+528 - Doctor talk. 
From her corner, bleary and quiet, Sky watched the scene play out. Each word in those upbeat tones kept her more and more silent, adding yet another hopeless wish to the list of things she'd wanted to have gone right. Shaw commented on how many there were, and Orin responded unsurely. Things got quiet for a moment, then Orin asked Shaw to play his flute again, for the pups.
That did her in. She twisted underneath Casper to focuse on the goat instead, picking idly at one of his hooves, as if to clean it of some imaginary filth. It wasn't until Sky heard Orin's voice directed at her instead that she showed any signs of being able to talk again. Her gaze came to rest on the white girl, and for a moment, she wanted to scream.
That moment, a blink of a moment, passed when Sky saw the heart-warming smile on the rival woman's face. Struck dumb, Sky blinked for a moment, not saying anything... then she shooed Casper off her lap (the goat left the room then with a disgruntled bleat or two) and stood, dusting herself off as she casually came over.
"You won't know how many there are without an ultrasound, and we don't have that sort of technology here in the American countries." It was as if any conversation after the 'how many' thing hadn't happened. "Besides, what's the fun in knowing ahead of time? Becoming a parent is meant to be a journey into the unknown. It's what makes it so worth it in the end." She sent a smile Orin's way, lacking any sort of resentment for once, much like Orin's had before.
Then, checking the other's expression one last time, to make sure it was okay, Sky knelt down beside them and placed a well-trained paw on the bump, now more like an oversized melon. Gentle, careful, and somehow managing to avoid being arkward in anyway, Sky smiled that far-off smile she'd adopted since the miscarriage and sensitive pads picked up on those tiniest of movements inside; simple shifts and twitches, the ones she'd learned to pick up on almost expertly.
"By size alone, you might well be having twins. This far along, if you were having a large litter, you'd be huge." That playful grin crossed her face as she looked back up to Orin, teeth gleaming under the fire-light. Not dangerous or cocky, just a friendly tease. "I wouldn't be surprised if it were just two. First litter, plus the fact that the pregnancy is during winter..." She ran over the math in her head, grin fading into a thoughtful expression. "One pup is the common number for the first litter, two is lucky, three is a damn blessing."
Sky had been lucky, apparently, with two boys. Too bad they'd died, or else she'd have had far less reason to feel odd towards Orin and her soon-to-be family. As soon as those pups were born, as cute as they might end up being, they'd still be the topic-starters for everthing arkward between Shawchert and Sky. No doubt about that, at least for the first year or so.
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