Copyright © 2011 Kirsty Moseley

Chapter 21

I couldn't talk to Ethan when we got to his apartment, I couldn't talk about it yet. I felt awful, Johnny didn't deserve this. "I'm going in the bath, there's food in the kitchen for you." I mumbled as I walked in heading straight for the bathroom.

I ran a bath and laid in it rubbing my hand over my stomach telling myself over and over again that I'd done the right thing, that Johnny would be fine and he'd find someone who would make him happy and be good enough for him. I cried silently not wanting Ethan to know I was upset, I mean it must be hard for him to see me crying over another guy when I was supposed to be happy that we were together. It was impossible to be completely happy though when every time I closed my eyes all I saw was Johnny's devastated face promising me he'd change.

After quite a long time Ethan knocked on the bathroom door. "Lia, can I come in?"

Wiped my face and swallowed the lump in my throat. "Yeah sure."

He walked in and sat on the floor by the side of the tub reaching his hand into the water taking mine and holding it tightly. "Ok?" he whispered.

I nodded, "Yeah, I'm sorry I'm so upset Ethan. You shouldn't have to see this." I said apologetically.

He laughed humorlessly, "Lia, I know you love him, I understand. You don't need to hide in the bath." he pulled our intertwined hands out of the water and kissed the back of mine lightly. "The water's cold, you should really get out." he pushed himself up off of the floor and grabbing a towel from the side.

I pulled the plug out and stood up, he wrapped the towel around me and then lifted me out of the bath carrying me into the bedroom. He sat on the bed and held me on his lap. "Are you regretting it?" he asked quietly.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my forehead to his, "Ethan, never. I just didn't want to hurt him, I feel awful and he was so upset." I said looking into his beautiful blue eyes.

"But you're not regretting leaving him for me?" he asked looking at me hopefully.

"No tough guy, I promise. You and I are meant to be together, you said that yourself." I said smiling reassuringly.

His body relaxed slightly as he breathed a sigh of relief. "Good, I was worried. Johnny will be fine I promise, and I'll make you and the baby happy forever I swear." he said kissing me lightly. I felt my heart skip a beat when his lips touched mine. He pulled away and smiled at me tenderly.

"I'm tired." I mumbled hugging him tightly. My head was pounding from all the crying and I just wanted this day to be over.

He didn't say anything he just pulled on the towel lightly making it fall off of me then pulled the sheets down on the bed and moved me into the bed. He pulled his t-shirt off over his head and held it out to me. Damn he is so adorable. I took his t-shirt and threw it on the floor snuggling into the bed naked. He smiled and unbuttoned his jeans pulling them off and climbing in the bed in his boxers.

I laughed and scooted closer to him, "So I'm naked and you get to keep your underwear.... Is that how it's going to be Ethan?" I teased.

He grinned and shook his head pulling them off quickly and throwing them on the floor. He pulled me closer to him wrapping his arms tightly around me, I put my head on his chest and listened to his heart beating steadily in his chest until I fell asleep.

I woke to the sound of buzzing and lifted my head from Ethan's chest just as he silenced the alarm. "Sorry I forgot to cancel it." he whispered brushing my hair from my face lightly.

"It's ok." I mumbled sleepily pulling myself up to the pillows.

He moved closer to me, our noses almost touching. "So, how are my two favorite people this morning?" he asked looking at little worried.

I smiled and kissed his lips lightly. "We're good today." I said honestly, after a good nights sleep I felt a lot better, I still felt guilty, but I woke up in the arms of the man of my dreams, I couldn't ask for more than that.

His face lit up and he kissed me again tangling his fingers into my hair holding me closely. "I'm glad, I was a little worried you were going to change your mind overnight." he admitted looking at me nervously.

"Ethan Scott, I'm not going to change my mind, I love you silly boy. I know it was probably hard for you to see me crying for someone else but I don't ever want you to doubt that I love you." I said shaking my head.

"I know you love me Lia." he whispered looking at me softly.

"Do I have to go to college today?" I asked looking at him pleadingly. He'd arranged for the rest of this week and next week off so I wanted to spend some time with him.

"Well I don't really want you to go anywhere alone just in case the stalker guy's still interested in you, but you should go to college, you don't want to get kicked out. So I'll just come with you." he said looking at me apologetically.

"Ethan you have the week off, I thought we could spend some time together." I whined making him laugh. "And besides, I'll need to drop out anyway." I said shrugging.

He looked at me confused, "Why do you need to drop out?"

"I'm pregnant Ethan, did you forget?" I teased.

He laughed and shook his head before bending his head and kissing my stomach. "I didn't forget, I just don't know why you'd need to drop out."

"I'm not even sure I should be dancing while pregnant, and I'd have to drop out sooner or later anyway so I don't see the point in dragging my ass out of the bed if you have the week off." I said pulling him back up so our faces were level so I could look into his beautiful eyes.

"I don't want you to drop out Lia, dancing has always been your dream. Maybe you could defer for a year or something?" he suggested looking deep in thought.

"Yeah? And who's going to look after the baby while I'm in college next year then tough guy?" I asked sarcastically.

He smiled, "Must you always be so sarcastic? What's wrong with me looking after the baby?" he asked looking at me like I said something stupid.

Damn my boy is so freaking sweet! "You have to work tough guy."

"Well I could change to night guard, then we could share looking after the baby. We'll work something out." he said tracing his hand up my side softly making me get goosebumps.

"And when exactly are you planning on sleeping if you're a night guard? On the job, or while you're supposed to be watching the baby?" I teased.

He sighed, "I don't know Lia, I promise we'll work something out. I'll cut down my hours, get a different job, something. Just don't drop out of college ok?" he said looking at me pleadingly.

"Damn Ethan you really are adorable." I said looking at him in awe. He would change his life and get a different job just so I could finish college? I didn't deserve this boy. He honestly is the nicest and most thoughtful guy in the world. He rolled his eyes and kissed me again ending the conversation.

A couple of hours later and Ethan and I were sitting in the waiting room of the hospital. Ethan had pulled some strings with his boss and had managed to get us an appointment at short notice. Apparently his boss was connected with a lot of people and got preferential treatment in all kinds of places.

Ethan was holding my hand, grinning happily and I couldn't help but smile back, he looked so damn excited to be a dad it was just crazy. "You a little excited there tough guy?" I teased.

He laughed, "Hell yeah I'm excited. So do you think they'll do a scan today and we can see?" he asked rubbing my stomach lightly with his other hand.

"I don't know, maybe."

"Miss Jones." the Doctor called.

Ethan jumped up grinning and practically dragged me into the room making me giggle. We sat down opposite the desk and I must admit I was a little excited too, I really hoped they would scan me and then maybe they'd be able to tell me for sure how far gone I was.

"Ok so what can I do for you Miss Jones? Your notes don't say anything, I was just asked to free up and appointment by a friend of mine." the guy said smiling and looking at me curiously.

"Well I'm pregnant and I just needed to ask a few things really." I bit my lip nervously.

"Ok well fire away."

"Well, I'm currently in the middle of a dance degree and I was wondering when I should stop dancing, I don't want to hurt the baby or anything." I said wincing slightly. I just hoped that if I was a month gone that I hadn't already done some damage because I didn't know.

"Well if your body's used to dancing then there's no reason for you to stop at all. You can dance right up to your due date but you just need to be careful when circling your hips as that can sometime cause problems, but if you're a trained dancer then even that should be fine. Things like that very rarely cause problems to people like you, it's only really people that aren't used to exerting themselves in that way that need to be careful during pregnancy." he smiled reassuringly.

Wow did that mean I could finish until the end of the semester? It was only another four months away then at least I would have completed two years and not stopped half way through my second year.

"So I don't need to drop out of college? I could dance until the summer?" I asked needing to make sure I understood everything right.

"I see no problem with that at all." he said nodding along. 

I looked at Ethan and he grinned happily and gave my hand a little squeeze. He turned back to the doctor. "Is there some way we could find out how far along she is?" he asked hopefully.

"We usually go by the date of the last menstrual cycle for now, that's a rough enough guide at this stage. When you're twelve weeks they'll give you a ultrasound scan and that will then give you the exact time of conception almost down to the day." he said smiling.

"Can't we get a scan done today?" Ethan asked looking at him hopefully.

"Well it's not standard practice."

"I know, but Trent said that you'd give us anything we needed. Well we need to know how far along Lia is and the due date if that's possible." Ethan said a little more forcefully.

The doctor sighed and nodded picking up his phone and calling through to someone to arrange an ultrasound. While he was talking Ethan brought my hand to his lips kissing the back of it lightly a happy smile on his face. I loved making him happy and my heart skipped a beat.

"Love you." he whispered leaning over and kissing me lightly.

I smiled against his lips, "Love you too."

Someone cleared their throat and Ethan pulled away from me grinning sheepishly. "Ok well they're going to fit you in between patients, so if you could make your way over to the pre-natal unit now, they should be able to see you almost immediately." he said.

"Yeah? That's great, thank you doctor." Ethan said standing up and helping me out of the chair.

"Thanks." I smiled gratefully.

"No problem Miss Jones, Mr. Scott. Good luck with the baby." the doctor replied grinning.

We headed over to the pre-natal unit and sat there waiting for about five minutes. The whole time Ethan sat there with a big smile on his face like a kid on Christmas morning.

"You looking forward to seeing your baby tough guy?" I asked laughing. He nodded, his smile getting even bigger. It felt so right to say your baby to him, I wished with every bone in my body that it was Ethan's, but raising the baby as his own would mean that it was his anyway.

We were called in and I laid there while the sonographer squirted some gel on my stomach and rolled a little plastic thing around pressing lightly while she watched the screen.

"Ah there we go. I'm just going to take some sizes then I'll be able to tell you how far gone you are." she said pressing buttons on the keyboard. After a minute or so she turned back to us. "Ok well according to the sizes here, the fetus is just over three weeks. Twenty three days to be exact." she said pushing the screen around so we could see what she'd been looking at.

On the screen was a black and white hazy mess and I had no idea what it was or where it was . "Umm where's the baby on there?" I asked feeling stupid. Wow I'm a bad mother already, I can't even see my own baby!

She laughed and pointed to a little white fuzzy bit tracing the outline of a little oblong shaped thing. "Right there."

Ethan bent in closer to the screen frowning, "Ok wow Lia, I thought we were having a baby not a bean, but I guess that'll work too." he said making both me and the sonographer laugh. He smiled, "I can't see it." he said shaking his head looking at the screen again. "That thing right there?" he asked pointing to the screen at the white blob.

"Yep, that's your baby." the lady said tapping on the keyboard again.

"Well he looks just like you Lia." Ethan joked squeezing my hand gently.

"Who said it was a boy?" I asked raising an eyebrow at him curiously.

"Just a feeling." he replied shrugging as he bent his head and kissed me so softly and intimately that it made me blush because the sonographer was watching. He pulled away and smiled, "Three weeks is perfect." he whispered. I nodded, three weeks was great because the less time that had past the better, because then we would be able to make it look like his easier. He turned back to the nurse looking curious. "So how can you be so sure on the dates and stuff?"

"Well up until 20 weeks every fetus is the same size, they all develop at the same rate. The sizes here point to just over three weeks, it's pretty accurate." she said smiling as she printed off a couple of pictures of the little white blob and handed them to me.

"That's awesome, thank you so much." I said gratefully as I wiped the rest of the gel off of my stomach.

"You're welcome, usually when people come there's a little more than a bean to look at, but next time you come the baby will have fingers and toes and everything." she said casually making my heart beat a little faster. Somehow that made it seem even more real to me, I had a little baby in my stomach and pretty soon it would have fingers and toes. That's just crazy.

I smiled and pulled my shirt down as Ethan was studying the little print out picture like his life depended on it. I took his hand and he beamed at me, "Ready?" he asked brushing his free hand down the side of my face making me get goosebumps.

I nodded and followed him out of the little room, he wrapped his arms around me as we walked nibbling on my ear making me giggle and squirm as we walked towards the exit. I pushed him off of me laughing, "Will you quit it?" I asked faking annoyance. In total honesty I hadn't been this happy in years, maybe ever. 

He laughed and grabbed me knocking me off of my feet kissing me as he carried me down the corridors and through the reception area heading out towards the parking lot.

"Aaliyah?" I heard someone call. I pulled my face away from Ethan's to see my parents standing by the main door looking at me and Ethan shocked.

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Awww a happy chapter - right up until the last paragraph! Lol ;P

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Kirsty <3