Lix keeps his hand in mine as we rise, his other hovering protectively at my back, while Stan holds the door for us.
The examination room has become familiar to me too—dimmed lights, clean surfaces, and the low drone of equipment.
The doctor gestures for me to lie down on the narrow bed, and Lix helps me up with quiet care, placing the water within reach before taking his position beside me.
Stan plants himself on the other side, hands on the railing, gray eyes eager.
The doctor smiles. “Lovely to see you all again,” she says, washing her hands at the corner sink of a long counter with medical instruments. “How have we been feeling since last time?”
“Quite well,” I answer honestly. “Some fatigue in the afternoons. Occasional nausea, but it’s been manageable.”
“You’re right on track then, Emira,” she says, nodding as she pulls on gloves. “Four months is right around when things start to feel a bit more…present.”
Stan scoffs, crossing his arms. “That’s a polite way of sayingher body’s building a whole-ass human, Doctor Pohl.”
“That’s true, Stan,” the doctor replies, which makes Stan grin as though he’s been validated after reading books about pregnancy and parenting since mid-March. He’s made us read mpreg in turn, which still baffles me, but if it makes him happy, I don’t mind indulging in fictional reads.
Lix squeezes my hand, bringing me back to the present. “Hey, Em, all good?” he murmurs.
“Yes,” I say. “I was merely lost in thought, my love.”
Lix’s cheeks turn red. He tries to hide it coyly by cupping the front of his handsome face as he stares to the side.
The doctor dims the lights a little more, sparing him from observation, while she wheels the ultrasound machine closer to the bed.
Lix reaches out with his free hand, helping me lift my shirt a little.
As expected, she applies gel over my round abdomen, the feeling cool against my skin, and I resist the urge to squirm, though it certainly tickles.
Lix and Stan smile down at my helpless, near-silent giggles.
Stan braces against the rail. “Alright, kid,” he says under his breath. “It’s showtime.”
The screen flickers, then resolves into shapes I’ve come to recognize.
“There we go,” the doctor says. “Strong heartbeat.”
Lix breathes out, long and relieved.
The doctor glides the cold transducer probe around on my middle. “Everything looks good. Growth on schedule, if not only a little bit ahead.”
Stan’s eyes are glued to the screen. “I knew it,” he says. “Totally Idris’ spawn. An overachiever already.”
Lix stifles a laugh poorly. I stare sharply at Stan, who shrugsunapologetically, while the doctor spares a kind chuckle, used to Stan’s antics by now.
“Now,” the doctor says, glancing at us over her shoulder, “I believe today is the day you wanted to find out the biological sex of the baby. Is that still correct?”
“Yes,” I answer at the same time Stan says, “Absolutely,” and Lix adds, “Please.”
The doctor nods. “Alright then. Give me a moment.”
She turns away from the machine and moves toward the counter, retrieving a thin manila envelope. Coincidentally, the stationery is named after the city where Lix and Elle’s mother is from.
Stan rocks back on his heels, his hands gripping the railing tighter.
Lix’s hand finds mine again, but his skin feels a little cooler than before, and when I glance at him, his face has turned a bit pale, eyes fixed anywhere but the folder.
As for me, I notice my own heart has picked up speed, but I don’t let myself really feel it. I want to feel my baby’s heartbeat instead, so I soothe the lower part of my abdomen. My hand avoids the gel, still hoping to sense the growing life in me.
