Nathan stood behind the single white stroller,in which Cooper was sitting and kicking his small feet. Andrew sat in a chair next to the stroller, playing with his gameboy. Nathan watched more and more people walk off the escalator of the airport, waiting for his mother and stepfather to be in the next group of people.
"When are they gonna be down here, Dad?" Andrew asked as he turned off his gameboy.
"Any minute, pal." Nathan said, looking down at his son. "Just be patient."
"I'm seven. How the heck am I supposed to do that?"
"Gamma!" Cooper shouted, pointing towards the moving stairs.
Nathan and Andrew both looked over and saw Deb and Aaron walking towards them. Deb and Nathan smiled widely when they embraced each other.
"Oh, I missed you, my boy, so much." Deb said. "I'm so happy to see you."
"I missed you too Mom." Nathan said as they pulled away.
Deb looked down at Andrew, who just finished hugging Aaron. She hugged him while Nathan hugged Aaron.
"It's good to have you both back." Nathan said before kneeling down to unbuckle the belt to the stroller. He lifted Cooper from the seat.
"Well it's good to be back." Aaron replied to Nathan before speaking to Cooper. "And well look at you son. I think you grew while we were away."
Deb turned around and reached for Cooper. "Awe, there's my handsome grandson."
Deb took him and kissed his cheek. "I think he did grow."
After a minute, she asked, "So, um, there a couple of family members missing here. Where are Haley and James?"
"James spent the night with Lilly at Brooke's last night and Haley said she had some appointment she couldn't miss."
"An appointment for what?" Aaron wondered.
"I'm not sure. But we should get going. Let's go get your luggage and go have some lunch."
"Sounds good to me." Deb said.
Haley sat anxiously in her doctor's office, waiting for her doctor to return with test results. Finally, Doctor Tate entered.
"Sorry to keep you waitingm Haley." She said as she closed the door behind her. "But I finally have the results of your blood tests."
Haley sighed nervously, "And?"
"Congratulations, you're definitely, 100 percent pregnant. In fact, you're about six weeks pregnant."
Haley digested this not-so-surprising- anymore news. She was six weeks pregnant…wow. That meant that she and Nathan conceived this baby the night of their 11th wedding anniversary.
"So were you and Nathan trying to have another baby?" Doctor Tate wondered.
"Umm…" Haley hummed with a smile, "No, actually, we weren't. this pregnancy is definitely a surprise."
"Well, I'm sure Nathan will be thrilled anyway once you give him the news."
Haley bowed her head, remembering the conversation she'd just had with Nathan last night. He'd made it pretty clear that he didn't want to have another baby. So how was he going to react when she did tell him she was pregnant?
"Doctor Tate," Haley said when she looked over at the tall blond woman who had just finished filling out paper work on the counter, "You remember, I'm sure, that I went through a difficult pregnancy with my son Cooper a couple of years ago and an even worse delivery. And, well…Nathan and I…well, our biggest concern with me having another baby is of something happening to me or the baby again like it happened last time or even worse."
"Haley," the doctor began as she rolled her stool over and sat down acroos from Haley on the patient table, "there are risks in every pregnancy. And with your last pregnancy, there weren't any signs that you were going to go into premature labor or have a delivery like you did. Things just happen sometimes and there isn't anything anyone can do to control them sometimes. This time around, I can't promise that everything will go smoothly considering your last situation, but I can tell you that right now, everything appears fine and you and the baby are healthy. And yes, because of your previous pregnancy and delivery, I do want to monitor you a little more just to be safe and you will need to have a scheduled Cesarean. But I don't think you will have much more to worry about other than that as long as you keep you and your bbaby healthy."
Haley smiled at that comforting thought. She only wished Nathan were here to listen to what the doctor just explained. Sure, Haley was still worried and she probably would be until the baby arrived safely. But she had to tell Nathan soon. After all, she didn't have much time before he and everyone else figured out that she was going to be a mother again.
After the airport, Nathan took Deb and Aaron and his children out to lunch. Now, he and his mother talked while Aaron took Andrew to the game room and Cooper chewed on French Fries.
"So this appointment Haley went to," Deb began, "She couldn't reschedule?"
"I don't know." Nathan replied. "But I do know she can't wait to see you and Aaron. And to be honest, I think the 'appointment' may have been a reason to avoid coming with me."
"Why would she want to avoid you? Did you have a fight?"
"Not exactly. I think she's just upset with me."
"Upset about what?"
"We had a disagreement last night. I told her I don't think we should have another baby."
Deb looked at Nathan confused, "What? Why don't you want to have another baby? I thought you and Haley wanted more?"
"Yeah. I want to give Haley another baby. I'm just not sure I can take that risk of losing her again."
"Oh." Deb said nodding her head. "I see."
"I really want to give Haley the baby that she wants and I even think it would be great to try for a little girl, but not at the risk of losing Haley like I almost did when Cooper was born."
"That's totally understandable honey. It's okay to be scared and natural, especially after what happened last time. But you don't know that that will happen again."
"That's exactly my point, Mom. So how can I take that risk again?"
Deb stared at her son for a moment smiled then said, "With faith, hope and love. Have faith that everything will be okay and hope that it will. And you love Haley and she loves you and that should give you both some comfort."
Nathan thought about this while he stared at his mother. He moved his eyes over to Cooper in the high chair. Cooper looked up and smiled and pointed at Nathan.
"Hi Dadda!" He said and Nathan smiled.
Deb smiled too.
"See how wonderful these little ones are? They always know how to make you smile. The smaller ones do too. Look Nate, I can tell that Haley isn't the only one who wants another baby. But I know how scared you are too. so maybe you'd feel better if you talked about it with Haley's doctor. Haley, I'm sure, is probably scared too."
Nathan nodded his head. "Thanks, Mom."
"No problem, honey. You know I'm here for you always."
Nathan smiled and looke at Cooper again. Cooper spit his tongue out at him and Nathan started tickling him.
