What Do You Want It To Be? (Oliver M.)

Cathy sat in a chair in the waiting room. She was reading a magazine and waiting for her name to be called. She was also waiting for Oliver to arrive. And it was because of this that she thought to herself as she turned the page of her magazine.

It was because of Oliver Michaels that she was now sitting here. She put the tabloid aside and thought about the man she loved. He was the reason that she now waited for her name to be called, so that she could be examined. Well, he was part of the reason.

She lay her hand over the slight swell of her stomach. She was going to have Oliver's baby, and she couldn't be happier. She loved him so much, and had for years, but had only gotten together with him a few months earlier, thanks to her friend, Shelby Marks.

She thought about her friend now, and realized that she wanted her to be her matron-of-honor when she and Oliver got married.

This brought a smile to her face. The image of being Oliver's wife made her glow. The only thing that was making her happier than to be carrying his child was that she was going to become his wife. But she didn't want to push him to move the wedding to fast just because of the baby, who they were going to see for the first time today.

"Please, little one. Please be a girl. Oliver has a son, and I want to give him a little girl."

She looked up as she heard her name being called by a familiar and very cherished voice.

He was late! How could he have let his class take so bleeding long?! Now he was rushing through St. Mungo's so that he could be with Cathy while they witnessed the first picture of their baby. He was nervous, even though he wasn't the one that actually carried the baby. He couldn't quite place it, except for the fact that it almost didn't seem real yet. Once he saw their child on the screen, he would finally have proof for himself that he would be a father again. A small smile crept across his lips. He was going to be a father again! And Ashton would finally have the younger sibling he had always begged for. He ran the last few steps and saw that she was still waiting. Of course she was...that was what healers were for, right? To make their patients wait.

“Cathy,” he said smiling, as he bent down and kissed her cheek. “You look beautiful. Sorry I'm late, we just lost track of time on the pitch. Are you nervous? I feel like my stomach is about to explode.”

Oliver sat down and took Cathy's hand in his. He felt better with her close to him, and hoped it was the same for her. He had been to every one of Maggie's appointments and was overjoyed to witness his son coming into the world. He couldn't wait for that same experience with this child.

“I'm sure everything will be alright with the baby, but the waiting is killing me. How have you survived this many ultrasounds, my love? You'll have to help me not sick up from these nerves. Not that you need to worry about me. Oh God, I didn't mean to make you feel unimportant. How are you doing, do you need a drink or anything?”

Cathy smiled at Oliver's nervousness. She patted his hand in attempt to calm him down.

"I've only been through so many ultrasounds because I've been pregnant three times before. But this is the first time that it hasn't been a Muggle ultrasound. And I know that I don't have to remind you that we won't even be able to tell what the baby is this early. But I wanted to ask you, what do you want it to be?"

She held tightly to his hand, her nerves starting to show now. She didn't know what to expect from a magical ultrasound. Would it be anything like a Muggle one? Or would it be entirely different? She didn't want Oliver to feel her fear though, he might think that she believed something to be wrong with the baby. And nothing could have been further from the truth. She just wanted to know what was going to happen in the exam room.

"Oliver? Did Maggie have a magical or Muggle ultrasound?" She wanted to sound if she were just making conversation, but she was sure that her nerves were coming through.

Oliver smiled and gently stroked her cheek. She was always stunning to him, but today she looked even more beautiful. Maybe she was glowing with the pregnancy, or he just loved her more and more every day, but she made him tingle inside. He loved her so much, and he couldn't wait to spend the rest of his life with her.

"First of all, have I mentioned how gorgeous you are when you're nervous? And second of all...I don't really care what we have, as long as he or she is healthy. I do think seeing Ashton with a little sister would make me smile, but I won't dislike having another son, either. All I care about is the health of you and our child, Love."

He placed a small kiss on her nose, then waited for the healer to come.

"Oh, you asked another question, didn't you? About Maggie and the ultrasound? She had a magical one. I've never even seen how a muggle one works, though I've heard they're very similar. From what I remember...now don't quote me, it has been over sixteen years...there is a screen-type apparatus. And then the healer just uses his or her wand to complete the spell. I think the only difference is, you can see more details in a magical one."

More details? Cathy was intrigued now. How much more? She rested her hand on her stomach. She knew that at this point, the baby would only be looking like a bean or something on a Muggle screen. What would she see today?.

So far she hadn't been having any of the symptoms that she'd had with her other pregnancies. No nausea, no tiredness, and the only craving that she'd been having had been for fruits and vegetables, which her doctor would want her to be eating a lot of anyway.

She took Oliver's hand as she felt another wave of nerves come over her. She wanted this baby to be healthy, happy, and loved so much that it would never doubt that it had a family that would always be there for it. Those things she knew it would have, but her nerves were now for the fact that Oliver had said that he would like Ashton to have a little sister, even though a son would make him just as happy. She thought now was as good a time to tell him as any.

"Oli," she started. "I hope that I am giving you the daughter you don't have. I wouldn't mind another son either, but I want to give you a little girl first. I will be happy with the baby, whatever it is, but a little girl that looks like you...." Tears came to her eyes. "She would be so beautiful, Oliver."

Oliver smiled warmly at her and kissed her cheek. He loved her so much, especially because of how much she already loved their child, just as he did.

“A little girl that looks like you would be beautiful, my dear. Bless the child if she looks just like me,” he chuckled.

“Now I don't want you to worry anymore about it, alright? We are going to have a gorgeous, healthy child and he or she will be lucky to have you as a mother. They'll just have to deal with me.”

He softly pushed her head against his shoulder, then he rested his cheek against her hair. She smelled incredible. Like some kind of fruit, or something. And that thought made him smile as he remembered their little run-in with food. That was probably the most fun he had ever had on a date. He smiled to himself and kissed the top of her head.

“Are you working tonight? I was thinking we could have another night in together...popcorn, a movie...maybe a little whipped cream like old times.”

Cathy grinned with a little bit of a blush. She remembered that night well. Especially since they had been extremely messy when they had finished. But she had had a lot of fun that night, and it had been the night that their little one had come into being. Oh, she had so much that she was grateful for. Oliver loved her, she was pregnant with his child, and they were marrying soon. They hadn't set the date, but she had the feeling that he would want it to be before the baby was born.

She turned to him, and took his hand. Her eyes were now alight with the idea that had come into her head. Whether this baby turned out to be a boy or a girl, she wanted to name it after this wonderful man, and his equally wonderful son. She pulled his hand up to her mouth and kissed each finger.

"No, I don't have to work. I took the whole day off so that we could spend it together. And going to see a movie sounds great! Oliver, I want to tell you something. Something very important. I want to name the baby after you and Ashton."

She bit her lip while she waited for his response about her announcement.

Oliver smiled and leaned over to kiss her cheek. He loved this woman so much, and the fact that she wanted to use his name as well as his son's made him love her even more. He pulled her into the crook of his arm and snuggled against her.

"I would love that, Cathy. I would be so honored, and I'm sure Ashton would as well. I'm not sure what we could name the baby if it was a girl, though. Maybe Olive? Though I don't like that very much. Olivia could work, but I suppose I'm getting ahead of myself. We don't even know what it is yet."

He held her for a while longer before he noticed a nurse coming their way and he nudged his fiancé to sit up.

"I think she's here for us, babe. You ready?"

He stood up and helped Cathy to stand, then to go into the examination room indicated. He helped her up on the bed and stood close so she wouldn't be too nervous or scared, even though his own hands were shaking like crazy. He smiled tenderly up at her.

"We finally get to see our little one."

Norah had to rush through the corridors. There were so many patients today, the hospital staff was nearly going mad. She had been going from room to room, checking patients' vitals and cleaning out bedpans. It wasn't the most glamorous of careers, but she was happy to help. It was just her personality. It was much better than her family's outlook on life, which consisted of forgetting everyone else around them unless they served a higher purpose.

Norah had also been thinking quite a bit about Nick, but she hoped and prayed his father would not find out. If Healer Valari ever knew about their little tryst, she would be out of a job, and Nicolae would be...well, she wasn't sure, but he would not be comfortable. She smiled again as she thought of his green eyes, and the way his hair fell into them when he grinned. God, he was so sexy. As she got closer to her next appointment, she wondered when their next meeting would occur. But the thought quickly left her as she remembered that she needed to focus on her patient.

"Good afternoon," she said, smiling. Then she walked softly into the office and prepped the ultrasound machine. She had done quite a few of these charms in her nurses' training, but she knew she might still need help if there seemed to be any complications with the baby.

"Miss Salyer? It's nice to meet you, my name is Norah Connor and I am a nurse here at St. Mungo's. Are you ready to begin your ultrasound?"

Cathy nodded nervously. This time she was going to see more detail of her baby, and that thrilled and scared her. She didn't know exactly how much detail Oliver had meant, since Maggie hadn't had a Muggle examination when she was carrying Ashton. Cathy on the other hand, had never had a Magical one. She sat on the table in the middle of the room and took Oliver's hand. He had to be as nervous about this as she was. She had to believe that or she would faint.

As she waited for the ultrasound to start, she thought of possible names for the baby. She knew that she wanted to name the baby after its father and brother, but then remembered that Ashton was already carrying his father's name as his middle. So what to name his long awaited sibling if it were to be a boy? And for that matter, what if the baby was a girl? Oliver had suggested Olive, but Cathy thought that sounded like a food or a drab shade of green. Their child would be anything but drab.

Then a name for a girl popped into her head . It was so pretty, it would fill the necessity of naming the baby after her brother and it went well with Oliver's second suggestion of Olivia.

"Oli, what about Ashlyn?"

Oliver smiled at his fiance and pulled her hand up to his lips so that he could kiss her softly. That was the most perfect name he had ever heard for a baby girl. And naming her after his son would mean the world to Ashton, Oliver knew. But what was he saying, he couldn't get his hopes up already!

"I love it, sweetheart. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. I want to be happy if it's a boy too."

He watched the screen and could already make out arms, and legs. Tears filled his eyes as he watched his second child swimming around on the monitor and he couldn't help but laugh softly to himself. The baby still looked somewhat like a cross between an alien and a tadpole, but it would grow out of that. Oliver had called Ashton his little alien once or twice, and it had elicited a few confused looks from his son. And now Oliver couldn't believe he had another little alien on the way!

"Look, Cat! It's our little one! Isn't it beautiful?"

Cathy's hands flew to her mouth in emotion. There was her baby on the screen. There wasn't much more detail in what she'd seen on a Muggle ultrasound, but she had the feeling that was because the baby still didn't much resemble a baby yet. It was still in the looking like a bean phase, and if she hadn't bee through this three times before, she would never have been able to see it.

She grabbed Oliver's hand, trying to keep herself from crying. It was so beautiful. There was their child, the one they had created together. Her other hand still at her mouth, she laughed happily through her tears.

"Oh!" she exclaimed softly. "I've seen this before, but it never fails to overcome me." She turned hr head to him and kissed him lightly. "That's our baby, Love!" Her gaze flew back to the monitor. The baby was still there, and it was still just as incredible as the fist time she'd looked at the picture.

"Little alien?" she asked a moment later. Martin had never refered to their children like that. In fact, he'd not really called the children anything but 'the baby' before they were born. Not even when they had learned the sex, and decided on a name. Cathy rather liked this name. She squeezed Oliver's fingers softly.

"Our little alien. That's what it is right now, isn't it?" She kissed him again.

Norah smiled at the couple as she finished up her ultrasound. She loved when she did any kind of healing work involving babies. She didn't want a baby of her own for a long time, but she knew that someday she would like to be a mother. She looked up at her patient and the baby's father and cleared her throat softly.

"Everything looks good so far. There isn't much we know yet, except that the basics are good. You are approximately ten weeks along, according to the size of the embryo. He or she is about the size of a small strawberry, actually," she smiled.

"And the heartbeat is strong, which is a good sign this early. Everything seems to be on schedule. You'll come back for your next regular checkup in about a month, and then a month after that you can find out the gender."

She put away her wand and the equipment, then helped Ms. Radcliffe to sit up. She shook her hand softly, shook the man's hand, then she went on her way to the next appointment.

Cathy smiled as the nurse left the room. She was so nice. Nothing like the nurses she'd dealt with in her Muggle examinations. She hoped to see her again, and thought that she looked slightly familiar. Maybe she'd seen her around St. Mungo's when she'd come to make her initial appointment the other week. She didn't know, but now that she'd actually met her, she hoped to be seeing her again.

She slid off the examination table and stood on her toes to kiss Oliver. Their baby was right on schedule. That made her so happy, she could even kiss her ex-husband right then. Not that she would actually do it, she would rather throw up in the middle of the street first. And as she hadn't been experiencing any of the usual discomforts she'd had in her previous pregnancies, she was feeling pretty wonderful.

Now that she thought of it, this was right about the time that her morning sickness would have started. And she wasn't feeling nauseous at all. Her first pregnancy had been the worst, she'd been sick almost all the time. Matthew had been easier, and the twins had been nearly as bad as him, but this time.....nothing. Cathy wondered if Oliver's wife had had horrible morning sickess with Ashton. But then she remembered that Maggie had been fighting Leukemia at the same time. She'd probably been sick from her disease more than anything.

"Oliver, I want to ask you, and if you don't want to answer, please just tell me that it's none of my business." She looked up at him. "Did Maggie suffer morning sickness when she was expecting Ashton?"

Oliver raised an eyebrow at her and reached over to tickle her side before pulling her close against him.

"Now, why would I not tell you that? Cathy, I love you. I don't want to keep anything from you. Whatever you want to know about Maggie, I'll tell you. I loved her very much...but you are my fiancé."

He leaned down and kissed her gently on the lips. Then he took her hand and started walking down the hospital corridor as they talked.

"Maggie was...severely ill throughout the pregnancy, as I'm sure you knew. She threw up a lot. In fact, she was on bed rest for most of it. She had to have her mother come stay with her while I went to work at the Ministry. But we weren't sure what was the pregnancy and what was the leukemia."

He sighed. The memory was painful, but it was nice to have someone he cared for to confide in again. He hoped it wasn't hard for her to hear him talk about his first wife. But it was nice to be able to talk about it again.

As they walked down the corridor, Oliver heard some very interesting noises coming from one of the darkened hospital rooms. It seemed that some young couple was either getting it on, or getting very close to it. He was about to keep walking when he heard his son's name. His face paled...no, it couldn't be. Could it?

He opened the door and gasped.

"Ashton Oliver Michaels, what the hell are you doing in here?!"

Oh, crap. Talk about a mood killer. Ashton froze in place upon hearing his father's voice. He should have known his dad would be here today, it was Cathy's first ultrasound! How could he be so stupid as to forget that? But what were the chances that his dad and Cathy were going to be going past this room on their way out of the hospital?

DUH! It's the way out, you moron! he thought to himself as he moved away from his girlfriend and tried to hide the fact that he was partially undressed from the couple that had just burst in on them. Thankfully he'd not gotten around to taking of Sierra's clothing yet. That would more than likely have embarrassed her, as he knew she could be very shy about things like this. Although, Ashton had to admit, nothing like this had ever happened before.

He had not been intending to do this here. He'd only been there to see how the ultrasound came out and he'd run into his girlfriend and had apparently been stupid enough to get caught in this room with her, and with his pants, more than metaphorically, down.

He pulled them back up to his waist and had just managed to get them zipped again as he turned to face his father and Cathy.

"Dad, it's not what it looks like," he said stupidly.

Oliver looked away from Sierra. He didn't want to embarrass the girl any further than what he had already put her through. He looked only at his son, and he tried desperately not to laugh. He knew it should have been easy to stay mad at Ashton right now, considering the fact that his son was fooling around with his girlfriend in the middle of the hospital. But it was just such a funny situation, Oli couldn't help but smirk.

"Not what it looks like? Is that all you've got? Why don't you take a minute to compose yourself, and then meet me in the hall where we can speak about this just the two of us."

Then he nodded slightly in the direction of Sierra.

"Ms. Valari, nice to see you again. I hope your folks are doing well."

He gave Ashton one more semi-stern look before winking and heading back out into the hall. His son was full of surprises. Luckily, they had already been quite open about Ashton's love life. Oliver knew that his son was not a virgin, and he also knew that Ash loved Sierra more than life itself. The lecture would only come based on the decision that led to this location.

Ashton swallowed hard and turned to look at Sierra. This didn't bode well for them, since he was the one that had suggested this room for their little.....tryst, and he knew how shy she was about possibly being caught. It was his fault that they had been discovered, and now he had the feeling that she was not going to be too happy with him for a while.

"Sierra, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have talked you into this. I know how shy you are about doing things like this in public places, and I......" He stopped speaking, leaned over and kissed her cheek, squeezed her hand briefly and turned to leave the room. He paused at the doorway, glancing briefly back over his shoulder at her, trying to memorize her at that moment. He was afraid that it might be the last time he saw that beautiful face looking back at him, with any type of emotion other than hatred on it. That thought broke his heart.

"I am sorry, Love. I'll understand if you don't want to see me again." He turned forward again before he could change his mind, and walked out to the corridor to find his father. He looked around and found him and Cathy quickly, then made his way over to them slowly, thoughts of what he more than likely had just lost running through his head. He reached his father and shoved his hands into his pockets dejectedly.

"Dad, we both know that what you saw was exactly what it looked like," he said, staring at the floor in front of him. "And it was a mistake, I know. I'm sorry that you both had to see it, and I'm sure that it will never happen again."

He didn't want to think about that. He didn't want to think that he'd probably just lost Sierra forever because of his stupidity.

Oliver nodded and put an arm around his son's shoulders. If he had known it would embarrass his son and his girlfriend so much, he never would have interrupted. And it seemed that Ashton was already dealing with enough guilt over this.

“Don't worry about it, son. I know it was probably just a spur of the moment decision. And I know you would always be careful, so it really isn't that big of a deal. Please go tell Sierra that I didn't mean to embarrass the two of you.”

He smiled warmly and lifted his son's chin.

“Are you alright? Is there a bigger problem here, Ash? Well, if it will make you feel any better, Cathy's ultrasound went very well. You definitely have a very healthy brother or sister on the way.”

If anything was going to cheer up Ashton, it was news of his new little sibling. Then again, his son looked pretty dejected. He looked to Cathy for a moment to see if she could impart any wisdom from her expression. But in the end, he knew that Ashton just needed to talk to him himself.

Ashton nodded. Knowing that his brother or sister was healthy did make him feel better for a few seconds. Then his guilt came back and he felt like he wanted to just.... break down. It was all his fault. He'd probably lost Sierra forever because of his stupid libido. What had gotten into him? He usually had better judgement than this! He hung his head and sat next to Cathy. He knew that his father wanted to talk to him, but he wasn't ready just yet. He wanted to just think of a way to make it better. A way that he could get his girlfriend back.

He remembered the first day that he'd ever seen her. On the Hogwarts Express. She'd been so pretty, even then. But he'd been eleven and hadn't been interested in girls at all yet. He'd only been interested in keeping his clothes clean, and what house he was going to be sorted into. He'd been hoping so hard for Gryffindor, and when he'd been sorted into Slytherin, he'd been upset. But she was sorted Slytherin, too. He didn't know it at the time, but that would be the best for him. He was much happier in Slytherin than he could ever have been in Gryffindor. And it was because of the friends he'd made, and of course, the girl he had eventually ome to love more than his own life.

When he'd asked her to be his girlfriend, she had said 'yes' so quickly, it was almost before the question had left his lips. He had been even happier, then. And every memory of thier time together now flodded his brain. Studying, just staring at each other for no reason, simply being together. He felt it all slipping away from him now. And for what? Because he'd wanted to show her how much he loved her? No, because he'd chosen a bad place to do it. He had a feeling that it was because of his OCD that he'd chosen badly. He had always made bad decisions when he was younger, and it had been because of his condition, he knew that now.

Brushing his teeth for forty-five minutes, flying his broom into a building, cleaning his closet five times a day because his shoes were unevenly spaced, remaking his entire bed from the sheets up because his covers were a millimeter off, drinking himself into the hospital. Why had he been fighting getting help for himself before he was sixteen? He knew why. He didn't want to admit that there could have been something wrong with him. Now he had his diagnosis, and it was much easier for him to control his feelings and urges. For the most part.

But there were times that he just couldn't let go of the old habits. There were times that it got so hard to fight off taking a dare that he just wanted to scream! But he was on medication, and he was also in therapy for his condition, and he had a wonderful support system. His father, Cathy, her children, Gabby, Sierra.....

He stood up and beckoned to his father. He needed to talk to him, and didn't want to bother Cathy with this while she was pregnant. He led the way to the end of the hall and turned to face his dad.

"Dad, I totally screwed up this time. It's my fault that Sierra and I were in that room, and it's my fault that we got caught. I didn't think to put the silencing charms on the room, and I'm the one that suggested we go in there in the first place. I know how shy she is about being in public places like that, and I still wanted her to do it. Now we were caught, and she is probably going to hate me for the rest of my life. Hers too, most likely. I don't know why I did it, and it really doesn't matter. I've lost her, and I don't know how to get her back."

He slumped against the wall, not caring if anyone saw him crying, or if he ended up making a fool of himself. Without her in his life, nothing really mattered all that much anymore.

"I know you're going to say that she'll forgive me, but, Dad, Sierra is so shy about things like this. Being caught out like we were, she'd going to be fuming about if for a long time. I know that she is not going to forgive me for the rest of the school year, if she even does, period."

He wiped his eyes and pulled out one of his ever-present tissues from his pocket, blowing his nose quietly.

Post 1,000! Words~ 1,000

Oliver sighed anxiously and looked at his son. He had seen that look in his eyes thousands of times, but he had hoped that by now things would have gotten better. His OCD was manageable with the medication and therapy he was undergoing, but that didn't mean something big like this couldn't get to him. Oliver had prayed for something different, but he still loved Ashton no matter what. And his son needed him now.

"Ashton, you don't even know what she'll say. And if she's embarrassed, it should be me that she no longer wants to see. I want you to do like we used to do. Take a deep breath...and now relax. You are going to go in there and talk to her, because flipping out will do you no good. Alright, son? Now, come here."

He pulled him into a hug and patted his back as he used to when he was small. Oliver's heart still broke when his child was hurting, especially now knowing that he could really do nothing about it.

"Ash, you made a mistake, but it's not the end of the world. Go to her and explain. I'm sure everything will be fine. Alright, lad?"