Their now-weekly appointments with the OB-GYN, Dr. Nook, start becoming routine, but as they progress, they have both Shayne and Courtney feeling more and more confident. She tells them the meds are working, the levels in her blood tests that had sent up alarm bells are actually dropping back to normal instead of just not getting any worse, and their little guy seems unperturbed by it all.
Instead, he simply seems to be getting more active, and – as Shayne puts it to Saige, Damien and Ian one day in the office around week 28 – "probably training to start karate by the time it's two or three". Courtney hadn't been exactly parading her bump around as it became increasingly more obvious, but after a handful of quiet conversations with Shayne and their guy's increased activity, they had decided offering up the option of feeling his karate training might be a way to quietly and subtly assuage the worries of their three closest friends in the office.
Saige squeaks when she feels him kick, immediately pulling her hand off Courtney's bump and pulling it to her face in embarrassment, but it simply makes the others laugh.
"It is kinda weird," Courtney admits, before shaking her head, "and... look, I'm not exactly parading this around for everyone, but you guys have been looking worried lately and... yeah, things did get a little... dangerous-sounding a few weeks back, but they put me on meds to control it and they're working really well and it's probably all good now. Both he and I are healthy."
"Shayne mentioned something kind of went bad out of nowhere but then I heard nothing else and... yeah," Damien admits, shaking his head softly, "don't want to be nosy, but also care a lot about you guys."
"Yeah," Ian agrees, shaking his head lightly, "and I feel like I can't ask anything because I'm kind of your boss and that would be totally inappropriate but I just- you're also my friends and I want this to go well for you."
"We get it, guys, it's okay," Shayne answers, softly, "and we're- we are mostly keeping stuff to ourselves, but we will tell you if anything really major happens. And I mean – if the doctors had told us to look out for certain stuff or things like that, I'd probably want a few people here to know too, not just me, so if something happens at work and I'm not right there..."
"Hey, we know that if something blatantly bad happens – call ambulance, call Shayne, in that order," Saige points out, "but hey, Court can look out for herself, too."
"Yup, and Shayne is worrying about everything but he knows that too," she agrees, glancing over to where he's sitting beside her, reaching over and gently patting his cheek. It makes him blush, laughing at himself as he does.
It's only after they've settled into a completely different conversation a couple of minutes later – the five of them are waiting for a shoot together anyway, Courtney hadn't just pulled them aside randomly in the middle of the workday – that she gasps, everyone immediately looking to face her with concerned eyes: except Shayne, who simply grins.
"Realised what you said?" he asks, simply, Courtney merely nodding and pursing her lips together, as Damien, Ian and Saige all relax.
"Okay, I was just gonna brush past that and pretend I didn't notice it, but you did say he..." Saige trails off, Courtney shrugging lightly.
"Yeah. We didn't really – we didn't even try to know because it's not like we're gonna fucking colour code him based on his genitals because that's stupid anyway but dude just straight up flashed us on the ultrasound one time," she explains, the others laughing in response.
Shayne tries his absolute hardest to keep his own panic under control, but when their appointment the next week is just ever so slightly different, when the doctor doesn't tell them exactly what the results are for once and has an awkward glint in her eye, he feels everything start spiking again. He doesn't want to be too much, he doesn't want to be annoying, if they say it's fine it probably is-
YOU ARE READING
Safe
Fanfiction"I got you, Court. You're safe. You're gonna be okay," he tells her in almost desperate reassurance, barely above a whisper and feeling his words stumble slightly as his breath hitches. She seems to push closer in response, her tears flowing freely...
