"Thanks for this," Ethan said quietly as they sat in the waiting room.

Hailey hummed in acknowledgment but said nothing else.

They sat together in the waiting room at her doctor's office. Mom usually took Hailey to the appointments but this month, Ethan asked if he might go with them. And given Mom's teaching schedule this semester, it was easier for Ethan to just drive her himself. He borrowed Alan's car, since Mom needed hers to get to campus.

Ethan was going to have to get his own car at some point. After the baby came, he'd need it. He couldn't rely on borrowing Alan's or Mom's all the time. But he couldn't really afford a car. Something used, maybe an old Toyota? Those were supposed to be good, right? Or no, wasn't there that big recall or whatever with Toyotas' brakes going out? Shit, maybe a Honda. Or a Hyundai. That was a fun word. Hyundai. Hyundai.

"Hailey Martin," a nurse called out from the door. Good thing, too. Ethan's brain was spiraling.

"Do I go in with you?" Ethan asked as Hailey hoisted herself up.

"Yeah," Hailey answered simply, waddling forward.

She really was getting huge now. Past six months. And this was the first time he'd been to the doctor with her. He hadn't wanted to pressure her before, and he hoped he wasn't now. But he wanted to be a part of all this and know what was going on. Hailey didn't talk about any of it much. She would tell him when she wasn't feeling good, and she always told him that the doctor said she was in good health and the baby was good. There was one time her blood pressure was a little high, and she'd told him that, but otherwise, Ethan had no idea what was going on.

He let Hailey go first to follow the nurse and the both of them went through the halls of the medical office into an exam room. The nurse left so Hailey could get undressed and put the gown on—and Ethan stood and stared at a poster of female anatomy to give her some privacy. Fallopian was a weird word. Where did that come from? Probably Greek or Latin or something. He could google it later.

The nurse returned to take some measurements. Weight and blood pressure and whatever. Ethan sat in the corner and tried to pay attention but not be weird about it.

And then they were left alone.

"Is this how it usually is?" Ethan asked out of genuine curiosity.

"Yeah. The nurses and the doctor are super nice. I feel like I'm huge and gross, and I'm tired all the time, but they're really nice and help me feel like less of a freak."

Ethan chose his words carefully. It would be all too easy to fall into the trap and upset her. She was super sensitive with all the hormones and stuff, so he was trying to learn what her triggers were. He verbally tiptoed the minefield by saying, "I'm sorry you're feeling like that. I don't think you're a freak, and neither does anyone else, but that doesn't change how you're feeling about it."

Miraculously, Hailey gave him a small smile.

Emboldened, Ethan added, "I want to help if there's anything I can do to make things easier for you."

Hailey scowled and turned away from him. Damn, he messed up. She always got pissed when he tried to solve her problems. It used to be that he loved that she was so strong and independent. Now, it was starting to be super annoying. He couldn't do anything for her without her getting upset. He couldn't even offer.

Thankfully, the awkward tension between them was interrupted when the doctor came in. "Hi, Hailey. It's nice to see you today. How are you feeling?" she asked.

Ethan had heard about Dr. Adey. She looked nice. In her forties, by Ethan's guess, and pale with red hair. Friendly without being like aggressively cheerful. Mom liked Dr. Adey, and Hailey seemed to like her. All good signs in Ethan's opinion.

Hailey launched into explaining every new symptom she'd felt in the last four weeks since her last appointment. None of it was too striking for Ethan—nausea sometimes but no vomiting, tired all the time, hands and feet swelling sometimes, craving Chipotle chicken burritos—but then she revealed something he didn't know.

"And I think I've been feeling the baby kick but I don't know. What does it feel like?" she asked.

"Wait, you've felt the baby kick?" he asked in surprise.

The two women turned to Ethan for the first time. "You must be Ethan," Dr. Adey said warmly.

"Oh sorry, yeah, this is Ethan. The…father." Hailey seemed to almost choke on that last word.

Dr. Adey turned back to Hailey. "To answer your question, you'll kinda know it when it happens. It's a fluttering feeling inside. Maybe startling but not scary. Not like Alien," she explained with a teasing chuckle.

Hailey nodded. "Yeah, I think I have felt it. I'll try to pay more attention next time."

Ethan ventured in again. "If I'm around, will you let me know? I'd like to feel it, if that's okay."

A whole flurry of emotions passed over her face, but she landed on a small, gentle smile. "Sure."

From there, it was time to do the ultrasound and check on the baby. Ethan got to pull his chair up so he could see the monitor. Dr. Adey squirted some clear goo onto Hailey's stomach and spread it around with the wand thing. She flipped a couple dials on her keyboard and then a gurgling, rushing sound filled the room.

"Strong heartbeat," Dr. Adey said.

Ethan felt his jaw drop. That was his baby's heartbeat. This whole time, Ethan had been excited to be a dad and to meet his baby. But despite the way Hailey got bigger and bigger, it still felt so abstract. Hearing the heartbeat, though, was the first time it all felt really real.

"And there's the baby right there," the doctor told them, pointing to the screen. "Everything looks absolutely perfect."

"Is it a boy or a girl? Or do we not know?" Ethan asked, staring at the weird bulbous head on the screen. A head and a nose and eyes and a mouth. A baby. His baby.

Dr. Adey looked to Hailey and hesitated. Hailey explained, "I didn't want Dr. Adey to tell me because I didn't want to know. But since you're keeping it, you should know. So you can decorate the nursery and pick the name or whatever."

Ethan's heart pounded in his throat. A part of his brain recognized that this was the first time Hailey had actually made real reference to the fact that he was going to be keeping the baby. She was on board, which was amazing. The best thing. But he couldn't even really think about that when he was about to find out if the baby was a boy or a girl.

"Okay, Hailey, if you don't mind…"

"I don't," she assured the doctor.

Dr. Adey turned to Ethan. "It's a girl."

Ethan stared at the weird black and white picture on the screen in front of him, projecting what was growing inside Hailey's belly. That was their baby. His baby. Ethan was going to be a dad.

He was going to have a daughter.