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Chapter Three – October 2

“I don’t know why you’re so tired. You went to bed the same time I did.”

I stifled a yawn into my palm. My followers were strong and valiant last night during an epic quest and I stayed up way later than I had intended.

“I’m a growing boy,” I said. Liv grinned.

“I noticed you went up a pant size.”

I scowled. My six pack abs were disappearing rapidly. I was feeling like the Pillsbury doughboy. Hell, I was even retaining water. I made a promise to myself that the next time I couldn’t sleep I was going to work out rather than sit on the couch with a bag of Funyons working on leveling up in WOW.

Who’s ready to see a baby?”

I looked up as Dr. Tresher peeked around the door. I would forever be in her gratitude for bringing Brooklyn into the world.

“I was born ready,” I said. Dr. Tresher smirked.

“We won’t talk about what you were born to do,” she said lightly. I laughed.

Liv lay back on the table. I scooted my chair closer to the exam table. I gently pressed her belly.

“Wake up, it’s time for your peep show,” I said.

“Don’t worry, he or she’s already been bouncing around for the past hour,” Liv said.

A nurse poked her head in.

“Dr. Tresher, your ten thirty is a little early.”

“Go ahead and prep her.”

“She wants to know how many you’re going with this time around.”

Dr. Tresher looked thoughtful. “We’re going to try three.”

The nurse disappeared. The doctor turned back to us.

“Alright. Without further ado…”

I reached for Liv’s hand. I was full of nervous energy; I brought her fingertips to my lips as the screen came to life.

To tell you the truth, even though I nodded and ‘ooh’ed’ and ‘aah’ed,’ I could never see shit on
those one-dimensional black and white ultrasounds. I knew my way around the outside of a woman’s hoo-ha, but the inside was a mystery to me.

The 3-D ultrasound was another story. It was at that moment during Liv’s first pregnancy that I had fallen in love with Brooke because she was just so…real. I held my breath. There was no denying it; there was definitely a baby in there.

“Alright, we’ve got a stubborn one,” Dr. Tresher said after a minute. “Liv, I’m going to have you get up and walk around.”

I helped Liv up and she walked around.

“Go ahead and do a couple little jumps.”

I stifled a laugh. Liv looked like a really off balanced kangaroo. At one point she tipped towards the left; my arms shot around her.

“I’m sorry, my balance sucks,” she apologized.

“It’s okay. If that didn’t do the trick then it’s just not meant to be today,” Dr. Tresher said kindly. Liv got back up on the table and settled back down. The baby lit up the screen again.

“Alright, that’s much better.”

I grinned. Whereas Brooklyn had been sucking her toes, I could clearly see two little hands covering the baby’s face. My eyes travelled down.

“I don’t remember seeing that on Brooklyn,” I said.

“Well girls don’t tend to have a penis,” Dr. Tresher said with a laugh. I must have looked surprised; Liv tugged on my hand excitedly.

“We’re having a boy!”

I glanced back at the screen. There wasn’t any denying it. My son was packing.

My son.

“Nick?”

I turned to Liv; I smiled so hard I felt like my face was going to crack.

“We’re got a perfect set now,” I said happily. Her eyes danced.

“Yes we do.”

After checking the heartbeat (which was incredibly strong) and setting up another appointment, Dr. Tresher patted us both on the back and headed down the hall to her next patient. Livvy tugged her shirt back on. I looked at our appointment card.

“Wait, this date isn’t going to work. We’re going to be in LA this week.”

“See if you can catch her while I get my shoes on,” Liv suggested.

I took off down the hall. I didn’t get very far. Coming down the hall from the opposite end was someone who looked identical to AJ. He was dressed in scrubs. I dove into a cleaning supply closet and crouched down until he passed. Then I followed him. He headed into an exam room and closed the door, but not all the way. With stealth maneuvers like the Caped Crusader I inched towards the door.

“We’re going to try implanting three this month Rochelle,” I heard Dr. Tresher say. “Combined with the injections I feel confident that we’re going to get at least one success this month.”

“What if this doesn’t work?” There was no doubt about it. I knew AJ’s voice anywhere.

“Since this is our third attempt, I’d suggest waiting a few months before we go another round. But we’re staying positive.”

“What are you doing?”

I practically jumped out of my skin. Liv had leaned down and whispered right into my ear.

“You scared me!” I said in a whisper.

“Well?”

I pointed towards the door. “AJ and Rochelle,” I said. I stood up. It was perfect timing. At that moment a nurse walked right in and closed the door the whole way.

“AJ and Rochelle?” Liv said.

“Yeah. AJ’s in scrubs. I think they’re doing that petri dish thing.”

“In vitro?”

“Sure. We’ll call it that.”

I took Liv’s arm and we headed out to the reception area.

“Did you get my appointment changed?”

“No. We’ll just call.”

“Are you sure it was AJ?” Liv asked again as we walked to the car.

“I don’t know any other dude with that many tattoos that would be walking around in scrubs.”

“Oh, I didn’t know they were at that point,” Liv said sadly. “I just hope it works.”

As we pulled out of the lot, I took her hand. There had been times in my life when I had been jealous of the other guys, especially AJ.

This time wasn’t one of them.

---------------------------------------------------------

After a quick stop for lunch we headed to the studio. It felt weird not having to load and unload a car seat; Brooke was with Liv’s mom for the afternoon. The moment we walked in I looked around. AJ wasn’t there.

“So?”

“Pink or blue?”

“Wait, you’re pregnant again?”

The last comment came from Sam. He had taken a couple weeks to head back to New York and had just come back. He was sitting on a drum chair looking absolutely surprised.

“How was your trip?”

“No, don’t you dare try to distract me Olivia.”

“Well what do you want me to say? It’s kind of obvious isn’t it?”

Sam opened his mouth to say something but seemed to think better of it.

“I was going to ask you how it happened but I know I’m going to get a response from the peanut gallery.” He pointed at me.

Sam had been around for the past few months and we had become fast friends. I didn’t take the ‘peanut gallery’ remark too seriously.

“Okay enough already. What are you having?”

I looked around. Leighanne was sitting on the very edge of the couch, looking like she was going to pass out from the suspense. Brian was blowing a gigantic gum bubble. Kevin and Addy were sitting at a little folding table with the remnants of what looked like a really healthy lunch spread out amongst them. Howie was ridin’ solo. James must have still been sick.

“We’re having a boy,” I finally said. I glanced back at Brian. I couldn’t resist; I leaned over and popped the bubble. He jumped in surprise as gum smashed into his face. He pulled at the offending strands, his nose wrinkled.

“That’s so Hubba Bubba,” he complained.

“A boy? That’s great!” Leighanne said happily.

“You should have seen it. It was like he had a third leg.”

Liv groaned. “Nick, stop exaggerating.”

“What? I can’t help that I have great genes and a massive—“

“Nick!”

“This is the guy that whipped it out and measured it weekly during the Millennium tour,” Kevin said dryly. Liv looked at me in surprise.

“What? It’s common knowledge that it grows until your twenty,” I said. “I was just documenting my last full year of blossoming.”

The girls and Sam were looking at me like I was nuts.

“I enjoy a good penis just as much as the next guy,” Sam said. “But that’s just weird.”

I looked over at Liv. Her face was bright red.

“You married him,” Brian reminded her. Liv shook her head.

“It’s never boring,” she said lightly.

“So what else did I miss?” Sam said. “Did you guys already finish the album?”

“You were only gone two weeks!”

“Well, if Liv can look pregnant over night, one would think five guys could finish twelve songs in two weeks.”

“No, finishing an album is way harder than being pregnant,” Brian said.

I may not be the smartest guy in the world, but even I knew that was a dumb thing to say.

“Excuse me?” Leighanne said. Brian looked like he had just gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

“That’s not what I meant,” he said. “You see…” he trailed off. “I blame low blood sugar.”

“You don’t have low blood sugar,” Howie said. Brian gave him a look. He was passing around a lot of those lately.

“Well, moving on,” Sam said with a cough. He reached into his camera bag. “I’ve got something for you, Nick.”

“Really? What?”

He pulled out an envelope and handed it to me.

“Your daughter’s first modeling session.”

Liv came over and stood at my shoulder. I opened the white envelope; my face broke into a wide smile.

Before Sam had left for New York he had come over for an afternoon at the house. Brooklyn was playing in the backyard and Sam had taken out his camera and shot some pictures. The last picture in the batch was my absolute favorite. I had stripped her down to just her diaper. While I stood off to the side making faces, she looked up at me tugging at her ponytail.

“Oh, these are absolutely adorable,” Liv gushed. She started to pass them around.

“Thanks Sam,” I said. “I owe you one.”

“Hey, it’s not every day I get to work with models who can’t argue with me,” he said with a laugh.

“Plus, I got to beat your ass in Call of Duty, so it’s all good.”

We had just finished passing around the pictures when AJ walked in.

“Hey we’ve you been?” Howie asked. “Nick even beat you here.”

“I had something I needed to take care of,” he said vaguely.

“Well, once again we only have half the day left,” Kevin said. “Let’s try to lay down another track okay?”

Brian and I looked at each other. Simultaneously we dove to the ground, lying side-by-side with our arms locked to our bodies. Kevin stood up and stared down at us.

"What are you doing?”

“We’re lying down. The both of us make up a track. Get it?” I said. "Laying down tracks?"

Kevin didn’t answer. Instead he stepped first on my stomach and then on Brian’s on his way to the recording booth.

“You guys were never this ridiculous,” he muttered. I sat up and ran a hand through my hair.

“Sorry Kev! Not all of us can act our age!”

Brian coughed. “Forty.” He coughed again. Kevin whirled around.

“I am not forty!” he said. The recording door closed behind him.

“Someone’s in denial,” I muttered. Brian stood up first and held out a hand to help me up. I grabbed it and he yanked. Halfway up he let go. I dropped back down like a sack of potatoes. Brian body dropped on top of me and got me in a headlock. I struggled around with him on the floor.

Suddenly ice cold water rained down on both of us. I looked up to see Addy holding an empty water pitcher. Her lips curved into a smile.

“I think ya’all are wanted in the booth,” she said with a cute lilted southern drawl. She walked back to the table. Through the glass I could see Kevin watching her admiringly.

As I shook my head like a dog, I couldn’t help but think that they made a perfect pair.

They both didn’t appreciate a decent BWF (Backstreet Wrestling Federation) match.

Party poopers.