"Uh," Kathleen groans as she drags herself into the apartment after finishing her last shift for the week. She had been back at work for 3 weeks and it was draining on her. She had been feeling so tired that it was getting annoying. She had also noticed that she was going to the bathroom a lot more often, and certain smells were making her hurl.
"Another rough shift," Luke asks from the couch in their living room.
"You could say," she says as she places her shoes and bag in the entrance closet before walking into the living room. "Someone brought in creamy garlic shrimp for the rest of us and it had me hurling for most of the afternoon."
"That's not good," he says as she curls up next to him on the couch. "This has been going on for over a week now. You sure you didn't catch a bug or something."
"I don't know, all I know is all I want to do is sleep," she says as she lays her head on his shoulder. "I wasn't even this tired when I was pulling all-nighters for my papers."
"It could be the stress of everything," he suggests as he wraps his arms around her and brings her closer to him. "It might take a while for things to go back to normal."
"That is true," she says as she turns to look to see what he is watching. He was watching the highlights from the Jay game. "You know Steve has an extra ticket to the game on Thursday, if you want you can go."
"Are you trying to get rid of me," he asks as he looks at her.
"It's your day off, may as well enjoy it," she comments as she pulls out her phone and shoots off a text. "He's been putting off asking you cause you've been turning him down."
"Well I've had other things on my mind," he says as he leans down and kisses her. "If it means that much to you, I'll go to the game with him."
"Thank you," she says as she kisses him back. "I've already confirmed that you are going with him."
"Sneaky," he whispers against her lips.
"I can be," she says as she moves to straddle his lap. "You've been taking such good care of me that you need to do something for yourself every once in a while."
"But I like taking care of you," he says against her lips as he places his hands on her hips.
"I know you do, but you are allowed to have some fun," she says as she kisses as her hands sneak around his neck. "Go have fun, relax a bit. Plus I am working a day shift."
"Fine, I'll go only because you are twisting my arm," he says as he kisses her back and pulls her closer against him.
"Poor you, your fiancee wants you to go and watch a ball game with your friend," she says as she kisses him back and weaves her finger into his hair.
"Meany," he says before kissing her passionately.
She giggles against his lips as she runs her fingers through his hair. She lets out a moan as he begins to massage her hips and run his hands up her sides. She places her hands on his shoulders as he leans in and begins to suck on the crook of her neck. "Luke," she groans as he begins to lick the area. She quickly gets off of him and races into the bathroom to throw up.
"Kay," Luke asks, worried as he follows her. He reaches the bathroom and sees her kneeling over the toilet, dry heaving. "Are you okay?"
She shakes her head as she moves to sit on the floor and says, "the smell of coffee came out of nowhere and made me want to hurl."
"That's not good," he says from the doorway. "Let me make you some ginger tea, it should help with this feeling."
"Hopefully," she says as he walks away from the bathroom. She slowly gets herself off of the floor and looks at herself in the mirror. Her reflection doesn't look pale or clammy, she wasn't feeling warm. She couldn't figure it out as she washed her hands, she did splash some water on her face. She spent a few minutes thinking before racing back into the living room and grabbing her phone.
"What's up," Luke asks as he notices her going through her phone. "Figure it out?"
"Crap," she says as she looks through her phone. "How is this possible?"
"What," Luke asks as he walks over to her. "What's going on?"
Kathleen just takes a seat on the couch as she stares at her phone. How had she forgotten to talk to her doctor about changing her prescription? The attack, she was supposed to go in and have her annual pap smear and work out the details then, but she had never rescheduled it. She didn't even notice that she was two weeks late because of everything that had been going on in their lives.
"Kay," Luke calls before trying again. "Kathleen."
"I'm late," she says as she leans back into the couch.
"Late as in," Luke asks as he takes a seat next to her. "Are you sure?"
"No, but it fits," she says quietly. "I'm late, the heightened sense of smell, nausea, and feeling exhausted all of the time. My boobs have been so sore and tender that I have to be careful which bra I pick to wear."
"Okay, that fits," he says as he lets out a breath. "I'll run to the drug store and pick up a test. I should be able to get to the drug store and back in about ten minutes. Any particular test you want?"
"Something digital," she says as she looks at him. "The line ones always seem confusing."
"True," he says as he kisses her. He quickly gets up and walks towards the entrance to grab his keys and wallet from the front table. He then exits the apartment.
She couldn't believe this was happening again to her. She remembered the last time she felt like this, it was about a year into dating Luke.
Crap, Kathleen thought as she looked at her calendar. How could this have happened? They were careful, they were always careful. Well, there was that one night after exams that they had kind of thrown caution to the wind.
She quickly picks up her phone and begins to dial an all too familiar number. She waits as it rings.
"What's up," Gail asks as soon as the ringing stops.
"Are you out and about," she asks as she continues to stare at the calendar.
"I am, want me to pick up takeout and have a girls night?"
"Actually, can you stop by the drug store?"
"Uh, why?"
"Need for you to buy me a pregnancy test."
"Going to need more information."
"I'm late, like a week late. At first, I thought it was the stress of exams but now I am starting to wonder if it's not."
"Not good, definitely not good. Okay, I can be there in about ten minutes. Just drink lots and lots of water."
"Duh," she says before hanging up her phone. She started to pace her apartment as she looked around it. This couldn't be happening. She was a few weeks away from graduating from her program and was supposed to start her graduate program in the fall. She had also accepted a part-time position at the Hospice to start in a few weeks.
She couldn't believe this was happening to her. She could only think of the look of disappointment on her family's face and not mention what would Luke even say about this situation. They had only been dating for a year, he had already been put through the wringer by her family. There was no way they were ready for a baby.
Her front door opens and Gail rushes inside with a plastic bag. "I bought 3 different tests," she says as she hands the bag to her. "The pharmacist said you can take them right away."
"Okay," she says as she takes the bag and enters the bathroom. She quickly opens the three boxes and reads the instructions. They were simple enough, pee on the stick and wait between a minute and three. She quickly takes the test and places them on their boxes before exiting the bathroom.
"I hate to sound rude or something," Gail starts as she sees her. "How the hell did this happen?"
"Exams," she says as she sits on the couch. "I was taking antibiotics for that dog bite and I guess I didn't read the bottle clearly."
"It's one of the few antibiotics that are no-nos with birth control pills," Gail says as she sits down next to her. "Condoms?"
"We stopped using them a while back because we were both committed and clean," she explains as puts her hands in her head. "Now I am kind of regretting it."
"Hey, you didn't know this would happen," Gail says as she looks at her. "You and Luke are solid, why would you think about them."
"Still, if we had this wouldn't be a problem," she says from her hands. "Can you imagine my dad's reaction?"
"Yes, but after he cools down he will be supportive and you know it," Gail says as she looks at her. "If he isn't then he'll have to deal with my mom."
"Oh great, do you remember how she reacted to me and Luke," she retorts. "She threatened to have him back on patrol."
"You know how my mom is," Gail replies. "Look at what she said about Nick?"
"True," she replies as she picks her head up. "Have you heard from him?"
"Nope, still nothing. I am not surprised after how he broke up with me."
"Let's be happy none of the relatives found out about that trip."
"Oh man, could you imagine? The parentals would never let us out of their system. I got lucky that Luke caught a double or you wouldn't have been able to come to get me."
"Exactly, we were supposed to be spending the week at the cabin but stupid people. I still can't believe he did that, I mean you two had just got engaged and then he does that."
"It wasn't meant to be and I learned my lesson. Some things are too good to be true."
"His fault, not yours. You are a wonderful catch. It was too immature for you, he lost the best thing that ever happened to him."
"Thanks, but stop procrastinating," she says as she taps her watch.
"Crap," Kathleen says as she gets up and walks into the bathroom. She looks on the bathroom counter and notices the three tests. She picks up the instructions and tries to decipher the tests. "Gail, a hand please."
"Come on, they can't be that hard," she says as she enters the room.
"Take a look for yourself," Kathleen says as she hands her the instructions.
Gail takes them and begins to read as she looks at the tests. "So 1 line means not pregnant and 2 lines mean you are," she reads before looking at the tests. "Uh, I see the confusion."
"Great," she mutters sarcastically as they both try to decipher the test results.