Chapter three: Friends

Emmett woke up groaning, his head hurt and it was ungodly to be getting up at four-thirty in the morning, but he had to get ready for PT. He laid in bed for a moment staring at the ceiling, his mind grasping at the last tidbits of the dream he had just been having. His head was swirling with confusion as he registered that the dream had been about Rosalie, someone he had never met before. What even had him more rattled was that it was a pleasant dream and that he had found himself now wanting to go back to sleep and pulled back in to it. He had dreamed that he was walking along the beach back home on the edges on Lake Michigan and when he looked up she was there. She had turned around when she heard him approach and smiled warmly at him whispering a greeting to him, her hair flying around her face though he didn't feel the wind. He gently tucked a strand behind her ear and leaned down and kissed her, feeling her arms wrap around his neck pulling him closer. He had smiled against her lips and felt her smile back. It all felt so real, that it started to scare him. He threw his blankets off and allowed the cold air in his room to wake him up. He wouldn't let some silly dream get to him and got dressed for PT, grabbing his keys and headed out the door to go pick Royce and Jasper up.

He knocked on Royce's door who always seemed to take a little longer than he and Jasper did, before he noticed Jasper coming out of his room and making his way down the hall towards him.

"Mornin'," Jasper nodded at Emmett with a somewhat defensive stance before his eyed narrowed as he studied Emmett's irritated expression. "Looks like you didn't get any sleep. Were you up all night playin' spank the monkey to that picture of that girl?"

"Would you lay off and stop talking about girls like that?" Emmett barked out narrowing his own eyes at Jasper. Jasper shrugged leaning against the wall and finding something else to focus his attention on while they waited on Royce. They didn't have to wait long because after a few seconds Royce opened his door, country music came playing out of his room softly as Emmett realized it was Gary Allen's voice.

"You going to turn that shit off?" Emmett asked irritated.

"What crawled up your ass and died?"

"Nothing, let's just go we're going to be late and I would really like not to be yelled at today," Emmett said turning on his heel making his way out of the barracks towards his truck. Royce looked at Jasper with a puzzled look on his face. Jasper just shrugged his shoulders again and the two of them followed Emmett silently.

Emmett climbed into his truck and slammed his door shut.

"No seriously, what's crawled up your ass man?"

"Nothing!" Emmett snapped turning the key into the ignition and reversing the truck out of its parking spot and threw it into drive peeling out of the parking lot.

"He didn't get any sleep," Jasper stated.

"Shut up," Emmett snarled.

"Why didn't you get any sleep?" Royce prodded.

"Don't worry your pretty little head about it, I'm just tired can we please just drop it?"

His two friends shifted uncomfortably in the truck next to him as he tried his hardest not to speed to their destination. Emmett felt like he was suffocating in the cab of the truck, he definitely needed to work out this morning and hopefully get her off of his mind and release some of the tension that had seemed to build up in his shoulders.

When they pulled up, most of the soldiers in their unit were already there jumping up and down in the cold in an attempt to stay warm. Emmett exited the truck not even waiting for his friends to exit the vehicle. Before he knew it they were running and the cold no longer seemed to bother him. Emmett loathed running, but this morning he was thankful for it, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other. The cold nipped at his ears and nose, but he ignored it. His lungs started to burn and his legs started to ache, but he ignored it. He felt the tension slowly starting to leave his shoulders, his mind started to clear. When they were finished he waited by the truck for Jasper and Royce, the cold starting to seep in. He shivered slightly, spotting them making their way over to him. He climbed into the truck, Jasper and Royce following closely behind, and started it blasting the heat that he knew would be useless in a little while. The ride back to the barracks was quiet, and when they arrived they climbed out in the same silence they had climbed in with slowing momentarily as all three pulled out their own cigarettes and lit them leaning against the tailgate of his truck.

"Sorry about this morning," Emmett said sheepishly. "Couldn't sleep last night."

Royce took a drag, "It happens, just quit being an asshole."

Emmett chuckled at this ironic statement coming from his friend, "Deal."

Jasper watched the exchange and though his gaze lingered on Emmett a little longer, he exhaled, "Alright ladies, let's go get ready for work."

Rosalie was exhausted, being pregnant was finally catching up to her. She had stopped at the local Chinese food place on the way home from school and picked up some wonton soup, it seemed to be the only thing that she was able to eat and keep down. Her morning sickness was intense and she often found herself in the bathroom after eating something. She was four months into her pregnancy and had a doctor's appointment in an hour to go get an ultrasound.

Rosalie's dad called her from the living room as she was sitting at the table to eat.

"Yes dad?"

"Remember you're not supposed to eat or drink anything until after the ultrasound."

Rosalie sighed heavily, she hadn't eaten anything all day and she was starving. She got up from the table and put her soup in the fridge as her dad made his way into the kitchen grabbing the keys off the table.

"Ready to go?"

Rosalie was actually ready to go, she was somewhat excited and hopeful that they would be able to tell her if she was having a boy or girl. Plus her due date kept changing so she was also hopeful that they would have a more definitive due date for her.

She climbed into the PT Cruiser with her dad and buckled up, her dad turning the radio station to the golden oldies. She stared out the window in awe at how beautiful everything was in the fall, though it was rather crisp outside it still was a gorgeous sight to see the fire colored trees that surrounded the colonial style homes of South Carolina. They hopped on the freeway and made their way into downtown Greenville towards the ultrasound office. It was separate from her OBGYN's office so they had to go a little further into town. The sounds of the Beach Boys came over the radio and her dad sang along to it while weaving in and out of traffic. They finally made it to the building and made their way up to the technician's office. Sitting down in a chair with a headache coming on, Rosalie leaned back against the wall closing her eyes. Her dad plopped down in the chair next to her picking up a Sports Illustrated magazine. Flipping through it while waiting for her name to be called, her dad started nudging her.

"Rosalie, look at this!"

Her dad handed her the magazine and there in the background of a picture of the World Series was a man who looked almost exactly like her dad. In fact he resembled him so much she could have sworn it was her dad if she hadn't been with him on that day.

"That's crazy! He looks exactly like you!"

"Rosalie?" Rosalie's head snapped up at the call of her name, her eyes met the nurses. "Are you Rosalie?"

"Yes," Rosalie stood up and followed the nurse into the back to a private room where there was a patient table for her to lie down on and an ultrasound machine.

The nurse handed her a couple of blue paper sheets and told her to tuck them into her waistband and to pull her shirt up to her bra and then tuck the other one there.

"A technician will be with you shortly," she smiled at Rosalie, but it was more like a grimace. That was the one thing Rosalie did hate about living in the Bible Belt everyone seemed to judge her for being a young, single mom. She waited for the nurse to leave the room then climbed up on the table and did as she had been told to do. Rosalie waited patiently for the technician to come in and after about twenty minutes, the nurse's head popped back in the room.

"Sorry, we're really busy right now, but someone will be in here shortly just didn't want you to think we had forgotten about you," the nurse shut the door again before Rosalie even had a chance to respond. Rosalie shifted uncomfortably on the table, she felt a flutter and knew it was her baby moving around. She put her hand on her stomach to calm the baby and herself, breathing deeply. It was freezing in the room and she was starting to run thin on patience.

"Hello!" An older, thin lady breezed through the door shutting it softly behind her. "Are you Rosalie?"

Rosalie smiled at this new woman, she seemed inviting and genuine. She had short grey streaked hair and wore scrubs with pink ribbons on them. She felt at ease finally and this new woman washed the bitter taste that the nurse had left her with out of her mouth.

"Yes, I am."

"Awesome, I'm Margaret and I'm your technician today," she made her way over to the sink and washed her hands, humming a happy tune as she reached up into the cupboard afterwards and pulled out a tube of blue jelly. She ran it under the warm water, while Rosalie watched. "So how far along are you?"

"About four months," Rosalie replied turning her head back to stare at the ceiling.

"Oh that's wonderful, you know I might be able to see the sex of the baby today. No promises though!"

Margaret chuckled to herself as she pulled the stool over and poured a little bit of the warm blue jelly on Rosalie's stomach and fired up the ultrasound machine. Taking the wand in her right hand she used it to spread the jelly around Rosalie's stomach and then turned back towards the screen. She started taking several pictures and adding measurements in her and there, took a few more pictures and finally asked Rosalie if she would like to hear the heartbeat. Rosalie answered yes quickly and before she knew it the sounds of the baby's heartbeat filled the silent room. A single tear rolled down Rosalie's face as she listened to her baby's heartbeat for the first time. Her heart broke a little knowing she was doing this alone and wished that Daniel was there with her.

"Okay now for the sex," Margaret said slowly moving the wand around pressing slightly into Rosalie's stomach. "And look at that, she's not ashamed at all!"

Rosalie looked at the screen, "She?"

"Yes honey, I am ninety-five percent sure you are having a little girl! Congratulations!"

Rosalie wanted to cry, she had wanted a daughter so badly and always had promised she would name her after her younger sister who had passed away when she was little.

"When am I due?"

"Well from the looks of it, you're due on Valentine's day," Margaret removed the wand from her stomach and started printing off the pictures for the doctor. "Would you like some pictures to take home with you?"

"Oh, yes please," Rosalie said politely taking a handful of paper towels that Margaret had handed her to wipe the jelly off her stomach.

"Okay, I'll just print these off for you and then you are free to leave!"

Margaret printed off the pictures and gave them to her, hugging her before she left, "Good luck! Hopefully I'll get to see you again."

Rosalie thanked the technician and pulled her clothes back into place, leaving the room with a Rosalie smile on her face. She made her way back to the waiting room and asked her dad for his cell phone and she called Daniel.

"Hello?"

"Hey it's me," Rosalie breathed in a shaky voice. "I just wanted to let you know the due date has changed to February fourteenth and that we're having a girl."

"A girl?"

"Yes, a girl."

Rosalie heard him draw in a long breath, "That's awesome, thanks for letting me know I have to go now, Zoe is waiting for me."

"Okay, bye," Rosalie snapped the cell phone shut and handed it back to her dad.

"A girl huh?" her dad repeated, shoving his cell phone in his coat pocket.

"Yes, a girl."

Her dad wrapped his arm around her shoulders and squeezed gently, "Good, payback is a bitch."

She laughed swatting her dad's arm as they made their way to the elevator and down to the parking lot. Maybe things were going to be okay after all.