Chapter 8
The next morning Ashley awoke with a neasous feeling. She quickly jumped out of the bed and ran to the bathroom. After emptying the contents of her stomach, she feebly made her way back to the bed. She looked at the smaller queen size bed, and wondered if Justin had slept well. After their talk, they went home and talked some more. Ashley decided that it would be best if they slept seperately. She mostly tossed and turned all night, wondering what Justin was doing in the next room.
She sat down now and put her hand up to her aching head. She still felt sick, and this was about the fourth of fifth time in the past few weeks she had woken up feeling sick to her stomach. She caught a glimps of her pale, pasty face in the mirror across the room. She diceded that today, she would go to the doctors.
Just then a soft knock echoed through the room. Justin slowly opened the door and peaked his head through.
"Are you ok in here? I heard you throw up." He stepped farther in the room and sat down next to her, placing the back of his hand on her forehead.
"I'm alright. I don't know whats wrong though, So I'm going to go to the doctors today." She said leaning into him and he wrapped his arms around her shoulder.
"Have someone else drive you, I don't want you driving if your sick. I'll call Britney or someone." Ashley was about to protest but her put his finger over her lips to silence her. "No, please, have someone take you." Ashley sighed and gave in.
"Alright, But I know that Brit can't do it, she has a photo shoot today."
Justin got up from the bed and brought the phone over to Ashley. "You call the doctors office, I'll get someone to take you." He left the room and grabbed his cell phone while Ashley made the appointment.
He walked back in with a smile on his face. "My mom's going to drive you." He said. Ashley chuckled.
"The appointments at 10, I'm gonna jump in the shower."
____________________________________________________________________
An hour later, Ashley and Lynn sat in the car talking and laughing and having a good old time. Ashley had told Lynn about what happened between she and Justin, and Lynn said she'd make sure he got a good butt whooping. When they reached the doctor's office, Lynn waited in the lobby while Ashley sat in a cold gown waiting for the doctor.
"Hello Ashley." A stout woman in her 40's walked in with a bright smile. "So, what brings you here?" She asked as she sat down on her stool and faced the young girl.
Ashley proceded to tell her about the throwing up, and the dizzieness she sometimes got.
"Mmm-hmm, and when was your last menstrual cycle?" She asked as she jotted down some note. Ashley thought hard.
"About a month ago, I think." She replied, trying to remember.
"and have you had any sexual relations lately?"
"About a month ago...But, we used protection." She said, throwing away the thoguht that just popped in her head.
"Well dear, that doesn't always work. Now if you'd lie down, I just want to press on your stomach to see something." Ashley did as the doctor asked, closing her eyes as she lied down. She sat back up and looked at the doctor who had a big smile on her face. "Well my dear, you are one month pregnant."
Ashley's jaw dropped and she felt her heart skip a beat. "Wh-what? I...no, I...I can't be!" She said half elated, half in shock.
"Yes, you can. Now if you'd follow me, I want to get you an ultra sound, it'll take only a few minutes." Ashley followed the doctor, still dumbfounded at the news.
She walked into another white room with another bed, but there were moniters and screens all over the place. The doctor had he lie down and she placed this cold goo on her stomach. Soon Ashley was looking at a small picture of a featus on a black and white tv screen.
"See, there's the heart-beat. Steady and strong. It's too soon to tell the gender, but I want you to some back in two weeks. OK?" She froze the picture on the screen and Ashley just sat there staring. That was her baby, a life living in her belly. She smiled.
"Can I have a picture of the ultra sound?" She asked, an idea popping into her head.
"One step ahead of you. Here you go, and here's a towel to wipe your stomach. I'll see you in two weeks. Oh, and there will be some papers at the front desk with information you'll need to know." With that the doctor left. Ashley quickly put her clothes back on and walked into the lobby. She paid the co-payment and grabbed the packets.
"So what did they say?" Lynn asked as they walked out the doors. Ashley contemplated on weather or not to tell her, she didn't know what to do. She wanted Justin to be the first to know, so she decided to pass Lynn a little white lie.
"Um.just the stomach flu and alergies, nothing to worry about. It'll go away in a while." Lynn nodded, thinking nothing of the answer and they got into the car and drove home.
~*~
When Ashley got home she avoided getting into any deep conversation about her being sick. She passed it off as the stomach flu, and so far Justin had bought it. Things were still rocky between them, but Justin was trying his hardest to make up for what he did. It was difficult because it pained Ashley to know that before he had the facts straight, he threw their love away. That wasn't like him at all, he was a fighter, and he was persistant, but in this case, he had seemed to have given up so easily. Ashley was still having a hard time letting that fact go. She wanted so badly to trust that he was going to stay. To trust the loving words that puored endlessly out of his mouth, but she still needed time.
She was going to wait to tell him about the baby until Christmas. She wanted them to repair their relationship on their own. She knew that if she told him about the baby, he would try to act as if nothing had happened, and that they were the loving couple they always were. He would try hjis hardest to make up for everything, and hide true feelings that may still be there. So she decided that she could wait a week. She could keep this a secret, and hopefully by Christmas, they would have all wounds mended.
~*~
(Christmas Eve Morning)
~*~
Ashley sat at the kitchen table smiling, but with some regret. She had decided that she was going to tell Justin today, and she wasn't sure how he was going to react. Everyone was comming over for dinner around 7, and she was hoping he would take the news well, so the rest of the night didn't suck.
Justin sleepily came down the stairs and into the kitchen. He grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down at the table next to Ashley.
"Hey Jules." He said, as he sipped his coffee to wake up. Ashley stood up and grabbed the white envelope off the counter top. She starred at it for a second, and then handed it to Justin. "What this?"
"Let's just say it's a bit of an early present." She said sitting back down. Justin looked at her from over the top of his cup.
"Why don't you wait until tonight?" He asked, fingering the envelope.
"Because, you're not really getting anything, not for a while atleast, and I want you to have it before anyone else....Just open the damn card, please." She said with an impatient sigh. Justin threw her another weird glance and shook his head.
"You need to lay off the coffee." He said with a smile. But curiosity got the better of him and he opened the envelope. Inside was a card, with a baby picture of Justin, and one of Ashley, the captions read :' If we ever had kids...what would they look like?"
Justin glanced up at Ashley with a look of utter confusion. But he slowly opened to the inside and read :" Well, here's your chance to find out." And underneath was a fuzzy black and white photo of an ultrasound.
Justin's eyes shot up to Ashley and he looked at her. "What?" Ashley rolled her eyes and stood up, placing her hands on her stomach.
"You're going to be a daddy..." She said softly, afraid of his reaction. A smile grew across Justin's features and he jumped out of his chair and wrapped his arms around Ashley.
"I love you so much!" He said against her lips. He spun her around and then stopped, placing his own hands on her stomach. "When?"
"Um, I'm due around July." She answered, a grin plastered across her features.
"When did it happen, I mean...we never...." He stopped, now confused.
"New York. The video shoot....the condom must have broken, because I swear to you it's yours...." She said in all seriousness.
"Hey, calm down, I believe you...I just wanted to know when it happened..." He smiled again, his eyes sparkling. He was the happiest man on earth right now, and no one could argue. "I love you...and you." He said, placing his head near Ashley's stomach. Ashley giggled and wrapped her arms around him.
"I love you too...."
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(Christmas Eve Party at Justin's)
Justin could hardly contain his excitment the rest of the night. Mostly everyone passed it off as way too much Christmas Spirit, but Ashley knew differently, and she was so happy that he was happy. Everyone was now enjoying coffee and dessert as they sat around Justin's living room. The lights of the tree reflected off the windows and there was a glow of excitement floating in the air.
Ashley stood up, "Ok, I know the boys have been waiting patiently, so let's pass out presents." She hardly had the words out of her mouth before Chris and Joey went both head first into the pile of presents. They were just going to take their presents and sit, but after getting a stern look from just about every female in the room, they helped pass out too.
Justin's brother's had the most presesnt, a nice little pile in front of them, and Justin just beamed with love and pride for his siblings. His family was there, including his mother, step father, father and step mother. Ashley's mother, step father, brother and his girlfriend were all there too. The room was pretty full, but no one noticed, becuase they were all having so much fun.
After everyone opened their gifts, and they were showing off to everyone else, Ashley stood up. She cleared her throat and waited for people to get quiet.
"OK, I have one more gift for you all...well, Justin and I do..." She started and she heard excited whisperes from Jonathan and Chris and Joey. "But.....It wont be here until sometime in July."
"What?!" Chris yelled, and Joey let out and exhasperated sigh. "Wait a minute....July? Why the long wait? What did you buy a house or something?"
A buzz filled the room as everyone looked at each other confused. "Oh My God!!! Ashley's having a baby!" Ashley's brother's girlfriend yelled out over the buzz. The room went deathly quiet, and then erupted with noise as everyone started to talk at once.
Justin grabbed Ashley's hand as their parents came over and gave the 'congratulations, do you know what you're getting into speach.' They were a little relieved to hear it was a true accident, but they were happy just the same. So far, it had been one of the best Christmas' either of them had had.
~*~
There were only a few stragglers left now. Ashley's brother Jake, and his girlfriend were hanging around a bit. Ashley knew it was becuase he wanted to give her the, 'I'm your big brother, so be careful.' speech.
"Hey Ash, Can I talk to you?" He asked, pulling her over to an empty corner of the room. "Please don't get mad, but are you sure you know what you're doing?" He asked, concern present on his face.
"To be honest Jake, no, I have no clue what I'm doing. None of this was planned, the condom broke, becuase I wasn't planning on getting pregnant. But Justin's almost 23, and I'm 21. We're young, but I think we'll be able to pull through this." She glanced over at Justin and smiled as she saw him looking at the ultra sound picture.
Jake shook his hand, and forced a smile. "Alright, but be careful, please. If you need anything, don't be scared to come to me for help. I'm here for you, ok?" Ashley nodded her head and Jake walked over to Justin.
"Hey man. I just wanted to ask you to please take care of my baby sister. I know you two have been to Hell and back again, but she's still so younr and fragile. Please." Jake's eyes begged Justin, and he gave a small smile.
"She's my life now. I made a few mistakes with her in the past, but never again. I'm in love, and I give you my word that she'll be ok. I'll make sure she's alright." Jake sighed and gave Justin a brotherly hug.
"Be good to her." And then her grabbed his girlfriend, and they left.
Chapter 9
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