14 Weeks
Mauras POV
I stood wearing nothing but a sports bra and a pair of work pants, looking my body up and down in the mirror from every angle I could manage. My boobs had grown too much for my liking already and I was already starting to notice skin changes to my face.
"I'm not excited about new pigmentation." I announced to Jane as I stood looking at my bare stomach in the mirror, my hands working cocoa butter over the bump.
"Don't most women worry about getting fat?" Jane asked with a smirk as she got dressed for work, hopping around behind me as she pulled her boots on.
"That won't happen to me." I said proudly, continuing to work wide circles around my stomach. Stretchmarks were my only real fear, but I was sure that with my usual healthy diet and moisturising creams, I would be fine.
"How can you possibly know that?" Jane asked with a frown. She turned me around, taking the cream out of my hands and directing me to the bed. I lied down and let her continue working the moisturiser into my stomach.
"I know I'm going to gain some weight, but not enough to classify me as fat, Jane." I could tell by her pursed lips she was carefully deciding on what she should say next.
"I clearly heard the doctor say you are supposed to gain a fair bit of weight with twins." She said with raised eyebrows, pulling my singlet back down over my stomach and helping me sit up.
"Well I am not deliberately gaining 45 pounds; that is ridiculous." I said with a huff, pushing my body off of the bed and moving to grab the shirt I had set out to wear today.
"You have two little humans growing inside you; that is ridiculous." She smirked, though I knew she meant exactly what she was saying. Here we were discussing weight gain and pigmentation when there are two babies inside of my body. "Are you okay?" Jane asked quietly when I started frowning suddenly.
"Heartburn." I complained, pouting at her as I made my way downstairs, desperate for a cup of decaf coffee I knew was going to make my heartburn worse.
"We're having twins. Like two babies." Jane said as she walked into the kitchen, fully dressed and ready for the day ahead. "Two babies Maura."
"Believe me, I know." I laughed, placing both my hands over my stomach. She took a deep breath and shook her head.
"Do you want to go look at baby stuff after work?" Jane suggested I couldn't help but smile at her excitement.
"I need new clothes." I pointed out, looking down at my black blazer that was straining against my stomach. Jane started shaking her head silently as she took her first sip of coffee for the morning.
"Sorry, no way." She chuckled, walking backwards towards the front door before stopping and walking directly towards me, leaning across the counter to press her lips to mine.
"Have a good day." I told her, rolling my eyes at the fact I was going to have to do shopping alone this afternoon.
"I love you." She said with an apologetic smile, knowing exactly what I was thinking. Just as Jane left, Angela walked through the door.
"Good morning Angela." I said with a warm smile, pouring another cup of coffee and placing it on the counter before her.
"How are you feeling?" She asked with a soft smile, looking down at my swollen stomach as she spoke. I shrugged, insanely jealous that she got to drink regular coffee.
"Fourteen weeks." I started, tilting my head to the left as my brain tried to picture what the book had said about fourteen weeks. "Oh! The babies have formed their fingers and toes this week!"
"That is too sweet." Angela said, gesturing for me to stand closer to her. I moved so I was at her side, smiling as she placed both her hands on the small bump.
"They have also formed their genitalia, though we won't be able to see it on a sonogram for a few more weeks." Angela let out a quiet laugh, nodding along with me as I spoke.
"Do you have any feelings about what they are?" She asked, taking her hands off my skin and back to holding her mug. I wondered how anyone could feel like they knew the gender of their unborn child. The logic made no sense to me. Jane was convinced we were having a boy and I could not understand why.
"I'd only be guessing." She pursed her lips at my answer, taking a deep breath before she spoke.
"Jane and I were both hoping for a boy before we found out that there are two of them in there." I started, trying to answer her question in the best way I could. "But now… Two boys?" I scrunched up my nose at the mere thought of it. My hands instinctively went to my stomach and I thought an apology to the potential boy/s in my stomach.
"You'll be great no matter what." Angela said with a proud smile on her face.
"I hope so." I said quietly, smiling down at my growing stomach. Angela placed a reassuring hand over one of my own and the moment got far too intimate far too quickly. "I have to get to work." I said shyly, leaning across to kiss her cheek before leaving the house.
My whole body shivered when I left the house. I hated Boston winters. There was a light layer of frost starting to rest on my cars windscreen and the wind was so cold it hurt to take deep breaths. I shouldn't have worn heels today.
I made it half way down the driveway before I slipped.
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I knew exactly how Jane was going to react when I told her about my little fall this morning, and for the best part of the day I debated not telling her at all. I knew I'd regret it if, god forbid, something did go wrong because of the fall.
"Something happened on my way to work…" I started quietly, biting down on my bottom lip as I looked across at Jane who was sitting at her desk. Her eyes shifted from her computer to my face as soon as the words left my mouth. I looked at Frost whose desk was directly positioned in front of Janes. His eyes never left his computer.
"Are you okay?" She asked, looking me up and down in the most discrete manner she could.
"I slipped on the driveway this morning." I admitted, her eyes widening as they moved down to my stomach. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. "I landed on my knees and hands, Jane. I did scuff my shoes though" I assured her with a pout, reaching out and placing a hand over hers.
"Stop wearing those god damn shoes, Maura." She said with a frown as I showed her the scuffed front of one of my favourite pairs of heels. "So everything is…"
"I'm going to go to the doctor just to be sure, but yes, everything should be perfectly fine." I could tell that she wasn't buying anything I was feeding her. I sighed and turned to Frost. "Do you mind if Jane…"
"Take her with you." He said without letting me finish my sentence, smiling at me apologetically as I realised he had listened to our conversation.
The drive to the doctor's office was silent. Janes knuckles had started to turn white from how hard she was holding onto the steering wheel. I couldn't tell if she was mad or just worried. I was more than convinced nothing was going to be wrong, and no matter how many times I tried to assure her going to the doctors was just a formality, I could not help her shake her panic.
"You need to stop worrying." I told her, feeling tears start to burn behind my eyes. No, this was not the time for crazy pregnancy hormones to interfere and make me seem like an emotional mess.
"I'm allowed to worry about you." She said quietly, stretching her fingers. "I feel terrible." She added, and I opted to sit quietly and wait for her to continue. "I should have insisted on driving you today."
"Jane, I fell on the driveway. Even if you had driven me to work, I still could have slipped. My center of gravity is completely out of whack these days." I placed a hand reassuringly on her thigh. My free hand moved to the bottom of my bump as I tried to keep the signs of my slight pain from my face.
"What?" She asked, her eyes darting from the road to my stomach to my face. I rubbed her thigh softly, trying to keep her as calm as possible.
"My muscles and ligaments are just sore from expanding to make room for my uterus moving up." She scrunched her nose at my words.
"Your uterus is moving?" She asked, almost as though she doubted the information I was giving her.
"Yes, it moves out of my pelvis and up to just above my pelvic bone." I told her, pointing to the external parts of my body that match the anatomy.
"Okay now that is pretty neat." She said with a smile.
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"I landed on my knees and hands, but I thought we should come in anyway." The doctor nodded approvingly at my words as he continued writing down who knows what on a clipboard.
"Any bleeding?" He asked, looking up at me as he spoke, I hesitated dreading Janes reaction to what I was about to say.
"I had some spotting but that was this morning before I fell."
"You what?!" Here it comes. "You were bleeding and you didn't say anything?!" Jane hissed from beside me, pulling her hand out of mine so she could place her hands on her hips.
"I wasn't bleeding; I was spotting. There's a difference." I told her calmly, looking to my doctor for back up.
"She's right." The doctor added, looking up at Jane as he spoke. "Some spotting is perfectly normal, and considering it didn't happen after the fall, it's even more normal." He smiled as comfortingly as he could at Jane and a few moments later she sighed, taking my hand again.
"Women." I joked, Jane pursing her lips and fighting making a comment about my bad joke as the doctor started applying the now familiar conductive jelly to my stomach. I unintentionally gasped at how cold the liquid was, earning a slight smirk from Jane.
"It's always better to be safe than sorry." He smiled as he turned on the machine, moving all around my stomach until the familiar sound of fluttery heartbeats filled the room. "Both heartbeats sound really good." He assured us, Jane seeming to physically relax beside me.
"So they both look okay?" Jane asked, leaning over me to get a better view of the screen. I raised my eyebrows at her, pushing her out of the way so I could see the screen.
"You have two perfectly healthy babies." The doctor said with a warm smile.
"Hell yeah we do." Jane said, holding her fist up to my. I rolled my eyes but gave her a fist bump anyway. "Hey any chance you can tell us what's in there?" The doctor raised his eyebrows at her question.
"She wants to know if you can tell the sexes." I clarified for him, Jane nodding as I spoke. I knew what he was going to say, but I decided to play patient rather than doctor for once.
"No, you're still a little too early. At your eighteen week scan you'll hopefully be able to find out."
"Hopefully?" Jane asked with a frown, making me giggle quietly.
"Sometimes the babies cross their legs." I said with a shrug, noting the annoyance in Janes voice at potentially having to wait even longer before we could pick out paint colours.
"I want to know what colour to paint the nursery."
I knew this woman like the back of my hand.