ER: Doug and Carol Series

Story #17

At First Sight

by: Courtney

Carol closes the bathroom door as she enters. She stretches and yawns as she turns on the shower. As she waits for the water to heat up, Carol begins to undress. She glances in the mirror at her body. It’s Friday, February 13th and today she is entering her third month of pregnancy. She places her hand on her belly, which seems to swell more and more by the day. Dr. Mitchell told her that when she entered her second trimester she would gain a lot more weight since the baby would grow the most during that time. She knows she doesn’t have very long until this begins to happen. Still, even though most of her clothes are becoming too tight and her waistline is quickly vanishing, Carol smiles as she thinks of the life developing within her.

She turns her attentions back to the shower. She can’t sit here daydreaming all morning, today is a big day. She and Doug have to drop Charlie at school then get to their appointment with Dr. Mitchell. Today is the day she will perform the first sonogram. Carol and Doug are both very excited by this prospect. Carol gets under the stream of warm water. She begins thinking about the baby. It seems like this child is the only thing on her mind lately. She just gets more and more excited by the day. She can’t wait to hold her little baby and see that sweet little face looking back at her. She imagines the baby will have black hair, like hers, and big brown eyes like Doug. Seeing part of the two of them on this new little person will be so exciting and miraculous for them both. She smiles as she pictures what the baby will look like.

She grabs a washcloth and lathers it up with soap. As she washes her arms and legs and reaches around to get her back, her thoughts turn to less happy things. What about her mother? It’s been almost three weeks since Carol told her the news and she hasn’t heard a word from her since that day. Carol is beginning to worry that her mom will never accept her life the way that it is and that they won’t be able to have the kind of relationship they have had in the past. She and her mom have had their disagreements, but Helen has still always been there when her daughter needed her. She just hopes they can get back to that someday. Doug seems confident that Helen will come around so all she can do is wait and see.

Over the rush of water, Carol hears the bathroom door open. She peeks her head out from behind the shower curtain to see Doug enter the room. “Morning,” he says.

“Good morning,” she smiles and retreats back under the water. She lathers up her hair and begins to rinse it. “Charlie up yet?” she calls out to Doug.

“Yeah, she just got in the shower,” he tells her. She can hear the sounds of him brushing his teeth.

“That’s good,” Carol replies as she applies more shampoo to her hair. As she continues to wash her hair, the sound of Doug’s gargling reaches her inside the shower. She smirks at this.

When her hair is rinsed, she turns off the water. Opening the curtain, Doug hands her a towel. “Thanks,” she says taking it and wrapping it around her. She steps onto the floor and gets a smaller towel off of the counter to dry her hair with. She begins brushing out her hair as Doug is shaving.

He rinses his face and grabs a towel to dry it with. Then, he turns to Carol and says, “I’m going to go get some breakfast started. You need to eat something before we leave.”

“I can always grab something after we go to the doctor,” she tells him.

“No, you shouldn’t wait so long to eat. I’ll have something ready when you come down.” He kisses her cheek then leaves. She smiles and continues to get ready for their big day.

They arrive at the doctor’s office right on time. It is exactly 9 o’clock as they approach Cheryl at the front desk. “Dr. Mitchell is ready for you. You can go on back,” Cheryl smiles and Doug and Carol thank her and proceed towards the exam rooms in the back.

“Good morning Doug, Carol,” Dr. Mitchell greets them with her usual grin as they walk back. She points them towards one of the rooms and she follows them in. “Well, today’s the big day, are you excited?”

“Very!” says Carol.

“Let’s get started then. The gown is on the table and I will be right back.” She turns and exits the room, leaving Doug and Carol alone. Carol changes into the gown and sits on the exam table to wait. Doug stands beside her and clutches her hand.

He strokes the top of her hand and says, “Are you as nervous as I am?”

“I’m shaking,” she smiles. “I can’t believe we are going to see our baby today,” she can’t suppress the wide grin that covers her face.

Dr. Mitchell reenters the room and looks to the happy couple. “Ready?” They both nod excitedly. She pulls over the machine which is used to do the sonogram. Carol lies back on the table and Doug stays at her side. He holds fast to her hand as Dr. Mitchell prepares to begin.

The doctor pushes back Carol’s gown to expose her stomach. She turns on the machine as well as the monitor and hooks up the baby’s heart monitor to Carol’s side. They can instantly hear a swooshing sound. “There’s the heartbeat,” Dr. Mitchell smiles. “Sounds strong,” she tells them.

Doug squeezes Carol’s hand and Carol smiles at him. Dr. Mitchell squirts a clear liquid onto Carol’s exposes belly and begins the sonogram. At first, the picture is faint and indistinguishable. Then, as the doctor moves around to different angles, it becomes more clear. “There’s your baby,” she tells them. She points out the eyes, nose, mouth, hands, and such. “And this,” she tells them, pointing to a small blip on the screen, “is the heart.”

Doug stares in amazement at the screen. He has a mystified grin on his face as he watches the child within Carol up on that tiny screen. Carol looks from the screen to Doug and smiles. His wide eyed wonder at the first sight of their child brings joyous tears to her eyes. She bites her lip and continues to watch the baby, in awe of all that is taking place here today.

When the exam is over, Dr. Mitchell hands them a video tape of the sonogram. It is labeled Ross/Hathaway Baby. Carol takes the cassette and thanks the doctor. They stop to make her next appointment which will be in four weeks. They talk excitedly to Cheryl for a moment about the sonogram, then turn to leave.

“You know,” Carol says as they are getting into the car, “I think it’s about time we told everyone about this.”

Doug looks at her as he pulls onto the main street. “Are you sure you’re ready?”

“Yeah, I am. I’m really excited about this and I want to share it with everyone.”

“Okay,” Doug says. “Why don’t we stop by the hospital now and share the good news?” She smiles and agrees.

They enter the hospital holding hands. As they approach the nurses station, Lydia says, “What are you two doing here? I thought you were both off for the next two days.”

“We are,” Carol tells her. She looks up at Doug and smiles as she continues, “We just had a little announcement to make and we couldn’t wait any longer.”

At this, Wendy, Jerry, Randi, and Chunny go around to gather up as many of the ER staff as possible. Mark, Carter, Kerry, Maggie, most everyone is present and accounted for. “Okay, go for it,” Mark says, already knowing what this big news will be.

“Do you want to tell them or should I?” Doug asks Carol.

“You go ahead,” Carol says. She grins as everyone waits impatiently.

“Well, Carol and I, we’re, that is she is,” Doug seems to have a very hard time putting this into words.

Carol takes over. “I’m pregnant. We’re going to have a baby.” Everyone begins to talk at once and they rush over to Doug and Carol for hugs and handshakes. The commotion continues for a few minutes, then everyone must get back to work. Carol and Doug pull Mark aside and ask him to join them in the lounge. They all sit down and Doug puts in the tape of the sonogram. Mark watches as the two point out the features that can be scene on the tape. Doug is, again, mesmerized by the sight.

When the tape is finished, Carol leaves to go and show it to the other nurses, leaving Mark and Doug alone in the lounge to talk. “Well, you’ve had a pretty exciting day already,” Mark says to him.

“Yeah,” Doug smiles. “It really has been something.”

Mark smiles back. “You seem to be getting pretty excited about this baby,” he comments.

“Yeah, you know, I really am. It’s weird, I was so terrified at first. I didn’t know what to think. Then, I just slowly started to realize what this all meant. Carol is going to have a baby! My baby! The woman I love is going to have my child. It just takes my breath away. At first this whole thing seemed like a mistake, but now it’s nothing short of a miracle,” he smiles and looks at Mark. Mark is almost sure he sees tears just behind Doug’s eyes.

“I’m very happy for you both. You’re going to make terrific parents! And you just wait, these women around here are going to have that kid spoiled rotten before you know it,” he grins and Doug chuckles.

“Did you tell Sarah yet?” Mark asks, changing the subject a bit.

“Yeah, we called her a few weeks ago, right after Carol told Helen.”

“What did she say?”

“Well, she was much happier than Helen, that’s for sure! She’s really excited. She has called Carol no less than ten times in the last two weeks to see how she feels and what’s happening with the baby. She may just drive us nuts!” he laughs.

“At least she’s happy though, that has to be a relief.”

“Yeah, I think it has really helped Carol that my mother has been so supportive. Especially with the way Helen has been. She and Carol haven’t spoken since Carol told her.”

“That’s too bad. It’s a shame she is letting this come between them. She’ll change her mind when she sees that baby though. Even the hardest heart can’t resist their own grandchild. Besides, Helen’s not so bad. She loves Carol and she’ll warm up to you eventually. By the time the baby gets here, it’ll all be worked out,” Mark says.

“Yeah, I told Carol just about the same thing. I hope I was telling the truth,” he sighs and he and Mark get up to go and join the crowd around the nurses station as Carol plays the tape for everyone.

Doug and Carol spend quite a while at the hospital chatting with everyone about their impending arrival. The ER hasn’t had this much excitement in quite some time. They finally leave around lunch time and go out for a quiet lunch together. They spend most of their lunch discussing the baby. “We haven’t talked about names yet. Have you given it any thought?” Carol remarks over her salad.

“Truthfully, no, have you?” he asks.

“A little. I was thinking of Bridget if it’s a girl or Jacob if it’s a boy.”

Doug wrinkles his nose. “Bridget? I don’t know, sounds too . . . too something, I don’t know. And I don’t know about Jacob either.”

“Well,” she continues, “if it’s a boy we could always name him Douglas.”

“No way! I definitely don’t want to name him after me!”

“Why? There’s nothing wrong with the name Douglas.”

“I just don’t like that. I want him to have his own name,” Doug tells her.

“Fair enough. So, you have any suggestions?”

“Let’s see, what about if it’s a girl we name her Alexandra?”

“My middle name? How is that different from naming a boy Douglas?”

“Well, you don’t go by Alexandra. It would still be her name.”

“Let’s keep thinking,” Carol suggests as she munches on a piece of bread. “We need a system,” she tells him. “We’ll start with boy names. Everyday we’ll think of names that start with a different letter. Today will be A, tomorrow B, and so on. When we get to the end of the alphabet, we’ll start back at the beginning with girl names. And, every time we find a name we both like, we’ll write it down.”

Doug agrees that this is a good plan. They finish their lunch and decide to go do some baby shopping. Carol buys a few maternity clothes while they are out and they look at countless cribs, playpens, strollers, highchairs, and every other thing a baby has to have. All the while, they are trying to think up boy names beginning with the letter A.

They are standing in the middle of the crib section at a huge store called The Baby Place. Carol is examining a dark cherry wood crib. “This one is nice,” she comments.

Doug nods. “How about Aaron?”

She shakes her head. “Austin?”

“Too preppy. Allen?”

“Too boring. Arthur?”

They both look at one another, shake their heads and say simultaneously, “No.”

“Maybe we should move ahead to the B’s,” he suggests as he follows Carol to the maternity clothes section.

“No, we have to stick to the plan. How about Artemis?”

“Is that a joke?” he asks.

“No,” she frowns at him and flips through a rack of maternity dresses. “Artemis is a good name,’ she says defensively. “I had an uncle named Artemis.”

“Sorry,” Doug says then smiles, “for your uncle I mean.”

She smirks at him and shakes her head. “What do you think of this?” she holds up a black dress that is several sizes too large for her.

“It looks big,” Doug comments.

“Yeah, well, it will probably be too small for me five months from now so you need to get used to the idea.” She turns back to the rack and flips through more dresses.

He laughs, “I don’t care. You can get as big as a house and you’ll still be the sexiest woman on earth.” He wraps his arms around her waist from behind and kisses her neck. A few other customers notice this and several people look their way and grin.

“Doug,” she hisses, “people are staring at us!”

“So, let them! I don’t care who knows how much I love you.” He kisses her neck again.

She giggles and pulls free. “What am I going to do with you?”

“Take me home I hope!” he grins.

She picks up the black dress she was looking at before. “Let’s go pay for this and get out of here,” she tells him with a smile.

“Whatever you say boss,” he says with a grin and follows Carol to the check out counter.

Charlie walks into the ER at four o’clock that Friday afternoon. She signs in at the admit desk, then goes off to find Kerry. Dr. Weaver is working on some paperwork when Charlie finds her in the lounge. “Hi Dr. Weaver,” she greets her.

“Charlie, hi, you’re right on time,” she smiles as Charlie approaches. “We’ve missed you around here since you’ve cut back on your volunteering. How are the art classes going?”

“Great,” Charlie says with a wide grin.

“Glad to hear it, you’ll have to bring some of your work by to show it off around here,” Kerry tells her.

“Maybe, when I have something worth showing off,” Charlie replies with a smile. “So, what should I start on today?”

“Um, I need to finish this paperwork tonight. Why don’t you catch up with Maggie Doyle? I told her she could have you as her helper tonight. You don’t mind do you?”

“No,” Charlie says, “of course not. I’ll go find her right now.”

“Thanks Charlie. See you later,” Kerry says. She turns back to her paperwork as the girl turns to go.

Out in the hallway, Charlie looks around for Doyle. ‘Just great! Exactly the way I want to spend my night, following Doyle around,’ she laments to herself. She isn’t too fond of Maggie. She won’t admit it to herself, but this has mostly to do with the relationship Maggie has with John Carter. Charlie just knows John is interested in Maggie. She can tell by the way he is always talking about her and looking at her. She sighs and shakes her head. “Charlie!” she hears behind her.

She turns around, it’s Maggie. “Hey, Kerry said you’d be helping me tonight.”

“Yeah, I just talked to her. I was just coming to look for you actually.”

“Well, perfect timing, I’m just going on break. Why don’t you come to the cafeteria with me.”

“But, I just got here,” Charlie tells her.

“That’s alright. We won’t be long anyway. I told John I’d meet him for coffee so he’s waiting, come on,” she says. Hearing this, Charlie follows.

They step off of the elevator and into the hospital cafeteria. John Carter is at a table nearby and waves when he sees them. They walk over. He has a cup of coffee in his hand and another sits on the table. “Hey Charlie! I didn’t know you’d be joining us. Let me go get another coffee.”

“No, that’s not necessary,” she tells him.

“I insist. I’ll just be a second,” he gets up and walks towards the counter to purchase her a cup of coffee. She and Maggie sit on either side of his seat at the round table. He returns momentarily with the coffee and hands it to Charlie.

“Thanks,” she says.

“No problem. So, you’re helping Maggie tonight, huh? Watch out, don’t let her work you to death,” he gives Doyle a teasing look.

“Don’t listen to him. He just doesn’t like working with me because he’s lazy,” Maggie smiles at Charlie who forces a smile in return.

“Ha, ha,” Carter says and sticks out his tongue at Maggie.

“Juvenile,” Maggie says under her breath to Charlie and rolls her eyes, hiding a smile.

“I heard that!” he says. “So, Charlie, we found out you’ve been holding out on us,” he turns to her with an expectant expression.

“Huh?” she isn’t sure what he means.

“Doug and Carol, you didn’t tell us they were having a baby. How long have you known about this?”

“Since just before Christmas. How’d you know?” she wonders.

He smiles, “They came in today and told everyone. Guess they decided it was time to let the cat out of the bag.”

“Oh, okay. Well, it’s about time. I thought they would never get around to telling people about this.”

“How do you feel about this whole thing, anyway?” John asks.

“I don’t know, fine I guess. I mean, it’s their kid. If they’re happy, I’m happy for them,” she shrugs.

“Take it from me, it’ll be a big change. Babies make quite a big difference around a household,” Maggie says.

“Yeah, but I’m sure it will be okay,” Charlie says.

“Oh sure, of course. I just meant be ready to change a few diapers and wipe a few noses. Kids are a handful.” Charlie nods.

“So, you’re excited about being a big sister, huh?” John asks.

“Well, I don’t know if that description quite fits . . .”

“Sure it does. Doug and Carol certainly think of you like a daughter. It’s obvious. This kid will look up to you. You have to set a good example.”

“Please, not another career goals speech, John. She’s heard this one about a million times,” Maggie says. Charlie smiles, this time genuinely. Maybe Maggie isn’t all bad after all.

Doug and Carol walk into the house. Doug has an armload of bags and he quickly sets them into the floor in the front hallway. “You should have let me carry some of that stuff,” Carol tells him.

“No,” he puffs, catching his breath, “I got it.”

“Yeah,” she laughs, “sure looks that way.” She takes off her coat and hangs it by the door. “I’m beat,” she sighs. It is 7 o’clock at night and they have spent the entire day shopping. “I had no idea there were so many baby stores in this city.”

“Maybe next time we won’t have to visit them all in one day,” Doug laughs.

“Yeah, I guess we kind of over did it. It was just so exciting looking at all of that stuff, thinking about the next six months.”

Doug smiles and takes her in his arms, “I know what you mean,” he kisses her lips. They have already eaten dinner, they stopped on the way home. “We should get to sleep, I’m exhausted,” he tells her.

“Me too. But, what about Charlie?”

“She’s catching a ride home with ‘John’,” he smiles.

Carol shakes her head, “He’s such a sucker.”

“Yeah,” Doug agrees. He takes Carol’s hand and leads her upstairs. They get into bed. It is barely dark out.

She snuggles up in his arms and says, “This was such a perfect day.”

“Um hum,” he says, closing his eyes lazily.

“It was so exciting to see the baby,” Carol continues. She turns over and looks at Doug. He opens his eyes and smiles at her.

“It was pretty great, huh?”

“Yeah. Thank you for being with me,” she says. He starts to say that he doesn’t need any thanks, that he wanted to be there, but the words are lost as Carol presses her lips to his.

He runs his fingers through the soft curls of her hair and she rubs his bare chest. They make love and fall blissfully asleep in each others arms, knowing tomorrow will bring them one day closer to their future.

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Created by Courtney Stovall © 1998

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