Pregnant? Sarah read the slip of paper, sinking into her chair in the doctor's office. Pregnant, she read it again. The medical report was clear, but the Labyrinth Champion was anything but.
"Really, Sarah," Karen cut her off. "What were you thinking?" The perfectly manicured woman sat in the other leather chair in Dr. Akbar's private office. "What will your father say! What will the neighbors think!" Karen scrunched her face. "What will preacher John say?" she whispered under her breath.
"This is wrong!" Sarah stood up, waving the paper in the air.
"Sit down."
Sarah dropped back into her chair, more because she felt faint than because of her stepmother's order.
"Karen, you've got to believe me. The doctor's office made a mistake."
"No." Dr. Akbar stepped into his office, carrying a file. "I'm afraid there's no mistake, young lady." The older man stepped behind his desk, set his file down, and took a seat. "You can't keep anything down. You fainted in your P.E. class. And..." he paused, "I ran a second test from your blood sample to be sure there was no mix up." The white haired man straightened his glasses. "Wouldn't want to make a mistake on such a delicate topic," he added. "You, my dear child, are pregnant."
"But I haven't done anything!" she objected. "I don't even have a boyfriend!"
"Oh?" Karen piped up. "Then whose voice have I heard in your room?" She scowled. "And don't tell me you were reading a play, Sarah. You can't make your voice sound like that."
Sarah frowned. She knew Karen had overheard Hoggle and Sir Dydimus last week, when she'd come home early from her lady's luncheon. Sarah had barely gotten her friends back through the mirror before her stepmother had practically broken down the door. So now, Karen thought Sarah had been up to something with an imaginary boyfriend in her bedroom, and there was nothing Sarah could say to defend herself.
"But I didn't do anything," the champion's voice was softer. "It's not fa," Sarah choked back the words. She'd almost said it. She'd almost said, it wasn't fair.
"Two weeks," Dr. Akbar spoke up. "If what you said about your last cycle is accurate, then you became pregnant about two weeks ago." He leaned forward in his seat. "I need you to think back, Miss Williams. Did you go to any parties, were you drinking, or did you wake up in a strange place with no memory of how you got there?"
Two weeks, thought Sarah. Two weeks. The champion's eyes widened. Her mouth dropped open. Thirteen days. It had been thirteen days since she'd made it back from the Labyrinth, thirteen days since she'd saved Toby, and thirteen days since she'd eaten that drugged peach. Oh, crap!
"Ah ha!" Karen saw the look of recognition on her stepdaughter's face. "Now, you realize. And I'll tell you what happened two weeks ago. You were home alone with Toby. Weren't you! But you weren't really alone. You invited someone over."
What could Sarah say? How could she explain? If she even tried, she'd end up in a mental hospital. She knew it. Besides, Karen was right in a sense. Sarah had, albeit unintentionally, invited someone over, the Goblin King. Devastation crept through Sarah's limbs, and her eyes dropped to the floor.
Could he really have taken advantage? During her whole trip through his maze, the tyrant hadn't so much as laid a finger on her. Could he really be so mean as to... "I can be cruel," Sarah remembered his words. She swallowed.
"Miss Williams," the doctor drew her attention. "If any laws were broken, if this pregnancy wasn't caused by consensual action, I can offer you these." He handed Sarah a medicine bottle. "You're still early enough in your first term to end the unwanted pregnancy." The older man adjusted his glasses once more. "There will be some cramping and what-not, but this medicine should resolve the issue." He leaned back in his seat. "A police report will have to be filed. But the paperwork is pretty simple."
Unwanted pregnancy? Sarah looked at the bottle she held.
"Yes," Karen spoke up quickly. "We'll take the pills."
"No." Sarah set the bottle down on the doctor's desk.
"Sarah, take the pills. We don't need a rape-baby to..."
"A what!" Sarah nearly shouted. She clenched her jaw. "That's not fair!" None of this was the baby's fault.
"Stop being dramatic," Karen was ready to be done with this. "Just take the prescription, and we'll talk about this when we get home. We'll see about counseling too," she added her afterthought.
"I'm not being dramatic!"
"Ladies," the doctor broke up the argument before it could get started. "I realize this is a delicate topic, and it seems the two of you have a lot to discuss." He turned his attention directly toward Sarah. "But I would suggest, Miss Williams, you listen to what your mother has to say."
"Stepmother," Sarah corrected.
"Pardon me?"
"She's not really my mom."
"Ah." Dr. Akbar gave Karen a sympathetic look. "That does make things a little more difficult then, doesn't it."
"You have no idea," Karen complained.
Sarah frowned, suddenly feeling like the outsider in a conversation about her and her future. It's no longer my future, she thought. It's the baby's future. Sarah stopped hearing the conversation going on without her. She could feel all her dreams slipping away. Her plans to backpack across Europe when she was older, her dreams of going off to college, living in the dorms, becoming an actress, studying ancient mythology, falling in love, everything felt like it was slipping away. How could she do any of it, if she was busy being a mother? Even if she found someone to fall in love with, this child, the Goblin King's child, would never truly belong to her future husband. Just like Sarah would never truly belong to Karen. The champion swallowed. Her life was ruined.
Sarah eyed the bottle on the doctor's desk. She could see the appeal. A quick swallow of a couple of pills, and this nightmare could be over. She could have her dreams back. But no. Sarah couldn't do that. She couldn't take a life in order to get her dreams. That would be like... Well... It would be like giving Toby to the Goblin King for one of his magic crystals. It would be cruel.
I'm not like him, Sarah told herself. I'm not cruel. I'm... I'm fair. The frown Sarah had been wearing softened into a smile. I'm a fair maiden, she thought. And I'll have my dreams. But I'll get them through hard work not by taking advantage, certainly not by murdering a baby.
"Dr. Akbar." Sarah addressed him. She sat up majestically in her seat, imagining she was a queen speaking to those beneath her. Her smile widened. Sarah had made her decision. "My baby," she began, feeling her voice falter, and nearly choking on her words. She cleared her throat. "I have decided this child shall live."
"Sarah, you're too young to understand how much work taking care of a baby is, let alone a ra..."
"I take care of Toby all the time!" She cut off her stepmother, not wanting to here that nasty word again.
"Sarah, let me finish."
Oh, how she hated it when Karen used that tone.
"Like the doctor just said, suffering a pregnancy before you're even twenty can be dangerous. So, as your legal guardian, I'm making the choice here."
Sarah's eyes widened. Oh, no! "It was consensual!" Sarah looked at the doctor. "No crime was committed," she told him quickly.
"Really?" Karen countered. "Then who's your boyfriend."
"I'm not telling you that," Sarah didn't back down.
"Mrs. Williams," the doctor addressed Sarah's stepmother, "could I speak with your daughter alone for a minute?"
Karen closed her mouth, swallowed down what she'd been about to say, and nodded. The perfect strawberry blond stood up. "I'll be just outside the door."
The moment Karen left, Sarah could feel the tension drain out of the room. She let out a quiet sigh in relief.
"This is a prescription for prenatal vitamins," the doctor scribbled as he spoke. He handed her the slip of paper. "And this is a good book on what to expect for first time mothers." He gave her the book. "It's very important that you study that."
"Thank you." Sarah took the book, noticing how surreal everything felt, how a few minutes could make all the difference in the world.
"I also need to see your boyfriend."
"Wh... Why?" Sarah wondered.
"We'll need to get a blood sample to make sure there won't be any rh factor issues with the pregnancy."
"rh factors?" she questioned.
"MmHm." The doctor leaned forward. "If your blood type is negative, and your boyfriend's blood type is positive, you could become allergic to the fetus' blood. This can cause serious illness, brain damage, or even death." Dr. Akbar leaned back, waiting for the information to sink in. "I'll need to see him as soon as ..."
"That's not really possible," Sarah whispered under her breath.
"Why not?" Apparently, Dr. Akbar had excellent hearing.
How was she supposed to answer him. There was no way she was going to tell him the truth. If she didn't give him a name, he'd think... Well, everyone would think horrible things about the baby for the rest of its life. And if she gave him a name, he'd want to talk to the boy.
"Sarah." His look softened. "Do you really have a boyfriend?"
"I..." She grimaced. "He's gone," she told him.
"Gone?"
"He's... He's not in the country anymore."
"So he's a foreigner?"
"Um, yeah."
The doctor nodded. "Alright, we'll have to run a few test to make sure you're alright on your next appointment." He stood up. "I'll need to see you in about a month." Dr. Akbar handed Sarah the file he was holding. "You can take this to the front desk to schedule the appointment. But if you're finding you still can't hold anything down after another day or two, make sure you call me."
"Thank you." Sarah turned to leave. Just as she stepped out, she heard the doctor call Karen in. Instead of going to the front desk, Sarah waited by the doctor's door. She didn't know when Karen would be available for the next appointment, so she decided to wait in a nearby chair. The Labyrinth Champion absentmindedly started thumbing through the file Dr. Akbar had given her, and wondered what Karen and the doctor were talking about. "Probably what a horrible child I am," Sarah muttered.
She glanced at one of the pages in her file, reading standard information, weight, height, birthday, blood pressure, blood type. Wait. Blood type? Sarah stared at the piece of paper in hand. B positive. She read it again. Sarah's blood type was B positive. She pressed her lips together. Hadn't Dr. Akbar said the baby would only be in danger if HER blood was negative and Jareth's blood was positive? Maybe, Sarah thought. Maybe the danger is there any time a mother and father have opposite blood types. Maybe it's...
"Oh, forget this," Sarah muttered. She had to know. She pulled out her phone, and googled it. Within minutes, Sarah knew everything she needed to know about the dangers of rh factors. And she knew, KNEW, the doctor had been trying to manipulate her. The only time the baby would be in danger was if the mother had a negative blood type. But Dr. Akbar knew Sarah's blood was B positive. He'd been trying to scare her into revealing who the baby's father was.
"What a jerk," Sarah whispered to herself. She tried to clear the sudden knot forming in her throat. How could he do that? Wasn't this hard enough already? She didn't know what was going to happen, what it would be like to be pregnant, how labor and delivery would feel, how would she know she was in labor, or how she was going to manage everything while still going to school. But now she knew she couldn't trust her doctor.
Sarah ran a hand across her face. "Maybe I'm taking this for granted," she told herself. "Maybe it only seems like I can't trust him. Maybe he just didn't read my blood type, or... or..."
The champion stood up. She quietly moved closer to the doctor's door, and pressed her ear against the wood. She listened.
"I bet it was that exchange student the Snyders took in," Karen told the doctor. "Sarah was always talking with him. And I heard he was sent home after taking advantage of the Scottsdale girls, and Patty Anderson."
What is she talking about? Sarah wondered. Liam hadn't taken advantage of anyone. He was the shyest boy she'd ever met, thin and gangly. Any time he'd even try to talk to a girl, he'd freeze up. That's why Sarah had been so friendly with him. Besides, she thought to herself, he went home three weeks ago.
"Uh-hum," someone cleared their throat.
Sarah turned around to see a nurse giving her a disapproving look.
"Can I help you with something?" she asked. "Can I show you to the front desk?"
xxx
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Author's notes:
1. I don't own Labyrinth
2. I don't know if I'll continue this, but we'll see what happens.
3. Pregnancy: Remember, things are not always what they seem.