Chapter 1475: A Heartbeat Between Them: The Glimpse of Tomorrow

Dr. Avery’s amusement settled into professional attentiveness. "Everything I’m seeing is reassuring. The pregnancy seems to be progressing remarkably well."

Phei looked so pleased with himself that Melissa turned towards him before he could speak. "You’re taking credit for that, aren’t you?"

"I take very good care of you."

"I’m the one carrying the baby."

Dr. Avery gave them time to settle before explaining the results more fully. Melissa’s present physiology differed considerably from that of her earlier pregnancies, so those experiences could not serve as an exact guide. They would continue monitoring her rather than make assumptions from how well she felt, but nothing they had reviewed currently concerned the doctor.

Phei’s shoulders finally loosened enough for Dr. Avery to notice.

"You can unclench now."

"I wasn’t clenched."

"Of course." Melissa’s laughter made his denial considerably less convincing.

The doctor set her tablet aside. "Would you like to see your baby?"

His expression changed so completely that Melissa felt her own amusement soften. "Yes."

"Then let’s go and have a look."

The ultrasound suite opened off the consultation room. Its lighting was gentler, warm lamps along the walls leaving the screen easy to see. At this stage an abdominal scan would likely show what they needed, a prospect Melissa appreciated as she settled upon the examination bed. Phei took his place beside her and immediately reclaimed her hand.

Dr. Avery explained what she would examine: the pregnancy’s position, the baby’s growth, the structures visible this early and the heart’s activity.

Phei listened with unwavering attention. Melissa watched him instead.

"You’re nervous."

"No."

"Your thumb keeps rubbing the same knuckle."

He glanced down, stopped and then resumed without noticing. Her smile widened.

"You fought World Transcendents— those are harder than this love." She whispered.

"Those were easier."

"This is just an ultrasound for our child my love." She smiled as she said.

"Exactly!"

She laughed, but his voice grew quieter when he spoke again. "I’ve never done this." His gaze moved from her face to the waiting screen. "With my child— this is our child and— I mean this part. Sitting here and actually seeing them."

Melissa tightened her fingers around his. He had possessed ways to look long before they entered the hospital. True Void Sense could reach where ordinary sight could not, and his perception of souls, blood and life had only deepened since the Frozen Zone.

He had kept watch over her well-being and the vitality within her, but he had deliberately withheld that closer inspection. Melissa deserved to share the first sight of their child with him.

He wanted to be beside her when it happened, to feel her hand in his and hear whatever she said upon seeing their baby.

Now that the screen was before him, he was almost absurdly grateful he had waited.

Dr. Avery applied the gel and began the scan. Grey shapes shifted across the display while she adjusted the transducer, and Phei leaned forward with an earnestness that made Melissa bite back a smile.

"You have absolutely no idea what you’re looking at."

"I understand multidimensional spatial fractures and tears in reality better than this."

"Give me a little longer before you declare the machine defective," Dr. Avery said, concentrating upon the image.

"I haven’t blamed the machine."

"Yet," Melissa added.

The doctor steadied her hand. "There." She showed them the uterus and the pregnancy within it, explaining the position before adjusting the image. "And there is your baby."

Melissa drew a slow breath. The small shape upon the screen had a head, a body and limbs she could make out as Dr. Avery guided them.

Then it moved— Phei’s hand closed more firmly around hers.

He had loved this child for months— during the long, brutal year he had endured within the Frozen Zone, the thought of returning to Melissa and their baby had given him warmth when he had precious little else.

He had worried, planned and imagined what awaited him at home.

Yet none of those thoughts had prepared him for the tiny movement upon the screen. Their child was here, growing beneath the hand he had rested upon Melissa’s abdomen so many times, already moving through a life he could only watch from outside.

Melissa turned towards him and forgot the display long enough to study his face. She knew his arrogance, his shamelessness and the mischief that could spoil the dignity of any occasion. She had seen him furious, wounded and exhausted, and she had watched the colder changes his return had brought.

His awe now left him looking almost painfully young with tears of joy threatening to break from his eyes. Melissa stared fondly at her man— with all that power held quietly within him, Phei stared at his child with his lips slightly parted and no idea what to say.

"The measurements place you just under twelve weeks," Dr. Avery explained.

"So right around three months?"

"Yes. That fits well with the dates you’ve given me."

Melissa exhaled, relieved to hear it confirmed. Phei nodded without taking his eyes from the image, trying to remember everything the doctor showed them. A flicker caught his attention.

"What was that?"

"This?" She adjusted the view. "That’s the heart."

He leaned closer. Dr. Avery changed the display, and the rapid, steady sound filled the room. Phei went still beside his wife.

He had heard hearts beating throughout his life, in ordinary people, Awakened, cultivators and creatures whose bodies dwarfed the room around them. He knew how fear altered a pulse and how injury weakened one.

This small, quick rhythm undid him with its strength.

Their baby had a heartbeat!

Beneath Melissa’s skin, sheltered within her body, the child they had made together was living, and he could hear it.

Phei wondered what their child’s face would look like, whose eyes would open to meet his, how small the fingers would feel around one of his own. He wanted the first cry, the weight of the baby resting against his chest, the clumsy steps towards outstretched hands. He wanted to hear the first word and remember it properly, to be there for the ordinary days between all those firsts.

There was so much he could give, yet sitting beside Melissa, he found himself longing most fiercely for the chance to be present.

He would protect this child with everything he possessed. He hoped they would grow up never needing to understand how much violence that promise might require.

"Phei!" Melissa’s voice reached him through the sound from the machine.

He looked at her and drew a breath.

"You really stopped breathing."

Her eyes shone as Phei looked back towards the screen.

"That’s our baby, Melissa Ryujin Tiamat!" he said softly, as though he needed to hear himself say it.

"Our baby," Melissa answered, her lips trembling into a smile.

He leaned down and kissed her forehead, lingering there while she rested her hand against his chest. The rapid little heartbeat continued beside them, and beneath her palm she could feel his own answering it.

"Thank you," he whispered.

"For what?"

He looked towards the image. "For that silly." he kissed her lips.

Melissa’s smile trembled before her humour found its way through. "You helped."

"I contributed magnificently, didn’t I?"

She laughed, blinking away the moisture in her eyes, and drew him close enough to kiss his cheek. Dr. Avery gave them space, smiling quietly as she continued her work. The feared and rumored Young Dragon was beside her examination bed, holding his wife’s hand and looking thoroughly overcome by an image she showed expectant parents every day.

She let him have it without interruption until she was ready to explain the next findings.

"Everything I’m seeing so far is reassuring."

"Everything?" Phei asked.

"Everything we’ve examined so far. Growth is appropriate, the pregnancy is properly positioned, and the cardiac activity is strong."

"How strong?"

Melissa laughed again while Dr. Avery gave him the heart rate and explained that it lay within the expected range.

"Doctor good?" he asked, unwilling to leave any uncertainty in the answer.

"Very doctor good."

He relaxed, smiling so openly that Melissa could scarcely remember the last time she had seen him this happy.

"You are impossible."

"And happy." He lifted her hand and kissed it again, then turned back to the screen as Dr. Avery resumed her measurements.

His questions multiplied as she showed them more of what could be seen at this stage. Melissa listened indulgently until he began asking about something the doctor had only just explained.

"You know we’re coming back again, right?"

"I know."

"You don’t need to learn obstetrics today."

Phei considered that, then looked at Dr. Avery. "How long does medical school take?"

"Long enough that your child may be walking before you’re useful to me."

"Unacceptable."

"Stay a Dragon."

"I can multitask."

The doctor laughed and returned her attention to the monitor. Then the transducer slowed in her hand. Phei noticed immediately, his smile fading as he followed her gaze. She adjusted the angle and examined the image more closely.

"What is it?" Melissa asked.

Dr. Avery continued looking, careful with the next movement of her hand. Phei’s fingers closed around Melissa’s, and she lay still beneath the transducer while the doctor checked again. A small smile appeared upon Dr. Avery’s face, but he could not read enough from it to settle the sudden tension in his chest.

"Doctor?"

She looked at Melissa, then at him, and turned the monitor towards them both. Her smile widened.

"I think the two of you should look at this."