Seasons (Ari AU)

After Shot

*This can also be found over in my ABC's book as letter G.

Holland POV

"Everyone keeps their lips shut and sealed." I look around the break room, warning each and every nurse but mostly my sister-in-law, Shauna. "You especially."

Shauna takes offense to my demand, her nose crinkling in disgust. She doesn't expect Joy to back me up with the nudge she gives to her ribs. "Ouch. What was that for? Need I remind you all that I'm the one who discovered the lying conniving witch of a woman was keeping the truth from Ari? I mean, I kept it from him for a little bit but from you way longer."

I glare back at her, as I cross my arms over my chest. "We won't discuss that. You only did it to keep your niece in her home longer." My hand grazes over my stomach, missing when Evy called it her home.

"I did it to keep you and she both safe. Thank you very much," she enunciates the words harder. "It's Ari. I can keep a lot of things from the overgrown teddy bear."

Joy speaks up, interrupting all of us. "It's not gonna be easy though, you realize that?" She's pointing the question at me and I know exactly what she means. Hiding anything from him is difficult enough, but to hide this? It may very well be damn near impossible.

And yet we managed. There were many days that I'd get Ari's schedule and have Joy rearrange my own. If he was home, I was at the hospital. He found it strange that for the majority of our time after Evy was born that our shifts would coincide with one another, and now suddenly, that all changed. I played it off as much as I could, telling him we had someone new in charge and now wasn't the time to be asking questions or making demands.

A couple of times however, I couldn't play off much. He'd come rolling into Labor and Delivery with Evy buckled into her stroller just to bring me dinner, or on occasion breakfast. One smell of my once favorite foods would send my stomach churning and I'd be running for the bathroom. Except, I couldn't run to the bathroom attached to our break room. That would be too obvious. No, I had to run out as though my pager was going off and slip quickly into the closest empty delivery room.

Until one day, there was no empty rooms. I was able to pass it off as believed food poisoning but that led Ari to demanding I go home, telling Joy he didn't care what the new head of the department cared. "They can figure it out. My wife will not be working while dealing with food poisoning."

He'd taken me home and promptly tucked me into bed, calling out of his own shift for the day in order to take care of both Evy and I.

That day I was thankful I'd tucked a few snacks into the bottom drawer of my bedside table.

One week later it happened again.

"If I believed my swimmers were stronger than the doctor said, I'd think maybe you were pregnant," he'd snidely commented. His tone defeated, much like the expression on his face.

I knew then that as soon as ten weeks hit, I'd need to make this known to more than just the staff on the L & D floor.

But one more hurtle came when he'd come by the hospital to pick up Evy at the end of his shift, but the beginning of mine. Ari had already told me he'd be bringing me lunch before grabbing up our daughter and heading for a nearby park.

I'd planned it out with Joy that I would be taking some time in the nursery. Just enough that wouldn't push Ari to making sure I ate at that exact moment. So his surprise was only mild when he found me rocking a newborn to sleep while softly singing a lullaby. His knuckle lightly tapped against the glass when he arrived.

I looked up only briefly, but it was long enough to see his brow furrowed, eyes going back and forth between the little boy in my arms and my own face.

"Sorry," I mouthed, shrugging my shoulders.

The door swung open as another nurse was stepping in, pushing another new little one into the room. Ari leaned against the doorframe, stopping the door from closing with the toe of his work boot. "You need to eat, beautiful."

Words I've heard on more than one occasion, but still remind me that he's taking care of me in ways Jeremy never had. "I will when I get a chance," I promise. "I'm gonna be in here a bit longer though."

My husband doesn't seem overly pleased with my answer. One may wonder how I know. Well, the folded arms against his chest, his eyes glaring down at the tiled floor are both dead giveaways.

But I push the idea out of my mind because I'm so close to being able to share the news with him, just another day away. "You can put it in the fridge." I glance up at the clock in the nursery. "You should go and grab Evy. She'll be due for a nap in about an hour."

He nods, now refusing to look anywhere except my face. "See you at home, sweetheart."

I give a small smile and respond with "I love you," before turning my attention back to rocking the baby.

The following day finds myself in an L & D room, nurse with ultrasound ready to go that just happens to be my sister-in-law.

We'd planned it out perfectly, down to the piece of paper laying face down next to my hand on the bed. Shauna had texted Ari, telling him to come to a specific room by feeding him some lie about a patient's husband having gone to school with him and wanted to catch up.

So when the knock came across the wood door, I nodded to Shauna and asked her to turn the volume to the machine on. "Come in!" she shouted.

And as Ari opened the door, the sound of our baby's heartbeat was filling the room, pumping loud and strong. He stood on the other side of the curtain, pausing, "Is now an alright time?"

"Sure is," his sister says with a smile.

He pulls the curtain back, surprised to find me laying in the bed, the rest of the room empty. His eyes bounce between mine and Shauna's before flitting down to see the ultrasound wand resting against my belly.

A crease forms along his brow, his eyes narrowing while his head turns a bit to the side in confusion. "Someone wanna fill me in?" There's a hint of caution in his voice, unwilling to let himself believe what his eyes are already telling him.

I hold my hand out for him to join me, shifting a little in the bed. "Well, ya see, when a man loves a woman very much, they tend to show that love in special ways." I'm completely pulling his leg and making it sound like I'm speaking to a young child who just asked their parents where babies come from.

His features soften, but he's still in disbelief. "But, that's not possible."

"The doctor didn't say impossible, just only a small percent chance."

"Eight. Eight percent chance," he says with a swallow. "Nearly impossible."

"But not impossible," I remind him again. "You hear that, right?" He gives a faint nod, keeping his gaze locked on me. "That's our baby's heartbeat. Yours and mine." I point up to the screen where Shauna has a wonderful image of our little one. "Our baby GIRL's heartbeat."

"Girl?" he repeats. "A girl? Another girl?"

"Congratulations, Daddy."

"My girl?" His eyes brimming with tears as he sinks down beside the bed onto his knees. "I'm getting another girl?"

I recognize he's not actually speaking to any of us. His words being spoken aloud for himself to believe what he's hearing. My hand brushes through his hair, moving it out of his face as he leans in and kisses over my small belly, all the while as he hums "My Girl" by The Temptations.

*Unedited