Melissa was grateful to have Martin there. Even if she didn't know about weres when she first came through Moon Lake all those years ago, she had to privately admit that she found Martin charming. The more she spent time with him, the more she fell for him, and the more she came to like and even love Moon Lake. When Martin revealed what he was to her, she was surprised to say the least, but by that point there was something that seemed to tell her that Martin was worth it... worth everything. And while there were her uncertainties, which she still regretted, she was glad to have Martin and she never wanted to lose him. Having him there with her at the moment was big and she happily held his hand as they made their way through the hospital.
"So... if you are pregnant," Martin began as they walked along, "what are you hoping for? A boy or a girl?"
"First and foremost, I hope the baby is healthy," Melissa answered, "but I was thinking a boy... we can alternate between genders... have alternating boy and girl children..."
"I'll see what I can do," Martin chuckled and hugged Melissa to him and enjoying the smile she gave in response to his joke very much.
He always loved to see her smile and seeing her glow to him when he came to fill up her car's gas tank all those years ago remained one of the happiest moments of his live. A weremer's ability to see who their true love is or at least could be was something that wasn't always revealed, but it was among their most powerful abilities. Being able to see who would be "the one" was something that weremers always cherished, and nothing in their courtship and marriage had ever given Martin reason to doubt it, and he gave Melissa's hand a soft squeeze to remind her of how happy she made him feel. She soon squeezed his hand in return.
They remained a bit optimistic as they made their way to the hospital's lab with some anxiety. It was true they hadn't planned on having more kids until after Julie had grown up and moved out, but still it happened and they weren't unopposed to more children. In that, all they could do was wait for the moment for the testing to be done. As they arrived in the lab's waiting room, they were soon greeted by a sight that served as a reminder of that. Kathy Tucker was a female werehorse and a pregnant one at that, however, she was closer to the start of her third trimester whereas Melissa if she was pregnant would only be at the very start of her first trimester.
"Mrs. Stovall," Dr. Tucker gave a small smile, "We've been expecting you. Come in..."
Kathy held the door open to a small room with a white plastic chair. On the wall next to it in a wire ladder there were various tubes and bottles. Melissa calmly walked forward and sat in the chair offering her left arm to Doctor Tucker. Martin wanted to follow, but found a pregnant werehorse in the way.
"Now, I know you'd like to be with her, but I'm afraid this part of the lab can't hold three people very well," Doctor Tucker spoke, "especially with me being as fat and bloated as I am at the moment."
"You look fine to me, Doctor Tucker," Martin answered.
"Thank you, but I'm also only in my FIFTH month," Doctor Tucker answered, "another four months to go... which means Junior will be getting bigger."
Martin and Melissa both looked to each other. Martin could tell from the twinkle in her eyes that there was the standard sort of longing that was always there between them. The drive to make her happy and shower her in affection, and give her the freedom to do her job with her company as she saw fit. However, with Doctor Tucker there, he could couldn't rush to her side and the lab's doctor knew it. She turned to him held up her hands to usher him out.
"Everything will be fine now," Doctor Tucker assured him, "Don't you worry. I won't hurt your wife and this won't take too long. Just one little prick and then you'll be done."
That allowed Martin to relax a little. He remembered being on edge when Melissa was pregnant with Julie. Then, the lab doctor was male and had quite willingly let him stand by his wife, who'd been struggling with some of the other signs of pregnancy by the point that they'd been able to come into the hospital, and Martin wanted to be able to do the same now. Of course, the doctor then was presently in police custody for things he'd been doing outside of his working hours and Doctor Tucker took over, and Martin had to admit with Doctor Tucker being pregnant, it probably wasn't a good idea to try and squeeze all of them together. He reluctantly stepped back and stood still, but he managed to stay where Melissa could see him through the doorway.
He waved to Melissa as Doctor Tucker went about her work. He could only watch as Melissa cringed at the needle going in, he also noted that red blood was quickly beginning to fill the vial, and almost as quick as it started it was over. Doctor Tucker filled the last of the vials she needed for the blood tests and set them aside on a counter for a moment before turning back to Melissa and applying a small bandage and a gauze wrap around her arm to hold the bandage there. Once that was done, Melissa was allowed to return to her feet and walked out toward her husband.
"And if the tests confirm you have another little one on the way," Doctor Tucker spoke, "allow me to be the first to say congratulations."
"Thank you," Martin managed a smile while Melissa nodded as well.
"In the meantime, our instructions were to return the waiting room for Doctor Harris Jones," Melissa spoke.
"Hopefully what news I have will be welcome," Doctor Tucker answered with a small wave to them before Martin and Melissa began to walk back the way they came.
They walked quietly back to Doctor Harris's waiting room with Martin softly rubbing the back of Melissa's hands as they went. Melissa felt glad just to have him with her. They quietly made their way back and found the waiting room about the same as they'd left it. There were a small number of people present, either waiting for an appointment or waiting for someone to come out from an appointment. On one wall was a flat screen television that had a news program on, but they paid no mind to it. The big thing for both of them was finding out whether or not Melissa was pregnant or not. They moved and sat down.
"You don't have to go back to the office?" Melissa asked as they sat down.
"Things were quiet enough today that I don't have to," Martin held her hand, "so... if you're pregnant... we can go home and celebrate, if not... we can go home and try again."
Melissa smiled back and leaned over gave him a soft kiss on his cheek. A lot of what "try again" would mean was fun and reinforced the love between them. Melissa would love Martin forever, as he would love her, and privately, she did know that with Julie growing up it was a bit safer for them in that Julie wouldn't get freaked out by it. When she was little, Julie might screech in shock at the sight of her parents naked together. That was something that ultimately limited what they could do while she was little. Of course that sort of situation was changing now, and they knew it. Julie was growing up and had found her one true love in Eric Anderson. They were happy for them, and kept their private hopes that Julie wouldn't be active in "that" regard, but they both understood young weres and weres in love. The big thing for their hopes would be to hope that Julie would remember her responsibilities and didn't get into too much of a rush to grow up, but they had to admit that the best they could probably do was stay on the weremer birth control pill.
Melissa sat quietly with her thoughts for a few moments and waited quietly. They stayed quiet for a few moments and watched some of the television. For the moment they were on commercial, but it actually was one they enjoyed a bit. They watched it for a few moments before they heard the door open and Doctor Harris Jones came out through the door. The doctor looked around the room for a few moments until he found the Stovalls and gave a small smile.
"I believe I have some good news for you," Doctor Jones spoke slowly.
"I'm?" Melissa asked.
"From what the blood tests would appear to indicate, you are in the early... and I mean VERY early stages of pregnancy," Doctor Jones spoke, "that is what you want, correct?"
"It is," Melissa answered as she hugged Martin's arm, making Martin smile as he did so.
"We will need to schedule you in for regular appointments," Doctor Harris spoke, "Say... next month?"
Melissa went to her purse and got her cellphone and soon had her calendar up and flipped over to the next month. She looked at them and found she could be free at about ten AM. Melissa nodded and soon was making her way out with Martin feeling quite pleased with herself.
"So... we did it," Martin said to her, to which Melissa nodded.
"It may mean that we can't go to the weremer Pod meeting in Hawaii," Martin spoke.
Melissa reached down and took Martin's hand and squeezed it, hopefully giving him some assurance. Weremers didn't have anything quite like Atlantis or "Atlantica" as far as Melissa knew, and that while their unique breathing system could allow their lungs to flood while in Stage 2 or Stage 3, they couldn't dive any deeper than what many dolphins did. Though, not having this sort of secret kingdom didn't necessarily stop weremers from looking to find a way to meet each other. Swimming out to a private beach, conveniently owned by a weremer, in Hawaii often made sense. It gave them privacy and let them all catch up on things, particularly as there were plenty of weremers that had gone out to explore the world, just as humanity had in general.
However, Martin knew that Melissa would be putting a lot of energy into the baby and that a lot that swim out to Hawaii would be covering a lot of open water that would require paying attention and at times fighting off potential predators. Sharks and Orcas had no problems with attacking weremers, just as many animals on land outside of those domesticated by man seemed to have an instinctive aversion to weres of all kinds. They would be potentially tough opponents to deal with under normal circumstances, but having Melissa pregnant would only mean that by that time, she would be much further along and in no shape to swim that far.
"Not everything revolves around that gathering," Melissa answered, "You and Julie are the only ones that really matter to me... and soon... her sibling. The meeting for weremer pods... it's like many of the other groups' gatherings... an excuse for their own fun... There is more to life than that."
Martin slowly nodded She was right there, and the developing new Stovall was proof of that. Of course, as they walked along another question came to Martin. How would Eric Anderson relate to the new one, as it was pretty clear that he was head over heals in love with Julie. Would he be brother? A cousin? An in law? For the moment though, the only thing left was to make sure Melissa got home to tell Julie the good news.