Love Never Fades

Moments after leaving the exam room, Dr. Page returned with a cart housing a machine Ash could only assume was an ultrasound scanner. He’d never seen one or had an ultrasound before in his life, but it was the best he could come up with. After all, she’d left the room right after telling him she thought it best to have one, then returned with it shortly thereafter, so it was probably a safe assumption.

Since he’d already put his jeans and underwear back on, seeing as she’d also told him he could, he just relaxed on the exam table. His torso was still bare since he hadn’t put his shirt back on yet, although he had to open his fly and push what little clothing he wore again down a bit. It made it easier for the doctor to reach the part of his abdomen she needed to for the ultrasound, and thankfully left his crotch covered. While he knew that his grandmother’d likely seen his bare crotch and rear when he was little, he was a grown man now, and really didn’t want her seeing them if she didn’t have to.

He gasped sharply as she squirted some kind of gel on his belly, the chill of it causing goosebumps to rise on his flesh. She frowned as she apologized, telling him that there was really no way to warm it up so it wasn’t quite as harsh on patients. Since it wasn’t harming him in anyway, he brushed off her apology and relaxed again.

Once the machine was warmed up, she took a probe and used it to smear the gel around before pressing a bit more firmly in the center of his abdomen. The pressure was a bit irritating, especially considering that he really needed to piss, but he’d bear anything for the health of a potential child. That was what drew his attention to the monitor as he watched what she was doing, straining to make out what was what. If he was pregnant, he couldn’t wait to see his baby for the first time.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Dr. Page breathed, taking a moment to double check what she was seeing.

“What is it?” the bassist asked, now concerned. “What’s wrong?”

“Just like I suspected, you are pregnant,” she told him, turning to look at him. “The surprising part is that you’re carrying twins.”

Shocked, Ash covered his mouth to muffle a gasp, his free hand gripping his grandmother’s.

“Is that gonna cause his pregnancy to be even more high-risk, or will it be no worse than a twin pregnancy for a woman?” Leana asked. Having been pregnant before, she knew how to better ask the questions necessary at this point.

“Considering that he was born with this reproductive system, in addition to his male reproductive tract, I doubt it. His body is already adapted to having it since he’s not transgender, so I don’t see why it wouldn’t adapt accordingly to a twin pregnancy like it would with a single fetus,” she answered, shaking her head.

“And dare I ask about delivery?” she asked, voicing one of his greatest concerns for him.

“He’s actually got a pretty wide pelvic opening for a male, so his hips might actually widen a bit over the course of the pregnancy.” The doctor eyed his hips appraisingly for a moment, drawing another blush from him. “We’ll monitor that over the course of the pregnancy, and I’ll be doing research to see if he’ll even be able to have a natural birth.”

“True because, pelvic opening aside, I don’t recall ever being told he had an external vaginal opening,” his grandmother agreed.

“He doesn’t, meaning that if a natural birth is possible, and that’s a mighty big if, he’d have to deliver anally,” Dr. Page said. “I’m not sure that that particular orifice could stretch enough to allow a natural delivery, although that could be one of the things his body adapts for over time.”

Ash looked terrified at the thought of delivering through his ass, but then again, aside from a C-section, he supposed it was the only way.

“If a natural delivery isn’t possible,” she continued, “we’ll schedule a C-section, and hopefully before he goes into labor on his own.”

“I guess that’s as good as it gets,” Leana sighed, and he nodded his agreement.

“For now, unfortunately, it is. Like I said, we’ll keep an eye on him over the course of his pregnancy and see what happens.”

“Well, considering that he doesn’t exactly want the…ahem, other father of the babies to know just yet, he’s considering moving outta state,” she told her. “Regardless of what state he moves to, are there any doctors who specialize in such a rare occurrence?”

“Honestly, I don’t think so. Lemme know where you decide to move to, if you do end up moving, Ashley, and I’ll be happy to talk to an OB/GYN in that area for you.”

“All right, Dr. Page; I’ll be sure to,” he told her, nodding again.

“Now, as for the health of the babies…they appear to be doing just fine for having gestated for about six weeks, thus far,” Dr. Page reported, smiling.

The bassist couldn’t help but heave a sigh of relief, his body visibly slumping against the exam table.

“If they can be picked up by the scanner, do you wanna hear their heartbeats?”

“Of course!” He nodded excitedly, a grin stretching his face at the possibility.

Nodding, she turned her attention back to the screen and focused on one of the twins, which appeared to be a tiny grain of rice at the moment. It took her a moment, but she was able to let him listen to its heartbeat, which brought yet more tears to his eyes. She repeated the procedure on the other twin, appearing a bit surprised that she was able to pick up the sounds of their hearts this soon. She even pointed out the slight flickering of them beating, letting him watch after zooming in a bit as he listened.

Ash was relieved to know that he wasn’t sick or anything major or incurable, and that both he and his babies were fine. Sure, he was about as surprised as it gets to find out that he had not one, but two little ones on the way, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t happy. He was excited to know that he was going to be a parent, and eager to meet them.

Once she’d finished checking on their health and printed him a few copies of the ultrasound images, Dr. Page handed him a towel so that he could wipe the gel off his belly. As he cleaned himself up, she told him she was going to call in a prescription for a prenatal vitamin, as well as an anti-nausea medication. The latter was just on the off-chance that his morning sickness got worse, that way they could attempt taming it without admitting him to the hospital, and he was thankful. He didn’t know if Pepto Bismol was safe to take during pregnancy, and he wasn’t about to risk his babies.

When he was dressed and had the copies of his ultrasound to keep or give to whomever he pleased, they were led out front to check out. Shortly thereafter, he and Leana were back in her truck, and he begged her to stop for lunch. For some reason, he was really craving Italian, and he wanted to at least attempt keeping something besides crackers down. Unsure of whether that was smart or not, she reluctantly agreed and they headed to his favorite Italian restaurant.

“I’m guessing you’re beyond excited?” Leana chuckled as they sat at their table in a quiet corner of Olive Garden.

“More than,” he answered, grinning as he sipped his drink. “Yeah, I would’ve rathered wait till I was more financially stable and whatnot, but I’m not giving them up.”

“I think most people would’ve rathered wait for financial stability when finding out they have a child on the way, but speaking from experience, seeing their little face, hearing their sweet laughter…things like that make it all worth it.”

“Even the pain of labor?” the bassist asked, sounding both a bit uncertain and scared.

“Even the pain of labor,” his grandmother answered with a fond smile. “As much pain as I was in and the curses I lobbed at Grampa, seeing your mother’s face made me realize that, if I hadn’t suffered a bit, she wouldn’t have been in my arms.”

Ash smiled, imagining a younger version of his elderly grandmother, exhausted and panting after a long hard labor, smiling down at her newborn daughter as she held her for the first time.

“And to think you get two of them to love,” she chuckled.

“Yeah, and that’s what scares me a bit more,” he admitted, absent-mindedly caressing his belly under the table. “While I was terrified before, now I feel doubly so, knowing that I’m having twins.”

“Like I told you earlier, you’ll always have Grampa and I to help you out,” Leana told him. “No, we’re not gonna live forever, but you know we’ll do anything for you until the day we draw our dying breaths.

“I can’t thank you enough, Grama,” he said. “I mean, you could’ve told me to be a big boy and deal with it, but you let me come back home and have helped me out as much as you could since I got here.”

“Do you really think I’d leave you in LA, alone and terrified beyond reason, instead of bringing you back home during something like this?” she asked, sounding appalled.

“Not really, but I’m just saying that you very well could’ve, and I knew it,” he answered sheepishly, blushing a bit.

“You know damn good and well that I’d have flown out to LA to help if you, if I thought I had to,” his grandmother told him.

Their conversation died away for a bit when their waitress returned with their food, which smelled absolutely divine to him. The cheese ravioli he’d ordered made his mouth water, and he was glad he’d chosen to have it topped with marinara sauce. Meat of any kind, but especially his highly-disliked red meat, seemed to make his morning sickness act up even worse than normal.

Leana laughed softly as her plate of seafood alfredo was set before her before she thanked the waitress. Nodding, the woman asked if they wanted or needed anything else before she left them to eat in peace. When she was told they didn’t, she nodded once again and headed back to the kitchen, presumably to check on other customers’ orders.

Ash hummed happily as he slowly as much of his food as he thought he could handle for the time being. He didn’t want to eat too much and make himself sick, so he ate only about a third of what was on his plate before he decided he’d had enough. Knowing how hearty his appetite normally was, and that morning sickness was a bitch easily triggered, his grandmother said nothing about how much he had left. In fact, she was proud of him for being able to manage that much, considering the circumstances.

“You ready to go?” she asked once they’d both eaten as much as they could and put the rest in to-go boxes they’d requested.

“Yeah,” the bassist answered, nodding. “I could use a nap now.”

“I bet,” his grandmother chuckled. “Pregnancy is tiring, and you’ve always wanted to sleep right after you got done eating.”

“I’ve always wondered why I do that,” Ash said, humming thoughtfully.

“Who knows? Just as long as you can keep it down, I don’t really care at the moment,” she said.

“True enough. It won’t do me any good if it comes right back up,” he agreed.

“Let’s get this bill paid, then we’ll head back home,” Leana said. “We’ll tell Grampa the news when we get there, if you wanna.”

“Of course I wanna tell him,” he told her. “Why wouldn’t I tell Grampa since he knows everything else already?”

“True enough,” his grandmother conceded, chuckling again.

“I mean, yeah, it’ll be a bit embarrassing, but he deserves to know,” he elaborated.

With their bill paid, the pair took their to-go boxes and headed back out to Leana’s truck once again. The entire ride home was spent discussing what he’d do if he moved out of state, and where exactly he’d go. He hadn’t decided indefinitely as of yet, but he was thinking about moving to a very rural part of Tennessee or Kentucky.

He’d heard tales of how locals there didn’t exactly take too kindly to outsiders, but they’d get used to him and vice versa as time passed. Not only that, but a lot of places in Eastern Tennessee were so remote that it was hard to get cell service, so it would be harder for his bandmates to track him down. If there was one thing he wanted more than for himself and his unborn twins to stay healthy, it was to avoid having his friends, especially Andy, find him and discover his secret.

Leana offered to come with him until he got settled, even if that meant moving in with him until he delivered. She also said that Daniel could go back and forth so they wouldn’t have to sell their land or worry about their horses, or they could all just up and move. It was definitely something to think about, especially since he’d have his hands really full as he prepared and with being a single parent once the babies finally arrived.

Things were crazy at the moment and he suspected they’d only get crazier as time passed, but Ash wouldn’t have it any other way. He meant what he’d said about doing anything for his babies, and that drew a tender smile from him as he caressed his belly once again. He couldn’t wait to feel them move inside him, to see their little faces and smiles, hear their sweet laughter, once they were finally born. They might only be the size of a grain of rice now, but they already held a huge part of his heart, bigger than their daddy did, and it would be that way until the day he died.

Notes