Chlollie Fanfic: Up to Tricksies, Chapter 8/8
Back again! Sorry for the delay, but at least it's a nice, long chapter which I hope you'll all like.
Enjoy! Amazing banner by the lovely ellashy. Thanks again for letting me use your awesome work! :-)
Title: Up to Tricksies
Author: BabyDee1
Pairing: Chlollie
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Timeline: FutureFic
Disclaimer: All characters belong to the CW & DC comics.
Summary: Through covert scheming and careful planning (or not!), Oliver Queen finally gets his wish. Sixth story in the Funsies Series.
Feedback: …is a terrible thing to keep to yourself. ;-)
Read previous chapter here.
Read story from the beginning here.
Chapter 8
Oliver got to the hospital by two-thirty.
As instructed by Clark, he made his way to the pre-natal imaging department and went into the private waiting room. He clasped his hands together and tapped his left foot nervously on the ground, hoping and praying that she wouldn’t change her mind at the last minute or reschedule her appointment to a later date.
He needn’t have worried. About ten minutes into his wait, the door to the waiting room swung open and Chloe stepped into the room.
He stood when she approached, his eyes automatically going to her midsection. It was impossible to tell that she was pregnant; her inner clothing was dark-coloured and she wore an open overcoat, and the large tote bag she carried obscured most of her body from view.
Her usually fair skin was paler than he’d ever seen, her hair lacklustre, and despite her pregnancy she appeared to have lost some weight on the areas of her body that he could see. Nevertheless, she was still the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.
He got to his feet as she approached. “Hey,” he greeted.
“Hey.” She glanced at her watch. “You’re early.”
As was she, he thought. “Yeah, I…figured it would give me time to gather my thoughts before our talk. And I really wanted to see you.” He took her hands in his and leaned down to give her a chaste kiss on the cheek. “You look beautiful.”
She snorted. “Liar.”
“No kidding.”
“Uh-huh. I do own a mirror, you know.”
They sat down next to each other, an invisible wall of distance between them.
“No Lois?” he asked after a while.
She shook her head. “No, she’s not coming.”
Oliver inwardly sent up a silent prayer of thanks. As much as Lois had been a support to Chloe over the past weeks - which he genuinely, sincerely appreciated - he was really looking forward to doing this with Chloe alone. Having her older cousin berate him for his misdeeds and give him stink-eye across the room was not the way he’d wanted to remember seeing his child for the first time.
“So, how are you feeling?” he queried.
Her brow furrowed, and she reached into her bag for a small pack of crackers.
“Um…okay, I guess; for now, at least. It’s rough all day, but mornings are a real nightmare.”
“Still?” he said. “I thought the nausea would have started easing off my now.”
“I wish,” she snorted, and nibbled on the corner of a cracker. “I think this kid takes after me, in that respect; it makes everything so unnecessarily complicated.”
Oliver chuckled. “Yep, that sounds about right.”
They fell silent for several moments while she finished her cracker, then she went straight for the jugular.
“You hurt me, Oliver.”
“I know,” he said solemnly.
“You betrayed my trust in the worst way.”
“I know, and I’m sorry,” he said hoarsely. “I should have let you know what I was planning to do.”
She turned to him, her expression pained. “Do you know how hurtful it is for me to know that every time you held me in your arms, every time you made love to me for those two months, you did so with conception in your mind and you never told me?”
Oliver closed his eyes, his own soul hurting at the sight of her sad face.
“You were ready to start a family but I wasn’t, and you should have respected that,” she continued stonily. “You knew all the reasons why I was hesitant. You should have respected my boundaries and waited for me to come to you.”
He nodded. “You’re right. I should have.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
He took a deep breath. “Because you wouldn’t even discuss the thought of children with me,” he replied honestly. “And with your reluctance on the subject, I figured I’d be waiting a very long time.”
Her jaw hardened. “You should have been patient with me.”
“I tried that once before, remember?” he said wryly. “When I tried to get you to acknowledge that you were in love with me.”
“And in typical predictable fashion, you ran out of patience and jumped the gun, and very nearly risked losing everything.”
“But it all worked out for us in the end, didn’t it?” he said softly. “Guess I thought the end would justify the means.”
She folded her arms. “And now?”
He had to be very careful how he answered here; one wrong move, and he would be back in the doghouse.
“Are you happy about the baby?” he asked, putting the same question to her in a different way.
She pursed her lips. “One of the reasons I didn’t want a baby just yet is that I didn’t want to saddle any child of mine with kryptonite-laced abilities,” she said. “It was my intent to get my full blood-work done and do whatever I needed to do to make myself as healthy as I possibly could be before getting pregnant, in order to give my baby the best possible start in life.”
“Chloe, your abilities haven’t manifested in years,” he said cautiously. “I’m hopeful that whatever caused them in the first place has been fully repressed.”
“Let’s put that to one side for now, and focus on something closer to normal,” she said. “Did you know there was a list of foods that I’m not supposed to eat for the first three months?”
He nodded. “Blue cheese, shellfish, sushi, alcohol…” he paused and closed his eyes. “Coffee.”
Chloe took a deep, shaky breath. “I have tried in the last five weeks to not even think of how much coffee I poured into my system since my implant ran out, not to mention all the alcohol I may have drank,” she said darkly. “I had no pre-natal vitamins for the first eight weeks, no folic acid, nothing to protect my child against foetal alcohol syndrome, spinabifida and a host of other birth defects.”
She turned to face him, her face pale with both anger and fear. “Do you have any idea how scary it is to spend every minute of every day worrying that I’ve done my baby permanent, irreparable damage?”
This time, it was Oliver’s face that paled. When he’d gone through all the baby books and seen the many recommendations, do’s and don’ts for early pregnancy, he’d broken out in a cold sweat at the potential risks to his baby’s life. He’d deliberately told himself they’d cross any such bridges if and when they get to it…and this was the very first bridge. If he’d caused his child any harm…
“I didn’t think,” he whispered. “I was so focused the reward, I completely forgot that there would be risks to both of you, not just over the next few months, but...”
He inhaled deeply and knelt in front of her. “I really blew it this time,” he said quietly. He took her hands in his and squeezed them gently. “I’m sorry, Chloe. I’m so sorry I deceived you.”
Tears rolled down her cheeks, and she pulled one hand out from under his to wipe her eyes.
“Why?” she said in a small voice. “Why did you do it? You knew I wasn’t ready.”
“Chloe, I know you had your concerns, but you’re more ready to become a mother than you think,” he said urgently. “You should see how you are with Sloane and Skye; you’re so careful with them, so maternal. I could see the longing in your eyes as she washed their hair, and I knew you were ready for this.”
“So that’s why you did it?” she said incredulously. “Because I washed the girls’ hair?”
“It was more than that-”
“I did the same with my dolls when I was three! That doesn’t make me mother of the year!”
“In hindsight, I was impulsive and rash, and I should have done things differently,” he replied honestly. “I’m sorry. I truly am, and there’s nothing I want more than for us to move past this.”
She gave him a scathing glance. “You think I don’t?”
“I know you do,” he replied honestly. “But you need to be ready to let me back in; I understand that now. I appreciate you welcoming me to this appointment, but I know this doesn’t automatically mean that I get to waltz back into our home with you when the sonogram’s over. Where we go from here is entirely up to you.”
Chloe stared at him, her brows raised in surprise. He knew he was taking a risk in giving her free reign to call the shots on their reconciliation, but in the five weeks that they’d been separated, he’d learned that taking her control away in the first place was what had led to the current situation. He wasn’t going to make that mistake again. And it was important that she understood that he had learned that vital lesson.
She turned away and sighed, then fell silent for several seconds. “It’s hard to get over this, Oliver,” she said quietly. “I think about you making love to me, trying to get me pregnant without my knowledge, and…” her voice broke, and she paused to collect herself.
“I need to be able to see you smile about this baby without remembering everything you did to get it here,” she continued in a tremulous whisper. “I want to be able to laugh with you without the underlying feeling of betrayal and anger at being duped, and I quite honestly don’t know if I’m at that place yet.”
Oliver’s heart sank. He’d known her forgiveness wouldn’t come easy, but he’d hoped, really hoped she’d be willing to give them a try again.
“I understand,” he said quietly. “If you more time is what you need to fully come to terms with everything, I will give you all the space you need.”
She looked up at him, her eyes searching his for long moments.
“Thank you. I appreciate that,” she replied. “If I’m honest, that’s the decision I came to. But…”
He swallowed. “But…?” he prompted gently.
“No relationship is without risk,” she continued slowly. “And ours has racked up some pretty intense risks in its time.”
He smiled. “That is has. So…?”
“So, when I look back at this moment, I want to picture it with you in the frame,” she said. “We may not have started this together…but I want us to finish it together, the way it should be done.”
Oliver gulped, his heart thumping wildly with hope. “So I can come home?” he asked hoarsely.
She nodded. “Yes, Ollie. You can.”
***
It was as if a weight had been physically lifted off his shoulders. The breath left his lungs in a loud whoosh, and he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and held her as close as he safely could.
“Oh, Chloe.” He stroked her hair gently and kissed her forehead. “Thank you. Thank you. God, I’ve missed you so much.”
“I missed you, too,” she mumbled into his shirt. “We both have.”
“I’m sorry.” He rocked her gently, absorbing the delicious feel of his wife in his arms once more. “I shouldn’t have risked losing you like that, and I really hope you can forgive me one day.”
“Oliver?”
“Yes, honey?”
She stared pointedly at him. “If you ever trick me again, I will skin you alive.”
He grimaced. “Noted.”
“Good.” She took his hand in hers, and gently rested his palm on the warm, smooth, rounded skin of her belly, right over where their baby lay safely nestled.
Their baby. It never ceased to amaze him that he and Chloe had created life, and his hand shook as he thought of the slumbering child beneath it.
“Wow,” he said, his voice thick with emotion. “Are you okay? Does - does it hurt?”
She rolled her eyes. “Of course not.”
He rubbed his hand reverently over the bump. “How does it…feel?”
She frowned. “Hard to say. Guess you should ask me that question in a couple of weeks, when the little critter stops making me sick and start’s kicking me, instead.”
Just then, the door to the doctor’s office opened and she poked her head around the door. “We’re ready for you, Mrs Queen.”
Chloe smiled up at him. “Let’s go say hello to our little one.”
***
“You’re measuring rather large for twelve weeks, Chloe,” the doctor observed.
Chloe nodded. “Yes, my OB said the same thing. She asked if I’ve had fibroids in the past, which I haven’t, but she said she’d know the results from today’s scan.”
Oliver frowned. “Is it a problem?”
“Not necessarily,” the doctor replied. “It could just be water retention, but once we’ve done the scan, we’ll be able to say for sure. Could you lie back for me?”
Chloe did as requested. Oliver watched as gel was squirted on her belly, and waited nervously as the doctor moved the wand over her abdomen.
The monitor suddenly came to life. Grainy dots appeared on the screen, and Oliver squinted at it, trying to make sense of the barely discernible constantly changing shapes.
“There you go,” the doctor said with a smile. Oliver leaned forward and gasped at a small dense mass of white dots on the left side of the screen.
“Is that our baby?” Chloe asked breathlessly. Her fingers reached for his she clasped his hand as the dots took on a more defined shape, like a kidney bean with rapidly kicking tiny legs.
“That’s your baby, Mr and Mrs Queen; and a lively one, at that. Congratulations.”
“Oh, my God!” Chloe squealed. Her fingers tightened on his and she smiled up at him, her eyes glistening with happy tears.
“Can we hear the heartbeat?” he asked.
“Oh, of course. Sorry…” She increases the audio on the monitor, and there was a brief scratchy sound, followed by the rapid, repetitive thump-thump of a tiny heartbeat.
“That is amazing,” Oliver managed to whisper past the lump in his throat. He brushed the hair off Chloe’s forehead and kissed her brow. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“I’m so glad you’re here,” she said tearfully. “I can’t believe we’re going to be parents.”
“We’re going to do just fine.” He turned to the doctor, his smile fading as he saw her staring at the monitor with a slightly puzzled expression, almost as if she was looking for something.
“Is everything okay?” he asked anxiously. “Is the baby alright?”
“I’m just…trying to find…” She narrowed her eyes and manoeuvred the wand around to the other side of Chloe’s belly, then her face lit up. “A-ha! There you are, playing hide and seek with me. Had me nervous for a second there.”
“What did?” Chloe asked anxiously. “What’s wrong? What is it?”
The doctor smiled and pointed to the screen. “Take a closer look at the monitor, and tell me what you see.”
Oliver shared a worried glance with his wife, and they both stared intently at the screen in the direction of the doctor’s finger. Right there in front of their eyes, they both made out the presence of another kicking kidney bean shape, tucked snugly behind the previous one.
Oliver blinked and stared, his jaw dropping open. “Wait a minute. Is that...?”
Chloe shook her head. “It can’t be,” she said hoarsely.
“It sure is,” the doctor replied with a smile. “Congratulations, Mr and Mrs Queen. You’re having twins.”
***
The end.
Coming soon: Twice the Cutesies
Enjoy! Amazing banner by the lovely ellashy. Thanks again for letting me use your awesome work! :-)
Title: Up to Tricksies
Author: BabyDee1
Pairing: Chlollie
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Timeline: FutureFic
Disclaimer: All characters belong to the CW & DC comics.
Summary: Through covert scheming and careful planning (or not!), Oliver Queen finally gets his wish. Sixth story in the Funsies Series.
Feedback: …is a terrible thing to keep to yourself. ;-)
Read previous chapter here.
Read story from the beginning here.
Chapter 8
Oliver got to the hospital by two-thirty.
As instructed by Clark, he made his way to the pre-natal imaging department and went into the private waiting room. He clasped his hands together and tapped his left foot nervously on the ground, hoping and praying that she wouldn’t change her mind at the last minute or reschedule her appointment to a later date.
He needn’t have worried. About ten minutes into his wait, the door to the waiting room swung open and Chloe stepped into the room.
He stood when she approached, his eyes automatically going to her midsection. It was impossible to tell that she was pregnant; her inner clothing was dark-coloured and she wore an open overcoat, and the large tote bag she carried obscured most of her body from view.
Her usually fair skin was paler than he’d ever seen, her hair lacklustre, and despite her pregnancy she appeared to have lost some weight on the areas of her body that he could see. Nevertheless, she was still the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.
He got to his feet as she approached. “Hey,” he greeted.
“Hey.” She glanced at her watch. “You’re early.”
As was she, he thought. “Yeah, I…figured it would give me time to gather my thoughts before our talk. And I really wanted to see you.” He took her hands in his and leaned down to give her a chaste kiss on the cheek. “You look beautiful.”
She snorted. “Liar.”
“No kidding.”
“Uh-huh. I do own a mirror, you know.”
They sat down next to each other, an invisible wall of distance between them.
“No Lois?” he asked after a while.
She shook her head. “No, she’s not coming.”
Oliver inwardly sent up a silent prayer of thanks. As much as Lois had been a support to Chloe over the past weeks - which he genuinely, sincerely appreciated - he was really looking forward to doing this with Chloe alone. Having her older cousin berate him for his misdeeds and give him stink-eye across the room was not the way he’d wanted to remember seeing his child for the first time.
“So, how are you feeling?” he queried.
Her brow furrowed, and she reached into her bag for a small pack of crackers.
“Um…okay, I guess; for now, at least. It’s rough all day, but mornings are a real nightmare.”
“Still?” he said. “I thought the nausea would have started easing off my now.”
“I wish,” she snorted, and nibbled on the corner of a cracker. “I think this kid takes after me, in that respect; it makes everything so unnecessarily complicated.”
Oliver chuckled. “Yep, that sounds about right.”
They fell silent for several moments while she finished her cracker, then she went straight for the jugular.
“You hurt me, Oliver.”
“I know,” he said solemnly.
“You betrayed my trust in the worst way.”
“I know, and I’m sorry,” he said hoarsely. “I should have let you know what I was planning to do.”
She turned to him, her expression pained. “Do you know how hurtful it is for me to know that every time you held me in your arms, every time you made love to me for those two months, you did so with conception in your mind and you never told me?”
Oliver closed his eyes, his own soul hurting at the sight of her sad face.
“You were ready to start a family but I wasn’t, and you should have respected that,” she continued stonily. “You knew all the reasons why I was hesitant. You should have respected my boundaries and waited for me to come to you.”
He nodded. “You’re right. I should have.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
He took a deep breath. “Because you wouldn’t even discuss the thought of children with me,” he replied honestly. “And with your reluctance on the subject, I figured I’d be waiting a very long time.”
Her jaw hardened. “You should have been patient with me.”
“I tried that once before, remember?” he said wryly. “When I tried to get you to acknowledge that you were in love with me.”
“And in typical predictable fashion, you ran out of patience and jumped the gun, and very nearly risked losing everything.”
“But it all worked out for us in the end, didn’t it?” he said softly. “Guess I thought the end would justify the means.”
She folded her arms. “And now?”
He had to be very careful how he answered here; one wrong move, and he would be back in the doghouse.
“Are you happy about the baby?” he asked, putting the same question to her in a different way.
She pursed her lips. “One of the reasons I didn’t want a baby just yet is that I didn’t want to saddle any child of mine with kryptonite-laced abilities,” she said. “It was my intent to get my full blood-work done and do whatever I needed to do to make myself as healthy as I possibly could be before getting pregnant, in order to give my baby the best possible start in life.”
“Chloe, your abilities haven’t manifested in years,” he said cautiously. “I’m hopeful that whatever caused them in the first place has been fully repressed.”
“Let’s put that to one side for now, and focus on something closer to normal,” she said. “Did you know there was a list of foods that I’m not supposed to eat for the first three months?”
He nodded. “Blue cheese, shellfish, sushi, alcohol…” he paused and closed his eyes. “Coffee.”
Chloe took a deep, shaky breath. “I have tried in the last five weeks to not even think of how much coffee I poured into my system since my implant ran out, not to mention all the alcohol I may have drank,” she said darkly. “I had no pre-natal vitamins for the first eight weeks, no folic acid, nothing to protect my child against foetal alcohol syndrome, spinabifida and a host of other birth defects.”
She turned to face him, her face pale with both anger and fear. “Do you have any idea how scary it is to spend every minute of every day worrying that I’ve done my baby permanent, irreparable damage?”
This time, it was Oliver’s face that paled. When he’d gone through all the baby books and seen the many recommendations, do’s and don’ts for early pregnancy, he’d broken out in a cold sweat at the potential risks to his baby’s life. He’d deliberately told himself they’d cross any such bridges if and when they get to it…and this was the very first bridge. If he’d caused his child any harm…
“I didn’t think,” he whispered. “I was so focused the reward, I completely forgot that there would be risks to both of you, not just over the next few months, but...”
He inhaled deeply and knelt in front of her. “I really blew it this time,” he said quietly. He took her hands in his and squeezed them gently. “I’m sorry, Chloe. I’m so sorry I deceived you.”
Tears rolled down her cheeks, and she pulled one hand out from under his to wipe her eyes.
“Why?” she said in a small voice. “Why did you do it? You knew I wasn’t ready.”
“Chloe, I know you had your concerns, but you’re more ready to become a mother than you think,” he said urgently. “You should see how you are with Sloane and Skye; you’re so careful with them, so maternal. I could see the longing in your eyes as she washed their hair, and I knew you were ready for this.”
“So that’s why you did it?” she said incredulously. “Because I washed the girls’ hair?”
“It was more than that-”
“I did the same with my dolls when I was three! That doesn’t make me mother of the year!”
“In hindsight, I was impulsive and rash, and I should have done things differently,” he replied honestly. “I’m sorry. I truly am, and there’s nothing I want more than for us to move past this.”
She gave him a scathing glance. “You think I don’t?”
“I know you do,” he replied honestly. “But you need to be ready to let me back in; I understand that now. I appreciate you welcoming me to this appointment, but I know this doesn’t automatically mean that I get to waltz back into our home with you when the sonogram’s over. Where we go from here is entirely up to you.”
Chloe stared at him, her brows raised in surprise. He knew he was taking a risk in giving her free reign to call the shots on their reconciliation, but in the five weeks that they’d been separated, he’d learned that taking her control away in the first place was what had led to the current situation. He wasn’t going to make that mistake again. And it was important that she understood that he had learned that vital lesson.
She turned away and sighed, then fell silent for several seconds. “It’s hard to get over this, Oliver,” she said quietly. “I think about you making love to me, trying to get me pregnant without my knowledge, and…” her voice broke, and she paused to collect herself.
“I need to be able to see you smile about this baby without remembering everything you did to get it here,” she continued in a tremulous whisper. “I want to be able to laugh with you without the underlying feeling of betrayal and anger at being duped, and I quite honestly don’t know if I’m at that place yet.”
Oliver’s heart sank. He’d known her forgiveness wouldn’t come easy, but he’d hoped, really hoped she’d be willing to give them a try again.
“I understand,” he said quietly. “If you more time is what you need to fully come to terms with everything, I will give you all the space you need.”
She looked up at him, her eyes searching his for long moments.
“Thank you. I appreciate that,” she replied. “If I’m honest, that’s the decision I came to. But…”
He swallowed. “But…?” he prompted gently.
“No relationship is without risk,” she continued slowly. “And ours has racked up some pretty intense risks in its time.”
He smiled. “That is has. So…?”
“So, when I look back at this moment, I want to picture it with you in the frame,” she said. “We may not have started this together…but I want us to finish it together, the way it should be done.”
Oliver gulped, his heart thumping wildly with hope. “So I can come home?” he asked hoarsely.
She nodded. “Yes, Ollie. You can.”
***
It was as if a weight had been physically lifted off his shoulders. The breath left his lungs in a loud whoosh, and he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and held her as close as he safely could.
“Oh, Chloe.” He stroked her hair gently and kissed her forehead. “Thank you. Thank you. God, I’ve missed you so much.”
“I missed you, too,” she mumbled into his shirt. “We both have.”
“I’m sorry.” He rocked her gently, absorbing the delicious feel of his wife in his arms once more. “I shouldn’t have risked losing you like that, and I really hope you can forgive me one day.”
“Oliver?”
“Yes, honey?”
She stared pointedly at him. “If you ever trick me again, I will skin you alive.”
He grimaced. “Noted.”
“Good.” She took his hand in hers, and gently rested his palm on the warm, smooth, rounded skin of her belly, right over where their baby lay safely nestled.
Their baby. It never ceased to amaze him that he and Chloe had created life, and his hand shook as he thought of the slumbering child beneath it.
“Wow,” he said, his voice thick with emotion. “Are you okay? Does - does it hurt?”
She rolled her eyes. “Of course not.”
He rubbed his hand reverently over the bump. “How does it…feel?”
She frowned. “Hard to say. Guess you should ask me that question in a couple of weeks, when the little critter stops making me sick and start’s kicking me, instead.”
Just then, the door to the doctor’s office opened and she poked her head around the door. “We’re ready for you, Mrs Queen.”
Chloe smiled up at him. “Let’s go say hello to our little one.”
***
“You’re measuring rather large for twelve weeks, Chloe,” the doctor observed.
Chloe nodded. “Yes, my OB said the same thing. She asked if I’ve had fibroids in the past, which I haven’t, but she said she’d know the results from today’s scan.”
Oliver frowned. “Is it a problem?”
“Not necessarily,” the doctor replied. “It could just be water retention, but once we’ve done the scan, we’ll be able to say for sure. Could you lie back for me?”
Chloe did as requested. Oliver watched as gel was squirted on her belly, and waited nervously as the doctor moved the wand over her abdomen.
The monitor suddenly came to life. Grainy dots appeared on the screen, and Oliver squinted at it, trying to make sense of the barely discernible constantly changing shapes.
“There you go,” the doctor said with a smile. Oliver leaned forward and gasped at a small dense mass of white dots on the left side of the screen.
“Is that our baby?” Chloe asked breathlessly. Her fingers reached for his she clasped his hand as the dots took on a more defined shape, like a kidney bean with rapidly kicking tiny legs.
“That’s your baby, Mr and Mrs Queen; and a lively one, at that. Congratulations.”
“Oh, my God!” Chloe squealed. Her fingers tightened on his and she smiled up at him, her eyes glistening with happy tears.
“Can we hear the heartbeat?” he asked.
“Oh, of course. Sorry…” She increases the audio on the monitor, and there was a brief scratchy sound, followed by the rapid, repetitive thump-thump of a tiny heartbeat.
“That is amazing,” Oliver managed to whisper past the lump in his throat. He brushed the hair off Chloe’s forehead and kissed her brow. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“I’m so glad you’re here,” she said tearfully. “I can’t believe we’re going to be parents.”
“We’re going to do just fine.” He turned to the doctor, his smile fading as he saw her staring at the monitor with a slightly puzzled expression, almost as if she was looking for something.
“Is everything okay?” he asked anxiously. “Is the baby alright?”
“I’m just…trying to find…” She narrowed her eyes and manoeuvred the wand around to the other side of Chloe’s belly, then her face lit up. “A-ha! There you are, playing hide and seek with me. Had me nervous for a second there.”
“What did?” Chloe asked anxiously. “What’s wrong? What is it?”
The doctor smiled and pointed to the screen. “Take a closer look at the monitor, and tell me what you see.”
Oliver shared a worried glance with his wife, and they both stared intently at the screen in the direction of the doctor’s finger. Right there in front of their eyes, they both made out the presence of another kicking kidney bean shape, tucked snugly behind the previous one.
Oliver blinked and stared, his jaw dropping open. “Wait a minute. Is that...?”
Chloe shook her head. “It can’t be,” she said hoarsely.
“It sure is,” the doctor replied with a smile. “Congratulations, Mr and Mrs Queen. You’re having twins.”
***
The end.
Coming soon: Twice the Cutesies