Chapter 2:

Aiden woke the next morning to the sound of Hope throwing up in the bathroom again.

He climbed out of bed and headed into the bathroom to hold her hair back again. "You still feel sick, Baby?"

"Yes. I thought the sushi would be out of my system by now, but it clearly isn't." Hope said before throwing up again.

"I think you should go to the doctor just to make sure it's nothing more serious," Aiden said with concern.

"I think so too. This doesn't feel right," Hope said. She threw up again.

Aiden rubbed her back with his free hand. "I'll take the day off. My clients will just have to wait."

"No, I'll be fine. You can't let your clients down. They count on you." She grabbed some toilet paper, wiped her mouth, then threw the paper in the toilet and flushed it. "I'll go make an appointment now."

Aiden helped her up. "Maybe Julie can go with you then. She was concerned about you last night, as was your father."

"I don't want them to worry. I'll just call them after my appointment." Hope headed to her phone, then pulled up the emergency contacts section in her phone where she kept the number to the hospital.

Aiden got dressed for work while she made her appointment. Thankfully, she was able to get in.

When she hung up, she turned to him. "They can take me in an hour. They had a last minute cancelation."

"Good." Aiden kissed her. "I need my baby to get better. It hurts me when you're sick."

Hope hugged him. "Yeah, because I'm too sick to make love with you," she teased.

"No, no, no, no, no, it hurts me because I can't stand seeing my baby in pain," Aiden assured her.

Hope kissed his neck. "I love you so much. I'm so lucky to have you."

"Baby, I'm the lucky one," Aiden assured her.

They kissed softly on the lips.

"I hope I don't have anything contagious," Hope said, tying his tie securely for him.

He shook his head. "It takes a lot to make me sick. I wouldn't worry about it. My only concern is getting you better. Are you sure you don't need me to come along? I can go in to work late. I'll just move my appointments around."

Hope shook her head. "I'm fine. I love you for offering, but I'm a big girl. I can do this on my own." She kissed him again. "I'm gonna go shower."

"All right." Aiden left her to get ready then. He sighed. He couldn't help but worry about her. He prayed it was nothing too serious.

Hope sat on the bed in her hospital room as she waited for the doctor to come in. She had wished Kayla could be there, but Kayla was busy with other patients so she had to settle for Jessica Frank, the newest doctor on staff. Hope hated waiting. She wondered why doctor's always hated waiting on their patients, and scolded them if they were late, and yet, they loved to make their patients wait. She kind of felt sick again, but laid down on her back, and it made her feel a little better.

Finally, the pretty brunette doctor came in. She smiled at Hope. "Hello, Mrs. Jennings! Thank you for waiting. What seems to be the problem today?"

"I've been throwing up since last night. I had some sushi last night that, according to my husband, looked bad. I thought it might have been that since I started throwing up later that night. But then this morning I threw up again," Hope replied. "I still feel kind of sick."

"Well, sometimes food poisoning can take up to ten days to clear out of your system, but it usually only takes a day or two. Where did you get the sushi?"

"It was in one of those containers at the grocery store," Hope answered.

"Hm… I wouldn't think that would make you all that sick." Jessica looked over her chart. "I see your blood pressure is normal…" The nurse had taken Hope's blood pressure before Jessica had come in. Jessica listened to Hope's heart and lungs then. "Your heart and lungs sound fine too. I'm going have the nurse come back in and draw some blood, then we can see from there if there is any other cause that could be making you throw up."

Hope nodded. "All right."

"I'll send her right in, and be back in a moment." Jessica said.

"All right, thank you," Hope said, watching the doctor leave.

She sighed. She hated waiting. She dreaded going to the doctors for this very reason.

Thankfully, it was only about five minutes more before the nurse came in and took her blood.

"I'll send the doctor back in, but you should be good to go. I can have these results for you by tomorrow," the nurse told her.

Hope smiled. "Thank you."

The doctor surprisingly came right back in. She smiled at Hope. "I'm going to suggest you take a stomach medicine and antacid of your choice. Once we get the results of your bloodwork in, which should be early tomorrow morning, we can go from there."

"All right, thank you." Hope was a little disappointed. She just wanted to know what was wrong with her now. Again, she hated waiting. On the plus side, she was feeling better.

"I will have my assistant call you tomorrow as soon as those results are in," the doctor said.

Hope nodded. "All right, thank you."

The doctor left, and then Hope signed out. She wished the doctor had at least prescribed her something.

She sighed as she left the hospital and headed to the pharmacy. Tomorrow morning couldn't come soon enough!

That evening, Hope felt much better. She had taken some Pepto-Bismol and a couple of Tums, then taken a long nap. Julie and Doug had come over for a visit after that, having brought her over some ginger ale and chicken noodle soup. Now, she felt back to normal.

Aiden arrived home from work after Doug and Julie had already gone. He had called her earlier in the day to see what the doctor said, but of course, she hadn't had much to tell him.

"Hey." He pulled her close and kissed her. "Are you feeling any better?"

Hope placed his hands on his chest and nodded. "Much." She kissed him. "How was work?"

"It was the same ol' same ol'. I was worried about you all day." He kissed her again.

"I appreciate it, but I'm feeling much better now. I'm curious to see if anything shows up in my blood work tomorrow." She kissed him again.

"What should we do for dinner tonight?" He asked, kissing her neck.

"Mm, I think we should take advantage of my feeling better before we think about dinner," Hope murmured. She kissed his neck and started undoing his tie.

"Sounds good to me. After all… You are my favorite thing to snack on," he said, his hands slowly roaming down her body.

"And you're mine," she purred into his ear as she got his tie undone. She let it drop to the floor.

"Are you sure you're up for this? You're feeling all right?" Aiden asked her. "I don't want you to relapse." He paused from unbuttoning her blouse.

She took his hand and kissed it, then placed it over her shirt. "I'm positive."

Aiden kissed her, then finished unbuttoning her shirt. He let it slip off her shoulders to the floor.

He then picked her up and carried her to the bed. He carefully set her down. "I love you," he murmured.

"I love you too," she said, kissing his hand again.

They kissed softly on the lips, and then they finished undressing each other, both eager to share their love for each other in the most intimate way possible.

The next morning, Hope had the day off, but Aiden had to work early.

When Hope woke up, she blindly felt the other side of the bed for Aiden, but her hand fell upon a note instead. She opened her eyes and read the note.

Good morning, Beautiful! You looked so peaceful, I didn't want to wake you. I hope you're feeling better. Call me when you get the blood work results. Thank you for last night. You were amazing. Can't wait for more when I get home if you're up for it. ;) I love you. –Your Husband

Hope smiled big, and held the note to her chest. She loved him so much and she loved being reminded that he was her husband. Not that she needed any reminding. Last night had been incredible. She would definitely be up for more when he returned from work.

She slowly climbed out of bed, but then it hit her again—the sudden urge to throw up. She groaned. "When will this end?" She ran to the bathroom, and threw up in the toilet. She was sure by now that the sushi had nothing to do with her illness. For one, the sushi hadn't tasted off. For two, it wouldn't have hit her this hard. The sushi container hadn't even been that big.

She finished throwing up, then carefully stood up as she flushed the toilet. She then washed her hands and face, and brushed her teeth. She contemplated taking a shower, but the phone rang, and she quickly ran to pick it up. It was the hospital.

"Hope Jennings speaking."

"Hello, Mrs. Jennings. This is Jenna Davis. I'm Doctor Frank's assistant. I have the results of your blood work."

"Did you find anything?" Hope asked.

"Doctor Frank would prefer to tell you in person. Are you able to come see her at eleven?"

Hope looked at her watch. She had two hours. "Sure. I'll be there."

"Great! We'll see you then." Jenna promptly hung up.

Now Hope was nervous. They wouldn't tell her over the phone what was wrong, so she wondered if that was a bad sign. Was there something seriously wrong with her? Should she call Aiden to go with her for moral support?

She didn't want to worry him. She didn't even know herself for sure that it was something bad.

She took a shower and got dressed, but skipped breakfast, for the thought of eating anything made her want to vomit again.

She mindlessly ran a few errands, and then headed over to the hospital. The wait to be called in was excruciating, but finally, after sitting for what felt like an hour in the waiting room but was in reality only ten minutes, she was called in. Once in the room, she had to wait five more minutes before the doctor came in.

Dr. Frank smiled brightly at Hope as she entered the room. "Hello again!"

"Is it bad news? Do I have stomach cancer or something?" Hope asked, biting her nails.

Dr. Frank shook her head. "No! Nothing bad at all! At least, I don't think it's anything bad." She smiled and winked at Hope.

"What does that mean? When I was told you wanted to tell me in person, I assumed the worst!" Hope said.

"I'm sorry. I should have told my assistant to make it clear that nothing was wrong. In fact, it's quite the contrary," Dr. Frank said, waking over to her.

"So, why have I been throwing up?" Hope asked, growing impatient. "I threw up again this morning."

Dr. Frank smiled. "It's quite simple. You were experiencing morning sickness."

Hope's face paled. "Morning sickness? You mean…?"

Dr. Frank nodded, a big grin plastered on her face. "Yes, Ma'am! Congratulations, Mrs. Jennings! You're pregnant."