*Two weeks later*

Clare felt like she couldn't breathe. She'd been here before, stomach bare, waiting for the tech to come in and perform an ultrasound. Eli could feel the fear radiating off her, and he didn't blame her. After her first miscarriage, tensions were high, and being calm was not an option. A soft knock at the door jolted both of them out of their daze.

"Hi Clare! I'm Samantha, I'll be conducting your ultrasound today. I just want to go over your medical history before we begin." Clare let out a shaky breath.

"Okay."

"Okay, so I see that you were diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma when you were 17?" the tech asked.

"And beat it," said Clare.

"Congratulations!" Samantha said. "And you became pregnant at 18 and suffered a miscarriage. I'm going to assume that was due to long term effects from your cancer treatment?"

"Yes," Clare whispered. Eli took her hand and she grasped it tightly.

"I'm so sorry, sweetheart," sighed Samantha. "I can't even begin to imagine how difficult that was. I'm sure you're both feeling pretty scared right now."

"Very," answered Eli. "We don't want to go through that kind of pain again."

"I completely understand," said Samantha. "I'm sure precautions were taken with your first pregnancy, and we'll be doubling down on those now that we're more familiar with the risks. Which means you'll be seeing a lot of me and Dr. Richardson from now on." Samantha turned to grab the gel. "Gonna be a bit cold, ready?" Clare nodded and shivered a bit as the gel hit her belly. As the tech waved the wand, Clare glanced at Eli, who had a soft smile on his face and whispered "It's okay" as Clare kissed his hand.

"Here we are!" said Samantha. Everyone stared at the screen and Eli gasped softly with happiness.

"He's so little," he said. "Or she.

"Ah, 'fraid I won't be able to tell you that just yet," chuckled the tech. "Baby looks good, got some strong healthy movement going on. I'd say you're about 11 weeks...closer to 12 actually. That'll put your due date sometime in mid to late August, but we'll get a better idea of that and the gender in a few weeks time." The tech printed a photo and wiped Clare down. "I will be right back with the doctor, and this is for you guys." She handed the picture to Clare and left the room.

"He looks like Little Adam," said Clare. Eli sighed and kissed her forehead.

"It's gonna be okay," he said. "We're more aware of the risks now, and everyone's on high alert. We are all gonna protect this baby."

"I know," Clare said. "I'm still really scared. But I want to do this. I want to have this baby."

"Whatever it takes," Eli stated. "We're gonna make it through."


Y'all see what I did there at the end lmao this one's short but there's gonna be at least two more chapters before their tale come to an end. Stay tuned!