Chapter 4

"Ah Chloe, good morning." Dr McKay said as I walked through the door and into his office. He shifted his gaze to Derek who was trailing behind me, his hand still wrapped around mine. "And this must be the boyfriend you mentioned… sorry I don't remember the name."

"Derek. It's Derek." I told him, relaxing a little. It was hard to feel uncomfortable in Dr McKay's office. The place was decorated in a warm shade of orange and his desk was cluttered with ornaments and photos of his grandchildren. And he had a very reassuring presence himself. He looked like a stereo-typical kindly old grandfather.

"Well nice to meet you Derek." Dr McKay said. He was reacting rather well to Derek actually. I'd expected a look of shock and a stammered 'and this is…' which is the reaction I usually get when I meet people for the first time with Derek in tow. He's quite intimidating. Dr McKay just smiled and motioned for us to sit down. "What can I do for you both?" He asked.

"Um…" I said as I sat in one of the chairs opposite, pulling Derek down beside me. "Well you see… the thing is…" I stopped, unable to say the words. My brain carried on but my mouth just stalled. It was as if I was six again and I was trying to tell my dad I'd broken the vase in the hall with my skipping rope. I just couldn't get the words out. Which was silly. It wasn't as if Dr McKay was going to yell at me and send me to my room.

"Yes Chloe..." Dr McKay prodded with a reassuring smile.

"The thing is..." I tried again. "Well the thing is I'm… I think I might be…"

"Pregnant." Derek finished for me.

Dr McKay turned his gaze back on me. "Congratulations." He said.

"Thanks" I mumbled.

"You're welcome" Dr McKay said giving me a measured look. He'd obviously noticed my less than enthusiastic tone. "Now I assume you've taken a test."

"Yes." I told him.

"And it was positive?"

"Yes."

"Ok…" Dr McKay pulling a pad of paper towards him. "Now this is a question I have to ask everyone so I don't want you to be offended."

"I won't be." I assured him.

"Ok. The question I need to ask is, do you want to be pregnant Chloe?"

Did I want I want to be pregnant? Well I hadn't planned to be but now that I was… well I wasn't exactly thrilled but I there was no way I would even consider the alternative. "Now that I am…" I said voicing my thoughts out loud. "… yes I suppose I do. Want to be that is." There that hadn't been too hard. And Derek had squeezed my hand as I said it which was an encouraging sign.

"Well that's good. The next thing we need to work out then is the date of your last period so we can calculate roughly how far along you are. Then we can get you an appointment with the midwife."

I blinked. Ok that had been quick. "Um… Dr. McKay? Don't you want me to take a test or something?"

"You said you took a test at home?"

"Yes."

"Well then it's not necessary for you to take one here. The result will be the same, home testing kits are very reliable."

I looked at Derek but he was studying one of the framed prints on Dr McKay's wall. It looked like this was going to be up to me then. I turned back to the doctor. "Well can't I take a test anyway? I really want to be sure." Well Derek was the one that needed the assurance but I didn't think telling Dr McKay that would help.

But it wasn't doctor McKay who answered, it was Derek. Which was surprising to say the least. "Chloe, I'm sure the doctors right. There'd be no point in taking another test, it would be a waste of time."

Well he'd certainly changed his tune. I wanted to smack him but I managed to restrain myself. Dr McKay still thought I was a nice girl. Instead I said, "Well if you're sure…"

Derek nodded and squeezed my hand again. Which I was really hoping meant he was alright about this now.

"So…" said Dr McKay from across the desk. "Where were we? Ah yes I had a couple of questions to ask you."

Ten minutes later and I found myself letting Derek open the passenger side door of the car for me. I was sure I could have managed it myself but I couldn't find it in me to argue with him so I just slipped inside and let him shut the door behind me. Then I watched as he made his way around to the driver's side.

The driver's door opened, it slammed shut again. There was silence. Then Derek cleared his throat. "So… eight weeks." Was all he said.

"That's what Dr McKay thinks." I answered.

"And he is the doctor."

"Yes, he is."

"So he's probably right."

"Yes."

There was silence again. He obviously wasn't sure about what to say and I wasn't helping him out very much. The fact that he'd been so adamant with me about the home test being wrong, and then hadn't said anything at all to the doctor had stung a little. Not that I wanted to make him feel bad about it, he hadn't meant to hurt me I knew that. He'd obviously realised he was being an idiot and decided to act like a rational person. But still it would have been nice for him to have backed me up anyway.

"Chloe?" he said.

"Hmmm?" I answered focusing on the dashboard, the whole experience had left me feeling a little shaky.

"I'm… I… well I just wanted to say…"

Oh god! He was going to apologise. As much as he'd annoyed me I didn't want that! If he said sorry I was likely to start bawling. I was having a hard enough time keeping myself together as it was. "You don't need to…" I started to say.

It didn't do any good. He just barrelled right on. "I've been an idiot. And I'm sorry. I know the last few days must have been hard for you, I should have been there for you and I wasn't."

Derek had apologised… and he'd sounded so sincere doing it too, heartbreakingly sincere. And yes that was all it took… a lump appeared in my throat, I heard myself sniff once, and then tears started rolling down my cheeks. But at least I hadn't started wailing. "No!" I said as Derek, looking panic-stricken, opened his mouth to say something. "No, I'm ok. You haven't upset me."

"I haven't upset you?" Derek said looking a little less panic-stricken and a little more sceptical as I moved from simply sniffing a little to something closer to sobbing.

I shook my head mutely.

"You look pretty upset."

"Well I'm not." I sniffed in the most defiant voice I could muster. Then I tried a smile. There, I was smiling, that proved I wasn't upset at all, right? Ok maybe fact my eyes were still leaking tears slightly spoiled the effect. I rubbed them with my sleeve. "Well not really upset. It's been a weird couple of days that's all. Can we just go home? Please?"

Why did I always have to embarrass myself in front of him like that? We'd gotten through the hardest part of the day, the hardest part of the week even, with no melodramatics and now here I was breaking down in the car because he'd said the word sorry and meant it. It was absurd. Well at least I could put it down to hormones if anyone called me on it.

...

Authors note: All I can say about the wait is sorry. So sorry. And I hope you enjoyed this anyway.