The Professor

Chapter Forty-Six

"It's going to feel a little cold at first," the doctor warns as he clacks open the lid to the tube of jelly. He starts to slide on the jelly to my stomach and I twitch at the instant shock of the cold, earning a chuckle from him. "I told you so." He jokes.

Dean had an appointment set up with Dr. Martin for three-fifteen today, Thursday. It was later in the week than we wanted, but at least we got the appointment. 

When Dr. Martin finishes sliding the jelly on my stomach, he starts to rub it together and my cheeks flush with embarrassment. I feel so exposed in a different way than usual. I'm not naked but lying on the chair with my shirt halfway pulled up and a big sheet of paper towel covering below my stomach in a room with two men is more uncomfortable than I thought it would be.

"I'm sure you've seen sonograms on movies and such, and it works the same way. I'm going to rub this probe over the lubed area and you can look on the screen to see the fetus. We'll also be able to hear the heartbeat," He instructs.

Right now there's just a blank screen on the monitor but once Dr. Martin places the probe on my stomach and begins to move it around, a black and white image with a tiny spec in the center appears. 

"There it is," Dr. Martin says with a smile.

Then a little heartbeat is heard.

My eyes are glued to the screen as I watch the bean inside of me i'm seeing for the first time and butterflies start to swarm in my body as tears form in my eyes.

Little bean. My baby.

The feeling I have inside of me is a happiness i've never experienced. It's mind-blowing and breathtaking and almost like nothing else in the world matters. Hell, nothing else does.

A touch on my hand makes me jolt out of my happy trance and I peer back to Dean. His hand is lightly wrapped around mine and his eyes are glued to the screen. He quickly glances over at me and smiles. It's a smile i've never seen. It's a soft smile, one with no teeth but intimate enough to match his eyes. His eyes that are sending me a message. It's in this moment that I feel more deeply connected to him and I can tell he feels the same way. 

Neither of us say a word as we look at each other with the sound of our child's heartbeat beating in the background. Dean bends his head down and his lips press gently on my forehead where they linger longer than I expected.

"I'm going to print you off some pictures to take home," Dr. Martin says, stealing back our attention. "Everything looks good, baby's heartbeat sounds healthy. Come back next month and we'll check back in."

He hands us the pictures from the monitor and we set up an appointment for next month at the same time.

Dean and I start to walk out of the office to the car and my eyes can't look away from the pictures in my hand.

"This doesn't seem real," I say with a smile. Dean opens my car door and waits for me to climb in.

"I know," he says with a grunt after sliding into his seat. "Are you hungry? Might as well stop somewhere here since it's going to take a while to get back."

The doctors office is almost an hour out of Santa Monica. We made it with two minutes left to spare but as usual, doctor's offices never run on time and we waited ten minutes before we were brought back. 

"Sure, sounds good." I'm still looking at my pictures.

Dean chuckles on his side of the car.

We go to a little American cuisine and I order a salad with light dressing. Despite the fact that i'm starving and craving the worst food, I stick to something healthy. I can't add on the pounds just yet.