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Chapter 36: Something To Hide
Jess had been gone for roughly an hour.
She was trying to focus on breathing correctly in public, so that no one would assume she'd gone mad. She couldn't help how she felt.
There was so much running through her head that she felt as if she would burst and shout or something.
She tried to focus on the items she was grabbing and putting in her shopping basket.
So far she had picked up soup, crackers, popsicles, and some medicine for Connor. Now, she was headed for the aisle where there was only one item she needed.
Jess stared at the box on the shelf for several moments, as if she were staring at a billboard or the like.
She steadied her hand as she reached out and grabbed the box and put it in her basket.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed one of the last people that needed to find her in this aisle: Abby.
"Crap." She muttered, as she hid the small box under the popsicles and walked as swiftly as possible in the opposite direction, hanging a right down another aisle.
Jess breathed a sigh of relief, in the hopes that Abby hadn't seen her.
"Jess?" Abby spoke, as she entered the aisle Jess had all but run to.
Jess could have sworn, she herself had jumped, as she felt her heart leap into her throat.
"Abby, hi." Jess greeted, trying to mentally calm herself down.
"Are you alright?" Abby asked, noting Jess's jumpiness.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Jess assured her.
"How's Matt doing?" Jess asked, hoping to change the subject.
"He woke up, little over an hour ago. He'll be out of the field for at least a week." Abby replied.
"Connor may be out a few days as well." Jess stated. "Got sick early this morning."
"Readjustment finally caught up to him?"
Jess merely nodded.
"Hopefully, we won't have any anomalies until they're both back on their feet." Abby remarked.
"Hopefully not." Jess agreed.
"Well, um, I should get going." Jess announced, in a hurry to leave; feeling mildly awkward.
"Connor's sick and on his own; don't need him venturing around the flat on his own." She quickly added with a nervous laugh.
"Yeah, I'll, um, I'll let you go. I should be getting back to Matt, myself." Abby trailed off distantly.
Jess nodded and waved goodbye before dashing off to the checkout line.
Abby stood in the aisle for a bit, pretending to be looking at shampoo while turning over things in her mind.
She had been in the store to buy some groceries and get a prescription for Matt and some magazines.
She had been turning up the personal care aisle to shortcut a spill that was being cleaned up; when she'd noticed Jess staring at the boxes of pregnancy tests.
She had to do a double-take as she watched Jess grab a box and place it under something in her shopping basket before darting out of the aisle before their conversation moments ago.
Was Jess pregnant? She wondered to herself.
That could be why Jess seemed so edgy and practically jumped when she'd run into her like she'd been caught stealing.
If Jess was pregnant, what did that mean for her? Her position at the ARC? Did Connor even know?
Abby shook her head and went to check out.
Abby was half-tempted to confront Jess about it later; but for now, she'd leave it to speculation.
Connor heard a door shut.
His head was spinning in all sorts of directions and he felt unbelievably nauseous.
"So much for portion control." He muttered to himself.
He heard ruffling of bags and footsteps.
"Jess? Is that you?" He called.
"Yeah," She called from the hallway.
Connor squinted his eyes as the door cracked open, letting some light in.
"Just got in," Jess spoke, poking her head in the door.
"How are you feeling?"
"Like I've been thrown about in the washing machine." Connor admitted.
"You feeling well enough for some soup or a popsicle, maybe?"
"I don't think I have the stomach to really eat anything at the moment." He replied.
Jess nodded. "I'm going to do some washing up; laundry and stuff and I'll be right back, I promise."
"I'll be here, hiding from the light." Connor answered, half-jokingly.
Jess gave a small smile and closed the door, walking slowly to the downstairs bathroom with the box in her hand.
Several minutes later, Jess sat on the bathroom floor, knees pulled to her chest as her hands covered her face.
The test lying on the floor a couple feet away from her.
She tried to make the tears stop.
She needed to.
But she couldn't.
Her last hope that the doctor and his staff in the Medical Bay had been wrong, had failed her.
She was one-hundred percent officially pregnant.
With Connor's child.
This can't be happening. She tried to object to reason.
They'd only slept together twice, but—.
It wasn't that she didn't love Connor. She did.
This has to be karma. She began to think.
Karma for imaging what life would have been like if she and Connor had stayed behind in the 1500s pretending to be married. Pretending what it would have been like if they'd started a family.
This was all happening to fast.
Jess was unsure of what to do now.
She needed to tell someone. Needed to confide in someone.
Connor was under the weather though and after the supermarket fiasco, Jess was worried to confide in Abby.
Connor had a right to know. Jess told herself. But now was not the time.
She needed just a bit longer to compile some sort of speech or shred of thought together before telling him anything.
She wasn't even sure how he would take the news of being a father.
Hell, she wasn't even sure herself if she was ready to be a mother.
Jess jumped when she heard a knock on the door.
"Jess? Are you alright in there?"
Great, Abby was home.
Jess cleared her throat. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just—fine."
She grabbed some toilet paper and wiped her eyes, before grabbing a makeup wipe and disposing of any makeup her tears failed to get rid of. She grabbed the test off the floor and threw it in the trash under the sink and opened the door.
Abby was leaning against the wall.
"Connor, he—he was looking for you. I told him I'd come downstairs and look for you." Abby explained, gesturing down the hall.
"Thanks." Jess sniffled as she started to walk away.
"Are you sure you're fine?" Abby asked.
"Yeah, never felt better." Jess lied before taking her leave.
Abby had come home to grab a change of clothes and stopped off in the kitchen to see what she could eat before heading back to the Medical Bay.
On the kitchen table were two bags of groceries and a receipt that had confirmed Abby's suspicions.
Jess's eyes were bloodshot and she looked as if she'd been crying.
The test must have come out positive.
Abby knew she had no right; but after everything that happened, Jess and Connor were still her friends. She entered the bathroom, shutting the door behind her and checked the trash can under the sink, noting the test that read 'positive'.
"Connor, are you okay? Anything you need?" Jess asked as she opened the door.
"You're—asleep." She stumbled.
A brief thought crossed Jess's mind.
Abby had seen her grab the test, despite her efforts to hide it.
Apologies for the cliffy, more after the New Year! Promise!
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