Bartoned

Chapter 12

Clint sat perched on the chair beside the ultrasound table buzzing with excitement. He'd hold your hand, let it go, then take it again, almost like he wasn't sure what she should be doing with his hands. The ultrasound tech, a short brunette woman who had introduced herself as Stephanie, was running the wand under the swell of your stomach and stopping now and again to take measurements or screen captures.

The talk was just that mundane chit-chat about the weather and how you were feeling. You could almost feel Clint's desire to just say, 'shut-up and tell me what we're having.'

It was so different this time. The last ultrasound you had gotten, the baby had just looked like a weird jelly bean with a vaguely alien face and what might have been arms but also could have just been flippers for all you knew. Now it looked like a baby. You'd been doing research. The fetus was now the size of a banana, but this Banana had a head with eyes, a nose, and a mouth. It had arms and legs. You could even see its tiny little fingers.

You were growing a tiny person in there. A person you were going to be responsible for for the rest of your life. Seeing the ultrasound seemed to turn it from being this abstract thing to something really real. It was scary, but even with this unusual situation you were in, you were excited about it.

"Were we finding out the sex today?" Stephanie asked.

"Yeah. Yes. Yes, please," Clint said, sitting forward and nearly toppling face-first off the chair.

"So yes then?" Stephannie teased.

"Thank you," he said and squeezed your hand as he looked intently at the screen.

Stephannie moved the wand around to try and get a better angle. The image moved from a profile view of the whole fetus to being underneath it and looking at the legs.

"Okay," she said, as she pushed hard against your side, exacerbating that need to pee you already had thanks to your very full bladder. "Can you see this shape here, that looks a little like a hamburger?"

Clint leaned forward a little more and one of his legs slipped off the chair. He only barely managed to catch himself. "What? What does that mean? Is hamburger one of the genders? Is it 'cause of how much I like In-N-Out?"

Stephanie tried to bite back a laugh and you started laughing loudly. Your laughter set hers off properly which made yours even louder. Clint frowned and tapped his foot impatiently on the ground as he waited for you both to get yourselves under control.

It took a while.

"No, Mister Barton," Stephanie said, still hiccuping with laughter. "It means it's a girl."

"A girl?" Clint said, looking at you. "We're having a girl?"

It was like he was lit up from the inside. The weird thing was, you felt like it wouldn't have mattered what she said, he would have had the same reaction. He was just excited to learn a little more about this kid who was coming into the world that he was going to be responsible for.

"We're having a girl," you echoed, squeezing his hand.

He excitedly leaned down and kissed you and for just a brief moment you forgot that you guys didn't do that. Your hand went to his jaw and you parted your lips just enough to let his bottom lip sit between them.

He pulled back and you both just stared at each other. He shook his head and blinked. "Shit. Sorry," he mumbled.

"Don't..."

"Alright," Stephanie said, interrupting something she wasn't even aware was happening. "Do you want a printout?"

"Two please," you answered, snapping out of the minor trance you had seemed to fall into.