«And if I am pregnant?»
He fought his face, trying to find some bedside manner that would fit. «Then we'll do this.»
«Two babies, one that may grow so fast that it will be ready to deliver in weeks, and a second baby that may try to eat its way out of me, or eat its twin.» My voice was mine again, matter-of-fact. I could have been talking about what to have for dinner.
Someone said, «Jesus.» Richard's hand tightened on mine until it almost hurt, but I didn't tell him to let go. I wanted to feel him there. Micah added a second hand, holding my arm, too. At least neither of them told the big lie, that it would be all right. It wasn't going to be all right.
Dr. North blinked at me. It's never good to see your doctor do that slow oh-my-God blink. «I think that would be worst-case scenario, Anita. Let's get the ultrasound done, then we'll know what we're dealing with.» He stood up, shaking out his pants legs, and not meeting anyone's eyes. I think I'd been a little too accurately pessimistic for Dr. North. Me, being too pessimistic, hell, yeah.
35
I GOT TO lie down on the bed. Doc North put the railings down so he could get the ultrasound equipment and himself close enough. The railings on the other side went down so that the crowd could gather round. He hadn't been exaggerating about the interns and nurses arm-wrestling. Well, maybe about the method of choosing, but they all wanted to be there. We were making medical oddity, if not medical history, no matter what happened. I felt like a display at the zoo.
Dr. North beat me to it, by saying, «We don't need this many people.»
One of the interns said, «Let's clear some of her people out.»
I looked right at him, and said, «Get out!»
He started to argue.
Dr. North said, «Get out.»
The intern got out. The remaining junior doctors were way more polite.
The nurses got squeezed out completely, though one of the doctors was a woman.
Claudia saved the day, a little, by saying, «Anita, he was an asshole, but for this, we can get some of us outside. I'm going to assume,» and she glared at the white coats, «that some of these people are here to help out. Regardless of what the ultrasound shows, we don't have the medical expertise to offer suggestions.» She motioned her people out, saying, «We'll be right outside if you need us.»
She called to Travis and Noel. «The two of you, come with us.»
«We're not guards,» Travis said. «Joseph gave us to Anita, not to you.»
«Now is not the time to be a pain in the ass, Travis,» I said; my voice wasn't calm anymore. It was starting to crumble round the edges.
He didn't argue after that. He just walked out. Noel followed him, clutching his book and his backpack. Claudia gave me a look before she went out. I almost called her back in, but didn't. We weren't close friends, but I trusted her. I trusted Micah, and to a point I trusted Richard. But they weren't neutral parties, and we might need a cooler head, one not so personally involved. The door closed behind her before I could decide to say Stay. Decision made.
Dr. North started sending interns out, until we were down to three. That left enough room for Micah and Richard to stand near the head of the bed on the opposite side of the ultrasound stuff. I had only one hand to offer, and Micah got that. Richard ended up gripping my shoulder, but bless him, he didn't argue about it. Maybe grown-up reality had finally hit us all, and the squabbling would stop. We could hope.
I'd had to take my jacket off, which showed the gun and its shoulder holster. I was using the extra belt I'd kept at Jean-Claude's, but I was down two, so I'd have to send Nathaniel shopping for more leather belts soon. The lone female intern kept looking at the gun, with quick flashes of her eyes, as if she'd never seen one before.
I had to slide the belt off, and unhook the bottom part of the shoulder rig, so the doctor could snake my jeans down around my hips. The gun didn't stay put when I lay back on the bed, and I had to use both hands to pull it down. I suppose I could have taken it off and let Micah hold it, but I wanted the gun touching me. It was the only security blanket I had with me, except for Micah and Richard. And since both of them were a little responsible for my being in this mess, well, I was having mixed feelings about clinging to anyone who could even remotely have gotten me pregnant. For the first time, I wondered if a vasectomy on a lycanthrope was an absolutely sure thing.
«This is going to be cold,» Dr. North said, before he squirted clear gel all over my stomach. It was cold, but it gave me something else to occupy my mind, and I was taking it.
«Micah had a vasectomy about three years ago. We'd discounted him as the possible father, but he is a lycanthrope, I mean…»