Chapter 17 - This Is Our Story
"Where you two going?" Jodi asked as Claire and Alex walked to his car. "Oh, just heading into town" Claire quickly said and smiled nervously to Alex. Know one knew about the doctor's appointment expect from Tess and Meg, and she would prefer it stayed that way - at least for now. She wasn't ready to involve people in it just yet.
"But I thought I was gonna help you finish up the new ring, so the new horse could be trained there" Jodi said, feeling rather annoyed that she had cancelled her self-claimed day off. "Oh shoot, I forgot Jodi" Claire said and opened the door. "You can go help Becky out with the drenching" Claire continued and got in the car.
"Yeah of course I can" Jodi mumbled to herself and made her way back towards the house. Claire frowned at her back - She never understood Jodi and she wasn't sure she would ever learn to. "Ready?" Alex asked, pulling Claire out of her thoughts and turned her focus to him. She smiled. She was ready but also nervous. She wasn't sure what to expect - All she knew was that they had to run another test, to make sure she really was pregnant, not that there was any doubt left in her.
"I think we actually have to go inside" Alex said as they had been sitting outside in the car for a good 5 minutes, just staring at the building. "I know" Claire said without taking her eyes off it. "Then let's go" Alex said and opened the door about to get out. "I can't!" her panicked voice made him turn around again. "What do you mean you can't?" he asked and looked worried at her.
"I'm scared" She spoke again, still with her eyes at the building. "You have nothing to be scared off Claire" Alex said, trying to calm her but it didn't work. "What about when I start to show? What wouldn't people think?" Claire said with a worried voice and a couple of tears started to gather in her eyes. The other night she felt at ease but being here made everything real, and she suddenly got overwhelmed with all these mixed emotions. Alex couldn't help but smile at her. She usually never worried or let it show, so it was quite freeing seeing her like this. "Claire" he said with a gentle voice and moved his hand to her cheek to make her look at him. He kept looking at her without saying anything for awhile and then he did that one thing, that surprised both of them. Slowly he moved his other hand to her stomach and with a gentle smile he kindly stroke the area under his hand with his thumb. "It doesn't matter what people think - The only thing I care about is that you and this baby is doing alright. The rest can think what they want, they don't know our story" Alex said and gave her yet a comforting smile. Claire looked down at his hand on her stomach and then back at him. She felt truly happy in that moment and she couldn't help the tears that started to fall. "Dry your eyes and lets go aigh?" he said gave her stomach one last stroke before he pulled away from her. He was still smiling, loving the fact he could be her rock in hard times - All he ever wanted was to be there for her, truly be there, if she allowed him to.
Alex and Claire was waiting nervously in the doctor's office when he came back in with a chart in his hands. They looked at each other, anxious and too afraid to breathe - if he could just tell them now instead of sitting across the table with a half smile on his face, it would be great. "I just took a look on the test back there" Jim said and threw the chart on his table before he made himself comfortable in the chair. He kept looking at them alternating, almost as he was studying them. "Well, I think you know what I'm about to say but I do have to say it - The test was very positive, no doubt at all" he continued and started to smile even more as both Claire and Alex's facial expression started to change. It slowly sunk in what he had just told them. They already knew it of course but it was a bit different having a professional confirm it.
"She's … Really pregnant?" Alex asked and looked at Claire and then at the doctor. He smiled and nodded on his head before he started to laugh as Alex looked like someone who wasn't exactly sure what to do with himself. "I've already talked to Bella and she'll take you in for a ultrasound at the end of the hall."
"Bella?" Claire asked - It wasn't really important who she was but she felt like she needed every bit of information she could grab on to right now. As soon as the doctor had told her she was pregnant everything became unclear and she had no idea what to do or say. "Yeah, it's our nurse. You'll be in good hands with her" Jim said and got up from his chair to lead them towards the door. "Oh, and I guess a congratulation is in order" he said as Alex and Claire was about to walk out of the door. She gave him a half smile, too busy with processing everything - She knew she was pregnant but it still felt like something out of this world, she had no idea how to react. She was happy but shocked.
"Is this okay?" Bella asked with a friendly smile as she pulled down Claire's pants even further. Claire nodded, still speechless about the news they just got confirmed. "The first thing I look for is a heartbeat - We have to make sure there actually is something in there. Sometimes you can test false positive" Bella said and moved the probe around Claire's stomach. "But in this case, we don't need to worry" she said and held the probe in place as a strong beating kinda sound filled the room. "We have a really strong heartbeat right here" she continued with a smile.
The moment Claire heard the heartbeat was the moment she started to believe and understand she was pregnant. She had the symptoms of course but this - this was a living proof that there really was something precious inside of her, nurturing on her very existence. As Bella moved the probe around a various of different images appeared on the screen, nothing she could understand ... until a tiny outline of what looked like a fetus appeared on the screen. "Is that?" Claire asked, surprised to be seeing her very own little baby on the screen.
"Your baby!" Bella said happily and gave them both a big smile. "It's not much now but from now on it will only grow bigger. It's already starting to look like a baby, as you can see" she continued and went through the whole uterus one more time.
Suddenly Claire felt Alex's hand on top of hers and as she looked to her side, she got met by a tearful Alex, too tied up to the screen. She couldn't help but smile at him. She squeezed his hand, knowing just how lucky she was that he was going to be the father of her child. Her squeeze made him look her way and her contagious smile made him send her one as well.
"I've just tried to measure the little wonder in here and it looks like you are 9 weeks pregnant. Does that add up to when you last had your period?" Bella asked and seeked Claire's attention. She thought about her question but to tell the truth, she wasn't really a hundred percent sure. "I'm not sure - I guess?" Claire said and gave her weird smile. "We are just gotta put down 9 weeks here, I'm pretty sure in my case" Bella said and scribbled down nine weeks on her chart. "I'll freeze the picture on the screen for you to look at, while I go get your copies. It'll just take a minute. You can dry yourself off with this" she spoke again and gave Claire a couple of napkins to dry her stomach free from the leftover gel, before she left the room.
The room was silent for a moment before Alex took in a deep breath and breathed out again. He was still holding Claire's hand, he hadn't even noticed it, too busy what he was seeing on the screen.
"Is this really our baby?" he asked and looked at Claire like he couldn't believe it. She smiled and took a look on the screen and then she looked back at him. "It is" she said with a big grin on her face and felt a couple of tears run down her cheeks. "I've never been so happy before, Claire" Alex spoke again and stroke a lock of hair behind her ear. She smiled at him gently, feeling the exact same way as him. Alex kept stroking her hair, none of them took their eyes off each other - both taking in that amazing moment of realising they were going to be parents. Before Alex could think it over he found himself leaning his head closer to Claire and then, he planted a soft kiss on her lips. It sent a wave of butterflies through her body and she knew she shouldn't do it but she kissed him back. It wasn't for long but long enough for her mind to go crazy and yell at her to pull herself away but she didn't - he did.
He looked surprised at her as he did so, like he couldn't believe what he just did. "I'm ... sorry, I shouldn't have" he said with panic in his voice. He didn't meant to ruin the moment, he knew Claire didn't want him that way but he was just feeling so overwhelmed and happy about it all, that the kiss just happened.
"It's okay, don't worry about" Claire answered and tried to give him a smile but she was just as thrown back about what just happened that it was hard. She quickly moved her focus from him and to her stomach with the remaining gel still on. With a couple of moves she got it all off and she placed herself on the edge of examination couch.
"I didn't mean to do it" Alex said, trying to apologise again for his behaviour. "Alex it's fine. It was just - a happy kiss, nothing more to it" Claire said and gave him a comforting smile, one she couldn't keep up for long. The same wanting and longing came to her - She wanted more, much more but she just couldn't. She was too afraid to admit that the kiss had meant everything to her just now and that her longing grew bigger as he pulled away again.
"Yeah, okay" Alex said and nodded with a smile. It was more to him than just a happy kiss but he could pretend, if that was what Claire wanted it to be.
