Getting By ~ Cole & Cassie's Story

Do We Really Want To Know?

Cassie P.O.V

                I hate hospitals. Especially this one, St. Joseph’s. This is the place where my life took a drastic turn, for both me and Cole, and now it’s the place where we get to stare at my unborn niece or nephew. This is the conversation topic of the day, by the way.

“I think it’s a girl.” Cole said for the fourth time.

“I’m almost positive it’s a boy.” Sophie looked nervous, but didn’t stop arguing her point.

“How do you know?” Cole asked, fiddling with the radio station.

“I’ve got a hunch,” Sophie said.

I swatted Cole’s hand away from the radio and rolled my eyes at them “Will you two shut up? There’s a lot of traffic and I don’t want to be late.” With the pregnancy still a secret, we had to drive to the city to see a doctor, so no one would find out.

“Thank you for doing this, Cassie, but we really could’ve taken the bus.” Cole said this gently, but I still felt hurt. I was here to support them. I was the only one supporting them.

“I wouldn’t do that to you, and besides,” I flashed them a smile “I want to meet my niece or nephew.” This brought the previous argument back to light. Pulling into the parking lot, Cole helped Sophie out of the car (not that she needed help, as she so clearly pointed out) and we trekked across the pavement, my heart beating faster with every step.

Luckily, we weren’t anywhere near emergency or the morgue, but on the third floor. The fertility floor. I hadn’t been planning on coming to this floor for at least three years, and it would’ve been for me, with Jake. Not my seventeen year old brother with his pregnant girl friend.

Our names were finally called, and we all went into a sterile white room, where they had Sophie lie on one of those chair things. She was holding Cole’s hand so tight he had to remind her he kind of needed it, but really, he was holding hers just as tightly.

Sophie flinched as they put the cold cream on her stomach and moved the monitor around her, trying to find the baby. When they did, Sophie started to cry, and I’m pretty sure Cole was, too. I put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it gently, just so he knew I was there.

“Would you like to know the gender?” the nurse asked.

Cole shook his head “We want it to be a surprise; there’s a bet in it.”

“The name?” the nurse guessed.

Sophie nodded “Yes; if it’s a boy, I get to name it. If it’s a girl, Cole does.”

“Well, I’ll write it on a piece of paper and put it in an envelope-just in case you change your mind.”

She gave me the envelope, and I suddenly couldn’t take it any more. The image on he screen was so precious, and it made me think of my own future as a mother. I had practically raised my kid brother, and if Sophie and Cole decided to keep the baby, I would be helping raise it, too.

I left, pushing past strangers in white coats until I’d reached the car. I leaned against the hood, breathing deeply. This was not the time to think about what I didn’t have. Cole needed me.

“Hey, you okay?” a woman of around forty was standing in front of me when I opened my eyes. She was short, and kinda pudgy, but her smile was kind.

I smiled weakly “Yeah, I’m okay. Don’t like hospitals.”

The woman shrugged “Who does?”

I shrugged back “Its just…this is the hospital I came to when my parents died. And now-now my brother…”

She frowned “I’m sorry, your brother, he’s not dead, to, is he?”