Silver
Chapter 5
Several weeks had gone by since the events in the hospital wing. Josh, recovered from his fall, apologized over and over to Wanda. She smiled each time, telling him she probably would have done the same thing. She thought the apologies were a bit false, but kept that to herself. Ian didn't need to hear about that. Knowing him, he would take it so far out of context that he would challenge Josh to an old fashion duel. She almost giggled at the thought, Almost. The thought of Ian with a gun, however, was not so entertaining.
Wanda learned more and more from Doc each day. He turned out to be a fabulous teacher. Doc often joked that as long as blood wasn't involved, she could have his job. Wanda, secretly loving the praise, worked hard each day. Happily, no other incidences kept her from the hospital. Each day she cleaned, sanitized, rolled bandages, and even learned to give immunizations. Their last few raids included stops at clinics throughout the four corners region. They had preventative vaccines for tetanus, MMR, influenza, and various others she had never heard of or couldn't pronounce. She had struggled at first with inflicting any pain what so ever, but finally decided the results were worth it. Now, if someone stepped on a rusty nail, no one had to worry about the devastating affects of tetanus.
One morning, Wanda woke up sweating way more than she felt should be legal. The summer was shaping up to be one of the hottest in a while, and tempers were short. No fewer than three fights happened at breakfast. At each instance, Wanda hid her pale face in Ian's chest, comforted by his strong arm around her. All three fights were broken up quickly by Jeb and his "insurance policy"; a rifle. Wanda hated that even more.
After breakfast that morning, Ian escorted Wanda to the hospital like always. For some reason, Wanda felt strange, like she didn't want to be very far from Ian, but kept it to herself. Ian had enough to do to without worrying about her all of the time. When they arrived, Ian leaned down and kissed her on the cheek.
"Don't sweat the fights, babe. The heat just makes people cranky. See you at lunch," and he turned to leave. Wanda caught him before he left, hugging him from behind.
"I love you," she said simply. Ian turned around in the circle of her arms and returned the embrace.
"Same here, babe. Same here. Let's put our names on the board for the bathing pool tonight. You're so stressed with all of these scuffles, we can just float. How does that sound?" he said quietly, resting his chin on her head.
"hm. That does sound good. A float-date sounds good to me." She squeezed him once and let him go.
Doc, sensing their need for quiet, had busied himself with checking his supply of Clean. As soon as Ian left, he turned around and gave a clipboard to Wanda. "Finish this up, will you? I have to check up on the contenders from this morning.
Wanda knew what he was talking about.. A few of the fights this morning had produced some rather nasty injuries. One man sported a broken nose, another, cracked ribs. Wanda smiled, and climbed up on a stool to finish the inventory. They would think twice before trying to solve their problems that way. Wanda hardly needed to plead her case for a violence free home when these hot-heads did it for her.
She was just finishing up her counts when an extraordinary wave of nausea hit her. Doubling over, she ran for the impromptu rest room in the hospital. She wretched up her breakfast until nothing came up anymore. Exhausted, she slumped against the wall. What was wrong with her? Why did she feel so awful? Hauling herself up, she walked carefully over to the storage area and opened a bottle of water, taking a large drink to get the taste from her mouth. This sent her scurrying for the bathroom again, her stomach refusing the water.
"Wanda?" Doc's voice came to her from behind. "What's wrong? He leaned over and took her hair from her face, keeping it from getting in the way.
"Nothing," she croaked when the spell had passed. "I'm alright. I think."
"Come on, let's get you more comfortable. I'll send for Ian—No, don't fight me on that," holding up a hand to stop her protests. "Ian would hurt me if I kept anything from him. You know that." Doc disappeared for a bit, calling for Ian.
Wanda laid down on the cot, trying to think of anything but her naughty stomach. She didn't have to wait long. She had just gotten her stomach to agree with her that throwing up again was not a good idea when Ian came to a skidding halt in front of her.
"What is it, Wanda?" he asked, panting. Oh great, she thought. He sprinted down here like I was dying.
She sat up, putting a hand up when Ian protested. "I'm fine, Ian. I just got a little sick, that's all."
Ian opened his mouth to object when Doc interrupted them both. Without a word, he placed a cage on his desk. The metal of the cage screeched on the steel surface of his work space. Both Ian and Wanda looked over at the strange inturruption. Ian raised an eyebrow. Wanda squealed in fright. Inside of the cage sat a desert rabbit, staring at them both with black, shiny eyes.
"Wh-What is that!?" Wanda whispered, her voice going up an octave or two at the last word.
"uh, it's a rabbit, Wanda." Ian ducked as Wanda slapped at him. He didn't need to move very far. Everyone knew Wanda wouldn't actually hit anyone.
"I know it's a rabbit, Ian," Wanda snapped, suddenly peevish. "I want to know what it's doing here." As if on cue, a monster headache made its entrance in her right temple.
"Since we don't have any pregnancy tests available, this is the best we can do right now," Doc piped up, sensing a need for an intervention. He smiled inwardly at the looks on both their faces. They looked from Doc to each other, then the color red popped up on both their faces, mouths hanging wide open. He loved his job.
Ian was the first to recover. "Doc, how is a rabbit going to tell us if Wanda is…um, "with child"."
Smiling, Doc explained. "We inject some of Wanda's blood into the rabbit and wait. If the rabbit dies within 24 hours, you're pregnant. If the rabbit lives, then he gets a reprieve until the next hopeful couple comes along."
Wanda looked stricken. "D-dies? She whispered.
Doc sighed. "Yes, Wanda, dies. It's the only way to know if you're really pregnant, or if there is something else wrong that we need to figure out. If it helps, the rabbit won't feel anything."
Wanda couldn't look up, just nod her consent. She was stricken with too many emotions. Pregnant? How could that be? She knew exactly how it happened, but still. Did fate actually work that way? Was this a good thing? Did Ian want a baby? The questions didn't stop until she felt Doc taking her arm. She knew what was coming, and she looked away. Ian took her other hand, squeezing it gently.
In a daze, Wanda hardly registered Doc's voice. "I'm sorry, what?"
Doc smiled. "Get some rest. We'll know in a day." He looked over Wanda's head and nodded to Ian. Wanda felt herself being cradled against Ian's chest. Staring straight ahead, she allowed Ian to take her to their room. He placed her softly on their bed and took her chin in his hand, forcing her to look into his eyes.
"Are you alright?" he asked, concern filling his expression
"Ian, what are we going to do?" she whispered.
"Do? Wanda, aren't you excited?" he asked, confused.
She looked up. "Excited? You mean, you're ok with is?"
Ian laughed. "Of course! Can you imagine?! A baby! Our baby!" he laughed again, hugging her. Wanda almost cried. Instead, she hugged him back. They stayed that way for some time before Ian stood up, pulling her up too. "come one, let's go float."
AN: Well, that was a hard chapter to write. Did anyone see this coming? This is the real reason I started to write this story. Let me know what you think. I love the reviews, they keep me writing!. Ciao!