Chapter 88: Test
Doc smiled cheerfully as he saw Olivia and Alex coming into the infirmary. "Glad to see you two up and about together. I'll bet it's good to finally rest for a moment and catch your breath."
"Just for a moment," Alex sighed. "With the current emergency over now we have to focus on where we go from here. Where am I going to live, how am I going to get a job, where am I going to get a job, all that stuff." She sighed, then straightened. "But that's not what we came here to talk about."
"I need a favor," Olivia's voice was quiet. "Can you do a pregnancy test on me?"
Doc's mind skidded to a screeching halt. "What?"
Olivia and Alex both cracked faint smiles. "A pregnancy test. You know, to see if I'm… expecting."
"How could….what could…who…" he couldn't gather his scattered thoughts long enough to get a complete sentence out.
"In Medellin." Olivia looked at her hands, and for the first time Doc noticed how tightly they were folded around each other. She was really nervous about this. "Velez and Sandra…they…"
She was clearly struggling, so Alex broke in. "Velez and Sandra did to Clayton and Olivia what Zimurinda did to Dash and me," she said quietly, finally. "But I was hurt far worse and there was no way I would have gotten pregnant, with all the damage that was done. Olivia wasn't hurt as badly, as deeply, and the Army doctors in Medellin didn't even think about contraceptives."
"She was so out of it that she couldn't ask for any while we were there, and apparently no one thought of it," came a new voice, and all three of them turned as Clayton shuffled into the infirmary on his crutches. "Yes, Doc, I know about this. Liv and I had this discussion yesterday."
"And…you're… okay with this?" Doc was still having a hard time wrapping his head around the concept. "You, General-I-don't-want-kids? Your position about kids is legendary on base."
"Doc, I don't think that's any of your business," Clayton said sharply. "But yes, I know what my official position has been thus far, and I also know I'm going to catch hell from several directions over this." At Doc's look, he ducked his head, looked slightly embarrassed. "I don't know what Shana and Courtney are going to say, but, um, Allie cussed me out and slammed my office door."
"Allie cussed you out." Doc surveyed him with narrowed eyes. "Allie, who never swears and never slams doors. Well, then I'd say she said everything I would have said to you." He turned, went into his office, came out with a syringe and a small vial. "Just one small blood sample, Olivia, and I'll have results for you in an hour."
Olivia held her arm steady as he took the blood sample, and he deftly withdrew the needle and taped a small piece of gauze over the puncture in her elbow. "You're welcome to wait here if you like, or come back later," he said, and disappeared. Olivia sucked in a deep breath, started to turn toward the door, and almost fell as her knees buckled. Clayton tried to grab for her and missed, his hands full of crutches, but Alex caught Olivia before she fell and steered her toward a chair. "Sit down," she said firmly. "You've been under a lot of stress lately and you're still recovering. Not to mention which, if you are pregnant, the baby's taking your resources too. I'll wait with you."
"So will I." Since Alex had taken the only other chair available, Clayton hauled himself on top of one of the beds and sat down, propping his cast-wrapped leg on the bed.
"Me too." They all turned, to see Ettienne come in, and despite her nerves and her worry, Olivia had to fight the smile as Alex got up from her chair to greet him with a kiss. Both of them lit up at the sight of each other. She really loves him, Olivia thought, and as she caught Clayton's eye she knew he was thinking the same thing. Alex sat back down in her chair, and Ettienne leaned on the back of it, draping his arms over her shoulders from behind. Her hands came up almost unconsciously and she linked her fingers with his. "So what are we waiting for."
"Olivia's pregnancy test results." It was Alex who'd spoken; Alex who giggled at Ettienne's dumbfounded look.
"Um…who…" And then it clicked, and his eyes widened. "Clayton?"
Clayton ducked his head. "Um. Yeah."
"But…you don't like kids. You don't want them. Are you going to…how is that going to work?"
"Hey, why is it about him?" Olivia challenged. "I'm the one who's going to be carrying and having the child."
She shook her head firmly as she faced the three of them. "I am not a helpless little china doll. And there are plenty of single mothers out there who manage to work and raise children just fine. I am not going to marry Clayton just because half the baby's DNA is his; if I get married it will be because I love the man, not out of convenience. If Clayton wants it, yes, his name can be on the birth certificate, but I'm going to make that optional because I don't know what his superiors are going to think, or how something like this is going to affect his career. From listening to everyone talk, you all broke a lot of rules through this whole affair and there will be an accounting at some point, after the dust settles and the government is finished rounding up all of Velez's remaining conspirators and shutting down the rest of his organization, and I don't want to make them any more upset with him than they might already be if they find out he got a civilian pregnant. So, while he's made it clear that he'll help financially if the baby needs something I can't provide, for all intents and purposes it's my baby, not his."
Ettienne looked at Clayton, who nodded. "You know that's going to change once the baby gets here. Right now it's just theoretical, but things're going to be really different once it gets here."
"Nothing's going to change. I'm dedicated to this job and this post and you soldiers, and I don't really like kids. So if Liv's okay with this arrangement then I'm okay with it too."
"I'm going to remind you of that when you're running out to the hospital after getting a call from Olivia in the middle of the night saying she's in labor," Ettienne smiled.
"No he won't because I won't be calling him." Olivia said firmly.
Alex gave Ettienne's hand an unnoticeable squeeze. Don't worry, I'll call you and you can tell Clayton. She's not going to do this alone, no matter how much she thinks she will now.
He squeezed back. It's going to be different once Clayton sees Olivia and the baby. There's no way he'll stay indifferent. He's not that cold-hearted. Aloud, all he said was, "We'll see."
Their conversation ceased as Doc's office door opened. "It didn't take as much time as I thought it was going to," he said cheerfully. "I ran the test twice to make sure."
"I'm going to have a baby." Olivia said quietly.
Doc smiled crookedly. "Congratulations." He looked at Clayton. "I'd say congratulations but I know how you feel, so I'll wait until that changes before I say it."
"It's not going to change!" Clayton tried to insist, but Doc just smiled and turned to Olivia.
"You'll have to see a regular OB/GYN as soon as possible. You're in your, what, early to mid forties? That puts you in the high-risk category as far as pregnancies go, plus all the mental, emotional, and physical strain of the last couple of months. I also want the OB/GYN to have look at the tearing and damage; while most of it is superficial and won't interfere with carrying a child, the birth might be…difficult…and I think they'll probably want to do a c-section delivery. Either way, I foresee a great deal of bed rest in your future and a two to three month vacation from work in your last trimester just to make sure nothing goes wrong." He turned to Ettienne. "Your friend from the Marines is her partner on the NYPD, right?"
Ettienne grinned widely. "He'll make sure she follows rules on the job. And his wife has kids of her own, right?"
"Five," Alex smiled. "So yeah, Elliot knows how to handle pregnant women."
"Okay, that's it," Olivia got up. "I don't need a bunch of overprotective males hovering over me. Seriously. I'll follow the doctor's rules, I'll get plenty of rest and I'll be fine. It's my body and my baby, okay? Come on, Alex, we have some packing to do."
Ettienne gave Alex a kiss. "See you later, chere," he murmured, then headed out the door right after the two women.
Doc helped Clayton off the infirmary bed, and headed to his own office. Just as he got inside, he heard Clayton mutter, "It's my baby too."
He closed the door so Clayton wouldn't hear him laughing.
"It didn't look like much when I packed it," Olivia looked ruefully at the piles of clothes folded neatly on the bed next to their only suitcase; hers, the one she'd packed when Clayton had told her that Alex needed comfortable clothing. "Somehow it multiplied and I don't think it's all going to fit now."
"I think some of this is stuff the girls let me borrow. There's only the three of them here and they trade clothes around like we do." Alex pointed to one pile. "Not to mention which, the fatigues do take a lot of room. But we don't have to pack them, we'll leave those here. I don't think I'll have an occasion to wear them again." She picked up the pile and carefully put it back in the footlocker, then looked around wistfully. "You know, I think I'm actually going to miss this place."
"You're going to miss the people more than the place," Olivia corrected her. "One person in particular. Jesus, Alex, for someone who swore off serious relationships…"
"Yeah, it kind of snuck up on me. I know you're laughing," Alex gave Olivia a wry look, to which Olivia responded by giggling, "Go ahead and laugh. Yes, I am going to miss him, I got used to seeing him every day while I was here. But…he's been a constant factor ever since I woke up from the coma, and I have to see how much of what I'm feeling is due to the fact that I'm grateful to him for helping save my life…and how much of that is because I really do love him."
"Do you love him?" Olivia asked as she sat down and started putting clothes into the suitcase.
"Yes. I do." No doubt, no hesitation. "I've never known anyone like him, Liv. He's everything I ever thought I wanted in a guy."
"And he's really easy on the eyes too." Olivia grinned as she carefully folded a couple of the skirts. "Big strong, handsome, muscular…and that cute little accent he gets when he's annoyed or stressed…and he calls you little pet names in French. Awww."
Alex threw a balled pair of clean socks at Olivia, who ducked it neatly—then almost fell on the floor laughing at Alex's look of mock annoyance. "Hey, you didn't do so badly yourself. General Abernathy?" She considered. "Good man, good leader, cares about his people and everyone around him. Not as cute as 'Tienne, but still handsome if you like that weathered look. And he has lots of smile lines."
She sobered. "Liv, just between the two of us…does it bother you that he seems to be indifferent your pregnancy and the fact that you're going to have his baby? Truthfully. I'm not going to tell Ettienne, this is just between us."
Olivia looked thoughtful. "I don't want you to think I'm heartless, but honestly, Alex, at the moment it's not bothering me at all. I guess…I grew up without a father, and did fine, and I guess I'm being a little selfish when I say I don't want to share. This baby is going to be mine, Alex, someone I love and who will love me unconditionally in return. I've never had that, Alex. I never knew my father, and my Mom…our relationship was better the last year or so of her life, but I never felt for my mother what you felt for yours. This is my chance to have a real relationship with someone related to me. And I've always wanted kids, Alex, you know that, but it just never happened."
She looked down at her still-flat stomach, smoothed her shirt down over it. "Before this all happened, I thought it was too late, Alex. Over the last year I've been missing periods, even when I wasn't stressed. I told Clayton that I thought it was too late, but here I am, expecting, and I'm not going to lose this chance. I was afraid when I told Clayton that he'd ask me to have an abortion or give the baby up because he didn't want them—we had a discussion about kids when were in Colombia as Velez's guests. Allie said she heard me talking to Ettienne in the mess hall one night when you were in Washington testifying, and she told Clayton—if she hadn't he wouldn't have known because I was planning on not telling him. He does have some valid reasons; any enemies he made could potentially come after me and the baby, and we are safer if no one knows." She looked at Alex. "What do you think? Truthfully."
"I think both of you are being stupid." Alex was blunt and to the point. "I think you're spending too much time thinking about what may happen instead of what is going to happen, which is that you are going to have a baby and it is his. And yours," she added hastily at Olivia's look. "And I think that his indifference is mostly due to the fact that he's still thinking of a baby as an abstract intangible, and I think—I know—that's going to change as he sees your stomach getting bigger and bigger with the baby. By the time it gets here he's going to be a nervous wreck, and he'll be there when you go into labor."
"No he won't, because I'm not going to tell him, and you won't either." Olivia stared at Alex until the blond sighed and looked her in the eye. "Promise me, Alex. You're not going to tell him."
Alex dropped her eyes and mumbled something.
"What?" Olivia leaned in.
"Fine!" Alex snapped. "You want it that way, fine, I promise I won't tell him, and then you can deal with a pissed-off two star General when you tell him you had his baby and he wasn't there!" She kicked the edge of her footlocker with a toe, then immediately regretted it as her foot started hurting.
Olivia considered. "Do you think he's going to change his mind?"
"Absolutely." Alex folded her arms.
Olivia considered. 'Then let's just take it as it comes. We'll see what happens and we'll decide what to do if that happens."
"When it happens. Not if. When." Alex was adamant.
"Whatever." Olivia resumed packing. "You know, if you're going to live with me for the time being until you can get your own place again, we may have to change rooms. The spare bedroom is a little bigger than mine and I think I'll need the extra space for a baby crib."
"Absolutely," Alex said firmly as she started putting clothes in the suitcase, thankful that they were changing the subject. "And a changing table."
Olivia said reflectively, "Come to think of it, Kathy has a lot of baby stuff now that Eli's growing out of it and she absolutely refused to have any more kids, so she will probably be overjoyed to have someone to give some of the baby stuff to."
Alex grinned. "And Maureen and Kathleen and Lizzie are experienced with babies so you won't have a problem finding a babysitter…"