Count On Me | Niam

Chapter Ninety-Six

Liam/Niall

"Okay, everything here looks good."

The doctor's words seemed to act as a sign to Niall and Liam that they could relax, and the grip Niall had on Liam's hand lessened slightly. They both looked up at her and she laughed before looking back at her computer screen, "I mean it. Both of you are in good shape, I'm impressed."

"Definitely no problems? Because our daughter's ill and both of us have been a little under the weather..." Niall couldn't help but ask again, well aware that, by this point, asking was most definitely redundant. His doctor simply nodded, though, turning the monitor around so they could both see. "He's doing well, exactly at the stage your dates would suggest. Is he kicking yet?"

"Yep." Despite the question being directed at Niall, Liam answered and then grinned sheepishly, squeezing Niall's hand as he repeated Liam's answer. "Yep. He likes to make his presence known."

"That's what we like to hear." The doctor was unfazed by Liam's eagerness and smiled at the two of them. She tapped away at her computer for a moment and then turned back to the list of questions she ran through at every appointment. "Any lingering nausea? Backache? You're nearly six months along, so the backache would be understandable, though we'd expect the sickness to be long since over, but we can give you medication for that."

"No nausea, so no need for the medication. No backache, yet. I'm expecting it soon, though. With our first, it was almost unbearable at about seven months." Niall leant back against the seat and tilted his head so he could see the monitor and shook his head supplementarily, grinning as he saw the fuzzy sonogram image.

Possibly unfairly, Niall figured that an NHS doctor would have rolled their eyes at him then for assuming anything, and he was sort of buoyed when the doctor instead simply nodded at him and made a note of something on the file she had opened instead of telling him not to assume. "We'll probably schedule you for bi-weekly appointments then, anyway, so we'll keep an eye on that."

Liam had had a point when he'd insisted on private doctors, and Niall was willing to concede that point now, especially when the doctor tilted the screen and offered to let them take a few minutes looking at it.

A confusion Niall had made at seventeen was that sonograms reminded him of bad graphics form fifties TV shows, though now the fuzzy images made more sense to him. He and Liam had a copy of the sonogram from their last appointment currently stuck to the fridge, and he was already planning to add this month's image to growing gallery he and Liam had.

After a while, the doctor returned, her smile still in place, handing over forms for them to sign before she asked, "Did I tell you when we think you'll actually deliver? Your dates suggest very late December, the thirtieth, though I reckon we'll schedule you in to deliver before then, possibly by December fifteenth. You'll be ready to deliver by then, and you should be home and sorted before Christmas."

"A Christmas baby, then. Chloe will love that." The grip Niall had on Liam's hand tightened a little then, but he managed to keep his expression neutral, only the rise of his eyebrow betraying him. If the doctor noticed, she ignored him and added some more information to his notes before prescribing him yet more folic acid and allowing them to leave.

Niall repeated himself as they were sat back in the waiting area, waiting for the reception to clear, and Liam nodded wryly in agreement, wondering if Chloe would be more excited about a sibling for Christmas, or if that would set her grudging acceptance back. Before either of them could dwell on that too much further, they were being summoned up to reception and handed copies of sonograms and booking Niall's next appointment, though Liam could tell that Niall was still thinking about that when they stepped out into the brisk October air.