8 Weeks Later

"What are you doing?" Billy smiled at her as he watched her from the doorway.

Phyllis jumped, turning around quickly and lightly swatting his shoulder as he stepped closer to her. "It's not nice to sneak up on people," she whispered, sighing as she leaned into his chest.

"I'm sorry, you just seemed so engrossed in your study of...was it your reflection?"

She grinned, blushing a bit.

"I mean, I get it, if I looked like that, I'd stare at myself all day too but.."

"Stop," she huffed, "I'm just...I don't...I don't remember being this big with Summer..not this soon."

Billy looked at her, his eyebrows raised, "Really? That's what you're worried about?"

"Seriously Billy! In the past three weeks things have really...". She moved her hands in front of her emphasizing her rounded middle.

"Maybe it's twins," he smiled, "or triplets"

"Yeah, you joke about stuff like that...you won't joke when we have to buy that economy van."

She sighed as she felt herself being pulled in close to him again.

"You know you're absolutely gorgeous, right?" He gently kissed her cheek before leaning back to look into her eyes. "You believe that don't you?"

"When you look at me with those eyes, I'll believe anything," she whispered.

"Really? These eyes?" He pointed at his eyes with a mischievous grin. "I'll have to remember that...these babies are a huge ace in the hole."

She smiled at him. "Seriously though...have I told you lately how grateful I am that you've been with me through all this? There's no way I would have made it though this without you. Between all the stuff with Jack and the divorce, the pregnancy and my anxiety, you've just been my rock through all of this this. You've been with me-right by my side."

"Of course I have," he said, touching her gently, "where else would I be? My favorite place to be is beside you."

The waiting room still put her on edge no matter how many times she sat there. Billy gripped her hand in his, locking eyes with her to try to calm her nerves.

"Hey," he whispered, "remember what the doctor said, this is just a precaution...everything looks fine."

"I know," she sighed, point to her head, "in here, it's here," she pointed to her heart, breathing in a shaky breath.

He leaned over, kissing her cheek. "I know, babe. I know." A smile flashed across his face and he gently nudged her chin up a bit, trying to lighten the mood, "We should be able to find out today, right?"

Phyllis smiled. Billy could always be counted on for that. No matter what happened, he could always find the bright spot, the silver lining. "Yeah, we should be able to. YOu want to find out? You don't want to be surprised?"

"Do you? I mean we can wait if that's what you want. I just thought maybe we'd had enough surprises...".

She laughed a bit. "You're right, we have had our share of surprises, haven't we?"

Phyllis smiled as the nurse appeared at the door. She felt Billy's hand squeeze hers supportively as they walked into the exam room. With him beside her, she always felt a little bit stronger.

Billy took a seat on the couch beside her. "I don't know when I've seen you quite like this," he laughed.

"Like what?" Phyllis struggled to speak, her mouth filled with ice cream and whipped cream.

"Like this," he grinned, leaning in and kissing her. "That is pretty good," he whispered, licking his lips as he pulled away. "Gotta take what I can get since someone won't share."

"You said you didn't want one," she teased.

"Actually what I said was that I had never heard of one and I'm still pretty sure this is something you made up. It sounds like a nice way of getting all the good stuff without a single trace of healthy food."

"A banana less banana split is a perfectly logical request," she smiled. "Besides, you wouldn't want to disappoint our son, would you?"

Billy leaned over, his hand touching her stomach as he smiled at her, "Absolutely not."

Phyllis placed the ice cream container on the table in front of her, placing her hand on top of his. "I still just can't believe it," she whispered. "I can't believe we're going to have a little boy."

"We gotta start thinking about names," Billy's smile continued to grow on his face until his eyes fell on Phyllis'-her eyes suddenly very serious.

"Maybe we should wait to look at names," she said softly.

Billy paused, recognizing her pattern. She couldn't let herself be too happy-not for too long. She was convinced it was tempting fate, not to mention the fact that she was convinced she didn't deserve it.

"Phyllis, we can talk about this baby. We can make plans for our little boy. We can be happy about our relationship-about our life. There's nothing wrong with that."

She sat quietly. "I just don't want to get too ahead of ourselves just in case...".

"Look at me," He took her hands in his... "Nothing is going to happen to this baby. We are going to be a family. We've earned it."

Her halfhearted nod was underwhelming but he kissed her hand gently as he glanced down at his ringing cell phone.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I have to take this. It's important." He handed her the ice cream. "Here," he smiled, "Don't waste good ice cream."

Billy stepped out of the room, bringing the phone to his ear. "Yeah, what did you find out?" He smiled as he leaned against the wall. "Absolutely-do it. I trust you. Whatever you think. Let me know as soon as you have any information." He paused listening. "That sounds great. Thank you. Oh, and I know this goes without saying, but you don't mention any of this to Phyllis, understand?"

Billy closed the phone with a sigh. This could mean so much to both of them.