Adopted by Phan

Chapter 91

Dan's P.O.V.

Today was the big day. We were going back to the hospital and this time it was more than physical therapy to help Jay walk. Today we would be finding out the gender of the baby, and more importantly, if it was healthy and if it was he fathers child.

Two weeks back the doctors had done some sort of genetic tests on the baby and we were getting the results back today, along with any possible genetic defects depending on who was the father.

Jay seemed very nervous, ever since she had gotten up she had been sitting in silence with her hand over her stomach, now she had just gone into the second trimester. Louise had been going over a lot of things with us through Skype about pregnancy and stuff and said that after the gender scan, things were going to get serious.

Parenting classes, the birth plan, check-ups all the time and god knows what else. Officer Briny was also handing over resources on parenting and was talking to a few different nurses to work out who would be best to care for her over the next 4 or 5 months.

We already knew that there was a good chance that the baby would be at least a month premature given Jay's age and had already started planning for that, gathering all the info that Officer Briny gave us. After the gender scan and genetic tests we were going to go to the midwife that Officer Briny had recommended us, to get things running.

"You ready Jay?" She looked up from her book, something to do to keep her distracted from what was coming up. She took in a shaky breath before nodding.

"Yeah." She took her crutches, already wearing her prosthetic leg, and followed me down to the car where we headed off to the hospital.

Officer Briny was on duty while we were at the hospital, so he couldn't come down unfortunately. Mrs Harrow on the other hand, who we hadn't seen in a couple of months, was coming down to check on Jay but because Officer Briny was basically doing her job for her, she didn't need to come around as often, maybe once every couple of months.

"Alright, let's go."

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The ride was mostly silent, Jay spent the time curled up next to the window watching all the cars pass ours with her hands resting over her stomach again. I had become slowly more and more aware of her swelling belly pressing against her t-shirt every time she moved, impeding movements on occasion.

She hadn't told anyone at school just yet, I was amazed that no one had picked up on it yet but she had worn increasingly bigger t-shirts, hiding the growth. Something told me that Anais had picked up on her changes but if she knew she hadn't mentioned anything, keeping it to herself.

"We're here guys." Phil was in the passenger seat beside me, his eyes fixed firmly on his phone and texting either Louise, who wanted to come but couldn't, or Officer Briny, I couldn't tell.

I turned my head to Jay, seeing that she hadn't moved her position when we pulled up, instead she just closed her eyes and buried her head in her arm. I got out and opened her door, squeezing her arm so I bought her attention to me, her eyes finally meeting mine.

"I know you're scared, we all are, but we have to do it. It's for your health as well as the baby's." She nodded, finally pulling herself from the car and onto the ground, balancing on her crutches with her prosthetic held in the air.

"I'm more thinking about the baby, not really me. I'm thinking of names." I smiled. That was good, that she was thinking positive and for the future, even if it wasn't that far.

"What were you thinking? For names I mean." She pondered for a couple of seconds before replying.

"I'm not completely sure, I've seen a few cool names around though." There was a pause. "Maybe Jax if it's a boy." I looked right at Phil then, nodding. It made sense, name the baby after someone that she valued.

"Aubrey if it's a girl. Maybe Phoenix too, for either boy or girl." I smiled at the last name, I'd heard the name around a few times before and it was a nice name too. Phil was also smiling.

"I like Phoenix, it's a nice but interesting name." I checked my phone and, seeing the time as 12:34, nudged Jay along and into the hospital.

Phil followed, nudging his hand into mine and squeezing it, whispering a gentle I love you before we got through the hospital doors.

We weren't in the waiting room long, maybe 10 minutes at the most, before a nurse came and took us into a private room where there was one of those scanning machines, I didn't know what it was called, and a bed with several seats around it. We sat down and Jay leaned up against me, her hands shaking.

"Dan, I'm scared." I leaned around and hugged her, squeezing her tightly.

"I know, we are too-" Looking over at Phil confirmed it, he was pale and shaky, biting on his fingernails. "We're just hoping for the best Jay, it's all we do at the moment."

She nodded and we sat, waiting, waiting, waiting. Maybe 15 minutes later a nurse walked in and pulled on a pair of gloves before turning and talking to us.

"Alright, sorry for the wait guys but we had a few emergencies just then." I nodded, trying not to panic.

"I know the backstory to this and I know you're getting the genetic results back now, so I thought I'd go and get them so you would know now, and it's good news." I sighed in relief, knowing what the good news was at once.

It wasn't her fathers child.

"The father is someone with no relationship to Jay and as far as I know, there's no major risk of genetic complications apart from Jay's family thing, the infertility one, there shouldn't be any other- um, abnormal signs?" She was searching for the right words, but we'd known that if the baby was a girl she'd be infertile and if it was a boy, any daughters he had would be infertile.

"Thank god..." Phil was mumbling underneath his breath, his hands over his face in complete relief. Jay was still squeezing my hand but was shaking less, knowing that the baby was probably healthy.

"Alright we'll do the scan now, do you want to know the gender?" I looked down at Jay, who nodded. Yes, I think we all did. The nurse smiled. "Okay, can you pop up on the table here and we'll get this done, just a warning the gel is going to be cold."

She looked at the nurse sceptically but slid onto the bed and laid back, looking over at Phil and I to come around and sit beside her, where I could squeeze her hand and run my hands through her hair.

The nurse lifted Jay's shirt up and I saw the bump, now standing out more than before, against her skin. When I thought about it, she was more pale than when we first met her, her skin no longer the sun burnt tan that it used to be, rather a creamy, more natural tan colour that was less harsh.

When the gel was placed on her skin she yelped, squeezing my hand harshly and turning her head away from the nurse. She, the nurse, smiled at her reaction, only shrugging her shoulders as if to say 'I told you so.'

She spread the gel out with what looked like a plastic microphone and then turned her head to the screen, before dropping the plastic thing and scaring everyone.

"Sorry, I forgot to check the baby's heartbeat, I didn't mean to scare you." She pulled out a stethoscope and then placed it on Jay's belly, moving it around for a couple of seconds before stopping and smiling.

"Do you want to hear it?" Jay nodded and the nurse lifted the scope from her own ears and placing them over Jay's. It only took a couple of seconds before Jay's face lit up and she smiled, before passing the stethoscope over to me.

Bu-bump, bu-bump, bu-bump.

It was there, loud and clear and I smiled to myself before passing it onto Phil. There was a living thing, a human, growing inside my adopted daughter. Once it was passed back to the nurse and she returned the plastic thing to Jay's stomach and she continued to scan around, her face not showing any expression.

"Alright, I think- ahhhh, okay. You don't have a history of twins in your family do you?"