Fate || BENNIFER

Unknown

Jennifer's P.O.V

I let the entire weight of my body fall on his chest and exhaled until my lungs emptied. He placed his chin on my head and wrapped his arm around me. I closed my eyes tightly. His hand squeezed my arm slightly, and continued with a kiss on my temple. I was feeling down, more than I could hide, and none of us said a word while we waited for the doctor. My heart jumped when I heard the door. Ben turned his head to look but didn't move away from me. He hadn't left my side since I sat down.

"What are these parents-to-be so worried about?" He walked to us reading some papers he had in his hand.

"I haven't been feeling very well lately." Something in my voice was noticeably off.

"Well... the news has spread like wildfire. I've already seen it on tv, magazines, even the newspaper." He sat in front of me. "I can't imagine the stress you must be going through."

"It didn't feel right... the way it happened." I tilted my head to look up at Ben.

"A four-month pregnancy isn't easy to hide when you're always in the spotlight." Ben said.

"I've known you for years now, even before you were pregnant with Emme and Max, and I know that when you lose control of the situation, your overall health tends to go down." He said raising an eyebrow.

"What are you saying? That I should take back control?" I asked confused.

"I don't think that's possible at this point." Ben pointed out.

"I'm not a psychologist, but what I see is that you couldn't tell the world. You couldn't do it your way. You couldn't choose the moment that felt right for you." He said. "Do it now. Whenever you're ready, tell the world the way you would've done it. And I'm sure you will feel much better." He gave me a lopsided smile. "Now, shall we take a look at that baby?"

"Please." My face completely switched to a happier expression.

I lay back, found a comfortable position, and got a towel tucked into my waistband. Ben gazed down at me with that look on his face, the one that made me fall for him more and more every time.

"It's good to see your smile back." He reached down to stroke my cheek and push a loose strand of hair out of my face.

"What do we have here?" The doctor said putting on his glasses.

"Is there something wrong?" A chill ran through my body.

"No." He answered with no doubt in his voice. "Is that a second baby?"

"What?" Ben asked startled.

His face was of pure terror, but it didn't take him long to realize that he was just trying to make us laugh. Though I bet his heart stopped for a moment.

"Looks like this baby isn't feeling shy today. In fact, the sex seems very clear to me."

Ben and I looked at each other and I knew we agreed on something, the previous months had brought more surprises than we had bargained for. None of us expected to have a baby at this point in our lives or with each other, but what harm could one more surprise do?

"Would you like to know?" He asked.

"I don't. At least for now." My look went back to Ben.

"Let's keep it unknown." He nodded.

"Alright. Let's see what else we can see." He said turning back to the screen. "Mmm... two ears. A potential future fan if you ask me."

I really appreciated that he used anything as an excuse to make me laugh. That little while felt like breathing after drowning in so much scrutiny and judgment.

"October 10th is your estimated due date. It is something I wanted to mention during our last appointment but I completely forgot." He had it written on one of his papers as a reminder.

"My guess wasn't so wrong then. I figured it would be around the 13th." I replied.

"Good guess. It could still happen on the 13th though. You know this can't be one hundred percent predicted. It could even be before, so be prepared for any surprises." He explained.

And it goes without saying that it was the year of surprises.