Author's note: I apologize (again) very deeply for the delay on the chapter and I truly hope everyone here is still inclined to read it despite the wait. I would like to dedicate the rest of this story to all of the fellow fanfic authors out there who have waited so patiently for the next chapter. Guys, thank you so much. This one's for you.
Chapter 2
Sitting in the doctor's office late that morning, Monica continued to fidget unrelentlessly in the waiting room, clearly unable to shake that terrible feeling of a heavy and merciless rock in her stomach. If the OBGYN informed them of something that was wrong with the baby…she didn't know what she'd do. She suddenly wished she had told Andrew everything. About the dreams. About her fears. She had never kept anything from him before, big or small. She loved him so much, why couldn't she just tell him the truth. After all it could make all the difference. Maybe that rock would finally be lifted from her after all these sleepless nights.
She was quite tired at the moment, but since the nightmares had begun she had sort of gotten used to the feeling and since forced herself to liven up no matter how draining the situation. She knew it probably wasn't an ideal thing to do for someone who was pregnant, but she felt that at the moment she had no choice, until she could at least decide on a proper time to tell Andrew exactly what was going on.
She just had a feeling, like a guiding voice inside of her at the moment that instructed her not to tell him, no matter how badly she wanted to. Nothing had happened that could potentially cause harm to any of them so far, so for the moment, she didn't see a need to let him know anything. She didn't want him as concerned as she. If he was, only God knew what could happen. They would be more vulnerable than ever.
After a long moment of Monica's continued nervous movement, Andrew finally seemed to take notice as he sat next to her, placing the pregnancy magazine he had been reading down on the floor by his feet. He then did his best to meet her ever shifting gaze, but was unable to, as she unstoppably continued to glance to every corner in the room while she shifted in her seat. Finally the Angel of Death decided it might be best to just go ahead and snap her out of her antics.
"You okay?" He inquired quietly, as not to alert any of the other patients seated around them. Monica stopped her antics immediately when she realized she was being watched and she turned her gaze to meet Andrew's. She stumbled for a moment as to what she was to say, but finally decided it was best to say nothing at all on the subject. "Yes, Andrew, I'm fine." She breathed uneasily, but when Andrew gave her a skeptical expression, she quickly added, "Really. I'm just having a bit of morning sickness. That's all." It wasn't a complete lie, she was having a hint of nausea, but she still hated herself fairly thoroughly for not only keeping something from him, but lying to him as well. Half lie or not. She still lied.
Andrew had a momentary need to offer to go and find Monica some medication or something, but the look on her face told him not to press the matter any further than he already had. So instead, he sat back in his chair once more and simply picked up her restless hand in his, sending a temporary, but still useful wave of calmness through Monica. He was always so gentle. So kind. It always soothed her simply to be near him. And she was thankful, but at the moment she just couldn't seem to bring herself to tell him so.
Fortunately, she needn't worry about it much longer, for just then, a young nurse appeared in the doorway to the hall and glanced quickly at her clipboard before calling in the next patient. Monica closed her eyes momentarily and prayed to God in Heaven that it wasn't her. Not yet. She wasn't ready. "Monica." The nurse spoke the name carelessly, as though she had no idea of the inner turmoil unfolding in the angel's heart. Monica visibly flinched next to Andrew and she had to force herself to take a deep breath and settle down before anything else.
One hand automatically straying to her swollen belly, she hauled herself from the chair with Andrew's help before making for the doorway to follow the nurse, who must've seen the look on Monica's face, for she then smiled reassuringly and motioned for the couple to follow. The smile she had offered them was one that seemed to say, 'don't worry about it. Being nervous is perfectly normal'. She had no idea.
Monica and Andrew followed willingly – for the most part – into a small room containing an examination table, a sonogram machine, some medical tools and a countless number of pregnancy and childbirth posters and diagrams across the four, cold, white walls. Monica could recall being in such a room once before, but she desperately hoped everything went just as swimmingly this time as it had before. Just the air of the office caused her heart to do some acrobatics in her chest. And again she had to force the terrible worries and thoughts from her mind. 'Think positive'. She thought to herself. 'Everything is going to be just fine'…But what if it wasn't? No. She made herself forget such a notion one more time. Nothing was going to be wrong. Still, she was unable to get rid of the consuming notions, which continued to plague her mind no matter what she told herself.
Mere seconds after the nurse left, announcing the doctor's arrival in a few moments, the doctor herself strode through the office doorway, clipboard in hand and a worriless smile on her face, clearly ready for business.
Taking a moment to flip the page on her clipboard, she then pulled her reading glasses from her nose and, placing them in her pocket, she glanced up warmly at Monica and Andrew. "Okay, Monica." She sighed in a business-like manner before approaching her. "It's been a little while since we've seen each other, huh?" She attempted to make casual conversation, as if to put her client at ease, but only succeeded in making her more nervous than she already was. She continued, clearly not taking any notice of her patient's growing unease.
"Well, I guess we'll just get started here if you could just sit down on the table, we'll get things going." She smiled breezily as she instructed her patient. Dr. Conner's quietly friendly way if going about things could usually do a pretty good job of soothing Monica's fears. She was always warm and kind and gentle no matter what examination she was performing. She almost reminded Monica of some of the angels she knew. Just the air about her never failed to calm the experienced angel.
Dr. Conner went on to pull out a pen from her doctor's coat pocket and flip to a certain page on her clipboard, clearly preparing to take notes. She began the procedure. "Okay, now, have you had any morning sickness lately?" She questioned briefly and Monica nodded with a miniscule hint of a friendly smile, though she didn't really feel like smiling at all. But again, Andrew seemed to sense this as he reached down and took her hand once again, as though to comfort any worries she may have. She started when his touch connected with her hand, as she had been so nervous, she had nearly forgotten he was there. But he was. And that seemed to make all the difference.
Dr. Conner nodded contentedly in return, still not taking her eyes off of the page before her before she continued her questioning. "Good. That's a good sign. Have you been having any painful cramps or uncomfortable soreness of any kind?" She inquired, but Monica only shook her head honestly this time. She had almost wished she had, for then at least she would know her baby was moving around and at least somewhat healthy. But it hadn't and so she could only tell the truth.
The doctor nodded again and smiled this time. "That's also good. Be grateful for that. That usually means everything is moving along smoothly without any complications." She paused momentarily to evaluate her page before going on. "And has there been any kicking or movement from the baby yet?" She inquired unknowingly and finally glancing up to meet Monica's gaze, clearly having no idea that that last question had struck home for the angel. Monica dropped her gaze to the floor and shook her head sadly, desperately hoping that Dr. Conner had something good to say about that too. Just as she suspected, the OBGYN told her just what she needed to hear, even though it didn't completely resolve the situation.
"Well, don't worry about that." She smiled as she placed her clipboard down on the counter and made her way over to the angel, clearly unaffected by Monica's answer. She went on to inform Monica that this wasn't that much of a bad sign. "It really could be worse. That doesn't really mean anything. Heck, I've known babies who didn't kick until their eighth month for goodness sake! Maybe we just have a lazy kid on our hands or something." She then paused one more time before switching on the sonogram machine and preparing it for work. Monica already knew what to do, but Dr. Conner told her anyway. "Okay, now, if I could just get you to unbutton your shirt and lay down on the table, we'll get through this part." She continued to smile all the while she spoke, obviously doing her best to make Monica feel as comfortable as she possibly could.
By no means was Monica anywhere near comfortable though, for she knew that this was the part where they were to find out whether or not they had a healthy baby. They just had to have a healthy baby. Monica couldn't stand it if they didn't. But now her heart rate simply refused to slow down as Andrew helped her to swing her legs up onto the table and lay down on her back as comfortably as possible. She didn't say a word. Not even to thank the Angel of Death for his assistance. All she could think about was her baby. Please, Father, let everything be okay. She prayed silently in her head as Andrew also helped her to unbutton her shirt, revealing her fairly round, pregnant belly to the doctor as she approached with the ultra-sound instrument that was to help her to see the growing child inside her patient.
Dr. Conner then – without speaking – spread some of the sonogram gel across the angel's stomach, giving her a slight cooling sensation before she placed the radio-like instrument over the curve of the baby. All eyes were on the machine. What would she see when the sonogram came into focus? Or would she see anything at all? What if she saw something bad? But she had no more time to think on the subject, for, just then, a little, fuzzy but recognizable image of an infant appeared on the screen. When it focused, Monica was relieved – to say the least – to not be able to spot anything wrong. But of course, she wasn't the doctor and she waited anxiously while Dr. Conner examined the figure.
Monica had seen it before, not this advanced of course. Not since Eliza. But she allowed herself to feel nothing until the OBGYN gave her opinion. But to her startling panic, Dr. Conner said nothing and held an unreadable expression across her features as she hit a button on the machine, forcing the image to zoom in for a closer look. Again, she said nothing for a moment before a satisfied smile came across her features and, without even looking at the couple as she kept her eyes to the screen, she addressed them.
"Congratulations Mum and Dad. It seems you're having a healthy little boy."