Fic: Gossamer (4/18)
Mar. 15th, 2012 01:47 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 know," Paige said, watching Henry wince as a particularly loud shriek ripped across the waiting room of the doctor's office, "you don't have to be here. I'm okay by myself."
"Are you kidding?" Henry asked, looking over at her in disbelief. "We're supposed to hear the baby's heartbeat, today. I wouldn't miss it for the world."
He dropped his arm around Paige's shoulders, and she snuggled into his loose embrace.
"Thank you," she told him, a few seconds later. "I was lying, before. I didn't really want to come to this thing, alone, and Aunt Julie had to work-"
"Like I'd be anywhere else," Henry retorted, playfully. "You're my best friend, Paige. Besides, when I told you that I'd be here for you, for anything, I meant it."
"And you've more than lived up to that promise," Paige said, quietly. "You've certainly done more than Nick has."
"How are you two doing, anyway?" Henry asked, curiously. "Is he still acting like an ass?"
"He called the house a couple of days ago," Paige told him. "He said that he's sorry, and that he wants to talk."
"Are you going to?" Henry asked, and Paige shrugged.
"I don't know," she admitted, honestly. "There's a big part of me that just wants to ignore him, like he did to me and the baby for the last ten weeks. But-"
"But-" Henry prompted her, gently, when she fell silent.
"There's another part of me that insists that he is the baby's father," she went on, reluctantly. "And that I should give him a chance to be involved in his child's life."
Henry snorted in derision, but he'd never had a very high opinion of Nick to begin with.
"I really want to tell you to just let him hang," he finally said, "but, in all fairness, you probably should hear him out."
"Yeah, probably," Paige said, with a sigh, reluctantly agreeing with him.
"But," Henry continued, "if you need me to go beat Nick up, just say the word, and I'm there."
Paige laughed, softly, shaking her head in exasperation.
"Aren't you tired of always getting on your parole officer's bad side?" she asked, wryly.
"Dan and I haven't gone ten rounds in a few weeks," Henry told her. "I think we're both starting to miss it."
"Admit it," Paige teased him, "Dan's growing on you."
"Yeah, like a fungus," Henry retorted.
Paige was about to say something in reply when her name was called across the waiting room. She and Henry stood, following the nurse back to the exam room. She was a new one, someone that Paige hadn't met before, and she was insufferably cheerful while she talked a mile a minute.
"You two are such a cute couple," she gushed, as she escorted Paige to the scale to check her weight. "You must be such a proud daddy!"
"I must be," Henry said, dryly, as he and Paige exchanged a wordless look.
Paige shook her head in response to his unspoken question, deciding not to correct the woman's mistaken assumption. She didn't care if people thought that Henry was her baby's father, so long as he didn't mind, and it kept her from having to try and justify her situation with Nick to a complete stranger.
She stepped off the scale after the nurse had recorded her weight, slipping her feet back into her shoes and following the woman down the hall. The nurse led them to an empty exam room at the end of the hallway, holding the door open as they preceded her into the room.
Paige hopped up onto the paper-covered exam table, relishing the fact that she still could, in fact, do things like hopping. She wasn't looking forward to when she got so big that she wasn't going to be able to move around as easily.
She was quiet while the nurse took her vitals, recording her pulse, her blood pressure, and her temperature. But, the other woman more than filled the silence in the room, chatting aimlessly while she worked, and Paige was amazed that she was able to hear anything with the way she was talking.
Finally, the nurse left them alone in the room, promising that the doctor would be with them in a few minutes, and Paige breathed a sigh of relief at the silence that fell in her wake.
"And I thought you could talk," Henry commented, idly, as he slouched in the chair against the far wall. "I don't think her mouth ever stopped moving."
"At least she was friendly," Paige told him, as she lay back on the table, the movement stretching out the sore muscles in her back. "The last two times I was here, I was being treated by Nurse Ratched, who acted like I was going to Hell for being a teenage mom."
"I think you're brave," Henry said, firmly, as if he thought she might actually believe what other people were saying about her. "This baby is lucky to have you as her mom."
"Oh, it's her, now?" Paige teased him, gently. "Last week, you were adamant that I was having a boy, and two weeks ago, it was twins."
"You polished off an entire pizza by yourself," Henry reminded her. "You didn't even let me have a single piece."
"I was hungry," Paige said, defensively. "And, now I want pizza," she added, thoughtfully, and Henry groaned in mock dismay.
"We'll go out to Carlini's after the appointment," he told her. "And, yes," he went on, getting back to his earlier comment, "I think you're having a girl. With frilly, pink dresses, and little bows in her hair," he added, and Paige shot him a disbelieving look.
"Do I seem like the frilly, pink bow type, to you?" she asked, and Henry shrugged, nonchalantly.
"You could be," he pointed out.
The door opened, then, cutting off the rest of his comment, and Paige's doctor walked in. The older woman had been highly recommended by Doctor Ashby, and Paige was glad that she'd gone with the man's recommendation. Doctor Roberts had never once been judgmental towards Paige because of her age, and she'd been nothing but amazingly helpful and supportive.
"How are you feeling, today?" she asked, cheerfully, as she closed the door behind her.
"I'm not nauseous, anymore," Paige started, just as the door opened, again, and a young woman in a white lab coat walked in.
"Sorry I'm late, Doctor Roberts," she said, breathlessly, as she stopped beside the older woman.
"That's all right," Doctor Roberts said. Turning to Paige, she added, "This is Ava Nicolae; she's a medical student following me on rounds, today. Is it all right if she observes your appointment?"
"I guess," Paige said, with a shrug, greeting the other woman with a small smile and a handshake.
The first part of the exam passed by quickly, to Paige's eternal relief, and then they got to the part that she'd been anticipating for several weeks, now. She was finally going to get to see her baby.
At Doctor Roberts' direction, she pulled up the hem of her loose shirt, revealing an abdomen that was just beginning to swell with a baby bump. The gel that Doctor Roberts smeared on her stomach was cold, but it warmed quickly once it was in contact with her skin.
As she turned on the ultrasound machine, Doctor Roberts picked up the imaging wand with her free hand, pressing it lightly to Paige's stomach.
"There's going to be some pressure," she warned Paige, "but tell me if you feel any pain."
Paige nodded, her eyes fixed eagerly on the still-dark screen. Beside her, Henry reached out and took her hand, squeezing her fingers, encouragingly. Then, as Doctor Roberts pressed the wand into her stomach, a grainy image formed in the middle of the screen, and Paige gasped in amazement.
"There she is," she said, softly, as the image wavered on the screen. A low lub-dub sound filled the air, and she knew that it was the baby's heartbeat.
"Hi, baby," Henry said, and Paige didn't have to look over at him to know that he had a huge, goofy grin on his face.
Doctor Roberts moved the wand, and Paige drew in a sharp breath when something that looked distinctly like a face swam into view.
"She's looking at you, Mom," Ava spoke up, from where she was standing beside Doctor Roberts, and Paige could feel herself tearing up.
"Is it possible to tell the baby's gender?" she asked, curiously.
"It's a little early," Doctor Roberts told her. "Give it another couple of weeks."
The rest of the ultrasound only took about fifteen minutes, with Doctor Roberts declaring her baby to be in perfect health at the end. As the older woman lifted the wand away from her stomach, Paige sat bolt upright on the exam bed, jumping to the floor and heading straight for the door.
"What's wrong?" Henry asked, a note of concern in his voice.
"I drank nearly half a gallon of water before we got here!" Paige called back, as she headed down the hallway. "What do you think is wrong?"
She could hear Henry's laughter following her down the hallway, all the way to the bathroom.
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 know," Paige said, watching Henry wince as a particularly loud shriek ripped across the waiting room of the doctor's office, "you don't have to be here. I'm okay by myself."
"Are you kidding?" Henry asked, looking over at her in disbelief. "We're supposed to hear the baby's heartbeat, today. I wouldn't miss it for the world."
He dropped his arm around Paige's shoulders, and she snuggled into his loose embrace.
"Thank you," she told him, a few seconds later. "I was lying, before. I didn't really want to come to this thing, alone, and Aunt Julie had to work-"
"Like I'd be anywhere else," Henry retorted, playfully. "You're my best friend, Paige. Besides, when I told you that I'd be here for you, for anything, I meant it."
"And you've more than lived up to that promise," Paige said, quietly. "You've certainly done more than Nick has."
"How are you two doing, anyway?" Henry asked, curiously. "Is he still acting like an ass?"
"He called the house a couple of days ago," Paige told him. "He said that he's sorry, and that he wants to talk."
"Are you going to?" Henry asked, and Paige shrugged.
"I don't know," she admitted, honestly. "There's a big part of me that just wants to ignore him, like he did to me and the baby for the last ten weeks. But-"
"But-" Henry prompted her, gently, when she fell silent.
"There's another part of me that insists that he is the baby's father," she went on, reluctantly. "And that I should give him a chance to be involved in his child's life."
Henry snorted in derision, but he'd never had a very high opinion of Nick to begin with.
"I really want to tell you to just let him hang," he finally said, "but, in all fairness, you probably should hear him out."
"Yeah, probably," Paige said, with a sigh, reluctantly agreeing with him.
"But," Henry continued, "if you need me to go beat Nick up, just say the word, and I'm there."
Paige laughed, softly, shaking her head in exasperation.
"Aren't you tired of always getting on your parole officer's bad side?" she asked, wryly.
"Dan and I haven't gone ten rounds in a few weeks," Henry told her. "I think we're both starting to miss it."
"Admit it," Paige teased him, "Dan's growing on you."
"Yeah, like a fungus," Henry retorted.
Paige was about to say something in reply when her name was called across the waiting room. She and Henry stood, following the nurse back to the exam room. She was a new one, someone that Paige hadn't met before, and she was insufferably cheerful while she talked a mile a minute.
"You two are such a cute couple," she gushed, as she escorted Paige to the scale to check her weight. "You must be such a proud daddy!"
"I must be," Henry said, dryly, as he and Paige exchanged a wordless look.
Paige shook her head in response to his unspoken question, deciding not to correct the woman's mistaken assumption. She didn't care if people thought that Henry was her baby's father, so long as he didn't mind, and it kept her from having to try and justify her situation with Nick to a complete stranger.
She stepped off the scale after the nurse had recorded her weight, slipping her feet back into her shoes and following the woman down the hall. The nurse led them to an empty exam room at the end of the hallway, holding the door open as they preceded her into the room.
Paige hopped up onto the paper-covered exam table, relishing the fact that she still could, in fact, do things like hopping. She wasn't looking forward to when she got so big that she wasn't going to be able to move around as easily.
She was quiet while the nurse took her vitals, recording her pulse, her blood pressure, and her temperature. But, the other woman more than filled the silence in the room, chatting aimlessly while she worked, and Paige was amazed that she was able to hear anything with the way she was talking.
Finally, the nurse left them alone in the room, promising that the doctor would be with them in a few minutes, and Paige breathed a sigh of relief at the silence that fell in her wake.
"And I thought you could talk," Henry commented, idly, as he slouched in the chair against the far wall. "I don't think her mouth ever stopped moving."
"At least she was friendly," Paige told him, as she lay back on the table, the movement stretching out the sore muscles in her back. "The last two times I was here, I was being treated by Nurse Ratched, who acted like I was going to Hell for being a teenage mom."
"I think you're brave," Henry said, firmly, as if he thought she might actually believe what other people were saying about her. "This baby is lucky to have you as her mom."
"Oh, it's her, now?" Paige teased him, gently. "Last week, you were adamant that I was having a boy, and two weeks ago, it was twins."
"You polished off an entire pizza by yourself," Henry reminded her. "You didn't even let me have a single piece."
"I was hungry," Paige said, defensively. "And, now I want pizza," she added, thoughtfully, and Henry groaned in mock dismay.
"We'll go out to Carlini's after the appointment," he told her. "And, yes," he went on, getting back to his earlier comment, "I think you're having a girl. With frilly, pink dresses, and little bows in her hair," he added, and Paige shot him a disbelieving look.
"Do I seem like the frilly, pink bow type, to you?" she asked, and Henry shrugged, nonchalantly.
"You could be," he pointed out.
The door opened, then, cutting off the rest of his comment, and Paige's doctor walked in. The older woman had been highly recommended by Doctor Ashby, and Paige was glad that she'd gone with the man's recommendation. Doctor Roberts had never once been judgmental towards Paige because of her age, and she'd been nothing but amazingly helpful and supportive.
"How are you feeling, today?" she asked, cheerfully, as she closed the door behind her.
"I'm not nauseous, anymore," Paige started, just as the door opened, again, and a young woman in a white lab coat walked in.
"Sorry I'm late, Doctor Roberts," she said, breathlessly, as she stopped beside the older woman.
"That's all right," Doctor Roberts said. Turning to Paige, she added, "This is Ava Nicolae; she's a medical student following me on rounds, today. Is it all right if she observes your appointment?"
"I guess," Paige said, with a shrug, greeting the other woman with a small smile and a handshake.
The first part of the exam passed by quickly, to Paige's eternal relief, and then they got to the part that she'd been anticipating for several weeks, now. She was finally going to get to see her baby.
At Doctor Roberts' direction, she pulled up the hem of her loose shirt, revealing an abdomen that was just beginning to swell with a baby bump. The gel that Doctor Roberts smeared on her stomach was cold, but it warmed quickly once it was in contact with her skin.
As she turned on the ultrasound machine, Doctor Roberts picked up the imaging wand with her free hand, pressing it lightly to Paige's stomach.
"There's going to be some pressure," she warned Paige, "but tell me if you feel any pain."
Paige nodded, her eyes fixed eagerly on the still-dark screen. Beside her, Henry reached out and took her hand, squeezing her fingers, encouragingly. Then, as Doctor Roberts pressed the wand into her stomach, a grainy image formed in the middle of the screen, and Paige gasped in amazement.
"There she is," she said, softly, as the image wavered on the screen. A low lub-dub sound filled the air, and she knew that it was the baby's heartbeat.
"Hi, baby," Henry said, and Paige didn't have to look over at him to know that he had a huge, goofy grin on his face.
Doctor Roberts moved the wand, and Paige drew in a sharp breath when something that looked distinctly like a face swam into view.
"She's looking at you, Mom," Ava spoke up, from where she was standing beside Doctor Roberts, and Paige could feel herself tearing up.
"Is it possible to tell the baby's gender?" she asked, curiously.
"It's a little early," Doctor Roberts told her. "Give it another couple of weeks."
The rest of the ultrasound only took about fifteen minutes, with Doctor Roberts declaring her baby to be in perfect health at the end. As the older woman lifted the wand away from her stomach, Paige sat bolt upright on the exam bed, jumping to the floor and heading straight for the door.
"What's wrong?" Henry asked, a note of concern in his voice.
"I drank nearly half a gallon of water before we got here!" Paige called back, as she headed down the hallway. "What do you think is wrong?"
She could hear Henry's laughter following her down the hallway, all the way to the bathroom.
Continued here
