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His voice is steady and his face is smiling, but I squeeze his hand anyway, an undercurrent to his tone that probably only Julia and I can hear.

"Nope," the midwife answers, "not right now. If there's a family history that we need to be concerned about, or one of the standard screening tests comes back flagged and requires further testing, then it could make a difference, but for right now? I was just looking to clarify since the form doesn't read unknown."

"I'm the biological father," I confirm, looking her in the eye, and I've never been prouder of myself. Justin links our fingers again and brings my hand up to his lips, kissing the middle of my palm. His face is brimming with happiness.

With pride. He’s never been prouder of me either.

"Congratulations," she says, then continues clicking onto a different section, paternity forgotten until it's needed again.

~??~

Youtube didn't lie when it said this appointment would take forever. We're circling round the hour mark when Jules is finally clothed and Emily is holding court for final remarks.

"Anything else before we part?" she asks, making sure to meet our eyes. "You can always call our nurse line twenty-four seven if you think of a question after hours."

Julia doesn't hesitate.

“I know you mentioned the baby’s gender is included in the first trimester screening. Is there a way to exclude that information from the test?”

Emily smiles softly but shakes her head.

“Alas, no. It’s a standardized test these days. But, what we suggest is having a friend check that specific message in the practice's online portal, then delete it, and you can have the gender ultrasound at eighteen weeks. Or, if there’s a problem, the office is going to let you know with a phone call. If you don’t need to read every test result, you can just delete the notification yourself.”

Justin tightens his lips over his teeth and shakes his head, giving Julia a hard look.

“I can keep it a secret if you want, babygirl, but in seventy-two hours, I’m going to know one way or another that we’re having a baby girl.”

“A girl, huh?” Julia laughs, cradling her barely there stomach in both hands.

“One hundred percent,” Justin confirms.

He elbows me, and all I can do is smile.

I don’t care either way.

“Is sex okay?” Julia asks, allowing Justin to ruminate in his fantasies of playing dress up with a daughter.

The midwife laughs, though it’s probably a question she answers a dozen times a day.

“Sex is perfectly acceptable. Encouraged even. Just listen to your body.”

“What about kinky sex?”

Most of my nervousness drifted off simply from how boring the appointment was. Now though!!

“Seriously, Justin?!”

Julia merely rolls her eyes, though she’s so pink they can probably see her blush on the international space center.

“What?" Justin opens his hands wide like it’s no big deal. “She works inside vaginas for a living! I can't even imagine the sorts of things she's pulled out of there. She's not afraid of a bit of kink.”

I’m going to kill him. With my bare hands, right here in the damn obstetrician’s office.

“Well, mainly, I've pulled out babies,” the woman laughs. “But what kind of kink, if you don't mind my asking?”

He doesn’t. Because he’s an ass.

"We have a set of under-the-bed cuffs," he grins. "A swing. Nothing beyond the occasional red ass and a little orgasm control; either edging or multiple orgasms back to back. I keep them safe, I promise.”