Nicole

I don't know how I haven't gone blind.

Ever since Lucas and I got engaged, I can't stop staring at the ring on my finger. It is so beautiful.

We haven't even thought about when and where we wanna get married, for now we're simply enjoying being engaged. We have a lot on our plate right now with the unexpected baby and our own professional projects.

Now that we're back in San Francisco after my little book tour ended in London, we have had more time with each other and that was just what we needed after getting engaged.

"Hey." His voice caught my attention and I averted my look from the ring, to Lucas.

"Hi." I whispered back, moving my body closer to Lucas'. "Sorry, I was distracted staring at this beauty."

We were sitting on the sand with our legs close to our chest and our arms resting on our knees lazily.

He traced his thumb across my bare back. "I'm really glad you like the ring."

We decided to come to the beach this morning with Sparkles. She had grown to the full size of an adult dalmatian, which meant she was almost taller than me whenever she got on her two back legs. And that meant that she had a lot of energy and could really use the free space of the beach to run as much as she'd like. An apartment wasn't ideal for that.

"Are you kidding? Of course I love it. Especially because you created it for me. It's unique, it's the only one. It means something."

He smiled at my words before leaning in to kiss my lips passionately.

"You know, I thought a lot about whether or not I should propose with a ring."

I inhaled deeply. I knew why, it was obvious.

"This is different. This means something. I would love whatever it was you proposed to me with, and I would always say yes."

Sparkles dropped the tennis ball on the sand before licking my finger.

"She likes it too, see?"

Lucas scratched the spot behind her ears while I grabbed the lime green ball.

"Quick, go fetch!" I threw the ball into the water and the dog ran like the wind into the ocean to catch the ball with her mouth.

It is true what they say - the weekend goes by way too fast, and that meant we were now hours away from getting back to another week of work. On Sunday night, Lucas and I sat next to each other in bed, scrolling through a bunch of realtors' websites, looking for a more permanent place to live.

We've been talking about it for a while now, my apartment in San Francisco is way too small for the two of us, a dalmatian and a baby.

"So, with the money from the book and the money you're making for this first film at Pixar, I think we can afford a small three bedroom house, with a backyard." I said after doing some calculations on my phone.

"Sounds good."

"Why do I get the feeling that it doesn't sound that good to you?" I questioned after seeing the blank expression on his face.

"Well," He started explaining, tilting his head to my side, looking at me. "A three bedroom would imply we were considering having another baby in the future, am I right?"

Right.

"Oh, I'm sorry. We didn't talk about another baby... I-I've always dreamed of a family of four - us and the kids. But if you don't want to, that's-"

"Hey, hey... Shh. I do want more kids. Just hear me out, here. Instead of a pricier house with two separate bedrooms for them, why don't we look for a house with a large backyard and a large attic. We can make the attic their bedroom, they'll share it until they become teens and can't stand each other, and then we'll buy a bigger house with all the money we can save up til then. And that could be the house of our dreams, the house where we'll grow old together."

That last part sent my stomach into a butterfly frenzie and made my heart do backflips. But again, that was just another day of being Lucas Thompsons's girlfriend and fiancée.

"Wow... you really thought it all through, uh?" I said, unconsciously dragging my bottom lip under my teeth and slowly biting it.

"I did." He said, a shy smile dancing on his lips before he dragged his look to the screen and scrolled down the page.

"I think that's perfect."

"You know what?" I gave him a questioning look and he explained himself. "I think we should hire someone to find the house for us. We want something very specific, and I don't think we'll have much luck looking for it online."

"So, what's the plan?"

I closed the multiple tabs we had opened and turned off the laptop, putting it on my bedside table.

"I'll talk to some people at work tomorrow, get some good realtor recommendations and then we can get in touch with them, see what they can find us."

Whether we want to or not, the baby is coming. And it's coming faster than we'd hoped for. Nine months go by really fast, and we have a lot of planning to do on the new house before he or she gets here, so it would be great if we could sort it all out at least before I reach the seventh month of pregnancy.

We went to sleep. The morning after, I woke up with a phone call from an unknown number.

"Hello?" I said, trying my best not to sound like I had just woken up at ten o'clock in the morning, which I had.

"Hi, is this Nicole Meyers?"

"Yes, this is she."

"I'm calling on behalf of Doctor Barlow. You had an appointment with her next Saturday. Unfortunately she won't be able to see you and asked to see if you could come tomorrow instead?"

"Uh... Yeah. I-I'll need to check with my boyfriend first cause he'll want to come with me but I think we can be there. What time?"

"There are two slots available, one at midday and the other one is at five-thirty."

"Five-thirty will be better."

"Alright. See you then. Take care!"

"You too."

I got out of bed, took a shower before eating my breakfast and instead of calling Lucas to let him know about the recent change of plans, I decided to go to see him at work instead and surprise him.

Choosing a classic yet comfortable look for today, I put on my knee length grey dress and my black thighs. I put on my matching black boots and a black coat to top it off and walked out the door.

Making my way through the Pixar Studios parking lot, I turned down the sound of the radio to help me focus while I parked my car. I made my way through the hall, saying hello to the people I already knew.

I jumped on the elevator and got out on the floor of Lucas' office, making my way through the colorful halls. As I was walking up to his door, I could hear him talking to someone.

"Lucas, that's such a good idea!"

That was a woman's voice.

First, I thought about slowing down my steps and hearing the conversation from the outside, but then I figured I should just walk in and surprise him. That's what I came here to do after all. Plus, I had to trust my fiancé.

"Hi!" I said with some eagerness and excitement, causing him to look at me in surprise.

"Nic! What are you doing here?" He got up from his seat, passing by the woman with short hair who looked rather disappointed in my arrival.

"I thought I'd surprise you." I gave a slight shrug of my shoulders as I looked him in the eye. I loved when I looked at his blue orbits and he smiled with his eyes.

He pulled me in close and wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug. I did the same and wrapped my arms around his torso. "What a nice surprise! You wanna go grab lunch together?"

"Sure! I just had breakfast before coming here but I didn't eat much anyway."

He showed me his best smile at my answer before turning his attention to the person behind him.

"We'll just... take a raincheck." He said to the woman who stood in the back, looking at our interaction the whole time. "Uh, this is Nicole, my finacée."

"Sure, no problem!" She said with a fake smile plastered all over her face. "I should get going. Nice to meet you, Nicole."

"You too..." I waited for her to say her name but Lucas had to fill in for her since she decided to seal her lips.

"Jess. She works in the writing department."

"Oh." I said, my eyes opening wide in realization of the coincidence. "No way! I'm a writer as well. My first book just came out a couple of months ago. The Missing Gem?"

"Never heard of it." She said, clearly in a hurry to leave the room.

"Jess is into children stories a lot more... Helps with work." Lucas said, resting his hands on his hips as he looked at the two women standing in front of each other.

"Of course." I replied in understandment before waving her goodbye at her take off.

It was just the two of us now. Finally.

"I have to finish this piece before lunch. You can sit here next to me while I get done."

"Just like good old times." I said as I thought back to when we first met, I used to sit in his office and write while he drew.

He showed me a small smile before he got back to his work. I didn't bring my laptop to write but I did bring the book that I was currently reading, so I got entertained with that while he worked. He didn't take too long and soon enough we were having lunch at one of the restaurants they had at Pixar.

"So, I came here to tell you something too." That caught his attention and he eyed me while he took a sip of his drink. "They called me from the doctor's office this morning, told me our appointment was canceled because the doctor can't come in, so they gave me the choice to go tomorrow. She's seeing us at five thirty. It's gonna be a big one tomorrow."

"We're gonna know the gender tomorrow, right?" He asked with a cheeky grin.

Lucas was so looking forward to knowing if we were having a boy or a girl and to be honest, so was I. In the beginning I said we should wait for the surprise but two weeks later I changed my mind. I could not wait nine months, I really wanted to know the gender as soon as possible, so I could start planning everything in my head.

"Yes!" I replied with a matching smile and excitement. "What do you think it is?"

Lucas' lips curled upwards into a smile while he took a forkful of chicken to his mouth. "You wanna know what I think it is or what I would want it to be?"

His question caught me off guard, but I still managed to get an answer out of him. "Both."

"I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours." He winked at me and I giggled at his antics.

Lucas and I had a similar conversation early on into the pregnancy and we both agreed that boy or girl, all we wanted was for our baby to be healthy. But other than healthy, we both had our gender preferences and hopes.

"Deal." I winked back at him before letting him know my predictions. "I think it's a boy. I don't know how, but I just have a feeling it's a boy. And to be honest, I'd like to have a boy. Teenage girls can be such a handful, I don't know if I'll be able to be a good mom to a teenage girl. You?"

"Alright, I would love to have a girl especially because I loved helping raise Lexie, but I would like to have the chance to raise a boy that was my own. But I think it'll be a girl. And for the record, I think you'll be a great mom to a teenage girl. In fact, I think you'll be a great mom to whoever is joining us."

How was I this lucky to find a guy who lifts me up unconditionally?

I wasn't used to this. Lucas and I have been dating for over a year and I still haven't gotten used to all these compliments and all this love. As weird and as cliché as this sounds, this is like the fairytale I always envisioned for myself but never believed I'd get to live.

When you listen to the word fairytale you think about perfect, flawless and in a way, it was. As a couple, we had faced a lot of challenges - when his parents wouldn't approve of me and ended up cutting him off from their lives, when we had silly fights, when both our exes came back and we had to deal with them, when this baby unexpectedly came into our lives... You name it, we had been through it. But despite all that, it was perfect for me.

"You're gonna be a great dad too, you know?" When he nodded but didn't say anything in return, I continued. "I mean, I've seen you with Lexie, you're like a dad to her and you're amazing! She worships you, she adores you!"

He put the fork down and smiled at me. "I don't know who adores each other more."

* * *

"So, how have you been feeling Nicole?" The doctor asked me with a smile while she applied the cold gel on my stomach.

"Great. I can keep food down now, so that's good."

She sat down on the small seat next to where I was laying and maneuvered the ecographic device while Lucas held my hand tightly.

"I'm assuming you want to know the gender, if possible?" She asked, and Lucas and I both nodded our heads in agreement.

I felt her going around my bump with the device, presumably seeing if everything was okay and searching for the right position to see the gender.

"Oh, there it is!" She said as she zoomed in on the black and white image on the computer screen that stood next to my head.

Lucas and I both turned our heads in its direction and looked at the image.

At least now we knew what color our life was going to be all about in the near future. 

 * * * 

Author's Note: 

Hi loveliesss! Long time no see! But finally, there's a brand new chapter here for you to read ❤ The last few months have been quite terrible for me but I made it through one of the worst internships of my life and I got back to writing! 

On another note... WHAT DO YOU THINK? IS IT A BOY OR A GIRL? Let me know by dropping a blue or pink heart emoji 💙💗

Also, I've got some REALLY exciting news about this little book of mine to share with y'all - keep an eye on out on January 1st!

Xoxo, Mars