Chapter Text
Interlude: Baby
"Why are you fighting me on this? I know you don't want to stay here, and I can't exactly blame you." Connor scoffed softly as he stared at his wife. He folded his arms while she continued to clean. Something she liked to do when they were fighting because it gave her hands something to do. "Sarah-"
"Because I know you don't want to leave Latham. He's your mentor and after Downey-"
"But after everything with your..." He caught himself before he could utter the word that would make his wife flinch and start cleaning in double time, "With Robert and Dr. Charles. I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to leave. Plus, Baylor is a really good hospital. You would learn a lot there.”
"I can handle it," Sarah told him stiffly, starting on wiping down the kitchen island now. Connor looked up at the ceiling pinching the bridge of his nose with a groan.
"You shouldn't have to handle it. Look, if you won't budge on us leaving now. Then what if just you leave for right now? We've done the long-distance marriage once. I know neither of us wants to do it again but this way-"
"No!" Sarah whirled on him. The rag she had been holding now hung limply in her hand. Connor raised an eyebrow. This was not like his wife at all. He pinned her with a serious look in his eyes, "Okay, do you want to tell me what's going on with you? Because I'm getting the impression that this is more than us just moving."
"We've always agreed. By the time my residency is up, no more long-distance,” Sarah huffed looking down at her shoes. Connor blinked. None of this was adding up. His wife was nowhere near being done with her residency and when they agreed on that, they had been talking about plans for the future. “Yes, but it’s not the end of your residency and we agreed on that when we start trying to have a family.”
At this Sarah hesitantly met his eyes and finally the dots connected in Connor’s mind. She was nowhere near the end of her residency but… “You’re pregnant?”
His wife’s throat bobbed, “You know I hate being allergic to whatever plastic the IUDs are made of. Because it stresses me out whenever I forget to take my birth control and I was already stressed, to begin with, and omph-”
Her teary explanation was cut off by Connor’s lips pressing against hers in a bruising kiss as he pulled her against his chest. She moaned softly as he deepened the kiss. Then it morphed into a gasp of surprise when his hands found the back of her thighs and she was lifted up onto the very island she had just been cleaning. Connor pulled back slowly, not being able to contain his grin. “How long have you known?”
“Since yesterday. Natalie did my blood work for me. I’m about eight weeks along. I was planning to make your favorite dinner to tell you tomorrow. But then you had to go and talk about us moving or me moving to Texas.”
Connor opened his mouth to say that they still needed to have that discussion. But Sarah wasn’t done, “And I know we have nine months to figure everything out. And I know I could move down there and go to my appointments alone. I know I could handle this pregnancy by myself. But I don’t want to.”
Neither did he. Connor didn’t want to miss any part of her pregnancy. That’s why they decided to try and have a family after her residency because there was more of a chance they would be settled in their careers. “And what happens in nine months and I have this child? Do we just ship it back and forth between the two of us? Do we just continue as we had when you were in Riyadh and was coming to visit every couple of months?”
She had a point. A long-distance marriage with a child when they didn’t have to be long-distance seemed cruel. He sighed, resting his head against hers. “That’s why we should move to Texas and get set up now. Before the baby gets here.”
“No,” Sarah’s response was instantaneous. “Connor, I’m not letting you give up the mentorship you built with Latham. It took you years before you built that kind of trust with him.”
“And I’m not letting you be miserable. Think of what that’ll do to the baby and your overall mental health in the long run.” He argued back gently. Now, Sarah brought her eyes up to meet his and he felt himself sigh inwardly. Whereas he had the smirk that got him his way, Sarah had this fierce look that had her winning their fights.
“I. Can. Handle. It. You did it for me. You told me that yourself. If I hadn’t been in Chicago, then you would’ve never come back to the city. Now it’s my turn to put you first. We’re staying, Connor.”
Connor pressed his lips together, surveying his wife. Was this really worth the kind of fight it was bound to turn, with them yelling and slamming doors in each other's faces if he kept pressing it? He sighed, “We’re talking about this again in two months. A real honest conversation. Where you tell me if you can actually handle it or not. And if you can’t, then we’ll start looking at other residencies for you and fellowships for me. I’m not having you be miserable for my sake Sarah. That’s not an option for me.”