Summary: The sex of Shaun and Lea's baby is accidentally revealed to them.

AN: The end of this chapter will be a little more heartwarming and fluffy compared to the previous ones because I did want Shaun and Lea to have a few happy moments with their pregnancy, and I will also reveal what field Shaun will choose for his fellowship. I also just watched the finale and I'm happy that Shea is engaged...although I now wish I made Lea propose instead in this story (oh, well). Also, in this universe, Glassy and Debbie are still married (don't know how to write their divorce in even though I think their divorce was for the best in canon, but, oh well) and Claire did not decide to stay in Guatemala. Also, Andrews and his wife are still together. However, I might incorporate Mateo Rendon Osma (the doctor from the last two episodes) into later chapters because his character sounds interesting. Point is, I already wrote these later chapters before the last two episodes aired...and I already have some future chapters blueprinted.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter :)

At this point in Lea's pregnancy, besides nausea and vomiting, her back was killing her and it was getting difficult for her to catch her breath. She had more stretch marks and her belly looked a bit bigger than it appeared the last time she was pregnant at 22 weeks (probably because this wasn't her first pregnancy)…which, sadly, was also exactly at the point her last one ended.

She was hoping that she could successfully make it past this milestone, yet also scared that something tragic was going to happen to the baby and that they would suffer the same fate as their big sister. She and Shaun were so terrified of losing the baby that they (even Shaun) kind of overlooked the non-threatening, normal things that occur during pregnancy such as Braxton Hicks and round ligament pain.

When she had Braxton Hicks for the first time one week prior, she panicked for a while, thinking it was a sign of losing her baby, until they stopped after a few seconds. Despite knowing that this was normal and nothing to be concerned about, it took her and Shaun weeks to get used to them happening and not be terrified by jumping to the worst-case conclusions every time they would occur.

In addition, the fact that Lea was dealing with hyperemesis gravidarum plus the miscarriage scare they experienced at 15 weeks had further fueled their anxieties.

Ever since she and Shaun felt the baby move, they decided they would be monitoring how much they moved, being on the lookout for any reduction. They also requested an extra appointment and ultrasound at 22 weeks just to be reassured that their child was still alive and well.

Seeing Dr. Moran again for the past two weeks was helping her and Shaun cope with the depression, anxiety, and grief they still harbored. With the special care and reassurance she and Shaun were receiving during this pregnancy, which was now in the high-risk category due to the complications from the last one plus the previous stillbirth and because of hyperemesis gravidarum, things were slowly going to get better. Again, slowly, not immediately.

As usual, the couple still didn't want to know the sex of their unborn child. Lea's family insisted many times that they were desperate to know the baby's sex, but she begged them over and over again for them to get off her and Shaun's backs about it.

"No, we are not knowing the sex until they are born…and that is final! Shaun and I have got better things to do!" She bickered at her mother over the phone, immediately hanging up.

In addition, she wished her cousin Matt and his annoying, obnoxious wife would stop sending her texts about stupid gender reveal party ideas. Six years ago, they threw one at their baby shower that involved burning blue rubber with one of Grandpa Rod's prized possessions…and although Lea was guilty of shenanigans like that in the past, she thought Matt and his wife made a stupid decision that could have gotten people injured or killed. They were lucky that nothing bad happened, though. They could have ended up on the news.

And she knew that this wasn't an isolated incident. She's seen headlines of gender reveal parties involving wildfires, environmental damage, people getting hit in the face or the crotch, people getting killed by a pipe bomb, and even hippos and alligators.

But that wasn't the only reason why she and Shaun hated that trend. They also despised them because sometimes the reactions of the parents to the result and what was iced on the cake made them shake their heads. For example, some of them involved a father going "oh, thank god" when blue was the result (Shaun said he sometimes wondered if the dad would have angrily stormed out if the result was pink). Also, cakes with phrases like "guns or glitter", "touchdowns or tutus", and "burnouts or bows" made them want to face-palm.

During her last pregnancy, the truth was that she kind of wanted the get the fetal DNA test early so her family would stop bugging her about the baby's sex…but she then regretted telling her family what the sex was afterward because after she and Shaun lost the baby, she found out that her mom was thinking of getting a totally different onesie with ballet shoes instead of dinosaurs and that Aunt Janet was going to get them a baby tiara.

"Oh, yuck," she thought.

Other than the drama over everyone dying to know what was between her baby's legs, there were other difficult things going on in Lea's family.

Her brother was dealing with his own personal shit back in Hershey and had developed a serious drinking problem, and she sadly wondered if she was partly to blame for it.

After they tanked their grandfather's small business in 2018, Donnie struggled to find a good job afterward. He did land himself a stable job at the beginning of 2019, but then later got laid off in April of 2020 before getting evicted when he couldn't afford to pay his rent anymore. Not long before the COVID-19 pandemic, his boyfriend dumped him for someone else. Although he did eventually find a new job and a new apartment, he still wasn't in good shape mentally. Because he and Lea have been so estranged for those moments, she never knew what was going on with him.

Her father called her to tell her that Donnie was just released from spending ten days in jail due to his third DUI. His driver's license was going to be suspended for 12 months and he had to pay a $500 fine. He was going to be receiving drug and alcohol treatment and was going to have to enroll in Alcohol Highway Safety School. For one year, he was going to have an ignition interlock device installed.

All of this was under Pennsylvania law.

Lea didn't know what she could do about it. She felt like a terrible sister for being too angry with him and her parents since the ugly debacle they had the last time she was in Hershey…and too focused on her pregnancy and her own personal issues to help him out.

As she sat down at her desk in her office, she tried to focus on her daily work tasks and distract herself from her own family drama, trying to think positively about the life growing inside of her.

"Are you okay? Are you feeling nauseous again? Maybe you need to go home and rest," Diego, the assistant she hired, asked her with concern as he walked into her office to drop off some paperwork on her desk.

Lea rolled her eyes as she rested her hand atop her growing belly. "No, I'm fine. I'm just a little tired, stressed, and very frustrated right now. That's all."

It was currently her lunch break now, but Shaun wasn't going to be joining her at this time because he was stuck performing an hours-long emergency surgery, so she was going to be eating her pieces of dry toast and drinking her herbal tea alone in solitude.

She had just walked out of the restroom after throwing up and it was now the time she had set to always grab something to eat (skipping meals was no longer going to be an acceptable thing now that she was pregnant with an extra complication).

She was just about to start walking down the main hospital stairway towards the cafeteria when she suddenly felt dazed and disoriented, feeling lightheaded.

All of a sudden, she found herself losing her balance and then tumbling down towards the bottom of the stairs (her pregnant belly being the first to hit one of the steps).

She was completely out of it by the time the nurses and doctors around her were already running towards her, surrounding her and calling for extra hands and a gurney…as well as a faint command of "somebody go find Dr. Murphy".

Shaun was near the middle of a surgery on a stabbing victim with Dr. Andrews, Park, and Asher when Nurse Wagner frantically banged on the glass above from the operating theatre.

"Dr. Murphy! Dr. Murphy!" Her voice was frantic and so was her facial expression and body language.

"Lucy, what is…" Asher asked startled before Nurse Wagner cut him off and told Shaun what she needed to say.

"Shaun, it's Lea. She passed out and fell down the stairs," she answered, pressing her hands against the glass. "She's a patient in the ER."

He hesitated for a while before he started to scrub out, but Dr. Andrews quickly said, "Shaun, just go! We got this from here! I'll have someone else scrub in and take over for you. Go be with your wife."

This was officially the third time in Lea's pregnancy that she needed to make a trip to the ER…and she wasn't even in her third trimester yet. It was almost like Shaun and Lea could never catch a break during these past five months.

What if she lost the baby? Shaun thought fearfully as he sprinted out of the OR and towards the ER, dreading what was coming and never stopping to walk or catch his breath. At this point in the last pregnancy, they lost their little girl…and Lea was only a week or two away from being able to give birth to a viable fetus. Their goal was to make it to at least 23 to 24 weeks into her pregnancy this time, which was the point when a fetus was considered viable.

If something happens to this baby that leads to their death, Shaun knew Lea was going to chew herself out for not being able to keep a pregnancy. He tried hard not to worry too much about how another loss would affect their relationship in the long term.

It didn't take Shaun long to find himself in the ER. He quickly found the room Nurse Wagner told him Lea was in and barged in through the door, completely out of breath as he lay his eyes on a nervous-looking Lea.

"Shaunie!" She gasped, turning her face away from Dr. Garcia (plus a younger woman she and Shaun didn't recognize; with glasses and short red hair, possibly in her mid-20s) and staring at her husband with terror in her eyes. She extended her arms out towards him, signaling for him to come and hug her.

"Are you okay? What happened?" He asked in a rush, embracing Lea and clutching her tightly, waiting for answers.

"I-I don't know," Lea stammered, nervously staring down at her abdomen and crying. "I must have gotten lightheaded and fell down the stairs. I think I landed on my belly."

Shaun wasn't really too surprised because lightheadedness and dizziness were also a normal part of pregnancy. Because of her changing body, her blood pressure was rising and falling at times. However, hearing that Lea landed on her belly sent him into an even bigger panic.

"What about the baby?" Shaun asked nervously as his paternal instincts as a medical professional kicked in. "Did you perform an ultrasound yet? You should also perform a CT scan to see if she has a head injury."

"Dr. Murphy, we're about to perform an ultrasound to make sure the fetus is okay. We'll also give her a CT after that, but the good news is that she has no injury that will require a cast or even stitches," reassured Dr. Garcia with a smile before she introduced the other person. "This is Haley Rhodes, she is an ultrasound tech student and she will be observing as part of her training."

"Hi," Haley waved apprehensively at the couple. "Dr. Murphy, Dr. Garcia told me that she assisted you with your first solo c-section in a quarantined ER."

"Yes, she did," said Shaun, which made Dr. Garcia chuckle a bit.

"Do you two mind if Haley is in the room?" She requested.

"No, not at all," replied Lea politely. Shaun nodded in agreement.

"The fetus appears to be alright and in no distress, and the heartbeat also sounds normal," Dr. Garcia observed as she rolled the ultrasound wand over Lea's belly.

Shaun and Lea sighed in relief as they watched their baby move around on the screen and listened to the whooshing, steady heartbeat; their grips of each other's hands were tightening.

Then, Dr. Garcia started asking Haley questions related to medicine and radiology and offered a teaching moment for her, handing her the ultrasound wand. "Ms. Rhodes, do you think you can give your own analysis of the ultrasound, make sure I didn't miss anything?"

"Yes, it is very important to speak up," added Shaun as he nodded in agreement. "You need to call out a medical professional if they make a mistake and you notice it."

Lea and Dr. Garcia smiled at Shaun.

"You are so right, Dr. Murphy," complimented Dr. Garcia. "But I'm going to have to ask you to keep your analysis to yourself right now because it is really important that Haley practices this and uses her own medical judgment...unless you notice a mistake that both she and I miss."

As much as Shaun wanted to give his analysis first, this was a crucial part of Haley's training and after all, he was the dad, not the doctor. Now was not the time to be stealing Haley's thunder as this was her moment to shine.

Haley glued her eyes at the screen as she rolled around the wand, narrowing her eyes into slits while carefully and cautiously looking at every single detail (Shaun and Lea looking at each other). She was quiet for a while before she answered Dr. Garcia's question.

"Nope, you didn't miss anything," she confirmed before she turned her attention towards Shaun and Lea, grabbing a towel to wipe off the ultrasound gel. "So far, your daughter is perfectly healthy and everything seems normal."

"Thank you," sighed Lea, squeezing Shaun's hand as they looked at each other with love in their eyes.

Then, Lea and Shaun just realized what Haley had said. Their eyes widened with shock as if she told them they were having triplets. They didn't know the sex yet and they didn't want to find out until they were born.

"Daughter?" Lea questioned, wondering if she heard the student tech right.

"It's a girl?" Shaun queried.

"Yes, your daughter…" Haley then cut herself off before she realized that she must have made a mistake. "Oh, I'm sorry, did you two want it to be a surprise?"

"Yes, we did," said Shaun monotonously.

"When giving a pregnant patient an ultrasound, never reveal the sex of the fetus if they didn't tell you they wanted to know it," Dr. Garcia chuckled nervously as she gave her student an important lecture.

"Sorry, rookie mistake," Haley sighed apprehensively. "But, congrats."

Lea was cleared of any head injury and was told that she could go straight home. Dr. Andrews also recommended that Shaun would go home with her.

"This is the third time your wife had to go to the ER during her pregnancy," he said, chuckling a bit nervously. "You both need a break."

It was the evening already when Shaun and Lea were sitting down at the table for dinner, eating cold chickpea curry that Lea was craving as soon as they left the hospital. In addition, she was also eating a bowl of peanut butter, something she seemed to crave with everything during both of her pregnancies, especially with pancakes.

Shaun didn't think it was weird at all, and was thankful that she didn't crave pickles because he definitely wouldn't kiss her if her lips and breath tasted and smelled like pickles (it was thankfully one of her pregnancy food aversions both times). In fact, he actually grew to like some of Lea's cravings, especially those strawberry beet popsicles, but definitely not avocado popsicles dipped in fudge.

After they finished eating and clearing the table, they plopped themselves in their bed, Shaun resting his head on Lea's belly, enjoying the feeling of the baby kick.

"You gave us quite a scare, peanut. This is the third time," Shaun monotoned with love, talking to his unborn daughter as he felt a tear squeeze from his eye. Hours ago, he was so afraid that this little girl had suffered the same demise as her big sister. "I'm glad you and your mommy are okay. You and your sister are what inspired me to choose pediatrics as the field for my surgical fellowship next year."

Without saying a word, Lea just stroked Shaun's hair, her heart melting to the sound of her husband calling their daughter "peanut" the way they would call Eleanor "berry". It's the first time one of them had called this baby a pet name since she found out she was pregnant.

She herself cried a little bit before congratulating her husband, awed at the idea that their daughters motivated Shaun into deciding the future of his career as a surgeon. "You're choosing pediatrics? That's awesome! When were you going to tell me?"

"I've been thinking about it for a while, and only decided that it's what I wanted when we left the hospital," explained Shaun.

"I'm proud of you, Shaunie!" She exclaimed, kissing Shaun as he leaned up to give her a peck before she got back to discussing the topic of their baby. "So, we're having another girl. Should we go ahead and tell everyone since we've already been told by accident?"

"Everyone else can know…except your family because I don't want them to give us a bunch of giant baby bows, onesies with tutus, a hideous tiara, or a bunch of pink stuff," cringed Shaun, remembering some of the annoying (also sexist) comments he and Lea received the last time they told people they were having a girl.

"Get ready to lock her up," an elderly patient told him with a disturbing chuckle. "Daddy, you better get your shotgun ready!"

"Oh, the teenage years will be absolute hell for Shaun! Boys are easier. He must be so disappointed," Lea's grandfather told her.

Now that they knew they were having another girl, Shaun couldn't help but imagine himself as a father of two daughters, something he was definitely going to consider himself as since he knew the sex of the previous baby he and Lea lost.

He already had one thing in common with his second daughter (unless Haley read the sonogram wrong): they both lost their sibling, the only difference being that Shaun was close with his while his daughter was never going to know hers.

"Yeah, definitely," sighed Lea, looking up at the ceiling as she breathed heavily. "Our daughter will definitely be wearing dinosaur onesies…and it will be cute."

"Yes, it will be cute," beamed Shaun, still resting his head on Lea's belly. "She can like whatever she wants no matter if it is dinosaurs or ballet."

AN: Don't worry, this is the last time Lea will have a scare in her pregnancy, but there will still be conflict for her in future chapters...especially with her brother. Please review and share your thoughts :)