Thestormragesfortwo days.
My first shift is seventeen hours long, and I spend more of it down in the ER than I do on my own floor.
I crash in the sleep room, curled up on the same bottom bunk as Nathan; no one thinks twice about it. There are so many doctors stuck at the hospital overnight with the storm, all of the bunks have been doubled up on.
Still, sleeping with his arm thrown over my shoulder makes me feel better… Right until morning hits and brings with it another wave of nausea.
I barely manage to get out of the bed, kicking him in the process, and into the bathroom down the hall before I lose it.
There’s a knock on the bathroom door, Nathan’s voice calling in. “Are you alright, Demi?”
I heave into the toilet again, bile on the back of my teeth. “Fine,” I say, not sounding fine at all. “Just— Give me—”
I retch again but my point is made. Nathan falls silent and I’m able to vomit and clean up in peace. Then I open the door and I’m met with smoky eyes and a serious gaze. “You need to be seen.”
“I will, when this is—” I start.
“Demi, you need to be seen before you hit the floor again. You can’t be spreading germs to patients. At least have someone do a quick look-over.”
I want to argue with him, but I know that he’s right. “No one has the time for that.”
“I’ll find someone,” promises Nathan.
Forty minutes later, I find myself in the pediatric ward, with a doctor called Lori looking me over. As she does the basic tests, I think about why her name seems so familiar.
Finally, I ask, “Aren’t you Kurt’s wife?”
Her expression splits into a smile. “The one and only. I know what you’re thinking. Weren’t you a resident up until four months ago? And the answer is yes, but I also promise you that I know what I’m doing.”
My gaze slides down to her belly, where she’s just starting to show—and I realize exactly what’s wrong with me. It rises up inside of me like a lion that’s spotted its prey. My eyes go wide, mouth parting as I exhale hard.
Lori freezes. “What’s wrong? Does something hurt?”
It takes a moment for me to get the words together. I swallow twice, wrapping my arms around myself. “Am I pregnant?”
She freezes. Her gaze settles on my flat belly for a moment. Almost hesitantly, she asks, “Do you think that you might be?”
“I think that I might be,” I tell her, with dawning realization. “I think that this has been morning sickness.”
It’s clearly not Lori's expertise, but she promises that everything will be fine and gets the tests in order. A blood test in case it’s early enough that the urine test won’t catch it, and then a little stick to go pee on in the nearest bathroom.
Mortification sweeps through me as I shuffle into the room.
How long has it been since Nathan bought me at the hospital auction for St. Peter? It’s certainly been long enough for this to settle in.
I go through the motions mechanically, and sit the little tester in the sink, unable to watch while it gets ready to change.
I should have asked him to use a condom.
In the moment, it hadn’t even crossed my mind. Nathan had swept me off my feet and I had been happy to get carried away in the underflow. And now…
Lori raps her knuckles on the door. “Hon, do you want me to look for you?”
Tears burn in my eyes. “Yes.”
I unlock the door, standing on the far side of the stall while Lori comes in. She picks up the little stick, and looks it over, then turns and offers it to me. “Pink.”
“Oh, God.”