As he brings our bags in I begin putting everything away and getting the clothes together to wash. My head is pounding and seems to be getting worse the more that I do.
“Baby, where are you?” I hear him call from the living room.
“In here!” I tell him. I bring my fingers to my temple and massage.
He walks into the laundry room and leans against the door frame.
“Everything okay?” He asks.
“Yeah, I just have a bad headache and I’m exhausted. I think I’m going to go lay down. He takes the laundry basket from me and sets it back on to the shelf.
“Go rest Sweet Girl. I’m going to put everything away.” His lips skate across my forehead and for the hundredth time this week, I ask myself how I got so lucky. I head upstairs and turn the lights off once I reach the bedroom. Drawing the curtains closed, I remove all my clothes and throw on a big t-shirt then crawl into the bed. The sheets feel cool against my face and soon I’m drifting off. I wake briefly when I feel the bed dip beside me and I feel the heat of Hale’s body envelope mine. His body is hard and warm and I drift off when I feel him wrap his arms around me, pulling me to him.
My eyes snap open as I feel pain radiate in my stomach. The room is completely black and I can barely breathe with the pain that shoots through my stomach.
Reaching over, I nudge Hale, trying to wake him up as another sharp pain hits me.
“Hale, wake up. Something’s wrong,” I cry, my voice strangled.
“What’s wrong baby?” He says groggily as he reaches for the lamp next to the bed and turns it on. Worry is etched on his face. My hands clutch my stomach and I’m in the fetal position on my side. The pains feel like horrible cramps and it hurts to even move.
“I don’t know it’s a sharp pain in my lower stomach.” I tell him unevenly. He pulls the covers back and looks my body over
“Ember you’re bleeding, there’s blood on the sheets,” he tells me quietly. Looking down I see a small red circle of blood dotting the cream sheets. He immediately hops up, throwing his shorts and t-shirt on.
“We need to get you to the hospital.” He says, taking charge and rounding my clothes up. He hastily helps dress me and then picks me up. I cry out as another pain hits me. Clenching my teeth I try not to let the tears spill. We make it to the car in record time and I don’t even flinch as he puts me inside and buckles me. He’s in the car and we’re on the way in what feels like seconds. We make the drive in 5 minutes and he parks illegally under the emergency overhang. I don’t even bother trying to open the door because he’s there, opening it and lifting me out. He storms through the door and sets me gently in the chair next to the nurse’s station.
“I’ll be right back with someone baby.”
Not five minutes later he and an older nurse are walking towards me. She immediately bends to help me up and escorts me to a nearby bed that is hidden behind a white curtain. Her voice is soft and nurturing as she begins asking me questions, assessing my symptoms, and helps me lay back in the bed. She takes my blood pressure and temperature, then feels lightly on my abdominal area which causes me to whimper in pain.
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.