Standard disclaimers applied. See Prologue for further details.
Author's Note: It's official. I will be continuing with this story. Like many of you, I have become attached to this fic and would hate to see it coming to an end. I am ever so grateful of your support because believe me, if I thought that nobody was going to read this story, I would have ended it a long time ago.
Chapter 22: Arguments and Resolutions
Mr. And Mrs. Ray Barnett travelled down to North Carolina for part of their honeymoon, before travelling further down south to Louisiana, a place that Neela had never been to before. They cuddled and kissed, just relishing in the presence of the other. Hands adjoined, they spent over two blissful away from County before returning back to work. Their living arrangements didn't change too much, before their apartment held too many sweet sentiments for them to let go.
For three months, they lived thus and saw some gradual changes in the process. Parama and Gates had moved into a bigger condo in the city, so that there were rooms for Parama's children to stay with them as well. They had no definite plans, relationship-wise and none of the parties involved were too worried about it. However, along the same vein, Parama had decided to pursue her dancing interest once more and with the prompting of those closest to her, opened a new studio in the city. She was going to be teaching belly-dancing which was rising in popularity as many pregnant women found the dance moves to be therapeutic in preparation for labour. When Ray heard of it, he winked at his wife and teased, "How come you don't dance?"
"I never said I couldn't belly-dance. Parama is the one who perfected all the moves to be a professional. I am second rate at best."
"I wouldn't mind a private showing sometime, Mrs. Barnett."
"Maybe in your wet dreams, Mr. Barnett," she retorted, although, her eyes betrayed something different. (1)
Like any newlywed, there was a sense of naivety that everything was going to picture perfect. Yet most married couples would readily agree that arguments were an inevitable part of post-marital bliss. Ray and Neela had their fair share of quarrels before, but their first as a married couple, had stemmed from an innocent comment.
They had been working double shift in the ER. It had been one of those days where tempers were short and the number of staff was even less. It was close to 100 degrees outside, which would have been ok, if not for the fact that there was reconstruction in the ER. The sounds of constant drilling and chiselling were compounded by the fact that part of the air conditioning system had been shut down in lieu of the renovations.
Somebody had accidentally implied that Neela may have been pregnant. One of the nurses got a hold of it and began to state it as a fact. Of course, at the time the two couples involved had not heard a single word. Ray actually got it as a third-hand source of information and had been hurt that he had been the last person informed about this joyous news. So, when he saw Neela coming out of the trauma, he confronted her. "Neela, I need to talk to you."
"Ray, this isn't the time for one of your foolish games. I have a stack full of patients to see too."
He was annoyed that she was so willingly shrugged him off. "No, right now. It's important."
They entered the staff lounge without fanfare and found themselves to be alone. "What is this about, Ray?"
"Oh, I think you know."
"No, I don't think, if I did I wouldn't be asking."
"I would think that it will be pretty obvious."
"I am many things but I am not a mind reader. You have to make it a little more specific for me."
Exasperated, he said, "I thought that as your husband, I would be the first to know. Instead, I found out that my wife is pregnant by the busybodies of County General Hospital. Don't you think I deserve a little bit more respect than that?"
"What?" She was baffled and uncertain if she heard him right. "I'm not pregnant."
His mouth hang opened, "What did you say?"
"I'm not pregnant."
"But ..."
"But nothing. If there is one thing that I am sure about is that, I'm not pregnant. I'm not ready. I love what I'm doing - being a doctor. I want to travel to the West Coast and go visit Europe. I want to join Doctors Without Borders and there is so much to do beforehand. Maybe a couple of years from now, I might try for a baby."
When she finally paused for breath, she realized that Ray had not spoken a word. In fact, he had gotten paler. He opened his mouth once but no sound came out before he tried again to find his voice.
When Neela said that she wasn't pregnant, he had felt a wave of disappointment. He couldn't really explain. He had thought about having children of his own. Certainly at the age of eighteen and nineteen, the concept of it had been relatively foreign to him. Still, he always thought of it as a natural transition between becoming a husband and then a father. He saw from his own experiences, about being raised as an only child by a single mother. Though he reconciled with his father, Worth Carter later on, he knew the impact that the presence and absence of a father had on a child's life.
Neela's candid remarks had surprised him. He knew that she was great with kids, especially from the way that she interacted with her nephew and niece - Parama's children from her first marriage. In the ER, the kids were usually entertained by Neela's slightly detectable accent. He had naturally thought that she wanted children just as quickly as he had.
The only word that he could come up with was "Oh."
As an afterthought, he added, "So, you are not pregnant."
Not unable to come up with something intelligent to say, he began to walk away. However, Neela quickly grabbed his arm and stopped him in his tracks, "You mean... you thought."
As realization dawned on her, she said, "I had no idea."
"It's ok. Those are wonderful dreams, Neela," he said quietly.
Even though the ER staff lounge was hardly the ideal place for them to have an intimate conversation, she had to let him know that she wanted children as well. "Yes, but I would like to be a mother too. Every time, I see Parama with her babies, it knew that as much as I enjoyed being your wife, I would be just honoured to be the mother of our children. It's just that with work and everything, I want at least one part of my life settle first before devoting my time to having children."
Hearing her affirmation that she wanted children as well had taken a considerable weight from his shoulders. He was serious when he said that she had wonderful dreams. How could he fault someone for having an official list of all the stuff that they wanted to do?
"Being your husband is a long-time commitment and I'm willing to wait."
"It won't be too long of a wait, Ray Landon Barnett, because I have made being your wife a long-time commitment as well."
End of Chapter 22
AN: Please r/r and let me know your thoughts.
(1) Some of you may be interested to know that I did write a story where Neela belly-danced for Ray, called "Sensual." No direct link to this fic, because "Sensual" was written earlier, but still an enjoyable read. You can find that one under my profile ;)
