Chapter 50 - Changes

Ellie stood with the earpiece in her hand for a whole minute after the doctor had hung up, listening to her own heartbeat. Then she leaned forward, ready to dial her home number, when something made her change her mind. She pondered for a moment, then decided to call her superior. There was something that had to be done first.

Fifteen minutes later, she walked into the kitchen, where her parents waited. Her father eyed her cautiously.

"The doc sure took his time. What did he say?"

Ellie smiled.

"I'm not sick. The nausea is just a harmless side effect. It will go away eventually."

Her father didn't catch the reference, as she expected. He just nodded, looking pleased, and went on with his newspaper. Her mother on the other hand looked at her, dazed and wide-eyed.

"Are you..." she began.

She didn't finish. A noise from the driveway interrupted the calmed atmosphere in the small kitchen. Her father looked out the window, recognized the red Pontiac and frowned. Ellie's heart skipped at beat.

Okay, here goes...

She walked past her father, through the hallway and out on the veranda. Brutus, who had just stepped out of the car, stopped immediately.

"I come in peace," he said, raising his palms in a soothing gesture and glancing carefully towards his father-in-law. Mr. Brent crossed his arms. Ellie hadn't been able to keep the fight a secret for as long as she had wanted, but at least her father hadn't driven off with his shot-gun, when he had finally figured it all out.

Ellie threw him a look – stay out of this – and walked down the stairs.

"Can I talk to you?" she asked Brutus.

Her husband blinked; he had clearly expected to be chased away or shouted at again.

"Uh, sure."

He followed her to the backyard in awkward silence. Ellie's mind worked at high pressure. She was nervous about how he would react to news like this. And she had to apologize too, but she didn't know where to start. She turned around to face him, but just as she had gotten the words right, Brutus disrupted her.

"I'm sorry," he nearly blurted out. "I'm really sorry. I want you to come back home. I miss you like hell. I can't sleep even without you," he said in a uncharacteristic low voice that caught Ellie off guard.

"Brutus, you don't have to apologize..." she begin.

"Yeah, I do," Brutus said firmly. "I tried to change you into someone you ain't, just to make myself feel better, but then I remembered: I did not fall in love with a woman, who let others decide what she should do, when things get tough."

Before Ellie could come up with a good answer, he had already continued:

"I don't want you to leave the hospital. I know how much that job means to you. Sure it's dangerous, so it's life, I get that now..."

"Honey..."

"... I'm just so scared of loosing you that I wasn't thinking straight..."

"Brutus..."

"... so could you at least consider taking a self defence class or something for my sake..."

Ellie took his hand and Brutus fell silent.

"I'm sorry, too," she said, looking up at him. "I said a lot of stupid things I didn't mean. And I was the one being selfish, not you. I have thought long and hard about this the last couple of days and I have decide to leave E.R. At least for a while."

"Ellie..." Brutus began protesting, but Ellie shook her head.

"I'm not going to leave the hospital for good," she said. "Maybe I will return to E.R. one day, who knows, but right now, I think another path is the best thing for us."

"If that's truly what you want?"

"It is."

"'Us'?" Brutus said carefully. "Does that mean you're coming back to me now?"

Ellie laughed.

"You are making it sound like I had already left you." She saw his troubled expression and it dawned on her. "You didn't really think I had left you, did you? After one fight?"

"Well, I don't have a lot of practice yet, marriage-wise," Brutus said in defending tone, shoving his hands in his pockets. "You storming out like that, what else should I believe?"

"Yes, that was... a bit dramatic, I agree," Ellie admitted bashfully. "I'm not really sure why I did that, I'm sorry."

"That's a'right. One day I might forgive you."

She could have said so much more, but she decided just to hug him. It wasn't until she felt his arms around her and inhaled his warm, familiar scent that she realised how much she had missed him.

"So," Brutus said, above her head. "Which part of the hospital are you gonna take care of now, then?"

Ellie released her grip and looked up at him, smiling.

"The paediatric ward." She said. "Taking care of the children. Somehow I think that's going to be pretty good practice for me."

Brutus looked blank at first, before her words started to sink in. She decided to help him.

"I'm pregnant," she said.

Brutus' face changed from dawning understanding to complete baffle.

"Pregnant?" he repeated faintly.

"Yes. Well, it's still quite early in the pregnancy, but if it all turns out fine, you're going to be a dad within the next seven month."

Brutus stared at her, flabbergasted. He opened his mouth, but then seemed to realise that he had no idea of what to say and closed it again.

"I know we've never actually talked about having children," Ellie said softly. "Not for real, at least. And I know the thought is a bit scary, until you get used to it – but I also know that we're going to do just fine."

Not a word. Ellie looked at him, a bit worryingly.

"Brutus, you have to say something as some point."

Brutus cleared his throat.

"I was just thinking," he said slowly. "That I'm gonna be the oldest first-time dad in the history of mankind."

Ellie laughed with relief, cupped his face in both hands and kissed him heartedly. Brutus wrapped his arms around her shoulders and kissed her back with heart and soul, like the whole world was going to break them apart.

A window was opened in the house.

"Does this mean I have to put the dull axe back in the shed?" Mr. Brent called out.

Ellie chuckled.

"Yes. Sorry, dad."

One more chapter to go.