The Black Woman #Wattys2016

The middle.

Alani
24 hours later
       Blake and Jason held my hands as the doctor put the cold, sticky stuff on my stomach once again. This time it wasn't a happy time. More of a depressing time. She placed the transducer tool on my belly and moved it around. Usually, we would be able to hear a heartbeat, but today was different. There was no heartbeat. She continued to move it around my belly with a straight face. "I'm sorry, Alani. The baby isn't-" Then that's when we heard it. It was small and faint, almost nonexistent, but everyone heard it because the nurse stopped mid sentence. Jason looked up at the monitor and Blake gasped like he was watching some sort of horror film.

"What was that?" Blake asked. The nurse quickly ran it over my belly again in the same spot to see if she would have the same sound come back to us. When she found it on the side of my belly, she covered her mouth in shock. "In all of my years of nursing, I've never had something like this happen before." She started typing something quickly into her computer and then pressed the button for the doctors to come in. I was beyond confused. Jason never let go of my hand. He looked just as scared as I was. The doctor rushed in to see what all the commotion was about. "Doctor, please tell me that that isn't what I think it is?"

He looked at the screen and squinted a little. "A baby, nurse? You've been a nurse for how long and you don't know what a baby-" The nurse cut him off. "She miscarried, Doctor. There was blood correct?" She asked me, I nodded. The doctor took the place of the nurse and grabbed the transducer from her. He placed it in the same exact spot she did and we heard the tiny noise again. "That's a heartbeat, nurse. Small, but one nonetheless. This woman didn't have a miscarriage."

"But I was bleeding and everything?" I asked. Jason's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree and he squeezed my hand tighter. "You're still early on in your pregnancy and apparently your other body part here didn't get the memo that you are in fact pregnant. We see this happen all of the time. I've had many patients be pregnant and still have their period. Some even don't know that they're pregnant because they have a period and don't gain weight until their last month or so. Everybody's pregnancy is different. Some have morning sickness, others have night sickness, some have periods still for awhile, some don't. It's all hormones."

He pointed towards a blotch in the computer. "See? The fetus is fine. It picked its favorite place in your belly to lay I'm guessing because it's on the side close to your bladder. Have you been experiencing anything else weird? Aside from the light bleeding?" I shook my head no and the nurse wiped the gel off of my belly. "Good, that's good. Your baby is fine, you can breathe. You haven't had a miscarriage at all."

Blake's smile widened and he hugged me. "Yas! Our baby is still cooking in there! Crescent roll scared us for a little bit but it's fine!"

Jason narrowed his eyes at Blake. "The baby isn't a damn food dish, Blake." Blake held his hands up. "Well excuse me, lover boy. You act like its your baby or something in there." He rolled his eyes and sat down in the chair. Jason kissed me softly on the lips. "Looks like the baby is coming after all."

"B-but I thought..I thought I lost her."

Blake and Jason both nodded as if they were agreeing with me. The nurse smiled and pulled down my shirt. "You want some pictures, baby doll?" I nodded quickly and she walked out of the room to go get them I guess. Blake pulled his phone out. "I gotta tell Declan the good news! I know he's gonna be over the moon."

Jason snarled as I sat up. I frowned. "Jason, be an adult about this, baby. You promised." He crossed his arms but nodded. "Whatever you want, baby girl."

Blake texted at lightning speed on his phone and then put it back in his purse, which he called a "man bag." It was a freaking purse. He stood back up when the nurse came in and she handed Jason the photos. "I'm assuming you're the father?" I choked up when I tried to tell her no. Jason only smiled. "Yeah, this'll be my kid too."

"Mine too! The fuck!" Blake said loudly and crossed his arms. "That baby will have the best uncle in the world. It'll be the best dressed baby too, I promise y'all that right now. She's going to have all the name brands."

I put my hat back on my head and sighed. Jason helped me down from the bed. "You're not going anywhere near the child with those brands and shit." Jason said with a straight face. Blake grinned. "Oh you'll see, sexy. You will see." He walked out in front of us, making the nurse giggle. "He's something else." She said with a smile. We walked out laughing with her. Because he was.
~~~
Once we were outside, Jason helped me into his car and Blake hopped in the back seat. He got in the driver's seat and drove off down the road. Blake groaned, earning a side eye from Jason. "The fuck is wrong with him?" He whispered to me. I shrugged. "Blake? You okay, boo bestie?"

He nodded. "Yeah, just really really really hungry. Maybe Jason could take us someplace to eat?" Jason huffed and gripped the steering wheel. "Fuck no. You have food at home and besides, you're not the one carrying a baby so you don't get to-" I cut him off. "I'm kinda hungry too, baby. Can we please stop somewhere?" His face softened and he took my hand in his. "What do you have a taste for, baby girl?"

Blake sucked his teeth. "You're only giving her what she wants because she has a pussy. Dicks don't get no love these days, I swear." Jason rolled his eyes at Blake and I giggled. "I'm craving Chipotle. Can we go there?" He nodded and kissed my knuckles. "Whatever you want."

"I need a taco bowl in my life so yeah let's go to Chipotle." Blake said and patted Jason on the shoulder. Jason scrunched his nose up and wigged Blake's hand off of him. "Okay, enough of that lovey shit. Save that for Flynn." Jason said and kept his eyes on the road. I leaned over and placed my head on his shoulder. "You okay?" He asked. I nodded and kissed his bicep. "Yes, I'm more than okay. My baby is okay, we're okay, Blake is okay I guess. So I'm okay." He leaned over and kissed my head. "We're more than okay, Alani. I love you, baby girl. I always have and I always will be in love with you. It was hard for me to admit at first but now? I know what I lost before and I'll be damned if I let someone take that away from me again."

Blake pretended to gag. "Shut all that lovey shit up and save it for when I'm not around, with your fine ass."

Jason groaned. "Mood killed." I laughed with Blake the whole way to Chipotle. Jason stretched his arms out before getting out of the car, leaving us in there. Blake opened his door and yelled out. "How rude!! You leave your pregnant girlfriend and her best friend in a hot ass car! Murder! Help! He's trying to kill us!!" He yelled and got the attention of two older ladies who watched us closely. Jason stopped in his tracks and turned around. He walked back to my door and helped me out of the car. "Sorry, baby."

I kissed him on the cheek with a smile and walked hand in hand with him in Chipotle with Blake trailing behind us talking about Jason's ass. We stood in line with me in front of Jason, resting my back on his chest and his arms wrapped around my shoulders. Blake laid his head on Jason's shoulder with a smile. "I love our relationship so much."

The old women, who were now in front of us, turned around and shook their heads. "These kids are crazy these days. Having three and four people in a relationship. I never seen nothing like it!" One of them said. The other one nodded. "We didn't have any of that when we were dating back in the day. My husband wouldn't have gone for any of that!"

I crossed my arms. "Excuse me?" The women both turned around quickly and shook their heads. "And she's pregnant too. I wonder which one is the daddy." The first one tried to whisper but did a shit job at it. Jason chewed on his lip and Blake lifted his head up from Jason's shoulder. "I know they told me to respect my elders but ooooh! Y'all plucking one!" Blake said and stood in front of us to be behind the ladies. They turned back around. "Excuse me? What did you just say, boy? I'll have you know my son is the sheriff of this town and he'll have you arrested in no time. I have him on speed dial."

Blake laughed. "Oh honey, nobody uses speed dial anymore. Also, before you start judging my friend, you should think about yourself and your ten kids with all different daddies." Her friend turned her around quickly and scoffed. Jason laughed. They walked ahead of us and told the people what they wanted. Blake brushed his shoulder off. "And it's that easy."

He walked up next to tell them what he wanted. Jason held me back and whispered in my ear. "I love you."

I smiled softly and looked up at him. "I love you too, Jason."

"Promise?"

I nodded and wrapped my pinky around his. "Promise."

[Jason Jason Jason 😍]