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Neal slipped his hand into Brooke's, entwining their fingers on the arm of the chair. He gave her a tender smile and squeezed her hand gently. All was well - they'd both been given a clean bill of health by her doctor, and now came the moment of truth.
"Are you excited?" he asked softly, laying his free hand over their joined ones as he squeezed her hand again.
Brooke leaned her head on Neal's shoulder and smiled, her hand resting softly on her gently-swollen stomach. "Very. Are we sure that we want to know, and not be surprised?" she asked. She shifted in her seat, wishing that the nurse would call them back. She had no idea if she would be able to hold it much longer...
Neal leaned his head against hers and stared down at Brooke's hand on her belly, the now-customary butterflies of wonderment flaring up in his stomach. God, he still couldn't believe it...
"...Yeah, I still think I'd like to..." he murmured, nuzzling her hair softly. "Gives us a chance to decorate the room, and get clothes, and pick out a name, and all that, right?"
Brooke closed her eyes, nodding, thinking back to the day that had changed their lives.
Brooke had woken up with a headache, feeling sick to her stomach, for the sixth day in a row. She rolled over and curled into Neal's side, moaning softly. She didn't want to acknowledge the thoughts that were swirling around in her head. Slowly she slipped out of bed and headed straight for the bathroom, barely making it in time.
Neal blinked his eyes open slowly, frowning slightly at the sounds that greeted him from the bathroom. Brooke had been sick every morning for nearly a week now...that wasn't normal. What if she was seriously ill, or something? His breath caught suddenly in his throat at that prospect. God, if she really was sick...
...He couldn't even complete the thought.
Sitting up, he slung his legs over the edge of the mattress and padded his way to the bathroom, knocking lightly on the door. "Brooke, sweetheart..." he called softly, unable to keep the concern out of his voice. He poked his head around the edge of the slightly-open door, biting his lip at the sight of her kneeling over the toilet bowl. "...Are you okay? Can I get you anything?"
Brooke rocked back and leaned against the wall, letting her head rest on her knees. "A glass of water, please..." she whispered, glancing up at Neal, smiling softly, trying to reassure him that she was okay.
"...'Kay...be right back, all right?" Neal murmured, and headed quickly to the kitchen for a glass. His hand was trembling slightly as he filled it from the tap, his mind racing with worst case scenarios. She'd looked so pale, there...so nauseous...was it just a stomach bug? What if she had an ulcer, or something? Oh, God -- what if it's cancer? God, he couldn't lose her now....
He bolted back to the bathroom as quickly as possible, not wanting to leave her alone for a single moment longer than necessary. He fell to his knees beside her, fighting back the vaguest sense of panic and impending doom, and passed her the glass. As she sipped slowly, he laid a hand on her back, between her shoulder blades, rubbing gently. "Brooke, love...it's been almost a week. You can barely keep anything down...don't you think you should see a doctor?" The tremor had entered his voice, now, and he swallowed hard, trying to fight back the tears that were threatening. He couldn't -- he wouldn't -- lose her, no...God, not now...
Brooke let out a breath and then took a small sip of the water and set it on the bathroom sink. She sat there for a few minutes until she was sure her stomach was settled. "I think that we'll go to the doctor after we go to the drug store first," she said softly. She reached out and let her hand rest on Neal's cheek.
"What do you need? I'll go get it. Anything. Just tell me," Neal blurted out, immediately running through a catalog of antacids and stomach coaters and anti-emetics in his head. "I don't want you to move if you're not feeling well - you should lie down and rest, okay? I can get it for you..." He wrapped his arm around Brooke's shoulder, pulling her a little closer to him, and buried his face in her hair.
Brooke smiled softly and pulled back, cupping Neal's face with her hands. "I'm okay... I promise..." she whispered, kissing his forehead gently. "But I think that we need to go to the drug store together."
Neal blinked at her, his brow furrowed in confusion. "...Okay," he replied softly. "...If you're really feeling up to it..." He sat back on his heels, studying her face, and reached out to cup her cheek before brushing his lips lightly across hers. "...Love you," he whispered, his voice on the verge of cracking with emotion.
Brooke leaned into the kiss. "Love you too...so much..." She smiled timidly. "I think that we might need to get a pregnancy test." She held her breath, waiting for his reaction.
"...What...?" Neal said softly, his brain scrambling to process her statement. His eyes widened suddenly, mouth falling open in stunned amazement. "...What?" he repeated, cocking his head in confusion. "...How...why?"
Brooke laughed softly, her eyes shining brightly. "I've had morning sickness for the last week...missed this month, but I didn't think anything of it because of being so stressed from the album... But it hit me yesterday... I didn't want to say anything then... But after being sick again this morning -- I'm pretty sure," she said softly.
"...Oh..." Neal breathed out, his gaze falling to the floor a moment before lifting back up to search Brooke's face, exhaling softly, "...Pregnant?"
"We'll find out in a little bit." Brooke leaned into Neal and let out a breath. "...Are you okay?" she whispered.
Neal swallowed thickly, blinking back the tears welling up in his eyes. He tightened his arm around Brooke's shoulder, his other hand drifting down from her cheek to rest on her belly. "...Wow..." he exhaled, a hint of wonder threading through his voice. "A baby..." A slow, tender smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as he caressed her stomach gently. "...A baby."
Brooke let out a choked laugh, her own eyes filling with tears. "We'll find out for sure as soon as we get dressed and go to the store."
"...'Kay..." Neal murmured, sitting in dazed shock a moment longer before sitting back and pushing to his feet. "Dressed...yeah..." he mumbled, his mind reeling with a different set of images now. "...Dressed..." He turned and wandered out of the bathroom, still muttering to himself, gaze lowered to the floor.
Close to an hour later, Brooke held the pregnancy test in her hand with Neal standing behind her, his chin resting on her shoulder. They watched together as the digital display window changed from the hour glass to one word. She looked up at Neal with a smile.
"We're pregnant."
"Mr. and Mrs. Tie-man?"
Neal winced reflexively at the common mispronunciation, automatically murmuring "Tea-man" as he glanced up at the nurse with a small smile.
"Oh, sorry! Mr. and Mrs. Tiemann, we're almost ready for you... Would you like to follow me back?" The nurse smiled at them brightly, but Neal could feel her eyes wandering over his tats and his piercings and his gauged-up ears, and the skepticism was there, behind her eyes...
Ignoring her, Neal turned to Brooke and squeezed her hand gently, whispering, "...Moment of truth."
Rising to his feet, he extended his hand to help her stand.
Brooke moaned softly as she got to her feet, the instant pressure on her bladder evident. She gripped Neal's hand and smiled softly. "I can't wait...our baby... We'll get to know if it's a little ballerina in here, or a soccer player," she said softly. She leaned into Neal as they walked down the hall to the ultrasound room.
"Here we are!" The nurse smiled, leading them into the darkened exam room. "Okay, Mrs. Tiemann, let's get you up on the table...make it easier on your bladder..."
Neal promptly stepped forward to help, steadying Brooke with a gentle hand on her arm as she squirmed carefully into position on the table.
"There we go..." the nurse cooed, and smiled at them both. "Mr. Tiemann, you can have a seat there next to the table... The ultrasound technician will be in shortly."
With that, the nurse retreated, allowing the door to hiss slowly shut on its hinges behind her.
Neal settled into the chair and quickly shifted it closer to the table, gripping Brooke's hand tightly again as he leaned forward to press a soft kiss to her belly. "Soon, little one..." he murmured, his voice vibrating over Brooke's skin. "...Soon."
Brooke smiled and let her fingers slip through Neal's reddish-blond hair. "What is your gut instinct?" she grinned. "Boy or girl?"
"Hmmm..." Neal hummed thoughtfully, leaning his head against her belly a moment, as if listening for a sign. "...I think I'd really like a girl," he said softly, laying an arm across Brooke's thighs as he touched her belly gently with his other hand, needing that contact with both of them at this time. "A boy would be good, too...but...yeah..." He met Brooke's eye with a smile. "...A girl."
Brooke smiled contentedly as she continued to run her hands through his hair, something that she'd always done -- it calmed her. "I think that I would like either... Although, I think that I would like a little girl first. Someone seems to think that if we are having a boy, that you have to name him after him -- something about a bet that you lost, back about ten years ago, with the promise to name your first-born son after him? Now, as much as I love the name David -- our baby needs his or her own name," she grinned.
Neal snorted softly. "Damn it! I was hoping he'd forgotten that by now... and no, we're not naming her 'Davida', so he can kiss my ass." He grinned up at Brooke, eyes sparkling. "...What about girls' names?"
Brooke closed her eyes and smiled. "I really like the name Ashlyn... It's Irish for 'dream' or 'vision'... And sometimes, it feels like our lives are such a perfect dream."
"Ashlyn...Ashlyn Tiemann..." Neal murmured, nodding against her belly. "...Like that. Can call her 'Ash' or 'Lyn' for short... And what about boys? No 'David,' though -- I don't care what Heartthrob says."
"Hmm...boys' names. I really like Logan." Brooke grinned. "Have you been thinking about names?"
Neal flushed pinkly. "...No, not really..." he admitted with a slight smile. "...Still doesn't seem real, somehow."
Brooke bit her lip with a smile. "I know. I think it feels a bit more real to me, since the baby likes to kick like crazy and sit on my bladder," she teased.
"I'd offer to share the experience with you, but I don't know - you weigh a lot more than a baby does. Think if you kicked me and sat on my bladder all the time, we'd have trouble..." Neal grinned at her.
Brooke laughed and then groaned, tugging at Neal's hair. "Don't make me laugh... I'll pee on you."
"No-o-o, don't do that!" came a voice from the doorway, as their laughing technologist peeked her head around the door. "Then your husband will have to clean it up, and you'll have to do this all over again, and you don't want to do that!"
Neal sat back and grinned at the woman as she settled into her chair on the other side of the table. They would make him clean it up, wouldn't they...
"Okay, Mrs. Tiemann..." The woman glanced up with a small smile and a wink. "...Ms. White. I'm Michelle. We're going to use ultrasonic waves to take some images of your baby, make sure everything's going as it should. If you would, please, I'll need you to lift up your top and push your pants down just a bit...just below your 'bump'...uh-huh, just like that..."
Brooke shifted and followed the woman's instructions. She reached out for Neal's hand, holding it tightly as the ultrasound technician smeared the gel over her stomach and then turned the machine on.
Neal stared at the screen, open-mouthed and awestruck, as images of their baby -- their baby -- appeared on the screen. He nodded each time Michelle pointed something out to them, his eyes quickly scanning and memorizing the images on the screen.
Brooke watched closely, listening as Michelle pointed out all of the important things. "Everything looks perfect. The baby is just the right size and the heart rate is perfect."
Brooke could see the baby's heart beating, and her eyes welled up with tears.
Picking that time to glance up at Brooke's face, Neal noted her eyes brightening with unshed tears, and reached up to touch her cheek, squeezing her hand gently.
"Now for the fun part. Have you two decided if you wanted to know, or were you wanting to be surprised by the sex of the baby?" Michelle asked, smiling.
"...I think we decided we'd like to know," Neal replied quietly, studying Brooke's face with a small smile. "What do you think, sweetheart?"
Brooke leaned into Neal's touch and then looked back at the technician. "Yes...we do."
Michelle smiled at the couple and turned the screen more so that they could see. "Well, this little one definitely isn't shy, as you can clearly see... Since there is no penis, you're going to have a little girl."
"...A girl..." Neal breathed, swallowing hard past the lump rising in his throat, and smiled tenderly up at Brooke before looking back to the grayscale image on the screen. "...Hey, baby girl..." he whispered hoarsely, lifting his hand to wave his fingers at her picture there.
Brooke grinned and pulled Neal up to kiss him softly, whispering into his ear. "We're going to have a girl."