The Only

The Forever Goodbye (part 1)

The green-haired, mother-to-be placed a flattened palm on Max's pregnant belly. She slowly, tenderly rubbed in a clockwise movement enjoying the smooth skin between her favorite person and their baby.

"You know I'll be the cool parent, right, Maxi?" Chloe bent over and kissed her wife's round belly with a large grin on her face. Try as she might she couldn't stop smiling. Together, the two lovers created life, and it was the most amazing thing she'd ever experienced. Chloe spent a lot of the time hating herself a few years earlier, never really allowing positive thoughts about her future to enter her mind. Now, just a handful of years after Max came back into her life, she was actually happy. Even though she occasionally wondered if she deserved any of it, the young adult had a purpose and knew she would be surrounded by unconditional love for the rest of her life.

"As long as I can introduce her to photography, and we can work together on her very own photo wall, I'll allow you that honor, babe." The pregnant girl smiled up towards her spouse from the prenatal checkup bed.

"Oh? You'll 'allow' me the honor of being the cool one?" Chloe cackled. "You act like you have a choice in the matter." She cocked a single eyebrow to let her partner know her words were meant to sound playful.

"Maybe she'll love photography and think my work is cool. Ever think about that?" Max removed her wife's hand from her abdomen area and brought it to her lips, kissing the ring on the hand she had extended.

"Dammit, Max. I was gonna keep giving you shit and messing around, but you're way too damn cute. Who gave you permission to be so perfect?" Chloe leaned back down and pecked the brunette on the lips.

"I'm not even close to perfect, Chloe, but our baby is."

"Okay, enough of the PDA," the doctor said as she stealthily entered the room, shutting the door behind her. "This week will be a quick check up." She flipped through pages in an accordioned binder. "We screened you for GBS two weeks ago. Vaginal exam was great. Still nothing to report out of the ordinary, Max? No leakage or bleeding?"

Chloe wanted to make a 'vaginal exam' or 'leakage' joke but restrained herself. She hoped her uncontrollable grin would be observed as her just being happy rather than holding in a laugh.

"Nothing like that," Max replied, narrowing her eyes towards her wife. "Just uncomfortable a lot of the time."

"That's common in the third trimester. Having a good partner to shoulder the load will help tremendously." The doctor turned to the little counter in the exam room and snapped a pair of latex gloves on her hands.

"No worries," Chloe chimed in. "She's in good hands here. I even made sure to get her like 20 bags of Cheetos. You know, the big puffy ones."

"Chloe, no." Max placed her hand on her face, shaking her head in embarrassment.

"Listen, Doc," Chloe stepped towards the woman after winking at her wife. "Is it healthy for a preggo to eat three times her weight in Cheetos? Seriously, at this point, if that little rugrat doesn't come out all orange and shit, I'll be surprised."

"Oh, god," Max sheepishly responded.

The doctor laughed and Chloe smirked, knowing her joke had landed. It was true that Max ate a ton of Cheetos, but it was her only real craving. Chloe heard stories about pregnant women demanding pickles and ice cream in the middle of the night, and she wasn't looking forward to that part. She was eager to make sure the mother of her child was comfortable and happy during her pregnancy, but not having to run out for weird cravings at all hours of the night felt like a treat.

"It's not all bad, Doc. At least she's cute as hell when she's chowing down. Just gotta keep the pantry stocked with puffy Cheetos. No big deal."

"I'll tell you this," the medical professional grinned. "I see couples come in here all day every day. Most show up with some sort of personal issues... or baggage, rather. You can hear it in their voices and see it in their mannerisms. But there's something special about you two, isn't there? The doctor in me, who believes in science over everything else, can see something more between you two. Something larger than life. It's like you're perfect matches. Call it fate or destiny, or what have you."