Fic: Gossamer (7/18)
Mar. 15th, 2012 01:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sara_wolfTitle: Gossamer
Rating: PG
Warnings: none
Summary: "Paige, you're pregnant." Three weeks after her parents' death, Paige receives some surprising news. What she decides next will change the course of history, not only her own, but that of the family she doesn't even know exists...
*****
"You're going to marry him?"
Paige sighed as she climbed up onto the exam table, looking over at Henry who was staring at her with a look of sheer disbelief on his face. Not that she blamed him; she'd been busy for the last few weeks with family, and school, and Henry had been adjusting to another new foster family, and they hadn't really had any time to talk. And, now that they finally got to see each other for longer than two seconds, she dropped a bombshell on him.
"What happened to wanting to take things slowly?" he asked, before she could say anything. "I thought you were just going to talk to Nick about custody arrangements."
"I was just as surprised as you were when his mother brought it up," Paige admitted. "But, it really is the most practical thing to do, and it's what's best for the baby."
"What do Dave and Julie think about this?" Henry asked, and Paige couldn't help but think of how strange it was that he was closer to her family than Nick was.
"They were shocked," Paige told him, "but, they said that if this is really what I want, then they'll stand beside me all the way."
"Is it what you want?" Henry asked, quietly, and Paige jerked her shoulder in a shrug.
"Well, it's not exactly a fairy tale ending," she admitted, "but I think it's the right thing to do. Hey," she added, looking over at him, "can you grab my coat off the chair? I've got a bag of peanuts in the pocket, and I'm starving."
"Are you allowed to eat before the appointment?" Henry asked, skeptically.
"Yeah," Paige told him, "I'm just not allowed to pee."
Henry snorted out a laugh, leaning over to grab her coat from where she'd thrown it on the chair, earlier. As he moved, something fell out of his pocket, and she thought it was a small, black box. But, Henry bent over, snatching the object off the floor so fast that she barely got a chance to look at it. He shoved the object back in his pocket, his cheeks bright red, and he handed her the small bag of peanuts without a word.
"What was that thing?" Paige asked, curiously, nodding at his pocket, where he was still hiding his hand, the shape of his fist clearly outlined against the material.
"Nothing," Henry said, quickly, his tone indicating just the opposite.
But, before Paige could press the matter, the door to the exam room opened. Paige was expecting to see Doctor Roberts entering the room, but Prue came in, a beaming smile on her face.
"Hey," she greeted them, cheerfully, as she partially shut the door behind her. "There was a car pulling into the lot behind mine; looked like your aunt was driving. They'll probably be here in a minute."
"How many people are coming to this appointment?" Paige demanded, incredulously.
"You're finding out the sex of the baby," Prue pointed out, as she dropped into an empty chair. "You can't blame us for wanting to be here for it, can you?"
"I guess not," Paige admitted. "Hey, Prue? Thanks for being here."
"You're like a little sister to me," Prue told her, grinning. "And where else would I be when my sister needed me?"
"Aw, thanks," Paige said, touched by the obvious affection in the other woman's voice. "You're like the sister I never had, too."
"Nah," Henry opined from where he was sitting. "You could never be siblings; you don't fight nearly enough."
"He's got a point," Prue admitted. "I fight with my sisters all the time, especially lately, and especially with Phoebe. You and I get along way too well to really be sisters."
The door opened, again, letting in the rest of her family, and Paige felt her heart sink when she didn't see Nick with them.
'He promised he'd be here,' she thought, pushing back the wave of disappointment. 'No,' she corrected herself, a second later, 'He said that he'd try to be here, just like all the other appointments. I just want him to finally follow through on something, show some commitment to me and the baby.'
But, she didn't voice any of that out loud to her family. Despite their promises of support, things were tenuous enough with Nick that she didn't want to jeopardize their opinions of him. Instead, she relaxed against the exam table and chatted idly with everyone until Doctor Roberts arrived.
"How are you feeling, today, Paige?" Doctor Roberts asked, as she washed her hands.
"My nausea finally seems to be gone for good," Paige replied, cheerfully. "And, I think I felt the baby kick, yesterday."
"You're about far enough along for it," Doctor Roberts told her. "Have you had any cramping, any aches and pains, anything like that?"
"Not really," Paige said, thinking about it. "Well, um-"
"Yes?" Doctor Roberts prompted, gently, when she trailed off, uncomfortably.
"Sometimes, I get these really bad headaches," Paige admitted, after a moment. "They started a few weeks ago, when I went to dinner with Nick and his family."
"What are you doing when you get these headaches?" Doctor Roberts asked, and Paige shrugged.
"Nothing in particular," she replied, as she reached up to fiddle with the necklace that Nick's mother had given her, as a welcome to the family present. "I mean, the first couple of times were at dinner, that night, and the others have been kind of sporadic. One was last week, when Nick told me that he couldn't come to an appointment with me, and the other was yesterday."
"And, what happened, yesterday?" Doctor Roberts asked, a neutral tone in her voice that made Paige feel like she was talking to a psychiatrist, rather than her OB-GYN.
"We were talking about what we were going to do after the baby was born," Paige told her, uncomfortably aware of everyone else in the room listening intently. "Nick was talking about planning our wedding, and his mother buying us a house, and things were just moving really fast. And, I guess I just got frustrated with him when he didn't listen to me, and I kind of yelled at him. The next thing I knew, my head felt like it was going to explode."
"Have you ever had a headache come on that suddenly, before?" Doctor Roberts asked, a note of concern in her voice.
"Not like that," Paige said, honestly. "It kind of scared me, actually, and I think it scared Nick, too. We stopped arguing, immediately."
"Well, it sounds like these headaches of yours are brought on by stress," Doctor Roberts told her. "If you keep having them, you could find yourself in some trouble. High blood pressure, preeclampsia, it could even hurt the baby-"
"Okay, no stress," Paige said, cutting Doctor Roberts off. "I'll do anything to keep my baby healthy."
"I know you will," Doctor Roberts said, smiling at her. "So, are you ready to see your baby?"
"Absolutely," Paige said, eagerly, grinning happily at Henry when he reached out and squeezed her hand.
She lay back on the exam table and pulled her shirt up to reveal her stomach. She shivered when Doctor Roberts smeared the conductive gel on her abdomen, but she stayed still as the older woman placed the ultrasound wand on her stomach.
"Here we go," Doctor Roberts murmured, quietly, and then a fuzzy image sprang to life on the screen.
The image cleared up after a few seconds, and Paige felt a huge grin break out over her face when she saw her baby on the screen.
"Everything looks healthy so far," Doctor Roberts commented, as she moved the wand around on Paige's stomach. "Nice, strong heartbeat, looks like ten fingers and toes-"
"Can you tell if it's a boy or a girl?" Paige asked, her eyes still fixed firmly on the screen.
She didn't want to look away for even a second and miss her baby doing something memorable. Even if her baby was only about the size of an orange, and probably not capable of doing much, anyway.
"Let's take a look," Doctor Roberts told her, shifting the wand, slightly. "Yeah, I think it is-"
"What is it?" Paige asked, impatiently, when Doctor Roberts trailed off, maddeningly.
"Mind you, I'm not one hundred percent positive," Doctor Roberts cautioned. "But, it looks like you're having a girl, Paige."
"A girl?" Paige echoed, staring at the screen in amazement, while her family celebrated, around her. "I'm having a daughter?"
"You're gonna have a little girl," Henry told her, and she glanced away from the screen to see a huge grin lighting up his face.
"I'm having a daughter," Paige repeated, feeling a huge, sappy grin of her own stretching across her face as she beamed up at him. "Henry-"
The rest of what she intended to say was cut off when the door opened, suddenly. She broke off as she glanced over at the door, seeing Nick coming into the room. He looked at her, locking eyes with her for a moment, and an intense buzzing filled her ears. For just a second, she felt dizzy, like the ground had just dropped out from underneath her, and when everything returned to normal, she couldn't remember what she'd been about to say.
"I'm sorry I'm late," Nick apologized, coming over to stand beside her, shouldering Henry out of the way in the process. "What did I miss?"
'A lot,' Paige thought, feeling a flash of annoyance for his cavalier attitude, but then she winced when a twinge of pain shot through her head.
She rubbed absently at her temples as she looked back at the screen, staring at the image of her daughter.
"A girl," she said, softly, her earlier excitement suddenly subdued. "We're going to have a daughter, Nick."
She looked over at her fiancée, hoping to see some of her own excitement reflected on his face. Instead, he was staring at the ultrasound screen with an unreadable expression on his face.
"Mother was expecting a boy," he finally said, and Paige could feel her heart sink at the flat tone of his voice. "But, I imagine a girl will still make her happy."
"Right," Paige said, quietly, pushing back the disappointment that surfaced at his careless comment. "But, what about you?" she pressed. "Are you happy?"
She waited, anxiously, for his reply, but Nick just shrugged without answering. And, she couldn't help but wonder if his silence was all the answer she needed.
Continued here
Rating: PG
Warnings: none
Summary: "Paige, you're pregnant." Three weeks after her parents' death, Paige receives some surprising news. What she decides next will change the course of history, not only her own, but that of the family she doesn't even know exists...
*****
"You're going to marry him?"
Paige sighed as she climbed up onto the exam table, looking over at Henry who was staring at her with a look of sheer disbelief on his face. Not that she blamed him; she'd been busy for the last few weeks with family, and school, and Henry had been adjusting to another new foster family, and they hadn't really had any time to talk. And, now that they finally got to see each other for longer than two seconds, she dropped a bombshell on him.
"What happened to wanting to take things slowly?" he asked, before she could say anything. "I thought you were just going to talk to Nick about custody arrangements."
"I was just as surprised as you were when his mother brought it up," Paige admitted. "But, it really is the most practical thing to do, and it's what's best for the baby."
"What do Dave and Julie think about this?" Henry asked, and Paige couldn't help but think of how strange it was that he was closer to her family than Nick was.
"They were shocked," Paige told him, "but, they said that if this is really what I want, then they'll stand beside me all the way."
"Is it what you want?" Henry asked, quietly, and Paige jerked her shoulder in a shrug.
"Well, it's not exactly a fairy tale ending," she admitted, "but I think it's the right thing to do. Hey," she added, looking over at him, "can you grab my coat off the chair? I've got a bag of peanuts in the pocket, and I'm starving."
"Are you allowed to eat before the appointment?" Henry asked, skeptically.
"Yeah," Paige told him, "I'm just not allowed to pee."
Henry snorted out a laugh, leaning over to grab her coat from where she'd thrown it on the chair, earlier. As he moved, something fell out of his pocket, and she thought it was a small, black box. But, Henry bent over, snatching the object off the floor so fast that she barely got a chance to look at it. He shoved the object back in his pocket, his cheeks bright red, and he handed her the small bag of peanuts without a word.
"What was that thing?" Paige asked, curiously, nodding at his pocket, where he was still hiding his hand, the shape of his fist clearly outlined against the material.
"Nothing," Henry said, quickly, his tone indicating just the opposite.
But, before Paige could press the matter, the door to the exam room opened. Paige was expecting to see Doctor Roberts entering the room, but Prue came in, a beaming smile on her face.
"Hey," she greeted them, cheerfully, as she partially shut the door behind her. "There was a car pulling into the lot behind mine; looked like your aunt was driving. They'll probably be here in a minute."
"How many people are coming to this appointment?" Paige demanded, incredulously.
"You're finding out the sex of the baby," Prue pointed out, as she dropped into an empty chair. "You can't blame us for wanting to be here for it, can you?"
"I guess not," Paige admitted. "Hey, Prue? Thanks for being here."
"You're like a little sister to me," Prue told her, grinning. "And where else would I be when my sister needed me?"
"Aw, thanks," Paige said, touched by the obvious affection in the other woman's voice. "You're like the sister I never had, too."
"Nah," Henry opined from where he was sitting. "You could never be siblings; you don't fight nearly enough."
"He's got a point," Prue admitted. "I fight with my sisters all the time, especially lately, and especially with Phoebe. You and I get along way too well to really be sisters."
The door opened, again, letting in the rest of her family, and Paige felt her heart sink when she didn't see Nick with them.
'He promised he'd be here,' she thought, pushing back the wave of disappointment. 'No,' she corrected herself, a second later, 'He said that he'd try to be here, just like all the other appointments. I just want him to finally follow through on something, show some commitment to me and the baby.'
But, she didn't voice any of that out loud to her family. Despite their promises of support, things were tenuous enough with Nick that she didn't want to jeopardize their opinions of him. Instead, she relaxed against the exam table and chatted idly with everyone until Doctor Roberts arrived.
"How are you feeling, today, Paige?" Doctor Roberts asked, as she washed her hands.
"My nausea finally seems to be gone for good," Paige replied, cheerfully. "And, I think I felt the baby kick, yesterday."
"You're about far enough along for it," Doctor Roberts told her. "Have you had any cramping, any aches and pains, anything like that?"
"Not really," Paige said, thinking about it. "Well, um-"
"Yes?" Doctor Roberts prompted, gently, when she trailed off, uncomfortably.
"Sometimes, I get these really bad headaches," Paige admitted, after a moment. "They started a few weeks ago, when I went to dinner with Nick and his family."
"What are you doing when you get these headaches?" Doctor Roberts asked, and Paige shrugged.
"Nothing in particular," she replied, as she reached up to fiddle with the necklace that Nick's mother had given her, as a welcome to the family present. "I mean, the first couple of times were at dinner, that night, and the others have been kind of sporadic. One was last week, when Nick told me that he couldn't come to an appointment with me, and the other was yesterday."
"And, what happened, yesterday?" Doctor Roberts asked, a neutral tone in her voice that made Paige feel like she was talking to a psychiatrist, rather than her OB-GYN.
"We were talking about what we were going to do after the baby was born," Paige told her, uncomfortably aware of everyone else in the room listening intently. "Nick was talking about planning our wedding, and his mother buying us a house, and things were just moving really fast. And, I guess I just got frustrated with him when he didn't listen to me, and I kind of yelled at him. The next thing I knew, my head felt like it was going to explode."
"Have you ever had a headache come on that suddenly, before?" Doctor Roberts asked, a note of concern in her voice.
"Not like that," Paige said, honestly. "It kind of scared me, actually, and I think it scared Nick, too. We stopped arguing, immediately."
"Well, it sounds like these headaches of yours are brought on by stress," Doctor Roberts told her. "If you keep having them, you could find yourself in some trouble. High blood pressure, preeclampsia, it could even hurt the baby-"
"Okay, no stress," Paige said, cutting Doctor Roberts off. "I'll do anything to keep my baby healthy."
"I know you will," Doctor Roberts said, smiling at her. "So, are you ready to see your baby?"
"Absolutely," Paige said, eagerly, grinning happily at Henry when he reached out and squeezed her hand.
She lay back on the exam table and pulled her shirt up to reveal her stomach. She shivered when Doctor Roberts smeared the conductive gel on her abdomen, but she stayed still as the older woman placed the ultrasound wand on her stomach.
"Here we go," Doctor Roberts murmured, quietly, and then a fuzzy image sprang to life on the screen.
The image cleared up after a few seconds, and Paige felt a huge grin break out over her face when she saw her baby on the screen.
"Everything looks healthy so far," Doctor Roberts commented, as she moved the wand around on Paige's stomach. "Nice, strong heartbeat, looks like ten fingers and toes-"
"Can you tell if it's a boy or a girl?" Paige asked, her eyes still fixed firmly on the screen.
She didn't want to look away for even a second and miss her baby doing something memorable. Even if her baby was only about the size of an orange, and probably not capable of doing much, anyway.
"Let's take a look," Doctor Roberts told her, shifting the wand, slightly. "Yeah, I think it is-"
"What is it?" Paige asked, impatiently, when Doctor Roberts trailed off, maddeningly.
"Mind you, I'm not one hundred percent positive," Doctor Roberts cautioned. "But, it looks like you're having a girl, Paige."
"A girl?" Paige echoed, staring at the screen in amazement, while her family celebrated, around her. "I'm having a daughter?"
"You're gonna have a little girl," Henry told her, and she glanced away from the screen to see a huge grin lighting up his face.
"I'm having a daughter," Paige repeated, feeling a huge, sappy grin of her own stretching across her face as she beamed up at him. "Henry-"
The rest of what she intended to say was cut off when the door opened, suddenly. She broke off as she glanced over at the door, seeing Nick coming into the room. He looked at her, locking eyes with her for a moment, and an intense buzzing filled her ears. For just a second, she felt dizzy, like the ground had just dropped out from underneath her, and when everything returned to normal, she couldn't remember what she'd been about to say.
"I'm sorry I'm late," Nick apologized, coming over to stand beside her, shouldering Henry out of the way in the process. "What did I miss?"
'A lot,' Paige thought, feeling a flash of annoyance for his cavalier attitude, but then she winced when a twinge of pain shot through her head.
She rubbed absently at her temples as she looked back at the screen, staring at the image of her daughter.
"A girl," she said, softly, her earlier excitement suddenly subdued. "We're going to have a daughter, Nick."
She looked over at her fiancée, hoping to see some of her own excitement reflected on his face. Instead, he was staring at the ultrasound screen with an unreadable expression on his face.
"Mother was expecting a boy," he finally said, and Paige could feel her heart sink at the flat tone of his voice. "But, I imagine a girl will still make her happy."
"Right," Paige said, quietly, pushing back the disappointment that surfaced at his careless comment. "But, what about you?" she pressed. "Are you happy?"
She waited, anxiously, for his reply, but Nick just shrugged without answering. And, she couldn't help but wonder if his silence was all the answer she needed.
Continued here
