I close my eyes and try to take some deep breaths as Hale barks at her, “Okay it’s obviously hurting her! Get a fucking doctor in here.” My alpha, always taking charge.
“Hale, calm down she’s just trying to help,” I whisper.
He scoffs, “Ember you’re bleeding and in pain what do you want me to do?” I look over at the chair he is occupying and my heart swells at the helpless look on his face.
“I’m going to be okay. I promise,” I tell him, reaching my hand out for him. He takes it tightly in his own.
The nurse coughs awkwardly, “The doctor will be in shortly ma’am.” Turning on her heel she leaves us there alone.
“I don’t like her. She wasn’t trying to fucking help,” Hale tells me, a look of distaste on his face. Even in terrible pain, he manages to make me smile. We sit there in silence, my hand clasped tightly in his as we await the doctor ,and about fifteen minutes later he walks through.
“Good evening. I’m Dr. Reid, I know you’re not feeling good, so I will do my best to figure out what is going on quickly.” He introduces himself and shakes Hale’s hand. “Can you tell me what exactly is hurting you today?” He asks.
“I’m having cramps and pains in my abdominal area and I have some spotting, but am not on my period...” I trail off. This feels so weird to tell anyone especially with Hale here. I’m sure he doesn’t want to hear about my period.
“I see. I would like to do some blood work and get a urine sample. Possibly a pelvic exam. Is it possible for you to be pregnant?” He asks. I immediately shake my head.
“I’ve been taking my pills every day. I haven’t missed one. There has to be a mistake,” I insist.
“Have you been sexually active?” He asks, glancing at Hale.
“Yes, I have, but I’ve made sure to never skip a day.” Hale squeezes my hand for reassurance. I’m glad he can tell that I’m embarrassed.
“Well, we will start with a urine sample and blood work and go from there. Once we get those back I will have them administer a pain medication. I would just like to wait until those results come back.” He smiles politely and exits.
“Hale I’m scared... I don’t understand what’s going on.” I whisper to him. I scoot over to the right side of the bed and look to him. He stands from the chair and lies down beside me, drawing me into his arms. I must’ve drifted off because I’m awoken by Hale sliding out from beside me. I see a redheaded nurse leaning over me. “I know you’re hurting sweetie, I’m just going to take a little vile of blood so we can run some tests and have you go get me a urine sample.” She says gesturing towards the bathroom.
Nodding my head, I extend my right arm towards her. She ties it off, quickly taking the blood and I don’t feel a thing. She hands me the cup and helps me out of bed. I walk to the bathroom and slowly sit on the toilet, collecting the urine sample, and make my way back to the room. She’s waiting to take it from me and Hale helps me back into the bed. I feel like an invalid. I hope it’s something as simple as an infection that I can get over quickly. School starts back soon and I don’t want to start the semester being absent.
A short time later Dr. Reid comes through the door with his file. “Ember, if it’s okay with you, I’d like to speak to you alone.” He says.
My heart goes haywire and my mind automatically jumps to the worst conclusions.
“I’d like Hale to be here please…” I tell him, my voice is barely above a whisper. Hale reaches out and grabs my hand tightly.
“Alright Ember. We ran a routine pregnancy test to rule that out and it came back with elevated levels of HCG in your blood. They aren’t very high at this point, but they do indeed confirm you’re pregnant.”
Hale
My jaw drops. All the air evaporates from the room. I’m not even sure that I heard him right. Pregnant?
“No that can’t be.” I hear Ember tell him. “I take my pills religiously, Dr. Reid. I’ve never missed not one. We were careful.” She insists, her voice raising an octave.
“Did you use a backup protection? Condoms, a diaphragm?” Dr. Reid asks her.
“No...” Her voice trails off into a whisper.
She looks distraught, like she can’t imagine the thought of having a child with me. It fucking stings, and not that I’m even remotely ready to process that I’m going to be a father, but I already feel fiercely protective of my baby that’s growing inside of her.
“I’ll leave you two alone to talk. I’m sorry to spring this on you. I believe that you are just having some cramping from the pregnancy. I’m going to have our ultrasound technician come in and give you an ultrasound just to make sure everything is going smoothly and see how far along you are.” He shakes both of our hands and strides out the door.
“Hale… I…” She begins
“No, Ember. I’m fucking upset right now,” I tell her, rising from the chair. I begin pacing the room as I run my fingers through my hair that stands on end.
“I’m so sorry Hale, I thought that we were careful. I thought that we were protected. I would never try and trap you in anyway....’
“WHAT?” I bellow. Does she honestly fucking think I’m upset at her for carrying my child? “Please tell me that you’re joking, Ember. Please. Do you honestly think that I would ever not support you or my child? That I wouldn’t be fucking thrilled that a piece of me is growing inside of you? Ember you are the love of my life. It hurts my fucking heart that this is even crossing your damn mind! I’m mad that you could be disappointed! You think I didn’t see your face whenever he told you that you were pregnant? You looked like someone kicked your puppy! You know the first thing I thought? I’m ecstatic Ember! I have had the shittiest hand dealt to me in life and this is my blessing from God. So excuse me if I’m a little pissed that you don’t feel the same.” By the time I’ve finished tears are streaming down her face and I feel like absolute shit that I’ve made her cry. I just exploded. Fuck, a child that I made. It’s something that’s hard to even wrap my mind around. My own dad was never anything but a piece of shit, especially to me, but my mom was an angel sent from above. I want to be the best dad I can be.
“Hale Michael... I AM happy that I am having your child! I was afraid that you would be upset at me or angry that I wasn’t careful. I’m just scared. I can’t believe this is even real. It seems like a dream. Do you ever feel like such good things are happening that you’re afraid the other shoe will drop? I’m so scared something will rip this happiness away from us.”
There’s a knock on the door and a nurse wheeling a large machine pushes through the door.
“Hi, I’m Amber and I’m the ultrasound technician for Dr. Reid. He’s requested a vaginal ultrasound to check on the baby and just make sure everything is going great.” She says it brightly, smiling at us both. Ember just smiles and nods her head. The nurse places a white sheet, napkin looking thing over her lap and pulls out a wand. Soon, everything is in place and she gestures towards the black and white screen on the wall. Suddenly there’s a whoosh, whoosh, whoosh coming through the speakers. I look at the technician in alarm.
“That right there is your baby’s heartbeat,” she says smiling.
Embers entire body begins to shake with sobs as the technician points out the tiny little jelly bean on the screen that is our baby. My throat tightens as the tears begin to sting my eyes. God, there’s no better feeling in the world. That’s my baby. That’s my son or daughter on that screen. My beautiful woman is giving me a family.
“It looks like you’re measuring about 4 weeks along.” The nurse says, gesturing to the small measurements on the screen. “That’s why it’s just a small little blip in there, but everything looks to be okay. I’m going to print a few of these for you to have. I’ll just talk with Dr. Reid for a minute and he’ll be in to speak with you.” She says, removing the wand and gathering all her things. She gives us a final wave and pulls the curtain shut behind her.