Symphony

Beaming

A few days pass and finally the day of Nikki's twenty-week scan had arrived, in true working form Jack and Nikki managed to sneak off during their lunch break to deal with a 'family matter' which intern lead to Nikki lying to Thomas about where they were doing telling him that Maddison had a learning progression meeting with her special educational needs teaching officer.

"You know I've lost count of how many times we have sat in this room together waiting for a scan," Jack smirks as he turns to look at Nikki who is busy going through case notes as she is due in court once she has had her scan.

"Tell me about it, Think they remember our faces now," She chuckles.
Jack smiles and places his hand on her knee knowing exactly how she feels about scans, "Are we finding out what we are having?" Jack quizzes.

"Hmm, maybe?" Nikki responds as she places her case notes back in her handbag and turns her head to look at her husband.
Jack smiles lovingly at her and reaches out to take her hand, as he takes hold of her hand Nikki's name is called out and she gathers her bag and cardigan and stands up. Jack smiles as he stands also and follows his wife into the small room. "Hi, Mrs. Hodgson... I am Ellen I shall be undertaking your scan today," The midwife smiles as Nikki sits on the bed and watches the midwife closely for a moment.

Jack sits beside Nikki and notices her watching this midwife like a hawk, "Nik?" Jack whispers as he touches her side to get her attention, Nikki looks away from the midwife and makes eye contact with Jack, "Everything okay?" He mutters.

"yeah... I just... recognize her..." She responds still in a hushed tone.
Jack looks across at the midwife and gives her a small smile as they make eye contact, he knew he had never seen her before so she wasn't work-related his mind then wonders if she had a child at their daughter's school and that is where Nikki has seen her.

"So Mrs. Hodgson... am I okay to call you Nicola?" Ellen smiles.
"I prefer Nikki..." She responds.
"Perfect. Now I have been going through your medical notes and I can see that the doctor has told you that you are twenty weeks and four days pregnant," She reads off.

Nikki nods with a small smile as she watches Ellen set up the scanning machine, it started to bug her now where she had seen Ellen. Suddenly Nikki clears her throat and looks across at the midwife, "Sorry this is going to bug me if I don't ask... I feel like we've met before but I can't put my finger on it."

Jack remains quiet while watching the interaction between the two women. Ellen thinks long and hard while setting up trying to figure out where she may have seen Nikki, "Do you have any more children?" She quizzes.

"Yes... I do," She smiles looking across at Jack who gives a chuckle.
"Now coming to think of it you do look familiar, I only remember certain births though... but your name doesn't ring a bell," Ellen replies as she stops what she is doing for a moment.

"Oh... I wasn't married when I had..." She is then cut off by Ellen.
"Alexander?... you're the doctor right? Gave birth alone to a little girl, I can't remember her name but I think that's it..." Ellen speaks.

A spark then lights in Nikki's eyes and the penny drops, she was in fact the midwife who helped to deliver Poppy. "Yes... Jack, this is the midwife who delivered Poppy."

Jack looks up at Ellen and gives her an awkward smile, she had remembered that Nikki had given birth alone and quite possibly remember that Nikki had probably cursed and shouted about Jack back then. "Poppy that's it, beautiful little baby white-blonde hair," Ellen smiles.

"She's not so little now, turned eight back in April," Nikki smiles as she pulls her phone from her handbag and unlocks it to show Ellen a photo of Poppy stood in her school uniform holding a certificate she had earned at school.

Ellen looks at the photo in shock, "No way! Poppy is one of the few baby's I remember purely because of how brave you were to do that all alone," She grins.

Nikki smiles as she puts her phone away and smiles at Jack, "This is Poppy's biological father, we got our act together once she was born... we got married when she was four," Nikki smiles.

The couple shares a smile once again before Ellen prepares Nikki for the scan by helping her roll down her t-shirt and then roll down her trousers. "Just Poppy at the moment or do you have more?" Ellen smiles.

"We have three more girls, Maddison, Freya, and Orla... this wee one was a bit of an accident," Jack chuckles.

"Oh Woah... Definitely a shock for you both... cold gel," Ellen smiles as she puts the gel onto Nikki's stomach.
"Yep, could say that," Jack chuckles as he takes hold of his wife's hand and kisses it, they all fall silent as they await the news of their baby. Jack repetitively strokes and kisses Nikki's hand as they are left waiting some time.

Before ever of them can think about panicking Ellen turns the screen to face them and turns on the volume, "Here we go... one very healthy baby," She smiles as the expectant parents watch the screen mesmerized. "Would you like to know the gender?" Ellen adds.

They pause and Jack looks at his wife for an answer, "It's fine... I already know what we are having," She grins as she admires the screen.
Jack raises an eyebrow at Nikki's comment and stares hard at the screen trying to figure out the gender, after all, Nikki is a doctor and found these things incredibly easy to find out. "What is it Nik?" Jack asks completely baffled.

Nikki turns to Jack and quickly captures his lips, "It's a girl again isn't it?" He asks but she just responds with a kiss. She wanted to tell him so badly but she wanted to wait until the baby was born because she is bursting with pride and happiness that she is finally carrying a boy.

She looks across at the midwife and gives a nod as she then prints off the scan and carries out basic tests to make sure the baby is a perfect size and in good health. Nikki continues to sit on the bed beaming happily Jack completely unaware of the true reason she is beaming.