sweeet-as-honey: Yeah exactly and Ava was very brave for her age bless her. It is unfortunately but you'll soon see what happens.
Chapter Twenty Two
"How's your arm?" Rita asked as she fixed Ethan up. Ethan just faintly nodded and winced as he moved his arm slightly. He'd broken it after his fall and it had been put in a cast for a while. "It'll hurt for a bit but just take things easy," Rita said.
"Thank you," Ethan whispered and glanced across at Lily who was stood by the door with Ava in her arms. Ava looked terrified and held her thumb in her mouth for comfort. Lily soon moved out of the way as the door opened and Connie walked in.
"How are you doing?" Connie asked, folding her arms across her chest.
"Fine," Ethan sighed. "Apart from a broken arm. It could have been worst I suppose."
"Yeah it could have been," Connie said. "What caused this, do you think?"
"I just fell." Ethan shrugged his shoulders.
"Ethan, we need to talk about what we're going to do," Connie said. "Your symptoms are obviously getting worst and..."
"Don't!" Ethan cut her off with an anger tone. "Don't you dare, I...I just want to get on with my life okay? I just want to work and spend time with my family."
"You were meant to be looking after her!" Lily shouted. "Anything could have happened, Ethan!"
"Lily, don't," Connie said gently. "He can't help it. Come on, let's go and chat." Lily sighed and nodded, chewing on her lip whilst glaring across at Ethan. "Ethan, do you want me to send Cal in?"
Ethan thought about it for a second before shaking his head. "No," he whispered. "I don't want to speak to him."
Connie sighed and nodded, hating the fact that the two brothers were arguing. She placed a hand on Lily's back and led her out, leading her towards the office. Lily held Ava tightly in her arms and gave her a kiss on the cheek to let her know that things were okay. Ava smiled at that and kissed Lily back.
"Don't take it out on him, okay?" Connie said, once they were in the office. "He can't help being ill."
"I'm just scared," Lily admitted in a quiet voice. "It's obvious that he's getting worst and we have a baby on the way and then there's Ava and..."
"Here," Connie said and picked up a leaflet from her desk. She scanned it over and handed it to Lily. "Why don't you have a little read of that, hmm?"
"How to deal with Huntington's?" Lily questioned, as she read the front of the leaflet. "Are you giving one to Ethan as well?"
"No." Connie shook her head. "Because I think secretly that you're the one who's struggling the most. Besides, that leaflet was created to help friends and family cope with someone who has the disease."
"This baby will be due in like...What? Six months?" Lily asked. "What if he's in a wheelchair by then? What if he can barely speak? What if he can no longer take care of his kids?"
"Those are all what ifs," Connie said. "You have plenty of time to prepare and you love Ethan so I know you're going to manage. Trust me."
"Is daddy really sick, mummy?" Ava asked.
"Yes sweetheart," Lily sighed and sat down on a chair, keeping Ava on her lap. "But we'll help him."
"Ethan's trying to just live his life whilst he can," Connie said. "Which is why he doesn't want to have a paternity test done."
"Really?" Lily asked.
"Yes." Connie nodded. "He loves Ava and he wants to be her dad, he knows that in maybe ten years time he won't be able to look after her that much so he wants to remain her dad whilst he can."
"You're right," Lily said. "I guess I never really thought about that."
"The two of you just need to start living in the moment," Connie said. "Spend what time you have with each other wisely." Lily nodded. "And let's start with your first scan, shall we?"
Wednesday came round fast and Lily and Ethan were both extremely excited about their scan. Lily was nervous as well though, scared that they might find something wrong with the baby but Ethan kept reassuring her that everything would be fine.
"I'm scared," Lily whispered, as she lay on the bed with her t-shirt rolled up a little.
"It'll be okay," Ethan said, clutching Lily's hand with his good arm.
"Thanks," Lily thanked him with a small smile and turned to Mr T. "Come on then, let's get this over and done with."
"Patience," he chuckled, as he got the machine ready. "Now, this is going to be a little cold."
"I know the drill," Lily sighed and did a small eye-roll as he squirted the gel onto her stomach. "That's freezing!" Lily hissed.
"I told you," Mr T laughed and kept his eyes on the machine. "Well, everything looks fine with baby. I can't see any problems so everything seems good."
"Are...Are you sure?" Lily stuttered. "I mean, you would tell us if there was something wrong right? Can you even tell if anything is wrong at this stage?"
"Relax, Lily," Mr T said. "Everything is perfect, I promise you. Would you like a scan photo to take away with you?" Lily nodded. "I'll get one printed off for you both. Ava must be excited."
"I think she is," Lily said. "I don't know if she fully understands yet though."
"I'm sure she does," Ethan laughed and kept hold of Lily's hand. "She's a smart girl."
"Right, here you are," Mr T said and handed Lily her photo of the baby. "Have you told people yet?" Lily shook her head, suddenly remembering that only some of the staff knew about their pregnancy news. "Most people tend to wait until they've had their first scan. Best of luck, yeah? Come and see me if you do have any concerns or problems."
Lily had been terrified about telling people when she first found out that she was pregnant with Ava. Somehow she didn't feel as scared the second time, she guessed that it was because her and Ethan were like a proper family and most people were probably expecting them to have another child at some point in the future. Besides Ava was six now and they had had plenty of time to settle down and prepare.
"Okay everyone, Ethan and Lily have an announcement to make," Connie said, gathering everyone around the reception desk.
"Are you getting a divorce already?" Dylan joked.
"Um...No..." Ethan laughed awkwardly. "No um...Completely the opposite of that actually..." He gulped anxiously and placed an arm around his wife's shoulder. Cal bit his lip and hung his head. "We're having a baby," he announced and placed a hand on Lily's stomach.
"Really?" Rita's eyes widened. "Ava's going to be a big sister. That's amazing!"
"We already knew," Alicia bragged, gesturing to her and Robyn.
"Well um...Con...Congratulations..." Dylan stuttered and shrugged his shoulders. "Well done. I...I guess."
"Yeah." Lily smiled at the staff. "We're really excited but it'll mean more leave when the baby comes so you guys better start pulling your weight."
"Well," Rita sighed and looked over her shoulder at Connie. "That was almost a nice moment."
"So..." Cal walked over to Lily with his hands in his pockets and said, "everyone knows about the baby then. That's one secret out of the bag."
"Shut up," Lily hissed and looked across at Ethan who'd walked over to speak to Robyn and Alicia. "Ethan doesn't have a lot of time until his symptoms really start to kick in, we want to make the most of it so if you cannot handle that then maybe you and Matilda should go back to Bournemouth."
"We're not going anywhere," Cal said. "Look, if Ava's results come back as positive then I'm sorry but at least you'll know that Ethan is her dad. If, however, it comes back as negative then I think you're going to need to look at getting a paternity test done."
"No." Lily shook her head. "Ethan needs me, we're having this baby and we're happy. I'm not going to let you drag me down anymore Caleb, you're Ava's uncle and Matilda is her cousin but...That's all. I'm happy with my life and it's going to stay that way. End of discussion."
Hope you enjoyed it. Things will start speeding up a bit now that everyone knows Lily is pregnant. So who spotted Ethan's appearance in tonight's episode of Holby City? Loved it, haha :-) x
