21. Chloe
CHLOE
For the first time since I told him that I was pregnant, Liam is missing one of my appointments.
He gave me the teams practice and game schedule a while ago, that way I can schedule my appointments around the times that he was available or in town.
It’s worked out so far.
Today, though, is the exception. The Knights are at a rescheduled away game and won’t be back in Chicago until late tonight, so today is the first appointment that I will be going to alone.
Today is also the appointment where we find out the sex of the baby so him not being here sucks even more.
I can’t even FaceTime him during the appointment because he has practice.
But I will make do, and I will find out the sex of the baby and then when he gets home tonight, I will surprise him.
I’m a bit nervous about the appointment as I get off the train and walk the remaining distance to the doctor's office.
I don’t know why but appointments always freaked me out. I always feel like the doctor is going to tell me that something is wrong, so I keep my fingers crossed until I hear the heartbeat and Dr. Long tells me that everything seems to be going just how it’s supposed to be.
Liam usually helps call my nerves a bit but today I had to put my big girl pants on and do it myself.
“Hi Miss Chloe, how are you feeling today?” The receptionist asks me as soon as I walk into the doctor's office, a bright smile on her face.
I gave her a smile back. “Hello, I’m good. I think my bump has finally started to pop out a bit.” I say proudly.
“Oh, you will pop out even more in no time,” she tells me. “Let’s get you checked in and see how our baby is doing.
“Thank you.”
Shawna the receptionist checks me in and within five minutes she is bringing me to the back. She gets my weight, blood pressure and has me peeing into a cup to test that everything is normal before taking me into the room to wait for the doctor.
After about twenty minutes of waiting, Dr. Long finally comes into the room with another nurse at her side.
“Hi Chloe, how are you feeling today?” Dr. Long asks with a smile on her face.
“I’m feeling good. The morning sickness has finally stopped, so I see that as a good sign.” I say, never wanting to experience morning sickness ever again.
“A very good sign. Daddy couldn’t make it today?” She is going over to the sink to wash your hands.
I shake my head. “No, he’s traveling today.”
“Okay, and since he’s not here, do you want to wait on getting the gender of the baby?”
I shake my head again. “No, we agreed that I will get it today and that I will let him know when he gets home.”
“Okay, great. Then let’s get started. This is our ultrasound technician. She will be taking care of you today but let me check you out first. Make sure everything is good and then we can see if you are having a boy or a girl.”
“Let’s do it.” I say, all the nerves starting to disappear.
* * *
With the ultrasound at hand, I make my way over to the Dark Knight arena.
The team has a fan store outside that I know is open today and without a doubt, that’s the only place I will be able to find exactly what I’m looking for.
It helps that I made numerous trips to the store during the last few games that I attended to make sure.
Hoping off the brown line and taking the bus to the United Center has become a routine since we came back to Chicago after Christmas.
Liam has offered to get me a car for the handful of games I’ve been to these last few weeks, but I always decline. At least with getting there.
I like moving through the city, it’s not something I do very often, so now that I have time, I want to take advantage of it. Also, it helps my pregnant self move with all the walking.
He doesn’t like it but still lets me do it. It's times like those that I don’t know if he is worried about the baby or just the baby.
My heart wants to believe it’s both, but my head tells me that it’s only the baby he cares about. Even if he has told me otherwise.
I shouldn’t care, and a lot of the time I try not to, but it’s hard. No matter how hard I try to push down my attraction for him, it keeps coming up. And worse yet, as the days continue, and get to know him better outside our initial time together, that attraction has formed full on feelings.
I have feelings for my baby’s father and there is nothing platonic about them.
Liam is charming, but also so damn caring and loving that I’m not shocked at all that it only took a short time for my attraction to him to evolve into more.
But I have to keep pushing them down. I have to continue to stand my ground and not fall any deeper. I have to concentrate on the baby, we both do.
Setting my feelings for my baby’s father aside, I walk into the Dark Knights fan shop and head straight to the baby section that they have.
It’s small but it has exactly what I’m looking for.
I grab a onesie with Liam’s number and name on the back and head to the cash register.
A smile, one that makes me look like an absolute lunatic, stays on my face the whole way back to Liam’s place.
I have been planning for this surprise for about a week now, getting two different color wrapping paper. So the second I get to the apartment, I head straight to my room and start getting everything ready.
Telling someone the gender of their baby is a special occasion.
So special that I even decided to make dinner to go with the news.
All the stops are being pulled tonight, nothing is getting held back.
Sometime around ten, I take out the enchiladas that I made out of the oven and head to my room to change.
Like I said, I’ve been planning this all week so I had time to order a dress in advance that makes my little bump a lot more noticeable.
Once I’m all set, I grab my gift and head back to the kitchen to set the table.
Maybe I’m doing a little too much, but I’m excited. I have to do something that will keep my hands busy.
Right at eleven ten, the front door of the apartment opens, signaling that Liam is home.
I’m like a ball of excitement ready to burst out with the news, but I take a few deep breaths to keep myself calm.
I might fail at the staying calm part because when Liam turns the corner, he stops dead in his tracks the second that he sees me and his face goes from relaxed to confused.
“Hi,” he says, putting down the duffel bag that he uses for short trips, and doesn’t move from his spot.
He’s still wearing his suit, and I have to keep myself from drooling. Seeing him in a suit always takes me back to the night that we met.
God, how I wish we can get a repeat of that night.
Stop it.
“Hi,” I say to him, giving him a big smile.
“Everything okay?” he asks, suspiciously.
I nod. “Of course it is. Why wouldn’t it be?” I’m pretty sure I’m bouncing up and down, but I don't know if it's just in my head or I’m actually doing it.
“Because I texted you earlier about your appointment and you didn’t respond.” He says, crossing his arms.
I saw his text and it took everything not to respond. If I did I was for sure going to tell him what we were having. I wanted to wait.
“My phone died and I forgot to charge it when I got home. I was a little busy.” I say, my smile growing even more.
“Busy?” He asks, coming closer to me.
What’s with all the small little questions? He should just get to asking the most important one.
“Yup, busy. I made dinner.” I wave for him to follow me into the dining room that he doesn't use, so he could take in all my hard work.
“You made dinner at ten o’clock at night?” He asks, following behind me.
I give a nod as I cross the threshold into the dining room.
The food I made is at the center and the gift that I wrapped is sitting on top of his plate with a little note that says open me on top.
I was going to wait until we had eaten to give it to him, but I didn’t know if I was going to even make it that far. So I decided to do it at the beginning of dinner.
“You got me a gift?” he asks, walking over to the side of the table with the gift.
“I did.” I tell him, all the while I nervously play with my fingers.
He looks up at me with so many questions in his eyes.
“Okay,” he says slowly, picking up the box.
“Open it,” I order a little too eagerly.
Liam lets out a chuckle but does as I say.
His mission must be to torture me because he opens the small box so damn slow. Can he not see that I’m on pins and needles over here?
After a million years, he finally finishes taking off the white wrapping paper that I picked out and starts opening the white box the onesie is in.
Did I go a little overboard with the tissue? Maybe, but I wanted him to dig for it.
He digs through the tissue for a solid second before taking out the onesie that I bought earlier today.
“That’s why I didn’t text you back. If I did I would have let it slip and I wanted it to be a surprise. Surprise.”
Liam looks from me to the onesie, not saying a single word.
After a minute or two, I grow anxious and break whatever his thought process is.
“Say something.” I say, feeling like the night I told him I was pregnant.
Liam drops a box, but keeps a onesie in his hand, and comes over to me, closing the distance between us.
When he’s about a foot or two away from me, I see a glint in his eyes, that looks almost like tears.
I have no clue if it’s happy tears or sad tears. Did everything just suddenly become so much more real to him?
After another long minute, Liam’s hand lands on my cheek, and he breaks the silence. “We’re having a girl?”
His voice breaks a little bit at the end and it takes everything in me not to break with him.
I gave him a nod. “Yeah, we’re having a girl.”
Everything that happens next becomes so much of a blur.
One minute I have Liam‘s hand on my cheek. The next I’m in his arms, being lifted up from the ground, and we’re both giggling with happiness, and before I know it, I am back on my feet with Liam’s hands back on my face and his lips are pressed against mine.
He’s kissing me. For the first time in almost 6 months, Liam Crawford is kissing me, and all I can do is kiss them back.
One of his hands slides into my loose curls, all the while both of mine go into his dark strands. We both pull at each other like we can’t get close enough to the other person. Like we can’t get enough and we need more.
I feel his tongue sliding against my bottom lip asking for permission and I don’t hesitate to open up for him and let my tongue dance along his.
I am vaguely aware of the fact that his other hand is sliding against my body in the most delicious way possible.
Feeling his lips against mine, and his hands on my body has me singing in a way that I haven’t sung five long ass months. Liam certainly knows how to work my body and I am already on the verge of explosion with just a kiss.
A hungry, aggressive kiss.
Somehow we both realize what we are doing and pull apart, but just enough for Liam to press her forehead against mine and for our breaths to become one.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have–”
“No, it’s fine. Please don’t be sorry. We both got caught up in the moment.” I interrupt him.
He should be sorry for what just happened. I’m not.
I feel his head nod against mine and watch as his eye close. He takes a deep breath as if to calm himself down.
I can feel his body against mine, but I don’t dare admit that I’m able to feel each hard and long part of him.
The kiss affected him just as much as it did me, but we can’t do anything about it.
Still not pulling away, Liam opens his eyes. There is an intensity that wasn’t there before and the second I see it, I know what it is.
It’s love.
It’s his love for his baby and his next words confirm it.
“We’re having a girl. My baby is going to be a girl.”
I can’t help but to smile at him with the same type of intensity that coats his eyes.
“We are having a baby girl.”
And I hope that she feels all the love that her father will give her, because he will. Liam will love his little girl beyond belief and I know for a fact that he will do anything for her.
I just have to hope that I can at least witness it for a short period of time before I move back to my own place.
Because this little bubble that Liam and I are in won’t last forever.
No matter how much my heart wants it to.
Priorities. We have priorities.