Chapter Ten
Juice noticed Ana tense up and followed her gaze to where Mike was standing in the elevator. Juice immediately took a protective stance between Ana and Mike, crossing his arms across his chest. Mike turned slightly, hitting the 6th floor button multiple times, as if it would make the elevator work faster.
The air was tense between the three passengers, even though no one was saying a word. Juice and Mike stared daggers at each other. Mike dared not to turn his back on the couple. Sure, he had a couple inches on Juice, but Juice out muscled him by far.
Ana blew out a sigh of relief when the elevator dinged, signaling they had arrived on the fifth floor. Juice guided her protectively past Mike and out the elevator, not letting his guard down until his pregnant girlfriend was a safe distance away from the asshole.
Before they opened the door to the doctor's office, Ana stopped and turned to Juice.
"What's wrong?" Juice asked.
"Nothing's wrong," Ana said, smiling up at Juice. "I just wanted to say 'thank you' for protecting us," she placed one hand on her small baby bump and another on Juice's cheek. "And thank you for not kicking Mike's ass like I'm sure you wanted to." She placed a small kiss on the corner of his mouth.
Juice smiled down at her and place his hand on her small baby bump on top of her hand and the other on her hip. "I will always protect you and our son. I love you guys. And the time for kicking his ass will come. And it will be completely satisfying for me. Now come on. I'm anxious to get this baby boy checked out."
"We love you too, Juan Carlos," Ana said and kissed his lips softly. "And it's a girl."
"You are really trying to give me a heart attack aren't you?"
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Ana knew the routine at Doctor Holland's office. Get her weight (which she made Juice look away for a moment). Pee in a cup (which had mucusy strands of Juice's semen in it now. Thanks, Juice. I'm sure they will appreciate that. Ana thought). Get her vitals.
The couple waited for about ten minutes in the small exam room before Dr. Holland and his nurse made an entrance. Ana watched as the older nurse eyed Juice carefully, obviously nervous about having a guy in a kutte sitting in the office. Probably scared he will shoot up the place, Ana thought to herself.
Juice, on the other hand, was watching the doctor. He was a tall, probably about 6 foot 5 inches, and a very black man. Juice watched with wide eyes as the doctor hugged Ana in a friendly manner, like they had known each other for a long time.
"Ana. How have you been?" Doctor Holland asked as he stepped away from the hug.
"Good, James. How are you? How are the wife and kids?" Ana said with a warm smile.
"Amelia is in kindergarten now and Alexander is two. Keeping my wife on her toes," he laughed.
James... James Holland... where had he heard about this guy before? Juice racked his brain for a moment, but came up blank. But, he was sure he had heard of a James Holland before. He was sure of it.
"Wow, time sure does fly," Ana continued on with the conversation.
"It sure does," Doctor Holland agreed.
Juice cleared his throat from the chair he was sitting in, making the nurse jump slightly.
"Oh," Ana said, "James, this is my boyfriend, Juan Carlos."
Juice stood up from his chair as Doctor Holland extended his hand out to shake Juice's.
"Juan Carlos. It is nice to meet you. I'm James Holland. You sure are a lucky guy."
"Thanks, I know," Juice said with a smirk. "And call me Juice. I'm only Juan Carlos when I'm in trouble."
"Well, Juice, Ana, lets get this baby checked out," Doctor Holland said as he produced a measuring tape and a Doppler.
Juice helped Ana lie back on the exam table. Ana shimmied her scrub pants lower on her hips so the doctor could measure her baby bump. Juice grew slightly anxious and concerned when it seemed to take the doctor a long time to find the baby's heart beat with the Doppler, but soon the room was filled with the sound of fast thumping. Juice smiled his mega-watt smile down at Ana who smiled back at him.
"Sounds good," Doctor Holland confirmed as he handed Ana some paper towels to wipe off the Doppler jelly. "Have you felt the baby move yet?"
"I think so," Ana nodded. "It feels like a fluttering in my belly."
Juice continued to smile. It was just a few days ago that he woke up with Ana next to him, a huge smile on her face, telling him she thought she felt the baby move.
"Well, pretty soon, those movements will be so strong you won't have any doubt," Doctor Holland assured.
"He," she pointed a thumb toward Juice as he helped her sit back up on the exam table, "Downloaded a 'Fetal Kick Count' app and a 'Fetal Development' app for me. He's also Googled a lot of information. But, he makes me drink these green shakes. Says they have good vitamins for the baby, but they taste like a bitter salad with no salad dressing," Ana scrunched her nose.
"Well, it's very impressive he is getting involved in the pregnancy. A lot of father's don't do that." Doctor Holland glanced down at his computer he had brought in. "Speaking of eating, I know you two had a scare where work was so stressful you hadn't eaten in five days and went to the Emergency Room to get checked out and received some IV fluids for dehydration. How has everything been going since then?"
Juice's smile faded at the mention of the Emergency Room visit.
"Better," Ana said in a small voice, avoiding Juice's gaze.
"She still needs to eat more," Juice said, in an almost lecturing tone.
"Well, your weight is just a pound over your pre-pregnancy weight, so it is coming up. So, whatever he is making you eat is helping. Keep it up. And Ana we also need to keep an eye on your blood pressure. It's creeping up there."
"I know," Ana said softly and dropping her head slightly.
"Wait... what does that mean 'it's creeping up there'..." Juice asked slightly concerned.
"Her blood pressure is trending higher and higher. It's not high enough to put her on new medications or increase her dosages of the medications she is already on just yet, but we need to keep an eye on it. Stress is a big factor in blood pressure. She needs to reduce her stress..." Doctor Holland then turned toward Ana. "We also need to keep an eye on your heart. So you need to make an appointment with your cardiologist as soon as possible. I also think a fetal echocardiogram is still a good idea, just like we talked about."
Ana just nodded in agreement, but Juice was staring at the doctor wide eyed.
"What's a fetal... whatever... and what about her heart...?" Juice tried his hardest to calm his growing anxiety.
"Well," Doctor Holland turned to address Juice, "Ana has a congenital heart condition..."
"Yeah, I know that," Juice interrupted, causing Ana to look up at him.
Crap. Ana thought. She had seen this look before, albeit not often. Juice was panicking. She grabbed his hand to try to calm him down a bit, but he didn't even seem to notice.
"Well," Doctor Holland continued, "Pregnancy is a big stressor on someone with a normal heart. I just want to make sure Ana's heart can handle the stress that comes along with the pregnancy. It is just a precaution."
Juice nodded his head, which he felt was about ready to explode.
"And as for the fetal echocardiogram... that is a special ultrasound we do to look at the baby's heart. There is a small likelihood that Ana could have passed on her heart condition to the baby," Doctor Holland eyed Juice carefully.
"You think something is wrong with my kid's heart," Juice asked, rubbing his mohawk, his voice higher than normal. He thought this would be a simple in and out doctor's appointment, but the doctor just kept dishing out the bad news.
"Juice," Ana said quietly, trying to help Juice calm down, "It's just a precaution."
Doctor Holland nodded in agreement. Ever since Ana was a little girl, sitting in a hospital bed, she knew there was a chance that she could pass on her heart condition to her children. But, by the look on Juice's face, she could tell this was the first time that ever crossed his mind.
"O.K... so...," Juice was trying his hardest to form coherent sentences at this point. His brain was just too overloaded at this point. His heart rate getting higher and higher. "Her heart condition... her blood pressure... stress...," Juice closed his eyes hard, trying to process this shit, "Work... should she work? Stay in bed?" Juice opened his eyes wide, a terrified look on his face, "What if I passed this ADHD to the baby? This anxiety?... I can't... I'll do anything!"
Ana watched as Juice's panic rose to an almost critical level. She knew Juice had anxiety, she had seen him in full blown panic attacks before. She knew what she needed to do to help him calm down. So, she held up one finger to the doctor to let him know that she would handle his questions. She pulled Juice in front of her and held his hands in her's.
"Juice, look at me," Ana said in a soft tone. Juice obeyed and tried to put all his efforts into concentrating on her blue eyes.
"Take a deep breathe, baby."
Juice took a deep breath, in through his nose and out through his mouth, just like Ana had taught him awhile ago.
"Ok," Ana continued. "The baby and I are fine. We are fine."
Juice kept staring in her blue eyes as he nodded and took another breath.
"All this is just precautionary. Intel gathering. So we can do something if something is wrong with the baby. So we can intervene early if something is wrong. If the baby has ADHD, OCD or anxiety, we will deal with it. If the baby has my heart condition, we will deal with it. I can still work... do everything I normally do... right, doctor?"
"Yup," Doctor Holland agreed. "As long as it's not too stressful."
"See... so you can help me reduce stress by giving me nightly foot rubs and back rubs," Ana smiled up to Juice, who smirked back.
"I think I can handle that," Juice agreed, finally feeling his heart rate slow down
"O.K. So are we good," Ana asked and Juice nodded.
"Good," Ana smiled at Doctor Holland, "I get nightly massages!"
Doctor Holland smiled back at the couple, "That will really help reduce her stress. Any other questions?"
"I don't have any," Ana said.
"O.K.," Doctor Holland continued as he closed up his laptop. "Well, I will get that echo scheduled and you, missy, need to follow up with your cardiologist."
"Will do," Ana agreed.
Doctor Holland and his nurse started to make their way out of the exam room until Juice shouted, "Wait! Is sex O.K.?"
Ana's cheeks showed a light blush, but Doctor Holland smiled. "Of course it is."
Juice breathed a huge sigh of relief.
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Once the couple was outside of the hospital, Juice lit up a cigarette. Ana decided not to tell him that this was a smoke free facility and guided him off to the bench near the entrance so he could sit down and enjoy his smoke. She sat next to him, adjusting the bag she had ran to get after her doctor's appointment in the ICU.
Juice sat silent for a moment, elbows on his knees, looking off in the distance. He blew a lung full of smoke out and rubbed his face. "I'm sorry about freaking out in there. I just... I'm sorry for embarrassing you."
"Juice," And placed a small hand on his knee. "You don't need to apologize. And you didn't embarrass me at all. How could I be embarrassed? You were just showing how concerned you were for me and the baby."
Juice smirked as he flicked his cigarette into the grass. "How can you be so perfect?" he asked, turning towards Ana.
"Years of practice, I guess," Ana replied, hitching a shoulder.
Juice leaned in and gave Ana a soft kiss on the lips. "Love you."
"Love you too, Ortiz," Ana smiled as Juice's prepay started to ring.
He rummaged through his cargo pants pocket for it and answered. "Yeah... St. Thomas... Yeah O.K... I'll be there soon," and he flipped the phone shut. "Gotta head to the clubhouse," he said standing up. "Got church in ten minutes. Are you gonna come and hang out or..."
"No," Ana said standing next to him. "I think I'm gonna go to my apartment, take a bath and relax." Ana wrapped her arms around Juice's waist. "Will you be over tonight?"
Juice sighed and hugged Ana. "I don't know. I gotta gather intel for Clay. Might be a late one for me."
Ana looked up to him, throwing her lower lip out in a small pout. "Don't give me that," Juice laughed.
"But you promised nightly back rubs and foot massages," Ana continued to pout.
"Well come by the clubhouse later. Maybe you will get more than a back rub and foot massage," Juice said quietly in her ear and reached down to massage her ass.
Ana giggled and pushed away from him. "We will see. You better go or you will be late for church."
Juice and Ana shared a short, sweet kiss again and then went their separate ways to their bike and S.U.V. Ana was so busy rummaging through her bag for her keys she didn't notice the tall man leaning against her driver side door until she was right next to him.
She looked up and gasped slightly at his tense facial expression. "What do you want, Mike?" She gripped her keys tight, poking one key between her fingers like Happy had shown her in their self defense lessons.
"You're with him now? That spic asshole?" Mike said angrily, glaring at Ana.
"That's none of your concern," Ana stated matter-of-factly. She wished he would move so she could get in her car, but he made no attempt in doing so.
Suddenly, Mike grabbed her upper arms and began violently shaking her and roughly pushed her up against her car. "It is my concern you white trash whore! You cheated on me with him!"
Mike's violent actions took Ana completely by surprise. He was never violent towards her during their relationship or anytime after. She honestly didn't think he had it in him. But now, she was seeing the rage in his eyes and she was scared for her and her baby's life.
"Mike, please don't hurt me! I'm pregnant!" Ana cried. That was apparently the wrong thing to say because it made Mike even angrier. He began gripping her arms tighter and tighter until Ana could feel the bruises starting to form.
Mike was seething. "You think I give a fuck about some spic baby and it's whore mother?"
Ana began frantically stabbing him with her keys on any part of his body she could get to. She finally poked him hard enough with her keys under his arm that he let go of her, which only made him more enraged.
"YOU STUPID BITCH!" he screamed and slapped her right across the face, a scream escaping her mouth. She could taste blood that was coming from her now split lip. He grabbed her by the upper arms again and started shaking her, causing her to hit the back of her head against the driver side window multiple times.
"Mike, STOP!" she screamed. "I never lied to you!" But Ana could see nothing was going to calm him down at this point so she did the only thing she could think of and screamed, "JUICE! JUICE!"
"SHUT UP!" Mike slapped her again, this time the force behind the slap caused her to fall to the ground landing on her hands and knees.
"Ana!" she heard Juice exclaim through the ringing in her ears. "You SON OF A BITCH!" Juice yelled and tackled Mike, putting all 211 pounds of him into it. They landed onto the pavement in the empty parking spot in front of Ana's car.
Ana slowly stood up and watched as Juice got a couple of good punches in to Mike's face before Mike finally was able to get Juice off of him.
"Juice!" Ana screamed when Mike punched him in the temple, causing him to start bleeding.
Juice somehow managed to get to his feet, dragging Mike with him by the scrub shirt, ripping it down the neckline in the process, and shoved him against Ana's car. He punched Mike in the face three more times and then punched him in the stomach twice for good measure. Mike went crumpling to the ground with a thud.
Breathing heavily, Juice stood there for a moment to make sure Mike didn't get back up and then slowly backed his way toward Ana.
A crowd had gathered near the fight and someone must have called the cops because they could hear sirens in the distance.
"Oh my God, Ana," Juice stood in front of Ana who had her face in his hands. "Are you O.K.?"
Ana was too distraught to answer so she just wrapped her arms around his middle and sobbed into his kutte. Juice allowed this for a moment, but his worry was setting in and needed Ana to answer him.
"Ana, baby, please answer me. Are you O.K.? Do I need to take you to the Emergency Room?"
"No... I'm fine..." Ana managed between sobs.
The sirens sounded like they were just blocks away now.
"Ana, get in the car and lock the doors," Juice ordered when he saw that Mike was getting up to his feet.
Ana pulled away from Juice, watching Mike cautiously. And that's when she saw it. A swastika like tattoo on the middle of his chest, only visible now because Juice ripped his shirt. So he must be a part of Darby's crew? The A.B.? She wasn't sure which one, but neither was good. She gasped when she looked up and saw the venomous rage in Mike's eyes as he backed away from the couple.
"This wetback asshole and the rest of the white trash club can't keep you safe 24/7! I'll kill you for the lies you spewed to me! I don't care if you are pregnant! I'll kill that spic thing you call a baby, too!"
Ana's mouth hung open at the horrendous things Mike was saying. Juice tensed up and took a step toward Mike, but Ana placed a small hand on his bicep saying, "He's not worth it, Juice. Please don't," and Juice stopped in his tracks, staring daggers at Mike.
"You stupid whore!" was Mike's last remark before he turned and walked further into the parking lot and to his parked car.
Once Mike had taken off, tearing out of the St. Thomas parking lot, Juice turned to Ana. "I want you to go to the clubhouse now. I'll be right behind you."
"Shouldn't we wait for the cops?' Ana questioned, hearing the sirens getting closer and closer. They would be here any second.
"No, we need to talk to Jax and Clay first," Juice explained.
Ana quickly wiped her tears from her eyes. Once she could see clearly, she look Juice over for a moment.
"Juice, you are bleeding," she went to go touch his cheek where blood was dripped down from his temple area, but he stopped her.
"Ana, I'm fine. Clubhouse. Now."
Juice made sure Ana was secure in her car before taking off for his bike.
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What do you guys think? What will the club do when they find out about this encounter with Mike? Still more craziness for the couple coming up. This pregnancy is going to be far from a walk in the park for these two!
R and R my lovelys.