Kathleen lay on the table in the exam room at her doctor's office waiting for the ultrasound tech to come. A nervous and uncomfortable Charlie sat in one of the chairs. It had been a month and she ws there for monthly check up.
"Charlie, you don't have to stay if you don't want to." She insisted
"No, I want to be here with you." He said maybe more to convince himself than her
"Alright, Kathleen, are you ready to meet your little one today?" The perky tech came into the room
Kathleen smiled, "Sure."
"My name's Jenny and I'll be making your baby a movie star." She looked at Charlie, "You must be the proud papa."
"Yeah." he said with a nervous smile
"Well, let's get started. Dr. Levine will be here in a few minutes to take a look for herself." She explained
Jenny fired up the machine and coated Kathleen's abdomen with gel to allow the transducer to move smoothly. She placed the transducer on her belly and after a moment the image about the size of a cherry appeared on the screen, swimming around furiously.
"There it is." Jenny said, "You've got quite the little swimmer in there."
Kathleen stared at the screen for a moment, "That's really my baby?" She asked
"It sure is." Jenny said, "Dad, come on over here and take a look." She said noticing Charlie was still seated in the chair
He got up and stood by Kathleen who instinctively took his hand, "Look Charlie, that's our baby." She wiped her eyes with her other hand
He smiled slightly but Kathleen noticed the reluctance in his eyes, "Wow." was all he could manage to say
"How come if it's moving so much I can't feel anything?" Kathleen asked not able to take her eyes off the screen
"Well, it's so tiny right now you won't. But in the next couple of months you'll begin to feel little flutters. Those first ones are the best." She smiled
"So Kathleen, how are you doing today?" Dr. Levine walked in
"I'm okay, tired but okay." She replied
"Well, that's to be expected right now. You'll feel better in the second trimester." She assured her
Kathleen nodded, "Is everything okay with my baby?"
"Well, we'll take a look." She replied, "Jenny, how did it look to you?"
"Everything looked great."
"Good." Dr. Levine said, "You must be Dad." she looked at Charlie
"Uh, yeah." He replied, "Charlie." He took the doctor's extended hand
"So, how does it feel to see your little one for the first time?"
"It's...it's incredible." Kathleen said, Charlie said nothing
"It certainly is."
Dr. Levine smiled and looked at the ultrasound, "Well, everything looks good. You're twelve weeks so I think we'll stick with the original due date of mid October. We won't do another ultrasound until about the twentieth week and by then we should be able to tell you the sex of the baby. Should you want to know."
"Oh...well, I hadn't..." Kathleen began and looked at Charlie
"Whatever you want." He replied
"Some people do like to be surprised." Dr. Levine said, getting up from the stool, "Well, that's all for today. Oh, I almost forgot, Jenny would you print out a picture?"
"Oh, of course." Jenny pushed a couple of buttons and a black and white photo came out and she handed it to Kathleen
"I've got another patient waiting. I'll see you next month. Be sure to keep up the vitamins"
"I will." Kathleen said staring at the photo
Dr. Levine left and Jenny handed Kathleen a towlette to wipe the gel off her abdonmen, "Well, you can go ahead and get dressed and you're free to go."
"Thank you." Kathleen said
"My pleasure." Jenny said and exited the room leaving Charlie and Kathleen alone
"I'll, uh, step outside while you get dressed." He said
"Okay."
/
"Thank you for coming with me today." Kathleen said as they walked toward her office a few blocks away
"I told you I would." He said
"It's pretty amazing isn't it?" She was still looking at the photo
"Yeah, you know even with my brothers and sisters I never paid much attention to that when my mom was pregnant and until Owen they didn't have all that technology. Well, maybe with Claudia but I was like twelve years old."
"I never really had friends who had kids so all this is so foreign to me." She said and he just nodded, "Well, I better hurry back to work."
"I'll walk you the rest of the way." He offiered
"That's okay, it's just a couple of more blocks and you need to get back to the restaurant."
"You're sure?"
"Charlie, I'll be fine."
"Okay, I'll cal you later."
She nodded, "Oh here, you take the picture."
"Oh no, you keep it." He said
"I have the baby with me all the time." She looked down and ran her hand over her abdomen, "Unless...you don't..."
"No, of course I want it." She handed it to him, "So, I'll call you later but if you need anything..."
She smiled, "You mean like if I get a craving for mocha chip double chocolate ice cream in the middle of the night you'll run out and get it for me?"
"I'm serious." He insisted
"I know." She said, "Well, I'll talk to you tonight then?"
"Yeah."
She smiled and headed down the street as he watched after her then looked down at the photo of his child he held in his hand.
/
Later that night the crowd at Salingers was winding down and Charlie was at the bar looking at the photo again. He still couldn't wrap his head around it all and didn't know how he really felt.
"Hey." Kristen said walking in the door
He quickly hid the photo, "Hey." He came around from the bar and kissed her, "I thought I'd see you at home."
"Well, I thought I'd come by and surprise you. Are you up for a late dinner. I hear this place has great food."
He smiled, "Yeah, why don't you go get a table. I have couple things to finish up."
"Okay." She said and kissed him
As soon as she was out of sight he went to the bar and dialed her number.
"Hello."
"Hey, sorry I didn't call sooner." He said, "We got slammed."
"It's okay." She replied
"Are you alright?"
"Charlie, I'm fine. Tired but fine."
"You stayed late didn't you?"
"The work had to get done."
"It'll be there tomorrow."
"Not with the news, Charlie. You can't put it off."
"What are you doing now?" he asked taking out the ultrasound photo looking at it
She sighed, "Oh, not much. Just eating my favorite ice cream and watching the sappiest movie ever on Lifetime. One of those silly romances."
"I didn't think you liked those. Something about being too cynical."
"Well, I guess things change."
"I guess they do."
"She's waiting for you isn't she?"
"Yeah."
"Then why are you talking to me?"
"I told you I'd call you."
"And you thought I'd go all hormonal on you if you didn't."
"No, I just wanted to keep a promise."
"Well, you did." She said, "Now you need to go."
"Okay, I'll call you tomorrow."
"You don't have to call me everyday."
"I know."
"Goodbye, Charlie."
"Bye."
He turned around to find Kristen standing there, "Kristen, I promised her I'd call." He said noticing the look on her face.
"Why didn't you just say you needed to call her?"
"Because I know how hard this is for you." He said
She noticed the photo in his hand, "What's that?"
"Oh it's nothing..." he said and she grabbed it
"Nothing?" She said, "It's an ultrasound photo."
"Kristen, please understand."
"Understand what?" She said, "You have this whole part of your life that I'm not a part of. You're sharing the biggest thing in your life with someone else."
"What do you want me to do?"
"I don't know, Charlie," She said honestly, "I just don't know."