking the days off the calendar one by one, the day of the ultrasound circled in red with the time off already requested.

He had signed them up for Lamaze classes and started already buying baby things, in preparation for the baby. Stroller, car seat, crib, a few clothes and the like for bringing baby home in. Abby was about ready to strangle him with all that he was doing but for the most part all of that was keeping him out of her hair.

The day of the ultrasound arrived and Carter was now seriously driving Abby bonkers, she wished that he would have worked part of the day at least that way he wouldn't have been underfoot all day.

"Carter, would you go and grab me a burger," Abby pleaded now, granted it was only 11 am but she needed to get rid of him for a little while he was hovering and she didn't like hovering.

"Yeah sure." He replied grabbing his coat, "I'll be right back."

Those were words that she didn't want to hear, "don't forget the…" the sound of the door closing cut her off, "fries."

Well she couldn't complain at least he was gone and the house was quiet. She stretched out on the couch now closing her eyes as comfortable as she could be right now. She'd have to start drinking that gallon of water here in about an hour so that she'd have it done before the ultrasound and then it was just a matter of holding it for hours.

She made herself comfortable once Carter had left, hoping that she could have some peace and quiet, not to mention time to herself. She knew that Carter was just being overprotective, that he was excited about all of this and she really couldn't blame him to that extent but he was starting to get on her already short nerves.

She sank a little more into the couch knowing that it was going to be difficult to get off the couch once she got comfortable but then she'd just wait for Carter to get back and he could fork lift her off the couch. Abby never thought getting pregnant would mean getting this big, and she still had time to go. The baby just seemed to want to hang out in the front making it's little presence known at all times. As she laid there the flutters that at first were so soft and over the weeks had become more intense, harder and frequent started up again. The baby liked to use her bladder as a soccer ball and tap dance on her spine.

"Ahh." She said resting her hands on her belly now closing her eyes. "Yes, I know you are in there my little one." She said with a heavy sigh, "mommy's tired."

She was almost asleep when she heard banging and the door come open with Carter standing there with his arms full. Sending him for food might have been a good idea at the time but right now the sight before her eyes was making her seriously regret that request.

"I'm back." Carter said as he crossed over towards the kitchen with the bags in his arms.

"And my food," Abby said craning her neck so that she could see him a little bit better not that she could see him.

"Yeah, got you a burger, fries and chocolate milkshake." He said sitting things down looking over at where she was letting out a small laugh, "stuck?"

"Okay Carter," Abby said with irritation in her voice, "that's so not funny and so not a question you should be asking me right now. Get over here and give me a hand off the bloody couch."

Abby gave him the evil eye the entire time it took him to cross the room. Not happy but not upset, just not in the best of moods. She walked over to the kitchen to eat what he had brought for her.

The rest of the time she ended up trying to nap in the bedroom putting as much space between Carter and her as she could. It wasn't that she didn't want to be with him she just needed a break from everything for awhile.

Carter was all smiles as they drove to the OB's office. They got inside checked in, Abby had finished drinking all that dang water and felt like a balloon that was about to explode any minute, baby using her now full bladder as a new toy.

She was in a gown now laying on the gurney, Carter had a look on his face as if it was Christmas, so excited to see his baby for the first time. It seemed like forever before the ultrasound tech came into the room and they could get this thing started so that she could go and use the restroom to relieve all the pressure that was in there.

Carter and Abby's eyes were focused on the screen as everything else faded away and the first images of their baby came into view on the screen. They both sat there in complete awe of the picture that was there baby on that screen.

They watched as the tech took pictures and measurements of the baby's head, arms, femur, and then moved on to the kidneys and then the sound of the baby's heartbeat filled the room.

"I think that's the most beautiful sound I have ever heard." Carter whispered taking Abby's hand into his, a small tear forming in his eyes.

"I think so too." Abby smiled at him quickly before turning her eyes back to the screen.

The tech was taking pictures of the baby's heart now. She seemed to be taking longer there than Abby or Carter was comfortable with and there was this eerie silence in the room now.

"Wait here just a minute." The tech said before slipping out of the room.

Carter and Abby were not sure what to make about what was going on. So they just sat there nervously holding on to each other's hands, surely there couldn't have been anything wrong, maybe they saw a second baby or something that the tech needed a second opinion.

The doctor came into the room with the tech this time, "hello," she said with a soft smile, "nice to see both of you." Formalities more than anything, "I'm just going to take a look at this little one here." She started to look at the same areas that the tech had been so focused on. The facial expressions of the doctor were difficult for Abby and Carter to interpret and Abby didn't know if she should start to worry now or not.

Finally the doctor snapped off the screen. "Why don't you go in use the restroom and get dressed and I will come back and talk to you in a minute."

"Dr. Stevens." Abby said looking at her "is there something wrong."

The doctor just patted Abby's hand, "well talk in a few minutes."

That didn't ease Abby's mind any just made it go faster than it already was as she moved off the gurney and headed in to change. It didn't take her long as she came back out taking a seat next to Carter, whose smile had seemed to have faded a little more.

They didn't say anything to each other not knowing what to say. They just sat there in complete silence waiting to find out what might be wrong, what they had seen on that screen.

It was nerve racking waiting like this, but they had no choice. Carter stood after a few minutes and starting pacing. That just made Abby even more upset and worried that she already was if Carter was pacing then he must have seen something that her not as well trained eyes hadn't seen.

"Dr. Carter, Abby." The doctor said as she came back into the room, "sorry for the delay." She was being very formal with both of them right now and it didn't sit well with the soon to be parents. Abby watched as the doctor pulled over a chair so that she was sitting down next to where Abby was and waited for Carter to sit down as well.

"What's wrong?" Abby asked.

"The baby appears to have a congenital heart defect." She said as she started to talk to them, treating them both now as parents rather than health care professionals. "The left ventricle appears to be underdeveloped in comparison to the right one. We won't be able to get a clear picture until the baby is born as to what the exact problem may be."

Abby went into a numb shock. As what the doctor was saying was sinking in, there was something wrong with her baby. She looked at Carter but the look on his face matched the look on her face as they were both hit with new that hurt.

"What are we looking at?" Carter asked, "what are the possibilities here?"

"It could be a coarctation of the aorta, it could be hypoplastic left heart syndrome," she said, "what you as parents are facing is a baby with a heart defect. But it can be treated with surgery."

Abby's mouth feel open here her baby wasn't even born yet and they were telling her that the child was going to have to have surgery to fix a birth defect. "Surgery." She managed to sputter out.

"Yes." Dr. Stevens answered her back. "We will refer you to a pediatric cardiologist that specializes in this sort of problem. The good news is that we caught it before the baby was born and we will be expecting it." She could see the worried look on both parents faces. "This is not something that either one of you caused. It's just something that happens."

Something that happens. That didn't reassure Abby of anything, it didn't ease her fears or her worries, all she knew was that the baby that she was expecting, the baby that she wanted, was going to be very sick and there was nothing she could do to protect her child from what was happening.