Author's Note: Thank you so much for all the lovely reviews you've left on the last chapter! I planned on updating this story every Sunday, but I thought this week I'd give you an extra update.

Hope you like the chapter!

As usual, I don't own/have anything to do with Skins.

Chapter 2: Queens of Promise

June 4th 2013

I nervously paced the waiting area of the hospital. Emily had gone in for the collection surgery about fifteen minutes ago, which meant that I had anywhere from fifteen to thirty more minutes of waiting for her to get out of the Operating Room. Then I would have to wait for her anesthesia to wear off and hopefully, we'd be back home sometime this afternoon.

I was petrified. The last few weeks of hormone therapy had been hell for both of us. Emily had to go in to the fertility clinic every three days to have intra-vaginal ultrasounds to monitor follicle growth. She was moody all the time, and though I understood what she was going through, I also had a lot to worry about myself along with trying to help Emily as much as I could.

Emily and I hadn't spoken about trying for a baby after that first night – once Emily started taking the hormones, she was very emotional and I didn't want to bring up something as important as a baby when she was like that. So we still hadn't discussed who we would be using as a donor or whether we would use a sperm bank. I hadn't talked to Katie or Effy or my mum about it because I heard it was bad luck to talk about those kinds of things before you were actually pregnant. I'd been doing a lot of research on my own and had started eating foods that would make me more fertile. I really didn't want to be trying to conceive for a long time, so I figured I would get a head start and start doing things that would increase my chances of getting pregnant now. I hadn't really talked to Emily about it so she gave me a few odd looks when I started making sweet potatoes as a side dish every other night, or when I sprinkled flaxseed on my yogurt at breakfast.

Effy and Katie walked into the waiting room when I was on my fifteenth circuit around the area. I sighed, relieved to finally see people that I recognized. Katie looked almost as worried as I did, and Effy was white as a ghost.

"Have they said anything about Em yet? Is she out of the OR?" Katie asked as she walked over to hug me.

I shook my head at them. "Nobody's told me anything yet. She should be out in a few minutes."

Effy nodded at me and grabbed my hand. She smiled at me, but I could tell she was really worried.

"What's up, Eff?" I asked as we all sat down. We were the only ones in the waiting area that morning, luckily enough. Effy laughed and waved her hand at me, trying to brush off my question.

"She's worried about the transfer in a few days. She doesn't want Em to have to go through this again if it takes us a long time to get pregnant," Katie said as she grabbed Effy's hand and kissed her on the cheek.

I nodded. I knew that if Katie and Effy asked Emily to go through the process again, Em would say yes, but she wouldn't be happy about it. She hated going to the doctor's so often and having to go through the ultrasounds every three days. It was an exhausting process for her. But I knew Em would agree to a second round of extractions, just because she wanted to be able to help her sister in any way she could.

A few minutes later, a nurse came to inform me that Emily was out of surgery, but not awake yet and that I could go and see her. I shot up from my seat quicker than a rocket and followed the nurse to the post-operative area. She lead me right to Emily, and I sat next to her and grabbed her hand while the nurse checked her IV and heart rate monitor. The nurse smiled at me.

"I read her file last night when I was prepping for this morning's surgery," She said with a smile. "I think it's really great, what she's doing for her sister and her partner. You must be a very supportive wife."

I smiled at the nurse and thanked her, but I couldn't say much more than that because it was the first time anybody had ever acknowledged Emily as my wife and I may have started to cry a bit. We weren't technically married, but the wedding bands on our fingers showed just how much we wanted to be. The nurse smiled and squeezed my shoulder, telling me to call her if I needed anything before she left the little room.

A few minutes later, after I'd finished getting overemotional, Emily started to wake up. I called a nurse over, just to check that everything was going well. They assured me that Emily was fine and brought over some ice chips for once she woke up.

Emily opened her eyes and moaned.

"Hey, Em," I whispered as I moved closer to her bed and pushed her hair away from her face. "The extraction's over, darling, you're doing great."

Emily nodded and pointed to her throat, so I handed her the ice chips, which she chewed on for a few minutes. She was still so groggy and disoriented. About half an hour after she woke up, she started complaining about cramps and nausea. I knew some people felt nauseous because of the anesthesia, so I bought some wristbands from online that were supposed to help. They had a hard plastic ball on them, and when you put them on your wrists properly, they would push into a point that would release endorphins and stop any feelings of nausea. I put them on Emily's wrist, careful to get them in the right spot. Eventually, her nausea started to fade away, and the nurse let Katie and Effy come in. They both hugged her and Effy cried and thanked Em for what she'd done for them, and then I cried and Katie and Emily made fun of us.

Katie and Effy had to leave before us because they had a doctor's appointment. Effy was supposed to start taking hormones to thicken the lining of her uterus to prepare for the egg transfer in four days. We were allowed to leave about an hour after, and Em was given strict instructions to stay in bed today and not to overdo it when she went back to work in two days.

When we got home, Em went straight to bed and Libby spent the rest of the day lying on my side of the bed right next to Emily. She would bark whenever Em would try to get up by herself, which was frequently since Em was stubborn and didn't listen to doctor's orders.

"Em, stop it!" I said as I walked into the bedroom after hearing Libby bark. I had been working on an article in the office next to the bedroom. "You can just call me and I'll help you get up to go to the bathroom or I'll get you whatever you need."

Emily blushed, and buried her face in her hands. "I hate this, I just want to be independent! I want to be able to go to the bathroom myself, Naoms, it's embarrassing to have my wife take me to the bathroom and have to help me get back to bed."

I nodded at her and sat next to her on the bed. "I know, Em, but it's only for today. The doctor said you're fine to get up and move around tomorrow. And you shouldn't be embarrassed, Em, I'm your wife. I took a vow that said 'in sickness and in health' and I meant it. I want to help you."

Emily smiled at me and grabbed my shirt, pulling me closer to her. She kissed me roughly while she could, since I pulled away soon after, afraid that I would hurt her or things would go too far.

"What was that for?" I asked with a blush. Emily smiled at me.

"It's so sexy when you talk about being my wife and taking vows," Emily said. "And I kind of wanted to say thank you for being so great these last few weeks. I know I've been an emotional mess, but I really appreciate how supportive and awesome you've been."

I smiled at her. "Well, that's my job, love."

She smiled back, told me to finish my article, and assured me that she would take a nap. I went back to the office and worked on my article for a bit longer before getting distracted and researching more about trying to conceive.

Three days later, Katie and Effy came over to have dinner with us and update us on what was happening with the embryo transfer. Emily had made roast chicken and I made mashed sweet potatoes and roasted veggies. Effy was so nervous about the embryo transfer happening the next day that she barely ate anything.

"Here," I said as I handed her a bowl of mashed sweet potato. "Sweet potatoes help with fertility."

Effy smiled at me and ate the whole bowl. Emily gave me a quizzical look when I said that, and I just smiled at her. I'd have to explain that one later tonight.

"So, tomorrow's the transfer day," Katie said with a huge sigh after she finished her dinner. "We had 10 eggs extracted from Emily, and 8 of them were successfully fertilized. We plan on transferring 2 tomorrow and freezing the other 6."

Emily and I nodded and Effy continued eating her sweet potatoes, avoiding eye contact with us.

"But before we decided anything else, we wanted to ask you guys something," Katie said as she took a sip of her drink (orange juice with folic acid; since Effy wasn't allowed to drink, Katie promised she wouldn't drink either). "Do you want to split the remaining 6 embryos with us? They've already been fertilized with our donor's sperm, so you wouldn't have a choice in who that would be, but if you decided you wanted some of the eggs, we would give you all the information we have in regards to the donor."

Emily immediately started shaking her head. "Katie, god no! Those are your embryos, they're for you and Eff."

"But if something happens, these are your last shot at having a baby of your own, Ems," Katie said, grabbing her sister's hand. Emily continued to shake her head and I did the same.

"I know, Katie, I know. But having a biological child isn't all that important to me. If something happens, then that's okay and I'll deal with that if it happens. But I went through that process for you guys, not for me. I never wanted anything out of it."

I nodded, agreeing with everything Emily said. It was reassuring, hearing her speak so confidently about not needing to have a biological child. It made me feel at ease, knowing that she was serious about having me carry and be the biological mother of our baby. And I knew that I felt the same way as she did – even if Emily decided that she wanted to be the biological mother of our baby, I would be perfectly fine with it. Having a biological child wasn't important to either of us; we just wanted the joy of having a baby and starting a family. Having me carry the baby and inseminating with a donor sperm just seemed to be the easiest way to do that, for us. If adoption wasn't so expensive and time-consuming, we would have considered that. But I knew both Em and I would love our baby, no matter who it's biological mother or father was.

Katie and Effy nodded at us and helped us clear the table before leaving. They wanted to have an early night since they both had to be up early to go to the fertility clinic for the transfer. I heard Emily lock the door behind them as I rinsed the dishes and loaded the dishwasher.

"So," Emily said from behind me. I turned to peek over my shoulder at her. She was leaning against the doorway in the kitchen, and Libby was sitting at her feet. "When are we going to start trying?"

A smile burst onto my face and I squealed and jumped over to her, practically tackling her to the ground with the force of my hug. My hands were still wet and soapy from the water, but neither of us seemed to care.

"I thought you'd forgotten!" I said as I peppered her face with kisses. Libby ran around our feet and barked as us.

Emily laughed and squeezed me back tightly. "I couldn't forget something so important!"

I ran into the office and pulled out my calendar, already marked up with ovulation dates.

"About a week and a half from now," I declared. Emily beamed at me as I set my calendar on the dining table.

"So that gives us a week and a half to find a donor. Do you want to use a sperm bank or someone we know?" She asked, tossing a tennis ball Libby had brought to her.

I had already given this careful consideration. "I was thinking...maybe we could use Cook?" I said, watching Emily's face carefully for any reaction. She seemed surprised, but open to the idea, so I continued.

"I know his family history really well and he has no serious health issues that run in his family. And, despite the rumours, I know that he's STD-free, and he'd probably be willing to help us out. Of course, he'd have to sign off his parental rights and everything, but I'm sure he'd be fine with that."

Emily shrugged at me. "Plus, he's pretty attractive," She added, making me shoot her a questioning glance. "I'm just saying!" She said with a laugh.

"So...should we ask him to dinner and ask him to be our donor?" I said as I loaded the last dish into the dishwasher.

Emily nodded and came up behind me, wrapping her arms around my waist. Her hands laid carefully over my lower stomach and she kissed my neck.

"Yes. Let's make a baby," she whispered before dragging me into our bedroom.

I hope you liked the chapter! Please let me know what you thought!

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