Page 24 of Silver Fox's Twin Surprise

I sighed and dealt with the rush hour traffic, and when I got stuck downtown halfway home, I spotted a pharmacy and an open parking spot on the street. The longer I sat waiting for traffic to move, the more my anxiety needled at my conscience. I ended up pulling into the spot and going into the pharmacy. I bought two tests for good measure and then headed back out.

At home, I was alone. Alana wasn't home from her shift yet, so I slipped into the bathroom with the need to relieve my bladder anyway. I pulled out the tests and peed on both wands, then cleaned up and sat on the edge of the tub waiting.

My mind mulled over the possibility that I might be pregnant, and while it came with so many negative things that might happen, it also made my heart feel slightly happy and alive. The idea of having Cole's baby made me feel full of joy. But the fear of how he'd take it or what it would do to my career also gnawed at me.

Cole and I were so good together, but we really hadn't discussed anything long-term. We were letting things progress at their own pace, which meant we hadn't had any serious discussion about anything yet, not even parenthood or what would happen if I got pregnant. We'd been using protection, but Cole knew that first timedidhappen. I was drunk and we neither one thought to do the right thing. Surely, he would understand this was a possibility.

When I felt like I'd tortured myself for long enough, I reached for the tests. My hands shook as I picked them up and read them both. Double pink lines on both tests meant only one thing. I was definitely pregnant. It was definitely Cole's baby. And I was about to have to give him the shock of his life, right in the middle of whatever it was he was going through.

Tears welled up in my eyes because I knew what this meant. Inevitably, we would be forced to divulge the relationship to HR, and that meant one of us risked being fired—or both. I couldn't afford to go somewhere else right now, and I didn't even know if he wanted kids. This might be the one thing he never wanted and he'd end up breaking it off with me.

It was that fear swarming my thoughts when the bathroom door burst open and Alana stood there in the doorway gawking at me.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't know you were in… Is that a pregnancy test?" she asked before stalking forward. She snatched one of the tests from my hand and gasped, and I hung my head. "Oh, my God, Rose!" I heard the tone before I saw her face, and I blinked out a few tears. "How could you let this happen? I told you to be careful. Why weren't you safe?"

I knew those questions were because she feared me losing my job, but they were insulting. She had looked for a roommate for a long time before me, and I came in as her savior. I never did any of this to screw with her, but it seemed like she thought that was my intention. I could only hang my head and cry.

I was letting everyone down. When I told my mother, she would freak out. Alana was freaking out. Cole was going through something freaking out, and just for a moment, I wanted someone to notice that I was freaking out too. This wasn't in my plan. I never wanted to have a baby this young, but this was my reality.

Alana stood there breathing heavily and staring at me, but I couldn’t make eye contact. All I could do was stare at my feet and cry. When I swiped the tears away, I felt her push some toilet paper into my hand and I finally looked up at her. She closed thelid of the toilet and sat down and sighed, and I saw compassion in her eyes.

"I'm sorry. I'm here." She pulled me into her arms and hugged me, and I just kept crying. I wanted things between Cole and me to be perfect, and as much as I loved the idea of having his baby, it also terrified me. What if this destroyed us instead of bringing us together?

"Hey, shh," she soothed, rubbing my back. "It's going to be okay. We're going to figure it out…"

I didn't know exactly how to take this sudden shift from her, but it was comforting, nonetheless. I let her rock me back and forth, and I took several deep breaths before sitting up straight and blowing my nose.

I had no one to blame but myself, so I had to put on my big girl pants and deal with this. Angry or not, I had to tell Cole the truth, and I had to face my mother's disappointment.

"I'm going to hear it from my mother, Alana. I just need a friend right now, not another authority." I sighed and squeezed her hand, and she nodded.

"Got it… No lectures from me. And I'm sorry for being so hard on you, okay? I'm here." She squeezed my hand back, and I met her gaze. Right now, a friend was exactly what I needed, and I was thankful for having her beside me. This was going to be a bumpy road.

19

COLE

The room was tense before I even walked in. I knew what was at stake. If Twin Peaks thought for even a second that they would be found guilty in this lawsuit, which was definitely going forward now, they were going to scapegoat me. After one nurse spoke up—probably afraid for her own career—saying I was negligent, I knew where this was headed.

I lowered myself into the seat next to my malpractice insurance mitigator. I had shopped around for a good lawyer, but I still hadn't found one I trusted. The hospital's lawyers were sharks, but they weren't defending me. They were defending the hospital against the bad press and the mark to the hospital's reputation. They were decent guys and probably hated what this would do to my career, but they had one job—protect Twin Peaks.

The eyes of several board members never even turned in my direction once. They all knew what they were doing to me, and they all knew it was morally wrong. This hospital system had billions of dollars to back them, hundreds of thousands of men and women employed for them who depended on the work theydid every day to provide for their families. I was just one person with my own life on the line, and instead of standing as a rampart between me and my impending doom, they sloughed it off onto my shoulders.

"Mr. Hastings?—"

"That's Dr. Hastings," the mitigator corrected, but he didn't fool me, either. He was the man sent by my insurance company, but even he wasn't here to defend me. He was here to mitigate the loss the insurance company would have in the way of payouts because of me. Then they'd hike up my premiums and I'd be unable to pay them or find work anywhere.

"Dr. Hastings," the lawyer for the client said, "Senator Drumb nearly lost his life because of your negligence."

"Alleged negligence." The mitigator wasn't having any of this. "Innocent until proven guilty." His eyebrows quirked up in the center, and for a moment, he sounded like a lawyer, but while he had the liberty to speak on my behalf, he was only truly making sure the insurance company paid as little as possible.

"May I finish?" the lawyer said, scowling at my mitigator. He eyed both of us for a few seconds, and Victor Ronald—dean of medicine here at Twin Peaks—nodded at him to continue. "The Senator almost died. The hospital has gone through their reports of what happened and found that Dr. Cole Hastings' actions were solely to blame for the incident. We have therefore named Dr. Hastings in our lawsuit. We don't wish to destroy anyone, but the fact of the matter is that blame has been assigned and our client seeks damages."

I knew it was coming, but the shock of the truth being announced like this only makes me feel more hopeless. Untilthat statement was spoken, I still held out hope that they'd see how naming me personally would affect me. Suing a health system as large as Premier Health meant a huge payout for the patient but only a slap on the wrist for the hospital. Suing a doctor meant the patient got his payout, but I'd never be insured again. It meant the end of my career.

"With all due respect, Mr.—" My mitigator stood, but the lawyer cut him off.

"When you say with all due respect, what you mean is you think I'm a moron. Sit down." The lawyer's eyes were on fire, shooting daggers at the insurance agent. "Dr. Hastings, I strongly recommend you acquire counsel for the next proceedings. We'll have a deposition and we're entering discovery. There will be a lot of things to go over, and you will want to get your affairs in order."

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