Page 134 of As The Shifter World Turns

I rushed back to Ivor who was staring at the television. It was showing an infomercial for suitcases. I didn’t know they even had them anymore. Maybe they make them exclusively for patients in the emergency room since they had nothing else to do but watch and impulse buy.

“They’ll be out for you soon,” I told him, crossing my fingers it was true.

“Is that what got them so heated they walked away from you?” he asked, not opening his eyes.

“No,” I sighed. “That was me trying to pay your co-pay.”

“I have insurance.”

“And how much is your copay?” He flinched. “Let me. It will make me feel like I’m contributing to the needs of the baby.” I didn’t want to say why I really wanted to do it, to help him because I loved him and wanted his life not to suck.

“Okay. But this doesn’t mean—” he was interrupted by someone calling his name.

“I know, Ivor. I know.” And I hated it more than anything. “Want me to come back with you?”

He looked at me and gave a single nod. I wouldn’t want to go in alone either and while it didn’t mean we were together or anything, it felt right to be by his side.

The nurse spent a solid fifteen minutes peppering him with questions and then she took him to the restroom so he could give her a sample. When they returned, she told us the doctor would be in shortly.

Another lie.

We were in there for over an hour when the door first opened. It was the vampire, I mean phlebotomist, coming for a blood draw presumably ordered by the doctor. At least they knew we were there and not forgotten in the abyss.

“You don’t keep having to stay with me. It’s been hours.” Ivor was on the bed, a thingy connected to his finger that read his oxygen and heart beat. He also wore a blood pressure cuff that went off every fifteen minutes. It helped us keep track of time, so there was that.

“I do though. My beast wouldn’t let me leave if I tried,” I confessed. “If you need me to go, I’ll figure it out, but I’d rather stay.”

“Because of the baby?” he asked

“Because—” There was a knock on the door followed by someone walking in wearing a doctor’s coat.

“I’m Dr. Ester.” He scented bear. Good, a shifter. That would help… a lot. “Sorry you’ve been waiting so long. Friday nights are really busy around here. You must be Ivor?”

“Yeah.”

“The paperwork says you passed out after getting up too quickly?”

“I think it was just too much happening at once.” It had been a lot… too much. Was I glad that Kellan showed up? Yes. He needed to confess and let everyone know what was up. Did I also wish it hadn’t been at the same time I was discovering I was going to be a dad? Also yes.

“Explain.” And so Ivor did in a very vague way, but he mentioned everything from a bad break up to a change in job to drama in his apartment building.

“And this is Dad?” He pointed to me, not looking in my direction.

“He is.”

“And you broke up but he’s here with you.” Gods what was this twenty questions? What we really needed to know was what was wrong with my mate, not how shitty I made his life. That had already been established.

“Well the good news is your blood work looks fine. Not fantastic, but fine. Your iron is a tad low, but I’m going to prescribe you some special pre-natals that should fix that up in no time. I’m sure your doctor will want to recheck in a bit.”

Vitamins. We could do vitamins. That was so much better than all the other possibilities of what might have caused his issues.

“Your blood pressure has not been amazing.” He pointed to the monitor. “It should be pretty chill at this point in a pregnancy. Your intake paperwork said you had no issues prior to this with your blood pressure?”

“No, Doctor. None. At least none that I know of.” I wondered briefly how long it had been since he’d seen a real doctor. My guess was a while based on his answer.

“It could be nerves. We call that ‘white coat’ high blood pressure and being in the hospital can have that impact, but just in case, follow up with your doctor on that too. Do you have a doctor?” he asked point blank.

“I just found out I’m pregnant. I called a few places but they didn’t want to see me until I was further along.” Something I should’ve known and would’ve known had I not ruined everything and had him block me out of his life. Deservedly so, but still…

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