Chapter 39- My Medicine

I sighed and sat down on the bed, Nick dragging a chair over to be next to me.
We were both quiet, which was fine with me. He traced patterns on my hand while we waited and I bounced my legs in anticipation. When Dr. Greenland came in we both stopped and looked over at him. 'Ms. Autumns,' he regarded while looking at his clipboard. I was silent for once while I waited for him to begin. 'Now,' he drawled out, rolling his chair towards us with a stethoscope in hand. 'Why is it that you decided to come a week in advance for the appointment?'
'I've been nauseous for the past week, all happening in the mornings. I was wondering if you could figure out what's wrong with me..'
He lifted my shirt slightly, 'Take a deep breath,' he instructed and I did so. After a few more times, he rolled back to the table and wrote something on his clipboard. 'That is one of the side effects to what I prescribed you. It's because the body is trying to fight it off, thinking it's a foreign substance. It does take a few days to get used to.'
I sighed out in relief and looked over at Nick who I swear saw smile for a moment. 'Thank God,' I breathed.
'What had you so concerned?' Dr. Greenland smiled.
'Well, we didn't know what it was,' I admitted.
He looked at both of us for a second, examining us as if we were hiding something. 'Are you two sexually active?'
Catching us both off guard, we looked like deer in headlights. 'Uh.. we aren't.. it's not.. no, well...' Was all I could say.
This made Dr. Greenland smile, 'It's okay, whatever is said in this room, stays in this room.'
Nick and I both looked over at each other, 'We haven't had sex,' I said slowly and looked back at the doctor. 'But, I am.. sexually active.'
'Do you think you are pregnant?' he asked in all seriousness.
It took me a moment to answer, 'Well... I was hoping you could help me figure that out.'
'When was the last time you had sex?'
'About a month ago, I think. Around then.'
'Have you taken a pregnancy test?'
'No.'
He sat back in his chair and wrote something else down. 'Ms. Autumns, the medication I prescribed for you is not for pregnant women. The ingredients it's composed of can cause damage to fetus.'
I gulped but stayed quiet. Nick took this time to speak up, 'Would you be able to prescribe her something else for her seizures if she's pregnant?'
'I would, but it wouldn't be as effective. Before we go assuming things however, she needs to be tested.' Before I realized it, we were whisked away from the examination room and put into a new one. 'A nurse will be right with you. He's going to take some blood. It's the most accurate test we have and we get results pretty quickly.' With that, he walked out.
I didn't even realize what was going on, everything was all jumbled up in my mind. I couldn't be pregnant, it was impossible. And to think if I was then it was my brother's baby! That was wrong on so many different levels. Nick and I could barely get two words in before the nurse came. My eyes almost fell out of my skull when I realized it was Austin. 'Okay, Ms. Autu-' his head shot up from the clipboard. 'Alice?!'
'Austin!' I got up from my seat and gave him a hug. 'Ohmygod! I've been so worried. What happened? Why didn't you call us when you got back?!' A million questions flooded my mind when I saw him.
'A lot has been going on lately, I wanted to get it all handled before I met up with y'all..' He seemed so happy to see me. I hugged him again before sitting down.
'You have to tell me the story when you get off. Your dad said y'all got into a huge fight and you just walked out.'
'Uh..' Nick hesitated behind me.
Forgetting him in the sudden confusion, I introduced them. 'Oh! Nick this is Austin, Austin this is my friend, Nick.'
'Sup,' Austin bounced his head in Nick's direction. Before Nick could respond back, Austin set the clipboard down and sat in the office chair. 'Okay, well we better do this blood thing.'
While he was busy putting some latex gloves on, I looked in Nick's direction. He looked at me questioningly. I gave him the I'll-tell-you-later look before turning back to Austin who was getting a needle from the drawer. I'm terrified of needles. Austin looked up at my nervous face. 'It's okay,' he soothed. 'You'll feel a little pinch but that's all.'
When he pushed the needle in, I looked away and grabbed Nick's hand with my other one. He comforted me while Austin finished up. I winced as he pulled the needle out, quickly putting some gauze on and a band-aid. I smiled when I realized that he chose the band-aid with my favorite super hero on it. Wolverine. 'See that wasn't so bad,' Nick said gently, tracing patterns on my skin again.
For some reason, I was embarrassed that Austin was witnessing this and pulled my hand away from Nick's. Austin, who was still looking between Nick's and my hands, stood up. 'I'll take this to the lab,' he said, quietly.
As he walked out, I shot up out of my seat and chased after him. 'Wait, Austin.'
He turned around and waited for me to catch up, 'Yeah?' he said, I swear he looked hopeful.
I stopped, realizing that I hadn't figured out what to say. 'Um.. when are you getting off?' was all I could think of.
He smiled, 'Remember sweetheart, I volunteer, not work. I can get off whenever I want.' I blushed, realizing that he already told me that. 'But I realize you already have company,' he gestured towards Nick, who was walking up. 'So, I'll just see you tonight, I guess.'
'Tonight?'
'Yeah, you owe me from missing our last date,' he grinned. 'I'll pick you up at 7?'
'Um..'
'Good, 7 it is,' he gave me a side hug and kissed my hair. 'See you tonight, Alice.' He smirked over my shoulder before turning to leave.