Where I Belong

Part 5

Lindsey tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, matching the beat of a song on the radio, waiting for the light to turn green. Callie sat in the passenger's seat, looking a little nervous. They were on their way to a doctor's appointment and Lindsey was more than happy to accompany her. She wanted him to feel included and he didn't hesitate when she called to ask.

"Mom's going to meet us there." Callie said, typing a text message on her phone. "She says, she might be a few minutes late and we are not to start without her."

Lindsey chuckled lightly, nodding his head, yup, sounds like Stevie. "What about the whole moving in thing?" He glanced at his daughter briefly. 

"We've agreed that I'm good for the time being." Callie replied. "But I will not have a say towards the end." She added, she didn't sound overly happy about it. It wasn't because she didn't want to stay with Stevie, it was more due to the fact that she knew, Stevie was going to follow her every move until the baby was born.

Fifteen minutes or so later, Lindsey parked his car in front of the doctor's office. As Callie promised, they sat there, waiting for Stevie to show up too. He wanted to ask if she had started driving again or someone else was coming with her. So far, Lindsey had ran into Stevie with Chris only once. He came to visit Callie in her condo at the exact same time when they were heading out of the building a couple of weeks ago. It was an awkward exchange of 'hello' and 'how are you' that lasted about two minutes. Still, no matter how badly Lindsey wanted to know everything that was going on, he didn't want to see them together.

Lindsey heard Callie opening the car door and he looked up to see Stevie coming towards them. She apologized for being late, hugged Callie and gave Lindsey a wave. A wave, seriously? She seemed alright when they last spoke just days ago. Why would she be setting boundaries again? Lindsey shook himself, he was overthinking again.

"Are you not coming in?" Stevie asked, standing in the doorway of the exam room after Callie had gone inside.

"Am I even allowed to?" Lindsey asked.

"It's an ultrasound, Linds. Yes, you're allowed." Stevie nodded, the corners of her mouth turned upwards slightly.

Callie was instructed to lie down while Stevie took her spot right beside her, reaching for Callie's hand. Meanwhile, Lindsey, while excited to see his grandchild for the first time, felt completely out of place, unsure of where to look or what to do. He caught Stevie looking his way and she motioned for him to come closer.

The room was silent for a moment. Callie was holding her breath, wishing for the doctor to speak up at last and let her know that her baby was okay, clutching her mother's hand firmly in hers. Lindsey leaned more to the left, trying to catch a glimpse, even though he wasn't entirely sure what he was looking for.

"Everything is looking good." The doctor finally said and chuckled, hearing a collective sigh of relief. She turned the screen and pointed at it. "That's your baby. All grown up since the last time we checked." She added jokingly.

Lindsey was suddenly overcome with emotions. He started the screen, unblinking. He swallowed the lump in his throat, his eyes still glazed over with tears. Stevie looked down at the feeling of his fingers lacing through hers and she smiled, turning her head slightly to face him.

"That's our baby's baby." Lindsey leaned in closer to whisper.

It made Stevie laugh lightly and she nodded. She wasn't sure why they were whispering, but she lowered her voice too to reply. "Just to remind you - we're not calling me grandma."

Without thinking about what he was doing, Lindsey let go of Stevie's hand and put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her in closer, he pressed a kiss to her hair. He shouldn't be doing things like that, but she let is slide.

"Would you like to know if it's a boy or a girl?" 

All three directed their attention to the doctor once more. It was Callie's decision and Stevie wasn't even considering telling her what to do, but Stevie would have also liked to know what color clothes she was supposed to start buying.

"Can you tell for sure?" Callie asked.

"Never." The doctor shook her head. "But I have a pretty good guess."

Callie bit into her bottom lip, hesitating. She looked up at her parents, who kept their mouths shut. "Could you write it down and put it in an envelope or something? The father couldn't be here today and I would love for us to find out together."

"Absolutely." The doctor nodded, having received this request countless times.

Stevie hoped she masked her slight disappointment well enough, which was soon replaced with excitement. She was sure that Callie wouldn't say no to a gender reveal party. Or at least a get-together with family and friends. She also hoped that whenever they decided to have it, Mrs. Buckingham would be unavailable.