Another Heart Calls

“Hey,” Meredith smiled, walking inside their apartment to see Patrick sitting on the couch going over plays. “Isn’t today the day that Janelle’s going to the doctor?”

“Yeah, why?” Patrick questioned as she put down her bag on the table and walked over towards him.

“I thought that maybe you should go with her,” Meredith told him, and when he gave her a confused expression, she continued. “Come on, Patrick. You are the father. I think you should be there with her when she gets the sonogram.”

“You’re right,” Patrick agreed. “Let me call her and see when the appointment is,” he said getting up and grabbing his phone. He dialed her number, waiting for her to pick up.

Meredith sat there, waiting on Patrick to figure out what time he needed to go with Janelle. When he hung up the phone, she asked, “So, what time’s the appointment?”

“It’s at three, but she doesn’t want me going with her,” he replied slowly.

“She doesn’t want you to go with her?” Meredith questioned. “Why wouldn’t she? She made it perfectly clear that she wanted you to be there for the baby, so why wouldn’t she want you to go to the doctor with her?”

“I don’t know,” Patrick replied.

Charlotte came over later that day to discuss wedding plans with Meredith. “Okay, as far as flowers go,” Charlotte began, after having spent the last two hours discussing what food she should have for the reception.

“Char, please, can we give it a rest for tonight?” Meredith begged. “Please, let’s just talk about something else.”

“Fine, what do you want to talk about?” Charlotte questioned.

“Janelle had a doctor’s appointment today,” Meredith began.

“Really?”

“Yeah,” Meredith replied. “I told Patrick he should go with her.” When Charlotte’s eyes went wide with shock, Meredith explained. “Well, I mean he is the father. He should be there when she has the sonogram.”

“Okay, I get your point,” Charlotte said.

“Yeah, well, when he called her to ask when her appointment was, she told him she didn’t want him to go with her,” Meredith said. “I don’t get it. Wouldn’t you think she’d want Patrick there with her? I mean, she said that she wants him in the baby’s life.”

“Maybe she’s not pregnant,” Charlotte said randomly as the front door opened and Patrick walked in.

“Hey, how’s the wedding plans going?” he asked, looking over at the table that was covered with bridal magazines and all sorts of papers. “Okay, now I understand why Marty doesn’t want to be a part of it, and just wants you to plan it all,” Patrick said laughing. “That’s how it’s going to be when we get married,” he said to Meredith. “You’re going to plan your dream wedding, and I’m just going to show up.”

Meredith stared at Patrick for a few moments, speechless. He turned around to look at her, and asked, “What?”

“You’ve thought about us getting married before?” Meredith asked softly.

“Of course,” Patrick said with a small laugh. “How could I not think about it?”

“Have you thought of how you’re going to propose yet?” Charlotte asked. “Because if you haven’t yet, you could probably get a few tips from Marty.”

“Yes, we all know that no one will ever beat Marty’s proposal,” Meredith said jokingly. She had always loved the way Marty had proposed, and she didn’t know if anyone else’s proposal would ever live up.

Marty had been planning his engagement for months before he actually proposed to Charlotte. It was her twenty-third birthday, and the Blackhawks had had a game that night. Marty had gotten her tickets to it, and then he had promised to take her out afterwards.

As she sat in her seat with Meredith right next to her, she had been happily watching the announcements go across the jumbotron during the second intermission. She smiled as she saw an announcement go across that said it was a little girl’s fifth birthday. She glanced back up and saw a proposal written up there. It hadn’t registered with her that it was her name up there until she saw Marty out on the ice staring up at her.

Charlotte sat frozen in her seat, not knowing what to do. Marty began to get worried until Meredith elbowed Charlotte and brought her out of her trance. Charlotte immediately bolted down the steps until she made it to the first row. Marty jumped over the boards to get closer to her, and he got down on one knee with a ring in his hand. Charlotte immediately began nodding her head and saying yes as the entire crowd began clapping and cheering.

“But, Char’s right. You might want to get some ideas from Marty. Because, honestly, with the way he proposed, I probably would have said yes to him, and I’m not even in love with him,” Meredith laughed.

“So, you want me to propose to you during a game?” Patrick questioned.

“No,” Meredith said, shaking her head. “You’ve got to be creative. You wouldn’t want to do the same thing. But, I would ask Marty for help,” she added laughing.

“I’ll think about it,” Patrick said as he wrapped his arms around Meredith.

All of a sudden, the front door opened, and everyone turned to see who was coming in. “Hi, everyone!” Janelle sang cheerfully.

“What are you so happy about?” Charlotte questioned.

“I just come back from the doctors,” Janelle smirked.

“Yeah, and what’s up with you not wanting Patrick to go with you?” Charlotte asked. “What, are you not pregnant, and just trying to hide it?”

“If I wasn’t pregnant, then how could I have this?” she asked, pulling a sonogram out of her purse. “Here, Patrick, this is for you,” she said handing the picture over to him.

Patrick stared down at the picture in his hands, unable to believe that everything was real. “Can you believe it?” Janelle asked. “That’s our baby!”

Charlotte glared at Janelle before turning to look at Meredith to make sure she was alright. Meredith gave her a small smile back before turning back to look at Patrick. “Hey, Patrick, are you okay?” Meredith asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“It’s just, everything’s so…real now,” he told her as she grabbed his hand.

“Yep,” Janelle smiled. “Just think, in a few months, we’ll have this baby,” she added, putting a hand on her stomach.