Forever and Always

A Meeting with Amanda

Cecelia put her leg up on the toilet seat and winced and she pushed the 14th and final needle into her thigh. She dropped it into the disposable bin on the window ledge and turned on the taps to run herself a bath. She sat on the closed toilet seat in her dressing gown and rubbed her leg where the needle had gone in. As the water reached almost the top of the white bath tub, she stopped the flow of water from the tap and hung her dressing gown on the back of the bathroom door and climbed into the warm water. She dipped her head under the water and then foamed up her fresh smelling shampoo and put it all over her hair. Once her hair was washed she laid back in the tranquility of the empty house, pushing the frothy bubbles on the surface around in circles. She heard Oscar come in the door so she decided to get out, she wrapped the towel around her and squeezed her hair over the bath. She put her dressing gown over the towel and went down to greet him. 'Hello lovely' he said as she came through the kitchen doorway, 'hello. How was your day?' He flicked on the kettle 'not too bad. How about you? Anyone interesting?' She shook her head 'not a soul came in' she said 'it was very odd, especially as we had appointments for at least 3 clients today' 'mm. How strange' he nodded slowly 'tea?' 'Coffee would be lovely please. I'm going to go and put something on and I'll be down in a bit'

She sat down next to him on the sofa and turned on the TV. 'Ooh modern family?' She gasped 'I haven't seen that in ages!' He put his arm around her as he felt her relax for the first time in 2 years. He sat there and thought about the things that were going to happen to them in the near future. He went to sleep thinking about all the things he was going to buy their baby and how much he was going to spoil them.

They woke up the next morning to the booming theme music of the morning news. 'Did we just spend a whole night on the sofa?' She asked getting up and stretching her arms above her head, 'it seems that way' he agreed as they went up the stairs to get changed ready for their appointment with Amanda. 'I'm going to jump in the shower' he pointed a finger at her sternly 'don't jump. You might fall over'. She turned to face him and they burst into laughter, 'wow. That was bad, even for you' she shook her head and went to the bathroom. She dried her hair and pulled on her light blue blouse and white trousers and went downstairs to meet him. 'Okay?' He opened the front door and gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder as he locked up the house. They arrived early at the clinic but Amanda agreed to see them anyway. 'How are you feeling Cecelia?' She asked as they all sat down, 'I've been quite good actually' Amanda nodded pulling her glasses down from her hair and putting them on her nose. 'Good. I'm glad to hear it' she said looking down to her notes, 'so you've come for your 12 FSH injections this time. You shouldn't experience any side effects so if you do, you should call us straight away' they nodded 'and then once you've finished this lot of FSH then we can extract your eggs and fertilise them. I'll just go and get those for you okay?' Amanda got up and left the room to get the FSH injections. Cecelia turned to Oscar with tears in her eyes, 'I'm so excited' she said as a few tears rolled down her cheeks, 'me too' he said taking her hands 'it's the start of our new life'. Amanda came in as they were mid-hug and sat down in her big chair again, putting the bag onto her desk. She turned to face Amanda again and wiped a stray tear from her face.

The next 12 days flew by and they were back with Amanda before they knew it. She was worried about the procedure but Amanda assured her that it wouldn't go wrong in any way. She was given the sedation injection and Amanda began the procedure. When Cecelia woke up, Amanda told her that the eggs were being fertilised, 'we'll give you a call when they're ready to be implanted. It should be less than a week. Most probably about 3 or 4 days' she informed them.