"Am I late?" Nick asked as he slid into the empty seat next to Gaby.
"Um let me think," She said putting her finger on her chin and looking up in the air like she was thinking. "Hell yeah your late," She snapped
"Damn, I'm sorry Gaby I didn't mean to be late. I got out of the meeting late and traffic." He said as he grabbed Gaby's hands and kissed them. Nick was too busy groveling to notice the smile on Gaby's face.
"Save the groveling for when you need it Nick," Gaby said as she kissed his cheek.
"What?"
"You're not late; I told you the appointment was for three knowing you would get here an hour later, thus making you on time for our 4:30 appointment."
"Are you serious?" Nick said with his mouth gapped open.
"Yeah," Gaby said with a giggle.
"You Jedi mind tricked me."
"I did no such thing. I just knew you would be late no matter what time the appointment was for so I gave you an hour head start." She said as she entwined their fingers together. "That way you would actually make the appointment and I wouldn't have to kill you." She stated as a matter-of-factly.
"Thanks...I guess." After sitting for a few minutes, the nurse called Gaby to the back, and she took her weight and checked her vitals while Nick sat looking nervous.
"Why do you look so nervous?" Gaby asked as she sat down on the examining table.
"I hate doctors' offices."
"But you're not the one being poked and probed," Gaby said as she laughed.
"I know, but still everything just looks so....sterile." Gaby cracked up with laughter.
"The room is covered in pink ribbon wallpaper what about pink says sterile?" Gaby shook her head as she rubbed the side of Nick's face.
"You'll be okay."
Gaby flipped through a magazine as she waited for her doctor to walk in when she finally did Dr. Ankhoma looked at Gaby and then at Nick and smiled.
"You must be the fiancé Nick; it's so nice to meet you finally." Dr. Ankhoma said as she shook Nick's hand.
"Sorry, it took me so long to get here."
"You came on the right day; we're going to find out you're going to have. Are you ready Gaby my dear?"
"Yupp." Gaby laid back on the table while Dr. Ankhoma prepared herself for the ultrasound. Nick watched as the doctor squirted the ultrasound gel onto her stomach and Gaby cringed at the coolness of the gel.
"You gained another 5 pounds Gaby, I'm so proud of you." Dr. A said as she checked the heartbeats and Gaby watched as Nick's eyes filled with awe as he heard the two different heartbeats. Gaby could have sworn she saw him wipe away a tear but with the light being dimmed in the room she wasn't sure. After a few minutes of measuring they had arrived at the moment they have been waiting for.
"Okay let's see who these little pumpkins are." Dr. Ankhoma said as she labeled the twins 1 and two on the screen.
"Okay baby number 1 don't be shy." Dr. A mumbled to herself as she changed the angle of the camera to get the right position.
"Okay got it, twin one is a girl."
"Yes," Gaby said as she pumped her fist like Derek Jeter after hitting a home run.
"Calm down Jeter your only half right," Nick said shaking his head.
"Doesn't matter I'm still right."
"Twin number 2 is a boy, just like I expected." Dr. Ankhoma said with a smile, and Gaby gasped as Nick did his Sammy Sosa victory cross and Gaby rolled her eyes.
"Thank you Dr. A our parents are going to flip," Gaby said as Dr. Ankhoma cleaned off her stomach.
"I bet they will. Keep up what you're doing Gaby, everything is looking excellent. I'll see you in a few weeks." After Dr. A left Gaby and Nick sat in the room for a few minutes as the news hit them.
"Nick we're having a boy and a girl, a girl I can deal with, but I don't know anything about boys."
"And I don't know anything about girls, but we have each other, we can do this."
"Just be glad it's not two girls that would have meant-"
"-Double overtime, a military arsenal in the basement, and they each would have their own black forces bodyguards. I will not have somebody's snot nose kid trying to get at my daughter; she's going to be a nun." Nick said with all seriousness and Gaby laughed as they walked out of the exam room. All Gaby could do was smile at Nick's sudden over protectiveness of their daughter.
"I doubt that buddy," Gaby said as she walked up to the receptionist at got a date for next appointment.
Nick took Gaby by the hand as they walked out of the office building.
"Who do we call first?"
"I was thinking we take a trip to Virginia and have your parents come up, that way we can tell them together." Nick nodded but didn't comment but changed the subject.
"What are you looking for Gaby?" Nick asked as he got in the car after seeing Gaby face down in her bag before she pulled out a Ziploc bag full of marshmallows.
"So it's marshmallows this week?"
"It's been marshmallows for three weeks now," Gaby said as she bit into the jumbo marshmallow.
"Ian gave me this for you." Nick said handing Gaby a heavy brown paper bag from behind his chair. Gaby dug into the bag and pulled out a bottle of Jarritos Guava soda and laughed.
"Next time I see Ian remind me to kiss him."
"Excuse me?" Nick said turning his head so fast he almost got whiplash.
"You heard me," Gaby said with a sly smile. "I'm going to give him a big hug and a nice little kiss for thinking about me."
"What is he giving you, that he deserves all of that?"
"It Jarritos Guava soda, I fell in love with it when he took me to lunch while I waited for you while you were at the museum. I can't find this anywhere."
"Let me find out you're having an affair with my best friend." Nick huffed.
"Can you blame me if I was?" Gaby asked, and Nick just looked at her his face emotionless. "Not funny?" she said with the classic 'I Love Lucy" face.
"No not one bit." Nick snapped as Gaby opened the bottle and took a sip.
"That's some good soda." She said with a sigh, and Nick just stared at her.
"What?"
"Nothing, I love you."
"I love you too Nick," Gaby said before going back to enjoying her Guava soda.
When they got home, Gaby ran some water in the tub and soaked her swollen feet.
"You never gave me an answer."
"An answer to what?" Nick asked as he sat beside her on the ledge of the tub.
"About us going to Virginia, I thought that maybe you could take a few days and we could spend some time hanging around the old neighborhood?"
"Well technically if you want to hang around the neighborhood you can catch the LIRR back to Queens." Nick said referring to the neighborhood they grew up in until their parents decided to move to Virginia when Gaby and Nick were in high school. To this day Nick still didn't know how his mother convinced his father to leave his beloved city so she could live three houses down from Isabelle. Gaby and Nick moved back to New York after getting accepted into Columbia and NYU respectively.
"Nick we haven't spent a whole lot of time together since you got that museum contract, and you've been working so hard you need a break," Gaby said as she placed her foot on Nick's lap for him to dry.
"I'll see Gaby, but I can't make any promises," Nick said as he dried her feet.
"Fine," Gaby said quietly as she walked out of the bathroom and to the kitchen to prepare dinner.
Nick followed behind Gaby knowing that she was upset that he didn't give her a straight answer. Nick sat down at the table and watched Gaby cut up an onion when she looked at him and said: "Does it bother you that I don't have a job?"
"Since when your writing isn't a job?"
"I mean does it bother you that I don't have a desk job?"
"Of course not, I love the fact that you can work literally anywhere you want. It's perfect for when I have to go out of the country we can just pack up the kids and go." Gaby smiled as she thought about what he had said.
"Besides I love your books, and you're a best seller, what's not to like?" he asked with a shrug."And truth be told, I cried like a child on his first day of kindergarten when Dru watched her friend commit suicide." Nick said as he hugged her from behind.
"You did not," Gaby said as she turned to face him.
"I did too; the raw emotion was just too much for me to handle." Nick laid his head on her shoulder and sniffled.
"Oh stop it."
"I'm serious, okay maybe I didn't bawl like a baby, but Ian did, he could barely compose himself. You brought a grown man to his knees Gaby with just a few sentences."
"You're a mess Nicholas; you always know what to say." Gaby laughed as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
"I should after almost twenty-eight years of best friendship." Nick said before he kissed her. Gaby melted into him as she returned the kiss when the doorbell began to ring furiously. Nick growled as Gaby broke from his grasp and went to answer the door.
"Oh come on just when I was finally going to get some," Nick said with a pout causing Gaby to laugh.
"That's what you think buddy." Gaby swung the door open to Lauryn's scowling face.
"You little hussy, you went didn't you!" she yelled as she walked into the house. Gaby held up her finger to Lauryn's lips in an attempt to quiet her.
"Don't try to shush me, you've been avoiding me all week, and that could only mean one thing."
"Lauryn be quiet." Gaby hissed.
"Where did you go I want to know?" Nick said scaring both Lauryn and Gaby. The women looked at him finally noticing Nick who was leaning up against the wall.
"Oh, she's talking about the doctor's appointment," Gaby said as they rushed passed him and into Nick's office. Gaby closed the door and leaned up against it.
"You're just trying to get me killed aren't you?" Gaby snapped.
"Well you shouldn't have gone, what the hell happened? I've been waiting since Thursday night to find out what happened it's a freaking brand new week." Lauryn said as she took a seat in Nick's chair. Gaby told Lauryn everything that happened and all she could do was shake her head.
"I told you not to go, but you didn't listen, and now you got your feelings hurt, and you're confused."
"I had to go, Lauryn, I had to know why," Gaby said as she sat on the desk.
"But it doesn't matter anymore; your curiosity is going to get the best of you one of these days. Nick is going to find out some way or another. Derek might just have the balls to tell Nick himself, can you imagine if he hears it from Derek, hell from anybody? He already knows something is up and once he goes playing detective your little ass is going to be flying from here to Timbuktu."
"Can't we just keep this our little secret?"
"Did you not hear anything I just said?"
"I know, I know, I have to tell him, but I just don't wanna," Gaby said as she rubbed her stomach.
"You need to do it now, but before you do I need to get out of the line of fire, how was your doctor's appointment?"
"Great we found out the sexes."
"Aaaaand?"
"And nothing, you won't find until we tell the grandparents."
"That's not fair."
"You're getting me in trouble that's not fair," Gaby said as she slid off of the desk.
"I'll say a prayer for you later
"Don't wait until later, start now." Gaby said making Lauryn laugh as they walked out of the office.
"Good luck sweetie," Lauryn said as she kissed Gaby's cheek before leaving. Gaby walked into the kitchen to find Nick finishing up the dinner she was making.
"You didn't burn my chicken did you?"
"No ma'am." Gaby lifted up the top to the pot and sniffed for any hint of char.
"What's all the secrecy for?"
"Huh? What secrecy?"
"That whole thing with Lauryn?"
"Oh that, you know how Lauryn can be," Gaby said barely looking at him as she grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge.
"You're lying."
"Can we talk about this after dinner; I don't like getting yelled at on an empty stomach."
"Who said you're going to get yelled at?" he said with a smirk until he noticed how Gaby was avoiding his gaze like the plague. "Gabrielle what did you do?" Nick said as his voice deepened a few octaves.
"I think you did burn the chicken," Gaby said going for the pot, but Nick stopped her and pulled her towards the table and made her take a seat.
"What's going on Gabrielle?" Gaby loved and hated it when Nick said her full name; no one could say it like he could especially when she was in trouble. Gaby looked up at Nick and frowned.
Well, it's now or never.
"I had dinner with Derek last Thursday while you were in Tokyo." She blurted out.
"You have business dinners with him all the time, why would I get upset?"
"Because it wasn't a business dinner." She said with a wince.
"What do you mean it wasn't a business dinner? What was it a date?"
"No, it wasn't a date I just wanted to talk to him."
"About what!" Nick yelled, but he quickly calmed himself down so he could hear the rest of the story. "What did you want to talk to him about Gaby?"
"I went to talk to him about the box he sent me, inside were letters. I should have just tossed them away but I read them, and I read one that peaked my interest, and I wanted to know if he still felt the same way."
"What the hell for!" Nick bellowed.
Okay, here we go.
"Why do you need to know if he's still in love with you I'm your damn fiancé not him. It shouldn't matter what the fuck he feels he lost that right when he left you on your damn wedding day or did you forget that?"
"No I didn't forget, but I just couldn't understand why-"
"-it doesn't matter why Gabrielle, he left you that's it end of story. How am I supposed to marry you now when I know you're still pining for your damn ex!"
"I'm not pining for him."
"That's not what it looks like to me. You need to get your shit together Gabrielle and figure out what you want. I am not going to be stuck in limbo with you children or not." Nick stormed out of the house and Gaby knew it would be wise to leave him alone for a while.