Page 76 of Bound

“Thank you,” I say, tearing up a little at the kindness.Bloody hormones.

“Would anyone else like anything?” she asks the guys, who all shake their heads or tell her they are fine.

“Right, just some information gathering first,” Dr Arnold says, looking down at a tablet in his hands. “When was your last period— May I call you Lilly?” he asks, looking up at me.

“Um, sure,” I respond, feeling my cheeks flush at the question. “Well, um, as for my last period, I, uh, am not quite sure. But I only had unprotected sex on Christmas Day…” I trail off, my face burning and palms sweaty. Ash reaches over to grasp my hand, rubbing my knuckles soothingly, and I give him a grateful smile.

“Okay, let’s work with that for now, and the scan will be able to confirm how far along you are,” he replies. He then proceeds to ask me a whole bunch of questions, about myself and my medical history, then my mother’s medical history. He then starts to ask Ash about his medical history, but Loki jumps in and answers them instead, earning a slight raise of brows. To his credit, Dr Arnold takes in his stride and notes everything that Loki says down. “Right, I think that’s it.” He beams at me. “If you could head over to the bed, and just get undressed enough so we can get to your stomach, we can do the scan.”

“Okay,” I murmur, more nerves flooding my system, and my mouth is once again dry.

Lisa pulls a curtain round to give me some privacy and I take the top part of my yellow bee cord dungarees down, lifting up my t-shirt, then hopping up onto the bed.

“Are you ready, Lilly?” Lisa calls softly from the other side of the curtain.

“Yes,” I answer, taking a deep breath to calm my thrashing heartbeat.

She opens the curtain, and Dr Arnold wheels over a big machine with a screen on it, as well as a keypad and a scanner looking thingy.

“You can come over too,” Lisa tells the guys, clearly not sure who to address.

Ash is immediately at my head, Loki next to him, who takes hold of my hand in his warm one. Mine’s a little cold, so he rubs it gently. Kai manages to squeeze in next to him, giving me a soft smile as Jax stands behind them. Being the tallest, he can see over their heads.

“You ready?” Dr Arnold asks, and all I can do is nod. He sits down on a stool, grabbing a bottle and squeezing some warm gel on my stomach. I watch as he picks up the scanner, rubbing it into the gel and pushing it down into my soft stomach.

Then I hear it.

The whooph-whooph of a heartbeat.

My gaze snaps up to the screen, seeing the unmistakable fuzzy outline of a baby, white on a black screen.

Fuck.

“Loki,” I whisper, gripping his hand tightly as my eyes try to take in every detail, and I am surprised by how much I can see.

“I know, Pretty Girl,” he whispers back, his voice choked and cracking slightly. I briefly glance away to see his glassy eyes watching the screen, completely enraptured.

Looking up at Ash, I can see a similar expression of wonderment on his face, softening it until I can finally see who he was meant to be, without all the suffering and trauma he’s been forced to go through. I look up to find Jax looking at the screen with amazement on his face, his usually tight jaw slack, even as a fire burns in his eyes. Always our protector. I finally come to rest my misty eyes on Kai, and he almost breaks me. There’s a devastating sadness etched in lines across his face as tears drip down his cheeks. He quickly removes his glasses, swiping under his eyes, and my heart aches for him. Before I can say anything to him, though lord knows what that would be, the doctor speaks.

“All looks good, measurement wise,” Arnold states, my head turning back to him. “I’d say you’re around the sixteen week mark. Shall we switch to 3D mode?” he asks, and I nod.

A gasp leaves my lips when my baby, our baby, suddenly appears on the screen as if it’s right in front of us.

“Fuck,” Loki breathes, dispelling the tension in the room and making the doctor and midwife chuckle. “Sorry,” I hear him apologise, but I am fixated on the screen, watching our baby twitch and turn.

I feel a hand stroke my hair before lips press a gentle kiss on the top of my head, his ginger scent engulfing me in warm comfort.

“It’s our baby, Ash,” I whisper, my eyes stinging as I continue to stare at the wriggling baby on the screen.

“It’s perfect, just like its mother,” he murmurs, and a tear escapes my lids, leaving a wet trail down my cheek.

And then it hits me with the force of a mack truck.

I’m going to be a mother.

My breath stills as the thought settles its heavy weight in my very bones.

I am going to be a mother.

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