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The woman hushes me softly, clicking a couple buttons before it zooms in. “It’s right there.”
She measures the heart rate and plays the sound over the speaker. I exhale in relief and watch Holden do the same. I look over at Dawson and Caleb who appear just as happy as we are.
“Want to see?” I ask them both and they nod, coming over to look at the screen.
Caleb’s eyes widen as Dawson smiles. The tech makes sure to zoom in on the baby so we can see all the little parts that have grown already.
“You’re having an alien.” Dawson remarks.
Holden turns to glare at him. “A perfect alien.”
After a very extensive ultrasound, the technician leaves wishing us luck. I grab Holden’s arm and turn him so he’s lying next to me. I cuddle into his side and close my eyes. Now that I know the baby is okay, I’m drained – even though I’ve been sleeping for hours. This always happens when my anxiety gets the better of me.
THE NEXT MORNING, AFTER a longer than necessary psychiatric evaluation, the doctor finally discharges me. Everything is perfect with the baby and even with me, despite my uncontrollable mental illness. He advises me to stay as stress free as possible to avoid a repeat of this. I promise I’ll do my best and we leave with Caleb.
We’re only home for a matter of fifteen minutes before Bree and Skylar come rushing in the door. I can see the frantically concerned looks on their faces. Dawson must have told them.
“What the hell happened?! Are you okay?!” Bree asks, coming over to check me out for injuries.
“I’m fine.” I tell them both. “It was just a bad anxiety attack.”
“Really? Have you been taking your meds?” I shake my head and my former roommate looks at me like I’ve lost it. “Why not?!”
Pulling away from Holden, I turn to him. “It’s time. Go get Jason.”
He nods and gets up, walking out the door and across to the next apartment. Skylar and Bree are bewildered. They keep looking at each other then back at me. A few seconds later, Holden comes back in with Jason. Caleb follows behind them.
“I just want to see their reactions.” He tells me.
“Reactions?” Sky questions. “Reactions to what?”
I go over to my purse and pull out the ultrasound picture from today, choosing to hand it to Bree first since I’ve known her the longest. She gasps as soon as she realizes what it is.
“You’re pregnant?!”
“Seriously?!” Skylar shouts, ripping the picture out of her hands.
They’re both utterly shocked, but Jason seems unfazed. I start to wonder if Caleb told him already, but even he’s looking at him strangely.
“You okay, Jase?” I ask.
He nods and smiles. “Yeah, I just already knew.”
Holden and I turn to Caleb who immediately puts his hands up. “Don’t look at me. I didn’t tell him.”
Jason chuckles. “No one told me. I’m the oldest of five siblings. I know what pregnancy looks like.”
“Why didn’t you say something?”
“Yeah, okay.” He scoffs. “Imagine if I was wrong? No, thank you.”
“Touché.”
Holden laughs and steps closer to him. “Listen, I don’t know if you talk to my sister at all, but she doesn’t know yet.”
Jason’s expression changes at the mention of Jo and he drops his head. “Don’t worry. We haven’t talked except for when she brought me the sweatshirts she had of mine. If I do speak to her, I won’t say anything.”
“Thanks, man. And for what it’s worth, I hope things end up working out for you two.”
