Oreoskidz - Me too! I love ginger hair. Why do I meet so many people like me on the internet and not in real life? It sucks.
Kiko33 - You'll find out now!
So what is wrong with Hermia? In this chapter, we find out!
Hermia was pretty much unconscious for the drive to the hospital. Lord Capulet wiped her sweaty brow in the summer heat, as he worried and worried. He half-carried, half-dragged her into the Accident and Emergency department, and she was immediately placed on a trolley and whizzed into a room. They probably thought the spilled red wine was blood. He described what had happened, and they gave her some oxygen to give her some strength. Then they decided to do some blood tests. Lord Capulet waited by her side as she breathed in the oxygen. Finally she sat up.
"What on happened?" demanded Lord Capulet "One minute you were there, and the next you were on the floor"
"I don't know" admitted Hermia "I'd been feeling light-headed and a bit queasy all day. I thought it was a hangover as we had some wine last night"
"Maybe you just overheated" said Lord Capulet "It is the summer and it's very hot. After all, you're ginger and you do have very fair skin. And that tight dress doesn't do you any favours either!"
"I don't know why it's so tight!" insisted Hermia "Maybe I picked the wrong size"
"Well, whatever it is, you look a bit better now. You've got some colour in your cheeks again"
The curtain drew open, and a nurse stepped into the cubicle.
"Mr. Capulet?"
"It's Lord Capulet" corrected Lord Capulet.
"But you can call him Eugene" added Hermia. Lord Capulet glared at her.
"Well, we've just looked at the results from Hermia's blood test, and it seems that there is a high concentration of human chorionic gonadotropin, also known as hCG"
"Oh, what's that?" asked Hermia.
"What on earth is that?" asked Lord Capulet "Does she have a heart condition or something? Her mother had one that none of us knew about, and it killed her!"
"No quite. Hermia is quite healthy. However, as you don't seem to be aware, hCG is a hormone that is produced by the placenta in the body of a woman that is pregnant, and so we can therefore confirm that Hermia is pregnant"
"I'm what?" questioned Hermia.
Lord Capulet's face had turned red "That's ridiculous! Look at those results again. Do another test. My Hermia would never slept with anybody!"
"Well, these results are ninety seven percent accurate, so I think we can safely assume that Hermia is pregnant. I would also recommend that we do an ultrasound scan, in order to assess the baby's health and to determine how far along she is"
"Well, fine, let's do that. You can do a scan, and find that there's no baby. This...this is ridiculous! Hermia, tell the nurse it's all wrong. You've never been with anybody, have you?"
Hermia was picking at her nails. The nurse promptly left, leaving Hermia alone with Lord Capulet.
"Hermia!" snapped Lord Capulet. She looked up at him "Tell me you've never slept with anyone and that it's all wrong"
"I can't, because that would be lying"
"Right" growled Lord Capulet "Who was it?"
"Who do you think? Lysander"
Lord Capulet looked absolutely disgusted "When and where did that start?"
"When you threw me out and I went to go and live with him"
"But why?"
"I had to pay him back somehow!" snapped Hermia.
"Pay him back? Pay him back!"
"Well, yeah. I was intruding on his family's life, I was sleeping in his bed. What was I meant to do!"
"Come home!"
"You wouldn't have let me" Hermia chided "It took Benvolio, Mercutio and Romeo lying on your bedroom floor and screaming at you with cameras about to show it to the rest of Verona to make you come round. And then once it started, why was there reason for me to stop?"
"I am very disappointed in you, Hermia" hissed Lord Capulet, storming out the cubicle. Hermia simply lay back. Her heart felt like it was made of stone, and she breathed deeply for a few moments, trying to get her father's angry hiss out of her mind. Her mind instead raced back to the baby's conception. She and Lysander had always used protection. Demetrius hadn't bothered. In the time she and Benvolio managed to cram in together, they often didn't have a lot of choice about what they used.
She placed a hand on her stomach, understanding the reason why she had gained some weight. Hermia didn't really understand what she was feeling, really. It all depended on how angry Lord Capulet was at her. She didn't even know if she'd be able to keep her baby.
The curtains whipped open, and Lord Capulet stormed back in.
"I don't know what to say to you. I don't know whether to cry, or shout. I don't know where we'd put a baby, or whether it's coming home or not. I don't know whether I ought to beat Lysander over the head or castrate him first. I don't know what we're going to say to the family. It's four 'o' clock. They'd have finished dinner by now, and be getting ready for the party. I don't even know if I want to go back there at all, or if I want to take you back home and yell at you without everyone else hearing it!"
"It's not my fault" protested Hermia "We always used protection. It must have broken or something"
Lord Capulet looked back down at Hermia. Suddenly she wasn't his sixteen year old daughter anymore, but the tiny baby he had carried home from the empty hospital nursery where she had been left alone.
"What are you going to do, then? What on earth will happen to going to drama school with Mercutio?"
"I don't know"
A nurse peered in through the curtains "Hermia, we're going to take you down to the antenatal ward, and there we will do an ultrasound. Do you feel well enough to walk, or would you like someone to get you a wheelchair?"
"I think I'll be all right" said Hermia, slipping off the bed. Lord Capulet supported her and they followed the nurse out of the A&E ward and down to the antenatal ward. It was quieter in the waiting room, and the seats had cushions instead of plastic chairs. They waited for another couple of minutes, and then they were called through to a dark room. An ultrasound technician smiled at them.
"Do take a seat. You must be Hermia, and Eugene"
"Lord Capulet" growled Lord Capulet. Hermia lay back on the table, and had some trouble pulling the bridesmaid's dress up, and then Lord Capulet gave her his jacket to cover her knickers. Hermia gasped at the feel of the cold jelly that was squirted onto her belly. She placed the scanner on the jelly, and then began to move it about. All three turned to look up at the screen.
A small blob appeared on the screen.
"Baby's looking very healthy so far" said the ultrasound technician "Judging by the size, I'm guessing your little one is about fifteen weeks old, so a little above three months, and heading onto four months"
"Wow" murmured Hermia, watching as her baby lay peacefully, occasionally shifting from side to side.
Lord Capulet was crying "It's beautiful"
"I'm just going to listen to the heartbeat to make sure that's healthy as well"
"Can you do that?" asked Hermia.
"Yes. The baby's heart starts to beat quite early during pregnancy. You're going to hear some thumping in a minute"
A small, regular thumping sound filled the room. Hermia and Lord Capulet both shivered with surprise.
"That's so...weird" stated Lord Capulet.
The technician smiled at him "Would you like to know what the baby is?"
Hermia gasped delightedly "Yes please!"
"I didn't think you could do that until it was older" said Lord Capulet.
"Well, it usually is quite difficult to determine whether it's a boy or girl early during the pregnancy. However, at twelve weeks, it's certainly possible. It should be a bit easier since this little one is fifteen weeks. Although, we aren't always right. So don't go out and buy all pink or all blue"
Hermia and Lord Capulet laughed a little, and the technician moved the scanner over to try and look between the legs.
"Well, it seems to me...that this baby here is most likely to be a little boy"
"A little boy! So Tybalt finally gets some guy company in our family who isn't over a hundred years old"
"Oi" said Lord Capulet.
"Won't it be great if the baby pukes on him! Or Rosaline! That would be so much fun! They'd both go nuts"
"Hermia, please" groaned Lord Capulet.
The technician smiled sympathetically "So, would you like me to print these pictures off for you to keep and take home now?"
"Yes please" said Hermia. The technician left the room, and Hermia turned to Lord Capulet, who was still crying.
"That's amazing. That...that's my grandchild, that. A little boy. It's just so..." Lord Capulet trailed off "What do you want to do?"
"I'm going to do this" said Hermia "I'm going to bring him up. He's a Capulet, right dad?"
"Right, Hermia"