she's mine

isabella | oh baby baby

With Sarah with her fake boyfriend today for her brothers birthday party, I agree to accompany Kaida to her 18 week checkup.

We wait in silence at the gynecologist, the only noise in the room the nervous tap of my sisters leg and the occasional flip of a magazine page from a woman across the room.

"Kaida?" the nurse calls, once she walks in the room. I stand up and follow, waiting off to the side while they get her vitals before they put us in a room to wait for the doctor.

"How are you holding up?" I ask, noticing how pale she looks.

"Just on edge I guess," she sighs,"I keep having bad dreams that something goes horrifically wrong and I lose the baby."

"The baby is fine," I reassure her,"you've got me and dad keeping an eye on you whenever you aren't at work, and your boss knows not to push your limits."

"I know," she says shaking her head,"just a weird feeling I guess. It's probably nothing."

There's a knock on the door before the doctor comes in, an older woman with a long white lab coat, graying hair pulled on top of her head into a bun.

"Hello Miss Kaida," she says with a smile,"who do we have with you here today?"

"This is my sister Bella," Kaida explains.

"Well Miss Bella it's nice to see Kaida has someone with her. I keep telling her pregnancy isn't meant to be gone through without any support," the doctor says as she pulls gloves on,"are you ready to find out the sex of your baby today Kaida?"

Kaida's eyes go wide,"I didn't realize-"

"If you would like to opt out that is totally fine, you tell me. Either way I would like an ultrasound to make sure your baby is healthy."

"No, I want to know," Kaida says, sounding more sure of herself now.

"Then let's get you all gelled up and get a look."

Kaida rolls her shirt up, exposing the small but visible bump on her belly, before the doctor runs some gel on it. The doctor then grabs the ultrasound wand and runs it around for a second before a picture comes up on the screen.

I watch tears pool up in my sisters eyes as she sees her baby on the screen, a heartbeat thumping, little hands and feet curled up.

"Your baby girl looks great," the doctor says with a smile.

"I'm having a baby girl Bell," Kaida says, sniffling a bit as she wipes her tears.

"You're having a baby girl," I say grabbing her hand and squeezing it.

The doctor prints out a picture of the ultrasound and checks that everything else looks good before we head home. When we pull into the driveway I see that Sarah and Ben beat us back, I told them to come over for Chinese food and movies.

I head inside and find them studying at the kitchen table, Sarah smiling, and Ben's jaw dropping. I glance back and realize Kaida had changed into a crop top in the car after the shirt she wore to the doctors office got ultrasound gel all over it, her baby bump now very visible since she wasn't wearing her usual oversized shirt to hide it.

"Is it his?" Ben asks, the tension in the room so thick you could cut it with a knife.

"He doesn't know..." Kaida says, so softly I wasn't entirely sure if he was able to hear her or not.

I watch the confliction in Ben's eyes. He was closer to Nash than he was to us, however he was fiercely loyal to all his friends, and always treated us like friends not just Rowan's sisters.

"I really wish you'd tell him," Ben finally says after a minute,"however it's not my place."

"Thank you," Kaida breaths out. She then pulls out the ultrasound and starts telling Sarah about how she's having a baby girl, the smile on her face shining.

I step out of the room and order food for all of us, but before I can go back to the kitchen, Ben finds me.

"She's taking this surprisingly well," he says,"I really wish she'd tell Nash though."

"I tried to tell her that when she first found out, you know Kaida though. Once she makes her mind up on something there's no talking her out of things," I say.

"It's going to break him if he finds out she kept this from him."

"She might never. Rowan made her promise to either tell Nash before he left for the army and let him raise his kid, or leave Nash alone forver," I say,"I keep trying to convince her it's better late than never but with her promising Rowan I doubt she'll break that."

Ben nods,"would he even be able to come home if he knew?"

I shake my head,"his contract is for 4 years so even if she told him he won't be home until the baby is 3."

"Shoot," he sighs,"there is no easy answer."

I nod,"at this point all I can do is do my best take care of her while he's gone. I hope she tells him eventually, he would be over the moon to be a dad."

Ben nods in agreement and we sit in silence for a moment before heading back to the kitchen where Kaida was asking Sarah a bunch of questions. Sarah, having basically raised her 6 younger siblings was Kaida's go to for baby advice lately.