Broken and Fearless // C.B.

Chapter 109

Colby's POV:

Jules kept staring at me impatiently as I got ready.

"Babe, you gotta be patient, okay? I'm almost ready."

She frowned. "Yeah, that's what you said 20 minutes ago. We need to go."

"The appointment's at two. We have time."

"We're in the midst of a pandemic and an insane world. We gotta get to the care center a decent time before and you're telling me we have time?"

I glanced at her. "Jules, I know you're desperate, but-"

"Yeah. I am. So hurry up or I'm leaving without you."

"You wouldn't."

"Oh, I would. Believe me. You better hurry up or I am leaving your butt and turning off my phone so you can't find me."

"Now you're trolling. All I have to do is ask for your name."

"Yeah, maybe I'm trolling a little, but just hurry, okay? I don't want to do this without you."

"And you won't have to. I promise, I'm almost ready, okay?"

She sighed. "Fine. Be downstairs as soon as you've finished."

Jules left and I finished and was downstairs within 20 minutes.

I looked around for my wife and found her reading a book in the living room. "Hey, you ready?"

She glanced up and nodded. "Let's go."

As we drove to our location, she suddenly got quiet.

"What is it, Juliet?"

"I'm scared," she admitted quietly.

"Why are you scared?"

"I don't know. I just - seeing this baby is suddenly freaking me out. Like everything doesn't seem real yet, even though it obviously is, and this appointment will prove it."

I took her hand. "You don't have to be scared, sweetheart. I'm gonna be right there with you."

"I know. I just-"

"It's okay, Jules. This is exciting, all right?"

"You're right. It is."

"Have you thought about names yet?"

"I don't have a name for a boy, but if it's a girl, I want to name her Ellen Marie."

"After your mom. I like that."

"Yeah?"

"Absolutely. I'm sure your mom would've loved that. We're here. Are you ready?"

"No, not really."

"Honestly, neither am I. But we'll do it together."

"Like we do everything."

I took her hand and we walked into the care center, obviously wearing our masks and gloves.

After checking in, we spent awhile in the waiting room and were eventually called in.

The doctor smiled. "I'm Dr. Konte."

Jules was instructed to lay on the bed and Dr. Konte got everything ready.

As she held up a device, she said, "I'm going to use this to monitor your baby. I'm going to put gel on and it's going to feel a little cold."

Jules nodded and I took her hand.

The gel was put on her stomach and the doctor started moving the tool around.

After a moment, Dr. Konte pointed to the screen and said, "That right there is your baby. It's too early to tell the gender right now, but the heartbeat has started. Would you two like to hear it?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I know I would. Jules?"

"Yes," she replied.

Dr. Konte smiled. "All right, I'm going to set up a fetal doppler so you will be able to hear your baby's heartbeat."

She did so and soon, we heard the sounds of a tiny heartbeat and I'd be lying if I said tears didn't come to my eyes.

Jules had a tear drifting down her cheek and I wiped it away as she whispered, "That's our baby."

I kissed her forehead. "Yeah, it is."

Dr. Konte finished and we left.

When we got back to the house, Sam asked, "How'd it go?"

I probably had a cheesy-ass grin on my face as I said, "It went really well. We heard the baby's heartbeat, Sam."

"That's great. Do you guys know what you're having yet?"

"Uh, no. It's too early. But Jules already has a name picked out if we're having a girl."

"And?"

"Ellen Marie. After her mom."

Sam smiled. "Her mom would love that."

"Yeah, I'm sure she would."

I saw Jules talking quickly with Kat and she was slipping into her accent as she often did when she spoke fast.

"So, we went to the appointment, right? And I'm kinda scared, dunno why, Colby's a little nervous as well. We get called in and see our baby, who's really, really tiny right now. But, you can hear the heartbeat and we did so and it was the most beautiful sound I've ever heard."

Kat squealed and hugged her. "I can't wait to meet the baby!"

"Me neither, but it's gonna be a long while. Months long. I can't wait that long."

I walked up behind her and placed a hand on her back as Kat got called and walked away with a wave. "Hopefully it will go by quickly. How are you feeling?"

"Actually reasonably decent. I think I'm still really excited, and it's masking the nausea. Don't make me think about it though, 'cause I might actually get sick."

"You got it. Hey, I've been meaning to ask. What are you going to do about your channel and being in videos now that you're pregnant and when do you want to tell our viewers?"

She frowned. "Two very good questions that I don't know the answers to right now. I mean, I'm not really visible, so I could participate in videos for a little while longer, just nothing super insane. As for telling viewers, I don't know. I think the best option is to play it by ear and see when I feel comfortable. If that works?"

"That works for me. You just let me know when you're ready and we can sit down and do a video."

"And turn off comments?"

"If you feel a need to, yes. We can turn off comments."

She smiled and hugged me. "I love you."

I kissed the top of her head. "I love you too."