#robronsummer

The drive to the hospital was an event in and on itself. Between road work and Robert insisting he knew a quicker way, they only just made it in time.

Natalie was waiting outside the main entrance for them and looked more than a little relieved to see them.

“Hi guys. I was getting worried that I’d have to do this alone. Or reschedule or something.”

“Yeah, sorry about that.” Aaron said and greeted her with a hug, before stepping aside and letting Robert do the same.

“They’re working on the road on our usual route.” Robert explained.

“Yeah and Robert thinks he knows the whole of England by heart and his quicker way took twice as long.”

“Alright, alright. Let’s just go in, yeah? Before they give away our spot.”

“I don’t think it works that way.” Natalie said laughingly as the three of them walked into the hospital.

They’d barely taken a seat in the waiting room when Natalie’s name was called and they made their way to the exam room.

“Sorry. Mum and dad only.” The sonographer said, looking expectantly at Robert and Aaron.

“We’re both the dad.” Robert said, annoyed.

“I’m their surrogate.” Natalie explained. “I’m having their baby.”

“Oh! I’m so sorry.” The sonographer said and quickly stepped aside to let the two men into the room. “Do you want me to make a note of it in your file? For the next appointment? So you won’t have to explain again?”

“It’s fine.” Aaron said quickly. “Let’s just…” He waved in the general direction of the exam table and the machine.

“Of course. Just hop on and we’ll take a look at this baby.” The sonographer said to Natalie who lay down and pulled up her top. She put the gel on her stomach and moved the probe around.

Aaron reached out and grabbed Robert’s hand, neither of them taking their eyes of the monitor. They’d talked about it in bed a lot. Chas and Paddy had found out about Grace’s condition at their 20 week scan and Aaron was terrified.  

Robert was too. Even though he was trying to be strong for Aaron.

Seconds later the sound of a beating heart filled the room.

“That’s it. Nice and strong. That’s how we like it.” The sonographer said with a smile and looked up from her screen.

“Is everything alright?” Aaron asked. “Can you tell?”

The sonographer turned back to her screen.

“Let me see… the size is what we expect at this stage. Even a little ahead of schedule.” She said happily. “Heart looks good, everything is developing nicely as far as I can tell.”

“What about the kidneys? Are the kidneys alright?”

“Ah yeah, they’re right here.” The sonographer said, pointing at the screen. “Two of them. All according to plan.”

“So everything is ok?” Robert asked.

“Everything is ok.” The sonographer confirmed. “Now. The big question. Do you want to know the sex of the baby?”

The two men looked at each other. They’d been so busy worrying about things that could be wrong with their baby, that they hadn’t even had time to discuss finding out the sex.

“I’d like to know… if that’s ok with you two.” Natalie said. “I like talking to them and I’d like to be able to say he or she. I won’t say anything if you don’t want to know.”

“I think I want to know.” Aaron decided. “You?” He asked Robert who nodded.

“Me too. I want to know everything.”

“Alright then, daddies, let’s see… looks like you’re having a little girl.” The sonographer announced happily as she printed off a few copies of the scan image and handed all three of them one.

“A girl. It’s a girl.” Aaron said, staring a the scan picture through the tears welling up in his eyes.

Robert smiled, looking back and forth between the picture and the monitor.

“That’s our daughter. Our little girl. Seb’s little sister.”

“I bet the grandmothers will be happy too.” Natalie suggested. “Another little girl to spoil.”

“They will when we tell them.” Aaron replied. “Nobody knows yet. Only Liv.”

“We wanted to enjoy it ourselves for a bit. Before the entire family goes crazy over it.” Robert explained. “Over her.”

They made the sonographer check and re-check everything twice before they were satisfied everything really was ok with their baby.

“So. A girl.” Natalie said when they walked back to their cars. “Are you happy?”

“Definitely.” Robert told her, dopey smile on his face.

“And relieved.” Aaron said. “My mum and Paddy found out about Grace’s condition at this scan… we were worried something might be wrong with our baby too.”

They’d told Natalie all about the unplanned but not unwanted baby boom in their family. Everything from Grace, to Vic’s little girl Jackie, and Chas and Paddy’s boy Luke.

“I understand.” Natalie told them. “I was a little nervous too. My mum was telling me all these horror stories the other day of people she knew whose babies had had some kind of scary birth defect that was discovered at 20 weeks.” She rubbed her stomach. “So I’m glad this little lady is all ok.”

“Do you want to come back to the village with us?” Robert asked. “Come for a drink in the pub while we tell the family.”

“Maybe some other time if you don’t mind. I didn’t sleep that well last night. I’m pretty tired.”

“Of course.” Robert hugged her. “Rest up. Both of you.”

Aaron waited his turn and pulled her into a hug too.

“And thank you again for doing this for us. You’ve made us so incredibly happy.”

Natalie smiled.

“It’s my pleasure. I know you’re going to be great parents.” She grabbed her keys from her purse. “We’ll keep in touch, alright?”

“Definitely. You should come to the village sometime to let everyone fuss over you when they all know.” Aaron suggested.

“Yeah maybe Bernice can give you some kind of beauty treatment. A facial or massage or something.” Robert added.

They said goodbye to Natalie and made their way over to their own car.

“You drive.” Aaron said, getting into the passenger’s seat and pulling out his phone. “I’m texting Liv to tell her the good news.”

“Tell her to meet us in the pub with Seb.” Robert said as he got behind the wheel and started the engine. “Your mum and Vic are both working I think. Paddy’s probably around too somewhere. We can tell them all right away.”

“You want to tell them all now?”

“You don’t? We know everything is ok now… so there is no reason why we shouldn’t.”

“Yeah alright.” Aaron said after a beat. “Let’s tell them.”

When they walked into the pub some time later Chas was behind the bar, arguing with Charity over something or other, and Liv had just come in with Seb.

“Hello mate.” Robert said, picking the little boy up and breathing him in for a few seconds. “We’ve missed you.” He kissed the top of his head and handed him to Aaron to let him have a cuddle too.

“Are Vic and Paddy around?” Aaron asked, sitting Seb down on the bar in between him and Robert, both of them holding him tightly.

“Vic’s in the kitchen and Paddy is still trying to get Luke to go to sleep. Why?” Chas asked.

“We just want to talk to you. We have news.”

“News? What kind of news? You’re not ill are you? Or leaving? Because this family has had enough of both of those things to last a lifetime.”

“Don’t worry Chas, it’s good news.” Liv told her.

“What? You know what’s going on?”

“Yep. And you’re going to like this news, I promise.”

“Can you just go get Vic and Paddy? We want to tell you all together.”

Chas looked back and forth between the two of them for a moment before giving in.

“Fine. I’ll get Paddy, you get Vic.” She told Charity, who surprisingly, didn’t kick up a fuss about being given orders.

A few minutes later the two of them were surrounded by their family.

“Alright. We’re all here. Now spill.” Charity ordered.

Robert and Aaron looked at each other for a moment before coming to a decision. Aaron held Seb as Robert reached into his pocket for the scan picture.

He put it face down on the bar and slid it over to Chas.

“What’s this?” she asked.

“Have a look.”

Confused, she picked the picture up and glanced at it.

“A scan? Whose baby is this?”

“Baby Sugden-Dingle.” Charity, who was looking over Chas’ shoulder pointed out. “It’s theirs!”

“You’re having a baby?! Am I going to be a nana again?!”

“Yeah. We’ve just come back from the hospital. Natalie is a little over 20 weeks pregnant and everything is going great.” Robert explained happily.

“That’s your granddaughter mum.” Aaron told her. “We’re having a girl.”

Chas and Paddy as well as Vic took turns congratulating them while Charity opened a bottle of champagne and poured them all a glass.

“To baby Sugden-Dingle! To the next Dingle lady.”

More Dingles seemed to appear out of nowhere and Chas excitedly told them all the good news.

Amid the craziness that came with a pub full of Dingles, Robert managed to slip away to a quiet corner with Vic after asking her for a word.

Ever since the Lee debacle and Robert’s role in the aftermath of it all, the relationship between the two siblings had had its fair share of ups and downs. They’d barely been on speaking terms when Vic’s daughter had been born a few months earlier, but things were looking up again now.

“Congrats. I’m really happy for you both.” Vic said sincere.

“Yeah?” Robert asked quietly. “You don’t still think we don’t deserve a baby?”

Vic gave him a confused look before remembering her outburst. She’d had no idea her brother was still thinking about that.

“Of course not. I’m sorry I ever said that.” She said and hugged him. “You two deserve all the happiness in the world. That little girl is going to have the best daddies ever.”

Robert smiled.

Seb was pouting when they removed him from the pool. He was in it for hours, he needed to get out. They wanted to grab a bite, and maybe he didn't feel it now, but Seb needed his nap. Aaron dried him off, ruffling his hair with the towel, making him giggle. Then they agreed to eat something. They even got ice cream afterwards, and watching Seb trying to eat ice cream was one of the funniest things in the world. He looked like a little monster.

“Wait a second.” - said Robert to Aaron before he jumped up from his seat, only to return minutes later with a lemon.

“What's that?”

“Come on Aaron... it's a lemon. You should know.” - he laughed.

“No you idiot, I know what it is, I don't know why you got it.”

“Remember all those videos we watched like months ago? Where babies were eating lemon for the first time? It was so funny.”

“No.” - he said shaking his head. - “You're not gonna give that to him.” - he chuckled.

“Why not? Come on. It's gonna be funny, you can take a video.”

“Robert, I mean it, you can't do that to him.” - said Aaron laughing already, as he reached out to stroke Seb's little hand. He was unaware of this whole show, he just kept looking at his dads, not knowing what was going on.

“You wanna try this right Seb?” - asked Robert as he sat down next to the high chair. His tone was too convincing for a little kid, so Seb obviously started nodding. - “See? He wanna try it.”

“He's gonna cry.”

“It's a good thing I have the baby whisperer here with me then.” - he winked. Aaron only rolled his eyes, licking his ice cream.

“Go on then.” - he sighed finally.

“Here, just make sure to get it all on camera.” - grinned Robert as he tossed his phone over the table.

“The things I do for ya.” - mumbled Aaron, but Robert heard it.

“Ready?”

“Yeah, go for it.” - he smiled as he shook his head again. It's gonna end in tears... at least he was convinced about it.

Robert prepared the lemon before he slowly reached it out to Seb. - “Come on try it.” - he said with the biggest smirk on his face. Seb took it from him, then licked it, and as soon as he had that sour taste in his mouth, his little face started twitching. That was before he started coughing a bit, but he still kept on licking it. - “I think he likes it.” - laughed Robert.

“And I think that's enough.” - said Aaron, but he still hasn't stopped recording. - “Come on get it away from him.”

“Alright, alright.” - said Robert trying to get the lemon back from his son. It took a couple of minutes before he could achieve that because Seb seemed to like it. In fact, he liked it so much they had to buy a lemon ice cream afterwards, just to prevent the crying.

“I can't believe it.” - laughed Aaron, rewatching the video.

“I honestly thought he's gonna hate it.”

“Then why did ya give it to him?” - asked Aaron shoving Robert away from his side.

“Ouch. It was fun wasn't it?” - he smiled.

“You're lucky he loved it.”

“I think someone wants to go back to the pool.” - said Robert nodding at Seb.

“I think he needs to have at least a little nap first. He's gonna fall asleep any minute, look at his face.” - true enough they were both right. Seb wanted to get back, but he was too tired to keep his eyes open. - “Come here, buddy.” - said Aaron taking him into his arms. - “We're gonna go back, but first, you gotta rest a bit, coz you can't go in there with a full stomach.” - he kept on talking and Robert kept on looking at them. He rested his chin on his hand, looking like a lovesick teenager as he was listening to his husband's soft voice.

“Robert? Robert?” - called Aaron, trying to not speak too loud.

“Yeah... what?” - he said shaking his head to get out of his daydream.

“He's nodded off.” - he whispered, looking at his lap. Seb was holding onto Aaron, his face buried in his chest, as he slept.

“Stay there, don't move.” - said Robert before he took a picture. Aaron wanted to protest but he was too late. - “There. My new background picture.” - smiled Robert showing it to him.

“It's cute.” - admitted Aaron. - “Happy father's day.” - he said reaching out with his free hand.