Snapshots of Our Life - Chapter Nine!
Title/Chapter: Snapshots of Our Life (09/?)
Author: amanda: jaclyn’s twin sister / writefiction
Fandom: Tommy Joe Ratliff
Pairing: Tommy Joe Ratliff / OFC: Bella Connor
Rating: PG-13
Notes: written for schmoop_bingo. My card can be found HERE.
Bingo Square: looking at the stars
Warning: there’s a few curses. No F-bombs tho.
Other Notes: As stated before, Cam is a guy in this because, for some reason, I didn’t know she was a girl when I first started writing it o.O
Even More Notes: what I say about determining a certain thing (bc I don’t want to give it away) through ultrasound, isn’t necessarily true. I have not looked it up, but for purposes of this story, it needs to be true :p
Word Count: 4,902
Previous Chapters
Summary: Snapshots of the life Tommy & Bella build together.
Follow my twitter for fic updates! @writefiction
CHAPTER NINE
The next day when Tommy and Bella got up, they stayed in their pajamas for quite some time, trying to adjust to the time differences. They hung out with Dave for a while, but then he had band practice and the couple was left by their lonesome. They were laying on Tommy’s bed watching some daytime TV, Tommy’s arm wrapped around Bella, his fingers dancing fancy patterns over her swollen belly. “Hey, Bella,” he asked quietly.
“Hmm?” Bella replied, shifting closer.
“Have you seen a doctor yet?” Tommy asked. He felt Bella’s body stiffen at the question. “I take that as a no?”
Bella sighed. “Yeah, I haven’t gone yet. I mean, I know when I got pregnant and all they’ll really say at this point is to take vitamins and such.” She shrugged. “I’ll see my regular OB/GYN when I get back home. No biggie.”
“Would you… I mean, if I set it up, would you be willing to go today?” Tommy asked, hesitantly.
Bella turned and propped herself up on her elbow. She frowned at Tommy. “Is it really important to you or something?”
Tommy nodded slowly. “I mean, they’ll probably do that picture thing the first time you go in just to see how far along you are and if the baby is developing correctly, right?”
Bella nodded. “Probably.”
“And, I don’t want to miss the first time the baby’s seen or the first time you hear the heart beat,” Tommy explained. “I want to be there for everything. Which is going to be hard since we live on separate coasts.” Bella nodded again. Tommy turned his face towards hers. “I don’t want to miss anything. I think one of us needs to move. Maybe not permanently, but just until the baby’s here and then we can make a plan on what we’re going to do for the long term.”
“How would we decide who would move?” Bella asked.
“Flip a coin?” Tommy shrugged.
Bella smirked. “Of course you’d say that. You probably have a double-sided coin.”
Tommy chuckled. “Maybe I do, maybe I don’t. But if you’d really like me to go out to the East Coast, I’d do it for you. At least in the interim, until we get everything figured out, ya know?”
Bella nodded. “That’s very sweet of you, my pixie, but your job is out here.”
“I can commute,” Tommy suggested.
Bella laughed lightly. “Sure you could.”
“I would!” Tommy exclaimed. “Anything for you and that baby of ours.” He paused. “What do you want to do?”
Bella sighed and rubbed her hand over her face. “I don’t know,” she whispered. “I like the idea of us living together. But… I don’t know if I’m ready to move and I’m not sure I want you to be so far away from Adam and the band and all your friends.” She sighed again. “This sucks.”
“Okay, so lets not make a decision right now,” Tommy said. “How about we just go see a doctor today?”
“You really want to?” Bella asked.
Tommy nodded. “Please, for me?” He gave Bella his best puppy-dog eyes.
Bella covered her own eyes with her hands. “Oh my god! Don’t do that! You know I can’t say no to that look!”
“Exactly why I used it!” Tommy chuckled. Bella pouted. “Aw, come here, baby girl,” Tommy said pulling Bella close. She pressed her nose in to the soft skin of Tommy’s neck and breathed in his heady scent.
“I love you,” she whispered. “And yeah, if you set the appointment up, I’ll go through with it.”
“Really?” Tommy asked. Bella nodded. “Thank you, baby girl, and I love you too. So much you wouldn’t believe.”
Bella giggled. “I think I know the feeling.”
Five o’clock that night found Tommy and Bella in an exam room, waiting for the obstetrician. They didn’t have to wait long. After a few moments a tall, gray-haired man entered the room and Bella instantly froze up. But Tommy put a reassuring hand on her shoulder from where he stood beside her. “Um, Doc, the receptionist told me we’d be seeing a female doctor,” Tommy spoke up.
“Yes,” the doctor said as he washed his hands in the nearby sink. “You were supposed to be seeing Dr. Cahill, but she got an unexpected emergency with a patient and was called to the hospital for delivery. You’re stuck with me.” He gave the couple a friendly grin, but it did nothing to calm Bella. When the doctor noticed the nervous and queasy look on Bella’s face he frowned. “What’s wrong?” he asked. “Is there a certain reason you needed a female doctor?”
Bella nodded quickly. “I um, see, Doc, it’s not you. It’s me. Oh my god I sound like a cliché,” she said. “But seriously, I was raped ten years ago and I’m not very comfortable with having a male doctor. I um, I’m sorry.” She shrugged.
“Well, would it make you feel better to know that I’m not going to make you get undressed?” the doctor asked. “We won’t be doing an internal or anything. I’m just going to be doing an ultrasound and measuring your belly to see if you’re gaining too much weight or too little.”
Bella let out the breath she hadn’t known she was holding. “Yeah, that’d make me feel a whole lot better.”
The doctor smiled his friendly smile again. “Well, good then. I’m Dr. House,” he said.
Bella giggled. “You mean, like, on TV?”
The doctor’s smile broadened. “Yep, only nicer and I only deal with women and babies.”
Bella let out a real laugh this time. “I think that makes me even more comfortable,” she told him.
Dr. House’s smile turned in to a grin. “Glad I could be of service,” he said. “Now, when was your last period?”
Bella made a face. “Um, I’m not sure. See, I changed birth control pills in June and I haven’t had a period since,” she answered. “Which is weird because it’s not that pill where you only get four periods a year.”
“What were you taking?” Dr. House asked.
“Yaz,” Bella told him. “It has less sugar pills than a regular pill. There’s only four at the end of the pack.”
“And you haven’t had a period since?”
Bella shook her head. “And I know I’m not that far along because, well, the first time I had sex since being raped was in August.”
“Hmm.” The doctor typed something on the electronic chart on the laptop before him.
“Also, I just thought you might want to know that I have a family history of not being able to get pregnant naturally after being on birth control for an extended period of time,” Bella informed him.
The doctor raised an eyebrow at her. “Who in your family has this history?” he asked.
“My mother’s sister and my older sister. They both went through IVF and my aunt actually had to use a donor egg,” Bella explained.
“How long have you been on contraceptives?”
“Almost eleven and a half years.”
The doctor nodded and typed some more. “Did you think you could get pregnant?”
Bella shook her head. “No, I didn’t. That’s why I didn’t use a back up method.” The doctor nodded again. Then he stood and moved over to Bella, preparing her for the ultrasound.
“How has the pregnancy been for you?” he asked. “Any morning sickness or anything?”
“Um, yeah, at first,” Bella answered. “But it actually cleared up a few weeks ago. It was the only reason I even thought I was pregnant. And ya know, the whole expanding belly when I haven’t been eating a ton more than usual.”
The doctor chuckled and moved the wand over her swollen belly. He was quiet for a moment, before his eyes went wide and he let out a little, “Oh” of surprise.
“Oh?” Bella asked. “Oh what?” She gripped Tommy’s hand tightly, suddenly very nervous.
“I see now why your belly has grown so rapidly,” Dr. House explained.
“Yeah? So what’s the reason?” Tommy asked, finally speaking up.
Dr. House turned the ultrasound monitor towards the couple. He pointed to one spot and said, “This is your baby.” Then he pointed to another spot, opposite of the baby. “And this is your other baby.”
“Other baby?” Tommy asked. “Like, as in twins?”
Dr. House nodded. “Exactly like twins. More like, it is twins and not like twins.”
“Bella, we’re having twins,” Tommy said. “Can you believe that?”
“Oh. My. God,” Bella said slowly and quietly. “Are you sure?” She looked up at the doctor who only nodded with a grin. Then Bella turned to Tommy, tears in her eyes. “Are you okay with this?” she asked.
Tommy turned a grin on his beloved girlfriend. “Of course I am,” he answered. “It’s a miracle times two!”
This made Bella laugh. “I love you so much,” she said, blinking back her unshed tears.
“I love you too, baby girl,” Tommy replied, leaning down to peck her lips.
“Well, as far as I can see,” Dr. House interrupted. “Things are going quite well for the beginning of your second trimester. The twins look completely healthy and are growing at the right pace.”
“So um, when’s my due date?” Bella asked.
Dr. House smiled. “You’ll be forty weeks on May twenty-second.”
Bella’s eyes bulged out of her head. “Seriously?” she asked.
The doctor nodded. “Why? Is that an important date to you?”
Bella grinned. “It’s my mom’s birthday,” she said. “Wouldn’t it be wicked if she became a grandmother on her birthday?!”
Tommy chuckled at this and Dr. House smiled. “Indeed it would,” the doctor replied. “But you do know that twins usually come a bit early?”
Bella nodded. “Yes, I do know this. That older sister of mine that had IVF, she ended up with twins. But she was lucky as they were only six weeks early. Actually, six weeks exactly to the day. But I mean, she was on bed rest and was hooked up to a steroid drip and everything.”
Dr. House nodded. “She was pretty lucky. I bet they weren’t in the NICU long, were they?”
Bella shook her head. “No, I think it was only a week or two. I can’t remember because it was over a year ago. And they were almost four and a half pounds each so they were on the bigger side for preemies.”
“Did she have any complications other than that?” Dr. House asked.
“No, not that I know of,” Bella answered.
“Well, good. Than I don’t foresee you having too many problems,” the doctor replied. “But we do have to consider this pregnancy high risk because of it being a multiple birth.”
Bella nodded. “I understand.”
Tommy interrupted then. “What do you mean it’s considered high risk because it’s a multiple birth?” he asked.
“It just means that because there’s more than one baby in there, there’s a chance of Bella going in to premature labor,” Dr. House explained. “There’s also a chance of the babies not developing quite right because there’s not as much room in the womb or there’s not enough nutrition going around to both fetuses.” Tommy’s eyes widened with anxiety. “Don’t worry, I don’t see any of this happening. Although the premature labor isn’t something we can foresee, but as for development, everything looks good so far. No worries.”
Tommy nodded. “Okay. Good.”
The doctor smiled. “Would you guys like to hear the heart beats now?” he asked. Tommy and Bella both nodded vigorously and then listened closely. At first it was hard to hear because the hearts were beating so in sync. But then the doctor showed the heart beats on the monitor and somehow it helped the couple differentiate between the two beats. When Bella turned to look at Tommy, she noticed tears creeping down his cheeks.
“So my fierce little pixie has a heart after all,” she murmured.
Tommy looked at her and blinked. “What?”
“You’re crying,” she clarified.
Tommy laughed lightly and wiped at his eyes. “Can’t help it,” he said. “I just… I can’t believe we did that. There, on that screen, those heart beats. We made those. They came from our love.”
Bella smiled. “They sure did,” she replied. Then Tommy leaned down and kissed her lips softly. When the doctor wiped the gel off her belly, Tommy leaned down to kiss that too, a kiss to each side, one for each baby.
“I love all three of you,” Tommy said, a grin on his face.
Bella laughed. “And we love you, Daddy.” Tommy’s grin widened. He liked the sound of that, Daddy, it had a special ring to it.
When the exam was over, Dr. House looked at the couple. “Do either of you have any questions?” he asked.
“Um, yeah,” Bella said nervously. “Is there any way to tell if they’re identical just by the ultrasound?”
The doctor shook his head. “’fraid not.” Bella nodded slowly, chewing nervously on her lip. “Is there something we need to talk about… alone?”
Bella’s head jerked up at the question. “Um, yeah, if that’s okay with you, Tommy?”
Tommy leaned over and kissed Bella’s head. “That’s perfectly fine,” he answered. “A little unnerving, but fine. I know you’ll tell me when you’re ready.” Then he quietly left the room.
Once the door was firmly closed, Dr. House turned to Bella. “Now, what seems to be the problem?” he asked.
“I um… this is really kind of hard to say,” Bella told him.
“That’s alright,” Dr. House said. “Take your time.”
“See, Tommy’s in a band and that’s how we met. I went to one of his shows,” Bella began. “It was kind of a… wild night, you could say. I ended up having sex for the first time since I’d been raped.”
“That is pretty wild considering you’d only just met him,” the doctor replied.
“That’s not the wild part,” Bella muttered. “The wild part is that I also slept with the singer that night.” She chewed on her lip.
“Oh, I see. And Tommy doesn’t know?” Dr. House assumed.
Bella shook her head. “No, that’s not it,” she said. “He um, he was there. It’s just… Could it be possible that only one of the twins is Tommy’s?”
Dr. House sighed heavily. “While that is highly unlikely, if the twins are fraternal, meaning they came from two different eggs, it’s a possibility,” he answered.
“Shit,” Bella muttered, her eyes watering. “I was afraid of that. I mean, look at all the ‘highly unlikely’ things that have happened to me already. Getting pregnant in the first place for one.”
The graying doctor nodded. “I see where your concern comes from. But the only way to know for sure is a paternity test. And while we can do that while you’re pregnant, I don’t advise it for people with high risk pregnancies.”
“You mean I have to wait until the twins are born?” Bella asked, feeling like her world was crashing down around her. There was no way she could wait that long. Another five months of worry would surely kill her.
“I’m afraid so,” Dr. House said. “Unless we think there could be some genetic defect with the fetuses that we can screen for in a DNA test, you’ll just have to wait. Because you’re at high risk for early labor and or miscarriage, I don’t advise doing an amniocentesis.”
Bella sighed. “I don’t think there’s any genetic things we’d have to worry about,” she told him.
“Well, there may be something we should check out,” the doctor said.
“What?”
“How long were you on the birth control before you found out you were pregnant?”
“Does that matter? Could I have screwed the babies up?” Bella asked anxiously.
“There’s no way of knowing for sure until they‘re born. Sometimes it takes even longer than that to notice some kind of problem with children. But if we did an amnio, it could screen for the worst genetic markers,” he told her.
“Is this your way of justifying doing the procedure on a high risk pregnancy?” Bella asked.
“Yes,” the doctor nodded.
“Is there a better time to do the procedure that would be less… I don’t know, risky?”
“If we wait till you’re closer to your third trimester, it’ll be less risky,” Dr. House explained. “But you also take the risk of not being able to abort if one or both of the babies have serious birth defects.”
Bella looked at him in horror. “I would never do that!” she exclaimed. “I don’t care if they have a birth defect, they’re my children and Tommy has a good paying job. We could take care of them properly if we had to.”
Dr. House nodded again. “I take it you’re against abortion?”
“No, it’s not that. I mean, for myself, I don’t think I could ever do it,” Bella told him. “But I think other women should be able to have the choice. I just don’t think I could live with the guilt of it all.” She shrugged and looked down at her lap, folding her hands there.
“Okay,” the doctor said. “Why don’t we set up an appointment to have an amniocentesis done then?”
Bella lifted her gaze to the doctor’s bright blue one and for a moment, could only think, Adam. But then she shook the thought from her head. “Yes, lets do that.”
So the two picked a date that was only eight weeks away, the doctor scribbling it out on a card for Bella. Then he told her to make a check-up appointment for four weeks from this initial appointment. Because she was a high risk pregnancy, he wanted to see her once a month. It was odd, but Bella felt safe with this man and was sure that when the time came, she wouldn’t have a problem with him being between her legs for this procedure, or a delivery. It looked to her that they didn’t have to flip that coin to see who would stay where until the twins were born. Bella was staying put right there in Burbank.
Bella didn’t talk to Tommy the whole ride back to his place. She didn’t even say anything when they got inside. She waited till they were up in Tommy’s room to speak. She sat down on the side of his bed and patted the space next to her. Tommy went to Bella and sat down. He gripped her hands tightly in his. “What’s going on, baby girl?” he asked quietly. “Is this about what you had to talk to the doc about in private?”
Bella nodded, tears flooding her eyes. “I don’t know how to tell you this,” she whispered.
“Whatever it is, baby, you can tell me. I promise I won’t be upset,” Tommy replied.
“I’m not so sure that’s true,” Bella told him. “This is… this could be very upsetting and I just… Please say you’ll love me no matter what.”
Tommy furrowed his brow, clearly upset by what his lover was saying. “Of course, Bella, I’ll love you no matter what. Now you’ve got to tell me what’s wrong.”
Bella took a deep breath, trying to calm her frayed nerves. “Thing is, Tommy, that night we met, I didn’t just sleep with you,” she said, her voice wavering only a little. “I slept with Adam too.” Tommy only nodded. “There’s a chance that one or both of these babies aren’t yours.” She held her breath, waiting for the shit to hit the fan so to speak. But then Tommy sighed and pulled her in to his arms.
“Is that all you’re worried about?” he asked quietly.
Bella nodded. “I’m so scared,” she whispered.
“Sh,” Tommy soothed. “Everything is okay. And I do still love you. Ever since I saw that belly of yours, I knew this could be a possibility and I’m not mad. We just made some bad choices that night. But…” He paused. “You need to decide if you’re going to tell Adam or not.”
Bella pulled back to look at Tommy. “What do you mean tell him or not?” she asked.
Tommy shrugged a little helplessly. “I just mean, we don’t need to tell him. We don’t even have to have a paternity test done,” he said. “I will love these babies like they are my own no matter who fathered them.”
“You can’t be serious,” Bella stated.
Tommy raised his eyebrow at her. “But I am.”
Bella scrubbed her face with her hands then looked at Tommy. “I think… I think I need you to just go away for a while,” she told him.
“Why?” Tommy asked anxiously.
“I just… I need to think,” Bella answered. “I mean, I can’t believe you’re serious about this and I just… I need some space. Please, can you do that for me?”
Tommy nodded, slowly standing. “I um, if you need me, just call, okay?”
Bella nodded as she stood. “It’s okay, Tommy,” she told him, wrapping her arms around his neck. “I am not in any way thinking of breaking up with you. You got that?” Tommy nodded, but his eyes were still cast to the floor. “Tommy… My little pixie, please look at me.” Tommy lifted his sad gaze to Bella’s. “I promise you, we’re not breaking up,” she said. “I just need to think about whether or not I can agree to what you’re proposing and I need to do it alone. Do you understand?” Tommy nodded again. Bella hugged him tightly. “Please don’t go away upset with me,” she whispered.
Tommy hugged her just as tight. “I’m not,” he murmured. “I’m just… You’re asking me to leave and we haven’t been together for twenty-four hours yet. I just hope this doesn’t mean we can’t live together, ya know?” He pulled back to look in to Bella’s eyes.
Bella nodded. “This has nothing to do with that, Tommy Joe, I promise you. And it’s not about wanting to get rid of you either,” she explained. “It’s about needing space. This is something that married people even go through when they’re clashing on things. It’s a way of working things out without getting in to a fight. It’s a way to keep calm. Do you understand me?”
Tommy nodded. “I guess I can be okay with that. I mean, you don’t need the stress of a confrontation, right?”
Bella nodded. “Exactly. This is a better way of handling it. Less stress, okay?”
“Yeah, okay,” Tommy sighed. “I’ll um, I’ll go visit my mom. Maybe tell her she’s going to be a grandma?”
“Don’t do that yet,” Bella said.
“Why?” Tommy pouted.
Bella sighed. “If you absolutely have to tell her anything, tell her the truth, okay? And tell her we don’t know if we’re going to tell Adam or not. I don’t want you to get her hopes up if we end up deciding to tell Adam and then the paternity test says they’re both his. Got it?”
Tommy made a face. “Fine. But you know she’ll still want to be grandma either way.”
This made Bella laugh. “Okay.” She smiled full and wide at Tommy. “Give her my love.” Then she kissed him on the mouth and walked him downstairs.
At the door Tommy turned to Bella. “Call me when you’re ready for me to come home, okay?” he said. Bella nodded. “And, talk to Dave. He knows what happened that first night and… maybe he’ll have a different perspective since he’s not in the thick of things.” Bella nodded again. “Oh, and remember that it may take me thirty to forty-five minutes to get to my mom’s because she lives on the other side of town.”
Bella rolled her eyes. “Yes, Dad,” she teased. Tommy frowned. Bella wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him lightly. “I love you,” she told him quietly. “Don’t forget that.”
“Only if you promise not to forget that I love you too,” Tommy replied with a small smile.
Bella gave him a grin. “How could I forget? Now shoo!” She swatted her boyfriend on the ass, making him giggle as he left the house. Bella watched through the front window as Tommy backed out of the driveway. She waved to him and he waved back before completely pulling out on to the street and driving off. Now it was time to find Dave.
When Bella didn’t find Dave on the first or second floors of the house, she went up to the roof deck. There she found him, spread out on a blanket, looking up at the stars. “Mind if I join you?” she asked quietly, so as not to break the peaceful mood. Dave smiled at her in the darkness and patted the space next to him on the blanket. Bella moved over to him and sat down, leaning back on her hands and gazing up at the stars. “This is nice,” she said after a few moments of silence. Dave hummed in agreement. There was another minute of silence before Bella spoke again. “Is it… Is it okay if we talk?” she asked. “I mean, I don’t want to ruin your perfect star-gazing or anything.”
“Depends,” Dave answered. “What do you want to talk about?”
“It’s not really that I want to talk about it so much as I need to talk about it,” Bella replied, looking down at Dave.
Dave moved his gaze away from the stars to look up at Bella. He frowned, his eyebrows pushing together. “What is it?” he asked. “What’s wrong? Are you and Tommy Joe fighting?”
Bella shook her head. “Not quite. But uh, he said he wouldn’t mind raising the twins as his own even if they’re not. He said we don’t even need to get a paternity test because as far as he’s concerned, they’re ours.”
“Wait, you’re having twins?” Dave asked.
Bella blushed. “Yeah,” she confirmed. “That’s why I’m so big and not that far along.”
“Wow, congrats,” Dave replied. “But, what do you want to do? Do you want that test and do you want to tell Adam? Or do you want to tell Adam and see how he feels before deciding if you want to get the test?”
Bella sighed and laid down on the blanket, her eyes pointed at the starry heavens. “I want to get the test and if one or both of them are Adam’s, I want him to know,” she answered honestly. “But if they’re not his, I don’t think there’s really any need to tell him anything.” She shrugged, her hands clasped on her belly.
Dave moved closer and put his arm under Bella’s head to give her a little bit of a pillow. “That’s really what you want?” he asked.
Bella nodded and turned her eyes to his. “Do you think it’s a bad idea?”
Dave shook his head. “Not necessarily. I mean, if it’s what you want, then that’s what you should do. To be honest, I don’t really think Tommy should have a say in this. As of right now, not knowing for sure who the father is, these are your babies and yours alone until DNA proves who the father is. You see what I’m saying?” Bella nodded, chewing her lip. The pair turned their eyes back to the starlit sky, laying in silence for a while.
“Dave?”
“Hm?”
“I’m… I’m scared,” Bella murmured, her eyes filling with tears. She sniffled and Dave turned on his side, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close.
“Sh,” he whispered. “It’s okay. There’s no reason to be scared. Tommy will take care of you no matter what.”
“But what if at least one of them is Adam’s and he doesn’t want to be their dad?” Bella asked in a watery voice.
“Tommy will love that baby, or both, like they were his own,” Dave answered.
“But… What if I want Adam to be the dad?” Bella felt Dave stiffen. “No, not like that,” she said. “I mean, what if he turns out to be the father and I want him to take responsibility but he doesn’t want to?”
Dave relaxed and let out the breath he’d been holding. “I don’t know what you’ll do then,” he murmured. “But I’m sure Tommy will support you no matter what you decide. That boy is damn crazy about you.”
“Really?” Bella asked meekly.
“Of course he is,” Dave answered. “He’d give everything up for you. Even his career and you know how much that means to him.”
Bella nodded. “But I’d never ask him to do that and I hope he knows that.”
“Oh, he does,” Dave told her. “He thinks that’s one of the best things about you, that you know how much being in a band means to him and you’d never ask him to give it up for you. He thinks it’s amazing that you’d figure something out before you’d ever ask him to give it up.”
“He’d be miserable without his music,” Bella whispered. “And I could never be the reason for that. It would kill me.”
“Good girl, Bella,” Dave replied. “Good girl.”
“I’m not a dog,” Bella giggled. Dave snorted and gave her a tight squeeze. Then Bella curled in to his side as they watched the stars in the sky.
& & & & &
Stay Tuned for Chapter Ten!
Comments and CronCrit are greatly appreciated :)
Author: amanda: jaclyn’s twin sister / writefiction
Fandom: Tommy Joe Ratliff
Pairing: Tommy Joe Ratliff / OFC: Bella Connor
Rating: PG-13
Notes: written for schmoop_bingo. My card can be found HERE.
Bingo Square: looking at the stars
Warning: there’s a few curses. No F-bombs tho.
Other Notes: As stated before, Cam is a guy in this because, for some reason, I didn’t know she was a girl when I first started writing it o.O
Even More Notes: what I say about determining a certain thing (bc I don’t want to give it away) through ultrasound, isn’t necessarily true. I have not looked it up, but for purposes of this story, it needs to be true :p
Word Count: 4,902
Previous Chapters
Summary: Snapshots of the life Tommy & Bella build together.
Follow my twitter for fic updates! @writefiction
CHAPTER NINE
The next day when Tommy and Bella got up, they stayed in their pajamas for quite some time, trying to adjust to the time differences. They hung out with Dave for a while, but then he had band practice and the couple was left by their lonesome. They were laying on Tommy’s bed watching some daytime TV, Tommy’s arm wrapped around Bella, his fingers dancing fancy patterns over her swollen belly. “Hey, Bella,” he asked quietly.
“Hmm?” Bella replied, shifting closer.
“Have you seen a doctor yet?” Tommy asked. He felt Bella’s body stiffen at the question. “I take that as a no?”
Bella sighed. “Yeah, I haven’t gone yet. I mean, I know when I got pregnant and all they’ll really say at this point is to take vitamins and such.” She shrugged. “I’ll see my regular OB/GYN when I get back home. No biggie.”
“Would you… I mean, if I set it up, would you be willing to go today?” Tommy asked, hesitantly.
Bella turned and propped herself up on her elbow. She frowned at Tommy. “Is it really important to you or something?”
Tommy nodded slowly. “I mean, they’ll probably do that picture thing the first time you go in just to see how far along you are and if the baby is developing correctly, right?”
Bella nodded. “Probably.”
“And, I don’t want to miss the first time the baby’s seen or the first time you hear the heart beat,” Tommy explained. “I want to be there for everything. Which is going to be hard since we live on separate coasts.” Bella nodded again. Tommy turned his face towards hers. “I don’t want to miss anything. I think one of us needs to move. Maybe not permanently, but just until the baby’s here and then we can make a plan on what we’re going to do for the long term.”
“How would we decide who would move?” Bella asked.
“Flip a coin?” Tommy shrugged.
Bella smirked. “Of course you’d say that. You probably have a double-sided coin.”
Tommy chuckled. “Maybe I do, maybe I don’t. But if you’d really like me to go out to the East Coast, I’d do it for you. At least in the interim, until we get everything figured out, ya know?”
Bella nodded. “That’s very sweet of you, my pixie, but your job is out here.”
“I can commute,” Tommy suggested.
Bella laughed lightly. “Sure you could.”
“I would!” Tommy exclaimed. “Anything for you and that baby of ours.” He paused. “What do you want to do?”
Bella sighed and rubbed her hand over her face. “I don’t know,” she whispered. “I like the idea of us living together. But… I don’t know if I’m ready to move and I’m not sure I want you to be so far away from Adam and the band and all your friends.” She sighed again. “This sucks.”
“Okay, so lets not make a decision right now,” Tommy said. “How about we just go see a doctor today?”
“You really want to?” Bella asked.
Tommy nodded. “Please, for me?” He gave Bella his best puppy-dog eyes.
Bella covered her own eyes with her hands. “Oh my god! Don’t do that! You know I can’t say no to that look!”
“Exactly why I used it!” Tommy chuckled. Bella pouted. “Aw, come here, baby girl,” Tommy said pulling Bella close. She pressed her nose in to the soft skin of Tommy’s neck and breathed in his heady scent.
“I love you,” she whispered. “And yeah, if you set the appointment up, I’ll go through with it.”
“Really?” Tommy asked. Bella nodded. “Thank you, baby girl, and I love you too. So much you wouldn’t believe.”
Bella giggled. “I think I know the feeling.”
Five o’clock that night found Tommy and Bella in an exam room, waiting for the obstetrician. They didn’t have to wait long. After a few moments a tall, gray-haired man entered the room and Bella instantly froze up. But Tommy put a reassuring hand on her shoulder from where he stood beside her. “Um, Doc, the receptionist told me we’d be seeing a female doctor,” Tommy spoke up.
“Yes,” the doctor said as he washed his hands in the nearby sink. “You were supposed to be seeing Dr. Cahill, but she got an unexpected emergency with a patient and was called to the hospital for delivery. You’re stuck with me.” He gave the couple a friendly grin, but it did nothing to calm Bella. When the doctor noticed the nervous and queasy look on Bella’s face he frowned. “What’s wrong?” he asked. “Is there a certain reason you needed a female doctor?”
Bella nodded quickly. “I um, see, Doc, it’s not you. It’s me. Oh my god I sound like a cliché,” she said. “But seriously, I was raped ten years ago and I’m not very comfortable with having a male doctor. I um, I’m sorry.” She shrugged.
“Well, would it make you feel better to know that I’m not going to make you get undressed?” the doctor asked. “We won’t be doing an internal or anything. I’m just going to be doing an ultrasound and measuring your belly to see if you’re gaining too much weight or too little.”
Bella let out the breath she hadn’t known she was holding. “Yeah, that’d make me feel a whole lot better.”
The doctor smiled his friendly smile again. “Well, good then. I’m Dr. House,” he said.
Bella giggled. “You mean, like, on TV?”
The doctor’s smile broadened. “Yep, only nicer and I only deal with women and babies.”
Bella let out a real laugh this time. “I think that makes me even more comfortable,” she told him.
Dr. House’s smile turned in to a grin. “Glad I could be of service,” he said. “Now, when was your last period?”
Bella made a face. “Um, I’m not sure. See, I changed birth control pills in June and I haven’t had a period since,” she answered. “Which is weird because it’s not that pill where you only get four periods a year.”
“What were you taking?” Dr. House asked.
“Yaz,” Bella told him. “It has less sugar pills than a regular pill. There’s only four at the end of the pack.”
“And you haven’t had a period since?”
Bella shook her head. “And I know I’m not that far along because, well, the first time I had sex since being raped was in August.”
“Hmm.” The doctor typed something on the electronic chart on the laptop before him.
“Also, I just thought you might want to know that I have a family history of not being able to get pregnant naturally after being on birth control for an extended period of time,” Bella informed him.
The doctor raised an eyebrow at her. “Who in your family has this history?” he asked.
“My mother’s sister and my older sister. They both went through IVF and my aunt actually had to use a donor egg,” Bella explained.
“How long have you been on contraceptives?”
“Almost eleven and a half years.”
The doctor nodded and typed some more. “Did you think you could get pregnant?”
Bella shook her head. “No, I didn’t. That’s why I didn’t use a back up method.” The doctor nodded again. Then he stood and moved over to Bella, preparing her for the ultrasound.
“How has the pregnancy been for you?” he asked. “Any morning sickness or anything?”
“Um, yeah, at first,” Bella answered. “But it actually cleared up a few weeks ago. It was the only reason I even thought I was pregnant. And ya know, the whole expanding belly when I haven’t been eating a ton more than usual.”
The doctor chuckled and moved the wand over her swollen belly. He was quiet for a moment, before his eyes went wide and he let out a little, “Oh” of surprise.
“Oh?” Bella asked. “Oh what?” She gripped Tommy’s hand tightly, suddenly very nervous.
“I see now why your belly has grown so rapidly,” Dr. House explained.
“Yeah? So what’s the reason?” Tommy asked, finally speaking up.
Dr. House turned the ultrasound monitor towards the couple. He pointed to one spot and said, “This is your baby.” Then he pointed to another spot, opposite of the baby. “And this is your other baby.”
“Other baby?” Tommy asked. “Like, as in twins?”
Dr. House nodded. “Exactly like twins. More like, it is twins and not like twins.”
“Bella, we’re having twins,” Tommy said. “Can you believe that?”
“Oh. My. God,” Bella said slowly and quietly. “Are you sure?” She looked up at the doctor who only nodded with a grin. Then Bella turned to Tommy, tears in her eyes. “Are you okay with this?” she asked.
Tommy turned a grin on his beloved girlfriend. “Of course I am,” he answered. “It’s a miracle times two!”
This made Bella laugh. “I love you so much,” she said, blinking back her unshed tears.
“I love you too, baby girl,” Tommy replied, leaning down to peck her lips.
“Well, as far as I can see,” Dr. House interrupted. “Things are going quite well for the beginning of your second trimester. The twins look completely healthy and are growing at the right pace.”
“So um, when’s my due date?” Bella asked.
Dr. House smiled. “You’ll be forty weeks on May twenty-second.”
Bella’s eyes bulged out of her head. “Seriously?” she asked.
The doctor nodded. “Why? Is that an important date to you?”
Bella grinned. “It’s my mom’s birthday,” she said. “Wouldn’t it be wicked if she became a grandmother on her birthday?!”
Tommy chuckled at this and Dr. House smiled. “Indeed it would,” the doctor replied. “But you do know that twins usually come a bit early?”
Bella nodded. “Yes, I do know this. That older sister of mine that had IVF, she ended up with twins. But she was lucky as they were only six weeks early. Actually, six weeks exactly to the day. But I mean, she was on bed rest and was hooked up to a steroid drip and everything.”
Dr. House nodded. “She was pretty lucky. I bet they weren’t in the NICU long, were they?”
Bella shook her head. “No, I think it was only a week or two. I can’t remember because it was over a year ago. And they were almost four and a half pounds each so they were on the bigger side for preemies.”
“Did she have any complications other than that?” Dr. House asked.
“No, not that I know of,” Bella answered.
“Well, good. Than I don’t foresee you having too many problems,” the doctor replied. “But we do have to consider this pregnancy high risk because of it being a multiple birth.”
Bella nodded. “I understand.”
Tommy interrupted then. “What do you mean it’s considered high risk because it’s a multiple birth?” he asked.
“It just means that because there’s more than one baby in there, there’s a chance of Bella going in to premature labor,” Dr. House explained. “There’s also a chance of the babies not developing quite right because there’s not as much room in the womb or there’s not enough nutrition going around to both fetuses.” Tommy’s eyes widened with anxiety. “Don’t worry, I don’t see any of this happening. Although the premature labor isn’t something we can foresee, but as for development, everything looks good so far. No worries.”
Tommy nodded. “Okay. Good.”
The doctor smiled. “Would you guys like to hear the heart beats now?” he asked. Tommy and Bella both nodded vigorously and then listened closely. At first it was hard to hear because the hearts were beating so in sync. But then the doctor showed the heart beats on the monitor and somehow it helped the couple differentiate between the two beats. When Bella turned to look at Tommy, she noticed tears creeping down his cheeks.
“So my fierce little pixie has a heart after all,” she murmured.
Tommy looked at her and blinked. “What?”
“You’re crying,” she clarified.
Tommy laughed lightly and wiped at his eyes. “Can’t help it,” he said. “I just… I can’t believe we did that. There, on that screen, those heart beats. We made those. They came from our love.”
Bella smiled. “They sure did,” she replied. Then Tommy leaned down and kissed her lips softly. When the doctor wiped the gel off her belly, Tommy leaned down to kiss that too, a kiss to each side, one for each baby.
“I love all three of you,” Tommy said, a grin on his face.
Bella laughed. “And we love you, Daddy.” Tommy’s grin widened. He liked the sound of that, Daddy, it had a special ring to it.
When the exam was over, Dr. House looked at the couple. “Do either of you have any questions?” he asked.
“Um, yeah,” Bella said nervously. “Is there any way to tell if they’re identical just by the ultrasound?”
The doctor shook his head. “’fraid not.” Bella nodded slowly, chewing nervously on her lip. “Is there something we need to talk about… alone?”
Bella’s head jerked up at the question. “Um, yeah, if that’s okay with you, Tommy?”
Tommy leaned over and kissed Bella’s head. “That’s perfectly fine,” he answered. “A little unnerving, but fine. I know you’ll tell me when you’re ready.” Then he quietly left the room.
Once the door was firmly closed, Dr. House turned to Bella. “Now, what seems to be the problem?” he asked.
“I um… this is really kind of hard to say,” Bella told him.
“That’s alright,” Dr. House said. “Take your time.”
“See, Tommy’s in a band and that’s how we met. I went to one of his shows,” Bella began. “It was kind of a… wild night, you could say. I ended up having sex for the first time since I’d been raped.”
“That is pretty wild considering you’d only just met him,” the doctor replied.
“That’s not the wild part,” Bella muttered. “The wild part is that I also slept with the singer that night.” She chewed on her lip.
“Oh, I see. And Tommy doesn’t know?” Dr. House assumed.
Bella shook her head. “No, that’s not it,” she said. “He um, he was there. It’s just… Could it be possible that only one of the twins is Tommy’s?”
Dr. House sighed heavily. “While that is highly unlikely, if the twins are fraternal, meaning they came from two different eggs, it’s a possibility,” he answered.
“Shit,” Bella muttered, her eyes watering. “I was afraid of that. I mean, look at all the ‘highly unlikely’ things that have happened to me already. Getting pregnant in the first place for one.”
The graying doctor nodded. “I see where your concern comes from. But the only way to know for sure is a paternity test. And while we can do that while you’re pregnant, I don’t advise it for people with high risk pregnancies.”
“You mean I have to wait until the twins are born?” Bella asked, feeling like her world was crashing down around her. There was no way she could wait that long. Another five months of worry would surely kill her.
“I’m afraid so,” Dr. House said. “Unless we think there could be some genetic defect with the fetuses that we can screen for in a DNA test, you’ll just have to wait. Because you’re at high risk for early labor and or miscarriage, I don’t advise doing an amniocentesis.”
Bella sighed. “I don’t think there’s any genetic things we’d have to worry about,” she told him.
“Well, there may be something we should check out,” the doctor said.
“What?”
“How long were you on the birth control before you found out you were pregnant?”
“Does that matter? Could I have screwed the babies up?” Bella asked anxiously.
“There’s no way of knowing for sure until they‘re born. Sometimes it takes even longer than that to notice some kind of problem with children. But if we did an amnio, it could screen for the worst genetic markers,” he told her.
“Is this your way of justifying doing the procedure on a high risk pregnancy?” Bella asked.
“Yes,” the doctor nodded.
“Is there a better time to do the procedure that would be less… I don’t know, risky?”
“If we wait till you’re closer to your third trimester, it’ll be less risky,” Dr. House explained. “But you also take the risk of not being able to abort if one or both of the babies have serious birth defects.”
Bella looked at him in horror. “I would never do that!” she exclaimed. “I don’t care if they have a birth defect, they’re my children and Tommy has a good paying job. We could take care of them properly if we had to.”
Dr. House nodded again. “I take it you’re against abortion?”
“No, it’s not that. I mean, for myself, I don’t think I could ever do it,” Bella told him. “But I think other women should be able to have the choice. I just don’t think I could live with the guilt of it all.” She shrugged and looked down at her lap, folding her hands there.
“Okay,” the doctor said. “Why don’t we set up an appointment to have an amniocentesis done then?”
Bella lifted her gaze to the doctor’s bright blue one and for a moment, could only think, Adam. But then she shook the thought from her head. “Yes, lets do that.”
So the two picked a date that was only eight weeks away, the doctor scribbling it out on a card for Bella. Then he told her to make a check-up appointment for four weeks from this initial appointment. Because she was a high risk pregnancy, he wanted to see her once a month. It was odd, but Bella felt safe with this man and was sure that when the time came, she wouldn’t have a problem with him being between her legs for this procedure, or a delivery. It looked to her that they didn’t have to flip that coin to see who would stay where until the twins were born. Bella was staying put right there in Burbank.
Bella didn’t talk to Tommy the whole ride back to his place. She didn’t even say anything when they got inside. She waited till they were up in Tommy’s room to speak. She sat down on the side of his bed and patted the space next to her. Tommy went to Bella and sat down. He gripped her hands tightly in his. “What’s going on, baby girl?” he asked quietly. “Is this about what you had to talk to the doc about in private?”
Bella nodded, tears flooding her eyes. “I don’t know how to tell you this,” she whispered.
“Whatever it is, baby, you can tell me. I promise I won’t be upset,” Tommy replied.
“I’m not so sure that’s true,” Bella told him. “This is… this could be very upsetting and I just… Please say you’ll love me no matter what.”
Tommy furrowed his brow, clearly upset by what his lover was saying. “Of course, Bella, I’ll love you no matter what. Now you’ve got to tell me what’s wrong.”
Bella took a deep breath, trying to calm her frayed nerves. “Thing is, Tommy, that night we met, I didn’t just sleep with you,” she said, her voice wavering only a little. “I slept with Adam too.” Tommy only nodded. “There’s a chance that one or both of these babies aren’t yours.” She held her breath, waiting for the shit to hit the fan so to speak. But then Tommy sighed and pulled her in to his arms.
“Is that all you’re worried about?” he asked quietly.
Bella nodded. “I’m so scared,” she whispered.
“Sh,” Tommy soothed. “Everything is okay. And I do still love you. Ever since I saw that belly of yours, I knew this could be a possibility and I’m not mad. We just made some bad choices that night. But…” He paused. “You need to decide if you’re going to tell Adam or not.”
Bella pulled back to look at Tommy. “What do you mean tell him or not?” she asked.
Tommy shrugged a little helplessly. “I just mean, we don’t need to tell him. We don’t even have to have a paternity test done,” he said. “I will love these babies like they are my own no matter who fathered them.”
“You can’t be serious,” Bella stated.
Tommy raised his eyebrow at her. “But I am.”
Bella scrubbed her face with her hands then looked at Tommy. “I think… I think I need you to just go away for a while,” she told him.
“Why?” Tommy asked anxiously.
“I just… I need to think,” Bella answered. “I mean, I can’t believe you’re serious about this and I just… I need some space. Please, can you do that for me?”
Tommy nodded, slowly standing. “I um, if you need me, just call, okay?”
Bella nodded as she stood. “It’s okay, Tommy,” she told him, wrapping her arms around his neck. “I am not in any way thinking of breaking up with you. You got that?” Tommy nodded, but his eyes were still cast to the floor. “Tommy… My little pixie, please look at me.” Tommy lifted his sad gaze to Bella’s. “I promise you, we’re not breaking up,” she said. “I just need to think about whether or not I can agree to what you’re proposing and I need to do it alone. Do you understand?” Tommy nodded again. Bella hugged him tightly. “Please don’t go away upset with me,” she whispered.
Tommy hugged her just as tight. “I’m not,” he murmured. “I’m just… You’re asking me to leave and we haven’t been together for twenty-four hours yet. I just hope this doesn’t mean we can’t live together, ya know?” He pulled back to look in to Bella’s eyes.
Bella nodded. “This has nothing to do with that, Tommy Joe, I promise you. And it’s not about wanting to get rid of you either,” she explained. “It’s about needing space. This is something that married people even go through when they’re clashing on things. It’s a way of working things out without getting in to a fight. It’s a way to keep calm. Do you understand me?”
Tommy nodded. “I guess I can be okay with that. I mean, you don’t need the stress of a confrontation, right?”
Bella nodded. “Exactly. This is a better way of handling it. Less stress, okay?”
“Yeah, okay,” Tommy sighed. “I’ll um, I’ll go visit my mom. Maybe tell her she’s going to be a grandma?”
“Don’t do that yet,” Bella said.
“Why?” Tommy pouted.
Bella sighed. “If you absolutely have to tell her anything, tell her the truth, okay? And tell her we don’t know if we’re going to tell Adam or not. I don’t want you to get her hopes up if we end up deciding to tell Adam and then the paternity test says they’re both his. Got it?”
Tommy made a face. “Fine. But you know she’ll still want to be grandma either way.”
This made Bella laugh. “Okay.” She smiled full and wide at Tommy. “Give her my love.” Then she kissed him on the mouth and walked him downstairs.
At the door Tommy turned to Bella. “Call me when you’re ready for me to come home, okay?” he said. Bella nodded. “And, talk to Dave. He knows what happened that first night and… maybe he’ll have a different perspective since he’s not in the thick of things.” Bella nodded again. “Oh, and remember that it may take me thirty to forty-five minutes to get to my mom’s because she lives on the other side of town.”
Bella rolled her eyes. “Yes, Dad,” she teased. Tommy frowned. Bella wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him lightly. “I love you,” she told him quietly. “Don’t forget that.”
“Only if you promise not to forget that I love you too,” Tommy replied with a small smile.
Bella gave him a grin. “How could I forget? Now shoo!” She swatted her boyfriend on the ass, making him giggle as he left the house. Bella watched through the front window as Tommy backed out of the driveway. She waved to him and he waved back before completely pulling out on to the street and driving off. Now it was time to find Dave.
When Bella didn’t find Dave on the first or second floors of the house, she went up to the roof deck. There she found him, spread out on a blanket, looking up at the stars. “Mind if I join you?” she asked quietly, so as not to break the peaceful mood. Dave smiled at her in the darkness and patted the space next to him on the blanket. Bella moved over to him and sat down, leaning back on her hands and gazing up at the stars. “This is nice,” she said after a few moments of silence. Dave hummed in agreement. There was another minute of silence before Bella spoke again. “Is it… Is it okay if we talk?” she asked. “I mean, I don’t want to ruin your perfect star-gazing or anything.”
“Depends,” Dave answered. “What do you want to talk about?”
“It’s not really that I want to talk about it so much as I need to talk about it,” Bella replied, looking down at Dave.
Dave moved his gaze away from the stars to look up at Bella. He frowned, his eyebrows pushing together. “What is it?” he asked. “What’s wrong? Are you and Tommy Joe fighting?”
Bella shook her head. “Not quite. But uh, he said he wouldn’t mind raising the twins as his own even if they’re not. He said we don’t even need to get a paternity test because as far as he’s concerned, they’re ours.”
“Wait, you’re having twins?” Dave asked.
Bella blushed. “Yeah,” she confirmed. “That’s why I’m so big and not that far along.”
“Wow, congrats,” Dave replied. “But, what do you want to do? Do you want that test and do you want to tell Adam? Or do you want to tell Adam and see how he feels before deciding if you want to get the test?”
Bella sighed and laid down on the blanket, her eyes pointed at the starry heavens. “I want to get the test and if one or both of them are Adam’s, I want him to know,” she answered honestly. “But if they’re not his, I don’t think there’s really any need to tell him anything.” She shrugged, her hands clasped on her belly.
Dave moved closer and put his arm under Bella’s head to give her a little bit of a pillow. “That’s really what you want?” he asked.
Bella nodded and turned her eyes to his. “Do you think it’s a bad idea?”
Dave shook his head. “Not necessarily. I mean, if it’s what you want, then that’s what you should do. To be honest, I don’t really think Tommy should have a say in this. As of right now, not knowing for sure who the father is, these are your babies and yours alone until DNA proves who the father is. You see what I’m saying?” Bella nodded, chewing her lip. The pair turned their eyes back to the starlit sky, laying in silence for a while.
“Dave?”
“Hm?”
“I’m… I’m scared,” Bella murmured, her eyes filling with tears. She sniffled and Dave turned on his side, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close.
“Sh,” he whispered. “It’s okay. There’s no reason to be scared. Tommy will take care of you no matter what.”
“But what if at least one of them is Adam’s and he doesn’t want to be their dad?” Bella asked in a watery voice.
“Tommy will love that baby, or both, like they were his own,” Dave answered.
“But… What if I want Adam to be the dad?” Bella felt Dave stiffen. “No, not like that,” she said. “I mean, what if he turns out to be the father and I want him to take responsibility but he doesn’t want to?”
Dave relaxed and let out the breath he’d been holding. “I don’t know what you’ll do then,” he murmured. “But I’m sure Tommy will support you no matter what you decide. That boy is damn crazy about you.”
“Really?” Bella asked meekly.
“Of course he is,” Dave answered. “He’d give everything up for you. Even his career and you know how much that means to him.”
Bella nodded. “But I’d never ask him to do that and I hope he knows that.”
“Oh, he does,” Dave told her. “He thinks that’s one of the best things about you, that you know how much being in a band means to him and you’d never ask him to give it up for you. He thinks it’s amazing that you’d figure something out before you’d ever ask him to give it up.”
“He’d be miserable without his music,” Bella whispered. “And I could never be the reason for that. It would kill me.”
“Good girl, Bella,” Dave replied. “Good girl.”
“I’m not a dog,” Bella giggled. Dave snorted and gave her a tight squeeze. Then Bella curled in to his side as they watched the stars in the sky.
& & & & &
Stay Tuned for Chapter Ten!
Comments and CronCrit are greatly appreciated :)