"Claire? Claire? Claire!"
Claire could hear someone calling her name but the voice sounded echoed and very far away, like she and the other woman were standing at two opposite ends of a long, dark tunnel. Claire was completely spaced out, in a trance and unable to pull herself out of it. The words spoken to her a few seconds prior had sent her mind and what also felt like her body into shock. Her stomach was in knots and she felt lightheaded to the point she felt like she would fall over or pass out if she stood up.
"Ms. Dearing!" Claire finally broke from the spaced out zone she was currently trapped in. She looked up at the doctor. "Claire, are you okay?" Claire finally spoke back. "Yes, I'm uh-fine." The doctor could tell she wasn't fine. "Claire, listen, I know this is very hard to hear. Trust me, this is the hardest part of my job as an OBGYN to have to give this news to my patients. It's never something I want to do. But you need to know what's going on." Claire was looking down at the floor in the doctor's private office and fidgeting with the gold ring on her right index finger. When she finally looked up, Dr. Lloyd held a hand out across her desk to Claire. "Claire, there are other options, you know. You can hire a surrogate, you can adopt, you've adopted a beautiful little girl already, you can do it again." Claire was listening but nothing was making sense.
She had gone in for her annual visit and when the doctor asked if anything was new or if she was experiencing any problems with anything Claire casually mentioned the ongoing pelvic pain she had been having since the incident at Lockwood's estate. It had been a few months since the incident and she and Owen were so busy dealing with allegations and custody over Maisie that she didn't make the time to get in to see her doctor sooner. The pain was bearable most of the time and it came and went so she didn't think much of it most days. She did notice her cycles were off a little bit which was unusual for her, and initially she worried that she was pregnant. She and Owen had found a few opportunities to be intimate since getting back together, but they were careful and used protection every time. She knew anything was possible though. When she told Dr. Lloyd about the pain she was having, the doctor performed a vaginal sonogram and took some x-rays. Claire wasn't surprised when she was told she wasn't pregnant. However, the next piece of news hit her hard in the gut and the pain she had been experiencing was suddenly more intense than ever. The doctor explained to her that the pain was a result of a fractured pelvic bone and that the fracture had covered the span of her entire abdomen, puncturing both of her Fallopian tubes, leaving nowhere for a fertilized egg to go in the reproduction process. Simply put, Claire would more than likely be unable to conceive children of her own. Claire Dearing, the woman who for years never wanted kids or thought she didn't want kids, was now completely stripped of everything that made her feel like a woman, like a person. She needed control in her life and was now no longer in control of her body. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.