Like Walking Into a Dream

“Please explain why we’re here again,” Brian grumbled as we walked into the hospital. I grabbed his hand and laced our fingers together.

“Because Michelle asked us to come.” Brian smiled a little at our hands before frowning at the thought of seeing his ex-fiancée. I felt the same why, but I know if I was in her shoes, I would want company with me too. Brian and I walked to the front desk and I saw Lacey behind it.

“Peyton, I thought today was your day off…”

“It is. I’m here to go to Michelle’s sonogram,” I replied with a smile. Lacey returned it and checked her computer.

“Okay, she’s in room 1332. Dr. Adams will be there shortly; she is currently performing another sonogram,” Lacey told us. I thanked her before leading Brian down a hall that I knew all too well. I’ve worked in several different wings of the hospital so I know where most things are.

We arrived at Michelle’s room and I knocked before entering. Brian held my hand tighter as we walked in. Michelle was sitting back in a chair trying to relax. Once she saw us, she seemed to calm down.

“I—Thank you… Val and I got in a fight and she said she was too busy to come. I didn’t know who else to call…” she whispered. I smiled sadly and rested my free hand on her shoulder.

“Dr. Adams is a friend of mine. She’ll take good care of you, don’t worry,” I told her. Michelle looked up at me with confused eyes.

“Why are you being so nice to me? I’ve tried to ruin your relationship with Brian… You should hate me,” she mumbled. I nodded softly.

“I should, but everyone deserves a second chance and this is me giving you yours. And this is the only one you’ll get,” I said that last part a little firmer, but Michelle smiled and nodded.

“Thank you so much. I honestly don’t know what I would have done if you two didn’t come…” she added. Brian and I saw down in two other chairs in the room.

“How far along do you think you are?” I asked. Michelle counted on her fingers and answered a month. I frowned a little.

“Michelle, there might still be a chance that you're not pregnant. A month might still be a few weeks too early to tell and you could be stressed. Store bought pregnancy tests aren’t always right,” I explained. Michelle nodded in understanding that’s when the doctor finally arrived.

“Peyton, I didn’t know you were going to be here,” Kaitlyn Adams greeted me.

“It was a last minute thing,” I said with a small wave of my hand. She nodded and got to work prepping Michelle for the test. I watched the whole thing knowing exactly what to do like the back of my hand. I worked with Kaitlyn for almost a full year in this wing before I got moved to emergency/recovery.

Michelle shivered and got goose bumps when Kaitlyn put the jelly on her flat stomach. She explained what was going to happen and pointed to the wand and screen.

“Ready?” she asked with a smile. All three of us gulped and nodded. It was then that I noticed that Brian hadn’t spoken a word the whole time. He must actually be pretty nervous to see all this.

I watched Kaitlyn’s face and then looked to the screen. It was weird, I didn’t see any indication that there was a baby inside. No heart beat and no small pea looking thing.

“I’m sorry to say that you’re not pregnant.” Kaitlyn then explained that she might be stressed and said the same thing I said to Michelle minutes earlier. After everything was cleaned up and the doctor left, we just sat there. Michelle sat up in her chair and smiled lightly.

“This may seem bad, but I'm relieved. I'm not ready to be a parent and it would have been unfair of me to bring a child into the world when I wasn’t prepared or living somewhere more stable.” She looked at me again.

“I've been such a bitch to you… I’m going to change myself. It may not happen overnight, but I will and when we see each other again I hope we can be something close to friends.” Michelle held her hand out to me. I slowly took her hand in mine and gave her a gentle smile.

“I’ll be waiting.”

Brian and I were the first to leave and as soon as we were out of the building, he let out a long sigh and smiled at me.

“Told you it wasn’t mine.” I flicked his forehead and walked ahead of him to his truck.

“Hey, that wasn’t very nice!” he yelled and ran after me. I laughed and opened the passenger door to jump in, but his arms circled around me and pulled me backwards.

“Brian!” I giggled. He spun me around before setting me back down and facing me.

“Things will only get better from here. I promise,” he said kissing me sweetly. I cupped his face with my hands and smiled brightly.

“I have no doubt about that.”

~*~

DING DONG

“Coming!” I called while wiping my hands on a kitchen towel as I walked to the front door to answer it. It’s been a few days since Michelle’s sonogram and by now everyone knew there was no baby. Brian and I were cooking lunch because I had the night shift tonight and I wanted to eat before catching up on some sleep before I had to leave.

“Jimmy!” I screamed and jumped into his open arms. He spun me around before giving me a noogie and setting me down.

“Don’t forget about us!” I looked behind him and saw Leana and Papa Gates.

“This is a surprise! What are you guys doing here?” I asked moving aside to let them in.

“Jimmy and I haven’t seen you in a while so we thought we would stop by and we ran into Brian Sr. just now,” Leana explained.

“Hey hey hey, Sr. makes me sound so old. Just call me Papa Gates please!” Brian’s dad whined. It’s hard to imagine him as a parent, but Brian is obviously his son… At least he turned out somewhat normal. I smiled happily and let them into the kitchen.

“Who was at the door?” Brian asked his back turned to us as he stirred the beef stew in the cooking pot.

“Is Brian actually cooking?!” Jimmy freaked out and ran over to inspect him carefully. Brian’s eyes almost popped out when he saw who our company was.

“You guys need to seriously call instead of just coming over whenever you want,” he grumbled and saw down at the table.

“I think we’ve been teleported into another dimension… I've never seen Brian cook unless he was flipping a burger on the grill,” Jimmy mumbled to himself. I turned the stove off and saw down next to Brian.

“Dad, I thought you were still on tour,” he said ignoring Jimmy who kept talking to himself. Leana smacked the back of his head before sitting down next to me at the table.

“It just ended and I heard about Michelle. Congrats on not giving me any babies. Seriously Brian, I want them. Have you two done the deed yet or not?” he asked with such a serious face. I blushed bright red and Brian stuttered his reply.

“You have!” Leana yelled and clapped her hands. I hid my face in my hands.

“Don’t make our private into small talk! It’s none of your business. Keep this up and you’ll ruin my appetite,” he hissed and went to make a bowl of stew.

“Aren’t you going to offer us any??” Papa Gates whined, but there was still a huge smirk on his face like he just won something.

“Not if you keep talking like that I'm not!”

“I’m your father!”

“That doesn’t mean you can ask about my sex life and then expect me to feed you!”

“I'm your father!”

“What have you gotten yourself into?” Leana whispered next to me. I just shook my head and watched Jimmy get involved too.

“I don’t know,” I said, but a small smile formed on my lips anyway.