One More Time

Part 10

"We're here." Lindsey announced, parking the car nearby the apartment building where Sharon lived. 

Opening the car door, Stevie stepped out, waiting for Lindsey to join her. Feeling his hand slip into hers, she glanced at him and smiled briefly, before taking a deep breath as she took the first (unsure) step. Lindsey showed the way to Sharon's and it seemed to Stevie as if he could have led them there with his eyes closed, which made her wonder just how many times exactly he'd been there. 

Once Lindsey rang the bell, they didn't have to wait long. A moment later, Stevie was face to face with a brightly smiling woman, whom she assumed to be Sharon. She was taken a back, her eyes moving from the brunette's face down to her very visible belly. Lindsey's words echoed in the back of Stevie's mind, there's a procedure, yet that baby was his, being carried and cared for by another woman. 

"Don't just stand there, come on in." Sharon opened the door wider and Lindsey tugged at Stevie's hand gently, showing her to go inside. "Can I get you anything?" 

"No, thank you." Stevie shook her head and Lindsey did too. "How are you even standing up?"

Sharon chuckled, shrugging her shoulders as she guided them through her apartment to the living room. "It looks worse than it is. Okay, it's bad." She quickly added, causing Stevie to smile just a little. "But don't worry, it's worth it. Congratulations, by the way."

Stevie wanted to dislike the woman. She realized, she truly had no reason to, but... It wasn't easy though, Sharon appeared like a nice person and after all if Lindsey and Stevie hadn't reconciled, Sharon would have been the one to give him the most precious gift in life. That. That was precisely why Stevie wanted to dislike Sharon.

"Can I ask you something?" Stevie spoke up, once the three of them sat down. 

"Of course, anything." Sharon gave a nod of her head and tried to make herself comfortable. 

"You just told me it's wort it going through all these drastic changes. I get that. I get that, when I'm carrying my baby, when it's me, who's going to watch him or her grow up. Why do you do it? Is this the first time you've done it?"

"I wondered about it too. I didn't really understand why would any woman do this, but then..." The smile faded from Sharon's face and she breathed out heavily. "My sister. She married her high school sweetheart, they've always been this perfect couple everyone wanted to be. They married young and soon after the wedding, they started trying for a baby. Nothing happened for the longest time. Everyone around kept reassuring them it would happen eventually. My mother suggested Emily to see a doctor and... turns out, she can't have children. She was absolutely devastated. I thought about it, I knew some people would find it weird, but I told her, I'll carry her baby for her. Emily got to experience the pregnancy along with me and when she got to hold her little baby girl for the first time and I saw the look on her face... It was worth it." Sharon's eyes brimmed with tears, but she smiled. "If this is the way that I'm meant to help people, then this is what I'm going to do."

Stevie sat completely stunned. Only when Sharon stopped talking, she felt the stinging of tears and she swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. 

"I have to admit." Stevie said. "When Lindsey told me, at first I didn't get it. It seemed strange, but after hearing that story... it makes sense, I understand now." Using the back of her hand, she quickly wiped away the single tear that escaped. "I had all these things on my mind, all these questions I was going to ask you, but all I can say right now is thank you. You have to be the most selfless person I have ever met in my life." Lindsey placed his hand on the small of Stevie's back, making small circles as he pressed a kiss to her temple. 

 "Would you like to..." Sharon trailed off, biting her lower lip. She wasn't sure if it was appropriate. "He's awake." She said, placing her hand where the baby just kicked. 

Sniffling, Stevie got up and approached Sharon, kneeling in front of her. She placed her palm where Sharon's just was and smiled, feeling a gentle kick. 

"That's..." Stevie didn't know how to finish, she was a bit overwhelmed. "I can't wait to feel our baby like that." She looked over her shoulder at Lindsey. 

"I can show you how he looks if you want. Well, at least the shape of him." 

"Please." Stevie nodded standing up.

Sharon left the room to get the sonogram, while Stevie went straight into Lindsey's open arms. She lay her head on his chest as his arms wrapped around her and he kissed the top of her head. 

"You okay?" Lindsey asked.

"I am, I just didn't expect this reaction from myself."

"I know." Lindsey agreed, pulling back, holding her at arm's length. "Sharon hasn't told me about her sister either. I was actually quite speechless as well."

"Here." Sharon returned, handing Stevie the image of the baby.

"I don't know what it is, but I'm so emotional!" Stevie chuckled, wiping under her eyes again after she'd started at the sonogram for a while.

"It's completely normal, trust me." Stevie smiled and handed the image back, but Sharon shook her head. "Keep it. It's your baby." 

All Stevie could think of doing was opening her arms to Sharon for a hug.