Hey Baby

Awkward? You Could Say That

Any thought that Lincoln's confession was going to cause awkwardness between us dissipated the next few days. He returned to his arrogant, though charming, self and was set on allowing him with me to my next appointment. According to Dr. Evans, this was going to be an Anatomy Ultrasound, which was going to double check gender, but most importantly measure all of baby girl and check that everything was working right. He'd insisted it would be much more believable for everyone if he was there-and had made sure to add that he was genuinely excited to see an ultrasound as he'd never seen one before.

So I let him tag along like an excited child and promise Mona that she'd be able to come to the next one, to which she'd just eyed me with a warning look before kissing my cheek and leaving for class. As we sat in the lobby area of the building, Lincoln kept shifting in his chair anxiously beside me, gnawing at the inside of his lip as his eyes scanned all the super-imposed newborn photos. I suppose his ADHD never truly went away.

"Arielle Fuller." a short, chubby nurse poked her head out of the open door and gestured for me to come to her. Lincoln rose with me, looking relieved to be out of the lobby full of women, who were sure to at any given time recognize who he was under the hoodie and baseball cap.

Once I'd been weighed she had me sit up on the bed and Lincoln pulled a chair from where two sat pressed against the wall so he was sitting beside me, eyes on the flat screen mounted to my left. A few minutes later, the nurse returned and ordered for me to pull my pants down and she held up the same gel that Dr. Evans had my last appointment.

"This is going to be a little cold." she muttered without much emotion. I nodded and watched her squirt it on to my stomach before she brought the wand down and moved the gel around a bit. Unlike my last appointment where it was all on a tiny computer screen, I could see the black and white on the Tv screen behind Lincoln.

After a few minutes of pixelation and nothing, an image of the same baby I'd seen a few weeks ago is there again. Only today, her facial features are a little more defined and you cans ee the outline of her nose and mouth.

"Let's check the gender for you first." She touched the wand to my lower stomach and wiggled a little before the baby's legs spread apart and three lines were visible. "Oh, that's definitely a lil girl. Congratulations."

Lincoln was watching in awe, his eyes growing wider with every body part the nurse waved the wand over and explained to him. She continued to type on the small keyboard connected to the computer screen, inputting the baby's measurements I'd guess. Once she'd finished, she printed out a whole line of pictures as Dr. Evans had and told us to make an appoint for a week from today to go over everything with Dr. Evans. Lincoln remained in a baby-induced trance until we got to the car. Once we were in, he stared down at the photos and laughed.

"This is so crazy, Ellie. You actually have a tiny human growing inside you."

"Yeah, I came to that realization about a month ago."

He still looked bewildered as he set the picture in my expectant hand. "It's crazy. I never thought. . . I always thought. . . it's just wow."

I hadn't expected to hear Lincoln at such a loss for words, but he was speechless and didn't speak another word as he drove back to the penthouse. About halfway there, at a red light, he looked over at me and said, "My mom invited us to a dinner party back home."

"And?" I could tell by the look in his eyes that he was holding back.

"And she invited your parents."