Pillow Talk

8~ Take It To The Limit (River)

"I want this."

I lifted my head from where I was checking the price on the stroller and turned to face Scarlet behind me. She was holding a bag of stuffed animals, varying from penguins to elephants and monkeys.

"Carls, babies don't play with toys until they're around a year old." I reminded her, remembering when I had to baby sit Maya a year ago for couple hours.

"So? When he or she is old enough, she'll have the toys ready for them." I sighed, giving in when she started to frown.

"Okay. Let me see." I took the bag of toys from her and tossed it into the cart, waiting until she was moving steadily on her crutches to move the cart myself.

"Riv, do we really need the Sesame Street diapers? There are tons of other infant diapers down that isle and-"

"And I like the Elmo ones." I replied, smiling. She rolled her eyes as I pushed the cart toward the register, mumbling something about me being unreasonable under her breath.

"Oh, you poor thing!" The cashier gasped, taking in Scarlet's appearance as I grabbed my wallet from my back pocket and tking the money from it.

"Oh, I'm fine." Scarlet whispered, her cheeks tinting a slight pink as she stared down at the ground.

"How far along are you?" The cashier asked, nodding at Scarlet's stomach.

"Around five months." She whispered, sending me a pleading look, her gesturing with her head for me to jump into the conversation.

"You don't know the gender yet, I take it?" She asked, curiosity clear in her eyes.

It had been nearly a month and a half since our last visit, since Caleb and Nina's wedding. A month and a half full of crappy exams and applications for jobs while trying to help Scarlet with everything and making sure she rested her foot so it would heal right.

"No." I answered, handing over the money after giving the monitor a quick glance, "We're heading over there in a couple hours to find out." She looked like she wanted to say more, but shook her head and bagged everything instead. It wasn't until we were out in the car that Scarlet finally spoke up again.

"Do you think people are going to treat me different now?" She whispered, her eyes on the road in front of us, yet thousands of miles away.

"Of course." I responded, taking her hand and kissing the top of it, "You're going to be a mother now. A great woman, a great wife, and a great mother. People will wish they were you or could be with you." She smiled at my words, laying her hand on her stomach again.

"We get to find out the gender." She said, smiling down at her stomach, her eyes glistening, "Our baby's gender." She added. I reached over and touched her hand, returning the smile as we drove out of the Baby's R Us parking lot and back on to the streets.

**

"River!" I jumped up from my chair at Scarlet's cry. She was staring down at her stomach, her mouth hanging open.

"What's wrong? Are you okay? The baby-"

"I. . . I felt something." She breathed out, touching her stomach over the hospital gown again.

"What do you mean? Did it hurt?" I asked, walking over and staring down at her shaking hands.

"I. . . I don't know. It just felt. . . strange." She lifted her head up again, her eyes wide.

"Maybe he or she kicked." I laced my fingers through hers, "The doctor will let us know."

The doctor joined us in the room a few minutes later, turning the monitor on so we could see the ultrasound.

"You do want to know the gender, correct?" The doctor questioned, her eyes flickering from Scarlet to me. She nodded, squeezing my hand so tightly I was afraid she'd cut off my circulation.

"Yes." We both answered. I watched in silence as the doctor set up everything, humming to herself. It wasn't until she started laughing and nodding that I finally perked up.

"So what's the gender?" I asked. The doctor pointed toward the monitor, smiling.

"It looks to me like you two have got yourself a baby boy." I felt Scarlet's hand grip mine tighter. It wasn't until she sat up, her eyes filled with worry that she explained why.

"River? Are you okay? You're all pale." She said, her voice quiet. The doctor excused herself, leaving us in the room by ourselves a second later.

"It's really happening." I muttered, leaning against the bed so I wouldn't collapse.

"Yeah, Riv. You knew that. The baby has been here-"

"But it's real now. We know it's boy. Our son is growing inside you." I said, trying to let the words sink in. She touched my cheek, smiling sadly.

"River, it's okay. He's gonna be our baby. Our little Reese." I nodded, moving so I could hug her. She buried her face against my shoulder, sniffling.

"Why are you crying?" I asked, taking her face in my hands. She shook her head, her lips quivering.

"Nothing. I'm just. . . we're going to be parents, River. We're going to be the couple that someone stops on the street to talk about how cute our baby is." She grinned through her tears, "and we'll be a family. A real family." It was those last three words that broke me. I sat down on the bed beside her, holding her against me as she cried tears of joy.

"I'm going to be a father." I whispered.

And I'm sure as hell not going to follow in my dad's footsteps.

**

"River! Hey!" I smiled at Daisy's greeting, stepping into the house after a second of hesitation.

"Scarlet called, she said you guys are having a boy. That's great!" She exclaimed, clapping. Caleb looked up from the soccer game he was watching, his eyes dark as he cursed under his breath.

"So I talked to Dr. Aker, he said that it'll be an easy procedure. It's just going to be telling Scarlet the-"

"She knows." I cut her off, feeling ten times better once it was off my chest. She stared at me blankly, her hands limp at her sides.

"What? River, man. You said you wouldn't-"

"She found the container in my car, Cal. I wasn't going to lie to my pregnant fiancee, man. That's just wrong on so many different levels." I snapped, leaning back against the front door.

"So what'd she say?" Daisy finally squeaked, her brown eyes on me.

"She said she's fine with it. She's just pissed off that I didn't consult her first. She understood where you two were coming from and why you didn't want to tell her, so I took the blow." I tried to lighten the mood a little, but Daisy was still trying to grasp the news.

"She's okay with it?" Caleb stood up, walking over to stand in front of me.

"She wants you guys happy, she doesn't even know I'm out right now. She told me last night that she was fine with the whole thing as long as I didn't cheat on her, so we need to go and get this over with." I blabbered on, wiping my sweaty hands on my pants. Daisy and Caleb exchanged looks before they grabbed their jackets from the coat rack and smiled.

"Okay, let's go make a baby then." Caleb joked, slamming his hand on my shoulder. I tried to force a smile on to my face, but I knew that it probably wasn't even a grimace.

"Caleb, honey." Daisy finally said, shaking her head at him, "Please don't ever say that again."

***AN***

Sorry for the short and uneventful chapter. 

I promise the next will be longer and more eventful!!

Love you guys, let me know what you thought!

~ChasingMadness24