Season 6 Once Upon a Time

Chapter 55

"She's a girl." Addison confirms, and Cooper let's out this joyous little laugh.

She turns to look at him, and damnit he's crying. Again. Now she's laughing, too, both of them just looking at each other with stupid grins on their faces.

"Harper." Cooper says to her, and her heart just plumb flops over in her chest.

She nods, looks back at the screen. At her daughter.

"Harper." Charlotte whispers, shaking her head.

She feels another hard surge of emotion and brings a hand up to her mouth to hide the way her chin quivers.

"Harper, huh?" Addison asks them what seems like an eternity later. She's handing Cooper a stack of ultrasound photos - Charlotte hadn't even realized she'd moved, didn't notice that Cooper was the one holding the wand in place now, not Addison. "That's a good name."

"Thanks." Charlotte murmurs, craning her neck to see the photos.

"You take a look at those." Addison instructs, taking the wand back from Cooper for a minute. "I'm going to find a good place for your amnio."

Charlotte's suddenly much less concerned about the photos. She glances at the gigantic needle on the tray nearby and feels that sheen of sweat come back.

"Hey, look at me." Cooper urges, moving in close and holding the ultrasound pictures up. "Look at her. Just think about her."

Charlotte nods, and does her best, focusing on the image in front of her. Her mouth is dry.

"We're having a daughter." He whispers to her, and Charlotte nods dumbly again.

"You might feel a little pinch." Addison warns, and Charlotte squeezes her eyes shut, tensing up.

"Wait." Cooper tells Addison. "Char, relax, look at me."

Charlotte takes a deep breath, forces her muscles to relax one by one, but she doesn't open her eyes. When she's ready, she nods. She winces at the pinch of the needle piercing through her belly, tries (and fails miserably) not to visualize it penetrating all the way into her womb. She fells a little light-headed.

She feels her uterus cramp up slightly, and squeezes one hand into an anxious fist.

"And we're done." Addison announces a moment later, and Charlotte let's out the breath she'd been holding.

"See, that wasn't so bad." Cooper says soothingly next to her, and she opens her eyes then, and glowers at him.

"If it's not so bad, you try it." She hisses. "And don't patronize me."

He holds up an ultrasound picture in front of her face again, and just says. "Harper."

Charlotte can't help it; she laughs.

"Nice try." She teases, taking the picture from him with slightly shaky fingers.

Charlotte can't be mad at him while she's looking at this, not right now, so she guesses flashing it to her was a pretty good move after all.

"Alright, you guys are all set." Addison announces, and Charlotte sits up fully and starts putting herself back together. "You should take it easy for the rest of the day. I'm sure you've still got work to do, but do it from your desk. Sit. Relax."

"Yeah, of course."

"I have a few more patients." Cooper says. "But I should be out of here within about an hour and a half. Do as much as you can before then, and we'll take home the rest?"

He's doting, and she finds she doesn't mind it so much now. Plus, there's her nagging fear that something else could go wrong.

So Charlotte finds herself giving in without so much as a fight. "Okay, sounds good."

Five minutes later, she's sitting in her office, tucking a couple of the grainy black-and-white photos into her purse, and running a hand over her belly. They're not out of the woods yet, but damnit, she's not giving up.