Looking at the clock, any plans to sleep in on his day off go out the window, when he realizes Lucy's not in bed beside him. Going to the nursery, he finds her standing by the babies cribs, gently playing with their hair.
"What time did you get up?" he asked groggily.
"About five, couldn't sleep very good last night", she sighs.
"I know, you were really tossing and turning last night. Bad dreams?"” going over, he put his arms around her waist, only to have her pull away.
"What's up?", he asks, curiously.
"Nothing important", she sighs, moving away from him.
"Lucy?"
"Alright", she sighs, sitting down in the rocker, tears coming to her eyes.
Sitting on the floor in front of her, he begins, "You have my full attention."
"Well, there's a very strong possibility, that I ... I'm pregnant, again,” she whispers.
"Are you sure?" he asks quietly, but not surprised.
"Yeah, I took a test the other day, it was positive,” she sighs.
“Could you have gotten a false positive result?”
“You know as well as I do, the only way to absolutely tell would be a HCI, which can only be done at...”
“The hospital.”
“I don't want to take the kids with us.”
“Okay, we'll find a sitter. Didn't you tell me Heather Wilson from the day care offered to watch them if we couldn't find anyone else?”
“Yeah,” she answers quietly.
“Get the enrollment forms, her number should be on it, I'll give her a call, you go get ready.”
After Heather arrives, and Lucy gives her instructions, they leave to go to the hospital. The drive was made in total silence, each contemplating what fate had in store for them.
Arriving at the ER entrance, the staff was surprised to see them.
“Hey, isn't it your day off Carter?” Malucci bellows, as he sees them.
“Yeah, Lucy hasn't been feeling well this morning, running a low grade temp, thought we'd come in and see what's going on. Is there an empty room?”
“Yeah Exam Four,” Jerry grins.
“Thanks, let's get a chart started on her and her name on the board,” he orders.
“Do you want me to get a nurse to help?” Jerry asks.
“No, I can handle it,” they head to the room.
“She MUST really not be feeling good, neither one gave any indication about what happened last week,” Randi whispers to Jerry.
Going into Exam Four, John begins taking Lucy's vitals, checking her blood pressure and heart rate, both which were elevated because of the circumstances. Drawing the blood sample, Lucy watches with anticipation as it fills the small vial which could make a dramatic impact on their lives.”
“I'll deliver this myself, and wait for the results, that way they won't go any farther then you and me.”
“Thanks, you always look out for me, don't you?”
He grins, “Now, I need to get this to the lab, I'll be right back.”
After John goes to the lab, Lucy decides to try and get some rest. Laying her head on the pillow, a little grin comes to her face, as she realizes, their baby was probably conceived in this very room. But as the smile came to her face, it disappeared, as she realized that means another pregnancy.
“Lucy?”
“Kerry?”
“Susan told me you were here, is everything okay?”
“Not really,” she sighs, “I think John's just being overly concerned.”
“I'm sorry I missed you the other day. Haleh told me the children are really adorable. I do need to talk to you about your schedule. Are you going to be ready to come back next week?”
“Absolutely, Bobby and Beth are enrolled upstairs and ready to start.”
“I though we'd start you out easy, like when you came back, kind of working at your own pace.”
“That sounds good. Just let John know what time I'm suppose to start.”
“Well, I hope you get to feeling better, I guess, I'll see you next week.”
“Thanks Kerry.”
As Kerry leaves, John returns, “Well?” she asks, solemnly.
“You are,” he quietly says, holding her.
“I just want to go home,” she cries softly.
“Let's go,” he says, as he gently leads her out the door and out of the hospital.
Arriving back home, Lucy immediately goes upstairs to check on the babies, while John thanks and pays Heather for watching the twins.
Coming downstairs, Lucy throws herself on the couch and sighs, “So, how are they?” he asks, about the twins.
“They're asleep , and I'd like to keep it that way,” she moans.
“We need to talk,” he says, sitting down beside her.
“I know we do, but I don't know how I feel about it right now. All I know, is that one part of me is apprehensive, and the other part is wondering how the hell this could happen...again,” she complains.
“Do I have to paint a picture?” he jokes, trying to lighten her mood.
“No you don't! I just don't want to be pregnant again!”
Being somewhat surprised at her last statement, he is at a loss for
words, “What's that suppose to mean? he asks.
“If it means, the prospect of another nine months of morning sickness, mood swings, and feeling fat like a cow, I just don't know if I can do it,” she cries.
“You're talking about my child,” he says raising his voice.
“Mine too,” she reminds him quietly. “I love you, you know that, but... but we just had twins and by this time in my life, I should have been a Resident, now I'll have to take more time off and...”
“Slow down, slow down. I know this is not what we had planned, but take some time and think about it. Please? I'll go upstairs with the babies, and when you're ready, we'll talk about this some more. I just want you to know, how much I love you too,” he whispers, holding her close.
She nods her head and dries her tears.
Going to the kitchen, John gets some snacks for himself and bottles for the babies, gives Lucy a kiss and leaves her to her thoughts. Once alone, the tears flow freely from her eyes, as she tries to clear her head and sort out her feelings. All these same feeling reminded her of not so long ago when she found out she was first pregnant with the twins.
Instead of not knowing how John would react, this time, she was the one with the doubts. Pacing the living room, she see their wedding album and sits down with it and begins to reminisce about one of the happiest days of their lives. Looking through the photos, she remembers how her grandfather had become ill and she had a health scare, but that was also the time she found out she was going to have twins, and she wouldn't have changed that for anything in the world. Finding a photo of John touching her belly, while in her wedding dress, brought a faint smile to her face.
Closing the album, she begins looking at the pictures they have on their mantel. Realizing how much Bobby looks like his daddy, a picture of Beth, who is the spitting image of her mommy, and then, she sees a picture frame, whose odd shape makes it stand out. Going over to it, she picks it up and sees the ultrasound picture that she had given John, their first Christmas together. Taking it over to the couch, she sits down and traces the image. Then through all the words that had been spoken on the subject, she remembers that day last February, when she told her new husband, “Because of you, you have given me the strength to face anything that life has in store for us.” That made up Lucy’s mind. No matter how difficult this was going to be on everyone, with John's love and support, she'd be able to go through another pregnancy.
Going upstairs to the nursery, Lucy peeks in to see it empty. At the same time she hears the television from their room. “The Black hawks, have a minute forty five seconds left on the power play, and lead the Oilers, three to two.”
“See guys, the goalie's job is to stop the puck from going into the net,” John was bonding with the babies over hockey.
“Hockey in July?” Lucy smiles.
“Yeah, thanks to ESPN Classic, you all right?”
“Yep,” she says, carefully picking up Beth, and sitting on the bed with her family. “What's up with all this?” pointing to the TV.
“Never too early to teach them the finer points of sports.”
“But hockey? How about something safer, like soccer?” she smiles.
“We both know, you didn't come up here to talk sports,” he says, taking her left hand and playing with her wedding ring.
Taking a deep breath, she begins, “When I found out I was pregnant, with these little guys, I was really scared, but you know what?”
“What?” he puts his arm around her.
“We made two beautiful babies and I wouldn't have changed that for anything in this world…… I bet this one,” putting her hand on her stomach, “Will be just as beautiful, as it's brother and sister,” she smiles, as John takes her in his arms, being ever so careful of the children.
“I love you Lucy.”
“I love you too. And I know that you're pretty proud of your handywork,” she grins, “But, I have a big favor to ask.”
“Anything you want,” he smiles.
“Let's not tell any one yet. I'm REALLY not in the mood to hear any what took you so long jokes from anyone,” she says, snuggling in his embrace.
“Absolutely. Everything's gonna be okay, I promise.”
