Hugging, Crying, and Talking About Feelings

Michele walked into the bar to find Stacey and Ingrid already waiting for her.

"How is he?" Ingrid asked immediately.

"He's alright," Michele assured them, walking over and sitting down, "They've decided to change his chemo a bit so hopefully nothing will go wrong this time."

"That's good," Stacey said and Michele nodded absently.

"And how are you doing?" Ingrid asked.

"I feel like I'm being asked that a lit lately," Michele said.

"We're worried about you," Ingrid told her.

"Anders is the one in hospital," Michele said.

"True," Ingrid said slowly, "But this must be hard for you too. Now Anders isn't just sick, but he's in the hospital too."

"I mean, obviously it's not easy," Michele admitted, "I've already told you both that I've never felt this way which still sounds so weird coming from me. I just..."

"Just... what?" Stacey asked.

"I feel guilty," Michele said, "I hadn't wanted to leave him on his own, but he said he's be fine. And now he's in the hospital and I wasn't even there to take him!" By now several tears had escaped and run down her cheeks, but she brushed them away angrily. She felt as if she had done nothing except cry and complain the past few weeks and she didn't want to do that anymore.

"Oh it's not your fault!" Ingrid exclaimed, reaching forward and wrapping her arms around Michele.

"Would you look at that, hugging and crying while talking about feelings," Michele said, "It's like being back in school again."

I know you hate all of this, but you need to know none of this is your fault," Ingrid told her.

"It really isn't," Stacey agreed, but Michele still looked conflicted so Ingrid figured something else was going on.

"Michele, what's wrong?" she asked.

"I just told you-" Michele started, but Ingrid interrupted.

"What else?" she persisted, "Come on, I can see there's something else. What is it?"

"I... I thought I was pregnant," Michele admitted quietly.

"Pregnant?" Stacey said, "As in a baby?"

"Yes Stacey, that's usually what pregnant means!" Michele snapped and then her face softened.

"But... you're not?" Ingrid asked.

"No, I'm not," Michele replied.

"Does Anders know?" Stacey asked.

"I told him right before I came here," Michele said, "That's why I wasn't there when Olaf took him to the hospital. I was already at the hospital, but I was in my appointment to find out whether I was or not."

"What did Anders say?" Ingrid asked her.

"He was surprised," Michele told them, "Neither of us had ever talked about kids, you know? I mean, look at us. I am not the mothering type and Anders told he me he would be scared of ending up like his father."

"And now?" Ingrid questioned.

"And now what?" Michele said, looking at her in confusion.

"You said you had never talked about it before," Ingrid said, "Well, now you've had the chance to talk and thought it might actually happen. What do you think now?"

"Now I think Anders would need to get better before we could even consider it," Michele said and then laughed slightly, "You know, when I first though I might be, I was scared. I didn't think I could take care of a kid, let alone with Anders sick like this. But then I found out I wasn't and I was... sad. Which is ridiculous, being sad about something that never even existed.

"It's not ridiculous," Ingrid said, "You were scared when it was a possibility, but then when it stopped being a possibility you lost the chance to even try."

"Wow Ingrid," Stacey said, "That was very oracle-y."

"Why thank you Stacey," Ingrid smiled at them, "Now, who is at the hospital with Anders and how long are they staying?"

"Ty's there," Michele said, "He said he's stay until later tonight so I could get some stuff sorted out."

"Alright, well right now that stuff includes coming with us to relax for a little bit. You may be a goddess, but even you can't do everything." Ingrid and Stacey each took one of Michele's hands and led her out the door to find something to help her relax for a little while before returning to the real world.

Hope you liked it! I tried to make this one a little longer!

Thanks for reading and let me know what you think!