John seemed to actually be trying. He said good morning to me, he offered me food and gifts. He had gone out and gotten a toy for the baby. I was starting to believe that maybe he meant what he had said.

Emmett didn't trust him as far as he could throw him. He had taken to just sleeping with me at night, saying it was to make sure I was safe. And really, I was alright with that. If he hadn't practically moved to my room, I probably would have just gone to his. Despite his effort, I could tell John was upset by this, but he never said anything.

And Mom was just ecstatic that John was back, and wasn't being a complete jerk.

I stood in the center of the nursery, pencil in hand, and slowly turned in a circle. I was officially calling this mural done. Glancing at the time, I decided I had just enough time to go pick up some groceries. If groceries meant pudding, chips, and a lot of cheese. I had been on a big quesadilla kick lately.

I quickly texted Emmett. I'm going to head to the store before the appt. You want to go?

His reply only took a couple minutes. Sounds good. Meet you at the car.

I went to my room and put my pencils away before making my way downstairs.

...

We were stepping outside, Emmett pushing the cart with our bags in it.

"Ok, I might have gone a little overboard."

He grinned, lifting a hand. 'A little?'

"Oh, quiet."

As we crossed the parking lot to the car, it happened. A blond woman stopped walking and smiled at me. "How far are you?"

I knew it had to happen eventually, but it still caught me by surprise. It had always seemed obvious to me, but no one had questioned me. I had felt like I was getting away with something-which I guess I was. But to be questioned about it directly, by a complete stranger, somewhere completely inconspicuous (the grocery store wasn't exactly a pregnant woman exclusive place)... it felt like game over.

"Um... 20 weeks."

"Ooh, halfway there! Good luck!" She moved along fairly quickly, so I guess for a first encounter, it wasn't too bad.

I turned to Emmett, and he watched me, confused. "She just asked me how far I was."

'And?'

"That hasn't happened before. It was weird."

He smiled slightly and helped to load the groceries in the trunk. I put the cart away and he got in the driver's seat. It made him feel better when I wasn't driving, and most of the time I didn't have the energy to argue with him. We were going to the same place, anyway.

We went home long enough to put away what I had gotten. I stashed some of it in my room, just to keep it safe from scavengers (Toby), before leaving again.

...

I had made Emmett stop for me to get fries, and then again for a drink, and with my stops, we managed to get to the doctor's office only ten minutes early.

'So, what happens today?'

"There's the ultrasound. The doctor finds out the gender. I still don't want to know. Do you?"

'I want it to be a surprise.'

"Ok. From what I've read online, this appointment is really big, I guess. I don't know, something about the baby being a baby? It doesn't make sense to me. We just saw him two weeks ago."

'Yeah, but we weren't really in the right mind to pay attention. We just wanted to know she was alright. And we were probably still high on adrenaline.'

I shrugged slightly, standing when my name was called. I motioned to him, and we followed the nurse into the examination room. After all of the blood pressure, etc., she handed me a gown and left. I guess it was one of those days.

Natalie was as cheery as always when she came in, and got through that bit of the examination quickly.

"How have you been feeling since the accident? Have we felt any movement yet?"

"I'm fine. I haven't felt anything. Why, should I have felt something by now?"

"Now is about the time where we're looking for it. But don't worry, we still have a few weeks before you need to get worried. Some first time mothers don't feel anything for another five weeks. I'll be right back, you can go ahead and change back."

Those were always my favorite words at these visits. She left, and I quickly pulled my clothes back on. Emmett had left the room both times, waiting for me to open the door for him to come back in.

When Natalie returned, she felt around, and did the measurements, all the while asking her questions. Once again, she seemed pleased by my answers.

Finally, she pulled out the Doppler. "Alright, now it's Dad's favorite part, and then the fun part." The goo was put on my stomach, the device turned on and handed to Emmett.

"We got one of those for home."

"Oh? And what do you think?"

"Well, he certainly loves it."

"Alright, just be careful. With a lot of mothers, the change in heart rate can be stressful." The whooshing noise filled the room, and she turned to her notes.

This part was easily my favorite part of the appointment, too. Less because of the heartbeat-though I did particularly love that-and more because of the look on Emmett's face. He always looked awestruck, just staring at the box in his hands.

The sounds stopped, and Natalie took the Doppler back, hitting a few buttons and setting it aside after cleaning it up.

"I just want to double check. Neither of you want to know the gender?"

"Surprise gender for us."

'We don't want to know.'

Natalie raised an eyebrow. "He said we don't want to know," I said.

"Ah. Alright, got it." She left the room, soon returning with the ultrasound machine. She put a bit more of the goo on my stomach and the screen came alive. She typed a few things before putting the wand to my stomach. She had to do a bit of searching before she found just the right angle.

She turned the screen toward us, and pointed. "There's your baby."

Suddenly I knew exactly what women had been talking about online. Before, the baby had been some kind of blob. It didn't look anything like a baby. When I could make out features on the baby, it looked more like an alien than anything else. But this... that was undoubtedly the picture of a baby. Tears filled my eyes. "His little head..."

"And there are hands... and here's a leg..." Natalie pointed to each part.

I turned my head to check Emmett's reaction. Tears were shining in his eyes as well. When he looked at me, it was only for a second.

Then he kissed me.

The kiss was passionate, and happy, and a little desperate. There were so many emotions spilled in that one action, it was overwhelming. I simultaneously felt like I couldn't breathe through the whirlwind of feelings, and yet felt like I could finally breathe after months of no air. The world just melted away as my hand found it's way to the side of his head. The only thing that existed was us, just him, me, and our baby.

I squeaked slightly and pulled away, a strange fluttering feeling in my stomach. Emmett looked at me, confused, and a little hurt.

"No, the baby, I think... Was that the baby?" I turned my head to Natalie.

She smiled and nodded. "Yeah. Baby moved a little bit. You felt it? What did it feel like?"

"I don't know, like... like butterflies." I turned back to Emmett, smiling widely. "I felt the baby."

He smiled and kissed me again.

...

I don't think my smile faded the entire appointment. It remained through the wait for the pictures, in the car on the way home, when I walked through the door.

"Is anyone home?" I called out. I didn't get an answer, and made my way to Regina's. Emmett went to follow me, but I waved him off.

Despite my excitement, I managed to make myself wait when I rang the doorbell. It wasn't long until Regina answered, and I held up the large yellow envelope. "I have pictures."

"Really? Come on, let's sit down."

I went and sat on the couch while she went to get Daphne. When they came in, I already had the pictures out and spread on the coffee table.

After they had their initial oohs and aahs out of the way, I said, "I felt the baby move."

"Really? When?" Regina asked.

"When... Emmett kissed me."

Daphne's eyes widened and she smiled widely. "No way! Emmett kissed you? It's about time! When?"

"At the appointment."

"Yes! Finally!"

...

That night, I was beginning to question if the kiss had been a good idea. It had probably just happened because of the moment. Emotions were running high, we hadn't really had time to think about it-at least I hadn't. Sure, we slept together every night, but that was purely a security thing. That's what we kept telling each other, anyway.

Emmett came from the bathroom. 'We have that class tomorrow, right?'

"Yes. The Lamaze class. It's at 6."

'Sounds good.'

He shut off the lamp and laid beside me, giving me a good night kiss. Just like that, my doubts were gone.

Ahh, there we go. I'm quite proud of myself that I managed to hold out this long on that kiss.