I Believe in You

The Germ

I sat anxiously in the cafeteria on the day we were going to find out whether I was carrying a boy or a girl absentmindedly rubbing my growing baby bump.
"There you are." Conrad sighed sitting down next to me.
I looked up to smile at him then read his face.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Jasper Barnett's back."
"It's not good, is it?"
He shook his head.
"He's declining rapidly. How do I tell a mother her child is dying?" He asked.
I touched my stomach again trying to imagine how it would feel for something to happen to our baby.
"I don't know, babe. As gently as possible. I can't imagine how painful it is going to be for her. Do you want me to go with you?" I asked.
He nodded.
Together we walked to the young boy's room.
"Wait here?" He asked.
I nodded and leaned against the doorframe.
"Zoey." Conrad said walking into the room.
"That's not a good look, Conrad." She commented.
"Jasper has an aggressive form of cancer and the scans we did today are not good." He choked out.
"How long does he have?" She asked and I felt my heart break.
I touched my stomach again as Conrad looked at me.
"Hours, maybe days." He said grimly.
"Do you have children?" She asked him.
"Not yet. My wife is twenty weeks pregnant." He answered.
"Do you know what she's having?" She asked.
"No. We have the appointment later on tonight."
"Tonight?"
"Meghan and I are both doctors here at the hospital so her OB is very flexible with us." He explained.
"Is she here?" She asked glancing at me.
I smiled sadly at her.
"Are you his wife?" She asked me.
"I am." I nodded.
"What do I do?" She asked us.
"Give him the best rest of his life as you can." I answered.
As Conrad tried to comfort her a young boy, no older than eight walked up to me.
"Is Jasper going to die?" He asked.
I crouched down so I was face to face with him.
"You must be Henry." I smiled.
"I'm sure your mom will explain everything to you in time."
"He's always wanted to be a police officer and now he'll never get a chance." He cried softly.
Children are not stupid. They can tell when things aren't right and when a parent is upset they'll know.
"I have an idea but I'm going to need some help. Are you in?" I asked.
He nodded wiping the tears from his face.
"Conrad." I said his name gently.
"I think there's something we can do to help make his last hours the best of his life." I whispered when he came over to me.
"Young Henry here says Jasper has always wanted to be a police officer." I told him.
His eyes widened as it clicked for him what I was thinking.
"We're going to need some help." He smiled at me.
"I'll help get Jasper ready. You get things set up around the hospital?" I asked.
He nodded and kissed me.
"I love you, Meghan."
"I love you."
Conrad wheeled his wheelchair out of the room while I walked over to the bed where Jasper lay.
His mother held his hand tightly in both of hers.
When I walked up to the side of the bed he reached over to touch my stomach.
"We don't touch people." His mom said.
"Oh, it's quite alright." I answered.
"Baby." Jasper said gently laying his hand on my bump.
"That's right, sweetheart. Baby." I smiled at him.
"How old is she?" He asked.
"Well, the baby's been growing inside for twenty weeks. That's just about five months but we don't know if it's a she yet." I smiled again.
Conrad walked back into the room wearing a very formfitting black tshirt with the word POLICE written on it that got my blood pumping a little.
"There's a criminal on the loose." He said looking around.
"We need your help, officer Jasper." Conrad walked in and picked up the little boy putting an officer's cap on his head as Nic wheeled in his wheelchair that was now fitted with two cardboard panels that looked like a police car.
Nic manned the wheelchair and Conrad ran the story while Zoey and I trailed behind.
"You didn't have to do this." She said quietly.
"No, but we wanted to. Conrad and I have always tried to practice patient centric medicine but now that we're expecting... it definitely hits us harder when the patient is a child." I explained.
"You'll both be amazing parents." She told me.
"Thank you." I smiled sadly at her.
Conrad and Henry helped Jasper lead the search for 'The Germ'.
I watched Conrad with them and my heart soared. My husband was going to be an amazing father.
After Jasper 'killed' The Germ with the difibulator we returned to the room. Henry and Jasper chatted happily as Zoey, Conrad and I sat watching them.
It was clear watching Jasper that he was getting tired. It wasn't going to be too much longer. Suddenly, the machine monitoring his vitals screeched as he closed his eyes and his heart slowed. Conrad and I worked to get his heart pumping but it was useless. Jasper's body succumbed to the cancer ravaging his tiny body.
Conrad and I left Zoey and Henry to mourn the loss of Jasper.
Just outside the room Conrad turned to me and buried his face in my shoulder.
"I know, baby. I know." I sighed holding my husband as tears fell from my eyes.
Conrad and I went up to Alex's office at the end of our shift roughly two hours after Jasper Barnett passed away.
"Are we ready to see what we're having?" Alex asked us.
"We are. We could use some good news." I smiled at her.
I laid on the examination table with my shirt pulled up and my elastic pants pulled down just enough to expose my stomach.
Alex applied the jelly to my stomach and pressed the wand against me.
"Ah. There you are." She smiled looking at the ultrasound.
"Congratulations. Conrad, Meghan, you're having a..."
(Feel free to comment guesses on the gender)