Moving forward a few weeks, not a lot has changed. Kate tries to reach Brian at least once a day. But she’s lucky if he responds. Her new motto has become ‘if he wants to talk to me, he will.’ She and Chase have become very close friends and he often comes over to hang out with her and Val. Val is now in the middle of her 7th month of pregnancy.

“Val! Come on, we’re gonna be late!” Kate shouted from the porch.

Val sighed loudly and hobbled down the stairs.

“Jesus Kate, I’m pregnant here. How fast did you want me to go?” She said back.

Kate just smiled and climbed into the driver’s side and waited for Val to get in.

Today they were going for an ultrasound of the baby. During the ride, Val was picking her fingernails nervously. Kate has recently discovered she did that when she was nervous. She glanced over at Val and smiled.

“What are you thinking about?” Kate asked. Val shrugged.

“Everything. What if he tells me something’s wrong with the baby, Kate?” Val said seriously. Kate looked at her for a second before turning her eyes back to the road.

“Oh honey, nothing is wrong with the baby. Don’t think that way. This is just a routine checkup, everything will be fine.” Kate said. She reached over and grabbed one of Val’s hands and held it tightly the rest of the way to the doctor’s office.

Once they arrived, Kate got out first and helped Val out. Val was so nervous, she started shaking. Kate took a hold of Val’s hand again and held as they walked in.

The receptionist was filing her nails when they walked up to the window.

“Hi, I have an appointment for 1:00?” Val said in a shaky voice. The woman behind the desk didn’t even look up.

“Sign your name, we’ll call you when it’s your turn.” She said. Kate rolled her eyes while Val wrote her name down.

When she was finished, she and Kate walked over to two empty seats in the corner. The woman next to Kate smiled and patted her arm.

“I think it’s great that they let couples like you two conceive a child.” She said with a dumb smile on her face.

Kate raised one of her eyebrows and glanced at Val. She remembered that they were still holding hands. When she realized this, it took everything in her not to burst out laughing.

“I know, we’re both very excited to become mommy’s.” Kate said with a huge grin on her face. Val was looking the other way just so she didn’t laugh.

“I bet you are. I hope everything works out for you.” The woman said. Kate just smiled and turned to face Val.

She leaned in close and planted a kiss on Val’s cheek. The woman gasped a little and shifted in her seat. Kate chuckled against Val’s skin and Val cleared her throat.

“Mrs. Sanders?” The nurse called from the hallway.

Val and Kate stood up and walked over to her.

“Hi, how’s your husband?” The nurse asked.

The woman who thought the girls were lesbians overheard and shook her head, but gave Kate a small smile before she walked back to the exam room with Val.

“Alright Val, just lie back and pull your shirt up for me.” The nurse said.

Kate took a seat next to Val and gripped her hand. The nurse shut off the light and wheeled over the ultrasound machine.

“I’m gonna put some gel on your stomach, I warn you it’s a little cold.” She said as she shook the bottle of blue goo.

Val jumped slightly when the goo splattered on her stomach and Kate just gripped her hand.

“Okay, here we go.” The nurse said as she put the tool on Val’s stomach.

“Val look, there’s your baby.” Kate said as the grainy image of the baby appeared on the screen.

Val’s eyes filled with tears as she looked at it.

“There’s my baby.” She said.

Kate pulled out her phone and started videotaping the image on the screen. Val looked at her questioningly and Kate smiled.

“I’m gonna send it to Matt when we’re done.” She told her.

Val smiled and started to cry a little. Kate kissed her cheek and looked at the monitor.

“Look Matt, there’s your baby. There’s its little feet and look a little hand.” Kate said as she pointed to the things on the screen.

“Would you like to know the sex of the baby?” The nurse asked.

“Yes!” Kate said. Val shook her head.

“No.” Val said. Kate pouted.

“Why not?” She asked.

Val shrugged.

“Matt and I want it to be a surprise.” Val said. Kate rolled her eyes and aimed the phone at Val.

Val waved and blew a kiss to the camera.

“I miss you baby. Come home soon.” She said. Kate felt a lump in her throat.

She hadn’t actually talked to Brian in about two weeks and she was really missing him.

Kate ended the video and sent it straight to Matt.

“Okay, everything seems to be fine with the baby. But Val, I’m really going to need you to relax until the baby’s born. You’re blood pressure was a little high so I need you to take it easy.” The nurse said.

Val and Kate’s hearts dropped.

“What do you mean take it easy?” Kate asked. The nurse handed Val a towel to wipe off the goo from her belly.

“If her blood pressure gets too high it could mean distress for the baby and we don’t want that. So just relax at home. Stay in bed and watch TV until it’s time to deliver.” She told them.

“But I’m not even due for a month and a half.” Val said.

The nurse nodded.

“I know sweetie, but it’s really for the best.” She said.

Val looked at Kate with a worried expression. Kate wrapped her in a tight hug.

“Don’t worry, everything is gonna be fine. We just gotta live like lazy bums for the next month and a half. That shouldn’t be too hard.” Kate said. Val chuckled a little and Kate helped her down.

“Thank you nurse.” Val said. The nurse nodded and handed Val an envelope.

Val took it and opened it. Inside were print outs of the sonogram. Val smiled and held them close to her heart. Kate smiled back and the two of them walked out of the office and back to the car.

“Okay so what now?” Kate asked. Val shrugged.

“I don’t know, but I sure as hell am not sitting around the house for the next month.” She said. Kate laughed.

“I figured that.” Val laughed and went to answer her phone that was ringing.

“Hi baby. I know it was so magical.” She said.

It was Matt, he just watched the video Kate sent him.

“He said thanks Kate.” Val said to her. Kate nodded and pulled into their driveway.

“No I didn’t find out what it was.” Val said with an eye roll. Kate chuckled and turned off the car.

Val got out and started walking inside.

“You coming?” Val called out to her.

Kate shook her head and started to walk to the beach. She didn’t like to be around while Val was talking to Matt. Whenever she was, Val would give her looks of sympathy and Kate couldn’t stand it. If Brian wanted to talk to her, he would and he obviously doesn’t want to.

Kate found herself wondering down the beach so far that she was to Brian’s house. She sighed and sat down in the sand and looked out at the water. She and Brian used to do this almost every night. They would bring a blanket out and wrap themselves in it and just look at the water and the stars. Without warning, Kate started to cry. She couldn’t help it anymore. She couldn’t hold back what she was feeling for one more second. She was hurting and she had to let it out. Kate pulled her legs up under her and let her feeling spill out of her eyes.

After about twenty minutes, she had no more tears to cry. Slowly, she picked her head up and jumped when she saw someone standing not 10 feet away from her. At second glance, she saw that it was Chase.

“You looked like you needed to be alone, so I didn’t bother you.” He said as he walked closer.

Kate sniffled and wiped her face of the tears.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” He said softly.

Kate shook her head.

“No it’s fine. You didn’t scare me.” She said.

Truthfully, she had thought that it was Brian standing over her at first. But that wasn’t possible.

“You miss him, don’t you?” Chase said.

Kate nodded slowly and let Chase wrap his strong arms around her.

“Oh sweetheart, I’m so sorry you’re going through this.” He said softly.

Kate crawled into his lap and buried her face into his chest.

“Why doesn’t he want to talk to me Chase?” She mumbled.

She felt Chase take a deep breath and slowly let it out.

“I don’t know honey. But he’s a fool.” He said.

Kate looked up and saw that he was looking out at the ocean. Kate couldn’t help but stare into his eyes. The way the light was hitting them made them shine like emeralds in a sea of diamonds.

“Do you think he’s cheated on me, Chase?” She asked him after a few seconds of silence.

Chase looked down and shook his head.

“I don’t know Kate, but if he has I think it was the biggest mistake of his life.” He said honestly.

Kate nodded slowly and let out a sigh.

“What am I supposed to do?” She asked him. Chase shrugged.

“Keep trying, and most importantly keep living. I know you’re hurting inside but we need you here. Val needs you to be here for her and that baby. She’s going nuts right now.” Chase said. Kate sat up straight.

“What do you mean?” She asked. Chase smiled.

“How do you think I found you? Val called and said you wondered off and I went looking for you.” He said with a small smile.

Kate closed her eyes and nodded.

“You’re right Chase. I need to keep going with my life. So what if Brian’s away right now, so what if he may have potentially cheated on me, I need to get over it. Val needs me.” She said with certainty.

Chase nodded and stood up, pulled Kate with him.

“But can I ask one favor?” Kate asked. Chase nodded.

“Please carry me back? I’m exhausted from crying.” Kate said with a weak smile.

Chase laughed and scoped her up effortlessly. Kate hung her hands around his neck and let him carry her back to Val’s house.