fic: Moving On (19/20)

Dec 02, 2011 16:23


Title: Moving On
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Finn/Sam
Words: ~4,500
Notes: Next up in the Sam/Finn mpreg verse. Fics in order you should read them before this one: ConfusionHelp MeGetting By.
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September was tough for both Sam and Finn, but Sam especially. Annika was starting kindergarten, and she was signed up to take the bus. “I want to bring her to her classroom, just today. Please,” Sam begged. He’d been restricted to bed rest even after his appointment two weeks from the one where they’d first spotted complications.

“She knows where her classroom is,” Finn reassured him. “She has to grow up sometime.”

Truth be told, he wanted to do the exact same thing, but after the massive lecture he’d gotten from Burt, Finn wasn’t going to do it.

“Can I at least drive her to school?” Sam pleaded.

Sam wasn’t supposed to do any sort of work, and he’d have to bring Carly with him, too, but Finn knew that denying Sam this as well might just break his heart and stress him out more, which would just hurt the baby. He sighed as he stuffed the rest of his lunch in his box and said, “Sure. Just today, though.”

The look of relief on Sam’s face made Finn relax a little more, and he smiled and kissed Sam on the cheek before he said, “I have to go and get ready for classes. I’ll see you tonight.”

Finn was almost to the door when he said, “Let her ride the bus home, okay? When I did the bus orientation with her she was really excited for it.”

Sam was nervous, but nodded. He spent most of the morning fussing over her while Caroline sat, half-asleep on the sofa. Annika wanted to wear her favorite new pink dress and wanted pigtails and some makeup (which really meant a dab of Lip Smackers) before she’d even consider having her morning juice and cereal. Sam kept checking the time and didn’t want her to be late. “Do I get to ride the bus, Daddy?” she asked curiously as he helped her into a cardigan and her white Mary-Jane shoes with a bow on them.

“When you come home, yeah. I’m going to drive you to school today sweetie,” he told her.

Caroline was in footie pajamas, clinging to her blanket, and Sam carried her out to the car like that as Annika followed, her backpack bouncing on her back as she walked. They got into the car and Sam drove slowly, wanting to draw out this moment because he couldn’t believe that Annika was ready for this. “Are we there yet?” she asked curiously. “The trees are moving by us really slow.”

Caroline glared over at Annika and said, “Shut up.”

“Carly,” Sam warned. She wasn’t a morning person and tended to take out her frustrations on Annika. “We’ll be there soon, Annie.”

He was glad that she was so excited for kindergarten, but he was scared as hell. It would be fine, he knew, but it was the fact that he wasn’t right there just in case something happened. What if the kids were mean? What if she fell and got hurt? Sam knew that having two dads wasn’t exactly common, and what if she told someone and got made fun of? He was terrified, but pulled up to the student drop-off line of the parking lot. “Can I go now daddy?” she asked as she saw other kids climbing out of the cars.

“Let me get closer to the door,” he said, though he could have let her out right there.

When he pulled the car up to the door, she scrambled to open the door. “Annie, honey, give me a kiss goodbye,” Sam said as she fumbled with the door handle.

She rolled her eyes but climbed over the center console of the car and wrapped her arms around Sam’s neck. She kissed him quickly and said, “Bye daddy! I ride the bus home right?”

“Yep,” he replied, though he wished he could have said no.

Annika climbed out of the car and one of the teachers near the door helped usher her inside. Sam drove out of the way and his stomach was in knots the whole way home. He was nervous and couldn’t stop watching outside for the school bus, even though he knew she wouldn’t be home for hours. He kept checking his phone in case he got a call that something was wrong. Caroline kept trying to steal his attention or get him to play with her, but all he kept thinking about was Annika and how she was doing on her first day of school.

Caroline threw several fits throughout the day to try to get Sam’s attention, and she managed to draw him away to play catch (which really meant she threw stuff at him while he sat on the couch). As soon as the hour in which the bus would arrive came around, Sam was constantly staring out the windows downstairs to the parking lot of the apartment building. They lived on the third floor so she couldn’t just walk in through the patio door. She had to buzz and climb the stairs and it scared the hell out of Sam.

As it turned out, she was fine, but she did complain when she tripped up the stairs on her way up to the apartment. Sam gave her a cold rag to hold on her rug burn from the carpet and listened to her go on and on about how some of her friends from her preschool class were now in her kindergarten class, and her teacher, Miss Nichols, was really nice. Sam smiled and listened to all of her stories, but still found himself worrying about her having to walk up all those flights of stairs alone.

When Finn got home, Sam made dinner even though he wasn’t supposed to be up and about because Annika was talking Finn’s ears off with the same stories she’d told Sam earlier. Caroline kept telling her to shut up, so Sam brought Carly in to help him with dinner, even if it was just grilled cheese and tomato soup. She liked sitting on the counter next to the stove and stirring the soup.

After dinner Finn insisted that Sam at least lie down on the sofa because he knew even without asking that Sam hadn’t relaxed a single second that Annika was away. Sam sighed but did as he was told. Finn put the girls to bed and came back out to the living room. “You’re going to have to start relaxing during the day while she’s gone,” Finn said softly. “For Evan.”

Sam frowned and said what had been plaguing his mind for most of the day, “We should start looking for somewhere bigger to live.”
Finn was a little caught off guard at the sudden change of topic, but he had to admit that he’d been thinking the same thing. “You mean a house?” Finn asked, just to be sure.

He’d wanted to start looking for a house for a while now, but Sam said it wasn’t practical if they all fit in an apartment. They didn’t fit in an apartment now, though. Or rather, they wouldn’t once Evan was born. Sam nodded and said, “Yeah. Not a huge house, but…we need more space. And I really don’t like the idea of Annika having to wander the apartment just to get up here after school. She fell today.”

Finn knew that Sam was probably exaggerating the fall because Annika had seemed fine when he saw her, but if it would put Sam at ease, he’d get looking right away. “Okay,” he nodded. “How about you start looking for places while Annie and I are at school tomorrow?” Finn suggested. “Then we can make some calls about a mortgage and get it all worked out.”

“I want to try to move before he’s born,” Sam said.

“Sure,” Finn nodded, though he didn’t know how long it would actually take.

Good news was, Quinn was a real estate agent in Lima and she was eager to help them find a house in their price range that would be perfect for raising a family in. She set up some tours for them throughout September and October to give them plenty of homes to choose from. She already knew how everything worked, so she also set them up with the right people to ask about mortgages. “I’ve been doing this long enough to know which guys will help you and which will refuse because you’re together,” she had told them. “If you want to get this done quickly, you have to work with the right people.”

The problem with finding a good house was most of the time, either Finn or Sam would find something wrong with the house, something that should be fixed or something that was unsafe, which led to Quinn having to find more homes for them to look at. The girls loved every single one they went in, and most of the time would just run through the house to scout out their bedrooms.

Just before Halloween, Quinn gave the boys a call and Finn answered. “Hey, Finn. I may have found one last one we can look at if you want to stay in Lima. It’s a little above your budget, but I think we may be able to work it out with the bank and the sellers if you’re interested,” she said.

They were all getting burned out on looking at houses, but Finn agreed because what could it hurt? After looking at almost ten, adding one more wasn’t going to be a big deal. Sam was constantly sore and Dr. Lopez wanted him to stay on bed rest because they were still trying to figure out what the unusual measurements meant. Unfortunately, nobody could persuade Sam to rest instead of looking at houses, and they all ended up at 1400 Peachtree Court on the Saturday before Halloween.

Quinn looked as amazing as ever in her pale pink pea coat and white scarf and hat, and she wore classy heels and a simple dress as she led them up to the front door. The house was large and cream colored with a forest green door. It looked bigger than the others they’d looked at, and also newer. “This house is about seven years old. It’s one of the newest ones out on the market besides just-built homes,” Quinn explained as she unlocked the door.

They walked inside to the foyer which was parquet hardwood flooring. The flooring spread to the left into what Quinn called the sitting room. The sitting room was spacious and filled with windows. She led them this way first. “The hardwood floors were just smoothed over before the house went on the market, so they’re like new,” she explained as she led them through this room to a larger room, also with parquet flooring. There was a large bay window, and she said, “This is the dining room area.” Quinn gestured to the adjacent kitchen. “It gets quite sunny and bright in here as well.” The kitchen overlooked the backyard and was large and spacious with stainless steel appliances. “Everything in here is in working order, electric stove, large fridge for all of Finn’s food,” she teased, and Sam laughed. On the other end of the kitchen there was a half bathroom and then the door to the garage.

They made a full wrap around back to the foyer through one last room, carpeted a tasteful beige color with a fireplace in the center. “Then we’ve got this family room with a working fireplace,” Quinn gestured to it.

When they were back in the foyer, they had the option of going down the hallway which led straight to the kitchen, or upstairs. She took them upstairs, and when they reached the landing, they were met with a hallway of doors. The first room once you reached the top of the stairs was one of the four bedrooms, and it was painted a pale pink. “This room belonged to a little girl and she had it covered in princess decorations,” Quinn explained. “The sellers are willing to paint over it if this is a color you’re not interested in.”

“This room is mine!” Annika cried out as she ran in the room and began spinning in circles, her skirt swinging out around her.

“It’s fine,” Sam insisted as Quinn walked down the hall.

She smiled and pointed out the next two rooms, one at the middle of the hallway and one at the end. “These two bedrooms belonged to the family’s sons. One is green and one is blue. Again, the sellers are willing to paint over these colors if you’re not interested in them,” Quinn explained.

Carly ran into the blue room eagerly and asked, “Can this be mine?”

Sam and Finn smiled and Quinn figured out that if they chose this house, repainting wouldn’t be necessary. There was a bathroom just around the corner, and tucked away on the other side of the house was a huge master bedroom. It was painted beige with dark brown paneling on the bottom half of the walls. It looked rustic and cozy, and there was a private bathroom off the side. Quinn could tell just by the expressions on their faces that Finn and Sam liked this house and wanted to live in it.

“The basement is unfinished and is rather small, but it contains a large storage room and a tiled laundry room with a new washer and drier in it. We can go look at it, or…”

“We’ll take it,” Finn said excitedly.

Sam grinned from next to Finn as the girls rushed into the room where the adults stood. “Are we gonna live in this one Papa?” Annika asked eagerly.

“We’re going to try,” Sam replied.

They went back to Finn and Sam’s apartment where they offered Quinn some coffee and did the paperwork while Annika and Caroline played in the living room. When all the business was out of the way, Quinn just watched the girls with a smile. “They’ve really grown up,” she said wistfully.

It was the truth. Annika’s hair was long and curly and went down to her elbows. It was dusty blonde like her dad’s hair and her big blue eyes were as sparkly and full of mirth as ever. She was tall for her age, too. Her head was already at Sam’s waist, and Caroline wasn’t far behind. Caroline was about two inches shorter than Annika and her hair was dark brown and stick straight. She liked it long so she could put it up in a ponytail, which at age four she was already an expert at. Day after day she kept her hair in a ponytail because then it wouldn’t get in her face when she ran and played sports which were still her favorite. She always wore jeans and a tee shirt and cried endlessly whenever Annika would tell her she had to wear a dress. Annika, only the other hand, only owned about two pairs of pants. The rest of her closet was full of dresses and leggings and she hated wearing tennis shoes on gym days at school.

“How are you doing?” Sam asked, feeling a little rude for just now realizing he should have asked Quinn about her life.

She nodded slowly and said, “I’m good. I do this and I’m casually seeing someone. It’s nothing serious right now. I get to see Beth every other weekend when Puck doesn’t have her.”

That right there surprised the boys. “You guys get to see Beth?” Finn asked curiously.

Quinn nodded and said, “Puck sees her the weekends I don’t, and she’s with Shelby during the week.” At their shocked faces, she added, “I’m not surprised he didn’t tell you.”

“Why?” Finn asked, a little rougher than he should have.

Quinn moved past it like it was nothing and explained, “Well, Meg wasn’t too happy with it at first. He was worried that he’d upset you guys and stress Sam out if he told you that his relationship with Meg was a little rocky. I think it’s better now so you guys will hear it from him eventually, but Meg got a little territorial.”

That right there didn’t surprise Finn or Sam at all. She always was rather free-spirited and could be rather brash. “She knows I’m not going to get in the way or try to get Puck back, and he just wants to be in his daughter’s life,” Quinn shrugged. “She and I actually went out for drinks the other night and got along. I hear that little Andy loves Beth.”

Sam smiled a little at the thought. Andy had turned one a few months back, but neither could remember how old Beth was. Sam asked, and Quinn smiled, “She’s seven and in first grade.”

“Does she go to McKinley Elementary?” Sam asked curiously.

“No, Shelby still lives out in Akron so she goes to Carmel,” Quinn shook her head.

“Well if she ever wants a playmate while she’s with you, she’s more than welcome to come and play with Annie. And you can come by anytime you like, Quinn,” Finn offered.

Quinn smiled and said, “Thanks, guys. Hopefully we get this sorted out, and I can help you guys move if you need it.” Her eyes lingered on Sam’s growing belly for a moment before she said, “I should get going, though. Process the paperwork and stuff. We can get you guys signed soon and you’ll be able to move in by December 1st if all goes well. Maybe earlier if the sellers are okay with it.”

Both boys thanked Quinn and saw her to the door, and just as Quinn said, the offer went through and they were given the keys on November first instead of December first. Sam had to literally be forced into his room or down on the couch so he wouldn’t pack everything up and try to move it himself. Meg, Andy, and the girls were in charge of keeping Sam away from lifting and moving. He was pissed about it, but Burt, Carole, Finn, and Puck seemed to have a pretty good grasp on it all.

They filled the moving truck with everything and only then was Sam allowed to walk downstairs. “Has the doctor said anything else about the strange measurements he’d mentioned?” Meg asked curiously as they drove behind the truck to Sam and Finn’s new house.

Sam shook his head and said, “He keeps insisting it’s fine for now, but he’s going to have some sort of specialist come in and have a look at my ultrasound on Monday.”

“Hopefully it’s nothing,” Meg said as she flashed Sam a hopeful smile.

The couch was the first thing moved in to the house so Sam had somewhere to sit while everything else was moved, and Sam sat and played with Andy on his stomach for a bit. Andy was cute and rather calm, and he had dark hair that Puck was already shaving into a mohawk. “It’s so thin though,” Sam teased, running his hair through the little tufts of hair running along the middle of Andy’s head.

“He looks badass,” Puck said, as though he were correcting Sam’s statement.

Meg just smiled and looked between Puck and Andy like she’d be content with her life forever if it meant little moments like that. Sam wondered why they weren’t married yet, but didn’t push it. They made a wonderful family, wedding rings or not.

Quinn and her boyfriend were going to come by with Beth to help organize and unpack on Sunday, along with Puck and Meg. It would be an interesting gathering of people, but Sam was kind of looking forward to it. What Sam didn’t expect was for Quinn to walk through the door with Mike Chang right behind her. Sam and Finn greeted him excitedly, as did Puck, but they were all curious what happened to Tina. “She and I broke up when I went off to college,” Mike explained. “She and Artie got back together during their senior year.”

“It’s good to see you, man,” Finn said happily.

They introduced Meg and the kids before they set to work unpacking the apartment. Sam was a little confused when a bunch of baby stuff started coming in when he and Finn had sold off theirs after Caroline grew out of it. “It’s ours,” Meg said calmly. “It’s all the stuff that Andy outgrew,” she explained. “Please, just take it.”

Sam was reluctant, but nodded because he knew several of the things they were giving him, he and Finn had actually given to them. They set up Evan’s room and unpacked a bunch of the boy’s baby clothes that Puck and Meg gave them as well. It was amazing how much actually got done, especially when Sam, Andy, Caroline, and Annika were napping. The only boxes left to be unpacked were Finn and Sam’s clothes, which Finn decided to let Sam take care of since Sam seemed a little bummed out that he didn’t get to help.

“You guys should stay for dinner,” Finn offered.

Quinn laughed a bit and asked, “Do you still make grilled cheese and burn the French fries?”

“Actually, no,” Sam chimed in from the couch. “But I’m the better cook out of the two of us.”

“I’ll help make something,” Meg offered.

“Me too,” Quinn chimed in.

Finn was a little surprised, and he ended up just letting them take over, since they knew where everything was and seemed to have their own recipe in mind. Beth followed them around and helped, for the most part, but she and Annika ran off to play Barbies as soon as Annika woke up from her nap. Sam just sat on the couch and played with Andy, wistfully hoping that Evan was still okay. He hadn’t felt him kick yet and that freaked Sam out. He was seven months pregnant and hadn’t felt a thing.

On Monday at the ultrasound appointment, Sam brought this up, and Dr. Lopez said, “The heartbeat is there, but it’s a bit slow. He’s getting better. I think it might just be that he’s tired. He hasn’t rotated as much as we’d like to see, but there’s still time.”
Finn and Sam looked at the screen and listened to the faint thrumming of Evan’s heart. “Are his head measurements still off?” Sam asked.

Dr. Lopez nodded and said, “They are, yeah, and I’ve got a craniologist coming in to take a look. He should be here any minute.”
Sure enough, the craniologist named Dr. Olson was in there and took a close look at the measurements. “The head has been this shape since about eighteen weeks,” Dr. Lopez explained.

Sam and Finn didn’t see what was wrong with the shape of Evan’s head, but they waited for Dr. Olson to explain. He looked seriously at the ultrasound image for a few more seconds before he spoke. “I think what we’re looking at here is scaphocephaly,” Dr. Olson said. “It’s hard to be sure while the baby is still in utero, but the measurements have been consistently indicating this for several months now.”

“What does that mean?” Finn asked, his brow furrowed in confusion.

“The skull is a series of several different bones, and they all move together and join later in life,” Dr. Olson explained. “What happened with your baby is that these plates fused prematurely, so his head is currently improperly shaped.”

“Is he okay?” Sam asked instantly.

“Besides the low heart rate that is common in situations of male pregnancy, he’s perfectly healthy,” Dr. Olson said in hopes of calming Finn and Sam. “However, it is suggested that we perform surgery to remedy this fusion before it affects his brain growth.”

“When is that?” Finn spoke up quickly.

“The ideal time to perform the cranial surgery is around ages two to three months,” Dr. Olson explained calmly. “Right now, we just need to keep an eye on him, and when he’s about one month old, he should get a 3-D CT scan to be sure we’ve got the diagnosis correct. If we do, then we’ll schedule the surgery and take care of your little guy right away.”

Sam looked concerned and asked, “What will the surgery do?”

Dr. Lopez shut off the machine and let Sam clean up while Dr. Olson explained. “In the most basic terms, we’ve got to make an incision in the baby’s head and detach the lobes of the skull that have already fused together. This won’t damage the tissue, so it will be able to re-fuse when it’s time. We’ll give him stitches to heal up, and he’ll need to wear a special helmet to help re-shape his head as well to protect the sutures, and he’ll be happy and healthy by the time he’s six months old.”

Finn and Sam didn’t say a word as they tried to comprehend what Dr. Olson said. “Right now, I don’t think you should stress about this,” he insisted. “It’s a more common procedure than you think, and I can refer to you to one of the best pediatric neurosurgeons in the state.”

Dr. Lopez handed them their ultrasound image and said, “We’ll check on him as often as you’d like. With your previous history I’d suggest bi-weekly appointments now as we finish out the third trimester.”

Sam just nodded, and Finn led him out to the lobby. As they left, Dr. Olson held out a business card and said, “If you have any questions about any of this, please give me a call. Everything is going to be okay for you and your son.”

On the way home, Sam and Finn picked up the girls from Puck and Meg’s place where they’d been playing until the appointment was over. Puck and Meg were concerned the second they saw Sam and Finn, but Finn just told Puck, “We’ll talk about it later.”

The weight of it all was too much to handle right now, and Finn just needed to let it sink in before they told anyone else.

That night after the girls went to bed, Finn and Sam curled up in their bed and Finn reached down between them to rest his hand on Sam’s swollen belly. “He’ll be okay,” Finn whispered softly. “No matter what happens, he’s going to be okay.”

Sam sighed and covered Finn’s hand with his own. He looked up at Finn sadly, about to ask what they’d do if Finn was wrong, when they both froze. After a few seconds of shocked silence, Sam whispered, “He kicked.”

Finn smiled and nodded. He felt Evan kicking his hand and he grinned. Sam smiled too, and even though Evan’s kicks were short lived, they gave the boys hope that it would all be okay, and in that moment, that’s all that mattered.

Just a little personal note - what Dr. Olson diagnosed Evan with is something that I've witnessed personally. My younger brother (he's 6 right now - 15 years younger than me!) was born with scaphocephaly, though his went undetected until after birth and they just barely operated in time. So - I'm going to try to make this whole ordeal as real to life as possible.

fic rating: pg13

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