Chapter 3
Monica's hand flew to her mouth as her eyes fell shut, tears sneaking out from beneath her eyelids in a heavy freefall. She couldn't bring herself to believe a word of it. How could it be possible? She had been so worried and now the relief she felt was more than overwhelming to say the least. A boy! A healthy baby boy! He was fine! It was just too good to be true.
It was just then that she realized she had been far too concerned and nervous to even notice her son's heartbeat clearly radiating from the machine and drifting around the room as though to insure his own safety. A fresh set of tears streamed over Monica's cheeks as she listened to the soft and steady rhythm of her baby boy's pulse. He was okay.
But it was then that Dr. Conner took notice of her patient's tears and she thought it appropriate to comment. "What are crying for, Hun? You should be happy." She laughed good-naturedly as she glanced admirably from Monica to Andrew, who were both now staring in obvious awe at the screen before them. But Monica could only shake her head contentedly and choke out a few words in response, as her tears were unrelentless and refused to cease their hold on her heart. "I am. I really am." But then her voice cracked with emotion once more and Andrew felt himself leaning down to kiss her temple lovingly, knowing exactly how she felt, for he was feeling it too.
Pulling away, he felt the threat of tears in his own throat as he sat down on the examination table next to Monica, unable to let his legs support him any longer. With a length, disbelieving sigh, a single tear ran over his cheek as he listened to the heartbeat of his son. How could this really be true? "Monica." The one name was all he seemed to be able to say. The name of the one he loved. But then more words found their way off of his lips as he stared at the screen in amazement. "Monica, that's our son. We're having a son." He whispered without taking his eyes off of the machine, though his hand squeezed Monica's with an obvious enough meaning for anybody. His little boy was inside of her right now. Their son. And their son was going to come into this world mere months from now. How much better could things get for him? The one he loved most in or outside of this world was carrying his little boy. And he loved them both so much.
After what seemed like hours of unnoticed silence throughout the room as Dr. Conner respected her patient's feelings, Andrew spoke one more time, finally forcing himself to tear his gaze from the machine. He had since lost track of time and almost a half an hour had gone by since the appointment began. Way over the scheduled range. Of course, that was no where near as important as what was happening right now, but Andrew was becoming slightly overwhelmed and he himself needed some time to contemplate this. So, bending down low over Monica's ear, he whispered gently to her as not to disturb her thoughts.
"Are you ready to go?" He inquired softly before pulling away ever so slightly. But Monica didn't so much as blink in response. She remained with her attention glued to the image on the screen and simply shook her head slowly after a long moment through which she was able to process Andrew's question. It was then that he realized that no matter how much they loved one another, and no matter how much they intended to be together through this whole thing, perhaps she did need some time alone. As an Angel of Death he knew that was a perfectly good and healthy thing to give her.
And so he bent once more and planted an affectionate kiss on the top of her head before standing up fully and swiping the remaining tears from his eyes with one finger, clearly doing his best to pull himself together. "Well then listen. I'm going out to the waiting room. I'll meet you out there whenever you're ready, okay?" He offered gently, but again, all Monica could manage was a slow but understanding nod, thoroughly giving the Angel of Death permission to go. He then nodded in return and made for the door. But half way out of it, he turned back for just a brief moment and whispered to her over the sound of his son's heartbeat. "I love you." He stared at her for a long moment and when she didn't respond at all this time, he understood fully and continued on his way out into the hall, closing the door quietly behind him.
Monica stared at her little boy for only a moment longer before turning her gaze finally to the doctor, knowing that there was still something she needed to do before leaving here today. She took advantage of the time alone with Dr. Conner and went on to say what she wanted to say. She hadn't really planned on saying anything since Andrew was there, but now she had the chance to get some things off of her chest. And she felt she could trust this doctor.
"Uh, Dr. Conner can I ask you something?" She questioned quickly, as though to get the matter out of her as soon as she possibly could. But as she expected, the OBGYN simply nodded warmly in response, smiling – as usual – all the while. "Of course, Hun. Anything." She assured her gently as she leaned her back against the counter and turned her full attention to her patient, not even considering the time factor for one moment. She was going to help her patient. That was all that mattered.
But Monica stumbled on her words at first and took a long pause before preparing to begin and planning her words out carefully, as though to be careful not to say too much. "Well…you see… I've been having these dreams." She said the last part so quickly that she was afraid it was difficult to understand for Dr. Conner, but she seemed to understand perfectly as she nodded and motioned for Monica to continue. She took another long pause before going on ever so tentatively and quietly, all the while keeping her eyes to the floor.
"Nightmares actually. Bad ones. And they keep coming back. I was just wondering if there was any chance that they were pregnancy related in any way." Monica asked with a desperately hopeful tone as she watched the doctor carefully for a reaction, just praying that her suspicions would prove correct. She had never heard of any such pregnancy-related side effects, but it was worth a try just to put her restless mind at ease for the time being.
Dr. Conner looked thoughtful for a moment as she seemed to be scanning her memory for any recollection of such things. Finally seeming to come to a conclusion, she shrugged and nodded supposedly. What came next was pretty close to what Monica had been hoping to hear. "Well, I have heard of some pregnant women having odd dreams or visions. Sometimes even hallucinations. I guess it's normal." She informed her patient simply enough as she nodded thoughtfully once again. Monica thought on this for a long moment before deciding it would do her no good to continue worrying about the nightmares. They were obviously just a simple effect of being pregnant. Nothing more.
Despite the flitting feeling in her stomach, Monica forced herself to believe that the nightmares meant nothing, no matter what that inner voice was telling her. With a brief but conclusive sigh, Monica rebuttoned her shirt and slid down from the table, shaking hands with her doctor in the process. "Thank you so much again Dr. Conner." She told the OBGYN politely before making for the door and disappearing out into the hall.