Ultrasound Appointment
They were running late that morning, they ran late every morning now. Finally waking up wrapped in each other's arms every morning was something they'd never imagine. And they had to reaffirm every morning that it wasn't, in fact, all a dream.
But this morning, was not the morning to be running late. Alison was due at her OB/GYN at 10 am for her ultrasound. But with their long morning in bed, and Alison's increased morning sickness, getting out the door was near to impossible. Alison had been having more and more days like this, where her morning sickness was almost unbearable and even the thought of food had her running to their bathroom. Emily just chalked it up to the copious amounts of Indian food that Alison had now been consuming. Emily, of course, having to be the one to run all over town at strange hours of the night to nurse Alison in her newest craving.
But Emily didn't care about the middle of the night drives, or all the foot rubs she had to give Alison, or any of it. She was gonna be a mom, and she was building a family, and she was doing it with the love of her life. That was all that mattered.
At 20 minutes to 10am, Emily had finally gotten Alison in the car and was hastily making her way into the city for their appointment. Alison nursing some saltines to try and settle her stomach.
"When did they say this stupid morning sickness would lighten up? I'd like to actually be able to keep a meal down sometime soon," Alison asked, taking slow deep breaths.
Emily let out a soft chuckle and reached for Alison's hand, "The second trimester, which is just in a few weeks."
"That's a lifetime away," Alison said, dramatically, knowing it would make Emily laugh. She'd do anything to make Emily laugh.
"Did I tell you how beautiful you look today?" Emily asked, stealing a glance over at Alison.
"Em, I'm ginormous," Alison said, subconsciously tugging at her shirt.
"You are not!" Emily said, giving Alison's hand a squeeze, "Maybe we're just having a boy."
"So you do think I'm huge?" Alison asked, painting on her best offended face.
"I didn't say that!" Emily started to defend herself.
Alison couldn't help but laugh, "Em, I'm kidding!"
Emily immediately snatched her hand away from Alison, "No, I'm mad at you now," she said jokingly when Ali tried to grab it back. But Emily soon let her hand fall back into Alison's, especially when she looked over and saw Alison pouting.
They rode the rest of the way in silence, making small talk whenever Alison felt up to speaking. Finally, with just a few minutes to spare, they walked into the waiting room.
"Hi," Emily said brightly to the receptionist, Alison's hand held tightly in hers, they always got nervous at these types of things. They weren't usually ones to be graced with much good luck, "We have an appointment with Dr. Mitchell."
"Okay," the perky receptionist said, "What's the name?"
"DiLaurentis," Emily answered.
"Okay, you ladies can go take a seat, she'll be with you in a moment."
"Hey," Emily spoke up once they sat down, she could tell that Ali was a little bit more on edge than usual, "are you okay?"
"You mean besides the feeling of my stomach turning inside out?" Alison bit out, she took another deep breath, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap."
"No," Emily said, putting her arm around Alison and pulling her closer, "it's okay. I know you've been feeling really shitty lately. I would take all that on for you in a minute if I could."
"I know," Ali asked, reaching over to press a small kiss to Emily's lips, "that's just one of the many reasons why I love you."
"I love you, too," Emily said, grinning like an idiot like she did every time Alison told her she loved her, "but really, what's on your mind?"
"I don't know, I guess I'm just a little nervous. I mean what if there's something wrong with the baby? I don't think this level of morning sickness is normal. And you and I don't really have the greatest track record of things going our way so-"
"Hey," Emily cut her off, "listen to me, everything is going to be fine. And I'm not just saying that. Your morning sickness is normal. The doctor said it might get really bad, especially because of your cravings. The baby," Emily paused and reached for Alison's hand once again, holding it in both of hers, "Our baby is fine."
Alison just nodded in agreement, Emily always did have a knack at being able to calm Alison down. But she was still worried, she knew something was going on.
10 minutes later, Alison was laid out on the chair in the examination room, the cold gel on her stomach, Emily's hand in hers, and their doctor firing up the ultrasound machine.
"So," Dr. Mitchell started, "how are you two doing? Preparing yourself for being mommies?"
"We're doing the best we can," Emily said, jokingly.
"Nah, you two will be amazing parents," Dr. Mitchell reassured, "So Alison, this is just going to be a routine ultrasound, just going to look around and make sure the baby is doing okay and they're nice and comfortable, okay? Nothing to worry about. How have you been feeling recently?"
"Horrible," Alison laughed.
"Morning sickness been acting up?"
"Yeah, it's at its worst around 9am, and then I just feel nauseous throughout the day."
"That's all normal, it's going to be at it's worst now just before you go into your second trimester, than it'll be a breeze after that," Dr. Mitchell answered.
"You promise?" Alison asked, making the whole room laugh.
"Okay," Dr. Mitchell started, "Let's see what's going on in here."
Alison kept her eyes on Emily, she was always too nervous to look at the screen, not that she'd actually be able to make anything out on it anyway.
Dr. Mitchell was quiet for a while, which of course startled the mothers to be.
"Is everything okay?" Alison asked.
"Yeah, everything is fine. I'm just seeing a little spot here, which might be nothing so don't worry. I'm just gonna move over a little bit and see if I can get a better look."
Alison's eyes shot to Emily's immediately, worry written all over her face. Emily just held Alison's hand tighter, knowing that that was all she could really do right now.
"I thought so," Dr. Mitchell said to herself, turning to Alison and Emily with a smile, "Wipe those worried looks off your faces."
Emily immediately perked up, but Alison remained worried.
Dr. Mitchell moved the ultrasound machine closer to the bed and tilted the screen so Alison and Emily could see better.
"Okay," she started, moving the scanner around Alison's stomach once again, "here is your baby." Dr. Mitchell pointed to a little blip on the screen.
"Ali, look," Emily pointed.
"And everything's okay?" Ali asked.
"Yes, everything is fine," Dr. Mitchell answered, still with a smile on her face that said she knew more. She moved the scanner further upwards towards Alison's ribs and pointed to the screen again.
"And here," she started, "is baby number 2."
Ali and Emily immediately turned to each other then turned to the doctor.
"Baby number 2?" They asked in unison.
"Alison, Emily," Dr. Mitchell said, "you're having twins. Congratulations, mommies."
"Oh my, God," Emily said, shocked. That was the last thing she was expecting to hear today.
"Em," Ali said, reaching for Emily, "We're having twins. Oh my, God, we're having twins."
"I know!" Emily said, kissing Alison soundly, "I love you, I love you, I love you," she kept repeating with every kiss she pressed to Alison's lips.
"I love you," Alison said, moving to wipe the tears from both of their eyes.10 minutes later, they were walking out of the office, hand in hand, their ultrasound pictures tucked safely in Alison's purse. When they got to the car, they sat their silent for a minute, taking in everything. Then in unison, they turned to each other, smiles broke out on their faces and they started yelling for joy.
"We're having twins!" Emily kept repeating.
"I know," Alison said, pulling Emily towards her, kissing her deeply.
"I can't believe I'm finally getting to make a family with you," Emily said, when she pulled away, tears prickling her eyes again.
"You are a dream come true," Alison said, moving to wipe away a tear on Emily's cheek.
They drove home hand in hand, stealing kisses every so often at stop lights, unable to contain their excitement.
"We have to call your mom when we get home and tell her," Alison said, "she's going to be so excited."
"I know," Emily said, "I can't wait to tell everyone."
"Two little us's running around," Alison said, "I can't wait."
"Me either," Emily said, unable to wipe the grin off her face. She was having twins, and with the love of her life. Emily was getting everything she's ever wanted.
"I guess we're going to have to start buying two of everything now," Alison chuckled.
"We better go redo our registry," Emily said, shoving the hair from Alison's face when they were at the next stop light.
A few hours later, wrapped in each other's arms, the world was a blur around them. They still couldn't believe it. Emily quickly turned over and pulled Alison against her, drawing little patterns on her shoulder.
"I guess this explains why you're so huge," Emily spoke up, quickly darting out of the way of Alison's pillow.
With laughter all around them, in this world that they were creating, with all the love in the world, everything was perfect.