The last time Nico had accompanied Gianna to a doctor's appointment the baby had been nothing more than tiny speck. He had just nodded along when asked if he could see the baby. But now, standing by Gianna's head, he was nervous. Now not only would there be something to see, he had been told there would be a heartbeat to hear as well.
Whether she noticed or not, Gianna slid her hand into his, clinging tightly to him and Nico let her. It was nice to know that he was not the only one who was nervous.
The doctor smiled at them, moving around as she got things ready. Moving over she got Gianna situated, helping her lie back and get comfortable. The older woman only nodding lightly at where their hands were still entwined.
"Lift up your shirt please," She said and Gianna did so. Exposing her tummy, allowing Nico to see the change that pregnancy was bringing to her. There was a curve to her stomach that had not been there before. It looked firmer than the surrounding flesh and Nico yearned to reach out, to touch, to feel. He curled his free hand into a fist, watching instead as the doctor brought out some type of gel.
"This is going to be cold," Dr Nora warned. She placed a huge dollop on Gianna's stomach. Gianna yelped, instinctively moving back, her hand brushing against Nico's.
She settled down, getting used to the coolness, but her hand did not move from Nico's. Taking a risk, he inched his hand slowly over hers until they were holding hands properly. Instead of pulling away, she clung to his bigger hand.
The doctor took out her wand, using it to spread the gel over Gianna's stomach. Gianna hissed in discomfort and Nico ran his thumb over the back of her hand, making a low soothing sound.
Dr Nora paused in her work, giving them a warm smile before resuming her movements.
"There we are," She said moments later, hovering around one particular spot on Gianna's stomach.
The same image from before was back. The murky greens and black areas, only this time there was something. The new addition was small amongst all the green and black, but when Nico looked close enough he could see it. The beginnings of new life. A tiny, tiny, precious life, the baby looking like if he held it, he could be able to close his fist around it. A lone tear made its way down his face, and when he looked down, he saw an identical one making a slow trek down Gianna's face.
"Look, Nico, look," She said, pointing at the screen in childish wonder, and just as he thought it could not get any better, a new sound filled the room.
A gentle thump, thump, thump, quick and steady. Never missing a beat, was that…
"And there's the heartbeat, a strong one too," Dr Nora said, and Nico stared, eyes moving from the screen to Gianna's belly. In her was a little person, so small they were not ready to see the outside world. And yet their tiny heartbeat was sending shockwaves through Nico's soul.
How was it possible that he loved someone he had never met so deeply?
When the appointment ended, they left the building just as they had come in, together. But something in the air had shifted. They were no longer just two people who had slept together. In a few short months they were going to be someone's parents.
A baby, a new life. An improbable being that already had a heartbeat of its own. Someone who was going to take both their features and combine them to form their own traits.
Would they have his eyes? Would he see Gianna in them every time they smiled? What of their laugh? Would their noses crinkle adorably the way hers did from time to time?
The thoughts were overwhelming and hard to believe. Gianna was not even showing properly, but in matter of weeks, the whole world would know the baby was there.
Before Nico had known Gianna was pregnant, but after hearing the heartbeat, it was like the news had been branded into him. It made him look at Gianna differently.
He had always treated her gently before, even when he was mad at her. But now it felt like she was made of all things soft and good in the world and it was his responsibility to make sure she was protected.
His hand went to her lower back as he walked. Gently guiding her around people. The touch more for him than for her.
There were things to do. Buying clothes, toys, pacifiers, bottles, strollers, baby furniture. All things he had intended to delegate to an underling. But that had been before…before he had decided not to take the baby from her…before he had heard his little one's heart thumping for the first time.
He could not delegate this, could not leave the important moments of fatherhood to someone else.
"We should start getting things for the baby," Gianna said once they were in the car, weaving through traffic and Nico stole a glance at her.
Was it possible for people to just be in sync, or was it a parental thing?
He smiled at her, nodding. And that was how they spent the rest of the afternoon in an up market baby store. All other customers cleared out, the two of them browsing leisurely through the section. Gianna who had never wanted to spend a dime of his money, spending freely as she shopped for the baby, with Nico right alongside her. Buying things he had never thought he would see himself with. How tiny were new born babies, he wondered, looking at a tiny bootie that barely fit his thumb. Everything in the store was so small, but the sales attendants assured them it was all necessary.
What they could not find at the store they ordered. And what was not available at all Gianna resolved to buy online. Everything would be delivered to the penthouse, a point Gianna had not argued, just giving him a loaded look, which Nico had understood instantly.
She planned to move back, maybe not that week, or the next, but at some point, Gianna planned to return. It took every thing in Nico to not start smiling like an idiot. Instead he took her hand in his and the two of them walked out, with Nico feeling that hearing the baby's heart, had not been just a sign of life. But also the sign they had needed come closer together.