The Butterfly Effect

20. Blended

Tuesday, November 1

Olivia stood in the mirror after showering that morning before her doctor's appointment, admiring the changes her body had been making to accommodate the baby growing inside of her. Time had been her worst enemy but in the best way possible. It felt like it was just yesterday she was mourning the loss of her baby, and now she was barely fitting into her pants because of the baby. And then there had been Cecilia who was nearing seven months already. Before she knew it, it would be time to make a trip to the courthouse to sign papers to officially adopt her. Which was another thing that had been on her mind a lot lately.

Elliot..Cecilia was as much his as she was hers. He had been there from the very beginning and helped parent and shower her with love every single day. There had never been a time where Elliot hadn't treated Cecilia like his own, and she was beginning to consider adding his name to the adoption papers. Even if they broke up in the next year or ten years, Elliot would always be in Cecilia's life. She couldn't ever see herself taking her away from him, not after everything he's done for them both.

"Cecilia is down for her nap, and Mo should be here in-" he stopped mid sentence when he seen Olivia in the mirror of the bathroom. "Whatcha doing?" he smiled when he seen her caressing her belly, standing there in her silk robe.

"Our baby is growing like crazy, I'm just..amazed," she bit her bottom lip and reached for his hand. Olivia placed his under hers as she guided it around her belly. "The baby has been kind of kicking lately. Well, not kicking but little flutters here and there. I can't wait til you can feel it," she looked up at him and kissed him sweetly. "I hope we get to find out the gender today."

"I still think it's twins," he tucked a tendril of hair behind her ear.

"I can't wait until we go to the appointment so that Dr.Parilla can put this theory to rest," she shook her head and laughed before kissing the corner of his mouth and going into her closet to get dressed for the day.

~

Olivia had been nervous the entire drive over, seeing that this had been her first actual appointment that didn't revolve around a miscarriage or testing. She was twelve weeks, almost thirteen and was excited to hear a clear heartbeat today. The gender of their baby hadn't ever been a huge deal to her though. She already felt like she had plenty of girls and boys, seeing Elliot's children as her own honestly. However, she knew deep down Elliot wanted another boy. She understood he had probably felt the same way, that he had gained another daughter with Cecilia and was ready for another boy.

"Olivia it's good to see you looking healthy and glowing!" Dr. Parilla had entered the exam room and shook both her and Elliot's hands. "You two want to find out the gender today, correct?" she wrote a few notes on her clipboard as she clicked around on her computer.

"We do and I also need you to tell Elliot there's only one baby in there. I keep telling him I'm just gaining weight, but he's somehow convinced himself that I'm having twins," she rolled her eyes playfully making the doctor laugh a bit.

"I can definitely get that confirmed for you today," she smirked at Elliot and motioned for Olivia to pull up her blouse. Dr.Parilla probed around Olivia's lower abdomen to get a good look at the baby, and make sure it's measurements were coming out okay. "It's definitely one baby in there," she said when she managed to find the heartbeat. Oddly enough it sent a shiver down Olivia's spine to hear it. Everytime she looked down at her growing belly she was reminded of the life growing inside of her, but hearing their baby's heartbeat had made it ten times more real.

"Elliot, what are you doing?" she looked over at him when she heard a clicking sound coming from his phone.

"Gotta get this for the book," he smirked at her and snapped one more photo of her before taking a moment himself to listen to the steady sound. "So no twins huh? Maybe next time," he grabbed her hand that rested on her thigh and knitted his fingers between hers.