A couple months went by and Dawn and AJ started looking for a new house. Anthony hadn’t bothered them since the confrontation in AJ’s driveway, but they both felt that it was time to really start planning their future. They wanted to have something together, that they both picked out. Something that was theirs.
The doctor still wanted Dawn to take it easy, but he did lighten his original request for her to stay totally off her feet. Her pregnancy was progressing nicely and as long as she didn’t start to dilate, he saw no reason why she needed to remain on bed rest.
AJ went to Dawn’s prenatal visits with her faithfully, he only missed one and it was only because he was out of town. Unfortunately for him, it was one where the doctor did an ultrasound. That really upset AJ because he missed it.
Since she did have early complications, they were going to the doctor every other week, but as long as everything was fine, her doctor changed it to once a month, unless there were any changes. Dawn was finally starting to show a little and AJ thought it was the cutest thing in the world. He was constantly rubbing her stomach and talking to her belly.
One afternoon, they were on their way to the doctor’s for Dawn’s second ultrasound. The doctor said he always did two ultrasounds in high risk pregnancies. AJ was excited since he missed the first one.
"Let me ask you something,” he asked her as they drove.
She looked over at him.
"Are you gonna put Anthony’s name on the baby’s birth certificate?"
She thought for a minute.
"No, I wasn’t planning on it. Why?"
AJ breathed a sigh of relief.
"Just wondering."
They arrived at the doctor’s and signed in. While sitting in the waiting room, waiting to be called, AJ found a baby name book. He sat down and flipped through it while Dawn read a magazine. About ten minutes passed when Dawn noticed that AJ had been unusually quiet. She glanced over at him and saw what he was looking at. She put her magazine down and looked at it with him.
"What do you think of the name, Christian?" He asked.
Dawn thought for a minute.
"I like it, but I’m not sure if I would like it in a year".
"Yeah, it is one of those names…" his voice trailed off.
"Alexander is one hell of a name," he joked.
"Yeah it is,” Dawn laughed, "but it’s too long for a little baby. You should know," she teased.
"Let’s look at girl’s names", he suggested as he turned the pages to the girl’s names.
"Gertrude?" He joked.
"Tell me you’re joking, please," Dawn said, making a face.
"I like Katelyn,” Dawn offered, turning the pages.
"Yeah, that’s okay".
"I already know what I want the baby’s middle name to be, if it’s a girl,” Dawn said.
"What’s that?" AJ asked.
"Denise,” Dawn announced.
AJ looked at her surprised, his heart melted.
"After my mother?" He asked.
"Yeah," Dawn said, looking over at him. "She’s been more of a mother to me than my own mother sometimes."
"Dawn Simon?" The nurse called as she stood in the doorway.
They followed the nurse into the examination room. She took Dawn’s weight and told her the doctor would be right in.
When he came in, they proceeded to talk about how things were progressing. The doctor said everything was looking good.
"Now, let’s take a look at that baby,” he said, helping Dawn lay on the table. AJ looked around at what looked to him like a TV.
"Hey, look, our baby is gonna star in it’s first motion picture!" He joked.
Dawn laughed, that was the first time she heard AJ refer to the baby as "our baby". It brought tears to her eyes. AJ stood next to her and held her hand, while the doctor stood on the other side of her and placed a cold jelly on her stomach while AJ watched in horror.
"There is the heart, can you see it beating?" The doctor asked, pointing out the heart to them.
"Wow,” AJ said in amazement, his eyes wide.
"There’s the head, eyes, mouth, arms, fingers, spine", he paused. AJ stared at the screen in total amazement.
"There’s the feet, toes, legs and butt", he joked. "Do you want to know the sex of the baby?" He asked.
"You can tell that?" AJ asked, shocked.
"Yep, and I’m getting a pretty good view right now".
Dawn and AJ looked at the screen, then at each other.
"Do you wanna know?" He asked.
"No, do you?"
"Not if you don’t,” AJ responded, still amazed that they were looking at the baby on the screen.
"Okay", the doctor said. "I won’t tell you then".
"Well, everything’s looking really good, the baby looks healthy,” the doctor said. "Keep doing what you’re doing. I’ll give you some printouts of your baby to take home and show off to all your friends".
He ripped off a few sheets, even labeled things for them since it was so blurry , then he handed them to AJ.
‘I actually SAW the baby,’ he thought to himself.
"Do you guys have any questions?" He asked them.
"Um, actually, I do,” Dawn said. "Since you said everything was okay and progressing like it should, and you’ve taken me off bed rest, what about sex?"
AJ was shocked at her forwardness.
"Well, I don’t see why not,” the doctor answered.
Dawn was elated. It had been so long since her and AJ had been intimate, it was driving her crazy.
All the way home all AJ could think about was the baby. He was still in a state of shock.
Dawn wondered why AJ was so quiet. She was afraid that after seeing the baby, he was starting to get scared that he made the wrong decision and took on too much responsibility.
"Is something wrong?" She finally asked him.
Her voice snapped him out of the daydream he was having. He hadn’t realized that he had been so quiet.
"No, not at all. I was just thinking about the baby,” he said, turning and looking at her lovingly.
"Are you positive nothing’s wrong?" She asked again.
"I’m positive. I’m in a daze right now, that’s all. That was so cool, seeing the baby on the screen and all".
Dawn shook her head and turned to look out the window the rest of the way home.
AJ dropped Dawn off at home and told her he had to run some errands and he would be back in a couple hours. Dawn was still confused. She knew what AJ told her, but she couldn’t help but wonder if there was something he was keeping from her.
She decided to make a nice, intimate dinner for just the two of them. She lit candles and had dinner ready when he got home. As soon as he walked in the door, Dawn walked up to him and kissed him passionately on the lips.
"What was that for?" He asked, shocked.
"Just because I love you,” she answered, her arms still around his neck.
After dinner, they remained at the table and talked for awhile. AJ studied Dawn’s face. She was so beautiful. He especially loved when she laughed. Under the candlelight, her whole face lit up. Suddenly, silence fell over the room.
'Well, it’s either now or never,' he thought to himself.
He got up out of the chair and kneeled down on one knee in front of Dawn as he pulled a small box out of his pocket.


Chapter 38
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