“Okay, wow, this is a lot to process,” he said, “I didn’t know you had an abortion, It’s not in your file.”

“Yeah, I did, Derek knocked me up and left.”

“Well, hell, okay, so bad abortion leads to what?”

“Blockages of the fallopian tubes and severe irregularity, apparently. I haven’t had a period in four months, but I know damn well I ain’t four months pregnant.”

Lord, she hoped not, that would mean it was Levi’s baby.

Holy f**k.

“Okay, calm down,” he said, looking over her chart. “You were here in November for a screening, everything came back good, and you weren’t pregnant then.”

Oh yeah, thank God! Audrey thought as she nodded, “Yeah, had unprotected sex with my now boyfriend, back when he was the one night stand.”

“Wow, you’ve been busy,” Bryan said with a grin.

Audrey laughed, “Shut up!”

Bryan chuckled some more, “Okay, so who said you were pregnant?”

“Doctor’s Care said they did a pregnancy test and it came back positive.”

He nodded as he stood, “Okay, we’ll do one now and also take some blood samples to send off. I’ll meet you in the ultrasound room.”

“Ultrasound?”

“I know you, you won’t believe this ‘till you see it, so let’s see if we can see this baby.”

“But, Bryan, I can’t have kids,” Audrey insisted, tears rolling down her face.

“Well, Audrey, apparently something was overlooked or something changed. It’s been nine years, a lot changes in your body during that time.”

“Oh my God,” she whispered as she wiped away her tears.

“Why are you crying, this is a good thing.”

She looked up as the tears ran faster down her cheeks, “I want this so bad, Bryan, but I can’t let myself get excited ‘cause what if everyone is wrong and this is just some mean joke nature is playing on me?”

Bryan came over, cupping her face before wiping her tears away. She could have loved this man her whole life, but God had a different plan for them. He was meant to be with his partner and she was meant to be with Tate. She was okay with this, but a piece of her heart would always belong to Bryan. He was her first everything. Bryan smiled as he held her gaze with his and said, “Audrey, come on, let’s get this stuff done so we can have your answer.”

Thirty minutes and a positive pregnancy test later, Audrey was looking at a fuzzy screen showing her uterus, from what the tech, Rachel, had informed her. It was extremely uncomfortable getting a long stick, that was the ultrasound probe, shoved up in her cooter, but she had been here before. Only last time they were looking at what was damaged while this time, they were looking for a baby. Bryan stood behind Rachel as Audrey lay with her legs wide open and Rachel’s hand between her thighs.

It wasn’t very comfortable.

Audrey watched as Rachel pressed buttons and then moved the probe deeper and then up. Audrey’s eyes cringed a little, in pain, but she wouldn’t take her eyes off that screen for anything. When Rachel stopped and pointed, looking back at Bryan, Audrey said, “What? What’s that, what’s wrong?”

All Audrey could see was an empty space and what looked like a ball. Squinting her eyes, she waited for an answer from someone but they were both looking very closely at the screen, not paying her any mind.

Was that a baby?

Her heart had beat at a rapid speed since that morning, but now it was in overdrive, and she felt light headed. Hell, she felt like she was going to puke.

“Audrey, look,” Bryan said a grin forming on his face, “Rachel, zoom in closer please,” he asked as he bent over her, pointing at the screen. Looking back down at Audrey, he said, “that is the yolk sack, and that is the embryo.”

Embryo? Embryo! That meant baby!

“I’m pregnant?” she asked as the tears filled her eyes before running down her face. Rachel smiled at her as Bryan nodded.

“Yes ma’am, your baby has a nice strong heartbeat of 126 beats per minute.”

“My baby has a nice strong heartbeat?” Audrey asked, “I have a baby in me.”

“You sure do, buttercup, congratulations, it looks like you are six weeks along, making your due date,” Rachel looked down at a little wheel and then smiled up at Audrey, “August 3rd.”

“I’m due August 3rd?”

“Yup,” Rachel said with a grin, “so this was a surprise I see? I bet daddy is going to be excited.”

Audrey couldn’t breathe as she watched the little spot on the screen twitch. Not even a couple days ago, she asked how life could get any better and here she was. A girl’s hand up her cooter and her baby on the screen. Her baby! Her little person who was growing inside her! She had waited for this moment for the past nine years, and it was happening! She was going to be a mommy, and Tate was going to be a daddy. To their baby. She choked on a happy sob as the tears rushed down her face. When she looked up at Rachel and Bryan, the biggest, brightest grin ever came across her face as she gushed, “He’s gonna flip.”

***

Where the hell was she?

Tate paced through a hotel room as an interviewer was finishing up with Shea. He didn’t know where Audrey was, and he had even called Piper and Fallon to see if they knew. No one knew. Everyone was just as clueless as he was and it drove him insane. He knew she went to the doctor and the last text he got was asking him to tell her what he had to tell her. After that nothing. He was not only getting pissed but worried too.