Thanks for your reviews Kelly & EC Brenway!
Kelly - I have a lil feeling this cliffhanger might top the last one and every one that has come before it!
EC - Lol about the one you're about to read too! A sneaky scheme has been revealed! It very well might backfire! Sports drinks, weird medical procedures! I do love that you are keeping track of them and keeping me honest to give you an answer! Which I will - today? Weeks from now?
Author's Note - I was given the idea for this story by a Chelly fan - and two words sold me on the entire reason why it had to be an AU supernatural fic! I've been building to those two words for the entire story and now you all get to be in on it!
I hope you love the idea as much as I do!
The Chemistry In Darkness
Chapter Sixty-Three
Tuesday 25th February 2025
Chloe laid there on the ultrasound bed, having awkwardly sat in silence whilst her doctor spoke to the psychologist and turned the lady away, to perhaps return if necessary, should Chloe want to talk to her.
The doctor returned to Chloe, sitting down in her chair, next to the hospital bed.
"What do you mean I have drugs in my system?" Chloe demanded, "There must've been a mix up with the blood samples as I don't take drugs, never have…maybe I'm not even pregnant. Test again."
The doctor held up her hands once more, then reached into Chloe's file, flipping to the page with her blood test results, "Mrs. Brennan, we tested the blood three separate times to ensure we had it correct and the lab investigated me personally the other day to ensure the sample I took was yours and there hadn't been a mix up. We can take another sample to test again but this is accurate what I'm telling you."
"How can it be accurate? I don't take drugs. My brother is a Detective, I'd be the joke and horror of my family if I had a drug habit and he had to arrest me for it. And this is the guy that arrested his own bride on their wedding day…trust me, he would arrest me if I went anywhere near drugs," Chloe rambled in confusion.
The doctor couldn't resist almost smiling at Chloe's story about her brother, before looking back at the results, and despite Chloe claiming not to have taken any drugs or not being desperate to get pregnant, needed to go back to the facts in the report, "For starters, your brother wouldn't be arresting you…well maybe because this one drug on the list is…not even approved by the TGA yet…how did you get this particular drug? The rest is all organic or over the counter. My concern over them is about how much you've been taking, the levels in your blood stream are way beyond the dispensing levels on any of these drugs and they shouldn't be taken together."
"I don't take drugs," Chloe repeated with annoyance at the doctor's claims, "I don't even take vitamins so I don't know what drugs you are talking about or why you would think I could have drugs in my system or what the drugs are meant to do-"
"The drugs aren't the illegal kind, they are all medical type drugs…to assist in increasing your fertility rate to get pregnant," the doctor finally revealed.
Chloe stared at the woman blankly for a moment, before shaking her head, "But I don't want to get pregnant…this baby wasn't planned. You must have mixed up the blood samples, I'm probably not even pregnant. It's just a hysterical pregnancy…I mean…obviously."
The doctor placed her hand on Chloe's, calming her, "The test isn't wrong and it was your blood sample. The drugs are…all through your system. I've seen patients overdose on over the counter drugs and some women double the dosage of fertility drugs, thinking that will assist with getting pregnant…but the level of drugs in your system is…extreme. There are barely any other nutrients in your body because these fertility drugs are sapping them up. Mrs. Brennan, I need you to be honest with me as I'm going to need to call the psychologist back here to talk to you about accepting that these drugs have done what you wanted…even though they could have serious repercussions because of how much you've been taking."
Chloe slapped the doctor's hand away, "I'm not taking any drugs, I'm not desperate to have a baby…yes, now that I am pregnant, I do want this baby and I want him or her to be healthy…but I have never even looked at any fertility drugs let alone want to take any…because I could never live with myself if I knowingly passed on my Huntington's."
"So, how are these drugs in your system?" the doctor finally asked, seemingly believing her patient.
"How am I supposed to know? Like I said, I don't take vitamins, there's no way I have drugs in my system and not to some insane level that you think I need to talk to a psychologist about how I'm so desperate for a baby," Chloe firmed.
"You must be taking them somehow. What about any other medication you could be on? Is there anything in your diet that could contain fertility drugs?" the doctor started asking.
Chloe looked puzzled for a moment before repeating, "My diet?"
"Yes, can you tell me a little bit about your diet and where you get your food from?" the doctor persisted, slightly obliviously to what was upsetting her patient.
Chloe swallowed hard, "My husband and I have a personal chef. All our food and drinks, he supplies us with. We don't eat any other food. We don't go out to eat. We do occasionally have the odd drink outside of the sports drinks and waters our personal chef gets for us. Or the wine that my husband gets for us…he owns a winery. Do you think my chef is drugging my food?"
The doctor tilted her head, wondering if Chloe was being oblivious, "Does your chef want you to get pregnant?"
Chloe shrugged, "I don't really have a whole lot to do with him. My husband, Pierce, is the one who gets Rene to order our food and drinks. Pierce snaps his fingers and Rene does what he wants. He's reasonably close to Pierce, maybe he knows that Pierce wants a baby."
"Or…" the doctor began hinting, thinking through everything Chloe had said to her, "How badly does your husband want a baby?"
Chloe pulled a face of surprise, "My husband wouldn't be in on this. There's no way."
"Okay," the doctor decided, again unable to hide her tone that suggested otherwise, "But if there's no one else except the pair of them who could be drugging your food...and your husband wants a baby badly...?"
"Pierce doesn't want a baby that badly," Chloe insisted, "My husband is not drugging me with fertility drugs in some desperate attempt to get me pregnant. We're not even trying for a baby right now, we haven't slept together in months because I wasn't falling pregnant. I insisted to Pierce that we take a break for a number of months in the hope that a break could then help us to get pregnant later this year. Except…well…I guess we didn't need a break at all because I ended up pregnant anyway the last time we… Pierce knows we're not trying so why would there be drugs in my system if it was him? That'd be pointless drugging me for months on end…for some hope that I'll change my stance of us taking a break and sleep with him. You're wrong and I'd like you to take another blood test to prove it."
"I can do that," the doctor conceded, knowing deep down something wasn't right with this situation and despite the argument that Pierce would halt the drugs because he wasn't sleeping with his wife she felt assured that he was aware of what was going on and that her patient would soon come to accept that, "But if the test reveals the same levels of fertility drugs in your system, I want you to speak to the psychologist...about your husband and your personal chef...and how you intend on...dealing with that."
"Fine," Chloe agreed angrily, her mind racing with thoughts of disbelief that Pierce could do such a thing to her.
Pierce wouldn't do this to me…to us…would he? He might be fixated with being a father again and some of his decisions on wanting a baby have been…but he wouldn't drug me! It doesn't matter that these drugs mostly don't require a doctor's prescription to dispense if they are been drugged into my system without my knowledge…it's not Pierce doing this! It's either Rene or this blood test is wrong…it can't be Pierce and I won't believe I've been drugged until I see another round of test results…it's not Pierce doing this to me!
Chloe wanted to stop her thoughts, otherwise her anxiousness she already held for this pregnancy, would be consumed by anger and confusion.
Chloe cleared her throat, "Can we get onto the ultrasound already? I don't want to talk about what my husband...might be capable of."
The doctor nodded, turning her attention to the ultrasound, not wanting to argue with her patient and upset her further than she already was.
A few minutes later, Chloe was trying to feel more relaxed as she tried everything to put the thoughts of being drugged with fertility medication out of her mind. She wanted to focus on the baby she was carrying, not that he or she may have been created with a little assistance she was unaware of.
As the doctor placed the jelly over Chloe's tummy, rolling the wand over it, Chloe suddenly worried if the drugs had affected the baby or if there was any other illness the baby could be carrying. She'd been so focused on her Huntington's gene been transmitted, that it only just occurred to her the baby could have any number of other genetic defects, whilst she prayed for the baby to be healthy.
"How far along are you, again?" the doctor asked quietly, looking for the baby's heart beats.
"Three and a half months...I know...way past when I should've come in for my first ultrasound…but as I said…this pregnancy has me frozen by fear that the baby will have Huntington's…and now…it's probably too late to do anything should the baby have the gene…I'm already a terrible mother," Chloe admitted miserably.
Chloe's rambling misery was interrupted by the doctor, as the baby appeared on the ultrasound machine screen, "Are you sure you're three and a half months along?"
Chloe immediately got distracted looking at the image of her baby on the screen, ignoring the doctor's question, "That's my little peanut? Wow. I have to be a better mother to you from now on if you…are as healthy as you look, peanut…"
Peanut? You used to call Aster 'peanut'…why would you call Pierce's baby peanut? Can this baby be a peanut too like Aster? I miss Aster…and Elly…
The doctor continued swirling the wand around to show as clear a vision of the baby, repeating her question, "You said you're three and a half months along…are you sure about your dates?"
Chloe nodded staring deeply at the image on the screen, not paying any attention to the doctor's movements as she swiveled the wand around more to get a better view of the baby again, "Yes, I haven't slept with my husband since mid-November…pretty sure that was the day I was ovulating at the highest percentage…Pierce likes to keep track. I missed my early-December period…so my last period was early-November…guess that means I'm closer to four months…I'm so terrible for being so scared the last three months to come to terms with this pregnancy…I've been frozen for so many months with fear my baby will inherit my fate…"
"Are you sure it was mid-November?" the doctor asked, more casually Chloe felt.
"Yeah…a…friend of mine came back to town mid-November…just a couple days after the last time Pierce and I…I remember the first time I hung out with her again properly…the milkshake she had made me queasy and reminded me of…never mind. Why are you asking me these questions? Is my baby okay…? Is my baby older than three and a half months…? Have I been pregnant longer than I thought? I didn't even notice, I'm already doing such a horrible job of being your Mum, peanut. It'll already be too late for me to make any choice if I have given you my future of Huntington's," Chloe suddenly panicked at the doctor's questions.
The doctor continued staring at the screen as she focused the image of the baby in the center of the screen, then turning to her computer, started adding some details until she realized Chloe was getting impatient with her worrying.
Looking back at Chloe, the doctor admitted, "Your baby is only about two and a half months old. Are you sure you got your dates right?"
"That doesn't make any sense," Chloe furrowed her brow, "It was absolutely mid-November that I was last with my husband as I know my friend returned from being away for years right after that. She left because…things didn't work out…and that was several weeks before Christmas and she was around for a month so I know when the last time I…slept with my husband before we decided to take a break from…trying for a baby. There is no other time after that, that Pierce and I slept together…there was a few hours late November that I was unconscious after a car accident but Pierce would never have…and the timing of that still makes no sense. I wasn't ovulating then so the chances of me getting pregnant…isn't high. You must have your dates wrong on how old this baby is."
"I've been looking at ultrasounds for over twenty years, I'm 100% confident this baby I'm looking at is not as old as when you say he or she was conceived," the doctor assured Chloe, then when Chloe paused, she asked cautiously, "If the last time you slept with your husband was a month before this baby was conceived…no judgements and you do have confidentiality with me…is there a chance the father of this baby isn't your husband?"
"That's not possible," Chloe scoffed, then immediately got caught on her words as her eyes grew wide, "That's really…not possible!"
I slept with Elly two and a half months ago…but that's…really…not…possible! There's no way this baby could possibly be…Elly's?
Next time - Is the impossible possible? Is this a..."Chelly baby"?! ?
Surprise!