Replacement

Respect

After they had breakfast, and Gabriel had convinced Nathalie to wear the dress, he had brought for her, a light pink one, which made her belly way less visible, he helped her sit back down on the rim of the bed, then opened the drawer of the nightstand to take something out and turn to not let her see already.

"Gabriel, what are you doing? Is there any reason for acting all suspiciously?"

He sighed and shook his head, then closed the distance between them with a few steps, before he got down on one knee in front of her and took her hand into his own:

"Nathalie Sancoeur, I know, you already agreed on marrying me, but still I waited for the right moment to do that right. You, my love, deserve all the respect and the love, I could ever come up with and therefor I am on my knees, asking you, to give me the honour of becoming my wife. From today until death do us part!", he grinned, as he slipped the ring, he had picked up from the jeweler earlier, onto her finger then whispered, "I have arranged a small, romantic ceremony for just the two of us down at the village. Happy Valentine's day, my darling!"

She stared at him in shock, then the tears began to run down her face when she nodded and croaked:

"Of course, I will become your wife! And I too want to give you all the love and respect, I can master. And that's why I have a surprise for you too. Here!"

She unlocked the tablet, that was lying beside her and opened a file, that turned out to be the video of the last ultrasound examination, they had been to.

"What.... That's our little one, Nath! I love, that you did that, so I can watch it, whenever I want! Thank you very much, my love!"

"Oh, but that's not all", she said secretively, "as we were talking about respect, I, to respect your wishes as much as mine, made the doctor tell me the gender and well, that's your Valentine's gift, my darling. If you watch the whole clip, you'll see, that he marked the scenes, where it's possible to see with a red circle, so we can guess at first, before we'll be able to read the truth at the end. And no, I didn't see it yet, I've waited for you, to watch it with me together on Valentine's day, so, happy Valentine's to you too!"

He ambushed her with his savage kiss, making her fall back onto the mattress, immediately wrapping both arms and both legs around him, while she quickly deepened the kiss even more, licked along his lips, to invite his tongue to her play. 

After some time, Gabriel pulled back gazing at her in awe, then asked:

"Why the change of mind, love? I thought, you wanted to be surprised at the birth?"

She sighed, before she admitted:

"Well, one half really was due to wanting to surprise you and show you, that I want to fulfill your wishes too, yet the other.....", she inhaled deeply again, then uttered rapidly, "the other is, that I have a very bad feeling in my guts, when I think of the birth. Don't give me that look! I know, that something is about to happen then, I just can't tell, how bad it will be. But I am very certain, that I won't be able to hear or see the gender right away, so..... I really want us both to know at the same time. Stop looking scared. It's just a feeling, maybe completely stupid. Maybe just the beginning fear of having to give birth soon, so relax! This day should be to celebrate and not to be sad, okay?"

Gabriel looked at her with all his love, then agreed.

"You're right. And I am very certain, that it's really the fear of giving birth. Maybe you subconsciously think, that you are still too weak for it, but believe me, Nathalie, you are the strongest woman, who has ever lived, so, try to think positive and look forward to holding your little son or daughter in your arms. Will you promise me that?", he pleaded and seeing his desperate expression she just nodded and kissed him passionately again.

"I promise!", Nathalie whispered hoarsely right next to his ear, making a shiver run down his spine, "but let's watch this video on the big screen now, so we can make bets over, which gender our baby really has!"

Smiling at her, he got up and switched the large flat screen on the opposite wall on, then waited until Nathalie had managed to send the picture there, before he sat down next to her again.

"Ready?", she asked.

"Ready!"

They were both staring at the screen with tears brimming their eyes, not because they were about to find out their child's gender, but because they always cried when they saw their baby growing and moving around, while the doctor took his measurements and stuff. They were simply touched each and every time.

Eventually, they had reached the end and before the big reveal, Nathalie paused the video, asking:

"Could you see anything? Because I didn't even look. I was too captured by seeing our baby kick and wave and suck on the little fingers, to try and look anywhere else!"

Gabriel chuckled, then replied:

"I have to admit, I tried to see it, but, I couldn't even figure out anything, that would hint towards it, not even, when it was encircled with the red marker!"

Now they laughed together and intertwined their fingers, then turned to each other and kissed again.

"Well, time to reveal your secret, my little sweetheart!", Nathalie cooed, while gently rubbing the side of her belly.

Grinning the man bent down and placed a kiss right next to her hand, whispering:

"You've heard your mum, we are about to find out, what you tried to keep from us! I love you, no matter what we're about to read, though. I just wanted you to know that!"

"You're incredibly sweet, did you know that?", the mother to be hummed, then continued the clip.

It soon read:

"Congratulations, Mr Agreste and Miss Sancoeur to your little girl!"