Mirrors

June 23rd, Friday

Amelia and Gemma were on the other end of our Skype call and I was in the bedroom with Christian, and they were completely unaware of his presence in the room as I had my laptop facing only me. I was so eager to tell them the great news, but I wanted it to be timed perfectly. So ten minutes into our conversation, the girls were getting all giddy over the picture I sent each of them of myself, proudly showing off my growing belly.

"Sixteen weeks!" Gemma held her hand to her chest, "My girl is having a baby in twenty-four weeks, that's insane!"

"Ave, we miss you!" Amelia made a sad face.

"I miss you too ladies, so much." I half-smiled.

"Hey, wait. Who took the picture?" Gemma asked as she looked closely at her phone, at the text message I sent earlier.

My small smile grew into a grin and my heart jumped for joy, "This handsome fellow right here." I turned the laptop to the side and revealed Christian who was listening to our conversations the whole time, he smiled and started to laugh as the girls threw themselves into a frenzy of screaming and perfect facial expressions.

"We were talking this whole time and you didn't even tell us you're back together?!" Gemma attempted to scold me but she was way too ecstatic and happy to possibly be angry.

"I wanted to surprise you." I giggled as he and I held hands.

"It's nice to see you again, ladies." He smiled at them.

"I have waited for this moment for so long!" Amelia beamed, "Christian you made the right choice!"

"I did." He smiled thoughtfully, "I'm here in the city of love with the love of my life and our baby. Nothing could top this."

"Here come the tears." Gemma waved her hand before her face, blinking and taking deep breaths. "You two are so friggin' cute."

I laughed.

"And it's your baby! Guys, things are just perfect, like seriously." Amelia grinned, "How long have you been in Paris, Christian?"

"Three days."

"And it took you that long to tell us, Avery?" Gemma raised a perfectly arched brow.

"Sorry, I was distracted for three days." I lightly laughed as I leaned into to kiss Christian's cheek.

When I looked back at the screen the girls were beaming before they broke into laughter, and I shook my head and smiled. "Well we're gonna have to talk later, Christian and I were gonna go for a walk in the city today."

"Alright, you two kids have fun, alright?" Gemma teased.

"It was nice seeing and talking to you." Christian chuckled before getting up from the bed, I turned my attention back to Gem and Amelia. "Talk to you in a bit, I miss you girls so much."

"Miss you too, babe." Amelia smiled sweetly. We then heard Christian's voice from the other room, "Hey, that's my name for her!"

"I've been calling her that for a lot longer than you boy!" Amelia yelled back, making us laugh.

"Okay so before you start an argument over Skype, I'm gonna let you go. Bye, love you Gem, love you Amelia." I then closed my laptop.

Christian came back and stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame of the door with a small smile. "Shall we go for that walk now?"

My heart melted from his gaze and I grinned, "Yes, we shall."

We held hands as we walked through the Jardin des Tuilleries. I smiled up at him as we walked along the paved walkway among the flowers and shrubs, "I'm glad that no one really knows who I am here in Paris. I'm able to freely show my affection to you without worrying about photographers following me."

He smiled back and cupped my face to kiss me sweetly, "I'm glad too."

"But Blair's predictions may come true. My instagram feed was filled with pictures and tags that included me. I wish some of the unflattering ones weren't on there." I lightly laughed.

"There's no such thing as an unflattering picture of Avery." He chuckled.

"Check your feed, you'll see." I laughed a little harder.

He let go of my hand and draped his arm lazily around my shoulders and I wrapped mine securely around his waist.

"I'm really eager to find out if we're gonna have a boy or girl." He smiled.

I looked up at him as we walked on, "Same here." And I thought for a moment until an idea popped into my mind and I stopped walking, "Hold on."

"What are you doing?" He asked as he watched me reach into my purse and take out my phone, I smiled up at him and didn't say anything as I dialled a number. Holding the phone to my ear and I waited for an answer.

"Dr. Wrightley's office." A soft voice answered.

"Is she in? I'm a patient of hers, Avery Hudson. I'd like to talk to her." I replied.

"Please hold, I'll see if she's available."

"What are you doing?" Christian whispered, getting excited and impatient.

"You'll see." I grinned. Soon my doctor's voice came on the line, "Hello Avery, how are you?"

"I'm great," I smiled, "I was wondering if I could ask something of you?"

"What is it?"

"I'm in Paris right now and I want to have an ultrasound, I wanna find out the gender of my baby. Would you be able to send my file to a hospital over here and order an ultrasound for me? Today?"

Christian's impatience quickly faded away and a relaxed smile grew on his face.

"Oh Avery, the things I do for you, I can already tell you're gonna be a pain in my neck. Which hospital?" She lightly laughed, I laughed back, "Any one is fine."

"Then the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital do. I'm sending your file right now and ordering an ultrasound at 1pm, is that fine for you?"

I took Christian's wrist and checked the time on his watch, in half an hour. "Yes, one is perfect. Thank you Dr. Wrightley, this means the world to me."

"That's the only favour I'm doing for you for now." She laughed, "Now go on, I hope you'll be pleasantly surprised."

"Thank you." I smiled, "Bye."

"Pitié-Salpêtrière. Let's go." I smiled at him and grabbed his hand, about to run off to hail a cab. He pulled me back and I looked at him, "What?"

"I love you." He smiled as he pulled me into a deep kiss. "Now let's go find out if we're having a boy or girl."

We laughed with excitement and took off quickly from the park and waved down a cab so they could take us to the hospital.

"That feels weird." I giggled, making a face as the ultrasound technician squirted the gel out of the packet onto my lower abdomen. She just smiled as she moved the transducer firmly against my stomach, spreading the gel around.

As I lied back on the padded table, Christian sat next to me in eager anticipation, holding my hand and watching the screen. I smiled as I watched him and my heart melted as the look in his eyes was as genuine and pure as ever.

"So during this ultrasound we will be able to detect how far along you are, the sex of the fetus, and your approximate due date." The technician spoke in her lovely French accent, giving each of us a warm smile. "That is if you want to know the sex."

"Yes!" Christian abruptly spoke, making both me and the woman laugh. She looked at me waiting for my decision, I nodded and smiled, "Yes, we'd like to know."

As she pressed the device against my abdomen, we heard the heartbeat and Christian stood up, inhaling sharply with a grin on his face. "That's the heartbeat. Avery, that's the heartbeat!"

I laughed, "I know, I've heard it before. But isn't it a beautiful sound?"

"Let me record it, hold on." He reached into his back pocket and took out his phone, and took a seat again. The three of us sat in our own silence as he recorded the breathtaking sound of our unborn child's heartbeat. All the while I watched Christian and could literally feel myself falling more in love with him.

He clicked a button on the side and gave a satisfied smile, "I'm gonna listen to this everyday."

"Are you first time parents?" She asked us.

I nodded, "Isn't it obvious?" I teased, poking fun at my ecstatic love.

"He does seem a little over-the-top, but it's a sweet reaction." She lightly laughed. After she guided us along, showing us the head, body, and limbs of our baby, she looked at each of us. "Now for the moment of truth. Before I reveal the sex, what are your predictions?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "It feels like a boy to me."

"I have no predictions or preference." Christian bit his lip, staring at the screen.

"Alright, drumroll please." She moved the device and pushed it a little harder. Christian and I held our breath and the grip he had on my hand tightened a bit more, our eyes were fixed on the screen.

"It's a girl." She smiled, and unexpectedly I became emotional, struggling to fight back the tears of joy. I covered my mouth and started to laugh, and he kissed my hand. Tears were in his eyes as he gazed lovingly at me. "We're having an Avery."

I laughed and began to cry a little more, "A girl. This is so lovely."

He stood up and cupped my face gently to kiss me. "I love Ave, this is the best thing in the world."

"And now for an approximate due date...what I'm seeing is around December 18th."

"December. Wow." I grinned, becoming speechless now.

"Everything is looking and sounding good, so I'll print off these sonograms in the other room. If that's all, I'll give you a towel to clean up the gel and I'll give you two a moment together." She smiled before rising and leaving the room.

Dragging the towel across my stomach to wipe up the gel, Christian was beaming and a tear escaped from his blue eyes. "Until the actual birth of our daughter, this moment is by far the most beautiful one I've experienced. We've created something beautiful." He wiped his eyes and smiled softly at me.

After cleaning myself up, I leaned close to him and gently placed my hand at the side of his face. "I love you Christian. I am in complete happiness, that's all I've ever wanted." He held my hand in his against his soft cheek and closed his eyes, taking in the comforting words I've finally been able to speak. "That's all I ever wanted Ave, to make you happy."